The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the research portfolio and approval turnaround time at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented impact on many sectors globally including research. We assessed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the research portfolio, and on the approval turnaround time for research protocols submitted to the Scientific and Ethics Review Unit (SERU), at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). METHODS: We compared research protocols submitted between October 01, 2019 and March 31, 2020 (Period 1), to those submitted between April 1 and September 30, 2020 (Period 2). A document review tool was used to extract data from the 198 research protocols reviewed and approved over the two periods. RESULTS: In the two periods under review, the single largest percentage of protocols (89/198, 45.4%) involved infectious and parasitic diseases, and the single largest percentage of study designs was cross-sectional (75/198, 38%). Before the pandemic, the median time taken to review KEMRI-linked protocols was 87 days and for non-KEMRI linked protocols it was 121 days. During the pandemic, approval turnaround time dropped for both KEMRI and non-KEMRI protocols to 66 days and 92 days, respectively, due to the streamlined processes at the KEMRI SERU. CONCLUSION: The research portfolio was minimally affected by the pandemic. The adoption of email submission, and faster-than-usual processing and review protocols during the pandemic reduced the approval turnaround time.

Research activity among physicians in the United Kingdom: results from the Royal College of Physicians Census 2022.

We present the results of the 2022 Census of the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians of Edinburgh, Glasgow and London on whether physicians undertake research and the barriers they have encountered. 40% of physicians reported that they undertook research alongside their clinical work. Multivariate analysis of the responses showed that men were 1.6 times more likely to say they undertake research than women. The main barriers to undertaking research were having enough time, organisational factors and a lack of confidence. In this opinion piece we discuss some of the challenges and how they could be addressed.

Accidentes de trabajo mortales y enfermedades profesionales en la minería (Régimen General). Perú: 2010-2019 / Fatal work accidents and professional diseases in mining (General Regime). Peru: 2010-2019

Se analiza el comportamiento de los accidentes de trabajo mortales (ATM) y de las enfermedades profesionales (EP), en relación con las empresas del régimen general en la minería peruana, durante los años 2010 al 2019. Se realizó un estudio transversal de la base de datos del Ministerio de Energía y Minas. El estudio incluyó las notificaciones de accidentes de trabajo mortales y de las enfermedades profesionales reportadas en esa década por las empresas mineras del régimen general; del 2010 al 2019 para los ATM, y entre 2011- 2019 para las EP, a nivel nacional. Resultados: De 422 ATM notificados entre 2010-2019 se determinan cuatro rangos, considerando 126 empresas. El rango D (dos empresas) son el 2% pero las que presentan la mayor siniestralidad laboral. La empresa D1 acredita 29 ATM y la empresa D2 tiene19 ATM, ambas asumen el 11.34% del total de los ATM en la década analizada. El rango A, son 95 empresas, conforman el 75% del total y presentan entre 1 a 3 ATM para el mismo periodo. El 61% de trabajadores víctimas de ATM son de contratistas y conexas; mientras que el 39% son ATM de las empresas principales. Entre 2011-2019 se notificaron 40,001 EP en las empresas mineras, trabajadores con menos de un año registran EP y mayores de 55 años tienen una curva pronunciada de EP. El 1% son trabajadoras mineras y el 99% son trabajadores. Se necesita mayor investigación sobre las EP en el sector minero(AU)

To analyse the behavior of fatal work accidents (ATMs for its acronym in Spanish) and occupational diseases (EPs), in companies under the general regime of the mining sector in Peru during the years 2010 to 2019. A cross-sectional study was carried out using the database from the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM). The study included notifications at the national level of ATMs (2010-2019) and EPs (2011 to 2019) reported by the mining companies under the general regime. Results: Of 422 ATMs reported by 126 companies between 2010-2019, four range categories were determined. Rank D grouped two companies (representing only 2%) that had the highest occupational accident rate. Company D1 reported 29 ATMs and company D2 reported 19 ATMs, together accounting for 11.34% of the total number of ATMs during the study period. Rank A consisted of 95 companies (representing 75%) and reporting between 1 to 3 ATMs for the same period. Contractor and outsourcing companies reported 61% of workers victims of ATMs, while main companies reported 39% of ATMs. Between 2011-2019, 40,001 EPs were reported in mining companies, workers under one year reported EPs, and workers over 55 years of age had a steep EP curve. Female workers represent 1% of mining workers and 99% are male workers. More research is needed on EPs in the mining sector(AU)

Gender-diverse teams produce more novel and higher-impact scientific ideas.

