Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis of Research Articles on TCM’s International Spread (preprint)

Based on 1185 research articles related to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from 2020 to 2023 retrieved from the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases, a comprehensive systematic literature review was conducted with the primary aim of exploring the main contributors, research status, hot topics and research frontiers concerning the international spread of TCM against the COVID-19 pandemic through a metrical and visualization analysis. CiteSpace 6.1. R6 software is applied to visualize the publication countries, subjects, authors, institutes, publication sources, keywords and references of the literature and to draw a visual knowledge graph. PRISMA 2020 was used to evaluate the scientificity of this study itself, and the PRISMA 2020 scores generally showed good quality of the systematic review, conforming to 29 out of 37 items, partly in accordance with 2 items of TCM. The statistics of this study show that 81% of articles published are from China, followed by 8.2% from the USA and 5.3% from India. Moreover, the research hotspots of coronavirus in the articles involve molecular docking, sar, systematic review and herbal medicine. Moreover, the principal proposition of translation strategies in TCM’s international spread is the combination of domestication and foreignization to maintain the originality of TCM’s nature and to give consideration to the cognition of audiences. Instead of blindly merging into the Western medicine system, the international spread of TCM ought to broaden its span and to convey the theoretical framework, philosophical thoughts and traditional culture as a whole. In addition, cooperation between research institutes can be further strengthened to deliver an integrated and united research pattern.

International electronic health record-derived post-acute sequelae profiles of COVID-19 patients.

The risk profiles of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) have not been well characterized in multi-national settings with appropriate controls. We leveraged electronic health record (EHR) data from 277 international hospitals representing 414,602 patients with COVID-19, 2.3 million control patients without COVID-19 in the inpatient and outpatient settings, and over 221 million diagnosis codes to systematically identify new-onset conditions enriched among patients with COVID-19 during the post-acute period. Compared to inpatient controls, inpatient COVID-19 cases were at significant risk for angina pectoris (RR 1.30, 95% CI 1.09-1.55), heart failure (RR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.35), cognitive dysfunctions (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.07-1.31), and fatigue (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.07-1.30). Relative to outpatient controls, outpatient COVID-19 cases were at risk for pulmonary embolism (RR 2.10, 95% CI 1.58-2.76), venous embolism (RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.17-1.54), atrial fibrillation (RR 1.30, 95% CI 1.13-1.50), type 2 diabetes (RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.16-1.36) and vitamin D deficiency (RR 1.19, 95% CI 1.09-1.30). Outpatient COVID-19 cases were also at risk for loss of smell and taste (RR 2.42, 95% CI 1.90-3.06), inflammatory neuropathy (RR 1.66, 95% CI 1.21-2.27), and cognitive dysfunction (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.04-1.33). The incidence of post-acute cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions decreased across time among inpatient cases while the incidence of cardiovascular, digestive, and metabolic conditions increased among outpatient cases. Our study, based on a federated international network, systematically identified robust conditions associated with PASC compared to control groups, underscoring the multifaceted cardiovascular and neurological phenotype profiles of PASC.

Evaluation of online game-based and traditional teaching methods in cephalometric landmarks identifications.

