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Ovulation rate and litter size are traits of fecundity and have a very remarkable economic value that leads to an increase in the production of meat, wool and milk. Therefore, exploring on the candidate and functional genes for these traits is very important. Growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) and bone morphogenetic protein receptor-1B (BMPR1B) are the most important of these genes containing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers that are associated with high fertility in sheeps. The aim of this study was to determine the allelic and genotypic frequencies of seven of these SNPs including; G1, G4, G7 and G8 in GDF9 gene, B2 and B4 in BMP15 gene and FecB in BMPR1B gene among 532 sheeps from eleven of Iranian native breeds using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. For each mutation region, polymerase chain reactions and digestion reactions with specific endonuclease enzymes, were performed. The results showed that G1 mutation presents among ten breeds except Zandi, G4 mutation in all breeds, and the FecB mutation in two breeds; Kalakuei and Zandi. The G7, G8, B2 and B4 mutations were not observed in any of breeds, and all sheeps were homozygote wild type for these four positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of fecundity genes such as GDF9 and BMP15 can help improve reproductive traits in sheep breeding programme. To evaluate effects of missense mutations on protein function, the polymorphisms of GDF9 and BMP15 genes were screened in twelve mehraban sheep using DNA sequencing, followed by protein structure modeling. Six single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) known as FecG mutations (G1-G6), were detected in exons 1 and 2 of GDF9 gene. Mutations of G1 (GDF9 exon 1 g.2118 G>A), G4 (GDF9 exon 2 g.3451 T>C) and G6 (GDF9 exon 2 g.3974 G>A) have shown amino acid substitution. None polymorphism was detected in exon 1 and exon 2 of BMP15 gene. Based on identified polymorphisms, individuals were classified into three haplotypes of wild haplotype (without mutation), haplotype A (simultaneous mutations of G1, G2, G3 and G4) and haplotype B (simultaneous mutations of G5 and G6). The 3D-structure of GDF9 protein in A and B haplotypes was rotated 90° and 45° than wild haplotype, respectively. The missenses G1/p.Arg87His, G4/p.Glu241Lys and G6/p.Val332Ile variants were benign. However both the missenses of G7/p.Val371Met and G8/p.Ser315Phe were probably damaging. Phylogenetic tree of GDF9 gene revealed that individuals with A and B haplotypes were distinct from wild haplotypes with bootstrapping values of 63 and 76, respectively. In conclusion, GDF9 protein in A and B haplotypes showed a higher performance than wild haplotype due to synergism effects of simultaneous mutations. These types of mutations with effect on turn and helix of GDF9 conservative regions showed physical and functional interaction with TGFβ proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iranian livestock diversity is still largely unexplored, in spite of the interest in the populations historically reared in this country located near the Fertile Crescent, a major livestock domestication centre. In this investigation, the genetic diversity and differentiation of 10 Iranian indigenous fat-tailed sheep breeds were investigated using 18 microsatellite markers. Iranian breeds were found to host a high level of diversity. This conclusion is substantiated by the large number of alleles observed across loci (average 13.83, range 7-22) and by the high within-breed expected heterozygosity (average 0.75, range 0.72-0.76). Iranian sheep have a low level of genetic differentiation, as indicated by the analysis of molecular variance, which allocated a very small proportion (1.67%) of total variation to the between-population component, and by the small fixation index ( FST = 0.02). Both Bayesian clustering and principal coordinates analysis revealed the absence of a detectable genetic structure. Also, no isolation by distance was observed through comparison of genetic and geographical distances. In spite of high within-breed variation, signatures of inbreeding were detected by the FIS indices, which were positive in all and statistically significant in three breeds. Possible factors explaining the patterns observed, such as considerable gene flow and inbreeding probably due to anthropogenic activities in the light of population management and conservation programmes, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite much attention, history of sheep (Ovis aries) evolution, including its dating, demographic trajectory and geographic spread, remains controversial. To address these questions, we generated 45 complete and 875 partial mitogenomic sequences, and performed a meta-analysis of these and published ovine mitochondrial DNA sequences (n = 3,229) across Eurasia. We inferred that O. orientalis and O. musimon share the most recent female ancestor with O. aries at approximately 0.790 Ma (95% CI: 0.637-0.934 Ma) during the Middle Pleistocene, substantially predating the domestication event (~8-11 ka). By reconstructing historical variations in effective population size, we found evidence of a rapid population increase approximately 20-60 ka, immediately before the Last Glacial Maximum. Analyses of lineage expansions showed two sheep migratory waves at approximately 4.5-6.8 ka (lineages A and B: ~6.4-6.8 ka; C: ~4.5 ka) across eastern Eurasia, which could have been influenced by prehistoric West-East commercial trade and deliberate mating of domestic and wild sheep, respectively. A continent- scale examination of lineage diversity and approximate Bayesian computation analyses indicated that the Mongolian Plateau region was a secondary center of dispersal, acting as a "transportation hub" in eastern Eurasia: Sheep from the Middle Eastern domestication center were inferred to have migrated through the Caucasus and Central Asia, and arrived in North and Southwest China (lineages A, B, and C) and the Indian subcontinent (lineages B and C) through this region. Our results provide new insights into sheep domestication, particularly with respect to origins and migrations to and from eastern Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Anxiety