a. arshadi

This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of Ovaprim™ and Ovapass™ hormones to induce spawning in Schizothorax zarudnyi. The female (n=48; 1535.12±180.09 g) and male broodstocks (n=53; 752.00±48.30 g) were randomLy allocated in 4 experimental groups including T1: females which received 0.2, 0.5 and 0.5 mL /kg body weight (BW) Ovaprim with 24-h time intervals, T2: females which treated with 0.5 and 0.5 mL /kg BW Ovapass with 12-h time intervals, T3: females were injected with 0.2, 0.5 and 0.5 mL /kg BW Ovapass with 24-h time intervals, and T4: females were injected with a combination of Ovaprim (0.2 mL/kg) and Ovapass (0.5 and 0.5 mL/kg BW) with 24-h time intervals. The amount of injection in the first stage was 10%, the second stage was 90%, and the male fish were simultaneously injected with the second stage of the females at 0.3 mL/kg. The results showed that the highest rate of fertilization was detected in treatments 2 and 4 (93.33% and 92.33%, respectively), which had a significant difference with other groups (p<0.05). No significant differences were observed between the treatments in the indices of relative and working fecundity and dry egg diameter (p>0.05). The lowest and highest latency period was observed in treatments 2 (27.33± 0.66 h) and 1 (36.20±3.77 h), respectively (p<0.05). The results of this study clearly suggested that the Iranian Ovapass hormone is highly effective for S. zarudnyi reproduction and might be successfully replace with Ovaprim.

Studies investigating life skills and general health have mainly focused on some skills or parts of health. In this study, ten components of skills and three components of general health were examined in patients presenting to veterans’ health and counseling centers in Tehran and the relationship between each skill and multiple levels of general health was assessed.

this cross-sectional study was performed on 600 randomly selected service users. Data were collected using two standard questionnaires and analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Tukey post hoc and multivariate regression. Lisrel-8 path analysis and software were used to investigate the causal relationships between variables and the way a skill affected general health.

The highest mean scores of skills were related to emotion management, critical thinking, social support and creative thinking, decision making, stress management, self-awareness, empathy and effective communication and problem solving. The results of path analysis showed a strong link between overall life skills and general health. The effect of skills on social performance was more than other components of health.

The contribution of emotion management, creative thinking, effective communication, and stress management skills to the prediction of general health was more than other life skills. Considering the importance of general health, it is recommended that educational programs be implemented with focus on these population subgroups to improve their skills and general health level.

Vitamin E (VE) is one of the most important micronutrients that influence the performance of shrimp reproduction. The effects of different dietary VE levels (0, 100, 300 and 500 mg kg-1) were investigated on the reproductive performance and vitellogenin (Vg) gene expression in Litopenaeus vannamei females which were co-fed with fresh food (two times daily) or experimental diets (two times daily) for 30 days. Sampling was carried out at the first day of the trial, prior to eyestalk ablation ( ESA ) (day 21) and after ESA (day 30). The reproductive parameters including hepatopancreatic index, absolute fecundity, egg diameter, latency period, and Vg gene expression were higher in the shrimp fed with VE supplemented diets than the control group (p<0.05). After ESA, the Vg gene expression significantly increased in all groups (p<0.05). As a measure of reproductive status of Pacific white shrimp, the present study evaluated correlations of Vg gene expression in hepatopancreas with the number and diameter of oocytes in gonads. Accordingly, Vg is a precursor of vitellin, which is the major yolk protein accumulated in ooplasm. These results provide evidence that dietary VE with 300 mg kg-1 may present a novel strategy and play a positive impact on reproductive performance and Vg gene expression of female shrimp.