Food habits and nutritional status of Fiji rugby players

The 15-a-side Fiji rugby team trains well in preparations for any rugby competition but rarely performs to expectations. In order to help the Fiji local based rugby players to identify some key basic areas in improving their performance, a series of workshops were conducted to assess their nutritional status and dietary habits in relation to energy demand during rugby matches. The nutrition workshop included the administration of questionnaires to 19 local based rugby players, requesting the following information: usual food intakes, training camp food intakes, carbohydrate loading, pre-game meals and post-game meals. The study revealed that poor eating habits of the players resulted inthe low carbohydrate intake, which may have contributed to increaselevels of fatigue leading to loss of stamina even before the second half of the game. It appears that the diet of most 15-a-side players does not provide enough energy to enable them to last the full eighty minutes of the game

Laxative potency of Methanolic extract of Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota): Avian Model (pigeons, Columbia livia)

Marine organisms produce many secondary metabolites, which are commonly referred to as natural products. These organisms often exhibit unique chemical responses when they are under stress. Many of these chemicals may have medicinal applications. In this research work methanolic extract from the body wall of holothurian (Holothuria leucospilota) was studied in vivo to test its effect on passage rate of digesta using avian model. The effect of sea cucumber solvent extract (SCSE) was compared with a known laxative drug (bisacodyl) in 36 feral pigeons fed with various doses (5mg, 20mg, and 40mg) of the extract. Cloaca excretions were collected after administration of the treatments on hourly intervals for initial 6hrs, six hourly intervals for 42hrs and 12hrly interval for 102hrs. Observations on moisture content (%) and chromic oxide recovery (mg) were recorded from these samples. These parameters were used to determine the passage rate (mg/hr) of digesta along the gut for 102 hrs. Mean moisture content for birds fed with 40mg and known drug was relatively higher to other treatments. Results revealed a stimulatory effect of extract on the passage rate of digesta dry matter (mg/hr) and chromic oxide recovery rate (99% and 96%). SCSE of 40mg dose was comparable to the laxative drug. The results indicated that the holothurian extract has a laxative potency

Enteromorpha flexuosa (Wulfen) J. Agardh (Chlorophyta: Ulvales) – Evaluation as an Indicator of Heavy Metal Contamination in a Tropical Estuary

The use of bioindicators for contaminant monitoring ispopular in all sectors of the environment but quite oftenbioindicators are utilised without rigorous evaluation oftheir viability as an indicator. We report field andlaboratory investigations into the value of a commonlyfound macroalga, Enteromorpha flexuosa (Wulfen) J.Agardh (Chlorophyta: Ulvales) as an indicator of copper,zinc and lead contamination in a tropical estuary inFiji. In the laboratory, metal content of E.flexuosa after 60 days of growth in seawater containingincreasing concentrations of the metals showed almostperfect correlation with metal concentrations in waterfor all three metals, and concentration factors obtainedwere generally higher than values reported for otherspecies of Enteromorpha. Performance in the fieldwas evaluated by a one-year monitoring of metals in E. flexuosa, water and sediments from a contaminatedestuary. Metal concentrations in water were always belowdetection limits and field concentration factors couldnot be determined but the concentration of lead in E. flexuosa showed a high correlation with the leadcontent of sediments. Lack of such correlation forcopper and zinc in the field suggests that otherenvironmental factors besides metal load in the physicalenvironment could be controlling the bioaccumulation ofthese two metals. Whilst demonstrating E. flexuosato be a viable bioindicator for lead, these results alsohighlight the need for proper assessment before anorganism is considered for environmental monitoring

Carotenoids in the leaves of Morinda citrifolia

The carotenoid content of the leaves, bark and fruit of the tropical herb Mordinda citrifolia from the South Pacific have been investigated and compared with the leaves of Chinese cabbage Brassica chinensis and taro Colocasia esculenta. Observations suggest that the leaves of Morinda citrifoliacould be used to treat local vitamin A deficiency in the South Pacific

Identification of character-impact odorants in coriander and wild coriander leaves using gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) and comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC TOFMS)

The essential oil of coriander leaves (Coriandrum sativum) and wild coriander leaves (Eryngium foetidum) grown in Fiji was obtained by steam distillation. The aroma profiles were characterised using gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) and CharmAnalysisTM. The character-impact odorants were identified using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). During GCO analysis, the co-elution of E-2-alkenals and E-2-alken-1-ols resulted in the perception of odour-clusters. The most important odorants in C. sativum were found to be Z-2-decenal, a co-eluting odour-cluster (E-2-dodecenal, E-2-dodecen-1-ol, and 1-dodecanol), -ionone, eugenol, and E-2-decenal. E-2-Decen-1-ol was the most abundant compound in C. sativum (26.0% TIC) but only contributed 0.39% of the total odour activity. The most abundant compound in E. foetidum was E-2-dodecenal (63.5% TIC), which also contributed the most odour activity (52.9%). Other important odorants were either eugenol or a trimethylbenzaldehyde isomer, -ionone, Z-4-dodecenal, dodecanal, and E-2-tetradecenal. GC×GC-TOFMS allowed the identification of 42 and 20 compounds not previously reported in the literature for C. sativum and E. foetidum, respectively. In particular, -ionone was determined to be an important odorant in both samples but could not be identified with GC-qMS

Long-acting contraceptive agents: Esters of norethisterone with alkoxy- and halogeno-substituted carboxylic acids

6 pages, 1 scheme.-- PMID: 6658876 [PubMed].The chemical synthesis and physical data of several new esters of norethisterone (17α-ethynyl-17β-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one) are reported, which contain either a chloro- or an alkoxy-group as a substituent in the acid side-chain.The authors thank the World Health Organization for financial support of this research work