Dietary diversity and its determinants among women of reproductive age residing in the urban area of Nouakchott, Mauritania.

BACKGROUND: The intake of nutrient-rich foods from diverse diets ensures adequate nutrition for women. This study aims to determine dietary diversity among women of reproductive age (WRA) using the MDD-W indicator and how it relates to their socio-economic characteristics in the city of Nouakchott, Mauritania. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 240 women of reproductive age, aged 15-49 years. Food consumption data were obtained through unquantified 24 h recall which is designed to identify all foods consumed by the women during this period. We computed MDD-W as the consumption of at least five out of ten predefined food groups according to the guideline of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. In order to determine which factors had a statistically significant influence on dietary diversity among women, we used a value of P < 0.05. RESULTS: The mean of dietary diversity was 5.48 and 71.7% of WRA had an acceptable minimum dietary diversity. During the study period, 96.25% and 80% of women consumed vitamin A and iron-rich foods respectively. The consumption rate of starchy foods, vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and chicken, milk and dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables and finally other vegetables was higher; 99.6%, 75.3%, 80%, 62.5%, 60.4% and 83.3% respectively. On the other hand, the consumption of legumes, eggs and other fruits was low; at 21.7%, 14.2% and 13.8% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that more than half of the studied population had an acceptable minimum dietary diversity. The diet was mainly based on the consumption of starchy foods, meat and other vegetables than those rich in vitamin A.

Artificial neural network modeling of cefixime photodegradation by synthesized CoBi2O4 nanoparticles.

CoBi2O4 (CBO) nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a complexing reagent. For a single phase with the spinel structure, the formed gel was dried and calcined at four temperatures stages. Various methods were used to identify and characterize the obtained spinel, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrograph (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Raman, and UV-Vis spectroscopies. The photocatalytic activity of CBO was examined for the degradation of a pharmaceutical product cefixime (CFX). Furthermore, for the prediction of the CFX degradation rate, an artificial neural network model was used. The network was trained using the experimental data obtained at different pH with different CBO doses and initial CFX concentrations. To optimize the network, various algorithms and transfer functions for the hidden layer were tested. By calculating the mean square error (MSE), 13 neurons were found to be the optimal number of neurons and produced the highest coefficient of correlation R2 of 99.6%. The relative significance of the input variables was calculated, and the most impacting input was proved to be the initial CFX concentration. The effects of some scavenging agents were also studied. The results confirmed the dominant role of hydroxyl radical OH• in the degradation process. With the novel CoBi2O4/ZnO hetero-system, the photocatalytic performance has been enhanced, giving an 80% degradation yield of CFX (10 mg/L) at neutral pH in only 3 h.

Free and bound cinnamic acid derivatives in corsica sweet blond oranges.

Total determination of cinnamic acids (CA), including hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives is generally not accurate since, during hydrolysis, a possible degradation of dihydroxy CA such as caffeic acid could occur. Evaluations of CA (ferulic, p-coumaric, sinapic, cinnamic and caffeic acids) before and after hydrolysis have been undertaken using standards and either with or without addition of ascorbic acid and EDTA. The method was then applied to the determination of free and bound CA in five blond cultivars (Navelina, Washington navel, Pera, Salustiana and Valencia late) of sweet oranges [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osb.]. Four parts of the fruits (peel juice, flavedo, albedo and juice) have been investigated. Results show that CA are mainly bound (86% up to 92%) in the four fruit parts. The mean of total CA contents was found to be higher in peel juice (1.5 g kg(-1)) in comparison with flavedo (0.7 g kg(-1)), albedo (0.1 g kg(-1)) and juice (0.6 g kg(-1)). Free and bound ferulic acid represented 55-70% of CA in juices, followed by p-coumaric acid (20%), sinapic acid (10%) and caffeic acid (9%). Total contents of each CA in the four fruit parts are discussed and show the potential interest in orange peel wastes.

Fatty acids in liver, muscle and gonad of three tropical rays including non-methylene-interrupted dienoic fatty acids.

Scientific investigation of lipids in Elasmobranchs has been conducted mainly on shark species. Because rays seem to be neglected, this study was performed to examine the complete fatty acid (FA) composition with a particular interest for long-chain polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) content in different tissues of three ray species including parts usually discarded. The total FA and PUFA profiles of total lipids were determined in muscle, liver, and gonad of Rhinobatos cemiculus, Rhinoptera marginata, and Dasyatis marmorata, the most often caught ray species from the East Tropical Atlantic Ocean. Fifty FA were characterized as methyl esters and N-acyl pyrrolidides by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, showing significant levels of 20:5n-3 (EPA) (up to 5.3%) and 22:5n-3 (DPA) (up to 7.3%), high levels of 20:4n-6 arachidonic (ARA) (4.8-8.6% of total FA) and 22:6n-3 (DHA) (up to 20.0%). The results show that muscle, liver and gonad of rays can provide high amounts of essential PUFA, specially DHA, for direct human nutrition or the food processing industry. High proportions of DHA were particularly found in all samples of R. cemiculus (11.6-20.0%), and in muscle and liver of D. marmorata (11.1-16.1%). Regarding the high amounts of (n-3) PUFA, this study shows that these rays deserve a better up-grading, including the normally discarded parts, and describes the occurrence of unusual NMID FA in all tissues studied. Five non-methylene-interrupted dienoic fatty acids (NMID FA) (0-3.4%) were reported, including previously known isomers, namely 20:2 Delta7,13, 20:2 Delta7,15, 22:2 Delta7,13, 22:2 Delta7,15, and new 22:2 Delta6,14. These acids are quite unusual in fish and unprecedented in rays. The 22:2 Delta6,14 acid occurred in gonads of male specimens of R. cemiculus at 2.9%.

Non-destructive testing techniques for the forensic engineering investigation of reinforced concrete buildings.

This study describes in detail the results of a laboratory investigation where the compressive strength of 150mm side-length cubes was evaluated. Non-destructive testing (NDT) was carried out using ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and impact rebound hammer (IRH) techniques to establish a correlation with the compressive strengths of compression tests. To adapt the Schmidt hammer apparatus and the ultrasonic pulse velocity tester to the type of concrete used in Algeria, concrete mix proportions that are recommended by the Algerian code were chosen. The resulting correlation curve for each test is obtained by changing the level of compaction, water/cement ratio and concrete age of specimens. Unlike other works, the research highlights the significant effect of formwork material on surface hardness of concrete where two different mould materials for specimens were used (plastic and wood). A combined method for the above two tests, reveals an improvement in the strength estimation of concrete. The latter shows more improvement by including the concrete density. The resulting calibration curves for strength estimation were compared with others from previous published literature.

Fatty acid distribution in muscle, liver, and gonads of rays (Dasyatis marmorata, Rhinobatos cemiculus, and Rhinoptera marginata) from the East Tropical Atlantic Ocean.

If a great number of rays are fished in the Tropical East Atlantic Ocean for their caudal fins, only a small amount of ray flesh is processed. Among them, three species of rays, Dasyatis marmorata, Rhinobatos cemiculus, and Rhinoptera marginata, from the Mauritanian coast have been investigated for the fatty acid composition of their lipids. Gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry allowed identification of 50 molecules from muscles, livers, and gonads of these fishes. Principal component analysis, starting from >50 samples, reveals significant differences in various fatty acid distributions, related to the species and sex of the sampled fish. Some of them are preferentially present in one sex or in both species, whereas the occurrence of others characterizes the male and female of one or two species. The results show that rays are potential resources of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and should be used in the diet of local populations. The lipidic fractions contained a high amount of PUFA (up to 30% of the total), mainly composed of docosa-4,7,10,13,16,19-hexaenoic acid, eicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenoic acid, and eicosa-5,8,11,14,17-pentaenoic acid.