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In the present work, we developed an effective protocol for the synthesis of β‐amino carbonyl compounds and synthesis of benzylamino coumarin derivatives through Mannich type reaction in high yields. Fe3O4@ZrO2/SO42‐ was employed as an effective heterogeneous nanocatalyst for the Mannich reaction. This research consists of two sections. In first section, β‐amino carbonyl derivatives were synthesized under solvent‐free condition. In the other section, benzylamino coumarin compounds were synthesized at room temperature. The present approach offers several advantages such as short reaction times, low cost, easy work‐up, mild reaction conditions, high yields and ease of recovery and reusability of the catalyst without significant loss of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvia (sage) is the most important and largest genus of the Lamiaceae family. High similarities among species in this genus lead to difficulty in its systematic identification. Despite its economic importance, limited molecular studies have been conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity among and within Salvia species. In this study, SRAP (sequence-related amplified polymorphism) markers, which targeted ORFs (open reading frames) as functional regions in the genome, were used to detect the genetic diversity of five Salvia species (S. virgata Jacq., S. nemorosa L., S. officinalis L., S. cereal L. and S. sclarea L.). Fourteen primer combinations (PCs) were amplified by 265 fragments on 54 genotypes, in which 255 (96%) were polymorphic. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) value was 0.308 over all PCs. The genetic distance among species ranged from 0.126 (between S. virgata Jacq. and S. nemorosa L.) to 0.568 (between S. nemorosa L. and S. sclarea L.). Based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient and UPGMA algorithm, cluster analysis separated different species (r= 0.920). The results showed high genetic differentiation (Fst= 0.337) and negligible gene flow (Nm= 0.750) among species. Owing to the high genetic variation among and within Salvia species, it serves as a rich source of germplasm with potential for use in breeding programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population genetics of Petroleuciscus esfahani in Zayandeh Rood River, Iran were analysed using 120 samples of adult fish from four stations of the river Cheshmeh Dimeh (CHD), Khersoonak (KH), Chamgordan (CH) and Safaeye Bridge (SB) and 5 pairs of microsatellite primers. All loci showed polymorphism. A total number of 54 alleles were recorded across loci ranging from 6 at CnaB-030 to 17 at Ca3. The mean number of alleles per populations ranged from 9.6 in CHD to 8.6 in others. Mean observed heterozygosity at the five loci detected ranged from 0.92 to 1.00 which showed high level of genetic diversity in each population. Deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was obvious in most combinations (locus × population), mainly due to heterozygosity excess. The lowest and highest genetic distances were calculated between CHD-KH and CHD-CH populations, respectively. The results showed low but significant FST values between each pair of the populations. This investigation represented at least four separate populations of P. esfahani in the river which showed the effects of river landscape fragmentation on population genetic structure of P. esfahani. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to assess the genetic variations in Iranian fennel accessions, an experiment on15 fennel ones including 13 Iranian and two foreign ones were carried out in randomized block design with three replicates. According to analysis of variance significant differences were observed among all studied traits. Most of the traits showed moderate to high heritability (90%) except for the number of the days up to 50% appearance. Seed yield had positive correlation with number of lateral shoots. The first factor in factor analysis explained 83% of variation. Number of lateral shoots, wet weight, dry weight and seed yield had the highest value in the second Eigen, while in the third one plant height, inflorescence diameter and seed length showed the highest values. Cluster analysis classified 15 fennel accessions in four groups that showed high differences in seed yield, day of ripening and plant height. Furthermore, most of accessions were grouped based on their geographical and climatic conditions. Therefore, it would be possible to cross the elite genotypes from different clusters and select the best ones in order to introduce new cultivars with appreciable agronomic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chloroplast DNA has been used extensively to analyze plant phylogenies at different taxonomic levels because of its size, organization and sequence conservation. In the present research, two chloroplastic regions, petA– psaJ, trnC– trnD and four DNA barcodes ( trnH– psbA, ITS , rbcL, matK), were used to introduce suitable regions for the assessment of genetic diversity among P.granatum L. genotypes. Analysis of psbE– petL in petA– psaJ region revealed 1,300 nucleotides with 4.29 % genetic diversity among genotypes, while trnC– petN in trnC– trnD region showed 1.8 % genetic diversity. Therefore, despite the results obtained from the study of other plants, the trnC– trnD region had a low potential for the evaluation of diversity among pomegranate genotypes. Analysis of DNA barcodes in pomegranate showed that trnH– psbA (genetic diversity 2.91 %) provides the highest intra-species variation, followed by ITS (genetic diversity 0.44 %). Eighteen genotypes from different geographical origins of Iran were used to investigate psbE– petL and trnH– psbA potential as novel barcodes to determine genetic polymorphism and characterize pomegranate genotypes. The results suggested that two regions, psbE– petL and trnH– psbA, were more suitable for determining intra-species relationships of pomegranate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) is a major turfgrass for home lawns, public parks, golf courses and sport fields and is known to have originated in the Middle East. Morphological and physiological characteristics are not sufficient to differentiate some bermudagrass genotypes because the differences between them are often subtle and subjected to environmental influences. In this study, twenty seven bermudagrass accessions and introductions, mostly from different parts of Iran, were assayed by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to differentiate and explore their genetic relationships. Fourteen ISSR primers amplified 389 fragments of which 313 (80.5%) were polymorphic. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.328, which shows that the majority of primers are informative. Cluster analysis using the un-weighted paired group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) method and Jaccard's similarity coefficient (r = 0.828) grouped the accessions into six main clusters according to some degree to geographical origin, their chromosome number and some morphological characteristics. It can be concluded that there exists a wide genetic base of bermudograss in Iran and that ISSR markers are effective in determining genetic diversity and relationships among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this study, was to determine the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral group therapy in health-related quality of life, in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. Methodology: 32 IBS patients who received this diagnosis, according to the Rome II criteria, were selected and assigned randomly to either the experimental or the control group with 16 IBS patients in each group. The experimental group received 8 weekly CBGT sessions in the department of gastroentology in a general Hospital in the central city. The Quality of Life Inventory (QOL) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used as the pretest, post-test and follow-up. The follow-up tests were conducted two months after the last intervention session. Results: Results of Multivariate Analysis of Covariance(MANCOVA) showed that the mean scores of health-related quality of life and depression , in the experimental group, was significantly lower than the control group in post-test(P=0.004, P=0.023),but there wasn't significant difference in follow-up. Results also showed that the scores of health anxiety in experimental group was significantly lower than the control group in post-test (P=0.007) and follow-up (P=0.02). Conclusion: CBGT could be an effective and selective psychotherapy to improve HRQOL and degree depression and health anxiety of IBS patients, but in this therapy, in addition to automatic thoughts, we should also consider to core beliefs and underlying assumptions enhancement the efficacy of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alfalfa is believed to have originated in north-western Iran and has a long history of coexistence with its bacterial symbiont Sinorhizobium in soils of Iran. However, little is known about the diversity of Sinorhizobium strains nodulating Iranian alfalfa genotypes. In this study, Sinorhizobium populations were sampled from eight different Iranian sites using three cultivars of Medicago sativa as trap host plants. A total of 982 rhizobial strains were isolated and species were identified showing a large prevalence of Sinorhizobium meliloti over Sinorhizobium medicae. Analysis of salt tolerance demonstrated a great phenotypic diversity. The genetic diversity of the Sinorhizobium isolates was analysed using BOX-PCR and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR. Patterns of BOX-PCR fingerprinting were statistically analysed with AMOVA to evaluate the role of plant variety and site of origin in the genetic variance observed. Results indicated that most of the total molecular variance was attributable to divergence among strains isolated from different sites and cultivars (intrapopulation, strain-by-strain variance). Moreover, the analysis showed the presence of two geographic populations (west and north-west), indicating that the effect of the site of origin could be more relevant in shaping population genetic diversity than the effect of cultivar or individual plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic hepatitis type-C virus (HCV) infection is one of the most common worldwide viral disorders, which leads to various clinical complications as well as extrahepatic manifestations. Furthermore, Vitamin D3 has also been reported to have relationship with the mentioned complications. The aim is to evaluate the correlation between Vitamin D3 level and extrahepatic manifestation in chronic HCV patients. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study has been carried out on 90 patients with chronic hepatitis C. The level of Vitamin D3 was assessed in plasma of 90 patients with chronic HCV. Genotyping was done and clinical and sign and symptoms of recruited patients were gathered. Extrahepatic manifestations were evaluated and the correlation of blood, hepatic, and immunological factors and the level of Vitamin D3 were assessed. Results: Most of our patients were male (92% vs. 8%). Twenty-nine percent had the insufficient amount of Vitamin D3 (21–30 ng/ml), and the remains had the Vitamin D3 level between 13–20 ng/ml. Furthermore, our assessment demonstrated that deficiency of Vitamin D3 was associated with the extrahepatic manifestations such as purpura (odds radio [OR] [95% confidence interval (CI) 95%] = 8.80 [1.74–44.47], P = 0.004), vasculitis (OR [95% CI] = 11.70 [3.01–45.41], P < 0.001), arthralgia (OR [95% CI] = 20.26 [4.21–97.47], P < 0.001), myalgia (OR [95% CI] = 4.00 [1.01–17.27], P = 0.048), and glomerulonephritis (P = 0.021). Conclusion: According to our results, the extrahepatic manifestation in the patients with sufficient levels of Vitamin D3 would be less possible. In fact, it could be stated that deficiency in the Vitamin D3 can have a significant relationship with these manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lipid metabolism is one of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) life cycle steps. Statins can reduce cholesterol level and finally can decrease HCV replication. Thus, we assessed the effect of Statins in combination with standard antiviral treatment on hyperlipidemic genotype I HCV infected patients., Materials and Methods: This study was a prospective clinical trial. 40 patients were selected from those referred to educational and Therapeutic Centers of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences from 2009 to 2010 with confirmed HCV viremia. All patients received Peg-interferon-a2a and ribavirin. 20 hyperlipidemic Patients received 20 mg atorvastatin nightly for 3 months and placebo was prescribed for 20 normolipidemic HCV infected patients as a control group. Liver enzymes and complete blood count were checked monthly and thyroid stimulating hormone was checked every 3 months. We also performed quantitative HCV-ribonucleic acid (RNA) test in 12(th) week of therapy, at the end of treatment and 6 months after therapy for all samples., Results: We didn't find any significant differences in the mean of HCV-RNA numbers between statin and placebo groups in 12(th) week of treatment, in the end of treatment and 6 months after treatment (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Atorvastatin has no effect on the mean of HCV viral load when we added it to standard treatment for hepatitis C infection. Further studies are necessary to examine the possible antiviral properties of statins and their potential role as adjuncts to standard HCV therapy.