BACKGROUND A molecular survey was conducted to investigate the presence of pathogenic Borrelia persica species causing the tick borne relapsing fever (TBRF) in Takistan district Qazvin Province, western Iran. METHODS A number of 1021 soft ticks were collected from 31 villages including previously reported infected and none-infected TBRF cases and individually examined for the presence of B. p...

The effects of water temperature and ammonia concentration on swimming capacity of brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis, Mitchill, 1814) were determined by measuring gait transition speed (U(gt), cms(-1)), maximum burst speed (U(max), cms(-1)), tail-beat amplitude (a, cm), tail-beat frequency (f, Hz), maximum acceleration of bursts (A(max), cms(-2)), number of bursts, distance of bursts (cm) and ...

Diel activity patterns are often fixed within species such that most animals can be classified as diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal, and have sensory abilities that reflect when they are active. However, many snake species appear capable of switching between diurnal and nocturnal activity. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that some species are constrained in their activity by the sensory cues ...

Motility of spermatozoa was studied on 12 and 7 specimens of Acipenser persicus and A. stellatus, respectively. The density measured to be 2.22±0.65x109ml-1 in A. persicus and 2.21±0.55x109ml-1 in A. stellatus. Semen samples were diluted with two extenders containing tris 118mM, sucrose 23.4mM, pH=8, egg yolk (20%), dimethyl sulfoxide (15%) and penicillin potassium (500IU/ml) and biociphus exte...

so far, four species of hemidactylus have been reported in iran as follows: h. persicus, h. robustus, h. flaviviridis, h. romeshkanicus. in this study, 108 specimens belonging to these four species of hemidactylus were examined morphologically, using 19 metric and 6 meristic characters. multivariate analyses showed morphological differences among these three species with exception h. romeshkani...

A study on motility of spermatozoa of the Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus were carried out. The time of relative cessation of sperm activity was evaluated using microscopic observation. Sperm was activated with three different swimming medium, freshwater pH 7.5, and two different buffered saline solutions, pH 7.5. Total period of the motility of A. persicus spermatozoa was shorter in fresh...