The Effect of an Exercise Package for Students with Intellectual Disability on Motor and Social Development.

Objectives: Physical activity and reducing inactivity improve health and well-being and benefit young people's social development with an intellectual disability (ID) lasting into adulthood. Therefore, given the importance of encouraging an active lifestyle in adolescents, researchers developed and evaluated the feasibility and potential effect of a novel "Sport Science Research Institute (SSRI) exercise package for young people with intellectual disability" to improve the motor and social development of these individuals. Materials & Methods: In a Randomised controlled trial between October 2019 to February-2020, Thirty-six 7-18-year-old students with mild intellectual disabilities who were studying in a special school in Tehran received the invitation to the study. Students were randomly divided into intervention (18 students) and control (18 students) groups. Before and after the exercise program, three sessions per week for 12 weeks, motor proficiency was measured using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2), and social development was measured using the Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS). Results: Pupils in the intervention group completed 92% of the sessions. The results of the ANCOVA test showed that the exercise program led to a statistically significant improvement in total motor proficiency (P<0.01) and total social maturity score (P<0.015). Conclusion: According to this study, the SSRI training package achieved good adherence and increased physical activity and showed the potential to improve motor and social skills in young people with an intellectual disability.

The Occurrence of Lead in Animal Source Foods in Iran in the 2010s Decade: A Systematic Review.

Lead is a toxic, non-biodegradable, and accumulative heavy metal released into the environment by natural and anthropogenic activities. Despite health concerns due to the consumption of lead-contaminated foods, no systematic and comprehensive review studies have been published about the lead occurrence in animal source foods in Iran. The present study aimed to review the papers investigating the Pb contamination in animal-based food groups (including meat, fish, milk and dairy products, egg and honey) in Iran. A comprehensive search was performed with selected keywords in databases of Scopus, Web of science, and Magiran to find articles that had been published from January 2010 to December 2019. Of 371 identified articles on Pb contaminations in foods, 60 articles were selected using PRISMA. The lead concentrations were higher than the maximum recommended limits in 3 of 9 studies on meat and meat products, 12 of 26 studies on fish and canned fish, and 5 of 18 studies on milk and dairy products. However, the Pb contamination observed in studies on honey and egg was not comparable due to the lack of national and international standards. These results represent the importance of environmental monitoring and assessment for reducing exposure of animals to Pb, resulting in an improvement of food safety.

Applications of emerging botanical hydrocolloids for edible films: A review.

In recent years, many studies have been conducted on the production of edible films from emerging gums, which are mostly made from botanical sources. However, each one interacts differently with the film compounds, producing films with different properties that may improve or hinder their utilization in food packaging. Therefore, the aim of this review was to investigate and compare the physical, mechanical, thermal and structural properties of edible films produced with these emerging gums. The results of this review showed that it is possible to produce edible films with desirable physical, mechanical and thermal properties by optimizing the amounts and type of compounds in film formulations such as plasticizers, nanoparticles, lipid compounds, crosslinkers and combination of gums with other biopolymers. The future trends of this research include the deepening of knowledge to understand the molecular structures of emerging gums and to address the shortcomings of films based on these gums for their industrial-scale application in food packaging.

The prevalence of Brucella spp. in dairy products in the Middle East region: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Brucellosis, known as Malta fever or Mediterranean fever, is one of the most common bacterial zoonotic diseases caused by Brucella spp. which can result in serious health issues. The objective of the present study was to systematically review and summarize the studies regarding the prevalence of Brucella spp. in milk and milk products in the Middle East region. Some international databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar) were searched to retrieve relevant reports published between 1 January 2008 and 30th October 2018. After assessing for eligibility, 30 articles containing 9281 samples, were included in the current study. The highest number of publications were found in Iran and Turkey (n = 12 and 7, respectively), while Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Syria had the lowest number of publications (n = 1). Besides, the highest and lowest prevalence was observed in Kuwait (62%) and Egypt (15%), respectively. The highest and lowest overall prevalence of Brucella spp. in milk was found in raw cow milk 36% (95%CI: 28-54%) and raw buffalo milk 13% (95%CI: -22-48%), respectively. The overall prevalence in cheese estimated to be 9% (95%CI: -16-35%). The overall prevalence of Brucella spp. in dairy products in the Middle East was estimated to be 29% (95%CI: 23-35%). The results indicate that more risk management plans are needed to reduce the incidence of Brucella spp. in dairy products in the Middle East, especially in cow milk.

The effects of aerobic training before and after the induction of Alzheimer's disease on ABCA1 and APOE mRNA expression and the level of soluble Aß1-42 in the hippocampus of male Wistar rats.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aerobic training before and after the induction of Alzheimer's disease on ABCA1 and APOE mRNA expression and the level of soluble Aß1-42 in the hippocampus of male Wistar rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety six eight-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: Training (n=48) and Rest (n=48). After four weeks, each group was randomly divided into two subgroups: intra-hippocampal injection of Aß1-42 (n=24) and DMSO (n=24). Then, each group was again randomly divided into two groups: Training (n=12) and Rest (n=12). After four weeks, each group was again randomly divided into two groups: Behavioral test (n=7) and sacrificed (n=5). RESULTS: The one-way ANOVA showed a significant increase in the mRNA expression of ABCA1 (P<0.05), a significant decrease in the level of soluble Aß1-42, and no significant difference in the expression of APOE mRNA (P>0.05) in the hippocampus as a result of training. The analysis of the Morris water maze data showed that intra-hippocampal injection of Aß1-42 impaired spatial learning and memory and exercise improved spatial learning (P<0.05) and memory (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Therefore, aerobic training by a significant increase in the mRNA expression of ABCA1, which is the main factors of lipid metabolism in the brain and which is involved in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, can be consistent with improving cognitive function as an effective way of preventing and improving the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

A review on inactivation methods of Toxoplasma gondii in foods.

Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii, a widespread zoonotic protozoan which poses a great threat to human health and economic well-being worldwide. It is usually acquired by ingestion of water contaminated with oocysts from the feces of infected cats or by the ingestion of raw or undercooked foodstuff containing tissue cysts. The oocyst can contaminate irrigation water and fresh edible produce. It is estimated that approximately one-third of the human population worldwide harbor this parasite. Infection with T. gondii is an important cause of diseases of the central nervous system and the eye in immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and applicability of thermal (heating, cooking, freezing and low temperature), non-thermal (high pressure processing, ionizing irradiation and curing) and chemical and biochemical (disinfection, essential oils and biochemical methods such as enzymes, nanoparticles, antibiotics and immune response) treatments for the inactivation, inhabitation or to kill T. gondii in foodstuff intended for public consumption and under experimental conditions.

Influence of commercial culture composition and cow milk to soy milk ratio on the biochemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of a probiotic fermented composite drink.

In this study, the effects of various ratios of cow milk to soy milk (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100) and three types of commercial culture composition (ABY-1, MY-720, and YO-Mix 210; all of them containing Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, and yogurt cultures) on the biochemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of a probiotic fermented composite drink during incubation and refrigerated storage were investigated. It was found that the shortest fermentation time, greatest mean pH drop rate, and mean acidity increase rate were related to the 50:50/ABY treatment. 25:75/ABY and 25:75/MY treatments exhibited the highest viability of B. bifidum and/or L. acidophilus at the end of 21 days of refrigerated storage. The influence of the type of starter culture composition on the sensory properties of the final products was not significant. Based on microbial and sensory evaluations, using the 50:50 ratio with each type of culture composition was considered as the most suitable treatment.