Acid rain, which is a wet form of gaseous air pollutants, is formed when air pollutants such as SO₂, NO₂, CO₂ in the atmosphere combine with water vapor of clouds. With the increase of concentration of these pollutants, the amount of acid rain increases. Acid rain, which is the mixture of sulphuric, nitric and carbonic acids, results in some changes in the soil such as decrease in pH, uncommon nutrient liberation, increase of release of toxic metals and the decline in the fertility of soil. These impacts have negative effects on plants. In the present work wheat plants were irrigated and leaf sprayed with four treatments of acid rain which contain sulphuric and nitrics acids with the pH of 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.6 for a period of 32 days, whereas, control plants were irrigated and leaf sprayed by normal water with a pH of 7.4. According to the results we have obtained, control plants in whole growth and physiological indexes were better than those plants treated by acid rains with the pH of 2.5 and 3.5. Moreover, the plants treated by acid rain with the pH of 4.5 and 5.6, were lower in other factors except photosynthetic rate, pigment content and carbohydrate content than control plants. Also acid rains with the pH of  2.5 and 3.5 caused white spots in both surfaces of  leaf and tip and border atrophy.

Pimpinella anisum L. belongs to Apiaceae family. The samples of vegetative and reproductive organs at different stages of development were gathered and investigated by cell-histology methods. The investigation of the anatomical structure of vegetative organs showed that the secretory ducts are arranged between the parenchymal tissues of the leaf. Section of flower buds revealed that anthers had 4 pollen sacs, the division of pollen mother cell was of the simultaneous type, microspore tetrads were of tetragonal type and the tapetum layer was secretory. The study of the ultrastructure of pollen grains with SEM showed that they had 3 pores. The ovary was found to be two-chambered and two-carpeled the ovule to be anatropous and to have one membrane. In embryogenic investigation it was found that the embryos were globular, cotyledonary and torpedo-shaped and the transition between globular embryos to cordate embryos was found. The vegetative organs were observed to have the general structure of dicotyledons. The development patterns of ovule and embryo sac follow the Polygonum type. Tetrahedral microspore tetrads were observed. The ultrastructure of pollens was found to be similar to those of Smyrnium, a genus of Apiaceae family. All stages of embryogenesis were covered in this study. 

Electromagnetic field is a stress factor which can interfere with the functions of body organs. This study aims to evaluate the protective impact of the aqua extract of Persian Gulf sea cucumber on damages induced by low frequency electromagnetic field in male gonads of Balb/C mice. Mice were divided into control, sham-exposed and 5 experimental groups. The experimental groups were then exposed to electromagnetic field (for 10 days and 4 hours per day). Experimental groups 2-5 also received extract of sea cucumber (6h before electromagnetic field). The samples were fixed for histological studies and stained by H & E method. The measurement of the diameter and number of seminiferous tubules, testis diameter, testis and epididymis weight, tunica albuginea thickness, the number of spermatogenic cells including spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids, Sertoli cells and Leydig cells was then executed. The results showed that the impact of electromagnetic field exposure was not significant on epididymis weight, seminiferous tubules diameter and tunica albuginea thickness, while its impact on the reduction of the testis diameter and weight, the number of seminiferous tubules and spermatogenic cells was significant in experimental group 1. In addition, the experimental groups pre-treated with sea cucumber extract indicated significant increment, as compared with experimental group 1.The results proved the destructive effect of electromagnetic field on testis tissue parameters, while sea cucumber extract prevents damages induced by electromagnetic field on male sexual glands of mice. 

Rhamnus L. is the genus of Rhamnaceae in Iran with nearly eight species. These species are used as valuable shrubs. This research was carried out in order to investigate the anatomical leaf. Samples from nine populations of Rhamnus pallasii and Rhamnus cathartica were taken. Treatment specimen cover various habitats from north of Iran, moreover herbarium samples were taken into account. The results presented two forms of epidermal cells such as Polygonal and irregular cells in addition, waved and straight anti-clinical walls were observed in R. pallasii subsp. pallasii and R. pallasii subsp. sintensii. Two types of stomata were demonstrated like anemositic and parasitic in two main species. Some characters e.g. thrichome, parenchyma, collenchyma layers were determined to finding some similarity among treatment specimen.

