Given that dental practice is currently based on the “average” patient, providing therapeutic and rehabilitative interventions rather than preventive measures , with liP4 medicine, including precise , personalized , preventive (early detection and intervention), and participatory (directly involving patients) approaches, is based on a deeper understanding of the etiology and course of oral disease and, in particular, the broader social, behavioral, and systemic determinants of oral health and its relationship to overall health .Therefore, the increasing integration of P4 medicine principles into oral care should favor the transition from “reactive” disease-waiting dentistry with standardized protocols to “proactive” approaches that track patients’ parameters in a way that is as comprehensive, continuous, and prompt as possible [In recent decades, strategies for P4 medicine have been developed, supported by digital technologies (including software and devices for data computation and storage) and medical data systems , primarily to predict what will happen to a patient or a particular organ or site [In oral, dental, and periodontal care, predicting the case-specific development of caries  or perioIn addition, predicting the site-specific activity and progression of caries and periodontitis could support early-treatment decisions and more accurate, effective, and definitive approaches, with a positive impact on the thorough treatment of patients and their well-being .Moreover, with the proliferation of technology and teledentistry , it is nTeledentistry platforms and tools are increasingly used for consultations with urgent oral and dental needs and concerns, as well as for telediagnoses, especially for the elderly, the frail, and those living in remote areas ,13,14,15Smartwatches, smartphones, and tablets are increasingly becoming an integrated part of our approach to health. M-health applications enable the progression of caries lesions and the progress of orthodontic treatment to be monitored, reinforce biofilm control and provide support and guidance for post-surgical courses .Furthermore, teledentistry and M-health, in combination with widely used smart sensors on the one hand and artificial intelligence and machine learning on the other, may foster the development of next-generation systems ,17 for a


While of predominant abundance across vertebrate genomes and significant biological implications, the relevance of short tandem repeats (STRs)  to speciation remains largely elusive and attributed to random coincidence for the most part. Here we collected data on the whole-genome abundance of mono-, di-, and trinucleotide STRs in nine species, encompassing rodents and primates, including rat, mouse, olive baboon, gelada, macaque, gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, and human. The collected data were used to analyze hierarchical clustering of the STR abundances in the selected species.We found massive differential STR abundances between the rodent and primate orders. In addition, while numerous STRs had random abundance across the nine selected species, the global abundance conformed to three consistent < clusters>, as follows: <rat, mouse>, <gelada, macaque, olive baboon>, and <gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, human>, which coincided with the phylogenetic distances of the selected species (p < 4E-05). Exceptionally, in the trinucleotide STR compartment, human was significantly distant from all other species.Based on hierarchical clustering, we propose that the global abundance of STRs is non-random in rodents and primates, and probably had a determining impact on the speciation of the two orders. We also propose the STRs and STR lengths, which predominantly conformed to the phylogeny of the selected species, exemplified by (t)10, (ct)6, and (taa4). Phylogenetic and experimental platforms are warranted to further examine the observed patterns and the biological mechanisms associated with those STRs. Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. Several models and theories have been proposed for this highly complicated process, including gene regulatory networks, community ecology, and mating preferences (for a review see ). NaturaSTRs are a source of rapid and continuous morphological evolution, for exaWhile a limited number of studies indicate that purifying selection and drift can shape the structure of STRs at the inter- and intra-species levels –22, the Mononucleotide and dinucleotide STRs are the most common categories of STRs in the vertebrate genomes, 24. In Here, we analyzed the global hierarchical clustering of all types of mono-, di-, and trinucleotide STRs in nine mammalian species, encompassing primates and rodents, Those species belong to the superordinal group of Euarchontoglires , and forhttps://hgdownload.soe.ucsc.edu) was used to download and analyze the latest genome assemblies of nine species as follows (genome sizes are indicated following each species): rat (Rattus norvegicus): 2,647,915,728, mouse (Mus musculus): 2,728,222,451, gelada (Theropithecus gelada): 2,889,630,685, olive baboon (Papio anubis): 2,869,821,163, macaque (Macaca mulatta): 2,946,843,737, gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla): 3,063,362,754, chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes): 3,050,398,082, bonobo (Pan paniscus): 3,203,531,224, and human (Homo sapiens): 3,099,706,404. Those species encompassed rodents: rat and mouse, Old World monkeys: gelada, olive baboon, macaque, and great apes: gorilla, bonobo, chimpanzee, human.The UCSC genome browser (https://github.com/arabfard/Java_STR_Finder). All possibilities of mononucleotide motifs, consisting of A, C, T, and G, all possibilities of dinucleotide motifs, consisting of AC, AG, AT, CA, CG, CT, GA, GC, GT, TA, TC, and TG, and all possibilities of trinucleotide motifs, consisting of AAC, AAT, AAG, ACA, ACC, ACT, ACG, ATA, ATC, ATT, ATG, AGA, AGC, AGT, AGG, CAA, CAC, CAT, CAG, CCA, CCT, CCG, CTA, CTC, CTT, CTG, CGA, CGC, CGT, CGG, TAA, TAC, TAT, TAG, TCA, TCC, TCT, TCG, TTA, TTC, TTG, TGA, TGC, TGT, TGG, GAA, GAC, GAT, GAG, GCA, GCC, GCT, GCG, GTA, GTC, GTT, GTG, GGA, GGC, and GGT were analyzed.The whole-genome abundance of mononucleotide STRs of ≥ 10-repeats, dinucleotide STRs of ≥ 6-repeats, and trinucleotide STRs of ≥ 4-repeats were studied in the nine selected species. To that end, we designed a software package in Java  STRs. The algorithm started from an initial point, which was the first nucleotide of each genome, and iteratively repeated a series of steps during walking on the genome, nucleotide by nucleotide. In the first step, it investigated a window frame of 2*N, where 2 was the definition of tandem repeats i.e., two identical continuous sequences, and N was the length of the STR core. If the first half of the sequence inside the window was not equal to the second half, the algorithm moved one nucleotide forward. If equal, the algorithm checked the nucleotides, and this process continued until all identical continuous nucleotides, which were the same as the core were found. The final selected sequence- M*N- was introduced as a new STR, which had a core with a length of N and M repeats. All steps were repeated to find new STRs from the end of the previous STR. We repeated the algorithm for different values of N .Whole-genome chromosome-by-chromosome data were aggregated and analyzed in the nine species. STR abundances across the selected species were obtained and depicted by boxplot diagrams and hierarchical clustering, using boxplot and hclust packages in R, reThe STR abundances across the nine selected species were compared by repeated measurements