Oil characteristics and fatty acid profile of seeds from three varieties of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) cultivars in Bushehr-Iran

Studies were conducted on properties of seed oils extracted from three date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) varieties Shahabi, Shekar and Kabkab, grown in Bushehr-Iran. The primary objective of this study was to extract seed-oil from the three native date varieties and then analyzed their fatty acids (FAs). Also the chemical parameters of PV, AV, p-anisidin, and Totox values of oils, as indicators of the quality and safety, and oxidative status of edible oils, as well as refractive index as an objective method for evaluation of rancidity were also evaluated. Date seeds are approximately 10% of the fruits weight. Seeds contained about 8.5% fat that can serve as a useful source of fatty acids to replace other vegetable oils. The following mean of values from the three varieties were obtained from samples: peroxide value (1.05), acid value (1.4), p-anisidine value (2.54), Totox (4.64) and refractive index (1.46). Also, flame ionization based detection gas chromatography (GC-FID) revealed that oleic acid was the primary fatty acid in all varieties. It was followed by lauric, myristic, palmitic, linoleic and stearic acids and trace amounts of the other fatty acids like undecylic, capric, nonanoic (pelargonic) and caprylic acids. Depending on the regional industry, these data suggest that the potential applications of date seed oil for humans and animals are feeding, cosmetic formulations such as in body creams, shaving soap and shampoos, and pharmaceutical products.Keywords: Seed oil (Phoenix dactylifera), fatty acid, gas chromatograph

Serum biochemical status and morphological changes in mice ovary associated with copper oxide nanoparticles after thiamine therapy

Introduction: Nanoparticles (NPs) can induce inflammatory responses and oxidative stress and are also cytotoxic to the genital organs of animals after exposure. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of copper oxide (CuO) and CuO NPs alone and in combination with thiamine on the ovaries of mice and on antioxidant enzymes.Methods: Sixty adult mice were randomly divided into five groups. Group A served as the control. Group B received CuO NPs and group C received CuO at 0.2 mL/kg intraperitoneally (IP). Mice in groups D and E respectively received CuO and CuO NPs along with thiamine (30 mg/L) therapy. The responses of the ovaries to the treatments were appraised by histopathology studies. The values for catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and lipid peroxidation were determined after 20 days of treatment.Results: The degree of degeneration and apoptosis of the different zones within the ovaries were recorded in groups B and C. The decrease in CAT value and increase in SOD activity were significant for groups B and C at 20 days compared to the control group. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level in groups B, C and E were significantly higher at 20th day when compared with control group. The groups treated with thiamine showed histopathological and enzymatic results that were similar to those of the control group.Conclusion: These findings suggest the combination of CuO NPs and CuO with thiamine improves serum enzyme activity and has positive effects on the ovary

Rezidivierende Urolithiasis mit progredienter Niereninsuffizienz

Zusammenfassung: Bei einem 30-jährigen Patienten bestand bei rezidivierender Urolithiasis und progredienter Niereninsuffizienz die initiale Diagnose einer sekundären Hyperoxalurie. Die vertiefte Anamnese sowie neue klinische Aspekte ließen dann eine primäre Hyperoxalurie (PH) vermuten, die molekulargenetisch als PH1 bestätigt werden konnte. Pathogenese, klinischer Verlauf und therapeutische Optionen der PH werden diskutier

The fluctuations of physicochemical factors and phytoplankton populations of Urmia Lake, Iran

Urmia Lake is one of the two large hypersaline lakes in the world which have Artemia. It is located in northwest of Iran. Due to a decrease in water inflow and volume, the salinity of Urmia Lake has reached to more than 300 g.l-1 since 2001. The increased salinity has greatly influenced biological aspects of the lake, and caused the lake undergoes at critical conduction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the distribution fluctuations of phytoplanktons and selected physicochemical factors in relation to Artemia distribution in Urmia Lake during 8 months. Statistical analysis of mean values of ion concentrations and phytoplankton abundance indicated significant differences among sampling months. The minimum and maximum values for the selected factors were, as Cl- 176.2-201.3 g.l-1 , CO2 95-175mg.l-1 , dissolved oxygen (DO) 0.1-2.8 mg.l-1 , HCO3 - 144-496 mg.l-1 , PO42+ 104-875 mg.l-1, NO3- 330-4104 mg.l-1, NO2- 4-21.5 mg.l-1, SO42- 10490-29840 mg.l-1, Ca2+ 561-1606 mg.l-1, Mg2+ 3649-14587 mg.l-1 while water hardness was 21000- 62000 mg.l-1. Fourteen phytoplankton genera included Bacillariophyceae (10 genera),Chlorophyceae (2 genera) and Cyanophyceae (2 genera) were identified during sampling period. The smallest average density of phytoplankton 97249 L-1 was observed in December 2005 and the greatest average density 481983 L-1 in August 2005. Dunaliella sp. composed 92.1% of the lake's phytoplankton. Statistical analysis of phytoplanktons fluctuations showed a significant difference among different months (p< 0.05)

