There is some evidence supporting the beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet (PD) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. This diet advises consuming lean meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and avoiding intake of grains, dairy products, processed foods, and added sugar and salt. This study was performed to assess the effects of a PD on CVD risk factors including anthropometric indexes, lipid profile, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers using data from randomized controlled trials. A comprehensive search was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases up to August 2018. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model to estimate the pooled effect size. Meta-analysis of 8 eligible studies revealed that a PD significantly reduced body weight [weighted mean difference (WMD) = −1.68 kg; 95% CI: −2.86, −0.49 kg], waist circumference (WMD = −2.72 cm; 95% CI: −4.04, −1.40 cm), BMI (in kg/m2) (WMD = −1.54; 95% CI: −2.22, −0.87), body fat percentage (WMD = −1.31%; 95% CI: −2.06%, −0.57%), systolic (WMD = −4.75 mm Hg; 95% CI: −7.54, −1.96 mm Hg) and diastolic (WMD = −3.23 mm Hg; 95% CI: −4.77, −1.69 mm Hg) blood pressure, and circulating concentrations of total cholesterol (WMD = −0.23 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.42, −0.04 mmol/L), triglycerides (WMD = −0.30 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.55, −0.06 mmol/L), LDL cholesterol (WMD = −0.13 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.26, −0.01 mmol/L), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (WMD = −0.48 mg/L; 95% CI: −0.79, −0.16 mg/L) and also significantly increased HDL cholesterol (WMD = 0.06 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.11 mmol/L). However, sensitivity analysis revealed that the overall effects of a PD on lipid profile, systolic blood pressure, and circulating CRP concentrations were sensitive to removing some studies and to the correlation coefficients, hence the results must be interpreted with caution. Although the present meta-analysis revealed that a PD has favorable effects on CVD risk factors, the evidence is not conclusive and more well-designed trials are still needed.

Objectives: WHO has recommended that the average salt intake must be <5 grams per day. However, people consume salt much more in many countries. In this study, we design and implement an intervention based on social marketing model to reduce salt consumption in Yasuj, Iran. Materials and Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with control group design which consisted of a formative research (qualitative-quantitative) and an interventional phase. To collect the qualitative data, six focus group discussions by participating of 66 people were established. The qualitative data were analyzed manually using directed content analysis. In quantitative study, 166 people aged 25-50 years completed a KAP questionnaire, and their average salt intake was determined through measuring sodium in their urine sample. By analyzing the data, marketing mix components were determined for designing an intervention. An educational package (including posters for installing in the kitchen, pamphlets, phone counseling, four educational classes, and brief interventions done by physicians and other health personnel) focused on reducing salt intake and using alternatives was developed. For one month, program was implemented for intervention group. Two months later, KAP survey and measuring the urine sodium were repeated for intervention and control groups. The data was compared for two groups, before and after the intervention by using independent t-test, paired t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA. Results: The qualitative findings showed that most participants agreed that the salt intake was high in Iran. Most of them recommended home-based and family-driven strategies to reduce salt intake, offered using healthier alternatives for salt, and recognized physicians and health care providers in healthcare facilities as the most important to encourage people to reduce salt intake. After the intervention, the mean and standard deviation of KAP were improved significantly in intervention group. The mean salt intake decreased significantly by 3.01 ± 2.38 in the intervention group and repeated measures ANOVA showed significant change over time (P < 0.001) and a significant difference between two groups (P = 0.04). Also, the interaction between time and group was significant (P = 0.001). Layeghiasl et al. Social Marketing to Reduce Salt Intake Conclusion: The mean salt intake among the study population was approximately three times more than the level recommended by the WHO. The social marketing-based intervention succeeded in reducing the salt intake of the study subjects by ∼3 grams on average.

Abstract-Corrective feedback and the way of delivering play an important part in learning English in an EFLcontext. This study aimed at investigating the extent to which different types of feedback on EFL learners' grammatical errors would affect the level of their grammatical accuracy and retention of the structure of conditional sentences (Types I, II, III). 90 intermediate English female students in an EFL context were selected in an English language institute. This population was randomly divided into two experimental groups, one of which received indirect uncoded correction feedback and the other one indirect coded correction and the third group, control group, received direct error correction feedback. In conducting a quasi-experimental design, the present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of three error correction strategies (Direct, Indirect coded and Indirect uncoded) through pre-test, post-test and Delayed post-test in a time span of 10 weeks. The results obtained by One Way ANOVA indicated that the students who were exposed to indirect coded correction feedback outperformed the students who were provided with direct correction feedback or indirect uncoded feedback. In addition, the findings in delayed post-test also showed that there were significant differences between the performance of the participants who were subject to indirect coded and direct error correction strategies.Index Terms-corrective feedback, error correction, direct feedback, indirect coded feedback, indirect uncoded feedback

