Tuberculosis (TB), as the major infectious disease in the world, has devastating consequences for not only humans, but also cattle and several wildlife species. This disease presents additional challenges to human and veterinary health authorities given the zoonotic nature of the pathogens responsible for the disease across species. One of the main public health challenges regarding zoonotic TB (ZTB) caused by Mycobacterium bovis is that the true incidence of this type of TB in humans is not known and is likely to be underestimated. To effectively address challenges posed by ZTB, an integrated One Health approach is needed. In this manuscript, we describe the rationale, major steps, timeline, stakeholders, and important events that led to the assembling of a true integrated multi-institutional and interdisciplinary team that accomplished the ambitious goal of developing a ZTB roadmap, published in October, 2017. It outlines key activities to address the global challenges regarding the prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of ZTB. We discuss and emphasize the importance of integrated approaches to be able to accomplish the short (year 2020) and medium term (year 2025) goals outlined in the ZTB roadmap. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), TB presents additional challenges to human and veterinary health authorities given the zoonotic nature of the pathogens responsible for the disease and the ability of MTBC agents to be shared across species (Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb); worldwide, it is the leading cause of death in humans by an infectious disease (Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) is widely distributed around the world  , Avian and Swine Influenza]  have hei species , 5. TB i disease . Bovine he world , 6 and che world . M. boviis (ZTB) –11. The is (ZTB) . Further species , 5.M. bovis as a causal agent of TB in people in all low-income, high TB burden countries where bovine TB is endemic, and the inability of laboratory procedures most commonly used to diagnose human TB to identify and differentiate M. bovis from M. tb  is an international scientific organization that works with partners, including governments, academia, and civil society, to fight TB, tobacco use and other lung diseases in low- and middle-income countries, through technical assistance, training, and research. Through its volunteer members, it houses scientific sections that promote areas of specific interest. The Union's ZTB sub-section is a global network of physicians, veterinarians, researchers, economists and social anthropologists that works to understand the dynamics of ZTB, create global awareness, and facilitate multi-institutional collaboration to address the challenges posed by it. Efforts conducted by the ZTB sub-section has led to a continuous and stable increase in the number of activities, attention, and attendees to ZTB-related activities at the annual Union World Conference on Lung Health. For example, at the 2010 conference in Berlin, Germany, there was only one ZTB session (symposium) attended by less than 10 people. Over the last seven years, the ZTB activities at the annual conference have increased to two scientific symposia, one poster session, one meet the expert session, press releases, and a keynote talk on ZTB at the plenary session in South Africa during the 2015 conference. During the last conference in Guadalajara, Mexico in October 2017, an audience of approximately 75 professionals from different disciplines attended each of the two ZTB scientific symposia.Prior to The Union's initial activities to create global awareness of ZTB, in 2010, the WHO, OIE and FAO pioneered One Health approaches under a tripartite partnership, which shares responsibilities and jointly develop and implement integrated strategies for addressing health risks at the human animal-ecosystem interface . The com- College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, United States of America- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations with its Animal Production and Health Division- International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).- Pan-American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA) from the Pan American Health Organization/Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization- Roslin Institute, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh- STOP TB Partnership- United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)- United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,Global TB Programme, andThe Department of Global Capacities, Alert, and Response- World Health Organization (WHO) with its- World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)In March 2014, the ZTB sub-section created a working group to raise awareness of the public health risk posed by ZTB. This working group included participants from key parties including the:One of the accomplishments of this working group was the publication of a manuscript  calling A constellation of events has occurred to bring ZTB to the awareness of scientists, policymakers, government officials and the general public.M. tb or M. bovis, will count toward the achievement of this ambitious goal. For this reason, as countries move toward detecting the 3 million TB cases estimated to be missed annually, and in light of the endorsed WHO “END TB” strategy, the Tripartite, The Union and the key organizations concerned with human and animal health, agriculture and TB joined forces to develop a Zoonotic TB Road Map outlining medium- and long-term milestones to globally address the prevention, surveillance, diagnostic, and treatment challenges faced by persons with ZTB.In May 2014, the World Health Assembly, WHO's yearly gathering of the world's Ministers of Health, approved the new post-2015 Global TB Strategy. The strategy aims to end, rather than merely control, the global TB epidemic, with targets to reduce TB deaths by 95% and to reduce new cases by 90% between 2015 and 2035, and to ensure that no family is burdened with catastrophic expenses due to TB. It set interim milestones for 2020, 2025, and 2030 . Thus, fIn September 2015, the United Nations declared the end of the Millennium Development Goals and used them as the foundation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  for 2015The Stop TB Partnership, the global advocacy organization for TB, published the 4th edition of its Global Plan to End TB, 2016–2020 entitled “The paradigm shift” . This is- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Switzerland- Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), United Kingdom- University of Ibadan, Nigeria- The Global Research Alliance for bovine Tuberculosis (GRAbTB)A meeting co-organized by WHO and The Union, with contributions from leading international organizations for human and animal health, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations took place at WHO in Geneva. There, the first steps toward formally conceptualizing a roadmap for ZTB began, in which ten priorities were identified to be presented to WHO's Global TB Programme's Strategic Technical Advisory Group (STAG) for TB in June 2016. In addition to the 10 institutions initially working on increasing global awareness of ZTB, the following institutions joined the efforts at this specific meeting:The involvement and participation of GRAbTB was an important addition and played a strategic role in partnering with colleagues focusing in improve the understanding and control of bovine TB and developing novel and improved tools to control the disease at its bovine source . GRAbTB The 10 priorities proposed for the ZTB roadmap were endorsed by the STAG, and a working group was created and tasked to produce and publish a ZTB Road Map during 2017.M. bovis has against pyrazinamide, and the need for longer (12 months) antimicrobial treatment, compared to the standard of 6 months.At the STAG meeting, a former ZTB survivor, from the Masaai community in Kenya shared with the scientific community the challenges she faced while suffering from this disease, which included: initial misdiagnosis, development of extrapulmonary  TB, antimicrobial resistance to anti-TB drugs additional to the inherent resistance During the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool, England, a British veterinarian and former ZTB patient/survivor also shared his experience and challenges of initial misdiagnosis, extrapulmonary  TB, drug resistance to isoniazid in addition to pyrazinamide, and the longer treatment required while battling ZTB in the year 2013.These patients' testimonies further emphasized that ZTB is not a disease from the past, and highlighted the challenges faced by certain communities at higher risk of contracting ZTB. Both patients emphasized the need of more awareness among the medical community to better diagnose and treat ZTB patients, and thus prevent the additional complications they had to endure.The Heads of State comprising the G20 forum declared that “Shaping an interconnected world, calls for a One Health approach to tackling the spread of antimicrobial resistance and highlighted the need to foster research and development for TB” .The Roadmap for ZTB was published and launched at the Union World Conference for Lung Health in Guadalajara, Mexico. The roadmap is the product of efforts of the tripartite partnership on Zoonotic Diseases comprising WHO, OIE, and FAO and The Union, and is available in English, French, and Spanish .over the past 3 years, all efforts, activities, and events related to ZTB were highlighted by a considerable number of local, regional, national, and global media sources including Central News Network (CNN), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and Le Monde newspaper in France, to name a few.The Zoonotic TB Roadmap  outlinesBox 1“Identify opportunities for community-tailored interventions that jointly address human and animal health Interventions that jointly address human and animal health can increase health and economic benefits for communities. Sharing of human resources, equipment and transport across sectors can reduce operational costs. This increased cost-effectiveness is especially relevant given the public funding constraints that often exist in settings where people are most at risk of zoonotic TB. For example, outreach childhood immunization campaigns or other existing livestock vaccination or testing programmes conducted in rural communities could be used to concurrently deliver educational and behavior change messages about food safety, to test livestock for bovine TB or, potentially in the future, to implement livestock vaccination campaigns against bovine TB. Interventions must be tailored to the cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of each setting. Community-driven participatory initiatives are key to achieving sustainability.”M. bovis across species. These efforts not only need to focus on preventing transmission from livestock (mostly cattle) to humans, but also, and in parallel, to reduce the prevalence of the disease in both domestic and wildlife species. The availability of improved diagnostic tools for ZTB in different species, as well as the implementation of disease monitoring, surveillance, and prevention strategies in livestock and wildlife species will be a crucial and much needed component to be able to implement comprehensive programs that will account for the complexities ZTB poses due to its zoonotic nature. Finally, including vaccination of wildlife (where feasible), not only has the potential for reducing the burden of disease, but also could play an important role in conservation efforts, especially among endangered and protected species.Although the publication of the ZTB Roadmap represents an unprecedented and historical accomplishment in the fight against global TB , there iImplementing an integrated approach to develop the ZTB road map did not come without the inherent challenges of multidisciplinary and multi-institutional projects. That said, the accomplishment of this milestone in the fight against TB was the vision of a world free of TB, no matter what its source, the strong support of WHO and the Stop TB Partnership, a motivated core group that drove the process by providing clear goals and timelines, being inclusive by inviting all interested parties, and fostering a strong commitment to work together from colleagues and institutions both from the human and animal sectors that previously were working in isolation. This collaboration has opened new doors and opportunities as the world fights to end TB.All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.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.


