Penicillin improves the milt quality of Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus during short-term storage

This study was conducted to examine the effects of antibiotic (5000 units of penicillin) on sperm quality of Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus during 9 days in vitro storage of milt. For this purpose, the milt samples were stored in the presence and absence of 5000 units of penicillin. Freshwater was used as sperm activator. The milt samples were stored at 4°C and the motility indices were measured 0, 3, 6 and 9 days after storage. The sperm duration and percentage of sperm motility decreased after 6 days of storage both in the presence and absence of antibiotic, although this decrease was more significant in the absence of antibiotic. After 9 days of storage, the lowest values of sperm motility indices was recorded for antibiotic receiving milt samples while no motile spermatozoa observed for antibiotic-free milt samples. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that 5000 units of penicillin improve the Persian sturgeon milt quality during short-term storage

Information Sources of Students of Psychology

Every year, universities spend a large sum of money on databases and library sources to help with education and research. The main aim is to determine the sources of information utilized by the psychology students at Semnan University to address their information needs. This study is applied research and uses grounded theory to reveal the viewpoints of postgraduate psychology students at Semnan University. The statistical population comprised all postgraduate psychology students at the time of the study (2018-2019). Data collection and analysis were conducted until saturation point, and 50 in-depth interviews were carried out. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and MaxQDA was used for data coding. Interviewing was stopped following 40 interviews due to data saturation, although 10 additional interviews were held with the students, which led to no new data. Based on the open coding, 95 codes were identified and extracted from the data, followed by 27 codes in axial coding. Finally, 10 codes were identified and extracted from the data through the selective coding process.  The results showed that the sources of information for psychology students of Semnan University are their professors, databases, research questionnaire databases, resource ordering, accessible electronic sources, the Internet, audio-visional sources, library, search engines, and professional websites. Psychology students of Semnan University used formal/informal and digital/printed sources of information. These cover many types of information. They need more bibliographic instruction on making greater use of library services prepared for them.https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20088302.2022.20.1.18.

Effects of platelet rich plasma and chondrocyte co-culture on MSC chondrogenesis, hypertrophy and pathological responses

Regarding the inadequate healing capability of cartilage tissue, cell-based therapy is making the future of cartilage repair and regeneration. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have shown great promise in cartilage regeneration. However, a yet-unresolved issue is the emergence of hypertrophic and pathologic markers during in vitro MSC chondrogenesis. Articular chondrocytes (AC) can suppress the undesired hypertrophy when co-cultured with MSC. On the other hand, platelet rich plasma (PRP), is considered potentially effective for cartilage repair and in-vitro chondrogenesis. We thus aimed to harness chondro-promotive effects of PRP and hypertrophic-suppressive effects of AC:MSC co-culture to achieve a more functional cartilage neo-tissue. We used PRP or conventional-differentiation chondrogenic media (ConvDiff) in MSC mono-cultures and AC:MSC co-cultures. We assessed gene expression of chondrogenic and hypertrophic markers using real-time RT-PCR and immunostaining. Alkaline-phosphatase activity (ALP) and calcium content of the pellets were quantified. We also measured VEGF and TNF-α secretion via ELISA. We showed PRP had higher chondrogenic potential (in mRNA and protein level) and hypertrophic-suppressive effects than Conv-Diff (mRNA level). Co-culturing reduced ALP while PRP increased calcium deposition. In all four groups, TNF-α was down-regulated compared to MSC controls, with co-cultures receiving ConvDiff media secreting the least. Meanwhile, the only group with increased VEGF secretion was PRP-mono-cultures. We observed synergistic effects for PRP and AC:MSC co-culture in enhancing chondrogenesis. Inclusion of AC reduced hypertrophic markers and angiogenic potential in PRP groups. We thus propose that combination of PRP and co-culture would favor chondrogenesis while alleviate but not totally eradicate undesired hypertrophic and pathologic responses

