A bibliometric analysis of obesity in marketing research

Purpose: In spite of wide civic and academic interest in obesity, there are no bibliometric records of this issue in the marketing corpus. Thus, this inquiry is conceived to address this shortcoming with a bibliometric analysis of Scopus indexed articles published on the subject. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis followed a five-step science mapping approach of study design, data collection, data analysis, data visualisation and data interpretation. R programming software was used to review 88 peer reviewed journals published between 1987 and 2021. Findings: A sizable stream of literature exploring obesity has accrued in the marketing area as authors have drawn parallels between the influence of persuasive communication and advertising on human wellbeing and child health. The United States of America is found to be by far the country with the highest number of publications on obesity, followed by Australia and the United Kingdom. The topic dendrogram indicates two strands of obesity discourse: (1) social and policy intervention opportunities and (2) the effects on social groups in the population. Research limitations/implications: This review will shape future enquiries investigating obesity. Beyond the focus on children, males and females, an emerging focus on cola, ethics, food waste, milk, policy-making and students is highlighted. Originality/value: This is the first bibliometric review of obesity in the marketing literature. This is especially timely for weighing up the utility of research aimed at understanding and reporting the trends, influences and role of stakeholders in addressing obesity

Occupational Health and Safety in the Healthcare Sector

Healthcare workers are exposed to several different occupational risk factors, and they pay an important tribute in terms of occupational diseases and work-related injuries. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic has focused the attention on the problem of the infectious risk, which is certainly among the risks typically expected and specifically recognized for the health personnel, but also other occupational risks should not be overlooked, as, e.g., the risks associated with work-organization factors and with the exposure to chemical and physical agents. The health consequences associated with the exposure to all these factors have relevant impacts in terms of induced diseases, DALYs, sickness absence from work and costs for the health systems. According to these premises, this reprint has collected manuscripts addressing topics related to the prevention of the occupational risks in the healthcare sector, including original articles and reviews on the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries of the health personnel, as well as on the evaluation of the risks in the healthcare workplaces, and on the topics of risk perception and of the knowledge and attitudes of the workers towards the preventive procedures and the use of protections. The themes of the prevention of occupational infectious risk, biomechanical overload of the musculoskeletal system and work-related psychosocial factors are specifically discussed in the papers collected

Occupational Health and Safety in the Healthcare Sector

Healthcare workers are exposed to several different occupational risk factors, and they pay an important tribute in terms of occupational diseases and work-related injuries. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic has focused the attention on the problem of the infectious risk, which is certainly among the risks typically expected and specifically recognized for the health personnel, but also other occupational risks should not be overlooked, such as, e.g., the risks associated with work-organization factors and with the exposure to chemical and physical agents. The health consequences associated with the exposure to all these factors have relevant impacts in terms of induced diseases, DALYs, sickness absence from work and costs for the health systems. According to these premises, this reprint has collected manuscripts addressing topics related to the prevention of the occupational risks in the healthcare sector, including original articles and reviews on the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries of the health personnel, as well as on the evaluation of the risks in the healthcare workplaces, and on the topics of risk perception and of the knowledge and attitudes of the workers towards the preventive procedures and the use of protections. The themes of the prevention of occupational infectious risk, biomechanical overload of the musculoskeletal system and work-related psychosocial factors are specifically discussed in the papers collected

Study on open science: The general state of the play in Open Science principles and practices at European life sciences institutes

Nowadays, open science is a hot topic on all levels and also is one of the priorities of the European Research Area. Components that are commonly associated with open science are open access, open data, open methodology, open source, open peer review, open science policies and citizen science. Open science may a great potential to connect and influence the practices of researchers, funding institutions and the public. In this paper, we evaluate the level of openness based on public surveys at four European life sciences institute

Chinese herbal medicine for diabetic kidney disease: historical perspective, clinical evidence and new therapeutic development

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the foremost microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus, which is characterised as persistent albuminuria and progressive loss of kidney function induced by diabetes. The health burden of DKD is substantial and continues to grow in parallel with the escalating prevalence of diabetes. Despite current pharmacotherapies including hypoglycaemic agents, hypotensive drugs and reninangiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors, substantial residual risk of DKD initiation and progression remains. Considering the increasing prevalence of DKD, novel renal protective therapeutics are in great need. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used since antiquity in some countries and regions, and is still being used to treat kidney diseases in combination with contemporary medicine. Guided by traditional knowledge and contemporary practice of herbal application, existing and potentially novel therapeutics for DKD may be evaluated and further developed from CHM. To-date, the development of therapeutics from CHM has been impeded by general lack of clinical evidence, complex chemical profiles and unclear mechanisms of action. Moreover, the conventional drug application of the “one target, one drug” approach has been a limitation when it comes to complex and multi-factorial clinical presentations such as DKD. CHM is a complex intervention that commonly involves a number of herbal ingredients clinically for treating individual patients with DKD. Objectives Guided by a “whole evidence” framework, the aims of this research are to: - Evaluate the classical literature evidence of CHM as a treatment for DKD - Evaluate the clinical trial evidence of CHM as adjunctive therapy for DKD - Explore and propose the bioactive compounds and pharmacological mechanisms of promising CHM for DKD Review of classical literature A search of the classical Chinese medicine literature was conducted in the Zhong Hua Yi Dian (ZHYD, 5th Edition, 2014). A total of 278 DKD-relevant classical citations with treatment information were identified and analysed. These citations were derived from 68 classical Chinese medicine books spanning from AD 583 to AD 1895. Based on the rating results, there were 23 citations that were most likely DKD. Ba wei wan, Liu wei di huang wan and Hui xiang san were the most frequently cited formulae for DKD. The herbs frequently used were huang qi (Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge. var. mongholicus (Bge.) Hsiao), ren shen (Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.), wu wei zi (Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.), tian hua fen (Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim.) and huang lian (Coptis chinensis Franch.). It was found that citations with positive turbid urine symptoms used huang qi more often than other high-frequency herbs. Systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials The Cochrane handbook of systematic reviews of interventions (version 5.1.0) guided the methods of the systematic reviews. The first systematic review included 20 randomised controlled trials (RCT) with 2719 DKD patients comparing CHM with placebo. Meta-analysis suggested that CHM reduced greater albuminuria than placebo, regardless of whether RAS inhibitors were concurrently administered. When CHM was used as an adjunct to RAS inhibitors, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was improved in the CHM group compared with the placebo group. The adverse events (AE) rates were low and similar between CHM and placebo groups. Huang qi was used most frequently among included RCTs. Accroding to the results of the first systematic review and classical literature review, the herb huang qi was selected as a subject for further study. The second systematic review included 66 RCTs employing sole huang qi preparations with 4785 DKD participants. Overall, the included studies have substantial risk of bias due to methodological shortfalls. The meta-analysis showed that additional use of huang qi injection reduced albuminuria, proteinuria and serum creatinine concentration compared to conventional therapy alone. An anti-albuminuria effect was also reported in the oral huang qi preparation group. The safety of huang qi prepareations was uncertain because AEs were only reported in one third of included studies. More detailed safety evaluation particularly for huang qi injections are needed due to severe allergic reactions after injections have been observed. Network pharmacology study Network pharmacology is a novel drug discovery approach that uses data from highthroughput experiments, omics studies and other biological research and integrates and analyses them as a whole. It was applied to visualise and predict the complex relationships underlying the numerous DKD targets and multiple herbal compounds. The herb huang qi was selected for the network pharmacology study based on the results reported above. Searching retrieved 103 distinct human targets related to DKD. Thirty-eight (38) bioactive compounds from huang qi were identified, with a corresponding 327 targets. The huang qi–DKD PPI network contained 2269 shared targets, and 127 of these were considered to play central communication roles. These key targets were enriched in 174 biological pathways and the most significant pathways were integrin-linked kinase (ILK) signalling, tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosisinducing ligand (TRAIL) signalling, transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)/Smad2/3 signalling, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor (VEGFR) signalling network and glypican/glypican-1 pathway. Further analysis of the herbal compounds-key targets-pathways network revealed that quercetin, calycosin, formononetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin, betulinic acid, gamma-sitosterol, (24S)-24-Propylcholesta-5-ene-3beta-ol and bifendate were directly associated with 21 key targets enriched in the top 10 pathways. Conclusion By employing a whole evidence strategy, this research systematically evaluated the current best available evidence about CHM as adjunctive therapy for DKD, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Classical literature evidence indicated that huang qi was commonly used in DKD-like disorders, particularly for those presenting with turbid urine (cloudy or foamy urine). With moderate to low quality evidence from RCTs, CHM may have beneficial effects on renal function and albuminuria beyond those reported by conventional treatment alone in adults with DKD. Moreover, adjunctive use of sole huang qi preparations with RAS inhibitors appeared to lowering albuminuria/proteinuria, as well as reducing serum creatinine concentration in the short term. The pharmacological actions of huang qi could be mediated by ILK signalling, TGF-β/Smad signalling, NF-κB pathway and glypican/glypican-1 pathway. Eight compounds with direct potential to regulate key targets are provided as new therapeutic development candidates for DKD. Hence, further research is warranted to determine their clinical benefit

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality