hamidreza miri

Iran's high export value of saffron, the world's most expensive spice, is attributed to its cultivation in dry and semi-dry areas, which face moisture and soil organic matter deficits. To improve saffron yield, factors such as bulb size, planting time, fertilization, irrigation, and hormonal and organic treatments must be considered. Humic acid, an organic fertilizer, has positive effects on soil structure and plant growth, improving plant metabolism and resilience against drought and salinity. Salicylic acid, an organic fertilizer, induces plant responses to adverse environmental conditions, increasing plant growth and flexibility. This study aimed to determine the combined effects of soil-applied humic acid and salicylic acid pre-treatment on saffron's morphological and phenological traits.
 
A study was conducted at Payame Noor University's research farm in Marvast, using high-quality saffron corms from Torbat-Heydarieh. The experiment involved three replications over the 2019 and 2020 agricultural years. Treatments included four levels of humic acid (0, 5, 10, and 15 kg per hectare) and three levels of salicylic acid (0, 1, and 2 millimolar). The corms were planted manually in August 2019, and humic acid was applied with the first irrigation. Salicylic acid was pretreated for 8–10 hours in the dark. The study measured traits such as cormel number, leaf length, fresh and dry weights, flower and stigma yield, and phenological traits like sprouting and flowering times. Results showed that humic acid and salicylic acid treatments positively affected saffron growth and yield, indicating potential for improved cultivation practices.
 
The application of humic acid and salicylic acid significantly enhanced the total weight of corms, as well as the number and weight of cormels, particularly when used together. The highest total corm weight observed with the combination of 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 5 kg/ha humic acid was approximately 133% higher than the control. Similarly, the highest number of cormels was achieved with the 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 10 kg/ha humic acid treatment in the first year, around 108% more than the control. Increasing levels of humic acid at all salicylic acid levels resulted in higher average corm weights. Adding 15 kg/ha humic acid to 0, 1, and 2 millimolars of salicylic acid boosted average corm weight by 30.7%, 57.3%, and 83.4%, respectively, compared to control without humic acid. Synergistic effects were also noted on leaf traits. The greatest leaf length occurred with 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 5 kg/ha humic acid in the first year (38% increase) and with 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 15 kg/ha humic acid in the second year (46% increase). The highest dry leaf weight was observed in 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 15 kg/ha humic acid in the first year (79% increase) and in 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 10 kg/ha humic acid in the second year (103% increase). The maximum stigma length was recorded with 1 millimolar salicylic acid and 15 kg/ha humic acid, showing a 52% increase compared to the control. The combined treatment of 2 millimolar salicylic acid and 15 kg/ha humic acid led to the highest fresh stigma weight in the first year (132% increase) and the highest dry stigma weight in the second year (300% increase). Pearson correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between qualitative and quantitative traits of saffron. A positive correlation was observed between dry stigma weight and the weight of both mothers (r = 0.76) and cormels (r = 0.74). Conversely, fresh style weight had a negative correlation with time to sprouting (r = 0.56) and flowering (r = 0.43). Stepwise regression analysis indicated that the most influential traits on dry stigma weight were the weight of mother corms, days to flowering, and daughter corm weight. These factors explained 76%, 82%, and 86% of the variance in saffron performance, respectively.
 
This study showed that humic acid and salicylic acid had significant effects on the growth and flowering of saffron. Specifically, these compounds caused a notable reduction in the vegetative growth phase and flowering time of saffron. This result meant that the use of these compounds could lead to significant improvements in the morphological and phenological traits of saffron, ultimately increasing the number and quality of daughter corms and overall plant yield.

