Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Frequency rTMS over the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex .on Chronic Pain and Chronic-Pain-Accompanied Depression.

The effect of high-frequency (HF) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can relieve chronic pain and accompanying depressive symptoms. However, in recent years, some high-quality studies have challenged this view. Therefore, it is necessary to update the data and analyze the effects of HF rTMS on the DLPFC on chronic pain and accompanying depression. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of HF rTMS on the DLPFC on chronic pain and accompanying depression. We searched PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane through September 2021. The search strings searched were : "pain" AND ("TMS" OR "transcranial magnetic stimulation") AND "prefrontal cortex". The inclusion criteria according to PICOS was as follows: P, patient with chronic pain; I, HF (≥5 Hz) rTMS on the DLPFC; C, included a sham treatment condition; O, pain indicators; S, pre-/poststudies, crossover, or parallel-group. We extracted the pain and accompanying depression evaluation indicators. The short-term analgesic effect of HF rTMS over the left DLPFC is not significant (WMD = 0.34, 95% CI: [-1.60, 2.28]) but has a significant mid-term and long-term analgesic effect on chronic pain (WMD = -0.50, 95% CI: [-0.99, -0.01]; WMD = -1.10, 95% CI: [-2.00, -0.19], respectively). HF rTMS over the DLPFC can effectively alleviate the depressive symptoms of patients with chronic pain (WMD = -0.83, 95% CI: [-3.01, 1.36]). Thus, HF rTMS on the left DLPFC can relieve chronic pain and accompanying depressive symptoms.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation regulates neuroinflammation, relieves hyperalgesia and reverses despair-like behaviour in chronic constriction injury rats.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could effectively relieve the pain and depression in neuropathic pain (NP) patients. However, the specific treatment parameters and exact mechanism are still unclear. Our purpose is to observe the effects of rTMS on pain and despair-like behaviour in chronic constriction injury (CCI) rats and explore its possible mechanism. Thirty-two 8-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham operation group (S, n = 8), CCI group (n = 8), 1 Hz-rTMS group (n = 8) and 10 Hz-rTMS group (n = 8). The rTMS was applied to the left dorsal anterior agranular insular (AId) 1 week after the operation, once a day, 5 days/week for 4 consecutive weeks. Mechanical hyperalgesia, despair-like behaviours and sciatic nerve function were used to evaluate the effects of rTMS. Besides, glucose metabolism, the metabotropic glutamate receptors 5 (mGluR5), N-Methyl-D-Aspartic acid receptor type 2B (NMDAR2B), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (Ll-6) and interleukin-1ß (Ll-1ß) in AId were tested to explore the possible mechanism. Compared with 1 Hz-rTMS, the rats of 10 Hz-rTMS had higher the mechanical hyperalgesia, higher sugar preference and shorter swimming immobility time. Besides, the expressions of mGluR5, NMDAR2B, TNF-α, Ll-1ß and Ll-6 both in 1 Hz-rTMS and 10 Hz-rTMS groups were reduced compared with the CCI group; the 10 Hz-rTMS group had a more decrease than that of 1 Hz-rTMS. Furthermore, the [18]F-FDG uptake was lower than that in the 1 Hz-rTMS group. Compared with 1 Hz-rTMS, 10 Hz-rTMS could more effectively relieve mechanical hyperalgesia and reverse despair-like behaviour in rats. The mechanism could be related to regulating mGluR5/NMDAR2B-related inflammatory signalling pathways in the AId.

Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis of Neuropathic Pain Using Web of Science and CiteSpace for the Past 20 Years.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our bibliometric analysis was to explore the disciplinary hotspots and collaborative networks in research on neuropathic pain (NPP) during in the past 20 years. METHODS: The studies related to NPP were obtained from Web of Science database. Global publications on NPP were analyzed for different factors, including the number of reports, citation rates, authors, institutions, countries and regions, journals, funding, and relevant partnerships and topic hotspots. RESULTS: From 2001 to 2020, 6905 studies related to NPP research were reported worldwide. The number of publications had increased continually during the past 20 years. Pain was the most productive and most frequently co-cited journal. Ralf Baron was the most productive and influential author. The most productive country and institution were the United States and Harvard University, respectively. Investigators and institutions from the United States, Japan, and China were the core research forces. We found broad and close cooperation in the field worldwide. The top authors and top institutions had collaborated relatively closely with others. CONCLUSIONS: The research of NPP is a well-developed and prospective field of medical study. The journals Pain, European Journal of Pain, and Molecular Pain showed more interested in this field. The United States, Harvard University, and Ralf Baron were the top country, institution, and author, respectively. Global research collaboration was extensive, with the top institutions and authors cooperating with others.