The 1st Editor-in-Chief of the Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences (AJAS), Prof. In Kyu Han, a dedicated teacher and research scientist in animal nutrition, passed away on November 1, 2019 at the age of 85, after a brief illness. Prof. Han was born in Seongjoo, Kyungsang buk-do, Korea on October 12, 1934.Prof. In K. Han graduated with a degree in Animal Science from Seoul National University in 1956, and an M.Sc. degree from the same institute in 1958, and was awarded a Ph.D. in mono-gastric animal nutrition from Cornell University in 1965. He spent most of his career at the Seoul National University of Korea (1965–2000). As is well known not only in Asia but also worldwide, Prof. Han has been a dedicated teacher, researcher, and administrator for more than 60 years in the area of animal agriculture. He trained more than 170 graduate students, many of whom hold key positions, and contributed to the development of animal science and industry in Korea as well as in the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (AAAP) member countries. As a scientist, Prof. Han published 670 papers in refereed journals, notably in the area of development and utilization of non-conventional animal feeds, amino acids products, and many other ingredients and supplements. Further, he put tremendous effort in the development of Korean feed composition tables and feeding standards for major domestic animal species in Korea, which provided key information and technologies necessary for the modernization of animal agriculture in Korea.Prof. Han was the type of person with a vision and the ability to play key roles in the engineering of many master plans. The creation and establishment of AAAP in 1980 and AJAS in 1988 are two best examples. Prof. Han with 8 pioneers, including Y. Yamada from Japan and S. Jalaludin from Malaysia, master-minded the establishment of AAAP. He played a key role in the development of the organization until today. He hosted the 3rd AAAP Congress in Seoul, and organized the congress in 1985 as one of the most successful meetings in AAAP history. In addition, Prof. Han strived to establish the official journal of the AAAP ever since its creation, and successfully launched the first issue of AJAS in March 1988. He enriched the journal, both in quantity and quality, from its outset until 2001, when he stepped down as editor-in-chief to take up another important position: President of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. His international interest was extended to the World Association for Animal Production (WAAP), in which he served as vice president for 5 years, and as president for another 5 years. The 8th World Conference on Animal Production (WCAP), which was organized under his leadership in Seoul in 1998, was and still is the most successful conference in WAAP history.Within the context of science in Korea, he engineered the establishment of many local scientific societies and their journals: some examples include the Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology, Korean Society of Animal Nutrition and Feed, and Korean Nutrition Society. Prof. Han held a number of important positions in Korea, and is well-known for his achievements in these positions. He served as the dean of the Agricultural University of Seoul National University for 2 years (1989–1991), and was elected as the president of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology for a 3-year term (2001–2004), where he facilitated tremendous achievement for both organizations as well as for the development of sciences including agricultural science in Korea. His affection and interest in fostering human resources for the development of animal science and industry in the AAAP region continued even after his retirement. He established the Hans’ Animal Life Science Foundation with a personal donation of almost one million dollars in 2000. The foundation has provided scholarships to not only Korean students, but also many foreign students. Moreover, his foundation sponsored award programs such as the AAAP Animal Science Award and WAAP International Animal Agriculture Award, and supported international meetings (AAAP and WAAP).Prof. Han received several awards: the Korean Scientist Award (1971), National Green Ribbon Medal (2000), Korea Academy of Science and Technology Award (2014), Best SNU Award (2015), and AAAP Animal Science Award (2016).Prof. Han married Mrs. Myung Sook Kim in 1959. He is survived by a son, Changho Han, and three daughters, Miesook Han, Miehie Han, and Miejeong Han. We all share the family members’ sorrow as they go through this most difficult time.


This is atale of continued progress, grounded in the idea that patient care, education, andresearch grow more and grow better if they are developed in harmony.In January 1982, the Medical Genetics Unit of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA)began its history in Brazil. It was elevated to a Medical Genetics Service (SGM) in1996, and by the end of 2016, it celebrated its 35In the SGM/HCPA, several units of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul state –UFRGS , and several postgraduate programs have become intrinsically interconnected. This heterogeneous and plural composition,acting around the central theme “Medical Genetics,” became the brand of the group, whichinteracts transversally with numerous areas of the HCPA and has several associatedsectors in the Experimental Research Center  and theClinical Research Center.Thus, the different academic, technical, and scientific professionals involved in patientcare activities, which have always been the central axis of the mission of SGM/HCPA,received the support of undergraduate scientific initiation trainees, MSc and PhDstudents, and postdoctoral fellows linked to numerous projects of scientific andclinical research that were developed. In this virtuous circle, the different componentssupported each other and resulted in a very impressive number of consultations,laboratory tests, clinical research protocols, scientific articles, and human resourceformation on various levels.A solid educational platform with several specialized courses was progressively developedwith an accredited medical residency program and a portfolio of different trainingprograms, which were highly demanded by professionals from Brazil and abroad, like theLatin American School of Human and Medical Genetics (ELAG). Specialists andinvestigators from all corners of the world visited SGM/HCPA and contributed with theirexperience and expertise throughout these 35 years.The leadership position was also expressed by the presidency of members of the SGM/HCPAin several scientific societies of this field , Latin American Society of Inborn Errors or Metabolism and Neonatal Screening(SLEIMPN), Latin American Network of Human Genetics (RELAGH), and Brazilian Society ofBiochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBBq), among others, and by the promotion ofmemorable national and international events in the area. It was also expressed byhosting the headquarters of a National Institute of Science and Technology  and the editorial team of aninternational scientific journal .Considered the most complete service of its kind in the Latin American continent, itincluded the combined development of the main pillars of medical genetics , while integratingit with specific programs , and with education, training and research activities.In 2004, the SGM/HCPA was designated by the World Health Organization as a CollaboratingCenter for the Development of Medical Genetic Services in Latin America, and, in 2016,it was qualified by the Brazilian Ministry of Health as a Reference Service in RareDiseases.th anniversary of this successfulhistory (summarized in There is nothing better to mark the 35Guest EditorRoberto Giugliani,Medical Genetics Service, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil.Guest Editorial AssistantsMariluce Riegel and Francyne KubaskiMedical Genetics Service, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil.


Interests in nanotechnology and its application in medical research, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases continuously grow. The study identified the theoretical and practical principles of ethics in developed countries' nanomedical research to be used as the first step of development of a national nanoethics standard or guideline in Iran and developing countries.The present study was done between 2012–2016 in Ethics and Law Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, which comprised a literature review and a comparative study to describe and compare the nanoethics situation and considerations of nanoethics in Australia, Canada, and USA.The main ethical considerations in the three countries contain two major categories, including firstly, the nature of nanoparticles such as its diversity, rapid development of new and not well-defined nanoproducts and particles and unpredictable side effects of such nanoparticles; and secondly, the application of developed nanoparticles in areas such as justice, privacy protection, patient-physician relations, etc.It is controversial to develop an independent nanoethics standard or codes; however, national priorities and concerns, as well as specific nanoethics considerations, should be investigated before deciding to create such standards in each country. Overall, careful considerations have to take into account the justice, privacy protection, the inherent risks of nanomaterials and their possible side effects on patients and other study subjects, as well as considering characteristics of new developed nanoproducts and particles. Interest in nanotechnology and its application in medical research, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases are on a constant growth trend. Every day, a range of novel nano drugs, nano equipment and nanobiochips is introduced to the global market , 2. Despnanotechnology” is composed of the unit prefix “nano” (derived from a Greek word-meaning dwarf) which means one billionth and the word technology. Nanoscience deals with phenomena, properties, and interactions of various substances at the atomic, molecular, and macromolecular levels (sizes of 1–100 nm) where, especially at sizes smaller than 5 nm, materials manifest completely different characteristics compared to larger scales. Nanotechnology is hence the design, manipulation, and production of nanoscale (< 100 nm) equipment and systems through controlling the shape, size, properties, reactions, and performance of structures  has raised particular legal, social, and ethical