BACKGROUND Archaeologists and anthropologists have long recognized that different cultural complexes may have distinct descent histories, but they have lacked analytical techniques capable of easily identifying such incongruence. Here, we show how bayesian phylogenetic analysis can be used to identify incongruent cultural histories. We employ the approach to investigate Iranian tribal textile t...

Biogeographic barriers for freshwater biota can be effective at various spatial scales. At the largest spatial scale, freshwater organisms can become genetically isolated by their high mountain ranges, vast deserts, and inability to cross oceans. Isolation by distance of aquatic plants is expected to be stronger across than alongside mountain ridges whereas the heterogeneity of habitats among p...

BACKGROUND The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) is a nuclear hormone receptor. It is predominantly expressed in adipose tissue and as a receptor for thiazolidinediones, it has drawn attentions towards itself as a key molecule to trigger pathways involving in some diseases such as cancers, type 2 diabetes, inflammations and osteoporosis. A proline changed to alanine in codon...

An intraspecific study on the morphological and molecular characteristics of Phlebotomus sergenti s.l., the main vector of Leishmania tropica, was performed on 28 Iranian populations from 11 provinces and a few samples from Greece, Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, and Syria. Three morphotypes were identified as A, B and C, with some intermediate forms in the samples under investigation. Base...

Abstract A karyotypic study was performed on 12 Iranian local onion (Allium cepa L.) populations. A number of mitotic cells at metaphase stage for each population were prepared. Chromosomes of suitable mitotic cells were counted and various parameters, including long arm (L), short arm (S), total length of chromosome (TL), relative length of chromosome (RL), arm ratio (AR), r-value, total chro...

In this study, the chemical composition of the essential oils (EOs) extracted from aerial parts of native populations of Origanum vulgare ssp. vulgare from Iran was compared by GC and GC/MS. Plants were collected at bloom stage from their natural habitats located in Kaleybar, Sabalan, Meshkin Shahr and Chalus regions, respectively from East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Ardabil and Mazandaran provinces....

BACKGROUND Phlebotomus sergenti s.l. is considered the most likely vector of Leishmania tropica in Iran. Although two morphotypes- P. sergenti sergenti (A) and P. sergenti similis (B)-have been formally described, further morphological and a molecular analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtDNA-COI) gene revealed inconsistencies and suggests that the variation between the morphotypes ...

BACKGROUND To provide the validated and standardized form of the Persian version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires as an appropriate developmental screening tool for evaluation of Iranian children's development. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. Translation and back-translation, content validity determination, cultural and lingual modifications, pilot study on 100 parents and inte...

OBJECTIVES To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the contributions of GST genetic variants to the risk of diabetic retinopathy in an Iranian population. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether sequence variation in glutathione S-transferase gene (GSTM1 and GSTT1) is associated with development of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)...

OBJECTIVE(S) Coumarin hydroxylase (CYP2A6) is a polymorphic enzyme, and during the last decade has received a lot of attention because it is the principle human nicotine C-oxidase, which activates a number of procarcinogens, and metabolizes drugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS 150 healthy Iranian volunteers, (96 male, 54 female) aged 19 to 63 years old, were given 5 mg coumarin orally after an overni...