• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.75-82
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• 2010

The biometry, morphological properties and chemical composition of bagasse, corn, sunflower, rice, and rapeseed residues plants were analyzed. The results revealed differences in biometry properties and chemical composition of the different types of agricultural resides investigated. The greatest proportion of fiber length (1.32 mm) and cellulose (55.56%) was found in residues of bagasse plants, with a low ash (1.78%) and lignin (20.5%). The lignin of all types of agricultural resides was less than hardwood and softwood. In addition, the rice and rapeseed residues plants had highest amount of ash and extractive component. The slenderness and flexibility ratios of the all types of agricultural resides fibers were similar to some of hardwood and softwood species.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.227-239
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• 2018

Background: Predicting the potential habitat of plants in arid regions, especially for medicinal ones, is very important. Although Pergularia tomentosa is a key species for medicinal purposes, it appears in very low density in the arid rangelands of Iran, needing an urgent ecological attention. In this study, we modeled and predicted the potential habitat of P. tomentosa using maximum entropy, and the effects of environmental factors (geology, geomorphology, altitude, and soil properties) on some characteristics of the species were determined. Results: The results showed that P. tomentosa was absent in igneous formation while it appeared in conglomerate formation. In addition, among geomorphological units, the best quantitative characteristics of P. tomentosa was belonged to the conglomerate formation-small hill area (plant aerial parts = 57.63 and root length = 30.68 cm) with the highest electrical conductivity, silt, and $CaCO_3$ content. Conversely, the species was not found in the mountainous area with igneous formation. Moreover, plant density, length of roots, and aerial parts of the species were negatively correlated with soil sand, while positive correlation was observed with $CaCO_3$, EC, potassium, and silt content. The maximum entropy was found to be a reliable method (ROC = 0.91) for predicting suitable habitats for P. tomentosa. Conclusion: These results suggest that in evaluating the plant's habitat suitability in arid regions, contrary to the importance of the topography, some environmental variables such as geomorphology and geology can play the main role in rangeland plants' habitat suitability.

• 대한약침학회지
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.220-229
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• 2020

Objectives: Although Acne vulgaris is a chronic skin disease, which its standard treatment causes therapeutic limitations and some common adverse effects, medicinal plants can be effective in treatment with low adverse effects as combination therapy. Myrtle (Myrtus Communis) has some beneficial properties, which has been administered topically and orally for some skin diseases in Persian medicine. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of Myrtle formula and 1% clindamycin topical solution. Methods: This was a split-face clinical trial that was done on 55 patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris for 16 weeks. The patients received topical Myrtle solution to the right side of the face (group 1) and clindamycin solution to the left side (group 2) twice daily for 12 weeks. All participants were examined for the acne severity index (ASI) and total acne lesions counting (TLC) at certain times during the study. Then, they stopped using them for four weeks. They also did not take the drug in the final four weeks of the study. Results: Forty-eight patients completed the study for 16 weeks; 40 (83.2%) patients were female and the rest of them were male. The mean age and standard deviation were 25.62 ± 7.62 years. After 12 weeks, the percentage changes of comedones, inflammatory lesions, ASI and TLC were significantly reduced in both groups (p < 0.001). The percentage change of inflammatory lesions and ASI decrease was significantly higher in the group 1 (p = 0.03). There was no significant difference in the incidence of side effects between the two groups. There was a more significant decrease in sebum percentage change in the group 1 (p = 0.003). Conclusion: Myrtle lotion was effective and safe for the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris.