Science's changing demographics raise new questions about research team diversity and research outcomes. We study mixed-gender research teams, examining 6.6 million papers published across the medical sciences since 2000 and establishing several core findings. First, the fraction of publications by mixed-gender teams has grown rapidly, yet mixed-gender teams continue to be underrepresented compared to the expectations of a null model. Second, despite their underrepresentation, the publications of mixed-gender teams are substantially more novel and impactful than the publications of same-gender teams of equivalent size. Third, the greater the gender balance on a team, the better the team scores on these performance measures. Fourth, these patterns generalize across medical subfields. Finally, the novelty and impact advantages seen with mixed-gender teams persist when considering numerous controls and potential related features, including fixed effects for the individual researchers, team structures, and network positioning, suggesting that a team's gender balance is an underrecognized yet powerful correlate of novel and impactful scientific discoveries.

Mind the gender gap: COVID-19 lockdown effects on gender differences in preprint submissions.

The gender gap is a well-known problem in academia and, despite its gradual narrowing, recent estimations indicate that it will persist for decades. Short-term descriptive studies suggest that this gap may have actually worsened during the months of confinement following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In this work, we evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on female and male academics' research productivity using preprint drop-off data. We examine a total of 307,902 unique research articles deposited in 5 major preprint repositories during the period between January and May each year from 2017 to 2020. We find that the proportion of female authors in online repositories steadily increased over time; however, the trend reversed during the confinement and gender parity worsened in two respects. First, the proportion of male authors in preprints increased significantly during lockdown. Second, the proportion of male authors in COVID-19-related articles was significantly higher than that of women. Overall, our results imply that the gender gap in academia suffered an approximately 1-year setback during the strict lockdown months of 2020, and COVID-related research areas suffered an additional 1.5-year setback.

Worldwide Research Trends on Diabetic Foot Ulcers (2004-2020): Suggestions for Researchers.

OBJECTIVES: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the devastating complications of diabetes. It has high mortality and disability rates. The number of research articles on DFUs has increased. This study was designed to explore the global trends and research hotspots of DFUs to benefit researchers in shaping future research directions. METHODS: Literatures relating to DFU from 2004 to 2020 were retrieved from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded) of Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The current status of DFU research (including publications, journals, the performances of relevant countries, institutions, and authors and the research trends and hotspots of DFU) was analyzed with the WoSCC. VOSviewer v1.6.10.0 was utilised for cocitation, coauthorship, cooccurrence analyses, and bibliographic coupling. RESULTS: A total of 5869 publications on DFUs were retrieved. We performed a longitudinal review of publications over 17 years: 4500 articles and 865 review articles on DFUs published from 2004 to 2020 were analyzed. The total citation was 107,296. The USA (n = 1866), England (n = 606), and China (n = 599) were the three largest contributors. The University of Washington had the greatest number of publications within this time period (n = 103), and it had the most cooperative units and was in the core position in all research institutions, followed by the University of Manchester (n = 94) and the University of Miami (n = 92). Armstrong DG (91/1.69%) and Lavery LA (55/1.19%) should be regarded as scholars who have made outstanding contributions. The top journal with the greatest total link strength was Diabetes Care. Analysis showed that the global research hotspots of DFU focused on lower limb amputation, diabetic foot infection, and treatment and management of DFU. Studies on osteomyelitis, wound therapy and management, multidisciplinary integration and mechanism of DFUs, and its related diseases are the research fronts that should be closely watched in the future. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the current research status and hotspots in the domain of DFU over the past 17 years, which can help researchers to further pinpoint potential perspectives on hot topics and research frontiers.

All types of Research and Publication (including in Diabetes) have shown a healthy rising trend from India in the last decade.

India has moved up its publications ranking globally to fourth, and to second amongst Asiatic countries in 2020, in all subject areas. In Diabetes journals the Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews is the fastest growing journal with the highest Cite Scoree, currently.

An Overview of Commonly Used Data Sources in Observational Research in Anesthesia.

Anesthesia research using existing databases has drastically expanded over the last decade. The most commonly used data sources in multi-institutional observational research are administrative databases and clinical registries. These databases are powerful tools to address research questions that are difficult to answer with smaller samples or single-institution information. Given that observational database research has established itself as valuable field in anesthesiology, we systematically reviewed publications in 3 high-impact North American anesthesia journals in the past 5 years with the goal to characterize its scope. We identified a wide range of data sources used for anesthesia-related research. Research topics ranged widely spanning questions regarding optimal anesthesia type and analgesic protocols to outcomes and cost of care both on a national and a local level. Researchers should choose their data sources based on various factors such as the population encompassed by the database, ability of the data to adequately address the research question, budget, acceptable limitations, available data analytics resources, and pipeline of follow-up studies.