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The present study aimed to evaluate pragmatic skill of adult right and left hemispheres damaged Persian speaking patients using the Persian version of the Montreal Protocol for the Evaluation of Communication (M.E.C.). The statistical populations of the study were 10 adults, right and left hemispheres damaged Persian speaking patients due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Two sets of tests were used in the present study. The first ones were screening tests included Lateral Preference Inventory (Corn test), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Persian Diagnostic Aphasia Battery (EQ1). The Performance of patients in protocol subtests were evaluated and compared with each other individually, intragroup and intergroup. Data were analyzed using inferential statistical methods and no meaningful relations were found between them. These findings indicated that damage to the right and left hemispheres of the brain leads to pragmatic impairments. However, damages to the right hemisphere increases the severity of pragmatic impairments more than damages to the left hemisphere.
 

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cognitive functions on verbal fluency. For this purpose, some cognitive functions and verbal fluency in adult patients with right hemisphere damage were evaluated. The methodological nature of this study is descriptive-analytical. The statistical population of the study consists of 18 adult patients with right hemisphere damage and 18 healthy adults. Selective attention test, memory test, clock drawing test (visual neglect) and verbal fluency test were used to evaluate cognitive functions and linguistic skill of the subjects. Research data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed that there is a significant difference between performance of adult patients with right hemisphere damage and healthy adults in the cognitive tests (P< 0.05). Likewise, in the verbal fluency test, there is a significant difference between performance of adult patients with right hemisphere damage and healthy adults (P< 0.05). In addition, the research findings showed that there is a correlation between cognitive functions and verbal fluency. Also, the results showed that damage to the right hemisphere of brain can lead to disorders in cognitive functions of patients with right hemisphere damage. Furthermore, it seems that impairment in cognitive functions can cause problems in language skills.
 

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Background: Differentiation ofmesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to hepatocyte-like cells could be associated with development of liver function factors. The impact of differentiation-dependent changes on DNA integrity is not well understood. In this study, hepatocytes and their progenitor stem cells were treated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and amplification of selected genes linked to DNA damage was examined. Methods: MSCs and CD34+ cells isolated from umbilical cord blood (UCB) were treated with AFB1 (0, 2.5, 10 and 20 µM) in selective media supporting the hepatocyte differentiation. After 24 htreatment the DNA damage (Comet assay) and amplification rates ofP53 and β-globin genes were measured using real time polymerase chain reaction (QPCR). Results:The results show that AFB1 treatments resulted in a concentration- dependent increase in the DNA damage and suppression of the specific gene amplification. The extent of DNA damage was significantly greater in hepatocytes differentiated from MSCs when compared to those obtained from CD34+ cells. The effects of AFB1 on the rate of selected gene amplification in QPCR showed that the lesions (expressed as lesions/10 kb) in P53 and β-globin genes was significantly greater in hepatocytes derived from MSCs as compared to the cells derived from CD34+ cells. Conclusions: These data together with the results of cytochrome P450 (CYP3A4) expression in the cells suggest that the non-differentiated stem cells are probably less vulnerable to genotoxic agents as compared to hepatocytes differentiated from them.

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Background: Accumulation of triglycerides in the liver i.e. steatosis, is a well-known side-effect of tamoxifen administration to patients suffering from breast cancer. Cichoriumintybus (chicory) is a plant used as traditional medicine for curing liver disorders. In this study, the effects of extract prepared from chicory roots on tamoxifen-induced liver steatosis and related biochemical factors in animal model using rats has been investigated. Methods: Female rats of Wistar strain were divided into four groups and treated as follows; 1-Control: received vehicle; 2- Chicory root-extract treated: rats were given by gavage the aqueous chicory root extract (1 g/kg body weight/day for 14 days).3- Tamoxifen-treated: rats received tamoxifen (1 mg/kg body weight/day, for 7 days). 4- Tamoxifen+chicory-group: animals received tamoxifen (1 mg/kg body weight/day for 7 days) followed by chicory extract given by gavage (1 g/kg body weight/day for 14 days). After treatment, blood was collected by cardiac puncher, plasma was separated and plasma levels of glucose, total protein, triglyceride, cholesterol,LDL-C, HDL-C and activities of ALT, AST and ALP were measured. Liver tissues were homogenized used for measuring tissue triglyceride and histological examinations. Results: The data show that tamoxifen treatment caused a significant decrease in the level of serum cholesterol, HDL-C and total protein. However, serum ALT level was increased in tamoxifen-treated rats compared to controls. Increased serum ALT in tamoxifen-treated rats was recovered in rats treated with plant extract (tamoxifen+chicory-group). HDL-C and total protein levels were unaffected in rats fed chicory extracts. Tamaxifen-treated animals showed signs of liver steatosis as shown by histological examination and accumulation liver triglyceride. The steatosis markers such as accumulated triglyceride in liver was significantly reduced due to the plant extract treatments when compared to tamoxifen-group. Conclusions: Dietary extract prepared from chicory roots is effective in modulation of  tamoxifen-induced liver damage and steatosis.

