Global scientific research progress in mycetoma: a bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mycetoma is a neglected tropical disease that attracts little attention in regard to research and publications and hence this study was undertaken to determine the trends and global scientific research output in mycetoma-related fields. METHODS: Mycetoma data were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. The MeSH Browser was used to extract relevant keywords. Biblioshiny software (R-studio cloud), VOSviewer v. 1.6.6 and SPSS software were used for data management. RESULTS: Research trends on mycetoma increased globally from 1999 to 2020. The results were 404 documents (4444 citations) in WoS and 513 documents (5709 citations) in Scopus, and the average number of citations per article was 11 in WoS and 11.13 in Scopus. There was a significant association between the total number of citations and the total citations per year in both WoS (r=0.833, p<0.0001) and Scopus (r=0.926, p<0.0001). Sudan, India, the Netherlands and Mexico were the top-ranking productive countries for mycetoma publications in WoS, while India, the USA and Mexico were the top-ranking countries in Scopus. Articles on mycetoma were mainly published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the International Journal of Dermatology and the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. A. H. Fahal from the Mycetoma Research Centre, University of Khartoum, Sudan, had the highest number of citations in mycetoma research during 1999-2020, followed by W. W. J. van de Sande from the Erasmus Medical Centre, University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, during 2003-2020. CONCLUSION: The analysis provides insight into a global overview of Mycetoma research. In addition, the analysis holds a better understanding of the development trends that have emerged in Mycetoma over the past 21 years, which can also offer a scientific reference for future research.

Addressing Africa's pandemic puzzle: Perspectives on COVID-19 transmission and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.

To date, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) has spread to almost every region of the world, infecting millions and resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Although it was predicted that Africa would suffer a massive loss of life due to this pandemic, the number of COVID-19 cases has been relatively low across the continent. Researchers have speculated that several factors may be responsible for this outcome in Africa, including the extensive experience that countries have with infectious diseases and the young median age of their populations. However, it is still important for African countries to adopt aggressive and bold approaches against COVID-19, in case the nature of the pandemic changes. This short review will summarize the status of the outbreak in Africa and propose possible reasons for current trends, as well as discuss interventions aimed at preventing a rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the future.

Transverse colonic volvulus after resection of sigmoid volvulus: Presentation of a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Colonic volvulus is the third leading cause of colonic obstruction in the world following colorectal cancer and complicated sigmoid diverticulitis. Transverse colon is the rarest among other colonic volvulus. Moreover synchronous/metachronous transverse colonic volvulus is extremely rare condition with only few case reported in the literature, we hereby report this case of metachronous transverse colonic volvulus years after sigmoidectomy for sigmoid volvulus CASE PRESENTATION: A case of transverse colon volvulus in elderly male with history of chronic constipation and a previous history of a sigmoid volvulus resection few years ago. He presented as an emergency with typical features of acute large bowel obstruction. He was successfully managed with a good out come DISCUSSION: We discuss the presentation, diagnosis and surgical management with a literature review of this case of a metachronous transverse colonic volvulus. CONCLUSION: Metachronous colonic volvulus is an extremely rare cause of large bowel obstruction and should be considered as a differential diagnosis especially in geographic areas with high rate of volvulus or in those with underlying risk factor.