INTRODUCTION: Orthodontic students need to accurately identify cephalometric landmarks to perform cephalometric measurements, which is the prerequisite to proper orthodontic diagnosis and treatment. To provide insights into future cephalometric education, we compared the performance of different methods that can be used in tracing practice, including a novel online game-based method, the cephalometric training module of Uceph (version 948; Uceph, Chengdu, China). METHODS: A total of 45 first-year orthodontic graduate students were divided into 3 groups to receive different kinds of cephalometric training (module group, practicing with the cephalometric training module of Uceph; teaching group, practicing under the teacher's guidance; self-training group, practicing with traced cephalogram as reference). After training with 4 cephalograms, students completed 2 test samples in which the tracing accuracy and time were recorded and a questionnaire concerning their feelings. RESULTS: Both the teaching and module group offered performance advantages on increasing the tracing accuracy and speed of students. The module group provided a better performance on improving tracing accuracy than the teaching group. Students in the module group showed improved concentration, interest, satisfaction toward the teaching method and confidence of correctly identifying landmarks than self-training group, and enhanced interest than students in the teaching group. CONCLUSIONS: The shooting game-based cephalometric training module of Uceph has demonstrated better performance than traditional face-to-face teaching and self-learning, proving to be a viable online tool to train cephalometric tracing, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Psychological status of TMD patients, orthodontic patients and the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Confronting the outbreak of COVID-19, this cross-sectional study was aimed to assess psychological status of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) patients, orthodontic patients and the general population in China during the pandemic. An online anonymous questionnaire was developed in Chinese, including the individual background information, the perception of the epidemic, and level of anxiety and depression through Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). The respondents were divided into ORTHO group, TMD group and Control group. Descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression modelling were performed. In total, 1241 valid questionnaires were collected, covering 587 orthodontic patients and 220 TMD patients. It is shown that the overall mental health is not quite optimistic during the COVID-19 pandemic with the mean score of K10 being 18.65. TMD patients have higher level of anxiety and depression than orthodontic patients as well as the general population. Younger age, female gender, having close contact with individuals from Hubei province, higher self-rated infection possibility, concern about psychological barriers and distrust are negatively affecting patients' psychological status. Mental health care should be emphasized when hospitals and clinics reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to patients with these relevant characteristics.

The potential effects of clinical antidiabetic agents on SARS-CoV-2.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is currently posing significant threats to public health worldwide. It is notable that a substantial proportion of patients with sever COVID-19 have coexisting diabetic conditions, indicating the progression and outcome of COVID-19 may relate to diabetes. However, it is still unclear whether diabetic treatment principles can be used for the treatment of COVID-19. METHODS: We conducted a computational approach to screen all commonly used clinical oral hypoglycemic drugs to identify the potential inhibitors for the main protease (Mpro ) of SARS-CoV-2, which is one of the key drug targets for anti-COVID-19 drug discovery. RESULTS: Six antidiabetic drugs with docking scores higher than 8.0 (cutoff value), including repaglinide, canagliflozin, glipizide, gliquidone, glimepiride, and linagliptin, were predicted as the promising inhibitors of Mpro . Interestingly, repaglinide, one of the six antidiabetic drugs with the highest docking score for Mpro , was similar to a previously predicted active molecule nelfinavir, which is a potential anti-HIV and anti-COVID-19 drug. Moreover, we found repaglinide shared similar docking pose and pharmacophores with a reported ligand (N3 inhibitor) and nelfinavir, demonstrating that repaglinide would interact with Mpro in a similar way. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that these six antidiabetic drugs may have an extra effect on the treatment of COVID-19, although further studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

Mental distress in orthodontic patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak impacts the mental health of patients, health workers, and the public. The level of impact on the mental health of orthodontic patients in treatment is unknown. The objective of the study was to evaluate the mental health of orthodontic patients in China during the early stage of the pandemic. METHODS: An online survey was conducted on a convenience sample of anonymous participants. The questionnaire, in Chinese (Mandarin), comprised 5 sections. Sections 1-3 included demographic, epidemical, and orthodontic status of the patients. Section 4 assessed mental health-related to orthodontics. Section 5 was the Kessler-10 Mental Distress Scale. A total of 48 orthodontists were invited to distribute the questionnaires to their patients. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, K-means cluster analysis, and bivariate logistics regression analysis were performed with significance set at P <0.05. RESULTS: Questionnaires were collected from 558 patients (104 males, 354 females; mean age 24.78 ± 6.33 years). The prevalence of mental distress was 38% (174/458). Higher odds ratios were associated with female participants, missed appointments, and Hubei residence. The type of orthodontic appliance was associated with the anxiety of prolonged treatment duration. The manner of communication with patients regarding the postponement of appointments was associated with patients' concerns of prolonged treatment duration. The frequency of contact from dentists was associated with patients' independence. CONCLUSIONS: Over one-third of orthodontic patients experienced mental distress during the pandemic. Multiple factors affected the level of anxiety of orthodontic patients, such as the type of orthodontic appliance, time since last dental visit, manner of communication with the orthodontist, and the localities of the pandemic progression.