Association of the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) with depression, stress and anxiety among Iranian military personnel.

INTRODUCTION: Psychological disorders have a major role in the incidence of chronic diseases and may result in reductions in the cost-effectiveness of the Armed Forces. Previous civilian studies have shown a protective association between healthy eating guidelines and mental disorders, but evidence to support this for a military population is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the association of Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) with depression, stress and anxiety among Iranian military personnel. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 246 male Army soldiers. Stress, anxiety, depression and dietary intakes were assessed. The association between variables was determined using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of depression, stress and anxiety in study participants was 15.9%, 10.6% and 27.2% respectively. Participants with the highest adherence to the AHEI-2010 had an 80% lower odds of depression than those with the lowest adherence (OR: 0.20; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.78). Such an association was also found between adherences to the AHEI-2010 and anxiety (OR: 0.28; 95% CI 0.05 to 0.95). No significant association between adherence to the AHEI-2010 and stress was found. CONCLUSION: An inverse association between adherence to the AHEI-2010 and odds of depression and anxiety was found. Further studies are required to clarify this relationship.

Potential variables affecting the quality of animal studies regarding pathophysiology of traumatic spinal cord injuries.

STUDY DESIGN: This is a Delphi study. OBJECTIVES: Defining variables that potentially influence the outcomes of an animal study regarding pathophysiology of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). SETTING: This study was conducted in Iran. METHODS: A modified two-round Delphi study was conducted. As the first round, an initial questionnaire was developed on the basis of literature and a series of focus group discussions. In the second round, the participants were asked to score the items through a 10-point scale. Consensus was achieved through the following criteria: (1) the median of scores has to be at 7.5 or higher, and (2) at least 70% of participants need to rate 7 or higher. Also, the inter-rater reliability analysis was performed to determine consistency among raters using the Kappa coefficient and Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Twenty-one experts participated in our study. From the first round of the study, a 47-item checklist was developed. By considering the aforementioned criteria for consensus building on extremely important factors, we reached a 15-item checklist including species, strain, method and level of injury, control group, genetic background, severity of injury, attrition, use of appropriate test, blindness, method of allocation to treatments, regulation and ethics, age/weight, bladder expression, number of animals/group and statistics. The inter-rater reliability for the raters was found to be Kappa=0.82 (P<0.001). A Cronbach's alpha of 0.9 for all the questions indicated high internal consistency. CONCLUSION: This study introduces a checklist of variables that potentially influence the outcomes of animal studies regarding TSCI pathophysiology and describe its validity and reliability.

Study for determination of industrial water corrosivity in Kashan Fajre Sepahan Galvanizing Mills during 2005-2006 Iran.

This research was carried out in Kashan Fajre Sepahan Galvanizing mills (KFSGM) for evaluation of water corrosivity during 2005-2006. A total of 18 samples were taken from various points of the water supply system for testing the specific parameters and calculation Langelier Index (LI), Ryznar Index (RI) and Pukorious Index (PI). This research showed that in raw water (sand filter effluent) LI were positive as well as RI and PI were lower than 7 which means that mentioned water is not corrosive. Also LI in treated water by reverse osmosis process was negative and RI and PI were higher than 7, so, this water has corrosive properties. Finally, calculated indexes indicate that according to LI, conditioned water is not corrosive but based on RI and P. this water tend to corrosivity which this findings is compatible with literature review statement. So it is recommended that, for water conditioning addition of preservative chemicals to be continued but at the same time another alternatives such as pH adjustment, air stripping and deoxygenating, control of carbonate concentration and split flow treatment should be studied.

Effect of breastfeeding education on the feeding pattern and health of infants in their first 4 months in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in Shiraz, the Islamic Republic of Iran, on 120 pairs of mothers and infants in a maternity hospital that had a rooming-in programme. All 59 mothers in the study group received breastfeeding education, face-to-face, after delivery and during follow-up for 4 months in the mother and child health (MCH) centre or in their homes; the remaining 61 mothers comprised the control group. Exclusive breastfeeding rates were significantly higher in the study group (54%) than in the control group (6.5%), but 5% and 18% of infants, respectively, in the study and control groups had stopped breastfeeding by the age of 4 months. The mean number of days of diarrhoea experienced by infants in the study group were significantly lower (P < or = 0.004) than in the control group. At the end of 4 months, the mean weight and length of the infants were significantly higher (both P < 0.05) in the study group than in the control group. The findings indicate that rooming-in is very important for promoting exclusive breastfeeding and that there is a need for continuous breastfeeding education of mothers.

