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Aims: Most of the world population who is at work and production age does not have appropriate and regular physical activity for various reasons. Accordingly, the researchers tried to evaluate the effect of physical activity predictors of employees through the path analysis based on the Pender's Health Promotion Model (HPM). Methods and Materials: We conducted this study on 359 employees of the milk and milk powder production factories in Mashhad. A questionnaire consisted of items related to the structure of the Pender's Health Promotion Model (Perceived Benefits, Perceived Barriers,  Prior Related Behavior, Perceived Self-Efficacy, Activity Related Affect, Personal Factors, Interpersonal Influences and Situational Influences) and the IPAQ standard questionnaire related to the physical activity were designed and applied in interviews as data collection instruments. Findings: One fourth of the employees had proper physical activity. Generally, structures of the Pender's Health Promotion Model predicted 34.8 % of the physical activity behavior variance. Regression analysis has shown that the predictability of Prior Related Behavior, Perceived Self-Efficacy, Personal Factors, Activity Related Affect and Interpersonal Influences are significant and Situational Influences are nearly significant. Prior Related Behavior (β = 0.45, P < 0.000) and Self-Efficacy (β = 0.17, PConclusions: The findings of the study revealed that HPM is efficient in identifying and predicting the physical activity behavior. This pattern can be used as a framework for planning and implementing educational interventions in order to improve the physical activity of the adult employees.

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Biocontrol of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris by six Bacillus species was evaluated. Also plant growth promoting potential of the bacteria was assessed. Results showed that four bacterial strains produced the chitinase and cellulase enzymes and all isolates produced indole acetic acid. Bacillus licheniformis proved to be the most productive of hydrogen cyanide and particularly, Bacillus firmus solubilized phosphorus on Pikovskaya solid and liquid media. The majority of strains were able to produce siderophore and three produced NH₃. Results showed that the Flip05-156C chickpea variety was less susceptible to Foc isolates compared to Flip93-93C and there was a clear difference in pathogenicity of the Foc isolates. Thus, Foc1 and Foc2 isolates caused 31.25% and 41.66%, plant mortality, respectively. As regards PGPR effect, results showed that B. licheniformis gave the best branching number, stem length and root weight of both chickpea varieties. However, Bacillus lentus distinctly improved the root length while Bacillus amyloliquefaciens improved weight of the vegetative parts.

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The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of secondary metabolites produced by five Trichoderma spp. on the control of Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (FOC) in chickpea. In vitro biocontrol potentialities of Trichoderma spp. against FOC was tested. Trichoderma secondary metabolites were extracted by solvent extraction methods and evaluated against FOC. In vitro tests showed very good inhibitory effects by all Trichoderma spp. against FOC along with an inhibitory rate up to 73.8% and 27.8%, for direct and indirect contacts, respectively. Additionally, Trichoderma spp. caused a significant decrease in Fusarium wilt disease severity, in particular, T. polysporum showing 64.2% of disease severity reduction. The tested secondary metabolites were also effective against FOC with a significant decrease of mycelial growth from 6% to 76.9%. Similarly, in vivo tests revealed that secondary metabolites were very active in reducing disease severity. It was found that T. polysporum was the most active with 56.9% of disease severity reduction. Chickpea resistance is mostly attributed to polyphenolic compounds. The studied Trichoderma spp. and their secondary metabolites could be used as potential and promising antifungal agents in preventing the occurrence of Fusarium wilt in chickpea.
 

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In this paper, the flow and temperature fields affected by electrohydrodynamic actuator are numerically investigated for the incompressible, turbulent, and steady flow over a backward-facing step. Air is used as working fluid in heated backward-facing step cooling process. The electric field is generated by the wire electrode charged with DC high voltage. The numerical modeling is based for solving electric, flow, and energy equations with finite volume approach. The computed results are firstly compared with the experimental data in case of rectangular flat channel and the results agree very well. Then the effect of different parameters such as the radius of the wire, applied voltage, Reynolds number, and the wire position on the heat transfer coefficient is evaluated. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient with the presence of electric field increases with the applied voltage but decreases when the Reynolds number and the radius of the wire are augmented. Moreover, reduction of emitting electrode angle can significantly effect on the heat transfer enhancement. In consequence, one may able to find an optimum place for the emitting electrode position.

