The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

BACKGROUND

The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools.

METHODS

In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events.

Feeding dihydroquercetin in wheat-based diets to laying hens: impact on egg production and quality of fresh and stored eggs

1. This study assessed the impact of dietary dihydroquercetin (DHQ) in wheat-based diets on egg production, composition and quality when fed to laying hens. A total of 80 Hy-Line Brown hens were allocated to 20 enriched layer cages, over two tiers, in groups of four birds.2. Two wheat-based diets were used in the study. A basal diet, meeting the nutrient requirement of the hens, containing 11.56 MJ/kg AME and 172 g/kg crude protein, was mixed and split into two parts. One part was fed as prepared to the control group of birds. The second diet was made by adding 1.5 g DHQ per kg basal diet and fed to the treatment group of birds. This level was relatively high and extended the data on levels normally fed. The diets were fed in a meal form and did not contain any coccidiostat, antimicrobial growth promoters or other similar additives. Each diet was fed to hens in 10 replicate cages for 4 weeks, from 22 to 26 weeks of age, following randomisation.3. Subsequently, eggs were investigated to determine the impact of dietary DHQ on the quality variables of fresh and 28-d stored eggs.4. Overall, feeding 1.5 g/kg dietary DHQ for 4 weeks did not affect (P > 0.05) egg production or the quality of fresh and stored eggs. Any observed egg quality changes (P < 0.05) confirmed the expected effects of egg storage.

Lycopene: Sojourn from kitchen to an effective therapy in Alzheimer's disease

Reports on a significant positive correlation between consumption of carotenoid-rich food and prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD) led to the investigation of carotenoids for the treatment and prevention of AD. More than 1100 types of carotenoids are found naturally, out of which only around 50 are absorbed and metabolized in human body. Lycopene is one of the most commonly ingested members of fat-soluble carotenoid family that gives vegetables and fruits their red, yellow, or orange color. Lycopene has established itself as a promising therapy for AD owing to its neuroprotective activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiamyloidogenic properties. In this review, we highlight the various in vitro and preclinical studies demonstrating the neuroprotective effect of lycopene. Also, some epidemiological and interventional studies investigating the protective effect of lycopene in AD have been discussed. Diving deeper, we also discuss various significant mechanisms, through which lycopene exerts its remissive effects in AD. Finally, to overcome the issue of poor chemical stability and bioavailability of lycopene, some of the novel delivery systems developed for lycopene have also been briefly highlighted.

Microbial polysaccharides: An emerging family of natural biomaterials for cancer therapy and diagnostics

Microbial polysaccharides (MPs) offer immense diversity in structural and functional properties. They are extensively used in advance biomedical science owing to their superior biodegradability, hemocompatibility, and capability to imitate the natural extracellular matrix microenvironment. Ease in tailoring, inherent bio-activity, distinct mucoadhesiveness, ability to absorb hydrophobic drugs, and plentiful availability of MPs make them prolific green biomaterials to overcome the significant constraints of cancer chemotherapeutics. Many studies have demonstrated their application to obstruct tumor development and extend survival through immune activation, apoptosis induction, and cell cycle arrest by MPs. Synoptic investigations of MPs are compulsory to decode applied basics in recent inclinations towards cancer regimens. The current review focuses on the anticancer properties of commercially available and newly explored MPs, and outlines their direct and indirect mode of action. The review also highlights cutting-edge MPs-based drug delivery systems to augment the specificity and efficiency of available chemotherapeutics, as well as their emerging role in theranostics.

Views on Assisted Suicide and Religious Beliefs

After the Austrian constitutional court decided to legalise assisted suicide, we conducted this cross-sectional survey study to assess how persons living in Austria viewed the decision, and whether their views associated with religious and/or moral beliefs. We found that persons claiming to be religious were significantly less likely to approve of the court's decision. They also advocated for significantly stricter regulations than non-religious respondents. When asked to give reasons for their response, several religious respondents cited their religious beliefs, highlighting that there is often an association between stronger religious beliefs and less favourable views on assisted suicide.

Patient Safety and Legal Regulations: A Total-Scale Analysis of the Scientific Literature

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to quantitatively analyze the scientific literature landscape covering legal regulations of patient safety.

