Exploring the landscape of academic retractions in medicine: a comprehensive umbrella review.

INTRODUCTION: The escalating trend of academic article retractions over the last decades raises concerns about scientific integrity, but heterogeneity in retractions and reasons for them pose a major challenge. We aimed to comprehensively overview systematic reviews focusing on retractions in the biomedical literature. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We abstracted salient features and bibliometric details from shortlisted articles. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Checklist for Systematic Reviews and Research Syntheses was used for validity appraisal. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 11 reviews were included, published between 2016 and 2023, and reporting on a total of 1851 retracted studies. Several major reasons for retractions were identified, spanning both misconduct (e.g., falsification, duplication, plagiarism) and non-misconduct issues (e.g., unreliable data, publishing problems). Correlates include author-related factors (number of authors, nationality) and journal-related factors (impact factor), with repeat offenders contributing significantly. Impacts of retractions is profound, affecting scholarly credibility, public trust, and resource utilization. CONCLUSIONS: In order to prevent retractions and amend their adverse effects, rigorous and transparent reporting standards, enhanced training in research ethics, strengthened peer review processes, and the establishment of collaborative and integrated research integrity offices are proposed.

The Potential of Nano Pharmaceuticals to Change the Paradigm of Brain Tumor Therapy: A State-of-the-Art Review.

Central nervous system tumors are abnormal proliferations of neuronal cells within the brain and spinal cord. They can be primary or secondary and place a heavy financial, psychological, and physical burden on individuals. The highly selective blood-brain barrier, which only permits specific molecules to flow into the brain parenchyma, inhibits the efficacy of pharmacological medicines. Treatment options include surgery, chemoradiotherapy, and targeted therapy. Despite advances in therapy over the past few decades, the overall morbidity and mortality rates are still high, emphasizing the need for improved therapeutic choices to improve survival and quality of life further. Nano pharmaceuticals have demonstrated encouraging outcomes in in vivo trials using microscopic particles to enhance bioavailability and selectivity. The most successful clinical results to date have been achieved by liposomes, extracellular vesicles, and biomimetic nanoparticles; nevertheless, clinical trials are required to confirm their safety, efficacy, affordability, longterm impact, and success in patients from various demographics. Nano pharmaceuticals have the potential to change the paradigm of therapy for brain tumors, allowing better outcomes as primary and adjunctive therapy.

Linezolid-induced black hairy tongue in a patient treated for idiopathic granulomatous mastitis: a case report.

Linezolid-induced black hairy tongue (BHT) is a highly scarce adverse event of linezolid therapy. To date, there are very few reported cases in contemporary literature. The onset and mechanism of BHT are also not well understood. Case report: In this article, the authors report a case of BHT in a 28-year-old female following 5 days of therapy with linezolid. The patient recovered well within few days of discontinuation of the drug and maintaining oral hygeine. Patient reassurance and counselling was integral to the management. Discussion and conclusion: This case report and review depict a rare adverse effect of linezolid and discuss its clinical implications aiding healthcare professionals in an early diagnosis and cromulent management strategy. The authors also present a compilation of previously reported literature on linezolid-induced BHT to support the discussion.

Gene Editing as the Future of Cardiac Amyloidosis Therapeutics.

Cardiac Amyloidosis (CA) is a manifestation of a systemic disorder resulting from the deposition of transthyretin (TTR) in the myocardium. This leads to a myriad of manifestations ranging from conduction defects to heart failure. Previously CA was considered a rare disease, but recent advances in diagnostics and therapeutics have revealed the prevalence to be higher than estimated. There are two major classes of treatments for TTR cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA): TTR stabilizers, such as tafamidis and AG10, and RNA interference (siRNA), such as patisiran and vutrisiran. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats of genetic information-Cas9 endonuclease (CRISPR-Cas9) utilizes an RNA-guided endonuclease to target specific locations in the genome. Until recently, CRISPR-Cas9 was studied in small animal models for its ability to decrease extracellular deposition and accumulation of amyloid in tissues. Gene editing has demonstrated some early clinical promise as an emerging therapeutic modality in the treatment of CA. In an introductory human trial involving 12 subjects with TTR amyloidosis and amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), CRISPR-Cas9 therapy has demonstrated a reduction in approximately 90% of serum TTR proteins after 28 days. In this article, the authors review the current literature on therapeutic gene editing as a prospective curative treatment modality for CA.

Precision Medicine and the future of Cardiovascular Diseases: A Clinically Oriented Comprehensive Review.

Cardiac diseases form the lion's share of the global disease burden, owing to the paradigm shift to non-infectious diseases from infectious ones. The prevalence of CVDs has nearly doubled, increasing from 271 million in 1990 to 523 million in 2019. Additionally, the global trend for the years lived with disability has doubled, increasing from 17.7 million to 34.4 million over the same period. The advent of precision medicine in cardiology has ignited new possibilities for individually personalized, integrative, and patient-centric approaches to disease prevention and treatment, incorporating the standard clinical data with advanced "omics". These data help with the phenotypically adjudicated individualization of treatment. The major objective of this review was to compile the evolving clinically relevant tools of precision medicine that can help with the evidence-based precise individualized management of cardiac diseases with the highest DALY. The field of cardiology is evolving to provide targeted therapy, which is crafted as per the "omics", involving genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics, for deep phenotyping. Research for individualizing therapy in heart diseases with the highest DALY has helped identify novel genes, biomarkers, proteins, and technologies to aid early diagnosis and treatment. Precision medicine has helped in targeted management, allowing early diagnosis, timely precise intervention, and exposure to minimal side effects. Despite these great impacts, overcoming the barriers to implementing precision medicine requires addressing the economic, cultural, technical, and socio-political issues. Precision medicine is proposed to be the future of cardiovascular medicine and holds the potential for a more efficient and personalized approach to the management of cardiovascular diseases, contrary to the standardized blanket approach.

