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Medicinal plants were used from past to present. Different small arthropods such as Acari were found on these plants. Therefore a study on the Acari fauna associated with some medicinal plants (Family: Asteraceae) in Hamedan region was carried out during 2008–2009. In this survey, 23 species belonging 18 genera from 15 different families of the subclass Acari were collected and identified. Two spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) was determined as an abundant phytophagous mite species in this study.

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This research conducted in order to prioritize the effective criteria on development of medicinal plants cultivation in North Khorasan Province using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Delphi methods. For this purpose, a list of effective factors offered to delphi group. Analysis of delphi process showed that among 23 offered factors 19 factors, had greater impact on development of medicinal plants cultivation. Hierarchy tree was drawn through grouping of 19 factors into four criteria including economic, promotional-educational services, cultural-social and supportive policies factors. The pair wise comparison questionnaires were then distributed among relevant researchers and experts of the province to get their opinions about the priority of criteria and sub- criteria. The questionnaires were analyzed using Expert Choice software. The result revealed that economic criterion with respective weight of 0.406 had the most impact among four criteria affecting the development of medicinal plants cultivation. The supportive policies (respective weight of 0.275), educational-extension services (respective weight of 0.193) and cultural-social factors (respective weight of 0.125) received the maximum towards the minimum priorities, respectively. The results of synthesis process showed that among the 19 factors, the guaranteed purchase and establishing of pilot fields of medicinal plants, farmers' awareness of comparative advantage of medicinal plants, and the development of processing industries had the maximum towards minimum impacts on development of medicinal plants cultivation.

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Haplothripsverbasci (Osborn) is recorded from Iran for the first time. The specimens of this species were collected on flowers of Verbascum thapsus (Scrophulariaceae) from Hamedan Province, western Iran.    

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Background: Emergence of drug-resistant bacteria has highlighted the need to identify new and more efficient antibacterial agents. The aims of this study were to evaluate the antibacterial activity of dill (Anethum graveolens) seeds essential oil and to investigate the effect of cumin (Cuminum cyminum) seeds alcoholic extract on biofilm formation ability of Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Materials and methods: This experimental study was carried out at the Faculty of Medicine of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Activity of dill seeds essential oil was evaluated based on the inhibition zone diameter and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against some important pathogenic bacteria including: Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, the effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations of cumin seeds alcoholic extract was evaluated on biofilm formation ability of K. pneumoniae. The biofilms were formed on semi-glass lamellas and observed by a scanning electron microscope.
Results: Dill essential oil showed a good to moderate activity against the tested strains. The highest antibacterial activity was observed against S. aureus (inhibition zone of 15 mm and MIC of 0.62 mg.mL^-1) and V. cholerae (inhibition zone of 14 mm and MIC of 0.7 mg..mL^-1). The cumin alcoholic extract had no effect on biofilm formation ability of K. pneumoniae.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed the presence of antimicrobial compounds in dill extract. The cumin alcoholic extract was not able to inhibit biofilm formation ability of K. pneumoniae. Because of the medicinal plants properties, it is valuable to search for promising herbs and novel chemical compounds.

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One of the most important proteins in gene silencing and creation of small RNA, are argonaute proteins. Most of these proteins have an endonucleolytic activity so argonaute proteins play a key role in creation of defense mechanism against certain pathogenic viruses. In current study we studied the putative argonaute genes in six medicinal plants using bioinformatic tools. Sequences of argonaute genes of six medicinal plants were retrieved from target database using Arabidopsis Argonaut blast. Sequence alignment, 3D structure, phylogenetic tree and conserved domain were generated for six medicinal plants argonautes. Results showed that studied medicinal plants have 6 to 18 argonaute proteins in the genome. There were three classes of Argonaute proteins similar to that of Arabidopsis, and each varies in length from 846 to 1187 AA, with a average of 970 AA and 108 kDa. six medicinal plants argonaute proteins had PAZ, PIWI and MID conserved domains.Our results showed that six medicinal plants have three classes of argonautes, This indicates is that the conservation of argonaute proteins in different plants.

