Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Dermatology: A Scientometric Literature Review.

INTRODUCTION: Scientific literature lacks a scientometric analysis of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) for dermatology. The aim of this study is to investigate the associations between TCAM and dermatology as seen in academic literature published between 1975 and 2018. METHODS: All materials analyzed in this study were collected from 3 major academic databases, namely Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus, and all documents assessed were published between 1975 and 2018. A keyword string of "dermatology" AND ("complementary medicine" OR "alternative medicine" OR "traditional medicine" OR "integrative medicine") was used to search the databases. RESULTS: A total of 316 articles were retrieved from Web of Science, 388 from Scopus and 389 from PubMed. Original articles represented 92.208% of all literature found. In addition, the USA had the highest number of publications with 61 documents, followed by the UK, China and Germany, while only three developing countries were represented in the group of most productive countries. Notably, low income countries were not represented in the list of countries with the highest volume of publications. Of all the institutions in the most represented countries, the University of Oxford was found to be the most productive. The most used keywords in the literature were noted to be "dermatology", "alternative medicine", "traditional medicine" and "psoriasis". CONCLUSION: In view of the underrepresentation of low income developing countries in the productive group, it is suggested that researchers from these countries should be supported to produce novel TCAM studies in dermatology.

Evolution of Telepsychiatry: Scientometric Analysis of Telepsychiatry Publications Between 1986 and 2019.

Introduction: Although telepsychiatry has a long history, medical literature lacks a scientometric study evaluating telepsychiatry publications. The purpose of this study was to perform a holistic analysis of telepsychiatry articles published between 1986 and 2019. Methods: We used the "telepsychiatry" keyword for our search and included all documents indexed in Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics, USA) Core Collection between 1986 and 2019, revealing a total of 1,020 articles, of which only 224 were open access. Results: The peak year for publication was 2015, with 96 articles. The United States ranked first with 601 documents followed by Australia and Canada. The University of California and University of Washington were the most productive institutions and, again, 8 of the 10 leading institutions were from the United States. The peak year for citations was 2019, with a total of 2,080 records. Discussion: We believe that systematic approaches are needed to reveal the positive and negative features of telepsychiatry practice, especially from countries where this method is widely utilized, to elucidate the need for telepsychiatry in other countries/regions and to determine how its use can be increased in regions with limited access to health care workers. Conclusion: Although scientific interest in telepsychiatry appears to have increased almost every year since 1986, it has been observed that this interest is still concentrated in certain countries, such as the United States, Australia, and Canada, indicating that telepsychiatry may not have gained use in other countries.

Health and Chinese Beliefs: A Scientometric Analysis of Health Literature Related to Taoism and Confucianism.

Taoism and Confucianism both exited simultaneously as philosophies of living in dynastic China. Although there has been an increasing popularity in scientometric studies, religion and health (R&H) literature lacks a holistic evaluation investigating articles relevant to Taoism and Confucianism. All publications produced in Taoism and Confucianism literature and indexed in Web of Science (WoS) databases between 1975 and 2018 were included in this study. Database search on health and Taoism literature retrieved 199 documents from WoS databases. Main research areas were Psychology, Religion and Behavioral Sciences (24.121, 21.608 and 20.603, respectively). The USA ranked first with 38 papers followed China, Taiwan and the UK (n = 35, 20 and 6 documents, respectively). Hong Kong Polytechnic University from China was the most contributor institution in health and Taoism literature. A total of 448 documents were published in health and Confucianism literature between 1975 and 2018, and original articles covered 93.08% of all literature. China was leading country with 126 articles followed by the USA, South Korea and Taiwan (n = 97, 35 and 35 items, respectively). The most productive institutions were City University of Hong Kong (China), Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and University of Hong Kong (China). Researchers from developing and least developed countries should be encouraged to carry out novel scientometric studies in R&H literature.