issues whose neglect would lead to major crises in the future ,12.First sparkles of nanotechnology in Iran were lit in 2001, and two years after the beginning of the studies, “Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council” was established in 2003 with direct support of parliament and presidency . Iran NaConsidering the dramatic development of nanotechnology in Iran, “Iran Nanotechnology Safety Network” was established in 2012. The aim of the network is to define national standards, regulations, and instructions on safety, environmental and ethical issues in nanotechnology.The Ethics Committee of this network decided to provide a national standard for nanoethics to be considered in nanotechnology research and products .During last two decades, some national guidelines of ethics in medical research have been developed ; howeverTherefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the status of nanoethics such as ethical considerations in nanomedicine in Australia, Canada, and the US as three pioneers in nanoethics as the first step to be able to define and develop a national standard for nanoethics in Iran. In fact, this comparative study is the first phase of this guideline/standard development in cooperation of “Iran Nanotechnology Safety Network”. Therefore, the present study sought to identify and summarize the theoretical and practical principles and considerations of ethics in nanomedical research in three pioneers of nanomedicine  in the light of a comparative study to be used later in development of a national standard/guideline.This comparative study has described and compared situation and considerations of nanoethics in Australia, the US, and Canada as pioneers of nanoethics. Comparative research is a research methodology in which differences and similarities between phenomena are identified through comparisons between countries, cultures or other sectors. It is widely applied in macro sociology to answer questions at the intermediate and macro levels using internal and external analysis. Therefore, the research comprised two distinct levels. At the first level, a literature review was conducted to describe and illuminate the existing status of nanoethics considerations. To this purpose, scientific databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, were searched using nanoethics, nanotechnology, nanomedicine, medical ethics, and ethics in nanotechnology as key terms. The next stage involved a comparative study of the status of nanoethics in, Australia, Canada, and USA. These three countries were selected due to their attention to medical ethics, as well as their keen interest and massive investments in nanomedicine. The available books, article, and online databases were again searched  to extract relevant information in each country.An internal analysis was performed on the extracted information to determine the ethical standards governing nanomedicine studies, along with their strengths and weaknesses, in the target countries and to evaluate such standards based on the cultural context of each society. The ethical aspects of nanomedicine studies were first described in the target countries. The obtained data were further analyzed and summarized with the comparative approach. Finally, the findings of both levels and the ethical considerations in each country were meticulously analyzed.The present study compared three countries in terms of ethical considerations in nanomedicine. The objective was to facilitate the establishment of ethical codes in nanomedicine research in Iran through the identification of the applied approached and developed ethical codes in the mentioned countries. The following sections will thus describe the findings of the comparative study.Medical research and practice are deals directly with human health. As nanotechnology is a novel technology whose consequences cannot be easily predicted due to its nanoscale nature, the existing ethical codes do not seem to suffice. The subject of nanoethics is of particular significance in Iran, a country that is still a novice in this field despite its progress in the number of scientific articles and production of science. In order to facilitate the development of relevant ethical considerations and codes in the country, Ethical considerations in these three countries are summarized in different codes. Each code is more described in literature related to each country. For example, Justice and nano-gap  are described more as followed below. The other items of table are discussed in discussion section of this paper.Justice as an ethical principle in bioresearch implies that all people should receive equal health facilities regardless of their personal characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, or age .Nanotechnology is predicted to develop to more than two-trillion-dollar industry embracing advanced pharmaceutical products, improved medical imaging techniques, more precise surgical instruments, and unpredictable medical breakthroughs . Since sThere are also raising concerns about intellectual property rights in nanotechnology, i.e. patents on nanotechnology might encompass large numbers of applications and thus restrict access to information and technology, especially in developing countries. The nano-gap might also broaden the gap between the rich and the poor in developed countries and make people access to different levels of novel technologies, particularly medical advances, based on their wealth ,36.The increasing application of nanotechnology and nanomedicine warrants attention to ethical issues in this field. Hence, the present study sought to redefine the theoretical and practical principles of ethics in nanomedicine in Iran and three pioneers of nanotechnology .Uncertainty about the fair distribution of the benefits of nanotechnology: The benefits of nanotechnology might be exclusively available to developed countries (and increase the dependence of other nations on these countries) or even worse, to the upper classes of their societies.The risk of disclosure of confidential information: Nanotechnology might be able to access people's personal information without their consent. This would definitely jeopardize privacy protection .Transformation of patient-physician relationships: The achieved progress may lead to the diagnosis of currently incurable diseases. Being diagnosed with an untreatable disease would lead to profound psychological consequences for the patients and their families. Furthermore, knowledge about the existence of incurable diseases (e.g. AIDS) causes a great level of public anxiety. On the other hand, patients may become able to diagnose and treat their own diseases. The possibility of self-diagnosis and self-treatment will result in disastrous social consequences. For instance, in case of diseases with overlapping symptoms, self-treatment may prevent timely and accurate diagnosis of the real disease and cause serious problems in the patient.Increased capabilities of humans: Nanotechnology may provide individuals with the chance to modify their appearance, performance, and even personality. Such possibilities would indubitably raise major ethical issues. This is particularly important when cloning and its consequent concerns, e.g. violation of human dignity, identify challenges, and interference in the laws of nature, are involved.Ethics in Biomedical Research: Since general research in nanotechnology involves human trials, issues related to privacy protection, autonomy, and human dignity are of critical significance in this field. In fact, the unclarity and unpredictability of the possible consequences of nanomaterials may affect the processes of information provision, obtaining informed consent, and privacy protection in nanomedicine research.Ethics in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications: Considering the increasing attention to the use of nanotechnology in the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, the possible adverse effects of such measures on human health and the environment need to be thoroughly evaluated. Moreover, the ethical issues rising from the possible future applications of nanotechnology should be clearly described.Ethics in nanomedicine refers to the ethical issues involved in the use of nanotechnology in medical research and development of diagnostic and therapeutic measures. It is a branch of bioethics, which can be categorized, in turn, under professional ethics. In the three studied countries, the main ethical considerations in nanomedicine can be classified into two major categories. The first group of concerns related to the nature, diversity, and unpredictable side effects of nanoparticles. The second group stemmed from the application of these materials can be summarized as:Due to the absence of a global standard or code of ethics in nanomedicine, developing a comprehensive ethical code would require an interdisciplinary study to identify the different aspects of ethical and social consequences of nanomedicine. This study provides an overview and summarized considerations of nanoethics in three studied countries. Our findings could be used as an overview as the first step to develop a national standard/guideline in Iran and also other countries more involved in nanomedicine.Although some new ethical aspects and different considerations are mentioned in nanomedicine area, but there is a high overlap between common ethical principles of medical ethics and nanoethics; therefore, it is a controversy about development of a new independent field or codes of nanoethics according to previous studies and an independent ethics principles for nanoethics is needed. However, more studies are needed for each country to consider its own context, nanotechnology situation, national needs, concerns, and national medical ethics codes before deciding to develop any national nanoethics codes or standards.Ethical issues  have been completely observed by the authors.


The Donald P. Kent Award is given annually to a member of the The Gerontological Society of America who best exemplifies the highest standards of professional leadership in gerontology through teaching, service, and interpretation of gerontology to the larger society. The Kent lecture will feature an address by the 2018 recipient, Lewis Lipsitz, MD, Hebrew Senior Life. The Robert W. Kleemeier Award is given annually to a member of The Gerontological Society of America in recognition for outstanding research in the field of gerontology. The Kleemeier lecture will feature an address by the 2018 recipient, Keith Whitfield, PhD, Wayne State University.


