Visitor impact on rocky shore communities of Qeshm Island, the Persian Gulf, Iran

The influence of visitors on macroinvertebrates of rocky intertidal shores was investigated in southern coasts of the Qeshm Island, the Persian Gulf, Iran. Qeshm Island located at the Strait of Hormuz, with an area of 1,491 km², is the largest island in the region. This island consists of a number of important natural habitat types including creeks, mangroves, corals, and sandy, muddy, and rocky shores that accommodate diverse marine flora and fauna communities. Two rocky shores were selected at the touristic beaches being visited regularly, and further two control locations selected at pristine shores. Intertidal macroinvertebrates were collected from six microhabitats including rock platforms, cobbles, boulders, crevices, sea walls, and rock pools during two different periods representing high and low tourist seasons. Species richness, density, and assemblage structure in heavily visited shores were compared with that of control locations. Striped barnacles (Balanus amphitrite) were present on platforms of all locations, thus the changes in their size were used as the obvious contrast associated with visitor’s impact. A total of 70 macroinvertebrate species from 11 phyla were recorded. Significant differences were detected in taxonomic richness, density, and assemblage structure of macroinvertebrates between heavily visited and pristine shores, suggesting that macroinvertebrates were adversely affected by visitors’ impact at heavily visited shores. The test of changes in species richness, density, and assemblage structure from high to low seasons yielded mixed results. The significant changes in density and assemblage structure from high to low seasons were only observed in one heavily visited shore. A significant reduction in size of striped barnacles was observed only in one heavily visited shore. The opportunistic or fugitive species (e.g., small macroalgae and barnacles) were dominant macroinvertebrates on heavily visited shores indicating early succession stage. The results presented here showed that macroinvertebrates were adversely affected by human activities in subtropical rocky shore.     

Preconcentration of metal ions through chelation on a synthesized resin containing O, O donor atoms for quantitative analysis of environmental and biological samples

Nascent Amberlite XAD-4 has been used as the polymeric support for the synthesis of a stable extractor of metal ions, by incorporating phthalic acid through azo bridging. Elemental analyses and infra-red spectral and thermal studies were carried out for its characterization. The water regain value and hydrogen ion capacity were found to be 12.50 and 5.75 mmol g^?1, respectively. The optimum pH range for the maximum sorption of Ni(II), Mn(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Cr(III), and Co(II) was observed at pH 5.5–8.0 with the corresponding half-loading time (t _1/2) of 9, 5, 9, 9, 3, 9, and 5 min, respectively. The preconcentration factor for Ni(II), Mn(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Cr(III), and Co(II) are 190, 190, 190, 180, 180, 160, and 160, with the corresponding limit of preconcentration in the range of 5.25–6.25 μg L^?1. The detection limits, for flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, were found to be 0.62, 0.60, 0.65, 0.75, 0.72, 0.84, and 0.85 μg L^?1, respectively. Method has been successfully applied to the analysis of water samples, multivitamin formulations, infant food substitutes, hydrogenated oil, and fishes.     

Statistical analysis of arsenic contamination in drinking water in a city of Iran and its modeling using GIS

In this research, probable arsenic contamination in drinking water in the city of Ardabil was studied in 163 samples during four seasons. In each season, sampling was carried out randomly in the study area. Results were analyzed statistically applying SPSS 19 software, and the data was also modeled by Arc GIS 10.1 software. The maximum permissible arsenic concentration in drinking water defined by the World Health Organization and Iranian national standard is 10 μg/L. Statistical analysis showed 75, 88, 47, and 69% of samples in autumn, winter, spring, and summer, respectively, had concentrations higher than the national standard. The mean concentrations of arsenic in autumn, winter, spring, and summer were 19.89, 15.9, 10.87, and 14.6 μg/L, respectively, and the overall average in all samples through the year was 15.32 μg/L. Although GIS outputs indicated that the concentration distribution profiles changed in four consecutive seasons, variance analysis of the results showed that statistically there is no significant difference in arsenic levels in four seasons.     

