Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether the authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement with this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis is article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This isThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether the authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Dear editor:We would like to thank to Dr Wang and colleagues for their interest and comments about our article . Before Regarding the first question about the ventilator days, it is the fact that patient transfer between hospitals is very common. As the VAP incidence rate is used as one of the ICU quality control indicators, it is defined as the number of cases diagnosing VAP divided by the ventilator days during the same period in the ICU. The ventilator days of the patients transferred from other hospital with endotracheal intubation before admission were calculated in the previous hospitals.The authors mentioned the heterogeneity of different specialized ICU and different hospital levels. First, as the data were collected by the China-National Critical Care Quality Control Center (China-NCCQC), although the ICUs in specialized hospitals such as Gynecologic and Obstetric hospital were included, specialized ICUs such as Respiratory ICU in general hospital were not included. As the doctors in specialized ICU received less training on nosocomial infection and were allocated with less resource, VAP incidence rate and mortality may be worse in these ICUs . AlthougWe are glad to find that our research can raise the attention on VAP in ICU specialists, and this study was only the beginning of the VAP quality control. New research based on individual cases is on the way, and we hope the results could bring us more satisfactory answers to all those questions.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to registertheir agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


The journal retracts the article, ‘Is Increasing Age Associated with Higher Rates of Intercostal Arteries Vulnerable to Laceration? A Point of Care Ultrasound Study’  due to lFollowing publication, the authors contacted the editorial office with concerns related to the accuracy and validity of the Institutional Review Board Statement published in their article . The autAdhering to our complaints policy, an investigation was conducted that confirmed that the study did not have a valid Institutional Review Board approval. The Institutional Review Board investigated the matter and requested that the article be withdrawn. The article is therefore retracted. Journal of Clinical Medicine.This retraction was approved by the Editor in Chief of the The authors agreed to this retraction.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content, and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


This article has been retracted by the Cureus editorial department due to major concerns with the methodology  that, in the view of the journal, affects the results and conclusions and calls into question the accuracy of the study. The authors do not agree with the decision to retract, but given the aforementioned concerns that call into question the study's accuracy, the journal has made the decision to retract without author consent. The journal greatly regrets that these issues were not identified during peer or editorial review prior to publication.


The gut microbiota of ruminants plays a central role in the nutrition of its host: it directly affects his health and his ability to produce both products of interest for the human diet and undesirable products such as methane. Ruminants have co-evolved with microorganisms capable of degrading plant fibers into absorbable chemical compounds that are nutritional precursors or bioactive compounds: these microbiota are likely to directly influence the animals' traits in the same way that the animal's genome can. Numerous studies have shown links between production or health traits and the gut microbiota. Studies on ruminal microbiota also point out a significant effect of the “host” factor, and few publications reported results concerning the impact of host genetics on the composition of ruminal microbiota. The objective of this paper collection is to gather the literature on a new approach to animal nutrition aimed at adapting the diet to the genetics of the animals in order to optimize the synergy between the genome and the ruminal metagenome in the expression of animal traits. To do this, we need to understand the relationship between the ruminal microbiota and the host and how they interact in the expression of phenotypes of holobiont.Huang S. et al. investigated the consequence of ruminal content transplantation in prepartum dairy cows. They showed that fresh or sterilized rumen fluid affected host metabolism, in particular amino acids, bile acids and fatty acids metabolism.One way to study the importance of the dialogue between the host and its microbiota is through microbial transplantation. Amin et al. highlighted the link between metabolism and ruminal microbiota on the one hand and host metabolism on the other hand, and milk production in dairy cows. Differences in metabolic pathways are noted between low and high milk producing cows. These differences are consistent between the rumen, serum and milk compartments, highlighting an integrated functioning at the holobiont level.Zhang et al. showed in particular the effect of the protein level in the Yaks diet on the ruminal microbiota and metabolome.The difficulty in understanding the relationship between the rumen microbiota and its host is the strong impact of diet on the rumen microbial community and its metabolism. The paper by Wang et al. when they replaced soybean meal with fermented soybean meal in the ration of dairy cows.The nature of the food may also be important. If we stay with proteins, their degradability can strongly impact the ruminal microbiota and its activity. This was observed by Huang C. et al. on the growth of young Yaks. In this study, the authors also demonstrated the impact of feeding on the development of the rumen and its functioning, and thus on the construction of the holobiont and its production level.More globally, feeding systems affect the ruminal microbiota and its activities, and thus modulate the expression of phenotypes of interest as demonstrated by Studies on the ruminal micrbiota and its host are increasingly leading us to consider these two elements not as two separate entities but as two parts of the same entity: the holobiont. It is the overall functioning of the holobiont that will determine the characteristics of an animal. However, this functioning depends on the environment in which the holobiont evolves, in particular the food it receives. The holobiont must therefore be understood in connection with the environment in which it evolves, and the future challenge for researchers will be to study the interactions between them in order to find the holobiont best adapted to a given environment.All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.