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In order to examine possible integration between irradiation and botanical pesticides, combined effects of essential oil from Rosmarinus officinalis L. and gamma radiation were determined on mortality of Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). Experiments were conducted by pretreatment with essential oil fumigation followed by irradiation and inversely, pretreatment with irradiation followed by essential oil fumigation. The mortality rate was assessed 72 h after last treatment. Integration of gamma radiation and R. officinalis oil enhanced the mortality of C. maculatus compared with control treatments of either irradiation or fumigation alone. Synergistic effects of mortality on 1-2 days old adults of C. maculatus were observed when exposed to combination of gamma radiation and essential oil. It was found that pretreatment with fumigation followed by irradiation was perfectly effective. The study showed that either of the pre- treatments could enhance the susceptibility of the pest to the other treatment. Our findings led to a conclusion that the combination of gamma radiation and R. officinalis oilfumigation has a potential for application in integrated management of C. maculatus.

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Background: Concentrations of 4 toxic metals, viz. Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in the soil and alfalfa samples collected from Borujerd, Iran, was determined. The capability of alfalfa to accumulate heavy metals from soils was assessed in terms of Biological Concentration Factor. Materials and Methods: The alfalfa and soil samples were collected from 20 different farms, including 13 wastewater-irrigated and seven underground-irrigated farms. After acid digestion, the samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results: The levels of Cd, Pb, and Zn in the soils of wastewater-irrigated farms were higher than those from the groundwater-irrigated farms. With the exception of Cu, concentrations of heavy metals in the alfalfa crop were higher in wastewater-irrigated farms compared to well water. Also, in the case of BCF, both Cd and Cu values decreased with increasing metal concentration in soil. The order of BCF of heavy metals in alfalfa was in order of Cu>Cd>Zn>Pb in well water-irrigated and Zn>Cd>Cu>Pb in wastewater –irrigated samples. Discussion and Conclusions: The findings remarked that the levels of Cu, Cd, and Pb in alfalfa were exceeding the permissible levels suggested by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. These outcomes propose that the consumption of alfalfa plants is potentially threatening both animal and human health.

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Abstract
Aim and Background: Today, the use of medicinal plants in the cancer treatment due to less side effects has been considered. Silybum marianum is a medicinal herb of Asteraceae, which is used in the treatment of liver diseases and gallbladder diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases. The encapsulation of bioactive materials in nano-liposomes is an effective approach to regulate drug release, increase stability, protect them from environmental reactions, reduce volatility, and increase its effects. The aim of this study was encapsulation of the extract of Silybum marianum in to liposomes and to evaluate the physico-chemical in order to effect on liver cancer cells
 
Materials and Methods: In this study, extract of Silybum marianum was prepared by Soxhlet method. Liposomal vesicles were prepared by thin-film hydration method and the extract of Silybum marianum was loaded. Finally, the nanoparticles were assayed for encapsulation efficiency, release profile and physicochemical properties such as particle size, zeta potential, morphology, and FTIR.
Results: Nanoliposome containing Silybum marianum extract had 63.37% encapsulation efficiency and size 122 nm zeta potential -13.1 and the dispersion index 0.197. The release of herbal extract of Silybum marianum was controlled. There is no chemical interaction between the extract and the liposome and is morphologically homogeneous and had a spherical structure.
Conclusion: The results of this study show that the extracts of Silybum marianum can be encapsulated in appropriate size and function in nanoliposomal forms, so liposomes are a suitable carrier for the Silybum marianum extract.
 

