Aging is a significant risk factor for cognitive decline associated with neurodegenerative diseases, which makes understanding what promotes 'healthy brain aging' very important. Studies suggest that caloric restriction (CR) non-genetic intervention reliably extends life- and healthspan. Here, we review the CR literature related to both subject of aging alterations in cell cycle machinery, espe...

The pesticides used to control pests and diseases are also implicated in ecological, environmental and human health hazards. To reduce the deleterious effects of these agrochemicals, certain antagonistic microorganisms have been characterised from rhizosphere of different crop plants that suppress various plant diseases and thus, minimise the use of pesticides. The application of these specific...

Mutualisms are key components of biodiversity and ecosystem function, yet the forces maintaining them are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of removing large mammals on an ant-Acacia mutualism in an African savanna. Ten years of large-herbivore exclusion reduced the nectar and housing provided by plants to ants, increasing antagonistic behavior by a mutualistic ant associate and sh...

Background and Objectives: Recently, the use of probiotics for the treatment of Urinary Tract Infections has become more popular. The use of probiotics in therapy is useful as only a few side effects such as destruction of resistant bacteria or disturbance of the intestinal microbiota have been reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the probiotic effects of lactic acid bacteria by co-a...

In vitro studies with Trichoderma spp., soil-borne fungal antagonists, demonstrated that a number of isolates produced volatile and non-volatile metabolites capable of inhibiting the growth and sporulation of several soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi. Microscopic observations showed that T. harzianm and T. viride, isolated from soil samples from Ahwaz and Karaj, adversely affected the myce...

BACKGROUND In species across taxa, offspring have means to influence parental investment (PI). PI thus evolves as an interacting phenotype and indirect genetic effects may strongly affect the co-evolutionary dynamics of offspring and parental behaviors. Evolutionary theory focused on explaining how exaggerated offspring solicitation can be understood as resolution of parent-offspring conflict, ...