World Congress on Public Health and Nutrition March 10-12, 2016 Madrid, Spain

Yasser Fahd ALTowyan is a 6th year Medical Student at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. He has presented his researsh at two regional conferences and published in local medical journals. Currently, he is planning to do more research regarding national health and quality of life style.

Background: Fast food consumption (FFC) is one of the most common eating habits nowadays with escalated prevalence in the recent decades. It is a risk factor for development of many diseases, and the risk increases with increase FFC. Objectives: The study aimed to find the prevalence of FFC among the university students, to identify factors that contribute to the FFC among them, and to test student’s level of awareness regarding the health issues occur due to the consumption of fast food. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted from December 2013 - May 2014. The target population was students of either gender studying in Majmaah University. A total of 505 students (325) males and (180) females aged between 18-26 years were randomly chosen from Colleges of Majmaah University. Results: Two hundred and ten (41.6%) of the participants (159 males, 51 females) choose fast food as their usual meal. Fast food as a usual meal was consumed more by male students as compared to female students (p<0.001). Female students were attracted by taste more than male students, female students were attracted to advertisements more than male students (p<0.001). Consuming fast food in students who stay away from the family was significantly more in male students as compared to female students (p<0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of FFC among Majmaah University students is very high. More than one quarter of the participants were consuming fast food daily which itself is alarming. Some intervention/awareness programmes should be conducted to minimize the harmful effects of FFC.

Jongyeol Park has completed his PhD from Kangwon National University in republic of Korea. He is maize breeder in Gangwon Agricultural Research and Extension Services.

Carotenoids are natural pigments existing in red and orange colors, playing roles such as antioxidant, and extracting from fruits and vegetables. There are about 300 known carotenoids. Carotenoids have various derivatives such as Lycopene, β-Carotene, Lutein, Capsanthin. Lutein and Zeaxanthin are the pigments related to prevention of eye disease, β-carotene is a vitamin A precursor having an activity for eye health. This study was conducted to develop high carotenoid varieties in corn grain by analysis of carotenoid contents of corn lines. We used 52 inbred lines developed from 2002 to 2012 in Hongcheon, South Korea and analyzed the contents of lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-carotene using corn grains. The range of carotenoid contents analyzed by HPLC for lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-carotene were 0∼4.81, 0∼4.14, 0∼0.75㎍/g, respectively. The average contents for the three carotenoids were 0.80, 1.57, 0.24 ㎍/g, respectively. We selected 10 inbred lines from the analysis. These selected lines will be used for making hybrids, then the hybrids will be tested for yield and adaptability. The selected hybrids will be utilized to industrialize corn pigments supporting eye health.

Hee yeon Kim received phD from Kangwon National University in republic of Korea. She is the researcher of quality research laboratory in Gangwon Agricultural Research and Extension Services.

Maize hybrid for grain, ‘Seakso 2’ was developed in 2015 by Gangwon Agricultural Research and Extension Services in republic of Korea and registered in 2015. The objective of this study was to investigate worth of 4 parts of Saekso 2 for functional foods. The 4 parts are stem, husk, kernels, cob of Saekso 2. We determined and compared the anthocyanin contents and evaluated DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity for anti-oxidative effect of 30% ethanol (in 1% citric acid) extracts from the different parts of Saekso 2. The total contents of anthocyanins are from 44.02 ~ 33,496.49 mg/kg. The anthocyanin compounds have been identified within Saekso 2, including cyanidin-3-glucoside (C-3-G), pelargonidin-3-glucoside (Pg-3-G), and peonidin-3-glucoside (Pn-3-G) by LC-MS/MS analysis and C-3-G was a dominant anthocyanin. DPPH radical scavenging activity (1 mg/ml) was 28.09 ~ 95.32 % and ABTS radical scavenging activity (10 mg/ml) was 63.02 ~ 100 %. These results suggest that the Saekso 2 may be useful for functional materials such as anti-oxidative agent and industrialize of corn pigments.

Ahmet H. Dinç have completed PhD in department of food hygiene and technology at Fırat University, Elazığ/Turkey. Ahmet H. Dinç have been in different countries for scientific purposes. Ahmet H. Dinç is the head of department of nutrition and dietetics in Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey. Ahmet H. Dinç have published more than 25 original researches in scientific journals.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical components which are not available in nature, human made and base on carbon. Exposure to human made chemicals becomes a major public health problem due to toxic effect on organ and tissue functions. So it is important to assess the presence of these pollutants in maternal and fetal tissues. Various studies on the levels and effects of POPs in the pregnant women, prenatal and postnatal infant showed that level of the amount of organic contaminants in breast milk is higher than in blood serum and levels in serum is higher than umbilical cord. The exposure of organo-chlorine compounds lead to fall in steroid hormone levels in intrauterine term. The concentration of chlorinated compounds in blood, breastmilk, adipose tissue, plsacenta and cord blood is the highest in adipose tissue, the lowest in cord blood. The highest accumulation from mother to fetus and placenta, from breastmilk to baby the passage of dioxins occurs in placenta. Today, it is known that one of the main causes of the disease of difficult to treat such as cancer is POPs. Newborns have the highest risk for these pollutants because of have not yet developed immune system and have immature liver. Although there are results on POPs have passed from the mother to the baby in various ways in the prenatal and postnatal period and creates a very serious health problems, studies are not sufficient. More researches must be and activities should be organized to raise awareness on this universal problem.

