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Reproductive performance and life expectancy of the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch were determined on seven eggplant cultivars (Isfahan, Dezful, Shend-Abad, Neishabour, Bandar-Abbas, Jahrom and Borazjan) at 25 ± 1°C, 60 ± 5% R.H. and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) hours. The results revealed that the TSSM gross hatch rate varied from 59% on Bandar-Abbas to 83% on Dezful. The gross fecundity rate was 59.726, 31.430, 31.443, 14.461, 19.328, 16.035 and 20.560 eggs/female and the net fecundity rate was 25.804, 17.496, 15.139, 7.620, 5.931, 7.526 and 11.947 eggs/female on the above-mentioned cultivars, respectively. The highest and lowest value of the net fertility rate was 20.735 eggs/female on Isfahan and 3.495 eggs/female on Bandar-Abbas, respectively. Also, the gross fertility rate was the highest on Isfahan (47.994 eggs/female) and the lowest on Bandar-Abbas (11.390 eggs/female). The values of the mean eggs per day varied from 2.040 to 6.560 eggs/female, which was minimum on Neishabour and maximum on Isfahan. The life expectancy of one-day-old adults of the TSSM was estimated to be 7.550, 8.380, 5.820, 4.850, 5.440, 5.330 and 3.950 days on the above-mentioned cultivars, respectively. Comparison of the reproductive parameters of the TSSM on the examined cultivars revealed that Isfahan was the most susceptible cultivar and Neishabour was the most resistant cultivar to this pest. Using resistant host plants is one of the most important components of an integrated pest management program.

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Striga hermonthica is a noxious, obligate hemi-parasite of cereal grasses that causes severe grain yield loss in susceptible maize cultivars in Africa. The development of host plant resistance is one of the most practical Stiga control strategies. In this study experiments on 36 maize inbred lines were conducted in pots and in field during the two rainy seasons of 2009 at Kibos and Alupe stations in Kenya. This study was carried out in order to determine the variation in Striga emergence, and the correlation between the attachments of the parasite to the roots. Significant differences (P < 0.001) were detected among the inbred lines for grain yield under Striga-free environment. The Striga damage rating (SDR) was significant (P < 0.05) among the inbred lines. A highly significant and negative correlation coefficient was observed between grain yield and Striga damage rating (r = - 0.67). Positive correlation coefficients were observed between grain yield and ear aspect (r = 0.46) and plant aspect (r = 0.75), respectively. For the experiment in pots, highly significant differences (P < 0.01) were observed among the inbred lines for Striga resistance traits. Striga attachments were found to be correlated with the number of emerged Striga plants. A significant correlation was found between Striga attachments and Striga counts in pots at the 10^th week after planting (WAP) (r = 0.25) and the 14^th WAP (r = 0.31). Inbred lines JI-30-19 and OSU231//56/44-6-4-17-3 were identified as the most resistant lines as they consistently performed well in both Striga-free and Striga-infested environments. These inbred lines could be used for breeding Striga-resistant maize varieties.  

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In order to develop the scope of application of polymer materials in the preparation of drilling fluids, in this study, various blends of wheat starch and copolymer of sulfonated polyacrylamide were prepared and the rheology and compatibility behavior of samples under different salinity and aging conditions were evaluated. The rheological behavior of starch-polyacrylamide blends in tap water and saturated brine water showed that the viscosity of the samples increased with increasing concentration of polyacrylamide copolymer in the both media. However, starch-polyacrylamide blends in saturated brine had less viscosity than tap water. It was observed that in both tap water and salt water saturated conditions after 4 hours of aging at 90 ° C, the viscosity of most samples increased. Comparison of the curves for empirical viscosity data and prediction of the mixing rule showed that in both of tap water and salt saturated water, positive deviation from the mixing rule is observed, which indicates the compatibility between the blend components. By performing the aging process, although positive deviation was still observed, this positive deviation slightly decreased, which means the negative effect of aging on the compatibility of the starch- copolymer of sulfonated polyacrylamide blend.
In conclusion, the results of this study showed that the blend of starch- sulfonated polyacrylamide copolymer is compatible at high temperature (90 °C) and saturated NaCl salt wate. Moreover, in some samples, this compatibility exists even after aging.
 

