The Role of Allegory and Symbol in Expressing the Fixed Entities in Araghi and Ibn-e-Arabi’s View

In the realm of mysticism, especially in Ibn-e-Arabi’s view and his followers including Araghi (1991), allegory and symbol have central and key roles in expressing mystic matters and recognizing the facts of universe; it may be said that sometimes expressing these matters without using the resistant linguistic elements such as allegory and symbol is deficient and inexpressive. Some topics in which Ibn-e-Arabi and Araghi have used some allegories like sea, goblet and wine, and also have used some symbols such as light to the absolute nature of the universe are fixed entities and the other mystic matters related to pantheism and manifestation the multiplicity out of unity. In fact, in their view the universe and creatures which have no existence in the world of divine knowledge or fixed entities are outcropped by emanating God to non-existence mirrors or fixed entities. Considering these matters, this article is aimed at finding the role and function of allegory and symbol in expressing the mystic matters like the theory of fixed entities and its related issues in Araghi’s poetry and Loma’at (1992) and Ibn-e-Arabi’s works. The results show that Araghi’s opinions are influenced by Ibn-e-Arabi’s works

Effect of alkaline stress on germination, growth and physiological traits of two safflower cultivars

In order to study the effect of alkaline stress on seed germination and seedling biochemical characteristics of two safflower cultivars, a laboratory experiment was conducted based on a completely randomized design with three replications in the Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan. Experimental factors included the levels of alkaline with sodium bicarbonate (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 mM) and two cultivars of safflower (Soffeh and 411). The result showed that alkaline stress had significant effects on seed germination characteristics. Increasing alkaline stress reduced percentage and rate of germination, length and dry weights of shoots and roots, K+ concentration and K+/Na+. However, alkaline increased malondialdehyde content, proline, total carbohydrate and Na+ concentration. In alkaline stress condition, there was a significant difference between cultivars in length of shoots and roots, proline content and K+ concentration. 411 cultivar showed notable superiority compared to Soffeh cultivar. Both cultivars had the highest malondialdehyde at 60 mM alkalinity and the lowest malondialdehyde obtained in Soffeh cultivar and control. The result of this research showed that 411 cultivar was better than Soffeh cultivar in proline and soluble sugar content, but these two cultivars had no significant differences in other traits

Glycine betaine affects the antioxidant system and ion accumulation and reduces salinity-induced damage in safflower seedlings

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an important oilseed crop, usually grown on a small scale and in salt-affected soils. Salinity stress can cause oxidative damage to plants. Upregulation of the antioxidant defense system induced by glycine betaine (GlyBet) alleviates the damaging effects of oxidative stress in plants. In the present investigation, seeds were treated with 0, 10, 30 and 60 mM of GlyBet solutions. Germination and the primary growth of the seedling were examined using sodium chloride salt (NaCl) at 0 (non-stress), 50, 100 and 150 mM concentrations. The obtained results indicate that at 50 and 100 mM NaCl, priming with 30 and 60 mM GlyBet increased root and shoot lengths compared to the control (0 mM). In addition, at all stress levels, priming with 60 mM GlyBet led to lower malondialdehyde, total soluble sugars and proline contents than in control seedlings. Priming with GlyBet increased catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activities and protein content, while it reduced the activity of peroxidase under salinity stress. In addition, priming with GlyBet reduced the Na+/K+ ratio of seedlings and increased K+ under all salinity stress levels. Priming with 60 mM GlyBet also reduced the Na+ content under 150 mM NaCl. Together, these results show that 60 mM GlyBet had the most pronounced effect on tolerance to salinity stress in safflower seedling. The glycine betaine-increased tolerance to salt in safflower was mainly related to increased CAT and SOD activities, and the prevention of cell membrane damage as a result of reduced lipid peroxidation and improved ion homeostasis under salinity stress condition

Ion contents, physiological characteristics and growth of Carum copticum as influenced by salinity and alkalinity stresses

