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Glutathione S-transferase is a family of multifunctional detoxification enzymes which are mainly cytosolic that detoxify natural and exogenous toxic compounds by conjugation with glutathione. Glutathione, an endogenous tripeptide, is important as either a reducing agent or a nucleophilic scavenger. This molecule alleviates the chemical toxicity in plants by reaction of glutathione S-transferase, and its conjugates can be transported to vacuole or apoplast. The plant soluble glutathione S-transferases grouped today into seven distinct Phi, Tau, Zeta, Theta, lambda, dehydroascorbate reductase, and tetrachlorohydroquinone dehalogenase classes. In this study, bioinformatics analysis of glutathione S-transferase gene in barley was carried out using Tau-class of barley glutathione S-transferase sequences in NCBI GenBank and isolated sequence. DNA extraction, primer design, PCR, electrophoresis, column purifica-tion, DNA sequencing and analysis by some software led to identify new sequences of Tau-class of glutathione S-transferase from barley, which is similar to Tau GST of the diploid wheat. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of the three barley GST genes showed that they have 99% identity with each other but only 45% identity with the new GST. This sequence was submitted to NCBI GenBank with FI131240 accession number.
Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research (0424267X)2pp. 177-189
Ramsey Optimal Growth model is widely used in dynamic macroeconomics. Graduate and undergraduate students have problem in doing with Ramsey Model. In this paper we try to solve Ramsey model using Genetic Algorithm. Genetic Algorithm is a new optimization approach that is widely used in dynamic analysis. It seems that solving optimization problems with GA approach will produce better results than Excel solver.
Saffari, B., Jouyan, N., Bahari, M., Senemar, S., Yavarian, M.
EXCLI Journal (16112156)11pp. 407-415
Plasminogen activator inhibitor type-2 (PAI-2) is a serine protease inhibitor of the fibrinolytic system produced predominantly by the macrophages and monocytes. It has been demonstrated that fibrinolysis regulation has a great importance in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaques. Thus in the current investigation, we sought to determine whether Ser 413/Cys polymorphism (rs6104) of PAI-2 gene could be associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors. Ser 413/Cys polymorphism was determined by PCR-RFLP technique using Mwo I restriction enzyme for 184 men under 50 years of age and 216 women less than 55 years of age who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography. Data on the history of familial myocardial infarction or other heart diseases, hypertension, and smoking habit were collected by a simple questionnaire. Fasting levels of blood sugar, triglycerides, total cholesterol, lowdensity lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were also measured by enzymatic methods. Frequencies of the Ser 413 and Cys 413 alleles were 0.760 and 0.240 in the whole population, respectively. The PAI-2 gene variant analyzed was not significantly associated with either the prevalence of premature CAD or the classical risk factors of CAD development such as diabetes, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein and highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, hypertension, familial history of heart dysfunction or smoking.
Plasminogen activator inhibitor type-2 (PAI-2) is a serine protease inhibitor of the fibrinolytic system produced predominantly by the macrophages and monocytes. It has been demonstrated that fibrinolysis regulation has a great importance in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaques. Thus in the current investigation, we sought to determine whether Ser(413)/Cys polymorphism (rs6104) of PAI-2 gene could be associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors. Ser(413)/Cys polymorphism was determined by PCR-RFLP technique using Mwo I restriction enzyme for 184 men under 50 years of age and 216 women less than 55 years of age who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography. Data on the history of familial myocardial infarction or other heart diseases, hypertension, and smoking habit were collected by a simple questionnaire. Fasting levels of blood sugar, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were also measured by enzymatic methods. Frequencies of the Ser(413) and Cys(413) alleles were 0.760 and 0.240 in the whole population, respectively. The PAI-2 gene variant analyzed was not significantly associated with either the prevalence of premature CAD or the classical risk factors of CAD development such as diabetes, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, hypertension, familial history of heart dysfunction or smoking.
Senemar, S., Saffari, B., Sharifkazemi, M.B., Bahari, M., Jouyan, N., Dehaghani, E.D., Yavarian, M.
EXCLI Journal (16112156)12pp. 437-448
Elevated level of plasma homocysteine (Hcy) has been identified as an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Furthermore, numerous studies have documented the influences of a common polymorphism (C677T) of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) on homocysteine levels. However the relationship between this mutation and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has remained as a controversial issue. The present study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between C677T polymorphism of MTHFR gene, plasma total Hcy levels and the number of affected vessels as a criterion for the extent of CAD. MTHFR genotypes and plasma homocysteine (HCY) concentrations were examined in 231 patients and 300 healthy subjects who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors of Hcy levels whereas logistic regression model was built to determine the association of Hcy quartiles with the risk of CAD adjusted for risk factors. The prevalence of MTHFR genotypes was similar between CAD patients and non-CAD individuals while the geometric mean of Hcy values was significantly higher in patient group (14.13 ± 4.11 μmol/l) than in control group (10.19 ± 3.52 μmol/l) (P < 0.001). Moreover, unlike the MTHFR polymorphism, Hcy concentration increased with increasing number of stenosed vessels and the CAD risk increased about 2 folds in the top two Hcy quartiles (≥ 17.03 and 13.20-17.02 μmol/l) compared with the lowest quartile (≤ 9.92 μmol/l) after controlling for conventional risk factors (P<0.001 for both). Our data suggest that hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHcy) is significantly associated to CAD risk increase as well as to the extent of coronary atherosclerosis.
Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science (22313354)3(3)pp. 112-116
Present investigation was aimed to identify natural products of plant-origin as novel antibiotic resistance reversal agents. Aqueous and methanol extracts of Piper longum (fruits) were tested against multiple drug resistant (MDR) clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella sonnei, as well as reference-plasmid-harboring strains of Escherichia coli (RP4) and Bacillus subtilis (pUB110). The crude methanol extract showed significant antibacterial activity with a minimal inhibitory concentration of 400 μg/mL against Bacillus subtilis (harboring pUB110 plasmid). Methanol extract could reverse the antibiotic resistance in clinical isolates of Shigella sonnei, with a curing efficiency of 42%. In comparison with methanol extract, aqueous extract showed antibiotic resistance reversal efficiency against wider range of clinical isolates. Aqueous extract showed strong antibiotic resistance reversal activities against R-plasmid harboring strains of clinical origin- Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi with curing efficiencies of 64%, 50% and 32% respectively. This antibiotic resistance reversal may be attributed to the elimination of R-plasmids as the multiple antibiotic resistance genes are usually located on R-plasmids. Active biomolecules from P. longum may prove to be a source to develop MDR reversal agents of natural origin to contain the development and spread of plasmid borne multiple antibiotic resistance.
Sameti, M., Farahmand, S., Koleyni, K., Aghaeifar, R.
Iranian Economic Review (10266542)17(1)pp. 69-91
Economic convergence is one of the important topics of new macroeconomics. It refers to tendency of income per capita of countries (regions) to converge to their steady-state value. There are two kinds of convergence: conditional and absolute convergence. This paper examines income convergence between 22 MENA countries during the period of 1970-2003 by using the neoclassical growth model of Barro-Salla-i-Martin for both kinds of convergence. Non-linearity of the underlying relationships, the restrictiveness of assumptions of functional forms and econometric problems in the estimation and application of theoretical models advocate for the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) algorithms. We show that by changing the quantitative tools of analysis and using ANN, the results become more precise. Results show that absolute convergence and conditional convergence are significant but the rate of convergence is low.
Poverty is arguably the most pressing economic problem of the time of global financial crisis that crisis have adverse impact on it through a variety of channels and typically lead to slowdowns in economic activity and, consequently, rise in formal unemployment and/or falls in real wages. On the other hand, it is generally argued in the literature that economic collaboration in the forms of financial and trade integrations is likely to enhance growth potentials and development of an economy and leads to poverty reduction. In this regard, the questions this paper addresses are how the life of poor people in the Islamic nations affected by financial crises, additionally, whether the implementation of economic collaboration strategies controls for the effects of crisis on poverty. In this paper, we specify a dynamic panel regression model of poverty using data of the selected Islamic countries over the period 1995-2008, in order to explore the effect of the recent global financial crises on poverty in such countries. This allows us to verify whether economic collaboration implementation would adjust such effect. Our findings showed that crisis will worsen the condition of living and will cause increasing poverty more that before crisis. However, the results imply a weak role of economic cooperation in the group of Islamic countries for controlling the effects of crisis on poverty and income distribution. The implication is that an economic integrating block implementation is not effective in reducing poverty in the Islamic countries and these countries should strengthen their economic cooperation in different areas and act according to principles of economic cooperation.
