Sour cassava starch production process, during the fermentation step, an acidic wastewater is generated, in this study named wastewater of cassava starch fermentation (WCSF). It has been studied the effect of WCSFs (from three industrial source: WCSF 1, 2 and 3) and patterns of organic acids (lactic, acetic, propionic and butyric acids, which were the main organic acids present in the WCSFs) singly or together on the development and growing of Botrytis cinerea, Monilinia fructicola and Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes. WCSFs showed antimicrobial effect on the three fungi studied. WCSF2 inhibited the germination of conidia from the three fungi, while WCSFs 1 and 3 inhibited conidia germination of B. cinerea and C. gloeosporiodes. The acetic, propionic, butyric and the mix acids were also effective in the reduction of conidial germination. In the analysis of mycelia growth, it has been observed that the growing was statically smaller, in relation to negative control, for all fungi in the treatments with the WCSFs and with the pattern solution of butyric acid. Which suggest that the WCSFs compounds and butyric acid are effective inhibitor for fungi and justify future studies using this wastewater.

This study aimed at the content analysis of edible oil TV advertisements and consumer perceptions regarding these advertisements in 2020. A total of 3266 edible oil advertisements broadcasted on five major Iranian national television channels were videotaped for content analysis during three months. The result of content analysis conducted that, the majority of edible oil advertisements were related to frying oils (62%), and olive oil advertising was the last one (6%). The most slogan contents of edible oil advertisements were no palm. During the prime time of TV viewing, the advertisements portrayed unhealthy messages. Then ten focus group discussions (FGDs) were held. Advertising was the main factor affecting consumer edible oil purchases that may motivate them to eat more frying foods and change their purchase behavior towards the consumption of edible oils more than the recommended limits. Advertisement marketing companies must use healthy and informative advertisement content to increase community awareness and promote building consumer trust. Policymakers should pass new laws for controlling edible oil advertisements to prevent non-communicable diseases.

Relative amounts of variables, such as body fatty acids, might be positively or negatively associated. The purpose of the present work was to investigate further, how such correlations might arise. One particular feature seemed to be that distributions of the variables were crucial for obtaining either positive or negative correlations, and for their strength, suggesting the name Distribution Dependent Correlations (DDC). The present work suggests that, with three positive scale variables, two of which (A, B) having very low variability relative to a third one (R), we should expect a positive association between percent A and percent B, the slope being estimated by the B/A ratio. Furthermore, we should expect a negative relationship between %R and %A (%B), in the current context. On the other hand, if A and B have high numbers and broad ranges relative to R, then %A should relate inversely to %B. Thus, ranges of A, B, and R seem to govern associations between their relative amounts, and alterations in the ranges have appreciable effects to change the associations. We suggest that evolution might utilize DDC to regulate metabolism, as suggested to occur with body fatty acids.

Obesity has become a major health issue globally due to its increasing prevalence in certain parts of the world. In addition, because of its growing contribution to the burden of global morbidity, obesity has become one of the primary health concerns in many developed and developing countries. The WHO has warned of an escalating obesity epidemic that could put the population at risk of contracting non communicable diseases in many countries. Over the past 2 decades, Oman has been shown to bear a heavy burden of NCDs and numerous studies have documented the distribution of several risk factors coupled with lifestyle behaviors associated with many obesity related diseases giving rise to many more new health challenges in the nation. This article provides an overview of the anthropometric measurements and the health status of obese Omani women. Objective: The main purpose of this research was to study the association between anthropometric measurements and the health status of the obese Omani women. Method: The study was carried out during the period Sep 2019 to Jan 2020 and included a sample of total 398 obese Omani women aged 30-49 years from Muscat and Batina Governorates in Oman. Assessment of anthropometric measurements was done by calculating the BMI and WHR of the subjects and the health status was assessed by self-reporting of certain diseases using questionnaire cum interview method. Result: The anthropometric assessments revealed that 47% were found to be grade I obese, 32% were grade II obese and 21% were morbidly obese with grade III obesity as per the BMI. On classifying the WHR it was found that 70% were in high category, 28% in moderate category and only 2% in low category. The health status of the subjects indicated that 81% of the subjects reported to have some obesity-related morbidity like hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes etc. or the other and only 19% of the subjects were free from any disease. Conclusion: The obesity indicators i.e. BMI and WHR clearly showed a very high prevalence of obesity in the study sample. The anthropometric measurements are commonly associated with diseases like high cholesterol, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

Background: Recently, there are many concerns about the health consequences of COVID-19 as well as the global food supply. For this reason, assessing the impact of pandemic effects on the vegetable chain is critical to set policies to ensure an adequate supply of vegetables. Methods: In this study, major centers of processing and distribution of vegetables in various areas of Tehran have been studied. In the first phase, the status of the hygienic behavior of 192 staff of these centers in the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the second phase, the challenges of these centers were assessed. Data were collected through completing questionnaires, observation, and interviews with staff and statistically analyzed using SPSS. The relationship between independent (demographic characteristics) and dependent (behavior) variables were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: In the first quantitative phase, up to 51% of the respondents had a good hygienic behavior towards various aspects of the preventive measures. The behavioral mean scores were significantly related to educational level (p <0.05). Findings of the qualitative phase revealed that the outbreak of COVID-19, quarantine, and social distance measures to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus have not disrupted the vegetable supply chain, but it was observed that vegetable distributors and manufacturers have suffered the most from declining sales and after that, due to price volatility during the epidemic which is mostly due to lock-down. Conclusion: In general, the current economic situation may seriously impair the livelihoods of disadvantaged groups. Although most staff at vegetable centers follow the safety measures of using masks, these results show that this part of the population that is in continuous contact with different persons have not taken COVID-19 disease seriously.