The Influence of Heat Stress and Powder of Jaloh Leaves Supplementation Into Commercial Fish Feed on Body Weight Gain, Hematokrit Level and Malondialdehid Content in the Nila's Liver

The aims of this experiment are to find out the effect of temperature stress and jaloh leaves supplementation on body weight gain, hematocrit level, and malondialdehid (MDA) content in the liver tissues of nila fish (Oreochromis niloticus). A total of 80 fishes with the weight of 40-50 gr were randomly allocated into 8 treatments. The treatments consisted of P1 (no heat stress and no jaloh leaves supplementation); P2 (no heat stress and 5% of jaloh leaves supplementation) ; P3 (no heat stress and 10% of leaves supplementation); P4 (no heat stress and 15 % of leaves supplementation); P5 (heat stress and no jaloh leaves supplementation); P6 (heat stress and 5% of jaloh leaves supplementation); P7 (heat stress and 10% of jaloh leaves supplementation); P8 (heat stress about 35 ± 1oC for 4 h per day in 30 days and 15% of jaloh leaves supplementation). The body weight was measured from 1d to 31d. Blood samples, lever tissues and statistical analysis were conducted on 31d. The results of the experiments indicated that supplementation of fish feed with jaloh leaves 5-15% had negative effects on body weight gain. On the other hand, supplementation of jaloh leaves 5-10% on commercial fish feed had positive effects on performances and immune system of experiment fishe

Determination of complex stabilities with 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione as ligand for the complexation of several transition metallic cations using chemometrics methods

The traditional spectrophotometric determination of stability constants of complexation involves finding a wavelength at which only one of the components has absorbance without any spectroscopic interference of the other reaction components. But this method fails when there is not selective wavelength for at least one of the component. Multivariate data analysis involving soft and/or hard model analysis can be used in these cases. In the present work, firstly, multivariate curve resolustion-alternative least squares which is a model free analysis, was used to estimate the chemical model of data variation and then a robust multi-wavelength model-based method has been developed to determine the stability constants of formed complex(s) regardless to the spectra overlapping of the components. By applying such model, not only the stability constants of the formed complex(s) can be calculated, but also the pure spectra of all contributed components are extracted well.  The complexations of 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione ligand with several metalic cations [Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Zn(II)]  were studied using proposed multi-wavelength spectrophotometric method in non-aqueous solution at 25 °C. It was found that there is a 2:1 stoichiometry between ligand with studied metalic cations and also their stability constants were calculated. KEY WORDS: Model free analysis, Model based analysis, Stability constant, Complexometric study, 1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-dione Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(3), 373-382.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i3.

Comparison of date-palm wastes and perlite as growth substrates on some tomato growing indexes

Today, various organic matters are used as growth media. Most of them are combined with various materials, such as a mixture of peat moss and pine bark, or a mixture of peat moss and pine bark with mineral materials like perlite or vermiculite. All over the world, stone wool and other materials like perlite, pumice, polyortan phome, zeolite, coco peat and sawdust are used as growth media in soilless culture. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of incubation time on the physicochemical properties of date palm wastes and their effects on growing indexes of tomato in comparison with perlite when used as culture substrates. The date palm wastes were first manually chopped into small pieces, after which they were kept in plastic bags. They were adjusted to 55% moisture content and thoroughly mixed once every week. Treatments were done for 4 incubation times (0, 1, 3 and 9 months). The physicochemical properties of materials were analyzed during 3 months. After 3 months of incubation, for comparison of this composting materials (date-palm) with other substrates, perlite and the composting materials were used as growth media. The research was conducted in a completely randomized design with 6 replications of tomato for 6 months. Treatments included perlite, date-palm1 (without incubation time) and date-palm2 (with 3 months incubation time). During plant growth irrigation rate, temperature, humidity and pest control for all treatments were similar. During plant growth, Papadopolus formula with fertigation method was used for the nutrient solution. The plants were kept for 6 months, then after this period, the physicochemical properties of these materials were analyzed again. So, the growing indexes of tomato, which included fruit yield, plant height, fruit  number, stem diameter, TSS and biomass, were measured. The results of incubation time period showed that changes of porosity, bulk density, pH, C/N ratio and CEC had significant differences (p<0.05). The C/N ratio reduced, while the bulk density and CEC increased by the increase in incubation time period. Comparison of tomato growing indexes in the different substrates showed that fruit yield, plant height and fruit number of tomato had no significant differences at 5% level, but stem diameter and biomass in date-palm1 was higher than other media and thus, had significant differences at 5% level.Key words: Date palm wastes, incubation time, aerating, perlite, fertigation, tomato

Evaluation of chemical quality in 17 brands of Iranian bottled drinking waters

Background: The purpose of study was to evaluate and compare chemical quality of Iranian bottled drinking water reported on manufacturer's labeling and standards. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study and done during July to December 2008. The bottled mineral water collected from shops randomly were analyzed for all parameters address on manufacturer's labeling and the results were compared with the manufacturer's labeling data, WHO Guideline Values, USEPA Maximum Contaminant Levels and the maximum contaminant levels of drinking water imposed by the Iranian legislation. Statistical analysis on data was done with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normal distribution, the paired t-test to compare the data with manufacturer's labeling and the one-sample t-test to compare with standard and MCL values at P < 0.05 of confidence level. Results: The results showed a statistically significant difference with manufacturer's labeling values, however there was no significant difference between the values of magnesium and pH and manufacturer's labeling values (P> 0.05). In addition, pH and calcium values were significantly higher than their proposed values indicated by Iranian National Legislation and international MCLs (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Our results are extremely important for the health supervisory agencies such as Ministry of Health and Institute of Standards & Industrial Research of Iran to have more effective controls on bottled water industries, and to improve periodical the proposed standard values