Vavilov's ideas formed a solid scientific basis for the long-term efforts on securing PGR in ex situ genebanks, both internationally and in Russia. The collection of seeds and living plants at the N.I. Vavilov All Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) is one of the oldest in the world. The size of the collection increased from 301 accessions in 1901 to over 330,000 accessions in 2017, now representing 64 botanical families, 376 genera, and 2169 species. Acquisition was mainly focused on crops that are suitable for cultivation in Russia such as potatoes, barley, wheat, sorghum, beans, vegetables, forage species, and many others. For over a century, VIR has been providing the materials for breeding programs and research, which resulted in developing new cultivars with unique characteristics such as high yield combined with deceased resistance, improved storability, cold and drought tolerance, or ability to grow on deserts and polluted lands. The main field collection near St. Petersburg and 11 main branches across the country covering a wide spectrum of climatic conditions combined with modern seed storage, in vitro and cryobank facilities, and molecular laboratories form a solid platform for breeding, regeneration, and evaluation of accessions in the collection. This article gives a brief overview of VIR as the leading genebank and breeding center in Russia, its main activities in conservation and utilization of PGR for national food security and its role in developing national policies in this area.N.I. Vavilov was among the first scientists who recognized the high potential value of plant genetic resources (PGR) for humankind. In addition to his fundamental work on the centers of crop origin, he emphasized the importance of collection and  Ex situ collections of cultivated plants and their wild relatives are the basic components of food and environmental security of each sovereign country, including Russia. Their relevance and strategic importance have been recognized in the past decades due to enormous genetic erosion and worldwide extinction of crop varieties, species, and even genera. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (1998), 75% of the world's crop genetic diversity was lost in the 20th century. Moreover, the number and assortment of cultivated plants and their wild species have been significantly reduced. Only 30 agricultural crops provide for 95% of humankind's requirements in high-calorie plant-derived food, and 4 of them, rice, wheat, maize, and potatoes, cover more than 60% of our demand in energy and proteins.Contemporary losses of the diversity and a small number of crops used in production under the global and local climate changes present a serious threat to the entire worldwide community and aggravate the problem of food security. Therefore, in Russia as in many other countries, conservation and sustainable utilization of PGR have acquired national and strategic importance.ex situ is one of the oldest in the world. It was established in October 1894 as the Bureau of Applied Botany under the Scientific Committee at the Ministry of State Property of the Russian Empire. The Bureau gradually evolved into the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, or VIR, which became the national center of conservation, research, and utilization of PGR.The Russian collection of plant genetic resources (PGR) 2The present status of VIR's collection is the result of the collective efforts of several generations of world-renowned scientists and explorers. The central, and probably the most internationally acknowledged figure in VIR history is Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov. He was among the first scientists who recognized the exceptional importance and potential value of collecting and preserving the genetic diversity of crop varieties and their wild relatives for humankind. He also laid the foundation for the national and global strategies in PGR conservation and sustainable utilization. Vavilov's theory of the centers of crop origin, his law of homologous series in hereditary variation, fundamental works on geographic distribution of genes, the role of source material in breeding practice, and other publications are internationally renowned. Science historians and Vavilov's biographers usually highlight two stages in his program development. The first stage (1917–1929) was mainly devoted to the collection and research of world genetic resources of staple crops and their wild relatives. The second stage (1929–1940) was mainly focused on a wide-scale scientific synthesis of the acquired knowledge and development of a theoretical basis of crop biology and breeding.3–5The active research and collection work commenced by Vavilov and his team was continued throughout 20th century, but only hampered by World Wars I and II. By 1901, VIR collection of PGR was composed of 301 accessions. In 2015, this number increased to 325,000 unique accessions . During The activities in monitoring, collecting, conservation, documentation, comprehensive study, and effective utilization of global PGR are ongoing and creatively developed on the basis of modern science and technology achievements, with due regard to new economic and political trends.in vitro (750 accessions), and in cryopreservation (1824 accessions). Being the fourth in the world in the number of the preserved accessions, VIR maintains probably the richest botanical, genetic, geographic, and ecological diversity of plant germplasm.The dynamic change of accession numbers in VIR collection during the past years is presented in in vitro or cryogenic storage  of major crops for targeted utilization in breeding programs. New effective alleles, rare ones or those earlier ignored by breeders, which determine photoperiodic sensitivity and response to vernalization, resistance to pathogens and other traits, were identified and mapped. Marking and molecular mapping quantitative trait loci allowed researchers to find, identify, and perform a controlled transfer of chromosome loci determining expression of economically useful traits such as resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors, quality, and productivity. Genetic diversity of accessions in the collection studied by conventional technologies and innovative molecular genetic approaches, including genomics, molecular marking, mapping, and bioinformatics, serves as a powerful base of valuable source material and an instrumental mechanism of effective breeding development. We believe that the diversity of the collection materials, provided that they are safely conserved and sustainably utilized, may promote breeding technologies and priority trends in the 21st century breeding, which are oriented toward the development of high-quality food, optimization of animal feed production, global climate change, “nordification” of crop production, development of novel agro-, bio-, food, chemical, and industrial technologies, biologization and ecologization of agriculture, and resource- and energy-saving policies.13As the national genetic resources center with over 120 years of history, VIR has been responsible for mobilization, conservation, evaluation, and utilization of PGR in Russia and involved in the development of relevant governmental programs and legal instruments. In addition to VIR collection, ∼50,000 accessions of PGR are held by other organizations in Russia: research institutions, breeding centers, universities, botanical gardens, commercial plant breeding and seed production companies, and on farms. Over 1600 species of crop wild relatives occur in Russia within their natural populations—they are potential carriers of alleles valuable for breeding. Many of them are now under the threat of extinction and require measures toward their safeguarding.The problems of PGR conservation in genebanks, within natural plant communities and on farms, and their sustainable utilization are listed among the five top priorities of national security in most of the world's countries, including Russia. These problems need to be solved both at national and international levels, because countries are not self-sufficient and depend on each other in the context of PGR. To find a successful solution to such problems, relevant international documents have been developed such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992; Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, 1996, 2011; International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, 2004; and Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources, 2011. However, with new challenges of globalization and emergence of new technologies, climate change and rapid genetic erosion, profound modifications should be made in the national and international policies in the area of crop agricultural biodiversity conservation and utilization.The importance of VIR's collections and activities in providing solutions to plant breeding and production problems in Russia as well as their role in solving the problem of food supply has been emphasized at several international forums. The former minister of agriculture, E.B. Skrynnik, informed the delegates at the FAO World Summit on Food Security  that Russia is ready to make VIR's collection available for the worldwide community, considering possible climate changes and the common interest of all countries in the reduction of the starvation and poverty level in the world. However, Russia has not yet joined the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; hence, international distribution of accessions from VIR genebank has been accomplished based on bilateral agreements rather than SMTA.In 2006, VIR developed and proposed the draft of the National Program “Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Crop Genetic Resources,” which envisaged necessary budget funding for effective coordination of PGR activities at the national, regional, and international levels. Despite the first approval, the program was not funded or implemented. Later, genetic resources conservation was prioritized in the list of national programs, which was approved by the President and Government of the Russian Federation. Most recently, joint efforts of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and VIR helped to develop and coordinate at the ministerial level of stakeholders the draft Federal Law “Concerning Plant Genetic Resources for Agricultural Production,” which will regulate the activities in the areas of collection, regeneration, storage, research, and sustainable utilization of PGR and their collection for agricultural production in the Russian Federation.ex situ and in situ conservation of genetic resources, development of fundamental and applied research in the area of agricultural biodiversity, avoiding duplication of activities, enhancement of valuable plant diversity mobilization possibilities, expansion of the national genetic diversity by targeted collecting missions over Russia and other countries, as well as through international germplasm exchange, and efficient and sustainable utilization of bioresources with the help of new technologies and scientific achievements.The main idea of the proposed National Program is to combine governmental and nongovernmental measures to create the most favorable environment for secure ex situ collections. It will also open the floor for further discussion and adoption of new international agreements, including the issues of access and benefit sharing as well as to implement large-scale and mutually beneficial international and regional cooperation, while observing the national interests.The National Program will support effective coordination of PGR-related activities within the country and help to establish solid partnerships between governmental and private institutions holding Thus, the proposed National Program on Genetic Resources of Cultivated Plants and Their Wild Relatives of the Russian Federation represents the basic instrument and main mechanism in achieving the goals of mobilization, conservation, and sustainable utilization of agricultural biodiversity components, as it would help to implement relevant activities at the national and international levels. The National Program will become an integral part of the National Strategy and National Plan of Action in the area of biodiversity conservation in the Russian Federation.


