The evolving landscape of publishing in the field of pain: An automated bibliometric analysis from 1975 to 2020.

BACKGROUND: The aims of this bibliometric analysis were (1) a longitudinal analysis of the publication landscape in the field of pain (1975-2020) and (2) to characterize the overall publication profiles for two selected journals: European Journal of Pain and PAIN® utilizing an automated approach. METHODS: Database searches in Scopus extracted all journals with 'pain' in their title. For the two specific journals, papers were manually/automatically profiled into preclinical, human and translational studies. RESULTS: A gross list of 64 journals in the field of pain consisting of both active and ceased journals in Scopus were included in this analysis which identified 62,565 papers with approximately 4000 papers published/year. These papers include 2759 and 9156 papers in Eur. J. Pain and PAIN®, respectively. Currently, there are 24 active 'pain' journals. Authors/paper increase from 2 to 7 indicating a development from mono-disciplinary to multi-disciplinary studies. The overall publication profiles assessing preclinical, human (experimental/clinical) and translational papers in Eur. J. Pain and PAIN® were almost similar (14%, 75% and 10% versus 26%, 63% and 10%). Papers have changed over the years from mono-disciplinary studies (e.g. behavioural studies) to multi-disciplinary studies (e.g. combined behavioural and cell studies). After optimization, the search model matched the manual screening by 100%, 98% and 96% for the preclinical, clinical and healthy volunteer categories. CONCLUSIONS: Over the last 45 years, more than 60,000 pain-related papers have been published. Papers develop over the years from mono-disciplinary to multi-disciplinary studies. The overall publication profile including preclinical, human (experimental/clinical) and translational papers was almost similar in Eur. J. Pain and PAIN®. SIGNIFICANCE: The bibliometric analysis of a pain journal provides information on which specific areas of research are published, how this may have changed over the years and how a journal is positioned compared with other journals in the field.

Circulating surfactant protein D is decreased in early rheumatoid arthritis: a 1-year prospective study.

Innate immune system abnormalities, e.g., mannan-binding lectin (MBL) genotype variants, have been demonstrated to modify the disease course of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Surfactant protein D (SP-D) shares important structural and functional properties with MBL suggesting that SP-D may be an additional RA disease modifier. The Met11Thr polymorphism in the N-terminal part of SP-D is an important determinant for the SP-D serum level, but this polymorphism is also essential to the function and assembly into oligomers. We aimed to compare the serum levels of SP-D in a cohort of newly diagnosed untreated RA patients with healthy matched controls, and to investigate if there was an association to core measures of disease activity within the first year after disease onset. Secondly, we aimed to investigate whether the Met11Thr polymorphism was associated with RA. Serum SP-D was significantly lower in DMARD naive RA patients compared with healthy controls (P = 0.016). Median SP-D concentration at inclusion was 878 ng/ml (95% CI: 730-1033) and 1164 ng/ml (95% CI: 1093-1366) in RA patients and matched controls, respectively. SP-D increased during Methotrexate treatment (P < 0.0001), and at 1-year follow-up median SP-D was 1032 ng/ml (95% CI: 777-1255). SP-D levels did not correlate with traditional disease activity measures. The Thr11/Thr11 genotype and the Thr11 allele tended to be more frequent in RA patients. In conclusion, the low serum level of SP-D and the lack of correlation with traditional disease activity measures indicate that SP-D reflects a distinctive aspect in the RA pathogenesis.

Porcine DJ-1: cloning of PARK7 cDNA, sequence comparison, expression analysis and chromosomal localization.

The PARK7 gene encodes a protein, DJ-1, with several functions such as protection of cells from oxidative stress, sperm maturation and fertilization and chaperone activity. Mutations in the PARK7 gene are associated with autosomal recessive early-onset Parkinson's disease (Parkinsonism). This work reports the cloning and analysis of the porcine (Sus scrofa) homologue of DJ-1. The porcine PARK7 cDNA was amplified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using oligonucleotide primers derived from in silico sequences. The porcine PARK7 cDNA (SsPARK7) encodes a protein of 189 amino acids which shows a very high similarity to bovine (97%), to human (96%) and to canine (95%) DJ-1. Protein structure comparison of human and porcine DJ-1 sequences revealed that amino acid changes were few between the two species and not likely to alter DJ-1 structure and function. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR detection exhibited SsPARK7 mRNA expression in all analyzed porcine tissues, although at different levels. Furthermore, expression analysis showed that SsPARK7 transcripts could be detected early in embryo development in different brain regions. The PARK7 gene was demonstrated to be located on porcine chromosome 6. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis revealed one SNP in the porcine PARK7 gene, giving rise to a silent mutation in exon 6.

New optional IVC filter for percutaneous retrieval--in vitro evaluation of embolus capturing efficiency.

