The nature and role of the Arabic plural morpheme "-at" in persian

1.Introduction The Persian language, though not belonging to the family of Semitic languages, has borrowed the heaviest from the Arabic language (Farshidvard: 1879: 39). A brief examination of Persian shows how heavily Persian is indebted to Arabic, but, as some scholars have pointed out, this has occurred mostly in the lexicon area as Persian has been affected very little in terms of syntax or grammar (Majd, 2011: 39).  In addition to a great number of single lexical items, a number of grammatical morphemes have entered Persian. An example is the agreement of adjective and the noun it modifies in grammar in terms of gender, a characteristic which is peculiar to Arabic, and which was not common in the Dari Persian except in the sixth century AH, when Persian was heavily affected by Arabic. The first instance appeared in Aruzi’s Chahar Maghaleh. Examples include: Moluk-e Maziyeh and Ghoroon Khaliyeh, etc. (Farshidvard, 1989: 23). Another instance of Arabic influence is the wide-spread adoption and usage of Arabic plural-making morphemes.   2.Methodology In Persian, the Arabic morpheme «-at» is sometimes used to pluralize Arabic and Persian words. Many Persian authorities frown upon this usage and argue that even Arabic words entering Persian should, as far as possible, also be pluralized using the plural morphemes «-ha» and «-in».  Examples: Sokhanran enteghadhay-e (rather than enteghadat-e) ziyadi az chegoonegi-ye bargozariy-e marasem kard.[The lecturer made several criticisms of the way the ceremony was held]. However, a number of the Arabic plural forms have been established in Persian with certain words so much so that if the plural morphemes are changed the words sound unfamiliar and weird. Examples include: ettelaa’aat; emkaanaat, enteshaaraat, etc. Besides, for certain nouns ending in «-at» such as adabiyaat, dokhaniyaat, amaliyaat, labaniyaat and maliyaat, there is no single form in Persian. The question to ask here is whether the Arabic plural marker «-at» in Persian has the same morphological, semantic, pragmatic and grammatical function as its counterpart in Arabic. Or is it different while sharing certain characteristics?     3.Discussion: Contrary to what was initially believed that languages borrow just words from one another, the studies show that borrowing can occur in any part of language including phonemes, inflectional and derivational affixes, etc. However, borrowing words is more frequent than borrowing any other parts of the language. Although affixes can be borrowed, the common belief is that they are not directly borrowed but transferred indirectly from one language into another language. In other words, affixes, as part of the complex words, get transferred into another language. Theses affixes, as the borrowed words, can finally attach to the roots of the target language and produce hybrid words (Seifar, et.al, 2015). Recently, borrowing affixes have received remarkable attention and the focus in the published works has been on the way affixes are borrowed. There are two scenarios, direct and indirect, for the process of borrowing affixes (Winford, 2005:385-409). The indirect borrowing has two stages. In the first stage, the speaker borrows some complex words from another language and uses them. In the second stage, probably a lot later, the speaker parses the blended words and finally the affixes are used with the roots in the receiving language and get generated. In the second scenario, the direct borrowing, once the borrowing takes place, the speaker, drawing on his own knowledge of the source language, identifies the affixes and attaches them to the roots of his own language and uses them. The main difference between these two scenarios lies in the whereabouts of the borrowed affix. Where has the speaker received the affix before combining it with the roots of his own language? From the source language complex words (indirect borrowing) or from his own knowledge of the source language? (direct borrowing). It seems that the indirect scenario best describes the phenomenon of affix borrowing. Paul (1891) maintains that words are borrowed as a whole; that is, derivative and inflectional affixes are not borrowed alone on their own part. However, if the many words that get transferred into another language have one certain affix, they can develop as easy as the target language words as a group and are possible to generate on their own. Thus, the received affix, by way of analogy, can attach to the target roots and later get generated (Paul, 1891: 469-470). 4.Conclusion One of the cases where Persian has been influenced by Arabic is the borrowing of Arabic plural morphemes including «-at». The plural morpheme entered Persian with certain Arabic plural nouns such as latamaat, majhoolat and mofradaat, but was later extended to pluralize originally Persian words such as baaghaat, gozareshaat and Shemiranaat, resulting in hybrid words.  In terms of Phonetics, «-at» is no different in Persian than its usage in Arabic, but in terms of phonology, the only difference is in cases where «-at» has entered Persian directly as part of a loan word. A case in point is the loan word latamaat. In terms of phonology, «-at» follows Persian rather than Arabic phonological rules. For example, the Persian words are pluralized as ghazaliyaat and kashfiyaat while the plural forms of their Arabic counterparts are ghazaliyeh and kashfiyeh respectively. Also, the Persian word pand is pluralized as pandiyaat, quite against Arabic morphological rules. The plural marker «-at» is used for feminine nouns, whereas Persian lacks the feminine-masculine distinction. «-at» is not used in Persian to pluralize humans and animates and inanimate nouns are gender-neutral. In fact, «-at» is used in Persian to pluralize inanimate and abstract nouns that are gender-free. In terms of meaning, «-at» in Arabic indicates plural (three and more), whereas in Persian it indicates kind and group. Even though there are cases in Persian where this plural marker indicates plurality, this plurality meaning is mixed with the meanings of kind and group.      This plural morpheme has undergone change in meaning and function, so that it is also clearly assumed a classifying function. Thus, we may speak of two types of «-at» one Arabic and one Persianized. The Arabic «-at» is the plural marker for feminine nouns, and the Persianized «-at» is the plural marker referring to groups. By group is meant a collection of things of various names but of the same nature. For example, shemiranat indicates a number of villages that are located in the same geographical area even though they have various names. Other examples include lavaasaanaat, noghaat as well as dahaat, baghaat and dastooraat. In fact. It may be said that this borrowed morpheme has assumed a merely morphological-grammatical function. Grammatical because it shows in some way the addition of a foreign plural-making element to the number of Persian plural-making markers. Morphological because it has assumed a derivative function in the word formation area. Also, it seems that in Persian, «Jat» is considered as a single morpheme and that sabzijaat no longer means sabzihaa; rather, various kinds of sabzi. On the other hand, words such as kompootjaat indicate the fact that what we do have here is not «-at», but «-Jat», which may be regarded as a form of the morpheme «-at».The question of the use of «-at» in Persian is a matter of debate. Generally, it is not approved as it is argued that the use of Persian plural markers is preferable. At first glance, this advice may seem warranted, specially because Persia has quite a lot of plural markers.  A close look shows, however, that «-at» though originally Arabic has undergone such a deep change that it is not to be counted as Arabic any more as it is used based on Persian and not Arabic rules. Also, its usage has productively increased. Thus, we may claim with certainty that the single morpheme «-at» is a plural marker that Persian has borrowed indirectly from Arabic and that it is now a plural morpheme belonging to the Persian Language. Keywords :Mikhail Naima, Kan Makan, Jamalzadeh, yeki bud yeki nabud, Adaptive literature. *Date received: 29/11/2019                         Date accepted: 20/07/2020 1 PhD student in Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, AllamehTabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding author) 2. Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, AllamehTabataba’i University,Tehran, Ira

