Concentration of Particulate Matter below 10 and 2.5 Micron in air of Shiraz, Iran

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, particulate matter is the most important air pollutant in large cities around the world, released from many sources into the air. Since one of the main causes of air pollution in Shiraz is also particulate matter, monitoring the particles is necessary to develop control programs; therefore the aim of this study was to measure the concentration of particulate matter less than 10 and 2.5micron in air of Shiraz and compare same with EPA and National Standards. In this study, 45 stations were selected and sampling was performed in mornings and afternoons using Dust trak device. So during three sampling months (June, July and August), 90 samples for PM2.5 (45 in morningd and 45 in afternoons) and 90 samples for PM10 (45 in mornings and 45 in afternoons) and a total of 180 samples were taken. During the sampling for PM10, July with an average of 17.1μg/m3 was the spottiest month and August with an average of 13μg/m3 was the cleanest month. Also for PM2.5, July with an average of 11μg/m3 was the spottiest month and August with an average of 8.67μg/m3 was the cleanest month. Results showed that the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 was less than standards in most cases.Keywords: Air pollution, Standards, Particulate matte

Economic importance and GIS mapping of medicinal plants in Iran: A Case study of Darkesh

Iran with a wide diversity of wild medicinal plants (8,000 Medicinal plants) is increasingly becoming a valuable source of household income for many rural people. We showed that economic potential of the wild medicinal plant and their contribution to the local people’s livelihoods. This study identified the economic importance of medicinal plants and evaluated with Geographical Information System (GIS) tool to develop spatial maps covering medicinal plants prevalent in Darkesh area, Northern Khorasan, Iran. Then provide the coordinates of the identified area as your results. 10 medicinal plants belonging to 4 families were collected and its geographical distribution is illustrated in the GIS map. More than 50 species were collected and 10 species being the most frequently collected in this area. Most plants were collected in the form of whole plant. It was estimated that at least 18.000 USD are being annually traded in study area, the 10 species most frequently collected contributing most of the retail value. Results from this study indicate that the collection of certain medicinal plants could be increased livelihood for edge community of natural resources. Also, the geographical location of medicinal plants facilitates easy access of medicinal plant's natural habitat and would help to find out potential of medicinal plants in the study area.Keywords: Medicinal plants, Geographical distribution, GIS Mapping, Darkesh, Ira

Estimating the carrying capacity of tourism and the necessity of forest stands management (Case study: Darkesh forest, North Khorasan, Iran)

This study focuses on the carrying capacity estimation for Darkesh forest in Northeast Iran. Four factors were used for estimating the carrying capacity including tourist flows, size of the area, optimum space available for each tourist, and visiting time. Results showed that the physical carrying capacity was 2727 ha or 165 visitors day-1, while the real carrying capacity was 2719 ha or 132 visitors day-1. An average of 200 tourists per day visited the park during 2015, which was much higher than the estimated carrying capacity. Development of recreational uses in the study area would also affect the forest production and other benefits in long term. This study suggested that to prevent intense use of the forest area, a plan must be developed. On the other hand, the number of visitors has to be precisely calculated in order to maintain healthy forest stands and to secure the ecological benefits for future generations

Pluripotent Stem Cells: chapter 26, Stem Cells in Tissue Engineering

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Alginate/cartilage extracellular matrix-based injectable interpenetrating polymer network hydrogel for cartilage tissue engineering

The authors are also grateful to Dr Zabihollah Hasanzadeh for providing cartilage tissue, Ghaffari Chemical Industries for the technical support, and Mojtaba Khozaee for isolating chondrocyte cells from the human articular cartilage specimens. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Sharif University of Technology (grant number G950103).In the present study, alginate/cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM)-based injectable hydrogel was developed incorporated with silk fibroin nanofibers (SFN) for cartilage tissue engineering. The in situ forming hydrogels were composed of different ionic crosslinked alginate concentrations with 1% w/v enzymatically crosslinked phenolized cartilage ECM, resulting in an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN). The response surface methodology (RSM) approach was applied to optimize IPN hydrogel's mechanical properties by varying alginate and SFN concentrations. The results demonstrated that upon increasing the alginate concentration, the compression modulus improved. The SFN concentration was optimized to reach a desired mechanical stiffness. Accordingly, the concentrations of alginate and SFN to have an optimum compression modulus in the hydrogel were found to be 1.685 and 1.724% w/v, respectively. The gelation time was found to be about 10 s for all the samples. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed homogeneous dispersion of the SFN in the hydrogel, mimicking the natural cartilage environment. Furthermore, water uptake capacity, degradation rate, cell cytotoxicity, and glycosaminoglycan and collagen II secretions were determined for the optimum hydrogel to support its potential as an injectable scaffold for articular cartilage defects.Peer reviewe

Sustainable forest management through floristic study (Case study: Darkesh Forest, Northern Khorasan Province, Iran)

Floristic study of plants in each site is one the most important role in keeping natural resources of each country. Plant species were collected from field sites that representing major habitats of study area. Surveys were managed during active growth periods in 2013 and 2014. A total of 140 medicinal plant species were documented. These species were scattered in 39 families and 116 genera. Families of Lamiaceae with 26 species, Asteraceae with 21 species and Rosaceae with 13 species were the most dominant families of medicinal plants in the study area. Hemicryphtophytes with 40%, therophytes with 18.4%, geophytes with 14.25%, phanerophytes with 13.57% and chamaephytes with 6.42%. The phyto-geographically of the medicinal plant showed that these species belonging to the regions of Irano-Turanian, Euro-Siberian and Mediterranean. The results of the present study showed that medicinal plants and wild fruit as Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) documented in this study, play an important role in the rural community welfare and sustainable forest management