A comparative study of the effects of topical application of Aloe vera, thyroid hormone and silver sulfadiazine on skin wounds in Wistar rats

Many research studies report the healing effects of Aloe Vera, thyroid hormone cream and silver sulfadiazine. However, the effects of these therapeutic agents are not well understood and have not been compared in one study. This study aimed at investigating the effects of topical application of an Aloe vera gel, a thyroid hormone cream and a silver sulfadiazine cream on the healing of skin wounds surgically induced in Wistar rats for determining the treatment of choice. In a randomized controlled trial, twelve male rats, aged 120 days and with a mean weight of 250 to 300 g, were divided randomly into 5 groups based on drug treatments: Aloe vera gel (AV), thyroid hormone cream (TC), silver sulfadiazine 1% (S), vehicle (V) and control. To evaluate the efficacy of each treatment technique, a biomechanical approach was used to assess tensile stress after 14 days of treatment. Tensile stress was significantly improved in the Aloe vera gel group as compared with the other four groups (P≤0.05). While the other treatment options resulted in better healing than the control group, this difference was not significant. We conclude that Aloe vera topical application accelerated the healing process more than thyroid hormone, silver sulfadiazine and vehicle in surgically induced incisions in rats.     

Spectrotemporal Response Properties of Core Auditory Cortex Neurons in Awake Monkey

So far, most studies of core auditory cortex (AC) have characterized the spectral and temporal tuning properties of cells in non-awake, anesthetized preparations. As experiments in awake animals are scarce, we here used dynamic spectral-temporal broadband ripples to study the properties of the spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs) of AC cells in awake monkeys. We show that AC neurons were typically most sensitive to low ripple densities (spectral) and low velocities (temporal), and that most cells were not selective for a particular spectrotemporal sweep direction. A substantial proportion of neurons preferred amplitude-modulated sounds (at zero ripple density) to dynamic ripples (at non-zero densities). The vast majority (>93%) of modulation transfer functions were separable with respect to spectral and temporal modulations, indicating that time and spectrum are independently processed in AC neurons. We also analyzed the linear predictability of AC responses to natural vocalizations on the basis of the STRF. We discuss our findings in the light of results obtained from the monkey midbrain inferior colliculus by comparing the spectrotemporal tuning properties and linear predictability of these two important auditory stages.     

Mining expressed sequence tags of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) to predict the drought responsive regulatory network

Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants - It is of great significance to understand the regulatory mechanisms by which plants deal with drought stress. Two EST libraries derived from rapeseed...     

Biodiversity of vespid wasps in spatial and temporal dimensions in northern Zanjan Province of Iran

Vespidae is one of the major families of Hymenoptera with more than 115000 described species. In the present paper, Simpson and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices, Simpson,Camargo, Smith and Wilson, and modified Nee evenness indices, and richness index based on rarefaction method were adopted to study the biodiversity of vespid wasps in spatial and temporal dimensions in northern Zanjan Province of Iran. In spatial dimension, Zanjan and Gilvan showed the highest and the lowest species diversity, evenness, and richness, respectively; while in tem-poral dimension, 16 July-6 August showed the highest species diversity and richness, and 18 May -27 May and 23 August -2 September showed the highest and the lowest species evenness,respectively. Significant differences in species abundance between localities of study area were observed by Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test.     

Systematics and evolution of the libyan jird based on molecular and morphometric data

The libyan jird is one of the most widely distributed species among wild rodents, with its range extending from Morocco to China. Fifteen subspecies were described but their validity and the phylogenetic relationships among them are uncertain. Based on a comprehensive sampling, this study aims to define subspecies limits within Meriones libycus and to discuss the factors driving subspecific diversification. We used an integrative approach combining molecular (Cytochrome b and Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit 1 genes) and geometric morphometric data. Genetic data allowed us to identify three allopatric lineages within M. libycus: Western lineage in North Africa, Central lineage in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria, and Eastern lineage in Iran, Afghanistan, and China. These three lineages can also be differentiated based on skull morphology. Our results support the existence of at least three subspecies within the libyan jird: Meriones libycus libycus, M. l. syrius, and Meriones libycus erythrourus. Based on our divergence time estimates, all divergence events within M. libycus probably occurred during the Pleistocene, after 1.597 Ma. Quaternary climate fluctuations in the Sinai Peninsula explain the differentiation between the African M. l. libycus and the Levant-Arabian M. l. syrius. The differentiation of M. l. syrius with respect to the eastern M. l. erythrourus is putatively linked to the climatic fluctuations and tectonic activity of the Zagros Mountains and/or the Mesopotamia Plain of Iraq during the Pleistocene.     

Umbelliprenin from Ferula persica roots inhibits the red pigment production in Serratia marcescens

The chloroform extract of Ferula persica var. persica roots was found to inhibit red pigment production of Serratia marcescens. A bioguided fractionation study by preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC) detected a fraction (Rf = 0.71, petroleum ether/EtOAc, 2:1 v/v), which was effective on depigmentation of Serratia marcescens. Using conventional spectroscopy methods, the active fraction was identified as umbelliprenin. Neither the chloroform extract nor the isolated umbelliprenin fraction showed any antibacterial activity against the test strain at a certain concentration. In contrast, they exhibited depigmentation zones on culture plates.