The Influence of Heat Stress and Powder of Jaloh Leaves Supplementation Into Commercial Fish Feed on Body Weight Gain, Hematokrit Level and Malondialdehid Content in the Nila's Liver

The aims of this experiment are to find out the effect of temperature stress and jaloh leaves supplementation on body weight gain, hematocrit level, and malondialdehid (MDA) content in the liver tissues of nila fish (Oreochromis niloticus). A total of 80 fishes with the weight of 40-50 gr were randomly allocated into 8 treatments. The treatments consisted of P1 (no heat stress and no jaloh leaves supplementation); P2 (no heat stress and 5% of jaloh leaves supplementation) ; P3 (no heat stress and 10% of leaves supplementation); P4 (no heat stress and 15 % of leaves supplementation); P5 (heat stress and no jaloh leaves supplementation); P6 (heat stress and 5% of jaloh leaves supplementation); P7 (heat stress and 10% of jaloh leaves supplementation); P8 (heat stress about 35 ± 1oC for 4 h per day in 30 days and 15% of jaloh leaves supplementation). The body weight was measured from 1d to 31d. Blood samples, lever tissues and statistical analysis were conducted on 31d. The results of the experiments indicated that supplementation of fish feed with jaloh leaves 5-15% had negative effects on body weight gain. On the other hand, supplementation of jaloh leaves 5-10% on commercial fish feed had positive effects on performances and immune system of experiment fishe

Comparison of date-palm wastes and perlite as growth substrates on some tomato growing indexes

Today, various organic matters are used as growth media. Most of them are combined with various materials, such as a mixture of peat moss and pine bark, or a mixture of peat moss and pine bark with mineral materials like perlite or vermiculite. All over the world, stone wool and other materials like perlite, pumice, polyortan phome, zeolite, coco peat and sawdust are used as growth media in soilless culture. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of incubation time on the physicochemical properties of date palm wastes and their effects on growing indexes of tomato in comparison with perlite when used as culture substrates. The date palm wastes were first manually chopped into small pieces, after which they were kept in plastic bags. They were adjusted to 55% moisture content and thoroughly mixed once every week. Treatments were done for 4 incubation times (0, 1, 3 and 9 months). The physicochemical properties of materials were analyzed during 3 months. After 3 months of incubation, for comparison of this composting materials (date-palm) with other substrates, perlite and the composting materials were used as growth media. The research was conducted in a completely randomized design with 6 replications of tomato for 6 months. Treatments included perlite, date-palm1 (without incubation time) and date-palm2 (with 3 months incubation time). During plant growth irrigation rate, temperature, humidity and pest control for all treatments were similar. During plant growth, Papadopolus formula with fertigation method was used for the nutrient solution. The plants were kept for 6 months, then after this period, the physicochemical properties of these materials were analyzed again. So, the growing indexes of tomato, which included fruit yield, plant height, fruit  number, stem diameter, TSS and biomass, were measured. The results of incubation time period showed that changes of porosity, bulk density, pH, C/N ratio and CEC had significant differences (p<0.05). The C/N ratio reduced, while the bulk density and CEC increased by the increase in incubation time period. Comparison of tomato growing indexes in the different substrates showed that fruit yield, plant height and fruit number of tomato had no significant differences at 5% level, but stem diameter and biomass in date-palm1 was higher than other media and thus, had significant differences at 5% level.Key words: Date palm wastes, incubation time, aerating, perlite, fertigation, tomato

Evaluation of chemical quality in 17 brands of Iranian bottled drinking waters

Background: The purpose of study was to evaluate and compare chemical quality of Iranian bottled drinking water reported on manufacturer's labeling and standards. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study and done during July to December 2008. The bottled mineral water collected from shops randomly were analyzed for all parameters address on manufacturer's labeling and the results were compared with the manufacturer's labeling data, WHO Guideline Values, USEPA Maximum Contaminant Levels and the maximum contaminant levels of drinking water imposed by the Iranian legislation. Statistical analysis on data was done with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normal distribution, the paired t-test to compare the data with manufacturer's labeling and the one-sample t-test to compare with standard and MCL values at P < 0.05 of confidence level. Results: The results showed a statistically significant difference with manufacturer's labeling values, however there was no significant difference between the values of magnesium and pH and manufacturer's labeling values (P> 0.05). In addition, pH and calcium values were significantly higher than their proposed values indicated by Iranian National Legislation and international MCLs (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Our results are extremely important for the health supervisory agencies such as Ministry of Health and Institute of Standards & Industrial Research of Iran to have more effective controls on bottled water industries, and to improve periodical the proposed standard values

