فهرست مطالب m. soleimani

Three oral drugs, including fingolimod, dimethyl fumarate, and teriflunomide, which are clinically approved for the therapy of relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) were reviewed in this work. The present study aimed to recognize the side effects of the oral drugs in RRMS patients who were consulted in neurology clinic in west of Iran.

The study population of the present prospective observational study conducted in 2016-2017 were patients with relapsing-remitting MS referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital (RA). Three hundred patients with RRMS were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. The first group received fingolimod, the second group received dimethyl fumarate, and the third group received teriflunomide. The response to treatment assessed at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after the start of treatment. Eventually, the frequency of adverse effects characterized for each group and the collected data compared in each treatment group. The collected data were analyzed using ANOVA statistical tests.

The findings of the present study revealed that the most common clinical complications were neurological (21.8%) and gastrointestinal complications (15.6%). The most common laboratory complications were liver (12.9%) and cardiovascular complications (10.3%). Moreover, the lowest clinical complications were musculoskeletal (4.6%) and endocrine complications (3%) and lowest laboratory complications were macular edema (0.6%).

In the present study, fingolimod had the most side effects and triflunomide had the least side effects. Dimethyl fumarate was stopped due to the severity of side effects and triflunomide was continued.

Until now, various chemical treatments (oxidation and electrochemical destruction), biological treatments (microbial cultures and anaerobic bioremediation systems) and physical treatments (such as adsorption and ion exchange) have been proposed to remove dyes as one of the most important water pollutants. In this study, hydrodynamic cavitation (bubble formation in a liquid) was considered as a new method for dye removal. The important advantages of this method are no need to use chemicals, low energy consumption and the ability to combine with other advanced oxidation processes. A literature review on dye removal focusing on combination with other advanced oxidation processes indicated that orifice plates and venturi tubes are often used and less than 2 h (in optimum operating conditions) more than 80% of dye was removed. Also, factors such as device geometry, inlet pressure, operating temperature, pH and liquid properties (like vapor pressure, viscosity and surface tension) are effective parameters in this process. The results of previous works imply excellent efficiency of this method in combination with other processes and methods such as Fenton, photocatalytic, ozonation, aeration and presence of various metal and non-metallic ions in the reaction medium. Also, flexibility in designing and combining with advanced oxidation processes, depend on the purpose, are another major and important advantages for replacing this method with conventional methods in the near future.

In this study, the elimination of methylene blue (MB) by adsorption on Black Titania (B-TiO2) in an aqueous solution in the dark room is investigated. Preparation of B-TiO2 was carried out via the reduction of white TiO2 by NaBH4 in a tube furnace under an inert gas atmosphere at 600°C. Characterization of the absorbent was carried out by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM mapping, photoluminescence, EDX analysis, Zeta potential, DLS, and FT-IR. The maximum adsorption capacity of B-TiO2 was found to be 88.65 mg g−1. The rate-limiting step was the intra-particle diffusion stage. The maximum adsorption was observed under the conditions: 26 mg of the B-TiO2 at pH 6 and MB concentration of 10 mg L−1. It was demonstrated that B-TiO2 might be recycled six times with very good adsorption results while keeping its high removal efficiency.

Activated carbon has a wide range of applications as a porous material in the liquid or gas phase adsorption process. The physical process of activated carbon production is divided into two stages thermal decomposition and activation. In this study, only the activation stage has been studied because it is very important in the properties of activated carbon being produced.The production of activated carbon from horticultural waste not only leads to cheap production and supply of many industrial and environmental necessities but also reduces the amount of the produced solid waste. Iran produces about 94,000 tons of pistachio husk annually, which is a good raw material for the production of activated carbon. The profitability index of activated carbon production in Iran is equal to 3.63, which in the case of export, the profitability index will be tripled.Studies have shown that temperature, period, and activation gas flow are the key factors affecting burn-off and iodine number during activated carbon production. Among the various activators tested, steam was found to be the most efficient, with the fastest activation time. For pistachio crops, the minimum iodine number required for economic efficiency is 600 mg g-1, while the highest specific surface area according to the BET test is 1062.2 m2 g-1.