Editorial on the Research TopicThe impact of endometriosisWorldwide, endometriosis affects more than 190 million women and those assigned female at birth. This corresponds to 10% of women in reproductive age . IndividEllis et al. provide an updated summary on endometriosis research and available diagnostic tools and treatments in clinics. They discuss the currently available funding in the field that falls short behind other chronic pain conditions such as Crohn's disease, leading to delayed advancements in the endometriosis field and increased economic burden for the patients. The authors strongly advocated that increased funding in endometriosis would benefit the advancements in diagnosis and treatment particularly regarding currently evolving research fields such as new biomarker analysis, nanomedicine and microbiota composition analysis. There is much space for improvement regarding endometriosis awareness as well as the availability of multidisciplinary treatments and diagnostic delay and accuracy. Many public health policies have been recently published to improve the access to treatment. Public awareness and professional training for an earlier diagnosis of the disease have also been increased. However, there is still a long diagnostic delay of approximately 8–12 years  Endometriosis Phenome and Biobanking Harmonization project (EPHect) Endometriosis Patient Questionnaire. This questionnaire has already been translated into 15 languages The collection of articles in this Research Topic includes the recent The experiences of endometriosis patients with diagnosis and treatment in New Zealand highlights the views of patients on endometriosis management. The patient's perspective on diagnosis and their treatments is crucial in adjusting the management to the needs of this population. It emphasizes some well-known problems in endometriosis management such as the diagnostic delay as well as the inefficacy of pain killers and hormonal treatments offered as a first and sometimes only treatment for the pain management. This article brings attention to the fact that the current standard treatments are not effective to every patient and highlights the urgent need for the development of new treatments including an interdisciplinary approach to manage endometriosis symptoms  intervention for people with endometriosis. EEs involve the establishment of changes in patients' environment which encourage exercise and socialization combined with sensory and cognitive stimulations and primary impairment therapy . This review points out the putative benefits of anti-angiogenic treatments, as well as the main expected side effects and their impacts. Like other articles in this collection, this paper highlights the need for a multidisciplinary approach to endometriosis management.Another important gap on endometriosis treatment regards the availability of different drugs to treat the disease. This Research Topic has received contributions regarding endometriosis awareness and highlighted the existing gaps in the understanding of the disease, its management, as well as the perception of endometriosis patients' on their treatments. It has been made clear that there is a need for more multidisciplinary research into the mechanisms underlying endometriosis as well as the development of new treatments and interventions. We believe that the patient perspective should be prioritized when designing new treatment studies. However, given that this is an underfunded research area, more awareness is required to direct more funding and resources into the field by governments and funding bodies.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether the authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and name external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement with this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


They identify interesting trends in search associated with procedures, and potential links between the social media platforms and public interest in procedures. What may also be reflected is changes in the social media platforms themselves and the types of content they allow to be seen and promote.In this article,In the modern world of social media, as algorithms change it is the duty and the responsibility of plastic surgeons to continue to improve transparency around procedures, including not just showing the potential for surgical outcomes but also the potential complications and long-term results. Safety and the process of surgery needs to be highlighted.ojad017_Supplementary_DataClick here for additional data file.


This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher .Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process:The presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


The journal retracts the 21 July 2021 article cited above.Following publication, the authors contacted the Editorial Office to request the retraction of the cited article, stating that the code that was used for the analyses performed in the article contains an error. Therefore, the conclusions reported in the article are no longer supported by the analyses. An investigation was conducted in accordance with Frontiers' policies that confirmed this; and the article has been retracted.This retraction was approved by the Chief Editor of Frontiers in Neurology and the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. The authors agree to this retraction.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has beengiven the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and name external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether the authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our cofidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Personalized medicine is a broadly used term to encompass approaches used to tailor healthcare to the needs of individual patients . It can Recently, with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence and interdisciplinary collaboration, concepts like machine learning and wearable device have been frequently raised in ophthalmic research . There mRecent developments in the field of gene therapy have attracted interest from scientists, clinicians and industry. Gene therapy approaches with the most promise in terms of visual improvements and longevity can be determined with the help of retinal and deep phenotyping. Progress in genotyping techniques and back-of-the-eye scans are helping us understand the diseases and their manifestations in patients. The majority of vision loss in diseases of the eye is caused by the loss of photoreceptor function. The appropriate therapeutic approach to use for each patient is determined by the timing and circumstances surrounding the loss of photoreceptor function. Gene therapy is rapidly becoming a therapeutic reality in the clinic. The move from laboratory work to clinical application has been propelled by advances in our understanding of disease genetics and mechanisms . The begAI coupled with teleophthalmology presents an opportunity to promote equity in eye health . It is iThe first successful implementation of AAV-mediated gene augmentation therapy is for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a dozen other clinical trials are underway to tackle other monogenic diseases of the retina using this strategy . Gene th


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis is article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


In the original article, there were errors in the affiliation numbering and the affiliation numbers assigned to each author. The correct affiliations appears above.The authors apologize for these errors and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis is article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This isThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher .Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process:The presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and name external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Following publication, concerns were raised regarding the scientific validity of the article. An investigation was conducted in accordance with Frontiers’ policies. It was found that these concerns were valid and that the article does not meet the standards of editorial and scientific soundness for Frontiers in Oncology; therefore, the article has been retracted.This retraction was approved by the Chief Editors of Frontiers in Oncology and the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. The authors do not agree to this retraction.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis is article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