Since administration of androgens has been considered appreciable in hair follicle growth and wound healing, therefore the main objective in this study is evaluation the effect of sheep testis extract on improvement and growth of hair follicle and regeneration of injured Wistar rat skin. In this experimental study, rats were randomly divided into 7 groups, control (negative control), sham (treatment with physiologic serum), experimental group 1 (treatment with 100% sheep testis extract), experimental group 2 (treatment with 75% extract), experimental group 3 (treatment with 50% extract), positive control 1 (treatment with honey) for evaluation of wound healing and positive control 2 (treatment with Minoxidil) for evaluation of hair follicle growth. Then, rats were killed after and removed approximate wound skin, fixed in 10% formalin, kept in paraffin block. In addition, it was prepared serial section with 6 µm thickness and performed hematoxylin eosin staining. Then, epidermal thickness, the number of fibroblast, basal cells, inflammatory cells, vessel bud and hair follicle were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed by one way ANOVA, Tukey test at p ˃0.05. The results showed that wound healing process, hair follicle formation, the re-epithelialization, angiogenesis, the number of basal cell, fibroblasts, and the number of follicles was significantly improved in the experimental group 1, 2, rather than control group (p ˃0.05).  Results of this study demonstrated that the sheep testis extract induced improvement in regeneration process, wound healing and hair follicle growth in rats which can be suggested as an appreciable candidate due to rich source of androgen and growth factors in clinical wound healing studies.

Nowadays, nanoparticles (NPs) have the great potential application in different industries. Among all NPs, titanium dioxide NPs is the biggest ecotoxicological and ecophysiology concerns due to the increase of anthropogenic input into the aquatic ecosystems. In this study, the effects of titanium dioxide NPs enriched yeast on the growth, survival; digestive enzymes activity and lipid metabolism in Artemia urmiana (AU) and Artemia franciscana (AF) were investigated. The experiment was designed in two treatments (control and enriched yeast with titanium dioxide NPs) and each with four replicates for both Artemia species. At the end of experiment, the results indicated that titanium dioxide nanoparticles did not affect on the Artemia species growth but significantly increased AF survival. No significant difference was observed in AU survival. Also the results showed, NPs significantly decrease AU digestive enzymes activity and reverse pattern was observed for AF. The effect of NPs on the body lipid content was investigated in Artemia species and the results revealed that all the NPs decrease this parameter in AU but did not affect on AF lipid body content. The results obtained in this experiment, suggest that the eco-physiological effects of titanium dioxide NPs different in Artemia urmiana and Artemia franciscana.

This investigation is a collection of studies on the breeding birds of Dez Protected Area performed from Fe-bruary 2011 to Jun 2012. During that period, field studies were executed every other 2-4 days. 5 species of native bree-ding birds including White-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus leucotis, Common Babbler Turdoides caudatus, Collared Dove St-reptopelia decaocto, Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis, European Roller Coracias garrulous and 7 species of migratory breeding birds including Grey Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus, Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor, Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius, Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse Pterocles alchata Ba-nk Swallow Riparia riparia, Blue cheeked Bea-eater Merops persicus were observed. Among the breeding birds, Coll-ared Dove S.decaocto had the most extensive breeding period from February till the early of August. Common Babbler T. caudatus (53 nests) was the frequent breeder in the terrestrial part of the Dez Protected area. Terrestrial breeding bi-rds of the area prefer habitats with Ziziphus nummularia, vegetations for breeding. Bank Swallow R.riparia with more than 300 nests was the most common species in the watery part of Dez Protected Area. They selected riparian walls for nest building. Habitat destruction was the most important threatening factor for the breeding birds.

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important crop in the world and increasing its fiber quality is very cr-ucial for textile industries. Spider silk is the strongest and most elastic fiber ever known in the nature. Cotton is one of the main crops in the world and increasing its fiber quality is very important for textile industries. In this regard, a synt-hetic construct has been designed to offer spider silk quality to cotton fibers by fiber-specific expression of Major am-pullate spidroin1 (MaSp1) gene under control of core sequence of GaRD22-like1 promoter. The synthetic construct was double digested by the EcoRI and NheI and sub-cloned in pCAMBIA1304 binary vector. E.coli DH5α was transformed using new plasmid namely pCSP. Ligation and intact backbone of plasmid was conformed using MaSp1 and hygrom-ycin re-sistance genes specific primers and finally with EcoRI/NheI double digestion. Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404 was transformed with pCSP to transform cotton ovules of Varamin cultivar. The expression of MaSp1 in co-tton ovules and fibers showed that this synthetic sequence had been successfully expressed under control of GaRDL1 core promoter and this construct without codon optimization could be used for cotton transformation and its fiber qual-ity manipulation.

Chemical pesticides possess toxic and destructive impacts on the reproductive system and disrupt endocrine function. In this experimental study, the effect of movento, as a chemical pesticide, was investigated in comparison with chitosan, a biological pesticide, on the female reproductive system in vivo. In this study, 56 mice were randomly dived into 7 groups including control and experimental groups treated with movento and chitosan. After a 21-day treatment, mice were killed and their ovaries and blood being collected. In addition, the samples were fixed and stained with H & E method. The results exhibited that treatment with 2.5 and 5 mg/kg chitosan had no significant effect on the number and diameter of primary, secondary and antral follicles, while these items were significantly reduced in 10 mg/kg ch-itosan group and all movento-treated groups as well. In addition, the level of sexual hormones, such as estradiol, FSH and LH, was decreased in 10 mg/kg chitosan group and all movento-treated groups in comparison with the control gr-oup. The findings showed that movento affected the sexual hormone levels, ovary and ovarian follicle structure and in-duced abnormality in female reproductive system, while chitosan, as a biological pesticide, should be used due to its minimum effects on female reproductive system

A revision was carried out on the genus Lappula Moench (Boraginaceae) in Khorassan provinces. A total of herbarium specimens collected from different parts of the studied area, including the three provinces of North, Razavi and South Khorassan, were studied. All specimens are deposited in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Herbarium, (FUMH). According to the results of the study, there are 6 Lappula species in the region: L. barbata, L. microcarpa, L. semiglabra, L. sessiliflora, L. sinaica and L. spinocarpos. In addition, by revising the annual specimens that had been previously misidentified as L. drobovii, a perennial species, these specimens were identified as L. sessiliflora. Identification key, distribution map and species pictures in this article have been presented.

Phosphorus, the most essential nutrient for plants, becomes quickly unavailable for the plants in the soil. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB( can play an important role in providing Phosphorus for plants. In this study, the PSBs were screened from plant rhizosphere by Pikovskaya method. Then, the growth rate and phosphate solubilizing ability of 9 superior strains were measured at different temperatures and levels of salinity and pH. The best strain was identified by 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Finally, the genetic diversity of phosphate solubilizing strains were examined by RAPD markers. Results showed that 25 strains were capable of solubilizing insoluble phosphates among the 57 isolates studied. Of the nine superior strains, Cke1 had the highest solubilizing index with the average growth rate under all conditions and was introduced as the best PSB strain identified in the present study. 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis showed that this strain belonged to the Enterobacter genus. The results of genetic variation showed that all stains were divided into six groups and three strains that had the lowest similarity with other strains were placed in three separate groups. Given that Cke1 strain has the ability of solubilizing the insoluble phosphate in different stresses, it can be a good candidate for providing phosphorus at temperatures of 30 and 35 °C, 1.2% and 1.8% salinity levels and pH levels of 6 and 8 for the crops.