Impotence literature: Scientometric analysis of erectile dysfunction articles between 1975 and 2018.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is portrayed as lasting deficiency to achieve or sustain penile erection in successful vaginal penetration and is a major problem affecting the quality of life in men. The number of ED sufferers worldwide is anticipated to reach 322 million, by 2025. In recent years, many publications and studies have been made in the field of ED. Our aim was to perform a detailed bibliometric analysis of erectile dysfunction literature. In this study, we downloaded the data of the publications from the Web of Science Core Collection. All items indexed in these databases between 1975 and 2018 were included. Documents produced in 2019 were excluded. We searched in WoS databases for the keywords of 'erectile dysfunction' and 'impotence'. Our basic search into WoS databases retrieved a total of 28,266 documents indexed between 1975 and 2018. English dominated impotence literature (92.541%) followed by German, French and Korean (2.136%, 1.920% and 1.180% respectively). The United States has made tremendous improvement in ED studies and is still the effective country. The most prolific author was Montorsi F with 330 articles from Italy, and three-fifth of the authors were from the USA.

Health and Ancient Beliefs: A Scientometric Analysis of Health Literature Related to Shamanism, Paganism and Spirituality.

Scientometrics is a popular statistical application providing data revealing publication trends and patterns in a certain academic field. A quite limited number of studies investigating scientometric features of health and religion literature have been reported in academic literature. The present study aims to present a holistic analysis of health literature related to Shamanism, Paganism and Spirituality. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in this field. All data of this analysis were yielded from Web of Science databases. All documents produced between 1975 and 2017 were included. In Shamanism and health field, a total of 157 documents were found, and the USA covering 35.67% of all the literature was the leading country. University of California System (USA) was the most contributor institution. Our search on Paganism and health literature retrieved 51 published documents, and the most productive institution was National Dong Hwa University from Taiwan. A total of 7862 documents were detected in Spirituality and health literature, and the most prolific author in this field was Koenig HG with 82 papers. Journal of Religion and Health was noted to be the predominant academic source in health literature related to ancient beliefs. The number of the publications produced in Spirituality and health literature was greater than total number of all documents published in health literature related to Abrahamic religions, Dharmic religions, Shamanism and Paganism.

Dharmic Religions and Health: A Holistic Analysis of Global Health Literature Related to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

Bibliometrics and scientometrics are popular and novel disciplines providing information in publication trends in a certain academic field. Although there has been an increasing popularity in bibliometric studies, a limited number of reports have been published in religion and health literature. In this study, to the best of our knowledge we aimed to perform a first bibliometric analysis in the health literature related to Dharmic religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. We found a total of 655 health articles related to Dharmic religions as we searched Web of Science databases. The United States of America (USA) ranked first in Health and Hinduism literature with 62 documents followed by India, the UK and Bangladesh (n = 40, 33 and 6, respectively). A detailed keyword analysis revealed that the most used keywords in the field of Hinduism and health were "Hinduism," "religion," "spirituality" and "Islam." The USA was also the leading county in the literature of Buddhism and Health with 159 articles (32.78%) and followed by Thailand, the UK and China (10.72, 6.8 and 6.39%, respectively). The Journal of Religion and Health was noted to be the most prolific source in this field. We found that the developing countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan were found to be included in the most productive countries list on the contrary to previous bibliometric studies in health and religion field.

Health and Religions: A Bibliometric Analysis of Health Literature Related to Abrahamic Religions Between 1975 and 2017.