METHODS

This retrospective bibliometric analysis queried Web of Science database to identify relevant publications. The identified scientific literature was quantitatively evaluated to reveal prevailing study themes, contributing journals, countries, institutions, and authors, as well as citation patterns.

RESULTS

The identified 1295 publications had a mean of 13.8 citations per publication and an h-index of 57. Approximately 78.8% of them were published since 2010, with the United States being the top contributor and having the greatest publication growth. A total of 79.2% (n = 1025) of the publications were original articles, and 12.5% (n = 162) were reviews. The top authors (by number of publications published on the topic) were based in the United States and Spain and formed 3 collaboration clusters. The top institutions by number of published articles were mainly based in the United States and United Kingdom, with Harvard University being on top. Internal medicine, surgery, and nursing were the most recurring clinical disciplines. Among 4 distinct approaches to improve patient safety, reforms of the liability system (n = 91) were most frequently covered, followed by new forms of regulation (n = 73), increasing transparency (n = 67), and financial incentives (n = 38).

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately 78.8% of the publications on patient safety and its legal implications were published since 2010, and the United States was the top contributor. Approximately 79.2% of the publications were original articles, whereas 12.5% were reviews. Healthcare sciences services was the most recurring journal category, with internal medicine, surgery, and nursing being the most recurring clinical disciplines. Key relevant laws around the globe were identified from the literature set, with some examples highlighted from the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Poland, and Indonesia. Our findings highlight the evolving nature and the diversity of legislative regulations at international scale and underline the importance of healthcare workers to be aware of the development and latest advancement in this field and to understand that different requirements are established in different jurisdictions so as to safeguard the necessary standards of patient safety.

COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests: Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Literature

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt health systems worldwide, conducting Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) at specified intervals has become an essential part of many people's lives around the world. We identified and analyzed the academic literature on COVID-19 RAT. The Web of Science electronic database was queried on 6 July 2022 to find relevant publications. Publication and citation data were retrieved directly from the database. VOSviewer, a bibliometric software, was then used to relate these data to the semantic content from the titles, abstracts, and keywords. The analysis was based on data from 1000 publications. The most productive authors were from Japan and the United States, led by Dr. Koji Nakamura from Japan (n = 10, 1.0%). The most academically productive countries were in the North America, Europe and Asia, led by the United States of America (n = 266, 26.6%). Sensitivity (n = 32, 3.2%) and specificity (n = 23, 2.3%) were among the most frequently recurring author keywords. Regarding sampling methods, "saliva" (n = 54, 5.4%) was mentioned more frequently than "nasal swab" (n = 32, 3.2%) and "nasopharyngeal swab" (n = 22, 2.2%). Recurring scenarios that required RAT were identified: emergency department, healthcare worker, mass screening, airport, traveler, and workplace. Our bibliometric analysis revealed that COVID-19 RAT has been utilized in a range of studies. RAT results were cross-checked with RT-PCR tests for sensitivity and specificity. These results are consistent with comparable exchanges of methods, results or discussions among laboratorians, authors, institutions and publishers in the involved countries of the world.

Twitter-based crowdsourcing: What kind of measures can help to end the COVID-19 pandemic faster?

Background

Crowdsourcing is a low-cost, adaptable, and innovative method to collect ideas from numerous contributors with diverse backgrounds. Crowdsourcing from social media like Twitter can be used for generating ideas in a noticeably brief time based on contributions from globally distributed users. The world has been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last several years. Measures to combat the pandemic continue to evolve worldwide, and ideas and opinions on optimal counteraction strategies are of high interest.

Objective

This study aimed to validate the use of Twitter as a crowdsourcing platform in order to gain an understanding of public opinion on what measures can help to end the COVID-19 pandemic faster.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from December 22, 2021, to February 4, 2022. Tweets were posted by accounts operated by the authors, asking “How to faster end the COVID-19 pandemic?” and encouraging the viewers to comment on measures that they perceive would be effective to achieve this goal. The ideas from the users' comments were collected and categorized into two major themes – personal and institutional measures. In the final stage of the campaign, a Twitter poll was conducted to get additional comments and to estimate which of the two groups of measures were perceived to be important amongst Twitter users.

Results

The crowdsourcing campaign generated seventeen suggested measures categorized into two major themes (personal and institutional) that received a total of 1,727 endorsements (supporting comments, retweets, and likes). The poll received a total of 325 votes with 58% of votes underscoring the importance of both personal and institutional measures, 20% favoring personal measures, 11% favoring institutional measures, and 11% of the votes given just out of curiosity to see the vote results.

