With the continuous improvement in the integration of urban agglomeration, a multi-functional, socialized, and complex dynamic system, effective prevention and control of emergent public health events have become increasingly important. Based on the Public-Health Vulnerability-Assessment-System of Urban Agglomeration (PVUA), the temporal and spatial differentiation characteristics of vulnerability in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) for the period of 2015-2019 are explored, and the vulnerable cities to public health events are identified in this area. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) The overall vulnerability to public health events in GBA decreases in the investigated period. (2) In the temporal dimension, accompanied by social and economic development, the sensitivity to public health events increases in GBA, and the coping capacity change from stable fluctuation to rapid improvement. (3) From the spatial dimension, the sensitivity level in GBA is low in the west, relatively high in the middle, and high in the southeast; the coping capacity is high in the southeast and low in the northwest; the collaborative governance capacity presents a spatial pattern of being low in the south and high in the north. (4) In the period of study, the vulnerability to public health events in Guangzhou and Jiangmen is stable at the lowest level, while that in Zhaoqing, Foshan, and Hong Kong SAR  gradually reduces; the vulnerability in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Dongguan is fluctuating, and that in Huizhou, Zhongshan, and Macao SAR is continually maintained at a higher and the highest level. In the 21st century, with its accompanying economic development, the loss caused by major public health emergencies has been increasing yearly. Public health events refer to the epidemic of infectious diseases and mass diseases with unknown causes that have (likely) occurred, which has (likely) caused heavy losses to public health. In 2020, comprehensively promoting the construction of a healthy China was established as a critical task in China's 14th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development and the vision goal of 2,035, for improving people's quality of life and raising the level of social construction. Therein, improving the mechanisms for monitoring, alerting, and effectively solving public health emergencies is significant for ensuring the overall promotion of a healthy China. In the same year, the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Xi Jinping, stressed the importance of strengthening the prevention and control mechanisms of public health and improving the emergency management system of public health, preventing and coping with major public health emergencies.Gap 1).Health policy needs to be informed by scientifically based evidence . To imprIn disaster management, risk is often described as a function of hazard and vulnerability . VulneraIn public health events, the cross-domain crisis has become the most characteristic and destructive new crisis form, which bears the risk of causing secondary and derivative hazards. The natural defects of structural obstacles limit the conventional urban crisis emergency system. It cannot effectively deal with the new situation and the new problems caused by the cross-domain crisis . City plGap 2).Currently, the studies on cross-regional public security coordination in urban agglomerations primarily focus on theoretical discussions, conceptual model construction, and policy analysis , 48–50. Gap 3). Hence, GBA has been constructively selected as this study's research area.At present, the spatial organization of urban agglomerations in China presents a new pattern of 5 + 9 + 6 consisting of five national, nine regional, and six regional urban agglomerations . ThereinTherefore, according to Gap 1–3, this research intends to fill the research gaps in GBA by employing the sensitivity-coping capacity-collaborative governance framework for establishing the PVUA dynamic evaluation system innovatively. GBA is adopted as the public health vulnerability empirical research object. The weights of 23 indices are determined by the entropy method, and the vulnerability level and temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of public health events in GBA are extensively explored to provide academic support for developing GBA into a safe bay area.Preconcluding, the main research objective is to investigate public health vulnerability in GBA. The specific objectives may be outlined as follows:To elaborate a dynamic evaluation system for the PVUA by employing the sensitivity level-coping capacity level-collaborative governance level framework;To explore the vulnerability level and temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of public health events in GBA;Based on publicly available data, to identify the vulnerable cities in GBA by holistically respecting public health events conditions;To formulate the risk-avoidance manners for public health events conditions using the weights of 23 indices related to public health events emergency interventions.This study's novelty is in the appraisal of public health vulnerability from the GBA from top-class international urban agglomeration in China. Theoretical and pragmatic contributions are also derived from this study's outcomes. The study builds the PVUA dynamic evaluation system and gives an in-depth comprehension of specific promotion strategies from actual vulnerability performance with a strong potential of advancing stakeholders' and city management department' capacity to actualize higher security level results in future action plans and strategies. Moreover, providing vulnerable ranking cites to policy makers to priorities resource allocation and provide strategies for creating safe GBA. The study proposes the PVUA evaluation system of implementing a proposed safe and sustainable urban agglomeration strategy for GBA, China, which could also be utilized as a tool or model by relevant stakeholders across the globe to objectively and systematically assess public health events emergency performance to allow for prompt preventive/amendatory mechanism.The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we discuss the representativeness of the study area and the reasonableness of the source data. Therein, we outline the data employed and the methods to caliber statistical data. And this is followed by arguments justifying the dynamic evaluation system for the PVUA, explaining how the sensitivity, coping capacity, and collaborative governance subsystems reflect different aspects of the potential facilitators and inhibitors of the public health events crisis across urban agglomerations. Then we depict the results of the various subsystems model estimated in GBA and consider which indices appear to contribute most to the subsystems crisis. The fifth section elucidated the vulnerability level data of cities in GBA in five different years, and the reasons for the crisis and the solutions are discussed. Our final section presents some insights and conclusions regarding the role played by the PVUA model in managing vulnerability to public health in urban agglomerations.Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area of 2019, it was explicitly pointed out to perfect the mechanism of effectively addressing emergencies, and construct an emergency coordination platform for GBA, to perfect the mechanism of effectively handling emergencies. The GBA is one of the regions with the highest degree of openness and the most substantial economic vitality in China , ej for the j index is calculated as follows:Secondly, the entropy value aj for the index is calculated.Then, the information utility value Wj for the j index is calculated.Finally, the weight Wi is calculated proportionally. By summing the weights of the indices of the determined index layer, Wj, the weight of the index of the dimension layer Wi is obtained.By using the utility value for the index information, and according to the additivity of entropy, the weight of the dimension layer Yi for each index in the criterion layer is , the greater value for Y corresponds to higher regional coping capacity and less vulnerability; when the target layer is collaborative governance (negative index), the greater value for Y corresponds to higher regional collaborative governance capacity and less vulnerability.In formula (8), when the target layer is sensitivity (positive index), the greater value for The combined score Y is equal to the weighted sum of the scores of each item, and the formula is:Y is the synthetic score of the evaluated region, and Y1, Y2, and Y3 are synthetic scores of sensitivity, coping capacity, and collaborative governance.In formula (9), Technical Standard of Highway Engineering , the road speed limits are set as 120 km/h for expressways, 80 km/h for urban expressways, 60 km/h for principal arteries, 50 km/h for secondary arteries, and 30 km/h for branch roads, respectively. Firstly, establish the factor data set, import data, verify the network data set, select the service area, and import service points accordingly. Secondly, the travel time for each road to the medical point was calculated using the formula, and fields were added to the attribute table. Thirdly, the impedance is set as a 5-min service area, 10-min service area, and 15-min service area to analyze the fastest path. Furthermore, according to the spatial analysis results, the ratio of compensation area to urban area is obtained to establish the data on rescue time compensation capability for each city.The rescue time compensation capability directly impacts regional risk compensation capability under major public health emergencies. It is closely associated with the distribution of medical stations and driving speed. In the case of emergency disasters and personnel first aid, “120” emergency vehicles are required to arrive at the site of the accident within the shortest time  to perform rescue services . AlthougThe weight of each normalized index is determined by the entropy method, and the sensitivity level of each city in GBA is calculated for each year. According to Regarding the developing trend, the sensitivity levels of Guangzhou, Huizhou, and Jiangmen increased continuously, while that of Dongguan first decreased and then increased since 2016; the sensitivity levels of Macao SAR, Foshan, and Zhongshan followed an “inverted U” pattern of first increasing and then decreasing, and all cities reach their peak values followed by a gradual decrease in 2017 generally showing a relatively stable trend. Among them, the