Open Access Scientific Journals Research Articles

Protocol for a community-based, household-randomised, dose-response trial to assess the acceptability, nutritional effects and safety of double-fortified salt containing iodine and folic acid compared with iodised salt among non-pregnant Ethiopian women of reproductive age (DFS-IoFA).

The prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs) is higher in Ethiopia than most other countries, and ~84% of Ethiopian women of reproductive age (WRA) have folate insufficiency, a major risk factor for NTDs. Salt fortification with folic acid is a potential strategy to improve women's folate status, but data are needed on the acceptability, nutritional impact and safety of folic acid fortification of iodised salt. The study is designed as a community-based, household-randomised, dose-response trial. A total of 360 non-pregnant WRA 18-49 years of age will be randomly assigned to one of three intervention arms: (1) iodised salt fortified with 30 ppm folic acid to provide ~200 µg folic acid/day; (2) iodised salt fortified with 90 ppm folic acid to provide ~600 µg folic acid/day; or (3) iodised salt (comparator). The preweighed salts will be delivered to participants' homes biweekly for 26 weeks; unused salt will be collected and weighed. Fasting, venous blood samples will be collected at baseline, end line and a randomly assigned intermediate time point for assessment of folate, iodine, vitamin B12 and other micronutrient status biomarkers. Women's dietary intakes, including discretionary salt consumption, will be measured using weighed food records; 24-hour urine specimens will be analysed for sodium and iodine excretion. Primary outcomes are women's consumption of study salts, change in biomarkers of folate and iodine status and prevalence of adverse events. Results will be analysed using analysis of covariance models to estimate group mean differences for continuous outcomes, controlling for baseline measurements, and log-binomial or modified Poisson regressions for categorical outcomes. Prespecified effect modifications will be explored. The study has been approved by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute's Institutional Review Board, and the protocol has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (registration number NCT06223854). Study results will be published in open access scientific journals and disseminated nationally in Ethiopia. NCT06223854.

Global problems in education as a research object in international databases: a historical perspective

Introduction. Global problems of modernity and globalisation are appealing to scientists as a research subject not only for understanding their nature, development, and manifestations in various spheres of life (in the case of our study, in education) but also because a comprehensive analysis is essential to combat them. Aim. The study aimed to trace the history of scientific research on the impact of global issues on the education system. It utilised bibliometry to conduct a qualitative content analysis of selected works to identify existing research trends within the topic and factors influencing the research agenda both in Russian Federation and abroad. Methodology and research methods. The research utilizes bibliometric methods and qualitative content analysis of publications (articles, conference proceedings, monographs, and reports) from open-access scientific journals at the final stage of publication. The study also examines statistical reports from the international Scopus database for the period from 1978 to 2023, selected based on bibliometric criteria. Papers were analysed and classified according to their publication periods and the number of citations they received. Based on the results of a qualitative content analysis comparing scientific agendas worldwide and in Russian Federation, the study identified the topics, conceptual foundations, and key participants influencing the resolution of global education issues across various historical periods. Results. Four waves of interest in this topic were identified: 1988–1999, 2000–2012, 2013–2018, and 2019–2023. From 1988 to 1999, all studies can be broadly categorised into two groups: teaching methods and organisation of educational activities. The development of specific trends in the study of global education problems began only between 2000 and 2012. From 2013 to 2018, scientists focused on restructuring the educational process in new conditions. From 2019 to 2023, the focus shifted to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organisation and transformation of the educational process. It has been established that the thematic focus of research by Russian scientists and the international scientific community as a whole differs. The authors cite and analyse the possible historical reasons for this divergence. Scientific novelty is ensured by the absence of similar research in the international information space. Practical significance lies in the necessity, given the current socio-economic situation, to highlight global education issues for the purpose of planning and coordinating research efforts.

Non-pharmacological interventions to prevent and manage delirium in critically ill children in neonatal and paediatric intensive care units (NICU/PICU): a scoping review protocol

IntroductionDelirium is one of the most common forms of acute cerebral dysfunction in critically ill children leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Prevention, identification and management of delirium is an...

