Journal of family medicine and primary care- A five year bibliometric analysis from 2016 to 2020.

Aim: To conduct a five-year bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (J Family Med Prim Care) between 2016 and 2020. Setting and Design: This retrospective secondary data analysis was conducted in the Department of Conservative, Endodontics and Aesthetic Dentistry, Dental Institute, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand and Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, UP. Material and Methods: The data of publications including research articles, review and case reports excluding editorials and letters to the editor, commentaries and invited articles published in the J Family Med Prim Care between 2016 and 2020 were downloaded from the journal website and analysed in terms of the bibliometric parameters. Results: The results revealed that the journal gave equal weightage to all types of articles. The total number of articles published between 2016 and 2020 was 2,426 out of which 1,666 articles were published from India and the remaining from other parts of the world. In India, the state of Delhi had the maximum publications while speciality Preventive and Social Medicine (22.42%) and General Medicine (23.12%) had the maximum articles. Moreover, between 2016 and 2020, J Family Med Prim Care had 2,132 citations of published articles and had 65 publications in 2020 about the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Conclusion: The issue numbers per year for J Family Med Prim Care has gradually increased over time. The publication is open for all fields of medical, dental sciences and allied sciences.

An Empirical Study on the Corporate Social Responsibility Regime in India: Pre-COVID and COVID Times

Companies have shown social responsibility towards their stakeholders through corporate philanthropic efforts, known as Corporate Social Responsibility (?CSR?). These efforts aim to maximise the welfare of the stakeholders and take care of the needs of society. The parent legislation for the Indian companies, that is, the Companies Act, brought a paradigm shift in 2013 when it mandated certain companies to spend mandatorily on CSR activities. Since then, the CSR legislation has been subject to frequent changes through amendments and clarifications. Various changes were brought to CSR policies in the past 2 years during COVID-19, including allocation of CSR funds towards COVID-19 relief funds, carry forward of excessive CSR expenditure and 100% tax deduction on COVID-19-related activities. This has affected how companies allocate their CSR funds.To study this change, this empirical study analyses the shifts in CSR expenditure of the top 25 companies of the Fortune 500 list in pre-COVID-19 financial year 2017?2018 and COVID-19 hit financial year 2020?2021. The study uses a secondary data collection method, that is, self-reported annual reports, to arrive at ratios given as percentages or fractions, and a comparison is made across the two periods. The authors deliberate upon the limitations of the CSR regime as revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic and address questions relating to the CSR regime?s efficiency in providing societal good. Furthermore, the authors study the modified CSR expenditure pattern adopted by several companies consequent of COVID-19. This study concludes by offering recommendations that strive to inspire a more sustainable, efficient and pragmatic CSR regime in India.JEL Codes: G39, D22, M14

α-Ketoglutarate Inhibits Thrombosis and Inflammation by Prolyl Hydroxylase-2 Mediated Inactivation of Phospho-Akt.

BACKGROUND: Phospho-Akt1 (pAkt1) undergoes prolyl hydroxylation at Pro125 and Pro313 by the prolyl hydroxylase-2 (PHD2) in a reaction decarboxylating α-ketoglutarate (αKG). We investigated whether the αKG supplementation could inhibit Akt-mediated activation of platelets and monocytes, in vitro as well as in vivo, by augmenting PHD2 activity. METHODS: We treated platelets or monocytes isolated from healthy individuals with αKG in presence of agonists in vitro and assessed the signalling molecules including pAkt1. We supplemented mice with dietary αKG and estimated the functional responses of platelets and monocytes ex vivo. Further, we investigated the impact of dietary αKG on inflammation and thrombosis in lungs of mice either treated with thrombosis-inducing agent carrageenan or infected with SARS-CoV-2. FINDINGS: Octyl αKG supplementation to platelets promoted PHD2 activity through elevated intracellular αKG to succinate ratio, and reduced aggregation in vitro by suppressing pAkt1(Thr308). Augmented PHD2 activity was confirmed by increased hydroxylated-proline and enhanced binding of PHD2 to pAkt in αKG-treated platelets. Contrastingly, inhibitors of PHD2 significantly increased pAkt1 in platelets. Octyl-αKG followed similar mechanism in monocytes to inhibit cytokine secretion in vitro. Our data also describe a suppressed pAkt1 and reduced activation of platelets and leukocytes ex vivo from mice supplemented with dietary αKG, unaccompanied by alteration in their number. Dietary αKG significantly reduced clot formation and leukocyte accumulation in various organs including lungs of mice treated with thrombosis-inducing agent carrageenan. Importantly, in SARS-CoV-2 infected hamsters, we observed a significant rescue effect of dietary αKG on inflamed lungs with significantly reduced leukocyte accumulation, clot formation and viral load alongside down-modulation of pAkt in the lung of the infected animals. INTERPRETATION: Our study suggests that dietary αKG supplementation prevents Akt-driven maladies such as thrombosis and inflammation and rescues pathology of COVID19-infected lungs. FUNDING: Study was funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India (grants: BT/PR22881 and BT/PR22985); and the Science and Engineering Research Board, Govt. of India (CRG/000092).

Interplay between hypoxia and inflammation contributes to the progression and severity of respiratory viral diseases.

History of pandemics is dominated by viral infections and specifically respiratory viral diseases like influenza and COVID-19. Lower respiratory tract infection is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Crosstalk between resultant inflammation and hypoxic microenvironment may impair ventilatory response of lungs. This reduces arterial partial pressure of oxygen, termed as hypoxemia, which is observed in a section of patients with respiratory virus infections including SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). In this review, we describe the interplay between inflammation and hypoxic microenvironment in respiratory viral infection and its contribution to disease pathogenesis.

Student's Perception of Online Learning during COVID Pandemic Training in neurology: Flexibility and adaptability of a neurology training program at the epicenter of COVID-19

OBJECTIVE: To outline changes made to a neurology residency program in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: In early March 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were announced in the United States. New York City quickly became the epicenter of a global pandemic, and our training program needed to rapidly adapt to the increasing number of inpatient cases while being mindful of protecting providers and continuing education. Many of these changes unfolded over days, including removing residents from outpatient services, minimizing the number of residents on inpatient services, deploying residents to medicine services and medical intensive care units, converting continuity clinic patient visits to virtual options, transforming didactics to online platforms only, and maintaining connectedness in an era of social distancing. We have been able to accomplish this through daily virtual meetings among leadership, faculty, and residents. RESULTS: Over time, our program has successfully rolled out initiatives to service the growing number of COVID-related inpatients while maintaining neurologic care for those in need and continuing our neurologic education curriculum. CONCLUSION: It has been necessary and feasible for our residency training program to undergo rapid structural changes to adapt to a medical crisis. The key ingredients in doing this successfully have been flexibility and teamwork. We suspect that many of the implemented changes will persist long after the COVID-19 crisis has passed and will change the approach to neurologic and medical training.