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All elements of the pistachio tree are considered raw pistachio by-products. The soft hull makes up the majority of these by-products. It contains proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, phenolics contents (TPC), and antioxidants. Early smiling pistachios are one of the most important sources of pistachio contamination with aflatoxin in the garden and processing stages. The present study aimed to evaluate pistachio hull essential oil (EO) composition, and antioxidant and antimicrobial properties under in vitro conditions. TPC, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity were measured using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method, and serial dilution titration method, respectively. A gas chromatography system with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS) was utilized to determine the chemical components of the EO. The findings revealed that the quantity of TPC and anti-radical activity in IC 50 were 245.43 mg gallic acid/mL and 206.32 µL/L, respectively. The free radical absorption activity of DPPH (%) increased with EO content. The inhibitory activity of EO on Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis was much lower than that of streptomycin and penicillin. Aspergillus flavus was effectively inhibited by pistachio hull EO, comparable to fluconazole. The results obtained from GC-MS showed that the major compounds in pistachio hull essential oil include α-pinene (47.36%), terpinolene (10.57%), limonene (9.13%), and L-bornyl acetate (8.57%). The findings indicated that pistachio hull EO has potent antibacterial and antioxidant components and can be employed as a natural antimicrobial and antioxidant in food systems., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Intestinal protozoa infections are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality, especially where the exposed population suffers from a lack of drinking water and sanitation facilities. In this study, the association between the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation (toilet) facilities with intestinal Entamoeba spp infection in the children (5-11 years), adult (18-55 years), and all age (5-55 years) were assessed. For this purpose, some of the international databases such as Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase were screened to up to 7 June 2019 in order to retrieve the related citations. Also, the pooled odds ratios (ORs) following 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model. Twenty-nine articles with 36 studies were included while the OR extracted or calculated by using 2 × 2 contingency tables. However, the ingestion of contaminated water insignificantly can increase the odds ratio (OR) of Entamoeba spp infection (OR 1.01, (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58 to 1.43), no access to sanitation (toilet) facilities significantly can increase odds of Entamoeba spp infection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.32). The meta-regression analysis showed that over time, odds of intestinal Entamoeba spp infection increased in both lack of safe drinking water (Coefficient: 3.24, P-value < 0.01) and sanitation (toilet) facilities (Coefficient: 2.36, P-value < 0.05) subgroups. Considering the findings, lack of safe drinking water resulted in a further increase in intestinal Entamoeba spp infection among adult (OR: 2.76), children (OR = 0.57) and all age groups (OR: 1.50), and also lack of sanitation (toilet) facilities resulted in further increase intestinal Entamoeba spp infection in children (OR: 1.06), adult (OR: 1.26) and all age (OR: 1.16). In this context, the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities (toilet) was associated with a high risk of intestinal Entamoeba spp infection. Further attempts to providing public health facilities can control the prevalence of intestinal Entamoeba spp., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The present study was conducted to investigate the responses of Lolium perenne L. species to lead ions. To do this, the effects of lead ions at five levels: control (blank), 250, 500, 750, and 1000 mg/kg or mg/L (depending on germination in the soil or petri dish) on the germination, initial growth, and physiological characteristics of Lolium perenne were investigated. The results showed that the difference between various lead concentrations was statistically significant at 1% confidence level in all of the germination, vegetative, and physiological characteristics. In addition, the results of translocation and stress factors indicated that there was a significant difference between the control treatment and the concentrations of 250, 500, 750, and 1000 mg/L of lead ions. Results show that the mean value of stress, which was 0.3196 in the control value, reached 0.4154 at the concentrations 1000 mg/L. Different levels of lead ions had significant effect on the estimated characteristics including germination percentage, seed vigor, germination index, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, root, and shoot. The average germination percentage in the control was 46.66%, which decreased by 5% at the highest lead concentration. In addition, the average of seed vigor, which was 34.06 in the control conditions, decreased to 0.72 at the highest lead concentration. Also, the chlorophyll a dropped from 0.5261 mg/g in the control conditions to 0.3149 mg/g. On the other hand, increase in lead ion concentration affected the physiological characteristics of Lolium perenne species. Results suggest that Lolium perenne is capable of accumulating lead and is well tolerant to lead in soil. Therefore, it is concluded that it can be used for sowing on lands which are polluted to this heavy metal (up to the concentration of 1000 mg/kg).

