Estudio etnobotánico de áreas del noroeste de la provincia de Isfahan, Iran

Iran is one of the countries which enormously used medicinal plants from the ancient times. In this study, we documented the ethnobotanical data of Golpayegan, and Shahin Shahr and Meymeh counties (Isfahan province) for the first time in Iran. Field study and plant collecting were done in different seasons in 2016–2017. Ethnobotanical data were analyzed using information of questionnaires gained from 27 inhabitants. Totally, 48 plants of 24 families were recorded from studied areas. Asteraceae (36%) and Lamiaceae (23%) are those containing the biggest numbers of cited plants. Moreover, leaves (45.83%) and seeds (18.75%) were the most used parts. This study indicated the importance of useful plants of studied areas and the necessity of doing this kind of research on other parts of country in order to preserve this valuable information of local inhabitants.Irán es un país que ha utilizado de manera destacada las plantas medicinales desde la antigüedad. En este estudio, documentamos los datos etnobotánicos de los condados de Golpayegan, Shahin Shahr y Meymeh (provincia de Isfahán) por primera vez en Irán. El estudio de campo y la recolección de plantas se realizaron en diferentes temporadas en 2016 y 2017. Los datos etnobotánicos se analizaron utilizando información proveniente de cuestionarios realizados a 27 informantes. En total, se registraron 48 plantas de 24 familias de las áreas estudiadas. Las familias Asteraceae (36%) y Lamiaceae (23%) son las que contienen un mayor número de plantas citadas. Las hojas (45,83%) y las semillas (18,75%) son las partes de planta más utilizadas. Este estudio indica la importancia de las plantas útiles de las áreas estudiadas y la necesidad de realizar este tipo de investigación en otras partes del país con el fin de preservar esta valiosa información de los habitantes locales

Species differentiation in annual Persicaria based on different markers

Persicaria with 70–100 species in the world is distributed in temperate regions of both hemispheres. It has 11 species in Iran growing in moist areas and margins of rivers. Through hybridisation, plasticity and existence of overlapping habitats, species identification shows difficulty. In this study, we aimed to investigate karyotype characters and morphological features, evaluate genetic variability within and among species studied and examine species relationship using ISSR data. Nine annual taxa of Persicaria were gathered from different localities in Iran and used for studies. Our studies showed that combination of karyological, morphological and molecular data can delimit species studied. Based on karyological results, three chromosome counts (P. hydropiper (2n = 2x = 20), P. maculosa (2n = 2x = 22), P. orientalis (2n = 2x = 22)) were the first reports for the Flora of Iran. Analyses of morphological characters showed diagnostic features among taxa. STRUCTURE and AMOVA analyses showed high intraspecific genetic diversity. Our results suggested that phenotypic plasticity and hybridisation may cause genetic diversity within Persicaria species

Up-regulation of IGF-1 in the frontal cortex of piglets exposed to an environmentally enriched arena

Environmental enrichment (EE) is widely used in the life sciences to study effects of environment on the brain. In pigs, despite lack of EE being a key welfare issue there is little understanding of brain effects of EE in pigs. This project aimed to study the effects of exposure to an EE arena on piglet behaviours and on brain gene expression levels with a focus on IGF-1 and related genes. Eight litters of large white × landrace × Hampshire piglets were farrowed and raised in a free farrowing system (PigSAFE). At 42 days of age, 6 piglets per litter were given access to an enriched arena with plentiful peat, straw and space, (in groups of 4 made up of stable pairs) for 15 min per day on 5 consecutive days to allow them to habituate to the apparatus. Piglet behaviours were recorded in the arena for 15 min periods on 3 consecutive days. On the final day only one pair of test piglets per litter was given access to the arena. Brain tissue was collected within 45 min of the test from piglets exposed to the arena on the day and their non-exposed littermate controls. RNA was extracted from the frontal cortex and QRT-PCR for selected genes run on a Stratgene MX3005P. In both the home pen and the EE arena litters spent the largest proportion of time engaging in foraging behaviour which was significantly increased in the enriched arena (t(7) = 5.35, df = 6, p = 0.001). There were decreases in non-running play (t(7) = 4.82, p = 0.002) and inactivity (t(7) = 4.6, p = 0.002) in the arena. A significant fold change increase (FC = 1.07, t = 4.42, p = 0.002) was observed in IGF-1 gene expression in the frontal cortex of piglets exposed to the enriched arena compared to those not exposed on the day of culling. No change in expression was observed in CSF1, the IGF-1 receptor gene nor in any of the binding proteins tested (IGFBP1-6). There was a weak tendency for increased expression of the neurotrophic factor BDNF1 (fold change: 1.03; t(7) = 1.54, p = 0.1). We believe this work is the first to explore effects of EE on pig brain physiology and development, and also points to a potential role for IGF-1 in brain effects of EE