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Rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini), with worldwide distribution is an important pest of apple orchards. Host plant resistance is an essential component of integrated management of this insect pest. We investigated the resistance of seven apple cultivars, Malus domestica (Borkhausen), namely Granny Smith, Starkrimson, Golden Smoothee, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Boshghabi, and Shaki to rosy apple aphid under field and greenhouse conditions. The damage level by rosy apple aphid was significantly different among the tested cultivars precisely three weeks after infestation in both field and greenhouse conditions. The least leaf curling was observed on Shaki, while the most deformation was detected on Golden Delicious. There was positive correlation between damage in greenhouse and field studies. In addition, the lowest and highest numbers of aphids were observed on Shaki and Golden Delicious, respectively. Consequently, our results demonstrated that among the cultivars tested the Shaki cultivar is moderately resistant to rosy apple aphid and has the potential to be used in the integrated management of this aphid.  

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  Losses of agricultural products and the related financial losses are considerable in Iran. Potato is one of the most important crops in Iran and has the most nutritious energy per area. The losses of potato are considerable as statistical reports. The mechanical damage is one of the factors in potato losses that occur during harvesting and handling of potato tubers. When reduction in mechanical damage of tubers is of concern, attentions are automatically drawn towards the design and adjustment of the potato harvester. Of course the design and adjustment of the potato harvester is one of the coin, the other side is the potato tuber themselves. For some potato varieties that are highly susceptible to mechanical damages, even a well designed and adjusted harvester can still cause extensive damage. For this reason a prior knowledge about damaging impact energy threshold of potato tubers are as important as the knowledge about the harvester.        In this research a constructed pendulum was used to measure the damaging impact energy threshold for Agria, Aula, Marfona varieties. After measuring volume of damage, the effect of impact angle, varieties and tuber size were studied. Results show that, varieties, impact angle and tuber size has significant effect on the volume of damage and aula variety is more susceptible to damage than other varieties. Although volume of damage in large tubers are higher than other sizes.   