Copper, Cadmium and Ferrous Removal by Membrane Bioreactor

AbstractOne of the important concerns in Tehran municipal landfill is the production of leachate and its potential for water resources pollution. This paper investigates the removal of heavy metals from landfill leachate by using a membrane Bioreactor (MBR). The leachate was collected from a landfill in the vicinity of Tehran nearly 1 year old, The results of this study indicated that the system provided high removals of Fe, Cu and Cd equal to 96%, 23% and 84% respectively and heavy metal concentration in MBR effluent is a function of aeration ratio and bioaccumulation. Among the metals investigated in the present study it can be concluded that the extracellular adsorption, is the principal removal process of the metals, compared to other removal mechanisms such as bioaccumulation or intracellular accumulation

Studying the outputs and mapping the co-author network of Semnan University researchers in the Web of Science Indexes

Background and Objectives: One of the areas of research and study in Scientometrics is scientific collaborative studies. Katz and Martin (1997) define scientific collaboration as working with other researchers in order to achieve common goals for the production of new knowledge. This collaboration has several aspects one of which is co-authorship. Co-authorship can occur in scientific productions such as paper, notebooks and so on. In recent years, scientific collaboration, and especially co-authorship, has grown exponentially among authors and researchers. Perhaps this increasing growth can be attributed to the benefits that scientific collaboration holds for authors and their works. This research evaluates the scientific production of researchers based on Scientometrics indicators such as growth rate, cooperative indices, the most prolific researchers and their Hirsch index, analyzing the components of the co-authorship network of researchers, and investigating the structures existing in co-authorship networks using social network analysis and based on the Centrality measure such as degree, betweenness, eigenvectors and closeness. Also, the density measures, the coefficient of clustering, the distance between nodes and subgroups are also calculated and determined. The aim of this article was to study the scientific outputs of Semnan university researchers in term of quantitative indexes (number of outputs, research area, and year) and qualitative indexes (number of citations and H-Index). Mapping the co-author network of Semnan university researchers in the Web of Science database was the other purpose of the present paper. Methodology: The research was conducted based on Scientometrics methods. The research population included all the documents which mentioned Semnan University as their affiliation and were indexed in Web of Science from 1990 to 2015. Totally, 2106 documents were indexed in this timespan. The co-author network was mapped and analyzed by Coau.exe, Ucinet and Netdraw. In order to analyze the data, different software and measures were used. For this purpose, the data were first analyzed by coauthor.exe software and the authorship matrix was formed. The obtained matrix was a symmetric matrix 194 * 194, in which the diagonal cells were set to zero. Then the matrix was imported into the UCInet software to provide the proper format required for drawing software. After obtaining the outputs from the UCInet software, to draw up a map of the co-authorship the NetDraw software was used. Also, for all authors and researchers of the Semnan University, the h index was calculated using the Web of Science and the authors with the highest h index were identified. Findings: The results showed that Engineering (39%), Physics (19.5) and Mathematics (14%) were the subjects to which Semnan university researchers contributed. Totally, in the time span investigated, Iranian researchers produced 272019 documents out of which 2106 belonged to Semnan University. Therefore, this university ranked 30 among the Iranian universities. During the period studied, Semnan University produced 0.0049% of the universal scientific outputs. The results of the growth rate calculation indicated 43.22 for Semnan University researchers in the past fifty years that reveals a promising rising growth rate. Amjadi, Gorji and Orouji with 25, 23 and 15 H-Indexs ranked first to third, respectively. In term of citation, Amjadi ranked first with 2126 citations and Gorji with 1341 and Orouji with 629 citations were in the next ranks. Investigating the degree from among the centrality measurements was also calculated and the results showed that Gorji, Fereydoun and Asghari were in the top. The highest co-authoring rate occurred in 2005 which included 3 authors. As regards the fields of study, mathematics was the highest single-author subject. After obtaining the number of co-authorship of documents in different years, three indicators of co-authorship, including the cooperation index, degree of collaborative and Collaborative coefficient, were obtained, which showed that these collaborative indicators have increased significantly during the studied years. Also, there has been an increasing trend in two indicators of degree of collaborative and collaborative coefficient with several fluctuations over several years in general. The average of these three indicators for the whole years was 2.52, 0.84 and 0.50 respectively. Discussion: The results of data analysis showed that, although the flow of co-authorship among the Semnan University researchers has fluctuated in recent years, during the studied period, the researchers of Semnan University have tended to write co-authorship. Generally, documents with three authors were the most co-authorship. The results also showed that the co-authorship network of Semnan University researchers consisted of 6 main components and 7 isolated authors. The largest cluster composed of 171 authors. The smaller cluster comprised of 7 authors and the other clusters included two. Also, subject areas of engineering, physics and mathematics scored the highest number of articles among Semnan University researchers

