Integral water capacity (IWC) and least limiting water range (LLWR): prediction using plant growth indices and soil properties.

Soil water availability is an important field of study in soil water and plant relationship. Least limiting water range (LLWR) and integral water capacity (IWC) are two important concepts which are used for water availability to plant. LLWR is determined from four moisture coefficients (θ AFP, θ FC, θ SR, θ PWP) that are the soil water contents 10% air-filled porosity (AFP), at field water capacity (FC), 2 MPa penetration resistance (SR), and permanent wilting point (PWP), respectively. The computation is dependent on critical values, so IWC was introduced to avoid using the critical limits that sharply rises in a cut-off from 0 to 1 at the wet end of water release curve or sharply falls from 1 to 0 at the dry side in the previous concepts of water availability for plant. IWC is the integral of differential water capacity function (C(h)) in the amplitude of 0 to infinity soil matric potential (h) multiplied by some weighting functions (ω i (h)) each considering the effect of various soil limitations on water availability to plants. Up to now, the effect of different soil attributes and the tillage treatments have been reviewed on LLWR. The effect of soil various physical and chemical limitations such as soil hydraulic conductivity (K(h)), aeration, SR, and salinity has been considered on IWC computation. LLWR and especially IWC have been seldom studied using plant real response. Results of few studies about LLWR and IWC using stomatal conductance and canopy temperature showed that their values were considerably different with those computed based on previously introduced critical limits for LLWR and weighting functions for IWC. These differences indicate that the critical limits proposed by da Silva et al. (Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:1775-1781, 1994) and weighting functions by Groenevelt et al. (Aust J Soil Res 39:577-598, 2001) may not be applied indiscriminately for all plants and should to be modified according to plant response. Physiological characteristics like transpiration and photosynthesis rate, chlorophyll index, leaf water potential, and relative water content also could be appropriate indices for monitoring plant water status and computation the real value of LLWR and IWC in the field or greenhouse for various types of plants.

Molecular detection of Toxoplasma gondii in snakes.

Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, is responsible for one of the most common zoonotic parasitic diseases in almost all warm-blooded vertebrates worldwide, and it is estimated that about one-third of the world human population is chronically infected with this parasite. Little is known about the circulation of T. gondii in snakes and this study for the first time aimed to evaluate the infection rates of snakes by this parasite by PCR methods. The brain of 68 Snakes, that were collected between May 2012 and September 2015 and died after the hold in captivity, under which they were kept for taking poisons, were examined for the presence of this parasite. DNA was extracted and Nested-PCR method was carried out with two of pairs of primers to detect the 344 bp fragment of T. gondii GRA6 gene. Five positive nested-PCR products were directly sequenced in the forward and reverse directions by Sequetech Company (Mountain View, CA). T. gondii GRA6 gene were detected from 55 (80.88%) of 68 snakes brains. Sequencing of the GRA6 gene revealed 98-100% of similarity with T. gondii sequences deposited in GenBank. To our knowledge, this is the first study of molecular detection of T. gondii in snakes and our findings show a higher frequency of this organism among them.

Evaluation of a Novel Herbal Immunomodulator Drug (IMOD) in Treatment of Experimental Canine Visceral leishmaniasis.

Toxicity and drug resistance against pentavalent antimonials, medications of choice in treatment of leishmaniasis for more than 5 decades, have become important subjects globally. This study was a randomized, open labeled trial that was designed to determine efficacy and safety of IMOD as a novel herbal immunomodulator drug for treatment of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). Twenty healthy mongrel dogs were infected with Iranian strain of L. Infantum amastigotes and randomly divided to 5 groups with four animals for each included on: I: negative control (non-infected) II: Glucantime® III: Glucantime® plus IMOD (immune-chemotherapy) IV: IMOD and V: positive control (non-treated). Physical examination, hematological, biochemical, serological, parasitological, pathological and imaging evaluations were performed pre-/post- interventions every month for 3 months. Comparing with control groups (I&V), immune-chemotherapy group (Glucantime® plus IMOD) showed significantly higher efficacy in resolving the clinical signs and hematobiochemistry factors. Based on our results, using IMOD in combination with meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime®) has significantly improved CVL than the latter drug alone. So, it seems this new herbal medicine is useful as adjuvant therapy for canine visceral leishmaniasis.