Effects of probiotic (live and inactive Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on meat and intestinal microbial properties of Japanese quails

The present work evaluated the effect of probiotic (live and inactive Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on meat and intestinal microbial properties of Japanese quails. Twenty-four (24) 1-day-old Japanese quails were obtained from a commercial hatchery. The birds were randomly divided into 2 groups. The dietary treatments were: 1) basal diet (control), 2) basal diet plus 0.1% live S. cerevisiae and 0.05% inactive S. cerevisiae. The Japanese quails were fed with the diets from day 1 to day 72. At the end of the experiment, 12 Japanese quails per experimental group were slaughtered, and meat and intestinal samples were taken. Collected meat and intestinal samples were transported at 4°C to the laboratory of food hygiene in Islamic Azad University, Tabriz branch. In this study, each sample of 25 g was prepared according to the standard methods of Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran; No: 356, 1810, 2197, 2946, 1194 and 437 for preparation, culture and detection of bacterial total count, Lactobacilli bacteria, Coliforms bacteria, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus sp. According to the results of effects of probiotic (active and inactive S. cerevisiae) on intestinal and meat microbial properties of Japanese quails, in the probiotic cases, a significant reduction in the properties of total bacterial count (p = 0.007), Streptococcus sp. (p = 0.046), Coliform (p = 0.041) and Lactobacillus (p = 0.032) in intestinal microbial properties and only significant reduction on properties of total bacterial count was observed (p = 0.01). Probiotics may help in reducing the microbial properties of meat and intestine, and the present study had provided evidences that supplementation of probiotics in the diet of Japanese quails had a significant effect on microbial properties reduction, especially on intestinal microbial flora.Keywords: Probiotic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, microbial properties, Japanese quail

Assessment of peppermint, clove, cumin essential oils and silver nano particles on biochemical and shelf life of Citrus limon (L.)

Natural and chemical compounds are used to increase the biochemical and shelf life of citrus fruits. The effect of nano silver particles and three essential oils: peppermint, carnation, cumin, were investigated on morphological, biochemical and shelf life of the lemon fruit. The first factor consisted of 13 different substances and the second factor was three the level of storage periods (zero, one, and two months after harvest). The results showed that the treatments significantly affected the fruit weight, diameter, length, decay percentage, total soluble solids, vitamin C, electrolyte leakage and titratable acidity. Peppermint essential oil showed a 70% reduction of decay percentage compared to with the control. Five percent of nano silver and 500 µL/L of clove essential oil maintained better fruit quality than control. Although the effects of silver nano-particle were significant, considering the environmental concerns we recommend using plant essential oils to prolong the postharvest shelf life of lemon fruits

Assessment of peppermint, clove, cumin essential oils and silver nano particles on biochemical and shelf life of <em>Citrus limon</em> (L.)

269-275Natural and chemical compounds are used to increase the biochemical and shelf life of citrus fruits. The effect of nano silver particles and three essential oils: peppermint, carnation, cumin, were investigated on morphological, biochemical and shelf life of the lemon fruit. The first factor consisted of 13 different substances and the second factor was three the level of storage periods (zero, one, and two months after harvest). The results showed that the treatments significantly affected the fruit weight, diameter, length, decay percentage, total soluble solids, vitamin C, electrolyte leakage and titratable acidity. Peppermint essential oil showed a 70% reduction of decay percentage compared to with the control. Five percent of nano silver and 500 µL/L of clove essential oil maintained better fruit quality than control. Although the effects of silver nano-particle were significant, considering the environmental concerns we recommend using plant essential oils to prolong the postharvest shelf life of lemon fruits

Diagenetic factors controlling reservoir quality in the Faraghan Formation (Lower Permian), Darang Field, Southern Iran

The role of diagenesis in affecting (reduction or enhancement) reservoir quality in the Faraghan Formation in Darang #1 well was investigated. The Faraghan Formation is mainly composed of sandstone facies along with minor mudstone and siltstone and grades upward into mixed carbonate –siliciclastic facies and then to Dalan Formation carbonates. Depositional environment of this formation comprises various sub-environments of a delta setting in the lower part of the formation which grades upward into a shallow marine clastic environment in the upper part. The processes enhancing reservoir quality include dissolution of carbonate grains and cements and alteration of feldspar grains. Burial history diagram shows that after deposition during Lower Permain, the formation underwent a rapid burial up to 1000 meters below sea level in Upper Permian. Then a slight uplift (about 100 meters) and gradual burial followed up to Mid- Jurassic. Afterwards the formation experienced a series of rapid and moderate uplift from Mid-Jurassic to Tertiary when the formation uplifted to around 2500 meters above sea level. The suitable conditions resulting in dissolution took place in shallow buried sandstones. These conditions occurred two times during burial history: at the early stages of eodiagenesis and during telodiagenesis. The major processes deteriorating reservoir quality include compaction and cementation. Major cement types include carbonate cements (dolomite, siderite), clay cements (kaolinite, sericite, chlorite), silica cement and pyrite cement. The most abundant cement is the carbonate cement especially dolomite. The dolomite cement occurs as intergranular and poikilotopic forms. The most frequent clay cement is sericite which dominates in sitstones and lithicarenites. Silica cement, where present, fills all the pore spaces. The least frequent cement type is pyrite which is found in two forms of poikilotopic and framboidal. Where it is found in the form of poikilotopic cement, it massively fills the pore spaces and deteriorates the porosity and permeability of the sandstones

