[Investigation of a medicinal and ornamental plant propagation, the cereus peruvianus mill, and using tissue culture technique]

The extracted juice and alkaloeids of the medicinal and ornamental cactus Cereus peruvianus are contain a lot of effective compounds which widely use in medicine and agricultural industries. Propagation of this plant using conventional method [seed, cutting, offset] is very slow and its mass production is possible by tissue culture technique. The aim of this study was the micropropagation possibility and recognition of some of its different aspects, and determination of suitable medium and hormonal composition at in-vitro conditions of cereus. The experimental design was compeletly randomized with 3 replication and each replicate was contained 5 sample. After surface disinfection the explants were cultured on MS basal medium containing%3 sucrose,8 g/1 phytoagar and different treatment of plant growth regulators [IBA, NAA, Kinetin, BAP, 2,4-D, GA3, TDZ] and pH=5/8. After 45 days, some parameters such as effectivness of culture media in percent of regeneration from areole, production of friable callus and rooting in all treatments were recorded. In this research The best growth of friable callus was obtained in MS medium supplemented with 0.07mg/l TDZ and 0.05 mg/1 NAA and 4mg/l 2,4-D with 6mg/l kinetin for regeneration of areole and 4mg/l 2,4-D and 4mg/l kinetin for rooting was the most favorable medium.High regeneration potential was observed after 2.5-3 months of culture. Eight different media was selected for plantlet regeneration.There is a significant difference between regeneration of areole in cereus peruvianus var monstrosus and cereus peruvianus var tortuosus. As for to the importance of the extracted juice and alkaloeids of the cactus Cereus peruvianus Propagation of this plant using by conventional method is very slow and propagation it of areol in addition to economical is very fast

[Isolation of taxol-producing endophytes fungi from Iranian yew [Taxus baccata L.]]

Taxol is an effective anticancer drug which is used widely for the treatment of a variety of cancers. Taxol is normally isolated from the bark of the yew trees. Since obtaining Taxol from this source requires destruction of yew trees, researchers were thinking to find other sources for producing this substance. Fortunately, Iranian yew consists of different species of endophytic fungi that are able to produce Taxol. The aim of this study was to find and isolate Taxol-producing endophytes fungi from Iranian yew. To isolate endophytic fungi, stem and twig were collected from yew trees in north forests of Iran. After superficial sterilization, samples were placed on the surface of potato dextrose agar [PDA] medium in Petri plate. After some days, emerged fungi were isolated in the plates, some individual hyphal tips of the fungi were transferred to new PDA medium and this was repeated three times for fungus purity. The ability of fungus to make Taxol was substantiated by HPLC analyses. HPLC separation was performed using a kromasil C18 column. Data were analyzed using Duncan's test. From a total of 80 isolated fungi from Iranian yew, five fungi were observed to produce Taxol. Among these fungi, TbPm4 produced the highest amount of Taxol [21/74 micrig/1]. The results of this study demonstrated that isolated endophytes fungi from Iranian yew tree have capability to produce Taxol

Long term evaluation of macroscopic characteristics of some Iranian and foreign toothbrushes before and after use

The increasing use of foreign toothbrushes along with their higher prices in comparison with Iranian toothbrushes has made us to perform this study in order to evaluate macroscopic characteristics of ten types of toothbrushes Laleh, Mina, Jarda, Jourdan, AlFalij, Dr.Best, Oral-B, Butler and Crest before and after 1, 2 and 3 months using. This experimental study was carried out on 240 students [12 years old girls], of Shahid Beheshti school with observation and questionnaire as its technique. The students were divided to 10 groups according to 10 kinds of toothbrushes. They used the toothbrushes for 1,2 and 3 months. Finally, the toothbrushes were gathered and their bristles were evaluated. Tests [Analysis of variance, Tukey and chi square] showed that all the toothbrushes except of Laleh, Mina and Oral-B were in the range of standard. Laleh and Mina toothbrushes just in the bristle-less edge and Oral-B in the size of toothbrush head were out of standard range. There was a significant difference between the end roundness of different toothbrushes and between the changes of bristles after 1, 2, 3 month application [P<0.001]. Satisfaction of using and end roundness among foreign toothbrushes was more than Iranian toothbrushes