Effect of mycorrhizal fungi on the absorption of phosphorus and zinc by two alfalfa varieties in cadmium contaminated soils

Some agricultural and industrial practices such as mining activities, waste materials of industrial factories, other pollutants and the application of wastewater on farmlands contaminate the agricultural soils. Cadmium is one of the most common heavy metals which accumulates in agricultural soils as a result of the application of phosphorus fertilizers and can easily be absorbed by plants even at very low concentrations with detrimental effects on the living systems. Alfalfa requires high rates of phosphorus fertilizer and therefore the soils under alfalfa are more prone to contamination of cadmium. Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi exist as obligate symbiotic organisms on roots of more than 80% of plant families and enhance the growth of the host plant by providing water and nutrients when the plant growth limited by environmental stresses. In order to evaluate the effect of Mycorrhiza symbiosis on nutrient absorption by alfalfa under the cadmium pollution, a factorial experiment base on completely randomized design conducted by using two alfalfa varieties (2122 and Hamadani cultivars); Glomus intraradices fungi; and four levels of cadmium (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg kg -1 soil) with four replications in green house on 2005. The plants cut at 50% bloom to determine root and shoot dry matter as well as mineral nutrient absorption by using standard laboratory procedures. The soil material rhyzosphere collected to determine colonization percent. Results showed that phosphorus and iron absorption of 2122 was superior under normal growing conditions. However, under cadmium stress Hamadani performed superior where it also proved none suitable as a host plant for symbiosis with Mycorrhiza. Fungi significantly (a = %1) increased the absorption of nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc by shoots and phosphorus even in the presence of cadmium adverse effects. Time of harvest also significantly improved the uptake of all the nutrients by the shoots as well as the dry matter production by shoots

Evaluation of six cold-season turfgrasses responses to lead phytotoxicity for screening tolerant species

Lead (Pb) is one of the most hazardous heavy metal that caused serious problems for ecosystem at recent years. In this study, the effect of Pb on seed germination, incipient growth and antioxidant enzymes of six common used turfgrasses was investigated. The results showed that after implementation of different concentrations (0, 1000, 2000 and 3000 µM) of Pb, Agropyron elongatum exhibited the highest germination percentage (90%) under 3000 µM Pb, followed by Lollium perenne L. (85.56%). The lowest germination parameters including germination vigor, rate, index and germination percentage was found in Festuca ovina, which means it is the most sensitive species to Pb than the other studied turfgrasses. In contrast, F. rubra, F. ovina, A. elongatum and L. perenne had the most significant aerial growth and the lowest chlorophyll degradation even at high lead concentration. An increase in L. perenne and A. elongatum antioxidant enzymes activities as well as a decrease in F. ovina observed after exposure to 3000 µM Pb which correlated to their tolerance and sensitivity to Pb respectively. However, such increase in antioxidant activity was also found in F. Rubra and Poa pratensis but could not inhibit chlorophyll degradation and seedling growth retardation. It might support that there is suggesting the probable existence of a lead-injury mechanism rather than the oxidative stress. Overall, A. elongatum is introduced as the most tolerant turfgrass among studied ones, which could be cultivated in Pb-polluted sites

Factors Engaged With Women Performance in Doing Regular Breast Self-examination or Referring to Health Centers for Examination and Mammography

Aims: Breast cancer, as the most common cancer in women, will lead to death in case it is not diagnosed timely, and if the early diagnosis is timely, the chance of recovery will increase in the early stages. The aim of this study was to determine the factors engaged with women performance in doing regular breast self-examination or referring to health centers for examination and mammography. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytic cross sectional study, in 2012, 9260 women aged 20 to 65 years old in Isfahan province, Iran were selected from different districts by multistage cluster sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection. The underlying variables, knowledge of risk factors, signs and symptoms, and beliefs about breast cancer diagnosis were considered as predictors of women performance. The data were analyzed by STATA 13 software, using Pearson correlation coefficient test, univariate, and multivariate logistic regression. Findings: Generally, 55.7% of the patients had a poor knowledge of cancer risk factors. Knowledge about signs and symptoms of breast cancer was relatively good in 83.7% of the patients. Also, women belief in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment was poor. Knowledge of risk factors (OR=1.2), knowledge of signs and symptoms (OR=1.5), and beliefs (OR=1.3) were positive predictors of performance. Conclusion: The underlying variables, knowledge of cancer risk factors, knowledge of signs and symptoms of breast cancer, and belief in the effectiveness of examination increase the women performance (self- examination or referring to health centers for examination) for breast cancer examination

Biprojectivity and biflatness of Lau product of Banach algebras defined by a Banach algebra morphism

Let Ï• be a homomorphism from a Banach algebra $\mathcal B$ to a Banach algebra $\mathcal A$. We deï¬ne a multiplication on the cartesian product space $\mathcal A$ × $\mathcal B$ and obtain a new Banach algebra $\mathcal A$×ϕ $\mathcal B$. We show that biprojectivity as well as biflatness of $\mathcal A$ ×ϕ $\mathcal B$ are stable with respect to Ï•. DOI: 10.1017/S000497271400048