analysis, using one and two-way ANOVA tests. These analyses were confirmed by nonparametric tests.Whole-genome data was collected on the abundance of mononucleotide STRs across the nine species Table . We founThe whole-genome STR abundances from aggregated chromosome-by-chromosome analysis in the dinucleotide category Table  was decrThere was global shrinkage of the trinucleotide STR compartment in primates versus rodents P = 3.8E-05) 10, (at)8, and (ttg)4 Fig. . HierarcWhile the mechanisms underlying speciation are extremely complicated and largely based on theories and models, the impact of genetics seems to be significant in respect of adaptation, gene flow, and natural selection. In fact, natural selection may be a central converging point of the evolutionary propositions for speciation. However, the various mechanisms involved in speciation have different impact on natural selection, and it is the net effect which may ultimately result in the emergence of a new species.As one of the most abundant genetic elements in various animal genomes, it is largely unknown whether at the crossroads of speciation, STRs evolved as a result of purifying selection, genetic drift, and/or in a directional manner.Here, we selected multiple species across rodents and primates, and investigated the clustering patterns of all possible types and lengths of mononucleotides, dinucleotide, and trinucleotide STRs on the whole-genome scale in those species. Hierarchical clustering yielded clusters that predominantly conformed to the phylogenetic distances of the selected species. Hierarchical clustering is an unsupervised clustering method that is used to group data. This algorithm is unsupervised because it uses random, unlabeled datasets. As the number of clusters increases, the accuracy of the hierarchical clustering algorithm improves.http://alggen.lsi.upc.es/cgi-bin/promo_v3/promo/promoinit.cgi?dirDB=TF_8.3) [https://figshare.com/articles/figure/STR_Clustering/17054972). The concept of various TF sets stands for other STRs as well. For example, (ct)6 conforms to the phylogenetic clusters, and recruits a number of TFs, whereas (ct)7, which does not conform to those clusters, recruits quantitatively different set of those TFs  . Those vMononucleotide STRs impact various processes, such as gene expression, translation alterations, and frameshifts of various proteins, which may have evolutionary and pathological consequences, 25. TheIn a number of instances, dinucleotide STRs located in the protein-coding gene core promoters have been subject to contraction in the process of human and non-human primate evolution. A numbeTrinucleotide STRs are predominantly focused on in human because of their link with several neurological disorders–45. We fThe observed abundances were independent of the genome sizes of the selected species. For example in the instances of di- and trinucleotide STRs, we observed higher abundances in rodents versus primates despite the smaller genome sizes of the former. These findings are in line with the previous reports of lack of relationship between genome size and abundance of STRs, 47.It should be noted that this is a pilot study based on hierarchical clustering, and future studies are warranted to further examine our hypothesis, using phylogenetic platforms and additional orders and species. Functional studies are also warranted to examine the biological impact of the relevant STRs.We propose that the global abundance of STRs is non-random across rodents and primates. We also propose the STRs and STR lengths, which predominantly conformed to the phylogenetic distances of those species, such as (t)10, (ct)6, and (taa4). Additional species encompassing other orders and phylogenetic platforms are warranted to further examine this proposition.This research was a pilot study based on hierarchical clustering of the collected data in a number of mammalian species. Phylogenetic platforms and additional orders of species are warranted to further examine our hypothesis.


Santa Cruz da Prata was a tiny land between the mountains, close to the sky, in the south of the state of Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil. Also known as “Pratinha,” this region was once very beautiful, with sierras after sierras and woodlands with the Atlantic trees of Peroba, Jacarandá, Angelim, Angico, Ipês, and Sapucaias and all thousands of birds.But there was a time when the coffee planters came; then, one by one, almost all trees were felled and, nowadays, very little, hardly anything, remains. What remained were those empty fields, the coffee plantations dominating a depleted landscape, outlining their dull uniformity. But, even today, when Spring arrives and the rains of September make the first buds bloom from the earth, the fields turn green and those magical mountains take over the silences and mysteries of MG.It was there that, around 1930, João Biela da Silva, a respectable citizen and pharmacist, married Gentil Gianerini Silva, and they had five children: Antônio, Aldérico, Augusta, Alcino, and Ana Maria. To be more exact, our story begins on February 11, 1936, the date on which he, Alcino, was born.Grande Sertão: Veredas, 1956, free translation): “You will please excuse this bad habit of mine. [...] I don’t know how to tell things straight. [...] Telling something is a very, very difficult business. Not because of the years that have gone by, but because certain things of the past have a way of changing about, switching places.”It is difficult to distinguish history from story. Everything gets mixed up and combined after so many years that have gone. That is why I would like you to exempt me from eventual failures. As well stated by the Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa , where Alcino completed his elementary education; then, the family moved to Mococa, in the northeast of the state of São Paulo, where he studied the first 2 years of high school education. As if the starts have aligned, once his vocation for Medicine was defined, he moved to Belo Horizonte (MG), where he completed high school at Colégio Marconi. Henceforth, he took the admission exam at the two Schools of Medicine then existing and was approved in both. He chose the Federal University , indisputably of better quality at the time, and began his brilliant career in Medicine in 1954. Ever since, and especially since his graduation in 1959, his life as a doctor, surgeon, and professor was an example to be followed. It translates into the nonconformity of a man who did everything to honor his profession and dignify it to the fullest extent. His connection with Prof. João Baptista de Resende Alves, then Full Professor of Surgical Technique and Experimental Surgery, from the fourth year of medicine onward, marked his academic and professional training, in such a way that, very early, he was endowed with the characteristics to become the natural heir of the direction of this exemplary surgical school.His stay in the municipality of Entre Rios de Minas lasted 7 years. There, together with his classmate Paulo Silva, he carried out one of the most beautiful works of all known to date. I made a point of personally visiting the city and the Cassiano Campolina Hospital, where he worked. I noticed, by listening to the testimonies of several people, that he did everything there: he organized the maternity ward, guided pregnant women, trained paramedics, provided free health care to the humble, plastered legs and arms, performed operations, and worked. The people there were grateful and granted him the honorable title of honorary citizen.But his horizons were broader. Since then, even though he was settled in a small city, Professor Alcino would come to Belo Horizonte on weekends and spend hours on end at the Surgical Technique Laboratory, working on his doctoral dissertation, brilliantly defended in 1965.At that time, he had already married Ana Maria, his wife, partner, friend, and his backbone for such an ambitious life project. Moreover, Ana gave him his greatest gifts: her love and their seven children.. It is also worth mentioning his efficient tenure as the president of the Brazilian College of Digestive Surgery (1997/1998), as the president of the Foundation for Research and Teaching in Surgery (FUPEC), at the Board of Directors of Hospital Borges da Costa, and the Brazilian Society for Surgery Research Development (SOBRADPEC), where he was the director. He was also, with all and indisputable merits, a member of the Minas Gerais Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Medicine. He also received numerous honors such as the Grande Medalha da Inconfidência , Grande Medalha do Mérito da Saúde , and Medalha da Ordem do Mérito Legislativo , in addition to the honorable title of Honoris Causa Professor of Escola Superior da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória . It is impossible for me not to say anything before his innovative and creative spirit, when devising surgical techniques that are now recognized worldwide, such as the proposal for the surgical correction of incisional hernias (Alcino Lazaro da Silva’s Technique). Finally, I cannot help but list the dozens of theses that the Professor has so wisely advised, the Digestive Surgery Service of Hospital das Clínicas, UFMG, which he created, among so many other activities.I do not intend here to enumerate the Professor’s achievements and innumerable titles. The list is endless and the mission would be impossible in such a small space. So, as summarized as it could be, it would not do justice. However, as a matter of conscience, I feel obliged to report, through and through, some of his achievements since his definitive transfer to the University where he achieved the highest of all titles, that of Professor Emeritus. We should mention his hundreds of published works, his countless books, his brilliant civil service competitive examination for full professor in 1975, his extraordinary teaching participation, the creation of the Graduate Program in Surgery at the School of Medicine of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), the coordination of numerous disciplines of undergraduate and graduate programs, and the countless honors received either as a sponsor lecturer or as a sponsoring professor of the classes.When he was the president of the Brazilian College of Digestive Surgery (1997/1998), he was responsible for acquiring its own headquarters. In addition, he was the one who included the Latin sentence “UT OMNES UNUM SINT,” which means “all for one,” in the College’s symbol, which has been maintained to this dayWords of aggrandizement and praise are usually a habit of those who greet the honoree. In my case, the praise is not just protocol-like: it is much rather a superior commandment of affection and recognition. Our points of view, at times divergent, have only increased my admiration, stimulated by my growing conviction of his greatness of character. Therefore, I allowed myself to trace his paths to show the saga of a man a little, as a humble and unnecessary attempt to frame him in the gallery of the great names of Brazilian surgery. Hence, I entered his backyards, wandered through his father’s pharmacy, tasted the flour cookies and guava sweets made by Jovita, a black mother, who today has a seat in heaven. I participated in his experiments in surgical technique, performed surgeries in Entre Rios, and scoured his enviable and immense curriculum, without any purpose.Grande Sertão: Veredas, 1956, free translation):At the end of my text, I sought to understand a fact that, at first, no one could answer me. I redoubled my efforts in tracing his steps, seeking to unravel his option to transfer to Belo Horizonte. I wondered why someone, living in the south of MG, near the border of São Paulo, and who, already studying in that state, decides to go to the capital of MG to study Medicine when, in those times, the most reasonable thing would be to choose the capital of São Paulo. I applied myself, with no support, to the search for this answer, so as to investigate and speculate on his life in a more accurate and competent way. Soon, that is what I found. I found the answer myself by knowing him, by tracing the enchanted universe of Guimarães Rosa (Guimarães Rosa, Those who are born in Minas Gerais are shy, benevolent, contained, suspicious, disciplined, discreet, scrupulous, thrifty, balanced, faithful, grateful, honorable, intelligent, honest, loyal, meditative, modest, obstinate, prudent, patient, mundane, sensible, without any haste, sagacious, sober, hardworking, timid, virtuous. People born in Minas Gerais bring more individuality than personality, they think that what matters is to be and not to appear, they know that to be agitated is not to act. Those born in Minas Gerais do not dispute. They have no visible audacity. They transcend it. They do not believe that anything can be solved by a gesture or an act, but they have learned that things come back, that life changes, that everything can come back.When it dawned on me, I realized that Prof. Alcino had the face of MG and that there, only there, could he belong. In 2022, now enchanted, he left us a legacy that is difficult to fulfill.Minas, our dear Minas, the “little homeland” of general stars.Minas that comprises many: Jequitinhonha, Mata, Triângulo, Metalúrgica, Minas do Sul, and Minas of the western hills. Minas from all these cities, from Diamantina, Ouro Preto, Sabará, Cordisburgo, Lassance, Montes Claros, Entre Rios, Guaranésia, and Santa Cruz do Prata. Minas from Belo Horizonte.Minas crossed by these rivers of deep waters, namely, the São Francisco, Grande, Doce, Paracatu, Carinhanha, Pandeiros, and the green-bluish Urucuia River, love of mine.Minas that God carved and decorated with all the stones — the sapphires, tourmalines, amethysts, topaz — these golds of emerald hopes.Minas, mountains, and sky and those mountain paths where Buriti trees touch the clouds.Our Minas, ours alone. Minas of all Brazilians.Minas that gave Brazil most of its greatest geniuses: Drumond, poet; Guimarães Rosa, the greatest of all writers; Santos Dumont who, one day, dreamed of flying like birds and did so; Carlos Chagas, the greatest scientist, who single-handedly discovered and fully described a disease; Pelé, who enchanted the world with his art; Tiradentes who, one day, died to free Brazil. Minas of Juscelino, Milton Campos, Mário Palmério, Hilton Rocha, Alfredo Balena, Baeta Vianna, and João Baptista de Resende Alves.Minas of Alcino Lázaro da Silva.


To the Editor: Lewis et al. recommend considering hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) as a differential diagnosis for monkeypox on the basis of a series of 9 patients from Argentina and Bolivia with suspicion of monkeypox, of which 3/9 patients had laboratory-confirmed monkeypox and 4/9 patients had HFMD . Two days before, he began experiencing myalgias and fever, followed by a generalized rash with painful pustular lesions on the arms, hands, feet, mouth, scalp, and anus . He was We swabbed anal, oral, and skin lesions and assessed the specimens for orthopoxvirus and enterovirus nucleic acids by PCR, which was positive for enterovirus but negative for orthopoxvirus, confirming HFMD. In conclusion, we support the suggestion to consider atypical HFMD as a differential diagnosis of monkeypox.


Rubella virus (RuV) generally causes a mild infection, but it can sometimes lead to systemic abnormalities. This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis of over two decades of RuV research. Medical studies published from 2000 to 2021 were analyzed to gain insights into and identify research trends and outputs in RuV. R and VOSviewer were used to conduct a bibliometric investigation to determine the globally indexed RuV research output. The Dimensions database was searched with RuV selected as the subject, and 2500 published documents from the preceding two decades were reviewed. The number of publications on RuV has increased since 2003, reaching its peak in 2020. There were 12,072 authors and 16,769 author appearances; 88 publications were single-authored and 11,984 were multi-authored. The United States was the most influential contributor to RuV research, in terms of publications and author numbers. The number of RuV-related articles has continued to increase over the past few years due to the significant rubella burden in low-income nations. This study will aid in formulating plans and policies to control and prevent RuV infections.  Rubivirus genus in the Matonaviridae family [Rubella virus (RuV) is an RNA virus and a member of the e family . It has e family ,3. Althoe family ,5. Approe family . RuV is e family .When infection occurs within the first eight weeks of pregnancy, RuV can have tragic and severe deleterious effects on the fetus, including malformations, premature delivery, and miscarriage . Fetal mBibliometrics is a valuable tool for studying the scientific literature and output through the application of mathematical, statistical, computational, and other methodologies to help extract useful information . BibliomA bibliometric analysis was conducted in this study to considerably increase the quality of the literature review by offering a transparent, systematic, and repeatable review method. It allows for mapping study domains and influential work without subjectivity, which is essential for a holistic approach to the literature review process. The use of statistical and mathematical tools to analyze books and media communications is known as bibliometric analysis. Biblioshiny is a web-based application that provides a user interface for Bibliometrix for non-programmers. It facilitates researchers’ usage of Bibliometrix’s key features. To conduct a bibliometric analysis, various databases are available; each database has distinct characteristics and can offer various features. The most frequently used literature databases are PubMed and Dimensions, both of which are free. However, Web of Science and Scopus cover almost all disciplines, but are only available as subscription databases. Based on sources, authors, documents, and clustering by coupling, analytics and graphs are generated for four distinct levels of metrics. The three K-structures of knowledge can be analyzed using conceptual, intellectual, and social structures. R Studio was initially used to install and load the Bibliometrix R package. By typing Biblioshiny into the R terminal, the Biblioshiny application was started. A number of tools made available by Bibliometrix enable investigators to conduct comprehensive bibliometric analyses ,19,20,21The bibliometric analysis was performed with RuV-centered research from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2021. Articles from Dimensions were retrieved and evaluated using visualization tools Biblioshiny  and VOSviewer .In this study, a standardized search approach was used for the bibliometric analysis based on the inclusion of the keyword “rubella virus” in the title, abstract, and keywords. The rubella virus data were collected from January 2000 to December 2021. The analysis included all related original articles, reviews, editorials, and research letters containing the keywords; however, abstracts, communications, and errata/corrections were excluded from the study. To avoid any bias in data collection, two independent investigators (Hafiz Muhammad Zeeshan and Fahad Ahmad) collected data on the same day as the search. After a conversation with a third investigator (Hasan Ejaz), the differences were discussed and resolved. The title of the article, authors’ names, times cited, citations per document, most-cited papers, year of publication, type of paper, countries/regions, institutions/organizations, and journal name were evaluated from the retrieved data.As this study analyzed previously published research, no ethical approval was required. None of the authors of the studies included were contacted for more information about their respective publications.The analysis was performed on a Lenovo Mobile Workstation  with an Intel Core i9 processor, NVIDIA RTX A5000 graphics card, 128 GB DDR4 memory, a 1 TB SSD hard drive, and Windows 11 Pro 64 as the operating system. We first installed the Bibliometrix package and loaded it into R Studio . A .csv Excel file was uploaded to the Biblioshiny interface, as an Excel file is not the same as .csv Excel. The study also used Excel files (.csv) and portable network graphics files (.png) for the data analysis. The VOSviewer was used to present detailed information about RuV-based research, as well as for the extraction of other patterns.For the most productive and influential authors, various factors such as authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, and year-by-year groupings of articles were used in the analysis of their papers in PubMed. According to the analysis, between 2000 and 2021, 2500 documents that matched the study criteria were published in Dimensions .The primary information about studies on RuV on Dimensions from 2000 to 2021 is shown in The number of articles by Bradford’s law zones in core sources was found to be 844 with 15,341 citations, and the number of core + zone 2 sources was 1675 with 29,473 citations, as shown in The articles were arranged in descending order by frequency of citation. The top three most cited papers were further analyzed for their citations. The top three locally cited documents were Banatvala, J. E., & Brown, D. W. (2004). Rubella. The Lancet, 363(9415), 1127–1137; Lambert, N., Strebel, P., Orenstein, W., Icenogle, J., & Poland, G. A. (2015). Rubella. The Lancet, 385(9984), 2297–2307; and Davidkin, I., Jokinen, S., Broman, M., Leinikki, P., & Peltola, H. (2008). Persistence of measles, mumps, and rubella antibodies in an MMR-vaccinated cohort: a 20-year follow-up. The Journal of infectious diseases, 197(7), 950–956, with 96, 92, and 91 local citations and 255, 214, and 247 global citations, respectively .The top three globally cited documents were Amanna, I. J., Carlson, N. E., & Slifka, M. K. (2007). Duration of humoral immunity to common viral and vaccine antigens. New England Journal of Medicine, 357(19), 1903–1915: Desailloud, R., & Hober, D. (2009). Viruses and thyroiditis: an update. Virology journal, 6(1), 1–14; Pollard, A. J., & Bijker, E. M. (2021). A guide to vaccinology: from basic principles to new developments. Nature Reviews Immunology, 21(2), 83–100, with 874, 313, and 260 total citations and 54.62, 22.35, and 86.66 total citations per year.The top three locally cited references were Frey, T. K. (1994). Molecular biology of rubella virus. Advances in virus research, 44, 69–160; McLean, H. Q., Fiebelkorn, A. P., Temte, J. L., & Wallace, G. S. (2013). Prevention of measles, rubella, congenital rubella syndrome, and mumps, 2013: summary recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Recommendations and Reports, 62(4), 1–34; and Miller, E., Cradock-Watson, J., & Pollock, T. (1982). Consequences of confirmed maternal rubella at successive stages of pregnancy. The Lancet, 320(8302), 781–784, with 119, 103, and 101 citations, respectively.The top three authors who published the highest number of studies were Gregory A. Poland, Joseph Icenogle, and Inna G. Ovsyannikova, with 53, 44, and 42 articles and 11.06, 9.40, and 7.39 article fractions, respectively. The top three authors with the highest number of local citations were Inna G. Ovsyannikova, Stanley