The journal retracts the 2022 article cited above.Following publication, the corresponding author contacted the editorial office stating that there are contributors that have been omitted from the authorship of the published article, despite providing substantial contributions that meet Frontiers authorship criteria. Furthermore, the corresponding author informed the editorial office about errors in data collection that affect the scientific validity of the article. It was found that the concerns were valid and that the article does not meet the standards of editorial and scientific soundness for Frontiers in Pharmacology, therefore, the article has been retracted.This retraction was approved by the Chief Editors of Frontiers in Pharmacology and the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. The authors have agreed to the retraction.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual qualkity checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This ivThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Materials science has and will continue to be a science at a crossroads. It is a type of science that goes hand-in-hand with the engineering of practical solutions but also presents a path toward probing and comprehending the most fundamental phenomena in physics and chemistry. A natural accompaniment of this epistemic and applicative breadth is the constant inflow of challenges and big questions to it. Materials science provides a window to these perennial enigmas but also a view toward glimpsing the solutions.What are some of the most exciting topics for research where progress is to be expected in the years and decades to follow?Which subjects have been most resistant to progress in the recent past and for what reasons? What strategies may be devised to solve these impasses?What explains the demise of certain technologies that were once thought to herald new eras in materials science?What are some of the outstanding or inconspicuous problems in materials science, and how could we solve them using theoretical or empirical methods?Will a theoretical framework ever be deduced to allow the derivation of synthesis protocols for materials based on their intended functional properties alone?How can materials scientists contribute to professional and social egalitarianism and welfare using their influence?What are the defining features of creative research in materials science, and how can this creativity be taught?What strategies can materials scientists employ to combat the global trend in admiration of research accomplishments to the detriment of depreciation of inventive educational efforts?Why is it that materials with extraordinary properties are being produced in the labs and reported in scientific journals like never before in history, yet the quality of materials in daily products is on the decline?Which regulatory challenges for advanced materials have emerged in the 21st century, and which ethical issues are associated with them?Which interdisciplinary crossings involving materials science should be explored more and how?How can materials science benefit from the adoption of models and ideas originating from arts and humanities?Sociology and philosophy of science are studied at universities, but what would be sociologic trends and philosophical principles that apply uniquely to materials science?How can a more rigorous study of the history of materials science open up the path for its progress in the near and the remote future?Sample questions of this grand character that come to mind are as follows:The Special Issue publicized via this editorial note is open to review articles and elaborate essays and commentaries that address these and other big questions in today’s materials science and engineering. The authors should unleash their imagination but stay within the limits of rigor as they communicate their precious insights to the readers.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless, and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether the authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content, and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


One of the major, was the widespread introduction of digital psychiatry across the globe, as the only possible option to maintain the psychiatric care. On February 28th 2022, the European Psychiatric Association has started a network of solidarity for Ukraine to respond to the needs of people in Ukraine as verbalized by the Ukrainian mental health professionals, but also to the need of surrounding countries where people from Ukraine fled to. As verbalized by the colleagues from Ukraine and surrounding countries, one of the unmet educational needs was the education for first line helpers and volunteers from Ukraine and countries surrounding Ukraine where displaced persons fled to. This resulted in the series of webinars on the topics detected as unmet needs . The webinars were delivered by experienced clincians, trauma experts and experts with lived experince in the war zones, incliding the ones from Ukraine. These are available freely at the EPA website None Declared


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process. Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and name external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


The COVID-19 pandemic has set unprecedented demand on the medical system globally. Palestine was one of the Arab countries affectedThe present study aims to identify the relationship between patience and Stress Tolerance in the medical system in Bethlehem Governorate during the Corona pandemic, as well as to identify the impact of several demographic variables on it.Descriptive method were used. Appropriate statistical analyses were conducted using (SPSS). A random sample of 160 workers of the medical staff completed the Patience Scale and Coping Processes Scale questionnaire.: showed there is a significant positive effect for patience on stress tolerance and there were statistically significant differences in the level of patience in favor of males and single workers. It was also found that there is no difference in the specific duties of a health care worker and no variance of statistical evidence was found in the level of patience due to work with Covid patients but there were differences in stress tolerance in favor of those who do not work with Covid patients.There is a significance in the level of stress tolerance in favor of the National Center in regard to bearing pressure.There was a negative correlation with statistical significance between stress tolerance and age. The nature of stress changes with age, from episodic to chronic, which in turn affects appraisal and coping processesThis study, which was conducted on a sample of Palestinian medical workers in the Bethlehem area, showed that at the beginning of the pandemic, the medical system in Palestine was not ready to handle Covid 19, and had no precautions to prevent the disease. In spite of that, the doctors and nurses who were undergoing psychological pressure were able to stand at the front line and face the outbreak of the Corona virus.None Declared


Headache is associated with a wide spectrum of comorbid, statistically and biologically related pathological processes. A person with headache is more likely to have a psychological disorder than the rest of the general population, even more so if the headache is chronic. Psychiatric comorbidity has been shown to act as a risk factor in the chronification of headache and may contribute to increased disability. Anxiety and mood disorders are the psychiatric comorbidities that most influence aspects of the disease such as prognosis, response to treatment and even quality of life.To analyse the results of the implementation of a joint consultation between the headache unit and the liaison psychiatry programme.To evaluate the efficacy of interdisciplinary intervention in patients diagnosed with resistant headache.We performed a descriptive analysis of the database of patients included in the headache programme including data on neurological diagnosis, psychiatric diagnosis, type of intervention, referral to psychiatric consultation and number of subsequent revisions.Diagnoses related to anxious and depressive symptomatology are the most common diagnoses in patients diagnosed with treatment-resistant headache.In most of the patients analysed in the database a single joint intervention was necessary.Referral to mental health consultations from the programme did not lead to an increase in urgent demands with a clinical correlation in terms of diagnostic orientationJoint intervention in the management of these patients has been found to be beneficial in the reinterpretation of symptoms and progressive desensitisation to fear of chronic illness.Training in symptom detection at the psychopathological level is important for professionals from other areas as well as training in interviewing skills.More studies are needed to analyse the outcome of joint interventions in patients with difficult-to-manage chronic diseases and their comorbidities.None Declared


African Health Sciences. It comes on the heels of the Climate change conference in Egypt and the HIV/AIDS day. Days that remind us that climate change is a real challenge and that the stemming of the HIV/AIDs pandemic is likely to slip through our hands unless there is an urgent reinvigoration of Africa's approach that was once the envy of the world in the last 20 years.We are pleased to bring you this bumper December 2022 issue of st December is World AIDS Day and countries in Sub Saharan Africa have little to celebrate as new infections and needless deaths continue in the face of global and local financial challenges. Clearly new strategies for engaging communities and governments to find resources badly needed for prevention and control are needed urgently. Development partners have an obligation to come to the support of low-income countries despite worldwide economic difficulties.In this issue we bring you a salad of sorts! This includes papers on cancerThe infectious disease theme continues with papersPlease relax and enjoy this Christmas issue of African Health Sciences as you reflect on the issues that give us sleepless nights in Africa and the world: conflict, preventable diseases; climate change, and concomitant famine. If we made individual and collective efforts, together we would succeed in making this fragile planet a safe and enjoyable place to live.Merry Christmas!


The authors wish to correct the following error in the original paper .An additional affiliation  has been added to the first author Lulu Liu. Due to this change, the numbers of the rest of the affiliations of each author were updated.The authors apologize for any inconvenience caused and state that the scientific conclusions are unaffected. This correction was approved by the Academic Editor. The original publication has also been updated.


Discrepancies in scopeDiscrepancies in the description of the research reportedDiscrepancies between the availability of data and the research describedInappropriate citationsIncoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the articlePeer-review manipulationThis article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher . This inThe presence of these indicators undermines our confidence in the integrity of the article's content and we cannot, therefore, vouch for its reliability. Please note that this notice is intended solely to alert readers that the content of this article is unreliable. We have not investigated whether the authors were aware of or involved in the systematic manipulation of the publication process.Wiley and Hindawi regrets that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.We wish to credit our own Research Integrity and Research Publishing teams and anonymous and named external researchers and research integrity experts for contributing to this investigation.The corresponding author, as the representative of all authors, has been given the opportunity to register their agreement or disagreement to this retraction. We have kept a record of any response received.


Mycoplasma. It was confirmed by the authors when they tried to repeat their experiments unsuccessfully. The findings and conclusions reported in the article are no longer supported by the data. An investigation was conducted in accordance with Frontiers’ policies that confirmed this; therefore, the article has been retracted.Following publication, the authors contacted the Editorial Office to request the retraction of the cited article, stating that cell lines used in the article were contaminated by This retraction was approved by the Chief Editors of Frontiers in Pharmacology and the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. The authors agree to this retraction.


In the published article, there was an error in the Ethics statement as published. The Ethics statement incorrectly stated that written informed consent was obtained for participation in the study and for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in the article. However, written informed consent was not required for participation in this study in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements, and no potentially identifiable human images/data were included in the published article. The updated Ethics statement is included below:The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Changhua Christian Hospital (CCH IRB 201218). Written informed consent was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements.The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.


The journal retracts the 5 April 2023 article cited above.Following publication, concerns were raised regarding the scientific validity of the article. An investigation was conducted in accordance with Frontiers' policies. It was found that the complaints were valid and that the article does not meet the standards of editorial and scientific soundness for Frontiers in Public Health; therefore, the article has been retracted.This retraction was approved by the Chief Editors of Frontiers in Public Health and the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. The authors did not agree to this retraction.


Integration means change for professionals and for organisations: such change has frequently been resisted. Using a case study of the integration of community health and social services, the presentation will reflect on the way evidence and action research can be used to sustain change and help secure the benefits of integrated care for individuals, organisations and taxpayers.