Stellar turbulence and mode physics

An overview of selected topical problems on modelling oscillation properties in solar-like stars is presented. High-quality oscillation data from both space-borne intensity observations and ground-based spectroscopic measurements provide first tests of the still-ill-understood, superficial layers in distant stars. Emphasis will be given to modelling the pulsation dynamics of the stellar surface layers, the stochastic excitation processes and the associated dynamics of the turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum.Comment: Proc. HELAS Workshop on 'Synergies between solar and stellar modelling', eds M. Marconi, D. Cardini, M. P. Di Mauro, Astrophys. Space Sci., in the pres

Ovine and Caprine Brucellosis (Brucella melitensis) in Aborted Animals in Jordanian Sheep and Goat Flocks

Two hundred and fifty five biological samples were collected from 188 animals (81 sheep and 107 goats) during the lambing season from September 2009 to April 2010 from the Mafraq region of Jordan. Sampled animals belonged to 93 sheep and goat flocks that had abortion cases in the region. One hundred and seven (41.9%) biological samples were positive for the omp2 primers that were able to identify all Brucella species in the collected samples which were obtained from 86 aborted animals (86/188 = 45.7%). Using the B. melitensis insertion sequence 711 (IS711) primers on the 107 omp2 positive samples, only 61 confirmed to be positive for B. melitensis. These positive samples were obtained from 28 sheep and 33 goats. The prevalence rate of B. melitensis was 27.1% (51/188) among aborted animals. For differentiation between vaccine strain and field strain infection, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method using PstI endonuclease enzyme was used. Vaccination with Rev-1 in the last year (OR = 2.92, CI: 1.1–7.7) and grazing at common pasture (OR = 2.78, CI: 1.05–7.36) were statistically significant (P ≤ .05) risk factors positively associated with the occurrence of brucellosis in sheep and goat flocks

Stellar granulation as seen in disk-integrated intensity. II. Theoretical scaling relations compared with observations

A large set of stars observed by CoRoT and Kepler shows clear evidence for the presence of a stellar background, which is interpreted to arise from surface convection, i.e., granulation. These observations show that the characteristic time-scale (tau_eff) and the root-mean-square (rms) brightness fluctuations (sigma) associated with the granulation scale as a function of the peak frequency (nu_max) of the solar-like oscillations. We aim at providing a theoretical background to the observed scaling relations based on a model developed in the companion paper. We computed for each 3D model the theoretical power density spectrum (PDS) associated with the granulation as seen in disk-integrated intensity on the basis of the theoretical model. For each PDS we derived tau_eff and sigma and compared these theoretical values with the theoretical scaling relations derived from the theoretical model and the Kepler measurements. We derive theoretical scaling relations for tau_eff and sigma, which show the same dependence on nu_max as the observed scaling relations. In addition, we show that these quantities also scale as a function of the turbulent Mach number (Ma) estimated at the photosphere. The theoretical scaling relations for tau_eff and sigma match the observations well on a global scale. Our modelling provides additional theoretical support for the observed variations of sigma and tau_eff with nu_m max. It also highlights the important role of Ma in controlling the properties of the stellar granulation. However, the observations made with Kepler on a wide variety of stars cannot confirm the dependence of our scaling relations on Ma. Measurements of the granulation background and detections of solar-like oscillations in a statistically sufficient number of cool dwarf stars will be required for confirming the dependence of the theoretical scaling relations with Ma.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures,accepted for publication in A&

A novel RET inhibitor with potent efficacy against medullary thyroid cancer in vivo

Background Most medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) recur or progress despite optimal surgical resection. Current targeted-therapies show promise but lack durable efficacy and tolerability. The purpose of this study was to build upon previous in vitro work and evaluate Withaferin A (WA), a novel RET inhibitor, in a metastatic murine model of MTC. Methods 5 million DRO-81-1 human MTC-cells injected in the left posterior neck of Nu/Nu mice uniformly generated metastases to the liver, spleen, and/or lungs. Treatment with WA (8mg/kg/day i.p.×21 days) was started for tumors >100 mm3. Endpoints were survival, tumor>1500 mm3, decreased bodyweight, or body score (all measured thrice weekly). Results All controls (saline; n=5) died or deteriorated from metastatic disease by 7 weeks post injection. All treated animals were alive,(WA; n=5), having tumor regression and growth-delay without toxicity or weight-loss at 6 wks post treatment; p<0.01. Tumor cells treated with WA demonstrated inhibition of total and phospho-RET levels by Western-Blot analysis in a dose-dependent manner (almost complete inhibition with 5uM WA treatment) as well as potent inhibition of phospho-ERK and phospho-AKT levels. Conclusions Withaferin A is a novel natural-product RET-inhibitor with efficacy in a metastatic murine model of MTC. Further long-term efficacy/toxicity studies are warranted to evaluate this compound for clinical translation