OBJECTIVE: Herein, we perform a dynamic and longitudinal bibliometric analysis to explore the hotspots and current trends of HMGB1-related PD publications during the past decade.
METHODS: All PD publications focusing on HMGB1 protein were retrieved from the PubMed database using the search terms "Parkinson's disease" and "hmgb1". Using filters, only English articles published between 2011 and 2022 were selected. The Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny packages from R software were used to conduct the bibliometric analysis.
RESULTS: The filtered search identified 47 articles (34 original articles and 13 review articles), published between 2011 and 2022. There was an increase trend in the number of articles published, with an annual growth rate of 19.35 percent. In terms of research and scientific collaboration in this field, the United States is in the lead, followed by China, Malaysia, and Australia. Compared to other countries, the United States and China had the highest level of collaboration in this research area. Neuroinflammation, microglia, and receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) represent the top three frontiers and hotspots for HMGB1-related PD research. According to the thematic evolution analysis, over the last decade, PD, HMGB1 and microglia were addressed individually, however, since 2017, these topics were frequently discussed within the same cluster: neuroinflammation. Furthermore, PD, HMGB1, and neuroinflammation domains co-occurred in majority of the research discussion.
CONCLUSIONS: The link between HMGB1 and PD was realized a decade ago and becomes increasingly important over time. Our findings can aid scholars in comprehending the global context of HMGB1/PD relationship and provide significant insights for future PD research.
METHODS: This systematic review was performed using PRISMA guidelines (i) to report whether cortisol is highly present in infertile patients compared to fertile control; (ii) to report whether there is any significant difference in the cortisol level in infertile subjects that conceive and those that didn't at the end of assisted reproduction treatments. Original articles involving human (male and female) as subjects were extracted from four electronic databases, including the list of references from the published papers. Sixteen original full-length articles involving male (4), female (11), and both genders (1) were included.
RESULTS: Findings from studies that compared the cortisol level between infertile and fertile subjects indicate that (i) Male: three studies reported elevated cortisol level in infertile patients and one found no significant difference; (ii) Female: four studies reported increased cortisol level in infertile subjects and three studies found no significant difference. Findings from studies that measured the cortisol level from infertile patients that conceived and those that didn't indicate that (i) Male: one study reported no significant difference; (ii) Female: one study reported elevated cortisol in infertile patients that conceived, whereas two studies reported increased cortisol in infertile patients that was unable to conceive. Five studies found no significant difference between the groups.
DISCUSSION: In the present review we only included the cortisol value that was measured prior to stimulation or IVF treatment or during natural or spontaneous cycles, despite this, there are still variations in the sampling period, assessment techniques and patients' characteristics. Hence, at present, we are still unable to conclude that cortisol is significantly elevated in infertile patients. We warrant future studies to standardize the time of biological sample collection and other limitations that were addressed in the review to negate the unwanted influencing factors.
METHODS: Fifty-one (51) participants (36 males and 15 females, 38.84 ± 11.73 years) with overweight and obesity (BMI = 29.75 ± 5.04 kg/m2) were recruited and monitored before and at the end of the commencement of the four-week IF. Six healthy subjects with normal BMI (21.4±2.20 kg/m2) were recruited only to standardize the reference for normal levels of gene expressions. At the two time points, anthropometric, biochemical, and dietary assessments were performed, and LAMP2, LC3B, ATG5, and ATG4D gene expressions were assessed using qRT-PCR on RNA extracted from whole blood samples.
RESULTS: At the end of IF, and compared to the pre-fasting levels, the relative gene expressions among participants with overweight/obesity were significantly increased for the three autophagy genes LAMP2, LC3B, and ATG5, with increments of about 4.2 folds, 1.9-fold, and 1.4-fold, respectively. In contrast, the increase in the ATG4D gene was not significant. Concomitantly, significant decreases were found in body weight, BMI, fat mass, body fat percent, hip and waist circumferences, LDL, IL-6, and TNF-a (P <0.05), While HDL, IL-10, and CD163 significantly increased (P <0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis for genetic expressions showed no significant association between high-energy intake, waist circumference, or obesity and the four gene expressions.
CONCLUSIONS: Four consecutive weeks of dawn-to-dusk IF of Ramadan is associated with the upregulation of autophagy gene expressions in participants with overweight/obesity, and this may explain, at least in part, its favorable short-term temporal metabolic and health-improving effects on early aging-related markers. Hence, IF presumably may entail a protective impact against early markers of aging and metabolic diseases in participants with overweight/obesity.