Bibliometrics is a high-demand and fast-growing statistical area for the analysis of scientific literature in a certain field. Although religion and health (R&H) field has been a developing study area in recent years, only a few bibliometric studies have been published on the literature in R&H. In this study, we aimed to perform bibliometric analysis of the health literature related to the most populous Abrahamic religions during the period of 1975-2017 by using Web of Science database including WoS Collection Core Collection, Korean Journal Database, Russian Science Citation Index and SciELO Citation Index. In overall evaluation, the USA ranked first in publication productivity with 1388 items and covered 37.21% of total literature. The Journal of Religion and Health published the highest number of documents (n = 351). We found a total of 1329 items in health and Christianity field, and the USA was the most productive country followed by the UK and Canada (n = 166 and 63 documents, respectively). Loma Linda University was found to publish the highest number of items. We detected 1965 publications in Islam and health area, and top three countries were the USA, the UK and Saudi Arabia (n = 387, 194 and 137 items, respectively). University of London was the most productive institution (n = 72, 3.67%). A total of 436 articles were detected in Judaism and health. Top three countries in productivity were the UK, Israel and the UK (211, 151 and 36 items, respectively). Hebrew University of Jerusalem produced 17.43% of total documents as the topmost institution. Although Abrahamic religions originated from Middle East, we noted that most productive authors in this field were not Middle Eastern and from developed countries. Researchers from developing or least developed countries should be encouraged to carry out more studies in R&H field.

Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis of the Articles Published in the Journal of Religion and Health Between 1975 and 2016.

Bibliometrics and scientometrics are novel closely related scientific fields measuring and analyzing scientific publications in a certain area. Although spirituality, religion and health (S/R&H) field has been a growing study area in recent years, only a few bibliometric studies have been conducted on published literature in S/R&H. In this study, we aimed to perform bibliometric and scientometric analysis of the documents published in the Journal of Religion and Health, which is one of the most significant and productive journals in spirituality, religion and health field, during the period of 1975 to 2016. We used Thomson Reuters Web of Science database for the publication analyses. A total of 2683 papers were found and most of them were original articles (1655, 62.1%) followed by book reviews (780, 29.3%) and editorial materials (169, 6.3%). We found that the USA was the most productive country with 1665 papers and 62.45% of total literature followed by Australia and Canada. Cornell University in the USA was found to publish the highest number of documents with 73 papers and to cover 2.74% of the total literature followed by Duke University and Weill Cornell Medical College. A total of 2973 keywords were detected to be used. Most used five keywords were "religion," "spirituality," "religiosity," "health" and "mental health" (n = 253, 250, 97, 71 and 41 times, respectively). Our bibliometric and scientometric study of one of the most important leading journals in S/R&H area may encourage researchers to carry out further studies in this field.

Reduced ocular surface disease index (OSDI) scores in patients with isotretinoin treatment.

To evaluate the changes in ocular surface and functions of tear-film in patients treated with systemic isotretinoin, to assess diagnostic performance of ocular surface disease index (OSDI) test in the dry eye conditions in association with the use of isotretinoin, and to determine the correlation between all tear-film function tests, OSDI and the dose and duration of isotretinoin administration. One hundred and twenty eyes of 60 subjects treated with oral isotretinoin were enrolled. All patients underwent ophthalmic examination at the baseline and another examination during the course of treatment. Biomicroscopic ophthalmic examination of the meibomian glands, non-anesthetized Schirmer test, and tear film break-up time (BUT) were performed. Subjective ocular complaints were scored with an OSDI questionnaire. Average Schirmer scores were not significantly changed by isotretinoin treatment. There were significant differences in the average OSDI score, the average meibomian gland disease (MGD) grade and average BUT value of both eyes during the treatment compared with baseline values (p < 0.01). There was a statistically significant inverse correlation between MGD grade and BUT value. There was no significant correlation between BUT value, OSDI score, Schirmer score, MGD grade, the total and divided dose of isotretinoin and the duration of treatment. The follow-up time was 4.01 ± 1.3 months (range 1.5-6 months). Systemic isotretinoin treatment can cause alterations in the tear film and dry eye symptoms. The OSDI test can be used as a diagnostic test for patients receiving systemic isotretinoin treatment.

Prevalence of skin diseases in civilian and military population in a Turkish military hospital in the central Black Sea region.

OBJECTIVES: There are no epidemiological studies comparing the prevalence of skin diseases between civilian and military populations. We sought to determine and compare the prevalence of skin conditions between civilian and military populations. METHODS: A total of 3382 male patients (1148 military and 2234 civilian) were retrospectively and consecutively evaluated at Merzifon Military Hospital in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey. RESULTS: The most frequent dermatological condition was tinea pedis (15.8%) followed by acne vulgaris, allergic contact dermatitis and alopecia areata in the military population (15.7%, 7.7% and 5.4%, respectively). Acne vulgaris, xerosis cutis and allergic contact dermatitis were the most common diagnoses in the civilian group (19.4%, 14.1% and 9.1%, respectively). The prevalence of tinea pedis, alopecia areata, pityriasis versicolor, ingrown nail (unguis incarnatus) and callus were statistically significantly higher in the military group (15.8% vs 4.4%, p<0.001; 5.4% vs 1.7%, p<0.05; 3.5% vs 0.7%, p<0.001; 3.3% vs 0.3%, p<0.001 and 4.6% vs 0.9%, p<0.001; respectively). Xerosis cutis was found to be significantly higher in the civilian group (14.1% vs 5.8%, p<0.001). Superficial fungal disease was the most prevalent disorder as in the previous literature. CONCLUSIONS: Preventive measures should be taken to improve the health of troops and reduce the prevalence of the common disorders such as tinea pedis, alopecia areata and callus. Troops should wear boots only when necessary in base camps. Clothing which reduces ventilation is not recommended. Depression and anxiety should be recognised and treated in soldiers with alopecia areata, as a solely dermatological approach without psychological support may reduce treatment success.

Scientometric Evaluation of the Itch Mite, Sarcoptes scabiei (Acari: Sarcoptidae): The Last Four Decades of Global Academic Output on Scabies.

OBJECTIVE: Scabiosis, the infestation of the skin with Sarcoptes scabiei, is a neglected tropical disease, with at least 200 million people being infested with the parasite at any time. It is estimated that scabies is responsible for 0.07% of the total burden of disease worldwide. Objective of this study is to perform a scientometric analysis of S. scabiei literature using the Web of Science Core Collection database for the years 1981-2020. METHODS: All documents indexed between 1981 and 2020 in scabies literature were analyzed by using a search string including keywords of "scabies", "Sarcoptes scabiei" and "S. scabiei" in Web of Science Core Collection database. We excluded all materials including data on the bacterium species named Streptomyces scabies and Streptomyces scabiei. RESULTS: Overall, 2,933 articles were retrieved on scabies, 66.3% of which were original article. With 663 publications the USA was the most productive country, while The International Journal of Dermatology was the journal with the highest number of publications on scabies. Half of the most productive institutions and seven of the top ten prolific authors were also from Australia. The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia was the most supportive funding agency. With 4,706 citations, 2020 was the year with most references on scabies. The most cited publication was "The Global Burden of Skin Disease in 2010: An Analysis of the Prevalence and Impact of Skin Conditions" by Hay et al. in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology with a total of 565 citations. The most collaborative country was Australia and the most cooperative institution was the University of Melbourne. CONCLUSION: The majority of the studies were done in a given country while multicenter studies are very rare. It is recommended that more studies should be conducted on scabiosis in developing countries where the problem of scabies is the biggest.

Scientometric analysis of trends in global research on acne treatment.

Acne or acne vulgaris is the most common chronic inflammatory disease of the sebaceous follicles. Objectives: The present study aims to identify the main lines of research in the field of acne treatment using reproducible scientometric methods. In this article, we reviewed the following research trends: facial acne, different antibiotics, retinoids, anti-inflammatory drugs, epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors therapy, and associated diseases. Methods: The analysis of publications from the PubMed collection was carried out from 1871 to 2022. All data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The evolution of the terminological portrait of the disease is shown. Results: Trends in the use of various groups of antibiotics, retinoids, anti-inflammatory drugs, and photodynamic therapy for acne treatment have been found. There is a growing interest in clindamycin and doxycycline (polynomial and exponential growth, respectively). The effects of isotretinoin are also being studied more frequently (active linear growth). The publication of studies on spironolactone is increasing (linear growth). There is also a steady interest in the use of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors in the recent years. There is active research on acne and polycystic ovary syndrome (exponential growth). Limitations: Only articles in English were selected. The most frequent terms were considered. Conclusions: The dynamics of publication activity in the field of acne was considered. The aim of the current scientometric study was to analyze the global trends in acne treatments. The trend analysis made it possible to identify the most explored areas of research, as well as indicate those areas in dermatology in which interest is declining.