Journal of Environmental Studies (23456922)40(1)pp. 247-254
Introduction: Air pollution is one of the critical challenges in metropolitans around the world. According to World Health Organization (WHO), three millions people die from air pollution annually. In some studies mortality costs by air pollution was estimated. Social cost of air pollution was estimated 28990 billions Rials in Tehran city. The mortality cost by air pollution was estimated about 4.31% of GDP in Singapore. Air pollution was increased the mortality rate by 868 in Manchester city annually in 1992-98, where the social cost was estimated about £572 million. Recently air pollution has become a serious crisis in Isfahan city in Iran In this study the mortality cost by air pollution as a social cost was estimated in this metropolitan in 2010-2011. Also mortality rate and long run effect of air pollution were estimated. Material and methods: Air pollution has short run and long run effect on the mortality. Air pollution accelerate patient' death and also can shorten life expectancy of other citizens. In most empirical studies only short run effect was investigated using dose response function. In this study, an ARMAX model was used to decompose short run and long run effect of air pollution on the mortality: (1+θ1L+θ2L 2)(log(MORT) - SMOOTH90 [log (MORT =α + (β, +β2L+β3L2)AQI + (β 4+β5L+β6L2)TEMP +(1+γ1L +γ2L2)e (1) Where, MORT is daily mortality rate, AQI is air quality index, TEMP is the average of daily temperature and e is an error term. Also seasonality effect of the mortality variable was smoothed with locally weighted least squares smoothing approach with a bandwidth of 90 days. Long run effect of AQI on the mortality rate was calculated as: LRE=(β1+β2+β3)/ (1+θ1+θ2) (2) Also, Long run elasticity of the mortality to air pollution was calculated as: LREL= [(β1+β2+β3)/1+θ 1 + θ2]AQI (3) Where, AQI is the average of daily air quality index in 2010-211. To estimate the social costs of air pollution for t=0, at first relative risk ratio was calculated: RRR = Exp((β 1) × AQI) (4) Total mortality was then divided by RRR. Difference of this figure with the total mortality yield the mortality in t=0 due to air pollution. For t= 1, the RRR was calculated as: RRR = Exp ((β2-β1×θ1) × AQI) (5) By multiplying mortality in t=0.1 by blood money gives the approximate social cost of air pollution. Results and discussion: Data on the daily mortality rate, daily mean temperature, and Air Quality Index (AQI) was taken from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan Metrological Organization and Isfahan Environmental Protection, respectively in 2010-2011. The data are described in Table 1. (Table Presented) For mortality variable the Phillips - Perron tests are able to reject the null hypothesis of unit root. The Phillips - Perron tests statistics was - 781.75 for the log(MORT) variable with a five percent critical value of-29.5. The econometric results are reported in Table 2. This model includes one lagged value of AQI and a twice lagged value of temperature. Air pollution had significant effect in the mortality rate (Table 3). (Table Presented) The social cost of air pollution: To estimate the annual social costs of air pollution, relative risk ratio (RRR) was calculated as Equ. 4 for t=0: RRR=Exp (0.00059*95.13)=1.09146 The total mortality (12015) was divided to this figure yield 11008 implying 1007 more deaths. Next to calculate the RRR for t=l, the lag coefficient was calculated: -0.00035+ (0.00059*0.67898)= 0.00005 The relative risk ratio was calculated: Exp(0.00005*13.95)= 1.0047 Dividing the total mortality (12015) by this figure yields 11958 impling 17 more deaths. Therefore, air pollution has caused 1024 deaths in 2010-11 (annually 512). Multiplying by blood money, the annual mortality cost was estimated 345 billion Rials. Conclusions: Air pollution has increased significantly in Isfahan city in recent years. In this study the short-run and log-run impacts of air pollution on the mortality rate was estimated in Isfahan city. For this purpose an ARMAX model was used to approximate the entire distributed lag impacts of changes in the level of air pollution on the mortality rate. Results showed that, annually, air pollution has increased the mortality rate about 8.5%. Accounting for this phenomenon the social cost has 346 billions for the residents of Isfahan. Also a 1% increase in air pollution increase 0.123% daily the mortality rate.
Introduction: Coronary Artery disease (CAD) is influenced by genetic factors, environment and culture behavior. The aim of the present study was to evaluate some non-modifiable risk factors of coronary heart disease such as sex, age, family history and consanguineous marriage.
Methods: This is a case-control study. The study population consisted of 200 fifteen or more years old. Data were collected on 200 patients with positive angiography and 200 control subjects with negative angiography. Positive angiography was defined as coronary diameter cut greater than 50%. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 11.5. In this study, data were collected through a checklist. Logistic regression and stratification were used to determine the impact of age, gender, family history, and consanguinity on the risk of stenosis.
Results: The percentage of men in patients and controls were 89% and 29%, respectively. As to gender, a significant association was found between patients and controls of CAD (CI 95%, 4.014-10.052, OR 6.352). Gender was determined as a risk factor for CAD. Family history of myocardial infarction did not show a significant effect on the artery stenosis. As to consanguinity of the parents, there was no significant association between patients and controls of CAD (P> 0.05).
Conclusion: These researches show that ageing increases the risk of coronary heart stenosis; also, females are more than men protected against this disease. The impact of family history of myocardial infarction and consanguineous marriage were not associated with of CAD.
Applied Econometrics and International Development (15784487)15(1)pp. 143-160
This case study estimated an electricity demand function for industrial sector of Iran by applying the structural time series technique to quarterly data for 2000q1-2011q4. In addition to identifying the size and significance of the price and output elasticities, this technique also uncovers UEDT. It is found that the estimated long-run and short-run industrial output elasticities are respectively, 0.85 and 0.36 and the estimated long-run and short-run industrial energy price elasticities are -0.47 and -0.27, respectively. The results suggest that the nature of the trend is not linear and deterministic but stochastic in form. The UEDT for the electricity usage of the industrial sector shows an upward slope.