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Striga hermonthica is a parasitic weed which largely constrains maize and sorghum production in Western Kenya. The weed mostly invades small scale farms and depending on severity, it may cause damage ranging from 10% to complete crop failure thereby aggravating the food insecurity in that region. This study aimed at evaluating fungal isolates as possible biocontrol agents against the weed. Fungi were isolated from diseased Striga hermonthica and their virulence efficacy against the weed tested in a greenhouse. All the fungal isolates tested caused infection and consequently death of the weed. Fusarium incarnatum had the highest infection rate of 92% followed by Gibberella intricans and F. chlamydosporum at 90% each. Fusarium oxysporium caused the highest mortality of 60% with Gibberella intricans, causing the least mortality of 36%. F. oxysporium was the most aggressive and potent fungal isolate against the weed hence a suitable candidate for exploitation as a mycoherbicide against the weed.  

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Backgrounds: A short sequence of viral protein or peptide, can be used as a potential vaccine for the treatment of that virus. Considering all variants of concern (VOC), vaccine design with peptide for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV2) is a challenging job for scientists.
Materials & Methods: In this current study, an epitope containing peptide vaccine for nonstructural protein 4 (nsp 4) of SARS CoV2 coronavirus has been predicted. With the help of a modified method for both B and T call epitope prediction, verified by molecular docking studies, linear B cell and T cell epitopes for nsp4 protein, are predicted here. Predicted epitopes are analyzed further with population coverage calculation and epitope conservancy analysis.
Findings: A short peptide sequence   ⁷⁴QRGGSYTNDKA⁸⁴  has been selected as B cell epitope considering the scores for surface accessibility, hydrophilicity, beta turn prediction for each amino acid residues.
Similarly, the peptide sequences ³⁵⁹ FLAHIQWMV³⁶⁷ and   ³⁵⁹ FLAHIQWVMFTPLV³⁷³ are predicted as T cell epitopes for MHC-I and MHC-II molecules. These two potential epitopes can interest with HLA-A*02:01 and HLA-DRB*01:01, MHC allelic proteins respectively with lowest IC₅₀ values.
Furthermore, no amino acid mutations are observed in GISAD Global initiate on sharing all influenza data) database for alpha, beta, gamma and delta variance of concerns (VOC). Among seven amino acid point mutation of nsp 4 protein in Omicron variant, none of them is present in the peptide sequences of predicted epitope-based vaccines.
Conclusion: The short peptide sequences can be predicted as vaccines to prevent coronavirus infections for all variants of concerns.
 

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Backgrounds: Infection is one of the major threats to liver transplant patients and significantly affects associated mortality and morbidity. Serious infections are likely to occur a few months after transplantation, and most of them are bacterial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia in liver transplant patients.
Materials & Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, Preferred Reporting Items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines were used. International databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, Embase, and Cochrane were searched by related MeSH terms and keywords for studies published until July 26, 2020. The current study was registered by a pre-defined protocol in PROSPRO.
Findings: After a comprehensive literature search, 11 articles were selected for inclusion in the analysis. The prevalence of MRSA in liver transplant patients was 75% (95% CI: 58% - 89%); however, an evident heterogeneity was observed between the studies (I²= 87.84%, p< .001).
Conclusion: In conclusion, this study results demonstrate that the prevalence of post-transplant MRSA colonization bacteremia is high among liver transplant patients. This should be considered seriously, and efforts should be made to prevent mortality in this group of patients.
 

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Aims: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza virus are quite distant viruses, but they share significant similarities such as mode of transmission and clinical manifestations. No specific clinical signs reliably distinguish early influenza sickness from the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19); therefore, it will be critical in clinical practice to determine the viral etiology. The present study aimed to screen for influenza virus A and B among COVID-19 patients by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).
Materials & Methods: A total of 100 nasal swabs from COVID-19 patients were collected in viral transport medium (VTM) during June to July 2022. RNA extraction was done using QIagen RNA extraction kit, and then RT-qPCR was performed using HELINI swine flu (H1N1) kit.
Findings: The average age of the study participants was 31 years, and 13 patients were hospitalized due to the COVID infection. Hypertension, diabetes, and chronic lung, heart and kidney diseases were identified as comorbidities. It was found that none of the tested samples were positive for influenza A and B.
Conclusion: Although none of the patients were positive for influenza, the importance of co-infection could not be ignored. Screening of a large number of samples is needed during the seasonal period.