Conclusions

Twitter was utilized successfully for crowdsourcing ideas on strategies how to end the COVID-19 pandemic faster. The results indicate that the Twitter community highly values the significance of both personal responsibility and institutional measures to counteract the pandemic. This study validates the use of Twitter as a primary tool that could be used for crowdsourcing ideas with healthcare significance.

Twitter Poll as a Medium for Questionnaire-Based Health Survey: An Experience of a Pilot Study on the Preference of Systems of Medicine for Various Health Conditions

Background

The easy accessibility of smartphones and internet connections enables people to stay virtually connected to communities via social media. However, social media is also being explored for health care education and dissemination of health-related information. Twitter (Twitter, Inc., San Francisco, California) is one of the popular social media used for spreading health-related information. Twitter enables users to create polls to get opinions from their users. The Twitter poll is a less-explored avenue for health surveys.

Objective

In this pilot study, we aimed to explore the feasibility of conducting a questionnaire-based health survey (on the preference of different systems of medicine for the treatment of various health problems) as a Twitter poll.

Methods

This observational study was conducted on Twitter for five consecutive days starting from May 31, 2021. We posted five Twitter polls, one poll each day, for five days in a #INPST unique Twitter campaign. Preferences on the use of modern medicine, traditional medicine, a combination of these two systems, and self-medication were collected on five health conditions. We collected the data from the landing poll page and Tweet Analytics (insight about the engagement of tweets provided free by Twitter). The Chi-square test, binomial test, and one-way Analysis of Variance were used to compare data, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to find a correlation between categorical variables.

Results

We had a mean 4358.6±590.3 poll reach with the engagement of 108.2±36.87 Twitter users and 67.6±28.06 votes. Most of the responses were received on the first day of posting the poll. The participation then gradually decreased. Modern medicine was the first choice for emergency medical care (85.1%, P <0.0001), treatment of cancer (43.6%, P <0.0001), and sexual disorder or transmitted diseases (48.9%, P <0.0001). Traditional medicine was the first choice (37.5%, P = 0.63) for the treatment of common illnesses, and a combination of modern and traditional medicine was the first choice (37.5%, P = 0.01) for the treatment of chronic diseases.

Conclusion

A medical survey with short questions with a maximum of four response options can be conducted on Twitter. Survey results can be obtained without any third-party analytic service. The response rate is highest on the first day and participation may decrease when multiple polls are posted within a Twitter campaign. Preference for systems of medicine found in this study can be used for designing large-scale surveys in the future.

Digital Pills with Ingestible Sensors: Patent Landscape Analysis

The modern healthcare system is directly related to the development of digital health tools and solutions. Pills with digital sensors represent a highly innovative class of new pharmaceuticals. The aim of this work was to analyze the patent landscape and to systematize the main trends in patent protection of digital pills with ingestible sensors worldwide; accordingly, to identify the patenting leaders as well as the main prevailing areas of therapy for patent protection, and the future perspectives in the field. In July 2022, a search was conducted using Internet databases, such as the EPO, USPTO, FDA and the Lens database. The patent landscape analysis shows an increase in the number of patents related to digital pills with ingestible sensors for mobile clinical monitoring, smart drug delivery, and endoscopy diagnostics. The leaders in the number of patents issued are the United States, the European Patent Office, Canada, Australia, and China. The following main areas of patenting digital pills with ingestible sensors were identified: treatment in the field of mental health; HIV/AIDS; pain control; cardiovascular diseases; diabetes; gastroenterology (including hepatitis C); oncology; tuberculosis; and transplantology. The development of scientific and practical approaches towards the implementation of effective and safe digital pills will improve treatment outcomes, increase compliance, reduce hospital stays, provide mobile clinical monitoring, have a positive impact on treatment costs and will contribute to increased patient safety.

Promoting Research, Awareness, and Discussion on AI in Medicine Using #MedTwitterAI: A Longitudinal Twitter Hashtag Analysis

Background

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to reshape medical practice and the delivery of healthcare. Online discussions surrounding AI's utility in these domains are increasingly emerging, likely due to considerable interest from healthcare practitioners, medical technology developers, and other relevant stakeholders. However, many practitioners and medical students report limited understanding and familiarity with AI.

