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Top-down and bottom-up reading processes have attracted attention from researchers in ESL/EFL teaching/learning. However, the role of these processes and their combination in L2 vocabulary learning and retention still needs further research. Given this, this study sought to consider their role in L2 vocabulary learning and retention by Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 100 intermediate participants were chosen from among a convenience sample of 180 EFL learners. They were then assigned to four random groups (Top-down, Bottom-up, Combined and Control). Finally, target vocabulary learning and retention were assessed by an immediate (learning) and delayed (retention) post-test. ANOVA results revealed that the bottom-up group outperformed the control group. The combined group also did better than the top-down and control groups on the post-test. However, the difference between the top-down and control group did not prove significant. In addition, the combined group surpassed the other groups in terms of the gain in mean scores. As for retention, both the bottom-up and combined processes resulted in the retention of the target vocabulary, with the former being even more effective. It can be suggested that these processes can be regarded as complementary factors in L2 vocabulary learning and retention.

Regarding the importance and complexity of writing among the EFL language learners, this study explored the learners' attitudes toward teaching and testing writing through Computerized Dynamic Assessment (CDA). The participants of this study were 22 Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners. All the participants were adults and participated in this study voluntarily. To meet the aim of the study, the researchers developed software which contained 11 series of multiple-choice questions tests. Throughout each test, participants received feedback based on their needs and within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). After each session and test, the learners were required to write down their attitudes toward the effectiveness of CDA in teaching and testing writing. The participants wrote their attitudes in a form of diary. At the end, their diaries were analyzed and it was revealed that all the learners had positive attitudes toward the implementation of CDA in teaching writing.

The syllabus in Dialogue-based education emphasizes the learner's active participation in the learning process and is based on cultural, social, and political issues. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the dialogue-based education model on the critical thinking skills of Iranian primary students. In so doing, 44 students were selected from the population using multistage cluster sampling. The Dialogue-Based Education Model was implemented to instruct the experimental group, and the Critical Thinking Questionnaire for Iranian Primary Students was employed to collect the data. The study's findings showed that the implementation of dialogue-based education significantly affected the participants' critical thinking skills. In the qualitative phase of the study, several participants in the experimental group shared their personal experiences of the course signifying their positive attitudes and perceptions towards the dialogue-based teaching method. Moreover, it was revealed that dialogue-based learning gives the learners a sense of ownership of the learning process by putting emphasis on learning in real contexts and encouraging the students to propose their own views while respecting those of others. In other words, students in the experimental group actively participated in classroom discussions, while in the control group, the students were passive and less involved in the course subjects, and rather than asking further questions, they were looking for answers to the questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental study investigated the relationship between font type, font size, and line spacing and legibility, as measured by speed of reading, comprehension, and recalling. Instruments for testing legibility and reading comprehension were presented in eight typographical styles in print. The study tested 90 students for legibility and 76 students for comprehension. The subjects were chosen from Urmia Language Center in Urmia, Iran, and they were both girls and boys. Two weeks after the reading comprehension test, the subjects took part in recalling test. In all tests, the subjects were randomly assigned to one of the eight different typographical styles with Arial or Bookman Old Style (font selection) and 10pt or 12pt (font size). But the subjects had both set solid and double spaced leading in their instruments. Results indicated that the 12pt was read faster than 10pt. But font selection and line spacing did not have any significant effect on reading speed. Also, there were no significant results with regard to comprehension and recalling.

For years, cold plasma processing has been used as a non-thermal technology in industries such as food. As interfacial properties of protein play a remarkable role in many processes, this study investigates the effect of cold plasma on the foaming and interfacial behavior of WPI. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of different gases (air, 1:1 argon–air mixture, and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)) used in low-pressure cold plasma (VCP) treatments of whey protein isolate (WPI) on the surface and foaming behavior of aqueous WPI solutions. Dynamic surface dilational elasticity, surface tension isotherms, surface layer thickness, and the foamability and foam stability were investigated in this study. VCP treatment did not significantly affect the adsorption layer thickness. However, an increase in induction time, surface pressure equilibrium value, and aggregated size is observed after SF6VCP treatment, which can be attributed to the reaction of WPI with the reactive SF6 species of the cold plasma. The surface dilational elastic modulus increased after VCP treatment, which can be related to the increased mechanical strength of the protein layer via sulfonation and aggregate formation. VCP treatment of WPI increases the foam stability, while the average diameter of foam bubbles and liquid drainage in the foam depends on the gas used for the cold plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlamydiosis is an important disease in sheep, camel, goats, cats, birds, and cattle, which is caused by different species of the genus Chlamydia. Chlamydiosis of ruminants is a zoonosis and is especially worrying for pregnant women in contact with animal shelters. Chlamydiosis in camels can cause abortion, cervical adhesion, ovarian hydrobursitis, and reproductive failure in male camels. Chlamydia in camels can remain asymptomatic for a long time. Infected camels may play an important role in the transmission of Chlamydia to other animal species. Chlamydiaceae family members are currently placed in one genus and seven species. Among these seven species, Chlamydia abortus is of special importance in camels. It is possible to detect and distinguish chlamydial species by PCR and specific primers. The present study is the first study of Chlamydia abortus in the Iranian dromedary camel, which is very important. A total of 100 blood samples with anti-coagulant were taken from apparently healthy male and female camels in the south of Kerman province. Next, DNA was extracted from each blood sample using a blood DNA extraction kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. PCR was performed using rOMP90_3 specific primer to evaluate the presence of Chlamydia abortus. None of the samples were positive for Chlamydia abortus. According to the results, it can be said that Chlamydia abortus is probably not common in camels in the south of Kerman province of Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vertex v is said to be over-dominated by a set S if |N[u] S| ≥ 2. The cardinality-redundance of S, CR(S), is the number of vertices of G that are over-dominated by S. The cardinality-redundance of G, CR(G), is the minimum of CR(S) taken over all dominating sets S. A dominating set S with CR(S) = CR(G) is called a CR(G)-set. In this paper, we prove an upper bound for the cardinality-redundance in trees in terms of the order and the number of leaves, and characterize all trees achieving equality for the proposed bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coxiellosis, also known as Q fever, is a zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetti and has become a significant cause of small ruminant abortion globally. Q fever is endemic in Iran, but there is a dearth of epidemiological data regarding the true prevalence of C. burnetii in some areas of Iran. Small ruminants, mainly goats and sheep, are considered the primary reservoir for human infection, posing a considerable threat to human health. Theses reservoirs can shed the bacterium into vaginal mucus.The objective of this study is to examine the prevalence of coxiellosis through the detection of the IS1111 gene of C. burnetii using Real-time PCR and also to identify the related risk factors (such as the location of livestock, age, species, and parity) associated with the disease in the vaginal discharge of small ruminants residing in Kerman province, located in the southeast of Iran. During the winter of 2019 and autumn of 2020, a total of 134 vaginal samples from aborted small ruminants (70 samples from sheep and 64 from goats) were gathered from 32 herds located in different areas of Kerman province. The results showed that 26 samples, comprising 14 from goats (21.88 %) and 12 from sheep (17.14 %), were positive for coxiellosis. According to the findings of our study, the detection of C. burnetii showed that coxiellosis is circulating in the studied area. Additionally, our analysis revealed no statistically significant association between the prevalence of Q fever and small ruminants' location, number of parturition, and age that were examined as potential risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacuum cold plasma (VCP), a novel non-thermal processing technology used to modify the physicochemical properties and functionalities of food materials, was applied to whey protein isolate (WPI). The treatment affects the protein chemistry and, as a result, leads to differences in the behavior in solution and at interfaces. To minimize the undesirable effects of high oxidation and to increase the effectiveness of reactive species, the VCP treatment was applied at low pressure using different types of gases (air, combination of argon and air, and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)). The treatment led to a decrease in the sulfur content and an increase in the carbonyl content, evidenced by oxidation reactions and enhanced disulfide bond formation, as well as cross-linking of protein molecules. Fluorescence-based indicators suggest that the hydrophobicity of the proteins as well as their aggregation increase after VCP treatment with an argon–air gas mixture; however, it decreases after VCP treatments with air and SF6. The chemical modifications further lead to changes in the pH of aqueous WPI solutions, as well as the average size and ζ-potential of WPI aggregates. Moreover, the dynamic surface tension, surface dilational elasticity, and the thickness of the WPI adsorption layers at the air/water interface depend on the VCP type. SF6 plasma treatment leads to a significant decrease in pH and an increase in the ζ-potential, and consequently to a significant increase in the aggregate size. The dynamic surface tension as well as the adsorption rates increase after SF6VCP treatment, but decrease after air–VCP and argon–air–VCP treatments. The adsorbed WPI aggregates form strong viscoelastic interfacial layers, the thickness of which depends on the type of VCP treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, C. abortus, the etiological agent of ovine enzootic abortion, has been associated with many cases of lamb loss in sheep and goat farms in Iran. However, there is a lack of epidemiological data regarding Chlamydia-related abortion in this region. Accordingly, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of C. abortus and the associated risk factors in the small ruminants of Kerman Province, southeast Iran. For this purpose, we collected 134 vaginal swab samples from 70 sheep and 64 goats that had experienced abortion. Following DNA extraction from samples, we amplified the POMP90-3 gene of C. abortus using PCR to confirm C. abortus presence, and then one positive sample was selected for sequencing. The results indicated an overall C. abortus prevalence rate of 21.6%, with 20.3% prevalence in goats and 22.8% in