Global cervical cancer research: A scientometric density equalizing mapping and socioeconomic analysis.

Cervical cancer has caused substantial morbidity and mortality for millions of women over the past decades. While enormous progress has been made in diagnosis, prevention and therapy, the disease is still fatal for many women-especially in low-income countries. Since no detailed studies are available on the worldwide research landscape, we here investigated the global scientific output related to this cancer type by an established protocol. The "New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science" platform assessed all relevant cervical cancer research published in the Web of Science since 1900. A detailed analysis was conducted including country-specific research productivity, indicators for scientific quality, and relation of research activity to socioeconomic and epidemiologic figures. Visualization of data was generated by the use of density equalizing map projections. Our approach identified 22,185 articles specifically related to cervical cancer. From a global viewpoint, the United States of America was the dominating country in absolute numbers, being followed by China and Japan. By contrast, the European countries Sweden, Austria, and Norway were positioned first when the research activity was related to the population number. When the scientific productivity was related to annual cervical cancer cases, Scandinavian countries (Finland #1, Sweden #4, Norway #5, Denmark #7), the Alpine countries Austria (#2) and Switzerland (#6), and the Netherlands (#3) were leading the field. Density equalizing mapping visualized that large parts of Africa and South America were almost invisible regarding the global participation in cervical cancer research. Our data documented that worldwide cervical cancer research activity is continuously increasing but is imbalanced from a global viewpoint. Also, the study indicated that global and public health aspects should be strengthened in cervical carcinoma research in order to empower more countries to take part in international research activities.

Fetal micrognathia: objective assessment and associated anomalies on prenatal sonogram.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy and characteristics of prenatally detected fetal micrognathia. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all pregnancies with the suspicion of fetal micrognathia was performed. The affected fetuses were reassessed by estimation of the inferior facial angle (IFA) and the frontal nasomental angle on stored gray scale images to objectively establish the diagnosis. RESULTS: Of the 28.935 ultrasounds (USs) reviewed, 58 cases were eligible and 4 were excluded because of inconclusive data. The mean values for IFA and frontal nasomental angle were 44.8° and 123.3°, respectively. In 33 cases, the pregnancy was terminated. Four fetuses died sub partu or immediately after birth, five were stillborn. Invasive testing in 40/54 cases revealed aneuploidies in 35%. Associated anomalies comprised musculoskeletal disorders (43%) and non-skeletal anomalies (15%). Less than one fifth (9/54) were alive beyond postnatal period. Four fetuses had an isolated micrognathia, one of which was found to have a cleft palate postnatally. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of micrognathia has a crucial impact on both prenatal and postnatal outcomes of affected individuals due to its association with additional abnormalities. A detailed sonographic survey using objective criteria for defining micrognathia is mandatory. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, an intensive interdisciplinary counseling of the parents is needed.