Public Health Surveillance Systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Literature

Dietary habits and physical activity patterns in relation to nutritional status among school-aged children in Pakistan: A cross-sectional study

Background

Childhood malnutrition remains a significant public health problem impacting the physical and mental growth if school aged children, particularly in limited-resource countries.

Objective

The study objective was to assess levels of physical activity, patterns of screen time (S.T.), the relationship between physical activity and screen time patterns, and how these factors affect growth status (adjusting for socioeconomic status).

Methodology

A cross-sectional study included 3,834 children between 6-14 years attending pre-selected schools. Teachers, students, and parents were invited to fill out a standardized questionnaire, and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using Center for disease control (CDC) centile charts. A Chi-square was performed to see the possible association between any height and weight abnormalities and all possible risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to see the effect of variables significantly associated with univariate analysis.

Results

Approximately 2,447 (63.8%) children were between 11-14 years old and 1,387 (36.2%) were between 4-10 years old. The mean height was 143.71 ± 16.51 centimetres, the mean weight was 36.5 ± 12.9 kilogram, and the mean BMI was 17.16 ± 3.52. Multivariate logistic regression status and junk food combined affected stunting socioeconomic status was significantly associated with being underweight p = 0.001.

Conclusion

Childhood obesity and stunting remain significant problems in Pakistani school-going children. These are significantly associated with poverty, a lack of physical activity opportunities, and available food quality.

A Bibliometric Study on the Top 101 Most-Cited Articles of Dental Journals of the Middle East/North Africa Countries From 2011 to 2021

Introduction: This retrospective descriptive study evaluated the Scopus-indexed dental journals and their most-cited documents affiliated with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries from 2011 to 2021. Methods: Dental journals affiliated with MENA countries, their bibliometric indicators (SJR, CiteScore, SNIP, and H-index), and the 101 most cited articles of the considered journals were extracted and studied through descriptive statistics. In addition, the "citation per year" of each top 101 articles was calculated. Spearman's rho test was used for pairwise comparisons of the correlation coefficient values between each two of the considered bibliometric indicators. Results: The number of citations of the 101 most-cited papers ranged from 35 to 203. The mean (SD) citations of studied articles were 61.33 (37.58) and the median was 46. Furthermore, CiteScore had the highest significant correlation with SJR (r=0.828, P˂0.001). Moreover, the citation per year of the top 101 documents had no significant relationship with any of the journals' bibliometric indicators. Conclusion: Because journal performance and citation rate are multi-dimensional concepts, a single metric cannot express them thoroughly despite correlations between indices. "European Journal of Dentistry" from Turkey, "Saudi Dental Journal" from Saudi Arabia, and "Iranian Endodontic Journal" and "Journal of Lasers in Medical Sciences" both from Iran had the highest ranks in the SCImago portal and the highest scores in bibliometric indices amongst the MENA dental journals.

The Correlation between Altmetric Attention Score and Traditional Bibliometrics in Top Nursing Journal Articles

Background. Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) is a quantitative measurement of the online impact of research and has a potential correlation with traditional bibliometrics. However, the correlation for nursing journal articles is still unknown. The objective of the study was to analyze the correlation between AAS and traditional bibliometrics in the top nursing journal articles. Materials and Methods. Articles published in top nursing journals (the journals with the top 20 5-year impact factors) from 2010 to 2019 were included. The correlations between AAS and citations, AAS and Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) score, AAS and Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) value, and AAS and impact factors were analyzed. Statistical analyses were performed using Stata 25.0 software. Results. A total of 15,212 journal articles were included in the study. Very weak correlations were found between AASs and citations [0.124 (95% CI, 0.108–0.14)], AASs and RCRs [0.26 (95% CI, 0.244–0.275)], and AASs and CNCIs [0.207 (95% CI, 0.192–0.223)]. The weak correlations were also found between AASs and impact factors in several journals. The weak correlations between AASs and citations, AASs and CNCIs, and AASs and RCRs were also found for most journals based on subgroup analysis. Conclusions. There is very weak correlations between AASs and traditional bibliometrics in top nursing journal articles. More studies should be conducted to assess how AAS influence bibliometrics, and how they can help manage nursing journal articles and research.