The Competing Interests statement should read as follows: The authors have read the journal's policy on competing interests and have the following conflicts. Niina Haiminen and Laxmi Parida are employees of IBM. Isidore Rigoutsos was employed by IBM at the time of the study. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.


The Flexner report and Abraham Flexner occupy a dominant place in modern western medical education. Flexner suggested the traditional basic sciences and clinical sciences division of medical education and emphasized the 'science' of medicine. It may surprise many of you to know that Flexner was not a medical educator and not even a medical doctor. He was a headmaster of a little known school in the United States. This is one of the interesting facts I discovered in the book titled 'Basics in medical education' by two medical educators from the National University of Singapore. The Flexnerian model has a number of deficiencies. I was pleased to be reminded about the 'role' of basic science departments opening the floodgates of knowledge convinced their subject is the most important in medicine. Reforms have concentrated on integrated learning of the basic science subjects and underlining their importance in the practice of medicine. I was specially intrigued by the colonial influence on medical education in Asia. Nepal initially developed a different system of education with inputs from different regions. However with opening of private schools and recruitment of a large number of faculties from India the Indian and the old British influence has begun to be felt if not in theory at least in practice.The book has been divided into ten sections starting from 'A bird's eye view of medical education' and ending with 'Evaluation of impact.' The other sections are 'Educational concepts and philosophies,' 'Defining outcomes and objectives.' Instructional methodologies for general and clinical teaching and for problem-based learning and assessment are also covered. Educational philosophies are not easily understood by many educators and the authors have explained in a simple manner the difference between the instructivist and the constructivist philosophy of education. Constructivism is the basis of modern education philosophy and encourages self-learning and prepares learners for life long learning. In South Asia learning styles of students are influenced by the system of assessment which stresses rote learning and reproduction of information. I had previously studied learning styles among students and found most use a strategic learning style using both deep and surface learning according to requirements. In our institution we conduct regular teacher's training workshops and I conduct the session on adult learning which is based on constructivism and self-learning philosophies. The authors define a curriculum and mention that the first step is to identify the institution's mission and its objectives. I feel this step is often not done in South Asia where the curriculum is handed down by the medical council or the university. The problem is the same university has a diversity of medical schools with different stakeholders and objectives. Having been involved in innovations in medical education the section on strategies for implementation of educational innovations was of special interest. Educational objectives are important and we start our training workshops with a session on writing learning objectives. The three domains of Bloom's taxonomy have been well described by the authors. The affective domain receives less emphasis in traditional curricula and modern innovations like learning medical humanities emphasize this neglected domain. The list of action verbs which can be used while framing objectives will be very useful to the teacher.Lectures continue to be a dominant method of teaching due to large class sizes and other reasons and the chapter on making lectures more effective will be helpful. Periodic pause and review, carefully crafted questions and answers, immediate test and activities are mentioned. We have been using some of these methods in our lectures. I have been using small group activity-based learning in pharmacology practical sessions and in the Medical Humanities module and had learned about this during my fellowship at Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research. The chapter on understanding small groups presented the needed information in a simple and effective manner. Role plays are very effective in learning communication and counseling skills and we have been using them for a long time in both Pharmacology and the Medical humanities. Role plays do not need expensive resources and can be conducted easily in resource challenged settings.The chapter on questions and questioning techniques is within the specific focus of this journal and is a very important area in medical education. Assessment drives learning and it is unfortunate often teachers are unable to modify assessment methods which are decided by universities and other agencies. Clinical bedside teaching has a number of built in advantages. It takes place in a patient setting, is conducted in small groups, is activity based, concentrates on solving a patient problem and the clinical importance of the subject matter is underscored. The authors describe objective structured clinical examination and norm and criterion based assessment. Problem-based learning (PBL) has generated debate in medical education and many schools follow at least a partially problem-based curriculum. PBL is active, uses clinical problems for learning and is in consonance with adult learning principles. The authors give an excellent overview of PBL. The methods of assessment of PBL were of special interest to me and the authors have described it in a lucid and simple manner.In South Asia the process of evaluation and assessment has traditionally concentrated on students and the benefits of the process for teachers and faculty administrators among others has not been considered. Formative assessment (during the course of study) and summative assessment (for certification purposes at the end of the course) has been well described. We do not commonly subject our assessment instruments to rigorous scrutiny. Assessment is receiving belated emphasis and the quality of assessment instruments is being rigorously evaluated. Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are commonly used and constructing a good MCQ and questions assessing different set of skills is an essential prerequisite for a teacher. The methods of assessing quality of MCQs will be useful. A number of modifications to essay questions have been done to make them more objective and reduce bias in marking. Oral examinations or viva-voce has come in for a lot of criticism recently and modifications have been carried out to reduce inter examiner variability. Recent advancements in assessment like standardized patients and portfolios are also covered. Research in medical education has been briefly described and the list of resources for readers and glossary of terms will be helpful.Each chapter ends with a brief summary and a guide to further reading. Simple and lucid language is a feature of the book and the authors have described even difficult terms using simple examples. The book will serve as a good first introduction to medical school faculty to the subject of medical education. Different important aspects like teaching, assessment and recent innovations have been well described. I would strongly recommend this book to readers.


