Assessing the optimum temperature for survival, growth and reproduction of adult Caspian Sea Pontogammarus maeoticus

This study was conducted to assess the effect of different levels of temperature on survival, growth and reproduction of adult Caspian Sea Pontogammarus rnaeoticus. Temperature effects were studied in 5 thermal levels (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35°C) where salinity was constant (7.1±0.2ppt). The sampling was made from Hassan-nrud coastal area in Guilan province. The results showed that survival was maximum at 20CC (95.56%) with higher temperatures showing a significant descending trend in survival (P<0.05) in which all samples perished on I 8th day at 35°C treatment. The number of produced brood followed a significant ascending , trend from 15°C to 25°C treatments and reached its climax at 25°C (117.3+12.2 broods). The minimum value for produced brood was reported at 15°C treatment (21.3±2.4 broods). A significant persistent increment of growth rate was observed throughout all treatments (P<0.05) where the maximum and minimum values were observed for the final (5.76±0.1mm) and the first (1.77±0.06mm) treatments, respectively. We suggest 25°C, 20°C and 30°C temperature treatments for producing the maximum brood per unit of time, the highest survival rate and the maximum growth, respectively. The temperature 25°C is defined as the best for aquaculture of pontogammarus as livefood of aquatic organisms

The Effectiveness of a supportive educative program on mothers’ knowledge and behavior about breast feeding in health care centers of Shahrekord city 2012

Background and aims: Breast feeding because of many advantages is preferred on any replacement feeding for all infants. One of the major causes of discontinuation of breast feeding is insufficient knowledge of mothers from the benefits of it. So, the aim of this study was the effect of a supportive educative program on mothers' knowledge and performance that referred to health care centers of Shahrekord city. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, carried out in 2012, 168 mothers (each group, 84 persons) were divided randomly into two groups: experimental and control. The program performed in nine sessions of 2 hours. Data collection tool was questionnaire. Questionnaires were completed by both groups; the training received after re-training questionnaire was completed by two groups. The data were analyzed by software SPSS. Results: The demographic characteristics of 2 groups were not significant different. Average scores of breastfeeding information before launching the application in the experimental group was 78.59±18.49 and in the control group 75.93±18.62 and after the program in the experimental group was 89.90±13.85 and in the control group 77.24±15.45. The average of performance scores before the program in the experimental group was 45.41±24.62, and in the control group 50.62±25.33 and after the run the program in the experimental group 76.45±21.08 and in the control group 51.04±24.80 respectively. There was no significant difference between mean knowledge and performance scores of experimental and control groups before the intervention (P=0.35), but after the intervention, difference was significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results showed the effectiveness of this supportive educative program on increasing mothers' knowledge and performance about breast-feeding. Regarding the cheap, simple and appropriate ability to run of the program recommended that the program performed by health workers for breastfeeding mothers even be extended to other women of reproductive age

Determination of chromosomes that control physiological traits associated with salt tolerance in barley at the seedling stage

Salt stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses, and plays an important role in reducing the yield of crops worldwide. It is now recognized that tolerance to salinity is genetically and physiologically complex and also inherited quantitatively. Barley is a short-season, early maturing, diploid and self pollinating crop, thus it is an ideal model plant for genetic and physiological studies of salinity tolerance. In order to map the genes/QTLs for salinity tolerance in barley, 72 doubled-haploid lines derived from a cross between ‘Steptoe’ and ‘Morex’ were used in an experiment using a randomized complete factorial design with three replications. The phenotypic traits under study included: chlorophyll contents, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fo, Fv, Fv/Fm), proline and carbohydrate rates, relative water content (RWC) and dry and wet weight of plant. Analysis of variance results showed that there were significant differences among the lines and different levels of salinity for all the traits. The strongest correlation was observed between dry and wet weight of plant (r = 0.95**). QTL analysis was performed using the genetic linkage map derived from 327 RFLP molecular markers and QTL cartographer software with the composite interval mapping method. Phenotypic variations that were explained by these QTLs, ranged from 10.64 to 24.20. The highest and lowest phenotypic variances were related to chlorophyll content (Q3cls) and Fv/Fm (Q1fv/fms), respectively. LOD values ranged from 2.77 to 6.33. The highest LOD scores were attained for Fv/Fm on chromosome 2H. Physiological traits associated with salt tolerance in this population were mapped to chromosomes 1H, 2H, 5H and 7H.Key words: Barley, QTL, salinity, stress, tolerance

