فهرست مطالب a. ehsani

The aims of this investigation were to compare the accuracy and bias of prediction of Estimated Breeding Values (EBV) for Average Daily Gain (ADG) at 2-4 weeks old by employing pedigree-based BLUP and single-step Genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) techniques. Additionally, the study aimed to identify the optimal minor allele frequencies (MAF) threshold for pre-selecting SNPs for genetic prediction. The present investigation utilized a total of 488 F2 broiler chickens, which were derived from the crossbreeding of fast-growing Arian chickens and slow-growing native chickens from Urmia, Iran. These chickens were between 2-4 weeks old at the time of the study. Samples were genotyped using the Illumina 60K chicken Beadchip. In order to examine the impact of MAF on prediction accuracy, a total of 48,379 quality-controlled SNPs were categorized into five subgroups based on their MAF values: 0.05-0.1, 0.1-0.2, 0.2-0.3, 0.3-0.4, and 0.4-0.5. The findings substantiated the dominance of ssGBLUP over conventional BLUP techniques. The average accuracy of GP improved by 1.96, 3.87, and 2.12% using ssGBLUP compared to BLUP method for ADG at 2-4 weeks of age, respectively. Using a specific MAF bin and a subset of SNPs based on age group significantly enhanced the accuracy of genomic prediction for ADG traits. Current results highlighted that the pre-selection of SNPs based on allele frequency may provide a reasonable compromise between accuracy of results, number of independent variables to be considered and computing requirements.

The poultry industry is one of the most important agricultural subsectors, significantly contributing to protein supply and holding a unique position in terms of production and employment. To expand and boost profitability in this industry, it is important to analyze the economic factors of production, so that the factors influencing the rise in productivity of broiler production units may properly be recognized. As a result, the effective factors on the productivity of the Arian broiler sector in Iran's Kurdistan Province were investigated and prioritized in the current study. In order to evaluate the productivity of the industry, four main factors including human capital, economic, technical, and environmental variables were evaluated. The DEMATEL-ANP integrated approach was then used to determine the relative weights of the factors. The results revealed that the human capital component had the highest impact and the economic component was identified as the most influential factor among the other factors. Furthermore, the economic indicator had the highest priority, with a weight of 0.17. Of the 29 research components (sub-criteria), the "broiler farmer experience", with a weight of 0.042, exerted the greatest impact on the productivity of the province's broiler sector. The "feed cost", "day-old chicks cost", and "health care cost" ranked the second to fourth, respectively. According to the findings, more attention should be devoted to the production chain, such as input production and poultry vaccinations, in order to accomplish and also enhance productivity in the broiler industry.

Alternative splicing, alternative transcript start site, and alternative transcript polyadenylation site are the main factors resulting in diversity of the transcripts of a gene. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the alternation process in breeds of sheep and goat, and to identify its role in differentiation of breeds of a species. RNA-seq data were prepared from ovarian tissue of two breeds of Shal and Sangsari sheep and two breeds of Tibetan and Jintang black goats. Reads were aligned to the reference genome and significant genes with respect to differential exon usage were identified. The statistical comparison revealed that 8,104 genes were significantly different in exon usage between the sheep breeds and 173 genes differed between the goat breeds. Out of the 121,861 studied exons, only 22.7% were preserved during future generations between the breeds, of which 99.3% did not display any alternatives. The high protection was probably due to the lack of involvement of the exons in alternative process. The genes with differential exon usage in goat had a higher percentage of alternatives than those in sheep. The interracial analysis showed that alternative splicing was the most influential type of alternatives in the breeds of sheep and goats. It seems that the conservation process of the exons is related to the contribution of these exons in alterative process in both sheep and goat breeds. The significant PI3K-Akt and alternative splicing pathways play a role in cell growth, development of ovaries, and mRNAs splicing.

Heat stress, or hyperthermia, can have a serious effect on chicken performance in poultry industry in many parts of the world. Both genetics and environment play key role in the performance of a chicken and, therefore, it is important to consider both factors in addressing heat stress. On genetics level, genome-wide association studies have become a popular method for studying heat stress in recent years. A population of 202 F2 chickens was reared for 84 days to find genes and genomic regions affecting growth traits and immune system. But, due to unexpected acute increase in temperature at day 83, 182 birds died (case) and 20 birds remained alive (control). At the age of 70 days, blood sample of all birds was collected to extract their DNA, using modified salting out method. All samples were genotyped by a 60 K Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) chip. Genome-wide association study was carried out by GCTA to identify gene and genomic regions associated with heat stress tolerance. Results indicated a close relationship between 28 SNPs, located on chromosomes 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 19, 20, and 21 and heat stress tolerance at the level of suggestive significance. Two suggestively significant markers on chromosome 5, namely, GGaluGA273356 and Gga_rs16479429, were located within and 52 Kb downstream of two genes, including MAPKBP1and SPON1, respectively. Gene ontology analysis indicated that the resistance of chickens to acute increase of temperature might be linked to the function of MAPKBP1 and SPON1 genes and their biological pathways. These results will be useful for understanding the molecular mechanisms of SNPs and candidate genes for heat stress tolerance in chickens and provide a basis for increasing genetic resistance in breeding programs.