The physiological impact of high?intensity interval training in octogenarians with comorbidities

BackgroundDeclines in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and fat-free mass (FFM) with age are linked to mortality, morbidity and poor quality of life. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to improve CRF and FFM in many groups, but its efficacy in the very old, in whom comorbidities are present is undefined. We aimed to assess the efficacy of and physiological/metabolic responses to HIIT, in a cohort of octogenarians with comorbidities (e.g. hypertension and osteoarthritis).MethodsTwenty-eight volunteers (18 men, 10 women, 81.2 ± 0.6 years, 27.1 ± 0.6 kg·m−2) with American Society of Anaesthesiology (ASA) Grade 2–3 status each completed 4 weeks (12 sessions) HIIT after a control period of equal duration. Before and after each 4 week period, subjects underwent body composition assessments and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Quadriceps muscle biopsies (m. vastus lateralis) were taken to quantify anabolic signalling, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, and cumulative muscle protein synthesis (MPS) over 4-weeks.ResultsIn comorbid octogenarians, HIIT elicited improvements in CRF (anaerobic threshold: +1.2 ± 0.4 ml·kg−1·min−1, P = 0.001). HIIT also augmented total FFM (47.2 ± 1.4 to 47.6 ± 1.3 kg, P = 0.04), while decreasing total fat mass (24.8 ± 1.3 to 24 ± 1.2 kg, P = 0.0002) and body fat percentage (33.1 ± 1.5 to 32.1 ± 1.4%, P = 0.0008). Mechanistically, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation capacity increased after HIIT (i.e. citrate synthase activity: 52.4 ± 4 to 67.9 ± 5.1 nmol·min−1·mg−1, P = 0.005; membrane protein complexes (C): C-II, 1.4-fold increase, P = 0.002; C-III, 1.2-fold increase, P = 0.03), as did rates of MPS (1.3 ± 0.1 to 1.5 ± 0.1%·day−1, P = 0.03). The increase in MPS was supported by up-regulated phosphorylation of anabolic signalling proteins (e.g. AKT, p70S6K, and 4E-BP1; all P < 0.05). There were no changes in any of these parameters during the control period. No adverse events were reported throughout the study.ConclusionsThe HIIT enhances skeletal muscle mass and CRF in octogenarians with disease, with up-regulation of MPS and mitochondrial capacity likely underlying these improvements. HIIT can be safely delivered to octogenarians with disease and is an effective, time-efficient intervention to improve muscle mass and physical function in a short time frame

Arsenic

Research hypothesis: “Environmental occurrence and health risk assessment of arsenic in a Middle East country as a systematic review and meta-analysis study”.Iran is the third most populous state with over 82 million people in the Middle East. In Iran like many other countries, geogenic arsenic contamination could affect environmental and human health in some areas. The first case of chronic arsenic poisoning was recognized in Kurdistan province (west of Iran) in 1986. Then, other areas in Iran where there is arsenic contamination continue to be discovered. However, despite a body of valuable works investigating arsenic distribution in various environmental media, there is no comprehensive picture for Iran. So, our study aimed to establish a database and use systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify multimedia arsenic concentrations in this country. In order to better understand which media are more contributing to arsenic exposure of the national population, human health risk assessment was conducted.We think the information will be interesting for readers.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV