RESUMO
Drying and roasting are conventional processes in the nut industry. However, roasting as an important procedure in nuts manufacturing may cause some physicochemical changes in nuts. Acrylamide is one of these chemical compounds that is formed due to the roasting process. Acrylamide is known as a neurotoxicant, carcinogen, and reproductive toxicant. In this study, raw and salted pistachios were roasted under three conditions including hot-air, infrared (IR), and microwave methods. Then, 80 pistachio kernels were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that all samples contained different ranges of acrylamide between 57 ± 0.86 and 851 ± 2.8 µg/kg. Besides, raw pistachios and sun-dried pistachios also contained acrylamide, with the amount of 57 ± 0.86 and 93 ± 1.07 µg/kg, respectively. The highest acrylamide amount was found in raw pistachio (unsalted) roasted by IR method, while lower acrylamide amount observed in the microwave method. The amount of acrylamide in salted and roasted pistachios was less than just roasted pistachios under the same conditions. Finally, in all the treatments, increasing temperature, time, voltage, and power lead to an increase in acrylamide levels. The results showed that acrylamide in the roasted pistachios may cause health problems. This study presents a novel investigation in the effects of roasting conditions (temperature, power, voltage, and time) on acrylamide content in pistachios.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: There are some specific measures for the evaluation of postpartum quality of life, and each have some limitations. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the validity and reliability of the Persian version of a postpartum women's quality of life (PQOL) questionnaire at the eighth week of postpartum. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a methodological research, and subjects were 500 women, ages 18 - 42, eight weeks postpartum, randomly selected from half of the public centers in Tabriz, Iran, who completed questionnaires in a self-administered manner. Data was collected during a two-month period during 2014 - 2015. A standard forward - backward translation procedure was used to translate the English version of the PQOL into Persian. Content, construct, discriminant, and criterion validity was assessed. The reliability was evaluated by internal consistency and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The PQOL showed good content validity; content validity ratio (CVR) ranged from 0.67 to 1.00 and content validity index (CVI) ranged from 0.78 to 1.00. Construct validity evaluation by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) led to extraction of six factors from the data. Due to the lack of theoretical justification for items' relocation in the extracted factors and poor-fitting indices obtained by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the exploratory model was eliminated, and the original model was presented and incorporated into the CFA, indicating an acceptable fit for the model (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.038 [0.034; 0.042]; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.90; normed fit index [NFI] = 0.80; non-normed fit index [NNFI] = 0.90; incremental fit index [IFI] = 0.90). The intergroup differences in total and all dimensions of the PQOL, except for social support, indicated the discrimination ability of the questionnaire. The questionnaire indicated a medium correlation with the short form health survey (SF-12) questionnaire (r ≥ 0.50). Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.70 - 0.88) indicated a good internal consistency, and the intraclass correlation coefficients (0.87 - 0.92) showed good test - retest reliability. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study confirmed the validity and reliability of the Iranian version of the PQOL questionnaire in Iranian women as a specific measure to evaluate the women's quality of life.
