Nature of gene action and genetic parameters for yield and its components in chickpea

To determine the gene action and genetic parameters of agro-morphological traits in chickpea, five genotypes of chickpea as a half diallel crossed with each other in 2008, five parents and 10 progenies were planted as randomized complete block design with three replications and some traits including days to flowering and maturity were recorded on row basis when 50% plants flowered or matured. Plant height, biomass, harvest index, number of primary branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, 100-seed weight and seed yield were recorded for each plant (10 observation). Based on analysis of variance, variance due to additive gene effects showed significant differences for plant height and number of primary branches per plant. Both additive and dominance genetic effects were significant for days to flowering, days to maturity, biomass, 100-seed weight, harvest index, number of pods, seeds and seed yield per plant. Higher values (>1) of the average of dominance (H1/D)1/2, a measure of over dominance, were observed in this study except for plant height and harvest index. Higher values of narrow-sense heritability was also observed for harvest index (67%), 100-seed weight (56%) and plant height (42%) indicating that huge genetic gain could be achieved for these traits.Key words: Additive, chickpea, diallel, dominance, heritability

The Effect of Combined Exercise with Coffee Consumption on Fasting Blood Sugar Levels and Abdominal Obesity in Overweight Middle-aged Prediabetic Men

Pre-diabetes is defined as an increase in blood glucose levels above normal, but not to the extent that it is considered diabetes. One way to control the progression of diabetes is to eat a healthy diet and exercise. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of combined exercise and coffee consumption on fasting blood sugar and middle-aged pre diabetic men. In this study, 44 overweight middle-aged men with (body mass index of 28.3 ± 2.8 kg / m2) were purposefully selected and randomly divided into four groups of 11: Exercise Combination, coffee consumption, combined exercise + coffee consumption and control group were divided. Pre-test and post-test groups including weight, body mass index, percentage of fasting fat and blood glucose were measured 24 hours before and after the project. The training groups then performed the training protocol for 8 weeks, three sessions per minute and 90 minutes each session. The coffee and exercise + coffee group consumed 10 grams of coffee every other day. Data were analyzed using covariance test and significance level of 0.05. The results showed a significant decrease in body mass index, fat percentage and serum concentration of fasting blood glucose in the exercise groups compared to the control group (P> 5%). This study showed that combined exercise with coffee can be effective in controlling fasting blood sugar and abdominal obesity

Medication Errors and Their Relationship with Care Complexity and Work Dynamics

BACKGROUND: Medication errors are currently known as the most common medical errors. Research shows that work environment and organisation management, in addition to the role of nurses, contribute to the occurrence of an error. AIM: Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the rate of nurses’ medication errors and its relation to the care complexity and work dynamics in the Taleghani Pediatric Hospital of Gorgan in 2017. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional study. Sampling was done through census method (N = 100). The data collection tools consisted of four questionnaires of demographic information, Salyer work dynamics, Medication Administration Errors, and Velasquez Nursing Care Complexity. Data were analysed in SPSS V.16 software using descriptive and inferential statistical methods including independent t-test and Pearson’s correlation. RESULTS: Medication calculation errors, wrong dose and wrong medication were the most common non-injectable medication errors, respectively. Drug incompatibility, wrong infusion rate and medication calculation errors were the most common injectable medication errors, respectively. There was a positive correlation between medication calculation errors (P = 0.02, r = 0.23), wrong solvent (P = 0.04, r = 0.21), and drug incompatibility (P = 0.01, r = 0.25) with amount of work dynamics. Also, there was a positive correlation between medication calculation errors (P = 0.03, r = 0.22) and wrong medication (P = 0.00, r = 0.31) with the nursing care complexity. CONCLUSION: Regarding the irrefutable impact of working conditions on the occurrence of errors, it appears that the study and complete recognition of nurses’ working conditions and their adjustment would lead to a reduction in medication errors

The Development of Conceptual Fluency and Metaphorical Competence in L2 Learners

Conceptual Fluency (CF) and Metaphorical Competence (MC) have piqued the interest of a number of L2 researchers. Leading the front are Danesi (1992; 1995; 2003) and Johnson and Rosano (1993) who contend that metaphorical language cannot afford to be ignored by L2 curricula anymore. Their push is to instill in L2 learners a more functional communicative competence over a traditional formal competence. This article reports on a study carried out to scrutinize the development of CF and MC in Persian students of English. First, a group of language students (95 freshmen, 92 sophomores, 139 juniors, and 90 seniors) were tested to see whether they were conceptually and metaphorically competent, and the results showed they were almost bereft of such a competence, and the analysis of their written discourse uncovered a very low level of metaphorical density. The findings were in line with what Danesi (1992) has averred: L2 learners do not necessarily develop CF and MC after several years of study. Then, the juniors partook in the study for a six-month period in which they were exposed to and taught about the metaphorical language of English. The posttest results were indicative that they had developed their CF and MC to a large extent and that their written discourse was almost as metaphorically dense as that of native speakers. That is, the findings revealed that it is possible to develop CF and MC in a classroom setting. Finally, the data indicated that there is a relationship between CF and MC

Novi pristup za poboljšanje karakteristika UPQC-a tijekom nesimetričnih i distorzijskih uvjeta tereta temeljen na teoriji trenutne snage