In order to investigate the effect application of mycorrhizal fungus and potassium fertilizer on trait of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa) in different irrigation levels, an experiment was conducted as split factorial based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications during 2018-2019 in Marvdasht city. Four irrigation levels with 100, 75, 50 and 25% of field capacity were considered as the main plot and application and non-application of mycorrhizal fungus, application and non-application of potassium fertilizer as a factorial in the sub-plot. Analysis of variance indicated that the effects of irrigation, mycorrhiza, potassium, and also the interaction between irrigation and mycorrhiza on the studied traits were significant. With increasing of drought stress, plant height, number of lateral branches, number of follicles per plant, grain yield, biological yield and oil yield was decreased. The highest grain yield related to irrigation 100% of field capacity in the application of mycorrhizal (856 kg/ha) and the lowest grain yield was obtained irrigation with 25% field capacity in non-application mycorrhizal (174 kg/ha). Also, the results indicated that the application of mycorrhizal in treatment irrigation with 75% of field capacity led to an increase in traits of Black Cumin and there was no significant difference with 100% field capacity irrigation and no application of mycorrhizal treatment. In the 25% field capacity of irrigation, no significant difference was observed between the application and non-application of mycorrhizal for most traits of Black Cumin.

Drought is one of the major factors limiting productivity in agriculture and nutrition management, including the use of potash fertilizers, plays an important role in plant resistance to drought. In order to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of forage amaranth in comparison with forage millet, a split factorial experiment was designed and conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2016 and 2017 in Saadatshahr region of Fars province. In this experiment, three irrigation intervals (5, 10 and 15 days) were used as the main factor, potassium fertilizer (50, 100 and 150 kg.ha-1) and forage plants (amaranth and millet) as sub-plots. The results of mean comparison of two-year combined analysis showed that amaranth had significantly more height, stem diameter, inflorescence length, number of leaves per plant, dry forage yield, ash percentage, crude protein and carbohydrate content than millet. Increasing the irrigation interval reduced the height, stem diameter, inflorescence length, number of leaves per plant, 1000-seed weight, percentage of crude fiber, dry matter yield, ash percentage, and soluble carbohydrates. By increasing potassium fertilizer level, plant height, stem diameter, inflorescence length, number of leaves per plant, percentage of crude fiber, dry forage yield, ash percentage, crude protein percentage, ADF percentage and NDF percentage in the plant decreased. In general, it can be concluded that amaranth plant has higher yield and drought tolerance than millet and the application of 150 kg.ha-1 of potassium fertilizer can be recommended to achieve higher yield.

The biochemical traits of different maize varieties under leaf and cob defoliation conditions were investigated in a factorial experiment a randomized complete block design with three replications in Shiraz-Zafarabad during two crop years of 2017-18 and 2018-19. Treatments consisted of removing leaves and a part of the cob at three levels of no remove (control), removing half of the cob after pollination, and removing two upper and lower leaves of the cob after pollination as. The second factor comprised seven maize varieties including SC704, Kansor, Kordona, Karaj 703, Koosha, Fajr, and Danial 690. After preparing the substrate in the first and second years, seeds of different varies were planted in the plots based on the treatments. Leaf and cob defoliation treatments were applied after pollination. The results showed that the highest contents of chlorophyll a (98.46 mg/g fresh weight, FW), chlorophyll b (138.7 mg/g FW), carotenoids (74.33 mg/g FW), and anthocyanin (1.915 mg/g FW) were obtained in the SC704 variety under combined treatment of defoliating two upper and lower leaves of the cob. The highest amount of catalase (58.73 mg protein/min) was recorded in Fajr variety in the control, but peroxidase (173.4 mg protein/min) and polyphenol oxidase (64.7 mg protein/min) activities were uppermost in the Koosha variety of the control treatment. The varieties of S.C.704, Fajr and Kosha were the best variety.

Sesame is an important oilseed in which contains rich source of oil, protein, phosphorus and calcium. Drought is considered as the most obvious environmental factors in reducing the growth and yield of sesame in arid and semi-arid areas. Due to high economic importance of sesame from one hand, and high efficiency of priming and its cheapness to alleviate adverse effect of drought stress from other hand, the aim of present study was to evaluate drought stress and various priming methods on yield component and physiological features of three different sesames.

The study was conducted for two years in spilt plot factorial design with three replications in the farm of research center of Bushehr city. The main factor consisted drought stress in three levels of drought stress included irrigation after drainage of 45% FC (control or without stress), irrigation after drainage of 65% FC (mild stress) and irrigation after drainage of 85% FC (severe stress), five priming treatments included control (without priming), hydropriming, zinc sulphate, potassium sulphate and salicylic acid (SA) in three sesame verities (Oltan, Dararb 14, Karaj) were evaluated. Various yield and physiologic parameters such as chlorophyll content, soluble sugar and some antioxidant enzymes activities were investigated.

According to the results, with increasing stress level, 1000 seed weight, harvest index, seed yield, capsule number, total chlorophyll, leaf area index, relative water content have shown decreasing while proline and soluble sugar have increased. Furthermore, it was found that priming had a significant impact on yield and physiological traits. The highest yield, harvest index and 1000 seed weight were respectively found in priming with SA 1153, 25.7 and 2.66 kilogram per hectare while the least were respectively reported in control treatment (without priming) 968, 23.8 and 2.51. Also Karaj and Oltan, respectively have shown the highest and the least seed yield 1269 and 889 kilogram per hectare. The highest proline content (1.29 mg/g FW) in Karaj variety and the lowest amount (1.17 mg/g FW) in Oltan veriety were shown. However, the highest soluble content (1.03 mg/g FW) in Oltan genotype and the least one (0.97 mg/g FW) in Karaj were reported. Also, the highest and lowest amount of relative water content and total chlorophyll were in Karaj and Oltan verities, respectively. Moreover, the investigated cultivars had shown different responses in physiological traits. In most yield traits, cultivar Karaj and Oltan showed the highest and least yield features.

Drought stress caused less sesame yield, but different genotypes reaction to stress were not the same. Although, desirable effects of seed priming with Salicylic acid, ZnSO4 and K2SO4, that by maintaining chlorophyll content and finally aid to photosynthesis process, was remarkable. In present research, Karaj verity was more resistant to drought stress. According to SA and zinc roles on photosynthesis, osmolytes synthesis in alleviating adverse effects of drought stress and on the other hand, desirable effect of priming on sesame growth and yield, using SA, zinc sulphate and potassium sulphate for increasing yield in region facing with drought stress are recommended.

Graphene has exhibited wide applications in nanotechnology, especially in biomedicine because of its unique physical and chemical properties. The degree of toxicity of graphene materials depends on various factors such as surface charge, physicochemical properties, toxicity determination methods, and cell line. Direct contact of the very sharp edges of graphene with the cell membrane is one of the major mechanisms involved in the cytotoxicity of graphene sheets. By trapping microorganisms among graphene sheets, it is another effective mechanism to inactivate microorganisms, and due to their high surface-to-volume ratio, excellent biocompatibility, and two-dimensional structure, it can be used as an anticancer and antibacterial material. This review presents recent advances in the cytotoxicity, anti-cancer, and antibacterial activities of graphene and has focused on a wide range of toxicity and antibacterial mechanisms. This study is expected to facilitate the widespread application of graphene in other fields.

Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) and graphene carbon material, due to lower drug resistance, can replace antibiotics, and by decorating of graphene with Zn-NPs, their properties can be greatly improved. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial effects of ZnO-NPs biosynthesized using Crocus Sativus petal extract, graphene and graphene decorated by ZnO-NPs biosynthesized using Crocus Sativus petal extract (G-ZnO). Their physicochemical characterizations were performed by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), revealing that ZnO-NPs with a mean size of 25 nm and spherical-shape were distributed uniformly on the surface of the graphene without aggregation. The antioxidant activities of ZnO-NPs, graphene and G-ZnO were evaluated using DPPH and ABTS assays. Antibacterial activities of three compounds were tested against Gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) using macrodilution method. The results of this study showed that these three compounds have antioxidant and antibacterial effects. And it was show that but also antioxidant and antibacterial activity of G-ZnO was higher than ZnO-NPs and graphene. G-ZnO could be useful as a natural antioxidant and antibacterial in the pharmacy industry.

