Physical Properties and Chemical Composition of Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica (Zohary) Rech. F. gum: Effect of Geographical Region and Tree Gender

Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica (PAK) is one of three species in Iran and is indigenous to Kurdistan province. The aim of this reaserch was survey of the chemical composition and physical properties of oleoresin gum extracted from different gender of trees in six regions of Kurdistan province (Armardeh, Kanisoor, Marivan, Dezli, Hawraman and Sarvabad). Principal component analysis (PCA) assisted in analyzing the dependence of geographical regions and tree gender with the variations of chemical components of gum. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed in the surface tension, interfacial tension and intrinsic viscosity contents according to gender and geographic region. Spearman rank correlation coefficient results showed significantly positive and negative correlations between gum chemical components and physical characteristics. According to the obtained results and also various medical, cosmetic and food applications of oleoresin, when collecting, the separating extracted oleoresins from trees different regions andgenera is necessary

Physical Properties and Chemical Composition of Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica (Zohary) Rech. F. gum: Effect of Geographical Region and Tree Gender

Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica (PAK) is one of three species in Iran and is indigenous to Kurdistan province. The aim of this reaserch was survey of the chemical composition and physical properties of oleoresin gum extracted from different gender of trees in six regions of Kurdistan province (Armardeh, Kanisoor, Marivan, Dezli, Hawraman and Sarvabad). Principal component analysis (PCA) assisted in analyzing the dependence of geographical regions and tree gender with the variations of chemical components of gum. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed in the surface tension, interfacial tension and intrinsic viscosity contents according to gender and geographic region. Spearman rank correlation coefficient results showed significantly positive and negative correlations between gum chemical components and physical characteristics. According to the obtained results and also various medical, cosmetic and food applications of oleoresin, when collecting, the separating extracted oleoresins from trees different regions andgenera is necessary

Nintinol Self-Expandable Metallic Stenting in Management of Malignant Obstructive Jaundice: A Case Series

Background and Aims: Palliation therapy is the only available therapeutic method for most patients with tumor-induced obstructive jaundice. Metallic stents are now performed percutaneously as an alternative route to the endoscopic approach. It is widely accepted because of its safety, good patency rate, and minimal invasiveness. This study was designed to evaluate the long-term results of metallic self-expandable stent insertion in patients with malignant stenosis of the biliary tree. Methods: It is a longitudinal study of patients with percutaneously biliary stenting from September 2005 to March 2009. The patients had unresectable malignant biliary obstruction with unsuccessful endoscopic stenting and access. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiogram performed after adequate local anesthesia, under sonographic or fluoroscopic guidance. Stenting or balloon dilation was performed through the hydrophilic guide wire. Among 50 patients, 45 stents were placed in biliary tree stenosis sites. Patients' follow-up was during the first, second, third, and then the sixth month after insertion of biliary stents. Stent patency was considered successful in our patients, when there were no lab results or sonographic appearance of biliary tree obstruction. Results: 10(20) patients' stent placement treatment failed because of unsuccessful technical procedure. The stenosis of biliary tract was complete and passage of guide wire was not possible through the tumor growth. 6 (15 ) patients with successful stent placements died within one month (mean, 22 days). Total serum bilirubin resolved to below 1.5 mg/dl within 30 days for 36 (90) patients with successful stent placements. Early complications not leading to death occurred in 28 of cases. The mean survival time for all patients who underwent stent placement was 140 days (16-420days). The mean patency rate for all stents was 147 days. Conclusions: Percutaneous biliary stenting is a safe procedure with few technical complications and a high success rate of palliation for patients with malignant biliary jaundice. Early complications are mostly managed conservatively and death is mainly due to systemic effects of the malignant disease

Modelling the habitat preferences of the swan mussel (Anodonta cygnea) using data-driven model

The Anzali wetland (located in northern Iran) and many parts of its catchment are considered important habitats for the swan mussel (Anodonta cygnea). The habitat of this native bioindicator mussel is being threatened in many locations of the catchment due to various anthropogenic activities. The present study aimed to apply a classification tree model (J48 algorithm) to predict the habitat preferences of A. cygnea in 12 sampling sites based on various water quality and physical-habitat variables. The species was present in 50% of sampling sites, while it was absent in the remaining of the sampling sites. In total, 144 samples of A. cygnea (72 presence and 72 absence instances) were monthly measured together with the abiotic variables during 1-year study period (2017-2018). For the CT model, two-thirds of datasets (96 instances) served as a training and the remainder was employed for the validation set (48 instances). Among 25 environmental variables introduced to the model (with pruning confidence factor=0.10, threefold cross-validation and 5 times randomization effort), the validity of 6 variables was confirmed by the model in all three subsets. Water salinity, flow velocity, water depth and water turbidity were jointly predicted by the model in three subsets. The model predicted that the absence of A. cygnea might be associated with increasing flow velocity, total phosphate and water turbidity. In contrast, the presence of A. cygnea might be related to decreased water depth and increased calcium concentration. The model also confirmed that all predicted variables for the species might be completely dependent on the water salinity. According to the chi-square test (x(2)=26.53, p<0.05), the habitat condition of A. cygnea is influenced by significant variations in the spatio-temporal patterns

Prediction of the abundance of Artemia parthenogenetica in a hypersaline wetland using decision tree model

The hypersaline wetland of Meighan located in western Iran is an important habitat forArtemia parthenogenetica. The habitat condition of this native zooplankton is facing with various problems in the wetland, so its abundance has been reduced in the wetland in the recent years. The study aimed to optimize decision tree model with an optimizer (greedy stepwise) to predict the species abundance in 10 different sampling sites over one-year study period (2017-2018). The model output was the species abundance categorized into 4 classes (poor: 5-20; fair: 21-50; good: 51-100; very good:101-255 individuals) and measured with abiotic variables. The optimizer method improved the model performance leading to easy interpretation of the model. According to the model's prediction, high abundance of species in the wetland is associated with high concentration of specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solids. In contrast, increased concentration of chloride, total suspended solids, nitrate and precipitation might decrease the abundance of zooplankton. Chi-square test showed a significant difference between the species abundance and spatio-temporal patterns in the wetland (x(2) = 160.2,p = 0.001) so that warm seasons (spring and summer) had more contribution to the zooplankton sampling than cold seasons (autumn and winter)