• 대한약침학회지
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.131-139
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• 2019

Introduction: Mastalgia is the most common benign breast disorder during the fertility period of women. So far a wide range of natural or complementary medicines is used to cure mastalgia. Sanitary organizations need complete and suitable details to help women, for making the proper decision for alternative treatment based on the evidence. The aim of the present study is to introduce medicinal plant-based treatments about mastalgia and summarizes clinical trials about this disorder. Method: The articles were provided using mixture of keywords including cyclic pain, breast, treatment, therapeutics, therapy, clinical trial, herbal, drug, mastalgia and all the probable terms, in national and international databases SID, Iran Medex, Magiran, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Science direct and Cochrane library, in both Persian and English languages. All cross-sectional and review articles about herbal treatment of mastalgia until 2018 November were studied. Results: Nineteen articles from all of the available articles (45 cases) and a sample size about of (1987 cases) were included in our study. The articles were clinical trials. The results revealed that mastalgia could be healed by Nigella sativa, Vitex agnus-castus, curcumin, Hypericum perforatum, Citrus sinensis, wheat germ, and Ginkgo biloba. Conclusion: Most of the evaluated medicinal plants possessing antioxidant compounds with anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, exhibited healing effects in the treatment of mastalgia. Thus, medicinal plants can be considered in the treatment of mastalgia; however, further investigations are needed to obtain more details about their probable side effects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7045-7056
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• 2013

Since the first report of RNA interference (RNAi) less than a decade ago, this type of molecular intervention has been introduced to repress gene expression in vitro and also for in vivo studies in mammals. Understanding the mechanisms of action of synthetic small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) underlies use as therapeutic agents in the areas of cancer and viral infection. Recent studies have also promoted different theories about cell-specific targeting of siRNAs. Design and delivery strategies for successful treatment of human diseases are becomingmore established and relationships between miRNA and RNAi pathways have been revealed as virus-host cell interactions. Although both are well conserved in plants, invertebrates and mammals, there is also variabilityand a more complete understanding of differences will be needed for optimal application. RNA interference (RNAi) is rapid, cheap and selective in complex biological systems and has created new insight sin fields of cancer research, genetic disorders, virology and drug design. Our knowledge about the role of miRNAs and siRNAs pathways in virus-host cell interactions in virus infected cells is incomplete. There are different viral diseases but few antiviral drugs are available. For example, acyclovir for herpes viruses, alpha-interferon for hepatitis C and B viruses and anti-retroviral for HIV are accessible. Also cancer is obviously an important target for siRNA-based therapies, but the main problem in cancer therapy is targeting metastatic cells which spread from the original tumor. There are also other possible reservations and problems that might delay or even hinder siRNA-based therapies for the treatment of certain conditions; however, this remains the most promising approach for a wide range of diseases. Clearly, more studies must be done to allow efficient delivery and better understanding of unwanted side effects of siRNA-based therapies. In this review miRNA and RNAi biology, experimental design, anti-viral and anti-cancer effects are discussed.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

In this study, 200 isolates of fluorescent pseudomonads were isolated from different fields of East and West Azarbaijan and Ardebil provinces of Iran. These bacterial isolates were screened on the basis of a dual culture assay, the presence of known antibiotic genes, and their ability to successfully colonize roots and to promote plant growth. Twelve isolates exhibited 30% or more inhibition of mycelia growth of $P.$ $drechsleri$. Genes encoding production of the antibiotics 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, and pyoluteorin were detected in some strains but none of the strains possessed the coding gene for production of antibiotic pyrrolnitrin. In an $in$ $vitro$ test for root colonization, the population density on roots of plants treated with most of the above strains was more than 6 $\log_{10}$ CFU $g^{-1}$ roots, with a maximum of 7.99 $\log_{10}$ CFU $g^{-1}$ roots for strain 58A. Most of the strains promoted significant plant growth in comparison to non-treated controls. In green house studies, the percentage of healthy plants in pots treated with strains 58A and 8B was 90.8% and 88.7%, respectively. The difference between these treatments and treatment with the fungicide metalaxyl was not significant.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.995-1001
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• 2020

