The Journey of Stars in Islamic Art A Critique on the Book Following the Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art

This text tries to criticize and analyze the book entitled “in following stars” and introduce it to individuals who are interested in the Islamic art field while it indicates the values and deficiencies of the book. The current work which is a booklet about the reflection of constellations in Islamic artworks has a valuable and significant title that is a very important subject in the studies of Islamic art. A subject that became artists’ concerns in the middle centuries of Islam and had allocated a huge mass of artistic motifs to itself. This book emphasizes the science of astronomy or astrology and in line with this so-called scientific process, has considered and analyzed motifs of twenty artistic objects that are kept in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. In this paper, to evaluate, approve, and correct the author's viewpoints, other researchers’ writings have been mentioned and used to supplement another point of view. Although the book has concept deficiencies and shortcomings, it has a novel and interesting subject and will be useful and desirable for researchers in the field of Islamic art

The Effect of Animal Manure and Humic Acid on Some Physiological Traits of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Under Irrigation Water Salinity Conditions

Introduction Salinity stress is an important abiotic stress threatening the production of cotton in arid and semi-arid regions of the country and the world, which can be reduced by the proper use of organic materials. Cotton is the most important fiber product, which is widely cultivated for agricultural and industrial purposes in temperate and hot regions of more than 15 countries of the world. Although cotton is known as a salinity-tolerant plant, not only is the resistance to salinity limited in this plant, but different stages of development also show different reactions to salinity. One of the effects of stress is disturbing the nutritional balance in the plant. Proper nutrition during times of stress can partially help the plant deal with various environmental stresses. In this regard, by using fertilizers containing micronutrient elements, firstly, plant yield increases, secondly, increasing the concentration of these elements in agricultural products plays an important role in improving the quality of food consumption. Using organic fertilizers, especially organic and animal manure such as humic acid, can improve the performance and performance components of different products under stress conditions.  Materials and Methods To study the effect of manure and humic acid on some of the physiological qualities of cotton under salt water salinity stress, an experiment was conducted as factorial split plots (factorial split plot) in which different levels of irrigation water salinity at three levels (2.5, 5.5 and 8.5 ds.m-1) as the main factor and two treatments of manure at two levels (0 and 20 t/h) and humic acid at two levels (0 and 200 gr/100 kg of seeds) as sub-factor in 4 replications in a farm located in Boshrouyeh city in 1398 years. The software SAS (V9.1) and Excel were used to analyze the data and draw the figures. Means were compared using the FLSD test at a 5% probability level. Results and Discussion Analysis of variance results showed that the simple effects of three experimental factors (salinity stress, manure, and humic acid) were significant on all studied traits (on the relative water content, Electrical conductivity and membrane stability, chlorophyll a and b contents, and proline content). With increasing salinity level, increased proline content (286.5%), membrane Electrical conductivity (4.2%) and carotenoids (88.79%) and decreased chlorophyll a (20.7 1 %) and b content (39.38%), relative water content (23.16%) and membrane stability (13.54%). The application of animal manure and humic acid increased the relative water content, membrane stability and chlorophyll content under stress conditions, which indicates the modifying effect of these fertilizers in reducing the adverse effects of salinity stress. The interaction effects were significant, too. Conclusion The results of this research showed that the use of water with high salinity, such as salinity of 8 ds.m-1, caused significant changes in the physiological traits of the plant, including relative leaf water content, membrane stability, membrane electrolyte leakage, chlorophylls, and proline. With increasing salinity levels, the amount of proline, membrane electrolyte leakage, and carotenoid increased, and the content of chlorophyll a and b, relative water content, and membrane stability decreased. The application of animal manure and humic acid increased the relative water content, membrane stability, and chlorophyll content under stress conditions, which indicates the moderating effect of these fertilizers in reducing the adverse effects of salinity stress. Considering the positive effects of using organic fertilizers in this experiment, it is recommended to test and investigate the use of humic acid during the growing season in addition to the use of animal manure before planting and the use of humic acid in bulk Thus, it is suggested to use humic acid and animal manure in cotton cultivation to adjust the salinity levels

Evaluation of forage maize yield and soil organic matter content under green manure cultivation

To investigate the effect of different green manures from Gramineae and Brassicaceae families on yield, some agronomic traits of forage maize, overgrowth with weeds and soil organic matter, an experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications for three consecutive years (2017-2020) at the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Centre of Southern Khorasan. Experimental treatments included control (without application of green manure) and application of green manures from the cultivation of barley, triticale, canola, arugula with their optimum and twice optimum densities. The results showed that barley and triticale at twice optimum density with 865.7 and 802.9 g m-2, respectively, had a higher green manure dry mass at the time of returning to the soil. Just before maize cultivation, soil organic matter with an average of 0.73 % was higher in barley green manure at twice optimum density compared to other treatments. Based on the results, the highest maize forage yield with 45.7 and 44.9 t ha-1 were achieved after treatment with barley green manure in twice optimum and optimum density (22.8 and 20.7 percent more than control treatment) and after that triticale in both densities, and canola and arugula at twice optimum density had the highest yield

Effect of citalopram and sertraline on the expression of miRNA- 124, 132, and 16 and their protein targets in patients with depression

Objective(s): This study aimed to evaluate the effect of SSRIs on the expression of miRNAs and their protein targets.Materials and Methods: In a 100 day open-label study of citalopram (n=25) and sertraline (n=25), levels of miRNA 16, 132, and 124 and glucocorticoid receptor (GR), Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and serotonin transporter (SERT) protein expression were measured by QRT-PCR and western blot in healthy control (n=20), patients with depression at the baseline, and same patients after 100 days of treatment.Results: Expression levels of GR and BDNF proteins were lower in the depressed group before treatment as compared with the healthy group (P<0.0001). The SERT level was higher among the depressed group before treatment in comparison with the healthy group (P<0.0001). The level of GR and BDNF significantly increased, and SERT expression decreased after receiving sertraline (P<0.05). When the depressed group received citalopram, only SERT and GR were altered (P<0.05). Among the microRNAs’ expression investigated, mir-124 and mir-132 were higher, and mir-16 was lower among the depressed compared with the healthy group (P<0.0001). Individuals receiving citalopram only showed an increase in the expression of mir-16 while administration of sertraline led to a significant increase in the expression of mir-16 and a decrease in mir-124 and mir-132 (P<0.05).Conclusion: This elucidated the relationship between antidepressant treatment and the expression of different microRNA that control gene expression in various pathways involved in depressed patients.  Receiving SSRI can affect the level of these proteins and their relevant microRNAs