Association of serum lead and mercury level with cardiometabolic risk factors and liver enzymes in a nationally representative sample of adolescents: the CASPIAN-III study

This study aims to determine the difference of serum Pb and Hg levels in adolescents with or without metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the association of serum levels of these heavy metals with cardiometabolic risk factors and liver enzymes in Iranian adolescents. The study population consisted of 320 adolescents (160 with MetS and 160 healthy controls). The relationship between serum heavy metals and cardiometabolic risk factors was assessed by linear regression. The odds ratios (OR) of having metabolic syndrome across Pb and Hg quartiles were determined by multiple logistic regression analysis. The mean (SD) of Pb and Hg concentrations were higher in adolescents with MetS than in those without it (0.83 (0.27) and 0.17 (0.01) vs. 0.65 (0.15) and 0.10 (0.08)?μg/L, P?=?0.01 and 0.0001, respectively). Increase in serum Pb and Hg was associated with increase in some cardiometabolic risk factors. Among boys and girls, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and alanine aminotransaminase increased significantly across quartiles of serum Pb. Among girls, SBP, DBP, TC, and TG had a significant increase across Hg quartiles. The corresponding figure among boys was significant for SBP, DBP, and TG. Higher quartiles of Pb increased the risk of having MetS (OR 95 % CI 3.10, 2.25–4.27), the corresponding figure was 2.03, 1.75–3.16, across Hg quartiles. Our study showed significant associations between serum Pb and Hg levels with cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents. In future surveys, the role of potential confounders should be considered more extensively. The clinical significance of these findings needs to be confirmed in longitudinal studies. By considering the origins of chronic diseases from early life, controlling environmental pollutants should be considered as a health priority for primordial or primary prevention of noncommunicable diseases.     

A LARGE ELECTRONIC WEIGHING LYSIMETER SYSTEM: DESIGN AND INSTALLATION1

ABSTRACT: To measure crop evapotranspiration, a large double tank, electronic weighting lysimeter system was designed and installed at the Shahid Bahonar University farm, Kerman, Iran. The system was installed in a 50 m² underground building. It includes two tanks of 3.00 m in diameter and 1.75 m deep. The weighing mechanism for each tank is a set of three compression strain gage load cells, which are fixed on 1.20 m height column above the floor. According to the specification of the load cells, the maximum possible weighing error may be about 0.01 percent of total mass, which is equivalent to 0.28 mm of water, but the measured error was equal to 1 kg mass, which is equivalent to 0.14 mm of water. The load cell data from each tank and the on‐site environmental data (temperature, humidity, and wind velocity and direction) are automatically recorded and saved in a personal computer hard disk for further use and analysis.     

Application of magnetic field and iron in order to change medicinal products of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ocimum basilicum</Emphasis>

In the present research, the effects of static magnetic field, with or without iron on the growth, the activity of certain enzymes (like polyphenol oxidase and phenyle alanine ammonialyase), the content of phenolic compounds and the essential oil composition of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) were studied. Treatment of plants with static magnetic field with or without iron led to decrease of the growth of plants as well as decrease in the activity of phenyle alanine ammonialyase and of phenolic compounds content. In addition in those plants exposed to magnetic field the amount of essential oils, notably of methyl chavicol, was increased. Exposure of plants to the magnetic field decreased the activity of polyphenol oxidase, whereas treatment of plants with iron when exposed to magnetic field increased polyphenol oxidase activity. In this group the content of essential oil was reduced.     

Solid phase extraction for evaluation of occupational exposure to Pb (II) using XAD-4 sorbent prior to atomic absorption spectroscopy.

Lead is an important constituent widely used in different industrial processes. For evaluation of workers' exposure to trace toxic metal of Pb (II), solid-phase extraction (SPE) was optimized. SPE using mini columns filled with XAD-4 resin was developed with regard to sample pH, ligand concentration, loading flow rate, elution solvent, sample volume, elution volume, the amount of resins, and sample matrix interferences. Lead ions were retained on a solid sorbent and then eluted, followed by a simple determination of analytes with flame atomic absorption spectrometery. The obtained recoveries of metal ions were greater than 92%. This method was validated with 3 different pools of spiked urine samples; it showed a good reproducibility over 6 consecutive days as well as 6 within-day experiments. This optimized method can be considered successful in simplifying sample preparation for a trace residue analysis of lead in different matrices when evaluating occupational and environmental exposures is required.     

