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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of organic pollutants, have been observed to exert deleterious effects on plant growth and various physiological processes. In this study, the effect of different concentrations of phenanthrene (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 ppm) on growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, some antioxidant enzymes, and some biochemical compounds of the maize plant were investigated. The experiments were conducted as pot cultures of plants under controlled conditions using a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications for each treatment. Increasing phenanthrene concentration reduced all studied growth parameters and significantly increased photosynthetic pigment contents. Phenanthrene led to the increase in catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase activities in the roots but in shoots, only the peroxidase activity was increased. Moreover, higher phenanthrene concentrations were associated with elevated levels of malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide, coupled with a marked reduction in soluble sugar content in both shoot and root tissues (p<0.05). Also, increase in phenanthrene concentration in the shoots decreased the total phenol and flavonoid contents compared to anthocyanin. Phenanthrene treatment led to a significant reduction in the concentrations of lauric acid, meric acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acid in maize shoots. In conclusion, it seems that high concentrations of phenanthrene induce oxidative stress in the maize, and plants improve their enzymatic antioxidant system to moderate the stress condition. In addition, damage of cell membranes by phenanthrene leads to weakening of plants root system as well as disordering in water and nutrient uptake and finally reduction in the plant growth.
 

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In the study, lethal and sub-lethal doses of Neem Azal (azadirachtin 10 g/l), Nimiks (azadirachtin 40 g/l), Nimbecidine (azadirachtin 0.3 g/l), Oread (spinosad 480 g/l), and Nostalgist BL (1.5% Beauveria bassiana strain Bb-1-) were tested on different developmental stages of the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma dendrolimi  under laboratory conditions. The lowest melanized egg were found on the larval stage of parasitoid in the 200 ml dose of Nimiks (79.17%), on 5 ml dose of Oread (75.25 %) and on 250 ml dose of Nimbecidine (79.37 %). An approximately 10-fold decrease in emergence rates was determined in the larval, prepupal and pupal stages of the parasitoid at doses of 5 ml and 6.25 ml of Oread.  The other doses of the same insecticides resulted in 100% of mortality. The longest development time of T. dendrolimi was found on Oread with 6.25 ml (11.00 days), on Nimiks with 200 ml (11.04 days), and on Oread with 5 ml (10.90 days). No significant difference was observed in the sex ratio. The longevity of T. denrolimi was shorter than that of the control for all insecticides and doses applied to the larval, prepupal and pupal stages of the parasitoid. Parasitism rates of F₁ and F₂ varied greatly depending on the insecticides, doses and biological stage of the parasitoid. The new crop protection strategies aim to reduce the use of chemical insecticides while supporting the combined use of biorational insecticides and natural enemies. The study offers helpful data for IPM that is focused on the ecology.  
 

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Aluminum nano-films are one of the functional elements that have various applications in different fields such as strengthening cement base materials, improving the performance and efficiency of concrete, and enhancing the mechanical and volumetric properties of clay. In this study, the mechanical responses of aluminum nano-film are investigated under uniaxial tensile and compressive tests using the molecular dynamics (MD) method. The initial configuration of the nano-film is constructed based on a 3D aluminum core—alumina shell model that provides a suitable description of surface oxidation in the nano-film. This model is useful to determine the influence of surface oxidation on the mechanical behavior of nan-film. Because of the accuracy and competency, the inter-atomic interactions are evaluated using the EAM+CTI potential, which is a hybrid potential consisting of two components, i.e., EAM and CTI potential, such that it can also take into account the electrostatic interactions between the atoms. After establishing the initial configuration, the energy minimization process is performed on the nano-film, and then its temperature and pressure are adapted to the environmental conditions through the relaxation process. The MD analysis is accomplished by the open-source LAMMPS software, and the visualization of outputs is performed by the open-source OVITO software. The periodic boundary condition is imposed on the lateral sides of the nano-film to eliminate the free surface effect of the atomistic analysis. The tensile and compressive tests are applied to the nano-film in accordance with the experimental tests, and the stress—strain curves are determined. The concept of Virial stress is employed to calculate the stress of the atomic model, which is equivalent to the conventional Cauchy stress in classical mechanics. In order to diminish the dynamic effects, deformation is incrementally applied to the nano-film, such that at each increment, a small strain is gently imposed, then the nano-film is relaxed under the deformed conditions, and finally the stress and strains are evaluated. The numerical simulations are verified by comparing them with experimental data, which demonstrates the acceptable accuracy of the obtained numerical results. The influence of various parameters such as the thickness and the percentages of oxide layers are investigated on the mechanical response and stress-strain curve of aluminum nano-film under the uniaxial tests. It is demonstrated that the thickness of the oxide layer significantly impacts the mechanical behavior, such that the hardness and energy absorption capacity of the nano-film is increased considerably by increasing the percentage of the oxide layer thickness. However, increasing the total thickness of the nano-film leads to a decrease in the Young’s modulus and elastic limit of the specimen. It is because of the decrease in the percentage of oxide layer thickness by increasing the total thickness of the nano-film. Point defects are one of the important imperfections in the crystal structures of atomic configuration that have a significant effect on the mechanical behavior of materials. In order to investigate the influence of point defects, different percentages of voids are generated by randomly omitting some atoms in the nano-film domain. The generated specimens are analyzed under the uniaxial tests, and their mechanical characteristics are evaluated. The numerical simulations demonstrate that the hardness of the nano-film is significantly reduced by increasing the point defects.
 