Biofuels and Nanocatalysts: Python Boosting Visualization of Similarities

Among the most relevant themes of modernity, using renewable resources to produce biofuels attracts several countries' attention, constituting a vital part of the global geopolitical chessboard since humanity's energy needs will grow faster and faster. Fortunately, advances in personal computing associated with free and open-source software production facilitate this work of prospecting and understanding complex scenarios. Thus, for the development of this work, the keywords "biofuel" and "nanocatalyst" were delivered to the Scopus database, which returned 1071 scientific articles. The titles and abstracts of these papers were saved in Research Information Systems (RIS) format and submitted to automatic analysis via the Visualization of Similarities Method implemented in VOSviewer 1.6.18 software. Then, the data extracted from the VOSviewer were processed by software written in Python, which allowed the use of the network data generated by the Visualization of Similarities Method. Thus, it was possible to establish the relationships for the pair between the nodes of all clusters classified by Link Strength Between Items or Terms (LSBI) or by year. Indeed, other associations should arouse particular interest in the readers. However, here, the option was for a numerical criterion. However, all data are freely available, and stakeholders can infer other specific connections directly. Therefore, this innovative approach allowed inferring that the most recent pairs of terms associate the need to produce biofuels from microorganisms' oils besides cerium oxide nanoparticles to improve the performance of fuel mixtures by reducing the emission of hydrocarbons (HC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

Comparative Performance Evaluation of the Public Health Surveillance System in Six Gulf Cooperation Countries: A Cross-Sectional Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND

Evaluating public health surveillance systems is important to ensure that events of public health importance are appropriately monitored. Evaluation studies based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines have been used to appraise surveillance systems globally. Previous evaluation studies undertaken in member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were limited to specific illnesses within a single nation.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to evaluate public health surveillance systems in GCC countries using CDC guidelines and recommend necessary improvements to enhance these systems.

METHODS

The CDC guidelines were used for evaluating the surveillance systems in GCC countries. A total of 6 representatives from GCC countries were asked to rate 43 indicators across the systems' level of usefulness, simplicity, flexibility, acceptability, sensitivity, predictive value positive, representativeness, data quality, stability, and timeliness. Descriptive data analysis and univariate linear regression analysis were performed.

RESULTS

All surveillance systems in the GCC covered communicable diseases, and approximately two-thirds (4/6, 67%, 95% CI 29.9%-90.3%) of them covered health care-associated infections. The mean global score was 147 (SD 13.27). The United Arab Emirates scored the highest in the global score with a rating of 167 (83.5%, 95% CI 77.7%-88.0%), and Oman obtained the highest scores for usefulness, simplicity, and flexibility. Strong correlations were observed between the global score and the level of usefulness, flexibility, acceptability, representativeness, and timeliness, and a negative correlation was observed between stability and timeliness score. Disease coverage was the most substantial predictor of the GCC surveillance global score.

CONCLUSIONS

GCC surveillance systems are performing optimally and have shown beneficial outcomes. GCC countries must use the lessons learned from the success of the systems of the United Arab Emirates and Oman. To maintain GCC surveillance systems so that they are viable and adaptable to future potential health risks, measures including centralized information exchange, deployment of emerging technologies, and system architecture reform are necessary.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Personal Protective Equipment and COVID-19 Researches

COVID-19, which occurred at the end of December 2019, has evolved into a global public health threat and affects every aspect of human life. COVID-19's high infectivity and mortality prompted governments and the scientific community to respond quickly to the pandemic outbreak. The application of personal protective equipment (PPE) is of great significance in overcoming the epidemic situation. Since the discovery of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), bibliometric analysis has been widely used in many aspects of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although there are many reported studies about PPE and COVID-19, there is no study on the bibliometric analysis of these studies. The citation can be used as an indicator of the scientific influence of an article in its field. The aim of this study was to track the research trends and latest hotspots of COVID-19 in PPE by means of bibliometrics and visualization maps.