Sorghum, germinated millet and chia cookies: development, chemical composition and sensory analysis

The objective of this work was to develop cookies using sorghum, germinated millet and chia flours. Four formulations (F) were used: F-sorghum (100% sorghum flour); F-Sorghum + chia (50% sorghum flour and 50% chia flour), F-millet (100% millet flour) and F-millet + chia (50% millet flour and 50% chia flour). The germinated millet flour was submitted to microbiological analysis. All cookies were evaluated in relation to chemical and sensory analyses, according to AOAC and hedonic nine-point scale, respectively. The statistical analysis was performed by the variance analysis and Tukey test at 5% probability. The F-millet formulation showed the least humidity content (4.59 ± 0.25g/100g), while chia containing cookies showed lesser concentrations of carbohydrates (F-sorghum + chia: 44.35 ± 4.34g/100g and F-millet + chia: 41.03 ± 1.40g/100g) and higher ash content (F-sorghum + chia: 3.80 ± 0.02g/100g and F-millet + chia: 3.42 ± 0.24g/100g) and of protein (F-sorghum + chia: 15.38 ± 0.44 g/100g and F-millet + chia: 18.06 ± 0.53 g/100g). The caloric value and the lipids content did not differ among formulations. The sensory analysis had 57 evaluators. The cookies produced with chia and germinated millet had higher rates for flavor, texture and general impression. In general, all tested biscuits had good sensory acceptance and nutritional quality being an alternative to increase the consumption of bioactive compounds and antioxidants(AU)

El objetivo fue desarrollar galletas utilizando harina de sorgo, mijo germinado y chía. Se utilizaron cuatro formulaciones (F): F-sorgo (100% harina de sorgo); Sorgo F + chía (50% harina de sorgo y 50% harina de chía), mijo F (100% harina de mijo) y mijo F + chía (50% harina de mijo y 50% harina de chía). La harina de mijo germinada se sometió a análisis microbiológico. Las galletas fueron sometidas a análisis químico y sensorial, según la AOAC y una escala hedónica de nueve puntos, respectivamente. El análisis estadístico se realizó mediante análisis de varianza y prueba de Tukey al 5% de probabilidad. La formulación F-mijo tuvo menor contenido de humedad (4,59 ± 0,25 g/100g), mientras que las galletas que contenían chía tuvieron concentraciones más bajas de carbohidratos (F-sorgo + chía: 44,35 ± 4,34 g/100g y F-mijo + chía: 41,03 ± 1,40 g / 100g), mayor contenido de cenizas (F-sorgo + chía: 3,80 ± 0,02 g/100g y F-mijo + chía: 3,42 ± 0,24 g/100g) y proteínas (F-sorgo + chía: 15,38 ± 0,44 g/100g y F mijo + chía: 18,06 ± 0,53 g/100g). El valor calórico y el contenido de lípidos no difirieron entre las formulaciones. El análisis sensorial contó con 57 evaluadores. Las galletas producidas con chía y mijo germinado tenían notas más altas de sabor, textura e impresión general. Las galletas testadas tuvieron buena aceptación sensorial y calidad nutricional, siendo una alternativa para incrementar el consumo de compuestos bioactivos y antioxidantes(AU)

A health benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination program in Nigeria

Background: Nigeria ranks third just behind India and China in the global disease burden of pneumococcal disease. The current sustainability approach for an affordable pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) for the national immunization program from 2014 till 2025 involves a cost sharing plan funded with a 75% financial support from GAVI and a subsidy from Pfizer pharmaceuticals. There is a strong need to generate evidence on the cost-effectiveness of the national PCV program in Nigeria from 2014-2025 and beyond 2025.Methods: The following parameters (demography, disease burden, health services utilization and costs, vaccination coverage, vaccine efficacy, and vaccination costs) were used in a static cohort model to estimate the total cost, health and economic benefit, and cost-effectiveness of the implementation of PCV vaccination program, compared with no PCV vaccination among under-five children in Nigeria from 2014-2025 and from 2026-2033. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the robustness of the data used.Results: The national PCV vaccination program would have an approximated 31.4% and 30% reduction of the total burden of pneumococcal diseases over the period of 2014-2025 and 2026-2033 respectively. One-way sensitivity analysis reveals vaccine efficacy as most sensitive parameter followed by disease incidence rate and treatment cost. Removal and addition of DTP3 and 3+1 (measles vaccine) dose respectively resulted to a similar ICER from both.Conclusions: The estimated ICER suggests that the national PCV program in Nigeria will be cost-effective post 2025 era. In addition, it is recommended for policy-makers adoption considering the budget and equity impact of the intervention in Nigeria.

