Food safety is a significant challenge for countries worldwide due to the growing number of food poisoning outbreaks, particularly in the catering sector, which impacts consumer health and imposes additional economic costs on countries. The role of food handlers in restaurants is crucial for guaranteeing this safety and protecting the health of citizens. This pioneering study in central Morocco aimed to assess food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) among food handlers and to identify key factors influencing adequate knowledge, positive attitudes, and effective practices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood chemical antioxidants have demonstrated protective effects against reactive oxygen species and free radicals, but present in excess, harmful consequences might occur on health. Therefore, replacing these synthetic additives with nontoxic natural antioxidants is crucial. The current study examined aroma profile, antioxidant activity, and multivariate analysis of , , , and essential oils from Morocco.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
September 2024
is an endemic shrubby leguminous plant of Morocco used in traditional folk medicine. The plant has never been studied for either its phytochemical or pharmacological properties. This study represents the first investigation of the phytochemical profile as well as the antioxidant, the antibacterial, the analgesic effects and the oral acute toxicity of .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (or previously known as Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome) is a very rare disorder that typically manifests in a child with neurological signs such as gait difficulties, dysarthria, and hyperreflexia, associated potentially with psychiatric symptoms such as cognitive decline. It demonstrates on MRI the typical 'eye of the tiger' appearance, which is due to gliosis and accumulation of iron in the globi pallidi. Other differentials can mimic this appearance on MRI, it is therefore important to search for the involvement of other basal ganglia nuclei and the cerebral cortex, and also to consider the clinical and biological context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ischemic conditioning may help patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to limit ventricular remodeling.
Objectives: To investigate the effect of remote ischemic postconditioning (RIPC) on left ventricular function during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) in patients with STEMI.
Material And Methods: Pre- and post-test intervention study with a total of 60 STEMI patients.
To reduce the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, there is a strong need for small, compact gas sensors to detect and monitor CO at ppm concentrations. In this study, we focused on detecting CO with electrochemical sensors based on proton-conducting graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets at room temperature. We found that a Ce-doped GO nanosheet membrane fitted with the sensing electrode composed of Pt (10 wt %)-doped SnO nanocrystals exhibits an excellent sensor response to CO at 25 °C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDittrichia viscosa belongs to the Dittrichia genus, it grows abundantly in the east and northeast of Morocco, and traditionally its fresh leaves are crushed and given for topical application after burns, wounds, and infections. In this study, we examine the wound-healing activity of Dittrichia viscosa lipidic extract in vivo, assess its anti-microbial effect, and explore the specific compounds that contribute to these effects. To assess the effectiveness of wound healing, a burn-induced wound model was employed in Wistar rats, and the levels of hydroxyproline as well as histopathological changes in the skin tissues were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduced species Acacia saligna is a very promiscuous host as it can be efficiently nodulated with a wide range diversity of rhizobia taxa, including both fast and slow-growing strains. Fourteen nitrogen (N)-fixing bacteria were isolated from root nodules of wild Acacia saligna growing in distinct geographic locations in Morocco and were examined for their symbiotic efficiency and phenotypic properties. Multivariate tools, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), were used to study the correlation between phenotypic and symbiotic variables and discriminate and describe the similarities between different isolated bacteria with respect to all the phenotypic and symbiotic variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to identify the volatile profile of three essential oils obtained from (EPEO), (OMEO), and (LBEO) and to examine their combined antibacterial activity that affords the optimal inhibitory ability against and using simplex-centroid mixture design and checkerboard assay. Essential oils (EOs) were isolated by hydrodistillation and characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography coupled with flame-ionization detector (GC-FID). The antibacterial activity was performed using disc diffusion and microdilution assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study was designed to optimize the ultrasound-assisted extraction of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of Moroccan extracts using response surface methodology (RSM). A central composite design has been conducted to investigate the effects of three factors: extraction period (X), solvent concentration (X), and solvent-to-material ratio (X) on extraction yield, total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoids content (TFC), and antioxidant activity. The obtained results showed that the experimental values agreed with the predicted ones, confirming the capacity of the used model for optimizing the extraction conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood hygiene is important both for its impact on the health of citizens and also for the cost of the infections that it can generate. In Morocco, it has become a concern of authorities. This work, realized for the first time in the center of Morocco, is aimed at describing the microbiological quality of foodstuffs marketed in collective catering in central Morocco.