Cardiac Involvement in COVID-19: A Global Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis.

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), had already resulted in widespread epidemics worldwide and millions of people's deaths since its outbreak in 2019. COVID-19 had also been demonstrated to affect people's cardiac function. However, the specific mechanism and influence of this damage were not clear yet. The purpose of the present study was to provide a bibliometric analysis of the current studies related to cardiac involvement after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: A bibliometric literature search was performed on the web of science. The number and type of publications, countries, institutional sources, journals, and citation patterns were analyzed. In addition, qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out to visualize the scientific achievements in this field by using the VOSviewer software. Results: Web of science had recorded 2,24,097 documents on COVID-19 at the time of data collection (May 12, 2022). A total of 2,025 documents related to cardiac involvement were recorded at last. The countries with the most published articles were the United States of America (USA) (n =747, 36.9%), Italy (n =324, 16%), and England (n =213, 10.5%). Although the countries and institutions that published the most articles were mainly from the USA, the top three authors were from Germany, England, and Poland. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine was the journal with the most studies (65 3.2%), followed by ESC Heart Failure (59 2.9%) and Journal of Clinical Medicine (56 2.8%). We identified 13,739 authors, among which Karin Klingel and Amer Harky had the most articles, and Shaobo Shi was co-cited most often. There existed some cooperation between different authors, but the scope was limited. Myocarditis and heart failure (HF) were the main research hotspots of COVID-19 on cardiac dysfunction and may be crucial to the prognosis of patients. Conclusions: It was the first bibliometric analysis of publications related to COVID-19-associated cardiac disorder. This study provided academics and researchers with useful information on the most influential articles of COVID-19 and cardiac dysfunction. Cooperation between countries and institutions must be strengthened on myocarditis and HF during COVID-19 pandemic.

[Detection rate of human papillomavirus-16 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma from different Chinese populations].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Anyang in Henan Province of China is a hyperendemic area of esophageal cancer. The infection of human papillomavirus (HPV) is thought as an important pathogenesis of esophageal cancer in Anyang. This study was to detect infection rate and level of HPV-16 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients from 3 different Chinese areas, and investigate its relationship with the pathogenesis of ESCC. METHODS: Infection status of HPV-16 in 119 ESCC specimens (43 collected from Anyang, 43 from Beijing, and the rest 33 from Mongolia nationality of Inner Mongolia) was detected by in situ hybridization (ISH) technique with digoxin-labeled HPV-16 E6 probe. RESULTS: HPV16 infection rates were 81.4%, 69.8%, and 63.6% in the specimens from Anyang, Beijing, and Inner Mongolia, respectively. Infection level of HPV-16 was significantly higher in Anyang group than in Beijing group (H=3.91, P<0.05) and Inner Mongolia group(H=4.22,P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the latter 2 groups. Furthermore, the proportion of strong expression of HPV16 (++ and +++) was significantly higher in Anyang group than in the other 2 groups(H=3.95, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HPV-16 infection rate is high in the esophageal specimens from the 3 different areas. Infection status of HPV16 is serious in Anyang.

[Relationship between polymorphism of IRF-3 gene codon 427 and esophageal cancer in Anyang population of China].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) gene and the susceptibility of esophageal cancer in Anyang area, Henan Province. METHODS: The genomic DNAs of 152 esophageal cancer patients and 191 health controls were extracted from the peripheral blood leukocytes. Three fragments covering codons 96, 194, 377, and 427 of the IRF-3 gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The SNPs were revealed by DNA sequencing and the genotype of every sample was determined accordingly. The frequency distribution of the SNPs was analyzed by chi(2) test. RESULTS: There were no IRF-3 gene SNPs at codons 96, 194, or 377 in Anyang participants. There was significant difference in the SNPs at codon 427 between the healthy controls and esophageal cancer patients in Anyang area OR=2.38 (95%CI=1.15-4.95,P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The SNPs at codon 427 of the IRF-3 gene may relate to the susceptibility of esophageal cancer. The risk of esophageal cancer in participants with C allele is 2.38-fold compared to those with G allele.