Encapsulation may be defined as a process to entrap one substance within another substance, thereby producing particles with diameters of a few nm to a few mm. Due to the sensitivity of bioactive compounds there are different encapsulation techniques. In recent years, electroencapsulation or encapsulation using electrohydrodynamic processes (electrospinning and elcrospraying) which is a simple and effective technique to preserve and increase bioavailibility of components, has attracted particular attention of food and drug scientists. In this technique the electrostatic force is used to form charged jet from polymer solution containing bioactive components. After that solvent is evaporated, ultrathin structures are formed. The process is called electrospraying if the droplets are atomized in the electric field and the capsule (bead shape) is formed. In the event of the formation of a stable jet and nanofibers, the process is called electrospinning. Nanofibers have outstanding features such as high surface area to volume ratio and high porosity. These features have led to the use of nanofibers for drug delivery, filtration, tissue engineering, encapsulation of bioactive compounds, enzyme stabilization, as bimolecular sensors and food packaging. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the fundamentals of electrospinning to produce nanofibers suitable for food technology application particularly for use in encapsulation.

Growing evidence suggests that antipsychotic drugs affect the level of cytokines and metabolic syndrome parameters in schizophrenic patients. The present study aimed to investigate the serum markers of metabolic syndrome, including low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG), fasting blood sugar (FBS),total cholesterol, and insulin, and interleukin-27 (IL-27) in the patients with schizophrenia and compared the levels with healthy subjects.  In this cross-sectional study, the serum level of IL-27 was measured in 45 patients with schizophrenia and 45 healthy subjects using the ELISA. In addition, the markers of metabolic syndrome were measured in Dr. Salehi Laboratory in Yasouj, Iran. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21.  A significant increase was observed in IL-27 in the patients with schizophrenia (P= 0.043) compared to the healthy controls. Evaluation of the risk factors of metabolic syndrome in schizophrenic patients compared to the controls indicated no significant differences in the body mass index (P=0.764), systolic blood pressure (P=0.670), diastolic blood pressure (P=0.216), total cholesterol (P=0.103), TG (P=0.097), and LDL (P=0.255). However, the serum levels of HDL (P=0.012) and insulin (P=0.001) significantly decreased and increased, respectively in schizophrenic patients compared to the controls. Moreover, a strong, positive correlation was observed between the levels of insulin and LDL andIL-27, with the correlation-coefficients of 0.312 and 0.641, respectively. A negative correlation was also denoted between IL-27 and HDL with the correlation-coefficient of -0.413 (P=0.005). The associations between IL-27 and the other markers of metabolic syndrome were not considered significant.  According to the results, changes in IL-27 may affect the Pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Antipsychotic therapy has been reported to increase the serum levels of IL-27, which in turn exacerbate and increase the incidence of metabolic disorders.

Crocus Sativus Petals are a dusted waste that contains bioactive compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity, antioxidant, antibacterial activities of Crocus Sativus petals extract (CSPE). The cytotoxic effects of CSPE on human liver cancer cells (HepG2) were performed using MTT assay. Then, cell morphology was determined by inverted microscope. The antioxidant activity of CSPE was evaluated using DPPH and ABTS assays. Antibacterial activity of CSPE was tested against gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram positive bacteria staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) using macrodilution method. CSPE inhibited the proliferation of the HepG2 cell line in a time and dose-dependent manner, which was consistent with morphological changes. Extract showed the enhanced antioxidant properties and also were found effective against the bacterial strains. Due to the anti-proliferative, antioxidant, antibacterial effects of CSPE, it can be used in pharmaceutical industry, including the production of anticancer, antioxidants and antibacterial drugs.

Nowadays, the use of L-carnitine in the treatment of diabetes is increasing. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of co-administration of L-arginine (precursor for the synthesis of nitric oxide) and nitro-L-arginine (nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor) on antidiabetic activity of L-carnitine in diabetic rats.
In this study, 50 male rats weighing 180-201g were divided into five groups: (1) non diabetic control rats; (2) untreated diabetic rats; (3) diabetic rats treated with L-carnitine 300 mg/kg (4); diabetic rats treated with L-carnitine 300 mg/kg L-arginine 300 mg/kg; and (5) diabetic rats treated with L-carnitine (300 mg/kg) nitro-L-arginine (1mg/kg). Type 1 diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 110 mg/kg body weight alloxan. After 30 days, liver malondialdehyde levels, lipid profile, serum glucose, and glycated hemoglobin serum levels were measured.
Blood glucose, liver enzymes, glycated hemoglobin, and liver malondialdehyde levels significantly decreased in diabetic rats treated with L-carnitine compared to the untreated diabetic group (P The results suggest that the hypoglycemic effect of L-carnitine is mediated independently from nitric oxide pathways. The interaction between L-carnitine and L-arginine may not be synergistic. So, their combined administration is not recommended for the diabetic patients.

