ABSTRACT
Background and Purpose: Many factors affect the learning of motor skills, one of which is the arrangement pattern of exercises, which can affect the stability and development of a generalized practice schedules and parameterizing the movements. The current research was performed to monitor the effect of different practice schedules on learning and transfer of generalized motor program in a serial task
Methods and Materials: This experimental study involved the population of male right-handed university students at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran. Therefore, 80 participants [age range of 19-23 years old] were randomly allocated into four groups: blocked, random, blocked-random and random-blocked. The test included performance of serial tasks with different generalized motor schedules [spatial dimension variance] and variable timing parameter. The participants took part after pretest phase and accomplishing 108 trial exercises according to practice group in retention and transfer tests. When different tests were performed, amount of relative timing errors [measure of consistency and proficiency of generalized motor program] were calculated. For data analysis, descriptive statistics [mean and standard deviation] and inferential statistics [repeated measures ANOVA and Tukey test] were used in SPSS 16 [p<0.05]
Results: A significant difference [F=3.71, P=0.00] was observed among different patterns of exercise at the acquisition level, and Tukey test showed that the group with blocked exercise [mean error 20.14 +/- 7] had a relatively better performance at this level as compared with other groups [random 31.84 +/- 9.4; blocked random 30.25 +/- 8.29; random blocked 27.33 +/- 7.10]. However, at the levels of learning and transfer, despite the relative superiority of combined practices over the relative timing errors, the difference between groups was not significant [P>0.05]
Conclusion: The results showed that the blocked exercises caused a better performance at the acquisition level. However, different patterns caused a similar effect on the performance of participants at the levels of learning and transfer in a serial task
ABSTRACT
Background and Purpose: Among Bacilli, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus anthracis are important and the latter causes anthrax. Toxin production in this bacillus is carried out by pxo1 gene and associated plasmid. Research has recently shown that this gene can transfer to other bacilli too. The present study was conducted to determine the frequency of pxo1 gene in bacilli other than Bacillus anthracis, so that they can be safely used in producing vaccines against anthrax
Methods and Materials: In this cross-sectional descriptive analytical study, 65 soil samples were collected from different geographical regions in Iran, and the organisms were isolated from the soil. Proteins isolated from bacilli were examined by SDS-PAGE technique, and the limits of coded proteins by pxo1 gene were specifically located. The data were summarized in Excel using figures and tables
Results: Based on the results, 13 out of 38 bacilli showed protein bands in the proteins coded by pxo1 gene, and all were from cereus family
Conclusion: In Iran, pxo1 plasmid has transferred from Bacillus anthracis to 13 bacilli isolated from Bacillus cereus
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the degree of kyphosis and psychological factors in male students of Tehran University. This study was a descriptive research and was run using correlation method. Fifty four male students, whose degree of kyphosis were more than 40°, voluntarily participated in the present study. The degree of kyphosis was measured by using spinalmouse between T1 to T12 thoracic vertebral and modified MMPI questionnaire [alpha=0.82]. Furthermore, Beck's depression questionnaire [alpha=0.85] and Spielberger's anxiety inventory state [alpha=0.87] were used to assess hypochondriasis, depression and anxiety respectively. The analysis of data by Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was no significant relationship between the degree of kyphosis and hypochandria [r= 0.51; P= 0.12], depression [r= 0.56; P= 0.56] and anxiety [r=-0.36; P= 0.30]. The result of this study shows that the existing kyphosis in male students by itself may not indicate anxiety, depression, and hypochandria in them