Determinant criteria for designing Health benefit package in selected countries

Health benefit package described as primary health interventions that provided with government using general funds for all regardless their financial ability. This study was aimed at determine appropriate pattern for Iran using comparative survey of Health benefit package in various countries. A review exploration was done, scholars was selected population of both developed and developing countries, required information was also extracted by articles, searches and reports of reliable sources and date were analyzed by SPSS, in brief. The vast majority frequencies was respectively allocated to accessibility (40.7%), cost- effectiveness (29.6%), prioritize, efficacy and cost (22.2%). most countries located in WHO African region were selected cost-effectiveness and accessibility, WHO southeast Asia region were selected, coverage, prioritize, efficacy and quality and finally most WHO Europeans region were elected effectiveness and services costs for including services in Health benefit package. According to most Health benefit package designer emphasis on criteria including accessibility and costeffectiveness, to design Health benefit package for Iran, these criteria must be noticed

Smart-BIM (Building Information Modeling)

Purpose: After a long period of international research and development, BIM has become mature. Many tools support the BIM process, or at least they claim. BIM not only offers opportunities for the Architectural Engineering and Construction industry, but also for the client. In this paper we don’t focus on the professional client, but on the client of a building assignment that act as the end-user. Involvement of the end user in the design process has been advocated by many scholars and designers, but has so far only marginally been adopted in practice. The importance of user participation is demonstrated by the lack of success of smart technologies in new housing or in renovation. Particularly elderly people resist accepting these technologies in their home environment, although they could benefit from these technologies to improve comfort and health care. As a result of poor understanding of these new technologies by both designers and end users, researchers observe that there is a mismatch between user demands and smart technology usability. Hence, this paper is an attempt to improve the role of users in the design process in two ways. Firstly, by adding the missing components of smart technology to current BIM model libraries. Secondly, by developing a virtual model in which users can interact with the smart technologies and configure their preferred layout. The final results are interesting not only for technology developers but also for housing designers who aim at improving the quality of life in future housing for aging society. Method: For a better understanding of BIM, a historical perspective is taken in this paper. The initiatives from different research institutes are discussed and how they affected each other. The up-take by the software industry is highlighted and their delicate relationship with science. In today’s design process BIM systems support spatial design that is accommodate by smart technology. Usually this smart technology is added after the spatial design in the final design stage by the installations expert. In our research we want to turn this process around; the smart technologies are accommodated by spatial design. Therefore we develop a design system with a library of smart components such as smart wall, smart kitchen and smart furniture. The difference between smart technologies and standard building components is that smart technologies interact with the building users. BIM allows for realistic visualization of designs in an early stage. In our prototype system, clients are presented a virtual space with a wide range of smart technologies. After being introduced to these technologies, the client expresses how these will fit within his/her activities. Following he/she can experience in the virtual model how smart technologies react when activities are executed. Results &amp; Discussion A prototype system is presented that allows clients such as elderly to experience smart technologies. In contrast with traditional design it does not start from the spatial layout but from the activities that should be accommodated supported by smart technologies. We expect that fundamentally different layout will emerge from this approach. Although no experimental data are available yet, some first experiences will be discussed

The effect of serum vitamin D normalization in preventing recurrences of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: A case-control study

Background: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a condition with recurrent attacks in a significant proportion of patients. The present case- control study was conducted to assess the influence of serum vitamin D normalization on recurrent attacks of vitamin D deficient patients. Methods: Diagnosis of BPPV was made based on history and clinical examination and exclusion of other conditions. Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OHD) was measured using ELISA method and a levels of < 20 ng/ml was considered a deficiency of vitamin D. Inclusion criteria were as follows: history of recurrent attacks and serum 25-OHD < 20.ng/ml. While the patients with history of trauma, surgery and chronic systemic diseases were excluded. The patients were classified into two groups: treatment and control, intermittently. Both groups received Epley rehabilitation therapy one session per week for 4 weeks but the treatment group received an additional supplement of 50.000 IU of vitamin D (cholecalciferol) weekly for two months to achieve serum 25-OHD � 30 ng/ml and the study patients were followed-up for 6 months. Results: Twenty-seven patients were allocated to each group. At baseline, serum 25-OHD was similar (10.7�2.3 vs 11.41�1.9, P=0.23). At month 2, serum 25-OHD in the treatment group increased significantly to � 30 ng/ml, whereas serum 25-OHD in the control group remained unchanged (34.2�3.3 vs 10.6 10.6�2.2 ng/ml, P=0.001). During the follow-up period, attacks of BPPV in the treatment group decreased significantly compared with the control group (14.8 vs 96.3 OR= 0.18, P=0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that the normalization of serum vitamin D significantly reduces BPPV recurrences