The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

BACKGROUND

The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools.

METHODS

In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events.

Gut Microbiota and Its Metabolites in Atherosclerosis Development

Gut microbiota metabolites have a great influence on host digestive function and body health itself. The effects of intestinal microbes on the host metabolism and nutrients absorption are mainly due to regulatory mechanisms related to serotonin, cytokines, and metabolites. Multiple studies have repeatedly reported that the gut microbiota plays a fundamental role in the absorption of bioactive compounds by converting dietary polyphenols into absorbable bioactive substances. Moreover, some intestinal metabolites derived from natural polyphenol products have more biological activities than their own fundamental biological functions. Bioactive like polyphenolic compounds, prebiotics and probiotics are the best known dietary strategies for regulating the composition of gut microbial populations or metabolic/immunological activities, which are called “three “p” for gut health”. Intestinal microbial metabolites have an indirect effect on atherosclerosis, by regulating lipid metabolism and inflammation. It has been found that the diversity of intestinal microbiota negatively correlates with the development of atherosclerosis. The fewer the variation and number of microbial species in the gut, the higher the risk of developing atherosclerosis. Therefore, the atherosclerosis can be prevented and treated from the perspective of improving the number and variability of gut microbiota. In here, we summarize the effects of gut metabolites of natural products on the pathological process of the atherosclerosis, since gut intestinal metabolites not only have an indirect effect on macrophage foaming in the vessel wall, but also have a direct effect on vascular endothelial cells.

Molecular neuroscience at its "high": bibliometric analysis of the most cited papers on endocannabinoid system, cannabis and cannabinoids

BACKGROUND

Cannabis, cannabinoids and endocannabinoids are heavily investigated topics with many articles published every year. We aimed to identify the 100 most cited manuscripts among the vast literature and analyze their contents.

METHODS

Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection was searched to identify the 100 most cited relevant manuscripts, which were analyzed with reference to (1) authorship, (2) institution, (3) country, (4) document type, (5) journal, (6) publication year, (7) WoS category, and (8) citation count. Semantic content and citation data of the manuscripts were analyzed with VOSviewer.

RESULTS

The most cited manuscripts were published between 1986 and 2016, with the majority being published in the 2000s (n = 51). The number of citations for the top 100 articles ranged from 469 to 3651, with a median citation count of 635.5. The most prolific authors were Vincenzo Di Marzo (n = 11) and Daniele Piomelli (n = 11). The major contributing countries were USA (n = 49), Italy (n = 22), UK (n = 19), and France (n = 11). The most prolific institutions were University of California (n = 14), National Research Council of Italy (n = 12) and National Institutes of Health USA (n = 12). The manuscripts consisted of original articles (n = 75), reviews (n = 24) and a note (n = 1). The most dominant journal was Nature (n = 15). The major WoS categories associated were Multidisciplinary sciences (n = 31), Neurosciences (n = 20), Pharmacology / Pharmacy (n = 16), and General / Internal Medicine (n = 11).

CONCLUSIONS

The top-ranked manuscripts among the 100 were concerning analgesia, weight loss, long-term potentiation, depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition, opiates and other topics. Cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor was studied by more of the top 100 papers in comparison to cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor. The most frequently mentioned chemicals in these publications were 2-arachidonoylglycerol, tetrahydrocannabinol, and anandamide. Together, these manuscripts comprise the most highly cited publications in the topic, literally the molecular neuroscience at its "high".

Food toxicology: quantitative analysis of the research field literature

Total-scale quantitative research literature analysis on the food toxicology scientific field has yet to be conducted. In this work, we identified and analysed food toxicology publications in the existing scientific literature. A literature search was performed with the online Web of Science database. Full records and cited references of the 73,099 identified manuscripts were imported into VOSviewer software for analysis. This research field has been growing steadily since the 1990s. Article to review ratio was 7.4:1. The publications were mainly related to toxicology, environmental sciences, food science and technology, pharmacology/pharmacy and biochemistry/molecular biology. The United States and China are major contributors to food toxicology research, followed by other European and Asian countries. The prolific authors have formed three major clusters within a citation network. Toxic or hazardous chemicals related to food with high citations included aflatoxin, dioxin, fumonisin, malondialdehyde, mycotoxin, ochratoxin, phthalate, and polychlorinated biphenyl.

Chemical Diversity and Biological Activities of Marine Sponges of the Genus Suberea: A Systematic Review

Marine natural products (MNPs) continue to be in the spotlight in the global drug discovery endeavor. Currently, more than 30,000 structurally diverse secondary metabolites from marine sources have been isolated, making MNPs a profound, renewable source to investigate novel drug compounds. Marine sponges of the genus Suberea (family: Aplysinellidae) are recognized as producers of bromotyrosine derivatives, which are considered distinct chemotaxonomic markers for the marine sponges belonging to the order Verongida. This class of compounds exhibits structural diversity, ranging from simple monomeric molecules to more complex molecular scaffolds, displaying a myriad of biological and pharmacological potentialities. In this review, a comprehensive literature survey covering the period of 1998–2018, focusing on the chemistry and biological/pharmacological activities of marine natural products from marine sponges of the genus Suberea, with special attention to the biogenesis of the different skeletons of halogenated compounds, is presented.