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Abstract. Background and Objective: The aim of present study was to compare, and determine, the effects of a modified alternate-day fasting diet vs. calorie restriction on inflammatory indices and coagulation factors. Methods: This was a randomized clinical trial consisting of 80 metabolic syndrome patients, who were enrolled and randomly dichotomized into a modified alternate-day fasting diet or calorie restriction group for 4 months. We measured weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumstance (WC), waist-hip-ratio (WHR) and fat mass as primary outcomes and assessed high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and coagulation factors levels as secondary outcomes before and after intervention. Results: Compared to the calorie restriction diet, following a modified alternate-day fasting diet led to a greater reduction in body weight (kg) (–6.43 ± 4.34 vs –4.11 ± 4.27; P = 0.02), BMI (kg/m2) (–3.19 ± 2.90 vs –1.43 ± 2.72; P = 0.01), fat mass (kg) (–4.88 ± 2.09 vs –3.72 ± 2.43; P = 0.03), WC (cm) (–5.57 ± 5.64 vs –2.32 ± 5.95; P = 0.01) and WHR (–0.05 ± 0.06 vs –0.02 ± 0.07; P = 0.04). Furthermore, a greater change was found in hs-CRP levels (mg/L) (–2.06 ± 1.18 vs –0.97 ± 0.82; P = 0.03), prothrombin time (s) (1.41 ± 2.34 vs –0.41 ± 2.17; P < 0.001), activated partial thromboplastin time (s) (0.26 ± 3.70 vs –1.78 ± 3.56; P = 0.04) in modified alternate-day fasting diet when compared to calorie restriction diet. However, there was no difference in TNF-α or IL-6 and fibrinogen between groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: These findings suggest that a modified alternate-day fasting diet can be a beneficial alternative for the management of body weight, fat mass and WC as well as hs-CRP and coagulation factors levels among metabolic syndrome patients.

a b s t r a c tDue to the efficiency and flexibility of integrated biological systems, they have been widely developed for the treatment of various waste-waters in recent decades. Present study aims at revealing the efficiency of bio-filter and activated sludge (BF/AS) integrated biological system in phenol removal from wastewater. The cylindrical bioreactors (continuous flow, 12 L) are made from Plexiglas. Interlaced plastic discs were fixed inside the reactor to hold the biofilm. The effects of pH (6.5-8), phenol concentration (100-500 mg/L), nitrogen (30-80 mg/L), phosphorous (6-16 mg/L), glucose concentration (50-500 mg/L), MLSS concentration (1450-3500 mg/L) and hydraulic retention time (2-4.4 h) were evaluated. Results of the study showed that this system could remove 500 mg/L of phenol concentration and 4-4.5 kg COD/m 3 d organic load in 4 h under favorable conditions. Pearson correlation coefficient between removal efficiency and phenol concentration was -0.446 (P < 0.001). By increasing phenol concentration, removal efficiency decreased. Appropriate COD/N/P for maximum efficiency was equal to 100/10/2. Dominant identified bacteria in the system include: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, acetinobacter, morexella and Brevundiomonas vesicalaris. Phenol decomposition was done according to the second-order kinetic reaction. Concentration difference (ΔA) to retention time difference (ΔT) ratio were 53.9, 69.5 and 100 for retention times of 2.2, 6 and 7 h, respectively. The BF/AS integrated biological system is highly efficient in removing phenol from aqueous and as an environment-friendly procedure could treat waste-waters containing average phenol concentrations in a relatively short period.

Abstract. In this study we have analysed wind and wave time series data resulting from hourly measurements on the sea surface in Bushehr, the northern part of the Persian Gulf, from 15 July to 4 August 2000. Wind speed (U 10 ) ranged from 0.34 to 10.38 m/s as alternating sea and land breezes. The lowest wind speed occurs at about midnight and the highest at around noon. The calculated autocorrelation of wind speed data shows that when the sea-land breeze is strong, the land-sea breeze is weak and vice versa. The significant wave height (H s ) varies between 0.10 to 1.02 m. The data of the present study reflects mostly the local waves or the sea waves. The calculated correlation between wind and wave parameters is rather weak, due to the continuous change in the wind direction. Wave height distribution follows the well-known Rayleigh distribution law. The cross correlation analyses between U 10 and H s reveal a time lag of 4 h. Finally, we have shown that the time series of U 10 , H s , and wave period are stationary. We have modeled these parameters by an auto regressive moving average (ARMA) and auto regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models.

Some studies have suggested chemopreventive and therapeutic effects of quercetin (Q) on carcinogenesis. The aim of this review was to evaluate the association between Q and ovarian cancer risk among human researches and induced sensitivity to some types of chemotherapeutic drugs and antiproliferative effects of this flavonoid in the animals and cell lines studies. Data for this systematic review were achieved through searches of the MEDLINE (PubMed), Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane, SID, and Magiran databases for studies published up to May 2015. Relevant studies were reviewed based on Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Review and Meta analysis guidelines. From the total number of 220 papers obtained at the initial search, 13 publications including 1 prospective, 2 case -control, 1 animal, and 9 in vitro human and animal cancer cell lines studies were eligible. Despite findings in laboratory settings, results from the epidemiological studies commented that the potentially protective effects of Q not be able to significantly decrease ovarian cancer risk at levels commonly consumed (1.01–31.7 mg/day) in a typical diet. However, animal and in vitro studies suggest that Q exerts anticancer effects via inhibiting tumor growth, and angiogenesis, interrupt the cell cycle, and induce apoptosis. It is highlighted the need for more studies to be conducted.