Spatio-temporal variation of throughfall in a hyrcanian plain forest stand in Northern Iran

Elucidating segregation of precipitation in different components in forest stands is important for proper forest ecosystems management. However, there is a lack of information on important rainfall components viz. throughfall, interception and stemflow in forest watersheds particularly in developing countries. We therefore investigated the spatiotemporal variation of important component of throughfall for a forest stand in a Hyrcanian plain forest in Noor City, northern Iran. The study area contained five species of Quercus castaneifolia, Carpinus betulus, Populus caspica and Parrotia persica. The research was conducted from July 2013 to July 2014 using a systematic sampling method. Ninetysix throughfall collectors were installed in a 3.5 m × 3.5 m grid cells. The canopy covers during the growing/leaf-on (i.e., from May to November) and non-growing/leaf-off (i.e., from December to March) seasons were approximately 41% and 81%, respectively. The mean cumulative throughfall during the study period was 623±31 mm. The average throughfall (TF) as % of rainfall (TFPR) during leaf-on and leaf-off periods were calculated 56±14% and 77±10%, respectively. TF was significantly (R2 = 0.97, p = 0.00006) correlated with gross precipitation. Percent of canopy cover was not correlated with TF except when gross precipitation was <30 mm. A comparison between leaf-off and leaf-on conditions indicated a significantly higher TFPR and corresponding hotspots during leaf-on period. TFPR also differed between seasons with a maximum amount in winter (82%). The results of the study can be effectively used by forest watershed managers for better perception of hydrological behavior of the Hyrcanian forest in the north of Iran under different silvicultural circumstances leading to getting better ecosystem services

Comparison the effect of corticosteroid injection with physiotherapy in treatment of painful arch of shoulder

زمینه و هدف: سندرم قوس دردناک شانه به دو صورت جراحی و غیر جراحی درمان می شود. درمان غیر جراحی شامل استفاده از داروهای ضد التهابی استروئیدی و غیر استروئیدی و یا فیزیوتراپی است. لذا هدف این مطالعه بررسی مقایسه میزان اثربخشی تزریق کورتیکواستروئید و فیزیوتراپی در درمان این بیماری می باشد. روش بررسی: در یک کار آزمایی بالینی دو سویه کور 124 بیمار که با شکایت درد یا محدودیت حرکت شانه به درمانگاه ارتوپدی بیمارستان آیت اله کاشانی شهرکرد مراجعه و برای آنها بیماری قوس دردناک شانه تشخیص داده شد بطور تصادفی به دو گروه 62 نفری تقسیم شدند. در گروه اول 40 میلی گرم متیل پردنیزولون در محل حداکثر حساسیت درد تزریق و در گروه دوم، بیماران تحت 10 جلسه فیزیوتراپی طی 2 هفته قرار گرفتند. نتیجه درمان بر اساس پرسشنامه ناتوانی شانه و میزان درد بیماران در هفته های 2، 6 و 11 جمع آوری و با استفاده از آزمون های آماری کای دو، t و آزمون مشاهدات تکرار شده تجزیه و تحلیل شد. یافته ها: میانگین سنی بیماران 5/9±3/42 سال بود. از نظر جنس و سن تفاوتی بین دو گروه مشاهده نشد. در یک بیمار گروه فیزیوتراپی و سه نفر از گروه تزریق کورتیکواستروئید عود بیماری مشاهده شد. روند کاهش معنی داری در میزان شاخص ناتوانی شانه و درد در هر دو گروه مشاهده شد (05/0