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Damage of both building and non-building structures (including the space structures) against earthquake is of great importance for civil engineers, because collapse of such large structures may have significant casualties and economic losses. Space structures are classified as large-scale structures and can cover a large space without columns. Seismic behavior of these structures is different from building structures. There are different types of space structures considering the geometrical aspects, which are effective in the damages causing economic and life losses. A space structure has three-dimensional behavior, and their higher-mode effects are remarkable. On the other hand, the weight of these structures is relatively low that may cause an unrealistic reduction in the calculation of seismic force in a static analysis. Therefore, the static analysis cannot capture their structural response effectively. Traditionally, the dynamic analysis is utilized for seismic design of space structures due to their complex structural behavior. Thus, in this paper, seismic design of two single-layer domes is performed using two dynamic analyses: time history analysis and response spectrum analysis. Although there are some studies on seismic design of domes, further investigations are required due to the structural diversity of different domes and the difference in their seismic behavior. Here, the ribbed and Schwedler domes under gravity and seismic loads are analyzed dynamically. The parameters of the design response spectral acceleration are based on ASCE7-16, and the site class (based on the soil type) is selected as “D”. Both horizontal and vertical components of seismic excitations are utilized in the dynamic analyses, because all these components are effective in design of a dome structure. The damping ratio is assumed to be 2% in the dynamic analyses based on the relevant literature.  In the response spectrum analysis, the vertical seismic load is expressed in terms of dead loads in the response spectrum analysis. In the time history analysis, seven ground motion records are selected based on the seismic zone. These ground motion records are scaled using both amplitude scaling and spectral matching approaches. The vertical components are scaled to the specific vertical design spectrum obtained from ASCE7-16. In this study, seismic design of the ribbed and Schwedler domes with a span of 36 meters and a height of 6 meters are carried out with some limitations on the member stress ratios and top nodal displacements. The structural designs based on the time history analysis and the response spectrum analysis are compared. The same cross-sectional areas are used in designs of the dome structures to compare the effects of these dynamic analysis methods better. In general, the top node displacement and stress ratios of the dome obtained using time history analysis is larger than that obtained using spectral dynamic analysis. Accordingly, the results indicate that the structure designed with the time history analysis is heavier than the structure designed with the response spectrum analysis. Obviously, although the time history analysis provides a better understanding of the dynamic behavior of the structure, it requires much higher computational cost than the response spectrum analysis.

 

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This study was conducted to evaluate the age-specific functional response of Psyllaephagus zdeneki Noyes & Fallahzadeh (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) at different nymph densities of olive psyllid, Euphyllura pakistanica Loginova (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). Due to parasitoid behaviour of feeding and parasitizing the host, both traits were separately explored on a daily functional response. Results of logistic regression revealed a type II functional response of the wasp independent of their ages. The handling time (T_h) and searching efficiency (a) were estimated using the Rogers equation. The highest searching efficiency for both parasitism and feeding was observed in the first five days of the adult age. The handling time for parasitism and host feeding increased with the age of female wasp. The highest searching efficiency and shortest handling time for host attacked (Parasitism and feeding) were gained in day 5 and day 2 and maximum parasitism and host feeding in days 2 and 3 of adult female age, respectively. We conclude that P. zdeneki demonstrated a reasonable performance as a potential biocontrol agent by feeding and parasitism of E. pakistanica which gained its maximum efficiency within 2 to 5 days of its life.

