Composting and its application in bioremediation of organic contaminants.

This review investigates the findings of the most up-to-date literature on bioremediation via composting technology. Studies on bioremediation via composting began during the 1990s and have exponentially increased over the years. A total of 655 articles have been published since then, with 40% published in the last six years. The robustness, low cost, and easy operation of composting technology make it an attractive bioremediation strategy for organic contaminants prevalent in soils and sediment. Successful pilot-and large-scale bioremediation of organic contaminants, e.g., total petroleum hydrocarbons, plasticizers, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) by composting, has been documented in the literature. For example, composting could remediate >90% diesel with concentrations as high as 26,315 mg kg-a of initial composting material after 24 days. Composting has unique advantages over traditional single- and multi-strain bioaugmentation approaches, including a diverse microbial community, ease of operation, and the ability to handle higher concentrations. Bioremediation via composting depends on the diverse microbial community; thus, key parameters, including nutrients (C/N ratio = 25-30), moisture (55-65%), and oxygen content (O2 > 10%) should be optimized for successful bioremediation. This review will provide bioremediation and composting researchers with the most recent finding in the field and stimulate new research ideas.

Consensus statement on measures to promote equitable authorship in the publication of research from international partnerships.

Despite the acknowledged injustice and widespread existence of parachute research studies conducted in low- or middle-income countries by researchers from institutions in high-income countries, there is currently no pragmatic guidance for how academic journals should evaluate manuscript submissions and challenge this practice. We assembled a multidisciplinary group of editors and researchers with expertise in international health research to develop this consensus statement. We reviewed relevant existing literature and held three workshops to present research data and holistically discuss the concept of equitable authorship and the role of academic journals in the context of international health research partnerships. We subsequently developed statements to guide prospective authors and journal editors as to how they should address this issue. We recommend that for manuscripts that report research conducted in low- or middle-income countries by collaborations including partners from one or more high-income countries, authors should submit accompanying structured reflexivity statements. We provide specific questions that these statements should address and suggest that journals should transparently publish reflexivity statements with accepted manuscripts. We also provide guidance to journal editors about how they should assess the structured statements when making decisions on whether to accept or reject submitted manuscripts. We urge journals across disciplines to adopt these recommendations to accelerate the changes needed to halt the practice of parachute research.

Bibliometric Analysis of Integrative Medicine Studies from 2000 to 2019.

Integrative medicine has become a vital component of patient care. It provides patient-centered care that is focused on prevention and overall well-being. As there has been a growing number of patients favoring a blend of conventional, complementary and alternative approaches, integrative medicine has exceeded beyond the evaluation of complementary therapies. However, it is noteworthy that there has been a dilemma of providing substantial evidence supporting the efficacy of some complementary and alternative therapies. This study's goals were to analyze publication trends, most productive journals, most productive funding agencies, most productive authors, most relevant keywords, and countries in the field of integrative medicine research. Additionally, science mapping included country collaboration analysis and thematic evolution analysis. The findings from this study showed a constant rise in annual growth of publications from 2000 to 2019; the United States was dominant in various analysis categories. In conclusion, a comprehensive review of the evolution of research of integrative medicine will help healthcare providers understand an overview of the present status while encouraging more evidence-based research for the betterment of integrative patient care.

Chiropractic case reports: a review and bibliometric analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine publication trends, gaps, and predictors of citation of chiropractic case reports (CRs). METHODS: A bibliometric review was conducted by searching PubMed, Index to Chiropractic Literature (ICL), and Google Scholar to identify PubMed-indexed CRs, which were screened according to selection criteria. Case reports were categorized by International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) code, patient age, topic describing case management or adverse effects of care, focus being spinal or non-spinal, journal type, integrative authorship, title metrics, and citation metrics. Binary logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of citations per year and total citations greater than the median values. RESULTS: The search identified 1176 chiropractic CRs meeting selection criteria. There was an increasing trend of CRs having a case management topic, non-spinal focus, non-chiropractic journal, neuromusculoskeletal-focus, diagnosis of vascular pathology, and a decreasing trend of adverse effect vascular pathology CRs. Independent predictors of greater total citations (or citation rate) included ICD-10 categories of perinatal conditions, infections, "case" in title, case management topic, and physical therapy, integrative, and dental journal type. Predictors of fewer citations included diseases of the blood, neoplasms, other findings not elsewhere classified, a title > 11 words, and multidisciplinary authorship. ICD-10 categories describing non-musculoskeletal diseases and special populations such as pediatrics, pregnancy, and perinatal conditions had few CRs. CONCLUSION: Chiropractic CRs are diversifying from spine-related topics. Chiropractors are encouraged to publish objective, structured CRs within defined research gaps. Published CRs can inform the design of future research studies with a higher level of clinical relevance and evidence.

