Fig juice Fortified with Inulin and Lactobacillus Delbrueckii: A Promising Functional Food

Background and Objective: Nowadays, consumption of functional foods is favored because of their health promoting characteristics. Also there is an increasing demand for nondairy products because of lactose intolerance in dairies. Fig juice as a source of dietary fiber and other nutrients would be a functional food. Adding probiotics and prebiotics makes it more functional for daily use. No study has yet been done on synbiotic fig juice. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to characterize synbiotic fig juice prepared by Lactobacillus delbrueckii and inulin.Material and Methods: Samples consisted of control fig juice; fig juice fermented by Lactobacillus delbrueckii (probiotic) and fig juice containing inulin fermented by Lactobacillus delbrueckii (synbiotic) were produced. Physico-chemical parameters, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity and microbial survival aspects were analyzed during the fermentation period. Aforementioned parameters were also evaluated in 4 weeks with one-week time intervals. Sensory characteristics of fig juices were assessed in the second week of storage.Results and Conclusion: The results showed significant differences among treatments (p≤0.05) in physico-chemical indices during incubation and storage time. Total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of fermented fig juices were significantly increased in comparison to the control samples (p≤0.05). Viability of Lactobacillus delbrueckii was increased in both probiotic and synbiotic treatments during incubation; but a significant reduction was observed during storage time. Sensory analysis revealed that there were significant differences in terms of odor, taste and overall acceptance between the fermented fig juices and control (p≤0.05) and the highest scores were obtained for control. Considering viable counts of Lactobacillus delbrueckii depicted that fermented fig juice could be a suitable medium for survival and proliferation of Lactobacillus delbrueckii in adequate amount for health promotion. So this research showed that fig juice can be a potential product for manufacture of a new functional food.Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

Antibacterial Effect of Teucrium polium Essential Oil and Lactobacillus casei Probiotic on Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Kishk

Background and Objective: In recent years, there has been a rapid development in prevention of bacterial growth and spoilage in foods by the application of preservatives. Essential oils, which are known to be harmless for human, have shown positive health effects in addition to their preservative role. Likewise, probiotics exert improvement in both food product and health level of consumers. With reference to these it is important to do more research on various effects of endemic essential oils on traditional food products. A survey was carried on effect of essential oil and combination of essential oil and probiotics on growth of Escherchia coli O157:H7.Material and Methods: Kishk samples treated with Teucrium polium essential oil (75 and 150 mg l-1) and Lactobacillus casei (108 -109 CFU ml-1) were stored up to 20 days at 4°C and the effect of Teucrium polium essential oils and probiotic fermentation on Escherchia coli O157:H7 counts were investigated.Results and Conclusion: Teucrium polium essential oils and probiotic fermentation reduced the number of Escherichia coli during the cold storage time. The combination of Teucrium polium essential oil and probiotics showed stronger effect rather than individually added. Initial count of inoculated Escherchia coli was 6.39 log CFU g-1. Essential oil compounds of Teucrium polium included Spathulenol, Epizonaren and Bicyclo hept-3-en-2-ol in 18.39, 9.62 and 6.76%, respectively. After 20 days storage at 4°C, the number of Escherchia coli in probiotic, combination of probiotic and essential oil (150 mg l-1) and control samples decreased from 6.39 log CFU g-1 to 4.95, 4.30 and 5.8 log CFU g-1, respectively. An increase in acidity and decrease in pH were observed for all samples (p≤0.05). Based on organoleptic tests, the most accepted sample was included 75 ppm of essential oil and probiotic. According to the antibacterial effect of essential oils extracted from plant and probiotic fermentation, it was predictable that they could decline the Escherchia coli count especially in fermented dairy products. Also, due to its probiotic nature, Kishk would bring numerous health advantageous for consumer

Evaluating and ranking the quality of services criteria based on the combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models: A case study in Shiraz Branches of Samenalaeme Institute

Regardless of rapid development and globalization of services such as banking services, banks play a supportive and directive role in many economic activities as a services organization. The present study was aimed to evaluate and rank the quality of services criteria based on the combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models in Branches of Samenalaeme Institute in the city of Shiraz. The results of combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models revealed that some of the quality of services criteria has prioritization that should be attended more than other factors. These include customers’ personal safety, sound and perfect reports, presented documents and reports, and employees’ appearance and cleanness