 

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Background: Miscarriage is one of the most common pregnancy complications for which various causes have been defined, such as genetic factors, infectious, metabolic, endocrine systemmal function and immune system undesired responses. The early development of embryo occurs in oviduct and uterine tube from which some factors such as growth factors, glyco-proteins and factors those stimulate development of embryo are secreted. The ETF3 embryotrophic factor which is a complex of C3 complements and its derivatives i.e., iC3b, enhances the development of trophectodermas a consequence of which expression of relevant genes are affected embryo. There are various response elements in C3 gene promoter region such as, estrogen response regions (ERE). Steroids such as estrogen and progesterone are secreted in early steps of embryonic period along with C3 secretion and cause increase in C3 expression through interaction with regulatory elements in promoter region of this gene. In this study the polymorphism in ERE regions of C3 gene promoter was investigated in women suffering from recurrent miscarriage. Materials and methods: In this study, assuming that polymorphism in ERE regions is correlated with recurrent miscarriage during early months of pregnancy, 40 blood samples were collected from female patients admitted to an Infertility Clinic, Isfahan, Iran. DNA was extracted, amplification of regions harboring ERE with a pair of specific primer was done using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Single Strand Chain Polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) for studying possible polymorphisms in this region. Results and conclusion: The results indicated a specific symptomless infertility among the women, however there was no correlation between the ERE polymorphism and symptoms in control and cases.

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Hydrodynamic factors have been proved to effectively influence the high-performance heap leaching, hence this study evaluates them on column bioleaching of low grade uranium ore. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to predict the behavior of effective parameters particle size, irrigation rate, aeration rate and their interactions in the bioleaching process. Obtained results showed that the best model for the recovery of each metal was the quadratic model. The maximum values of uranium recovery at the optimum condition, (d₈₀ 5, mm particle size, 0.34, l/m²/min irrigation rate, and 210, l/m³/min aeration rate), were 63.85%. The results from the model and the experimental data show good agreement.

 

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Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR), caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is one of the most important diseases of canola (Brassica napus) in Golestan province, the leading canola producer in Iran. In order to assess the yield loss of canola caused by SSR, 80 fields were surveyed in four different regions of the province (Gorgan, Ali Abad, Kalaleh and Gonbad) during 2006-2007, and SSR intensity was recorded weekly in the fields. Study of yield loss-SSR severity relationships by linear, nonlinear and multiple regression analyses with final intensity (S_f), time to initial symptoms (t_is), Gompertz rate of disease progress (r_G), and standardized area under disease progress curve (SAUDPC) as independent variables indicate that single point and integral models were significant (P < 0.05) only in three cases. Results of multiple point models which were performed using weekly recorded SSR intensities (S₁, S₂, …), were significant in two cases and a general model for 2007 survey was developed using S₃ to S₆. Eventually, response surface models were developed for each region by integrating t_is with SSR intensity variables (S_f or SAUDPC).

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Searching efficiency and handling time are two major components of functional response and are usually used to evaluate effectiveness of natural enemies. The effect of different foraging periods on the functional response of larval Aphidoletes aphidimyza (Rondani) (Dip.: Cecidomyiidae) feeding on third instar nymphs of Aphis craccivora was studied. The experiment was conducted in terms of time-specific (1, 2, 4, 6,12, 24 h.) functional response to varying densities (5, 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80) of third instar nymphs of A.craccivora at 23 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 5% of R.H., and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L: D). Parameter estimates for logistic regressions showed a type II functional response for 4 day-old larvae of the predator at different foraging periods to varying densities of A. craccivora. The estimated searching efficiency (a') and handling times (T_h), varied with foraging periods. The searching efficiency showed a decreasing trend as the foraging periods increased. The estimated maximum rates of predation (T/T_h) for the 4-day old larvae were directly related to the foraging periods increase but handling times (T_h), showed a decelerating trend. In conclusion it was found that searching efficiency was a variable parameter in different foraging periods of A. aphidimyza and was lowest at the foraging periods of 24 h. It was also suggested that A. aphidimyza with type II functional response in all foraging periods, could be considered as a highly effective biological agent in suppressing A. craccivora population.    

