The efficacy of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) on selected cardiovascular disease risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

This study sought to summarize clinical evidence of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) administration on cardiovascular disease risk factors. PubMed, Scopus, Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science, and Google Scholar were systematically searched from inception to June 2019 to identify randomized clinical trials, which assessed the effect of sour tea consumption on lipid profiles, fasting plasma glucose, and blood pressure in adult populations. Mean and standard deviation for each parameter were extracted to calculate effect size. Cochrane Collaboration tools were used to evaluate risk of bias assessment. A total of seven randomized clinical trials consisting 362 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled effect size demonstrated that sour tea consumption significantly reduces fasting plasma glucose (-3.67 mg/dl, 95% confidence interval, CI [-7.07, -0.27]; I2 = 37%), systolic blood pressure (-4.71 mmHg, 95% CI [-7.87, -1.55]; I2 = 53%), and diastolic blood pressure (-4.08 mmHg, 95% CI [-6.48, -1.67]; I2 = 14%). Although no significant effect was observed on triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol following sour tea consumption, a trend toward a significant reduction was found in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol serum concentrations (p = 0.08). This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that sour tea consumption could have beneficial effect in controlling glycemic status and blood pressure among adult population.

Exploring the OTITIS Research Landscape Through a Scientometric Approach.

Otitis media is a common health problem affecting people of all ages and significantly impacting public health and healthcare costs. Otitis media, a type of middle ear disease, is one of the most common types. This scientometric study aimed to provide an overview of the knowledge domain in otitis media research. Documents were retrieved from the Web of Science database. A scientometric study was then performed on a sample of 27,213 documents. This study found that research on otitis media has increased significantly in recent years, with an annual growth rate of 4.58%. The average age of the documents analyzed was 18 years, with an average of 21.88 citations and an average of 4.58 authors. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan ranked first to third in terms of number of publications. Still, the United States, China, and Sweden were in a better position in terms of impact on the research network. Co-occurrence word analysis showed that significant attention was given to topics such as chronic inflammation in autism, acute inflammation in otitis media, and increased fluid in the middle ear. This study highlights the need to prioritize and focus attention on otitis, particularly otitis media, due to its prevalence and impact on public health. The use of scientometric software, such as Biblioshiny and CiteSpace, provides a valuable means of assessing research trends and identifying important areas for future study in the field of knowledge.

Visualization of the field of knowledge in sexual violence: a scientometric analysis based on citespace.

BACKGROUND: Sexual violence (SV) is a serious public health problem affecting millions of people each year. The main aim of this article is to provide a large-scale snapshot of the field of knowledge in SV research using a scientometric approach. METHODS: Documents were retrieved from the Web of Science database. Then, a scientometric study was carried out on a sample of 65,610 documents. Co-citation and co-occurrence measures have been calculated and related networks have been drawn using Citespace and Biblioshiny software. RESULTS: The main findings indicate that research in SV has increased significantly in recent years. On the other hand, the publication of about one-third of these documents by a single author is due to the special nature of this topic and its taboo in many societies. In addition, a large number of multimedia documents demonstrate the role and importance of multimedia resources in SV studies. Despite the attention to SV research by poor or developing countries to research in the field of SV, 95% of the documents have been published by 20 developed countries. Additionally, the general research approach has changed from criminology to psychology. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, it seems that the discussion of psychological disorders in the occurrence of sexual violence reveals a new approach to SV. The concepts related to SV have been linked to broader areas than in the past. This, along with emphasizing prevention topics in the long term, will increase awareness of SV and reduce the possibility of abuse of vulnerable people.

Cost of Illness of COVID-19 and Its Consequences on Health and Economic System.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has had destructive influences on social and economic systems as well as many aspects of human life. In this study, we aimed to estimate the economic effects of COVID-19 at the individual and societal levels during a fiscal year. This cost of illness analysis was used to estimate the economic burden of COVID-19 in Iran. Data of the COVID-19 patients referred to the hospitals affiliated to Bushehr University of Medical Sciences in 2021 were collected through the Hospital Information System (HIS). The study methodology was based upon the human capital approach and bottom-up technique. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in 9711 confirmed hospital cases and 717 deaths in Bushehr province during the study period. The direct and indirect costs were estimated to be $1446.06 and $3081.44 per patient. The economic burden for the province and country was estimated to be $43.97 and $2680.88 million. The results showed that the economic burden of this disease particularly premature death costs is remarkably high. Therefore, in order to increase the resiliency of the health system and the stability in service delivery, preventive-oriented strategies have to be more seriously considered by policymakers.