A controlled experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of salinity and alkalinity stresses on the growth and physi- ological characteristics of Carum copticum L. The treatments included four salinity levels: 0, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl, and four alkalinity levels 0, 20, 40 and 60 mM NaHCO3. The results indicated that root dry weight and magnesium concentration were decreased and catalase and peroxidase activity, proline, malondialdehyde, Na + and Ca 2+ concentration were increased in plants simultaneously subjected to both salinity and alkalinity stresses. In all traits, the highest salinity and alkalinity levels had the most negative and significant effects. In general, our findings revealed that alkalinity and salinity stresses considerably decreased ajwain growth through adverse impact on physiological characteristics such as ion concentration and activity of antioxidant enzymes. These effects were greater when the two salinity and alkalinity stresses were simultaneously applied. Ajwain plant tolerated a part of the stresses via osmotic adjustment mechanism was assessed by proline, malondialdehyde and total carbohydrate

Nitric oxide and endothelium-dependent effect of Tribulus terrestris feeding on aortic reactivity of streptozotocin- diabetic rats

A B S T R A C T Background and Objective: Cardiovascular disorders continue to constitute major causes of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. In this study, the effect of chronic administration of Tribulus terrestris (TT) feeding was studied on aortic reactivity of streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic rats and some underlying mechanisms were investigated. Materials and Methods: Male diabetic rats received TT-mixed food at a weight ratio of 6% for 7 weeks 1 week after diabetes induction. Contractile responses to KCl and phenylephrine (PE) and relaxation response to acetylcholine (ACh) were obtained from aortic rings in the presence and absence of endothelium. In addition, nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) was used to determine the role of NO. Results: Maximum contractile response of endothelium-intact rings to PE was significantly lower in TT-treated diabetic rats relative to untreated diabetics and endothelium removal abolished this difference. Endothelium-dependent relaxation to ACh was also significantly higher in TT-treated diabetic rats as compared to diabetic ones and pretreatment of rings with L-NAME significantly attenuated the observed response. Conclusion: Chronic treatment of diabetic rats with TT could prevent some abnormal changes in vascular reactivity in diabetic rats through nitric oxide in aortic tissue and endothelium integrity is necessary for this beneficial effect

Relationship of Helicobacter pylori vacA i1 and i2 alleles with gastric cancer risk, Iran: brief report

Background: Helicobacter pylori vacA (vacuolating toxin A) gene is comprised of mid- (m), intermediate- (i) and signal-regions. Recently, the vacA-i region genotype has been suggested to be a better predictor of disease severity than either the s- or m-region. The main aim of the present study was to determine the associations of i region poly-morphisms of vacA gene with gastric cancer (GC) and peptic ulcer disease (PUD) in Azerbaijan Province patients. Methods: A number of 89 patients were enrolled. The biopsy samples were taken from patients referring to the endoscopy units of Imam Reza and Shahid Madani Hospitals, Tabriz, Iran from August 2012 to May 2013. The genotype frequencies of vacA-i1 and i2 in were studied using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The frequency of vacA-i1 and i2 was 51.68% and 48.31%, respectively. The genotypic frequency of vacA-i1 in patients with GC (21/24, 87.5%) was significantly higher than in those with non-atrophic gastritis, NAG (19/48, 39.58%). In contrast, the genotypic frequency of vacA-i2 in patients with NAG, PUD, and GC was 60.42%, 64.70%, and 14.28%, respectively. The results of multiple linear and logistic regression analyses confirmed the intensity of correlation of vacA-i1 allele with GC compared with control group (NAG). No significant correlation was found between the vacA-i-region alleles and PUD risk. Conclusion: We have proposed that the H. pylori vacA-i1 genotype could be an im-portant biomarker for predicting the gastric cancer risk in Azerbaijan Province in Iran. However, due to the difference in the allelic frequency of this gene in H. pylori strains from different parts of the world, the vacA-i1 genotype usefulness in predicting the gas-trointestinal diseases is dependent to the geographic origin of the strains

Germination and Biochemical Responses to Alkalinity Stress in Two Sesame Cultivars

In this study, the effect of different alkaline concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 mM) on germination and biochemical characteristics of the two sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) cultivares (Dashtestan and GL-13) which are registered cultivars of Iran were investigated. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications. Results showed that, germination percentage, germination rate, shoot length and dry weight, root length and dry weight and K+ content decreased, whereas, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, total soluble sugars and Na+ contents increased with increasing alkalinity stress. GL-13 cultivar had the least root and shoot length, proline and K+ content than Dashtestan