The salicylic acid effect on the tomato (lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) germination, growth and photosynthetic pigment under salinity stress (NaCl)

Soil salinity is a serious environmental problem that has negative effect on plant growth, production and photosynthesis. Fresh and dry plant weights decreases with salinity treatments. The very important role of salicylic acid (SA) in response to different stress and modification and decline damages due to stresses has established in different studies. In this research tomato seeds planted in pots containing perlite in a growth chamber under controlled conditions of 27±2°c and 23±2°c temperature , 16h lightness and 8h darkness respectively, 15 Klux light intensity and 75% humidity; NaCl concentration of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mM and salicylic acid concentration of 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mM were used in the form of factorial experiment in a complete randomized design (CRD). Results show that germination was decreased with salinity increasing. At low levels of salinity, SA leads to decrease in germination and had no effect in high levels of salinity. The length of shoot were not effected by salinity but decrease with increase in SA concentration. Low salinity concentrations led to significant increase in root length and high concentrations don’t have significant difference with control. SA also had no effect on it. The highest amount of a, b, c and total chlorophyll and carotenoid was show in 50 mM salinity levels

An Experimental Appraisal of Ttwo Automatic Water Transferring Reservoirs From the 9th Century

Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Shakir Khurasani is one of the greatest Iranian scientists, of the ninth century A.C. He worked on mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic designs and devices. He presented his works in a book titled "Kitab Al-hiyal" .The book was originally written in Arabic in the city of Baghdad, around 850 A.C. To revitalize the old Iranian culture in its scientific and technological sense, the Iranian research organization for science and technology (IROST) in conjunction with the Museum of Iranian science and technologies decided to undertake a research project to establish an understanding these works along with manufacturing their working samples. The project was proposed and carried out by the mechanical engineering research center at IROST. A part of this work covered mechanisms and systems of transferring water from one supply reservoir to other consumption reservoirs. In this comparative appraisal of the two systems; in which different mechanisms are used, details of design and application of each have been studied and compared, proving that both designs are perfect and work according to the book "Al-hiyal". This paper provides an introductory and technically comparative view of these historical technological masterpieces

In vivo antioxidant and kidney protective potential of Atorvastatin against cadmium chloride-induced kidney injury in male Wistar rat

Cadmium contributes to nephrotoxicity linked with oxidative stress in humans and animals. This study used Atorvastatin to examine its effect on cadmium chloride-induced nephrotoxicity in a rat model using biochemical and histological methodologies. Experiments were performed on 56 adult male Wistar rats (200 ± 20 g), randomly assigned to eight groups. Rats in Group A received physiologic saline. Group B was treated with a dosage of 20 mg/ kg body weight/day AT for 15 days. Groups C, D, and E received CdCl2 with dosages of 1, 2, and 3 mg/kg body weight, respectively. Groups F, G, and H were pretreated with Atorvastatin, 30 min prior to the administration of CdCl2. Rats received intra-gastric Atorvastatin for 15 days during which cadmium chloride was given from days 8 to 15. On day 16, blood samples were collected, and kidneys were excised to evaluate the biochemical and histopathological changes. Cadmium chloride significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA), serum creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels. Administration of Atorvastatin (20 mg/kg) significantly decreased lipid peroxidation, BUN and Cr, while it significantly increased glutathione and antioxidant enzymes activity. Atorvastatin improved the histological changes and all biochemical markers and shed light on its protecting role against cadmium chloride-induced oxidative stress in the kidney