A Modeling System to Assess Land Cover Land Use Change Effects on SAV Habitat in the Mobile Bay Estuary

Estuarine ecosystems are largely influenced by watersheds directly connected to them. In the Mobile Bay, Alabama watersheds we examined the effect of land cover and land use (LCLU) changes on discharge rate, water properties, and submerged aquatic vegetation, including freshwater macrophytes and seagrasses, throughout the estuary. LCLU scenarios from 1948, 1992, 2001, and 2030 were used to influence watershed and hydrodynamic models and evaluate the impact of LCLU change on shallow aquatic ecosystems. Overall, our modeling results found that LCLU changes increased freshwater flows into Mobile Bay altering temperature, salinity, and total suspended sediments (TSS). Increased urban land uses coupled with decreased agricultural/pasture lands reduced TSS in the water column. However, increased urbanization or agricultural/pasture land coupled with decreased forest land resulted in higher TSS concentrations. Higher sediment loads were usually strongly correlated with higher TSS levels, except in areas where a large extent of wetlands retained sediment discharged during rainfall events. The modeling results indicated improved water clarity in the shallow aquatic regions of Mississippi Sound and degraded water clarity in the Wolf Bay estuary. This integrated modeling approach will provide new knowledge and tools for coastal resource managers to manage shallow aquatic habitats that provide critical ecosystem services.     

Integrated Approach for Prioritizing Watersheds for Management: A Study of Lidder Catchment of Kashmir Himalayas

The Himalayan watersheds are susceptible to various forms of degradation due to their sensitive and fragile ecological disposition coupled with increasing anthropogenic disturbances. Owing to the paucity of appropriate technology and financial resources, the prioritization of watersheds has become an inevitable process for effective planning and management of natural resources. Lidder catchment constitutes a segment of the western Himalayas with an area of 1,159.38 km². The study is based on integrated analysis of remote sensing, geographic information system, field study, and socioeconomic data. Multicriteria evaluation of geophysical, land-use and land-cover (LULC) change, and socioeconomic indicators is carried out to prioritize watersheds for natural resource conservation and management. Knowledge-based weights and ranks are normalized, and weighted linear combination technique is adopted to determine final priority value. The watersheds are classified into four priority zones (very high priority, high priority, medium priority, and low priority) on the basis of quartiles of the priority value, thus indicating their ecological status in terms of degradation caused by anthropogenic disturbances. The correlation between priority ranks of individual indicators and integrated indicators is drawn. The results reveal that socioeconomic indicators are the most important drivers of LULC change and environmental degradation in the catchment. Moreover, the magnitude and intensity of anthropogenic impact is not uniform in different watersheds of Lidder catchment. Therefore, any conservation and management strategy must be formulated on the basis of watershed prioritization.     

Effect of Tinospora cordifolia on the reduction of ultraviolet radiation‐induced cytotoxicity and DNA damage in PC12 cells

The safety of Tinospora cordifolia and its potential to protect against ultraviolet radiation‐induced cytotoxicity and DNA damage in PC12 cells were investigated. To evaluate the safety of T. cordifolia, cell viability and agarose gel electrophoresis were carried out using PC12 cells treated with 0 to 100 μg mL^?1 of methanol extract of T. cordifolia. T. cordifolia extracts did not show cytotoxicity ranging 0 to 100 μg mL^?1. In addition, T. cordifolia extracts significantly increased cell viability at 1 ng, 10 ng and 1 μg mL^?1 concentrations in serum‐deprived medium compared to control. To confirm the protective role against UV‐induced damage, PC12 cells alone or in the presence of 10 ng, 100 ng, or 1 μg mL^?1 of T. cordifolia extract were exposed to 250, 270 and 290 nm of UV radiation, which corresponded to doses of 120, 150 and 300 mJ cm^?2, respectively. Treatment with T. cordifolia extracts significantly increased the cell survival rate irradiated at 290 nm. In addition, T. cordifolia extracts significantly reduced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer formation induced by UV irradiation at all wavelengths. In conclusion, T. cordifolia is not toxic and safe for cells. Our findings can support its application as phototherapy in the medical sector.