Ahmet H. Dinç have completed PhD in department of food hygiene and technology at Fırat University, Elazığ/Turkey. Ahmet H. Dinç have been in different countries for scientific purposes. Ahmet H. Dinç is the head of department of nutrition and dietetics in Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey. Ahmet H. Dinç have published more than 25 original researches in scientific journals.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical components which are not available in nature, human made and base on carbon. Exposure to human made chemicals becomes a major public health problem due to toxic effect on organ and tissue functions. So it is important to assess the presence of these pollutants in maternal and fetal tissues. Various studies on the levels and effects of POPs in the pregnant women, prenatal and postnatal infant showed that level of the amount of organic contaminants in breast milk is higher than in blood serum and levels in serum is higher than umbilical cord. The exposure of organo-chlorine compounds lead to fall in steroid hormone levels in intrauterine term. The concentration of chlorinated compounds in blood, breastmilk, adipose tissue, plsacenta and cord blood is the highest in adipose tissue, the lowest in cord blood. The highest accumulation from mother to fetus and placenta, from breastmilk to baby the passage of dioxins occurs in placenta. Today, it is known that one of the main causes of the disease of difficult to treat such as cancer is POPs. Newborns have the highest risk for these pollutants because of have not yet developed immune system and have immature liver. Although there are results on POPs have passed from the mother to the baby in various ways in the prenatal and postnatal period and creates a very serious health problems, studies are not sufficient. More researches must be and activities should be organized to raise awareness on this universal problem.

Sukhwinder Kaur has completed P.hd from PGIMER, Chandigrh in Feb.2002 and working as a Lecturer at National Institute of Nursing Education PGIMER, Chandigarh. Teaching child health nursing and nursing education to post graduates & providing services to PGIMER since May 1988. She has presented number of Scientific papers in National and International Conferences at Japan, London, Madrid Spain and Las Vegas USA received Best poster Awards from USA, Bombay and PGIMER, Chandigarh. She is life member of ten professional bodies, Nodal Officer of PGI Website Chandigarh. President of Nursing & Midwifery Research Journal and publishing journal quarterly, Treasurer of TNAI, Chandigarh Branch. She is Recipient of Glory of India Award from Bangkok, Thailand, Rashtriya Gaurav Award at Delhi, Best Citizen of India Award, Bharat Vibhushan Samman Puraskar for Outstanding Individual Achievement & Distinguished Services to the Nation at Delhi, Global Achievers Award for Education Excellence on 11th May 2013 at Bangkok Thailand. Published more than 25 papers in National and International journals. Completed three Institute Scheme Research projects as well as one DST Chandigarh Administration project.

Menopause marks the end of a women’s reproductive life and is a period of rapid change in hormonal balance associated with a number of symptoms. Objectives: To ascertain experiences and reactions of postmenopausal women on attainment of menopause. Methodology- Cross-sectional house to house survey was conducted. Target Population- All post-menopausal women between 40-60 years who experienced their last menstrual period more than 12 months prior to date of interview. Area Selection- Study area was chosen purposively for convenience. Sampling- Total population of sub urban Dhana Chandigarh was covered. Study Instrument- Semi-structured interview schedule was used for data collection. The research proposal was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee before initiating the survey. Results: Out of a total 725 women 298(41.1%) had attained menopause. Of these 245(82.2%) women were in the early post-menopausal phase of their lives. Mean age at menopause found to be 46.85±3.8 years. No any change experienced by 74.2% women prior to onset of menopause. Whereas 21.1% women reported heavy bleeding and irregular menses. Majority 94.3% welcomed cessation of menses. The reported reactions were-got rid of botheration 52.3%, free from worries and freedom to go anywhere /wear any type of clothes21.8%, 7.7% reported they had attained manhood. Singh and Arora 2000 reported that most of the rural Indian women considered attainment of menopause a welcome relief after going through an almost 30 years of monthly, monotonous routine of managing menstruation. They felt free of the self-imposed social, dietary, physical and religious restrictions because of menses. Cessation of menses was welcomed as it relieved them off dealing with the ‘filth’ and the dirty blood. Advanced preparedness for menopause was observed more in women who attained menopause after 45 years (19;30.6%) (x2 13.1;df=2;p<0.01). Consultation with doctor was also significantly more (26;41.9%) x2 7.73;df=2;p<0.05) when menopause was early. Conclusion: Menopause was welcomed by most of the women. None of the respondent was on HRT.