An Evolutionary Approach towards Ph.D. Educational System in Medical Sciences in Iran: a Systematic Review of Educational Models in the World’s Leading Universities

Background & Objective : In this study, we aimed to evaluate the status of World’s leading universities in Ph.D. students’ education and to compare it with Iranian universities applying the approach of educational status evaluation in a research based way. Methods: Using a systematic review, all documents present in the webs and related links of universities of first 10 countries in Shanghai’s Academic Ranking of World Universities were systematically reviewed information related to Ph.D. education was systematically collected and analyzed. Results : Reviewing 28 leading universities revealed that the educational model in educating Ph.D. students in 22 of them was research based and the rest are using course based model. Passing taught courses, as an index in course based model, is considered to be among minimum course requirements in most of the universities which are using research based model. In cases where passing such courses is voluntarily, a consultant professor plays a significant role in guiding the students in selecting and attending theoretical courses. Conclusion : Based on the above explanation and similar to other successful countries, it seems that it is time to create various models for training postgraduate students to meet industrial needs. With revisions in educational curriculums, purposeful attempts should be made to solve possible problems and train people who meet country’s developmental needs in regards with the twenty year prospect. Keywords: Postgraduate education, Shanghai’s Academic Ranking, Research based curriculum, Scientific development, Ph.D.

Chemical composition, efficacy and safety of Pistacia vera (var. Fandoghi) to inactivate protoscoleces during hydatid cyst surgery