A B S T R A C TBackground and Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease worldwide. Although it is treated with a number of methods including diet therapy, hypoglycemic agents, insulin and some herbs, its' prevalence and complications are rapidly increasing. Chicory intybus has been used as a traditional diabetes treatment in Iran, Egypt, and other countries but there is a lack of convincing evidence on its effect. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of aqueous extract of chicory leaf on body weight, serum insulin, glucose and lipids in diabetic male Wistar rats. Materials and Methods:Forty male Wistar rats were divided into five groups. Four groups were given streptozotocin intraperitoneally to induce diabetes. Three of the diabetic groups received varying concentrations of chicory aqueous extract for three weeks (12, 25 and 50 mg /kg body weight). The forth diabetic group and the non-diabetic group received distilled water (diabetic and healthy control groups respectively). Fasting blood glucose, serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), LDL and HDL levels were measured after 3 weeks of treatment. Results:The results did not show any significant effects on fasting blood glucose (173.5±126, 154.5±100, 247.7±46, 170.7±150.8 mg/dL) and serum lipids; LDL(19.5±7.7, 26.4±6.7, 24.2±7.7,24.7±6.8 mg/dL), HDL(41±22.8, 41.2±12, 44.7±12.1, 40±4.6 mg/dL), TG (103.5±35, 80.4±53.8, 111±70, 94±8.9 mg/dL) and TC (76.2±27.3, 80.4±53.8, 77±18.4, 72.7±15 mg/dl) in Streptozotocin induced diabetic groups receiving 12, 25 and 50 mg/kg aqueous chicory extract and diabetic control groups respectively. Conclusions:Chicory leaf aqueous extract had no significant effects on serum glucose and lipids of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.Keywords: Diabetes, Chicory extracts, Blood glucose, Cholesterol, Triglyceride, Rat IntroductionDiabetes mellitus is a very common health problem of the world, in both developed and developing countries and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide (1) . It is estimated that the number of world diabetics will exceed to over 400 million by 2030 (2). Recent studies indicate that the prevalence of diabetes in Iran, and in other developed and developing countries is increasing (3-6). Diabetes results in severe complications including hyperlipidemia, neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy and cardiovascular disorders and therefore impose great economic costs to the families and countries (7,8). Diet therapy, exercise, pharmacotherapy and herbal medicines are strategies to treat diabetes mellitus. Herbs have been used for diabetes mellitus treatment in ancient Iran, China, Egypt and other countries (9, 10). Chicory intybus (Cichorium intybus L.), is a traditional herbal medicine, which belongs to the Asteraceae family with six species mostly in Europe and Asia (11) (29) and chicory root on blood glucose and lipids have been reported previously (28-30). However, the effects of aqueous extract of chicory leaf on weight, blood glucose and lipids need to be examined. This st...

Fish contamination by heavy metals, even at low levels, has an adverse effect on human health. Mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) are the most common heavy metals that contaminate sea foods. Rainbow trout is a fish species which is widely cultured in fresh water regions, e.g. in Yasuj, southwest of Iran. Heavy metal contamination was measured in three different culture areas (A, B, and C), with three different feed pellets used in Yasuj farms (I, II, and III). The sampling was conducted during February-April 2018 and the metals were measured using cold vapour atomic absorption with a Perkin Elmer 4100. The mean values of Hg, Cd, and Pb levels in the muscular tissue of the samples were 0.022, 0.105, and 1.07 mg/kg, respectively. Concentrations of Hg and Cd in edible tissues of rainbow trout were lower than the permitted values set by the WHO, the FDA, and the EC. The samples fed on mixture pellets III showed a significantly higher Hg content and a lower concentration of Cd in the muscle tissue compared to those given feed mixtures I and II (P < 0.05). Pearson correlation tests revealed significant correlations between the Cd and Pb concentrations and the weight of the fish samples (r = –0.519, r = –0.580). The lowest Cd concentration (0.076 mg/kg–1) was found in site A located close to the spring and not polluted by sewage from urban or rural areas. The study showed a correlation between the concentration of heavy metals in the fish samples and their weight, the degree of pollution, and the feeding mixture used in the farms.