sensitivity level of Macao SAR remains in the high-value area due to the high degree of external dependency and its single-industry structure; however, with the transformation of Macao to a moderately diversified economic entity, the sensitivity level gradually decreased after 2017. The decrease in the sensitivity level of Foshan is mainly reflected in the transformation of its industrial structure . As a substantial manufacturing base in China, the sensitivity level of Foshan decreases due to the transformation of old to new driving forces and the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in recent years. With the decrease in the external attraction of Zhongshan after 2017, the proportion of the migrant population and community tenants declines, and its sensitivity level decreases. The remaining cities are in a relatively stable state of fluctuation.According to the natural breakpoint method, the sensitivity levels to the overall public health events in GBA during the study period are divided into five classes, as shown in According to the trend of the capacity to cope with public health events in GBA from 2015 to 2019, the coping capacity of all cities in GBA has improved to a certain extent Spatial mapping of the capacity to cope with public health events in GBA from 2015 to 2019 was conducted, the areas in GBA characterized by different coping capacities were obtained, and a five-level division was performed according to the natural breakpoint method . At presCities in GBA have different capabilities for collaborative governance. According to the evaluation data, the collaborative governance capability is divided into five levels. Based on the analysis of the evaluation results Based on the above PVUA evaluation methods, the spatial pattern of five vulnerability types at the city scale in GBA was obtained by the natural breakpoint method in the study area during the 5 years. The study showed that the overall performance of the PVUA at the city scale in GBA was “low in the north and high in the south” during 2015–2019 . The res(1) Analysis of the node cities with the lowest levels of vulnerability in GBAThe lowest levels of vulnerability to public health events are found in Guangzhou and Jiangmen. Firstly, with the rapid economic development, the sensitivity level of Guangzhou presents a continuously increasing trend over the entire period . HoweverFurthermore, due to the stability of industrial characteristics and a smaller migrant population, Jiangmen has a low sensitivity level . Althoug(2) Analysis of the node cities with gradual decrease levels of vulnerability in GBAZhaoqing, Foshan, and Hong Kong SAR witness a gradual decrease in vulnerability to public health events. Among them, Zhaoqing and Foshan are at a low sensitivity level due to the characteristics of their industrial structure and low population mobility. In addition, the allocation of health resources and public health expenditure in the two cities are relatively high, and “medical insurance system, health system, and drug distribution co-reformation” are locally promoted, causing continuous improvement in coping capacity and the emergence of a declining trend of the vulnerability level. Hong Kong SAR has the highest sensitivity level, but its coping capacity is also at the highest level, and the allocation of health resources and public health expenditure constantly increases; thus, its vulnerability level gradually decreases. Furthermore, the vulnerability levels fluctuate in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Dongguan. During the study period, the collaborative governance capability of the three cities presents no significant change. At the same time, vulnerability fluctuates due to a correlation between sensitivity and coping capacity.(3) Analysis of the vulnerable cities with a high level of vulnerability in GBAThe vulnerability to public health events remains high in Huizhou, Zhongshan, and Macao SAR. With the transformation of industrial structure and the continuous enhancement of population aggregation in these three cities, the industrial structure should be optimized in the future. Additionally, the number of medical systems, the allocation of health resources, and the public health expenditure should be increased to match the rapid development of the social economy in these cities. Although WHO guidance should be followed, a one-size-fits-all model will not be appropriate . Local gFurthermore, available data suggest the vulnerability of public health events within the urban agglomeration posed by the combination of three factors: sensitivity, coping capacity, and collaborative governance capacity. Sensitivity is a positive factor, and coping capacity and collaborative governance capacity are negative factors for the vulnerability of public health events. According to the analysis of the spatial distribution of various elements in GBA, the spatial distribution of multiple components is inconsistent. For example, among the central cities in GBA, Guangzhou has a high sensitivity to public health events, and its coping ability and collaborative governance ability are high; while Shenzhen has high sensitivity, high coping ability, and medium level of collaborative governance; Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR are cities with high sensitivity, high coping ability, but low collaborative governance ability; there are also small and medium-sized cities such as Zhaoqing and Jiangmen, which have low sensitivity, low coping ability, and relatively high collaborative governance ability. Based on this, strategy systems that deal with the risk of public health events should clarify the specific levels of various vulnerability factors first, thereupon formulating issue targeted policies to reduce system vulnerability.Framework Agreement on Cooperation in Health and Wellness in GBA in 2018 and the Consensus on Cooperation in Medical and Health in GBA in 2019, GBA focuses on complementing the advantages of each city or region and aiming at jointly building infrastructure and sharing benefits and continues promoting cooperation in high-quality medical resources, public health emergency response, innovation in traditional Chinese medicine, scientific research and services, talent cultivation, diagnosis, and treatment.In general, the overall evolution trend shows gradually expanding areas with low vulnerability, although the volatility of the vulnerability level varies significantly in GBA during the study period. In 2019, apart from Huizhou, Zhongshan, and Macao SAR, most of the cities in GBA fall into areas with moderate and low vulnerability levels , and theAlthough economic indicators are not used in the PVUA evaluation system, the study findings showed that the differences in regional economic levels expressed various vulnerability risks posed by public health events, which might uncover a hidden fact. More specifically, it is likely that the sensitivity level and coping capacity regarding the vulnerability to public health events in urban agglomerations are deeply correlated economic level or socioeconomic level inevitably, which is consistent with previous studies , 63, 64.Simultaneously, as articulated in The Lancet, 14 vulnerability in the present context is a dynamic concept—a person or a group might not be vulnerable at the beginning of the outbreak, but could subsequently become vulnerable depending on the government response . EffectiIn recent decades, with the advancement of urbanization in China, the aggregation and spatial mobility of production factors unique to urban agglomeration cause the safety security of public health events to be distinctly systematic, diversified, derivative, and intersectional. Accurate and effective measurement of vulnerability to regional public health events is most important to ensure people's health, economy, social stability, and political image in urban agglomerations . HoweverIn this study, the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of the sensitivity-coping capacity-collaborative governance of vulnerability of city units in the study area were evaluated based on the PVUA model and GIS analysis (rescue time compensation capability), and entropy method during 2015–2019. Simultaneously, based on publicly available data, the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of vulnerability to public health events in GBA were further explored in this research. The main conclusions are drawn as follows:Population density, road density, population mobility, population structure, industrial structure, and openness are adopted as the six factors to assess the vulnerability to public health events in GBA. Surveillance is critical for improving population health . The senThe capacity of GBA to cope with public health events is assessed based on four factors: the rescue time compensation area, the allocation of medical and health resources, the public health expenditure, and the response of emergency supplies. According to the results, the spatial pattern of the coping capacity of the GBA presents a combined state of diffusion effect and echo effect; the coping capacity is found to be the highest in Hong Kong SAR, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, reflecting continuous improvement in the medical and health system and the level of medical and health services with the social and economic development in these cities. The medical and health system, the construction of medical and health services, and the public health expenditure of Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, and Huizhou all belong to the lowest development area category, especially Zhongshan has become the core area of the echo effect.General Plan for the development of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone and The plan for comprehensively deepening reform and opening up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone in 2021, can promote more freedom and convenience in the flow of people, cargo, capital, and technology. Collaboratively handling public health events, improving the level of collaborative and coordinated management of public health emergencies, and reducing institutional barriers to cooperative management of public health emergencies have become the focus of work to reduce the vulnerability to the risk of public health events in GBA.As a provincial capital city, Guangzhou shows the highest collaborative governance capability in GBA, followed by Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, and Huizhou. The collaborative governance capabilities of Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR are the