This paper puts forward that HIV/AIDS is multi-factorial and therefore the interventions to combat it should also be multi-pronged. However, any problem requires simplification, and given this, an important intervention to prevent/mitigate HIV/AIDS is nutritional intervention. Nutritional intervention alone does not suffice to control HIV/AIDS, but it could go a long way to alleviate the disease's spread and severity.

Key words: HIV/AIDS, nutrition, HIV prevalence rate

The biodistribution of radiopharmaceutical used in diagnostic imaging can be altered by a wide variety of factors. If unknown, the drug interaction with radiopharmaceuticals can lead to misdiagnosis or the necessity to repeat the examination, increasing the dose to the patient. The constituents of herbal products can cause adverse effects. Although natural products are widely used as food or as medicines for humans they can alter the labeling of blood constituents with technetium-99m (99mTc) as wells as the bioavailability of the radiopharmaceutical sodium pertechnetate (99mTcO₄Na). 99mTc is one of most used radio nuclide in nuclear medicine and in basic research. Some authors described that natural and synthetic drugs may alter the process of radio labeling. Sechium edule (chayotte) is a vegetable very spent in the human nutrition as the popular medicine due its properties such as the diuretic and the hypotensor effects. We evaluated the influence of a chayotte (Sechium edule) extracts (decoct and macerated) on the radio labeling of blood elements and on the bioavailability of 99mTcO₄Na. In this study, blood was withdraw from Wistar rats and the aliquots of blood were incubated with the chayotte extracts decoct and macerated, 0.1g/mL) during 1 hour. After that, blood was incubated with stannous chloride (SnCl₂) for 1 hour together with the adding of 99mTc in each breaks of 15min until 1 of incubation with SnCl₂ . In each 10 min an aliquot of blood was taken and then plasma (P) and blood cells (BC) were isolated, also precipitated with trichloroacetic acid (TCA 5%) and soluble (SF) and insoluble fractions (IF) were separated. For the biodistribution analysis, the 99mTcO₄Na (0.3mL) was administrated into male Wistar rats which had drunk or not the extract (macerated) for 60 days. After 10 min, the animals were sacrificed, the organs were isolated, the radioactivity determined in a well counter and the percentages of radioactivity per gram (%ATI/g) in the organs was calculated. For the radio images analysis, the animals were treated with the extracts (macerated and decoct) during 15 days, after this period of time, it was administrated doses of 100µCi of 99mTcO₄Na in the ocular plexus of the animals. The images were obtained after 10min. The qualitative analysis of the images was done. The analysis of the results has demonstrated that the extracts have increased the labeling of blood elements with 99mTc which was incubated together with SnCl₂, in the times 0 and 30 min to decoct extract (time 0 min: labeling in the C: from 37.97 ± 0.31 to 59.70 ± 0.56; and in the FIC: from 61.76 ± 0.75 to 73.15 ± 0.37; time 30min: labeling in the C: from 84.06 ± 0.91 to 94.75 ± 0.87; and in the FIC: from 76.72 ± 0.26 to 85.37 ± 0.67) and in the times 15 and 30 min to macerated extract (time 15min: labeling in the C: from 29.04 ± 0.31 to 50.13 ± 0.82; time 30min: labeling in the C: from 75.39 ± 0.77 to 83.42 ± 0.51). The %ATI/g was altered in the thyroid (from 4.57 ± 0.58 to 2.03 ± 1.33); lung (from 0.84 ± 0.25 to 0.21 ± 0.02); stomach (from 5.19 ± 1.34 to 2.03 ± 0.60) and blood (from 50.07 ± 3.36 to 32.25 ± 2.32). In the qualitative analysis it was observed an decreased in the performance of the images related to the stomach region. Due to the biodistribution it was related that an extract of eggplant was capable of altering the bioavailability of 99mTcO₄Na different of a cauliflower extract which has not been able to alter it. It is possible to suggest that some components of chayotte extracts present an oxidant power able to alter the biodistribution of 99mTcO₄Na, as a tip, we speculate that the referred extract metabolized in the liver may induce the generation of reactive metabolites with oxidant properties, this fact could justify the alteration of the uptake in the organs.