Aims of the study: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is one of the leading causes of hospital acquired infections. Infections with P. aeruginosa are often hard to treat because of existence of different mechanisms of antibiotic resistance changes in permeability of drugs and activity multidrug efflux pumps. The aim of current study was to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern of P. aeruginosa and existence of efflux pump MexAB genes using PCR technique. 506 isolates cultured from different clinical specimens of patients hospitalized at Nohom Dey and Razi hospitals of Torbat Heydarie (northeast Iran) were collected and used in this study. Isolates were identified using conventional bacteriology and their susceptibility to different antibiotics were assessed using agar disk diffusion method. The PCR assay was used to detect efflux pump MexAB genes. From 506 isolates, 50 were identified as P. aeruginosa and these were isolated from isolated from blood, tracheal, burn, and wound. Incidence of P. aeruginosa was greater in males than females, wound infections had the highest number of occurrence and patients between 30-50 years were the most infected age group. In total, 60.86% of strains were multidrug resistant (MDR). The PCR technique revealed that most of the P. aeruginosa isolates and all the MDR strains contained MexA and MexB genes. The emergence of MDR microorganisms poses serious therapeutic problems for patients. Determining bacterial resistance mechanisms is complex. In this way, efflux systems were responsible for antibiotic resistance and played an important role in the MDR phenotype among P. aeruginosa isolates

Plants are useful natural sources of antioxidants for improving blood glucose control and preventing long-term complications of diabetes. The use of medicinal plants in the treatment of diabetes has shown significant impacts in reducing blood glucose in diabetic patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of hydro – alcoholic extract of Prosopis farcta root on blood glucose, body weight and gene expression of pyruvate kinase (PK) in diabetic rats.
45 male wistar rats (average 250 gr) were randomly divided into three groups equally: healthy controls and diabetic controls and diabetic treated with the hydro-alcoholic extract of Prosopis farcta root. Type 1 diabetes was induced by i.p injection of streptozotocin (60 mg / kg BW). Rats were weighted at day 0, 15 and at the end of the study. Diabetic rats treated daily with 300 (mg/kg) for 30 days. Healthy control and diabetic control groups received distilled water during this time. Blood glucose and PK gene expression were measured on the 0, 15 and 30th days after feeding hydroalcoholic root extract of P. farcta. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by LSD, and Dunnet T3 post-hoc test (P PK gene expression analysis showed its expression increased in treated rats compared to the control diabetes group on the 15th day of study but this declined on the 30th day (p According to achieved data of this study, it is suggested that a treatment of diabetic rats with hydro alcoholic root extract of Prosopis farcta could possibly reduce blood glucose by increasing the expression of PK.

Momordica charantia (Karela) is a well-known medicinal plant with nutritional applications in southeast of Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of fruit powder of Karela on serum malondialdehyde levels in rats fed a high-fat diet.
In this experimental study, 40 male rats randomly divided into 4 groups of 10. Rats in the first group received normal diet and served as negative control group. Also, rats in the second group were treated only with high-fat diet and served as positive control group. The third group received high-fat diet containing 4% of Momordica charantia powder and finally the fourth group received high-fat diet containing 8% of Momordica charantia powder for 30 days. At the end of the study, blood samples were taken from the rat's hearts and serum levels of cholesterol,triglyceride and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined using commercial kits.
Serum levels of malondialdehyde had a significant difference in positive control group compared to negative control group (P Having a diet containing unripe fruit powder of Momordica charantia can decrease lipid peroxidation and oxidative damage.

