Health and spirituality: relevance and challenges of research

Since the end of the 19th century, spirituality in health has been increasingly studied, especially in recent years. The degree of subjective understanding makes it possible to measure the extent to which bibliometric studies can be identified, thus increasing their importance as a fundamental element for health service users’ quality of health as well as improving the ambience and humanization in health. In this context, this research aimed to identify and present the main characteristics of the evolution of global research on spirituality and health. This is applied research with a quantitative and exploratory approach in which bibliometric analysis is done. The Web of Science, PubMed, Sage Journal, Scopus, and Scielo databases were utilized to search all fields of knowledge for studies with the theme of spirituality. We searched for categories with a focus on health and set the period as the initial year of the databases until July 2021. The results of mapping included the number of publications over the years, the number of publications by country and university and their networks, the categories of the most studied research, the authors, co-authors, and the most cited keywords and their relationship networks. Results indicated significant growth in health spirituality research, particularly in the years 2020 and 2021, as well as its main characteristics, thus proposing an effective contribution to understanding the state of the theme of spirituality as it is applied to health.Introduction: since the end of the 19th century, spirituality in health has been increasingly studied, especially in recent years. The degree of subjective understanding allows measuring the extent to which bibliometric studies can be identified, increasing their importance as a fundamental element for the quality of health of users of health services, as well as for improving the ambience and humanization in health. Objective: to identify and present the main characteristics of the evolution of global research on spirituality and health. Method: this is applied research with a quantitative and exploratory approach in which a bibliometric analysis is carried out. The Web of Science, PubMed, Sage Journal, Scopus and Scielo databases were used to search for studies with the theme of spirituality in all areas of knowledge. We searched for categories with a focus on health and defined the period as the initial year of the databases until July 2021. The mapping results included the number of publications over the years, the number of publications by country and university and their networks, the categories of the most studied research, authors, co-authors, and the most cited keywords and their relationship networks. Results and Final Considerations: the results indicated significant growth in research on spirituality in health, especially in the years 2020 and 2021, as well as its main characteristics, proposing an effective contribution to the understanding of the state of the theme of spirituality applied to health

Hazelnut milk fermentation using probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and inulin