Administrative corruption is a complicated, multidimensional phenomenon created by many reasons resulting in many effects, which is exhibited in a variety of roles and aspects. Considering the importance of this subject in different countries, extensive studies have been carried out in recent years to identify and ascertain the causes of this dilemma. It should be asserted that economic factors are fundamental in any social structure driving people to wrong actions including bribery, embezzlement, and financial corruption. Administrative corruption is a social phenomenon facing all countries of the world. On this basis, various nations with different perception of corruption as an inevitable issue have decided to found their political and institutional structures in a way that least degrees of corruption are observed. International experience suggests that corruption is complex, hidden and diversified. Thus, combating it needs a continuous, lengthy, and difficult process. Corruption is rooted in various backgrounds, which can result in creation and expansion of administrative corruption in potential and actual forms. Using these factors, we can find more effective ways in reducing and eliminating administrative corruption. With regard to the importance of administrative corruption, this paper aimed at exploring how and why administrative corruption exists.

Concerning the importance of distilled water chemical specification, studying operational condition effect on product quality is extremely important in Utility Areas. Considering geographical locating of many chemical and petrochemical units in Iran, these facilities are forced to consume brackish water as feed for their utility. Hence, different challenges are formed compared with coastal units use sea water instead. Our sample during this study imports brackish water with E.C≈ 2500, T.H≈550 into the softener resin beds for feed water softening. Then the first R.O. unit is employed to produce DM water with E.C≈ 25, T.H≈0. Finally, the most valuable part of our production chain is another R.O. unit which supplies high purity Distilled water as the feed of Utility. There are several important parameters to evaluate permeate quality or the last unit’s performance including Anions concentration (Na, Ca, Mg, K) and Cations concentration (CO32-, HCO3-, Cl-, SO42-). Clearly. The most important parameter is supposed to be chlorine, Carbone and bicarbonate concentration which was studied during operational tests. Hence, the sensitivity of product quality with process variables such as feed pH, retention time, R.O. element pressure and temperature were examined and adjusted rigorously.

Essential oils and herbal extracts from medicinal plants as a source of natural antioxidants, antimicrobial, anticancer and biologically active compounds have attracted a great deal of interesting applications in fresh and processed food preservation, pharmaceuticals, alternative medicine and natural-based therapies. In the present study, phytochemical composition, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of Cuminum Cyminum L. essential oil have been evaluated. Antibacterial properties were evaluated by standard Microplate serial dilution method. Antioxidant activity was evaluated through DPPH assay and â-carotene/linoleic acid assay. The chemical analysis of the essential oil by Gas chromatography/ mass spectrophotometer (GC/MS) showed that cuminaldehyde (29.02%) was the major compound. Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of the essential oil were 37.5-9600 and 150-9600 ìg/ml, respectively. S.aureus and Escherichia coli were the most sensitive and the most resistant to the essential oil, respectively. This essential oil was able to reduce the stable free radical DPPH with an IC50 of 2.13 ìg/ml. In â-carotene/linoleic acid assay, the essential oil was not effectively able to inhibit the linoleic acid oxidation, exhibiting had only 58% inhibitions at 2 mg/ml. These results indicate that this essential oil has a high potential of antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Therefore, it can be suggested to combine this essential oil with other agents for the preservation of foods against pathogenic and toxigenic microorganisms.

Thalassemia, a heterogeneous disease, is one of the most common single-gene diseases worldwide. The aim of this study was to find associations between hematological indices and severity of beta-globin gene mutations in beta-thalassemia carriers. In this cross-sectional study, 30 beta-goblin gene mutations (b+ and b○) in 1206 unrelated beta-thalassemia carriers were investigated. In addition, their hematological indices, including CBC and electrophoresis results, were determined. The association between genetic findings and hematological parameters (mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean hematocrit corpuscular hematocrit (MCH)) were determined using the SPSS software, the statistical test being the t-test. The results indicated that b+-thalassemia carriers had higher MCV and MCH means than b○-thalassemia carriers. These findings would certainly have practical implications in public health. The results show a significant correlation between two hematological indices and certain types of mutations in beta-thalassemia carriers.

Consumer demands have led to a renewed interest in using natural antimicrobial for food products. Biopreservatives such as essential oils and Probiotics have recently gained an increased attention to achieve an enhanced level of product safety and stability in food preservation industry. The study was designed to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of Mentha Longifolia L. essential oil in combination with Lactobacillus casei on Staphylococcus aurous in Iranian white cheese. The essential oil of this plant was obtained by steam distillation and analyzed by GC/MS. Effect of different concentrations of this essential oil and Lactobacillus casei on Staphylococcus aurous were determined by the growth culture on the selective media at different intervals of production, ripening and storage of Iranian white cheese. It was demonstrated that 0.03% and 0.015% of this essential oil had the highest inhibitory effect on the growth of Staphylococcus aurous when it was used in combination with Lactobacillus casei, and its reduction rate at the end of the storage period in experimental treatments were 1.89 and 2.32 Log more than the control group respectively. Furthermore, 0.015% of this essential oil combined with Lactobacillus casei has not only had the inhibitory effect on the growth Staphylococcus aureus but it also maintained concentration of the acceptable range. The synergistic effects between the above mentioned concentration levels of the essential oil and lactobacillus casei compared to the control and only essential oil was significant. Thus, the lower concentrations of essential oil can be used when it is combined with the probiotic to exert an inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus.