Evolving importance of anticancer research using herbal medicine: a scientometric analysis

Phytocompounds and herbal extracts have been utilized in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine since thousands of years for treatment of various ailments. Success behind herbal medicine strongly suggests the interaction between bio-active phytocompounds with crucial biochemical pathways in a human body without causing adverse effects. The increasing incidence of diseases like cancer instigated the scientific world to focus intently on their pathophysiology and prevention, leading to accelerated research activity in past three decades. This study aims at understanding the evolving global importance of herbal medicine and quality of research against various cancers through scientometric analyses by studying the output from research publications, followed by the contribution from various countries, research institutes, authors, scientific journals and areas of research. To visualize the research structure and dynamics, more than 5000 publications with Science Citation Index that appeared from 1984 to 2013 have been studied and compared for a trend in its growth of publication along with the contributions from various bibliometric parameters stated above. After using the ‘Web of Science’ database it became well evident that the concerned bibliometric parameters contributed substantially in projecting the overall scientific output in the field of herbal anticancer research as reflected from the citation analysis and h-index data. It has been observed that the number of publications increased with compound annual growth rate of 10.39% during the studied periods. Evolving trend of the research topics was visualised by drawing the keyword co-occurrence map in this field.     

Inhibiting the assembly of protein-protein interfaces

Osteosarcoma is a common primary bone malignancy most often involving the long bones and occurring in the second decade of life. Orbital involvement in this disease process is rare and is usually due to extension of the tumor from an adjacent sinus cavity. Orbital osteosarcoma arising from preexisting Paget disease is exceedingly rare. We report the case of a 78-year-old female patient with Paget disease of the forehead who presented with rapidly increasing bilateral proptosis and visual loss for several months. Examination showed bilateral aphakia, decreased motility, proptosis with resistance to retropulsion, and tumorous infiltration of the eyelids and periorbital soft tissue. Fundus examination showed marked bilateral scleral indentation without overlying serous retinal detachment. A computed tomographic (CT) evaluation of the orbits demonstrated extensive soft tissue involvement of the paranasal sinuses, nasal cavity, periorbital soft tissue, and orbits, with compression of the optic nerve and globe bilaterally. Biopsy of the periorbital soft tissue demonstrated osteosarcoma. Radiation therapy failed to stem the progression of the disease process, and the patient died approximately 4 months later. Although osteosarcoma of the orbit associated with Paget disease is unusual, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of older patients with a rapidly progressive orbital mass.     

Influence of sintering parameters on tribological properties of ceria stabilized zirconia bio-ceramics

Nano-structured ceria stabilized zirconia powder was synthesized from their respective nitrate salts using a wet chemical co-precipitation method. Dried powder was calcined at different temperatures. Particle size of calcined powders was measured by X-ray diffraction (Scherrer equation) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Relative quantities of phases (e.g. monoclinic, tetragonal and cubic) were estimated using rigorous Rietveld analysis. The powder was compacted and sintered conventionally following different time and temperature schedules in order to optimize the sintering schedule for fabrication of dense material. The microstructures of the sintered samples were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy. Vickers hardness (∼945 VHN) showed appreciable increase (>35%) in the hardness value compared to earlier reported ones. Fretting wear of some of the selected samples was carried out in un-lubricated condition. Wear volume and specific wear rate were estimated and correlated with the microstructure. Fatigue microcrack formation, plastic deformation, grain pull-out and abrasion were found to be the main wear mechanisms.     

Bibliometric analysis of global publication output and collaboration structure study in microRNA research

The study aimed to analyse the global research output related to microRNA (miRNA), based on the fact that it has diverse expression patterns and might regulate various developmental and physiological processes. First miRNA was identified as small RNA in 1993 but its function as biological regulator was unknown till 2000. Since then the research in miRNAs has got momentum. To understand and visualize the research dynamics and the research structure of the field, the publications appeared in Science Citation Index expanded database for 2002–2012 under miRNA category using specific search string, were analysed. A sum of more than 14,000 documents found from Web of Science database for the same period. This study detected major productive countries, high productive-institutions, authors, research areas, journals and document types, along with their individual citation impacts. The inter-collaborative linkages of countries, organizations and authors were also analysed. The study has observed that number of publication increased from 8 in 2002 to 4,186 in 2012 with compound annual growth rate of 87 %. The compound annual growth rates of countries, institutions, number of journals, research areas, and authors are 36.60, 76.64, 64.80, 30.5, and 88.09 % respectively.     

Assessment of molecular events during in vitro re-epithelialization under honey-alginate matrix ambience

Re-epithelialization is one of the most important stages of cutaneous regeneration and its success requires supportive micro-ambience which may be provided with suitable bio-matrix. Biocompatibility and efficacy of such bio-matrix in re-epithelialization could be explored by multimodal analysis of structural and functional attributes of in vitro wound healing model including evaluation of prime molecular expressions of the epithelial cells during repair. Present study examines the influence of honey-alginate and alginate matrices on re-epithelialization in keratinocyte (HaCaT) population in a 2-D wound model. Cellular viability, proliferation and cell–cell adhesion status were assessed during wound closure using live/dead cell assay and by evaluating expressions of Ki67, p63 and E-cadherin along-with % change in cellular electrical impedance. Efficacy of honey-alginate matrix in comparison to only alginate one was demonstrated by a quicker reduction in wound gap, improved cellular viability, enhanced expressions of Ki67, p63 and its isoforms (TAp63, ΔNp63) as well as E-cadherin. Faster restoration of electrical attribute (% of impedance change) after wounding also indicated better impact of honey-alginate matrix in re-epithelialization.