cat

Cats are one of the most popular pets due to their adaptability. However, the behavioral problems associated with this species have also increased, and in some cases, these behavioral disorders lead to the abandonment and death of animals. The present study aimed to identify behavioral disorders in cats referred to veterinary clinics in Shiraz City. The current descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 140 cats with owners living in Shiraz during the year 2021. Information about cats, their keeping conditions, and behavioral disorders was recorded. In this study, the most frequent behavioral disorders of cats included urine inappropriate elimination (44.3%), aggression (36.4%), stool inappropriate elimination (21.4%), hyperactivity (10.7%), destructive grabbing (9.3%), respectively. Older cats had the highest amount of inappropriate elimination of urine and feces (P=0.04). Improper excretion of urine and feces, aggression, and destructive grabbing in male and unsterilized cats were significantly more than in other cats (p < 0.05). Moreover, destructive grabbing and anxiety caused by loneliness were significantly higher in cats living at home with other cats than in those alone (p < 0.05). There was no difference in behavioral disorders among short hair and Persian cats (p < 0.05). The behavioral disorders in Iranian domestic cats are affected by factors such as age, sterilization, gender, and the presence of several cats in the house.

Background &

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite which definitive hosts, Felid and cats, play a critical role in transmission and distribution of the parasite and their immunization is a proper way to control the infection. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the                       immunogenicity of Toxoplasma gondii attenuated isolate produced in Razi Institute branch of    Shiraz in catsMaterials &

Twelve male DSH (Domestic short hair) kittens aged 3-6 months were  randomly divided into three groups; each contains four cats. The First group received tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii attenuated isolate at a dose of 10×106 by injection, the second group         received a dose of 25×106 orally and the last group received culture medium as a control. The  humoral immune responses and Cellular immunity evaluated by modified agglutination and skin test. One month after immunization, all cats were challenged by Toxoplasma's PRU strain, after which the cats' feces were collected and molecular tests were performed for five days.

The results of modified agglutination and skin test showed that administration of oral and injection vaccine had a significant increase in comparison with control. Also, Molecular testing after challenge revealed that immunization of cats by oral and injection way of Toxoplasma gondii attenuated isolate could successfully prohibit oocysts shedding in cats.

In order to the significant immune responses and prevention of oocysts shedding, it is suggested that, using this isolation of Toxoplasma gondii as a possible candidate vaccine for cats in future studies.

Obesity has become a global problem today. Obesity can be caused by sedentary lifestyle and a high-cholesterol diet. This condition increases oxidative stress and decreases the activity of oxidative enzymes, resulting in many complications, including cardiovascular disorders. Aerobic exercise and avoidance of high-fat diets are used as a non-pharmacological intervention to increase antioxidant capacity; however, the exact mechanisms of this on the cardiovascular system have not yet been fully identified. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise on cardiac antioxidant enzymes in mice fed high cholesterol diet. Thirty-two laboratory Wistar rats (191.2 ± 19 g), age 6-8 weeks were randomly assigned to four groups after the hypercholesterolemia induction of half of the rats (adding 1% cholesterol to the food of the rats and sampling the tails of the rats). These four groups comprised of the aerobic exercise-normal nutrition group (n=8), hypercholesterolemic group (n=8), aerobic exercise- hypercholesterolemic group (n=8) and normal nutrition group (n=8). Each endurance exercise training session was held five days a week for 12 weeks. Twenty-four hours after the last training session, the rats were killed and the cardiomyocytes were removed. Moreover, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) enzymes was evaluated by specific kits. The results showed that increasing blood cholesterol had a statistically significant effect on reducing SOD, CAT, and GPX in heart tissue (p=0.001). Furthermore, it was found that aerobic exercise significantly increases the activity of antioxidant enzymes in cardiomyocytes (p=0.001). The highest decrease in the level of antioxidant enzymes was related to the hypercholesterolemic group and the highest increase was related to the aerobic exercise-normal nutrition group. Cholesterol-rich diets reduce the activity of antioxidants in the heart. Although aerobic exercise increases the heart’s antioxidant activity, it seems that avoiding a high-cholesterol diet can play a more effective role.

