Change in several Antioxidant Enzymes Activity and Seed Yield by Water Deficit Stress in Soybean (Glycine max L.) Cultivars

Drought stress is one of several environmental factors greatly limiting crop production. In order to study the effect of water deficit on antioxidant enzymes activity and seed yield of five soybean cultivars, an experiment was conducted in two growing seasons in 2008 and 2009. The experimental design was randomized complete block in a split plot arrangement with four replications. Irrigation treatments were (S1, 50; S2, 100 and S3, 150 mm evaporation from the Class “A pan” evaporation) and cultivars were (‘L17’, ‘Clean’, ‘T.M.S.’, ‘Williams*Chippewa’ and ‘M9’). The results showed that, water deficit stress increased antioxidants content [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX)] significantly, but content of them were more at mild than high water deficit stress (S2>S3>S1). Furthermore, water deficit stress, decreased total chlorophyll content, number of pods per plant, thousand seed weight, seed yield and harvest index in all of cultivars. Among cultivars, ‘L17’ and ‘Williams*Chippewa’ produced the highest seed yield at the optimum condition of irrigation and both water deficit stress levels, respectively. Assessment of correlation results indicated that, there was a positive and significant correlation among SOD and seed yield in both water deficit stress levels, too

Chemical and biochemical responses of soybean (Glycine max L.) cultivars to water deficit stress

Abstract Plant responses to oxidative injuries and content of antioxidants were comparatively studied in five soybean cultivars (L 17 , Clean, T.M.S, Williams×Chippewa and M 9 ) at the three levels of irrigation. In order to measure the water deficit stress, the irrigation was applied based on three levels of evaporation from the 'class A' pan (50 mm; optimum condition of irrigation, 100 mm; moderate water deficit and 150 mm; extreme water deficit). A two-year field experiment was conducted in 2008 and 2009. The experimental design was a split plot in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The output results showed that, water deficit stress significantly increased activities of some antioxidant enzymes (catalase and glutathione redoctase) as well as ABA and Proline content. Lipid and protein oxidation (malondialdehyde and dityrosine contents) also increased significantly at the moderate and extreme water deficit stress. The relative water content, seed and oil yield were affected by water deficit and were reduced by both levels of water deficit. Among cultivars, L 17 and Williams×Chippewa produced the highest seed and oil yield at the optimum condition of irrigation and both levels of water deficit stress, respectively. Assessment of correlation results indicated that, there was a positive and significant correlation among activity of antioxidant enzymes, ABA and proline content with seed and oil yield in both levels of water deficit stress, as well

Clinical Breast Cancer Registry of IR. Iran (CBCR-IR):Study Protocol and First Results

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC), as a significant global health problem, is the most common cancer in women. Despite the importance of clinical cancer registries in improving the quality of cancer care and cancer research, there are few reports on them from low- and middle-income countries. We established a multicenter clinical breast cancer registry in Iran (CBCR-IR) to collect data on BC cases, the pattern of care, and the quality-of-care indicators in different hospitals across the country.METHODS: We established a clinical cancer registry in 12 provinces of Iran. We defined the organizational structure, developed minimal data sets and data dictionaries, verified data sources and registration processes, and developed the necessary registry software. During this registry, we studied the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with cancer who were admitted from 2014 onwards.RESULTS: We registered 13086 BC cases (7874 eligible cases) between 1.1.2014 and 1.1.2022. Core needle biopsy from the tumor (61.25%) and diagnostic mammography (68.78%) were the two most commonly used diagnostic methods. Stage distribution was 2.03% carcinoma in situ, 12% stage I, 44.65% stage II, 21.32% stage III, and 4.61% stage IV; stage information was missing in 1532 patients (19.46%). Surgery (95.01%) and chemotherapy (79.65%) were the most common treatments for all patients.CONCLUSION: The information provided by this registry can be used to evaluate and improve the quality of care for BC patients. It will be scaled up to the national level as an important resource for measuring quality of care and conducting clinical cancer research in Iran.</p

Evaluation of Levels of Macro-and Micro-Nutrients in Workers Exposed to Electromagnetic Fields and Comparison with Levels of Patients with Leukemia

ABSTRACT There have been much speculation and debate concerning the effect of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on body systems. Various reports have implicated excessive exposure to EMF to certain forms of leukemia. It has also been reported that EMF may cause alteration in the levels of certain macro-and micro-nutrients such as copper, zinc, selenium, calcium and iron. We have undertaken this study to determine the status of these elements in workers exposed to EMF for more than 10 years and compare these levels with those of patients with leukemia and both groups to a set of matched controls. Statistical analysis revealed meaningful differences in the serum levels of the nutrients under study both in terms of comparison of workers and patients to controls and in comparison of workers to patients. Mean Zn levels in both patient (P 0.0002)and worker (P 0.006) groups were significantly higher than that of controls. However, statistical analysis of patients to workers revealed no meaningful variation. Selenium in both study groups also showed decreased levels when compared to controls. These results were statistically significant in comparison of patients to controls (P 0.0001) and workers to controls (P0.0001). Evaluation of patients to workers also resulted in a significant finding (P0.05). While we do not claim these results to be definitive, they do reflect the possibility that regular evaluation of the status of these elements in workers consistently exposed to EMF may be beneficial in terms of determining the heightened risk of these workers to development of leukemia

Leishmanolysin gp63: Bioinformatics evidences of immunogenic epitopes in Leishmania major for enhanced vaccine design against zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a prevalent disease in the Old World territories especially in the underdeveloped countries of the Middle East. The present study was aimed at prediction of primary biochemical features of the Leishmania major gp63 as a vaccine candidate and its potent linear B-cell epitopes as well as those epitopes with highest binding capacity to mouse and human MHC molecules. A wide range of servers were employed for prediction of physico-chemical, antigenic and allergenic traits, post-translational modifications (PTM), transmembrane domain and subcellular localization, 2D and 3D structures, tertiary model rehashing and validations. The 63.95 kDa protein was antigenic, non-allergenic, hydrophilic and stable, with improved thermotolerance and 43 PTM sites. The secondary structure encompassed 48.67% random coil, 31.4% alpha helix and 19.93% extended strand. Ramachandran analysis of the refined model showed 98.5% and 100% of residues in favored and allowed regions, respectively. After epitope screening, two linear B-cell epitopes and a number of mouse and human MHC-specific epitopes were predicted, which possessed highest antigenic index. This paper provides insights into the bioinformatics characteristics of the L. major gp63 protein as a promising vaccine candidate

A systematic review and meta-analysis of effect of synthetic erythropoietin on hemoglobin in dialysis patients

Introduction: Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to the insufficient production of erythropoietin by the kidneys. The administration of erythropoietin is one of the most common methods for the treatment of patients with anemia. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of the administration of synthetic erythropoietin on hemoglobin levels in dialysis patients using a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: In order to identify the related studies, the international databases of Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were searched from 2015 to 2020 using standard and valid keywords. The data were analyzed using STATA software (version 14), and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In 12 reviewed articles with a sample size of 4060 individuals, the standard effect size of the effect of synthetic erythropoietin on Hb in dialysis patients was reported as 2.08 (95% CI: 1.53-2.63), which was statistically significant; however, erythropoietin biosimilars did not show similar results. Conclusion: The administration of erythropoietin to hemodialysis patients increases Hb levels by more than 2 units