Unraveling the Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: Insights into an Emerging Nosocomial Pathogen

Introduction: stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a clinically relevant opportunistic and nosocomial pathogen with increasing concerns regarding antibiotic resistance. Accurate diagnosis and identification are crucial for effective treatment, and misidentification can occur, thereby emphasizing the need for appropriate laboratory testing and surveillance. This review aimed to evaluate the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and antimicrobial resistance of Stenotrophomonas spp. Materials and Methods. A systematic literature review was conducted using the PubMed Central Database. Inclusion criteria included studies published in open-access scientific journals within the last five years, reporting information on Stenotrophomonas spp. epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and/or antimicrobial resistance. The synthesis of the results involved a narrative synthesis of the findings from the included studies. Results. A total of 25 articles met the inclusion criteria and provided valuable insights into Stenotrophomonas spp. infections. The distribution of reported cases by country, sample type, and antimicrobial resistance patterns was summarized. The prevalence of resistance to various antibiotics was also assessed, highlighting the need for continuous surveillance. Conclusion. This analysis revealed the presence of antimicrobial resistance in Stenotrophomonas spp., particularly in S. maltophilia. The high prevalence of antibiotic resistance underscores the importance of ongoing surveillance and control measures to combat antibiotic resistance. The diverse distribution of S. maltophilia across different sample types emphasizes the need for accurate diagnosis and identification. Addressing antimicrobial resistance in Stenotrophomonas spp. is essential for global public health.

Twenty years of Prospects in Pharmaceutical Sciences: recent changes

Prospects in Pharmaceutical Sciences (fka. Bulletin of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Medical University of Warsaw) is an open access scientific journal, published since 2003 as a quarterly by the Medical University of Warsaw. Prospects in Pharmaceutical Sciences offers immediate Open Access to its publications, permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, free of any charge. The journal does not charge authors fees for submission, editorial process, APC or any other fees. Prospects in Pharmaceutical Sciences is free for both authors and readers. This year we mark its 20th anniversary. Here we present recent changes in the official Journal of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Medical University of Warsaw.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online learning in higher education: a bibliometric analysis

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted higher education by forcing the transition to online learning, which became a mandatory teaching process during the lockdowns. Although the epidemiological situation has gradually improved since then, online learning is becoming ever more popular as it provides new learning opportunities. Therefore, the paper aims to present recent research trends concerning online learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic by using selected bibliometric approaches. The bibliometric analysis is based on 8,303 documents from the Scopus database published between January 2020 and March 2022, when repeated lockdowns meant most countries were experiencing constant disruptions to the educational process. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic increased interest in online learning research, notably in English-speaking and Asian countries, with most research being published in open-access scientific journals. Moreover, the topics most frequently discussed in the online learning research during the COVID-19 pandemic were ICT and pedagogy, technology-enhanced education, mental health and well-being, student experience and curriculum and professional development. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged explorations of emergency remote learning approaches like e-learning, distance learning and virtual learning, which are intended to limit physical contact between teachers and students, where the specific requirements of a given field of study often guide which online learning approach is the most suitable. The findings add to the existing body of scientific knowledge and support the evidence-based policymaking needed to ensure sustainable higher education in the future.

Diagnostic potential of plasma biomarkers and exhaled volatile organic compounds in predicting the different stages of acute mesenteric ischaemia: protocol for a multicentre prospective observational study (TACTIC study)

IntroductionAcute mesenteric ischaemia (AMI) is a life-threatening condition with short-term mortality of up to 80%. The diagnosis of AMI has remained troublesome due to the non-specific clinical presentation, symptoms and...

Analysis of Open Access Journals in Urology: A Scientometric Sketch

An open access scientific journal is a peer-reviewed publication that is available for free online, allowing users to search, read, copy, share the link, download, and print full-text research papers. Urology is a medical practice that focuses on urinary tract problems in both men and women. An urologist is a physician who specializes in the urinary system. Back in the day, doctors would examine a patient’s urine for evidence of their illness. Urology, often known as genito-urinary surgery, is a surgical and medical specialty that focuses on the male and female urinary tract organs. This paper has analyzed the urology open access journals which are available in DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals). The results reveal that DOAJ indexes 12 open access journals published by Elsevier and followed by 8 journals are published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow. The other publishers such as Hindawi Limited 5 journals, Karger Publishers 4 journals. It is found that there are 37 blind peer review journals followed by 32 double blind peer review journals and 11 peer-reviews journals respectively indexed in DOAJ database. It is discovered in the study that maximum journals (74) in Urology are without DOAJ seal and only 8 journals have got the desired DOAJ seal, which represents as a symbol of certification and high publishing standards.

Decoding Predatory Publishing practices for Academia

Predatory or deceptive publishing is still a persistent issue in scholarly communication. A large number of predatory journals are being published, and it is essential to keep them in check as the potential harm they could do to the scientific discourse is enormous. With the Open Science Framework (OSF) project titled "Decoding Predatory Publishing Practices for Academia (DePA)," the authors try to equip users to identify potential predatory journals and endorse ethical and quality publishing. The project will consist of training materials and a rubric developed to examine the quality of an open-access scientific journal by combining the publisher and individual journal aspects. The project includes a rubric consisting of different aspects regarding publication in scientific journals, quantifying the quality of the publishing practices adopted by these journals. Predatory or deceptive publishing is still a persistent issue in scholarly communication. For instance, deceptive publishers could hold the unpublished manuscript indefinitely, and little can be done if the author has signed a copyright transfer agreement. We can reduce the impact of predatory publishers by aiding the scholar community with simple and easy-to-understand devices that help them analyse the journals and publishers themselves. This could be part of the orientation at a researcher’s, library’s, or mentor’s level.