to evaluate the different levels of silicon with the selective of wheat herbicides on control of wild oat, yield and yield components of wheat, was conducted a factorial experiment base on completed block randomized design with three replications in the city Eghlid in crop year 1393.The first factor consisted of seven treatments herbicide application topic , Puma super, Atlantiha, Aperous, Suffix , weedy and weed control, and the second factor has two levels of silicon (application and non-application). The results of dry weight wild oats showed that in terms of silicon utilization increased and were significantly different than the non-application of silicon. The height of dry weight wild oats was related to topic and pumasuper herbicides that in control wild oats weren’t succeeded. Herbicides Atlantis and Suffix herbicides had the height control of wild oats. The results of yield and components yield also showed that the use of silicon in herbicides Topic and Puma super were lead to reduction characteristics. In the case of herbicides Atlantis and Pumasuper in terms of the non-application of silica reduction yield and components yields were observed due to phytotoxicity the effects of herbicides on wheat plants. Silicon is used in treatments of herbicides Aperous and atlantis grain yield were significantly increased. The results showed that the silicon leads to reduce the phytotoxicity of herbicides aperous and Atlantis in weather condition Eghlid.

With respect to antioxidant effect of Prosopis farcta fruit extract and the role of antioxidant agents in diabetes improvement, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hydro-alcoholic Prosopis farcta fruit extract on blood glucose and gene expression of pyruvate kinase (PK). Type 1 diabete was induced in male wistar rats (150-300 g) by injection of 60 mg/kg of streptozotocin. Diabetic group received 300 mg/kg of Prosopis farcta fruit extract daily 30 days. The group of normal control and diabetic control received distilled water. Then the glucose level was investigated in day before injection and on days 15 and 30 after injection of prosopis farcta fruit extract. PK gene expression of liver tissue was analysed by Real-Time PCR. The result showed the blood glucose compare to diabetic control significantly decreased on days 15 and there was not any significant between diabetic control. The result of PK gene expression showed that the gene expression in diabetic treatment group compared to diabetic control increased on day 15 and then the expression did not change on day 30 but still wars greater than diabetic control. The result of this study showed that hydro-alcoholic prosopis farcta fruit extract could probably decrease blood glucose by increasing PK gene expression.

Prediction climatic models show that atmospheric CO2 concentration will be increase and this has considerable effect on plant growth and their interaction. In addition to this CO2 changes water availability will affect plant growth and development. A greenhouse experiment was conducted in Arsanjan Islamic Azad University in 2012 in order to evaluate effect of drought and CO2 elevation on growth and competitiveness of wheat against C3 and C4 crops and weeds. Wheat, sunflower, wild oat and lumbsquarters as C3 crops and weeds and corn, millet, redroot pigweed and wild johnsongrass as C4 crops and weed were subjected to two CO2 concentrations (400 and 700 ppm) and two irrigation treatments (control and drought). The results showed that by increasing CO2 concentration total dry weight, stem dry weight, leaf dry weight, root dry weight and leaf area of wheat increased significantly, but CO2 elevation had no significant effects on C4 plants. CO2 elevation increased dry weight of wheat by 30.7%. Drought stress reduced dry weight of wheat by 25.3%, but, under high CO2 condition there was no reduction in dry weight of wheat. This means that high CO2 reduced harmful effect of drought on C3 and C4 plants. The results also showed that by increasing CO2 competitive ability of wheat increasing against C4 plants. This change the competitive interaction of C3 and C4 crops and weeds at different CO2 and drought condition.

Diabetes is a common endocrine disorder that can lead to hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of pod Prosopis fracta, on liver histopathology and tissue level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. 45 male Wistar rats (200-300g) were divided into 3 groups; control, diabetic and Prosopis farcta extract treated diabetic. Type 1 diabetes was induced in by injection of streptozotocin (42mg/kg). One week after diabetes induction, Prosopis farcta extract (300mg/kg of body weight) was administered to treated diabetic group by gavage for 30 days. Hepatic histological changes were assessed with Hematoxylin-Eosin staining under light microscopy. The liver concentration of MDA was determined as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). The obtained data were statistically analyzed using Students T and Mann-Whitney rank sum tests. Administration of Prosopis fracta extract decreased the concentration of malondialdehyde in liver tissue of treated diabetic group in comparison to diabetic group significantly (p<0.05). Inflation and vacuolation of hepatocytes were observed with disarrangement of hepatic cords and sinusoidal narrowing. All previous signs were improved in Prosopis fracta treated group. Hydro-alcoholic extract of Prosopis fracta pod can reduce the level of malondialdehyde as a marker of lipid peroxidation in liver and prevent the histopathological changes of liver associated with diabetes.