The top 100 highly cited articles on anterior cruciate ligament from 2000 to 2019: A bibliometric and visualized analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Bibliometrics can trace the overall research trend in a specific field. To our knowledge, there has been no comprehensive bibliometric analysis of all anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) research from 2000-2019. We provided a bibliometric and visualized analysis of the top 100 highly-cited articles on ACL indexed by the Web of Science (WoS) to provide researchers with the present research status and the potential direction of ACL research. HYPOTHESIS: A bibliometric and visualized analysis of the top 100 highly-cited articles on ACL may identify the research trends, popular journals, core countries, influential institutions and authors in this field. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We obtained data from the WoS Core Collection on February 20, 2020. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted based on the WoS. Collaboration and keywords analysis was performed using the VOSviewer software. RESULTS: The top 100 highly-cited literatures included 88 articles and 12 reviews. The average total citations was 325 (ranging 197 to 1,423). The article with 1432 citations published by Hewett TE et al. in 2005 was the most influential reference. Sixteen cohort studies and 14 clinical randomized controlled trials were included among the 100 literatures. Twenty-three journals published the top 100 literatures. The American Journal of Sports Medicine published 44 papers with 15,665 citations. The USA published 65 highly-cited articles. The University of Pittsburgh published 13 literatures with 3,966 citations. Hewett TE published 11 papers with 4,806 citations. Extensive collaboration existed worldwide. Reconstruction, kinematics, posterolateral bundle, in-situ forces, neuromuscular control, long-term follow-up, tunnel placement, and prevention were the most common keywords. DISCUSSION: In this field, The American Journal of Sports Medicine was the most influential journal. The USA was the most productive and influential country. Researchers and institutions from North America and Europe contributed the most. Regarding the treatments for ACL injuries, we do need well-reported and good-quality enduring randomized trials to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of current treatments. LEVEL OF PROOF: IV; retrospective analysis.

Research trends in osteoporosis in Asian countries and regions in the last 20 years.

Asian countries have made great progress in the osteoporosis research over the past 20 years. Mainland China has a significant increase in the number of articles. The scientific influence of Japan ranked by citations was leading in Asia. Indian researchers published fewer articles on osteoporosis, but the overall citation was quite well. PURPOSE: To analyze the quantity and quality of literature regarding osteoporosis from the Asian countries/regions. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection on May 4, 2020. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was conducted based on WoS. Keywords analysis was performed using VosView software. RESULTS: The core countries/regions in Asia in the osteoporosis research included the Mainland China (MC), Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan, India, and Iran. The core countries/regions published 4798 papers, which accounted for 33.8% of the total globally. The MC with 2242 literature and Japan with 971 were ranked second and fourth worldwide. Over the past decade, MC has published the most articles and increased dramatically. Japan had the highest mean citations and the highest mean citation density. The country with the most publications in the top ten popular osteoporosis-related journals was Japan. The top institutional from the MC, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan published the most articles. The top authors with the most articles were from Japan and MC. Top institutions and authors from Japan, MC, and India led the way in citations. The core countries/regions had more frequent cooperation with the USA, the UK, and Canada compared with the limited cooperation among Asian countries. Osteoporosis research in Asia relies heavily on public funding and pharmaceutical companies. Keywords for these studies have changed over the past 20 years. CONCLUSIONS: Asian countries have made progress in the osteoporosis research over the past 20 years. The MC has a significant increase in the number of articles. The scientific influence of Japan ranked by citations was leading in Asia. Indian researchers published fewer articles on osteoporosis, but the overall quality was quite well. The core Asian countries/regions should strengthen in-depth cooperation in the future.