Patients who are on urinary catheter are often dependent for their hygiene needs which if neglected causes urinary tract infection. Objective: To compare the effectiveness of perineal care with catheter in situ using soap and water, 0.9% Normal Saline and 10 percent povidine iodine solution in the prevention of Catheter associated urinary tract infections among patients admitted in selected units of Nehru Hospital, PGIMER, Chandigarh. Methods: The subjects were assessed for baseline infection by assessing urine culture on enrolment on first day; thereafter they were provided daily perineal care for 7 days. The cultures were sent on 3rd and 7th day also temperature was recorded daily Results: 0.9% Normal Saline intervention group had no infection on the 3rd and 7th day respectively, whereas in soap and water intervention group and 10 percent povidine iodine intervention group 90% percent of the subjects did not have Catheter associated UTI, however the results were statistically not significant. Comparing the cumulative incidence rate, it was 22.22/1000 catheter days for Soap and water intervention group and 0/1000 catheter days for both 10% Povidine iodine solution intervention group and 0.9% Normal Saline Intervention group for the 3rd day and by the 7th day the cumulative incidence rate of CAUTI in all the three groups were 13.04/1000 catheter days, 12.71/1000 catheter days and 0/1000 catheter days respectively (p>0.05). Conclusion: From the present study, it is recommended that 0.9% Normal Saline is the most effective perineal care agent as the cumulative incidence rate was zero even though the results were statistically not significant.

Sandhya Ghai is working as a principal at National Institute of nursing Education, PGI, Chandigarh India. She has completed her Ph.D in 1998 from Punjab University Chandigarh, She is the Principal Coordinator of INC project GFATM. Dr. Ghai has chaired more than forty scientific sessions. She has more than 50 publications and more than 35 paper presentations at National and International Conferences to her credit. She has contributed chapters in Books and is co-author of “Management of Hospitals: Hospital Administration in the 21st Century” & Clinical Neurosciences & Critical Care Nursing”. She has bagged National Mahila Rattan Gold Medal Award, Best Educationist Award, Basanti Rai Award for Best Thesis. She is recipient of Best poster awards at International Conference on Nursing and Emergency Medicine held in Las Vegas, USA; and at National Conference on the theme " Today's Learner's Tomorrow's Leader-Transforming Nursing Education held at The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences, Shillong.

An exercise is the non-pharmacological way to control the blood glucose by increasing uptake by muscles. The blood glucose rises after taking any meal. So, it is beneficial to do post meal exercise that includes only brisk walking for 15 minutes after each meal. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of post meal exercise on glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Design, Setting and Participants: The study design was a crossover design. A sample of 64 patients was selected which were divided into two groups- group A and group B. Each group consists of 32 patients which were selected by random sampling technique from Endocrinology OPD, PGIMER Chandigarh. In group A, from day1 to day 60 post meal exercise i.e. brisk walking for 15 minutes after each meal and from day 61 to day 120 the same study subjects did the normal routine exercise. Whereas in group B, from day1 to day 60 normal routine exercise was done which was followed by post meal exercise from day 61 to day 120. The five point blood glucose i.e. at 4am, fasting (FBS), post breakfast (PB), post lunch (PL), post dinner (PD) was monitored on day 1, day 30, day 60, day 90 and day 120 respectively. The data was analyzed by using non parametric tests. Results: The findings of the study showed that post meal exercise of 15 minutes after each meal resulted in a statistically significant decrease in blood glucose and HbA1c level (p=<0.001) in both the groups. On other hand after doing normal routine exercise, there was a significant increase in post meal blood glucose and HbA1c value (p=<0.001). Conclusion So, it is concluded that Post meal exercise is more beneficial than normal routine exercise to control the high blood glucose. The other aspect of study is that telephonic intervention has proved to be more beneficial to make the patient to follow the treatment regimen.

Yonna sacre has earned her PhD from Humboldt University in Berlin and her Masters Degree in Human Nutrion and Dietetics from Saint Joseph University Beirut.She is actally an assistant professor at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik , teaching different human and community nutrition courses.She is member of the Lebanese National Nutrition Exam Committee and Jury member and president of several master theses’ defense committees at USEK-Kaslik, Lebanon

Poverty in developing and low socioeconomic areas, even if apprehended in light of monetary criteria (revenue, lifestyle…) or non monetary criteria (education…) has an important repercussion on women’s food supply. In fact, food occupies a specific position within low income households because of its relative importance in the budget. In general, most families tempt to purchase cheap or less expensive food items, in order to feed the largest number of their family members , without taking into consideration the food quality or even food’s nutrients content. Therefore, food supply and nutritional status among unfavorable individuals could be altered due to the social and economic status. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the “Food security and nutritional health status among Lebanese women experiencing low socioeconomic conditions”.A transversal descriptive study was conducted on 127 women resident at Nabaa (very lo socioeconomic area in Beirut), aging between 20 and 60 years old and showing a crowding index lower than 1. The purpose of this analysis is to study the nutritional status of these women, to evaluate the adequacy of their food supply based on the food pyramid and finally to analyze their blood results in order to detect any nutrients deficiency besides the evaluation of food security and accessibility to food. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, eating behaviour, food accessibility and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were collected through a questionnaire specifically adapted for the purpose of the study. Statistical analysis was carried out and multivariate models were used in order to evaluate the association between several independent variables and the food security and nutritional status of pregnant women. The final analysis has lead to the following general results: Among the participants whose average of body mass index is 26.9 +/- 5.7 Kg/m2, 86.6% have a percentage of fat mass above 30%, 40.9% are showing a faint health status, 32% have a ferritin level below the recommended norms, 42.5% have a poor food supply and 49.6% of the participants seem to be food insecured. Future governmental or national studies and programs could be settled to increase the awareness about food security and nutritional status among this specific class of the Lebanese population.