At present, various scolicidal agents have been used for inactivation of protoscoleces during hydatid cyst surgery, however, they are associated with serious adverse side effects including sclerosing colangititis (biliary tract fibrosis), liver necrosis and methaemoglobinaemia. This investigation was designed to evaluate the chemical composition and in vitro scolicidal effects of Pistacia vera (var. Fandoghi) essential oil against protoscoleces of hydatid cysts and also its toxicity in mice model. The components of the P. vera essential oil were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis. Protoscoleces were aseptically aspirated from sheep livers having hydatid cysts. Various concentrations of the essential oil (25–200ml/mL) were used for 5–30 min. Viability of protoscoleces was confirmed using eosin exclusion test (0.1% eosin staining). In addition, forty male NIH mice were used to determine the acute and sub-acute toxicity of P. vera essential oil for 2 and 14 days, respectively. The main components of P. vera essential oil were limonene (26.21%), a-pinene (18.07%), a-thujene (9.31%) and a-terpinolene (9.28%). Findings of the present study demonstrated that the P. vera essential oil at the concentrations of 100 and 200ml/mL killed 100% protoscoleces after 10 and 5 min of exposure, respectively. The LD50 values of intraperitoneal injection of the P. vera essential oil was 2.69 ml/kg body weight, and the maximum nonfatal doses were 1.94 ml/kg body weight. No significant difference (P > 0.05) was observed in the clinical chemistry and hematological parameters following oral administrations of P. vera essential oil at the doses 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 ml/kg for 14 days. The obtained findings demonstrated new chemical composition and promising scolicidal activity of the P. vera with no significant toxicity which might be used as a natural scolicidal agent in hydatid cyst surger

The Costs of Training Medical Parasitology and Mycology Students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences

Background: Training of expert human resources is one of the main and basic objectives of developed countries. One of the important challenges for attainment of this objective is shortage in funding and financial resources. This is while medical branches, due to being specialized and requiring vast practical courses, need spending considerable financial costs for training competent students. Objectives: The present study aimed to estimate the costs of training medical parasitology and mycology students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This was a descriptive research. The data collection tool was a form designed by researchers using various resources. Educational and non-educational costs of the academic year of 2017-2018, with a top-down approach, were analysed to estimate the costs of training and educating post-graduate students. Analyses were made using Microsoft Excel 2013 software. Results: The costs of educating master students in parasitology, Ph.D. students in parasitology, and master students in mycology in the academic year of 2017-2018 were 11,144, 18,365, and 7,821 USD, respectively. Forty-five percent of the total of educational costs was allocated to training Ph.D. students in parasitology alone, and a major share (81%) of these costs had been paid to human resources. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that the financial costs of training and educating students in the parasitology and mycology fields are high, needing the prompt attention of the policymakers of the national medical education system. Keywords: Cost, Parasitology, Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Ph.D. program, MSc. progra

In vitro lethal effects of various extracts of Nigella sativa seed on hydatid cyst protoscoleces

Objective(s): There are several scolicidal agents for inactivation of hydatid cyst protoscolices during surgery, but most of them are associated with adverse side effects such as sclerosing cholangitis and liver necrosis. The present study was aimed to evaluate scolicidal effects of various extracts of Nigella sativa seeds against protoscoleces of hydatid cyst in an in vitro model. Materials and Methods: Protoscoleces were aseptically aspirated from naturally infected livers of sheep and goats. Various concentrations of the different extracts of N. sativa (5 to 50 mg/ml) were used for 5 to 60 min. Viability of protoscoleces was confirmed by 0.1% eosin staining. Results: The findings exhibited that methanolic extract at the concentration of 50 mg/ml after 10 min of incubation, and aqueous extract at the concentration of 50 mg/ml after 30 min of incubation can kill 100% of protoscoleces. In addition, all of experiments revealed dose-dependent and also time-dependent scolicidal effect of various extracts of N. sativa on the protoscoleces of hydatid cyst. Conclusion: The results of the present study demonstrated that N. sativa may be a natural source for the production of new scolicidal agent for use in hydatid cyst surgery. However, further studies will be required to evaluate scolicidal effects of N. sativa in the in vivo model

Scolicidal effects of black cumin seed (Nigella sativa) essential oil on hydatid cysts

Abstract: Surgery remains the preferred treatment for hydatid cyst (cystic echinococcosis, CE). Various scolicidal agents have been used for inactivation of protoscolices during surgery, but most of them are associated with adverse side effects. The present study aimed to evaluate the in vitro scolicidal effect of Nigella sativa (Ranunculaceae) essential oil and also its active principle, thymoquinone, against protoscolices of hydatid cysts. Protoscolices were aseptically aspirated from sheep livers having hydatid cysts. Various concentrations of the essential oil (0.01-10 mg/ml) and thymoquinone (0.125-1.0 mg/ml) were used for 5 to 60 min. Viability of protoscolices was confirmed by 0.1% eosin staining. Furthermore, the components of the N. sativa essential oil were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS). Our study revealed that the essential oil of N. sativa at the concentration of 10 mg/ml and its main component, thymoquinone, at the concentration of 1 mg/ml had potent scolicidal activities against protoscolices of Echinococcus granulosus after 10 min exposure. Moreover, thymoquinone (42.4%), p-cymene (14.1%), carvacrol (10.3%), and longifolene (6.1%) were found to be the major components of N. sativa essential oil by GC/MS analysis. The results of this study indicated the potential of N. sativa as a natural source for production of a new scolicidal agent for use in hydatid cyst surgery. However, further studies will be needed to confirm these results by checking the essential oil and its active component in in vivo models