lowest. In the future, in-depth cooperation based on “one country, two systems”, together with the The vulnerability to public health events presents a significant declining trend in GBA, demonstrating the inevitable future trend of in-depth cooperation based on the construction of an encompassing high-quality living circle and the concept of excellent health in GBA, continuous enhancement of the capacity of GBA to withstand, handle, and collaboratively govern public health events, the achievement of gradual decline in the regional vulnerability to public health events, and joint development of social economy and medical care as well as public health.In the present study, we developed and validated an dynamic instrument of the PVUA with good initial evidence for internal reliability. PVUA evaluation system was proved in virtual agreement with the actual situation in GBA. Although research on public health surveillance systems is relatively mature , to the via previous research on public health policy and categories may not be prominent representative, and thus subsequent research might introduce more comprehensive research methods to demonstrate the current results. Second, there may be concerns about how the results would generalize beyond this sample to other urban agglomerations of China. Third, our data were based on a single evaluation system, and we assessed the geographical distribution features of the PVUA without conducting a reliability check. Future research might involve the adoption and use of methods in other health-related disciplines to provide evidence of synergistic interactions. Besides, the PVUA was tested in a Chinese urban agglomerations context; how it behaves in other cultural settings remains to be investigated.The study has some limitations that should be taken into consideration. First, we acknowledge that the PVUA dynamic evaluation system presented in the current study Future research should also be deepened and expanded: regarding data processing, high-resolution satellite imagery, satellite data, big data of urban traffic should be introduced, and the data on rush hours, road accessibility and topographic elevation data should be fully considered to obtain more accurate rescue time compensation areas in each city. Moreover, horizontal research in this field is warranted. We invite future research to focus on more elaborate testing to evaluate the validity of the PVUA evaluation system, primarily to evaluate the applicability of the scale to different regions in other cultural settings. In addition, multiple comprehensive research for the PVUA evaluation system is also warranted.The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Hanshan Normal University Ethics Committee. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.WC: conceptualization, visualization, writing-original draft, writing—review, and editing. JC: supervision, methodology, funding acquisition, and project administration. HS: supervision, investigation, data curation, and formal analysis. YaZ: validation and formal analysis. SL: data curation and investigation. YiZ: visualization and formal analysis. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.This research was funded by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019A1515110928), Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (GD20CGL09), Hanshan Normal University, China (XN202031), Department of Education of Guangdong Province(2020GXJK091).The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


The movement for racial and social justice that swept the United States in recent years has drawn greater attention to life-threatening inequities. The issue of how race-related health inequities are affecting disadvantaged groups has received sharper focus, bringing widespread promises of reform along with it.Nearly 250 declarations of racism as a public health crisis have passed in states, cities, town councils, county and education boards, and public health entities. While resolutions and formal statements themselves are not necessarily legally enforceable, they are an important first step in shifting a narrative that can drive meaningful changes to public health programming, policies, and resource allocation.Racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks , which unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages others, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources. Improving health and addressing inequities requires acknowledging that racism exists, correcting misconceptions that fuel racism, and facilitating healing in communities.In this Research Topic feature, we share what many experts have to say about racialized impacts on health as well as innovations that can foster and sustain transformational change in policies and practices that are driving the social determinants of health and wellbeing. Several underlying themes crisscross the many articles and Editorials including, the need to improve the quality of health data; transforming how we communicate about our past, present, and future; practices and policies that sustain false beliefs in hierarchy; progress of national and state-level legislation to address health inequities, and the importance of community-based participatory research approaches for authentic voices. Many of the manuscripts share real-life examples of how racism and health equity are being addressed across the U.S.Healing Through Policy: Creating Pathways to Racial Justice, an initiative that offers local leaders a suite of policies and practices that are being implemented across the country to help advance health, racial equity, and justice. Healing Through Policy uses the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) framework, a comprehensive, national, and community-based process to plan for and bring about change, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism. First introduced by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 2017, the TRHT framework is used by communities around the nation and on dozens of college campuses to promote racial healing and relationship building. The suite is available at: www.debeaumont.org/healing-through-policy.County and city leaders who are looking for practical ways to advance health and racial equity now have a new resource that can serve as a roadmap. In 2021, the American Public Health Association, the de Beaumont Foundation, and the National Collaborative for Health Equity launched All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.GB and RD were employed by American Public Health Association, Washington, DC, United States. The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Functionally, neuropeptides are strongly implicated in vascular temperature regulations, spermatozoa extrusion, epididymal content transportation, and movement of accessory gland secretions. This review provides an overview of neuropeptides with respect to their synthesis, release, and mechanism of actions, with emphasis on the locally acting neuropeptides, such as substance P (SP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), vasoactive intestinal peptides (VIP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), galanin (GAL), cholecystokinin (CCK), C-terminal flanking peptide of NPY (CPON), peptide histidine isoleucine (PHI), and met- and leu-enkephalins (M-ENK and L-ENK) along the male genital tract  of 14 species of mammals and their marked influence on reproduction. This review also revealed from documented reports that the vast majority of neuropeptides present in the autonomic nerve supply to the male genital tract probably coexist with other peptides or with various neurotransmitters . In addition, documented evidence of variation in age, season, and intraspecies differences were identified as notable factors of influence in peptidergic nerve fiber distribution.Neuropeptides are secretory peptides characterized by small chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. They are majorly found in some mammalian neurons and glial cells, where they modulate a variety of physiological homeostasis. In the male genital tract, they are mostly found in the neuronal fibers supplying the vasculature, smooth muscle layer, interstitium, and  They act on neural substrates. Of note, distinction exists between neuropeptides and other peptides  in that it is strictly neurons that secrete neuropeptides, while peptide hormones found their origin in the periphery . However, the same sets of regulatory enzymes control the synthesis, modification, and biodegradation of both peptides. Moreover, neuropeptides could exert autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine functions, just like peptide hormones  culminates in the relatively long-lived impacts of neuropeptides. Their actions are enhanced by G-protein-coupled receptors . NeuropeThere is great diversity in the functioning of neuropeptides, and this is highly due to the distinctions in the proteolysis of their precursors, primary sequence, covalent modifications, and length of the peptide . The bioThe mammalian male genitalia consist of organs that are involved in the development, maturation, transportation, and deposition of the male gametes (spermatozoa). By virtue of this, the male genital organs encompass the paired testes, the convoluted duct of epididymis, the deferent duct, the urethra, and the accessory glands . Many peThe focus of this review is to profile the neuropeptides central to the morphophysiological functioning of the vertebrate mammal male genital tract, their distribution, and the variability of their expressions.The main part of the male genitalia, the testis, is innervated by complex networks of peripheral nerve [the superior and the inferior spermatic nerve (SSN and ISN)] fibers originating from the cranial and caudal mesenteric ganglia (these nomenclatures are homologous to the superior and inferior mesenteric ganglia in primates) , 9. The The ISN fiber leaves from both the caudal mesenteric ganglion and pelvic plexus together with the vas deferens and then access the caudal pole of the testes through the proper ligament of the tail of epididymis , 14. TheThe rest of the genital tract receives innervation from the lumbosacral plexuses, which are made up of the genitofemoral , pudendal, and in some species , the ilioinguinal nerves . The genOne of the research paths on the innervation of the reproductive tract in many species of animals studied dealt with the distribution and chemical coding of nerve fibers supplying the male genital organs . SeveralThe abovenamed sets of neuronal markers have been used to localize testicular nerves in the