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The toxicity of thiamethoxam and pirimicarb on Diaeretiella rapae (Mc'Intosh) as a parasitoid of Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach), exposed to residues on glass vials, was investigated under laboratory conditions at 23 ± 2 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and 16:8 h (L: D). Moreover, in order to find the negative impacts of both insecticides on the efficiency of D. rapae, the functional response of the exposed parasitoids were assessed. The newly emerged parasitoids were exposed to LC₂₅ of the insecticides and distilled water as control. Host densities of 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32 and 64 were placed on canola seedlings in a transparent cylindrical container and were offered to the treated parasitoids. Type of functional response was determined by means of logistic regression method and the parameters, attack rate (a) and handling time (T_h) were calculated by nonlinear regression model using SAS software. The parasitoid exhibited type II functional response in all experiments. Attack rates in control, pirimicarb and thiamethoxam were 0.057 ± 0.01,0.059 ± 0.013 and 0.040 ± 0.01 h^-1, and handling times were 1.097 ± 0.1, 1.86 ± 0.02, 2.81 ± 0.296 h, respectively. Maximum rates of parasitism (T/T_h) were estimated 21.87, 12.9, 8.53 aphids, respectively. These observations suggest that pirimicarb with less harmful effects is the preferred candidate for controlling the mustard aphid.

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Anthocoris nemoralis (F.) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is one of the most prominent predators of the pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Forster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) and is considered as a biological control agent against this pest. In order to investigate the effects of plant varieties on predation of C. pyricola by A. nemoralis, the functional response of both the sexes of A. nemoralis to pear psylla nymphs was studied on three pear varieties including ‘Shahmiveh’, as a susceptible host plant and ‘Sebri’ and ‘Coscia’, as partially-resistant host plants. Different densities of C. pyricola nymphs were offered to single A. nemoralis and predation proceeded for 24 h. The experiments were carried out under constant environmental conditions (27 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and L: D 16: 8 h). Logistic regression and nonlinear least-squares regression were used to determine the type of functional response and to estimate attack rate (a) and handling time (T_h), respectively. The results showed a type II functional response on all varieties. The asymptotic 95% confidence intervals, estimated by the model with indicator variable revealed that there was no significant difference between either the attack rates or between handling times of same sex of the predator on the tested varieties. However, when sexes were compared, the females of A. nemoralis had a shorter handling time and higher searching efficiency than the males on all varieties. The maximum predicted daily prey consumption by a female predator (T/T_h) was the highest on the susceptible variety. Based on the type of functional response and its parameter values, the effectiveness of A. nemoralis was not affected by plant resistance; these findings may be promising for the integration of the partially-resistant varieties and A. nemoralis in sustainable pest management programs against the pear psylla. The implications of the results for biological control of pear psylla are discussed in a tritrophic context.  

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Research subject: Superabsorbents are hydrophilic hydrogels that can accommodate large amounts of water in their three-dimensional structures and have wide applications in various sciences such as pharmaceuticals, medicine, and agriculture. These materials are hydrophilic polymers that are physically or chemically cross-linked. Conversion and swelling ratio of synthesized hydrogels are two counter effects. Therefore, determining the appropriate conditions for polymerization to achieve optimal properties and swelling rate of hydrogels is a challenge for researchers.
Research approach: In this study, optimizing the synthesis conditions of semi-interpenetrating poly (acrylic acid)/xanthan hydrogels, the response surface methodology (RSM) was used by Box-Behnken design (BBD). The variables of this method were the molar ratio of the cross-linking agent (X₁), the weight percentage of xanthan gum (X₂) as the reaction medium, and the amount of initiator (X₃), each of which was considered at three levels. The evaluated responses in RSM were the rate of polymerization conversion (Y₁) and the rate of swelling (Y₂) of the hydrogels in the water.
 
