RESUMO
We performed bibliometric analysis of the research papers published on clinical cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) in the last 50 years. We extracted bibliometric data from Scopus and PubMed from 1970 to 2020 pertaining to clinical studies of CSM. The predominant journals, top cited articles, authors, and countries were identified using performance analysis. Science mapping was also performed to reveal the emerging trends, and conceptual and social structures of the authors and countries. Bibliometrix R-package was deployed for the study. The total numbers of clinical studies available in PubMed and Scopus were 1,302 and 3,470, respectively. The most cited article was published by Hilibrand AS, as observed in Scopus. Regarding the conceptual structure of the research, two main research themes were identified, one involving symptomatology, scientific-scale-based objective evaluation of symptoms, and surgical removal of the offending culprit, while the other was based on patho-etiology, relevant diagnostic modalities, and the surgery commonly performed for CSM. In terms of emerging trends, in recent times there is an increasing trend of scale-based objective evaluations, along with investigations of advanced nonoperative management. The United States is the most productive country, whereas Canada tops the list for inter-country collaboration. The trend of research showed a shift toward noninvasive procedures.
RESUMO
It has been established that smell and taste loss are frequent symptoms during COVID-19 onset. Most evidence stems from medical exams or self-reports. The latter is particularly confounded by the common confusion of smell and taste. Here, we tested whether practical smelling and tasting with household items can be used to assess smell and taste loss. We conducted an online survey and asked participants to use common household items to perform a smell and taste test. We also acquired generic information on demographics, health issues including COVID-19 diagnosis, and current symptoms. We developed several machine learning models to predict COVID-19 diagnosis. We found that the random forest classifier consistently performed better than other models like support vector machines or logistic regression. The smell and taste perception of self-administered household items were statistically different for COVID-19 positive and negative participants. The most frequently selected items that also discriminated between COVID-19 positive and negative participants were clove, coriander seeds, and coffee for smell and salt, lemon juice, and chillies for taste. Our study shows that the results of smelling and tasting household items can be used to predict COVID-19 illness and highlight the potential of a simple home-test to help identify the infection and prevent the spread.
RESUMO
Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, generally lacked quantitative measurements, were mostly restricted to data from single countries. Here, we report the development, implementation and initial results of a multi-lingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in three distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, 8 other, ages 19-79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change {+/-}100) revealed a mean reduction of smell (-79.7 {+/-} 28.7, mean {+/-} SD), taste (-69.0 {+/-} 32.6), and chemesthetic (-37.3 {+/-} 36.2) function during COVID-19. Qualitative changes in olfactory ability (parosmia and phantosmia) were relatively rare and correlated with smell loss. Importantly, perceived nasal obstruction did not account for smell loss. Furthermore, chemosensory impairments were similar between participants in the laboratory test and clinical assessment groups. These results show that COVID-19-associated chemosensory impairment is not limited to smell, but also affects taste and chemesthesis. The multimodal impact of COVID-19 and lack of perceived nasal obstruction suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection may disrupt sensory-neural mechanisms.