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  Medicinal plants are valuable natural resources that because of large amount of active compounds have been concerned in modern societies. Black Cumin, Coriander and Dill are such resources which they have many therapeutic and medicinal properties. Our purpose of this research is To evaluate the antioxidant activity of water- methanol extract of Black Cumin, Coriander and Dill seeds in comparison with BHT. For the preparation of water- methanol extract, the mentioned seeds powders were mixed with methanol - water (80:20 v/v) solvent at ratio 1:4 w/v. The total phenolic compounds (TPC) was measured by Folin- Ciocalteau’s method. Antiradical and inhibitory activity of the extracts were evaluated by DPPH method and compared with synthetic antioxidant BHT. The antioxidant activity of above extracts was studied in soybean oil (oven test at 60 ⁰C) by measuring peroxide value (PV) and thiobarbituric acid value (TBA) and compared with BHT (at level 100 mg/ml). There water- methanol extracts of Black Cumin, Coriander and Dill seeds contained 955.77, 890.62 and 923.16 mg/kg phenolic compounds. The highest IC₅₀ related to water- methanol extract of Black Cumin (104.76 mg/ml) which demonstrated higher antiradical activity compared to the Coriander and Dill seeds extracts. In oven test, the water- methanol extract of Black Cumin showed the greatest antioxidant activity and at level 100 mg/ml acted as BHT at level 100 mg/ml. water-methanol extracts of Black Cumin, Coriander and Dill as natural antioxidants are capable of scavenging radicals derived from lipid oxidation and reduction of auto-oxidation rate.  

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Background: In recent years, the use of medicinal plants has increased significantly. Essential oils are one of the most important secondary metabolites in plants with promising potentials to promote health. Paying attention to the quality and effectiveness of medicinal plant products is important. Use of free essential oils due to volatility, low stability, poor solubility in water and low bioavailability, limit both their use and effectiveness. The most important tool to increase the quality of essential oil is the use of nanoparticles as carriers. This study aimed to investigate the nanoencapsulation of essential oils of medicinal plants and its effect on increasing the stability of essential oils and improving the quality of drug delivery systems. Method: In the present study, the data of scientific research articles have been used to investigate the use of nanoparticles in increasing the effectiveness of the essential oils. Findings: Drug-carrier nanoparticles include various materials such as nano polymers, dendrimers, etc. that can have different morphology and sizes depending on their synthesis method. Technology of nanoencapsulation of essential oils is used to increase stability, purposefulness and control the release time of essential oil in the human. One of the advantages of targeted drug delivery is the accurate and intelligent accumulation of essential oil as a drug at the target site, thus increasing the stability and pharmacological effects of the essential oil on the organs in the human. Conclusion: Nanocapsules containing essential oils of medicinal plants have significantly increased the effectiveness of essential oils in medical applications.

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Bread is the main source of a large part of the energy, protein, minerals and vitamins required by humans. Aloe Vera is one of the oldest medicinal plants that beside of fiber, minerals, vitamins, amino acids and natural sugars, have antimicrobial agents, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant Therefore, its use helpful for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's, heart disease, digestive problems. This study examined the effect of addition of aloe vera powder in quantities of 1, 3, 6 and 9% (w / w based on flour) on the quality of Barberi bread, as well as changes in microbial, texture, color and water absorption properties of bread within 72 hours in order to produce the functional bread. The results showed that the adding of aloe vera powder, causing controlling the activity of microorganisms and mold and yeast, increase swelling power and reduce staling the bread. However, volume, brightness, Points smell, taste and the ability to chewing has declined. In general, investigation of breads characteristics in this study showed that the adding powder of aloe vera until 1%, causing improve the quality of shelf life and increase the healthly value of Barbari breads that is produced.

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Plant growth is often limited by low levels of soil micronutrients such as copper (Cu), ‎especially in calcareous salt-affected soils of arid and semiarid regions. The aim of this ‎work was to investigate individual and combined effects of salinity and Cu on growth, leaf ‎relative water content (LRWC), cell membrane permeability, lipid peroxidation, and total ‎phenolic content (TPC) of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) in a hydroponic ‎experiment. A factorial arranged experiment with three salinity levels (i.e., 0, 50, and 100 ‎mM NaCl), and three levels of copper (i.e., 0, 0.5, and 1.0 µM Cu2+, as CuSO4) was ‎performed. The salt stress led to a significant decrease in leaf relative water content ‎especially at 0 µM Cu2+. Salt treatments (50 and 100 mM) were found to increase ‎electrolyte leakage and malonyldialdehyde content of rosemary; however, this increase ‎was greater at 0 µM than 1.0 µM Cu2+. Regardless of Cu treatments, salinity (50 and 100 ‎mM) induced significant increases in TPC by 13 and 29%, respectively. The application of ‎‎1.0 M Cu at the 50 mM NaCl treatments increased total phenolic content by 19% ‎compared to 0M Cu. Copper nutrition resulted in greater accumulation of phenolic ‎compounds in plant roots and thereby decreasing lipid peroxidation under salt stress ‎conditions.‎