Evaluating and ranking the quality of services criteria based on the combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models: A case study in Shiraz Branches of Samenalaeme Institute

Regardless of rapid development and globalization of services such as banking services, banks play a supportive and directive role in many economic activities as a services organization. The present study was aimed to evaluate and rank the quality of services criteria based on the combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models in Branches of Samenalaeme Institute in the city of Shiraz. The results of combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models revealed that some of the quality of services criteria has prioritization that should be attended more than other factors. These include customers’ personal safety, sound and perfect reports, presented documents and reports, and employees’ appearance and cleanness

Evaluating and ranking the quality of services criteria based on the combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models: A case study in Shiraz Branches of Samenalaeme Institute

Regardless of rapid development and globalization of services such as banking services, banks play a supportive and directive role in many economic activities as a services organization. The present study was aimed to evaluate and rank the quality of services criteria based on the combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models in Branches of Samenalaeme Institute in the city of Shiraz. The results of combination of KANO and SERVQUAL models revealed that some of the quality of services criteria has prioritization that should be attended more than other factors. These include customers’ personal safety, sound and perfect reports, presented documents and reports, and employees’ appearance and cleanness

Comparative study of the urinary level of aflatoxin M1 in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and healthy people

Abstract Background: Aflatoxins are the secondary metabolites produced by the flavi section of Aspergillus. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is hepatocarcinogen, teratogen and mutagen. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the hydroxylated metabolite of AFB1. The liver protects the body by lowering the toxicity of AFB1 to form different hydroxylates like AFM1. According to the synergistic effect of hepatitis and also AFB1 as the parent molecule of AFM1, the main purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the mean levels of AFM1, in the hepatitis-C-virus (HCV)-positive patients compared to healthy individuals. Methods: After the tests of liver function enzymes, the level of AFM1 was measured and compared in the urine sample of 71 patients with HCV and 71 healthy individuals. The AFM1 of urine samples were tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Besides, the levels of serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and direct bilirubin were assessed in the blood samples. Findings: The urine of 29.7% of HCV-positive patients and 19.71% of healthy individuals consisted of some amount of AFM1. The mean level of AFM1 was 2.45 and 1.66 pg/ml in patients and controls, respectively; which was significantly different (P = 0.005). The mean levels of SGPT and alkaline phosphatase were significantly more among HCV-positive patients with AFM1 compared to those without AFM1 (P = 0.012). But, there was not any significant difference between the mean levels of SGOT and total and direct bilirubin between the HCV-positive patients with and without AFM1. Conclusion: The mean levels of SGPT and Alkaline phosphatase, which are more exclusive to survey of liver function, were significantly different between HCV-positive patients with and without AFM1. Consequently, progression of the chronic liver disease is caused by the existence of AFB1 in HCV-positive patients; therefore, the reduction of AFM1 via improving the food consumption pattern can prevent this progression. Keywords: Aflatoxin M1, Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Liver dysfunction

Nigella sativa and its Derivatives as Food Toxicity Protectant Agents

Exposure to food toxins generate multiple adverse health effects. Heavy metals, antibioticsresidue, mycotoxins, pesticides and some food additives are examples of the most importantfood toxins. The common mechanism of toxicity and carcinogenicity effects of food toxins is thegeneration of oxidative stress that leads to DNA damages. Moreover, based on epidemiologicevidence unhealthy eating habits and food toxicities are associated with cancers occurrence.Therefore, application of bioactive food additives as harmless or safe components in foodindustry is expensive. Nigella sativa L. is a broadly used herb-drug for various diseases all overthe world and has been used as preservative and food additive. Based on various studies N. sativahas shown various pharmacological activities including therapeutic efficacy against differenthuman diseases and antioxidant anti-inflammatory effects against environmental toxins. N.sativa decreases the adverse health effects induced by mentioned food toxins via modulating theaction of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferasecatalase and act as reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers in different organs. Besides, N.sativa and thymoquinone (TQ) have protective effects on food products through removal andinhibition of various toxic compounds. Therefore, in the present review we will describe allprotective effects of N. sativa and its main constituents, TQ, against food induced toxicities