Khafagy completed her PhD at the age of 29 years from Minoufiya University and postdoctoral studies from Faculty of Home Economics Dept. of Nutrition & Food Science. Participation in conference Prague, Czech Republic, under the title 15th International Nutrition & Diagnostics Conference, held on October 5-8, 2015 at DAP Hotel.

Work was conducted to study the health effects of Bitter Apple and Garden Cress on serum glucose and side effects of diabetes mellitus in alloxan injected rats. Twenty mature male albino rats weighing 130-200 g each divided into 4 groups (5 rats eac) one kept as control (-) group while other 3 groups injected with alloxan. Bitter Apple and Garden Cress added at 7.5 % to the basal diet given single. Serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST, ALP), serum protein fractions (T.P, Alb, LDL and VLDL), serum creatinine, urea, uric acid, serum glucose as well as body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and feed efficiency ratio (FER) were recorded. The feeding trial continued for 28 days. The obtained results revealed that Bitter Apple and Garden Cress used were of value for amelioration of diabetes mellitus and its side effects showed best results.

Abeer N Abdel Rahman completed his PhD Degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Minoufiya University.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Beta vulgaris var. cicla and Sonchus oleraceus leaves on impaired liver function of rats injected with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Chemical composition and natural phytochemicals in used plants were determined. Thirty six adult albino rats each weighing 155±5 g B.W% was used. The tested plants were given as a percent of 5 and 10 from the basal diet. Beta vulgaris var. cicla leaves was higher in crude protein, ash, carbohydrates and phytochemicals content than Sonchus oleraceus leaves. Serum liver functions (AST, ALT, ALP), kidney functions (Urea, Creatinine and Uric Acid), F.I, F.E.R, B.W.G% of rats and histopathological changes of liver and kidney were examined. The results indicated that rats treated with CCl4 group recorded significantly increasing in the activity levels of all biomarker liver enzymes (AST, ALT and ALP) when compared with the control group. Addition of tested plant leaves, induced significant improvement in all liver and kidney functions, also CCl4 treated group had histopathological changes in liver and kidney through degeneration hyperemia, inflammatory reaction. The post-treatment of tested plant leaves with CCl4 lead to protect some of the previous histopathological changes. It could be concluded that the tested plant leaves had hepatoprotective effect against CCl4 –induced hepatotoxicity in liver , liver and kidney functions and its histopathological changes, so it could be recommended that those tested plant leaves by a moderate amount to be included in our daily diets.

Yang Xue has completed her PhD from Harbin Medical University School of Public Health on 2015. She parcitapited in several projects supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China. And now she works as a lecturer in the National Key Disciplines of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, in Harbin Medical University.

Nutritional rickets is a worldwide public health problem; however, the current diagnostic methods retain shortcomings for accurate diagnosis of nutritional rickets. To identify urinary biomarkers associated with nutritional rickets and establish a noninvasive diagnosis method, urinary metabonomics analysis by ultra-performance liquid chromatography / quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical analysis were employed to investigate the metabolic alterations associated with nutritional rickets in 200 children with or without nutritional rickets. The pathophysiological changes and pathogenesis of nutritional rickets were illustrated by the identified biomarkers. By urinary metabolic profiling, 31 biomarkers of nutritional rickets were identified and five candidate biomarkers for clinical diagnosis were screened and identified by quantitative analysis and receiver operating curve analysis. Urinary levels of five candidate biomarkers were measured using mass spectrometry or commercial kits. In the validation step, the combination of phosphate and sebacic acid was able to give a noninvasive and accurate diagnostic with high sensitivity (94.0%) and specificity (71.2%). Furthermore, on the basis of the pathway analysis of biomarkers, our urinary metabonomics analysis gives new insight into the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of nutritional rickets.

Yasser is a current 6th year Medical Student at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. He has present researsh at tow reigonal confrences and published in local medical Journal, courntly planning to do more researches regarding national health and quality of life style as it affect directly in publuc health.

Background: The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced with 21% of the global population aged 15 and above smoked tobacco. Which killing around 6 million people a year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Nearly 80% of the more than 1 billion smokers worldwide live in low and middle income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.. In men, the risk of developing CAD is directly related to the number of cigarettes smoked. It is estimated that about 20% of deaths from CAD in men and 17% of deaths from CAD in women are due to smoking. Objectives: The study aimed to find the Prevalence of smoking and socend hand smoking among Majmmah University students, to identify Type of smoking and Frequency of smoking and when Starting this behaviour. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted from December 2013 - May 2014. The target population were students of male gender studying in Majmaah University. A total of 325 students aged between 19-25 years were randomly chosen from different Colleges of Almajmaah University. Results: Seventy Tow students (22.2%) were smokers, Seventy Four (22.8%) were socend hand smokers. Remaining Tow Hundred Fifty three (55%) were not smokers. Fourty One of smokers (56.9%) were smoking cigerates. Twinty Five (34.7%) were smoking waterpipe, and Six (8.3%) where smoking both types. Most cigarrate smoker where smoking one pack per day (25) students, and (15) students where smoking waterpipe once daily. Smokers where starting from 2-4 years 45.8% and 40.3% where smoking from five years or more. Conclusion: The prevalence of Smoking among Majmaah University Students is reaching world wide precentage. More than one Fifth of the participants were smokers. And another one fifth were socend hand smokers. More researches need to find out causes of smoking. Intervention and awareness programmed should be conducted to reduce prevlance of Smoking.