testicular capsules, around branches of the testicular artery, within interstitial Leydig cells, seminiferous tubular interstices, epididymal tubular interstitium, epididymal ductal muscular coat, and in the wall and parenchyma stroma of accessory glands in the Wistar rat, dog, bovine, pig, donkey, monkey, deer, man, camel, giant rat, house musk shrew, and African greater cane rats –32. It wWe hereby provide an overview of the documented findings on neuropeptide localizations in the male genital tracts of the different mammalian species.Immunohistochemical technique has been used to localize neuropeptides in the testes of different age categories of man (subadult and adult) , 33, 34.Taino  submittetunica albuginea, mediastinum, perimediastinal, and capsular arteries of the testis. In terms of contribution, about 50% of funicular, mesochial, and caudal nerve access to the testis were found to be NPY positive in the adult and were not expressed in the septula testis. While in the young calf and subadult bovine, the NPY nerve fibers from the three testicular nervous access constituted only about 33%. In addition, NPY nerve fibers were demonstrable in the septula testis of the younger age groups. Concerning the VIP nerve-positive axons, the authors observed immunoreactivity in the tunica albuginea, ligamentum propria, and caudal mesodeferens. The demonstration of VIP-positive nerve fibers in the testis was directly related to age . The CGRP neuropeptide was observed to be immunonegative in the testes of the young and subadult bovine, while in the adult, solitary CGRP fibers were demonstrated in the connective tissues of spermatic cord, cranial mediastinum, tunica albuginea, and mesorchium. Positive SP solitary fibers were seen in the ligamentum bridge situated between the epididymis and testis at the caudal testicular pole in the younger calf. However, SP immunoreactivity was negative in other age groups.The comparative neuropeptide distribution in different age groups of bovine  was investigated by Wrobel and Abu-Ghali . The stuvia the ligamentous bridge connecting the testis and epididymal tail and were restricted to the caudal pole of the testis. Interestingly, the CGRP-positive nerve fibers were not regularly demonstrated in the camel testis; however, Saleh et al.  was profiled by Wrobel and Moustafa . Neuropeeneghini  had prevductus deferens and the lamina propria of the tunica mucosa as well as in muscular coat and axis of ampulla ductus deferentis  in the testes and associated structures  in the cat was equally investigated by Suburo et al. . The stuar septa , 44. On  vessels , 44. It  vessels  reportedtunica albuginea, seminiferous tubular interstitium, mediastinum testis, and septula testis. The VIP nerves were demonstrated in the funicular and supratesticular vascular stroma and in the fibers accompanying the epididymal arteries to the epididymal head. The CGRP formed about 50% of nerve fibers in the subadult and was localized in the intervascular stroma, testicular vascular organ, and tunica albuginea. However, CGRP fibers were less frequently demonstrated in the septula testis and the mediastinum. In case of the adult boars, CGRP nerve axons were markedly reduced. A small population of about 10% nerve bundles were immunopositive for SP in all age categories.Age-related changes in the distribution of nerves access to the testis and its investment in pigs using pan-neuronal markers and neuropeptides have been described by Wrobel and Brandl . It was A previous study by Kaleczyc et al.  revealedtunica albuginea, vascular elements, and mediastinum of the testis, head, body, and tail segments of epididymis as well as the furnicular and abdominal parts of the ductus deferens. There was no immunoreactivity within the spermatogenic elements of the seminiferous tubule. The immunoreactivity was demonstrated only in the tunica albuginea and vascular stroma of the testis, the three segments of the epididymis, and ductus deferens . Moderately positive CGRP immunoreactivity was observed in the tunica albuginea and vascular stroma of the testis, while marked immunoreactivity was restricted to the various epididymal ductus deferens segments. In the case of SP, a similar immunoreactivity density observed for CGRP was displayed in both testis and epididymis.Sienkiewicz et al.  reportedvia probable reciprocal influences with target cells to bring about the morphofunctional postnatal development of the genital system in male rats.Properzi et al.  investigtunica albuginea. In addition, the NPY-positive fiber varicosities were sparsely distributed throughout the testicular interstitial space and appeared to be associated with microvessels and along the seminiferous tubules. The authors did not detect immunoreactivity to VIP in the rat testis. This observation is partially in tandem with negative immunoreactivity to NPY, VIP, and CGRP neuropeptides as observed by Properzi et al.  were investigated in the testis of rats by Rauchenwald et al. . The NPYi et al.  in both i et al.  immunohiductuli efferentes and seven zones of the guinea pig epididymis was investigated by Greenberg et al.  of the epididymis. Ultrastructural features of cholinergic (agranular vesicles), adrenergic , and peptidergic (large granular vesicles) innervations were seen in the interstitial connective tissue of both the efferent duct and the various zones of the epididymis. The localization of these selected peptidergic nerve fibers in some specific regions of the efferent duct and epididymis has been suggested to portend ranging physiological roles including SP mediation of smooth muscle constriction in the epididymal parenchyma and its perivascular structures, and VIP initiation of smooth muscle dilatation at the caudal aspects of the epididymis, the seat of spermatozoa storage.The innervation of the g et al.  using thFunctionally, the ultrastructural features of nerve chemical coding noted by the authors implied a costorage of adrenergic, cholinergic, and peptidergic transmitters in the epididymis of guinea pig.Frungieri et al.  documentThe male sex accessory organs, just like the main sex organs, are supplied by nerves containing not only the classical neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine and noradrenaline, but also a vast array of peptidergic transmitter candidates . Some ofA considerable quantity of NPY-immunoreactive fibers has been localized in male accessory sex glands receiving dense sympathetic nerve supply . NPY nerPositive CGRP immunoreactive single and thick bundles of nerve axons have been localized in the perimuscular coat, sub-epithelial connective tissue, and in the perivascular spaces of the seminal vesicular gland in the guinea pig, man, and hamster rat , 53, 59.Positive immunoreactivity to PHI has also been documented in man , rat, anThe VIP nerve fibers were majorly localized on the basal part of the seminal vesicular gland and within the muscular coat as well as in vascular elements of the gland in smaller amounts , 61–65. Positive immunoreactive SP, enkephalins, and gastrin-releasing peptide nerve fibers have been demonstrated in varied quantities in the smooth muscle and mucosa of the seminal vesicles of man, rat, and guinea pig , 63–65. On the possibility of age-related differences in the neuropeptide localization and expression in accessory sex glands, Properzi et al.  reportedKlimczuk et al.  investigRegarding neuropeptide distribution in the seminal vesicle in the donkey and horse, Arrighi and Domeneghini  documentMet-1 and Leu-1 enkephalin-positive nerve fibers were demonstrated in the muscular layer of ductus deferens and its ampulla as well as subepithelial connective tissue of ductus deferens in the horse and donkey, although the donkey had an exclusive demonstration of positive Met-1 and Leu-1 enkephalin nerve fibers in the external muscular layer of caudal epididymis, ductus deferens, ampullary, and vesicular glands. For bombesin/GRP neuropeptide, positive bombesin nerve fibers were exclusively detected in the muscular tunic of the ductus deferens in the horse but restricted to the perivascular regions of ductus deferens in the donkey. Somatostatin peptide was immunonegative to the nervous, connective, muscular and epithelial components in the testis, epididymis, ductus deferens, and accessory glands in the horse and donkey .The report of Higgins and Gosling  on usingAlthough there are conflicting reports of dual possible demonstration of NPY immunopositive nerve fibers in the human prostate , 66. TheThe prostate gland in most animals is rich in VIP nerve fibers and constitutes the dominant colocalized peptides in the cholinergic nerve supplying the glandular epithelium of the prostate gland , 62, 69.Neurokinin and substance P have been sparsely localized in nerve fibers innervating the smooth muscle tunic of man, sheep, dog, guinea pig, rat, and mouse prostate glands , 79–81. Macacus fuscatus, using both histochemical [acetylcholinesterase (AChE) reactivity] and immunohistochemical (TH and NPY immunoreactivities) approaches. The authors observed abundant positive TH-like immunoreactive nerve fibers in the interstitium and infrequent distribution in the paraurethral region. Also, NPY-like immunopositive nerve fibers were localized in the interstitium and periprostatic acini on a less abundant basis compared with the TH counterpart. However, AChE-positive nerve fibers were densely demonstrated around the acini compared with the interstitium. The authors also noted that both NPY-like and AChE-positive nerve fibers seemed to be localized in close association with the acini epithelium.Yokoyama et al.  investigThe available report on peptidergic nerve fiber distribution was conducted by Smith et al.  with theArrighi and Domeneghini  observedArciszewski  employedWe provided a concise overview of the neuropeptide profiles in the male genitalia of various mammalian species in mediastinum testis, and vascular stroma within and around the testis. With respect to testicular NPY distribution in the buffalo, rat, and cervine, NPY was demonstrated in the testicular capsule only and/or in the vascular stroma as well as seminiferous tubular interstitium. The mammalian species with the most restricted distribution area (perivascular tissue) of testicular NPY are the donkey and horse. Surprisingly, there is no report yet on the NPY distribution in the dog.Comparatively, the neuropeptide Y has broad immunopositive areas in the testis of man, monkey, rabbit, cat, pig, and camel. The involved parts of the testis in these species include the testicular capsule, peritubular myoid cells, seminiferous tubular interstitium, tunica