With the development of digital instrumentation and control (I&C) devices, cyber security at nuclear power plants (NPPs) has become a hot issue. The Stuxnet, which destroyed Iran's uranium enrichment facility in 2010, suggests that NPPs could even lead to an accident involving the release of radioactive materials cyber-attacks. However, cyber security research on industrial control systems (ICSs) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems is relatively inadequate compared to information technology (IT) and further it is difficult to study cyber-attack taxonomy for NPPs considering the characteristics of ICSs. The advanced research of cyber-attack taxonomy does not reflect the architectural and inherent characteristics of NPPs and lacks a systematic countermeasure strategy. Therefore, it is necessary to more systematically check the consistency of operators and regulators related to cyber security, as in regulatory guide 5.71 (RG.5.71) and regulatory standard 015 (RS.015). For this reason, this paper attempts to suggest a template for cyber-attack taxonomy based on the characteristics of NPPs and exemplifies a specific cyber-attack case in the template. In addition, this paper proposes a systematic countermeasure strategy by matching the countermeasure with critical digital assets (CDAs). The cyber-attack cases investigated using the proposed cyber-attack taxonomy can be used as data for evaluation and validation of cyber security conformance for digital devices to be applied, and as effective prevention and mitigation for cyber-attacks of NPPs.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.273-282
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• 2010

Treatment and reuse of industrial wastewater is becoming a major goal due to water scarcity. This may be carried out using membrane separation technology in general and reverse osmosis (RO) in particular. In the current study, polyamide (FT-30) membrane was employed for treatment of wastewater obtained from Faraman industrial zone based in Kermanshah (Iran). The effects of operating conditions such as transmembrane pressure, cross flow velocity, temperature and time on water flux and rejection of impurities including COD by the membrane were elucidated. The aim was an improvement in membrane performance. The results indicate that most of the chemical substances are removed from the wastewater. In particular COD removal was increased from 64 to around 100% as temperature increased from 15 to $45^{\circ}C$. The complete COD removal was obtained at transmembrane pressure of 20 bars and cross flow velocity of 1.5 m/s. The treated wastewater may be reused for various applications including makeup water for cooling towers.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.299-306
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• 2010

The use of local seed provenance is often recommended in forest restoration. Early vigor is a combination of the performance of seed germination and emergence after planting. The ability of young Brant's oak plants to grow and develop after emergence and its dependence on local habitat conditions was investigated in this study. The effects of seed source and shade on early growing seedlings of Brant's oak (Quercus brantii L.) were determined in field measurements. Seeds of Quercus brantii L. were collected from 4 forest areas (seed sources) in southern Zagros (Provinces of Kohkilouyeh-Bouyer Ahmad and Fars) at altitudes of 850, 1,100, 1,500, 2,100 m a.s.l., and planted in a nursery constructed in southwestern Iran. According to a split-plot design consisting of four blocks, each containing two main treatment plots (no shading, partial shading), each main plot was sub-divided into four sub-plots (for elevations of 850, 1,100, 1,500 and 2,100 m). Results showed that shade treatments had significant effects on emergence percentage and rate, shoot length, shoot dry weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW), leaf area (LA), and chlorophyll content. Ecological factors also had an effect on seed performance. Altitude of seed source had a very significant effect on root length, LA, SDW, and RDW. The seeds collected from 850 m a.s.l. elevation showed the highest performance, especially in leaf area, root length, shoot dry weight, and root dry weight. Our results showed that the altitude of 850 m a.s.l. was the best for collecting Brant's oak seeds.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.260-273
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• 2013

The incidence and distribution of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and related tobamoviruses was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on 1,926 symptomatic horticultural crops and 107 asymptomatic weed samples collected from 78 highly infected fields in the major horticultural crop-producing areas in 17 provinces throughout Iran. The results were confirmed by host range studies and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The overall incidence of infection by these viruses in symptomatic plants was 11.3%. The coat protein (CP) gene sequences of a number of isolates were determined and disclosed to be a high identity (up to 100%) among the Iranian isolates. Phylogenetic analysis of all known TMV CP genes showed three clades on the basis of nucleotide sequences with all Iranian isolates distinctly clustered in clade II. Analysis using the complete CP amino acid sequence showed one clade with two subgroups, IA and IB, with Iranian isolates in both subgroups. The nucleotide diversity within each subgroup was very low, but higher between the two clades. No correlation was found between genetic distance and geographical origin or host species of isolation. Statistical analyses suggested a negative selection and demonstrated the occurrence of gene flow from the isolates in other clades to the Iranian population.