Hypersaline Lake Urmia: a potential hotspot for microbial genomic variation

Lake Urmia located in Iran is a hypersaline environment with a salinity of about 27% (w/v). Metagenomic analyses of water samples collected from six locations in the lake exhibited a microbial community dominated by representatives of the family Haloferacaceae (69.8%), mainly those affiliated to only two genera, Haloquadratum (59.3%) and Halonotius (9.1%). Similar to other hypersaline lakes, the bacterial community was dominated by Salinibacter ruber (23.3%). Genomic variation analysis by inspecting single nucleotide variations (SNVs) and insertions/deletions (INDELs) exhibited a high level of SNVs and insertions, most likely through transformation for abundant taxa in the Lake Urmia community. We suggest that the extreme conditions of Lake Urmia and specifically its high ionic concentrations could potentially increase the SNVs and insertions, which can consequently hamper the assembly and genome reconstruction from metagenomic reads of Lake Urmia

Competitive Advantages of Indigenous Rural Entrepreneurship in Iran (Case Study: South of Lorestan Province)

AbstractBackground: Rural indigenous entrepreneurship is one of the recent research areas to show that is incompatible with some of the main assumptions of classic (Western) entrepreneurship. In Iran- including in the southern province of Lorestan- which has a rich cultural heritage and indigenous people, so far the issue of native rural entrepreneurship and its advantages have not been addressed.Objective: The purpose of the present study is to investigate the benefits of native rural entrepreneurship.Research Method: The present study is applied in terms of the purpose. Based on the nature and method, it is a descriptive study. The methods of collecting the data were through using library sources and questionnaires. The Johanson test was used to examine the most important areas, advantages, and competitive opportunities for native rural entrepreneurship.Findings: The results of field studies showed that according to the concept of indigenous entrepreneurship, 20 indigenous rural entrepreneurs were identified in Lorestan province, which were different from classical entrepreneurship. This type of entrepreneurship was created in connection with native culture, rural and local resources, and the native knowledge of the region. Investigating the benefits of native rural entrepreneurship led to the identification of 5 general categories: 1) the benefits of launching and implementing native rural entrepreneurship, 2) economic benefits, 3) cultural benefits, 4) social benefits, and 5) environmental benefits.Keywords: Indigenous Rural Entrepreneurship, Classical Rural Entrepreneurship, Competitive Advantages, Southern Lorestan Province. IntroductionThere are various types of native rural activities, native agriculture, aquaculture, native tourism, artistic and cultural industries (rugs, carpets, basket production and home decorations), and eco-tourism camps, etc. in the rural areas of Lorestan province as the study area of this research. They are all related to local and environmental resources, the culture and values of Lor people, and the native/local knowledge of villagers. Meanwhile, the Lorestan province has a long history (the discovery of the world's first intelligent human in this province), it has an ancient cultural and traditional background, and various native tribes of Lor (Lor, Lak, Bakhtiari, Lor Minjaei and Talasi) have natural reserves and pristine and untouched cultural and artistic resources, which can be a model and a tool for the economic progress of indigenous rural communities in this province. One way to develop indigenous entrepreneurship in rural areas is to introduce this type of entrepreneurship and provide its benefits. Therefore, in this study, the advantages of indigenous rural entrepreneurship in Lorestan province are presented. Materials and MethodsThe present applied study is descriptive in nature. The methods of collecting the data were using library sources and questionnaires. Internet was also used to collect the data on approaches, theoretical foundations, various research variables, competitive advantages of native rural entrepreneurship, and research background. Research FindingsThe results of field studies showed that according to the concept of indigenous entrepreneurship, 20 indigenous rural entrepreneurs were identified in Lorestan province, which were different from classical entrepreneurship. This type of entrepreneurship was created in connection with native culture, rural and local resources, and the native knowledge of the region. In terms of capital, indigenous entrepreneurship was created with personal capital, individual ownership, and based on the family workforce. The results of the research on the advantages of native rural entrepreneurship led to the identification of 5 general categories and 38 micro advantages. On this basis, the most important advantages are: 1) the advantages of launching and implementation, including small-scale and easy-to-set aspects, 2) Economic advantages including the need for low capital and the usability of local raw materials, low risk but profitable and providing a hybrid economy (agriculture, tourism, and handicrafts) for the villagers, 3) Cultural advantages including the use of traditional knowledge and transfer to the next generation, cultural values as a product (art and crafts) and the use of indigenous culture (ceremonies and dances, music and songs) and kinship relationships, 4) Social advantages including increasing social participation as an essential element in creating entrepreneurship, considering the benefit of the society and the family, and 5) Environmental advantages including preserving the environment by maintaining native business foundations (land, forest, pasture, etc.), using native land and via sustainable methods as a business (aquaculture, handicrafts, and tourism). Discussion of Results and ConclusionsIndigenous rural entrepreneurship is the creation, management, and development of new investments by native people for the benefit of the natives themselves. This type of entrepreneurship is created by local entrepreneurs under the influence of local culture and natural environment resources. In Lorestan province, indigenous rural entrepreneurship emphasizes elements such as the use of indigenous resources, cultural values, collective benefit, personal capital, and kinship/family ties. This type of entrepreneurship, due to its small scale and easy start-up aspects, low capital requirements, dependence on native and local culture with its economic and non-economic goals, can be used as an emerging economic driver through the creation of employment, profit and income, preserving livelihood, native culture, and the environment, and contributing to the growth and development of rural areas and sustainable rural development. On the other hand, given that rural native entrepreneurship differs from classical Western entrepreneurship, their goals were different. The competitive advantages of rural native entrepreneurship over classical entrepreneurship are also different. Understanding these advantages can be a stimulus to encourage rural natives to create native rural entrepreneurship