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Nowadays most of structural engineers consider masonry infill walls as non-structural elements and only their mass is calculated during structural analysis, on the other hand, architects determine the specifications of walls without considering any of their seismic performance. In other words, during the seismic design of conventional medium rise buildings, most focuses are on structural elements and seismic performance of walls is rarely considered. While masonry infill walls are non-structural elements have the most potential to facilitate the entire collapse of buildings and damage them even in mild or moderate earthquakes. Experiences of past earthquakes show infill walls may have positive or negative effects on building›s seismic response. In recent earthquakes, numerous buildings designed by engineers were severely damaged or
even collapsed as a result of anomalies in the basic structural system induced by non-structural masonry partitions. Whereas there were weak structures without any lateral force resistant elements constructed by non-specialist people which remained stable as a result of the contribution of masonry infill walls. Therefore the research process has been defined in a way to answer the followings three main questions:
1. Which faults in design and construction will cause damage to walls in earthquakes?
2. How can non-structural walls lead to the collapse of seismic resistant buildings in earthquakes?
3. What are the effects of non-structural walls in seismic resistance of buildings?
Since there are various definitions of walls, it should be noted that this study included non-structural walls such as infill walls and partitions and excluded shear walls and load bearing walls. The main purpose of this paper is to identify weaknesses of walls and also investigate the positive and negative effects of infill walls on seismic performance of buildings in a conceptual approach for architects. Numerous studies have been carried out about the effects of infill walls on structural behavior in earthquakes by researchers from structure and earthquakes engineering with an intensive approach, but there are a few researches with a comprehensive conceptual approach considering all efficient factors on the seismic performance of walls with perceptible approach to be employed by architects. So this paper is trying to study the damage of walls in past earthquakes and evaluate their positive and negative effects on seismic performance of buildings in three main levels to determine main causes of damage. The results can be used as awareness for architects about the consequences of their decisions in design process. Considering required measures in the design phase and providing more favorable context for the seismic performance of buildings can result in the better performance of structures.
The main approach of this research is analytical and the applied method is experimental. In fact, the observed damage in past earthquakes is similar to a performed experiment in laboratory with a real scale. In this method there is no limitation in terms of scale, material properties and quality of construction in comparison with computer modeling or laboratory methods. According to the extensive approach of this paper, this method can be very helpful in understanding all efficient factors in seismic performance of walls. The main source of data in this paper is based on the damage of buildings in 1990 Manjil-Rudbar, Iran, 2002 Changureh (Avaj), Iran, 2003 Bam, Iran, 1968 Tokachi-oki, Japan, 1985 Mexico City, 1925 Santa
Barbara, California, 1971 San Fernando, California, 1994 Northridge, California, 1995 Kobe, Japan, 1998 Adana-Ceyhan, Turkey, 1999 Kocaeli (Izmit), Turkey, 2001 Arequipa, Peru, 2002 Molise, Italy, 2007 Sumatra, Indonesia, 2008 Wenchuan, Chian, 2009 Abruzzo, Italy, 2011 Tohoku, Japan, 2011 Van, Turkey, 2011 Lyttelton, New Zealand earthquakes.
Based on the experiences of past earthquakes, the seismic behavior of walls can be presented in a unique graph by three levels and analyzing each of them in both positive and negative aspects. In the first level of poor performance, only wall is damaged, which is known as in-plane failure that can happen for both separate and infill walls. The weak components and connections, configuration and the size of openingsare the two main efficient factors for the occurrence of this kind of failures. In the second level, wall is damaged and there would be possibility of damage to other non-structural elements and humans› injury too. These kinds of failure are known as out-of-plane failure and can be occurred in separate and infill walls.
The three factors of weak components and connections, non-proper aspect ratio and weak connections to structural elements are effective on this level of damage. In the third level, infill walls cause damage to the structure of buildings. In this level, wall failure especially in-plane failures may occur first and then followed by structural failure. In other cases wall could remain stable but due to its form, material, connection and position causes the structural damage. Following the structural damage, the damage to non-structural elements such as walls and also human causalities are expected.
There could be imagined, three levels for satisfactory wall performance. In the first level, walls remain stable against in-plane forces. In the second level, walls also remain stable against out-of-plane forces and do not cause damage to other elements. In the third level, walls which remain stable in both two previous levels and have appropriate material, adequate connections between components, proper aspect ratio, durable connections to the structure, proper position of the openings and their arrangement in plan and elevations are desirable, can help in strengthening non-seismic resistant buildings or can provide extra potential for seismic resistant buildings.
As a final conclusion it is necessary to notice the characteristics of walls in order to achieve an ultimate seismic resistant building, besides the seismic design of structural system. A little care to the seismic performance of walls in various stages of architectural and structural design can prevent the adverse effects of walls during earthquakes and exploit their favorable performance. By this method, structural costs can be reduced and also can provide extra potential for seismic resistant of buildings with low quality construction without any increase in cost.

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Tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta, is the most destructive pest of tomato in Iran. Resistance levels of six tomato cultivars to the pest damage were evaluated during two tomato growing seasons (2014-2015). Samplings were done weekly. Leaf and fruit damages as well as the total yield of the cultivars were compared. Furthermore, leaf trichome density was evaluated. The highest to lowest leaf infestation rates were recorded for the Primo early, CaljN3, Petomek, Rio grande, Early urbana and Super 2270 cultivars respectively. Fruit infestation rate in Early urbana was significantly lower than the other cultivars in both growing seasons. Total yield of tomato (from the highest to the lowest) belonged to Super 2270, Early urbana, Rio grande, Petomek, Calj N3 and Primo early cultivars.
 