Key words: Chayotte, biodistribution, technetium-99m, in vivo, radiopharmaceutical

Fermented fruits (FF), a product of fruits undergo a process of fermentation using lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different levels of FF as additive on production performance, faecal Enterobacteriaceae and LAB counts and plasma cholesterol in rats. A total of 30 Sprague-Dawley (4 weeks of age) male rats were assigned individually into three groups with 10 rats per treatment. The three dietary treatments were: (i) control diet (basal diet), (ii) basal diet + 10% FF and (iii) basal diet + 20% FF. No differences (p > 0.05) were found in body weight, live weight gain, feed intake (7-9g/day) and feed conversion ratio for all the dietary groups. Bacteriological analyses were performed in faeces of the rats. The results showed that addition of FF in the diets reduced the Enterobacteriaceae population in faeces of the rats. In contrast, the faeces excreted from rats fed FF had significantly (P<0.05) higher numbers of LAB than faeces from the control rats. The plasma cholesterol concentrations for rats fed with FF were significantly lower than that of control rats.

Key words: Fermented fruits, growth performance, enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, cholesterol, rats

The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of obesity in relation to diet and physical activity levels (PALs) in Tehsil Mardan, of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan. Three cities, three towns and three villages were selected from the whole Tehsil. Hundred households in each city, town and village were randomly selected. A male individual of above 30 years age from each selected household was interviewed. In this way a total of 900 male subjects were surveyed. The information collected include their height, weight, food intake for three alternate days, occupation and other activities. Prevalence of obesity was determined by Body Mass Index (BMI). The average values showed 7 and 34% prevalence of obesity (BMI = > 30) and overweight (BMI = 25-30), respectively in Tehsil Mardan. Prevalence of obesity and overweight was more in cities than towns and more in towns than villages. The average energy intake was 2522±449 kcal/day. The relative contribution of protein, fat and carbohydrate to the total energy intake was 12, 33 and 56%, respectively. The energy intake was positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.799) and their PALs were negatively correlated with BMI (r = - 0.398). The present study alarms that obesity is becoming a major health problem of concern in Tehsil Mardan. Therefore, early nutritional interventions are required.

Key words: Obesity, over-weight, prevalence, dietary intake, physical activity level

This paper reports a study on mice and human to check the theory of Stolkowski which hypothesizes that mineral (Na, K, Ca) imbalance in the diet of the female before fertilization affects the sex ratio of the progeny. For this aim, total 40 female and 16 male 2 months age white mice used; which were separated into 8 groups, each of them consisted of 5 female and 2 male animals. Group 1 was a control, group 2-3-4-5-6-7 and 8 were treated as experimental groups. (0.5 g Na/kg feed, 2,0 g K/kg feed and 5,0 g Ca/kg feed); feed was given to group 1 while group 2-3-4-5-6-7 and 8 received in their feed 1.5 g Na/kg feed, 6,0 g K/kg feed and 15,0 g Ca/kg feed during 30 days before mating. K had the highest male ratio in their litter followed by those given Ca+K. Population of Çanakkale was evaluated by traditional nutrition of habits and no found statistical differences in sex both m/f (P>0.10).

Key words: Minerals, feed, sex, mice, human, Çanakkale

Grain quality characteristics of ten Beruin rice varieties were studied in the laboratory of the Grain Quality and Nutrition Division of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and compared with a popular sticky local rice variety, Ranga Binni. Thousand paddy weights of the tested varieties ranged between 14.3 g to 25.5 g. Milling out turn of the tested varieties were satisfactory compared to the check variety and ranged from 68% to 71%. Head rice out turn of four varieties was unsatisfactory out of 10 varieties. Head rice out turn of the tested varieties ranged 33 to 91%. All the Beruin varieties had opaque grain but appearance of seven varieties were good and remaining three were fair. The length and breadth of the milled rice ranged from 4.5 to 5.7 and 1.7 to 2.4, respectively. Likewise, length to breadth ratio of the varieties ranged from 2.0 to 2.8 and size and shape of all the varieties were medium bold except two. All the varieties contained low amylose ranged from 7.9 to 10% including the check variety. Protein percent of the varieties ranged from 6.2 to 9.4. Cooking time of the Beruin varieties were more or less similar and ranged from 14 minutes to 17.5 minutes. Elongation and Imbibition ratio of the varieties ranged form 1.3 to 1.6 and 3.0 to 4.3, respectively.