A Mannesmann tube made of 10 mm thick steel was used to construct the rotating reactor. To minimize heat loss during operation, the kiln body was insulated with a ceramic blanket capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1400°C. The kiln had a length and diameter of 190 cm and 48 cm, respectively, and operated at a temperature of 600°C, requiring approximately 25 kWh of energy for heating. CATIA V5 R21 software was employed to design the device, while ANSYS R20 software was used for thermal and mechanical analysis. The rotary reactor was identified as a critical component due to the high levels of thermal and mechanical stress it experiences. To address these issues, a thermal and fluid analysis was conducted, followed by a mechanical analysis using the results from the prior step. Subsequently, experimental tests were performed on the actual model, and the results were analyzed using statistical methods, including the T-student test in IBM SPSS software.The central heating unit and its surroundings were modeled using ANSYS CFX to obtain valuable information on fluid velocity, radiant properties, and heat transfer within the kiln and surrounding area at an operating temperature of 650°C. The analysis revealed uniform steam flow velocity between the kiln and the heating unit. To accommodate longitudinal expansion resulting from heat stress, taller rollers were employed to allow freedom of movement in that direction, while the lateral movement was unrestricted. This arrangement allows the reactor length to increase under varying temperatures. The reactor's end was designed with grooves and pressure plates, incorporating abrasion and compression plates made from refractory fibers to effectively seal the device. Furthermore, telescopic movement of the parts compensates for expansion effects.

The operating temperature of the system was gradually increased to reduce thermal stresses in the reactor shell. This led to a maximum increment in a longitudinal increase of 11.75 mm. Results from five sets of experimental tests and five software analyses demonstrated no significant differences between the experimental and analytical results at a significance level of 5%. Based on the thermal contour analysis, the thickness of the insulation layer was determined to be 5 cm. To control the operating temperature of the device, two methods were employed: adjusting the flame length of the burner and using different types of exhaust outlets. These measures effectively reduced thermal stress on the device.

Thermal and mechanical analysis were useful methods for predicting heat distribution, thermal stresses, and potential dimensional changes in the activated carbon reactor. To compensate for possible alterations in the reactor's length and diameter, abrasive plates and friction washers were implemented. Careful control of fuel input to the burner and regulation of exhaust gas flow helped effectively reduce thermal stresses on the device.

The present research aimed to study the correlation between perceptions of classroom environment and academic buoyancy with the intermediary role of school bonding. This descriptive-correlational research was of the path analysis kind. The statistical population consisted of all of the 9321 male senior high school students in the city of Sanandaj in the school year of 2018-2019, 369 of whom were selected as the sample size by means of multi-stage random cluster sampling. Students were asked to complete questionnaires on perceptions of classroom environment (Fraser et al., 2017), academic buoyancy (Dehghanizadeh & Hussein Chari, 2012), and school bonding (Springer et al., 2009), and the data was analyzed by means of the Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis. According to the results obtained in this research, perceptions of classroom environment have a causal relationship with academic buoyancy  (p<0.01), and school bonding plays an intermediary role in the relationship between perceptions of classroom environment and academic buoyancy (p<0.001). As perceptions of classroom environment and academic buoyancy are causally related and school binding also influences the correlation between them, it is suggested that, in order to achieve as much compatibility as possible in students against academic challenges and assignments, measures be taken so as to make the learning environment desirable for students and allow students to develop a higher sense of commitment toward their schools. For better effectiveness, regional Education and Development managers and offices can conduct in-service courses and workshops in order to clarify the importance and formation of perceptions of school, sense of belonging and commitment toward school in students for educational and executive staff in schools.

Considering the importance of oral health in children, it is important to find factors affecting it. Eating habits, body mass index (BMI), and educational level and socioeconomic status of the parents have been suggested as factors affecting oral health. Two important indices for evaluation of general and oral health of children are the BMI and DMFT/dmft, respectively. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between these two indices in children aged 6-12 years.  

