Scaffolds for drug delivery and tissue engineering: The role of genetics

Scaffolds are implants commonly used to deliver cells, drugs, and genes into the body. Their regular porous structure ensures the proper support for cell attachment, proliferation, differentiated function, and migration. Techniques to fabricate a scaffold include leaching, freeze-drying, supercritical fluid technology, thermally induced phase separation, rapid prototyping, powder compaction, sol-gel, and melt molding. Gene delivery from the scaffold represents a versatile approach to influence the environment for managing cell function. Scaffolds can be used for various tissue engineering purposes, e.g. bone formation, periodontal regeneration, cartilage development, artificial corneas, heart valves, tendon repair, or ligament replacement. Moreover, they are also instrumental in cancer therapy, inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, and wound dressings. Scaffolds provide a platform to extend the delivery of drugs and genetic materials at a controlled timeframe, besides potentially being used to prevent infection upon surgery and other chronic diseases, provided that they can be formulated with specific medicines. This review discusses the need to design advanced functional scaffolds with the potential for modified drug delivery and tissue engineering in a synergistic approach. Special attention is given to works published in 2023 to generate the bibliometric map.

COVID-19 associated coagulopathy: A bibliometric investigation

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 initiates an immune-hemostatic response. While both systems are intimately connected and necessary for an efficient immune response to contain the infection, excessive coagulation activation might exceed the valuable benefits by causing thrombotic consequences and excessive inflammation. This biological response is new to clinicians and researchers, and accordingly, tremendous studies have been conducted on coagulopathy and its relationship to COVID-19 disease during this pandemic. Therefore, it takes a research insight from a bibliometric perspective to determine research hotspots and trends of COVID-19 associated coagulopathy (C19-CA). The analysis relies on the Scopus database for bibliographic content and Visualization of Similarities viewer software to map bibliometric data of C19-CA. Our study finds the most eminent authors, journals, institutions, funding organizations, and countries that publish in the C19-CA. Additionally; this research employs bibliometric analysis of co-authorship, co-citations, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence of keywords. A total of 2242 studies were retrieved, and the number of annual publications of C19-CA showed remarkable growth. The top-publishing authors on C19-CA are Smadja, D.M., Diehl, J.L., and Gendron, N (France). The total number of articles published in English in these three years was 1241, with the original article accounting for 99.8% and conference papers accounting for 0.2%. Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) is the top-productive institution, with the US being the top-publishing country. Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis received the highest number of original articles. The research results were mainly published in the fields of Medicine, Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology, Immunology and Microbiology. Yuanyuan Li, who is (China), is the top-collaborating author. China and its authors have the highest number of citations. Keywords' co-occurrence analyses of the authors and all keywords revealed the following themes in C19-CA; abnormal coagulation parameters, pulmonary coagulopathy, venous and arterial thrombotic disorders, distinct features of coagulopathy, inflammation, and thrombosis in COVID-19, and anticoagulants and thrombolytic therapies. By combining bibliometric analysis with VOSviewer software, we identified C19-CA's leaders, collaborating institutions, and research hotspots, as well as give references for future research paths.

Essential Oils as Nematicides in Plant Protection-A Review

By 2030, the European Commission intends to halve chemical pesticide use and its consequent risks. Among pesticides, nematicides are chemical agents used to control parasitic roundworms in agriculture. In recent decades, researchers have been looking for more sustainable alternatives with the same effectiveness but a limited impact on the environment and ecosystems. Essential oils (EOs) are similar bioactive compounds and potential substitutes. Different studies on the use of EOs as nematicides are available in the Scopus database in the scientific literature. These works show a wider exploration of EO effects in vitro than in vivo on different nematode populations. Nevertheless, a review of which EOs have been used on different target nematodes, and how, is still not available. The aim of this paper is to explore the extent of EO testing on nematodes and which of them have nematicidal effects (e.g., mortality, effects on motility, inhibition of egg production). Particularly, the review aims to identify which EOs have been used the most, on which nematodes, and which formulations have been applied. This study provides an overview of the available reports and data to date, downloaded from Scopus, through (a) network maps created by VOSviewer software (version 1.6.8, Nees Jan van Eck and Ludo Waltman, Leiden, The Netherlands) and (b) a systematic analysis of all scientific papers. VOSviewer created maps with keywords derived from co-occurrence analysis to understand the main keywords used and the countries and journals which have published most on the topic, while the systematic analysis investigated all the documents downloaded. The main goal is to offer a comprehensive understanding of the potential use of EOs in agriculture as well as which directions future research should move toward.