A. Plotkin, and Elizabeth Miller with 313, 270, and 234 citations, respectively. With respect to production over time, Gregory A. Poland, Joseph Icenogle, and Inna G. Ovsyannikova were the most prolific in 2000–2021.The three authors with the highest impact were Gregory A. Poland, Joseph Icenogle, and Inna G. Ovsyannikova, with an h-index of 26, 21, and 23; a g-index of 39, 35, and 34; m-index of 1.18, 0.95, and 1.211; total number of citations of 1655, 1280, and 1226; and publication year starting from 2001, 2001, and 2004, respectively. The above findings are shown in The majority of the studies included in the analysis were authored by researchers from the following three institutions : the CenMost of the studies were published by three countries: Japan (n = 303), Germany (n = 271), and the United Kingdom (n = 262). Despite the reality that East and South Asia and Africa bear a disproportionate share of the worldwide burden of rubella, their research output was limited. This should prompt health organizations to reconsider their support for and funding of RuV research in disease-endemic nations in order to create effective control and prevention strategies.The three outstanding countries whose publications on RuV received the highest number of citations were the United States , the United Kingdom (n = 3001), and Germany (n = 2332). The top three countries of corresponding authors of publications were the United States, Japan, and India, with 561, 149, and 123 articles; a frequency of 0.22, 0.06, and 0.06; 267, 75, and 68 inter-country publications; and 294, 74, and 55 intra-country publications, respectively .Vaccine from Elsevier, The Journal of Infectious Diseases (J. Infect. Dis.) from Oxford University Press, and Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics from Taylor & Francis, with 201, 78, and 67 articles, respectively.The top three relevant sources were the journals Vaccine from Elsevier, J. Infect. Dis., and The Lancet from Elsevier with 4841, 3131, and 2303 articles, respectively.The sources with the highest local citations (from reference lists) were Vaccine from Elsevier, J. Infect. Dis., and Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics from Taylor & Francis, with an h-index of 35, 30, and 11; a g-index of 51, 50, and 18; an m-index of 1.52, 1.50, and 0.91; total number of citations of 3977, 2746, and 467; and publication year starting from 2000, 2003, and 2011, respectively.The top three sources with respect to impact were J. Infect. Dis., BMC Infectious Diseases from Springer, and Vaccines from MDPI, with 76, 33, and 60 occurrences to date in comparison to the previous year’s 76, 28, and 56 occurrences, respectively (The dynamics of the top three journals with respect to occurrences per year were: ectively .Overall, rubella, measles, and vaccination were the top three keywords used in the studies with 1417, 590, and 395 occurrences, respectively .This bibliometric analysis comprehensively described the research on rubella, a widespread disease in both industrialized and developing nations. Researchers worldwide have studied the detection, control, treatment, and avoidance of RuV. To our knowledge, no bibliometric analysis has been undertaken to date on the 2500 papers based on RuV research, despite the relevance of bibliometrics as a means of examining research volume, orientations, and collaborations between academics and medical practitioners. In recent decades, an increasing number of studies on the prevalence of RuV antibodies in various human groups have been published. In some 1.3 industrialized nations, RuV cases have surged by as much as 79% in recent years ,23. DiffThis study was undertaken for a citation analysis and its primary characteristics. In recent years, there has been a continuous increase in the number of RuV-related papers due to the global burden of this disease. Understanding the characteristics of published RuV research may be advantageous for multiple reasons. Our research revealed that the 2500 studies in Dimensions were referenced 31,897 times. The average number of citations per publication was 12.76, showing their significance and impact. Three studies were mentioned more than 1100 times in the scholarly literature. Previous research analyzing the RuV literature indicated a consistent growth in RuV-related publications over the past few decades. Using Web of Science, Deqiao Tian undertook a comprehensive literature review of pathogens, including health-threatening pathogens and biodefense-associated pathogens, and provided recommendations for future research on RuV . Japan, Vaccine; Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics; and The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Vaccine and Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics have published the highest number of articles on RuV. The Vaccine journal features a hybrid publication mode, meaning writers have the option of publication with subscription or open access, while Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics and The Journal of Infectious Diseases are open access with different waive options for authors from low-income countries, which greatly aids academics from developing nations to disseminate local material to a worldwide readership [Our study revealed that the highest number of corresponding authors of articles on RuV were from the United States, Japan, and India. This trajectory in publishing is inconsistent with the worldwide global distribution of the disease, as it is more prevalent in low- and middle-income nations, where it appears as both epidemics and sporadic infections. This study emphasized the need to establish research connections between experts from rich and resource-limited nations . To prevadership .This emphasizes the necessity of other journals adopting subscription or fee-waiver policies in order to attract high-quality publications from poorer nations . Local rThe data reported in this paper may be valuable for researchers and scientists in focusing their study aims on more relevant domains within the field of RuV research. In addition, it can assist academics and teachers by providing high-quality bibliographic references for educational purposes. Healthcare providers and parents need to be targeted with adequate information on RuV. Research on RuV should be encouraged, and health practitioners should be involved in collaborative research for public awareness. This study has several limitations, such as the fact that we only retrieved data from papers indexed in Dimensions; articles from other databases were not analyzed, which may have affected the conclusion. In addition, the quality of the most cited publications was not evaluated, which may have affected the interpretation of the results.This study discussed the most cited articles on RuV and their authors, institutions, and countries in the context of the RuV research output over the past two decades. In both developing and developed nations, RuV is regarded as the cause of one of the most contagious person-to-person airborne viral infections. Only two vaccines against RuV are available, MMR and MMRV, the latter containing weakened measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella viruses. The majority of studies on RuV are published by researchers from wealthy nations, and the United States was the most influential contributor. This study highlights the need to develop research partnerships between scholars from industrialized and low-income nations. To forestall and manage the spread of rubella, it is vital to motivate researchers, especially those from countries with few resources, to concentrate more on RuV research by providing them with technical and financial support. This study will also aid in formulating plans and policies for the prevention and control of RuV. The most dominant term used in these studies was vaccination against rubella virus, which highlights the significance of immunization, especially in infants. More importantly, it can guide decision-making strategies in medical services from a public health perspective.


