IntroductionThe maintenance of planted forests in arid and semi-arid lands is important. Soil formation in forest ecosystems is different with different tree species. Tree species have a direct and ...indirect effect on soil organisms. Forest ecosystems change their species composition and abundance of microorganisms, and consequently their biogeochemical cycles. The accumulation of vegetation biomass and the improvement of soil fertility can play a significant role in soil restoration.Materials and MethodsIn order to investigate the biological characteristics of the soil from 5 treatments, including agricultural (dry farming and relatively poor lands that are usually cultivated barley and wheat and have low productivity), pasture (pastures with minimal vegetation and high slopes that are affected by overgrazing have been changed to barren lands), forest with Acacia type (under and outside the crown), forest with the Cupressus arizonica type (under and outside the crown) and forest with the Pinus brutia type (under and outside the crown) randomly. Sampling was done in 3 repetitions from the 0 to 5 cm layer. The statistical sampling design of this research was completely random, in which, according to the type of afforested species, two types of coniferous forest stands (including Cupressus arizonica and Pinus brutia) and one broadleaf stand (Acacia species) were selected. Also, the area under the crown trees and outside the crown trees was also investigated. Soil samples were sampled with sterile equipment and crushed through a 4-mm sieve. Fresh and moist soil was kept at 4 °C temperature for soil biological tests. Microbial biomass carbon, soil basal respiration (197 days), substrate-induced respiration, and metabolic quotient were measured. Streptomycin sulfate was used to measure fungal respiration and cycloheximide was used to measure bacterial respiration. The activities of urease, acid, and alkaline phosphatase enzymes were determined. After measuring the biological properties of the soil, the normality of the data was checked by the Anderson–Darling test, and the homogeneity of the variance of the treatments was checked by using Levene's test. Analysis of data variance was done using One-Way ANOVA and average data comparison was done using Duncan's test at 5 and 1% probability levels (SAS 9.4 and SPSS 26).Results and DiscussionThe results of soil biological characteristics analysis showed that the highest values of soil respiration and amount of consumed organic matter, substrate-induced respiration, microbial biomass carbon, enzyme activities, and fungal respiration were measured in conifers. Although the amount of these features was also significant in broadleaf trees, they had significant differences. In this study, the high soil respiration rate in coniferous covers compared to broadleaf can be due to the high organic carbon content of the soil in this cover. According to the results of substrate-induced respiration in different coatings, likely the activity of microorganisms involved in the decomposition of organic matter in the studied habitats had a significant difference; Therefore, different coatings can affect the population of soil microorganisms as the main source of decomposition and emission of carbon dioxide by changing the quantity and quality of organic matter and other factors. Also, the highest values of metabolic quotient and bacterial respiration were observed in agricultural and pasture covers. A higher metabolic quotient in these covers indicates a decrease in the efficiency of the use of leaf litter by the soil microbial community. In general, the metabolic quotient in the bacterial community is higher than the fungal community; Therefore, it seems that the predominance of the bacterial population in agricultural and pasture cover has caused this index to increase, although plowing and cultivation, and disturbance of these covers have caused stress to this bacterial community and as a result increased the metabolic quotient deficit in these covers.ConclusionThe results of this research showed that the type of planted tree species causes significant changes in the biological characteristics of the soil. The current research shows that the forest, whether coniferous or broadleaf, had the highest values of enzyme activities, basal respiration, substrate-induced respiration, microbial biomass carbon, and the lowest values of metabolic quotient compared to agricultural and pasture covers. Afforestation increases biological activity and possibly the number and diversity of microorganisms, and improves soil characteristics in the long term. In agriculture and pasture land, due to the destruction of soil and aggregates by agricultural activities such as plowing or excessive livestock grazing, the amount of organic carbon and the activity of microorganisms decreases, and with the decrease of other soil characteristics, the quality of the soil decreases over time. From this research, it can be concluded that the planting of forest species in the soils of degraded areas in the long term can increase soil organic carbon due to high-quality leaf litter, and as a result, increase permeability and soil moisture. Increasing soil organic carbon increases the activity of microorganisms, and in the long term, it will improve various soil characteristics. Planting forest plants in the natural areas of the country, which were destroyed due to the change of use to agriculture and indiscriminate cultivation and finally abandoned, can improve the characteristics of the soil and, as a result, establish the native vegetation of the region, and increase the permeability of water in the soil, the risk of soil erosion, floods, etc. reduce.