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Two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is one of the most injurious pests of fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants worldwide, both outdoor and indoors. Currently the main method of control of this pest is through application of pesticides which is mostly accompanied by the resistance of the pest against pesticide(s). The resurgence of resistant mite populations brings about further contamination of foodstuff and environment. Essential oils obtained from the aerial parts of plants may have the potential to be an alternative to synthetic pesticides, since they have been demonstrated to posses a wide range of bioactivities against insects and mites. So, the aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of essential oils extracted from three different medicinal plants namely: Mentha longifolia, Salvia officialis (both Lamiaceae) and Myrtus communis (Myrtaceae) against T. urticae. The LC50 values of essential oils of M. longifolia, M. communis, and S. officialis against T. urticae were 20.08, 53.22, 60.93 µl L-1 air, respectively. This shows that M. longifolia possesses the highest lethal activity whereas S. officialis the lowest. Also, essential oils of M. longifolia, M. communis, and S. officialis were demonstrated to possess repellency effect with ED50s of 147.47, 138.80 and 164.41, µl L-1 air, respectively. These data suggest that essential oils of all the three plants have the potential to be employed in the pest management programs designed for a control of T. urticae under greenhouse conditions.

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Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis (Foa) is a soil borne fungus causing the most serious disease of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) called “Bayoud”. In the present study, five medicinal plants from the Algerian Sahara (Southwest of Algeria): Limoniastrum feei (aerial part, roots), Launeae arborescens (Batt.) Murb. (aerial part, roots), Fredolia aretioides Moq. et Coss. (aerial part, roots), Asteriscus graveolens (Forsk) (leaves, stems) and Acacia raddiana (leaves, bark), were used to evaluate their extracts for antifungal activity against Foa. Two parts from each plant were used for extraction by four solvents: methanol, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane and hexane. The antifungal test was conducted using disc diffusion technique and relative virulence (RV) test (on potato tuber tissue). For both tests, four extract quantities were used (200, 400, 800 and 1,600g). The relative virulence was presented as necrotic tissue weight (mg) of potato tuber tissue. Among all solvents, methanol had the best extraction yield (mean: 6.35%, minimum: 2.27%, maximum: 9.80%). The highest frequency of antifungal effect on Foa was presented by ethyl acetate extracts (32.50% of detectable effect). The best effect was observed for ethyl acetate extract of Limoniastrum feei (aerial part). The virulence test showed a decrease in RV up to 30% for ethyl acetate extract of Launea arborescens aerial part. The increase in RV was observed mostly for hexanic extract from Fredolia aretioides reflecting its high toxicity compared to the other extracts.

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Objective: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. One of the major pathological hallmarks of AD is extracellular deposition of aggregated beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptide in the brain. Aβ causes neural cell death through several mechanisms. New treatments for AD focus on compounds that can modify disease progression and reduce symptoms through several mechanisms. Medicinal plants include several compounds with heterogeneous pharmacological effects that can be effective in the treatment of AD through different mechanisms. The aim of this study is to evaluate the protective effect of a methanolic extract of seven medicinal plants from Iran on Aβ induced toxicity in a cell culture model. Methods: We cultured PC12 cells according to standard protocols. The cells were incubated with Aβ alone or with different concentrations of extracts for 24 hours. Cell viability was measured using the MTT assay. Results: Sanguisorba minor, Cerasus microcarpa, Ferulago angulate,andRosa caninasignificantly reduced Aβ-induced cell death in the PC12 cell culture. The observed protective effects of extracts were dose-dependent. We did not observe any protective effects with the Stachys pilifera,Amygdalus scoparia, and Alhagi pseudalhagi extracts. Conclusion: Sanguisorba minor, Cerasus microcarpa,Ferulago angulate, andRosa canina extracts could be considered for treatment of AD.

