Producción Científica

The prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and, particularly, type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing every year worldwide. Therefore, changed glucose homeostasis is associated with altered gut microbiota and with the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and related complications. Among other concerns, an important aspect within this issue is the reversion of dysbiosis reported to be present in T2D patients, in which diet plays a key role, and particularly dietary fiber has shown a promising position. beta-glucans are heterogeneous non-starch polysaccharides, constituted by D-glucose monomers linked through different beta-glycosidic bonds, and changes in their structure or molecular weight affect the expressed biological properties. They appear in certain cereals, yeasts, or mushrooms and are widely known by their hypocholesterolemia effect. This study explored the current knowledge on the potential of beta-glucans to modulate glucose homeostasis due to their prebiotic action, by performing a bibliometric analysis using the VOSviewer software and a narrative review. The bibliometric analysis showed that, despite the high number of references dealing with beta-glucan and diabetes, there are few articles on glucans, diabetes, and intestinal dysbiosis. The detailed study on preclinical studies and clinical trials conducted during the last decade showed an improvement in glucose homeostasis due to beta-glucan supplementation, studies on biochemical markers, and gut microbiota, and beta-glucan are scarce. Nevertheless, existing data showed, both in animals and humans, a tendency towards an increase in beneficial bacteria and in the production of short-chain fat acids (SCFAs), particularly butyric acid. These aspects should be confirmed in the years to come to establish clear recommendations for.. -glucan as a prebiotic coadjutant in the management of Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: Progress in palliative care (PC) requires scientific advances which could potentially be catalyzed by international research collaboration (IRC). It is currently not known how often IRC occurs with PC investigators in South America. Objectives: To evaluate the percentage of South America journal articles on PC involving IRCs and the impact of these collaborations on the scientific potential the studies and on their citations. Methods: This was a bibliometric analysis of studies published between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2017. A search of Pubmed. Embase. Lilacs, and Web of Science (WOS) was performed using the terms “palliative care,” “hospice care.” “hospices” and “terminal care,” combined with the name of South America countries. The scientific potential was assessed by analyzing study design, characteristics of the journal and funding. IRCs were further subdivided in internal (within South America countries) and external (with countries outside South America). Findings: Of the 641 articles, 117 (18.2%) involved IRCs (internal: 18, 2.8%; external: 110, 17.2%). Articles with IRCs had higher median two-year citations in WOS (2 vs. 1, p < 0.001), Scopus (3 vs. 1, p < 0.001) and Google Scholar (4.5 vs. 2, p < 0.001) compared to articles without IRC. Moreover, they were more often funded (40.7% vs. 9.7%, p < 0.001), published in Pubmed-indexed (76.1% vs. 41.6%; p < 0.001) and in WOS-indexed (70.1% vs. 29.6%; p < 0.001) journals, and with study designs most often classified as clinical trial (5.1% vs. 1.0%; p = 0.002) and cohort (10.3% vs. 2.9%; p < 0.001) compared to articles without IRC. Conclusions: Studies with international research collaborations, both internal and external to South America, are more frequently cited and have characteristics with greater scientific potential than do studies without international collaborations.

Background Increasing evidence shows that health inequalities exist between and within countries, and emphasis has been placed on strengthening the production and use of the global health inequalities research, so as to improve capacities to act. Yet, a comprehensive overview of this evidence base is still needed, to determine what is known about the global and historical scientific production on health inequalities to date, how is it distributed in terms of country income groups and world regions, how has it changed over time, and what international collaboration dynamics exist. Methods A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the global scientific production on health inequalities, from 1966 to 2015, was conducted using Scopus database. The historical and global evolution of the study of health inequalities was considered, and through joinpoint regression analysis and visualisation network maps, the preceding questions were examined. Findings 159 countries (via authorship affiliation) contributed to this scientific production, three times as many countries than previously found. Scientific output on health inequalities has exponentially grown over the last five decades, with several marked shift points, and a visible country-income group affiliation gradient in the initiation and consistent publication frequency. Higher income countries, especially Anglo-Saxon and European countries, disproportionately dominate first and co-authorship, and are at the core of the global collaborative research networks, with the Global South on the periphery. However, several country anomalies exist that suggest that the causes of these research inequalities, and potential underlying dependencies, run deeper than simply differences in country income and language. Conclusions Whilst the global evidence base has expanded, Global North-South research gaps exist, persist and, in some cases, are widening. Greater understanding of the structural determinants of these research inequalities and national research capacities is needed, to further strengthen the evidence base, and support the long term agenda for global health equity.