and depression are experienced following addicted patients durg withdrawal. This study was done to determine the effect of methadone and valproate combination on morphine withdrawal-induced anxiety and depression in male mice. Methods: In this experimental study, ninety-eight male mice were allocated into acute and chronic categories. Animals in acute chronic categories allocated into seven groups including: saline, morphine, methadone (10 mg/kg/bw), valproate (150 mg/kg/bw), three groups of valproate+methadone, in of ratio 1:1, 2:1 and 1:2. Animals were received escalating dose of morphine for 8 consecutive days except saline group. In chronic group, drugs were injected for 30 minutes before morphine administration, while in acute group; the drugs were used only at day 8. Anxiety and depression due to naloxone injection (5 mg/kg/bw) was investigated by elevated plus-maze, tail-suspension and open field tests. Results: In the chronic group, valproate + methadone (2:1) combination therapy showed a significant increase in the percentage of open arm entries (53.86±1.9) and percentage of time spent in the open arm (58.58±4.15) compared to the morphine group, with a percentage of entering (28.12±2.03) and percentage of time (17.88±1.77) (P<0.05). In open field test, the ratio of the number to the duration of time spent in the central square, in the combination therapy groups of methadone+valproate (27±2), valproate+methadone (1:2) and valproate+methadone (2:1) were significantly increased in compare to the morphine group (P<0.05). In tail-suspension test, duration of immobility as an indicator of depression, in the treatment group of valproate+methadone (2:1) was significantly reduced (P<0.05). Conclusion: Valproate and methadone combination therapy particularly in ratio of 2:1 can reduce morphine withdrawal-induced anxiety and depression in animal model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel and cisplatin as neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with Stage IB2 to IIB cervical cancer and determine factors accountable for response. Materials and Methods: From November 2009 to January 2011, a total of 19 patients with Stage IB2 to IIB cervical cancer were treated with three ten-day courses of paclitaxel 60 mg/m2 and cisplatin 80 mg/m2 followed by type III radical hysterectomy and adjuvant therapy if indicated, or chemoradiation in non-resectable patients. Results. Clinical response occurred in 79% (15/19) of patients, including 10.5% (2/19) with complete response, and 68.5% (13/19) with partial response. Four (21%) patients were nonresponders including 16% (3/19) with stable and 5.2% (1/19) with progressive disease. Resectability rate was 68.5% (13/19). Pathological optimal response rate was 46% (6/13) including, 15% (2/13) with complete and 31% (4/13) with residual disease < three mm stromal invasion response (PRI). Suboptimal response (PR2) (residual disease with > three mm stromal invasion) was 54% (7/13). It appears that both clinical and pathological response were correlated with tumor stage and size. Clinical response was seen in 87.5% of tumors sized = < eight cm vs 33.3% of tumors sized > eight cm (p = 0.166) and optimal pathological response was seen in 66.7% of tumors sized < four cm vs 28.6% of tumors sized four to eight cm, (p = 0.286), although because of small number of patients, the difference was not statistically significant. Adjuvant therapy was necessary for 38.5% (5/13) patients. Toxicities were not life-threatening and all manageable. Conclusions: The present results suggest that neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with paclitaxel and cispaltin is a highly active and well-tolerated regimen. Best candidates are patients with stages IB2/IIA bulky and IIB non-bulky than IIB bulky groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel is considered as an important toxic pollutant and is continuously released into the biosphere by some anthropogenic activities such as industrial and urban sewage. The main objective of this study was to determine the concentration of nickel in different samples of soil, water, and muscle tissue of fish species which were collected from the Persian Gulf. For this propose, a simple and sensitive solid-phase extraction using pyridine-functionalized Mobil Composition of Matter (MCM)-41 and MCM-48 nanoporous silica was developed and their application in preconcentration and determination of nickel by flame atomic absorption spectrometry was studied. Limit of detection was found to be lower than 3.5 μg L. Recovery and precision of the method were above 98.5% and below 1.5%, respectively. To gauge their ability in terms of application to natural samples, the proposed method was applied to a number of natural samples including plants, water, soil and fish species, and the amount of nickel was determined by spiking known concentrations of nickel into the solution. The results show that pollution of soil and water has some effects on bioaccumulation of Ni on marine organisms and plants that could magnify along the food chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing DFT and handling the solvent effects with the PCM model, the 1-acetylpiperazinyldithiocarbamate acpdtc ligand and its M(acpdtc) complexes, where M is Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II), are characterized computationally. The obtained results suggest that the piperazine ring adopts chair conformation in all the studied species. In the gas and solution phases, the chair form of the ligand is dominant. For the Mn, Fe and Co complexes the tetrahedral structure is more stable than the square form in the gas and solution phases. However, the Ni and Cu complexes adopt the square form, in which the complex has the inversion center. The calculated vibrational frequencies are in agreement with the experimental ones, confirming the suitability of the optimized geometries of the compounds. Atomic charges, electron distribution of the frontier orbitals, and stabilizing electron transfers are determined by the NBO analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the possible relationship between sperm DNA integrity and chromatin packaging evaluated by cytochemical assays, traditional sperm parameters and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) of