Tobacco-You are never too Old to Quit

Tobacco has been a part of affluent society since centuries, and now this social status has gradually become a stigma. The awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco use has drastically increased in recent decades. Quitting though obstacle by dependence has never been a challenge with a self determination, good counseling and medication. Though the health benefits are greater for people who stop at earlier ages, there are benefits at any age

Impact of Selective Health Benefit on Medical Expenditure and Provider Behavior: Case of Gastric Cancer Surgery / 보건행정학회지

BACKGROUND: Selective health benefit was introduced for decreasing economic burden of patients. Medical devices with economic uncertainty have been covered as selective health benefit by National Health Insurance since December 2013. We aimed to analyze impact of selective health benefit to medical expenditure and provider behavior focused on electrosurgery Cultrasonic shears, electrothermal bipolar vessel sealers for gastric cancer patients covered since December 2014. METHODS: We used the National Health Insurance claims data of 2,698 patients underwent gastric cancer surgery between August 2014 and March 2015. Medical cost and patient sharing per inpatient day were analyzed to verify that covering electrosurgery increased medical expenditure and changed provider behavior from open surgery to endoscopic or laparoscopic surgery. Additionally, we analyzed the claim rate of medical device or goods relating gastric endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery. RESULTS: Medical cost and patient sharing per inpatient day were increased after covering electosurgery as selective health benefit (39,724/1,421 won). However, there were no medical expenditure increases after adjusting claim of electosurgery and patient sharing was decreased 1,057 won especially. The coverage of selective health benefit did not increase the claim rate of medical device or goods related endoscopic or laparoscopic surgery, either. CONCLUSION: Covering electosurgery decreased patient economic burden and did not change of provider behavior. Expanding selective health benefit is needed to decrease economic burden of severe patients. Further study should evaluate the long term effect with accumulated data.

Consumer knowledge about the chemical composition of organic foods.

Background: In Mexico, the development of organic agricultural food had its beginnings in the sixties, today the fields of organic crops are distributed throughout the country, taking in 2005 a figure of 400,000 acres of organic farming, of which only 15% is consumed by the country and 75% exported. Objective: To describe and identify knowledge about the chemical components those come into organic foods among consumers. Material and methods: An exploratory study was conducted in 40 surveyed adults made to residents of the state of Hidalgo, randomly selected to analyze their understanding of organic food and observe their habits in buying them. Results: Through research and series of surveys conducted it was found that 77.5% of the surveyed population were aware of what is supposed to be organic food, but only 70% consume it, 62.5% believed they can benefit their health with it, didn’t have knowledge about it, 15% believed that can cause harm to their health and 30% didn’t consume. Conclusion: Surveyed adults didn’t have adequate Knowledge of what is organic food.

In vivo assessment of possible probiotic properties of Zymomonas mobilis in a Wistar rat model

In recent years the incorporation of probiotic bacteria into foods has received increasing scientific interest for health promotion and disease prevention. The safety and probiotic properties of Zymomonas mobilis CP4 (UFPEDA-202) was studied in a Wistar rat model fed the 10(9) colony forming units (cfu)/mL-1 of the assayed strain for 30 days. No abnormal clinical signs were noted in the group receiving viable cells of Z. mobilis and water (control) during the period of the experiment. There were no significant difference (p > 0.05) in feed intake and weight gain among mice fed the Z. mobilis in comparison to the control group. No bacteria were found in blood, liver and spleen of any animals. Mice receiving Z. mobilis showed significantly differences (p < 0.05) in total and differential leucocytes count, excepting for neutrophils, after the experimental period. Otherwise, it was not found in control group. Histological examination showed that feeding mice with Z. mobilis caused no signs of adverse effects on gut, liver and spleen. From these results, Z. mobilis CP4 (UFEPEDA-202) is likely to be nonpathogenic and safe for consumption, and could have a slight modulating effect on immunological performance in mice.

