Response of seeds and pollen of Onobrychis viciifolia and Onobrychis oxyodonta var. armena to NaCl stress

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) is an important forage legume crop with 52 species adapted to dry and poor soils in Turkey, but little is known about the effects of salinity on germination and seedling growth in arid and semiarid regions suffering from salinity problem. The seeds and pollen of two species of sainfoin O. viciifolia and O. oxyodonta var. armena (Syn: O. armena) were exposed to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 dS m-1 of NaCl under in vivo and in vitro conditions and evaluated for germination under salt stress by comparing germination percentage, mean germination time, root and shoot length, fresh and dry seedling weight and dry matter. Increased salinity levels generally resulted in decrease in all traits except time to germination, dry seedling weight and dry matter, which increased at high salinity levels. O. viciifolia seeds germinated and grew more rapidly compared to O. armena seeds under NaCl stress. No decrease in germination and seedling growth up to 10 dS m-1 was recorded. On the other hand, there was a clear difference for germination and seedling growth between in vivo and in vitro conditions. Lower values were obtained from in vitro experiments; suggesting that mineral salts, sucrose and agar may have resulted in higher osmotic potential inhibiting germination and seedling growth of species compared in vivo conditions. Decrease in pollen germination with increasing salinities was very sharp, indicating that pollen germination had higher sensitive to salinity. But, pollen grains of O. armena germinated rapidly compared to O. viciifolia. The results emphasize that in vivo experiments could be used for screening of NaCl tolerance in sainfoin cultivars without expensive chemicals and sophisticated equipments, but pollen germination is more appropriate for its wild relatives

The Effect of Cognitive Behavior Therapy on Anxiety Reduction of First Normal Vaginal Delivery

Introduction: Anxiety has an impressive effect on normal vaginal delivery. Since no study has been conducted in this regard, this research is designed to determine the effect of cognitive behavior therapy on the reduction of anxiety at first normal vaginal delivery. Methods: A semi-experimental study was carried out on 40 nulliparous women with six months age of pregnancy and without abortion and infertility background. After the completion of testimonial, the rate of anxiety was evaluated by Beck anxiety inventory. Then the participants were randomly divided into two groups (20 persons in each group). The experimental group received ten sessions of individual cognitive behavior therapy. The test was carried out again a week before delivery and twenty days after it. The data analysis was accomplished by SPSS16 and Co-variance analysis test. Results: At first the average of anxiety score in the experimental group was 34.16, in post test. 8.68 and in follow up test 7.79 and, thus the difference was meaningful(p<0.01), whereas in the control group, this score, at first, was 34.05, in post test 34.53 and in follow up test 26.89, which did not show any meaningful difference. Conclusions: Consequently the cognitive behavior therapy causes to decrease the anxiety with enduring effect at first normal vaginal delivery. Therefore, this treatment is proposed to reduce the anxiety of first delivery women

Immobilization of lipase on the modified magnetic diatomite earth for effective methyl esterification of isoamyl alcohol to synthesize banana flavor

The present study was designed to propose a simple, cost-effective, and efficient method for the preparation of a biocompatible composite made from magnetic diatomaceous earth (mDE) coated by aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and its application for immobilization of porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL). The produced mDE-APTES was instrumentally characterized and the obtained results of FTIR analysis and scanning electron microscopy equipped by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM�EDS) showed successful coating of APTES on mDE surface. PPL was then immobilized onto mDE to obtain the biocatalyst of PPL@mDE (immobilization yield and efficiency of 78.0 ± 0.3 and 80.1 ± 0.6, respectively) and the presence of enzyme was confirmed by EDS method. The attained results of the reusability of PPL@mDE revealed that 57 of the initial activity was retained after 11 cycles of biocatalyst application. PPL@mDE demonstrated higher storage stability than the free enzyme at 4 °C, 25 °C, and 37 °C. The apparent Km (2.35 ± 0.12 mM) and Vmax (13.01 ± 0.64 µmol/min) values for the immobilized enzyme were considerably altered compared to those of the free enzyme (p &gt; 0.05). PPL@mDE was subsequently employed for the synthesis of banana flavor (isoamyl acetate) in n-hexane, which yields an esterification percentage of 100 at 37 °C after 3 h. However, it merits further investigations to find out about large-scale application of the as-synthesized biocatalyst for esterification. © 2020, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

An organic solvent-tolerant lipase of Streptomyces pratensis MV1 with the potential application for enzymatic improvement of n6/n3 ratio in polyunsaturated fatty acids from fenugreek seed oil

Lipase-catalyzed esterification is an efficient technique in the production of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) concentrates which are applied for nutrition and health purposes. In this project, a solvent-tolerant lipase from Streptomyces pratensis MV1 was immobilized and purified by a hydrophobic support. The purified lipase revealed enhanced activity and stability towards chemicals, organic solvents, and a broad range of pH values. The production of lipase was enhanced to 7.0 U/mL after optimization by a central composite design. Acylglycerols (AGs) rich in α-linolenic acid (45, w/w) were produced and a favorable n-6/n-3 free fatty acid (FFA) ratio of 1.1 was achieved in fenugreek seed oil using the immobilized lipase. The ability of S. pratensis lipase in ester synthesis and the improvement of n6/n3 FFA ratio make it a suitable candidate in food production industries. © 2020, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India)

Modeling Left Ventricular Blood Flow Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

This study aims to investigate the capability of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), a fully Lagrangian mesh-free method, to simulate the bulk blood flow dynamics in two realistic left ventricular (LV) models. Three dimensional geometries and motion of the LV, proximal left atrium and aortic root are extracted from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and multi-slice computed tomography imaging data. SPH simulation results are analyzed and compared with those obtained using a traditional finite volume-based numerical method, and to in vivo phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography data, in terms of the large-scale blood flow phenomena usually clinically measured. A quantitative comparison of the velocity fields and global flow parameters between the in silico models and the in vivo data shows a reasonable agreement, given the inherent uncertainties and limitations in the modeling and imaging techniques. The results indicate the capability of SPH as a promising tool for predicting clinically relevant large-scale LV flow information