Highly Selective Detection of Titanium (III) in Industrial Waste Water Samples Using Meso-octamethylcalix[4]pyrrole-Doped PVC Membrane Ion-Selective Electrode

A novel Ti3+ selective membrane electrode based on meso-octamethylcalix[4]pyrrole (OMCP) as an ionophore was successfully fabricated. The developed sensor revealed high selectivity towards Ti3+ ion over alkali, alkaline earth and transition metal cations. Among all of the membranes examined, the membrane with a composition of 4:33:62.8:0.2 mg of I:PVC:DOP:NaTFPB showed the best Nernstian slope of 29.49 � 0.16 (mV per decade of activity) over the pH range from 1 to 3 with a satisfactory concentration range of 1.0 �10�6 M to 1.0 �10�2 M and detection limit of 8.0 �10�7 M. The effects of various parameters such as composition of the membrane, different cation interferences and concentration of internal solution were investigated. The developed sensor exhibited a good reproducibility over a useful life time of about 3 months with a fast response time of 25 seconds. It demonstrated good analytical performance for accurate determination of Ti3+ trace amount in the presence of considerable concentration of common interfering ions. The fabricated sensor was used successfully as an indicator electrode for potentiometric titration of a titanium solution with EDTA and moreover it applied for direct determination of Ti3+ content of industrial waste water samples. The obtained results from optimized membranes were evaluated by comparing them with the data received from instrumental methods such as UV–Vis, AAS, ICP and SEM. By using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, several special adsorption sites of TiOH2+ close to OMCP are fully optimized and the best one selected. Furthermore, NBO and QTAIM analysis carried out to study the bonding strength in formed complex and deep understanding of the nature of interaction between TiOH2+ and OMC

Organizational Cynicism of the Nurses: A Phenomenological Study

Introduction: Organizational cynicism, as newly conceived concept of staff-manager relations, and as one of the most important attitudes of employees, has recently received considerable attention from many researchers and managers. Provided that pessimistic feelings grow among nurses with respect to the hospital they serve, their workplace suffers severe damages and hardships which lead to a substantial decline in its performances. Given the key role of nurses as valuable human resources in providing services to people, the main purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses about organizational cynicism. Method: This was a qualitative research, with phenomenological approach. The participatns were selected from nurses employed in public hospitals of North Khorasan Province, Iran. Purposive sampling was used to select 19 participants. In-depth semi-structured interviews were the date collection method. In addition, data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s method. Results: The results of this study revealed 3 main themes including cognitive factors (disrespecting the nurses, injustice, hypocrisy, unexceptionable environment, nepotism, violation of the psychological contract, and incompetent authorities of the hospital), feeling factors (hospital politicization, lack of social means, and feeling an imposed forced labor on nurses), and behavior factors (not recommending the nursing profession to the others, no tendency to an early retirement, no desire to see the progress of others, criticizing and not accompanying the management decisions, and allowing to personally utilize the hospital’s facilities). Conclusion: The findings indicate that preventing the nepotisme, organizational justice, respecting nurses, and reducing political games of the hospital have a significant impact on the reduction of organizational cynicism among the nurses. As a result, the emphasis on aspects of procedural, interactional, and interactive justice could reduce organizational cynicism of nurses. On the other hand, reverence and respect for nurses will have a significant effect on reduction of organizational cynicism. Therefore, having nurses incentivized in different events, it is possible to mitigate their organizational cynicism feelings. Keywords: Nurses, Organizational culture, Qualitative researc

Effect of vitamin supplementation on serum oxidized low-density lipoprotein levels in male subjects with cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Objective(s):Oxidized low-density lipoproteins (ox-LDLs) appear to play a significant role in atherogenesis. In fact, circulating ox-LDL concentrations have been recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The main objectives of this study were to assess the effects of antioxidant vitamins on ox-LDL as a biomarker of CVD in male subjects with CVD risk factors. Materials and Methods:The effect of antioxidant vitamins on ox-LDL as a biomarker of CVD in male subjects with CVD in male subjects with CVD risk factors at baseline and after 12 weeks of supplementation with vitamin E (400 IU), C (500 mg), ß-carotene (15 mg), and the combined supplements (E, C, and ß-carotene) respectively defined as group E, C, B and control group was considered as group P. Results:The mean values for ox-LDL at the baseline were 86.93 ± 26.30 U/l in group C, 94.52 ± 38.40 U/l in group E, 79.73±2.07 U/l in group B, 85.97±23.07 U/l in combined group, and 84.90± 14.66 U/l in group P. After 12 weeks of intervention the percentage of changes for group C, group E, group B, COM group, and group P were (-18.32), (-2286), (-17.31), (-19.01) and (-2.0), respectively. Using Wilcoxon method, significant differences were detected in the mean ox-LDL concentrations of baseline and after intervention, values in the C, E, B and combined groups (P< 005). Conclusion:This study illustrated that diet supplemented with vitamin C (500 mg), vitamin E (400 IU), ß-carotene (15 mg), and the combination of these vitamins was associated with lower serum ox-LDL levels