Evaluation of Bone Densitometry Parameters in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background: The present study was performed to assess densitometry indices in pediatric patients affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Mashhad city, east of Iran.Methods: Seventy pediatric IBD patients (8-18 age range) in Akbar Hospital in Mashhad were evaluated in terms of clinical parameters (age, sex, weight, height, IBD type, IBD activity, duration of disease, affected organ, management methods, treatment duration, hospitalization time, nutritional status and puberty), laboratory parameters (serum levels of vitamin D, albumin (Alb), calcium (Ca), phosphorous (P), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), Urea, creatinine (Cr) along with important hepatic enzymes aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)). Also, Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) was applied for whole body and lumbar spine Bone Mineral Density (BMD) measurement.Results and conclusion: IBD was mostly manifested as ulcerative colitis (UC) (62.9%) and the disease duration and treatment course were mostly reported to be "over 6 months", with 88.6% and 84.3%, respectively. Most patients had normal (n = 43; 61.4%) and decreased (n = 20; 28.6%) nutritional status, sorted in tanner stage 4 (n = 40; 57.1%), had no hospitalization (81.4%), and received prednisolone (n = 33; 47.1%). Moreover, left colitis (n = 39; 55.7%) and pan colitis (n = 24; 34.3%) were the most affected parts. No statistically significant correlation was reported regarding lumbar BMD values in terms of gender, disease duration, treatment time, and IBD type. Also, there was no statistical association between the treatment type and involved tissues with lumbar and femoral BMD values among 70 examined children in the present study. Still, more studies are recommended to truly evaluate the bone densitometry parameters in children with inflammatory bowel disease

Detection of human T-cell lymphotropic virus Type-1 among patients with malignant hematological diseases in Capital of Iran, Tehran

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1) is a deltaretrovirus linked causally to adult T-cell leukemia or lymphoma (ATL), and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The aim of this study was to detect HTLV-1 infection in patients with malignant hematological diseases and also determining the prevalence of HTLV-1 in these patient groups. Sixty patients with malignant hematological diseases were included in the study and tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for anti-HTLV-1, and Real time-PCR for the sequences from HTLV-1 tax gene. The mean age of patients was 33.9 ± 18.3 years. 18 of the subjects were found HTLV-1 seropositive using ELISA and the viral prevalence by Real time-PCR was 12%. HTLV-1 was found in 25% of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), 58.3% of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), 16.7% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and no detected in patients with lymphoma. The present study revealed that HTLV-1 is prevalent in patients with malignant hematological diseases and in our study. The major HTLV-1 associated syndromes were chronic myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The Impact of Silymarin on the Symptom Severity in Pediatric Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a multifactorial disease, posing significant challenges to public health. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of silymarin on the symptom severity in pediatric patients with IBD.Methods & Materials: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on children aged 5-18 diagnosed with IBD referred to the GI clinic at Akbar Children's Hospital in Mashhad. Those who met the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated into either the intervention or placebo group, each group consisting of 20 participants. In the intervention group, silymarin was administered three times daily in divided doses for three months. The control group received a placebo. To assess the efficacy of silymarin, PUCAI and PCDAI were evaluated for all patients at three different time points: before the intervention, during the first visit, and after the intervention. Data were analyzed utilizing the SPSS version 25, with a significance level set at p 0.05). However, a statistically significant difference was observed in the disease activity index score between the two groups during the second, and third evaluations (p<0.05)

Development and analysis of the Soil Water Infiltration Global database

In this paper, we present and analyze a novel global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and the USA. In addition to its extensive geographical coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use was gathered along with the infiltration data, making the database valuable for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements ( ∼ 76%) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on land use is available for 76% of the experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type ( ∼ 40%). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for public domain use only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.885492 (Rahmati et al., 2018). Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend and update the SWIG database by uploading new data to it

Assessment of watershed management implemented on springal peak flood discharge and flood volume, using HEC-HMS model (case study: Kushk Abad sub-basin in Iran)

