:  This article presents an overview of the recent advances into the health promoting potentials of oat β‐glucan. Oat β‐glucan (OβG) consists mainly of the linear polysaccharide (1→3), (1→4)‐β‐D‐glucan and is often called β‐glucan. This soluble oat fiber is able to attenuate blood postprandial glycemic and insulinemic responses, to lower blood total cholesterol and low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and to improve high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and blood lipid profiles as well as to maintain body weight. Thus, OβG intake is beneficial in the prevention, treatment, and control of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, OβG can stimulate immune functions by activating monocytes/macrophages and increasing the amounts of immunoglobulin, NK cells, killer T‐cells, and so on, which will improve resistance to cancer and infectious and parasitic diseases, as well as increase biological therapies and their prevention. All these health benefits of OβG may be explained by its physicochemical properties (such as viscosity, molecular weight) which can be affected by extraction methods and its behavior in gastrointestinal tract. Articles documenting these health benefits and effects are reviewed.

Enzymatic-gravimetric method was used to obtain three fractions of dietary from defatted rice bran. The functional and physiological properties such as viscosity, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and glucose dialysis retardation index (GDRI), cholesterol and bile salt adsorption capacity of the resultant fractions were evaluated. Insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) and soluble dietary fibre (SDF) when compared showed that SDF exhibited significantly (p <0.05) higher viscosity (2.35 mPa.s), greater GDRI value (17.65 %) at 60 min and significantly lowered concentration of cholesterol at pH 7 (29.90 %, p < 0.05). However IDF showed the highest CEC and its adsorption capacity of bile salt was higher than SDF (18.20 % vs. 13.76 %; p<0.05), while CEC and cholesterol absorption capacity of TDF were similar to SDF. These properties indicate that rice bran soluble, insoluble and total fibres are functional ingredients which can be added to various food products and dietetic, low-calorie high-fiber foods to enhance their nutraceutical properties and health benefits.

La période de soudure est celle pendant laquelle les stocks de céréales sont épuisés et les prochaines récoltes ne sont pas encore prêtes. Au Mali (Afrique de l'Ouest), elle varie d'août à septembre. Pendant cette période, les communautés locales utilisent les plantes sauvages comme aliment. L'objectif de la présente étude était de recenser les plantes sauvages alimentaires consommées dans les régions Sud du Mali (Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso et Ségou) pendant cette période. Des enquêtes ethnobotaniques utilisant les méthodes du focus group, d'enquête individuelle et d'interviews semi-structurées ont été menées. Au total, 454 personnes dont 338 hommes et 116 femmes soit respectivement 74,4% et 25,6% ont été interrogées. Les jeunes (15-30 ans), cultivateurs et Bambara étaient les plus nombreux. 87 plantes alimentaires appartenant à 44 familles ont été identifiées; les fruits de 56 plantes (62,2%), les feuilles de 43 plantes (47,8%) et les graines de 10 plantes (11,5%) sont consommées comme aliments pendant les périodes de soudure. Parkia biglobosa, Adansonia digitata et Vitellaria paradoxa sont les plantes les plus utilisées soit seules ou dans des plats comme additifs. Certaines de ces plantes servent également comme médicament et comme source de revenus pour les communautés locales.

In this study, we investigated the predictive indices for hypoglycemic effect of physically modified fibers. Micronization, ultrasonic, microwave and extrusion cooking treatments were applied to defatted rice bran dietary fibers to get modified defatted rice bran dietary fiber. The effects of physical treatments, pH and time of digestion, on the water binding Capacity (WBC), Swelling Capacity (SWC), Cation exchange Capacity (CEC) and Glucose retardation capacity (GDRI) were studied. All modified fibers exhibited significance (p≤0.05) difference in terms of their hydration capacity at pH 8.7 with extruded fibers showing the highest values for WBC and SWC (4.68g/g and 3.66 ml/g respectively), while micronized fiber had the lowest value of CEC at pH 1.8 (0.15 meq/g). Extruded fiber showed higher GDRI (40.73%), thus higher glucose adsorption capacity (4161µmol/g). It displayed greatest retardation effect against the movement of glucose across the dialysis bag for 9 h compared to other treatments.The study showed that physically modified defatted rice bran dietary fibers have reduction effect on glucose breakdown rate and adsorption and thus can avoid increase in postprandial blood glucose level Therefore, these physically modified fibres showed important improved physiological effects (hypoglycemic effect) and can be incorporated in foods to enhance health benefits.

