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We report the third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of ZnO@C-N composite microspheres and pure ZnO which have been investigated with the Z-scan technique under continuous wave laser. ZnO@C-N composite microspheres have been hydrothermally synthesized at two different precursor concentrations to have structures at different impurity levels. Moreover, pure ZnO is prepared under the annealing process. The nonlinear optical absorption of samples was measured by using the open-aperture Z-scan technique and was evaluated relating to the two-photon absorption (TPA) mechanism. Moreover, both ZnO@C-N and ZnO microstructures exhibited a negative nonlinear refractive index (NLR) referring to the self-defocusing effect. The order of the (NLR) value, is about 10 -10 (cm 2 /W) and, the NLA coefficients of specimens are in the order of 10 -5 (cm/W). The NLA coefficient has a similar behavior as the NLR versus increasing incident intensity of the laser. The results show that the nonlinearity response of ZnO@C-N composites is higher than the pure ZnO and ZnO@C-N at higher precursor concentrations exhibits the maximum amount of NLA and NLR coefficients compared to other samples. This observation which is attributed to the change in optical and structural properties of material due to impurity presence, underscores the presence of impurity for engineering materials to improve the nonlinearity properties., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The present study recorded indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants in Shahrbabak, Iran. We described a method using data mining algorithms to predict medicinal plants' mode of application. Twenty-oneindividuals aged 28 to 81 were interviewed. Firstly, data were collected and analyzed based on quantitative indices such as the informant consensus factor (ICF), the cultural importance index (CI), and the relative frequency of citation (RFC). Secondly, the data was classified by support vector machines, J48 decision trees, neural networks, and logistic regression. So, 141 medicinal plants from 43 botanical families were documented. Lamiaceae, with 18 species, was the dominant family among plants, and plant leaves were most frequently used for medicinal purposes. The decoction was the most commonly used preparation method (56%), and therophytes were the most dominant (48.93%) among plants. Regarding the RFC index, the most important species are Adiantum capillus-veneris L. and Plantago ovata Forssk., while Artemisia auseri Boiss. ranked first based on the CI index. The ICF index demonstrated that metabolic disorders are the most common problems among plants in the Shahrbabak region. Finally, the J48 decision tree algorithm consistently outperforms other methods, achieving 95% accuracy in 10-fold cross-validation and 70-30 data split scenarios. The developed model detects with maximum accuracy how to consume medicinal plants., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Bibak et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study explored the chemical composition, antioxidant activity, and total phenol content of aerial parts from 25 accessions of three Achillea species (Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch, Achillea vermicularis Trin., and Achillea tenuifolia Lam.). The plants were collected from various natural habitats across Iran, encompassing regions such as Central, Western, Southern, Northern, Western, and Northwestern parts of the country. Subsequently, they were grown together under field conditions. The study revealed significant variation in essential oil yields among accessions of A. wilhelmsii, ranging from 0.01 to 0.107%, A. vermicularis with a range of 0.075 to 1.5%, and A. tenuifolia showing a variation of 0.1 to 2%. The study utilized Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, revealing 75, 49, and 75 compounds in the essential oils of A. wilhelmsii, A. tenuifolia, and A. vermicularis, respectively. Major components included camphor, 1,8-cineole, anethole, α-pinene, and phytol in A. wilhelmsii, 1,8-cineole, camphor, levo-carvone, and δ-terpinene in A. vermicularis, and β-cubebene, elixene, β-sesquiphellandrene, 1,8-cineole, camphor, and δ-terpinene in A. tenuifolia. The essential oil compositions of A. wilhelmsii and A. vermicularis were predominantly characterized by oxygenated monoterpenes, whereas that of A. tenuifolia was characterized by sesquiterpenes. Cluster analysis grouped accessions into three clusters, with A. tenuifolia forming a distinct group. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) triplot (62.21% of total variance) confirmed these results and provided insights into compound contributions. Furthermore, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the accessions of three species were assessed over 2 years. A. tenuifolia exhibited the highest levels in both categories, with statistically significant linear regression between antioxidant activity and total phenol content for A. tenuifolia and A. wilhelmsii. These findings emphasize significant phytochemical diversity within Achillea species, positioning them as promising natural sources of antioxidants. Further exploration and selection of specific accessions within each species are crucial for unlocking their medicinal potential and supporting cultivation and conservation efforts., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Persian walnut is a drought-sensitive species with considerable genetic variation in the photosynthesis and water use efficiency of its populations, which is largely unexplored. Here, we aimed to elucidate changes in the efficiency of photosynthesis and water content using a diverse panel of 60 walnut families which were submitted to a progressive drought for 24 days, followed by two weeks of re-watering. Severe water-withholding reduced leaf relative water content (RWC) by 20%, net photosynthetic rate (P n ) by 50%, stomatal conductance (g s ) by 60%, intercellular CO 2 concentration (C i ) by 30%, and transpiration rate (T r ) by 50%, but improved water use efficiency (WUE) by 25%. Severe water-withholding also inhibited photosystem II functionality as indicated by reduced quantum yield of intersystem electron transport (φ Eo ) and transfer of electrons per reaction center (ET 0 /RC), also enhanced accumulation of Q A (V J ) resulted in the reduction of the photosynthetic performance (PI ABS ) and maximal quantum yield of PSII (F V /F M ); while elevated quantum yield of energy dissipation (φ Do ), energy fluxes for absorption (ABS/RC) and dissipated energy flux (DI 0 /RC) in walnut families. Cluster analysis classified families into three main groups (tolerant, moderately tolerant, and sensitive), with the tolerant group from dry climates exhibiting lesser alterations in assessed parameters than the other groups. Multivariate analysis of phenotypic data demonstrated that RWC and biophysical parameters related to the chlorophyll fluorescence such as F V /F M , φ Eo , φ Do , PI ABS , ABS/RC, ET 0 /RC, and DI 0 /RC represent fast, robust and non-destructive biomarkers for walnut performance under drought stress. Finally, phenotype-environment association analysis showed significant correlation of some photosynthetic traits with geoclimatic factors, suggesting a key role of climate and geography in the adaptation of walnut to its habitat conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: Differential diagnosis of chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (CLDs) has remained challenging due to the highly variable morphology features and immunophenotyping. Currently, the development of multiple-marker panel analyses by flow cytometry has opened a broad way for diagnosis of CLDs., Methods: We analyzed the peripheral blood and bone marrow samples of 131 patients with B-cell CLDs (including 91 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), 15 atypical CLL, 14 mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and 11 CD5-/CD10-lymphoma patients) from April 2018 to April 2019, using a panel of specific markers by flow cytometry., Results: Our results indicated that the expression pattern of CD22, CD23, FMC-7, and CD5 allowed us to accurately and differentially diagnose the B-CLL, MCL, and CD5-/CD10- lymphoma, while it was not capable of differentiating MCL from atypical CLL. We, however, found that the expression patterns of CD38 and immunoglobulin light chain differed significantly between atypical B-CLL and MCL. CD38 and lambda light chain were remarkably expressed in MCL patients (92.8% and 85%, respectively) compared to the atypical CLL (1.1% and 0% respectively), with the p value less than 0.001 for both markers. In contrast to MCL patients, all the patients with atypical CLL, expressed kappa light chain. The immunohistochemistry method used for cyclin D1 confirmed that the flow cytometry detection of kappa and lambda light chains could provide a new approach with high sensitivity (91%) and moderate specificity (50%) to distinguish MCL patients from atypical B-CLL., Conclusion: Expression of CD5, CD20 (bright), CD22, FMC-7, CD38, and lambda light chain with no expression of CD23 can accurately detect MCL and differentiate it from atypical B-CLL

In the present study, an eco-friendly process was made for the rapid synthesis of silver nanoparticles using aqueous leaf extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa. The process was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-visible and X-ray diffraction (XRD). These green silver nanoparticles (NPs) were used for mitigating the adverse effects of salinity on seed germination and growth parameters in plants. Accordingly, two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, seven concentrations of green silver NPs and nine levels of NaCl:CaCl were apptoed on seeds for germination, and their effects were evaluated. In the second experiment, three concentrations of green silver NPs and NaCl were hypothesized to affect plant growth parameters. Seed germination, plant height, leaf, and root fresh and dry weights, as well as relative water content (RWC), decreased significantly under salt stress. However, green silver NPs intervened by alleviating the adverse effects of stress. Accordingly, green silver NPs were beneficial due to (1) activation of the antioxidant system by enhancing antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD); (2) increase in the amounts of proline, soluble sugars and carbohydrates for osmoprotection; (3) improvements in flavonoid and anthocyanin contents. Real-time PCR showed that