Schizophrenia (SC) is considered the most serious of all mental disorders. Some antipsychotics are associated with weight gain and metabolic abnormalities. Whether SC itself causes obesity remains uncertain.We collected 185 first-episode drug-naive SC and 59 healthy controls (HCs) from the Third People’s Hospital of Foshan, Guangdong, China, and distinguished their course of disease in order to understand the body mass index (BMI) and body fat metabolism of SC.B = 0.094, p < 0.001), duration , FBG , and TG  were the risk factors for the increase of BMI. HDL  was the protective factor.We found that excluding the drug factors, the longer the course of SC, the more obvious the increase of BMI and the higher the proportion of obesity. BMI was positively correlated with age, course of disease, fasting blood glucose (FBG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC), and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL). The results of regression analysis were further proof that age (SC itself can increase BMI and easily lead to obesity. We should pay more attention to the monitoring of blood metabolism indicators, so as to reduce the risk of obesity and improve the quality of life of patients. Schizophrenia (SC) is considered the most serious of all mental disorders , 2. ManyDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) from August 2016 to September 2021 in the Department of Psychiatry, The Third People’s Hospital of Foshan, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China, were included. According to the course of disease, they were divided into groups A (duration < 6 months), B (6 months ≤ duration<24 months), and C (duration ≥ 24 months).The outpatients and inpatients with SC, who met the diagnostic criteria of the Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) SC: ➀ 18–45 years old ; ➁ years of education ≥ 6; ➂ Han nationality; ➃ before test, did not take any antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, sedatives, etc.; (2) healthy control (HC): volunteers recruited through advertising in Foshan from March 2020 to December 2021; ➀ 18–45 years old; ➁ no history or family history of psychosis; ➂ Han nationality; ➃ years of education ≥ 6; ➄ gender, age, and education were matched with the patient group.Exclusion criteria were as follows: ① comorbidity other mental disorders, including intellectual disability or other cognitive impairment; ② patients with diabetes, hypertension, severe kidney, liver function damage, cardiac insufficiency, etc.; ③ those who did not cooperate with venous blood drawing due to phobia, etc.; ④ smoking habits (≥ 1 cigarette per day) or drinking habits ; 1 unit alcohol = 480–600 ml of beer = 350 ml of low alcohol liquor or red wine, yellow wine = 50 ml of high spirits (40° or more).https://smitechasia.com). The positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) was used to assess the extent of the patient’s mental symptoms.Details such as names, gender, and age were collected through the interviews from subjects who were willing to participate, after receiving the signed informed consent form. Then, the weight, height, and BMI of these subjects were measured with Automatic Measuring Stadiometer BSM370 , A (n = 92), B (n = 45), and C (n = 48), while 10 subjects were excluded due to consumption of breakfast before drawing blood or due to not showing interest in performing blood test.There were 244 participants in this study, including HC (p > 0.05). Also, there were significant differences in BMI and FBG (p < 0.05). The incidence of obesity in groups HG, A, B, and C was 5.26, 7.61, 15.56, and 22.92%, respectively, and the incidence of overweight was 22.81, 27.17, 22.22, and 31.25%, respectively , PANSS (N), and PANSS (G) were not correlated with BMI .F = 16.394, p < 0.001) was established. Finally, the elements such as age, duration, FBG, HDL, and TG, were considered for the model (Taking BMI as the dependent variable (Y) and age, duration, HDL, LDL, TG, and TC as independent variables (X), and gender as a covariate, a stepwise multiple linear regression model (he model .Our study included first-episode, drug-naive SC with a different course of disease. By comparing their blood metabolic indexes, we found that after excluding the drug factors, the longer is the course of SC, the more obvious is the increase of BMI, and the higher is the proportion of obesity.A previous study has shown that there was no significant difference in the incidence of obesity in first-episode SC compared with HC . HoweverComparing the FBG of each group, we found that the FBG decreased in patients with 0–6 months course. As we know that SC always starts with negative or positive symptoms , psychotTo further explore the factors affecting BMI, we correlated the metabolic indexes and PANSS scores with BMI. The results showed that BMI was positively correlated with age, course of disease, FBG, LDL, TG, and TC, negatively correlated with HDL, and had no correlation with the scores of PANSS in each group, which meant that the severity of SC had nothing to do with BMI. The incidence of obesity in SC increased with age, similar to most mental disorders , 20. At Of course, it is best that we conduct a longitudinal follow-up study on the first-episode, drug-naive SC, and do not use any drugs to intervene, which obviously violates ethics and humanitarianism. So, we had to test this hypothesis by selecting untreated SC patients with a different course of disease. In addition, patients with a long course of disease tend to shrink back, including diet and living habits, which would lead to the deviation of our study. Overall, SC itself can increase BMI and easily lead to obesity. We should pay more attention to monitoring of blood metabolism indicators, so as to reduce the risk of obesity and improve the quality of life of patients.The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Third People’s Hospital of Foshan, China. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.JL, YC, and YY made great contributions to the conception, design, and writing of the article. XX, XL, ZL, CX, and GX provided assistance in the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data. All authors approved the publication of the manuscript.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


In the published article, there was an error in affiliation 1. Instead of “W.M. Keck Science Department, Scripps and Pitzer Colleges, Claremont, CA, United States,” it should be “W.M. Keck Science Department, Claremont McKenna, Scripps and Pitzer Colleges, Claremont, CA, United States”.The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.