In this descriptive analytical study, 300 children aged 6-12 years were selected among those referred to the Dental Branch of Tehran Islamic Azad University of Medical Science in 2019-2020 by simple random sampling. The BMI and dmft/DMFT were calculated, and the relationship between them and the effect of influential factors on dental caries score were evaluated. Data were analyzed by the linear regression model at a confidence interval of 95% and 0.05 level of statistical significance.

 The study sample consisted of 168 girls and 132 boys. The mean dmft was 4.66±3.39 and the mean DMFT was 1.44±1.57 Only 11.34% of the children were underweight and 12.66% were obese; while, 60.67% had a normal weight. Oral health and nutritional behaviors of children showed that 71.3% of them brushed their teeth at least once a day and only 22% used dental floss. A correlation was found between BMI and the rate of caries in permanent teeth (P=0.046).

No statistically significant association was observed between dmft/DMFT and BMI of children aged 6-12 years.

Measurement of sulfur compounds in the tail gas flow in the sulfur recovery unit is necessary in order to fine control the combustion furnace airflow and efficiency enhancement. In this research, required equations for calculation of air demand in feedforward and feedback control loops in the sulfur recovery unit of Ilam Gas Treating Plant are developed. First, the process was simulated. Then, using MLP neural network and nonlinear regression, K factor was determined for tail gas analyzer air demand calculation. Total required air is sent to the combustion furnace through two lines: trim and main, such that 92.5% of air is passed through the main line. Meanwhile, tail gas analyzer air demand is in the range of -5 to +5 % of the total required air. The presented equations in this research can be employed for other sulfur recovery units.

The industrial areas are located near residential centers in the city of Arak and potentially toxic elements (PTEs) pollution is a serious threat to human health and living organisms in this area. Meanwhile, soil contamination by PTEs is one of the challenges in this region and various studies have been conducted in this area. Meta-analysis studies provide a comprehensive evaluation of the results of a subject. In the present study, soil contamination data for PTEs in the 11 years (2009 to 2020) were studied through the studies conducted in Arak. In this study, the risk, potential toxicity, and carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of PETs were assessed using indices and mathematical relationships. Based on the results of pollution indices, the soil of Arak city in terms of PETs including Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni, As, Pb, Cu, and Hg were categorized into the polluted and highly polluted classes. The soil of the region in terms of PETs has significant ecological risk and acute toxicity. Cadmium, arsenic, and mercury showed the ecological risk of 49.3%, 23.2%, and 18.3% respectively, and nickel, chromium, and arsenic were responsible for 34.7%, 23.03%, and 22.07% of the toxicity potential of PETs in the soil. Arsenic, nickel, and chromium have the highest carcinogenic risk for children in both the ingestion and inhalation pathways, and chromium, arsenic, and nickel have the highest carcinogenic risk from the inhalation pathway for adults. According to the results, the most considerable PETs in the study area including As, Cd, and Pb, and the most important source of their emission in Arak are anthropogenic resources and industries.

The type of mixed refrigerant components is one of the most important factors affecting the energy consumption of compressors in the natural gas liquefaction process. In the recent researches, various components have been used, which usually contain ethane or ethylene. So far, no comparison has been performed between the performance of these two components in the mixed refrigerant. In this research thermodynamic properties of ethane and ethylene were compared. Then PRICO process, as the most common small-scale liquefaction process, was simulated with three types of five-component refrigerants including ethane, and then optimized using the genetic algorithm tool in MATLAB 2019a. Then, the thermodynamic effect of ethylene replacement in these three refrigerants on the work consumption of compressors as an objective function was investigated. The results indicated ethane or ethylene presence in mixed refrigerant is necessary and their absence leads to work consumption of 3792.35 kW. This value is higher than all six case that contain ethane or ethylene. Also, results showed that the use of ethylene reduces the work consumption of compressors, and in refrigerants with nitrogen, methane, ethane, propane, and i-butane components, replacing ethane with ethylene reduces process work consumption by 11.28%.