p53 codon 72 polymorphism (C/G) and the risk of human papillomavirus-associated carcinomas in China.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) plays an important role in the development of carcinomas at various body sites. It was found previously that the p53 codon 72 polymorphism (C/G) is a high-risk factor for the development HPV-associated cervical carcinoma. However, it still was considered controversial in several studies of cervical and esophageal carcinoma. METHODS: In the current study, the authors used an allele specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to analyze correlation between the p53 codon 72 (C/G) polymorphism and HPV-associated, noncancerous esophageal epithelium as well as esophageal, ovarian, and breast carcinoma in the Chinese population. Esophageal balloon cytology examination samples were obtained from high-incidence and low-incidence populations for esophageal carcinoma in Anyang (Henan Province). RESULTS: Thirty-six of 48 esophageal balloon samples from the high-incidence population were HPV positive, and 13 of 33 esophageal balloon samples from the low-incidence population were HPV positive. Thirty-nine of 62 esophageal carcinoma samples from Anyang Tumor Hospital were HPV positive. Twenty-six of 39 ovarian carcinoma samples from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical College were HPV positive. Nineteen of 82 breast carcinoma samples from Beijing Cancer Hospital were HPV positive. It is noteworthy that the distribution of the p53 codon 72 Arg homozygous genotype in HPV positive samples of esophageal epithelium, ovarian carcinoma, and breast carcinoma was significantly higher compared with HPV negative tumor samples. (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The current results suggest that the p53 codon 72 Arg homozygous genotype is one of the high-risk genetic factors for HPV-associated malignancies among the Chinese population.

Congenital expression of mdr-1 gene in tissues of carcinoma and its relation with pathomorphology and prognosis.

AIM:To detect the congenital expression patterns of mdr-1 gene in commonly encountered malignant tumors in clinic, and the relationship between the expression of mdr-1 gene and the prognostic morphology in esophageal carcinomas.METHODS:A total of 151 resected samples of malignant tumors without preoperative treatment were taken from Anyang City Tumor Hospital.The congenital expression of their mdr-1 gene was detected with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and was compared with each other.The positive incidence of mdr-1 gene in 46 samples of esophageal carcinoma was compared with their differentiated grades, TNM stages and macroscopic types, and the precautions and advantages of RT-PCR were evaluated.RESULTS:All the 151 samples were confirmed to be malignant histopathologically, including cancers of stomach and gastric cardia (n = 51), esophagus (n = 46), colorectum (n = 16),breast (n = 15), thyroid (n = 10), lung (n = 9) and uterine cervix (n = 24). The positive expression rate of their mdr-1 gene was 33.3%, 37%, 31.3%, 13.2%, 40%, 55%, and 0% respectively. All the 46 samples of esophageal carcinoma were pathologically confirmed to be squamous cell carcinoma. The total expression rate of their mdr-1 gene was 37% (17/46), 35% (6/17), 40% (8/20), and 33% (3/9) for differentiation grade I, II and III respectively. The expression rate of TNM classification was 33% (6/18), 40% (5/12) and 37% (6/16) in stage IIa, IIb andIII. The expression rate was 33% (3/9) in ulcerous type, 37% (3/8) in constrictive types, 33% (5/15) in fungoid types, and 40% (6/14) in medullary types.No statistically significant difference was found.CONCLUSION:Compared with other methods, RT-PCR is more simple, reliable and accurate in detecting mdr-1 gene expression in tissues of tumor. The overexpression of mdr-1 gene in these neoplasms suggested that cases should be handled differently for chemotherapy with rational use of drugs. Excision is the chief treatment for carcinoma of esophagus. The expression of mdr-1 gene in tissues of esophageal cancer is correlated with the parameters of tumor molecular biology which are independent of histopathological morphology.