Francisco Alen is from the group of Neuropharmacology of Motivated Behavior which is a credited Research Group of the Complutense University of Madrid, with 20 years’ experience and more than 50 papers in international journals in different lines of research, including the role of the cannabinoid system in metabolic homeostasis and the development of new medications for obesity.

Obesity is currently considered a pandemic, worldwide, and finding ways to reduce its incidence has become a paramount objective of health-policies in many countries. Limiting the number of ingested calories is a strategy that has shown beneficial to reduce the prevalence of obesity. With this in mind, the use of artificial sweeteners is often advised in order to reduce the amount of ingested calories. Other studies would, however, pose caution on the use of artificial sweeteners, which would have been shown to be able to induce glucose intolerance, one of the landmarks of obesity and diabetes, in animal models and humans. Indeed, artificial sweeteners would, themselves, have been proposed as main contributors to the spread of obesity worldwide. But still, research is needed to clarify the role played by these compounds in the obesity problem. In menopausal women, obesity has been found to be an important risk factor for the development of postmenopausal breast cancer, and replacing caloric beverages with diet beverages, usually, artificially sweetened, continues to be a mainstream strategy in weight control in adult and peri-menopausal women. Unfortunately, to date, little is known about the effects of artificial sweeteners on weight gain or metabolic control in menopausal women. For this reason, we decided to assess the possible impact of the common artificial sweetener, saccharin, in an animal model of menopause, namely, the ovarectomized mouse. To this end, we selected 12 female ovarectomized C57BL/6 mice and assessed their metabolic control with a glucose tolerance test. Then, they were offered a 0.1% saccharin in water solution at their home cages for 16 days, after what, the glucose tolerance test was repeated. We found significant differences (p<0.005 and p<0.05) in basal glucose levels of the animals, after the 16 hour fasting preceding the glucose tolerance test posterior to the 16d saccharin treatment and these differences lasted for at least 45 days. Further studies should explore the importance of the observed alterations in the development of obesity and its possible role in human postmenopausal health.

Ali Suliman Algonaim is currently a 6th year Medical student in Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. During his 6-years study in college of medicine, he participated in many community services and awareness campaigns in his city. He is now working on his new research publication under the topic "A Cross-Sectional Study of the Relationship among Energy Drinks Consumption, Smoking and Academic Performance among Male Health Science Students". This year, he was nominated to be the Chief of the Student Council.

Background: Wheat allergy has been suggested as one important allergic disease in urban and rural areas. Methods: In this study, total IgE were measured from 15 cases using Pharmacia CAP system IgE and Pharmacia CAP fluroroenzymeImmunoassay (FEIA). Specific IgE was measured using PhadiaImmuno CAP 250 and Immuno CAP 1000 system. We also assessed the protein allergenicity by western blotting. Results: Significant elevation of total and specific IgE was found in 4 cases. Basophilia was also shown by blood film. Western blotting result showed 2 bands as 20 and 60 KD. Conclusion: The result indicates that we should take wheat allergy in to account when discussing asthma and eczema in adult patient at Alkharj.

Saad Rashed AlQasem is a 6th year medical student at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. During his medical study, he participated in different activities such as joining many volunteer groups and organized many campaigns and conferences. He got multiple prizes in the field of Health Science Research and Community Services at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. He successfully published a research in PubMed titled "Prevalence of Wheat Allergy in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia". He is now working on publishing his new research under the topic "A Cross-Sectional Study of the Relationship among Energy Drinks Consumption, Smoking and Academic Performance among Male Health Science Students". Recently, he finished his training in Reproductive Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, US.

Aims: The main aim of the study is to estimate the prevalence, attitude and magnitude of consumption of energy drinks among health science students, to establish the relationship between consumption of energy drinks and smoking and to determine the relationship between energy drinks consumption and the students’ perceptions about their academic performance. Methodology: A cross-sectional study has been conducted, including 521 male health science college students in Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University throughout the period of September 20th to December 20th, 2014. A validated, confidential, self-administered questionnaire including questions designed to estimate the prevalence, attitude and magnitude of consumption of energy drinks was used for data collection. Results: Among 521 male students, who participated in this study, 199 students were consuming energy drinks (38.2%). Students consumed energy drinks for many reasons, mostly they like the taste (59.8%). (50.3%) and (39.2%) perceive energy drinks to increase their alertness and academic performance, respectively. More than half of participants not manifest any side effect after consumption, and digestive tract upset was reported as the most frequent side effects. Conclusion: Energy drinks consumption is a common behaviour among male health science students. Heavy consumption of energy drinks can have some adverse effects including digestive tract upsets. Participants perceive energy drinks to increase their alertness and academic performance. However, people who consume these drinks are more likely to be alert compared to those who do not.