ABO-incompatible allo-HSCT leads to complications like pure red cell aplasia (PRCA), which involves 7-16% of ABO-incompatible recipients. In this condition, albeit the development of other hematopoietic lineages in the bone marrow engraftment is successful, erythroid precursors are missing; thus, patients may require blood transfusions because of severe anemia. An extensive variety of treatment strategies has been introduced for treating PRCA patients. This study reviewed the various PRCA treatments following allo-HSCT.

In this Review study, keywords including Pure Red-Cell Aplasia, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, and ABO Blood-Group System were searched in PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Sixty-four articles were reviewed, and related data were extracted.

There are three main approaches for treating PRCA: erythropoiesis with erythropoietin, reducing isoagglutinin levels, and immunomodulatory therapies/graft versus plasma cell effect.

Monoclonal antibody drugs targeting plasma cells have shown unprecedented results. Overall, PRCA management ways incorporate: individual patients’ evaluation in order to select the proper treatment management for each case, a thorough monitoring approach from the first day of hospitalization, and predicting the possibility of PRCA as indicated by blood group antibodies’ levels.

Almost 18 percent of emitted greenhouse gasses in Iran come from livestock industries, especially from manure decomposition. With the anaerobic digestion of animal wastes, in addition to eliminating its disadvantages, biogas as a clean and renewable energy carrier is produced. In addition, the resulting sludge is a more healthy and nutritious fertilizer for use in agriculture. One of the challenges of the bio-gas industry is to increase gas production efficiency. Various approaches are proposed to enhance manure digestion efficiency and increase biogas production, which can be mentioned below: Changing operating parameters such as temperature, hydraulic retention time (HRT), and particle size of the substrate; adding some effective additives; returning the resulting sludge into the digestion process and using bio-filters. Therefore in this study, in order to increase biogas production from poultry manure, two methods (co-digestion with rumen contents, and chicken intestine and its contents, and returning the slurry into the reactor) were tested. The alkaline composition of chicken manure and its high content of ammonia makes it difficult to digest alone, and co-digestion with high-carbon organic matter improves its digestibility.

Polyethylene bottles were used as batch reactor units. In order to the possibility of gas exit, as well as taking samples of the digester, two valves were placed on the bottle cap. All digesters were placed in a hot water bath and a 700 watts electric heater and a thermostat were used respectively to supply heat and to keep the temperature constant. A U-shaped tube, connected to the reactor output pipe was used to measure the amount of produced gas. The volume of water removed from the tube was an indicator of produced gas. The experiment was carried out in two stages. In the first stage 21 reactors were used according to the design of the experiment which was a completely randomized design with 7 treatments (adding rumen fluid in three levels (10, 20, and 30 percent of chicken manure (weight basis), respectively), adding chicken intestines and its content in three levels (10, 20, and 30 percent of chicken manure (weight basis), respectively), and control treatment), and three replicates of each treatment. During the whole experiment period, the pH and temperature were kept constant, respectively between 7.2-8.2 and 40-35 °C (mesophilic range). In the second stage of the experiment, after all the treatments reached the end of their hydraulic retention time, the resulting sludge was filtered and the liquid part was returned to the cycle. Three treatments were also provided here (supplying 50% of the water required by sludge liquid, supplying 100% of the water required by sludge liquid, and control treatment (no liquefied sludge).

Based on the results, although the type of organic supplementation had a significant effect on the amount of biogas production, the quantity of them had not. Treatments of chicken manure + 20%, 30%, and 10% of chicken intestines resulted in the highest amount of biogas production, respectively. But these three treatments were not significantly different. Also, the co-digestion of chicken manure with chicken intestines was more effective than the co-digestion of chicken manure with rumen fluid. The return of sludge, resulted from anaerobic digestion of chicken manure, again into the cycle, in addition to enhancing the amount of produced gas, can reduce the waiting time to start gas production by at least six days (in the treatment of providing 100% of required water from returned sludge). This can lead to continuous gas production and availability of sufficient gas in commercial gas-producing units. The effect of treatments on the time of reaching the cumulative gas production index to 100 mm was significant (α= 5%) and treatment of S100 reduced this duration by approximately 17 days (65%) and S50, for approximately 16 days (74%). 

According to the results of this study, co-digestion of chicken manure with cow rumen fluid did not have a significant effect on the increase of biogas production, but co-digestion of chicken manure with chicken intestine and its contents (at least by 20% of chicken manure (weight basis)) can have a significant effect on the increase in the production of biogas and can increase the amount of gas at least twice. The highest amount of gas volume was about 305 Ml.gr-1  VSadded and came from the treatment of co-digestion of chicken manure with 20% (weight base) chicken intestine and its contents. The return of the resulting sludge of anaerobic digestion of chicken manure, back into the cycle, in addition to increasing the amount of gas, can minimize the time it takes to start to produce gas and help to produce gas continuously. Moreover, the water used for digestion will also be significantly reduced (at least 50%).

Immunization has been considered a successful global health program that saves many persons’ lives each year. The vaccines reduce the risk of getting the disease by building immunity in the body. Therefore, the constant availability of essential vaccines is an important factor in community health. One of the most important vaccines is the diphtheria vaccine, which is usually used as Multivalent diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) combination vaccines. The production of this vaccine takes about 45 days, from the initial bacterial culture to the end of toxin production. However, the production of this vaccine can be optimized in case the production stages are carried out under normal conditions. In this study, a significant amount of impurities was removed after washing with phosphate buffer saline, and the toxin was then purified by Sephadex G-50. In this method, the toxin was concentrated to be stored in a smaller space (this removes the concerns for the provision of a suitable space). Another problem with the diphtheria vaccine is that it is reversible after detoxification of the toxin using formaldehyde. For this reason, it is suggested to use MPEG for detoxification, which will produce more stable covalent bonds between PEG and the first type of amine groups in the toxin chain. Tests were performed to evaluate factors, such as in vivo cytotoxicity, lack of edemas formation, the neutralizing activity of serum from guinea pigs immunized with the diphtheria toxoid inactivated with MPEG, and the immunogenic activity of the purified and modified toxin. Comparison of this PEG detoxification toxoid with the standard toxoid produced in Razi Vaccine and Serum Institution, Karaj, Iran, showed that washing with PBS and purification with Sephadex G-50 was an efficient method. The stability and reversibility of the toxoid approved by MPEG were acceptable. Therefore, the results of animal tests showed that the obtained product was stable and caused no wound or necrosis in the tested animals.

Many researchers have considered the idea of using heat to shrink cancer cells and treat cancer. However, efforts in recent years have led to creating novel material more practical in clinical application. The main reason for the synthesis and producing these materials is to raise the temperature in the right place so that healthy cells around the cancerous tissue are not harmed. Nowadays, this can be partly achievable with new devices and methods. Also, cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles with zinc selenide (ZnS) coating for special optical properties were investigated in this work. The CdSe nanoparticles have a wide application in biomedical engineering, including detecting cancer tumors and hyperthermia. There are various methods for synthesizing CdSe nanoparticles, such as precipitation, wet chemistry, mechanical activation, and mechanochemical technique. In this study, we have tried to use an economical method to control Cd ions' toxicity. After fabricating the nanoparticles, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and hyperthermia analyses (HT), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique were performed to characterize the magnetization, thermal changes versus time, phase, and morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles. The obtained results indicated that the CdSe successfully synthesized using chemical segmentation for biomaterials applications.

Olefin-paraffin separation with equivalent carbon number is an important cost-effective step in olefin production in petrochemical industries. Liquid membrane technology using ionic solutions can perform olefin-paraffin separation in a selective manner. In this paper, the separation of light olefin-paraffin mixtures using supported liquid membrane is modeled in an unsteady-state manner. In this model, mass transfer is considered in the direction of membrane thickness and the effect of feed pressure, silver concentration, solvent type and time on flux rate was investigated. For model evaluation, experimental data of ethylene-ethane separation with aqueous solution of silver nitrate and propylene-propane separation with aqueous solution of silver nitrate, AgNO3-NMP and AgBF4-BMImBF4 were used. There is a good agreement between experimental and modeling data (with 12.2% difference). Moreover, it was concluded that by using viscose or ionic liquids, which are substituted for water (solvent) in order to solve evaporation problems, cause a decrease in flux and product selectivity.

The discussion of humble and integrity ethical leadership has been raised as one of the newest leadership theories in organizations over the last few years and have been considered as a necessity in the academic environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between humble and integrity approaches of Ethical leadership with organizational performance and the mediating role social capital in this relationship.

This research is descriptive-correlative. The statistical population of the study consisted of professors and staff with masterchr('39')s degree (N=600). Among them, 201 subjects were selected as the statistical sample by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire. SPSS-AMOS software and structural equation method were used for data analysis.

The results of the analysis of the statistical data of the research confirm the conceptual model and the research hypotheses with high confidence. This means that the two humble and integrity leadership methods have positive and significant relationship with organizational performance and the mediator role of social capital in this regard was accepted.

Findings show that universities and other organizations can increase the level of organizational performance of employees by strengthening the humble and integrity skills of leadership in managers and supervisors of the organizational units. Also, it is very important to paid attention to the mediator role of social capital in the relationship between ethical leadership and organizational performance.

To determine features of eye trauma associated with self-trauma by pens and pencils among children.

Thirty-six children suffering from self-inflicted eye trauma with pens or pencils were included in this prospective cross-sectional study.

The age range of the participants was 2-14 years with an average of 5.6 years and a standard deviation of 2.7, with a male: female ratio of 1.76. The superomedial (55.5%) and inferomedial (30.6%) quadrants were the most common sites of injury. The leading culprit was colored pencils (44.4%). During surgical exploration, no foreign body (FB) was found in 25 (69%) patients while an FB was found in 11 (30%) patients. Brain injury was present in two patients (5.6%) and only in superomedial quadrant injuries. Zone 1 was the most common site for ocular trauma associated with penetrating injury. The mean ocular trauma score (OTS) in penetrating injuries was 3.8±1.2. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.34±0.61 upon admittance and 0.08±0.21 after one year. The final BCVA was significantly correlated with the entrance site, better final BCVA was found in nasal entrance site.

The ophthalmologists should keep a high index of suspicion to rule out penetrating eye injuries related to writing instruments in a young uncooperative child. Brain injury is a life-threatening event that should be ruled out by appropriate imaging. Medial canthal area as the most common site needs especial attention in writing instrument injuries.

In this paper, single-phase dynamic comparator was improved based on adding a clocked NMOS auxiliary latch at its output and two clocked NMOS transistors at its internal nodes. Using clocked NMOS latch and transistors increased the speed of comparator, without increasing the loading effect and kick-back noise on its previous and next stages. The advantage of the proposed comparator rather than the conventional comparator was higher speed with precence same power dissipations. To demonstrate the mention specifications, proposed and conventional comparators were analyzed and simulated at 2-GS/s sampling rate in 0.18-μm CMOS process. In this case, the outputs of proposed comparator were determined almost 18-ps (%9) faster than the outputs of conventional comparator. Also, to compare the performances of proposed and conventional comparators in flash ADCs, two 4-bits flash ADCs, using proposed and conventional comparators in their comparison chains blocks, were designed and simulated at 2-GS/s. In this case, the FOM of ADCs with the proposed and conventional comparators at nyquist rate input frequency achieved 0.61-pJ/conv.step and 0.72-pJ/conv.step, respectively. Corresponding, the ENOB of ADCs achieved 3.74-Bit and 3.45-Bit, respectively. In addition, the power dissipations of comparators array of ADCs with proposed and conventional comparators were 4.23-mW and 4.09-mW, respectively. Also, the power dissipations of two flash ADCs, without the power dissipations of their comparators array, were 11.70-mW and 12.03-mW, respectively.