The objective of this was to determine the impact of enzymatic hydrolysis on the multifunctionality of tomato seed protein hydrolysates (TSPH) and their physicochemical properties. The enzymatic hydrolysis was performed using alcalase and two factors response surface methodology. The best conditions were 131.4 min and 3% enzyme/substrate (E/S) for antioxidant activity; 174.5 min and 2.93% E/S for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition; and 66.79 min and 2.27% E/S for the calcium binding. Antioxidant and ACE hydrolysates were characterized by higher solubility, zeta potential, and thermal stability while properties of the calcium binding hydrolysate were only minimally affected by the enzymatic hydrolysis. Gel electrophoresis showed that molecular weights of polypeptides in the calcium binding TSPH were higher compared to those in ACE and antioxidant TSPHs. This was due to the low degree of hydrolysis of the calcium binding hydrolysate. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Nowadays, different protein sources are used to produce protein hydrolysates containing bioactive peptides that can help alleviate oxidation of foods, oxidative stress, and chronic conditions (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disorder). Hydrolyzed proteins also have the potential to increase mineral absorption through the formation of mineral-binding complexes. Biological activities of proteins and peptides from tomato processing byproduct (i.e., pomace) have received until now little attention. The determination of physicochemical properties and biological activities of the hydrolyzed proteins has application in the formulation of value-added food products for the reduction of oxidative stress and risks of developing chronic diseases. In addition, there will be a reduction of pomace waste generated by the tomato processing industry., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

In this study, proteins were extracted from tomato seeds, the main by-product of tomato processing. The incubation for 138.62 min coupled with 3% alcalase was observed to be optimum to produce a tomato seed protein hydrolysate (TSPH) with the highest antioxidant properties. Under these conditions, predicted TSPH activities were 62.99% scavenging of DPPH radicals and 54.81% reduction of phosphomolybdate. Separation of TSPH by ultrafiltration provided three fractions (UF1-UF3) of which, UF3 (< 3 kDa) showed the strongest activity (73.15% DPPH scavenging and 60.1% phosphomolybdate reduction). UF3 was further separated by RP-HPLC into sub-fractions F1-F6. Biological testing found that F2 and F4 were the most active in scavenging DPPH radicals (60.36 and 21.23%) and reducing phosphomolybdate (57.3 and 48.0%). LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis showed that the higher activity of F2 might be explained by the presence of more peptides that contained tyrosine and histidine, known to enhance antioxidant activity through hydrogen or electron transfer. In the simulated gastrointestinal digestion test, peptides in F2 were more resistant compared to those in F4. These findings indicate that peptide fraction F2 might be more useful in the formulation of functional foods because of its greater antioxidant activity and resistance to digestion., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standardsThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

This paper provides the first quantitative information on accumulation of cadmium, lead, and arsenic in the soil, leaf, and root of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) , corn (Zea Maize ), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum ) in the downstream agricultural lands of an industrial area and agricultural lands of a rural area, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran. The results showed that there is a significant difference among the cadmium concentrations in the soil, root and leaf/seed in various plants ( p  = 0.00 for wheat and corn and p  = 0.0004 for tomato). There was no significant difference between the lead concentrations in the soil, root and leaf/seed in the case of wheat ( p >  0.05), but there was a significant difference for other plants. Furthermore, statistical analysis was done on arsenic concentrations of soil, root and leaf/seed in the wheat, tomato, and corn. In the case of rural area, the results showed significant difference between the cadmium and lead concentrations of soil, root and leaf/seed in the wheat and tomato. In this area, statistical analysis was done on the arsenic concentrations of soil, root and leaf/seed in wheat, tomato, and corn ( p  = 0.00 for wheat, p  = 0.00 for tomato, and p >   0.05 for corn). The heavy metals concentrations in some parts of the plants in the industrial area were above the standards. The concentrations of cadmium, lead, and arsenic for soil were below the limits proposed by WHO, EPA, and EU. In this study, the Total Hazard Quotient (THQ) through consumption of wheat was less than 1, indicating no significant potential health risk associated with the consumption of wheat from the areas. The cancer risk of arsenic from wheat consumption was as 255 × 10 -6 and 0.00 in the industrial and rural areas, respectively. •Atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) equipped with graphite furnace was used for heavy metal analysis.•The general results revealed that the levels of Cd, Pb, and As in the industrial area were higher than the rural area.•The cancer risk of arsenic in wheat for the industrial area is greater than 1 × 10 -6 , which is unacceptable.

In the last decades, several endangered breeds of livestock species have been re-established effectively. However, the successful revival of the Dutch and Danish Landrace goats involved crossing with exotic breeds and the ancestry of the current populations is therefore not clear. We have generated genotypes for 27 FAO-recommended microsatellites of these landraces and three phenotypically similar Nordic-type landraces and compared these breeds with central European, Mediterranean and south-west Asian goats. We found decreasing levels of genetic diversity with increasing distance from the south-west Asian domestication site with a south-east-to-north-west cline that is clearly steeper than the Mediterranean east-to-west cline. In terms of genetic diversity, the Dutch Landrace comes next to the isolated Icelandic breed, which has an extremely low diversity. The Norwegian coastal goat and the Finnish and Icelandic landraces are clearly related. It appears that by a combination of mixed origin and a population bottleneck, the Dutch and Danish Land-races are separated from the other breeds. However, the current Dutch and Danish populations with the multicoloured and long-horned appearance effectively substitute for the original breed, illustrating that for conservation of cultural heritage, the phenotype of a breed is more relevant than pure ancestry and the genetic diversity of the original breed. More in general, we propose that for conservation, the retention of genetic diversity of an original breed and of the visual phenotype by which the breed is recognized and defined needs to be considered separately., (© 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics Published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