flavonoid and anthocyanin contents increased because of higher expressions in chalcone synthase (CHS), flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) genes. In conclusion, green silver NPs offered an eco-friendly application for further research on agricultural development., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Optimizing plant tissue culture media is a complicated process, which is easily influenced by genotype, mineral nutrients, plant growth regulators (PGRs), vitamins and other factors, leading to undesirable and inefficient medium composition. Facing incidence of different physiological disorders such as callusing, shoot tip necrosis (STN) and vitrification (Vit) in walnut proliferation, it is necessary to develop prediction models for identifying the impact of different factors involving in this process. In the present study, three machine learning (ML) approaches including multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN), k-nearest neighbors (KNN) and gene expression programming (GEP) were implemented and compared to multiple linear regression (MLR) to develop models for prediction of in vitro proliferation of Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.). The accuracy of developed models was evaluated using coefficient of determination (R 2 ), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). With the aim of optimizing the selected prediction models, multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithm using particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique was applied., Results: Our results indicated that all three ML techniques had higher accuracy of prediction than MLR, for example, calculated R 2 of MLPNN, KNN and GEP vs. MLR was 0.695, 0.672 and 0.802 vs. 0.412 in Chandler and 0.358, 0.377 and 0.428 vs. 0.178 in Rayen, respectively. The GEP models were further selected to be optimized using PSO. The comparison of modeling procedures provides a new insight into in vitro culture medium composition prediction models. Based on the results, hybrid GEP-PSO technique displays good performance for modeling walnut tissue culture media, while MLPNN and KNN have also shown strong estimation capability., Conclusion: Here, besides MLPNN and GEP, KNN also is introduced, for the first time, as a simple technique with high accuracy to be used for developing prediction models in optimizing plant tissue culture media composition studies. Therefore, selection of the modeling technique to study depends on the researcher's desire regarding the simplicity of the procedure, obtaining clear results as entire formula and/or less time to analyze., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The present study establishes an experimental design for the preparation of new bi and tri-layer mucoadhesive sublingual films based on basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) seed mucilage (OBM) as novel plant-polysaccharide for oromucosal administration of nystatin (Nys). The films formulation consists of a drug reservoir-mucoadhesive layer cross-linked via CaCl 2 , with protective mucoadhesive layers based on thiolated alginate (TA) and polydopamine (PDA). OBM served as a new mucoadhesive polysaccharide in second layers, where the dopamine-modified-hyaluronic acid (DHA) improved the mucoadhesive strength and swelling rate properties. The drug-loaded formulations of trilayer film with PDA coating, and bilayer film with DHA/OBM (1:1) in the second layer, showed the desired mucoadhesion properties (about 69 and 75.3% respectively). The obtained results revealed that the bilayer film containing DHA had a superior swelling degree in the range of 15-19 (g/g). While the PDA coating sample showed the highest resistance to water uptake and erosion. The bilayer film (DHA/OBM with 1:1 ratio) provided a maximum drug release of 86% after 4 h. The selected formulations indicated good mechanical properties with no cytotoxicity., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This chapter deals with induction of haploidy via parthenogenesis in Persian walnut and via microspore embryogenesis in almond and hazelnut. Haploid induction through in situ parthenogenesis using pollination with irradiated pollen to stimulate the embryogenic development of the egg cell, followed by in vitro culture of the immature haploid embryos. Microspore embryogenesis allows the induction of immature pollen grains (microspores), to move away from the normal gametophytic developmental route in the direction of the sporophytic one, yielding homozygous organisms (embryos in this case). Unlike other fruit crops (such as Citrus), regeneration of entire plants has not yet been obtained in our studied nut crops; however, it gives the methodology should be used to continue the roadmap., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Quercetin is a naturally occurring polyphenol flavonoid which is rich in antioxidants. It has anti-allergic functions that are known for inhibiting histamine production and pro-inflammatory mediators. Quercetin can regulate the Th1/Th2 stability, and decrease the antigen-specific IgE antibody releasing by B cells. Quercetin has a main role in anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory function which makes it proper for the management of different diseases. Allergic