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The genus Paratylenchus sensu lato includes members belonging to the genera Paratylenchus sensustricto (species with 10 to 40µm long stylet), Gracilacus (species with 40-120µm long stylet), Gracilpaurus (species having cuticular punctuations) and Paratylenchoides (species having sclerotized cephalic framework). Long stylet species become swollen and feed as sedentary parasites of roots, some feed from cortex of perennial host roots, but most species feed as sedentary ectoparasites on roots. In other words, species with stylet shorter than 40µm commonly feed on epidermal cells, whilst the species with longer stylet nourish primarily in cortical tissue, without penetration into the plant tissue. In general, pin nematodes, Paratylenchus spp. are parasites of higher plants with a higher abundance in the rhizosphere of trees and perennials. In present review, an attempt is made to document published information on the pathogenicity and damage potential of the pin nematodes to plants.
 

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The issue of "victimless crimes" or "consensual crimes" is a new issue, and at the same time a very important one in the realm of the studies regarding "victimology", as a now branch of criminal sciences. The novelty of the issue, specifically in the Iranian criminal law, its vagueness, and the relationship of victimless crimes with some criminal policy issues like criminal proceeding, criminal statistics, fear of crime, crime prevention and restorative justice reveal the significance of the point. This article deals with the most important issues in this regard, namely defining and realizing samples of this kind of crimes, in order to get a better understanding and recognition of the concept of "victimless crimes" or in other words "crimes without direct victim", and also to determine the samples of this kind of crimes. The article deals also with the basic elements mentioned in the definition particularly the triple elements, that is victim, damage and consensus Finally, the article examines the relation between morality and victimless crimes and compares them.

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This study aims to elucidate the relationship between the larval armyworm Spodoptera litura F. population density (0, 2, 4, and 6 per plant) with leaf damage level and yield loss in three soybean varieties, Anjasmoro, Argomulyo, and Grobogan. S. litura larvae were introduced both in the plant’s vegetative phase (20 and 30 days after planting) and its generative phase. This research used a split-plot design with the varieties as the main plots and the larval population as the subplot, with five replications. The results showed that the highest leafdamage was in the Anjasmoro, 6.5% to 8.87% in the vegetative phase and 6.95-7.81% in the generative phase. Meanwhile, Argomulyo had 5.96% to 6.68% and 5.78% to 6.39% of damage in both phases, and Grobogan was less susceptible, with 5.90% to 5.98% and 5.28% to 6.17% at the vegetative phase and generative phase, respectively. The highest decline in seed yield was in Argomulyo (0.81% and 0.79% in the vegetative and generative phase) and the lowest was Anjasmoro (0.66% and 0.64% in the vegetative and generative phase). For the population density, the highest level of soybean varieties seed yield loss in South Sulawesi was with 6 larvae per plant, which was at 23.44% in the vegetative phase and 23.48% in the generative phase. Among the varieties, the highest of seed yield loss was with Argomulyo (14.93%) and the lowest at Anjasmoro (11.30%). It can be concluded that the relationship between the S. litura larvae population density and the decrease of seed yield is quite strong (90.2% to 96.4% for vegetative phase and 94.8% to 96.4% for generative phase).

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Objective: The ITPA gene is responsible to remove free deaminated purine nucleotides of ITP, dITP and XTP from nucleotide pool of the cells. It seems that dysfunction in its activity, not only can increas the base substitution mutations frequency but also can works as a contrived factor to creating instability in genetic materials of the cells. There are several reports about the existence of structural and numerical genetic instability in the K562 cell genome. In this research, we examined the expression of ITPA gene as a possible contrived factor in observed genetic instability of this cell line. Materials and Methods: To evaluate the expression of target gene semi-quantitative RT-PCR technique was used. Then to examine the functionality of gene products, its cDNAs were cloned and their sequences were determined. Their proteins products were predicted using available bioinformatics soft wares and the results were compared. Results: The result of structural prediction of second mRNA showed that it has ability to encode a protein which has inability in substrate binding and also in its normal enzymatic activity. With regard to the fact that enzymatic activity of protein is dependent on the dimer formation, the function of hetero-dimer enzyme is changed. Therefore the catalytic activity of ITPase is predicted to be abnormal and it can be considered as a contrived factor for creating genetic instability in K562 cell line. Conclusion: The study of gene expression showed that ITPA gene is expressed in moderate level compared to GAPDH expression as an internal control in K562 cell. Two types of transcripts were detected in this line. One of them was the normal product of splicing process of primary hnRNA, but the second one contained a 51 nucleotides deletion in the mRNA coding region. It seems, this transcript is the product of a rare splicing process in this line.