Utilização de diretrizes clínicas em cardiologia na saúde suplementar no Brasil / Utilization of clinical guidelines by health plan operators in the Brazilian health system

OBJETIVO: Apresentar resultados da área cardiovascular de um estudo nacional sobre a utilização de diretrizes clínicas na saúde suplementar. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal, baseado em amostra representativa das 1573 operadoras de planos de saúde do Brasil, estratificada por macrorregião e segmento do mercado, subdividida em estratos certos e amostrados pelo método de Hedlin, com seleção eqüiprovável feita pelo algoritmo de Hájek em cada estrato amostrado, resultando em 90 operadoras entrevistadas com questionário estruturado; estimação pontual de porcentagens, totais e médias através de fatores de expansão, relativas a uma população N=1572. RESULTADOS: Para 61,2 por cento das operadoras a utilização de diretrizes clínicas deve ser conduzida por órgãos reguladores governamentais, com participação de operadoras, prestadores de saúde e associações médicas. Apenas 32,3 por cento das operadoras conduzem a utilização de diretrizes clínicas, variando de 6,5 por cento (filantrópicas) a 38,2 por cento (autogestão). Entre as operadoras que conduzem o uso de diretrizes, a área cardiovascular apresenta uma das maiores utilizações: infarto agudo do miocárdio (87 por cento); insuficiência cardíaca (85 por cento); procedimentos invasivos em cardiologia (81,1 por cento); hipertensão arterial (74,1 por cento); acidente vascular encefálico (72,2 por cento); diabetes (65,4 por cento). As sociedades médicas são a fonte mais comum dessas diretrizes. 64,1 por cento das operadoras monitoram indicadores de processo/resultado dos prestadores, mas apenas 10,5 por cento monitoram o uso de reperfusão coronariana no IAM de forma sistemática. 73,2 por cento promovem campanhas de promoção/prevenção de agravos: hipertensão arterial (97 por cento), diabetes (93,3 por cento), obesidade (70,7 por cento) e tabagismo (60,8 por cento). CONCLUSÃO: Implementação baixa e incipiente de diretrizes, com variação regional e por segmentos do mercado. De uma forma geral, a área cardiovascular...

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to present cardiovascular results of a national study about the implementation of clinical guidelines and other instruments and practices for clinical care management among health plan operators in Brasil. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study based on a representative sample of the 1,573 Brazilian health plan operators, stratified by macro region and market segment. Each stratum was subdivided in take-all and take-some strata by Hedlin's method, with equiprobability selection in each take-some stratum. The resulting sample size was of 90 health plan operators who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The study had a descriptive nature and, to obtain estimates for percents and total number of health plan operators relative to a population size of N=1572., sample weights were taken into account. RESULTS: Of the health plan operators, 61.2 percent considered that the implementation of clinical guidelines should be conducted by administrative and regulatory government organizations, involving a partnership with health plan operators, health service providers and medical societies. It was shown that only 32.3 percent of the health plan operators in the country enforce clinical guidelines. With regard to cardiovascular disease, the reported utilization of guidelines was one of the highest among all diseases analyzed. The percentages for acute myocardial infarction (87 percent), congestive heart failure (85 percent) and the use of invasive procedures (81.1 percent) were higher than for arterial hypertension (74.1 percent) and cerebrovascular disease (72.2 percent). CONCLUSION: This study indicated the incipient utilization of clinical guidelines among health plan operators in the Brazilian health system. In general, the cardiovascular area showed one of the highest rates of utilization reported in the study.