diseases are a big concern and have high health care costs. In addition, the use of current therapies such as ß2-agonists and corticosteroids has been limited for long term use due to their numerous side effects. Since the effect of quercetin on allergic diseases has been widely studied, in the current article, we review the effect of quercetin on allergic diseases, such as allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and atopic dermatitis (AD)., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Transcriptome resources can facilitate to increase yield and quality of walnuts. Finding the best transcriptome assembly has not been the subject of walnuts research as yet. This research generated 240,179,782 reads from 11 walnut leaves according to cDNA libraries. The reads provided a complete de novo transcriptome assembly. Fifteen different transcriptome assemblies were constructed from five different well-known assemblers used in scientific literature with different k-mer lengths (Bridger, BinPacker, SOAPdenovo-Trans, Trinity and SPAdes) as well as two merging approaches (EvidentialGene and Transfuse). Based on the four quality metrics of assembly, the results indicated an efficiency in the process of merging the assemblies after being generated by de novo assemblers. Finally, EvidentialGene was recognized as the best assembler for the de novo assembly of the leaf transcriptome in walnut. Among a total number of 183,191 transcripts which were generated by EvidentialGene, there were 109,413 transcripts capable of protein potential (59.72%) and 104,926 were recognized as ORFs (57.27%). In addition, 79,185 transcripts were predicted to exist with at least one hit to the Pfam database. A number of 3,931 transcription factors were identified by BLAST searching against PlnTFDB. Furthermore, 6,591 of the predicted peptide sequences contained signaling peptides, while 92,704 contained transmembrane domains. Comparison of the assembled transcripts with transcripts of the walnut and published genome assembly for the 'Chandler' cultivar using the BLAST algorithm led to identify a total number of 27,304 and 19,178 homologue transcripts, respectively. De novo transcriptomes in walnut leaves can be developed for the future studies in functional genomics and genetic studies of walnuts., Competing Interests: We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Background: Primary cytoreduction surgery followed by chemotherapy is the cornerstone treatment for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). In patients with a low probability of optimal primary surgical debulking, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by interval debulking increases the chance of optimal surgery. The aim of this study was to develop a model to identify preoperative predictors for suboptimal cytoreduction. Methods: Medical records of patients with EOC who underwent primary cytoreductive surgery in a referral tertiary gyneco-oncology center were reviewed from 2007 to 2017. Data were collected on a range of characteristics including demographic features, comorbidities, serum tumor markers, hematologic markers, preoperative imaging, surgical procedures, and pathologic reports. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to clarify the ability of preoperative factors to predict suboptimal primary surgery. Results: The majority of patients (71.3%) who underwent primary cytoreductive surgery were optimally debulked. Based on the Youden index, the best cut-off point for the serum CA125 level to distinguish suboptimal debulking was 420U/ml with 0.730 (95%CI:0.559 to 0.862) sensitivity and 0.783 (0.684 to 0.862) specificity. Multiple logistic regression results showed that serum CA125 level >420 U/ ml (p value <0.001), the presence of liver metastasis on preoperative imaging (p value: 0.041) and ascites (p value: 0.032) or massive ascites (p value:0.010) significantly increased the risk of suboptimal debulking (logit p = 2.36 CA125 level +1.85 Liverinvolvement +1.68 presence of Ascites+ 2.28 Massive Ascites). Conclusion:The present study suggests that a serum CA125 level >420 U/ml, the presence of ascites or massive ascites and liver metastasis are strong predictors of suboptimal primary surgery in cases of EOC. Based on the constructed model, with any of these 4 factors, the probability of suboptimal debulking in EOC is more than 80%., (Creative Commons Attribution License)

The aim of this work was to evaluate the phytochemical components, minerals, the antioxidant activity and total phenol contents of the essential oil from aerial parts of six major medicinal plants in Rayen, Iran. The plants included Ranunculus arvensis, Teucrium polium, Dracocephalum polychaetum, Kelussia odoratissima, Artemisia sieberi and Thymus kotschyanus. Total phenol content ranged from 0.03 to 0.158 mg/mL. A. sieberi showed the highest radical scavenging ability (IC 50  = 94 μg/mL). The amount of minerals ranged as follows: P (0.23-29%), K (1.08-4.76%), Ca (0.78-2.35%), Mg (0.24-0.94%), Cu (8.3-15 mg/kg), Cd (0.7-1.1 mg/kg), Pb (2-11.7 mg/kg) and Fe (250-1280 mg/kg). A total of 79 compounds were identified across all plants. The main components studied in the plants were l-perillaldehyde, biosol, carvacrol, 1,8-cineol, terpinyl acetate and 1,2,3,6,7,7 a-hexahydro-5 h-inden 5-one.

