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To ensure the best quality bread, it is important to consider the speed of digestion of starch and proteins, as well as how time fermentation and storage time influence the rate of starch digestion and the texture of the bread. This study compared the effect of fermentation time and days of storage on the texture, physicochemical, protein and starch digestibility of sourdough bread. Texture profile analysis showed that the fermentation time in recently baked sourdough bread affects hardness, chewiness, and springiness. The electrophoretic profile showed a decrease in band thickness with increase in fermentation time, consistent with a higher percentage of protein digestion. While fermentation time did not significantly affect rapidly digestible starch (RDS) and slowly digestible starch (SDS), storage time resulted in a decrease in RDS and an increase in SDS. Sourdough breads had higher levels of resistant starch (RS). The digestibility characteristics of protein and starch, as well as texture properties, are significantly influenced by fermentation and storage time. The evidence suggests that sourdough bread has the potential to improve the digestion of protein and to effectively regulate the glycemic response, which is due to its higher levels of SDS and RS., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: In paediatric oncology, little is known about trajectories of illness perceptions and their longitudinal associations with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate changes in illness perceptions in children and parents over a one-year-period and to investigate predictive value of child's and parent's illness perceptions during acute treatment for child's HRQoL 1 year later., Methods: N = 65 child-parent-dyads participated in a longitudinal study (retention rate: 80.2%). Children were 4-18 years of age and underwent acute cancer treatment at baseline. Children and parents reported on their own illness perceptions (Illness-Perception-Questionnaire-Revised), as well as on the child's HRQoL (KINDL-R) at baseline and one-year-follow-up. Paired-samples t-tests were calculated to investigate changes over time. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate predictive value of child's and parent's illness perceptions for child's HRQoL., Results: Child's HRQoL t(63) = -6.73, p < 0.001, their perceptions of coherence (i.e. understanding; t(54) = -2.36, p = 0.022) and consequences of their illness (t(54) = 2.86, p = 0.006), and parent's perception of cyclical trajectory (t(61) = 2.06, p = 0.044) improved from baseline to 1-year-follow-up. All other illness perceptions remained stable. Exploratory post-hoc analyses showed differences in the pattern of change in age-, gender-, and diagnosis-specific subgroups. After controlling for baseline levels of HRQoL, child's perceptions of symptoms and consequences were independent predictors of their HRQoL 1 year later (R 2  = 0.396, F(2,52) = 10.782, p < 0.001), whereas no parent's illness perceptions added predictive value., Conclusion: In paediatrics, child's and parent's illness perceptions should be assessed. Our findings highlight the importance of illness perceptions as potential modifiable variables in interventions to improve child's HRQoL., (© 2024 The Authors. Psycho‐Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: Recent evidence suggests that illness perceptions in paediatric patients and their parents may differ, with parents holding more negative views compared to their children. Little is known about illness perceptions of very young patients and their parents. This study investigates illness perceptions in paediatric cancer patients aged 4-18 years and their parents in acute treatment or follow-up care, distinguishing patients by age (4-11, 12-18) and stage of medical treatment., Methods: N = 45 patient-parent dyads in acute treatment and n = 95 dyads in follow-up care were examined. Parents and older children aged 12-18 years completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) and younger children aged 4-11 years were examined using an age-adapted hand puppet interview containing the IPQ-R questions. Difference scores of illness perceptions (symptoms, timeline-acute/chronic, timeline-cyclical, personal control, illness coherence, consequences, emotional representations) between children and parents were tested for significance using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests., Results: Overall, parents perceived more symptoms associated with their child's illness/treatment than the children themselves. In acute treatment, younger children indicated more negative and older children more positive views regarding chronicity than parents. Younger children held less negative views on consequences, and all children reported less negative emotional representations than parents. In follow-up care, all children held less negative views on consequences and emotional representations. Older children reported less negative views on chronicity, cyclicity and illness coherence., Conclusion: Differences in illness perceptions of paediatric patients and their parents should be considered during and after treatment/medication and psychosocial care to support illness coping in person- and family-centred interventions., (© 2022 The Authors. Psycho-Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Twelve social networks received a course of network therapy at the Mount Tom Institute in Holyoke, Massachusetts, by the Network Therapy Project. A total of twenty-five 3-hour meetings included 201 participants. A study was conducted examining the number and type of service contacts in the clients' central medical files three months prior to the completion of network therapy and at two 3-months intervals after therapy was terminated. Entries were made in clients' charts by case managers, by crisis team staff, and by other mental health professionals. An historical comparison group was studied by randomly choosing 12 clients from the 19 referred for network therapy who did not receive this treatment. The comparison group showed an overall 17% decrease in service utilization after the date of referral, compared to a 76% decrease postnetwork therapy in the treatment group. The difference between the group outcomes was statistically significant.