Background & Purpose: Salt and pepper change is the retinal change that occurs in human retina and its cause is not entirely known. In the present study, the retina of patients infected with Giardia lamblia living in Tehran was examined for presence of "salt and pepper" retinal change. Methods& Patients: 50 girdiasis patients were selected as study group and 50 healthy individuals as control group. The retina of two groups was tested by ophthalmologist. White blood cells and eosinophila percentage were counted in haematology lab. For measurements of IgA and IgG Levels, SRID technique, and for IgE level, ELISA technique was applied. Results & Conclusion: The results indicated, six patients of study group showed "salt and pepper" retinal change in their eyes. When the patients treated with metronidazole, the ocular change disappeared in three of them. In addition, eosinophila percentage, IgA, IgE and IgG levels in the infected patients were found increased significantly in comparison with control group. Meanwhile, among patients with ocular change and without ocular change the differences of eosinophila percentage and IgE levels were found significant, According to IgA and IgG levels, no significant difference between two groups were observed.    

Purpose: Poultry dropping and rice-mill wastes are generated in large quantities on daily basis in Ishiagu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. These bio-wastes can improve soil quality and pepper production. Hence, this study seeks to evaluate the effects of amendments on soil physico-chemical properties and yield of pepper varieties. Method: This experiment was carried out in the research farm of Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, during 2020 and 2021 cropping seasons. Split-plot design replicated 3 times was employed. Two varieties of pepper (Yellow and Red) constituted the main plots, while six soil amendments occupied the sub-plots. Soil amendments employed were; poultry dropping (PD) at 10t/ha, rice husk dust (RHD) at 10t/ha, NPK 15:15:15 at 300kg/ha, PD at 5t/ha + RHD at 5t/ha, NPK 15:15:15 at 150kg + RHD at 5t/ha and control. Results: Soil amendments improved soil pH, organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) in both cropping seasons. Pepper varieties influenced these soil properties in the 2021 cropping season, with yellow pepper showing higher soil pH, OC and CEC than red pepper (6.21 against 6.07, 14.07 against 12.24 g/kg and 16.13 against15.47 cmol/kg), respectively. Soil amendments varied fresh pepper yields from 3.60 t/ha in NPK + RHD treated plots to 6.67 t/ha in PD plots compared to the control with 2.44 t/ha. Conclusion: PD and PD + RHD increased the soil pH, OC, TN and CEC in both 2020 and 2021, making PD and its integration with RHD a sound strategy for improving soil attributes in the area. In 2020, yellow variety increased higher than red variety with PD and PD + RHD giving higher yield than other treatments. In 2021, yellow variety produced with NPK was similar to yellow variety and red variety produced with PD, but significantly higher than other treatments. Hence, the use of PD and its integration in producing yellow pepper variety on a long-term basis is an effective amendment procedure for pepper production in the area. Highlights The yellow variety of pepper studied increased higher than red variety with PD and PD + RHD giving higher yield than other treatments. Soil amendments greatly improved the soil components studied (pH, TN and CEC) statistically higher relative to the untreated soils within the period. Application of PD + RHD significantly improved higher or statistically the same with sole PD amendment studied on most of the soil chemical properties within the two years of study. Among the amendments studied, poultry dropping and its integration was found to have enhanced fruit yield of pepper best within the period. Overall, it is recommended that continuous PD + RHD application can increase the soil fertility index and consequently increase pepper fresh yield in the area.

Introduction: Spices and seasonings have plant origin and directly or after particular processes develop specific flavor and aroma and color in foods. Microbial contamination of spices, like most of the agricultural products, is quite important regarding the health and hygiene. The aim of this research is to evaluate and assess the microbial status of packed and unpacked spices, in Zanjan city.Materials and Methods: Total of 80 samples of packed and unpacked spices (black pepper, red pepper, sumac, cinnamon) were collected randomly from the food supplying centers and local retail stores in Zanjan city. Experiments were carried out for the presence of aerobic spores according to the Iranian standards.Results: Average of total aerobic mesophilic spores count based on CFU/g were 1.6×107 for red pepper, 6.6×106 for black pepper, 4.3×104 for cinnamon and 3.5×102 for sumac. Averages of total aerobic mesophilic spore counts for packed and unpacked spices were 3×106 CFU/g and 8.4×106 CFU/g, respectively. The average loads of total aerobic mesophilic spores were highest in red pepper and lowest in sumac. Average of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria count in the red pepper and black pepper as compared to the international standard (ICMSF) were higher.Conclusions: It is therefore recommended to apply disinfection and sterilization methods such as gamma irradiation at the rate of 10 KG to reduce the contamination of the spore forming bacteria in spices, especially the spices that are consumed without undergoing cooking process.

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most frequently identified pathogens in clinical laboratories and DNase is its important virulence factor. This enzyme is capable of destroying deoxyribonucleic acid (Willett etal., 1988). There are lots of antibacterial agents that can prevent the production of this enzyme. Staphylococcus aureus can develop drug resistance to many chemical drugs so; considerable effort has been expanded by investigators in the development of herbal drugs. Black pepper, Red pepper and Zataria multiflora Boiss. are some herbal drugs that have been used in cure of infections. Objectives: In this study, the alcoholic extract of Black pepper, Red pepper and Zataria multiflora Boiss. was tested for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Methods: Black pepper, Red pepper and Zataria multiflora Boiss. were provided from Iranian agricultural researches center.2gr of each plant powder was added to10cc ethanol 96o. After 24 hours, the crude extract was separated as an alcoholic extract and concentrated by distillation method. Results: The antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus was examined and the results showed that all the extracts were effective. The extracts that showed antimicrobial activity were later tested to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Dilution (MID) for Staphylococcus aureus. They were also effective on the inhibition of DNase activity. The inhibition against DNase activity was observed at the dilutions lower than the minimum inhibitory dilution (MID) of each extract.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Black pepper, Red pepper and Zataria multiflora Boiss. extracts can play a significant role in inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus and they can inhibit release of the DNase enzyme.

To determine suitable pepper cultivars with high quantitative and qualitative characteristics adapted to the climate of Sistan, an experiment was conducted in Zahak Experimental Station, Zabol, using RCBD with four replications in two years. In this experiment, four sweet pepper, five green pepper and three salad pepper cultivars were evaluated individually. The results showed significant difference among cultivars at 5% level. Jupiter, local Khash and Crelit cultivars had the highest yields among the sweet, green and salad pepper cultivars, respectively.

Potato virus Y a type species of the genus potyvirus infects several crops in the family solanaceae. PVY isolated from field infected peppers was identified on the basis of host reaction, serological and molecular characterization. The result of ELISA, Immunoblot electrophoresis and Immuno Capture Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (ICRT- PCR) indicated that pepper isolate of PVY shares the reported properties of the PVY but in host range studies some differences were observed. For this reason the sequence analysis was performed .This is the first report of PVY incidence in Iran pepper fields.