Retrovirology has been widely understood from the biomedical sciences discipline and yet it has got a huge impact in our society. The is a link between the biomedical sciences and the social sciences when coming to the issues of HIV and AIDS which has got both the elements of biomedical science in this regard looking at the retro virology and the social aspects it HIV and AIDS affects everybody and as a results the socio-economic factors of any society in that way a macro impact. The understanding of both the social context and the biomedical context need to be fused together and teach the society to be able to reduce the impact to a smaller scale.This paper will critically debate the gap between the biomedical sciences and the social science in order to address the huge impact HIV and AIDS has caused within African context. Key results will be drawn from a comprehensive literature review from books and journal articles.Furthermore, the paper will draw upon some lessons learned and strategic challenges in addressing biomedical and social sciences within the context of HIV and AIDS to make some recommendations and providing guidelines.


Awareness of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis in the United Arab Emirates is not high with even the incidence being unknown although efforts are currently being made to remedy this. Interestingly, the culture and environment has made the Emirati people a closed group and there are some factors within this group that suggest that the incidence of AIS might be higher than in other parts of the world. In this study, the incidence of Body Mass Index among young Emirati women was measured because low BMI levels have been associated with AIS and casual observation has suggested that many young Emirati women have low BMI levels.Standing heights and weights were measured using standard techniques of 100 randomly-selected, young Emirati women and BMI values calculated. The results were compared with similar published data from the United States.The results showed that the distribution of BMI values was similar to those in the U.S. but that average height and weight values were both significantly lower.These results suggest that the incidence of AIS in the UAE (when determined) will not be expected to be greater than in other parts of the world due to low levels of BMI. Hoewever, normal standards for height and weight in the UAE might need to be adjusted for this specific population in ways similar to some of the Asian countries.


Surveillance in the context of malaria elimination will needs to shift from measuring reductions in morbidity and mortality to detecting infections (with or without symptoms). The malaria elimination surveillance research and development agenda needs to develop tools and strategies for active and prompt detection of infection. The capacity to assess trends and respond without delay will need to be developed, so that surveillance itself becomes an intervention. Research is needed to develop sensitive field tests that can detect low levels of parasitaemia and/or evidence of recent infection. Examples of recent work on surveillance and response issues in several African countries will be discussed to illustrate approaches in active case detection and case investigations, cell phone reporting and response, and strategies to access mobile populations.


The list of authors of this article  was incoRekha Parameswaran did not approve the final version of the manuscript for publication and does not wish to be included as an author. In addition, Elizabeth Blanchard's initials appeared incorrectly as BE in the authors' contributions section. This section should read as follows:TK analyzed and interpreted the patient data and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. JR analyzed the patient data and contributed in writing the manuscript. EB analyzed and interpreted the patient data and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


