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Staphylococcus aureus is known to be the third leading cause of food poisoning in the world. Traditional ice cream is one of the dairy products in Iran and some countries in the world that should be controlled for Staphylococcus aureus contamination. The purpose of this review and meta-analysis is to determine the contamination of traditional ice cream with Staphylococcus aureus in different regions of Iran. Search terms "Staphylococcus aureus", "traditional ice Cream", and "Iran" were used in Science Direct, Pubmed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and SID, Magiran Magazine until 2018 published without time limitation selected. To review the original articles and remove duplicate articles and review titles and abstracts, articles that have the required qualities for this research were studied in this study. Data were analyzed by the random effects model in STATA (version 11) and MedCalc (version 13) software. Publication bias and sensitivity analysis were assessed by funnel and influence plots. According to a sample size of 3811 from 35 articles, the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus is estimated 32% in Iran (95% CI: 25-38%, p<0.001). The heterogeneity in the estimation of the pooled prevalence among the studies demonstrated; Cochran Q test: 1577.39, p< 0.001, I² = 97.84%. Based on Begg's adjusted rank correlation test, publication bias was statistically significant (p <0.05). Epidemiological data is useful to determine the distribution of Staphylococcus aureus contamination and provide a broad picture of the prevalence of traditional ice cream Iran and can be used as an important indicator in the model of risk assessment of microbiologic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pomegranate peel is a by-product which has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and using it as an additive to improve the meat products shelf life in active packaging has increased in the last decade. The purpose of current study is to investigate the utilization of pomegranate peel powder (PPP) in bilayer film to increase the shelf life of ostrich meat (OM) at 4±1°C. In this research, OM was placed in bilayer films with different ratios of PPP (1,3,5%) then chemical and microbial experiments alongside sensory evaluation on OM were conducted on storage days (1,3,5,7,10). The results indicated that the values of chemical properties including pH, lipid oxidation and nitrogen, microbial, and sensory evaluation after 10 days in samples containing 5% PPP were lower than other samples. However, they had an undesirable color; Thus, the samples containing 3% PPP were preferred. This film was proposed as an active packaging for storing OM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increase in drug resistance of microorganisms and the tendency in using medicinal plants, the present study was carried out to investigate the chemical compounds of Thymol as a constituent of essential oil and antimicrobial activity against several pathogenic bacteria and its antioxidant activity. In this study, the chemical compounds of Thymol extracted from the two parts of the plant together (the leaves and stems) were performed by making use of gas chromatography and the other gas chromatography linked to the mass spectrograph and its antibacterial activity against Ecoli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Salmonella Paratyphi B, Salmonella Typhi typhus and Enterococci through Microdilution and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were investigated. The antioxidant activity of essential oils was measured through the ability of essential oil compounds in decolorizing diphenyl picrilhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. Chemical analysis of thyme essential oil resulted in the identification of 23 (83.68%) compounds, which Thymol with 25.30% was considered as the main part of the essential oil compound. The highest inhibitory effect was imposed on Klebsiella, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, and the largest inhibitory zone diameter of essential oil appeared against growth S. paratyphi B. Concerning the results, total phenol was equal to 114.3 mg of gallic acid.g and IC50 of thyme was considered to be 49.94 μM/ml. The achieved results from this study declared that thyme essential oil had a suitable inhibitory effect against pathogenic bacteria and also possessed antioxidant properties. In other words, thyme was considered as an alternative to synthetic drugs and food additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey is used worldwide due to its medicinal and nutritional properties. Antibiotics are used to treat diseases such as American foulbrood and European foulbrood or as a drug for preventing disease in the beehives. Antibiotic residues should be carefully monitored because they can have adverse effects on the general health of human. In this study, the amount of tetracycline residue was measured in honey samples. A total of 80 honey samples were collected from different regions of Qazvin province, Iran. The methods used included enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). ELISA method showed that the maximum and minimum levels of tetracycline residue were 40 ppb and 1.26 ppb, respectively. The areas with values above the kit's LOD include Takestan (14.28%), Abeyek (4.76%), and Alamot-e-gharbi (4.54%), respectively. In the Alamot-e-sharghi samples, the antibiotic values above the kit's LOD were not found. Samples with values above the kit's LOD in ELISA method were measured using HPLC method. According to ELISA results, of the 80 honey samples, 4 samples (5%) had antibiotic more than the highest LOD of the kit. These 4 samples were tested using HPLC method. The results of HPLC showed that out of 4 honey samples, one sample was more than 40 ppb, but 3 samples were less than 40 ppb. There is a significant difference between ELISA and HPLC (p < 0.05). If the antibiotic residue levels of tetracycline are too high in food, it can cause serious harm to the health of consumers, therefore, monitoring of antibiotics residue in food is very necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current competitive situation, hospitals are seeking to keep their position among patients. This study aimed to find factors influencing on the brand equity of hospitals.in the cross sectional study, Firstly, the factors affecting the brand equity were identified Subsequently, by holding the panel of experts, the effective factors were taken into account After standardization, the questionnaire was given to 450 admitted patients in Qazvin's hospitals. Finally, the causal relationship between the variables was evaluated using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) on AMOS22 software, with a significant level of 0.05. Analysis of findings revealed all fit indices were in an acceptable level. The path coefficient between brand trust and brand loyalty with brand equity was positive (t > 1.96). Study result is necessary for hospitals to prioritize attention to dimensions and factors affecting brand equity in order to maintain their place in society and provide effective services [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical centers need branding approach to improve their position in patients' minds. This study was carried out using mixed method. The participants included main experts, hospital managers and headquarters of the Ministry of Health. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview and a researcher-made questionnaire. Branding process was conceptualized in 5steps, including Market Identification, Brand Identity, Brand Positioning, Development and Consolidation Strategy. All path coefficients were defined in the range. The results of the indices showed that the fit was good and the final model was valid. The activities of Medical centers should be based on the identification of the target market. Unique services with new knowledge and equipment and experienced clinical staff to meet patients' needs with appropriate price and quality have to be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]