Efficacy of Myrtus communis L. to inactivate the hydatid cyst protoscoleces

Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the scolicidal effects of Myrtus communis L. essential oil against protoscoleces of hydatid cysts and also its toxicity in mice model. Materials and Methods: Protoscoleces were aseptically aspirated from sheep livers having hydatid cysts. Various concentrations of the essential oil (12.5–100 μl/ml) were used for 5–30 min. Viability of protoscoleces was confirmed using eosin exclusion test (0.1% eosin staining). Moreover, 48 male NMRI mice were used to determine the acute and sub-acute toxicity of M. communis essential oil. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test was used to assess differences between experimental groups. Results: Findings of the present study demonstrated that the M. communis essential oil at the concentration of 100 μl/ml after 5 min of exposure killed 100% protoscoleces. Similarly, the mean mortality rate of protoscoleces after 10 min of exposure to concentration of 50 μl/ml was 100%. However, lower concentrations (12.5 and 25 μl/ml) of M. communis essential oil provoked a delayed protoscolicidal effects. The LD50 values of intraperitoneal injection of the M. communis essential oil was 2.23 mL/kg body wt. No significant difference (p > .05) was observed in the clinical chemistry and hematological parameters following oral administrations of M. communis essential oil at the doses 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 mL/kg for 14 days. Conclusion: The results showed potent scolicidal activity of M. communis with no significant toxicity, which might be used as a natural scolicidal agent in hydatid cyst surgery

Chemical composition and scolicidal activity of Zataria multiflora Boiss essential oil

Zataria multiflora Boiss (Lamiaceae) commonly grows in Iran is a popular medicinal plant with various pharmacological activities mentioned in traditional Iranian medicine and modern phytotherapy. This study was designed to evaluate the chemical composition and scolicidal effects of Z. multiflora essential oil on the protoscoleces of hydatid cysts on an in vitro model. The components of the Z. multiflora essential oil were identified by GC/MS analysis. Protoscoleces were aseptically aspirated from the livers of naturally infected sheep. Various concentrations of essential oil, thymol and carvacrol were used for 5–30 minutes. Eosin exclusion test was used to determine the viability of protoscoleces. The main components were thymol (41.8%), carvacrol (28.8%), and p-cymene (8.4%). Findings showed that essential oil at the concentrations of 12.5 and 6.25 μL/mL killed 100% protoscoleces after 5 and 20 minutes of exposure, respectively. In addition, thymol and carvacrol at the concentrations of 100 μg/mL and 100 μL/mL killed 100% protoscoleces after 10 minutes incubation, respectively. Obtained results in this investigation for the first time demonstrated that Z. multiflora essential oil and its main components might be a natural source for the production of new scolicidal agent

Patients' and Physicians' Viewpoints on Interns' Professional Outfit: A Survey in an Iranian Teaching Hospital

Background: A person’s appearance and his/her adherence to the dress code standards are essential in the medical profession. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate patients’ and physicians’ viewpoints on interns’ professional outfits. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, with the participation of patients and physicians of general departments in a teaching hospital of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2018. The patients and physicians were selected through convenience and census method, respectively. To examine the participants’ perspectives on the professional dressing, six schematic images, three for males (1, 2, 3) and three for females (A, B, C) were designed. Data were collected through a structured interview in this way, the schematic images were displayed to the participants and they were asked to express their perspective using a series of questions. Data analyzed using SPSS version20. Results: Totally, 381 patients and 34 physicians participated. The majority of the Participants preferred the professional outfit A for female interns and the professional outfit 1for male interns in response to questions regarding the knowledge, responsibility, patient-care, hygiene, reliability of diagnosis and treatment of diseases, giving emergency consultations, the possibility for discussing sexual and psychiatric problems, as well as life problems. The physicians and patients had the same perspective except for the item about knowledge. (P<0.05). Conclusion: Our study shows that the outfits of physicians were considered by the participants in forming an effective relationship between the doctor and the patient, and the amount of patients' trust.Therefore, training interns for dressing professionally and complying with the necessary standards should be considered. Keywords: Professional Outfits, Hospitals, Physicians, Patients, Professio