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Background: After radiation therapy (RT), some health hazards including DNA damages may occur where melatonin can play a protective role due to free radical generation. On the other hand, serious accidental overexposures may occur during RT due to nuclear accidents which necessitate the need for study on exposure to highdose radiations during treatments. Objective: The aim of this study was to study the expression level of two genes in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathways named Xrcc4 and Xrcc6 (Ku70) in order to examine the effect of melatonin on repair of DNA double-strand breaks (BSBs) caused by 8Gy ionizing radiation. Methods: One hundred eight male Wistar rats were irradiated with a whole body gamma radiation dose of 8Gy with or without melatonin pretreatments. They were divided into six different groups of control, 100 mg/kg melatonin alone, 8Gy irradiation alone, vehicle alone, vehicle plus 8Gy irradiation and 100 mg/kg melatonin plus 8Gy irradiation. Peripheral blood samples were collected at 8, 24 and 48 h after irradiation. Ku70 and Xrcc4 gene expression were evaluated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technique and analyzed by one-way ANOVA test. Results: Expression of Ku70 and Xrcc4 genes normalized against Hprt gene showed significant difference in melatonin plus irradiation group at 8h compared to the control group (p

Acetaminophen is an analgesic and antipyretic drug, which is widely used by public and poisoning with this drug, is common. One of the most important adverse effects of acetaminophen poisoning is centrilobullar necrosis in hepatic cells, which depends on activity of microsomal cytochrome P-450 (CYP) enzymes. The aim of this investigation was to find out the protective effect of nifedipine against liver toxicity caused by acetaminophen overdose (700 mg/kg as calcium channel blocker). In this study doses of 5, 50, 100, 250, 500 mg/kg of nifedipine were administered to mice orally one hour before acetaminophen administration. The negative control group receive normal saline. The positive control group was administered with acetaminophen at a dose of 700 mg/kg one hour after nifedipine administration. After 24 hours, enzyme activity (ALT, AST), histopathological examination and liver weight were compared with the control groups. The results revealed that nifedipine at dose of 500 mg/kg was the most effective and protected damage from acetaminophen toxicity.

The south Caspian subbasin extends from the foot of the Alborz Mountains to the deepest part of Caspian Sea. The lithological background and tectonic setting of the study area primarily control the deposition of thick sedimentary sequences of the basin, while hydroclimatic processes exert secondary impacts on the sediment distribution pattern. To evaluate past hydroclimatic changes, short sediment cores were retrieved from the continental shelf and upper slope of the south Caspian Sea and were treated for basic sedimentological properties and mineralogy. The results show that the sediments are composed of terrigenous, biogenic, and chemical components. The chemical component has a significant signature in the internal structure of the sediment, which reflects degradation of organic material due to a succession of aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Aerobic conditions reflect the extreme climatic conditions that lead to formation of well-oxygenated deep water in lowstands and extremely cold winters, when dense oxygenated water is allowed to touch the bottom sediments. The sediment distribution pattern demonstrates three distinctive areas in the southern continental margin with different organic matter and carbonate content. Fluvial inputs and wave hydrodynamics control the sediment properties and their distribution pattern in the upper shelf, while in deeper parts, the dynamics of water stratification and its temporal and long-term variations, relating to climate and water level changes, determine sediment composition. Overall, the sedimentary distribution pattern is a result of their sources in the catchment basin and the hydroclimate of the Caspian Sea. Key words: Caspian Sea, climate change, continental margin, deep-sea ventilation, sea level. Le sous-bassin Caspien meridional s'etend du pied des montagnes Alborz jusqu'a la partie la plus profonde de la mer Caspienne. Le contexte lithologique et le milieu tectonique de la region a l'etude sont les principaux contrôles du depôt d'epaisses sequences sedimentaires du bassin, des processus hydroclimatiques exerçant des influences secondaires sur la repartition