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Chemotherapy is one of the most effective and common treatments for cancer. Multi-drug resistance and drug side effects are one of the major obstacles to successful chemotherapy. To address these limitations and achieve better drug efficacy, nanosystem-based combination therapy offers a promising approach. This study aimed to synthesize, characterize, and investigate the synergistic effect of nanoliposomes loaded with doxorubicin and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. In the present study, nanoliposomes were prepared by passive loading and thin-film hydration. The characterization of nanoliposomes such as size distribution, zeta potential, the loading rate, drug release profile, and toxicity were measured. The mean diameter of nanoliposomes was 82.5 nm, their surface charge was -24.2 mV and drug loading was about 80%. The interaction of doxorubicin and EGCG with nanoliposomes was mediated by electrostatic and van der Waals bonds and EGCG has a deceasing effect on the doxorubicin release profile but the observed differences are not significant. The toxicity and viability data indicate that the simultaneous use of these two drugs increased the toxicity of the cells. Nanoliposomes containing doxorubicin were not able to reduce viability to below 50% in monotherapy with 5×10^-3 μM. While, the amount of viability dramatically reduced to below 50%, in combination with EGCG, resulting as combination chemotherapy. Consequently, the concomitant administration of EGCG with doxorubicin may be a suitable candidate for chemotherapy.

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The fact that many indigenous languages in Indonesia have been dying out as a result of the ineffective way of language planning. This study aims to construct critical thinking indicators and to describe the strategies used for enhancing critical thinking in language planning (LP) concerning local language maintenance, particularly Banjarese language. The qualitative method was employed in which all data were elaborated in a descriptive manner by employing an interview and documentation to collect the data. The former was performed by interviewing the two older native Banjarese persons: The one is a researcher focusing on native languages as well as on Banjarese maintenance; and the other is the main official person in charge of history and tradition maintenance of the Education and Culture Service of South Kalimantan. The latter was done by taking articles concerning Banjarese maintenance and its teaching, and policy documents issued by the government. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The result shows that there is no curriculum design to maintain Banjarese at schools. The local government’s support in maintaining Banjarese does neither run well nor seems to be serious. The existence of local government regulation No. 7/2009 about the local language maintenance does not continue to practical procedures on how local language should be designed and taught at schools. Therefore, the issues of Banjarese should be the main indicator to map needs analysis in local language maintenance and strategies for language planning dealing with the classroom as the way of teaching Banjarese

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Integrated application of compatible methods is the most reliable strategy for sustainable management of phytophagous pests in different agroecosystems. In the current study, parasitism parameters of Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko were determined on eggs of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) reared on a susceptible "Infinity" and a resistant "Goldy" tomato cultivar. All experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions at 25 ± 1 ^°C, 65 ± 5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h. Our results showed that the maximum number of parasitized hosts per parasitoid was 25.94 and 23 eggs in "Goldy" and "Infinity" cultivars, respectively. The cultivars tested had no significant effects on the net parasitism rate (C₀), and the values of this parameter were 7.87 and 6.67 hosts on the mentioned cultivars, respectively. Similarly, the cultivar impact on the finite (ω ) and stable parasitism rates (ψ ) of T. brassicae was not significant. The parasitoid needed approximately one egg host to produce an egg on both cultivars for the simple reason that this parasitoid nearly always lays one egg in each host. In other words, the transformation rate (Q_p) of the parasitoid on the "Goldy" did not differ from that estimated on the "Infinity". Our findings revealed that the resistant tomato cultivar, "Goldy", did not compromise T. brassicae-based biocontrol of T. absoluta. Therefore, these two control procedures could be combined for the integrated management of this pest.

 

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The sociocultural theory has been considered an essential pillar for EFL teaching and learning; however, the existence of this theory has often been neglected in teacher professional development. This mixed-method study examined EFL teachers’ self-reported beliefs and practices in integrating digital literacy using a sociocultural framework during online teacher training activities in the Indonesian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. A total of 240 in-service EFL teachers from various secondary schools in the East Java province enrolled in the online professional training program. They were assigned to fill the three categories of sociocultural questionnaires during their online teacher professional development. Then, an interview was conducted with 60 selected participants to elaborate on their practices and challenges of implementing sociocultural theory in their online teacher professional program. The results from the three sociocultural dimensions indicated that the in-service EFL teachers attending the online training program had minimal sociocultural awareness and practices regarding global cultural integration with technology-based teaching. Pedagogical implications for improving the EFL teacher training program and recommendations for further studies were discussed throughout the study.
 