sheep. We observed a higher incidence rate in animals with a higher number of parturition; however, no significant corelation was observed between the prevalence rate of C. abortus and species. In addition, sampling location was considered a risk factor associated with C. abortus infection. This study highlighted C. abortus as a threat to small ruminants' reproduction in Kerman Province, which deserves constant monitoring and multi-faceted preventive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) is extensively used in the manufacture of flexible polyurethane foams. The present study aimed to examine pulmonary function indices and respiratory symptoms in individuals exposed to isocyanates. Spirometric indices of 136 employees, 91 (66.91%) of whom were directly exposed to isocyanates and 45 (33.08%) were not exposed. These informations regarding demographic characteristics and respiratory symptoms, including coughs and dyspnea, were collected using a questionnaire from 2013 to 2016. The mean values of all respiratory indices decreased significantly in both groups over the 4 year period. There was a significant relationship between the decline in all indices and age, work experience and smoking. In the exposed group, a decrease in FEV1 and FEV1/FVC was significantly higher in smokers than in the non-exposed group. The exposed group, although younger and with a lower smoking rate, which has lower respiratory indices than the non-exposed group at the beginning and end of the measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new PEGylated redox/pH dual‐responsive dendritic prodrug (H40‐SS‐PTX/PEG) based on commercially available dendritic polyester, boltorn® H40 (H40), as starting core template was developed and characterized for tumor triggered paclitaxel delivery. The size of the nanocarrier was determined 100 nm by TEM. The results of in vitro drug release study showed that the designed prodrugs exhibit quite intelligent behavior. Thus, under normal physiological conditions (pH=7.4), a very small amount of the drug was released, while in the case of tumor tissue (pH=5.5 and 10 mM DTT) a significant percentage of the drug was released in a same time. Also, the study of the effectiveness of the prodrugs under in vitro condition showed very good results on human breast adenocarcinoma cells. These results suggest that H40‐SS‐PTX/PEG could be a promising multifunctional nanocarrier with excellent stability for safely delivering and releasing of the drug molecules inside the cancerous cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the refractive error prevalence in school-aged children will result in delivering the optimal eye health service to this group. Understanding the prevalence of refractive error in school-aged children is crucial to reduce the consequences of uncorrected refractive error. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of refractive error among school-aged children in Shiraz, Iran. In this cross-sectional population-based study, 2001 schoolchildren aged 6–12 years participated. All participants underwent cycloplegic refraction. Spherical equivalent (SE) of −0.50 dioptre or more was considered as myopia, SE of +2.00 dioptre or more as hyperopia, and astigmatism as cylinder power of 0.75 dioptre or more. The difference of 1.00 dioptre or more between two eyes defined as anisometropia. The prevalence of myopia was 11.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.2–13.1%), hyperopia 6.7% (95%CI: 5.6–7.9%), and astigmatism 28.9% (95%CI: 26.9–31.0%), out of which 82.1% had with the rule astigmatism. Anisometropia was detected in 4.0% (95%CI: 3.2–5.0%) of children. Astigmatism and anisometropia were significantly higher in boys (p < 0.001, p = 0.03 respectively). The SE decreased significantly with increasing age (p < 0.001) indicating an increase in myopia with age. In addition, the rate of myopic astigmatism increased with age (p < 0.001). Among studied schoolchildren 97.0% could achieve the best-corrected visual acuity of 6/6 and 3.0% could not in the better eye. Astigmatism was the most common refractive error among primary school children. The prevalence of myopia was relatively higher than other studies conducted in Iran, and it increased with age. These results may highlight the role of lifestyle changes and increased near work activities on the myopic shift in school-aged children. The findings provide information for screening programmes in school-aged children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review summarizes recent developments and advancements in the direct hydrotrifluoromethyl(thiol)ation of alkenes with focused attention on the mechanistic aspects of the reactions. It can be used as a guide for chemists to apply the best hydrotrifluoromethyl(thiol)ation conditions in their work or serve as an inspiration for further research collaborations in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucellosis is considered as one of the important global zoonotic diseases that causes medical as well as economic problems especially in tropical countries. The illness has no specific pathognomonic signs; therefore, the rapid and accurate diagnosis of the disease has a very important role in preventing the Brucella spillover and treatment. The purpose of this study was to design a new indirect ELISA test for detection of human brucellosis based on using recombinant Brucella abortus outer membrane protein 16 kDa (rOMP16) as an antigen. OMP16 gene of B. abortus was initially synthesized and cloned in pET-21d vector and then expressed in Escherichia coli cells. The expression was confirmed by the SDS-PAGE, western blotting and dot blotting. The purified protein was coated in ELISA plates and an indirect ELISA was performed on 70 human serum samples. The results were evaluated with a commercial IgG ELISA kit and Rose Bengal plate agglutination tests as reference tests. Diagnostic performance of designed OMP16 ELISA test in comparison with Rose Bengal plate test revealed 100% of sensitivity, 95.00% of specificity and good Fleiss kappa agreement, whereas, where it was compared to commercial ELISA kit, it revealed very good kappa agreement with 100% of sensitivity and 100% of specificity in cut-off value of 0.13. It was concluded that OMP 16 kDa could be acceptable alternative antigen for detecting Brucella IgG antibody with high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]