The Neurosurgical Research Progress of 98 Low- and Low- to Middle-Income Countries from 1928 to 2024.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to analyze the trends of neurosurgical research in low and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs). METHODS: The data was retrieved from Scopus (one of the largest databases) and 82 neurosurgical journals were analyzed. RESULTS: Initially the global research scholarly output (n=195658) was explored and later papers originating solely from LLMICs, without international collaboration with advance countries (n=8408) were analyzed. The per decade number of publications (from 1920 to May 2024), top ten authors, universities, countries and sources of all (global) countries and 98 LLMICs is provided. 80 countries have published less than 50 papers. Even more striking, 68, 55, 38 and 36 LLMICs countries have produced less than 20, 10, 5 and 3 papers, respectively. The keywords analysis was performed to present the main focus of 8408 publications. The top 1000 most cited documents were also identified, and later relevant scientometrics details were provided. The top countries dynamic and most prolific authors (on the basis of number of publications, total citations, h-index, g-index, and m-index) in the top 1000 cited documents (from LLMICs) are highlighted. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that neurosurgical research in LLMICs is low, which could be attributed to several factors including limited funding, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient training opportunities.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-picolylamide-based diselenides with non-bonded interactions.

In this paper, we report the synthesis and biological evaluation of picolylamide-based diselenides with the aim of developing a new series of diselenides with O···Se non-bonded interactions. The synthesis of diselenides was performed by a simple and efficient synthetic route. All the products were obtained in good yields and their structures were determined by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and HRMS. All these new compounds showed promising activities when tested in different antioxidant assays. These amides exhibited strong thiol peroxidase-like (TPx) activity. In fact one of the compounds showed 4.66 times higher potential than the classical standard i.e., diphenyl diselenide. The same compound significantly inhibited iron (Fe)-induced thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) production in rat's brain homogenate. In addition, the X-ray structure of the most active compound showed non-bonded interaction between the selenium and the oxygen atom that are in close proximity and may be responsible for the increased antioxidant activity. The present study provides evidence about the possible biochemical influence of nonbonding interactions on organochalcogens potency.