The effects of gamma irradiation (GR) on total phenol, anthocyanin and antioxidant activity were investigated in three different Persian pistachio nuts at doses of 0, 1, 2 and 4 kGy. The antioxidant activity, as determined by FRAP and DPPH methods, revealed a significant increase in the 1-2 kGy dose range. Total phenol content (TPC) revealed a similar pattern or increase in this range. However, when radiation was increased to 4 kGy, TPC in all genotypes decreased. A radiation dose of 1 kGy had no significant effect on anthocyanin content of Kale-Ghouchi (K) and Akbari (A) genotypes, while it significantly increased the anthocyanin content in the Ghazvini (G) genotype. In addition, increasing the radiation to 4 kGy significantly increased the anthocyanin content of K and G genotypes. To conclude, irradiation could increase the phenolic content, anthocyanin and antioxidant activity of pistachio nuts.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The aim of this study was to collect and document information concerning the medicinal plants used by indigenous people and traditional healers in the south of Kerman Province, Iran., Materials and Methods: Overall, 64 informants between the ages of 30 and 89 were interviewed about the modes of application and consumption of medicinal plants in the region. Quantitative analysis was conducted that included informant consensus factor (ICF), use value (UV), relative frequency of citation (RFC) and cultural importance index (CI)., Results and Discussion: In the current study, a total of 115 medicinal plants in 41 families were reported in the south of the Kerman region. Apiaceae, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae (with 14 species each) were the families with the most medicinal plants. The most frequently used plant parts were leaves at 26.17% and aerial parts (23.49%). Decoction (53%), liniment (23%) and infusion (9%) were the most common preparation methods. The highest UVs were obtained from the following medicinal plants: Amygdalus eburnea Spach, Genista tinctoria L., Calotropis procera (Aiton) Dryand., Fortuynia garcinii (Burm.f.) Shuttlew. and Cerasus mahaleb (L.) Mill. The ICF results indicated that cold-flu and fever were the most common diseases (0.67) in the south of Kerman., Conclusion: Based on the current study, the south of Kerman has many potential medicinal plants, and these plants should be the focus of future research., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present article deals with preparation of pH responsive nanohydrogels based on tragacanth gum (TG) biopolymer for drug delivery. The nanohydrogels were prepared using different chemical reagents such as 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) modifier and glyceroldiglycidylether (GDE), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and glutaraldehyde (GA) as cross-linkers. The obtained nanohydrogels were characterized using different techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), elemental analysis, FT-IR, zeta sizer and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The gel content increased with increasing the cross-linkers contents and reached to a maximum of 90%. The swelling behavior of nanohydrogels was investigated in terms of the effect of pH (2.2, 7.4 and 9), temperature (27, 37 and 60°C), and reaction time (2-24h). Loading of Indomethacin (IND) as a model drug showed dependence on the network structure of nanohydrogels. The total in vitro IND release showed dependence on the network structure of nanohydrogels and was in the range of 50-80% at pH 9 after 24h., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Idiopathic hirsutism (IH) is a condition diagnosed after other hirsutism related is ruled out. Its definition diagnosis had a dynamic process along with improving the understanding of the various androgen excess disorders. There is uncertainty regarding its health impact and its long-term metabolic consequences. We aimed to compare metabolic syndrome (Mets) and insulin resistance (IR) of Iranian women with IH and a group of healthy controls in a large community-based study., Methods: Anthropometric measurements, biochemical parameters, Mets (using Joint Interim Statement criteria) and IR (estimated by the homeostasis model assessment), were compared between 101 women with IH and 423 healthy controls recruited from among 1126 reproductive aged women., Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the BMI of women with IH in comparison to normal control (27.7 versus 26.7 kg/m(2), p = 0.02); however, the prevalence of android adiposity was similar (26.7% and 24.3%, respectively). The age and BMI adjusted prevalence of Mets and IR are similar in women with IH and controls (30% versus 23.9 and 25.7 % versus 22.5%, respectively)., Conclusion: There will be no need for additional cardiometabolic evaluations for women with IH, later in life.