Higher Morbidity and Mortality in Trauma Intensive Care Unit Patients with Opium Addiction

Background: Opium addiction is associated with multiple physical, psychological, and social problems. Theaim of this study was to compare the risk of morbidity and mortality in opium-addicted and non-addictedtrauma patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) of trauma center of Kerman Province, Iran.Methods: In this cohort study, a total of 200 addict and non-addicted patients who were admitted due totrauma in ICUs of Shahid Bahonar Hospital in Kerman during 9 months of 2018 were included. Patients werecompared in terms of mortality, incidence of pressure ulcers, incidence of organ failure, duration of mechanicalventilation, and duration of hospitalization. Data were analysed using Fisher's exact test and independentt-test at P < 0.05.Findings: Out of 197 examined patients, 161 (81.7%) individuals were men and 36 (18.3%) were women.Moreover, 98 (49.7%) patients had a history of opium abuse, while 99 (50.2%) patients had no history of opiumaddiction. The addicted and non-addicted groups had no significant differences in terms of age(P = 0.650) and gender (P = 0.580). In addicted patients, mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation(P = 0.027), the incidence of pressure ulcer, and organ failure were significantly higher (P < 0.001), but meanICU stay and hospitalization time was the same in both groups.Conclusion: The results of this study indicated higher mortality and morbidity in opium-addicted patientsadmitted to ICU than non-addicted ones. This suggests that various systems of the body are affected by opiumand, in certain circumstances such as severe diseases, this will cause problems for patients. Therefore, expertsshould pay attention to complications and side effects of addiction in the management of critical patients witha history of opium abuse

Spectroscopic, thermodynamic and molecular docking studies of bovine serum albumin interaction with ascorbyl palmitate food additive

Introduction: Ascorbyl palmitate (AP) is an example of natural secondary food antioxidant, which has been used for oxidative rancidity prevention in food industry. In this study, the interaction of AP with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated. Methods: The mechanism of BSA interaction with AP was investigated using spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis, fluorescence). The thermodynamic parameters including enthalpy change (ΔH), entropy change (ΔS), and Gibb’s free energy (ΔG) were calculated using Van’t Hoff equation at different temperatures. Results: The experimental results showed that UV-Vis absorption spectra of BSA decreased upon increasing AP concentration, indicating that the AP can bind to BSA. Formation of the AP-BSA complex was approved by quenching of fluorescence and the quenching mechanism was found to be resultant from dynamic procedure. The positive values of both ΔH and ΔS showed that hydrophobic forces were the major binding forces. The negative value of ΔG demonstrated that AP interacts with BSA spontaneously. Molecular docking results confirmed that AP binds to BSA through hydrophobic forces. Conclusion: The attained results showed that AP can bind to BSA and effectively distributed into the bloodstream

Correlation between the Intensity of Helicobacter pylori

Background. The most common cause of chronic gastritis is infection with Helicobacter pylori. Identifying the relationship between intensities of colonization and activity of gastritis helps the clinician in more effective treatment and posttreatment follow-ups. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, endoscopic gastric biopsy samples of 544 patients who complained symptoms of dyspepsia for more than three months referring to the laboratory were studied. To determine the colonization rate of H. pylori and other pathological findings, Giemsa and H&E stains were, respectively, used. Results. Among 544 subjects, 47 (8.64%) patients had no gastritis, 203 (37.32%) had mild gastritis, 278 (10.51%) suffered moderate gastritis, and 16 (2.94%) had severe gastritis. In this study, patients with mild H. pylori colonization rates had the highest level of mild activity (33.52%); in contrast, those with severe H. pylori colonization had the highest level of severe activity (43.75%). 93.96% of people with severe H. pylori colonization suffered from moderate and severe chronic gastritis. There is a significant statistical relationship between the intensity of H. pylori colonization and histopathological findings including intestinal metaplasia, atrophy, and lymphoid follicle formation. Conclusions. According to the present study, with increasing intensity of H. pylori colonization, chronicity and activity of gastritis and its complications increase