Assessment of watershed management operation is one of the main subjects for future planning of practical projects and natural resources management. Flood Damage is one of the most important problems in countries same Iran, which is mostly, affected most parts of the country and caused hazards. Therefore, identification of the area with high potential risk of flood occurrence is the main purpose in order to the flood control and reducing its damages. Due to the lack of any tool for assessment of watershed processes in many cases, distributed hydrological models can be useful. The indicator watershed of Kushk-Abad Basin as the study area in Khorasan province of Iran divided to 6 sub-basins which was processed geometrically using GIS and HEC-HMS extension. With using HEC-HMS model and emission of individual repetition of the sub-basins, the homogenous flood hydrographs have gained in relation to the recorded precipitation calculated for different sub-basins. For this purpose, first by considering observed events, HEC-HMS model was optimized and calibrated. Then, for evaluating the effects of check dams on time of concentration, it was optimized and calibrated. Then, for evaluating the effects of check dams on time of concentration, it was calculated before and after of check dam’s construction by use of field observations and vegetation cover improvement was also estimated after the project. These parameters were imported to HEC-HMS to find out the effects of watershed practices and then flooding condition was simulated. For assessment purposes, peak discharche and flood volume were calculated for before and after construction conditions. Results showed that check dams as mechanical measures had low effect on time of concentration while biological practices lead to decease in curve number with an average value of 4.5. This result in decrease of peak flow and flood volume meanly 19% and 14%, respectively

Evaluation and Variability of Flood-Oriented Health of Shiraz Darwazeh Quran Watershed from Watershed Management Structures

IntroductionCurrently, many disasters threaten the health of ecosystems. The pressures caused by extensive human interventions and the unprincipled exploitation of natural resources have led to the degradation of natural resources and the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Hence, evaluating the consequences of human intervention in nature and meeting the growing need of humans to receive diverse services has made it necessary to evaluate the performance of watershed ecosystems in providing different services. Healthy watersheds play an important role in providing a wide variety of ecosystem services. Therefore, watershed health monitoring and evaluation is vital for the conservation of ecosystems and achieving the optimal level of services. In such a way a suitable collaborative and executive approach is established between research and watershed management. In this connection, watershed health analysis can provide valuable help in achieving the goals of integrated management of watersheds and, of course, the balance between the needs of human societies and ecosystems. However, the assessment of the health and sustainability of the watershed affected by human activities has not been sufficiently documented yet.Materials and MethodsThe current pilot research has evaluated the health of the Shiraz Darwazeh Quran Watershed in Fars Province, Iran, and the effect of existing watershed management structures in the region on the health of the watershed with a focus on floods. For this purpose, 36 key criteria from a set of climatic, anthropogenic, and hydrologic factors were identified based on the conditions of the region and the analysis of the flood occurrence process in the watershed. The selected criteria were then categorized into the three indices of pressure (P), state (S), and response (R). After screening the selected criteria in exploring the conceptual approach of pressure, state, and response (PSR), the health status was evaluated in two cases with and without watershed management structures.Results and DiscussionThe results showed that the health condition without considering the watershed management structures was at average conditions with health index of 0.55. In addition, the results of the watershed health assessment verified the non-significant effects of stone and mortar structures on improving watershed health. So that, the health conditions was remained at average status with health index of 0.53. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that the existing watershed management structures, due to the limited both number and spatial coverage, have not been able to noticeably affect the improvement of the general conditions of the watershed, despite the effect on the factors affecting the health of the sub-watersheds where the structures have been constructed. The spatial changes of the calculated variables showed that the abandoned lands, time of concentration, area under military activities, surface of sensitive formations to erosion, high density of the drainage network, density of the roads, areas of regions with high potential in producing runoff and sediment, and size of the residential areas were the most important factors affecting the health situation of the Darwazeh Quran Watershed.ConclusionAccording to the results of the analysis of the indicators and criteria considered in evaluation of the health of the Shiraz Darwazeh Quran Watershed based on the PSR approach, it was found that the watershed had an average health status. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that the existing watershed management structures have not been able to impose a noticeable effect on the prosperity and improvement of watershed health conditions. In general, it can be said that abandoned lands, short concentration time, military activities, the presence of formations sensitive to erosion, high density of drainage network and road, and the potential of high runoff and sediment production, and the size of residential areas are among the most important factors affecting the declining the health of Darwazeh Quran Watershed. Therefore, it is necessary to pay further attention to the aforesaid factors by conducting periodical monitoring with more comprehensive data, in time and also analyzing the trend of relative changes of the indicators in order to explain the adaptive and intelligent management of the watershed. The necessary measures should also be taken into account simultaneously. Therefore, it is suggested to turn the weak points of the region into strong points by applying bioengineering measures and use the opportunities in the region such as the potential of tourism and ecological features in order to improve the health status of the watershed