Subject-Spatial and Physical Urban Environment as a Condition for the Psychological Security of Urban Residents

Urban residents make up more than half of the world’s population. They are the main resource of any modern city or town, and focus on them and their involvement are decisive factors in any successful urbanistic transformation. The purpose of the study is to summarize research in the field of environmental psychology aimed at identifying the conditions for creating psychological security for urban residents. The author made an analysis of more than 385 articles in Russian and English available in the national bibliographic database of scientific publications (Russian Science Citation Index), scientific publishing houses (Elsevier, SprigerLink, SAGE Publishing), publishing houses of open-access scientific journals (MDPI, Frontiers Media), and free digital repository of open-access full-text scientific articles (PubMed Central). Most of them dated back to the last twenty years. Of these, 80 were selected for an analysis. The facts under consideration were systematized in two aspects: objective security conditions associated with the physical environment (visual complexity, soundscape, climate, etc.) and subjective security conditions associated with the peculiarities of their perception by urban residents. To visualize the obtained conditions of the psychological security of urban residents and create an image of a safe city, the Midjourney neural network was used, which makes it possible to generate text-based images. As a result of the analysis of studies of the psychological safety of urban life, it became possible to describe the conditions that form the feeling of psychological security among urban residents; using the Midjourney neural network, to visualize the image of a safe city; to show the role of the soundscape, ordered environment, social control, segmentation of habitable space and its connection with nature; and to justify to some extent the interchangeability of security components.

Breaking barriers into the future of (publishing in) psychiatry: The new truly Open Access journal empowering trainees

The European Journal of Psychiatric Trainee is the official journal of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees. It is a fully open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal which will prioritize work by psychiatric trainees while also publishing a wide range of papers on mental health by other authors from diverse professional backgrounds. This editorial marks the first issue of the European Journal of Psychiatric Trainees and outlines its vision, mission and the articles this issue includes. It is the hope of the editorial board that this issue and the future ones reach a wide network of readers with original, informative and engaging papers.

Multimodal individualised intervention to prevent functional decline after stroke: protocol of a randomised controlled trial on long-term follow-up after stroke (LAST-long)

IntroductionMultimodal interventions have emerged as new approaches to provide more targeted intervention to reduce functional decline after stroke. Still, the evidence is contradictory. The main objective of the Life After...

5-HT2C Receptor Stimulation in Obesity Treatment: Orthosteric Agonists vs. Allosteric Modulators.

Obesity is a substantial health and economic issue, and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is an important neurotransmitter system involved in the regulation of body weight. The 5-HT2C receptors (5-HT2CRs), one of 16 of the 5-HT receptor (5-HTRs) subtypes, play a significant role in food intake and body weight control. In this review, we focused on the 5-HTR agonists, such as fenfluramines, sibutramine, and lorcaserin, which act directly or indirectly at 5-HT2CRs and have been introduced into the clinic as antiobesity medications. Due to their unwanted effects, they were withdrawn from the market. The 5-HT2CR positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) can be potentially safer active drugs than 5-HT2CR agonists. However, more in vivo validation of PAMs is required to fully determine if these drugs will be effective in obesity prevention and antiobesity pharmacology treatment. Methodology strategy: This review focuses on the role of 5-HT2CR agonism in obesity treatment, such as food intake regulation and weight gain. The literature was reviewed according to the review topic. We searched the PubMed and Scopus databases and Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute open-access scientific journals using the following keyword search strategy depending on the chapter phrases: (1) "5-HT2C receptor" AND "food intake", and (2) "5-HT2C receptor" AND "obesity" AND "respective agonists", and (3) "5-HT2C receptor" AND "PAM". We included preclinical studies (only present the weight loss effects) and double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trials published since the 1975s (mostly related to antiobesity treatment), and excluded the pay-walled articles. After the search process, the authors selected, carefully screened, and reviewed appropriate papers. In total, 136 articles were included in this review.