Evaluation of L-carnitine in an animal model of cholesterol induced atherosclerosis

Purpose: To explore the effect of L-carnitine on atherosclerotic plaques in hyperlipidemic rabbits. Methods: Twenty five male white New Zealand rabbits were randomized into five groups (n = 5): In the normal control (NC) group, the animals were fed on a plain chow diet for 75 days. In atherosclerosis (AS) group, the animals were fed on a hypercholesterolemic diet for 75 days. In atorvastatin (ATOR) group, the animals were fed on a hypercholesterolemic diet for 75 days and received atorvastatin via oral gavage (20 mg/kg/day) from day 45 for 30 days. In L-carnitine (L) group, the animals were fed on a hypercholesterolemic diet for 75 days and received intraperitoneal L-carnitine (250 mg/kg/day) from day 45 for 30 days (end of the study). In ATOR/L group, the animals were fed on a hypercholesterolemic diet for 75 days, and received both atorvastatin and L-carnitine with the aforementioned dosage from day 45 for 30 days. Triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL-C) in sera were determined. The aorta, including the ascending and descending parts, was excised to measure plague size (end of the study). The blood samples were taken from a marginal ear vein. Results: Rabbits in AS group showed highly significant increase in serum total cholesterol and LDL-C levels compared to NC group (p < 0.05). Daily administration of L-carnitine significantly reduced serum levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C compared to AS (positive control) group (p < 0.05). Additionally, no significant difference was found between serum levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C in groups that received either atorvastatin or L-carnitine (p > 0.05). Combined administration of L-carnitine and atorvastatin produced no benefits over either of them alone (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The results indicate that the administration of L-carnitine has anti-atherosclerotic effects by reducing oxidized LDL cholesterol levels but further investigations are recommended to ascertain these findings

Knowledge and attitude of medical interns about doping and its regulations

Objective: Doping is known as an important public health problem. Prominent sports events can be blemished due to doping. The role of general practitioners as an important part of the health system in the prevention of doping is obvious. Previous studies have shown they have been presumed themselves ill-prepared in dealing with this topic. This study set out to investigate the amount of knowledge and attitude among medical interns toward doping. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 medical interns in Taleghani hospital, Tehran, Iran Subjects were asked to complete a 35-item questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: demographic data, status of physical activity, knowledge, and attitude. Knowledge was measured by questions regarding identifying prohibited drugs, adverse effects of banned drugs, WADA as an original source of published list of prohibited drugs, and regulations related to anti-doping rules violation. The attitude was measured based on a 5-point Likert scale. The more negative attitude toward doping was shown by higher scores. Results: The mean age was 25.39+/-1.43. Only 8% of students were familiar with WADA as an original source of doping. Approximately 90% of students were not aware of sanctions of anti-doping rules infraction. 65%, 33% and 2% of our subjects had poor, good and very good knowledge respectively. The mean score of attitude was 19.68+/-2.88. Conclusion: Our findings revealed, the senior medical students had negative attitudes toward doping and also their level of knowledge was poor in this regard. &nbsp

Genotyping-by-sequencing reveals the impact of restocking on wild common carp populations of the southern Caspian basin

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Determination of S-alleles in Iranian sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) using consensus primers

Sour cherry is a tetraploid species, and gametophytic self-incompatibility (SI) operates in this species in the same way as in other stone fruit trees. However, while self-compatibility is most common in sour cherry and self-compatibility (SC) genotypes are rarely found, both SI and self-compatible (SC) types are selected in sour cherry. In this work, S-alleles have been identified for 70 sour cherry accessions and cultivars from the Shabestar regions of Iran, with S-genotypes of 68 cultivars identified for the first time. To identify the S-alleles, PCR-based methods were used. The amplification of the different alleles using combinations of the four forward primers (PaConsI-F, PruC2, PaConsII-F, EM-PC2consFD) and the five reverse primers (PruC4R, PCE-R, PaConsI-Rnew, PaConsII-R, EM-PC5consRD) revealed that they were the most useful for the identification of the sour cherry alleles. Nine known S-haplotypes (S6, S4, S9, S6m, S6m2, S24, S26, S35, S36a) were identified. In our study, alleles S6, S9, and S6m2 had a high frequency. It was shown that the consensus primers can be used to detect incompatibility alleles in sour cherry accessions. Our study has proved that the diversity of S alleles between the studied accessions was low, indicating low genetic diversity, which could also be due to the selection of superior genotypes by farmers