Objective

To promote research, events, and resources at the intersection of AI and medicine for the online medical community, we created a Twitter-based campaign using the hashtag #MedTwitterAI.

Methods

In the present study, we analyze the use of #MedTwitterAI by tracking tweets containing this hashtag posted from 26th March, 2019 to 26th March, 2021, using the Symplur Signals hashtag analytics tool. The full text of all #MedTwitterAI tweets was also extracted and subjected to a natural language processing analysis.

Results

Over this time period, we identified 7,441 tweets containing #MedTwitterAI, posted by 1,519 unique Twitter users which generated 59,455,569 impressions. The most common identifiable locations for users including this hashtag in tweets were the United States (378/1,519), the United Kingdom (80/1,519), Canada (65/1,519), India (46/1,519), Spain (29/1,519), France (24/1,519), Italy (16/1,519), Australia (16/1,519), Germany (16/1,519), and Brazil (15/1,519). Tweets were frequently enhanced with links (80.2%), mentions of other accounts (93.9%), and photos (56.6%). The five most abundant single words were AI (artificial intelligence), patients, medicine, data, and learning. Sentiment analysis revealed an overall majority of positive single word sentiments (e.g., intelligence, improve) with 230 positive and 172 negative sentiments with a total of 658 and 342 mentions of all positive and negative sentiments, respectively. Most frequently mentioned negative sentiments were cancer, risk, and bias. Most common bigrams identified by Markov chain depiction were related to analytical methods (e.g., label-free detection) and medical conditions/biological processes (e.g., rare circulating tumor cells).

Conclusion

These results demonstrate the generated considerable interest of using #MedTwitterAI for promoting relevant content and engaging a broad and geographically diverse audience. The use of hashtags in Twitter-based campaigns can be an effective tool to raise awareness of interdisciplinary fields and enable knowledge-sharing on a global scale.

Step-by-step diagnosis and management of the nocebo/drucebo effect in statin-associated muscle symptoms patients: a position paper from the International Lipid Expert Panel (ILEP)

Statin intolerance is a clinical syndrome whereby adverse effects (AEs) associated with statin therapy [most commonly statin-associated muscle symptoms (SAMS)] result in the discontinuation of therapy and consequently increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. However, complete statin intolerance occurs in only a small minority of treated patients (estimated prevalence of only 3-5%). Many perceived AEs are misattributed (e.g. physical musculoskeletal injury and inflammatory myopathies), and subjective symptoms occur as a result of the fact that patients expect them to do so when taking medicines (the nocebo/drucebo effect)-what might be truth even for over 50% of all patients with muscle weakness/pain. Clear guidance is necessary to enable the optimal management of plasma in real-world clinical practice in patients who experience subjective AEs. In this Position Paper of the International Lipid Expert Panel (ILEP), we present a step-by-step patient-centred approach to the identification and management of SAMS with a particular focus on strategies to prevent and manage the nocebo/drucebo effect and to improve long-term compliance with lipid-lowering therapy.

Role of Diet and Nutrients in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Incidence on Oxidative Stress, Inflammatory Status and Viral Production

Coronavirus illness (COVID-19) is an infectious pathology generated by intense severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This infectious disease has emerged in 2019. The COVID-19-associated pandemic has considerably affected the way of life and the economy in the world. It is consequently crucial to find solutions allowing remedying or alleviating the effects of this infectious disease. Natural products have been in perpetual application from immemorial time given that they are attested to be efficient towards several illnesses without major side effects. Various studies have shown that plant extracts or purified molecules have a promising inhibiting impact towards coronavirus. In addition, it is substantial to understand the characteristics, susceptibility and impact of diet on patients infected with COVID-19. In this review, we recapitulate the influence of extracts or pure molecules from medicinal plants on COVID-19. We approach the possibilities of plant treatment/co-treatment and feeding applied to COVID-19. We also show coronavirus susceptibility and complications associated with nutrient deficiencies and then discuss the major food groups efficient on COVID-19 pathogenesis. Then, we covered emerging technologies using plant-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We conclude by giving nutrient and plants curative therapy recommendations which are of potential interest in the COVID-19 infection and could pave the way for pharmacological treatments or co-treatments of COVID-19.