Main results: Based on the 17 experiments proposed by RSM (BBD), the cross-linker, xanthan gum, and initiator were combined and radical polymerization was performed into silicone molds at 65 ° C. The results of ANOVA analysis showed that the data error of this study was small and the coefficient of determination (R2) of both proposed models for the responses Y₁ and Y₂ was higher than 0.9. The 46 experiments proposed for the optimal point by RSM (BBD) with the desirability of more than 50% indicate the synthesis of hydrogels that have both a good conversion rate and an optimal amount of swelling. For example, by 13% of cross-linking agent, 0.043 g of initiator and 1% wt. the solution of xanthan, hydrogels with a 95% conversion rate, and 102% water uptake were prepared. These hydrogels can be used in a variety of fields, including the treatment of colored wastes in factories, agriculture, pharmaceutical systems, medical attractions, and more.

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Research subject: Saponin compounds have been considered as anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activity agents. In addition, they are also used as foaming agents in some food industries. There are few studies for assessing the extraction of this substance, so far. The main purpose of this study is to assess and compare the extraction yield of Saponin by conventional extracting using solvent and super-critical fluid method.
Research approach: In the extraction with solvent, the effect of three independent parameters including mass of solid material, percentage of ethanol solvent, and time of extraction on process performance was investigated. Yield of extraction and Saponin concentration were considered as indexes for evaluating the process performance. In the super critical fluid extraction, the effects of extraction time, pressure, and temperature were investigated. In this method, carbon dioxide was used as super critical fluid and 80% ethanol was used as co-solvent. In order to design of experiment and process optimization, response surface methodology and central composite design was used.
Main results: In optimum condition of extraction with solvent, the mass of solid material, ethanol solvent percentage, and extraction time were 5.4 g, 77.5%, and 7 h, respectively. In this condition, the maximum efficiency of extraction yield of 1.12 mg of saponins per a gram of dry primary substance was obtained. The results indicated that time and solvent percentage were significant parameters.  Further, interaction between two factors of time and solvent percentage was significant. For supercritical fluid extraction, in optimum condition, extraction time, pressure, and temperature were 10 h, 400 bar, and 50 °C, respectively. Extraction yield in this condition was 20% more than the yield of conventional method. It is concluded that the supercritical fluid extraction method has higher performance than conventional method.

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Philosophers have recently turned their attention to the problem of extremism, partly inspired by the “Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis” book. We introduce this debate, particularly focusing on Cassam’s perspective, and use it to examine the extremism of the Iranian militant group known as Forqan. In the first part, drawing on Cassam’s account of different types of extremism, we argue that Forqan was not only a method extremist group but also that its members exhibited what Cassam calls the extremist mindset. In the second part, we contend that Forqan's extremism challenges Cassam’s account of the extremist mindset. According to his framework, purity is an important element of the extremist mindset, yet Forqan, as an extremist group, was eclectic in nature. In the remainder of the paper, we address this challenge through a linguistic and conceptual analysis of the notion of purity.

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Agha Golzade .F., PH.D                          
 Mamasani . SH .
Abstract
This research provides a discussion of the text organization of Chubak’s famous narrative "Tangesir". Its organization contains a problem-solution pattern, introduced and described in Hoey (2001). The main problem of the hero, "Shir- Mohammad", is that four people have eaten up all his money. To solve this problem successfully, many responses have been suggested, both by the hero and other characters, which are either positively evaluated, but have negative results, or negatively evaluated and consequently have negative results. A kind of repeated process of testing different responses and negative results prompt recycling of the pattern until the main plan (killing) is successfully turned to the solution. This positive result is overridden by immediately following problems at the end of story, the first one is resolved by the plan of "escaping", but the next one, that is leaving the homeland and living in a foreign country, remained.
 