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Objective: Environmental pollution is of major concern today and lead is considered to be one of the most important environmental pollutants. Long-term contact with lead causes harmful effects to humans. This study seeks to determine the effects of Curcuma longa (turmeric extract) consumption and exercise training on glutathione peroxidase and protein carbonyl in kidney and spleen tissues from rats exposed to lead. Methods: We randomly classified 60 male rats into the following six groups of 10 rats per group: 1) control; 2) sham (turmeric extract solvent); 3) lead; 4) training + lead; 5) turmeric extract + lead; and 6) training + lead + turmeric extract. The training program for groups 3 and 6 consisted of running on a level treadmill for 40 sessions (eight weeks at five sessions per week) at a speed of 22 to 15 m/min for 26 to 64 minutes. Turmeric extract (30 mg/kg) was injected three times per week for eight weeks. Amounts of glutathione peroxidase and protein carbonyl were measured by ELISA. Results: The amount of protein carbonyl in the kidney and spleen tissues of the lead group increased compared to the sham, training, combined and extract groups. Rats in the combined, extract and practice groups (F=4.787; P=0.002) had lower levels of protein carbonyl in their kidney and spleen tissues compared to the sham group (F=6.970, P=0.000). Glutathione peroxidase levels in the kidney and spleen tissues were less in the lead group compared to the sham group. However these levels in the training, extract, and combined groups increased compared with the sham group (respectively, in kidney and spleen P=0.051, F=2.466 and P=0/086, F=2.11). Conclusion: Intake of turmeric extract and exercise alone did not cause complete inhibition of the oxidative effects in kidney and spleen tissues. However, exercise and consumption of turmeric extract can be effective in reducing the harmful effects of lead.

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Pomegranate tree possesses a vast ethnomedical history and represents a phytochemical reservoir of heuristic medicinal value. In the present study, total phenolics, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities of pomegranate peel were determined by Folin–Ciocalteu, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and disk-diffusion methods, respectively, and compared among the accessions. Methanolic extract gives higher total phenolics than the water extract. Six phenolic compounds were identified and quantified in pomegranate peel using the HPLC/ultraviolet method. The predominant compound was gallic acid, followed by ellagic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, quercetin, and vanillic acid. Antioxidant activity expressed as IC₅₀ varied among the cultivars and between solvents and was highly correlated with the total phenolics. All extracts were efficient against the five tested bacteria. Statistical analysis revealed three groups of accessions. The first group showed a high polyphenol compound that had both high antioxidant and antibacterial properties. These findings support the improvement and the selection for obtaining high products with well-defined functional properties.

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Morphological and RAPD markers were used to investigate the genetic diversity among 21 accessions of pomegranate originating from South Eastern Tunisia. Thirteen morphological traits were studied and results showed significant differences for all morphological characters (P< 0.001). Clustering based on fruit traits, using Ward’s method, divided the accessions into three main groups. In RAPD analysis, 6 out of 15 employed random primers showed good amplification and polymorphism on pomegranate samples with a total of 63 bands, of which 56 were polymorphic. The lowest percentage of polymorphism (50%) was observed with TIBMBA-03 while the highest (50%) was observed with primer TIBMBB-03. According to Jaccard coefficient, the lowest (0.29) and highest (0.94) similarities were detected between genotypes. UPGMA clustering based on data from polymorphic RAPD bands resulted in three clusters at a similarity of 0.46. The Stress value for the nonmetric multidimensional scaling plot was 0.071, showing an excellent representation of the data. The comparison between groupings based on the fruit traits and RAPD data did not produce a significant correlation (r= -0.09). Using a stepwise linear regression, significant regressions were found between 13 morphological traits and 63 molecular markers revealing association between RAPD molecular markers and some traits.

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 Fig trees are threatened by the attack of Fig Mosaic Disease (FMD) on leaves and fruits caused by viruses of several genera. Shoot-tip culture is a convenient method for viral sanitation. For this purpose, a reliable protocol for rapid in vitro propagation was developed with shoot-tips of three major Tunisian local fig (Ficus carica L.) varieties Zidi (ZDI), Soltani (SNI), Bither Abiadh (BA) and one rare and recalcitrant caprifig Assafri (ASF). For each in vitro step, four Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with different combinations of plant regulators were used. The best initiation of shoot-tips with sizes 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mm was obtained on medium M₃ containing 0.2 mg L^-1 Benzyle Amino Purine (BAP), 0.1 mg L^-1 1-NaphthaleneAcetic Acid (NAA) and 0.1 mg L^-1 Gibberellic acid (GA₃). The variety (SNI) showed the highest shoot-tip initiation potentialities for the establishment step with 100% of explant development rate. The shoot multiplication and plantlet development were provided by medium M₆ with 0.5 mg L^-1 BAP and 0.1 mg L^-1 NAA. The highest average of leaf number increase (92 leaves per plant) and proliferation rate (16.91 branches per plant) were reached on M₆. The best rooting rate (83.34%) was favored by medium M₁₁ with half-strength MS and 1 mg L^-1 Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA). Ex vitro rooting of fig plantlets was successfully performed on moist peat with success rate of 90%. The acclimatized fig vitroplants showed high establishment rates (92.1%) and rapid growth on substrates S₁ composed by peat without symptoms of virus diseases or morphological abnormalities.

