Uncovering the reasons behind the failure of pastoralists in adopting climate change adaptation strategies.

Climate change has caused pastoralists to face serious challenges all around the world. To reduce climate change vulnerability, adaptation strategies need to be adopted by pastoralists. In this regard, the present research was done to seek the reasons for the failure of the northeastern pastoralists of Iran in adopting climate change adaptation strategies. The study is descriptive, which conducted by a field survey. The target population included 249 pastoralists from 7 pastoral units, of whom 148 people were selected as sample size using the stratified random sampling technique. The survey instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. The content validity and face validity of the questionnaire were checked by the experts. Convergent validity was also confirmed based on the average variance extracted (AVE). Cronbach's α coefficient and composite reliability (CR) were used to evaluate the internal consistency of the questionnaire. The results showed that social and, regulatory and insurance components were the most critical internal and external weaknesses of the pastoralists' failure in adopting climate change adaptation strategies, respectively. Structural equation modeling showed that external weaknesses had positive and significant effects on internal weaknesses of the pastoralists' failure in adopting climate change adaptation strategies.

The mechanism of knowledge-based behavior of pastoralists for rangeland management: exploitation, restoration and conservation.

Pastoralists have managed their lands for a thousand years, but they are ignored in the land management approaches. They have comprehensive information about their rangelands, coming from extensive observations and experiences in continuous herding. This research has focused on revealing the mechanism of knowledge-based behavior of pastoralists for rangeland management. The statistical population is made up of 50 pastoralists, all of whom were included in census. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire that measured the knowledge-based behavior of pastoralists with 58 items in three indicators i.e. exploitation, conservation, and restoration. The validity and reliability of the research instrument were assessed using the opinions of local experts and Cronbach's alpha (α = 0.877). The knowledge-based behavior of pastoralists were from the highest to the lowest related to exploitation, conservation, and restoration with the average of 2.35, 2.07 and 1.58 respectively. Exploitation knowledge, restoration knowledge and conservation knowledge had the strongest and weakest significant relationship with the knowledge-based behavior of pastoralists. "The adequate growth of palatable plants is a sign of the start of grazing" and "the soil should not be wet for the start of grazing" had the highest importance for rangeland exploitation with a values of 0.816 and 0.784 respectively. For rangeland conservation, "holding meetings by elders regarding rangeland conservation is useful" and "reducing the number of pastoralists during droughts is one of the rangeland conservation ways" were the most importance items with the values of 0.852 and 0.848 respectively. For rangeland restoration, "implementation of grazing systems (rotation or rest rotation grazing systems) is one of the rangeland restoration ways" and "the appropriate distribution of watering points is one of the rangeland restoration factors" were the most importance items with the values of 0.840 and 0.812 respectively. There was a positive and significant relationship between the age, history of pastoralism and income with the knowledge-based behavior of pastoralists in rangeland management. Therefore, the presented approach based on indigenous knowledge can be considered as an effective component for rangeland management and can strengthen the positive effects of both management systems and create a transformation in the status of natural resources by a compatible combination of indigenous knowledge and modern knowledge. It is worth noting that by knowing these indicators, we can take an effective step in planning and policy making as well as proper management of rangelands.

The effects of gallic acid and metformin on male reproductive dysfunction in diabetic mice induced by methylglyoxal: An experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a disease that has reached a dangerous point. Today, nearly 500 million men and women around the world live with diabetes. Gallic acid (Gal) affects diabetes. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of Gal and metformin (met) on the levels of glucose, insulin, testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), sperm count, antioxidant status, and histological changes in the testes of diabetic mice induced by methylglyoxal (MGO). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, 50 male adult NMRI mice, weighting 25-30 gr, aged 3-4 months were randomly divided into five equal groups (n = 10/each). (i) Control (vehicle, normal saline), (ii) MGO (600 mg/kg/d) orally for 28 days, (iii) Gal (50 mg/kg/d), (iv) MGO+Gal, and (v) MGO+met (200 mg/kg/d). Gal and met were administered orally for 21 consecutive days after the induction of diabetes. Blood samples were taken at 24 hr after the latest doses of treatment. Histological assessment of the testis was done, and the epididymis sperm count was obtained. Antioxidant indices, glucose, insulin, LH, FSH, and testosterone levels were measured. RESULTS: In the MGO group compared to the control group, insulin, glucose (p = 0.001), LH (p = 0.04) and malondialdehyde (p = 0.001) were increased. However, the level of testosterone (p = 0.001), seminiferous tubule diameters, epithelial height, sperm count, superoxide dismutase activity (p = 0.02), and testis volume (p = 0.01) were decreased. The results indicated that Gal and met ameliorated the MGO effects. CONCLUSION: These findings suggested that the animals receiving MGO became diabetic. According to the results, Gal and met can effectively prevent MGO-induced diabetes. The effect of Gal was equivalent and sometimes better than metformin.

A stereological study of effects of aqueous extract of Tamarindus indica seeds on pancreatic islets in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Tamarindus indica Linn was used as a traditional medicine for the management of diabetes mellitus in human and experimental animals. This study investigated effects of aqueous extract of Tamarindus indica seeds (AETIS) against STZ-induced damages in pancreatic islands by means of stereological methods. sixty matured normoglycemic male Wistar rats, weighing 200-250 gr, were selected and randomly divided into 6 groups (n=10). Control, STZ-induced diabetic; by intraperitoneal injection of 55 mg/Kg streptozotocin, Treated control group (TC); received AETIS at a dose of 200mg/kg/day, and AETIS treated diabetic groups (TD1-3); received respectively AETIS at the dose of 50, 100,and 200 mg/kg/day by gavage from one week after induction of diabetes by STZ. After 8 weeks of experiment, stereological estimation of volume density and total volume of islets and beta cells, volume weighted mean islets volume, mass of beta cells, islets, and pancreas and total number of islets were done. Volume density and total volume of islets, volume weighted mean islets volume, volume density islets/pancreas, volume density beta cells/islet, mass of islets and pancreas of treated diabetic groups (TD1-3) were significantly higher than untreated diabetic group (P<0.001), and in TD3 group these values were comparable to controls. Although total volume and mass of beta cells in TD1-3 were significantly higher than D group but they were significantly lower than control group (P>0.05). Total number of islets, pancreas wet weight and volume did not show any significant changes between control and experimental groups (P>0.05). Results suggested that AETIS partially restores pancreatic beta cells and repairs STZ-induced damages in rats.