Roles of Marine Macroalgae or Seaweeds and Their Bioactive Compounds in Combating Overweight, Obesity and Diabetes: A Comprehensive Review.

Obesity and diabetes are matters of serious concern in the health sector due to their rapid increase in prevalence over the last three decades. Obesity is a severe metabolic problem that results in energy imbalance that is persistent over a long period of time, and it is characterized by insulin resistance, suggesting a strong association with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The available therapies for these diseases have side effects and some still need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they are expensive for underdeveloped countries. Hence, the need for natural anti-obesity and anti-diabetic drugs has increased in recent years due to their lower costs and having virtually no or negligible side effects. This review thoroughly examined the anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects of various marine macroalgae or seaweeds and their bioactive compounds in different experimental settings. According to the findings of this review, seaweeds and their bioactive compounds have been shown to have strong potential to alleviate obesity and diabetes in both in vitro and in vivo or animal-model studies. However, the number of clinical trials in this regard is limited. Hence, further studies investigating the effects of marine algal extracts and their bioactive compounds in clinical settings are required for developing anti-obesity and anti-diabetic medicines with better efficacy but lower or no side effects.

Muscle fiber type and metabolic profiles of four muscles from the African black ostrich.

Muscle fiber type, fiber cross-sectional area (CSA), enzyme activities (citrate synthase (CS), 3-hydroxyacetyl Co A dehydrogenase (3HAD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and phosphofructokinase (PFK)) and glycogen content were analyzed in the M. iliotibialis cranialis (ITC), M. iliotibialis lateralis, M. gastrocnemius (G) and M. fibularis longus (FL) muscles from 24 ostriches. Type I and II fiber proportions were similar across the 4 muscles, but the ITC had overall the smallest fibers. CS activity was the highest in the ITC, but similar between the remainder of the muscles. 3HAD activities were very low in all muscles, ranging between 1.9 and 2.7 µmol/min/g protein, indicating poor ß-oxidation. The ITC also had the lowest PFK activity. Glycogen content averaged ∼85 mmol/kg dry weight across the muscles with large intramuscular variations. The 4 ostrich muscles present with low fat oxidation capacity and low glycogen content, which could have significant implications on meat quality attributes.

Evaluation of a video based health education strategy to improve sexually transmitted disease partner notification in South Africa.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the feasibility and impact of a health education intervention promoting partner notification for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). METHODS: The research setting was a busy public health clinic in a rural district in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. A before/after quantitative study design was used to measure the effect of an audiovisual presentation of a compelling love drama, posters, and pamphlets. Measures collected from all consenting STD index patients during a 6 week pre-intervention (control) phase were compared with those collected during a 6 week intervention phase. A qualitative evaluation assessed whether the intervention accurately portrayed the intended educational messages. RESULTS: 150 index patients (55% female) were interviewed in the control phase and 185 index patients (64% female) in the intervention phase. The intervention phase showed improvements on several measures of self efficacy about notifying casual partners, such as a belief among index patients that a greater proportion of their casual partners would see the importance of seeking treatment as a result of their notification interaction. The rate of contact cards returned per index patient was 0.27 in the intervention phase, compared with 0.20 in the control phase (95% CI for the rate difference: -0.05, 0.17). The qualitative research found that the intervention was thoroughly enjoyed by patients and clinicians, but a fundamental problem with it was that patients received confused messages about the relation between HIV/AIDS and other STDs. This has potentially negative consequences for partner notification. CONCLUSION: The intervention needs further development, and then could provide a highly acceptable, cost effective model for health education in clinics in developing countries.