Fluctuation in density of ciliates in Bukan dam reservoir, Zarrinehrud, Iran

The abundance and species composition of ciliates were analyzed in the Bukan Dam Reservoir (West Azerbaijan, Iran) from January to December 2008. Surface water samples were collected at monthly intervals from the middle (Stations 1 and 3) and shallow (Stations 2 and 4) areas of the lake. Three samples were taken in the water column using a 5-litre sampler. Totally 30 liters water was collected, 200 ml of which was fixed immediately with 8.6 ml of a saturated HgCl2 solution and stained with 0.04% bromophenol blue. Three subsamples were counted in a 5-ml chamber and examined with a microscope (100 x) as well as Chlorophyll a and a few ecological parameters such as dissolved oxygen, pH, transperancy and water temperature were measured. Totally 50 ciliates species were found in Bukan Dam Reservoir. Regarding the density, a high-density period was detected from January to April with a mean density of 2.86 x 103 cells.l-1 Ciliata at stations 1 and 3 and 4.16 x 103 cells.l-1 at stations 2 and 4. The high density of ciliate in summer may be due to the increase in the density of bacteria and moderate metazooplankton as a result of the appearance of non-edible algae . The ciliata occurring at the highest densities were Coleps tessellates, Didinium nasutum, Paradileptus elephantinus, Stentor polymorphus, Zosterograptus labiatus, Paramecium bursaria, Cyclidium citrullus, Vorticella campanula, Halteria grandinella and Aspidisca costata. The maximum and minimum chlorophyll a values observed at the reservoir water were 10.39 µg.l-l and 1.0 µg.l-l being obtained in May and Octobor respectively

Forced convection of nanofluids in an extended surfaces channel using lattice Boltzmann method

Research on nanofluids for heat transfer augmentation has received a great attention from many researchers. Recently, many numerical works have been conducted to examine their applicability in predicting heat transfer with nanofluids. In the present study, a two-dimensional (2D) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was applied for numerical simulation of forced convection in a channel with extended surface using three different nanofluids. The predicted were carried out for the laminar nanofluid flow at low Reynolds number (10 ? Re ? 70), nanofluid concentration (0.00 ? f ? 0.050), different geometric parameter (0.2 ? A = l/H ? 0.8) and relative height of the extended surfaces (0.05 ? B = h/H ? 0.35). The results indicated that the average Nusselt number increases when the nanofluid concentration increased from 0% to 5%. Moreover, the effect of the nanofluid concentration on the increasing of heat transfer is more noticeable at higher values of the Reynolds number. It is concluded that the use of extended surfaces can enhance the rate of heat transfer for certain arrangements. We also found that the nanofluid with CuO nanoparticles performed better enhancement on heat transfer compared Al 2 O 3 /water and TiO 2 /water nanofluids

A poisson regression approach for modelling spatial autocorrelation between geographically referenced observations

Abstract Background Analytic methods commonly used in epidemiology do not account for spatial correlation between observations. In regression analyses, omission of that autocorrelation can bias parameter estimates and yield incorrect standard error estimates. Methods We used age standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) of esophageal cancer (EC) from the Babol cancer registry from 2001 to 2005, and extracted socioeconomic indices from the Statistical Centre of Iran. The following models for SIR were used: (1) Poisson regression with agglomeration-specific nonspatial random effects; (2) Poisson regression with agglomeration-specific spatial random effects. Distance-based and neighbourhood-based autocorrelation structures were used for defining the spatial random effects and a pseudolikelihood approach was applied to estimate model parameters. The Bayesian information criterion (BIC), Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and adjusted pseudo R2, were used for model comparison. Results A Gaussian semivariogram with an effective range of 225 km best fit spatial autocorrelation in agglomeration-level EC incidence. The Moran's I index was greater than its expected value indicating systematic geographical clustering of EC. The distance-based and neighbourhood-based Poisson regression estimates were generally similar. When residual spatial dependence was modelled, point and interval estimates of covariate effects were different to those obtained from the nonspatial Poisson model. Conclusions The spatial pattern evident in the EC SIR and the observation that point estimates and standard errors differed depending on the modelling approach indicate the importance of accounting for residual spatial correlation in analyses of EC incidence in the Caspian region of Iran. Our results also illustrate that spatial smoothing must be applied with care.</p

The growth, survival rate and reproductive characteristics of Artemia urmiana fed by Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tetraselmis suecica, Nannochloropsis oculata, Chaetoceros sp., Chlorella sp. and Spirolina sp. as feeding microalgae

This study was performed to compare the efficiency of six microalgae namely Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tetraselmis suecica, Nannochloropsis oculata, Chaetoceros sp., Chlorella sp. and Spirolina sp. on the growth, survival rate and reproduction efficacy in Artemia urmiana in laboratory conditions. Artemia cysts were harvested from Urmia Lake and hatched according to the standard method. Live microalgae were cultured using the f/2 culture medium. Artemia survival was determined in treatments on days 8, 11, 14, 17 and 20. A highly significant difference (p<0.01) were found among three microalgae in terms of length growth, survival rates and reproduction characteristics in A. urmiana. In spite of higher length growth of A.urmiana fed on N. oculata than A. urmiana fed by T. suecica but survival and reproduction in the latter was better than the first treatment. In general, D. tertiolecta was more efficient than other microalgae examined in the present study on A. urmiana concerning not only to growth and survival but also to reproduction mode. So, it is preferred to feed A. urmiana