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Gas sensitive metal oxide layers used in fabrication of resistive gas sensors are prepared by different deposition techniques. The technical data reported on some basic and practically important specifications of these devices, although fabricated based on the same gas sensitive oxide, are anomalously different. The influence of the fabrication technique used for the deposition of the gas sensitive layer on determination of the significant specifications of the transient response of a resistive gas sensor is experimentally investigated for the first time. ZnO and SnO2 layers were prepared by LPCVD, PVD, EPD and powder pressing techniques. Prototype gas sensors based on these layers were fabricated. The transient responses of these devices to a step change in the composition of the surrounding atmosphere were recorded and compared. It was shown that the thickness, porosity and pore micro-structure of the gas sensitive layer are the most effective parameters in determination of the transient response. The relationship between these parameters and the temporal variation of the electrical conductivity of the gas sensitive layer was qualitatively analyzed. Oxide layers of higher porosity resulted in gas sensors of faster response, but response time increased with the thickness of these gas sensitive layers. The sensors produced by EPD technique demonstrated the fastest responses while those produced by CVD were the slowest among the samples investigated.

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Lovastatin is a potent agent for lowering cholesterol of blood. Since one of the main reasons of mortality in developing countries is cardiovascular disease, which is caused by precipitation of fatty acid (especially cholesterol) in blood vessels; therefore diets containing lovastatin may prevent this type of disease. In this study, Lovastatin, monacolin K or competitive inhibitor of the HMG-CoA reductase (operative enzyme for cholesterol synthesis) was produced by submerged fermentation using Monascus purpureus PTCC5303. Seven chemical and nutritional parameters including maltose, peptone, MgSO4.7H2O, MnSO4.H2O, KH2PO4, thiamin and pH screened using Plackett Burman experimental design for monacolin production. Among different parameters, maltose and MgSO4.7H2O showed significant effect on biomass and monacolin production. The concentration of these agents were optimized using response surface methodology for lovastatin production in the shaker flask. The optimized medium contained 26 g/L maltose, 5 g/L peptone, 0.1 g/L MgSO4.7H2O, MnSO4.H2O 0.5 g/L, 4 g/L KH2PO4, Vitamin B1 0.1 g/L and pH 7. After 10 days of fermentation in the shaker flask with 130 rpm agitation and 30 ºC, we achieved maximum lovastatin production which was 63 mg/l.

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The effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on the immune response, biochemical parameters and serum enzymes in adult male and female goldfish during breeding season was investigated. Mature male and female received an intramuscular injection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) 1/ IU hCG g/ BW and the control group was injected with saline solution. Twelve and 24 hours after hCG injection, blood samples were taken from broodstock and immune parameters (IgM, IgG, C3, C4), biochemical and enzymes (glucose, uric acid, urea, cholesterol, total protein, triglycerides, calcium, creatinine, albumin, HDL, LDL, AST and ALT) were measured. There were no significant changes in IgM levels in females between 12 and 24 hours after hCG injection compared to the control group (P>0.05). However, IgM level in male showed a gradual decrease in comparison to control fish (P<0.05). On the other hand, the concentration of IgM and C4 complement decreased by passing time after hCG injection in both male and female (P<0.05). The C3 complement dramatically increased after hCG injection in both male and female (P<0.05). Injection of human chorionic gonadotropin caused a significant change in serum biochemical and enzyme in both male and female. The results showed that the hCG hormone even in a single dose within a short time after injection, strongly stimulate the immune system and changes physiological condition of adult male and female goldfish.

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While searching for food, predators use herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPV), host plant volatiles and those related to con/heterospecifics to find their prey. Not only the volatile components vary among plant species, but also the predator perception of these components might differ among species and samples. Here, we compared the olfactory response of two samples (Turkey and University of Tehran) of Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae) when received herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPV) from Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) infested cucumber and bean leaves, along with testing the effect of rearing experience of Turkey sample on its olfactory response in our laboratory conditions. Our data showed that P. persimilis of both samples significantly moved towards leaf odors (either cucumber or bean) when they received clean air from the alternative arm. For both samples, the predator did not make a preference between clean bean and cucumber leaves. When the predators were offered a choice between T. urticae infested bean and cucumber leaves, they significantly moved towards bean leaves in both samples. Rearing experience did not affect the predator choice of host plant species and P. persimilis from both samples preferred odors related to clean leaves rather than clean air. The number of experienced predatory mites moved towards T. urticae infested bean leaves was significantly higher than that preferred T. urticae infested cucumber leaves in both samples. We discussed whether their similar olfactory responses would be related to their experience of previous rearing conditions.