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Background and Aim: Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Tarragon alcoholic extract on spatial learning and memory deficits, induced by chronic immobilization stress in male rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 60 male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups (each group of 10 rats): Control(without treatment), under stress, receiving 100 mg / kg Tarragon extract, receiving 500 mg / kg Tarragon extract, stress receiving and 100 mg / kg Tarragon extract simultaneously, and finally Stress receiving group and 500 mg / kg tarragon extract simultaneously. The rats in under stress group, 6 hours every day for 21 consecutive days they encountered with immobilized stress. Groups receiving Tarragon extract, during this period, the doses of 100 mg / kg.bw and 500 mg / kg.bw were extracted by gavage, and two groups receiving the extract and stress simultaneously, in addition to receiving Tarragon extract at the same doses they also faced stress. Spatial learning and memory of animals were evaluated by using the Morris Water Maze test. Results Immobilized stress impaired learning and memory in animals. Delay time (seconds) and distance (cm) moved to reach the hidden platform was significantly increased in the stress group compared to the control group (P <0.01 and P <0.05, respectively). Also in probe test, total elapsed time (s) and distance (cm) in target quadrant decreased significantly in stress group compare with control group (p<0.001 and p<0.05 respectively). Receiving both doses of Tarragon extract improved spatial learning and memory in under stressed rats. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that Tarragon extract prevent memory impairment and may be useful in preventing and treating of neuro-degenerative diseases due to stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selection of optimum interpolation technique to estimate water quality parameters in unmeasured points plays an important role in managing the quality and quantity of water resources. The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of interpolation methods using GIS and artificial neural network (ANNs) model. To this end, a series of qualitative parameters of samples from water taken from Dehgolan aquifer located in Kurdistan, Iran including CL, EC and PH were evaluated by any of the models. In this study, qualitative data from 56 observation wells with good dispersion in the whole plain was used. The data of 46 observation wells were used for calibration and the data of other 10 wells were used for verification of models. The results showed ANNs, IDW, and Kriging excellence and accuracy over other models in estimation of quality parameters CL, PH and EC. However the ANNs model is more accurate than other models. In case of lack of time and the need for acceptable accuracy and less risk in the estimation of qualitative parameters, the use of ANNs model is superior to other statistical models used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]