M Vitale completed her Bachelor’s degree in Dietetics and a Master’s degree in Human Nutrition. Recently, she completed her PhD in Food and Nutrition Science at the “Federico II” University of Naples, Italy. Her research is focused on the evaluation of eating habits in the general population and in type 2 diabetic patients. In addition, she is involved in several clinical trials evaluating the effects of different diets on important clinical outcomes in subjects at high cardio-metabolic risk.

Recently, efforts have attempted to improve dietary habits in the workplace, by increasing the availability of healthy foods and promoting their selection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term impact on the composition of the habitual diet of a nutritional intervention, based on the promotion of food choices characteristic of the Mediterranean Diet (MD) in a worksite-canteen. A pilot intervention was performed on 750 employees of the Barilla Company (Italy), who consumed their lunch at the worksite-canteens daily. The canteen-staff involved in food preparation, underwent a nutritional education course with an experienced nutritionist. Afterwards, they were involved in the reformulation of the menus by including at least 2-3 healthy options every-day, actively promoted with panels, totems, table mats, handout leaflets and a specific logo. Habitual dietary habits were evaluated by a self-administered 24-hour recall at baseline, at the end of intervention and after 6-months. The analysis of the food-items selected day-by-day by the employees showed that the intake of wholegrain-cereals, legumes and white-meat increased at the end of intervention (+58%, +135%, +35%, respectively), while the intake of refined-cereals, red-meat and eggs, cheese, cold-cuts decreased (-10%, -16%, -28%, respectively). These findings were confirmed after 3rd and 6th month from the intervention (p<0.05). The analysis of 24-h-recalls showed several beneficial dietary changes, including an increase in dietary fiber (+5%) and polyunsaturated fatty acids intake (+6%), and a decrease in saturated fatty acids (-4%) and added sugar consumption (-7%). These changes persisted up to 6-months after the intervention (p<0.05). The increased availability of healthy food options and their promotion at the worksite is able to improve the eating habits of the employees in the long term.

Çağdaş Salih Meric has completed his Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics from Erciyes University. He is pursuing his Master’s degree from Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Ankara University. Also, he is a Research Assistant at the same university.

Nutritional status is an important factor in chidren diseases and treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate nutritional status in children admitted to neurology, endocrine and oncology service in children’s hospital. The study included 80 children who were hospitalized, between the dates of February and November 2014, at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine Cebeci Children Hospital. Children's height, weight, triceps skinfold thickness (TST), biceps skinfold thickness (BST), waist circumference, arm span, calf circumference, mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) were measured and applying nutritional status were evaluated. Mean of children’s and their mother’s age are respectively 9.2±4.5, 35.0±5.7 years. In the study, 80 children from the 23.8% (n=19) neurology, 23.8% (n=19) in the endocrine and 52.5% (n=42) were diagnosed with oncological diseases. Epilepsy (8.8%), diabetes (%8.8) and chronic myeloid leukemis (CML) (37.5%) are respectively the most common neurological, endocrine and oncological diseases. Body weight, height, BMI and TST of children under 5 percentile, respectively are 25.0%, 20.0%, 26.2% and 11.2%. Despite being different body weight, height, BMI percentile and TST value of the distribution based on neurological, endocrine, and oncology diagnosis of children, these differences were statistically significant only in TST (p<0.05). When we look at the children's appetite; 56.2% (n=45) were good, 28.8% (n=23) were poor and 15.0% (n=12) seems to be no appetite. The knowledge about nutrition of children and their families, arranging children's eating habits with chronic illnesses must be strictly followed. More detailed studies should be performed on hospitalized children and nutrition issues.

Mustafa Ozgur graduated from Erciyes University in 2014 and is a Research Assistant in Nutrition and Dietetics Departmant of Ankara University. At same time, he is doing his Master’s in Nutrition and Dietetics.

In this study, it was aimed to determine university students’ attitudes towards food addititives. This study was made on randomly selected 450 voluteered students studying in the faculties of Ankara University (Faculty of Pharmacy, Political Sciences and Science). Data were collected with questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised general information and questions to determine, students' attitudes about food additives. The data obtained from the survey results were analyzed using SPSS software. 46.0% of students were male while 54.0% of female. The mean age of students was 21.7±2.05 years. Considering of students’ concerns about the use of food additives, the majority of students (43.3%) thought that food additives were harmful effect on health. In the use of food additives in order to use visual deception were those who thought that it was 16%. It was found that 40.9% of students thought that legal control of food additives was not enough and 40.2% thought that they can cause cancer, 36.9% of students thought that if food addititives weren’t used, foods will be healthier. The majority of (49.6%) students thought that food addititives was not used in accordance to the law. According to the results, it can be said that students has negative attitudes towards food additives. It is great that food additives has a role of nutritional requirments of the growing world population when properly used. It was concluded that students need more information about food addititives and at the same time nutrition education should be given in all sections for longer periods.

