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Purpose: Evaluation of humoral and cellular immune responses of naturally infected dogs against type I (rCPB) (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase B), and II (rCPA) (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase A) recombinant cysteine proteinases and C-terminal extension (CTE) of Leishmania infantum (L. infantum). Materials and Methods: In this study, fourteen infected dogs (7 with symptoms, 7 asymptomatics) from an endemic area and three uninfected dogs from a nonendemic region were selected and their humoral and cellular responses against type I and II recombinant cysteine proteinases, C-terminal extension (CTE) and F/T of Leishmania infantum were evaluated using the ELISA and lymphocyte proliferation assay, respectively. The level of specific IgG isotypes (IgG1 and IgG2) and lymphocyte proliferative response against rCPA, rCPB, CTE and Freezed/Thawed lysate (F/T) of L. infantum were examined. Results and Discussion: The results showed that in both of the symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs there is a high lymphoproliferative response to F/T antigens and moderate responses were observed when rCPs (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase) (rCPA and rCPB) and CTE were used. The level of antibody (total IgG, IgG1 and IgG2) recognition toward rCPA was low in the both groups of the dogs. In contrast, the CTE stimulates similarly as the CPB both of the humoral and cellular responses of all the infected animals and the level of total IgG and IgG2 isotypes against these antigens compared to the IgG1 was higher in the asymptomatic dogs. Since, the CTE is the terminal fragment of the CPB, it seems that the immunogenicity of the CPB is dependent on the CTE. Conclusion: The results of our investigation indicates that the CPB and CTE stimulate both humoral and cellular immune responses of L. infantum infected dogs, wherase the CPA is a weaker immunogen.

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Deep understanding of biological and behavioral characteristics of trichogrammatid wasps, helps us for better and more efficient rearing of these parasitoids. In the current study, Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) was reared on Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) for several generations and the effect of long-term rearing of the parasitoid on some of its attributes like parasitism capability, emergence rate, sex ratio, and wingless rate of adults was determined in both laboratory and insectarium conditions. The laboratory investigation showed that long-term rearing decreased fitness of the parasitoid, so that, parasitism rate and adult emergence rate decreased. By contrast, sex ratio and number of wingless individuals increased with increasing generations. Our results in insectarium were a little different. However, adult emergence rate had significant difference and trichocards quality decreased with increasing generations. The sex ratio in different periods had no significant difference. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in wingless rate in different rearing time periods. Accordingly, the parasitoid’s fitness was affected by number of generations in both conditions. Although, mass rearing under laboratory condition provided wasps with more desired traits than those reared in insectary, both decreased fitness of T. brassicae when number of generations increased.
 

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Objective: DNA vaccines have been widely used to develop immunity against various pathogens including parasites and viruses. The potential of DNA vaccine to induce an effective immune response is related to the expression levels of the encoded protein in eukaryotic cells. Therefore, optimization of plasmid DNA delivery system is a major concern in protein expression in order to make an efficient DNA vaccination. Non-viral vectors such as polymers and cationic peptides have been recently known as efficient gene delivery systems into eukaryotic cells. In this study, transfection efficiency of HPV16E7 gene was evaluated by two non-viral delivery systems in vitro. Materials and Methods: DNA construct encoding HPV16E7 (pEGFP-E7) was prepared in large scale with high purity. Then, two delivery systems including polymer PEI 25 kDa and polymer-peptide hybrid as PEI600-Tat conjugate were used to compare their efficiency for HPV16E7 DNA transfection in vitro. Results: Our data demonstrated that both delivery systems including PEI 25 kDa and PEI600-Tat are efficient tools for E7 gene transfection. Although the level of transfected COS-7 cells is higher using PEI 25 kDa in comparison with PEI600-Tat. Conclusion: Our study indicated that PEI potency for E7 gene transfection was higher than PEI600-Tat in vitro, but its toxicity was obstacle in vivo. Therefore, with regard to low toxicity of PEI600-Tat delivery system and its potent plasmid DNA delivery, it is critical issue to study its potency as new delivery system in vivo.

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Since transformers are one of the most important and most used equipment in power network, investigating the factors which affect the loss of these equipments is of particular importance. Nowadays Amorphous metal core transformers have a significant place in today power market, since they exhibit 60-70% lower no-load losses compared to the Silicon crystalline steel core transformers. In order to enhance the design and cost and also to shorten the time to produce Amorphous metal core transformers, numerical analysis of the no-load as well as load conditions are of paramount importance and hence should be considered. On the other hand, temperature is one of the important and effective factors in transformer life, because increasing the transformer temperature leads to reduction of its rated life. In this paper, a 100 KVA unit transformer has been simulated by coupling ANSYS Maxwell and ANSYS FLUENT softwares and no-load and load losses are investigated. The results show that amorphous core transformer compared to Silicon Crystalline Steel core transformer reduce no-load losses about 65 percent. Furthermore, thermal analysis shows amorphous core transformer has lower temperature compared to the Silicon core transformer in no-load conditions.

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Demographic parameters of the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma embryophagum Hartig reared on Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) were determined for 40 generations (G5-G40). The experiments were done in a growth chamber at 26±2°C, 65±5% RH and photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). The results showed that the female longevity decreased significantly during successive production, ranging from 10.68 (in G5) to 9.64 days (in G40). On the other hand, the male longevity decreased significantly in the 20^th generation and no significant difference was found from G20 to G40. The oviposition days and mean total fecundity of T. embryophagum decreased as the number of generations increased. Generally, the wasps in earlier generations had longer adult longevity, longer life span, and higher fecundity than later generations. Moreover, sex ratio of T. embryophagum was not significantly different in successive generations. Results of paired bootstrap test indicated that all population growth parameters of T. embryophagum reared on S. cereallela were significantly different in successive generations. The highest and lowest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), net Reproductive rate (R₀), Gross Reproductive Rate (GRR) and mean generation Time (T) of T. embryophagum were observed in G40 and G5, respectively. These results suggest that T. embryophagum wasps reared in sequential generations can be used successfully in biological control programs until the 20th generation without any loss of quality or performance; after that, regular rejuvenation of laboratory population by occasional importing of field-collected parasitoids should be done.