Pages 11611 and 11612, references 18 and 42 should be switched,such that ref 18, cited on page 11598, refers to the work by Sorrentiet al., and ref 42, cited on page 11599, refers to the work by Amataet al.Page 11599. A new reference (cited here as ref (


Materials, which has the goal of publishing original research and review articles focused on carbon nanotubes, graphene, activated carbon, graphite, pencil graphite, graphene oxide, graphene nanoplatelets, pyrolytic graphite, organic mass derived carbon, fullerenes, diamond, glassy carbon, carbon fibers, and other composites for electrode preparation and its applications.Carbon-Based Composite Materials for Electrodes is a new open Special Issue of In the last decade, carbon composites have been playing a significant role in the field of multidisciplinary science and technology. Because the carbon composites are green and economical with brilliant chemical, mechanical, electronic, and surface properties, carbon composite electrodes find many applications in sensing systems, energy storage and management, fuel cell construction, batteries preparation, molecular and ion recognition, electro-synthesis, drug delivery, and more ,2.Carbon-Based Composite Materials for Electrodes”.All the possible carbon composites and their applications are welcomed in the current Special Issue entitled “


Hemileia vastatrix and Hypothenemus hampei. Despite technological support, these pests have caused 20% to 40% production losses, a 50% to 60% deficit in performance, and a cost of between USD 70 million and USD 220 million to the world economies, which forces us to rethink actions centered on people as the key elements to develop appropriate solutions. For this, the present study presents a technological proposal centered on small indigenous coffee producer requirements for introducing Industry 5.0 technologies, considering roadmapping, knowledge management, statistical analysis, and the social, productive, and digital contexts of five localities in Mexico. The results show a correlation between monitoring and control, soil analysis, the creation of organic fertilizers, accompaniment, and coffee experimentation, as the actions to be implemented, proposing the introduction of a mobile application; sensors, virtual platforms, dome-shaped greenhouses, and spectrophotometric technology as relevant technologies centered on indigenous coffee producers’ requirements. This study is important for policymakers, academics, and producers who wish to develop strategies centered on people in Mexico and the world.The coffee plant, with more than 40 billion shrubs, 9 million tons of grains produced, and 80% of its production accounted for by small-scale producers, has been severely damaged since the emergence of  Historically, plants have played an essential role in the evolution of human beings. Due to their role in the production of oxygen, humidity regulation, the stability of the climate and soil, fuel, food, and medicine for protecting the coronary arterial wall and against oxidative inflammatory disease ,2,3, plaWorldwide, around 300,000 edible plants exist, of which approximately 6000 are cultivated by humans, using about 200 to produce food ,6. AmongCoffea arabica) and canephora (Coffea canephora) as its two most important varieties, is a tropical tree with green leaves and flowers that give an oval fruit called a coffee bean. Its development requires best management practices, temperatures between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius, pluvial precipitations of 1500 to 3000 mm for a proper development, and 9 to 11 months from flowering, on average, to produce a ripe cherry . The retions of .For the social variables, the results show a positive correlation with gender (0.028) and a negative correlation with age (−0.009), time producing (−0.013), and family members (−0.063). The productive variables present a positive correlation with the production level (0.001), varieties (0.250), coffee tree age (0.162), pruning (0.312), pruning frequency (0.305), fertilizer (0.320), type of soil compost (0.121), additional crops (0.151), and pest incidence (0.041). However, negative results were found for the cultivated area (−0.112), flora (−0.058), and soil compost (−0.037) see .The production level and pest incidence can be controlled by monitoring coffee leaf rust. For this, the development and involvement of producers through a mobile application for early detection of the disease is registered as a feasible option, promoting data management and processing to boost the learning process . This caThe positive statistical correlations between the social and productive variables and actions to be implemented, such as monitoring and control of coffee leaf rust, accompaniment during the growth of the coffee plant, soil analysis, the creation of organic fertilizers, and experimentation with the environment, provide the guideline to make the following technological proposal: This technology has been implemented in Guatemala and Nicaragua. In Guatemala, it has mainly been implemented in southern regions I, II, III, and IV , locatedIn parallel, the introduction of this technology can be for accompaniment during the growth of the coffee plant. To influence the management of the level of production, proper management of the varieties at different ages, pruning development, and the reduction in the rust incidence should be implemented based on the existing correlation between the strategies and the production context. This proposal aligns with  by recom2.The type of soil compost is related to soil analysis. For this, sensors and computer tomography ,105 can This technological strategy has been used in Colombia through sensors to measure the soil moisture and indicate variations . At the In Colombia, coffee departments such as Magdalena, Cesar, and Cuca have multidimensional poverty of 19.6% to 33.4% . MagdaleThis type of technology, related to soil analysis, could be developed from the knowledge and experiences of local institutions in order to be introduced into the coffee context as a soil laboratory (see ).3.In relation to fertilizers/pesticides, the creation of organic fertilizers has a direct relationship. An option can be to reuse coffee pulp as a good source of compost. For this, a dome-shaped greenhouse to take advantage of solar radiation can be a simple technology since it does not require intervention for its management; it just needs the care of depositing and rotating the coffee pulp continuously to collect the black liquid that contains all the nutrients that it exudes after some time ,117, whiA similar technological initiative has already been experienced in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, allowing comparisons of the efficiency and time of grain drying . Vilcaba4.Regarding varieties and their experimentation with the environment, due to the existence of coffee plants without rust, evaluation of the presence of phenolic compounds and proteins, following , is suggSpectrophotometric and sensor technologies have already been considered in forage studies for cattle production systems in Veracruz, Mexico . TherefoThe number of indigenous people in the coffee-producing localities of El Pajarito, Llano Coyul, Ocotal, Guadalupe, and Buenavista in Oaxaca, Mexico, is proportionally similar to the 949 producers from 35 communities in Chiapas, recorded by . The altRegarding the academic level, the results obtained are a slightly lower than those reported by , establiThe access to computers (0% to 8.7%), cell phones (32.2% to 65.9%), and internet (1.05% to 59.09%) of indigenous communities from El Pajarito, Llano Coyul, Ocotal, Guadalupe, and Buenavista is similar to that reported in the same populations in Central and South American countries. For example, there is 2% computer access in Nicaragua and Colombia, 3% in Venezuela, 5% in Panama, and 8% in Ecuador, while there is 39% cell phone access in Chile, 