The Role of Ischemia-modified Albumin and Ischemia-Modified Albumin to Albumin Ratios in Patients with Alopecia Areata.

INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) and IMA/albumin levels in patients with AA. METHODS: The present prospective crossectional study includes patients ≥18 who were admitted to the Dermatology and Venerology Department of Hitit University Hospital between April 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021. 70 patients participated in the study (n=34 for the study group and n=36 for the control group). Demographic features, clinical characteristics, IMA, and IMA/albumin levels were compared between the groups. The study group was divided into subgroups based on the number of patches, disease duration, and the number of disease attacks. IMA and IMA/albumin levels were compared between each subgroup. RESULTS: The study and control groups were similar with regard to demographic features and clinical characteristics. Significant differences were observed between the mean IMA and IMA/albumin ratio (p=0.004 and 0.012, respectively). The study subgroups were comparable in the number of patches, disease duration, and number of disease attacks. CONCLUSION: Although oxidative stress is an important component in the etiology of AA, IMA and IMA/albumin may not be useful in the prediction of disease severity in patients with AA.

Enhanced nutrient removal in agro-industrial wastes-amended hybrid floating treatment wetlands treating real sewage: Laboratory microcosms to field-scale studies.

The use of natural agro-industrial materials as suspended fillers (SFs) in floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) to enhance nutrient removal performance has recently been gaining significant attention. However, the knowledge concerning the nutrient removal performance enhancement by different SFs (alone and in mixtures) and the major removal pathways is so far inadequate. The current research, for the first time, carried out a critical analysis using five different natural agro-industrial materials (biochar, zeolite, alum sludge, woodchip, flexible solid packing) as SFs in various FTWs of 20 L microcosm tanks, 450 L outdoor mesocosms, and a field-scale urban pond treating real wastewater over 180 d. The findings demonstrated that the incorporation of SFs in FTWs enhanced the removal performance of total nitrogen (TN) by 20-57% and total phosphorus (TP) by 23-63%. SFs further enhanced macrophyte growth and biomass production, leading to considerable increases in nutrient standing stocks. Although all the hybrid FTWs showed acceptable treatment performances, FTWs set up with mixtures of all five SFs significantly enhanced biofilm formation and enriched the abundances of the microbial community related to nitrification and denitrification processes, supporting the detected excellent N retention. N mass balance assessment demonstrated that nitrification-denitrification was the major N removal pathway in reinforced FTWs, and the high removal efficiency of TP was attributable to the incorporation of SFs into the FTWs. Nutrient removal efficiencies ranked in the following order among the various trials: microcosm scale (TN: 99.3% and TP: 98.4%) > mesocosm scale (TN: 84.0% and TP: 95.0%) > field scale (TN: -15.0-73.7% and TP: -31.5-77.1%). These findings demonstrate that hybrid FTWs could be easily scaled up for the removal of pollutants from eutrophic freshwater systems over the medium term in an environmentally-friendly way in regions with similar environmental conditions. Moreover, it demonstrates hybrid FTW as a novel way of disposing of significant quantities of wastes, showing a win-win means with a huge potential for large-scale application.

The effect of COVID-19 on development of hair and nail disorders: a Turkish multicenter, controlled study.