Prevalence and molecular characterization of alpha-thalassemia among newborns in Ardabil Province

Background and objective: Alpha-thalassemia is one of the most recessively congenital hemoglobin disorders in the world, and is characterized by decreased or absence of alpha globin chains production. Although it has been suggested that the frequency of alpha-thalassemia in Iran is greater than worldwide, its exact rate is unknown. Due to lack of more studies on this topic in this area, the aim of the present study was to determine prevalence and molecular characterization of alpha-thalassemia among newborns in Ardabil Province. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, one thousand newborns were referred for screening of alpha thalassemia at a pediatric unit in Ardabil province between April 2016 and March 2018. Cases with Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) <100 fL and Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) < 33 pg were referred for serum Ferritin measurement, Hb electrophoresis and then genetic analysis. Collected data were analyzed by statistical methods such as number, percent and Mean±SD in SPSS version 21. Results: The prevalence of α-thalassemia in studied newborns was 3.3% in Ardabil province. The most common mutation was the 3.7 single gene deletions that were found in 42.4% (14 cases) of newborns with α-Thalassemia. Conclusions: Results showed that, the prevalence of α-thalassemia in Ardabil province was lower than the average rate for the country and the most common mutation was –α3.7/αα, which was similar to other places in Iran

Studying the outputs and mapping the co-author network of Semnan University researchers in the Web of Science Indexes

Background and Objectives: One of the areas of research and study in Scientometrics is scientific collaborative studies. Katz and Martin (1997) define scientific collaboration as working with other researchers in order to achieve common goals for the production of new knowledge. This collaboration has several aspects one of which is co-authorship. Co-authorship can occur in scientific productions such as paper, notebooks and so on. In recent years, scientific collaboration, and especially co-authorship, has grown exponentially among authors and researchers. Perhaps this increasing growth can be attributed to the benefits that scientific collaboration holds for authors and their works. This research evaluates the scientific production of researchers based on Scientometrics indicators such as growth rate, cooperative indices, the most prolific researchers and their Hirsch index, analyzing the components of the co-authorship network of researchers, and investigating the structures existing in co-authorship networks using social network analysis and based on the Centrality measure such as degree, betweenness, eigenvectors and closeness. Also, the density measures, the coefficient of clustering, the distance between nodes and subgroups are also calculated and determined. The aim of this article was to study the scientific outputs of Semnan university researchers in term of quantitative indexes (number of outputs, research area, and year) and qualitative indexes (number of citations and H-Index). Mapping the co-author network of Semnan university researchers in the Web of Science database was the other purpose of the present paper. Methodology: The research was conducted based on Scientometrics methods. The research population included all the documents which mentioned Semnan University as their affiliation and were indexed in Web of Science from 1990 to 2015. Totally, 2106 documents were indexed in this timespan. The co-author network was mapped and analyzed by Coau.exe, Ucinet and Netdraw. In order to analyze the data, different software and measures were used. For this purpose, the data were first analyzed by coauthor.exe software and the authorship matrix was formed. The obtained matrix was a symmetric matrix 194 * 194, in which the diagonal cells were set to zero. Then the matrix was imported into the UCInet software to provide the proper format required for drawing software. After obtaining the outputs from the UCInet software, to draw up a map of the co-authorship the NetDraw software was used. Also, for all authors and researchers of the Semnan University, the h index was calculated using the Web of Science and the authors with the highest h index were identified. Findings: The results showed that Engineering (39%), Physics (19.5) and Mathematics (14%) were the subjects to which Semnan university researchers contributed. Totally, in the time span investigated, Iranian researchers produced 272019 documents out of which 2106 belonged to Semnan University. Therefore, this university ranked 30 among the Iranian universities. During the period studied, Semnan University produced 0.0049% of the universal scientific outputs. The results of the growth rate calculation indicated 43.22 for Semnan University researchers in the past fifty years that reveals a promising rising growth rate. Amjadi, Gorji and Orouji with 25, 23 and 15 H-Indexs ranked first to third, respectively. In term of citation, Amjadi ranked first with 2126 citations and Gorji with 1341 and Orouji with 629 citations were in the next ranks. Investigating the degree from among the centrality measurements was also calculated and the results showed that Gorji, Fereydoun and Asghari were in the top. The highest co-authoring rate occurred in 2005 which included 3 authors. As regards the fields of study, mathematics was the highest single-author subject. After obtaining the number of co-authorship of documents in different years, three indicators of co-authorship, including the cooperation index, degree of collaborative and Collaborative coefficient, were obtained, which showed that these collaborative indicators have increased significantly during the studied years. Also, there has been an increasing trend in two indicators of degree of collaborative and collaborative coefficient with several fluctuations over several years in general. The average of these three indicators for the whole years was 2.52, 0.84 and 0.50 respectively. Discussion: The results of data analysis showed that, although the flow of co-authorship among the Semnan University researchers has fluctuated in recent years, during the studied period, the researchers of Semnan University have tended to write co-authorship. Generally, documents with three authors were the most co-authorship. The results also showed that the co-authorship network of Semnan University researchers consisted of 6 main components and 7 isolated authors. The largest cluster composed of 171 authors. The smaller cluster comprised of 7 authors and the other clusters included two. Also, subject areas of engineering, physics and mathematics scored the highest number of articles among Semnan University researchers