unknown origin. In this cohort study, 40 couples with a history of RSA and 40 couples with proven fertility were considered as case and control groups respectively. The semen samples of all husbands were analysed for sperm parameters and also sperm chromatin and DNA integrity assessed using cytochemical tests including aniline blue (AB), chromomycin A3 (CMA3), toluidine blue (TB), acridine orange (AOT) and nuclear chromatin stability assay. Among different sperm parameters, only slow motility was significantly different between the two groups. In sperm chromatin evaluations, there were significant differences between the two groups in all of the tests. In addition, the majority of semen samples in RSA patients exhibited upper percentages of abnormal spermatozoa than the cut-off values regarding different cytochemical assays. Our study showed that in the cases of RSA, slow motility had a significant reduction in comparison with controls and also spermatozoa of men from RSA group had less chromatin condensation and poorer DNA integrity than spermatozoa that obtained from fertile men with no history of RSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new tetradentate N,N′-dipyridoxyl(1,2-ethylenediamine) [=HES] Schiff-base ligand and its Cu(II) salen complex [Cu(ES)(HO)] are synthesized and characterized by IR, UV-Vis, H NMR, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis. Their optimized geometries and theoretical vibrational frequencies are computed by using the density functional theory method where the B3LYP functional was used. Also, the H NMR chemical shifts of the HES ligand are calculated at the same computational level. In the optimized structure of the free ligand, two pyridine rings are not in the same plane. In the structure of the complex, the Schiff-base ligand acts as a dianionic tetradentate ligand in the N, N, O, O manner, so that the coordinating atoms occupy equatorial positions. The HO ligand occupies the axial position of the squarepyramidal complex. The calculated results are consistent with the experimental ones, confirming the suitability of the optimized structures for the HES ligand and its Cu(II) complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curves of experimental heat capacity against density show a minimum around and below the critical temperature (Tc), but at higher temperatures, this minimum is not observed. In this study, the role of attractive and repulsive forces on excess heat capacity of Lennard–Jones (LJ) dense fluids has been investigated using a molecular dynamics simulation technique. LJ potential is divided into attractive and repulsive parts. From the molecular dynamics calculations, potential energy and heat capacities have been obtained for Argon at temperatures of 100–500 K. The repulsive forces play the main role in causing the heat capacities at temperatures greater than critical point. Around and below the critical temperature, the role of repulsion is dominant at high densities, but attraction has the main role at low densities, consequently at middle densities, a minimum is formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Limited polymorphisms of two Y-chromosomal SNPs in Chinese and Iranian sheep," by G. Zhang and colleagues is presented.

Introduction: Infertility is a common problem around the world followed by psycho-social conesquences. Determining the prevalence of infertility in society can assist health system decision-makers to plan the provision of health and medical services more precisely. This study was conducted in response to the question of the Iranian Scientific Association of Fertility-Infertility with the aim of determining the prevalence of life-time primary and current primary infertilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Methods: This study was conducted by using a cross-sectional method on 12000 Iranian women aged 19-49 as the couples. representatives in 28 provinces of the country in 2004-2005. The sampling method was based on the systematic random selection of 400 thirty-household clusters with a proportionate probability to the size of the population of urban and rural areas of each province. The lifetime primary infertility was defined based on one of the two scenarios that follow: The first scenario: 1) A safe contraceptive method has been used after marriage, 2) but the use of contraceptive has been discontinued after a while, 3) 12 months or more past the first discontinuation of the contraceptive method at the time of the study and 4) The case has not become pregnant within 12 months after discontinuation of the contraception method. The second scenario: 1) A safe contraception methods has not been used after marriage, 2) No conception was achieved within 12 months after marriage. The term current primary infertility was applied to a woman who had never been conceived up to the study, as well as being defined by one of the above definitions. Data analysis was conducted by using STATA 8.0 software while considering the concepts of descriptive statistics and computing the 95% confidence intervals. Lowest smoothing method was also used to smooth the scatter plot of the relationship between infertility and age at the time of the first marriage. Results: In this study, 7350 urban and 4650 rural Iranian women, aged 19-49 in 28 provinces were interviewed. Among the 12000 interviewed subjects 630, (5.3%), cases were not eligible for the study and were left out of the study and the denominator of the primary infertility computation fraction. A history of life-time primary infertility was observed in 24.9% of the couples, (95% CI: 23.6-26.2%), as was the prevalence of current primary infertility in 3.4% of them, (95% CI: 3.0-3.8%). The trend of lifetime primary infertility showed that the highest estimate was related to the lowest marriage age and the lowest prevalence was observed at the marriage age of 22 in 19% of the cases. This trend remained stable up to the age of 28 but it increased afterwards. The mean age of the subjects at the first marriage was 18.1±3.8 and a median of 18 years. Conclusions: About one fourth of Iranian couples experience primary infertility in their lives and 3.4% of them have this problem at any time in their life. In interpreting the pre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]