Response surface methodology was used to optimize the processing parameters for extraction of total dietary fiber (TDF), insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) and soluble dietary fiber (SDF) of defatted rice bran (DRB). The studied independent factors were concentration of NaOH solution (varying from 0.15 to 0.25 mol/L), soaking time (from 60 to 90 min), α-amylase enzyme -substrate (E: S) ratio (from 0.6:100 to 0.9:100 g: g of dry DRB) and alcalase enzyme concentration (from 3.5:100 to 4.7 g: g of dry DRB)) whereas; the dependent variables were extraction yield and purity of TDF, IDF and SDF. Therefore, the three-level four-factor Box-Behnken design was used to establish the optimum conditions and the generated regression quadratic polynomial models and adequacy of each dependent variable were significant (p < 0.0001) with regression coefficient R2 (> 0.90) and lack of-fit was not significant. Moreover, ANOVA showed that most of the linear, interaction and quadratic regression coefficient values were significant (p < 0.05). The optimum processing parameters observed for extraction of TDF, IDF and SDF with high yield and purity were: 0.15 mol/L NaOH solution concentration, 64.3 min soaking time, 0.68:100 and 3.52:100 (g: g) α-amylase and alcalase enzyme -substrate ratio (E: S), respectively. Moreover, the alkali pretreatment was the factor amongst the others that significantly (p<0.05) affected the purity of Fiber fractions but did not contribute to improve their yields.

The erection has always symbolized strength and virile health. Erectile dysfunction is undoubtedly a concern as old as humanity. Tamarindus indica L., Guiera senegalensis J.F.Gmel and Ximenia americana L. are commonly used in the traditional treatment of erectile dysfunction by the Bwa community in Mali. The aim of this study was to measure the total polyphenols and flavonoids and then to evaluate the antiradical activity of the extracts (aqueous and hydroalcoholic macerated and decocted) of the organs of these species. The study found that for all species, the hydro-alcoholic macerated extract showed the best results. The polyphenol contents have been 36.85±0.21 mgGAE/g; 32.60±0.25 mgGAE/g and 29.79±0.51 mgGAE/g for Ximenia americana, Tamarindus indica and Guiera senegalensis respectively. The flavonoid contents have been 22.03±0.15 mgQE/g; 17.53±0.02 mgQE/g and 8.03±0.03 mgQE/g for Ximenia americana, Tamarindus indica and Guiera senegalensis respectively. The antiradical activity expressed in IC50 is 37.54±0.75 µg/mL; 52.75±0.71 µg/mL and 54.66±1.14 µg/mL for Ximenia americana, Tamarindus indica and Guiera senegalensis respectively. This study revealed that those plants are rich in total polyphenols and show a good antiradical activity. This wealth would justify their traditional use. The biological tests would be necessary to confirm their use in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Keywords: Erectile dysfunction, polyphenols, antioxidant activity, Bwatun-Mali.

Defatted rice bran dietary fiber (DRBDF) was modified by micronization, ultrasound, microwave and extrusion cooking. We investigated the impacts of these physical treatments on the fermentation ability and bile salts binding capacity of DRBDF. In-vitro fermentation by human fecal bacteria of modified fibers showed that the major fermentation products were propionic, acetate and butyrate acid. Fermentation of extruded fiber gave the highest amounts of propionic and acetic acid 135.76 and 25.45 mmol/L respectively, while, the fermented product with microwaved fiber had the highest butyric acid content (10.75 mmol/L). The amount of short-chain fatty acid increased from 12 h to 24 h and propionic acid was the predominant. On the other hand, in-vitro bile salts binding showed that extruded fiber had higher affinity with sodium deoxycholate and sodium chenodeoxycholate (66.14% and 30.25% respectively) while microwaved fiber exhibited the highest affinity with sodium taurocholate (14.38%). In the light of obtained results we can affirmed that these physical treatments significantly improved the fermentation products and bile salts binding capacity of DRBDF. Extrusion compared to the other physical treatment methods used in this study has greatly and positively influenced the fermentation and bile binding capacity of DRBDF.

In 2017, an estimated 21.7 million people living with HIV had access to antiretroviral treatment. Many biochemical variations are related to diet but also to the side effects of ARVs. The objective of this work is to describe variations in some biochemical parameters (transaminases, creatinemia and blood sugar) in patients living with HIV (PLWHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART). This was a retrospective study of 201 PLWHIV over the period October 2018 to January 2019. Only PLWHIV on ART who were at least 18 years old and had a biological checkup at one of the following periods: at treatment initiation (M0), at 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30 months were considered. Patients' transaminases, creatinemia and blood sugar levels were measured by the spectrophotometric method. The results showed that out of 201 patients, women represented 70.15% of the study population compared to 29.85% of men. The study showed that 6.48% of patients had higher than normal blood glucose levels. 14, 28% of men and 17.41% of women had high creatinemia. Aspartate amino-transferase (ASAT) was high in 40.91% of cases in men and 35.82% in women. Alanine amino-transferase (ALAT) was high in 11.42% of cases in men compared to 21.92% in women. It appears from this study that the use of ARVs in PLWHAs seems to have had a negative impact on the biochemical parameters measured, especially ASAT, hence the importance of regular and constant follow-up in these patients.