Introduction: Hypothyroidism causes many hematologic abnormalities including anemia. Anemia can be due to iron deficiency, impaired hemoglobin synthesis, poor diet, structural abnormalities of the red blood cells (RBC) and reduced half-life of RBC. In this study RBC fragility in hypothyroid rats were compared to that of control animals Materials and method: Hypothyroidism was induced by methimazole (500 mg/L of drinking water for 20 days) in the rats (body weight, 246±5gr). Blood samples were collected through carotid vein on EDTA for osmotic fragility test. RBC fragility of RBC was tested by a routine method in which the cells were placed in different concentrations of NaCl (0.09 gr/L) and hemolysis was determined by colorimetric method. The hemolysis precentage of the samples in each solution was calculated on the basis of the 100% hemolysis in distilled water. Results: RBCs from hypothyroid animals had significantly (p<0.05) higher hemolysis in NaCl concentrations of 2.5, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6 and 7 gr/L as compared to control animals. Conclusion: Results of this study prove that anemia in hypothyroid rats could also be due to increased fragility of RBC.

In this investigation, two hematological factors of hematocrit and hemoglobin and their changes regarding to different salinities were studied in common carp. Seven aquarium (with 100 lit. volume for each) were chosen and the water salinity of each one were adjusted to 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 ppt, respectively. 16 specimen of common carp with 50-90 g body weight were added to the aquariums. The blood samples of fishes were collected in periods of 12 to 96 hour for further hematological measurments. The results showed that in salinity of 18 ppt, all fishes died after less than 12 hours. In stress condition, the minimum and maximum hematocrit index were found 13 to 45% and hemoglobin factor were varied from 5.0 to 12.2 g/lit.

The effects of NaCI salinity on growth traits, leaf water potential and proline content were investigated in onion (Allium cepa L. cv. Ghermez Rey and cv. Sefid Tarom Zanjan). Plants were grown by hydroponic under controlled greenhouse conditions and supplied with Hoagland solution with half-strength containing 0-100 mM NaCl. In this study, split plot design on R.C.B.D. base with 3 replications was used for traits analyzing. This pot experiment was done in sand: perlite mixture at 3:1 ratio. The results were showed that with increase in salt concentration levels, there was not found much difference between two cultivars in the values of leaf water potential and morphological characters. The increase salt concentration was caused significantly increase in proline production. Also, the role of this metabolite was high effective on salinity tolerance increasing especially in the Ghermez Rey cultivar.

Germination of seed is an effective factor in the establishment of final plant population. Optimal plant population per unit area could be achived when seeds germinate adequately. Tolerance to salinity during germination and early seedling stage is an important factor for establishment and survival of plants in saline soils or in areas that are irrigated with saline water. To identify salt tolerant genotypes of bread wheat at, germination stage, 38 genotypes (32 advanced lines, 3 landraces and 3 commercial cultivars) were evaluated in different salt concentrations of 0 (control), 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mM NaCl with 7 mM CaCl2, using factorial experiment based on CRD with three replications. Seeds were treated and incubated for seven days in 250c. Results showed that salinity reduced the rate of germination, length of root and shoot, dry weight of root and shoot about 18%, 49%, 70%, 77%, 56% and 68%, respectively. However, concentration of sodium was increased in both root, and shoot, by 13.1 and 10.6 times, and concentration of potassium in both root and shoot by 3.6 and 1.13 times as compared with the control treatment, respectively. Tolerant genotypes had greater length of shoot, root and shoot dry weight as compared with those of sensitive genotypes. However, sodium transported to shoot was not substantial. When salinity increased, sensitive genotypes had greater concentration of potassium in both root and shoot, as compared with that of tolerant genotypes.