Analysis on Situation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Development and Protection Strategies in China.

With the worldwide growing interest and commercial value of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industries and products, the protection issue of TCM knowledge is increasingly concerned by Chinese government. Here, we investigated the current situation and trend of TCM development and knowledge protection in China through accessing academic research tools including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, VIP China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP) and Google Scholar, analyzing the latest data released by National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Statistical Yearbook of Chinese Medicine and China Statistical Yearbook. Our results demonstrate that current administration in China is continuing to support TCM development by increasing investment and expanding the scale in TCM research and administration. The increasing attention of Chinese scholars and government has led to laws and regulations issued more densely to strengthen TCM knowledge protection and promote fair use and fast development.

EURO-MUSCULUS/USPRM Global Report on Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Publications.

The developments in technology have improved access to the use of musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) in different clinical settings. Accordingly, MSUS has been applied to a wide range of musculoskeletal problems including inflammatory and degenerative diseases, sport injuries, and regional pain syndromes both for clinical practice and research. In this report, the authors aimed to globally examine the publications on MSUS among different specialties, countries, and topics. Sixteen reviewers under the umbrella of the European Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography Society Group and the Ultrasound Study Group of International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine have evaluated approximately 15,000 publications on MSUS. The authors believe that the results of this comparative analysis may provide a holistic snapshot with regard to the utility of MSUS, not only for clinicians/academicians but also for the industry. Accordingly, while aiming to further increase their awareness, this article would possibly guide future investments as well.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications on Spinal Cord Injury During 1980-2018.

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord injury (SCI) could cause motor, sensory loss, severe functional insufficiency, and social problems. This study aims to provide a holistic summary of the global scientific outputs about SCI through bibliometric analyses and reveal the trend topics. METHODS: All publications about SCI published between 1980 and 2018 in Web of Science (WoS) index were downloaded (Access date: 01.09.2019) and analyzed using bibliometric methods. In the Title search section in WoS, the documents with the words "spinal cord injury" were identified. Correlation analysis between SCI publication productivity and economic development indicators of the world countries were analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient. RESULTS: There were 20,322 publications, 13,662 of which were articles. The top 3 productive countries were the USA, China, and Canada. British Columbia (403; 2.9%), Toronto (401; 2.9%), and Miami (387; 2.8%) were the prominent cities. The top productive journals were Spinal Cord (1,399; 10.24%), Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (835; 6.11%), and Journal of Neurotrauma (631; 4.61%). A statistically significant, high-level correlation was found between the number of publications about SCI and the countries' gross domestic product and gross domestic product per capita (r = 0.711, P < 0.001; r = 0.699, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a systematic analysis of SCI and could be a beneficial guide for clinicians and scientists.

The ethnopharmacological literature: An analysis of the scientific landscape.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The research into bioactive natural products originating from medicinal plants, fungi and other organisms has a long history, accumulating abundant and diverse publications. However no quantitative literature analysis has been conducted so far. AIM OF THE STUDY: Here we analyze the bibliometric data of ethnopharmacology literature and relate the semantic content to the publication and citation data so that the major research themes, contributors, and journals of different time periods could be identified and evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Web of Science (WoS) was searched to identify relevant publications. The Analyze function of WoS and bibliometric software (VOSviewer) were utilized to perform the analyses. RESULTS: Until the end of November 2018, 59,576 publications -linked to 'ethnopharmacology' indexed by WoS, published since 1958 in more than 5600 journals, and contributed by over 20,600 institutions located in more than 200 countries/regions, were identified. The papers were published under four dominating WoS categories, namely pharmacology/pharmacy (34.4%), plant sciences (28.6%), medicinal chemistry (25.3%), and integrative complementary medicine (20.6%). India (14.6%) and China (13.2%) were dominating the publication space. The United States and Brazil also had more than 8.0% contribution each. The rest of the top ten countries/regions were mainly from Asia. There were around ten-fold more original articles (84.6%) than reviews (8.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Ethnopharmacological research has a consistent focus on food and plant sciences, (bio)chemistry, complementary medicine and pharmacology, with a more limited scientific acceptance in the socio-cultural sciences. Dynamic global contributions have been shifting from developed countries to economically and scientifically emerging countries in Asia, South America and the Middle East. Research on recording medicinal plant species used by traditional medicine continues, but the evaluation of specific properties or treatment effects of extracts and compounds has increased enormously. Moreover increasing attention is paid to some widely distributed natural products, such as curcumin, quercetin, and rutin.