albuginea, testicular mediastinum, interstitium, and perivascular stroma) were observed in the rabbit, pig, bovine, and cat. This was followed by the camel, cervine, and man with one or two regions  of VIP immunopositivity  of immunopositivity. There was negative immunoreactivity in the testes of the horse, rat, and buffalo. However, in the monkey and ram, there is no available literature on the distribution of CGRP nerve fibers in their testes.Concerning the distribution of CGRP in the testicular parenchyma and associated structures, the broadest distribution is found in the camel, donkey, rabbit, pig, bull, and cat. The specific areas in these animals include the tunica albuginea, testicular mediastinum, septular testis, perivascular stroma, and spermatic cord. Unlike other mammals , immunopositive areas were restricted to one or two areas in the testes. Interestingly, there was negative SP immunoreactivity in the testes of the horse, man, and rat. Also, there is a dearth of literature on SP nerve fiber distribution in the testes of the ram.The camel, donkey, and cat testes have the most enormous SP-positive nerve fiber distribution in the tunica albuginea of man's testis, but immunonegative in the testes of the donkey, horse, and buffalo. There are no existing literatures on the testicular immunoreactivity in other animals. With the exception of positive immunolocalized enkephalin fibers in the muscle coats of epididymis of the donkey and ductus deferens wall of both the horse and donkey, there is scarcity of literature on its presence or distribution in other animals.The reports available for interspecies variation on enkephalin distribution in animals under review are very scanty for meaningful comparison. Enkephalin-positive fibers in the testis were localized only in the Galanin-positive nerve fibers were found only in the cat testicular capsule, interstitium, and perivascular stroma. However, it was immunonegative in the testes of man and buffalo. There is little or no report on its immunoreactivity in other animals.Neuropeptide Y has been consistently immunolocalized in the epididymal interstices and perivascular structures in man. In the donkey and horse, it is exclusively restricted to the peritubular connective tissue. With the exception of NPY immunolocalization on the epididymal epithelium, the camel shared similar NPY distribution with man. There is still a wide literature gap in the demonstration of NPY in the epididymis of quite a lot of mammals including the bull, cervine (deer), buffalo, dog, cat, and monkey.There is a dearth of information on the VIP immunoreactivity in the epididymis of the camel, cervine, donkey, horse, buffalo, dog, and ram. However, vast VIP-immunopositive regions  were exclusively observed in the rat epididymis. The rabbit, pig, and man come next in the extent of distribution of VIP nerve fibers in the epididymis. These sets of animals were immunopositive for VIP in either the epididymal muscular coat or the interstitium. For ducutus deferens, the VIP-rich area is in the muscular coat of the donkey, horse, rat, bull, and cat. There are no existing reports on other animals in this regard.With the exception of the rat bearing three immunopositive CGRP areas in the epididymis , every other mammal  with immunoreactivity had one or two areas positive for CGRP fibers. There are no available reports on the immunoreactivity of CGRP in the epididymis of the cervine, pig, buffalo, bovine, dog, monkey, and ram. The CGRP immunoreactivity in the ductus deferens is reported to be demonstrated in the muscular coat or wall of the cervine, rabbit, and rat, while there is still a huge literature gap in the CGRP fiber presence in the ductus deferens of other animals.The SP-positive nerve fibers had exclusive distribution in one or two regions (muscular coat and interstitium) of the epididymis in the camel, cervine, donkey, horse, rabbit, man, and rat. There is a dearth of literature on its distribution in the epididymis of other animals in this review. On species variation in the SP nerve fiber distribution, immunopositive fibers are restricted to the wall or muscle coats of the epididymis in the cervine, donkey, and rabbit. There are no reports on their immunoreactivities in other animals.Of all the prostates of animals in this review, the donkey, horse, pig, man, rat, and monkey had immunopositive NPY fibers. The NPY immunoreactivities in these animals were confined to one of these parts  of the prostate gland. However, there is a dearth of literature on NPY immunoreactivity in other animals.The positive VIP immunoreactivity was demonstrated mainly in the muscle coat of the prostate gland of six mammalian species  out of the total animals under review. Although the VIP-positive fibers were additionally localized in the perivascular stroma of pig, there is no report on the VIP immunoreactivity in the prostate of other animals.The positive prostatic CGRP fibers were demonstrated in the donkey, horse, man, and rat in two specific locations: glandular interstitium and prostatic epithelium. The prostatic profile of CGRP is still scanty in other animal species.In all the animal species in the review, only five mammals  had positive prostatic SP immunoreactivity precisely in the glandular interstitium, muscle coat, and perivascular stroma. The prostatic SP immunoreactivity is still poorly investigated in other mammals.The only prostatic galanin immunopositive fibers in this review were found in the ram. However, the rest of the other mammalian species still lack documentation on the galanin neuropeptide.On the variation in the demonstration of enkephalin, the donkey is the only species with prostatic enkephalin (leu and met)-positive nerve fibers. Both horse and rat had negative enkephalin immunoreactivity. Generally, the information on prostatic enkephalin immunoreactivity is still lacking in other species.There is no seminal vesicular gland in carnivores . TherefoThe NPY-positive nerve fibers in seminal vesicular gland were demonstrated in four mammalian species  in diverse parts of the gland including the muscle coat, interstitium, perivascular stroma, and epithelium. However, the NPY distribution is still lacking in the remaining mammalian species under consideration.The VIP-immunopositive fibers were variously localized in the muscle coat, interstitium, and perivascular stroma of the seminal vesicle in the horse, donkey, pig, and rat. There is a lack of documentation on VIP neuropeptide distribution in the seminal vesicle of other mammalian species.On the differences in the distribution of CGRP neuropeptide, markedly enormous CGRP-positive nerve fibers were observed in the rat and ram especially in the seminal vesicular epithelium, muscular coat, and perivascular stroma. The CGRP-nerve fibers in the donkey and horse were demonstrated only in the seminal vesicular gland interstitium. There is no information on seminal vesicular CGRP neuropeptide distribution in other mammalian species.The SP-positive immunoreactivity in the seminal vesicle, so far, was found to be widely distributed in the glandular interstitium, epithelium, and muscle coat of the rat. The donkey and ram had fewer areas of SP immunopositivity compared with the rat. The SP immunoreactivity was negative in the seminal vesicle of the horse. There is a lack of information on SP immunoreactivity in the selected mammalian species.With the exception of immunopositive bombesin nerve fibers in the interstitium of seminal vesicular gland, there is no information on its distribution in other mammalian species. Similarly, galanin neuropeptide was demonstrated in the epithelium and muscle coat of seminal vesicle of the rat. There is no data on galanin immunoreactivity in other animal species.The prevailing functional assumptions for the frequent colocalization of catecholaminergic and peptidergic fibers in the testicular parenchyma have been linked to modulation of Leydig cell function since most Leydig cells display β adrenergic receptors . The genThe NPY, being the predominant neuropeptide in the muscle layer of the seminal vesicles, has been presumed to play a key functional role in the regulation of the glands' smooth muscle tone, although several conflicting reports of other neurotransmitters responsible for the motor transmission in the seminal vesicles have been established , 96–98. The immunolocalization of CGRP within the prostatic epithelial and subepithelial regions of most mammals especially guinea pigs has been associated with the regulation of prostatic secretion . Althougvia its smooth muscle relaxant property on the autonomic regulation of contractility in the seminal vesicle . The density of the nerve fiber loaded with neuropeptides and some of their specific receptors within the male genital tract appeared to differ in various mammalian species. Apart from these, evidence of variation in age, season, and intraspecies differences were identified as notable factors of influence in peptidergic nerve fiber distribution. A summary on the overview of the neuropeptides discussed here is provided in JOO conceptualized the manuscript. JOO and IAA contributed to writing  and making the table in this article, and approved its submission for publication. Both authors approved the submitted final version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Technological processes carried out in the water environment include the production and processing of engineering materials and giving them specific properties ,2. A larSince the demand for materials and technologies, including the design and control of mechanized and robotic systems used in the water environment, is still increasing exponentially, experimental and simulation studies are an important factor contributing to their wider use .The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the latest developments in the field for processing materials in a water environment, especially at offshore and nuclear plant structures. This includes technologies related to manufacturing, properties, degradation, failures, protection, maintenance and repairs, joining, and the cutting of materials. This Special Issue mainly focuses on assessing the influence of the environment and technology on the behavior of materials underwater. Eleven research articles are published as part of this Special Issue, six of which are devoted to underwater welding.In article , a waterThe content of article  shows thIn article , researcOther issues that are very important from a practical point of view are described in article . The resAnother technological process carried out in the water environment is the cutting of structural elements. Article  is devotThe issues of exploitation and the use of natural energy sources, currently often described in the scientific literature, also apply to the processes and materials used in the air environment ,21,22. TThe results of research on the plasticity of bead-on-plate welds made using two types of seamless, copper-plated, flux-cored wires stored in two locations are presented in article . The tesThe authors of  verify tArticles ,26 are dIn the second article of this research team, the weldability of elements from P91 and P22 steels during welding with the GTAW process is determined. The authors conclude that the inhomogeneity of mechanical properties (impact strength and hardness) across the as-welded joint is reduced after post-weld heat treatment .Materials, Metals, Coatings, Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, and Applied Sciences [These Special Issue articles have been cited 122 times so far. This proves the topicality and importance of the subjects discussed within them. The continuation of the subject of this Special Issue is a Topic entitled “Welding and Joining of Materials in Off-shore and Energy Industry”, which intends to collate articles published in the following journals: Sciences ,28,29,30