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Robust information of genetic diversity among Bt cotton genotypes is still lacking and availability of several marker systems has prompted us to compare their utility for the detection of genetic diversity. Here, we report the comparative efficiency of morphological and molecular markers (EST-SSRs and ISSRs) in determining the genetic diversity among 30 Pakistani Bt cotton genotypes. Three different dendrograms based on 20 EST-SSRs, 13 ISSRs and 20 morphological markers divided the 30 Bt cotton genotypes into five, six, and three clusters, respectively. EST-SSRs and ISSRs revealed 0.73-1.00 and 0.77-0.97 genetics similarity among Bt cotton genotypes which indicated low level of genetic diversity. Further population structure analysis showed extensive allelic admixture among Bt cotton cultivars and identified three (EST-SSRs) and six (ISSRs) subgroups. The MGHES-31 (EST-SSRs) and UBC-807 and UBC-815 (ISSRs) showed maximum values of Polymorphic Information Contents(PIC) and Dj and had low value of Cj. The comparison of two marker systems showed that EST-SSRs had high value of Expected heterozygosity (H_ep) and low value of Marker Index (MI) as compared to ISSRs. In conclusion, high level of genetic similarity among Bt cotton genotypes compel the plant breeders for the introduction of divers/exotic genotypes in their breeding program and marker discriminating indices could be a potential tool for selection of particular marker system to unveil the genetic difference.

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The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is considered as one of the oldest and the most important fruit crops of the Mediterranean basin, which is characterized by the existence of a considerable number of different olive cultivars. Therefore, the olive cultivar identification is crucial to safeguard the genetic patrimony of this species. Different morphological and molecular markers were used to discriminate among cultivars. The aim of the present work was to describe different pollen morphological and ultrastructural parameters (shape, size and exine pattern) as an additional tool for the identification of olive cultivars. Observations were carried on seventy centennial olive accessions grown in the Central Eastern part of Tunisia using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Image analysis (ImageJ). Pollen were three-zonocolpate and elliptical-prolate or subprolate. Pollen morphological qualitative traits revealed specific differences among the studied genotypes including variation in whole grain shape and also exine pattern ornamentation as meshes profile and regularity and muri thickness. The quantitatively measured traits were significantly different among pollen from diverse genotypes. Polar and equatorial diameters varied from 21.80 to 29.88 µm and from 14.47 to 21.14 µm, respectively, while the pollen area ranged between 274.58 and 466.35 µm². Frequency distributions of most measured pollen parameters depicted a normal distribution. The three principal components of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) accounted for more than 97% of the total variation. The first Principal Component (PC1) was correlated to pollen size. The second (PC2) and the third (PC3) were correlated to exine texture and to pollen shape, respectively. Both morphometric features and exine pattern observations were potentially relevant tools to discriminate among the studied genotypes. Further combination between pollen ultrastructural analysis, morphological and molecular markers is fully desirable, in subsequent work, to improve both reliability and discriminative ability for cultivars classification.

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Objective: There are numerous strategies to prevent hepatotoxicity caused by doxorubicin therapy. These strategies include exercise as well as herbal antioxidants such as curcumin to reduce the toxic effects of doxorubicin. This study aims to evaluate the effects of six weeks of continuous training with and without nanocurcumin supplementation on doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity in an aging rat model.
Methods: We randomly divided 42 Wistar male rats into 7 groups: control saline, control doxorubicin, nanocurcumin + doxorubicin, nanocurcumin + saline, continuous training + doxorubicin, continuous training + saline, and continuous training + nanocurcumin + doxorubicin. The rats received intraperitoneal injections of D-galactose (100 mg/kg) to induce ageing. The training groups ran on a treadmill for six weeks, five days per week with a gradual increase from 25 min/day to 54 min/day at a velocity of 15 m/min to 20 m/min. In the last fifteenth days, rats scheduled to received doxorubicin had a cumulative dose of 15 mg/kg of body weight (daily: 1 ml/kg). Nanocurcumin supplement (daily: 100 mg/kg body weight) was administered to the respective groups. Assessment and analysis were conducted after homogenization of the liver tissue biopsy.
Results: Doxorubicin caused a significant decrease in glutathione peroxidase and a slight increase in malondialdehyde in the liver. On the other hand, continuous training with doxorubicin treatment prevented the decrease of glutathione peroxidase and increase in malondialdehyde in the liver that was caused by doxorubicin. Also, six weeks of continuous training with nanocurcumin supplementation caused a significant decrease in malondialdehyde and increased glutathione peroxidase in the liver compared to the control doxorubicin group.
Conclusion: Based on the results, the combination of nanocurcumin supplementation and continuous training in the doxorubicin-induced aging rat model have led to a precautionary effect and up-regulation of antioxidant defense. Continuous training appeared to have more beneficial effects than nanocurcumin supplementation in reducing doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity.