Beneficial Effects of Snail Helix aspersa Extract in an Experimental Model of Alzheimer’s Type Dementia

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease with multifactorial etiology, unsatisfactory treatment, and a necessity for broad-spectrum active substances for cure. The mucus from Helix aspersa snail is a mixture of bioactive molecules with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-apoptotic effects. So far there are no data concerning the capacity of snail extract (SE) to affect neurodegenerative disorders. Objective: The effects of SE from Helix aspersa on learning and memory deficits in Alzheimer’s type dementia (ATD) induced by scopolamine (Sco) in male Wistar rats were examined and some mechanisms of action underlying these effects were evaluated. Methods: SE (0.5 mL/100 g) was applied orally through a food tube for 16 consecutive days: 5 days before and 11 days simultaneously with Sco (2 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). At the end of Sco treatment, using behavioral methods, we evaluated memory performance. Additionally, in cortex and hippocampus the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, acetylcholine and monoamines (dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin) content, levels of main oxidative stress markers, and expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) were determined. Results: We demonstrated that, according to all behavioral tests used, SE significantly improved the cognitive deficits induced by Sco. Furthermore, SE possessed AChE inhibitory activity, moderate antioxidant properties and the ability to modulate monoamines content in two brain structures. Moreover, multiple SE applications not only restored the depressed by Sco expression of CREB and BDNF, but significantly upregulated it. Conclusion: Summarizing results, we conclude that complex mechanisms underlie the beneficial effects of SE on impaired memory in Alzheimer’s type dementia.

Research on Digital Technology Use in Cardiology: Bibliometric Analysis

Background

Digital technology uses in cardiology have become a popular research focus in recent years. However, there has been no published bibliometric report that analyzed the corresponding academic literature in order to derive key publishing trends and characteristics of this scientific area.

Objective

We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the academic literature on digital technology uses in cardiology, and to unveil popular research topics, key authors, institutions, countries, and journals. We further captured the cardiovascular conditions and diagnostic tools most commonly investigated within this field.

Methods

The Web of Science electronic database was queried to identify relevant papers on digital technology uses in cardiology. Publication and citation data were acquired directly from the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer, a dedicated bibliometric software package, and related to the semantic content of titles, abstracts, and keywords. A term map was constructed for findings visualization.

Results

The analysis was based on data from 12,529 papers. Of the top 5 most productive institutions, 4 were based in the United States. The United States was the most productive country (4224/12,529, 33.7%), followed by United Kingdom (1136/12,529, 9.1%), Germany (1067/12,529, 8.5%), China (682/12,529, 5.4%), and Italy (622/12,529, 5.0%). Cardiovascular diseases that had been frequently investigated included hypertension (152/12,529, 1.2%), atrial fibrillation (122/12,529, 1.0%), atherosclerosis (116/12,529, 0.9%), heart failure (106/12,529, 0.8%), and arterial stiffness (80/12,529, 0.6%). Recurring modalities were electrocardiography (170/12,529, 1.4%), angiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), echocardiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), digital subtraction angiography (111/12,529, 0.9%), and photoplethysmography (80/12,529, 0.6%). For a literature subset on smartphone apps and wearable devices, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (20/632, 3.2%) and other JMIR portfolio journals (51/632, 8.0%) were the major publishing venues.

Conclusions

Digital technology uses in cardiology target physicians, patients, and the general public. Their functions range from assisting diagnosis, recording cardiovascular parameters, and patient education, to teaching laypersons about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This field already has had a great impact in health care, and we anticipate continued growth.

The crystal structure of Histidinium hydrogensquarate, C10H11N3O6

C10H11N3O6, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 7.4928(12) Å, b = 14.860(3) Å, c = 11.0593(18) Å, β = 109.465(5)°, V = 1161.0(4) Å3, Z = 4, R gt(F) = 0.0439, wR ref (F 2) = 0.1060, T = 300.0(2) K.

Antimicrobial peptides: A plausible approach for COVID-19 treatment

INTRODUCTION

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which emerged as a major public health threat, has affected >400 million people globally leading to >5 million mortalities to date. Treatments of COVID-19 are still to be developed as the available therapeutic approaches are not able to combat the virus causing the disease (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2; SARS-CoV-2) satisfactorily. However, antiviral peptides (AVPs) have demonstrated prophylactic and therapeutic effects against many coronaviruses (CoVs).

