Research trends in food chemistry: A bibliometric review of its 40 years anniversary (1976-2016).

This study presents a general bibliometric overview of the major scientific developments that have been published in Food Chemistry, since its first issue (1976). The bibliometric data were retrieved from the scopus database. The review identifies the most cited, productive authors, and the leading institutions and countries of the journal, based on bibliometric indicators. The research hot spots in the period from 1976 to 2016 were identified by using the visualization of similarities software (Vosviewer), and the graphical mapping of the authors was developed to visualize networks between authors. A total of 20,050 publications was analysed and the most influential subjects covered by the journal were identified. Topics related to the antioxidant components of foods and the analytical quantification of contaminants or components of food were identified as being most relevant.The bibliometric analyses indicate a significant evolution of the journal in terms of publications, scientometric performance and themes covered.

Rhaphiodon echinus (Nees & Mart.) Schauer: Chemical, toxicological activity and increased antibiotic activity of antifungal drug activity and antibacterial.

The association of herbal products with standard antimicrobial drugs has recently gained more attention as a hope to overcome infectious diseases caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Here, we investigated for the first time the antimicrobial (antifungal and antibacterial) activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of R. echinus against multiresistant strains of bacteria (E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus) and fungi (C. albicans, C. krusei and C. tropicalis), as well as potential to enhance the activity of antibiotics drugs. In addition, both extract were chemically characterized and their toxicity was assessed in Artemia salina. Our results demonstrate that aqueous extract of R. echinus caused a significant increase in the activity of antibiotics gentamicin and imipenem, while the ethanolic extract strongly enhanced the antibiotic activity of gentamicin, amikacin, imipenem and ciprofloxacin against P. aeruginosa. However, neither the ethanolic nor the aqueous extracts significantly affect the antibiotic activity of the drugs when tested against S. aureus. Phytochemical analysis of the extracts indicated ellagic acid, caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid as the major components which can be at least in part responsible for the enhanced activity of antibiotics. None of the extracts showed toxicity in A. salina even at the highest concentration tested (1000 µg/mL). All together, our results suggest that the leaf extract of R. echinus can be an effective source of modulating agents.