A new four elements compact antenna array is presented and discussed to achieve enhanced phase resolution without sacrificing the array output power. This structure inspired by the Ormia Ochracea’s coupled ears. The analogy between this insect acute directional hearing capabilities and the electrically compact antenna array is used to enhance the array sensitivity to direction of arrival estimation of an electromagnetic wave. This four elements biomimetic compact array is composed of four strongly coupled antenna elements and two external coupling networks which are designed to enhance the phase resolutions between all antenna element outputs without decrease in the array output power. In other words, this four elements compact array extracts the same power level from the incident EM wave compared with regular array, while the output phase sensitivity is significantly enhanced. The simulation results confirm the advantages of this new compact array compared with the previously reported ones in the literature.

Growing concerns about water pollution and its potentially harmful effects on human being have stimulated serious efforts to develop reliable biological monitoring techniques. The bioluminescent analysis is one of the most promising approaches for the biomonitoring of the environment, due to the sensitivity of the luminescent system to even micro quantities of the pollutants. The aim of the current study was to assess the petroleum compounds toxicity using Vibrio fischeri bacterium. The growth pattern of the bacterium was determined in photobacterium broth using the optical density measurement at 600 nm, which showed the optimum growth time of 16-18 hours after inoculation. In this research, the effects of environmental parameters such as temperature, pH and various concentrations of oil on the growth and luminescence of Vibrio fischeri were examined. The results revealed that the optimum growth conditions of the bacterium after 16 hours included the temperature of 25 °C and pH 7. Besides, the growth and luminescence intensity of Vibrio fischeri were a function of total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in the medium, which were significantly reduced in oil concentrations by more than 4% w/v. Therefore, the Vibrio fischeri could, therefore, have the potential for monitoring of petroleum pollutants in the aqueous media.

The quest for technology to build submarines equipped with an air-independent propulsion system is increasing. PEM fuel is one of the best options for a submarine power supply system. Durability is one of the main competition factor of polymer fuel cell technology with other power generation technologies. Regarding the importance of polymer fuel cell stack stability tests, for the first time in Iran, performance of polymer fuel cell stack was evaluated over a period of 200 hours. Durability test condition was determined based on universal well-known protocols and according to the intended use, in three sections: assessment of polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and fluoride ions (Fenton test), pH, and electrical conductivity of the anode and cathode side discharge water changes in the intervals of 25 hours. Based on the results, it was found that oxidant shortage, accumulation of water particles in the third cell, and the formation of droplets of water in needles, caused by the design of gas manifolds as well as the applied operation conditions, act as reversible factors for the performance loss of the fuel cell stack. Analyzing the electrochemical impedance spectrum, it was determined that the ohmic resistivity remained almost constant over the 200 hour test (1500mΩ/cm2). The higher charge transfer resistance in the third cell than the others can be attributed to the accumulation of water in the last cell. Investigating the fluoride ions, pH and conductivity of the outlet water from the anode and cathode side of fuel cell stack, it was revealed that performance during 200 hours does not have an effect on the membrane chemical structure, and the chemical degradation of its structure will take place at longer times.