Escherichia coli is one of the most causative pathogen of urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the second most common cause of morbidity and remain a serious health concern among the clinicians. The severity of UTI caused by uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) is due to the expression of a wide spectrum of virulent factors such as adhesin coding operons. Little is known about the relationship between the E. coli genetic background and the acquisition of adhesin coding operons in UPEC isolates.. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of adhesin coding operons in UPEC isolates belonged to phylogenetic group B2 and A collected from patients suffering from UTI.. A total 100 UPEC isolates were used for DNA extraction by the boiling lysis. The analysis of phylogenetic groups, along with detection of adhesin coding operons was performed by Multiplex-PCR method. Associations were assessed between afa, fim, foc, pap and sfa operons among to 55 B2 and 17 A groups E. coli isolates. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher exact test.. Phylogenetic analysis showed that 55 and 17 of 100 UPEC isolates belonged to the B2 and A phylogenetic groups, respectively. The afa, fim, foc, pap and sfa operons were present in five (9.09%), 55 (100%), 16 (29.09%), 46 (83.63%) and 46 (83.63%) of UPEC isolates belonged to phylogenetic group B2, and two (12.50%), 14 (87.50%), one (6.25%), two (12.5%) and 12 (75%) of isolates belonged to phylogenetic group A, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that pap gene was significantly more frequently detected in phylogenetic group B2 (P < 0.05).. The UPEC isolates belonging to group B2 harbored a greater number of adhesin coding operons than strains from phylogenetic groups A..

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that includes two entities, Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). As with other complex diseases, both genetic susceptibility and environmental factors play role in the pathogenesis of these diseases.The tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) gene is located in the IBD3 region on chromosome 6p21 which is a good functional candidate for involvement in susceptibility to IBD. In addition, the promoter region of TNF-α contains various polymorphisms that have shown a significant association with IBD. In this case control study we investigated the TNF-α -857 polymorphism in 109 patients (89 UC and 16 CD) who suffered from IBD and 100 healthy age, sex and ethnicity matched adults selected from the same population, as the control group. The polymorphism was checked by amplification refractory system (ARMS) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Investigation of the association of TNF-α -857 gene promoter polymorphism with both types of IBD showed no significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of this polymorphism between UC patients and controls. However, a possible association of TNF-α -857 polymorphism (p=0.03) was identified with CD. TNF-α -857 polymorphism may have a role in the development of CD in the Iranian Azeri Turkish population.

Gastric cancer is the first and second leading cause of cancer related death in Iranian men and women, respectively. Gastric cancer management is based on the surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In the present study, for the first time, the beneficial effect of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) aqueous extract (SAE) on the 1-Methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG)-induced gastric cancer in rat was investigated. MNNG was used to induce gastric cancer and then, different concentrations of SAE were administered to rats. After sacrificing, the stomach tissue was investigated by both pathologist and flow cytometry, and several biochemical parameters was determined in the plasma (or serum) and stomach of rats. Pathologic data indicated the induction of cancer at different stages from hyperplasia to adenoma in rats; and the inhibition of cancer progression in the gastric tissue by SAE administration; so that, 20% of cancerous rats treated with higher doses of SAE was completely normal at the end of experiment and there was no rat with adenoma in the SAE treated groups. In addition, the results of the flow cytometry/ propidium iodide staining showed that the apoptosis/proliferation ratio was increased due to the SAE treatment of cancerous rats. Moreover, the significantly increased serum LDH and decreased plasma antioxidant activity due to cancer induction fell backwards after treatment of rats with SAE. But changes in the other parameters (Ca2+, tyrosine kinase activity and carcino-embryonic antigen) were not significant. SAE inhibits the progression of gastric cancer in rats, in a dose dependent manner.