A Bibliometric Analysis and Global Trends in Fascioliasis Research: A Neglected Tropical Disease

Background: Fascioliasis is a zoonotic neglected tropical disease caused by Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. In endemic regions, fascioliasis represents a huge problem in livestock production and significantly threatens public health. The present study was performed to assess the key bibliometric indicators, plot the global research outcome, and strive to find the research frontiers and trends in fascioliasis. Methods: A descriptive bibliometric and visualized study was conducted. The data were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. The WoSCC was searched using key terms covering a wide range of synonyms related to the causative agent (Fasciola) and the disease (fascioliasis). The database search was performed for the period from the inception of WoSCC until 3 October 2021. The downloaded data were exported into VOSviewer software version 1.6.17 for Windows to construct co-authorship countries, keywords co-occurrence, bibliographic coupling sources, and citation and documents network visualization. Results: A total of 4165 documents were included in this bibliometric analysis. The included documents were published between the years 1913 and 2021 from 116 countries, mainly from the United States of America (USA) (n = 482, 11.6%). The most prolific year was 2018 (n = 108). The journal that attracted the most publications was Veterinary Parasitology (n = 324), while the most productive author in this area was Rondelaud D (n = 156). In terms of total link strength (TLS), the most influential country was Spain (TLS = 236), followed by the USA (TLS = 178). Conclusion: This study is of value for veterinarians, doctors, and researchers to explore insights into research frontiers and trends in research on fascioliasis. The number of publications on fascioliasis has increased over time. Above 35% of publications have been produced by the USA, France, England, and Spain. "Fasciola hepatica" and "cattle" were the most dominant and widely used keywords. Research collaboration should be established among the researchers from developing countries with developed countries to learn new advancements and effective control strategies for fascioliasis.

Biodiversity of Secondary Metabolites Compounds Isolated from Phylum Actinobacteria and Its Therapeutic Applications

The current review aims to summarise the biodiversity and biosynthesis of novel secondary metabolites compounds, of the phylum Actinobacteria and the diverse range of secondary metabolites produced that vary depending on its ecological environments they inhabit. Actinobacteria creates a wide range of bioactive substances that can be of great value to public health and the pharmaceutical industry. The literature analysis process for this review was conducted using the VOSviewer software tool to visualise the bibliometric networks of the most relevant databases from the Scopus database in the period between 2010 and 22 March 2021. Screening and exploring the available literature relating to the extreme environments and ecosystems that Actinobacteria inhabit aims to identify new strains of this major microorganism class, producing unique novel bioactive compounds. The knowledge gained from these studies is intended to encourage scientists in the natural product discovery field to identify and characterise novel strains containing various bioactive gene clusters with potential clinical applications. It is evident that Actinobacteria adapted to survive in extreme environments represent an important source of a wide range of bioactive compounds. Actinobacteria have a large number of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters. They can synthesise thousands of subordinate metabolites with different biological actions such as anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, anti-virus, anti-cancer and growth-promoting compounds. These are highly significant economically due to their potential applications in the food, nutrition and health industries and thus support our communities' well-being.

Trends in hepatitis A research indexed in the Web of Science: a bibliometric analysis over the period from 1985 to 2019

OBJECTIVE

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to build an all-inclusive view of the status of research on hepatitis A virus (HAV) for facilitating researchers, health professionals, and policymakers to understand the characteristics of research output in this particular domain.