AbstractChondrichthyes that inhabit the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Mexico. The list is based on a literature review of field-specific books, scientific publications and database information from collections and museums worldwide available online such as, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), iSpecies, FishBase and the National Biodiversity Information System (SNIB–CONABIO). Information was cross-referenced with digital taxonomic systems such as the Catalog of Fishes of the California Academy of Sciences, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). There is a total of two subclasses two divisions, 13 orders, 44 families, 84 genera, and 217 species that represent approximately 18% of all living and described species of chondrichthyans worldwide. For the Mexican Pacific and the Gulf of California, 92 species of chondrichthyans are listed compared to 94 species for the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Additionally, 31 species listed occur on both coasts of Mexico. The species richness of the Mexican chondrichthyans will surely continue to increase, due to the exploration of deep-water fishing areas in the EEZ.The checklist presented in this study includes the latest taxonomic and systematic modifications and updates (early 2018) for the  Chondrichthyes  inhabiting the waters of the maritime territory and the adjacent and oceanic zones of Mexico, (referred hereinafter as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)) has always been a difficult issue to address. The causes of the underestimation or overestimation of these species can be diverse  of the chimaeras, sharks, skates, and rays, living in the EEZ of Mexico.In Mexico, an updated inventory of the natural resources relevant to esources . SystemaEEZ were included. The selected taxocenoses were contrasted and compared with the biological stocks recorded in the Ichthyological Collection (IC) (http://coleccion.cicimar.ipn.mx/) of the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas  from the coast  were consulted to select the species that were registered in the areas defined by the latter author see also  as north6, 2017 whe coast . This geEEZ. This database was cross-referenced with information available online from biological collections and museums worldwide. Global databases consulted included the Ocean Biogeographic Information System .Field-specific books were consulted e.g.,  for compn System , the Glon System , the Encn System , iSpecien System  and the Chondrichthyes taxa were verified using published references from online resources  such as the Catalog of Fishes of the California Academy of Sciences (https://goo.gl/S792vp), World Register of Marine Species (http://www.marinespecies.org/), Integrated Taxonomic Information System (https://www.itis.gov/), and Chondrichthyan Tree of Life (https://sharksrays.org/). Online database searches were carried out between June 22 and November 15 of 2017. The systematic arrangement , one infraclass (Elasmobranchii) with two divisions (Selachii and Batomorphi), 14 orders, 64 families, and 215 genera. The phylogeny includes one order, three families, six genera, and 49 species of chimaeras; nine orders, 34 families, 105 genera, and 517 species of sharks; and four orders, 27 families, 104 genera, and 646 species of skates and rays. For a comparison of the number of species of Chondrichthyes recognized worldwide between 2005 and 2015, see Table The detailed literature review involving the species of chimaeras, sharks, skates, and rays that currently exist worldwide includes 1,212 species . Taxa deChondrichthyes of Mexico may vary slightly within the recent literature , which is currently recognized in two families, Rhinobatidae . Herein, for the species mentioned, we follow the criteria for family allocation of https://sharksrays.org/).The dynamism (or uncertainty) of the classification of ae sensu  and Platae sensu , and in jiformes , Rhinobatiformes , Torpediniformes  and MyliChondrichthyes, in Mexico, there are no records of one family of Holocephali, the Plownose chimaeras, Callorhinchidae (distributed in the south of the American continent); neither for 11 families of sharks: Parascylliidae, Brachaeluridae, Orectolobidae, Hemiscylliidae, Stegostomatidae, Leptochariidae, Hemigaleidae, Pseudotriakidae, Pristiophoridae, Proscylliidae, and Mitsukurinidae ; and finally not for eight families of skates and rays: Glaucostegidae, Hexatrygonidae, Hypnidae, Rhinidae, Narkidae, Plesiobatidae, Urolophidae and Zanobatidae (none of which are distributed in the American continent).Finally, according to the worldwide species richness of Chondrichthyes worldwide, according to Euselachii subclass was the most representative in terms of species richness at 96.3%, while the Holocephali subclass was the least represented at only 3.7%. The chimaeras were represented in the Mexican EEZ exclusively by a single order (Chimaeriformes) with two families. Of these, Rhinochimaeridae was the best represented with two genera, while Hydrolagus (Chimaeridae) was the genus that had the largest number of species (five species). In terms of sharks, the Carcharhiniformes and Squaliformes orders were represented by six families each. Within Carcharhiniformes, the Carcharhinidae family contained seven genera, and Carcharhinus had 18 species resulting with the highest species diversity. Finally, for rays and skates, the order Myliobatiformes was represented by eight families, where the genera Pseudobatos (eight species), Mobula (seven species) and Urotrygon (seven species) were the most diverse at the species level. On the other hand, the family Rajidae (order Rajiformes) contained eight different genera with 27 species , for 123 species. These species belong to two subclasses , with 4.1% of the species (five species). Considering both coasts of Mexico, the species richness for this zone represents 49.59% of the total of Chondrichthyes currently recorded for the EEZ .For this area of the Mexican Chimaeriformes was represented by two families (Chimaeridae and Rhinochimaeridae) with two genera and five species, representing 62.5% of the chimaera species reported for Mexico (Table Harriotta (Rhinochimaeridae) were distributed exclusively on this basin of the Mexican EEZ.The order co Table . The twoCarcharhiniformes were the best represented with six families. Specifically, Carcharhinidae was the most taxonomically diverse with seven genera and 17 species. Of these species, eleven belong to the genus Carcharhinus. The Triakidae family includes three genera and seven species, which five species belonged to the genus Mustelus  contained the highest diversity of batomorph, with seven species  and the Witch guitarfish Z.xyster  are now members of the new family Trygonorrhinidae , the Spotted round ray Urobatismaculatus Garman, 1913 (Myliobatiformes: Urotrygonidae), the Cortez skate Beringrajacortezensis  (Rajiformes: Rajidae) and the Spiny guitarfish Pseudobatosspinosus  (Rhinopristiformes: Rhinobatidae). For the latter species, see the Discussion.In this area, the following species were identified as endemic: the Whitemargin smoothhound The Exclusive Economic Zone of the eastern slope of Mexico was represented by 94 chondrichthyans species that occur only in this area and 31 amphi-American species , belonging to two subclasses , two families, two genera, and three species that represent approximately 40% of the species recorded to date for the Mexican EEZ  had the highest number of genera with five genera, and the Carcharhinus genus had the highest species richness with 14 species , the Disparate angel shark Squatinaheteroptera Castro-Aguirre, Espinosa Pérez & Huidobro Campos, 2007 the Mexican angel shark S.mexicana Castro-Aguirre, Espinosa Pérez & Huidobro Campos, 2007 (Squatiniformes: Squatinidae) and one species of skate, the Yucatan skate Leucorajayucatanensis . However, see in Discussion about these Angel shark species.For the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea there were three endemic species of sharks: Campeche catshark EEZ of Mexico. Sharks, 27 species, constituted approximately 87% of the total of species followed by four species of rays. Amphi-American chimaeras were not recorded.Thirty-one species of chondrichthyans were recorded on both oceanic basins of the Carcharhinus (Carcharhiniformes: Carcharhinidae) is the richest with seven species, the Bull shark C.leucas , the Oceanic whitetip shark C.longimanus , the Blacktip shark C.limbatus , the Silky shark C.falciformis , the Dusky shark C.obscurus , the Smalltail shark C.porosus  and the Bignose shark C.altimus . The hammerhead sharks of the Sphyrnidae family with distributions on both coasts are the Scalloped hammerhead Sphyrnalewini , the Great hammerhead S.mokarran , the Bonnethead S.tiburo  and the Smooth hammerhead S.zygaena .Among the sharks, the genus Pteroplatytrygonviolacea , the Chupare stingray Styracuraschmardae , the Giant manta Mobulabirostris  and the Common sawfish Pristispristis . The amphi – American distribution of the species Ginglymostomacirratum Bonnaterre, 1788 (Nurse shark) and Aetobatusnarinari  (the Spotted eagle ray) is not considered in the present study because of the reasons stated in the Discussion.In the case of the batomorphs, only four species are distributed on both coasts of the country, the Pelagic stingray Chondrichthyes inhabiting the EEZ of Mexico  makes it a megadiverse country for this group of species.The species richness of Mexican chimaeras, sharks, skates, and rays, when compared to other Latin American countries, is above the 165 species reported for Brazil ; the 117The total numbers of chondrichthyans fishes herein reported to the species, genus, family, and order levels in this study are 217, 84, 44, and 13, respectively. These numbers are similar to those reported for Mexico by EEZ of Mexico with 111 species (51%). These results are consistent with a previous study by aff. sp. or species herein recognized as synonyms ; Centrophorusniaukang Teng, 1959) or subspecies ).Sharks, in general, are the group with the highest diversity of species in the EEZ of Mexico. This figure is very similar to that reported by Gymnuracrebripunctata , the Lessa´s butterfly ray Gymnuralessae Yokota & De Carvalho, 2017 (see below), the Brazilian cownose ray Rhinopterabrasiliensis Müller, 1836, the Fake round ray Urotrygonsimulatrix Miyake & McEachran, 1988, and the Pacific guitarfish Pseudobatosplaniceps   of the total living species of the escribed , it is nescribed , and a gescribed .Trygonorrhinidae and Aetobatidae, respectively) are represented within the EEZ of Mexico, with the records of the species of guitarfish Zapteryxexasperata and Z.xyster (Rhinopristiformes: Trygonorrhinidae) for the coasts of the Pacific Ocean and the Eagle rays Aetobatusnarinari and A.laticeps  (Myliobatiformes: Aetobatidae) for the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, respectively. Recently, the existence of genetic and morphometric variability in a latitudinal gradient for the guitar species of the Zapteryx genus has been identified and should be studied in more detail  is exclusive to the western Mexican seas of the Mexican EEZ except for three records from Costa Rica. We considered that these latter records are misidentification or a data capture error in the computer platforms previously mentioned. Thus, in the study conducted by According to the information in Myliobatiscalifornica  (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae), a situation similar to that previously reported for U.concentricus occurred, because GBIF platform, which would corroborate this hypothesis with the one record of this species in the Gulf of Mexico.In the case of the Bat ray Pseudobatosspinosus  (Rhinopristiformes: Rhinobatidae) had a single record in the databases consulted . Another possibility that has been cited for this record is that it may be a juvenile specimen of another Rhinobatidae species  and the Mexican angel shark (S.mexicana) (both referred as endemic species from the east coast of Mexico), recently Squatinadumeril Lesueur, 1818. Despite the fact that those authors came to the same preliminary conclusion, in this manuscript each Squatina species mentioned, are retained as valid species. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended to do further investigation to demonstrate its taxonomic validity. Such as the Spiny guitarfish, these two species are marked in the checklist with a question mark .For the Disparate angel Shark  and as endemic to this region, excluding the presence of G.cirratum for the Pacific Ocean , considered as an amphi-American species (in fact cosmopolitan species). Currently, based on DNA sequences  and the Pacific chupare ray S.pacifica  were removed from Himantura in Dasyatidae  and the Giant oceanic manta ray M.birostris  within the genus Mobula  as synonymous with the Devil fish M.mobular , are considered by some specialists as a taxonomic decision subject to discussion .The recent taxonomic relocation of the two species of the genus bula see , and theGymnuridae) has limited the distribution of the Smooth butterfly ray Gymnuramicrura  to the southwestern Atlantic and the new species the Lessa´s butterfly ray Gymnuralessae Yokota & De Carvalho, 2017 occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, north, and central western Atlantic, substituting G.micrura records in that area , the future of the biological classification of ss sensu . Due to ss sensu .Sphyrnidae) from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Another study conducted by Mobula (sensu lato Manta, see Rhinopterasteindachneri Evermann & Jenkins, 1891, of the Gulf of California (see also Urotrygon spp. in the southern Gulf of California by the present authors, what could result in the description of new species in the EEZ of Mexico.As a corollary to the above, recently published works or studies in progress can be cited. Thus, see also  is curre


RND) have a significant prevalence among rare diseases, the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) has diversified its efforts to provide patients with a better access to high-quality and safe care, increased European cooperation in the field of high-quality healthcare, exchanges of positive experiences, in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment needed, and prompt dissemination of research results, by creating centers and thus contributing to the development, evaluation and popularization of medical research.In the past decades, diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases has been and still is a priority of scientific research in the health care field. The high prevalence of these diseases and the very high typological diversity has affected millions of people in the whole world. The specialists in the field have identified over 30 million cases only in the European Union and over a million cases in our country, and, unfortunately, for most of them, they were not able to identify the appropriate treatment. This does not mean that the specialists in the field have given up, but it translates into an intensification of conjoined efforts. As rare neurological diseases (EAN) together with “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, RoNeuro Institute for Neurological Research and Diagnosis, Society for the Study of Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity, Romanian Society of Neurology and the Academy of Medical Sciences organized the First International Teaching Course for Rare Neurologic Diseases.In this context, in 2017, the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Task Force meeting, dedicated to rare neurologic diseases, the second meeting took place in Cluj Napoca, at the initiative and with the concrete and effective support of Prof. Dafin Fior Muresanu.At the end of last year, as a natural consequence of the outstanding achievement of the First edition of the European Academy of Neurology (nd European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Task Force meeting and the Rare Neurologic Diseases International Teaching Course has been an ideal framework for discussion, presentation of the efforts made in the diagnosis and treatment of rare neurologic diseases, highlighting the results of individual research, and identifying new approaches.Particularly well received and appreciated, the 2Unfortunately, in neurology and not only, malignancy has an undesirably high frequency, and, although great progress has been made, the correct identification of the causes and the establishment of a proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment require extremely long periods of time and the prospect does not seem sure yet.Prestigious representatives in the European neurology field from Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Finland, Hungary and Romania have participated and the event took place in the generous halls of Grand Hotel Italia, in Cluj-Napoca, generating a wide debate on the evolution of rare neurologic diseases, their diagnosis and treatment, the discovery of new such conditions considered rare, but also the development of special patient records.EAN); Position of rare neurologic diseases and of rare neuromuscular diseases (RNM) in the European Reference Network, small vessels disease (SVD), Huntington’s chorea and Chorea-Acathocytosis, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, inherited peripheral neuropathies, metabolic neuropathies, epilepsy, FSH, spastic paraparesis, dystonias, Mineral and Metal accumulation into the brain, Late onset Metabolic leukoencephalopathies, Optic neuropathies and CTX, the diagnosis improvement methods in rare neurologic diseases, etc.The event was opened by his Excellency, Emil Boc, General Mayor of Cluj Napoca, and consisted of high interest subjects: Diagnosis and specific care of patients with rare neurologic diseases and the role of the European Academy of Neurology , Professor of Neurology, Chairman Department of Neurosciences “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Chairman “RoNeuro” Institute for Neurological Research and Diagnostic, and President of the Society for the Study of Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity (SSNN).The meeting also included a round table on current therapeutic opportunities for rare neurologic diseases, attended by all speakers, coordinated by EAN) are perfectly justified given that rare neurologic diseases are often underdiagnosed and do not always benefit from efficient treatment. They integrate in the overall efforts to raise awareness and continually improve knowledge in the field, to identify an early diagnosis and special research programs that lead to useful therapies.The efforts of the European Academy of Neurology (The European Academy of Neurology (EAN) joins global collaborative efforts to develop the “so-called orphan drugs”, although in the health industry field, has had many notable successes and recent findings in the genetic fields and biotechnology have forced researchers understand and treat diseases at the molecular level. Information technology is now increasingly included in all health fields and, as stated before, it is necessary that data from different sources, such as laboratory tests, genetic tests, medical images, family history and the patient’s medical record, are easy to store, integrate and analyze.EAN) have resulted in the joint message sent, highlighting the necessity that the results of the research and the accumulated knowledge should be properly shared and integrated in the context of connecting patients, healthcare providers and health institutions, quickly and efficiently, in the interest of the sole beneficiary: the patient.The increasing convergence of medical science with information technology generates significant research results with an impact on life, but, although there are promising scientific and medical technologies, which can be applied, there are still major implementation difficulties. That is why the efforts of the European Academy of Neurology (


Dr. Hodes will provide an overview of the latest research in basic biology, neuroscience, behavioral and social science, and geriatrics and clinical gerontology supported by the NIA.


The fundamental goal of WOE was to determine whether and how autobiography production can enhance and provide valuable data about African American seniors’ mental health, past and present. The second goal of WOE was to determine whether and how project partners could use the findings from WOE, particularly those about resilience and strategies for coping with challenging situations, as the basis for new interventions, studies, publications, curricula, and educational programs for learners across contexts, generations, levels, and disciplines. Outcomes are illustrated by rich examples of the genesis, history, products and pedagogy of the project.


Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers need a balanced, thoughtful, and analytical resource to meet the challenge of global aging at a rate that’s historically unprecedented. The Journal of Aging & Social Policy (JASP), which was founded in 1989, serves this role by drawing contributions from an international panel of policy analysts and scholars who assume an interdisciplinary perspective in examining and analyzing critical phenomena that affect aging and the development and implementation of programs for elders from a global perspective. Study settings extend beyond the United States to include Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Latin America, Asia, and the Asia-Pacific rim. This presentation will document the scope, content, and focus of JASP, including the rise of international submissions, which now account for approximately half of articles published. Opportunities for publishing in JASP will be discussed; so too will strategies for navigating the peer-review process successfully.