An increasing number of studies have shown the effects of time-restricted eating (TRE) on metabolic diseases and cardiovascular diseases associated with obesity. However, no bibliometric analyses were conducted in this field systematically. In our study, we aimed to visualize the publications about TRE to determine the frontiers and hotspots and then provide references and guidance for further studies. Publications about TRE were exported from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database. VOSviewer 1.6.16 was adopted to perform the bibliometric analysis. In our study, a total of 414 publications with 298 articles and 116 reviews were included. The publications in this field showed an upward trend from 2016. A total of 2016 authors contributed to this field. The most productive authors were Satchidananda Panda, Krista A Varady and Emily NC Manoogian. All publications were distributed from about 624 organizations from 49 Countries/Regions. The leading institutions were the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the University of California San Diego and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the most productive countries were the United States, the People’s Republic of China and Japan. All publications were from 182 journals, and the most productive journals were Nutrients, Frontiers in Nutrition and Cell Metabolism. The first highest cited reference with 991 citations was published in Cell Metabolism, and authored by Satchidananda Panda et al. There were four indicating research directions, and the keywords of the green cluster were time-restricted feeding, metabolism, circadian clock, and circadian rhythm. The keywords of the blue cluster were obesity, health, diet, and food intake. The keywords of the red cluster were intermittent fasting, weight loss, caloric restriction, and time-restricted eating. The keywords of the yellow cluster were insulin resistance, metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, and caloric intake. The main research hotspots in the TRE field were TRE and circadian rhythm, TRE and obesity, TRE and metabolic disease, and TRE and cardiovascular disease. TRE represents new directions to evaluate the effects of the timing of eating on different diseases, especially obesity, Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have generated impressive data on the effects of TRE on metabolic diseases and cardiovascular diseases associated with obesity. More high-quality studies are needed to assess the mechanism and efficacy of TRE in a wide range of populations and diseases. Time-restricted eating (TRE) was an approach that all calorie intake is restricted within 12 h without reducing calories . It was via quantitative analysis of previous scientific literature. In our study, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of TRE to display the research status and draw visual maps and explored trends and hotspots in this field to provide the reference to future studies.An increasing number of studies have shown the effects of TRE on metabolic diseases and cardiovascular disease associated with obesity. However, these findings were not summarized and analyzed as a whole. Bibliometric analysis was widely used to investigate the developmental trends and main findings The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) is widely used for bibliometric analysis, which is the most authoritative citation-based database with powerful indexing functions , 11. TheThe relevant records with “Full Record and Cited References” were exported in the format of “Plain Text.” The resulting set of publications was analyzed bibliometrically. The top 10 high-yield authors, institutions, country/region and journals according to publications and the characteristics of the top 20 highest cited publications were summarized.VOSviewer is a bibliometric tool which is developed for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps , 13. TheA total of 414 publications (298 articles and 116 reviews) were included, which was shown in A total of 2016 authors contributed to this field. Among them, Satchidananda Panda was the most productive author from the United States with 26 publications and an H-index of 15, followed by Krista A Varady with 12 publications and an H-index of 8, Emily NC Manoogian with 11 publications and an H-index of 5, Kelsey Gabel with nine publications and an H-index of 5 and Grant M Tinsley with 8 publications and an H-index of 6. Satchidananda Panda, Krista A Varady and Emily N C Manoogian were the most frequently cited authors. The co-authorship map of the authors was shown in the All publications were distributed from about 624 organizations from 49 Countries/Regions. The leading institutions were the Salk Institute for Biological Studies , University of California San Diego , the University of Alabama at Birmingham , University of Illinois (13 publications with 617 citations) and Texas Tech University (10 publications with 609 citations). The network visualization map of institutions was shown in All publications were from 182 journals. Among them, Nutrients was the most productive journal with 65 documents and 972 citations, which was followed by Frontiers in Nutrition with 13 documents and 101 citations, and Cell Metabolism with 10 documents and 3,224 citations. The most frequently cited journal was Cell Metabolism. The network visualization map of all journals was shown in The characteristics of the top 20 highest cited publications were summarized in The network visualization map of keywords was shown in To our best knowledge, this is the first study of bibliometric and visual analysis for TRE. In our study, a total of 414 publications with 298 articles and 116 reviews were included. The publications in this field showed an upward trend from 2016. A total of 2016 authors contributed to this field.The most productive authors were Satchidananda Panda, Krista A Varady, and Emily NC Manoogian. All publications were distributed from about 624 organizations from 49 Countries/Regions. The leading institutions were the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the University of California San Diego and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the most productive countries were the United States, the People’s Republic of China and Japan. All publications were from 182 journals, and the most productive journals were Nutrients, Frontiers in Nutrition and Cell Metabolism. The first highest cited reference with 991 citations was published in Cell Metabolism, and authored by Satchidananda Panda et al. There were four indicating research directions, and the keywords of the green cluster were time-restricted feeding, metabolism, circadian clock, and circadian rhythm. The keywords of the blue cluster were obesity, health, diet, and food intake. The keywords of the red cluster were intermittent fasting, weight loss, caloric restriction, and time-restricted eating. The keywords of the yellow cluster were insulin resistance, metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, and caloric intake.In this bibliometric analysis, most of the articles were published from the United States, the People’s Republic of China and Japan, and the percentage of articles from the United States was 44%(184/414). Of the top 10 institutions, seven were from the United States. Of the top 10 productive author, six were from the United States. In the field of TRE, the prominent contribution was from the United States. It indicates that the studies from other countries need to be enhanced.Through the combination of highest cited references and analysis of all keywords co-occurrence clusters, the research hotspots and frontiers were as follows: (1) TRE and circadian rhythm. In the top 20 highest cited references, five explored the TRE and the circadian rhythm, and the keywords of circadian clock and circadian were in the green cluster , 21, 25.This was the first study to conduct a bibliometric analysis of TRE. In our study, we displayed the research status and draw visual maps, and explored trends and hotspots in this field to provide the reference for future studies. There were several limitations in our study. First, all data were extracted from the WoSCC, and other databases such as Medline and Embase were not used. Second, only studies published in English were included. Finally, bias may still exist despite our normalization procedures. Further studies will provide new insight into this field.The main research hotspots in the TRE field were TRE and the circadian rhythm, TRE and obesity, TRE and metabolic disease, and TRE and cardiovascular disease. TRE represents new directions to evaluate the effects of the timing of eating on different diseases, especially for obesity, Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have generated impressive data on the effects of TRE on metabolic diseases and cardiovascular diseases associated with obesity. More high-quality studies are needed to assess the mechanism and efficacy of TRE in a wide range of populations and diseases.The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.SW, XL, and YG were responsible for data collection, investigation, figures and tables construction, and writing the original draft. JH contributed to the discussion and final review and editing. All authors reviewed and edited the final manuscript.