Exploring new therapies for managing skin wounds is under progress and, in this regard, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) offer great opportunities in ...treating acute, chronic, and malignant wounds. In general, therapeutic effectiveness of both MSNs and MBGs in different formulations (fine powder, fibers, composites etc.) has been proved over all the four stages of normal wound healing including hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The main merits of these porous substances can be summarized as their excellent biocompatibility and the ability of loading and delivering a wide range of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic bioactive molecules and chemicals. In addition, doping with inorganic elements (e.g., Cu, Ga, and Ta) into MSNs and MBGs structure is a feasible and practical approach to prepare customized materials for improved skin regeneration. Nowadays, MSNs and MBGs could be utilized in the concept of targeted therapy of skin malignancies (e.g., melanoma) by grafting of specific ligands. Since potential effects of various parameters including the chemical composition, particle size/morphology, textural properties, and surface chemistry should be comprehensively determined via cellular in vitro and in vivo assays, it seems still too early to draw a conclusion on ultimate efficacy of MSNs and MBGs in skin regeneration. In this regard, there are some concerns over the final fate of MSNs and MBGs in the wound site plus optimal dosages for achieving the best outcomes that deserve careful investigation in the future.
High blood pressure (BP) is one of the main modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and preventing it greatly reduces the vascular consequences of aging and, along with intensive ...treatment of hypertension, eliminates a large portion of the burden of CVD-related mortality. Many meta-analyses and studies proved that regular aerobic exercise (AE) reduces BP but most of these studies consider only hypertensive populations or only AE but not resistant exercise or their combination. In this review, we aimed to study the effect of different types of physical activity (PA)/AE on various populations including normotensive, prehypertensive, primary hypertensive, and resistant hypertensive with different comorbidities. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for English articles with keywords for physical activity, aerobic exercise, and blood pressure from January 2010 until September 2021. Finally, 24 studies were included. Results showed that chronic or acute AE (long-term or short-term), either alone or as combined with different sessions and programs can reduce systolic and diastolic BP in every group including normotensive, prehypertensive, primary hypertensive, resistant hypertensive individuals and diabetic patients and those with kidney problems but not in people with chronic heart failure. Isometric exercise training showed to be useful in reducing BP in all groups either as low intensity or as high intensity but the rate of reduction was different in terms of gender. AE showed to be effective in terms of BP reduction in a different age range. It can be seen that different types and duration of AE independent of the modality and programs and independent of the BP medical situation of individuals have been successful in terms of BP reduction. For those with chronic heart failure, more concern and help might be needed to decrease BP via exercise.
We assess the impact of stock returns on income inequality in the U.S. using linear and nonlinear models. When we use income inequality data from the U.S. as a whole, we only find un-equalizing ...effects of stock returns in the short run. However, when we estimate the models for each state individually, the linear model yields significant short-run effects in 38 states that last into the long run in 17 states. The numbers increase to 42 and 24, respectively, when we estimate the nonlinear model. In the most affected states, we find that positive stock returns have un-equalizing effects on income inequality and negative returns have equalizing effects.
Endogenous endophthalmitis is a serious sight-threatening ocular emergency that usually occurs in patients with serious underlying risk factors. In this report, we describe a case of endogenous
...endophthalmitis following trans-urethral lithotripsy in an immunocompetent woman. In our case, the retinal lesion regressed completely and vision was restored. We discuss diagnostic procedures and management strategies in this article.
During the last few decades, considerable progress has been made in designing novel boron-containing bioglasses for soft tissue regeneration applications. For this purpose, conventional glass ...synthesis procedures such as melt-quenching and sol-gel synthesis have been explored extensively. However, both methods are time and energy-consuming and need expensive materials and equipment. The current study demonstrates that straightforward and low-cost solution combustion synthesis (SCS) can produce highly porous 1393-B3 borate-based glasses employing urea and sucrose as novel fuels. Thermal analysis shows that the glass transition temperatures of the produced specimens are between 650 and 680 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used to confirm the absence of crystalline impurity phases and to show the highly porous microstructure of the glasses, respectively. The effect of the initial synthesis temperature (T0) on the glass structure of the obtained powders was investigated in detail via vibrational and NMR spectroscopies. The results indicate that optimum T0 values are achieved at temperatures ranging from 500 to 700 °C using urea and 400–750 °C using sucrose as fuel. Increasing the temperature beyond these limits results in the partial devitrification of the parent glass. FT-IR, Raman, 11B MAS, and 3QMAS NMR spectroscopies demonstrate that the glass structure is dominated by multiple distinct BO4 and BO3 units, i.e., neutral (B3n) and anionic (B3a, B4) borate units. Increasing T0 values reduce the fraction of the four-coordinated boron (N4) from about 60 to 35% under the transformation of B4 units into B3a units, while the overall amount of neutral B3 species stays nearly constant. The possibility of fine-tuning the boron speciation in the resulting glasses through the synthesis parameters demonstrates that SCS is a promising process for the scalable production of 1393-B3 glass powders with tailored physical properties.