Key words: Amylose, cooking, milling out turn and physicochemical

A full term baby born through C-section with a birth-weight of 7.7lbs, which were within the standard range of 5.5-7.7 lbs. The baby was kept on the Nestle's Lactogen-1 with the advice of a classified Pediatrician when the mother was failed to breast-feed the baby. Due to complications in the weight-gain with the Nestle's Lactogen-1, it was abandoned at the age of fourth month and fresh boiled buffalo milk was introduced. The protein requirements were adjusted according to the recommended level of 2.46 g/kg body weight by adding boiled water. The protein contents of the buffalo milk were assumed to be 4-gram/100 ml of fresh milk. The amount of water lost during the boiling of the fresh milk was adjusted to the original volume of the milk. The milk was fed at ad labitum to the baby; however, the volume consumed over the reported period was not recorded. At the end of sixth month banana was introduced to the baby and at the start of ninth month family food was gradually introduced. The body weight was regularly recorded weekly and on monthly basis with the pediatric scale. In this case study it was noticed that when the infant was on the Nestle's Lactogen-1, the weight-gain was severely less during first four months. However, the weight-gain with buffalo milk was steady up to 24 months. This study shows that the buffalo milk is as good as other milk sources provided that its protein content is adjusted properly.

Key words: Buffalo milk, breast-milk, protein, artificial milk

Natural products have been widely used by human beings. However, sometimes the biological effects of these products are not fully known. It is concerned that many natural medicines may contain potentially toxic ingredients and contaminants such as heavy metals. Red blood cells (RBC) and plasma proteins labeled with technetium-99m (99mTc) have several clinical applications and it has been reported that some natural products are capable of reducing the efficiency of this radio labeling. The aim of this work was to assess the oxidant or antioxidant action of the agents presents in the extract of Sechium edule verifying its effects on the labeling of blood elements with 99mTc and on the inhibition of the activity of acetyl cholinesterase (AchE). A freshly extract of Sechium edule was administered to Wistar rats during 15 and 60 days. After that, samples (0.5ml) of blood were incubated with stannous chloride (SnCl₂) and 99mTc. The blood was centrifuged and plasma (P) and RBC were isolated. P and RBC were also precipitated with trichloroacetic acid and soluble (S) and insoluble (I) fraction (F) were determined. The results have shown that the referred extract was able to reduce the radio labeling in BC to 15 days of treatment (from 98.77%± 0.45 to 90.35%± 5.04) to 60 days of treatment (from 98.77%± 0.45 to 53.53%± 0.91), in IF-BC (from 90.36%± 2.34 to 21.20%± 2.36) and in IF-P to 15 days of treatment (77.20%± 2.19 to 53.26%± 6.69) to 60 days of treatment (77.20%± 2.19 to 11.01%±3.22). The analysis of toxicology was performed by the determination of acetyl cholinesterase activity. In the light of the results the referred extract has not shown inhibitory action due to the activity of the enzyme. In the light of the results obtained we suggest that the referred extract may induce the generation of activity metabolites with oxidant properties with direct action on the labeling process.