des sediments. Afin d'evaluer les changements hydroclimatiques passes, de courtes carottes de sediments ont ete prelevees de la plateforme continentale et de la pente superieure de la mer Caspienne meridionale et ont fait l'objet d'analyses pour en determiner les proprietes sedimentologiques et la mineralogie. Les resultats montrent que les sediments sont composes de fractions terrigenes, biogenes et chimiques. La composante chimique est importante dans la structure interne des sediments, refletant une degradation de la matiere organique causee par une succession de conditions aerobies et anaerobies. Les conditions anaerobies refletent des conditions climatiques extrêmes qui menent a la formation d'eau profonde bien oxygenee durant des niveaux bas et des hivers extrêmement froids, quand l'eau oxygenee dense peut atteindre les sediments du fond marin. La repartition des sediments indique trois zones distinctes dans la marge continentale meridionale caracterisees par differents contenus en matiere organique et en carbonates. Les apports fluviaux et l'hydrodynamique des vagues contrôlent les proprietes des sediments et leur repartition sur la plateforme superieure, alors que, dans les zones plus profondes, la dynamique de la stratification de l'eau et ses variations temporelles a plus ou moins long terme reliees aux changements climatiques et du niveau de l'eau determinent la composition des sediments. Globalement, le motif de repartition des sediments est le resultat de leurs sources dans le bassin versant et de l'hydroclimat de la mer Caspienne. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: mer Caspienne, changement climatique, marge continentale, ventilation du fond marin, niveau de la mer, [gamma]-globine., Introduction The Caspian Sea (CS) as a remnant basin of the Paratethys ancient ocean is the largest landlocked water body in the world (Lerche et al. 1997; Kosarev 2005). Its [...]

Withania coagulans (Stocks) Dunal from solanaceae family is a multi-purpose species that is distributed in Iran only in limited areas of natural habitats in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Different organs of this plant have antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-tumor biological effects. To investigate the effects of humic acid and titanium dioxide nanoparticles on the amount of phytochemical compounds and some growth parameters of this species, a pot factorial experiment was performed based on a randomized complete design with three replications. Experimental factors included humic acid at four levels (H0: 0, H1: 10, and H2: 30 g.kg-1 soil) and titanium dioxide nanoparticles at three levels (T0: 0, T1: 45, and T2: 90 mg.l-1). The results showed that the H2T2 treatment increased fresh weight, dry weight, number of lateral branches, height, phosphorus, potassium, and relative water content compared to the control, significantly. Increasing humic acid up to 30 g decreased the phenols content from 48.59 in H0 to 39.88 mg.g-1 fresh weight in H2. In T2, the phenols content increased by 2.37% compared to T0, which had a significant difference with the other treatments. Also, a similar trend was observed for the parameters like total flavonoids and proline. But increasing humic acid up to 30 g increased the amount of chlorophyll fluorescence by 70.79% compared to the control. Overall, the results indicated that the interaction of humic acid and titanium dioxide nanoparticles could improve the growth and plant yield parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spouted beds are extensively used in different industries. The minimum spouting velocity is a critical hydrodynamic parameter needed for the design and scale-up of these systems. This study deals with an ensemble method involving Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) network, the Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), the Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), and a Regression Tree (RT) model for predicting minimum spouting velocity for coarse particles in conical spouted beds equipped with nonporous draft tubes (CSBDTs) and conical-cylindrical spouted beds. Some dimensionless variables related to the physical properties of the conical bed and particles' material were constructed and used as model inputs. The proposed method was validated against the measured data. The results revealed that the ensemble method was capable of predicting the minimum spouting velocity with an average absolute relative error (AARE) of 10.52% and 10.35% for the testing data points in the case of CSBDTs and conventional spouted beds, respectively. It was also shown that the