Background and objective: Different local and systemic modalities are suggested in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, but the pentavalent antimony compounds are still considered as the first line of treatment. Regarding to increase in clinical drug resistance and adverse effects, efforts to find a more effective and safer drug is continuing. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of intralesional hypertonic sodium chloride solution and intralesional meglumine antimoniate injections in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial with simple sampling method was performed on 72 patients with cutar.eous leishmaniasis. The patients were randomly divided in two groups. One group was treated with intralesional hypertonic sodium chloride solution and the other one was treated with intralesional meglumine antimoniate injections at weekly intervals for 6 to 10 weeks. All patients were followed for 6 months after treatment. Results: After six weeks of treatment, complete improvement, partial improvement, and no response to treatment were 33.3%, 45% and 22% in meglumine antimoniate group and 26%, 23% and 51% in trial group, respectively. In both groups complete improvement was observed in lesions smaller than 2 cm2. In lesions with partial improvement the treatment was continued up to 10 weeks and all patients were followed for six months. After six months ultimate cure rate was 52% in meglumine antimoniate group and 25% in hypertonic sodium chloride solution group. Conclusion: Injections of hypertonic sodium chloride solution has less efficacy in comparison with intralesional meglumine antimoniate in treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, but considering the good response in primary small lesions, it can be used as an alternative therapy in some special cases including small lesions and allergic reactions to meglumine antimoniate.      

To determine the effects of salinity on growth performance and carbon isotope discrimination three pistachio rootstocks (Badami-e-zarand, Sarakhsi and Ghazvini were used. Rootstocks were grown in soil in polyethylene pots. Sodium chloride treatments were 0, 75,150 and 225 mM NaCl. Plants were harvested before and after 30 and 60 days of exposure to the salinity treatments. Results indicated that relative growth rate decreased with time for all treatments and rootstocks. Salt treatment significantly reduced both relative growth rate (RGR), net assimilation rate on a leaf weight basis (NARw) but not leaf weight ratio (LWR) was significantly correlated with RGR, indicating that NARw was an important factor underlying the salinity-induced differences in RGR among the pistachio rootstocks.Salinity did not effects on leaf water potential, chlorophyll content and Fv:Fa ratio but with increasing of NaCl, proline accumulation in the leaves was increased, from selected rootstocks, so Ghazvini rootstocks accumulated more proline in compare with other rootstocks indicated more resistant to salinity. Results showed that carbon isotope discrimination reduced by salinity treatments in both leaves and stems, however no significant differences were observed between rootstocks. Carbon isotope discrimination in the second harvest was more than the first harvest, but this variation observed in leaf but not in the stems. We conclude that carbon isotope discrimination in pistachio rootstocks will be indicator of cumulative salinity history of plant but not a suitable indicator for prescreening of pistachio rootstocks to salinity resistance.

In a green house pot experiment, the effects of salinity and increasing levels of potassium supply on factors determining dry matter production of two barley cultivars(Reyhan and Aftal) were investigated, with regard to yield (Number of tillers and ears, dry weight of ears, straw, roots, thousand grain weight and leaf area). The plants were grown under four levels of potassium (K1=0, K2=0.25, K3=0.5 and K4=1 gr. K/Kg. soil) and 40mM NaCl in a randomized complete blocks design with four replication. The results indicated that by using of NaCl, the number of ears, dry weight of ears, thousand grain weight, biomass and leaf area increased, whereas dry weight of roots, the number of tillers per plant, duration of grain filling and maturity period in both cultivars decreased. Increasing of potassium supply significantly increased dry weight of shoots during vegetative growth, but during reproductive- and maturity growth had no marked influence on dry weight production. By increasing the levels of potassium accompanied with salinity no effects on above mentioned parameters were observed. This may be due to a high availability of potassium in the soil, which led to an increase in dry weight of the plant shoots.

D. salina is a unicellular green alga. The individual effects of Cd2+ (0.5 mg.L-1) at different concentrations of NaCl (1, 1.5 and 2M) on the growth (cell number and total chlorophyll content) of Iranian strain of Dunaliella salina were examined during 36 days of treatment. The results show that increase in salt concentration caused significant increase in cell number and chlorophyll content of D. salina. It seems such increase in growth rates is due to formation of CdCl 2 and decrease of uptake of Cd2+ by cells.