BACKGROUND: A broad spectrum of skin diseases, including hair and nails, can be directly or indirectly triggered by COVID-19. It is aimed to examine the type and frequency of hair and nail disorders after COVID-19 infection. METHODS: This is a multicenter study conducted on consecutive 2171 post-COVID-19 patients. Patients who developed hair and nail disorders and did not develop hair and nail disorders were recruited as subject and control groups. The type and frequency of hair and nail disorders were examined. RESULTS: The rate of the previous admission in hospital due to COVID-19 was statistically significantly more common in patients who developed hair loss after getting infected with COVID-19 (P < 0.001). Telogen effluvium (85%) was the most common hair loss type followed by worsening of androgenetic alopecia (7%) after COVID-19 infection. The mean stress scores during and after getting infected with COVID-19 were 6.88 ± 2.77 and 3.64 ± 3.04, respectively, in the hair loss group and were 5.77 ± 3.18 and 2.81 ± 2.84, respectively, in the control group (P < 0.001, P < 0.001). The frequency of recurrent COVID-19 was statistically significantly higher in men with severe androgenetic alopecia (Grades 4-7 HNS) (P = 0.012; Odds ratio: 2.931 [1.222-7.027]). The most common nail disorders were leukonychia, onycholysis, Beau's lines, onychomadesis, and onychoschisis, respectively. The symptoms of COVID-19 were statistically significantly more common in patients having nail disorders after getting infected with COVID-19 when compared to the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The development of both nail and hair disorders after COVID-19 seems to be related to a history of severe COVID-19.

Holistic Analysis of Coronavirus Literature: A Scientometric Study of the Global Publications Relevant to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), MERS-CoV (MERS) and SARS-CoV (SARS).

OBJECTIVES: In late December 2019, a cluster of patients with pneumonia caused by an unknown pathogen was reported from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The pathogen has been identified as a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease has been named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective of this study was to perform the first holistic scientometric evaluation of coronavirus publications. METHODS: Our main source for this study was Web of Science Collection database. All items published between 1980 and 2019 were included. A distribution map of global production in coronavirus literature and scientometric networks were generated. RESULTS: The United States, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Netherlands were the most productive countries. Publications in coronavirus literature have been produced from almost every country in the world, except for some countries in Asia and Africa. CONCLUSION: While in the 1980s, the United States and developed countries from Europe were major source countries and the virus was identified only as an animal disease in the literature and its biological and genetic structure was investigated, in the 2000s, China became a major contributor of coronavirus literature because the SARS outbreak originated from southern China. Almost all most-cited publications in this period are related to SARS and the ACE2 protein.

Correlation study between clinical classification and disability index in a holistic evaluation of acne severity and impact in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: This study provides a comparison between disease severity observed by inspectors and the disease burden assessed by patients is scanty in acne study. METHODS: In a multicenter prospective hospital-based study, modified Comprehensive Acne Severity Scale (mCASS) and Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) were employed to grade disease severity and to determine the quality of life, respectively. The average of the mCASS and CADI scores, with range at 0-25, was termed as Acne Severity and Impact Grading System (ASIG). RESULTS: In 1331 evaluated patients (mean: 21,51±4,93 years), including 306 men and 1025 women, an overall significant, positive correlation was found between ASIG and mCASS (r=0.862), or CADI (r=0.686), respectively (P=0.001 each). Adult women with back acne and adolescent with décolleté expressed greater concern (higher CADI) than the clinical severity (lower mCASS). The overall prevalence of acne in décolleté area, including neck, was 32.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Discrepancies in the acne severity between self-perception and objective evaluation exist in certain subgroups of patients. Décolleté acne deserves special attention in clinical assessment.

History of teledermatology: a technique of the future in dermatology.

Teledermatology is a developing application of telemedicine. Studies and reviews regarding diagnostic accuracy, efficacy, and feasibility of teledermatology applications have been published in the literature. There are two main methods of teledermatology technology to use: store-and-forward and real-time videoconferencing. Teledermatology is a proven, effective diagnostic tool for skin lesions.