In order to deal with power quality problems under distortional and unbalanced load conditions, this paper presents a new control method for a four-wire three-phase unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) which is based on instantaneous power p-q theory. The proposed control approach is based on instantaneous power and is optimized by using a self-tuning filter (STF), without using any low-pass filters (LPFs) or phase locked loop (PLL), and without measuring load or filter currents. In this approach, the load and source voltages are used to generate the reference voltages of a series active power filter (APF) and source currents are used to generate the reference currents of a shunt APF. Therefore, the number of times that current is measured is reduced and system performance is improved. The performance of the proposed control approach is evaluated in terms of power factor correction, source neutral current mitigation, load balancing and mitigation of the current and voltage harmonics of distortional and unbalanced loads in a three-phase four-wire system. The results obtained by MATLAB/SIMULINK software show the effectiveness of the proposed control technique in comparison to the conventional p-q method.U ovom radu prikazana je nova metoda upravljanja za trofazni četverožični UPQC (engl. unified power quality conditioner) temeljena na teoriji trenutne vrijednosti snage koja je prikladna za upravljanje tijekom distorzijskih i nesimetričnih uvjeta na teretu. Predloženo upravljanje temelji se na teoriji o trenutnoj radnoj i jalovoj snazi i optimirano je korištenjem samopodešavajućeg fitera, bez korištenja niskopropusnih filtera ili PLL-a i bez mjerenja struje tereta i filtra. Korišteni su naponi na teretu i napon izvora kako bi se generirala referentna vrijednost napona aktivnog filtra, a struje izvora koriste se za generiranje referentne vrijednosti struje aktivnog filtra. Na taj način smanjen je broj mjerenja struje i sustav ima bolje značajke. Uz predloženi sustav upravljanja testire su mogućnosti korekcije faktora snage, smanjenja neutralne struje izvora, balansiranja tereta, smanjenje harmonika u struji i naponu. Rezultati dobiveni pomoću MATLAB/SIMULINK-a pokazuju učinkovitost predloženog sustava upravljanja

Coretractable modules relative to a submodule

Let $R$ be a ring and $M$ a right $R$-module. Let $N$ be a proper submodule of $M$. We say that $M$ is $N$-coretractable (or $M$ is coretractable relative to $N$) provided that, for every proper submodule $K$ of $M$ containing $N$, there is a nonzero homomorphism $f:M/K\rightarrow M$. We present some conditions that a module $M$ is coretractable if and only if $M$ is coretractable relative to a submodule $N$. We also provide some examples to illustrate special cases

The effect of a selected home-based exercise program by consuming coffee on blood lipid profile of inactive middle-aged men in COVID-19 pandemic condition

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 8 week a selected home based exercise program by consuming coffee on blood lipid profile of inactive middle-aged men in pandemic COVID-19 condition. The present study is a semi-experimental methodology and 44 middle-aged men with fatty liver were randomly divided into four groups of 11 cases: home-based exercise, coffee, home-based exercise + coffee, control. Blood test was used to measure blood lipid profile. The combined home-based exercise intervention was performed for 8 weeks, three sessions and 60 minutes per session. Coffee intervention consumed 10 grams of coffee per every other day. The results showed that weight, body mass index, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglyceride decreased significantly after eight weeks of training in all three experimental groups and HDL cholesterol increased significantly (p < .05). It seems that performed combined home- based exercise and in combination with coffee consumption can be effective in improving the blood lipid profile of inactive middle-aged men in quarantine and paired COVID-19 conditions and prevent liver damage

Morphological and physiological behavior in soybean (Glycine max) genotypes to drought stress implemented at pre- and post-anthesis stages

In order to evaluate the morphological and physiological responses of soybean genotypes to water deficit, a field experiment with 3 different soybean genotypes at three different irrigation regimes was carried out. Plants were grown either under optimum condition (irrigated), drought stress implemented before the flowering (pre-anthesis) and pod-filling stage (post-anthesis). Seed yield and measured morphological characters, except for number of seeds per plant and seed protein content, decreased from normal irrigation regime to water deficit stress in both flowering and pod filling growing stages. Leaf relative water content (RWC) was significantly decreased in all genotypes by water deficit at both growing stages, as well as both stressed environments had progressive fall in chemical osmolytes and chlorophyll content. With the present results, it can be concluded that drought stress retards the growth and metabolic activity of soybean genotypes. These parameters showed considerable variability under drought stress at different growth stages in soybean

Effects of different doses of tamoxifen on the sperm parameters and chromatin quality in mice: An experimental model

Background: Tamoxifen (TX) is widely used for the treatment of male factor and idiopathic infertility. It has been shown that TX induces sperm production and so improves male fertility. Objective: This study evaluated the effects of different doses of TX on the sperm parameters and chromatin quality in mice. Materials and Methods: In this research, 24 male NMRI mice were divided into three groups including group A: control animal receiving vehicle; group B: the group receiving basal diet and TX 0.4 mg/kg/day; and group C: the group receiving basal diet and TX 0.6 mg/kg/day for 35 days. Thereafter, epididymal spermatozoa were analyzed for standard parameters and nuclear chromatin quality using Aniline Blue (AB) and Toluidine Blue (TB) staining. Results: The results indicated that although the TX did not affect the sperm count, motility, and viability parameters, it could elevate the percentage of sperm cells with abnormal morphology and abnormal chromatin at both doses. In addition, in comparison with the control mice, a significant elevation was observed in spermatozoa with residual histones (assessed by AB staining) at high doses of TX. Conclusion: Our experimental data in mice suggested that the use of TX for treating male infertility might increase the rates of spermatozoa with abnormal chromatin in a dose-dependent manner