PIP: This document presents a quasi-experimental study of the effect of breast-feeding education on the duration of exclusive breast-feeding and on the feeding pattern and health of infants in their first 4-months in Shiraz, the Islamic Republic of Iran. The subjects, all of low socioeconomic status, were selected according to the following criteria: they were primiparae, their pregnancy had been normal, followed by vaginal delivery, and they had no chronic disease and were not taking any medication. The 120 mothers were randomly assigned, according to their delivery on odd or even days, to the study (S) or control (C) group, respectively. 59 mothers in the study group received face-to-face breast-feeding education after delivery and during follow-up for 4 months in the mother and child health (MCH) center or in their homes; the remaining 61 mothers comprised the control group. Results showed that at 54%, the study group had higher rates of exclusive breast-feeding than did the control group at 6.5%, but that 5% and 18% of infants, respectively, in the control group and study group had stopped breast-feeding by the age of 4 months. The mean number of days of diarrhea experienced was significantly lower in the study group than in the control group. At the end of 4 months the mean weight and length of infants were significantly higher (both P 0.05) in the study group than in control group. These findings indicate that rooming-in is very important for promoting exclusive breast-feeding and that breast-feeding education of mothers should be continued.

Efficient insertion of odd-numbered transmembrane segments of the tetracycline resistance protein requires even-numbered segments.

Functional membrane insertion elements in the pBR322 tetracycline resistance protein were identified by comparing the ability of odd-numbered transmembrane segments and their attached periplasmic loops to insert into the membrane individually or when combined with the next even-numbered segment in the tetracycline resistance protein sequence. The efficiency with which individual odd-numbered segments and periplasmic loops inserted was probed by treating proteins truncated at the distal ends of periplasmic loops P2-P6 with carboxypeptidases and endoproteases in inside-out membrane vesicles. Insertion of odd-numbered segments and attached loops is inefficient when they occupy a C-terminal position in the protein. The C-terminal odd-numbered segment and loop sequences of 34-54% of the molecules of periplasmic loop truncation mutants could be removed by carboxypeptidase Y. In contrast, odd-numbered segments and loops insert efficiently if the next even-numbered segment in the sequence is present. In such cytoplasmic loop truncation mutants, only the cytoplasmic tail sequences of the proteins could be removed by carboxypeptidases. Remarkably, insertion of individual odd-numbered segments and loops is inefficient even though free energies for insertion of these sequences are highly favorable. The results indicate that pairs of adjacent segments, possibly "helical hairpins," are necessary for efficient membrane insertion of the tetracycline resistance protein.

Complete nucleotide sequence of pSMB 74, a plasmid encoding the production of pediocin AcH in Pediococcus acidilactici.

Several Pediococcus acidilactici strains produce a plasmid-encoded bacteriocin, pediocin AcH. Previous studies have shown that this plasmid, designated as pSMB 74, encodes genes associated with the production of prepediocin, its post-translation processing to pediocin AcH, transmembrane translocation of these molecules, and immunity of producer cells against pediocin AcH. We report here the complete nucleotide sequence of pSMB 74. The plasmid has a total of 8877 bp. Four genes have been located on pSMB 74. The genes are arranged in a gene cluster of 3500 bp and share a common promoter and rho-independent stem-loop terminator. The four genes, each with independent ribosome binding sites (rbs), initiation and termination codons and spacer sequences in between, were designated as pap A, pap B, pap C and pap D and encode respectively for proteins of 62, 112, 174 and 724 amino acids. The results of this study can be useful either to introduce a suitable marker at a unique restriction site in pSMB 74 and use it as a vector or to clone the pap gene cluster in a suitable plasmid and transform desirable strains for pediocin AcH production. The gene sequence has been submitted to Gene Bank (Acc. No. U02482).

Nucleotide and amino acid sequence of pap-gene (pediocin AcH production) in Pediococcus acidilactici H.

N-terminal analysis of purified pediocin AcH produced a partial sequence of 23 amino acids. This sequence matched perfectly with a segment of 23 amino acids in a 62 amino acid molecule generated from the 186 nucleotide sequence open reading frame in a Hind III fragment in pSMB74 encoding pap-gene (pediocin AcH production). It is suggested that the molecule is translated as inactive prepediocin AcH of 62 amino acids. Then through enzymatic modifications the leader segment of 18 amino acids is removed from the NH2-terminal. The remaining segment of 44 amino acids is active pediocin AcH of 4628 M(r).

Inhibition of Listeria spp. in Sterile Food Systems By Pediocin AcH, a Bacteriocin Produced By Pediococcus acidilactici H.

The effectiveness of pediocin AcH, a bacteriocin produced by Pediococcus acidilactici H, in reducing population levels and growth of Listeria monocytogenes strains and Listeria ivanovii in sterile ground beef, sausage mix, cottage cheese, ice cream, and reconstituted dry milk was examined. Predetermined numbers of Listeria cells and concentrations of pediocin AcH were added to the foods suspended in water and the final volumes made to 10 ml. Listeria in the pediocin AcH treated and control samples during storage at 4 and 10°C were enumerated as CFU on tryptic soy agar. Results indicated that: (a) the maximum bactericidal action of pediocin AcH occurred within 1 h and was not interfered with by the foods; (b) Listeria strains differed in sensitivity to pediocin AcH; (c) reduction in CFU was greater with higher levels of pediocin AcH and as the initial cell number of Listeria spp. decreased; and (d) the surviving cells in pediocin AcH treated food samples multiplied in the presence of residual pediocin AcH during storage at 4 and 10°C.