Global research mapping of substance use disorder and treatment 1971-2017: implications for priority setting.

BACKGROUND: Globally, substance use disorders are prevalent and remain an intractable public health problem for health care systems. This study aims to provide a global picture of substance use disorders research. METHODS: The Web of Science platform was used to perform a cross-sectional analysis of scientific articles on substance use disorders and treatment. Characteristics of publication volume, impact, growth, authors, institutions, countries, and journals were examined using descriptive analysis and network visualization graphs. RESULTS: Thirteen thousand six hundred eighty-five papers related to illicit drugs (5403), tobacco (4469), and alcohol (2137) use disorders and treatment were published between 1971 and 2017. The number of publications on Mindfulness and Digital medicine topics had the highest increase with more than 300% since 2003-2007 despite later presence than other methods. The number of papers on other non-pharmaceutical therapies (behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, skills training or motivational interviewing) grew gradually, however, the growth rate was lower every 5-year period. The United States is the substance use disorder research hub of the world with the highest volume of publications (8232 or 60.2%) and total citations (252,935 or 65.2%), number of prolific authors (25 of top 30 or 83%) and institutions (24 of top 26 or 92%), formed the most international research partnerships (with 96 distinct countries). The international collaboration followed a pattern based on geographic proximity and cultural similarity. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers a comprehensive picture of the global trend of publications of substance use disorder. Findings suggest a need for research policy that supports the examination of interventions that culturally adhere to different local contexts to address substance use disorder in communities.

Scientific Papers and Patents on Substances with Unproven Effects.

It is evident from reviewing scientific literature that the quality of argumentation in some areas of medical research has deteriorated during the last decades. Publication of a series of questionable reliability has continued without making references to the published criticism; examples are discussed in this review. Another tendency is that drugs without proven efficiency are advertised, corresponding products patented and marketed as evidence-based medications. Professional publications are required to register drugs and dietary supplements to obtain permissions for the practical use; and such papers appeared, sometimes being of questionable reliability. Several examples are discussed in this review when substances without proven effects were patented and introduced into practice being supported by publications of questionable reliability. Some of the topics are not entirely clear; and the arguments provided here can induce a constructive discussion.

African neuroscience on the global stage: Nigeria as a model.

Of the 572 neuroscience-related studies published in Nigerian from 1996 to 2017, <5% used state-of-the-art techniques, none used transgenic models, and only one study was published in a top-tier journal.

Medical Degree Disparity Among Authors in Obstetrics and Gynecology Journals.

CONTEXT: With the transition to a single accreditation system for graduate medical education, the scholarly activity among core faculty in osteopathic and allopathic residency programs has come under scrutiny. Currently, major differences in scholarly activity requirements exist between core faculty in obstetrics and gynecology residencies accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and those accredited by the American Osteopathic Association. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a disparity between osteopathic and allopathic physicians among authors with original research published in 4 high-impact obstetrics and gynecology journals during 4 select years. METHODS: The authors reviewed Obstetrics & Gynecology (Obstet Gynecol), the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Am J Obstet Gynecol), Fertility and Sterility (Fertil Steril), and Menopause for the degree designation of the first and senior (last) author of each original manuscript for the years of 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and linear regression. RESULTS: In total, 3311 articles and 5909 authors were reviewed. Of these authors, 0.80% (47) had a DO degree. Of 1692 authors with dual advanced degrees, only 0.53% (9) had a DO degree. On subgroup analysis of each journal, 0.87% (13 of 1494) of identified authors in Obstet Gynecol, 1.03% (21 of 2038) in Am J Obstet Gynecol, 0.44% (9 of 2030) in Fertil Steril, and 2.20% (4 of 347) in Menopause were osteopathic physicians. During the years studied, no statistically significant trend could be established for first or senior author publication by osteopathic physicians over time, for all 4 journals or for any individual journal. CONCLUSION: Very few osteopathic physicians have served as either the first or the senior author in articles published in Obstet Gynecol, Am J Obstet Gynecol, Fertil Steril, or Menopause during the years studied, and no trend was seen for increased publication by osteopathic physicians in these journals over time.