Diversity of morpho-physicochemical traits in Iranian sour cherry genotypes using multivariate analysis

In this study, morpho-physicochemical characterization of sour cherry genotypes from Iran was investigated. Thirty-four morphological and eight physicochemical traits were recorded. Sour cherry genotypes had a high variability in traits related to fruit characters such as fruit weight, stone volume, total anthocyanin content and total soluble solid. As a result, sour cherry genotypes exhibit total phenolic content and antioxidant activity higher than “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo” cultivars. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that leaf dimensions, fruit weight, stone weight, and stone volume could be sufficient for the identification of genotypes. Hierarchical cluster analysis classified sour cherry genotypes and “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo” cultivars into two main clusters. The first cluster was characterized by a upright tree vigour, depressed fruit pistil end, reniform shape of fruit, high sweetness, dark red juice, flower high length and diameter, fruit and stone weight and length and diameter, total soluble solid, low total phenolic content, high total flavonoid content and high total anthocyanin content

Integration of morphometrics and machine learning enables accurate distinction between wild and farmed common carp

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Genome-resolved analyses show an extensive diversification in key aerobic hydrocarbon-degrading enzymes across bacteria and archaea

Background Hydrocarbons (HCs) are organic compounds composed solely of carbon and hydrogen that are mainly accumulated in oil reservoirs. As the introduction of all classes of hydrocarbons including crude oil and oil products into the environment has increased significantly, oil pollution has become a global ecological problem. However, our perception of pathways for biotic degradation of major HCs and key enzymes in these bioconversion processes has mainly been based on cultured microbes and is biased by uneven taxonomic representation. Here we used Annotree to provide a gene-centric view of the aerobic degradation ability of aliphatic and aromatic HCs in 23,446 genomes from 123 bacterial and 14 archaeal phyla. Results Apart from the widespread genetic potential for HC degradation in Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, Bacteroidota, and Firmicutes, genomes from an additional 18 bacterial and 3 archaeal phyla also hosted key HC degrading enzymes. Among these, such degradation potential has not been previously reported for representatives in the phyla UBA8248, Tectomicrobia, SAR324, and Eremiobacterota. Genomes containing whole pathways for complete degradation of HCs were only detected in Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota. Except for several members of Crenarchaeota, Halobacterota, and Nanoarchaeota that have tmoA, ladA, and alkB/M key genes, respectively, representatives of archaeal genomes made a small contribution to HC degradation. None of the screened archaeal genomes coded for complete HC degradation pathways studied here; however, they contribute significantly to peripheral routes of HC degradation with bacteria. Conclusion Phylogeny reconstruction showed that the reservoir of key aerobic hydrocarbon-degrading enzymes in Bacteria and Archaea undergoes extensive diversification via gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer. This diversification could potentially enable microbes to rapidly adapt to novel and manufactured HCs that reach the environment

Comparison of myocardial perfusion between the users of two antiepileptic medications: valproate vs. carbamazepine

Objective(s): The prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) is high in patients with epilepsy using antiepileptic drugs (AED). Epilepsy, AED, or the type and duration of AED use , may contribute to higher CAD risk.In this study, myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) was compared between patients using carbamazepine and valproate.Method: Out of 73 patients receiving carbamazepine or valproate monotherapy for more than 2 years, visited at a tertiary referral clinic, 32 patients participated in a 2-day stress and rest phases MPI. For each phase, 15-25 mCi 99mTc-MIBI was injected, at peak exercise or by pharmacologic stimulation for the stress phase. SPECT with cardiac gating was done by a dual-head gamma camera and processed and quantified. Scans with at least one definite reversible hypo-perfusion segment were considered abnormal.Results: Seventeen patients received carbamazepine monotherapy and 15 valproates. Age and duration of AED use were similar between the groups. Two scans were abnormal (6.3%) both in valproate group (13.3%). Duration of AED use was higher in patients with abnormal scans. In patients receiving monotherapy >2 years, the frequency of abnormal MPI was similar between groups (P-value=0.12).  In patients receiving monotherapy > 5 years, prevalence of abnormal MPI was higher in the valproate group (28.6% vs. 0.0%; P-value=0.042). Considering valproate subgroup, ischemic patients had higher duration of AED use, comparing with the normal patients (17.0±4.2 vs. 6.4±4.8, P-value=0.014).Conclusion: MPIs were abnormal in patients receiving valproate after 5 years compared to patients receiving carbamazepine. Long-term valproate use may increase the risk of CAD