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current paper refers to the study of a new approach to optimizing the adsorptive properties of geopolymers by varying the aluminosilicate precursors from kaolin (K), metakaolin (MK), and coal fly ash (CFA) as internal synthesis factors. The simplex-augmented-centroid mixture design was applied to identify the optimal formulation from the three aluminosilicate precursors to develop a geopolymer (GP) with a distinctive structure that positively affects its dye adsorption efficiency. The variously formulated GP samples were tested for the removal of both methylene blue (MB-dye) and crystal violet dye (CV-dye) from an aqueous solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEssential Oils (EOs) known since Antiquity, and initially obtained by maceration of aromatic plants, are used as diseases' remedies because they contain valuable therapeutic components. Antimicrobial effect's evaluation of formulations established by an augmented centered mixing plan for three Moroccan medicinal and aromatic plants' essential oils (EOs): Thymus satureioides (T. satureioides), Myrtus communis (M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn entomological survey was carried out in the locality of Aichoune to conduct a study on sand flies, species composition, and monthly relative abundance. This study is essential for the implementation of integrated vector management control. Insects collection was carried out twice a month from January 2013 to December 2014 by means of adhesive and CDC-type light traps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of essential oil medium on the inclusion complex of EO in β-cyclodextrin, as well as to examine the impact of the encapsulating action on the adulticidal activity. In line with this, EO was hydrodistilled and determined through GC-MS. Furthermore, the optimization of EO medium was conducted using a binary mixture design of ethanol and glycerol as green emulsifier solvent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Human mycotic infections are one of the major health problems worldwide. Prolonged use of antimycotic drugs has contributed to the development of resistance in pathogenic fungi. This study was conducted to examine antioxidant and anticandidal activities of Moroccan propolis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarthworms have become a potential source of multi-beneficial bacteria and effective bioinoculants. Seed biopriming is an efficient inoculation method to apply bacteria prior to sowing, which enhances the chances of bacterial candidates to colonize the rhizosphere and/or establish a liaison with the plant. In this study, we evaluated plant growth-promoting traits of bacterial strains isolated from the earthworm's Aporrectodea molleri chloragogenous tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are known to improve plant growth and are used as biofertilizers, thanks to their numerous benefits to agriculture such as phosphorus solubilization and phytohormone production. In this paper, four rhizospheric bacteria (Phyllobacterium sp., Bacillus sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Leishmaniases are vector-borne diseases with health risks. They cause a big health problem. These parasitic diseases are transmitted by the parasite of the genus through sandflies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeishmaniasis diseases are endemic in Morocco. An entomological survey was conducted in Aichoun locality for 1 year from September 2013 to August 2014. The objective of this study was to investigate the sand fly fauna, mainly the species composition and the monthly species prevalence in accordance with bioclimate factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is an essential tool for rhizobacteria to stimulate and facilitate plant growth. For this, eighty rhizobial bacteria isolated from root nodules of Acacia cyanophylla grown in different regions of Morocco were firstly screened for their ability to produce IAA. Then, IAA production by a combination of isolates and the inoculation effect on the germination of Acacia cyanophylla seeds was studied using the best performing isolates in terms of IAA production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing cases of leishmaniasis disease have been reported during recent years in Sefrou Province, Central North of Morocco. This study presents the epidemiological profile of the provincial population, aims at analyzing the epidemiological profile, and in particular, spatiotemporal follow-up of all cases of leishmaniasis. It is a retrospective analysis of leishmaniasis cases recorded between 2007 and 2010.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe epidemiology of leishmaniasis is related with habitat and behavior of the sand fly vector. Each species of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) has a specific characteristic of their sites for the development of their immatures. Information on natural breeding sites of phlebotomine sand flies is limited, due to the difficulty of isolation of immature from the soil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To ascertain in cadavers where the sural nerve crosses the gastro-soleus complex and where the gastrocnemius tendon merges with the Achilles tendon in relation to the calcaneal tuberosities.
Methods: Twelve cadaveric lower limbs (6 right and 6 left) were dissected. The distances between the calcaneal tuberosities and the lateral border of the Achilles tendon where the sural nerve crosses from medial to lateral, as well as to the gastrocnemius tendon insertion into the Achilles tendon, were measured.