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In this paper, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used for microstructural investigations of a woodlouse shell. Finite element (FE) method is employed to study the dynamic behavior of the shell subjected to the impact of a cone-shaped projectile. Despite of small thickness, the shell, as a composite material, enables the insect to bear large external forces. The woodlouse is also able to roll up into a complete sphere to protect itself from danger. In order to study this defense mechanism, the external loads are applied to the shell in different configurations: when the shell is in (1) normal and (2) rolled-up forms. The simulations are performed at different velocities and at different impact angles. Comparisons of the results obtained from different simulations indicate that the defense mechanism of the woodlouse has an important role in decreasing the stress concentrations. Indeed, it is a defense mechanism which effectively increases the load-bearing capacity of the insect shell. The results of the present research may be useful in the design and manufacture of modern engineering structures with a high strength to weight ratio.

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Blowby phenomenon of fuel-air mixture from cylinder-piston crevices, which occurs due to difference of in-cylinder and connected crevice pressures, influences engine performance. In the current work, experimental data of gasoline fuelled motoring condition at equivalence ratio of 0.9 were collected from a single cylinder research engine using skip spark technique. A relatively simple non-thermodynamic polytropic-base model was introduced and orifice-volume theory was coupled it; and gas flow through crevices was studied. From positive points of the model, it can be implied that the model predicts cyclic blowby without performing complex heat transfer and thermodynamic calculations. A verified thermodynamic simulation model including blowby sub-model was used to validate the polytropic-base model. Cylinder pressure evaluated by the thermodynamic model had good agreement with the measured pressure in the gasoline fuelled motoring condition at the equivalence ratio. First, in the polytropic-base model, output cylinder pressure of the thermodynamic simulation model was defined instead of experimental cylinder pressure and its blowby was evaluated. Then entering experimental cylinder pressure at equivalence ratio of 0.9 to the current model, cylinder mass and blowby to crevices were evaluated and compared with the predictions of the thermodynamic model. A very good agreement was observed between the obtained results and the results of the thermodynamic model. The new model showed maximum 6.88% cylinder mass lost around peak pressure position decreasing to 0.45% along the late expansion stage.

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Objective: Organophosphorus (OPs) compounds are widely used in many pesticides, insecticides and chemical nerve agents. These compounds are hazardous for humans and the environment. Organophosphate hydrolase (OPH) is a homodimeric protein initially isolated from Pseudomonas diminuta MG and Flavobacterium species. This enzyme is able to degrade a broad spectrum of toxic OPs compounds. Using immobilized OPH commonly presents a variety of advantages versus the free form of the enzyme. Advantages include an increase in stability, cost reduction by simple recovery and reutilization of the enzyme, quick and easy separation of the reactant and product in the reaction medium. Methods: Plasmid pET-26b (+) was used to generate the OPH protein under the control of the T7lac promoter. E. coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS was used as the host for expression of the OPH enzyme. Recombinant OPH was secreted into the extracellular medium and the purified enzyme was immobilized on the surface of Bacillus subtilis spores by the adsorption method, for the first time. Results: Approximately 42% to 45% enzymatic activity was determined to be associated with spores. Optimal pH and temperature of the enzyme were not altered by the presence of the spores. Thermo and pH stabilities of the immobilized enzyme was higher than the free form of the enzyme. Conclusion: Bacillus subtilis spores are safe for humans and the environment. Therefore this system can be considered an environmentally friendly biocatalyst for degradation of OPs. 