This research is the first analytical method to isolate and determine cholecalciferol (vitamin D
3
) in cereal samples. Ultrasonic‐assisted extraction followed by dispersive liquid‐liquid ...microextraction as a fast, reliable, and highly sensitive method was employed for the preconcentration step. High‐performance liquid chromatography allowed an efficient and considerably faster analysis. Alcoholic KOH solution was employed for accomplishing the fast and easy release of vitamin D
3
from the wheat flour and bread matrix. Effective factors in the microextraction process were investigated and optimized with response surface methodology based on a central composite design. Under the best conditions, the calibration curves showed high levels of linearity (
R
2
> 0.999) for vitamin D
3
in the range of 2–500 ng/g. The relative standard deviation for the seven analyses was 6.2%. The relative recoveries of vitamin D
3
in spiked wheat flour and bread samples were 87–98%. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation were 0.7 and 2.1 ng/g, respectively. The method compared favorably with other methods for vitamin D
3
analysis of various foods.
Background:
The present study aims to assess the incidence and mortality rates of gynecological cancers and their changes from 1990 to 2016 at national and subnational levels in Iran.
Methods:
Annual ...estimates of incidence and mortality for gynecological cancers from 1990 to 2016 at national and subnational levels were generated as part of a larger project entitled National and Subnational Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (NASBOD). After the precise processing of data extracted from the Iran Cancer Registry, annual age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were calculated for each cancer, province, year and age group during the period of the study.
Results:
In 2016, gynecological cancers constituted 8.0% of new cancer cases among women of all ages compared to 3.7% of new cases of cancer among women in 1990. The incidence rate of gynecological cancers has increased from 2.5 (0.9-5.6) per 100000 women in 1990 to 12.3 (9.3–15.7) per 100000 women in 2016, and the most common gynecological cancer has changed from cervical cancer in 1990 to corpus uteri cancer in 2016. Age-standardized incidence rates of ovarian, corpus uteri and vulvovaginal cancers increased from 1.3 (0.5–2.4), 1.7 (0.6–3.0), and 0.3 (0.0–0.7) in 1990 to 4.4 (3.6–5.2), 9.9 (6.8–13.4), and 0.6 (0.2–1.0) in 2016, respectively, showing a 3.3, 5.8 and 1.7-fold increase during this period. Age-standardized incidence rate of cervical cancer was 2.4 (1.7–3.3) cases per 100000 women in 2016 and did not differ significantly from the beginning of the study. An overall reduction was seen in national mortality to incidence ratios (MIR) from 2000 to 2015.
Conclusion:
The incidence rates of all gynecological cancers in different provinces have shown a converging trend that could indicate that attempts toward health equality have been effective. The declining trend of MIR could be interpreted as advancements in detection of cancer in its early stages and also improvements in treatments, in turn reflecting improvements in access to and quality of care.
The study aimed to (i) compare the maladaptive domains and facets according to the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) Criterion B in patients with a type II bipolar disorder (BD-II) or ...major depressive disorder (MDD) with healthy controls (HCs), and (ii) investigating the relationship between affective temperaments and these domains and facets in the total sample.
Outpatients diagnosed with current BD-II (n = 37; female 62.2%) or MDD (n = 17; female 82.4%) based on the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria and community HCs (n = 177; female 62.1%) in Kermanshah from July to October 2020 included this case-control study. All participants completed the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), and the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation, and multiple regression.
The score of patients with BD-II in all five domains and those with MDD in three domains including negative affectivity, detachment, and disinhibition are significantly higher than the HCs (p < 0.05). Depressive temperament (related to negative affectivity, detachment, and disinhibition) and cyclothymic temperament (related to antagonism and psychoticism) were the most important correlates of the maladaptive domains.
Two unique profiles are proposed, including three domains of negative affectivity, detachment, and disinhibition associated with the depressive temperament for MDD, and two domains of antagonism and psychoticism related to cyclothymic temperament for BD-II.
This study investigates the bioactivity and microstructural properties of borate-based bioactive 13-93B3 glass produced by the solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method using urea and sucrose fuels ...at different reaction temperatures. The results show these glasses exhibit unique properties compared to conventionally-synthesized borate-based bioactive glasses. The glass particles produced have porous surfaces, with particle sizes below 100 nm. BET measurements reveal that the mesoporous structure of these glasses is characterized by high-specific surface areas, promoting a high ion release and hydroxyapatite layer formation in simulated body fluid (SBF). The crystallization of the amorphous calcium phosphate was investigated by 1H, 31P MAS, and 2D 31P{1H} heteronuclear correlation (HETCOR) spectroscopy, showing that it progresses linearly up to three days. The produced glasses were tested for their effects on the viability of 3T3 cells and were found to have no toxic effects. Therefore, the produced glasses are promising candidates for tissue engineering applications.
PDF