Influence of food attractants (methionine, lysine and alanine) on sturgeon larvae and fingerlings nutrition

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of food attractants (methionine, lysine and alanine) on growth performance and survival rates of Acipenser percicus larvae and fingerlings during the acclimation period to the formulated diets. A total of 3300 Acipenser percicus larvae and 1500 Acipenser percicus fingerlings with the initial mean weights of 0.4±0.09 (mean±SD) and 1.8±0.3 (mean±SD) g, respectively were randomly distributed into 30 aerated plastic tanks of 30 L capacity for larval stage and 50 L capacity for fingerling stage provided with a water flow rate of 0.2 litre per second. This study was conducted at the International Sturgeon Research Institute for two periods of 62 and 70 days over two years. Nine iso-caloric diets were formulated to contain 0, 1 and 3 % of three amino acids methionine, lysine and alanine. In addition, a diet containing 50 % of plant protein supplemented with 3 % of methionine, lysine and alanine was also formulated to compare the effects of plant-protein-based diet with the experimental diets so as to prepare a cost-effective practical diet for this species. Fish were fed each of the ten experimental diets and a completely randomized design in a 3×3 factorial arrangement was used for the experiment. At the end of the feeding trial, final weight (7.5 ± 0.3 g) in Persian sturgeon larvae fed M3L1A3 diet (3% methionine and alanine and 1% lysine) was significantly higher than those of fish fed the other experimental diets (p≤0.05) and then M1L1A3 diet (1% methionine and lysine and 3% alanine) was significantly better (p≤0.05) than other experimental diets. There were no significant differences (p≥0.05) in final weights among M1L1A1, M3L1A1, M3L3A1, M1L3A3 and M3L3A3 diets, while theses diets showed significant differences in final weight with fish fed plant-protein-based diet (3.2±1 g) and without amino acids supplemented diet (M0L0A0) (3.6± 0.4 g). Based on final weigh obtained from Persian sturgeon fingerlings, there were significant differences (p≤0.05) between M3L3A3 (3% methionine, 3% lysine and 3% alanine) (11.1±3.6g) and M3L1A3 (3% methionine, 1% lysine and 3% alanine) (10.4±3.1g) diets with M1L1A1, M1L3A1, M1L1A3, M0L0A0 and plant-protein-based diets. Results of final weigh in fingerling stage also indicated that there were no significant differences (p≥0.05) among M1L1A1 (7±1.2 g), M3L1A1 (8.6±1.6 g), M1L3A1 (7±0.5 g) and M1L1A3 diets (6.6±1.0 g) with M0L0A0 (5.8±1.8 g) and plant-protein-based diets. Analysis of total length in Persian sturgeon fingerlings indicated that there were no significant differences (p≥0.05) among treatments. The highest total length (12±1.6 cm) was recorded in fish fed M3L1A3 diet. Results obtained from this study revealed that young growing Persian sturgeon has greater requirements for methionine in diet, while lysine and alanine at the levels of 1 and 3% for Persian sturgeon fingerlings and at the level of 3% for larvae stage show the same effects on growth performance. Hence, it may be concluded that the dietary alanine and lysine requirements for sturgeon larvae during the acclimation period to formulated diet is estimated to be more than 1 %. No significant differences were observed in survival rates in sturgeon larvae and fingerlings among treatments

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations