The aim of this research is to assess the ecological needs of Ephedra major as a medicinal and forage species and important for soil and water conservation in Rangelands of Bojnourd. In the site, the studies were climatically characteristic, geology, stand type, co-dominant plant and vegetable variation, Estimating biomass, physical and chemical analyses of the soil. The results indicated that Ephedra major could be adapted for regions with semiarid-cold climate to altitude climate, annual rainfall average of 332. 9 mm and annual temperature average of 9. 82 c . Ephedra major have dispersed in north, south, east and west slope and altitude 1400-2520 m of sea level in mountainous areas. The Soils physical and chemical analyses showed that the soil is very shallow with sandy-loom texture, Ph= 7. 75, Ec= 55. 88 μ s/cm and lime. The stand type was Artemisia aucheri-Festuca ovina and the co-dominant plants were over 86 species. Average of canopy covers and density were 2. 16 and 346 shrubs in hectare respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the variables of precipitation, saturation moisture percentage, pH, potassium, calcium and sand had significant correlations with the first axis and explained the 49. 84% variation. For the second component, the percentage of organic matter and nitrogen were more important traits and explained the 27. 94% variation. Because of the high ability of the species to adapt itself with hard environmental condition such as high percentage of Caco3, and also its medical and conservation values in arid and semi-arid regions, it can be used for proper management strategies, reclamation and preservation of its habitats.

Introduction: There is not a standard method for infertility evaluation and doctors can not predict that the cause of infertility may influence pregnancy. The semen analysis ia s tool for evaluation the male fertility potential. However the test can not predict the result of in vitro fertilization. It is suggested that hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) can predict the result of IVF-ET. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between HOST & result of IVF-ET cycles. Material & Methods: A simple study on 30 samples from patients who were-candidate for IVF treatment cycles in Madar Hospital & research & clinical center for infertility was performed. Fertilization rate (FR), SA, pregnancy rate (PR) and result of sperm viability were analyzed by ANOVA using SPSS-9 for windows. The level of p<0.05 was assessed significant. Results: Mean HOST results in different groups were compared. The significant difference was not seen in the FR rate, embryo transfer, BHCG, Clinical PR, on going PR, abortion, live birth rate & male age. Also, there are not correlation between HOS T-test & SA. Discussion: According to our finding, the result of HOS test has not correlated at IVF-ET. The test can not predict the IVF result. It could be benefit in the case of borderline SA.

Ephedra, belonging to the Ephedraceae family of gymnosperms, is a dioecious shrub, which has different medicinal properties. The purpose of this study was to compare some secondary metabolites of male and female stems of Ephedra major during August to October months. The male and female samples were collected from Bojnoord highlands and then were dried. The methanolic extract was separated by solvent method and total alkaloid, ephedrine, total phenol, total flavonoid and tannin levels were measured in collected samples. The measurement of total alkaloid and ephedrine content showed significant difference between male and female stems during different months. The highest amount of total alkaloid was obtained in samples collected from male stem during October month. While, the highest level of ephedrine was observed in samples collected in both male and female stems during August month. The data from HPLC analysis showed that ephedrine content ranged from 1. 5 to 1. 99 mg/g dry weight. Meanwhile, total phenol, total flavonoid and total tannin content ranged from 31. 5-41. 13, 3. 51-5. 81 and 15. 57-24. 46 mg/g dry weight, respectively. The obtained results revealed that there was significant difference between male and female stems in total phenol just in October, total flavonoid in September and October, and total tannin in August and September.

Gastric cancer is a malignant tumor that is one of the most common types of cancer in the world and Iran. Plants are rich sources of a variety of antioxidant compounds which can be used to produce anti-cancer drugs. In this study, the antioxidant properties and cytotoxicity of Ephedra major Host. extract, collected from "Parandak" in Robat Karim city, Tehran province, were investigated on AGS gastric cancer cells. Ethanol and methanol hydroalcoholic extracts (80%) of plant vegetative shoots were extracted by soaking method. Phenolic content of the extracts was measured by Folin-Ciocalteu agent and their antioxidant activity was assessed using DPPH test. Also, the cytotoxicity degree of different concentrations of this plant extract on the AGS gastric cancer cells was evaluated at three times of 24, 48, and 72 hours using MTT method. BCL2 gene expression change was measured using Real time-PCR. The results showed that the antioxidant properties and phenolic content of ethanol extract were higher than methanol one. The results of MTT test showed that with increasing concentration of ethanol extract, cell viability decreased and after 48 hours, IC50 was obtained 250 µg. ml-1 of extract. The BCL2 gene expression decreased in the extract treatment, although this decrease was not significant. Overall, the ethanol extract of the aerial shoots of this plant could inhibit the growth of gastric cancer cells, but did not have a significant effect on reducing the expression of BCL2 anti-apoptotic gene.

Host-guest nanochemistry is a branch of supramolecular chemistry in which a so-called host molecule binds to a guest molecule or ion. Host-guest interactions involve two molecules or substances that can form complexes through unique structural relationships and non-covalent bonding. Also called molecular recognition, this type of interaction is widely found in biological recognition processes, such as enzyme-inhibitor and antigen-antibody interactions. Host-guest molecular recognition provides a powerful approach to construct a dynamic interface that allows the resulting assemblies to be structurally manipulated in size and shape. Thus, it opens a path to construct smart supramolecular systems with multilevel reactivity. Host-guest nanochemistry incorporates the idea of molecular recognition and interactions through non-covalent bonding. Noncovalent bonding is critical in maintaining the three-dimensional structure of large molecules such as proteins and is involved in many biological processes in which large molecules are specifically but transiently bound together. Host-guest interactions have attracted considerable attention since their discovery, as many biological processes require host-guest interactions and can be useful in some material designs. In this article, the host-guest molecules and some of their applications are briefly introduced.

Host selection by parasitoids has vital effects on their fitness. Trissolcus vassilievi (Hym., Platygastridae) is a species with high biological potential in sunn pest control. Those parasitoids that develop in higher quality hosts are more vital and fecund than those develop in lower quality hosts. In this study, host preference and switching behavior of two populations of T. vassilievi (Tabriz and Varamin) was investigated on the same populations of the host at ratios of 5: 1, 4: 2, 3: 3, 2: 4 and 1: 5 clutches. Host measurements revealed that host eggs was significantly heavier in the Varamin bugs than the Tabriz ones. The Varamin wasps were also larger than the Tabriz wasps and the progeny of the crosses was closer to the maternal populations. Data analysis was done by Murdoch (1969) and Cock (1978) methods. Referring to the values of c1 (preference index for Tabriz sunn pest) and c2 (preference index for Varamin sunn pest), Varamin population of T. vassilievi presented negative tendency to Tabriz host and positive tendency although non-significant to Varamin host. Linear regression analysis also showed significant trend of the parameter "c" over the host ratio in both parasitoids which confirms presence of switching behavior. In general, we can say that difference between host populations is less considerable than what can affect host-preference by the wasp.