Analyzing and Critic of Ibn Sina’s Explanation on Triple Division of Theoretical Wisdom

Ibn Sina, as a Muslim Philosopher, has given a famous triple division of knowledge and wisdom that is relying on Aristotelian philosophical tradition. Ibn Sina tries to rationalize his triple division of knowledge and wisdom based on many properties of its subject matter. In his view, the subject matter of human being’s knowledge has three kinds, first it mentally and externally needs to matter, and second it mentally is in needless to matter, but externally needs to it, third it mentally and externally is in needless to matter. Based on this foundations, he introduces three kinds and divisions of wisdom including theology, mathematics and physics. But if we consider his philosophical and epistemological foundations regarding the subject matter of knowledge, there can be appeared some problems and contradictions concerning the knowledge of logic, mathematics and theology, as the knowledge of God. Since based on Ibn Sina’s theory, logic, mathematics and theology, as the science of God, can’t be considered as one sections of wisdom

Correlation between ELF–PEMF exposure and Human RPE Cell Proliferation, Apoptosis and Gene Expression

Purpose: Emerging evidence implies that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can negatively affect angiogenesis. In this regard, the effects of extremely low frequency pulsed electromagnetic field (ELF–PEMF) exposure on the relative expression level of angiogenic factors involved in the pathogenesis of ocular disorders were evaluated in human retinal pigment epithelial (hRPE) cells in order to investigate a noninvasive therapeutic method for patients with several ocular diseases associated with neovascularization. Methods: After separating hRPE cells from globes, hRPE cells were exposed to 15 mT of ELF–PEMF (120 Hz) at 5, 10, and 15 min for seven days. Cell proliferation and apoptosis of treated cells were evaluated via ELISA assay. Moreover, relative expression changes of HIF-1α, CTGF, VEGFA, MMP-2, cathepsin D, and E2F3 were performed using real-time RT-PCR. Results: ELF–PEMF exposure had no significant effects on the apoptosis and proliferation rate of hRPE cells. Expression level of HIF-1α, CTGF, VEGFA, MMP- 2, cathepsin D, and E2F3 was downregulated following 5 min of ELF–PEMF exposure. Conclusion: As ELF–PEMF showed inhibitory effects on the expression of angiogenic genes in hRPE cells with no cytotoxic or proliferative side effects, it can be introduced as a useful procedure for managing angiogenesis induced by retinal pathogenesis, although more studies with adequate follow-up in animal models are needed

Impact of Wikipedia on citation trends

It has been suggested that the "visibility" of an article influences its citation count. More specifically, it is believed that the social media can influence article citations.Here we tested the hypothesis that inclusion of scholarly references in Wikipedia affects the citation trends. To perform this analysis, we introduced a citation “propensity” measure, which is inspired by the concept of amino acid propensity for protein secondary structures. We show that although citation counts generally increase during time, the citation "propensity" does not increase after inclusion of a reference in Wikipedia