Serap Balaban has completed her Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics from Afyon University. She is doing her Master’s degree in Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Ankara University. Also, she is a Research Assistant at the same university.

This research has been planned and carried out in order to determine the applications for kitchen safety and kitchen intelligence of women during food preparation, cooking and storage. Study sample consisted of 300 women between 18-65 age, who agreed to participate in the study. Survey method was used to obtain the data. In the first part of the questionnaire, general information about the women; the second and the third part of it is about the women's kitchen safety (22 expressions) and kitchen intelligence (18 expressions) expressions. These statements are in the form of 5 point Likert-type scale. The highest scores are kitchen safety and intelligence section 110 and 90 respectively. Kitchen safety section includes expressions for food preparation, cooking, storage applications, kitchen tools hygiene and personal hygiene practices. The kitchen intelligence section comprises a deletion of application reducing the nutritional quality. Both in kitchen intelligence and kitchen safety sections, while primary school graduates get the highest scores (82.2±6.9, 68.3±7.9) and university graduates get the lowest scores (78.0±7.7, 63.7±6.3). Taking part in the business environment of university, graduate women in higher degrees than the primary school graduates women (89.0%, 20.5%) and spending less time in the kitchen can reduce their commitment to food safety. Limited time of working women in the kitchen can push one of these reasons for some quick solution (the food is tasted with mixing spoon, etc.). Increasing training activities for this target group has emerged considering the practices of working women in the food safety.

Umus Ozbey has completed her Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics from Ankara University. She is doing her Master’s Degree in Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Ankara University. Also, she is a Research Assistant at the same university.

Obesity is a major public health issue in developed and developing countries. It is clear that obesity is related to lots of chronical disease. This research aims at examining the effect of body weight on work performance for working women. Data is collected from 481 women working in public and private foundations, between the age of 18-54 years via questionnaire forms. In forms, anthropometric measurements (height, weight), general information, body perception, work satisfaction and work performance evaluation are included. To specify work performance, 34 figure Likert scale is used. If the scale points go up, work performance decrease. Mean working time 10.16 years. According to BMI (Body Mass Index) evaluation, even though the rate of overweight and obese women are 39.3%, the rate of women not been pleased with their body weight and want to lose weight is 61.1%. Women being overweight and obese don’t like working environment are 41.5%. BMI associated with work stress and body perception. Total points of overweight and obese women are higher than normal weight and underweight women (p=0.000). The results showed that obesity not only causes chronical diseases but also effects the quality of life. The increase in BMI results in both the decrease of work performance and increase of work stress. Further researches in preventing obesity improve both the quality of life and national economy while decreasing the health problems.

Resign Gunda is a PhD student at University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Nursing and Public Health. His main research interests are in tropical disease with a main focus on malaria.

Malaria poses a significant threat to public health in Zimbabwe and is one of the highest contributors to morbidity and mortality in the country. However, very little is known about the burden of malaria in areas affected by the disease. The disability adjusted life year (DALY) metric was used to determine the burden of malaria in Gwanda District, Zimbabwe. This study provides a better understanding of the impact of disease burden on affected populations. Data for determination of DALYs for malaria was collected from health facility malaria registers and from the District Health Information System to estimate DALYs at household and district levels respectively. The household DALYs included malaria cases for 2013-2015 (n=130) while the DALYs for the district included confirmed cases from 2011-2015 (n=719). DALYs were calculated based on the methodology described in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study. Malaria imposes a substantial disease burden on affected communities despite a general decrease in the national incidence rates. Households lost a total of 153.89 DALYs with the majority of the disease burden (65.55%) occurring in the most economically productive age group (15-45 years) with a mean loss of 1.18 DALYs per malaria case. At district level, 251.09 DALYs were lost due to malaria and the calculated average district DALY rate for 2011-2015 was 36.29 DALYs /100 000 persons/year. It is important to estimate this burden to assist policy makers in channelling resources to enable interventions that will assist in reducing it.

Alberto Prieto Patron has completed his PhD at the University of Lausanne in Health Economics after finishing a Master’s degree in Science of Economics at the University of Lausanne and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico. Previously working at Nestle Research Center, he has collaborated as external consultant with the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization. Additionally, he is the Programme Officer in Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI) and the Global Fund. He is originally from Mexico and back there, he has worked as a junior Legislative Advisor at the National Deputy Chamber.

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) has severe health and economic consequences due to its impact on physical activity, cognitive development and depressed labor productivity. The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition has endorsed iron fortification of condiments as it has been identified as a promising vehicle to reduce IDA due to its high levels of penetration throughout different socio-economic groups. Our objective is to assess the contribution of iron fortified condiments on the reduction of the burden of IDA in Côte D’Ivoire. We built an incidence-prevalence-mortality (IPM) model to estimate the burden of IDA in Côte D’Ivoire. The population was split into 3 age-groups (preschool-age children, school-age children and adults) and 10 socioeconomic clusters. The study linked the health consequences of IDA to cognitive deficits, lower school achievements and reduced productivity at work. The impact of fortified condiments was assessed by estimating the cost of illness before and after the hemoglobin levels of consumers were adjusted for the fortification effect. The total annual cost of IDA in the Ivorian population from 1 to 65 years of age was estimated at 304 thousand DALYs and over 900 million purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars. The impact of condiments was estimated to reduce the total burden of disease by 21.3 thousand DALYs (7%) and 61 million PPP USD (6%) related to production losses. Iron fortified condiments have a significant impact to reduce the burden of IDA, and can be an impactful element of fortification policies to reduce the burden of iron deficiency anemia.