The World Health Organization recommends active commuting to and from school as a source of physical activity. Worldwide, active commuting, i.e. walking or biking, is determined by various factors including gender, socioeconomic status of families and neighborhoods, the built envormnet, distance to schools, perceived neighborhood safety, life styles, and availability of walkways, biking paths and parks. Previous studies from Swedish indicate that the proportion of youth being active commuters descres with age, but has also decresed over time. This study aimed at assessing health and environmental factors associated with modes of transportation to and from school among 333 adolescents aged 16-19 living in a middle-sized city in Sweden.The present city has 380 kilometer of walking and biking paths that cover the whole city, of which parts are heated in the winter to avoid snow and ice. Still, only 32% of the adolescents were active commuters to and from school. Active commuting was linked to other healthy behaviours including more frequenct daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and less frequent consumption of junk food. Morover, the presence of well illuminated walking and biking paths was strongly associated with active commuting, as compared to not having access to less illuminated paths. However, the relation between active commuting and socioeconomic status of the neighborhood was complex and needs to be explored in future larger studies.The results will be used to increase awareness of the health and enviromental benfits of active commuting among adolencnets, schools, and local policy makers.


Research in wearables for rehabilitation, assistance, and augmentation have generally focused solely on motor or sensory (in particular haptic) aspects. Considering the combined sensorimotor aspects of such wearables can create new research directions, and stands to improve the function seen in state of the art devices. In this topic, authors contributed works along three broad themes: design, control, and assessment.Varghese et al. and Alvarado-Rivera et al. on the importance of managing the pressures at the interface between the wearer and the robot, or the combined wearer-robot system and the environment in order to achieve high performance goals. The other papers in this group focused on the challenging design requirements in prosthetic hands, proposing designs to incorporate human-like capabilities or distribute the control strategies into passive or mechanically-intelligent structures. Gao et al. presented a differential mechanism to accommodate the high degrees of freedom of the hands with a reduced set of actuators. Hocaoglu and Patoglu focused on recreating the variable stiffness capabilities of human hands with a novel mechanism. Lastly, Weiner et al. developed a prosthetic hand capable of semi-autonomous grasping, relying on a multi-modal sensor network combined with adaptive underactuated mechanisms.With the design theme of the topic, a major motivation and emphasis was placed by Gantenbein et al. presented a review of intent detection strategies for upper limb orthoses. Hocaoglu and Patoglu presented an sEMG-based control strategy to leverage the performance of the variable stiffness actuator introduced in a previous paper in the topic. Instead of seeking to recreate the human impedances, Kumar et al. proposed an admittance controller to enable human-like gait on arbitrary slopes. Also aiming to improve the control of lower limb prosthetics, Hong et al. presented the connections between torso kinematics and gait phase estimation. Lastly, with a focus on rehabiliation instead of augmentation or prosthetics, Topini et al. proposed an admittance controller for use in VR training environments, and examined its performance in a single subject pilot.Several papers within the topic coalesced around a theme of control and intent detection to support wearable robotic implementations. Dissanayake et al. investigated the fatigue in upper limb motions via changes detectable via EEG. Lastly, Patrick, Kumar, and Hur and Patrick, Kumar, Hong, and Hur examined the biomechanical implications of the orthotic and prosthetic kinematic structure, respectively, on the kinematics and kinetics of gait.Several manuscripts focused on a third theme, that of assessment of the combined human-robot system. Taken together, the works in this Research Topic underscore the far ranging applications of considering sensorimotor aspects in wearable robotics, ranging from the design of human-robot interfaces to EEG assessments. These new designs and results are another step toward achieving the potential of wearables, but there are still many open questions and unknowns in this highly interdisciplinary field, which will require further investigation and collaboration.A fundamental limitation in the current research model is the difficulty at achieving long duration studies with large population sizes. In some areas, this may be overcome via commercialization, but in others, the field may need to rely on large studies on standardized equipment, such as open-source designs, such as the Open Source Leg (Azocar et al., Gantenbien et al. are the first steps in this direction. Next steps may look like the creation of standardized performance metrics and methods, such as those proposed for prosthetics (Light et al., To make the next generation of devices, controllers, and interfaces, assessment and inclusion of end users in the initial design and validation process, such as the usability and evaluation from authors such as While kinematic and kinetic assessments have been well established, with advances presented in this topic, the field can also benefit from additional investigation into the connections between sensory and motor function, such as Lowrey et al. . Future Lastly, and at the risk of understatement, the future work is dependent on continued advancement in the miniaturization, proliferation, and optimization of the requisite mechatronic subsystems. As these fields advance, wearable robotics need to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities the latest, lightest, most efficient, and lowest-cost batteries, sensors, and actuators, and computational resources affords us.All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.This work was partially supported by the Khalifa University of Science and Technology under Award No. RC1-2018-KUCARS and FSU-2021-019.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


The discussion of the control of Chagas disease (CD) is a necessity, which is increasingly current and on the agenda of world public health. This disease has many facets, remaining in endemic countries and appearing in non-endemic countries, given the persistence of old ways of living of the countryman and the current, highly technological living, typical of the modern world. Large migratory movements, social upheavals, inequalities and advances in medicine with the use of blood products, the performance of organ or tissue transplants, together with rapid means of transport, has facilitated the maintenance of the dissemination of this trypanosomiasis globally.Estimates of the number of people with CD at the end of the last decade pointed to the presence of millions affected in South America, Central America and Mexico. The forms of transmission, in several countries, were and are still, mostly vectorial, surprisingly congenital, in addition to the recently recognised oral transmission. The number of patients with chronic CD is very high, because they reflect the sum of cases from several previous years and current ones, considering that this disease has a long and chronic evolution.Trypanosoma cruzi to the United States, Europe, Australia and some Asian countries, with the spread of the infection in these regions being mainly due to the use of blood, blood products and transplants.At the same time, migratory pressure remains between poor and rich countries. This human movement has led a significant number of people infected by In addition to vectorial transmission, congenital, that occurs in endemic countries, transmission through blood and blood products, and by transplants is also observed, demonstrating the contrasts existing in these countries, that is, in addition to the old forms of transmission, more recent forms have appeared. Given these more complex forms of transmission, there are thousands of new cases of CD in several of these regions, with active disease and consequently a significant number of deaths resulting from trypanosomiasis.The second most important cause of transmission in general, which is the main cause in non-endemic countries, is mother-to-child infection, called congenital CD. The distribution of this form of transmission is wide and remains high due to the still large number of infected or sick women of childbearing age.Certainly the transmission by blood and blood products is a risk factor in endemic countries and therefore all blood products should be tested for CD. In non-endemic countries, screening policy varies, with some doing good-quality screening tests and others centring screening in people from endemic areas or those who have visited endemic areas.Finally, all transplant cases need to be conducted rigorously both for the diagnosis of donor infection, drug prophylaxis in people at risk, the in-depth investigation of infection in recipients and treated donors and recipients, and whether or not there were successful therapeutic