The current research aimed to quantify melittin (MEL) in Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera meda) venom. To this end, a liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-IT-MS/MS) approach was employed. Melittin is the main toxic peptide of honey bee venom with various biological and pharmacological activities. It was extracted with pure water from the bee venom samples. The analyses were performed on XBridge BEH300 C4 column using a gradient method with the mobile phase consisting of ultrapure water and acetonitrile (containing 0.1% formic acid). Signals of the melittin were recorded with the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode, which is a quantitative approach capable of quantifying analyte peptides with high sensitivity and. The mass spectrum of MEL was obtained in the positive ion mode and the quantification analysis was performed using precursor to product ion transition of m/z 570.2/669.9. This method demonstrated good linearity (R2˃0.997) in the range of 1-100 µg mL-1, with a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 1.0 µg mL-1. The content of MEL in Iranian honey bee venom accounts for 43–55% of total dry weight. This method can be used to evaluate the quality and authenticity of bee venom samples for different therapeutic applications of MEL.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is the cause of acute respiratory viral disease in poultry with respiratory rats and coughing and sneezing. Corona viruses are created a wide range of respiratory, intestinal, liver and nervous disease with different virulence in cats, dogs, pigs, rodents, cows, birds and human. Corona viruses are able lots of recombination's and mutations. This ability gives them the opportunity to be active in different hosts and different climatic conditions, such as avian infectious bronchitis disease in poultry that can cause losses in broilers. S1 gene sequencing is used for molecular epidemiology and genotype characteristics of infectious bronchitis virus. For better understand the molecular epidemiology of infectious bronchitis virus in Iran, the IBVs gene isolates of broiler poultries from Ardebil province were sequenced in this study. A total of 30 tracheal swabs were collected from broilers in random in Ardebil province in 2016. For detection and genotyping of virus, RNA extraction was performed using RNA extraction kit. RT-PCR was used in one process for the production of cDNA, and then, RT-PCR product were amplified to identify infectious bronchitis virus using Nested-PCR with primers encoding 5’UTR, then, for genotyping of positive samples, gene sequencing of spike glycoprotein was performed 70% of tracheal swabs were positive and strain identification was done according to existing protocols. It can be concluded that the corona virus is spinning among broiler flocks in Iran. In this study, extraction and RT-PCR on suspected positive samples was repeated several times. During the test two negative controls was used including extraction negative control and RT-PCR negative control. Genetic analysis based on the highly variable nucleotide sequence of S1 gene showed that, the overall rate of infection was 70% and detected three genotypes in this area: Variant 2 (IS/1494), 793/B and MASS and QX overall percentages in respectively 52/3%, 33/5%, 9/5% and 4/7%.

Changes in the urban spatial structure originate from a variety of factors that one of them is urbanization. Urbanization is measurable with two categories of population and employment. The population is not distributed uniformly in the city; but depending on the circumstances follows different patterns. Also, the factor of the population, along with other spatial parameters, is the source of the creation of secondary nuclei and also affects the spatial distribution of employment. In this research, the main goal of the study is to investigate demographic changes and activity centers as spatial distribution in Ardabil. In this research, with quantitative, descriptive and analytical methods, the spatial patterns process of population and employment patterns have been investigated. The data used for demographic analysis were census data from 1390 and 1395. But for the study of the spatial distribution of employment, were used from data commercial and service uses for the years 1385 and 1390 the comprehensive plan of the city of Ardabil. The data analysis method is the general and local Moran. The results indicate that the population of Ardabil city during the years of 2011 and 2016 follows the cluster spatial pattern that this process has increased over time. Also, the spatial distribution of employment is clustered with sub-centers; therefore, can be concluded that the urban spatial structure has been moving towards polycentric becoming in recent years.

In this study the effect of high intensity interval training on miR-29 expression that is expressed in the heart and in the regulation of physiological processes, including extracellular matrix and cardiac hypertrophy of healthy male rats were examined.

16 Wistar rats were divided into training (n=8) and control (n=8) groups. After one week of familiarization, the training protocol was performed for 8 weeks. The progressive training protocol included 6 min warm up (with 50 to 60% of VO2max), 7 frequency (4 min with 80 to 90% of VO2max and 3 min with 50 to 60% of VO2max) and 5 min cool down with 50 to 60% of VO2max. The animals were sacrificed 24 hours after the last session of training program and cardiac samples were kept at a temperature of - 80 ° C and the variable expression levels (miR-29a، miR-29b and miR-29c) were measured by RT-PCR method. Analysis of the results was performed by independent t-test.

Training led to a significant increase in miR-29a (3. 5 fold), miR-29b (2. 24 fold) and miR-29c (9. 77 fold) gene expression in the training group compared with the control group (p<0. 001). Also training brought about 22% increase in heart weight to body weight ratio (HW/BW) in the training group (p<0. 001).

These results point out that training increases miR-29 expression which is associated with physiological cardiac hypertrophy and improved heart performance.