key words: Chayotte, plasma proteins, acetyl cholinesterase, technetium-99m

Control of diabetes by diet and natural products is more appropriate and economical in developing countries, hence fruits, vegetables, tea, spices and homeopathic drugs were investigated for their insulin potentiating function in glucose metabolism in rat epididymal fat cells assay. Dried flesh and seed of jamon fruit (Eugenia jambulina), fresh and dried flesh and seed of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), fresh and dried chaunga (Carulina tuberculate) and powdered fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) were extracted with 0.1 N NH₄OH or boiling water (1:20 w/v). Black, decaffeinated and green tea (Thea sp.) were prepared without milk and with milk. Sugar was not added to the tea. The supernatants of the extracts and the different prepared tea samples were used for insulin potentiation in the rat epididymal fat cells assay. Homeopathic drugs, diabene and diacure were tested for insulin potentiating activity in the above assay. Dried flesh of jamon fruit potentiated insulin 6.7 fold when boiled with water and 6.1 fold when extracted with 0.1N NH₄OH. Dried jamon seed potentiated insulin 2 and 5 fold when extracted with water and 0.1N NH₄OH respectively. Insulin potentiating activity was found in the dried seed of bitter ground but not in the fresh and dried flesh portion. Chaunga did not show any insulin potentiating activity. The water extract of fenugreek showed some activity. Black tea potentiated 5.2 fold insulin function in glucose metabolism and this activity was reduced to 3.7 fold with decaffeinating of tea. Green tea potentiated insulin 2 fold in glucose metabolism. Addition of milk to tea inhibited the insulin potentiating function of tea. Both the homeopathic drugs did not show any insulin potentiating activity. The result indicated that both flesh and seed of dried jamon fruit and tea had very good insulin potentiating function. In the light of these data, based on the vitro model of insulin function, the diabetic patients are advised to use both the flesh and seed of jamon fruit and tea without milk and sugar for their diabetic control.

Key words: Insulin potentiating factor, jamon fruit, vegetables, tea

This study was conducted to determine the wheat straws treated with urea (0.05 kg/kg straw) and low protein concentrate in Saanen male kids performance. Thirty-two Saanen male kids (16 weeks of age; 16.125 ± 0.5 kg body weight) were used in a completely randomized design and divided into two uniform treatments. 50 kg urea dissolved in 1000 kg water spreaded over 1000 kg wheat straw and stored for 30 days. Each treatment consisted 16 kids during the 16-weeks to compare performance with diets based on wheat straw (WS) supplemented with 12% crude protein (CP) levels of crushed barley-wheat concentrate (50:50) as traditional in Turkey. Treatment I (control) were fed on 500 g. untreated straw (US) and 500 g. crushed barley-wheat concentrate (50:50). Treatment II were fed on urea treated straw (UTS) and crushed barley-wheat concentrate (50:50). At the end of the trial, the findings were not statistically important (p<0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of treated wheat straw (TWS) with a barley-wheat based concentrate support had not positive effect on Saanen kids' performance for 4 months.

Key words: Urea treated, goat kids, wheat straw, barley-wheat

When cultures of three common pathogens, namely Salmonella infantis, Salmonella hadar and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were added individually to a commercial sample of Mint Water at levels of ~ 500 colony-forming units ml^-1, no viable cells could be detected after 10 minutes exposure. It is suggested that D-carvone is the active ingredient and that there is a sound scientific basis for the use of this traditional Middle Eastern remedy for bacterial infections.

Key words: Mint water, human pathogens, D-carvone

A study lasting 42 days was carried out to determine the intake and utilization of Fig Ficus thonningii and Mango Mangifera indica leaves by rabbits. 10 weaner rabbit of average weight 700g were randomly assigned to 2 treatment groups in a completely randomized design. The results of the study showed that the intake of Ficus thonningii leaves was significantly (P>0.01) higher than that of Mangifera indica leaves. Both treatments however, showed consistent increase in dry matter intake throughout the experimental period. Rabbit fed Ficus thonningii leaves had significantly (P>0.01) higher average daily weight gain and feed/gain efficiency. Bases on the result of this study, it is concluded that Ficus thonningii and Mangifera indica leaves have feeding value as fodder for rabbits. These plants can be used as standing feed reserve so that rabbits can survive critical periods of feed scarcity during the dry season.

Key words: Rabbits, Ficus thonningii, Mangifera indica, leaves, utilization

Nutrition/food security is a complex issue, which is influenced by a nations food security status. However, for many developing countries, increasing national agricultural production alone cannot improve food security. Food production must be actively combined with evaluation, selection and domestication and greater utilization of under-utilized or wild edible plants that are of local or regional importance to effectively increase nutrition security. By improving the linkage between production and utilization, the biodiversity of traditional crops can be safe guarded. The paper will discuss the preliminary data of a survey of traditional food products. Further show that women indigenous knowledge of these traditional foods should be harnessed to improve nutrition security sustainable especially in the light of increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

Key words: Nutrition security, traditional foods, indigenous knowledge