PURPOSE: In-vitro evaluation of a new caval filter (Cook Celect Filter) developed for delayed percutaneous retrieval in comparison to the Gunther Tulip filter. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The new Celect filter is constructed on the basis of the Tulip filter and consists of 4 primary anchoring legs and additional 8 thinner secondary wires to stabilize the filter and to guarantee adequate filtering efficiency. The filtering wires are of the same amount and equal distribution as the filtering wires of the Tulip filter. The secondary wires are arranged in such a way that percutaneous filter retrieval should be possible even if the wires are incorporated into the caval wall. In a flow model (tube size ø15-, ø22- and ø30 mm), the filter was exposed to single and multiple emboli (blood clots) of different sizes (3 x 5, 3 x 10, 5 x 10, 3 x 20, 5 x 20, 7 x 10, 7 x 20 to 10 x 24 mm) to analyse the embolus capturing efficiency under different conditions including eccentric and concentric, horizontal and vertical positions in comparison to the Tulip filter. All testing was carried out in SPSS analytic software; statistical significance was assumed for p-values < 0.05. RESULTS: The in-vitro embolus capturing efficiency of the Celect filter proved to be equivalent to the Tulip filter. In the single-embolus test, 91.6 % of the clots were captured by the Celect filter and 87.2 % by the Tulip filter (p = 0.042). Large clots ranging from 7 x 10 to 10 x 24 mm were captured in all cases, whereas the capture rates for the 3 x 5-mm and 3 x 10-mm clots were lower. The filters captured significantly more clots in the concentric than in the eccentric location. There was no significant difference between the overall capture rates of the two filters in the multi-clot test (72.2 % vs. 75.1 %), which showed deterioration of filter function during multiple clot exposure. With the 15-mm tube, the Celect filter had a significantly higher capture rate than the Tulip filter, whereas it was lower with the ø30-mm tube. There was no significant difference between the filters in a ø22-mm tube. The pressure gradient across the filters when exposed to blood clots ranged from 4.9 - 7.4 mm Hg for the Celect filter and 5.7 - 6.8 mm Hg for the Tulip filter in the single-embolus testing. There was no significant difference in the multi-clot tests. CONCLUSION: The new Celect filter showed similar in-vitro capture properties as the Gunther Tulip filter and deserves further in-vivo testing.

Full-term development of nuclear transfer calves produced from open-pulled straw (OPS) vitrified cytoplasts: work in progress.

Cryopreservation of cytoplasts would help to resolve the logistics of matching the availability of oocytes with embryo donors in nuclear transfer. Therefore, the developmental potential of nuclear transfer bovine embryos reconstructed using vitrified cytoplasts was investigated. In vitro matured oocytes were denuded, enucleated, activated with calcium ionophore (10 microM, 5 min) and cycloheximide (10 microg/mL, 6 h) and then vitrified by the open pulled straw (OPS) method. After immediate warming, the nuclear transfer embryos were reconstructed using blastomeres from nonvitrified,in vitro-produced embryo donors. Compared with control nuclear transfer embryos that were reconstructed using nonvitrified cytoplasts, fusion rates (% +/- SEM) were not affected (83.7+/-9.2 vs. 79.8+/-4.6; P>0.05), but cleavage (55.7+/-2.9 vs. 92.8+/-3.9; P = 0.0002) and blastocyst rates (7.2+/-5.0 vs. 32.6+/-7.8; P = 0.0025, vitrified vs. nonvitrified cytoplasts, respectively) per successful fusion were reduced. One nuclear transfer blastocyst reconstructed from a vitrified cytoplast was transferred to a synchronized recipient. After a normal length gestation (265 d), twin calves (21 and 26 kg) were delivered. Microsatellite analysis confirmed that the calves were homozygotic (the embryo split in utero), and were derived from the in vitro-produced embryo donor. The twins were dead at birth, but post-mortem analysis of the calves indicated no abnormalities or infections, suggesting that their death was related to the twin pregnancy and the known fragility of nuclear transfer calves. These data demonstrate that open pulled straw-vitrified cytoplasts are capable of supporting full-term development of nuclear transfer embryos.

A short element required for turning off heat shock transcription factor: evidence that phosphorylation enhances deactivation.

Transcriptional activation of heat shock genes is mediated by a presynthesized nuclear protein, the heat shock factor (HSF), which transiently converts from an inactive to an active form in response to hyperthermia. It has been suggested that hyperphosphorylation of HSF upon heat shock triggers activation through the induction of a conformational change unmasking transcriptional activator domains. Here we report that a short conserved element is involved in returning yeast HSF to the inactive state after heat shock and show that deactivation can be enhanced by phosphorylation of adjacent serine residues. These results suggest that phosphorylation of HSF in yeast serves as a regulatory mechanism to deactivate HSF, rather than being involved in its activation.