In order to investigate the effect of using beeswax waste in combination with other organic matter as a substrate on some growth, physiological and biochemical parameters of borage in different irrigation regimes, an experiment was conducted in a factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design with three replications in 2017. The experimental treatments were irrigation interval in three levels (2, 4 and 6 day) and substrate in 8 levels (soil wax in ratio of 3-1, soil wax 4-1, soil leaf-soil 3-1, soil leaf-soil 4-1, soil cow manure 3-1, soil cow manure wax 3-0.5-0.5, soil leaf-soil wax 3-0.5-0.5 and soil). The results showed that plant dry matter and height, carotenoid and proline contents, catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and lipids peroxidation (MDA) were affected by simple and interaction effects of irrigation regimes and planting substrates (P≤0.05). The membrane permeability and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II were influenced by the simple effects of both treatments. The content of chlorophyll a was only affected by irrigation regime and any treatments had significant effect on chlorophyll b contents. The photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, chlorophyll a and carotenoid contents were significantly decreased with increasing irrigation intervals. All of the organic substrates could mitigate the drought stress related to increasing the irrigation interval from 2 to 4 days. In both stress and non stress conditions, wax substrate in ratio of 3-1 had the highest dry matter, height, carotenoid contents and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, with the lowest proline and MDA contents. Other wax containing substrates also showed satisfactory conditions in terms of plant growth indices and stress resistance for irrigation intervals of 4 and 6 days. The activity rate of CAT and APX enzymes were elevated with increasing irrigation interval in the soil wax substrate with the ratio of 3-1, 4-1, wax soil peat, soil leaf-soil 3-1 and 1-4. In other words, the two Enzymes have an effective role for improving drought stress resistance in the mentioned substrates. Therefore, it seems that the wax containing substrates are recommendable under drought stress conditions, and it is more efficient by enhancing the wax ratio in the planting substrate composition.

Cut carnation flowers due to their excellent longevity quality, extensive range of colors and forms, has traditionally great value between the cut flowers in terms of trade. About 63% of entire cut flower production in the world is related to carnation. In this study, effects of nano-silver treatments (0, 5 and 10 mg l-1), ethanol (0, 2, 4%), Beta-Amino Butyric acid (0, 0/5 and 1 µM) with 4% sucrose solution on antioxidant enzymes activity and quality (including catalase and ascorbate peroxidase) of carnation cultivars, Diana, cut flowers were evaluated. Distilled water and sucrose were used as control. Statistical analysis was performed base on completely randomized design and using MSTAT-C software. The results showed that treatment of Nano silver 5 mg l-1 had highest effect on catalase and peroxidase activity and other measured parameters. This treatment significantly increased these parameters in comparison to the control. Treatments reduced senescence and increased longevity and quality of cut flowers.

Abstract Cadmium (Cd) is easily absorbed by root system in many plant species and due to its solubility in water and toxicity is considered as a major pollutant. A factorial pot experiment was conducted on two cultivated and wild safflower species، in which four cultivated genotypes (Arak-2811، Saffire، C111، and AC-Sterling) and four wild genotypes (Arak، Shiraz، Isfahan and Azari) were treated by four levels of Cd (0، 1، 5، and 10 mg CdNo3/kg soil). Based on Cd Tolerance Index، chlorophyll (Chl) concentrations and lipid peroxidation Ac-Sterling، Isfahan، and Arak-2811 were ranked tolerant and Arak، C111 and Shiraz sensitive to the Cd stress. Wild and cultivated safflowers did not appear to differ in terms of the latter attributes. The greatest activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) were observed to be at the 5 mgkg-1 level of Cd. The tolerant genotypes indicated a greater increase in their APX and CAT activity، compared to the sensitive genotypes. It was concluded that the enzymatic antioxidant defence system in safflower plays a major role in its response to Cd and APX and CAT antioxidants play a more crucial role in this regard، relative to GR.