Every stage of succession may provide certain species with habitat requirements which are impossible in other stages of succession. This study attempts to evaluate the different stages of succession in terms of composition and structure of bird populations in Hyrcanian forests. Bird-habitat relationships were investigated by comparing vegetation characteristics in three successional stages including late, initial stage, and urban areas. Bird richness, diversity, and abundance were measured within a 25-m radius of each of the 120 sampling points in various stages of succession and urban areas from May to April (2014) in the Ziarat catchment. This study indicated that every stage of succession may support certain species. Based on bird-habitat associations along the various stages of succession, two groups were distinguished. Conventional comparative analysis separated two groups of understory birds: interior specialists and edge specialists. The interior-specialist group was positively correlated with the number of dead trees, tall trees with high values of dbh and height and canopy cover. In contrast, edge specialists groups mainly included terrestrial insectivores and were positively correlated with open area and shrub cover, and percentage of shrub cover between 1 and 2 m in height. In summary, bird communities in Hyrcanian forests are highly dynamic in different vegetation covers suggesting that it is critical to increase diverse and abundant bird populations by conserving forests composed of mosaics of differently disturbed stands and mature forest patches.

The importance of replacing synthetic pigments with natural types is increasing day by day in the food industry due to the harmful effects of some synthetic pigments. Microorganisms are a major source of natural pigments, which nowadays have attracted the attention of researchers. In this study, carotenoid pigments were produced by Micrococcus roseus and Rhodotorula glutinis, and some of their biological properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated. Given the results, bacteria, especially gram-positive bacteria, had higher sensitivity to the pigments extracted from M. roseus (PEM) and R. glutinis (PER) compared to molds so that Bacillus cereus and Alternaria citri had the highest and the lowest sensitivity, respectively. PER showed a higher antioxidant activity compared with PEM in the various methods of measuring antioxidant activity. In vitro and in vivo anti-tumor-promoting activities of PER were measured significantly more than PEM (P <0.05). Both pigment extracts remarkably inhibited the 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced inflammation, so that ID 50 (50% inhibitory dose) of PEM and PER were 0.22 and 0.09 mg/ear, respectively., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

The aim of this research was study of stress indices in response to Monogenean infection in Grass carp, Ceteopharyngodon idella. In this regard, some stress indices were measured in two adult groups of Grass carp including healthy and infected fish. According to our results, the values of cortisol and glucose and lactate were significantly higher in infected fishes than healthy individuals. Elevation of cortisol and glucose demonstrated the existence of stressful condition caused by parasitic infection and demands for energy for adaptation. In conclusion, our results showed that Monogenean infection by Gyrodactylus spp. and Dactylogyrus spp. affects health condition of Grass carp through alternation of stress components.

Background: The current extensive use of the domestic goat (Capra hircus) is the result of its medium size and high adaptability as multiple breeds. The extent to which its genetic variability was influenced by early domestication practices is largely unknown. A common standard by which to analyze maternally-inherited variability of livestock species is through complete sequencing of the entire mitogenome (mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA)., Results: We present the first extensive survey of goat mitogenomic variability based on 84 complete sequences selected from an initial collection of 758 samples that represent 60 different breeds of C. hircus, as well as its wild sister species, bezoar (Capra aegagrus) from Iran. Our phylogenetic analyses dated the most recent common ancestor of C. hircus to ~460,000 years (ka) ago and identified five distinctive domestic haplogroups (A, B1, C1a, D1 and G). More than 90 % of goats examined were in haplogroup A. These domestic lineages are predominantly nested within C. aegagrus branches, diverged concomitantly at the interface between the Epipaleolithic and early Neolithic periods, and underwent a dramatic expansion starting from ~12-10 ka ago., Conclusions: Domestic goat mitogenomes descended from a small number of founding haplotypes that underwent domestication after surviving the last glacial maximum in the Near Eastern refuges. All modern haplotypes A probably descended from a single (or at most a few closely related) female C. aegagrus. Zooarchaelogical data indicate that domestication first occurred in Southeastern Anatolia. Goats accompanying the first Neolithic migration waves into the Mediterranean were already characterized by two ancestral A and C variants. The ancient separation of the C branch (~130 ka ago) suggests a genetically distinct population that could have been involved in a second event of domestication. The novel diagnostic mutational motifs defined here, which distinguish wild and domestic haplogroups, could be used to understand phylogenetic relationships among modern breeds and ancient remains and to evaluate whether selection differentially affected mitochondrial genome variants during the development of economically important breeds.