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Dangke is a traditional food from South Sulawesi-Indonesia especially Enrekang Regency, made from buffalo or cow milk coagulated with papaya fruit sap papain enzyme. The development of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 as a probiotic in various food products has been shown to increase the content of bioactive compounds, such as antioxidants, antihypertensive agents, and antibacterials. This study aims to evaluate the physical, microbiological, functional quality of dangke in the form of antioxidant and antihypertensive properties with the addition of Lactiplantibacillua plantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 at the level of 0% and 10% during storage for 0 days, 5 days and 10 days. The physical test results found significant differences in dangke with the addition of Lactiplantibacillusplantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 as much as 10% in the parameters of pH, TAT and texture. The addition of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 10% in dangke was able to inhibit and reduce the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli and S aureus and was able to increase the value of antioxidant and antihypertensive activity by 83.45% and 45.60%. Based on the electrophoresis results, casein was found at a molecular weight of 22-29 kDa, and smaller peptides of hydrolyzed casein protein presented at a low molecular weight of 16-18 kDa.
 

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Helicobacter pylori is a specific pathogen of the human stomach that immunomodulatory effects of Helicobacter pylori fractions have been suggested as an immune stimulus factor in vaccine candidate design. Helicobacter pylori FlgE2 protein is part of bacterial flagellum membrane whose effects on innate immune cells have not been studied. In the present study, we aimed to assess the effect of FlgE2 on the production of nitric oxide (NO) by rat peritoneal macrophages.
Helicobacter pylori FlgE2 protein was recombinant produced. Peritoneal macrophages of mice were removed and cultured. Different concentrations of recombinant FlgE2 protein were used to stimulate macrophages and assess NO production. To detect NO, macrophage culture supernatant was removed and evaluated by reagent grease. Finally, the results were evaluated by SPSS software. The results showed that the recombinant FlgE2 protein from Helicobacter pylori increased the level of nitric oxide by increasing the concentration. At 80 μg/ml (P=0.01), the increase in nitric oxide level had the highest level of production and then was observed at 40 μg/ml, which increased significantly compared to the LPS control group. This increase was then observed at concentrations of 20 and 4 μg/ml.
According to the findings of this study, recombinant FlgE2 has a positive effect on stimulation of NO production by peritoneal macrophages. Therefore, it is suggested that recombinant FlgE2 can be proposed as an immunostimulant for vaccine candidates.

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This study aimed to evaluate the impact of dipping solutions [Moringa Leaf Extract 5% (MLE), Olive Leaf Extract 5% (OLE) and Calcium Chloride 5% (CaCl₂)] on fruit quality of two peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) cultivars (Blanvio 10 and Plagold 15). The treatments consisted of dipping fruits for 5 min in the corresponding solution followed by 30 minutes drying at room temperature. Then, fruits were stored at 5°C and 95% relative humidity for 2 and 4 weeks of cold storage followed by 2 days at room temperature. Physicochemical traits, antioxidant compounds, sugar content and chilling injury symptoms were analyzed. There were significant improvements in fruits storability resulting from the CaCl₂, MLE (5%) and OLE (5%) dipping solutions. These treatments improved firmness, maintained the Soluble Solids Content, and increased the ripening index (SSC/TA). The lowest fruit weight loss was observed in the OLE treatment, whereas the untreated fruits showed the highest loss. The flavonoids, total phenolics, vitamin C and antioxidant capacity showed a gradual decrease during the storage periods. Mealiness and internal browning were the major chilling injury symptoms observed in the two peach cultivars after 4 weeks of cold storage. The applied treatments were efficient and delayed the presence of chilling injury symptoms and fruit decay during the two cold storage periods.