Safwat A Ahmed completed his PhD from Suez Canal University, Faculty of Pharmacy. He is the Vice-Dean for Students Affairs, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a Peer-Reviewer for reputed journals at his field.

Actinomycetes are prolific producers of bioactive natural products. Xanthone natural products are fluorescent dyes that are widely distributed among plants and microorganisms. They have been used in food, cosmetics and textile industries as coloring agents. Moreover, they exhibit a wide array of bioactivities including antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-malarial, anti-tuberculosis and cytotoxic activities. Their antibacterial action was found to be through induction of photo inactivation of bacteria via formation of reactive oxygen species such as singlet oxygen, which oxidize biological molecules including lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, leading to cell death. Microluside A [4 (19-para-hydroxybenzoyloxy-O-b-D-cellobiosyl),5(30-para-hydroxybenzoyloxy-O-b-Dglucopyranosyl) xanthone is a unique O-glycosylated di-substituted xanthone isolated from the broth culture of Micrococcus sp. EG45 cultivated from the Red Sea sponge Spheciospongia vagabunda. The structure of microluside A was determined by 1D- and 2D-NMR techniques as well as high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial activity evaluation showed that 1 exhibited antibacterial potential against Enterococcus faecalis JH212 and Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 8325 with MIC values of 10 and 13 µM, respectively. This is the first report for xanthone derivatives from Micrococcus sp. which introduces this micro-organism as a new source for vital antimicrobial agents specifically the reluctant enterobacteriacea.

Iris FF BENZIE completed her BSc degree in the School of Pharmaceutical Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. Her PhD study is ongoing in the Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interest is in the role of vitamin D in healthy ageing.

Background: Increasing evidence points to a role for vitamin D in modulating risk of various non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and cancer. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is reported to be high in many parts of the world, even in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Currently, we lack data on vitamin D status of young, healthy adults in Hong Kong, a modern and cosmopolitan city that lies 22oN. Objectives: To investigate the vitamin D status (assessed by plasma 25(OH)D concentration) of apparently healthy young adults in Hong Kong in order to determine prevalence of deficiency and insufficiency (defined here as plasma 25(OH)D)<50 and <75nmol/l, respectively) in this group, and to generate a database for examining inter-relationships between vitamin D status and health status in young people, with focus on early biochemical (biomarker) changes that may increase risk of NCDs in later life. Method: Fasting plasma 25(OH)D concentrations of 173 volunteers (57 men, 116 women) aged 18-26 years were measured by LC-MS/MS. Results: Mean(SD) plasma 25(OH)D concentrations were: 41.0(12.6)nmol/l, with range, 15.7-84.3; 75% (130/173) had levels <50nmol/l; 13/173 (7.5%) were severely deficient (<25nmol/l). Only one subject had plasma 25(OH)D concentration ≥75nmol/l, the suggested threshold of sufficiency. Men had higher (p<0.05) 25(OH)D: mean(SD) of 44.1(13.3) compared to 39.5(12.0)nmol/l in women. Conclusion: Overall, >99% of the 173 healthy young adults studied had insufficient vitamin D. Results highlight an issue of public health concern due to the growing body of evidence that supports a role for vitamin D modulating NCD risk.

Amany K Ibrahim completed her PhD from University of Mississippi, USA and SCU, Faculty of Pharmacy. She is the Head of the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University. She has published more than 23 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a Peer-Reviewer for reputed journals of her field.

Pain is the most common symptom in many medical conditions and has a significant impact on productivity and quality of life. Naturally occurring opiates and their synthetic analogues represent the most potent analgesics to date. Opioid ligands are also useful in the management of various types of addiction. The action of opioid agents is mediated by opioid receptors. Unfortunately, binding to these receptors also results in some undesirable side effects, such as respiratory depression, constipation, nausea, vomiting and sedation. Therefore, there is still a need to search for safer and more efficacious opioid agents. The aim of this study was to investigate extracts of plants growing in Egypt for potential opioid receptor affinity in order to isolate compounds possessing opioid receptor modulator activity. We investigated the binding affinity of 20 Egyptian plant extracts towards opioid receptors. Phagnalon rupestre F. Asteraceae showed promising activity (more than 50% receptors affinity) and was chosen for further investigation. The methanolic extract of this plant was fractionated using solvents of different polarities to obtain five fractions. The fractions were tested in vitro to determine their binding affinity towards opioid and cannabinoid receptors. The active fractions were subjected to various chromatographic separation procedures to obtain pure compounds. Several compounds were isolated and spectroscopically identified from the fraction (20% Ethyl acetate/ Hexane). However, the activity of the isolated compounds was less than that of the plant extract.