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Onosma dichroantha Boiss. is a local medicinal herb in Iran, belonging to the Boraginaceae family that is used mainly for wound healing due to the presence of shikonin in its root cortex. Optimization of Onosma spp. in vitro cultures and shikonin production is encouraged as an alternative to harvesting the plant from its natural habitats. The present study evaluates the growth rate, several biochemical properties, and shikonin content of O. dichroantha plants treated with various concentrations of silicon (in the form of potassium silicate) in a hydroponic medium. Silicon application up to 0.5 mM increased the fresh mass, chlorophyll a/b, carotenoids, soluble proteins in shoots, and the lignin content in roots; however, phenolic compound contents were not significantly affected. In addition, silicon nutrition increased catalase and soluble ascorbate peroxidase activities, whereas polyphenol oxidase activity was not affected in roots and shoots. Interestingly, the shikonin content of O. dichroantha roots treated with increased concentrations of Si was 2-fold higher than that in the control plants, while the activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase, a key enzyme in shikonin biosynthesis, was not affected. This suggests that the observed increase in shikonin in response to the silicon treatment could be due to increased stability or more accumulation sites of shikonin in roots. These data may be used for improvement of shikonin production in cell cultures of O. dichroantha under experimental or industrial conditions.
 

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Satureja sahendica Bornm is an endemic, native, and aromatic plant in Iran, with thymol being its main and major volatile component, which is used in food and pharmaceutical industries. Increasing the oil yield and phenolic compounds in essential oil leads to increased medicinal effects. In this study, the effects of mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus mosseae, G. intraradices, and combination of G. mosseae and G. intraradices) and different levels of water stress [D₁= Control (no water stress), D₂= No irrigation during stem elongation till blooming, D₃= No irrigation at the blooming up to start of flowering, and D₄= No irrigation at 50% flowering up to full flowering] were studied on S. sahendica oil, in two years. When the seedlings were transferred to the field, 10 g of mycorrhiza fertilizer (containing mycorrhizal fungus spores) were added to the rhizosphere of each seedling. The plants were harvested at full flowering and the essential oils were obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The highest amount of oil yield (66.13 kg ha^-1) was obtained using G. intraradices in non-stress conditions in the second year. The highest percentage of thymol was obtained in G. mosseae×control in the first year (74.59%), whereas in the second year, the highest amount of thymol was in G. mosseae×D₄ (61.97%). This study showed that with the use of mycorrhizal fungi, even in conditions of water shortage, S. sahendica produced more essential oil with a higher percentage of thymol. With the use of mycorrhizal fungi, the essential oil can easily be increased and the number of compounds changes.
 

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Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam., a medicinal plant of Lamiaceae family, is a widespread species all over Iran. In this investigation, the genetic diversity of 10 ecotypes of Ziziphora clinopodioides was evaluated using morphological, phytochemical, and molecular markers. ISSR and iPBS markers were applied for the molecular analysis. The average of polymorphic bands per primer in the iPBS and ISSR markers were 4.4 and 6.68, with the average polymorphism of 79.49 and 92.03%, respectively. The ecotypes of Evard and Sorkhgarive had the highest values of the important breeding traits, including the shortest internode, the highest ratio of leaf to vegetative body weight, the highest essential oil yield, and the total phenol content. The results showed that ecotypes had a wide variation in terms of all studied markers. Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) confirmed the results of molecular clustering of ecotypes, but phytochemical and morphological data did not have alignment with that. Also, there was no correspondence among the geographical locations of habitats and the phytochemical, morphological, and molecular markers data.