AREAS COVERED

This review critically discusses various types of AVPs evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19 along with their mechanisms of action. Furthermore, the peptides inhibiting the entry of the virus by targeting its binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) or integrins, fusion mechanism as well as activation of proteolytic enzymes (cathepsin L, transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), or furin) are also discussed.

EXPERT OPINION

Although extensively investigated, successful treatment of COVID-19 is still a challenge due to emergence of virus mutants. Antiviral peptides are anticipated to be blockbuster drugs for the management of this serious infection because of their formulation and therapeutic advantages. Although they may act on different pathways, AVPs having a multi-targeted approach are considered to have the upper hand in the management of this infection.

A Review: Molecular Mechanism of Regulation of ABCA1 Expression

Abstract:

ATP-binding cassette subfamily A member 1 (ABCA1) protein plays an essential role in a variety of events, such as cholesterol and phospholipid efflux, nascent high-density lipoprotein (HDL) biosynthesis, phospholipid translocation. Thus, there has been much research activity aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms of regulating ABCA1 expression. In this review, we first discuss ABCA1 structure, tissue distribution, cellular localization and trafficking, as well as its function. Furthermore, current understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of ABCA1 expression are summarized. ABCA1 transcriptional regulation is mediated by a very complicated system, including nuclear receptor systems, factors binding to other sites in the ABCA1 promoter, cytokines, hormones, growth factors, lipid metabolites, enzymes, and other messengers/factors/pathways. In addition, ABCA1 post-transcriptional regulation is mediated by microRNA, long noncoding RNA, RNA-binding proteins, proteases, fatty acids, PDZ proteins, signaling proteins, and other factors. Compared to the transcriptional regulation of ABCA1 which is well established, the post-transcriptional regulation of ABCA1 expression is poorly understood.

Digital Teaching in Medical Education: Scientific Literature Landscape Review

BACKGROUND

Digital teaching in medical education has grown in popularity in the recent years. However, to the best of our knowledge, no bibliometric report to date has been published that analyzes this important literature set to reveal prevailing topics and trends and their impacts reflected in citation counts.

OBJECTIVE

We used a bibliometric approach to unveil and evaluate the scientific literature on digital teaching research in medical education, demonstrating recurring research topics, productive authors, research organizations, countries, and journals. We further aimed to discuss some of the topics and findings reported by specific highly cited works.

METHODS

The Web of Science electronic database was searched to identify relevant papers on digital teaching research in medical education. Basic bibliographic data were obtained by the "Analyze" and "Create Citation Report" functions of the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer for further analyses. Visualization maps were generated to display the recurring author keywords and terms mentioned in the titles and abstracts of the publications.

RESULTS

The analysis was based on data from 3978 papers that were identified. The literature received worldwide contributions with the most productive countries being the United States and United Kingdom. Reviews were significantly more cited, but the citations between open access vs non-open access papers did not significantly differ. Some themes were cited more often, reflected by terms such as virtual reality, innovation, trial, effectiveness, and anatomy. Different aspects in medical education were experimented for digital teaching, such as gross anatomy education, histology, complementary medicine, medicinal chemistry, and basic life support. Some studies have shown that digital teaching could increase learning satisfaction, knowledge gain, and even cost-effectiveness. More studies were conducted on trainees than on undergraduate students.

CONCLUSIONS

Digital teaching in medical education is expected to flourish in the future, especially during this era of COVID-19 pandemic.

Evodiamine Lowers Blood Lipids by Up-Regulating the PPARγ/ABCG1 Pathway in High-Fat-Diet-Fed Mice

The natural alkaloid evodiamine enhances cholesterol efflux from cultured THP-1-derived macrophages, but whether it has any impact on blood lipids in vivo remains unknown. In this study, the effect of evodiamine on hyperlipidemia induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) was investigated in mice. Intragastric administrations of evodiamine (10 and 20 mg/kg) for 8 weeks resulted in a significant improvement of metabolic lipid profiles by reducing the plasma levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Evodiamine also significantly decreased hepatic lipid accumulation and hepatic total bile acids (TBA). Mechanistically, evodiamine increased ATP-binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) mRNA and protein expression and up-regulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) expression in the liver. Taken together, the natural product evodiamine lowers blood lipids in HFD-fed mice likely through promoting the PPARγ-ABCG1 signaling pathway.