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Natural disasters and their impacts on human’s life are one of the most important concerns of our societies. Infrastructures such as power systems, water distribution systems, transportations, communication systems and gas networks are among the main components of urban environment. There are interdependencies among infrastructures and their subsectors. Infrastructures performance in disasters have significant role in reaching to a disaster resilient society. The uncertainty in vulnerability assessment of these lifelines in one hand and the lack of proper planning for recovery and selection of optimized strategies for different sectors on the other hand, may result in a great losses. Iran is located in a seismic active zone and has always been faced with devastating earthquakes. Tehran, the capital of Iran, is at seismic risk, since it sits on major active faults and suffers from techtonic activities. However, poor construction practices, and having large population, makes Tehran more vulnerable to earthquakes. Accordingly, it becomes necessary to have proper recovery plan beforehand based on accurate seismic performance modeling of interconnected infrastructures. Optimal financial resource allocation to the seismic retrofitting of the infrastructures and specifying their priority are considered as prominent issues in the macro scale decision making process. As the optimum strategy is adopted and the budget allocation is performed with the appropriate priority, it is expected that a significant loss reduction is achieved. When the financial resources are limited, allocating based on the proper priority seems to be more vital. The study tries to find out the economic effect of infrastructures’ interdependencies using Leontief Input-Output Model based on the matrix of value of commodity flow among different sectors. Tehran is chosen as a case study. In this work, the optimum strategy for retrofitting the infrastructure networks as the water, transportation, communication, gas, and power infrastructures is investigated using Uncertainty Dynamic Inoperability Input-Output Model (U-DIIM). This optimum strategy is adopted against the earthquake impacts in terms of the indirect economic losses, sensitivity to the parameters of the commodity flow matrix and cost of retrofitting strategy. Therefore, the indices employed in this research include reducing the economic losses and also the sensitivity with respect to the costs associated with the conduction of the strategy. By minimizing the total economic loss, sensitivity to economic loss parameters and cost of implementation of strategies, the best optimal scenario is selected for retrofitting strategy. The strategy selection is based on initial inoperability, recovery time and demand perturbation after earthquake. The Pareto method is also used in this work to select the optimal retrofitting strategy. The results reveal that increasing the seismic performance of the infrastructures by 25% is the optimum retrofitting strategy from the economic point of view. Following this strategy, the ratio of economic loss reduction to the strategy implementation costs and also the ratio of the sensitivity reduction to the strategy implementation costs are 0.3996 and 3.66, respectively. It is worthwhile to note that all economic interactions between the infrastructures are taken into account in the research. The proposed methodology may be used for the optimal selection of the other set of infrastructures in an uncertain situation.

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Objective: Interleukin 6 (IL6) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in obesity and related metabolic disorders. Also, exercise training has been offered in obesity prevention and immune system improvement. Hence, this study intends to survey the effects of high fat diet and high intensity aerobic training on plasma levels of IL6 in rats. Methods: We divided 28 male Wistar rats into two control groups with normal (CN) or high fat (CH) diet and two training groups with normal (EN) or high fat (EH) diet. The training groups ran for 60 minutes on a treadmill at 35 m/min for 5 days/week (75% VO2 max). After 8 weeks, we collected blood samples for plasma IL6 assessment. Two-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis (P≤0.05). Results: The high fat diet significantly increased the rats’ weights and plasma IL6 levels. Performance of 8 weeks of high intensity aerobic training increased IL6 levels in the normal diet group and decreased IL6 levels in the high fat diet group. This change was not significant in the normal diet group. Conclusion: High fat diets probably induced inflammation due to elevated IL6 levels. High intensity aerobic training for 8 weeks significantly decreased IL6 levels.

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Cultural methods such as crop fertilization can affect susceptibility of plants to herbivores by altering plant tissue nutrient. In this study, the life table parameters of the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch were determined under different chemical fertilizer regimes on resistant bean cultivar (var. Parastoo) under laboratory conditions at 25±1°C, 60±5% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) hour. Treatments included 30, 60, and 100% of the recommended level of urea, ammonium nitrate, and potassium sulfate fertilizers. According to the obtained results, the longest preadult development time was related to individuals reared on the fertilized bean with potassium sulfate 60%, while the shortest period was related to those on 30% ammonium nitrate and 60%urea. The mean fecundity of the individuals reared on fertilized beans with different concentrations of ammonium nitrate (especially 60% ammonium nitrate) were significantly higher than the other fertilizers. The highest and lowest values of intrinsic rate of increase (r) were obtained on beans fertilized with 60% ammonium nitrate and 100%potassium sulfate, respectively. In addition, the values of net Reproductive rate (R₀) and the Gross Reproductive Rate (GRR) of TSSM reared on bean fertilized with 60% ammonium nitrate were significantly higher than the other fertilizer treatments. Our findings may provide important information in the design of a comprehensive program for integrated soil fertility management and subsequently integrated management of TSSM in bean fields.