Sedimentologika: a community-driven diamond open access journal in sedimentology

Sedimentologika is a community-driven Diamond Open Access scientific journal for the publication of work in the broad area of sedimentology and stratigraphy. The journal aims to provide a platform to the academic community and broader society, offering and guaranteeing permanent free publication and free access to peer-reviewed scientific studies focusing on all types of sedimentary processes, deposits, and environments across all spatial and temporal scales, on Earth or any other planetary body. It will publish high-quality research that will advance the field of sedimentary science (through multidisciplinarity, new teaching practices, tools and methods, and progress in accessibility to science). Sedimentologika is part of an ongoing broader Diamond Open Access movement in geosciences aspiring freedom from the financial barriers and pressures of private publishing houses, to provide direct and equal access to science for all citizens, scientists, and institutions worldwide. The published material will include research, review, methodology and opinion articles, which will be free to share, as the authors will retain the copyright on all the submitted material. Manuscripts will be published in English. Authors can attach a second abstract in the language of their choice, further allowing local communities, students, or decisional bodies to access, at least, a summary of the latest research, thus reducing potential language barriers. Sedimentologika follows Open Science principles to promote ethical dissemination and accessibility of science and knowledge, following high equity, diversity and inclusion standards. Sedimentologika emerged as a solution for the scientific community to sidestep structural inequality of the academic publishing system that is becoming financially unsustainable to its payers (authors, funding agencies), and to commit to bibliodiversity. The objective is to ensure that scientific findings remain accessible to all in order to keep advancing research and informing society on how we understand sedimentology and stratigraphy in the world around us. Sedimentologika is driven by the academic and scientific community for the community and society, promoting self-governance and adapting to the needs expressed by the community.

Protocol for the Pathways Study: a realist evaluation of staff social ties and communication in the delivery of neonatal care in Kenya

IntroductionThe informal social ties that health workers form with their colleagues influence knowledge, skills and individual and group behaviours and norms in the workplace. However, improved understanding of these ‘software’...

Innovative COVID-19 point-of-care diagnostics suitable for tuberculosis diagnosis: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionIn 2014, the WHO published high-priority target product profiles (TPPs) for new tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics to align end-user needs with test targets and specifications; nevertheless, no TB test meets these...

Digital health interventions and quality of home-based primary care for older adults: A scoping review protocol.

The use of digital health interventions has expanded, particularly in home-based primary care (HBPC), following the increase in the older adult population and the need to respond to the higher demand of chronic conditions, weakness and loss of autonomy of this population. There was an even greater demand with COVID-19 and subsequent isolation/social distancing measures for this risk group. The objective of this study is to map and identify the uses and types of digital health interventions and their reported impacts on the quality of HBPC for older adults worldwide. This is a scoping review protocol which will enable a rigorous, transparent and reliable synthesis of knowledge. The review will be developed from the theoretical perspective of Arksey and O'malley, with updates by Levac and Peters and respective collaborators based on the Joanna Briggs Institute manual, and guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Data from white literature will be extracted from multidisciplinary health databases such as: the Virtual Health Library, LILACS, MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cinahl and Embase; while Google Scholar will be used for gray literature. No date limit or language restrictions will be determined. The quantitative data will be analyzed through descriptive statistics and qualitative data through thematic analysis. The results will be submitted to stakeholder consultation for preliminary sharing of the study and will later be disseminated through publication in open access scientific journals, scientific events and academic and community journals. The full scoping review report will present the main impacts, challenges, opportunities and gaps found in publications related to the use of digital technologies in primary home care. The organization of this protocol will increase the methodological rigor, quality, transparency and accuracy of scoping reviews, reducing the risk of bias.

Leadership of Latin American women in the professional scientific and research context: an exploration based on the gender gap

Gender equality is clearly framed by and defined in the knowledge society in particular. Struggles towards all goals in this regard unfold in the context of a large gender gap and unequal distribution of power. These are circumstances in which women are clearly disadvantaged, facing obstacles in every aspect of their lives: family, relationships, education, and, therefore, work. Occupying senior leadership roles in institutions related to science and research remains an arduous task. The study takes a descriptive and analytical approach, drawing on official documents by international agencies such as UN, UNESCO, UN WOMEN, ECLAC, WB, IDB, and CODS as well as specialist websites. Title searches were carried out and variables identified through key words and phrases in recently published scientific articles found in open-access databases and scientific journals such as Scopus, WOS, SciELO, Redalyc. It found that intensive assertion of claims has resulted in the enshrinement of many women’s rights, the unconditional support of an array of international organizations, advances in narrowing the gender gap, and the positioning and leadership of women in professional scientific contexts, as part of the broader pursuit of parity between men and women.

Acute and repeated impact of sweeteners and sweetness enhancers in solid and semi-solid foods on appetite: protocol for a multicentre, cross-over, RCT in people with overweight/obesity – the SWEET Project

IntroductionIntake of free sugars in European countries is high and attempts to reduce sugar intake have been mostly ineffective. Non-nutritive sweeteners and sweetness enhancers (S&SEs) can maintain sweet taste in...

Swedish Chronic Pain Biobank: protocol for a multicentre registry and biomarker project

IntroductionAbout 20% of the adult population have chronic pain, often associated with psychological distress, sick leave and poor health. There are large variations in the clinical picture. A biopsychosocial approach...