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Abstract The main purpose of this research is studying stripping of asphalt mixtures. Key factors were the aggregate properties and the suitable methods to control and assess the stripping distress in laboratory conditions. Our case study was the "Zanjan-Qazvin" freeway in which this distress is manifested extensively. The aggregates for the tests were selected from the sections in which stripping were more serius. stripping was found to be caused by excess values of siliceous minerals. This resul were obtained using XRF & XRD analyses. Primary estimation of stripping was determined using boiling test over the loose mix specimens. Specimens were tested under theWTAT. Hydrated lime was utilized as the antistripping agent. It is concluded that if hydrated lime is utilized as an additives, not only stripping is reduced but also the stability and durability of the asphalt pavement is increased. The presented approach ultimately resulted in improving mix properties.

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Aims: The article’s purpose was to consider the problematic issues of forming an understanding of such concepts as health, pain, and suffering.
Information & Methods: A set of general scientific and special methods was used in work: dialectical, dogmatic, hermeneutics, comparative legal method, statistic, and sociological method.
Findings: Considered the category of "health" in various humanities and compared the characteristics of "physical pain" and "physical and moral suffering" as possible consequences of criminal offenses that harm the health of the individual.
Conclusion: The research of such problematic issues allowed to development of a unified approach to the understanding of such concepts as “health”, “pain” and “suffering” this, in turn, will make it possible to unify legislation in this area.

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Abstract Studying the response details of steel moment connections is very important due to the role of connections in moment resisting frames. The aims of this research were: i) to study the damage indices of steel material including: Pressure Index, Mises Index, Equivalent Plastic Strain Index, Triaxiality Index, and Rupture Index and ii) to compare these indices at connections of steel moment frames under earthquake loads. To achieve this, time history nonlinear dynamic analysis is performed using selected earthquake records on 2D model of special steel frame with ten storey and one bay to determine maximum rotations of connections. Then, damages indices of the selected connections under maximum rotation of records are investigated with selecting two types of moment connections. The results indicate that damage indices are dependent on type of connection, location of surveying, and rotations caused by earthquake movements. This dependency is very considerable for Equivalent Plastic Strain Index and Ruptureindices

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The larval feeding preference and damage potential of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) on promising cotton genotypes/hybrid were studied during 2004 under laboratory and field conditions at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India. Third and fifth instar larvae were allowed to feed on different types of fruiting body (squares, flowers and young bolls) of various genotypes/hybrid in the laboratory to determine the relative feeding preference by the larva. For studying damage potential, the larvae were allowed to feed individually up until pupation on a single or all types of fruiting body of different genotypes/hybrid, both under laboratory and field conditions. The mean num-ber of fruiting bodies damaged by a larva was determined. The results indicated that the arboreum genotypes (HD-123 and HD-324) and the hirsutum genotype, H-1226, were pre-ferred by neither third nor fifth instar larvae for feeding. The order of preference of the remaining genotypes/hybrid was HS-6> H-1117> HHH-223 (hybrid)> H-1098 with respect to third instar and HHH-223> H-1098> H-1117> HS-6 for fifth instar larvae. Among dif-ferent fruiting bodies, the third instar larvae exhibited greater preference for flowers while the fifth instar for young bolls, irrespective of genotypes. Under laboratory condi-tions, a larva damaged more squares, followed by flowers and young bolls. Larvae caused significantly greater damage to fruiting bodies in the arboreum than the hirsutum geno-types/hybrid during the course of development. The hybrid generally recorded signifi-cantly lower square and boll damage. Under field conditions, a larva from hatching till pupation required on average 9.00 squares, 7.88 flowers or 4.20 bolls of H-1098 when re-stricted to feeding on a single type of fruiting body but 1.25 squares, 2.75 flowers and 2.12 bolls when all types of fruiting bodies were available to.

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Abstract: Damage assessment of bearing members before rehabilitation is necessary. If the damage state of a member is expressed by a number called "damage index". One of the most popular damage indexes for reinforced concrete (RC) members is Park-Ang Damage Index model. This model has been established based on the experimental results of RC beams and columns with different modes of damage. It has considerable uncertainty based on its authors’ remarks. In this study, the precision of Park-Ang model for RC columns was improved by using some experimental results from the Peer's (Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research) data bank. The proposed model focuses on RC columns with specific sections and collapse modes.