With the characteristics of low cost and open call, crowdsourcing has been widely adopted in many fields, particularly to support the use of surveys, data processing, and the monitoring of public health. The objective of the current study is to analyze the applications, hotspots, and emerging trends of crowdsourcing in the field of public health. Using CiteSpace for the visualization of scientific maps, this study explores the analysis of time-scope, countries and institutions, authors, published journals, keywords, co-references, and citation clusters. The results show that the United States is the country with the most publications regarding crowdsourcing applications for public health. Howe and Brabham are the two leading authors in this field. Further, most of the articles published in this field are found in medical and comprehensive journals. Crowdsourcing in public health is increasing and diversifying. The results of this study will enable and support the analysis of the specific role of crowdsourcing in the public health ecosystem. Crowdsourcing was first definitized by Jeff Howe in 2006, to represent the act of organizations outsourcing their tasks to an undefined and large group of people . BrabhamThe Internet has greatly reduced the cost of information transfer and the boundaries of participating activities. In this context, the concept of health 2.0 has been proposed with the practice of crowdsourcing in the field of health communication . Every hIn recent years, the involvement of crowdsourcing in hygiene and health has been of scholarly interest. Perrine et al. summarized that different types of crowdsourcing projects can be adopted in health promotion, research, and care . Maged eWith 4.02 billion Internet users and 5.14 billion unique mobile subscribers , online Based on the above analysis, we can illustrate the relations and the process of crowdsourcing applications for public health, as shown in Most of the previous studies have only conducted experiments to explore the function of crowdsourcing in the specific field of public health, such as improving public awareness of sexual health, obtaining solutions to medical problems, and collecting medical big data, etc. Limited studies have been published related to a systematic review or overview of crowdsourcing for public health. Among them, some studies extracted data from reports via PubMed, EMBASE, and Google, but no research has utilized the Web of Science (“WOS”) database. The systematic review by Ranard et al. illustrated the scope of crowdsourcing in health and medical research, but only contained 21 studies . The narThis study may contribute to existing research from three aspects. First, this study is the first bibliometrics analysis of crowdsourcing applications for public health using CiteSpace software. We use bibliometric analysis to provide a new insight that was not conducted comprehensively in previous studies. Second, we offer a better understanding of the emerging trends of the adoption of crowdsourcing in the field of public health, through summarizing the role of crowdsourcing in public health. Third, the analytical framework and the results concluded in this study will provide research basis and directions for future bibliometric analysis in public health ecosystem. As this study explores the general application of crowdsourcing in public health, it could serve as a sound foundation for future research that focuses on the specific roles of crowdsourcing in concrete tasks, e.g., surveying, data processing, monitoring, etc.The rest of this study is organized as follows. In 1955 Garfield proposed an approach for searching scientific literature with citation indexes and, since then, citation analysis has gradually become an important research method in the field of scientific metrology . PritchaWe retrieved data from the core collection database of Web of Science (WOS), limiting search to the Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S), and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH) ,39. ThisTwo tools were used in the analysis, namely (A) CiteSpace V and (B) Excel 2016. (A) CiteSpace V software was used to conduct visualization and knowledge graph analysis in this study. CiteSpace V is a visual analysis tool developed by Professor Chaomei Chen  based on the JAVA platform, which can realize co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and collaborative analysis of institutional authors, etc. ,41. CompCiteSpace V with version 5.2.R 2.3.26.2018 for 64-bit windows was used in this study. In the time slicing, the time span was from 2006 to 2019 and the years slice was set as 1. In the text processing, we chose all term source, including title, abstract, author keywords and keywords plus . In addiCitespace V can use annual rings to display the number of papers published by countries, cooperation and centrality. The size of the annual rings serves as the quantity of posts, and the outermost purple circle shows the centrality . We seleThe map in As shown in The author collaboration network of crowdsourcing research was described in J AM MED INFORM ASSN (46). Many papers published on medical journals represent that crowdsourcing has been used as an advanced tool in public health research field. In addition, ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’ are comprehensive top-level journals that provide research frontiers and hotspots and build knowledge base for medical, biological, economics, management, and psychology in the field of public health research.The table below illustrates the 11 most journals from the entire 502 of journals according to crowdsourcing applied in public health, as seen in When identifying core journals in a research field, the number of posts is not the only indicator, and the centrality and cited frequency are equally important. The keywords reflect the core and focus of a paper. The top 10 keywords on crowdsourcing applications in public health are listed in Based on co-cited references, CiteSpace V can generate a research evolution graph to display the development of crowdsourcing applications in public health with a time zone version. We selected cited references as the network node and adopted the path search algorithm (pathfinder) to analyze . TherefoThe key research references can reflect the development of crowdsourcing as applied to public health., and the main findings are as follows:In 2011, Behrend used crowdsourcing to collect survey data for behavioral research. The authors present that the application of crowdsourcing is an efficient and appropriate alternative to university participant pools . This paIn 2012, Swan pointed out that contemporary public health faces challenges, including rising costs, worsening outcomes, ‘diabesity’ epidemics, and an expected shortage of doctors. Crowdsourcing will be an effective tool to collect health big data and to realize the vision of preventive medicine by 2050 .In 2014, Brabham argued that crowdsourcing has the potential to be a method for improving public health science. Crowdsourcing offers several effective ways toward improving health behaviors through participant engagement online, such as the knowledge discovery and management, the distributed human intelligence projects, the broadcast search and the peer-vetted creative production methods . MeanwhiIn 2015, Zhang used crowdsourcing contests to shape a “bottom-up” approach and described two creative contributory contests (CCC) to enhance sexual health campaigns . This stIn 2016, Chandler summarized the MTurk’s (an online crowdsourcing platform) data quality with an emphasis on results related to clinical psychological research. MTurk is a fast and cost-effective approach to collect nonprobability cases that are more diverse than those commonly adopted by psychologists .In 2018, Créquit mapped the diverse adoptions of crowdsourcing in the field of health to assess the health areas that are using crowdsourcing and the crowdsourcing projects used. The application of crowdsourcing is growing in health promotion, exploration, and care. However, the definition of crowdsourcing logistics and crowdsourcing participants’ characteristics is often lacking in research reports .Overall, crowdsourcing has been widely used to collect data, make surveys, solve problems and monitor. Since 2012, crowdsourcing has gained important attention in the field of public health. Many scholars have begun to study the functions of crowdsourcing in personal care, biological agents, sexual health communication, etc. Furthermore, the Amazon Mturk is the most used platform, and data processing is the main type of crowdsourcing in this field. Crowdsourcing contests are an efficient and responsible way for scientists to conduct medical experiment, and to improve the awareness of public health. In addition, we find several research gaps, such as the ethical problems when applying crowdsourcing in public health, characteristics of participants in the crowdsourcing process, the effectiveness of crowdsourcing without the Internet, etc.The title words and keywords can reflect the research focus of publications. Therefore, through the co-occurrence analysis of the title words and keywords, we can explore research hotspots and frontiers in the scientific field. The clusters of keywords and references (extracting title terms) are shown in In Given these results, we can summarize the publication types, application technology, research domains, and distribution. Firstly, the main type of publications is review. It means that many scholars conduct systematic review to describe the applications of crowdsourcing in public health. Next, the Amazon Mturk is the most used platform. In recent years, social media and mobile applications have become new tools to offer health advisory and collect information. Then, with the development of global health, crowdsourcing applications have spread to many regions, especially in China and the United States. Further, the potential of crowdsourcing applications for public health includes surveillance or monitoring, information extraction, design, etc. Finally, research subjects contain stroke, non-smokers, clinical trials, diabetic retinopathy, and health anxiety, however, participants’ characteristics are poorly reported.From a multi-dimensional, time and dynamic perspective, we use CiteSpace V to analyze the development trends and hotspots of crowdsourcing as applied to public health. This study has shown that crowdsourcing is a relevant topic, particularly in recent years and in the field of public health. As we know, this paper is the first bibliometrics analysis of crowdsourcing applications for public health using CiteSpace software. The results in this study contribute from several aspects to our current understanding.First, with regard to the scope of time and space, the amount of crowdsourcing literature has grown sharply, and the application of crowdsourcing has spread to many domains, especially in public health and health communication. At present, the United States occupies a leading position in the domain of crowdsourcing research for public health, followed by England and China. Scholars from the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention cooperate with American universities to apply crowdsourcing in sexual health communication and HIV prevention. They are the first research team that have made outstanding contributions to the application of crowdsourcing in the field of public health in China.Second, according to co-authors and types of journals, Howe and Brabham are the two core authors in this field. The World Health Organization has also pointed out the effectiveness of crowdsourcing in some reports. In addition, the results of research on crowdsourcing applications for public health are mainly published in medical and comprehensive journals. Medical journals include the ‘Journal of Medical Internet Research’, ‘Lancet’, and ‘American Journal of Public Health’, etc.—comprehensive journals contain ‘Nature’, ‘Science’, and ‘PloS One’, etc.Third, through co-citation analysis, the use of crowdsourcing in public health is increasing, particularly in preventive medicine, mental health, and personalized prevention, etc. The specific applications of crowdsourcing contain data processing, surveying, surveillance, and problem-solving. Further, the crowdsourcing model not only promotes the application of healthy big data and the construction of intelligent health platform but also pushes the online process of social medical crowdsourcing.Finally, crowdsourcing research in this field focuses on four knowledge domains, namely crowdsourcing as a medium for Internet public health communication, the application of crowdsourcing in the field of prevention and treatment, the role of crowdsourcing in the public health care ecosystem, and applied research of crowdsourcing competitions in infectious diseases and epidemiology. In addition, there are several future research directions to discuss. The first one is the application of other databases for bibliometric analysis, such as Google Scholar, which contains citations available in sources other than the WOS. Second, the WHO emphasize the importance of crowdsourcing competitions to improving public health. Hence, future studies can evaluate the role of crowdsourcing competitions/contests in public health development. Final, future research can consider ethical concerns because personal data and diagnostic results may be shared in the process of crowdsourcing. Our study has some limitations. On the one hand, we did not search the gray literature to identify some unpublished studies. On the other hand, we only consider online crowdsourcing, not including research without the Internet. Therefore, we may underestimate the number of studies adopting crowdsourcing in public health.