responses.But the central point of this discussion needs to have another focus. As the article points out, there has been a large progression in diagnosis, currently with serological tests, with high sensitivity and specificity, which allow for a good diagnosis. There are also quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and mRNA PCR tests, both complex molecular biology techniques, also with excellent predictive values. Laboratory tests have been developed for the identification of trypanosome strains, which allow us to associate those strains more associated with the different forms of clinical evolution of the disease, including those at higher risk of congenital transmission.This extensive presentation of the epidemiological situation above reveals a paradox. All the technology available, especially in rich countries, which has infected immigrants, but in small numbers when compared to endemic countries, is worrisome, given the objective of not affecting non-endemic countries. Technologies which, by the way, are very well received, but are of difficult access by endemic countries.The contrast of this situation lies in the lack of the development of new technologies that can be used in the field, in order to eliminate the transmission vector of CD, since the endemic disease still remains. We need to create tests that can be used in the field, such as rapid tests already in use for HIV, Hepatitis, Syphilis and a multitude of other non-infectious diseases, enabling an easy diagnosis, without requiring large laboratories and thus allowing early treatment of large numbers of newly infected individuals, thus redirecting interventions.The search for drugs or other prevention technologies, such as the use of antiretrovirals used in pre-exposure, is an example to be copied, especially for regions where environmental interventions and access to at-risk populations are still difficult.Why do we not discuss the need to mobilise health services for the annual screening of large at-risk populations in endemic countries, why is the treatment of millions of patients not established as a priority, seeking to use the most modern interventions, but adapted to environments without major health structures?Therapeutics visibly develop due to the social pressure that a disease constitutes to society; this statement is easily identifiable in the development of drugs against H1N1 infection, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) infection, more recently with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), among many other infectious diseases or not. Of course all this technology developed for the coping of these pandemics or disease is highly valued, however, one must ask simultaneously, what technological advances have occurred to eliminate the secular CD, which drugs have emerged to cure different forms of the disease and transmission through the placental barrier and, finally, what technology has emerged to control the vectors, that allows the non-infection of these insects, in order to break the natural transmission cycle?Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) elected a World Chagas Disease Day, an initiative of great value, but which needs to have the goal of breaking the cycle of endemicity, needs to provide visibility to the indignation that humanity must feel with the thousands of agonising deaths annually of men, women and children, who have access to almost no benefit of new technologies and worse, not even to the oldest treatments.T. cruzi infection is not questioned, however, we expect that the call of the reality of millions of lives also directs efforts to save them. This is the main challenge of all development.The importance of new diagnostic methods, new therapies, new uses of organs at risk of infection, in short, of all that science and BIGFARMA have been developing for the management of


Formerly Professor and Head of the Institute of Psychiatry, Rawalpindi, Principal, Rawalpindi Medical College and Vice-Chancellor, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, PakistanMalik Hussain Mubbashar, the leader of psychiatry in Pakistan for a generation and a pioneer in the development of community mental health services and psychiatric research, died on 10 August 2020, at the age of 75 years. His work in the establishment of community mental health services served as a model for such services in low-income countries throughout the world. Initially, local men were recruited and trained to provide services to those identified in need. This was soon followed by school programmes, which enlisted head teachers, persuading them to include information about mental disorders in their curricula. Professor Mubasshar was remarkably innovative in his approach, for example, recruiting children to identify people in their village who might benefit from seeing a doctor and arranging travel for them. His research activities were always both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to the needs of people with mental health problems in areas where specialist services were thin on the ground or non-existent. He carried out a community survey of stress and psychiatric disorder in rural Punjab, a prevalence study of psychiatric morbidity among the attendees of a native healer in Rawalpindi, as well as a unique randomised trial of the impact of a school mental health programme in rural Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He had a highly productive publication record, authoring or co-authoring many peer-reviewed papers as well as 28 books.He was highly effective as a teacher. At the Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC), where he was Principal for some years, he reorganised undergraduate education, introducing problem-based learning. As Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, he made the study of behavioural sciences mandatory in undergraduate medical education. He was responsible for the postgraduate psychiatric training of large numbers of junior doctors, for many of whom he arranged further training in the UK, especially with Professor David Goldberg in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Manchester, with whom he developed a special link. When they achieved consultant status, many of his former trainees would put up a photograph of Professor Mubasshar in a prominent position in their departments. He was also active in obtaining legal rights for people with mental illness in Pakistan. After years of incessant effort, he was instrumental in the passage of the Mental Health Ordinance 2001. His interest in promoting public policy in favour of the mentally ill more generally motivated him to make links with whoever was President of Pakistan at the time.His influence in psychiatry extended well beyond national boundaries. His Institute of Psychiatry in Rawalpindi was recognised as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Training, of which he was the Director. Among many other international positions, he was chair of the Global Mental Health Network, Global Forum for Health Research at WHO, Geneva. The WHO Community Mental Health Programme was his brainchild, and he had a particularly influential link with the development of such programmes in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region.Malik Hussain Mubbashar was born in Lahore on 1 August 1945, the son of Miraj-ud-din Malik and Shahzadi Anwar. His father was a government employee in the irrigation department. After completing his medical training at King Edward Medical College, Lahore, in 1968 with honours, he underwent further medical and then psychiatric training in London at Guy's Hospital with David Stafford-Clark. While in England he passed the membership examinations of three UK medical colleges. He was strongly motivated by having seen in childhood the ill-treatment of the mentally ill.On return to Pakistan in 1972, he was appointed to the Central Government Hospital, Rawalpindi. However, to his disappointment, the administration of the hospital made it abundantly clear that he was not welcome as a psychiatrist and refused him any clinic space to see psychiatric patients. Manifesting his inevitable grit, as he did throughout his career, he set up his table and chair under the shade of a tree in a neglected, remote corner of the hospital. Within 8 years, his department had grown into an Institute and then into a WHO Collaborating Centre.His administrative talents and leadership qualities were rapidly recognised. Professor Mubbashar was closely involved with the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP), becoming Dean of the newly formed Faculty of Psychiatry. He was elected President of the Pakistan Psychiatric Society. He served as Principal of the Rawalpindi Medical College before going on to become the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health Sciences, Lahore.During his lifetime he was accorded many honours. Two of the highest civilian awards of the Pakistani government, Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Sitara-e-Imtiaz, were conferred on him. The CPSP's gold medal for psychiatry, the most prestigious medal in the field, is named the Malik Hussain Mubbashar Gold Medal.In his spare time, he enjoyed visiting rural areas and trekking.Professor Mubasshar is survived by his wife Dr Yasmin Mubbashar, whom he married in 1973, children Sabooh, Aamna, Zainab, Saima, Fatima, Maryam and Imtiaz (five of whom are psychiatrists) and 15 grandchildren.