There is a significant need for high-quality medical physics education and training in all countries to support effective and safe use of modern medical technology for both diagnostic and treatment purposes. This is, and will continue to be, achieved using appropriate technology to increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of educational activities everywhere in the world. While the applications of technology to education and training are relatively new, the successful applications are based on theories and principles of the learning process developed by two pioneers in the field, Robert Gagne and Edgar Dale.The work of Gagne defines the different levels of learning that can occur and is used to show the types and levels of learning that are required for the application of physics and engineering principles to achieve appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic results from modern technology. The learning outcomes are determined by the effectiveness of the learning activity or experience. The extensive work of Dale as formulated in his Cone of Experience relates the effectiveness to the efficiency of educational activities. A major challenge in education is the development and conduction of learning activities  that provide an optimum balance between effectiveness and efficiency. New and evolving models of the educational process use technology as the infrastructure to support education that is both more effective and efficient.http://www.sprawls.org/resources) and AAPM Continuing Education Courses .The goal is to use technology to enhance human performance for both learners (students) and learning facilitators (teachers). A major contribution to global education is the trend in the development of shared educational resources. Two models of programs to support this effort with open and free shared resources are Physical Principles of Medical Imaging Online ( Medical practice and healthcare facilities in most countries are becoming increasingly effective in diagnosing and treating many diseases, thanks to advances in science and technology for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In order for these advances to benefit citizens anywhere in the world, the medical technology has to be available and accessible, and highly-educated and trained medical professionals have to be able to utilise the technology for maximum effectiveness.Medical physicists have the knowledge to ensure optimum and safe utilisation of modern medical equipment for the benefit of all patients. This is achieved through applied clinical activities such as treatment planning and imaging procedure optimisation, education and training of other medical professionals such as physicians and technologists, evaluation of equipment performance, risk analysis, and management of quality and safety activities.There are two specific dynamics that have an impact on the effectiveness of education and training activities in a specific geographic region. One is the many rapid advances in the science and technology that require almost constant updating of knowledge, experience, and educational materials on a local basis. The other is the need to transfer knowledge from the few centres of experience with new technologies and methods to the many worldwide locations for clinical application. These needs will only be met by transiting to new models of the education and training process where state-of-the-art technology is used to enhance human performance of both learners (students) and learning facilitators (teachers). The goal is to produce enriched learning environments on a global basis to support highly effective learning activities.effectiveness and efficiency, as described by two of the major pioneers in the educational process and then analyse two models that are making major contributions on a global basis.We will now review the characteristics of learning environments, especially with respect to their In order to contribute to improved healthcare, the knowledge of medical physics must be applied in the clinical environment to plan and optimise procedures, analyse performance, solve problems, and other creative activities. This requires a higher level of learning than might be required for adequate performance on many written examinations.Robert Gagne, introduced in A major contribution of Gagne that applies to medical physics education is the formulation of the hierarchy and levels of learning as illustrated in Not all learning activities result in achieving the same abilities to perform specific functions. The application of medical physics in the clinical environment generally requires the higher levels of learning as illustrated above.effectiveness of the learning activity. While it is desirable for a learning activity, such as a classroom discussion, to be highly effective there is a major compromise that must be considered. That is the efficiency of the learning activity in terms of required resources such as personnel time and effort, institutional facilities, and financial costs as illustrated below.The level of learning achieved and the ability to perform specific functions depends on the This significant relationship between effectiveness and efficiency of learning activities was formulated by Edgar Dale and described with the Cone of Experience which has been published in different forms as illustrated in Dale's cone of experience is shown in more detail in As one can see, the cone of experience organises learning experiences and activities in terms of their effectiveness in producing learning outcomes.The learning outcomes that are crucial to clinical medical physics  are best developed by experiences and learning outcomes at the base of the cone.The concept of the cone of experience applied more specifically to medical physics education is shown in A major question is why a specific type of learning activity is selected and used. The answer is found when the characteristic of efficiency is added to the cone as shown in Many factors that have an effect on efficiency are illustrated in Cone of Experience) require significant resources, and are therefore not the most efficient when compared to some other educational methods.Any learning activity requires resources and it is this overall requirement that determines the efficiency of the activity. As has been observed above, learning activities that can be highly effective with outcomes to support applied clinical medical physics , showing relationships and interactions, and illustrating virtually all aspects of medical imaging.The increased efficiency comes from the sharing of the digitised resources so that local learning facilitators (teachers) and learners (students) can devote their time and effort to a more productive learning process.For centuries, the usual learning environment has been the classroom as illustrated in While the traditional classroom process continues to be useful for many topics, especially those that are conveyed through audio media , it presents a major challenge for effective medical physics education for both the learners and the learning facilitators as illustrated in The production of high-quality visuals that can connect the learner to the physical world  about which they are learning requires extensive time, talent, knowledge, experience, and technical resources that are not generally available to the traditional classroom teacher.Because of the rapid advances in medical physics and the associated technology for both imaging and therapy, and the migration of these around the world, the local learning facilitator is challenged with having to keep ‘up-to-date’ through continuing education and lifelong learning.The learner in the traditional classroom model is first challenged with the necessity of recording, in written form, both the visuals and spoken words and then using the materials later for effective learning as illustrated in Many of the challenges and short-comings of traditional education methods, especially in medical physics, are being reduced by innovative applications of technology..The desired role of technology is not to replace the learning facilitator/teacher but to enhance human performance, through increased effectiveness and efficiency, of both the learner/student and the learning facilitator/teacherThis is, and will continue to be, achieved through evolving models of the educational process that combine the advantages and values of both technology and humans. When high-quality visuals are available from an online resource, the local learning facilitator can devote time to guiding and leading the learning process with their personal knowledge and experience. This can be a highly effective learning activity producing the desired outcomes for clinical medical physics applications because it combines high-quality visuals to enrich the learning environment with the experience of the local learning facilitator. It is also very efficient for the learning facilitators because their effort can be directed to engaging the learner and guiding the learning process rather than having to produce visuals and other related materials.The learner is now "seeing" much of the physical universe rather than hearing it described in words, which results in a much more effective learning experience and higher levels of learning. When the visuals and related descriptive materials are also available to the learner for later study and review, the total learning activity becomes much more efficient.One of the greatest needs in medical physics education and training is to enrich the local learning environments everywhere in the world with the up-to-date experience associated with the developments in science and technology. A model of how this can be achieved is illustrated below.The requirement is that physicists, other scientists, and medical professionals who have the experience with the various technologies and applications transfer their knowledge into digital resources that are shared with both learners and learning facilitators on a global basis as illustrated in We will now consider a model for each of these applications.Physical Principles of Medical Imaging Online (PPMI) is a multifaceted shared resource as illustrated in The The purpose of PPMI Online is to support and enrich each step in the integrated learning process of the physics of medical imaging for medical physicists, radiologists, and other medical imaging professionals. In most applications it is integrated into, and used as a resource for, courses provided by institutions under the direction of the local medical physics faculty.The American Association of Medical Physicists (AAPM) provides many continuing education activities each year. These include approximately 50 courses presented during each AAPM Annual Meeting and also the Summer School devoted to a specific topic of interest each year. These courses and the proceedings of the Summer School are now available through the online Virtual Library as illustrated in http://www.aapm.org/international/).In addition to being available to AAPM members, the courses are now available at no cost to all medical physicists in developing countries who register to be an AAPM Developing Country Educational Associate (DCEA) through the international portal web site  and learning facilitators (teachers).Two models of programs to support this effort with open and free shared resources are:http://www.sprawls.org/resourcesPhysical Principles of Medical Imaging Online at: http://www.aapm.org/internationalAAPM Continuing Education Courses available through:


There have been many calls for more information about the natural resistome and these have also highlighted the importance of understanding the environmental resistome in the preservation of antibiotics for the treatment of infections. However, to date there have been few studies which have investigated the roles of antibiotics and resistances outside of the clinical environment. This lack of data also highlights the difficulties faced by microbiologists in designing these experiments to produce meaningful data. Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance have most commonly been viewed in the context of human use and effects. However, both have co-existed in nature for millennia. Recently the roles of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes have started to be discussed in terms of functions other than bacterial inhibition and protection. This special topic has focused on both the traditional role of antibiotics as warfare mechanisms and their alternative roles and uses within nature.The research topic starts with an introduction into antimicrobial resistance in medicine, its linkage to the global environmental microbiota and the many different roles of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in nature, providing the background to the topic (Cantas et al., These papers thoroughly review the many different aspects of antibiotic resistance and the roles of antibiotics in nature and link these to the emerging antibiotic resistances of particular importance to the treatment of infectious diseases.


The Allergen Bureau was established in 2005 and is funded by membership from the Australian and New Zealand food industry. The industry developed Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling is a resource to ensure consistency in manufacturing practices and labelling. VITAL  is a risk tool that was developed against a regulatory background where the labelling of incidental trace cross contact allergens is not mandated. VITAL is a risk based methodology to be used in assessing the impact of allergen cross contact and stipulates a consistent precautionary allergen labelling statement. Application of the VITAL system aims to avoid indiscriminate use of precautionary labelling and contribute to the minimisation of risk to allergic consumers.VITAL uses an action level grid to assist in determining if the presence of residual protein from allergenic substances through cross contact requires precautionary labelling. VITAL is based on the premise that some products may have foreseeable levels of an allergen present through incidental cross contact, and this will not be labelled where the level is below a specified action level. Due to the wide use and international interest in VITAL, it is important that VITAL be reviewed regularly to ensure that it can be considered to be the best available tool for cross contact allergen risk management.The purpose of this presentation is to provide information on the status of VITAL today and to outline the review process currently underway .A significant element in this process is the establishment of a scientific expert panel to review current clinical data, population data, and to consider the application of probabilistic modelling to the current action levels. This expert panel will meet in Australia in January 2011 and we hope to be able to report on the outcomes of the first meeting and the next steps in the journey .A consistent approach to cross contact risk assessment is key to ensuring reliability of labelling and consumer confidence and safety.


This issue marks a transition and a changing of the guard for Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine (CMMM). It is with some nostalgia that we look back on our long and illustrious association with Taylor and Francis; however, at the same time we look to the future with optimism and hope as Hindawi takes the helm and converts CMMM to the community-based, open access model that they have so successfully championed. The Hindawi Publishing Corporation is one of the fastest growing academic publishers worldwide with over 200 academic journals in their portfolio and a commitment to the highest levels of peer review and excellence. Reflecting on the genesis and evolution of CMMM, it is clear that Brian Sleeman, the founding Editor-in-Chief, showed great foresight in creating a journal that brought together the disparate disciplines of mathematics and medicine and that continues to play a major role in the development of mathematical medicine. He worked passionately to develop and promote the journal through some difficult times, with the insight and courage to bring together both biomedical/clinical scientists and mathematical scientists onto a single editorial board . The success that the journal has enjoyed thus far is a clear testament to his hard work, dedication, and vision. The journal has continued to provide a unique forum for the dissemination of interdisciplinary research resulting from collaborations between clinicians/experimentalists and theoreticians. CMMM has also continued to evolve rapidly, reflecting the increased focus on systems and interdisciplinary collaborative efforts across the breadth of biomedical, clinical, and translational research areas. The past year also saw the result of much hard work, with the inclusion of the journal in PubMed/Medline and the Science Citation Index Expanded. This was a great development for the journal since it not only has had an enormous impact on the general awareness and profile of the journal but has also resulted in increased submissions and downloads from the journal website over the past year. It has been exciting and rewarding to see the journal develop and evolve in this manner, and we look forward to increased success following this higher profile. The future looks extremely bright for the field of mathematical medicine as it emerges from its period of infancy and takes its place as a legitimate and central field of research and enquiry. Our sincere hope and wish is that CMMM continues from strength to strength and fulfills its role and promise as envisioned originally by its founding editor.Pamela JonesSivabal Sivaloganathan


Nutrients in 2011.It is with great appreciation that we acknowledge the following reviewers who have served our research community by reviewing manuscripts for Nutrients website to our Editorial Board and also to the guest editors of our expanding list of special issues who have devoted their time and expertise to achieving rapid growth in the quantity and quality of published manuscripts. My special thanks also to Associate Editor, Jon Buckley, and members of the editorial office for their dedication to the journal.I also wish to draw your attention on the