In-situ snow measurements conducted by European institutions for operational, research, and energy business applications were surveyed in the framework of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ES1404, called “A European network for a harmonised monitoring of snow for the benefit of climate change scenarios, hydrology, and numerical weather prediction”. Here we present the results of this survey, which was answered by 125 participants from 99 operational and research institutions, belonging to 38 European countries. The typologies of environments where the snow measurements are performed range from mountain to low elevated plains, including forests, bogs, tundra, urban areas, glaciers, lake ice, and sea ice. Of the respondents, 93% measure snow macrophysical parameters, such as snow presence, snow depth (HS), snow water equivalent (SWE), and snow density. These describe the bulk characteristics of the whole snowpack or of a snow layer, and they are the primary snow properties that are needed for most operational applications . In most cases, these measurements are done with manual methods, although for snow presence, HS, and SWE, automatized methods are also applied by some respondents. Parameters characterizing precipitating and suspended snow , some of which are crucial for the operational services, are measured by 74% of the respondents. Parameters characterizing the snow microstructural properties , the snow electromagnetic properties , and the snow composition (such as impurities and isotopes) are measured by 41%, 26%, and 13% of the respondents, respectively, mostly for research applications. The results of this survey are discussed from the perspective of the need of enhancing the efficiency and coverage of the in-situ observational network applying automatic and cheap measurement methods. Moreover, recommendations for the enhancement and harmonization of the observational network and measurement practices are provided.  Snow is considered the largest gap in the current knowledge of the global water budget . It is aThe advances in the modelling of the snow-electromagnetic interaction e.g., ,8,9,10) ,9,10 8,9Indeed, while the International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground  providesIn order to fill this gap and harmonize the snow monitoring procedure, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) promoted the Action ES1404 called “Harmosnow” . The aim of the action is to coordinate the effort of harmonizing the snow monitoring practices, by promoting new observing strategies, bringing together different communities, facilitating data transfer, upgrading and enlarging knowledge through networking, exchange and training, and linking them to activities in international agencies and global networks. One of the first activities of Harmosnow was to carry out a survey to obtain an updated picture of the existing variety of snow measurement practices and instrumentations in use by the European institutions. The survey collected a compilation of the measured snow properties and associated measurement techniques that are applied by the participating European countries for a large variety of applications. This paper aims to summarize the results of this survey, providing an overview on the European snow measurements that are carried out for a large variety of applications. Synthesis from the overview enables us to draw recommendations on the best measurement practices and on strategies to increase the effectiveness and the extension of the snow monitoring network.A survey on the measured snow properties and applied instrumentation was carried out among the European institutions through a questionnaire that was designed with the contribution of several partners of Harmosnow with experience on snow observations. The questionnaire only addressed general information, as each respondent was asked to fill it in just once.To get unambiguous answers, despite the absence of standard terminology for many snow properties, and even more importantly for devices or techniques, most of the questions were formulated as multiple choices. This required an investigation on the existing measurable snow properties and measurement instruments. Snow properties were grouped into five categories: snow macrophysical properties, snow microphysical properties, snow electromagnetic properties, precipitating and suspended snow, and snow composition. The measurable parameters that were associated to the snow macrophysical properties, microphysical properties, electromagnetic properties, solid precipitation and snow composition, as well as the existing instruments to measure them, are listed and defined in Snow macrophysical properties describe the bulk characteristics of the whole snowpack or of a snow layer. Some of them, such as snow presence, snow depth (HS), and SWE, are the most important input information for hydrological and numerical weather prediction models, and therefore, they have the most established and wide spread observational network. Others  are mostly measured for snow avalanche forecast, thus in mountain regions only.Snow microphysical properties describe the characteristics of the snow microstructure, such as snow grain shape, snow specific surface area, snow correlation length, etc. . In thehttp://globalcryospherewatch.org/about/about_solidprecip.html). The amount of precipitation is an essential input for all of the models that simulate the snow cover and produce forecasts of weather, avalanches, melt water amount, and floods. Drifting and blowing snow is horizontally transported by the wind through saltation  )The survey on the practices and purposes of the European in-situ snow measurements, carried out in the framework of Harmosnow, enabled the collection of a compilation of the state-of-the-art of in-situ snow operational and research-based snow measurements conducted by the European countries, in a time when new technological solutions are tested and developed. As such, it constitutes the basis for the upgrade and harmonization of the in-situ observation methods, which is one of the main goals of Harmosnow, and for the enlargement of the communities that applied automatized measurements for operational monitoring and frontier techniques for research purposes. The mapping of snow monitoring in Europe obtained through this survey is the needed pre-requisite for the identification of observational gaps and the planning of future long-term snow measurement strategies. Although the snow operational monitoring largely relies on satellite-based observations, in-situ measurements are an essential component of it, as both satellite and ground-based observations are applied in the snow assimilation schemes e.g., ,55,56). ,56. 55,5These results are relevant for the planning of snow observation infrastructures and monitoring programs, as well as for the scientific community—the specialists in specific applications who are familiar with a certain set of snow properties, will generally benefit from knowing the measurement practices that are applied by different communities and in different environments. The measurement practices that are developed on the basis of the knowledge acquired in local institutions and for targeting specific environments will get visibility among a wider audience, eventually broadening their applicability also in other contexts. Moreover, snow properties that are measured for certain purposes may be very relevant for other applications too. Indeed, this work is in line with the recommendation of sharing and comparing techniques between the snow monitoring teams provided by the recent review on the changing Arctic snow cover , which hThe effort spent to send the survey to as many institutions as possible, and the difficulties encountered in order to identify the key responsible persons for snow measurements, evidenced that a much better intra-national collaboration and knowledge-exchange of snow measurement activities is necessary in Europe. The current fragmentation and peculiarities represent a major bottle neck for the necessary harmonization of snow measurements practices in Europe.


This year our conference is twenty-two years old – its parents proudly boast! Looking back to the first conference, also in Split, one cannot but be grateful that the initial idea took hold and gave the conference its current specific flavor -4. SomewCroatian Medical Journal offer a particularly rich program. The 11th conference will feature some seventy lecturers from institutions that include Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, Columbia University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Duke University, Max-Planck-Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Pennsylvania State University, The Wistar Institute, George Washington University, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, Seoul National University College of Medicine, University of New Haven, Nanchang University, and others. More then five hundred participants from more than forty countries will discuss cutting-edge topics in personalized medicine, forensic genetics, and molecular anthropology.This year’s conference and this issue of the It is not out of character for the conference, always with a strong graduate education intent, to open with preconference events. These are, concurrently, the 7th Croatian Congress of Human Genetics  and the Mayo Clinic Short Course on Epigenomics. The conference closes with the short course entitled “Investigation and Forensic Analysis of Fire and Explosion” given by the forensic science legend Henry Lee. The educational impact is strengthened by the participation of Nobel Prize laureates Ada Yonath, Avram Hershko, Robert Huber, and Paul Modrich; they share not just their seminal scientific contributions, but also personal experience in science and life.www.isabs.net). This year, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and ISABS jointly organize an interdisciplinary session underlining the importance of proper interpretation of scientific data in court. In addition, the future of personalized medicine is the topic both of the ISABS/Regiomed Kliniken/University of Split joint session and of the Philips Personalized Medicine Session, while St. Catherine Hospital and OneOme, the entity co-founded by Mayo Clinic, will demonstrate the importance of actionable pharmacogenetic testing to increase access to pharmacogenetic testing in Europe.The five-day conference continues the tradition of working in the plenum. Avoiding parallel sessions is in keeping with the idea that the three areas of focus merge. The merger has become evident not only through the employment of analogous or identical genetic and (epi)genomic techniques, but also by sessions and lectures that reach across these disciplines. For the full program, the reader is referred to the ISABS Conferences webpage , studies in regenerative medicine , a genetic analysis of CFTR gene demonstrating the presence of del. F508 mutation and a rare combining deletion and insertion mutation p. Tyr109Glyfs in a patient with cystic fibrosis, and a case report that highlights the potential of pharmacogenomics in therapeutic decision-making while using tyrosine kinase activity inhibitors in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.This issue of the We are truly indebted to program directors: Manfred Kayser  and Tamás Ördög  for providing the cutting-edge and fresh program this year again. Collaboration with Mayo Clinic for more than sixteen years, with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and others has never been stronger, leading to the ever increasing depth and breadth of the program.Without the support and commitment of sponsors ISABS 2019 would not be possible. Particularly we thank the Croatian Tourist Board; Croatian Ministries of Tourism, Health, Science and Education as well as that of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts of the Republic of Croatia; Croatian Chamber of Economy; City of Split; County of Split and Dalmatia; Municipality of Podstrana; City of Solin; Privredna banka (Bank of Commerce) Zagreb; Belupo Pharmaceuticals; Podravka Foods; Arona Hospital; Auto Benussi; OneOme LLC; Hrvatska pošta ; Ballograf AB; Građa d.d., and Bauerfeind d.o.o; and Philips as the strategic partner of ISABS. Traditionally, the conference is held under the auspices of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and in partnership with the Croatian Medical Chamber.


The biological and physiological functions of each food matrix derive from the concerted action of nutrient components and biologically active compounds. Beyond basic nutrition, the dietary components possess beneficial roles, that leads to the advancement of perception of food as functional and nutraceutical. In this Research Topic, new features of nutrients were considered and the boundaries between nutrients and bioactive compounds were explored.The monitoring of the distribution of compound classes in food groups and at different stages of the food chain was considered. Particular attention was given to the categorization of the effects of different processes, storage methods, technologies, packaging systems, etc.; in this regard conventional and innovative methods as well as multi-aspects and factors were taken into consideration.Khoo et al. described characterized Canarium odontophyllum fat extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide, with focus on fatty acid profile.As instance, Evidence of the benefits/risks of nutrients and bioactive compounds were included, taking into account the challenge of, and need for, new biomarkers and innovative assessment methodologies. The new role of nutrition based on a multi-factors approach were also considered.Norwitz et al. on the D-β-Hydroxybutyrate and its mechanism of action in the multiple cellular pathologies of Parkinson's disease. Another example is given by Kühn et al. on modulation on desaturase expression and fatty acid composition of cultured hepatocytes by resveratrol. It is well-known that there is an increase of number of factors, affecting the content in bioactive components, in line with the new characteristics of food chain.In this regards it is worth mentioning the review of At the same time, the understanding of activities and benefits of nutrients and bioactive compounds in humans is essential. Another focal point in this Research Topic was the uses and applications of bioactive components in the great range of fields, with particular regards nutraceuticals ones –3. SeverSekhon-Loodu and Rupasinghe have given a snapshot of beneficial properties of some traditional medicinal plants, with focus on antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity potential. Also Boudreau et al. identified compounds with novel adipogenic bioactivity in distinct fractions of an Artemisia scoparia extract. On the other hand, Nguyen et al. characterized a probiotic beverage from pineapple juice fermented with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains.As instance, Kumar gives an overview of current status of peptides and peptidomimetics as potential anti-obesity agents.Moreover, innovative applications of bioactive compounds in a technological scenario and nutritional needs, i.e., omics technologies, nanotechnologies, imaging techniques, chemometrics, mobile-based technologies were discussed. As instance, All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.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.