METHODS

A comprehensive search was conducted in the Web of Science database. The obtained data were exported into Microsoft Excel 2019, OriginPro 2018 and VOSviewer software for windows.

RESULTS

From 1985 to 2019, a total of 5,950 studies on HAV were published, with an overall h-index of 105, and 90,350 total citations. The most cited article on HAV was "Classification of chronic viral hepatitis: a need for reassessment" authored by Scheuer in the Journal of Hepatology with a total of 1,121 citations. The most cited article on HAV vaccine was "A controlled trial of a formalin-inactivated hepatitis A vaccine in healthy children" by Werzberger et al. in the New England Journal of Medicine with 401 citations. The most frequent year of publication was 2019 (n = 250). The largest number of studies were funded by the United States Department of Health Human Services (n = 199). The organization with the highest number of publications was the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n = 228). The United State of America (n = 1,500) was the country with the most publications. 'Vaccine' was the leading journal with 299 publications.

CONCLUSIONS

The highest numbers of studies were published in developed countries. There is a clear need for interdisciplinary research approaches to evaluate and intervene in HAV endemic areas.

Global Research Trends in Pediatric Trauma From 1968 to 2021: A Bibliometric Analysis

Introduction: Every year, millions of children die from preventable causes worldwide. According to World Health Organization, injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among all age groups below 60 years. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the global research outcomes and trends, and some key bibliometric indicators in pediatric trauma. Methods: A descriptive bibliometric analysis study was designed. On June 14, 2021, an electronic search was performed in the Web of Science Core Collection database using the potential searching keywords "Pediatric AND Trauma" in the title field without any limitations. The search was performed using the Boolean search query method. The data were downloaded in plaintext and comma-separated values format. The required graphs were generated using OriginPro 2018. Furthermore, the data were transferred to HistCite™ software for bibliometric analysis. In addition, the obtained data were plotted for network visualization mapping using VOSviewer software version 1.6.15 for windows. Results: A total of 2,269 documents were included in the final analysis. The included documents were authored by 7,894 authors and published in 395 research and academic journals, mainly in the English language (n = 2,222). The main document types were articles (n = 1,276, citations = 18,244), and meeting abstracts (n = 331, citations = 19). Pediatric (n = 2,269) and trauma (n = 2,257) were the most widely used keywords. The most productive year was 2019 (n = 184, citations = 527). The most prolific author was Upperman JS (n = 29, citations = 202). The most attractive journals in pediatric trauma research were The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (n = 290, citations = 5,199) and the Journal of Pediatric Surgery (n = 256, citations = 5,088). The most active institute was the University of California System (n = 110). The most dominant country was the United States of America (USA) (n = 1,620, citations = 22,983). The USA and Canada had the highest total link strength, 103 and 70, respectively. Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive overview of research output in pediatric trauma. The USA continues to dominate scientific research and funding in pediatric trauma. Findings of the current study will help the researchers and clinicians to understand the recent achievements and research frontiers. Collaborative research initiative needs to be established between institutions in developed and developing countries and among researchers.

Bibliometric Profile of Global Microplastics Research from 2004 to 2019

Microplastics (MPs) have generated worldwide attention due to their global distribution in the environment, and their potential harmful effects on human and animal health. To analyze MPs-related scientific publications from a global point of view, we created a bibliometric profile, by searching the Web of Science Core Collection database for the topic “microplastic* or (micro near/1 plastic*)”, in publications dated from 2004 to 2019. The results revealed an increasing trend in publication output, and identified contributions of different countries and their collaborations, as well as influential authors and productive journals in the field of MPs research. Using co-citation network analysis in VOSviewer, we mined cited references for knowledge bases about analytical methods, potential sources and spatial distributions of MPs, the impacts of MPs on organisms, and the interaction of MPs with contaminants, as well as microorganisms. We also identified four global hotspots for MPs related research, using author keywords co-occurrence network analysis of all extracted publications, as well as Essential Science Indicators highly cited papers from Clarivate Analytics. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for ongoing MPs-related research, which may be of intrigue and awesome noteworthiness for relevant researchers.