Objective: The lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic affects lifestyle patterns globally and impacts children and adolescents. This study aims to assess the effect of the lockdown on body weight, eating habits, and physical activity of Jordanian youth (children and adolescents).Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 477 Jordanian children and adolescents aged 6-17 y. The study tool was a structured validated questionnaire. It comprised 4 parts, including a general description of the study purpose, sociodemographic and anthropometric data, physical activity data, and food intake pattern. Questions were reported before and during lockdown. Changes in outcomes over the 2 study time points were evaluated.Results: After the lockdown period, the mean body weight and body mass index for age Z-scores (BAZ) showed a significant increase (P < 0.001) compared with before the lockdown period. More than 50% of the subjects reported that they spent more than 3 h in front of the screen during the lockdown. The percent of subjects who watched TV for more than 3h was increased. Moreover, physical inactivity was increased significantly during the lockdown. All food groups consumption was significantly increased during the lockdown compared to before the lockdown.Conclusions: COVID-19 lockdown period was characterized by an increase in the use of screen-based devices, lower physical activity, uncontrolled food intake, and weight gain.

Nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and good practices are essential for preventing malnutrition, ensuring good health, and maintaining life quality. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have been published on the nutritional knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of Jordanian older people. For this reason, our study aimed to assess the KAPs in the Jordanian elderly. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1200 people aged 60 and over. The results revealed that 52.8% of participants had poor knowledge, 52.7% had negative attitude scores, and 72.6% had poor practices. Significant differences were found between the three regions in the KAP prevalence (p < 0.001). The northern region had a higher prevalence of nutritionally poor knowledge (65.6%) compared to 52.5% and 40.4% for the central and southern regions, respectively. Participants from the central region had a higher prevalence of a positive attitude (55.4%), whereas the northern and the southern participants had a higher prevalence of a negative attitude (65.6% and 54.4%, respectively). All regions reported poor practices, yet, significantly, the northern regions had the highest prevalence of poor practices. Participants with a low educational level reported a significantly higher prevalence of poor knowledge, negative attitudes, and poor practices compared to participants with a high educational level. The results obtained underline the importance of taking into account the lack of nutrition-related KAPs among the elderly in Jordan. It is crucial to raise awareness on this issue and to implement the national nutrition strategy, with particular attention paid to the elderly. Concrete measures must be taken to ensure that the nutritional needs of older people are met and to improve their quality of life.

Lycopene is one of the carotenoids, a fat-soluble pigment that has antioxidant properties. Lycopene was extracted from vine tomato wastes, characterized and then introduced to Jordanian traditional sheep ghee (Samen Baladi). The quality attributes in term of peroxide value PV, acidity (%FFA), refractive index (RI) and iodine value (IV) were analyzed according to reference methods. CIE C*.H*. L* colour is measured using Konika Minolta CR-400 Chroma Meter handheld. All parameters were analyzed after storage for one month at room temperature (RT) and at 4°C. Results showed that lycopene content in vine tomato wastes was 218.74 ppm, it has twice antioxidant power compared with that of ascorbic acid using DPPH scavenging method. The stability of lycopene was affected significantly after storage as its UV/ Vis spectral profile was changed dramatically. Comparing the Samen Baladi with lycopene, the PV, and FFA% were significantly p<0.05 lower than those of Samen Baladi without lycopene while the IV was significantly p<0.05 higher. Upon storage for one month, at RT and 4°C, there were no significant differences in colour during storage, but those with lycopene were significantly p<0.05 different than those without lycopene in term of C*.H*. L* colour scale indicating that those with lycopene were duller and darker and the hue shifted to red. We can conclude that lycopene may be a promised natural product to act as natural antioxidant but concerning the changes in colour, it may be a challenge in marketing as it negatively affects customer preference toward this sensory attribute.

Tannins are natural polyphenolic compounds widely distributed in the plant kingdom in the leaves, bark, fruits, and other parts. They have various biological functions in humans and animals and are used mainly in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The aim of this work was to isolate, extract, purify, and identify the tannins from the root bark of a common oak tree (Quercus aegilops L.) in Jordan and around the Mediterranean. The results showed that at least one form of ellagitannin (ellagic acid ester), quercitrin, afzelechin, valoneic acid, trigalloyl glucose, and catechin was identified in addition to two unidentified compounds. Results of this work can help in developing an ESI MS/MS search library for the constituents of the tannins of oak (Quercus aegilops L.) root bark.

Background. Secondary bacterial and fungal coinfections have been reported among critically ill coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients and are associated with increased disease severity and mortality incidence (MI) rates. Aims. This study aimed to track bacterial and fungal coinfections among COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to assess the impact of these infections on disease prognosis and patient outcomes in Jordan. Materials and Methods. This was a single-center study that enrolled 46 ICU patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Microbiological and antimicrobial susceptibility results and inflammatory biomarker data were retrospectively analyzed. Results. The MI rate attributed to bacterial and fungal coinfections was 84.8%, and the highest rate was reported among patients older than 70 years (66.7%). The MI rate related to bacterial coinfections was 95.2%, whereas that of fungal coinfections was 4.8%. The most commonly isolated bacterium in the blood was a coagulase-negative staphylococcus (41%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae in nasopharyngeal swabs (34%) and Acinetobacter baumannii in sputum samples (31%). Candida species were the sole cause of fungal coinfections in the studied population. In particular, Candida albicans was isolated from 3% of patients with bacteremia, whereas Candida glabrata was isolated from 8% of nasopharyngeal swabs. Klebsiella pneumoniae was considered the major cause of upper respiratory tract infections (34%). Multifactorial infection was significantly associated with increased MI ( value <0.001). Conclusion. COVID-19 MI is associated with respiratory bacterial/fungal coinfections. The ability to predict bacterial and fungal coinfections in ICU patients may be crucial to their survival and prognosis.