Stellar turbulence and mode physics

An overview of selected topical problems on modelling oscillation properties in solar-like stars is presented. High-quality oscillation data from both space-borne intensity observations and ground-based spectroscopic measurements provide first tests of the still-ill-understood, superficial layers in distant stars. Emphasis will be given to modelling the pulsation dynamics of the stellar surface layers, the stochastic excitation processes and the associated dynamics of the turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum.Comment: Proc. HELAS Workshop on 'Synergies between solar and stellar modelling', eds M. Marconi, D. Cardini, M. P. Di Mauro, Astrophys. Space Sci., in the pres

Ovine and Caprine Brucellosis (Brucella melitensis) in Aborted Animals in Jordanian Sheep and Goat Flocks

Two hundred and fifty five biological samples were collected from 188 animals (81 sheep and 107 goats) during the lambing season from September 2009 to April 2010 from the Mafraq region of Jordan. Sampled animals belonged to 93 sheep and goat flocks that had abortion cases in the region. One hundred and seven (41.9%) biological samples were positive for the omp2 primers that were able to identify all Brucella species in the collected samples which were obtained from 86 aborted animals (86/188 = 45.7%). Using the B. melitensis insertion sequence 711 (IS711) primers on the 107 omp2 positive samples, only 61 confirmed to be positive for B. melitensis. These positive samples were obtained from 28 sheep and 33 goats. The prevalence rate of B. melitensis was 27.1% (51/188) among aborted animals. For differentiation between vaccine strain and field strain infection, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method using PstI endonuclease enzyme was used. Vaccination with Rev-1 in the last year (OR = 2.92, CI: 1.1–7.7) and grazing at common pasture (OR = 2.78, CI: 1.05–7.36) were statistically significant (P ≤ .05) risk factors positively associated with the occurrence of brucellosis in sheep and goat flocks

Withaferin A Induces Proteasome-Dependent Degradation of Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene 1 and Heat Shock Factor 1 Proteins in Breast Cancer Cells

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://www.hindawi.com".The purpose of this study was to examine the regulation of prosurvival factors heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) and breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) by a natural withanolide withaferin A (WA) in triple negative breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and BT20. Western analysis was used to examine alternations in HSF1 and BRCA1 protein levels following WA treatment. A protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide and a proteasome inhibitor MG132 were used to investigate the mechanisms of HSF1 and BRCA1 regulation by WA. It was found that WA induced a dose-dependent decrease in HSF1 and BRCA1 protein levels. Further analysis showed that levels of HSF1 and BRCA1 proteins decreased rapidly after WA treatment, and this was attributed to WA-induced denaturation of HSF1 and BRCA1 proteins and subsequent degradation via proteasome-dependent, and protein-synthesis dependent mechanism. In summary, WA induces denaturation and proteasomal degradation of HSF1 and BRCA1 proteins. Further studies are warranted to examine the contribution of HSF1 and BRCA1 depletion to the anticancer effects of WA in breast cancer

Effect of temperature, time, and asparaginase on acrylamide formation and physicochemical properties of bread

The aim of the current paper was to elucidate the influence of temperature and time on acrylamide formation and physico-chemical characteristics of bread. Additionally, the effect of asparaginase addition to bran was evaluated. With increasing baking time and temperature, the amount of acrylamide (µg kg−1) increased. The results indicated that the acrylamide concentration in treated samples with asparaginase was significantly less than those without asparaginase treatment. Based on Pearson’ test, it was found that there was a significant correlation between baking temperature and acrylamide concentration (R=0.99, P=0.025; and R=0.98, P=0.026 for the samples prepared by baking for 2.5 min and 3 min, respectively). The firmness of bread samples increased with increasing baking temperature (P>0.05), while asparaginase addition did not significant affect the textural characteristics of the final product. Breads baked at 320 °C for 3 min were more acceptable by the sensory panel in terms of their texture and chewiness, whereas the samples baked at 370 °C for 2.5 min had the lowest score in comparison to other evaluated samples

Anti-proliferative withanolides from the Solanaceae: a structure-activity study

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://www.degruyter.com".As part of our search for bioactive compounds from plant biodiversity, 29 withanolides were recently isolated from three members of the Solanaceae: Physalis longifolia, Vassobia breviflora, and Withania somnifera. Six derivatives were prepared from these naturally occurring withanolides. All compounds were evaluated for in vitro antiproliferative activity against an array of cell lines [melanoma cell lines (B16F10, SKMEL28); human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) cell lines (JMAR, MDA1986, DR081-1); breast cancer cell line (Hs578T), and non-malignant human cell line (MRC5)]. This led to the discovery of 15 withanolides, with IC50 values in the range of 0.067−17.4 μM, including withaferin A, withaferin A 4,27-diacetate, 27-O-glucopyranosylwithaferin A, withalongolide H, withalongolide C, withalongolide A, withalongolide A 4,27-diacetate, withalongolide A 4,19,27-triacetate, withalongolide B, withalongolide B 4-acetate, withalongolide B 4,19-diacetate, withalongolide D, withalongolide E, withalongolide G, and 2,3-dihydrowithaferin A 3-O-sulfate. In order to update the growing literature on withanolides and their activities, we summarized the distribution, structural types, and antiproliferative activities for all published withanolides to date. The structure–activity relationship analysis (SARA) confirmed the importance of the presence of a ∆2-1-oxo-functionality in ring A, a 5β,6β-epoxy or 5α-chloro-6β-hydroxy grouping in ring B, and nine-carbon side chain with a lactone moiety for cytotoxic activity. Conversely, the SARA indicated that the –OH or –OR groups at C-4, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, and 28 were not contributors to the observed antiproliferative activity within the systems analyzed