proposed ensemble method provided the best results in comparison with the other methods. Therefore, the ensemble method is a useful and powerful technique for predicting the minimum spouting velocity in spouted beds with and without the draft tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G. e. a digraph wihl cosicive eCge weighns as whlS as s and e be two veetic5s of G. The aai'lang nroblea (MP(stetes Ilow to aark -osa- cdgc-oe G wit h T and F, wliere every nnUi -torhinh; el sourni s will reae2laig8d il and the totol raiig- if the mnli-d edgns is aiaiaal. Wli-n Inadersing elii diea'ahle 7'-marked edges alioa-d re followed while F-aarded ednes should nnt. The basia a-nliia-idns and properties of the marking prols ge ne havn Igiee mvesteted i n [1]. This piapid diovidoe new cnntefouUons 13 td. a3-nng prablaa: as follows: (i- tho MP is NP-Complete own if the imde-lving digteph is an unweighted pinpry DAG; (It-the MP rannae ag a2lirrximaeed whhin tilean iw an anwelgytcd DAG and sven in an anweighted 'inary DAG with n vertices, where a is a constant. Moreover, a lower 'oand to the optimal solatisn of tDe IMF1 ie provide.. We also stud(tte eompleth v and ttal- lenges of the aaraing proMea in program flow graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Y. Peymaninia, M. Valizadeh, R. Shahryari and M. Ahmadizadeh ABSTRACT The present study was carried out for evaluation response of 12 bread wheat genotypes to a liquid humic fertilizer [...]

In order to assess the effect of water-deficit stress on the activity of antioxidant enzymes and agro-physiological attributes of maize, a split-plot field experiment was conducted with three replications based on the randomized complete block design. Three levels of irrigation (well-watered, intermediate and severe water-deficit stress) and four maize families including 10 genotypes were considered as the main and sub factors, respectively. Post treatment, the electrophoretic analysis of three enzymes in maize leaves including SuperOxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and Peroxidase (POX) was carried out on 8% horizontal acrylamide gel. Moreover, agro-physiological attributes such as MalonDiAldehyde (MDA), H2O2, chlorophyll index (SPAD), Relative Water Content (RWC), and grain yield were measured. Concomitantly with increasing intensity of waterdeficit stress, the activity of most isozymes and the contents of MDA and H2O2 increased while POX2 activity, chlorophyll index, RWC, and grain yield decreased. Under intermediate stress, POX1 isozyme in Lia0688 line (233%) and, under severe stress, POX2 isozyme in AR68 hybrid (201%) showed higher increase compared with the well-watered treatment. Overall, POX1, SOD2, CAT isozymes and MDA, chlorophyll index, and RWC were identified as suitable traits. Based on enzyme activity and agro-physiological attributes, SC706 and TWC647 hybrids were superior to the other genotypes and expressed higher tolerance to water deficit stress. Moreover, among parental lines, MO17, B73 and Lia0688 were promising, although Lia0688 and MO17 were more tolerant lines and showed better performance compared with the line B73 and other lines under wellwatered and stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To determine the significance of CD13/aminopeptidase N (APN) in systemic Lupus Erythromatus (SLE), we examined its catalytic activity and mRNA expression level in sera and peripheral whole blood cells of patients with SLE. Methods: In this study, 47 SLE patients and 44 age, sex matched healthy controls were included. The SLE disease activity index score and clinical finding including renal involvement and blood pressure were recorded. Catalytic activities of CD13/APN were measured in serum samples. In addition, CD13 mRNA level in peripheral whole blood cells was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: A significant higher aminopeptidase activity was observed in serum from patients with SLE than serum from controls. In addition, CD13/APN mRNA expression was 6.12 times higher in SLE patients than in healthy controls. However, CD13/APN mRNA level, or its activity in serum, did not correlate with the score determined according to SLE disease activity index. Additionally, there was not any significant correlation between the complication in organs, including, kidney, and CD13/APN gene expression level or CD13/APN enzyme activity. Conclusion: CD13/APN enzyme activity and mRNA expression level were higher in SLE patients regardless of their disease activity. More studies are needed to better clarify the role of CD13/APN in the pathogenesis of SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]