Following the consumer demand of healthy vegetable products due to their interesting nutritional profiles and potential functionalities, the fermentation process of hazelnut milk with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and S.thermophilus was studied. The effect of different factors (glucose, inulin and inoculum contents) was analysed to ensure sufficient probiotic survivals in a minimum time. The shelf life of the optimised product was characterised in terms of its main physicochemical and quality parameters (probiotic survivals and sensory analysis). Results showed that the defined formulation allowed high probiotic survivals (approximate to 10(8)cfumL(-1)) throughout cold storage and >60% survived to the in vitro digestion process (approximate to 10(5)cfumL(-1)). Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was no able to degrade inulin, which remained to exert health benefits in the host. The product was highly appreciated by the sensory panel during its shelf life despite the formation of a weak gel, which presented syneresis at the last storage time.This research has been carried out thanks to a funded project by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (PAID-05-11-2740). This study was also supported by the Conselleria de Educacion of Valencian government, which granted the author N. Bernat (ACIF/2011).Bernat Pérez, N.; Cháfer Nácher, MT.; Chiralt Boix, MA.; González Martínez, MC. (2014). Hazelnut milk fermentation using probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and inulin. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 49(12):2553-2562. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.12585S255325624912Allgeyer, L. C., Miller, M. J., & Lee, S.-Y. (2010). Sensory and microbiological quality of yogurt drinks with prebiotics and probiotics. Journal of Dairy Science, 93(10), 4471-4479. doi:10.3168/jds.2009-2582Angelov, A., Gotcheva, V., Kuncheva, R., & Hristozova, T. (2006). 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(2010). Processing optimization of probiotic yogurt containing glucose oxidase using response surface methodology. Journal of Dairy Science, 93(11), 5059-5068. doi:10.3168/jds.2010-3336DE SOUZA OLIVEIRA, R. P., PEREGO, P., CONVERTI, A., & DE OLIVEIRA, M. N. (2009). The effect of inulin as a prebiotic on the production of probiotic fibre-enriched fermented milk. International Journal of Dairy Technology, 62(2), 195-203. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0307.2009.00471.xDel Campo, R., Bravo, D., Canton, R., Ruiz-Garbajosa, P., Garcia-Albiach, R., Montesi-Libois, A., … Baquero, F. (2005). Scarce Evidence of Yogurt Lactic Acid Bacteria in Human Feces after Daily Yogurt Consumption by Healthy Volunteers. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71(1), 547-549. doi:10.1128/aem.71.1.547-549.2005Donkor, O. N., Nilmini, S. L. I., Stolic, P., Vasiljevic, T., & Shah, N. P. (2007). Survival and activity of selected probiotic organisms in set-type yoghurt during cold storage. International Dairy Journal, 17(6), 657-665. doi:10.1016/j.idairyj.2006.08.006Doron, S., Snydman, D. R., & Gorbach, S. L. (2005). Lactobacillus GG: Bacteriology and Clinical Applications. Gastroenterology Clinics of North America, 34(3), 483-498. doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2005.05.011Franck, A. (2002). Technological functionality of inulin and oligofructose. British Journal of Nutrition, 87(S2), S287-S291. doi:10.1079/bjn/2002550Garcı́a-Ochoa, F., Santos, V. ., Casas, J. ., & Gómez, E. (2000). Xanthan gum: production, recovery, and properties. Biotechnology Advances, 18(7), 549-579. doi:10.1016/s0734-9750(00)00050-1Glahn, R. P., Lee, O. A., Yeung, A., Goldman, M. I., & Miller, D. D. (1998). Caco-2 Cell Ferritin Formation Predicts Nonradiolabeled Food Iron Availability in an In Vitro Digestion/Caco-2 Cell Culture Model. The Journal of Nutrition, 128(9), 1555-1561. doi:10.1093/jn/128.9.1555Granato, D., de Araújo Calado, V. M., & Jarvis, B. (2014). Observations on the use of statistical methods in Food Science and Technology. Food Research International, 55, 137-149. doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2013.10.024Hekmat, S., Soltani, H., & Reid, G. (2009). Growth and survival of Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 in yogurt for use as a functional food. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 10(2), 293-296. doi:10.1016/j.ifset.2008.10.007Kedia, G., Wang, R., Patel, H., & Pandiella, S. S. (2007). Use of mixed cultures for the fermentation of cereal-based substrates with potential probiotic properties. Process Biochemistry, 42(1), 65-70. doi:10.1016/j.procbio.2006.07.011Köksal, A. İ., Artik, N., Şimşek, A., & Güneş, N. (2006). Nutrient composition of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) varieties cultivated in Turkey. Food Chemistry, 99(3), 509-515. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.08.013Kolida, S., Tuohy, K., & Gibson, G. R. (2002). Prebiotic effects of inulin and oligofructose. 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Fractionated Stereotactic radiotherapy for POEMS syndrome: A case report

Background: POEMS syndrome is a rare neoplastic entity. It has population incidence of 0.3/100,000 and presents predominantly on the 5th or 6th decade of life. Its treatment is considered to be multidisciplinary. Case summary: We present the case of a 47 year old male patient with POEMS syndrome who was initially managed with chemotherapy but was treated with stereotactic radiation therapy for spinal cord compression associated due to a plasma cell neoplasm at the T6-T7 vertebral body. Conclusion: Radiation therapy is the preferred treatment modality for one to three isolated bone lesions, with a marked improvement in neuropathy

Telemedicine and Telehealth: Gaining notoriety in scientific research during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Access to quality health services is a global challenge. However, telemedicine has been facilitating access to healthcare, especially since the advent of COVID-19. Objective: This review aimed to identify and highlight the main characteristics of research in telemedicine and telehealth, worldwide. Methods: This exploratory review employed a quantitative approach and searched the databases of Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, SciELO, and SAGE for all fields that had the themes “telemedicine” and “telehealth” from the initial year, as per the databases, until 2020. Results: The exponential growth in research related to telemedicine and telehealth was evident; however, a substantial growth was observed in the year 2020 to provide quality care to distant places while observing safety criteria and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, thematic areas, methodologies, researchers, and university and organizational networks were also demonstrated. Conclusion: Telemedicine and telehealth enables quality healthcare access for all, even for those in remote areas, thus shortening distances between patients and health professionals

Multisensory flavour perception

Traditionally, flavour perception was considered to involve the integration of gustatory, olfactory, and possibly also trigeminal inputs. However, recent findings (reviewed in this chapter) confirm that our perception of flavour is influenced by the information presented to all of the senses. In this chapter, particular attention is given to looking at the role of visual and auditory cues in modulating flavour perception. This chapter also attempts to highlight how cognitive neuroscience insights from the study on the non-chemical senses have started to transform our understanding of multisensory flavour perception