Aerobiology in the International Journal of Biometeorology, 1957-2017.

Aerobiology and biometeorology are related fields. Here we provide a broad review of aerobiology articles published in the International Journal of Biometeorology (IJB) over the past 60 years. We consider how the quantity of such work has varied over this period as well as which regions and countries have been the focus of such work, and where there is a relative paucity. We then focus on a number of highlights and themes in this research, including aerobiology and climate change and aerobiological modelling and forecasting. While much of the article focusses on airborne pollen research, we also discuss the extent to which other airborne organic particles such as fungal spores and bacteria have been the focus of research published in IJB. Also considered are knowledge gaps and research needs and priorities with respect to the field of aerobiology. While the IJB has been one of the main platforms for presenting aerobiological research over recent decades, the article highlights the need for the field of aerobiology to embrace new sampling technologies such as spectral analysis and next-generation sequencing to identify and quantify airborne biological particles.

Longitudinal trends and subgroup analysis in publication patterns for preclinical data of newly approved drugs.

Having observed a large variation in the number and type of original preclinical publications for newly registered drugs, we have explored whether longitudinal trends and/or factors specific for certain drugs or their manufacturers may explain such variation. Our analysis is based on 1954 articles related to 170 newly approved drugs. The number of preclinical publications per compound declined from a median of 10.5 in 1991 to 3 in 2011. A similar trend was observed for the number of in vivo studies in general, but not in the subset of in vivo studies in animal models of disease. The percentage of compounds with studies using isolated human cells or cell lines almost doubled over time from 37 to 72%. Number of publications did not exhibit major differences between compounds intended for human versus veterinary use, therapeutic areas, small molecules versus biologicals, or innovator versus follow-up compounds; however, some companies may publish fewer studies per compound than others. However, there were qualitative differences in the types of models being used depending on the therapeutic area; specifically, compounds for use in oncology very often used isolated cells and cell lines, often from human origin. We conclude that the large variation in number and type of reported preclinical data is not easily explained. We propose that pharmaceutical companies should consistently provide a comprehensive documentation of the preclinical data they generate as part of their development programs in the public domain to enable a better understanding of the drugs they intend to market.

Preclinical research strategies for newly approved drugs as reflected in early publication patterns.

The present study aimed to explore early publication patterns (i.e. up to 1 year after obtaining regulatory approval) for newly registered drugs. From the website of the US Food and Drug Administration, all newly approved drugs for 6 calendar years between 1991 and 2011 were identified. Non-clinical original publications for these compounds were retrieved from PubMed and their abstracts analysed for type of study and reported data. This yielded 170 compounds for which 1954 original non-clinical publications were identified, i.e. a median/mean of 5/11.5 publications per compound; however, number of publications per compound varied widely (0-90) and this variation exhibited a non-Gaussian distribution. The earliest non-clinical publication typically was published less than 5 years before regulatory approval and more than 5 years after filing of the primary patent, but some compounds exhibited notable deviations from this pattern. Publications most often reported on efficacy related to the target indication and on potential future indications, with fewer studies addressing mechanisms of action, potency, selectivity, pharmacokinetics and toxic effects. For most compounds, data at the cellular and in vivo level were published, with fewer reports on effects on isolated tissues and even fewer at the molecular level. The preferred species for cellular studies was human, whereas for in vivo studies, it was rats and mice. In 75 % of cases, the lead author of the publication came from an academic institution, and most studies were published in classic pharmacology journals. We conclude that number, timing and scope of early non-clinical publications on newly approved drugs exhibit major variance. Factors potentially associated with such variance are explored in a companion paper.