Broken Heart Syndrome: Evolving Molecular Mechanisms and Principles of Management.

Broken Heart Syndrome, also known as Takotsubo Syndrome (TS), is sudden and transient dysfunction of the left and/or right ventricle which often mimics Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Japan was the first country to describe this syndrome in the 1990s, and since then it has received a lot of attention from researchers all around the world. Although TS was once thought to be a harmless condition, recent evidence suggests that it may be linked to serious complications and mortality on par with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). The understanding of TS has evolved over the past few years. However, its exact etiology is still poorly understood. It can be classified into two main types: Primary and Secondary TS. Primary TS occurs when the symptoms of myocardial damage, which is typically preceded by emotional stress, are the reason for hospitalization. Secondary TS is seen in patients hospitalized for some other medical, surgical, obstetric, anesthetic, or psychiatric conditions, and the dysfunction develops as a secondary complication due to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the release of catecholamines. The etiopathogenesis is now proposed to include adrenergic hormones/stress, decreased estrogen levels, altered microcirculation, endothelial dysfunction, altered inflammatory response via cardiac macrophages, and disturbances in the brain-heart axis. The role of genetics in disease progression is becoming the focus of several upcoming studies. This review focuses on potential pathophysiological mechanisms for reversible myocardial dysfunction observed in TS, and comprehensively describes its epidemiology, clinical presentation, novel diagnostic biomarkers, and evolving principles of management. We advocate for more research into molecular mechanisms and promote the application of current evidence for precise individualized treatment.

Psychological Assessment of Family Caregivers of Patients With COVID-19 in the United States of America and India.

Background and objective The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the shortcomings worldwide in terms of preparedness protocols related to epidemics. A key area of research that is evidently overlooked across the globe is the mental health of family caregivers taking care of patients with COVID-19. In light of this, this study aimed to engage in a comparative analysis between the two worst affected countries, India and the United States of America (USA), which differ considerably in their demography, socio-epidemiological factors, and health system efficiency. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,250 family caregivers of patients with COVID-19 in India and the USA to assess their stress, anxiety, and sleep disturbance levels using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. Psychological assessment questionnaires were administered through online mode, which gathered demographic information and responses on several self-reporting scales. The main outcome measures were self-reported ratings on PSS, GAD-7 scale, and PSQI. Results We found that 75.4% of the family members of COVID-19 patients suffered from mental health issues. The scores of all three scales were higher in caregivers from the USA than in India, more evident and pronounced in caregivers of hospitalized patients. The test scores were statistically significant (p<0.05) indicating a negative impact of having a dependent member in the family, being married, being of younger age, and having a longer duration of COVID-19 infection. Vaccines were found to have a life-enhancing effect. Conclusion Our findings highlight that the mental health of family caregivers is an ignored aspect and must be addressed. We recommend the implementation of well-researched and appropriate legislation, treatment programs, and health policies that involve not only the patients but also their families.

Acute Hepatitis of Unknown Origin in Pediatric Age Group: Recent Outbreaks and Approach to Management.

Acute hepatitis has always been a public health concern, but the recent clustering of cases in various parts of the world has drawn some special attention. The sudden rise in cases has mainly been among the pediatric population of around 35 countries around the world, including developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and European countries. The outbreaks have had a devastating impact, with around 10% of the affected patients developing liver failure. The clinical presentation of patients resembles any other case of acute hepatitis, with the major symptoms being: jaundice (68.8%), vomiting (57.6%), and gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain (36.1%) and nausea (25.7%). Interestingly, the cases have tested negative for hepatotropic viruses Hep A, B, C, and E, thus giving rise to the terms Hepatitis of Unknown Origin or non-HepA-E hepatitis. Many causes have been attributed to the disease, with major evidence seen for adenovirus and SARS-CoV-2. International agencies have stressed on establishing diagnostic and management protocols to limit these outbreaks. As the understanding has evolved over time, diagnostic and management faculties have found more shape. The current review was designed to comprehensively compile all existing data and whittle it down to evidence-based conclusions to help clinicians.

Artificial Intelligence in Pediatric Cardiology: A Scoping Review.

The evolution of AI and data science has aided in mechanizing several aspects of medical care requiring critical thinking: diagnosis, risk stratification, and management, thus mitigating the burden of physicians and reducing the likelihood of human error. AI modalities have expanded feet to the specialty of pediatric cardiology as well. We conducted a scoping review searching the Scopus, Embase, and PubMed databases covering the recent literature between 2002-2022. We found that the use of neural networks and machine learning has significantly improved the diagnostic value of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiograms, computer tomography scans, and electrocardiographs, thus augmenting the clinicians' diagnostic accuracy of pediatric heart diseases. The use of AI-based prediction algorithms in pediatric cardiac surgeries improves postoperative outcomes and prognosis to a great extent. Risk stratification and the prediction of treatment outcomes are feasible using the key clinical findings of each CHD with appropriate computational algorithms. Notably, AI can revolutionize prenatal prediction as well as the diagnosis of CHD using the EMR (electronic medical records) data on maternal risk factors. The use of AI in the diagnostics, risk stratification, and management of CHD in the near future is a promising possibility with current advancements in machine learning and neural networks. However, the challenges posed by the dearth of appropriate algorithms and their nascent nature, limited physician training, fear of over-mechanization, and apprehension of missing the 'human touch' limit the acceptability. Still, AI proposes to aid the clinician tomorrow with precision cardiology, paving a way for extremely efficient human-error-free health care.