48% in El Salvador, 53% in Panama, 54% in Ecuador, and 64% in Costa Rica, in similar communities. Regarding the internet, the situation is similar in Venezuela with 1% and Bolivia with 4%, while the condition is slightly better by 7% than Panama (highest), with 52% . The extThe gender of coffee producers from El Pajarito, Llano Coyul, Ocotal, Guadalupe, and Buenavista is similar to that found in , which rRegarding the coffee production level, the number of kilograms produced by inhabitants in the localities of El Pajarito, Llano Coyul, Ocotal, Guadalupe, and Buenavista was 404 kg less than that produced by their counterparts from Guerrero, Mexico, with 689 kg . The cofIn relation to fertilizers/pesticides used against coffee leaf rust, the use of oxicloruro and organic products is in line with ,140, finThe coffee production process in the localities of El Pajarito, Llano Coyul, Ocotal, Guadalupe, and Buenavista is similar to that reported by , in relaThe expectations and current situation expressed by indigenous coffee producers from El Pajarito, Llano Coyul, Ocotal, Guadalupe, and Buenavista are in line with those expressed by indigenous coffee producers from Guerrero, Mexico, in the sense of effective actions against coffee pests and diseases, due to the presence of coffee leaf rust and coffee berry borers. There are differences in the actions to be implemented; while the results of this study show the action of monitoring, their counterparts in Guerrero, Mexico, focused on knowledge and technology management networks, in addition to greenhouses .The positive statistical correlations of the socio-productive context, specifically of age, production level, and additional crops, with actions to be implemented align with the results  in Chiapper se, an accompaniment in the development of the coffee plant. The implementation of soil analysis through sensors and computers is in line with the proposal developed by  is requ


In “Racial Bias Beliefs Related to COVID-19 Among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: Findings From the COVID-19 Effects on the Mental and Physical Health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Survey Study (COMPASS)” :e38443), two errors were noted.In the originally published article, author Linda G Park was inadvertently left out of the authorship, and the order of authors was listed as follows:Van Ta Park, Janice Y Tsoh, Marcelle Dougan, Bora Nam, Marian Tzuang, Quyen N Vuong, Joon Bang, Oanh L Meyer.In the corrected article, author Linda G Park is listed as the sixth author, and the order of authors has been updated as follows:Van Ta Park, Janice Y Tsoh, Marcelle Dougan, Bora Nam, Marian Tzuang, Linda G Park, Quyen N Vuong, Joon Bang, Oanh L Meyer.In the originally published article, the phone number of the Corresponding Author was incorrect. The phone number has been corrected to:1 415 514 3318The correction will appear in the online version of the paper on the JMIR Publications website on October 31, 2022, together with the publication of this correction notice. Because this was made after submission to PubMed, PubMed Central, and other full-text repositories, the corrected article has also been resubmitted to those repositories.


In “Effect of Door-to-Door Screening and Awareness Generation Activities in the Catchment Areas of Vision Centers on Service Use: Protocol for a Randomized Experimental Study” :e31951) one error was noted.The following text was originally published in the Acknowledgments section of the paper. This text has now been moved instead to the Authors’ Contributions section:The Operational Research Capacity Building Group consists of the following authors, who contributed equally to the paper: Gudlavalleti VS Murthy, Rajan Shukla, Samiksha Singh, Shailaja Tetali, Suresh K Rathi, Hemant Mahajan, Melissa G Lewis, Hira Pant, Tripura Batchu, Anirudh G Gaurang, Suzanne Gilbert, Ken Bassett, Priya A Reddy, Parami Dhakhwa, Ram P Kandel, Kuldeep Singh, and Prasanna Sharma.Accordingly, the affiliation for the group author Operational Research Capacity Building Group has been changed from:See Acknowledgmentsto:See Authors’ ContributionsThe corrections will appear in the online version of the paper on the JMIR Publications website on January 18, 2022, with the publication of this correction notice. Because this was made after submission to PubMed, PubMed Central, and other full-text repositories, the corrected article has also been resubmitted to those repositories.


The Authors wish to make the following corrections to their article .Affiliations 2 and 3 have been corrected to:2School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, 4006, Australia3Epigenetics and Diseases Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD, 4006, AustraliaJason S. Lee wishes to add another affiliation:7School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaThe Publisher omitted the following joint authorship statement:‡The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the last two authors should be regarded as Joint Last AuthorsThe published article has been updated to reflect these corrections.


Background: Global mobility is increasingly associated with the emergence of “unusual” infectious agents. At the beginning of 2019, a putative outbreak of Impetigo contagiosa occurred in a kindergarten in Regensburg, Germany, that was mainly attended by children with a migrant background. After thorough examination, the outbreak was classified as infection with Trichophyton (T.) violaceum.Methods: Based on case investigations, infection control measures, disinfection, and cleaning were implemented. Microscopy of native specimens, fungal cultures, and polymerase chain reaction were used for diagnosis. Additionally, a systematic literature search in Medline, followed by a quantitative analysis of epidemiological data from Europe, were performed.Results: Between January and November 2019, 12 cases of tinea were diagnosed in 7 educators and 2 household members. Children were initially not affected. T. violaceum was only detected in 2 patients. No extensive screening measures were carried out after risk-benefit assessment. Studies on T. violaceum in Europe are heterogeneous, and the number of cases and the prevalence vary considerably. The pathogen is mainly found in children of African descent who clinically present with tinea capitis.Discussion: In the present case, the source of infection and the chain of transmission remained unclear. The pathogen could only be diagnosed in 2 cases. In Europe, the (re)emergence of pathogens such as T. violaceum is likely to be caused by increasing migration and travel. Pathogens should be identified for epidemiological reasons in all cases. In outbreaks, measures must be adapted to the dynamics of the individual outbreak after assessment of the risks, benefits, and proportionality. Trichophyton (T.) violaceum is a pathogen of the Trichophyton rubrum complex, which is rather rare in Europe, but currently endemic mainly in Africa and Asia. T. violaceum usually causes tinea capitis in children from endemic areas. T. violaceum spreads along the hair follicles within the hair shafts (endothrix infection) and may cause scaling plaques on the skin. These plaques are often associated with minimal inflammatory reactions but may be protracted and become chronic. Dermatophytes grow slowly at temperatures under 30°C and do not result in systemic fungal infection , , , , , , , , , , , , . B. BT. vioT. capitis , , , , , , , , , , , . HoweverT. violaceum from Europe report a different prevalence of T. violaceum, depending on the assessed population or the number of samples examined. Most studies were conducted in southern or southeastern European countries. A higher prevalence of T. violaceum is seen in people of African descent , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , a, aT. vioT. violaceum in Europe are heterogeneous, scarce and limited by selection bias.Global mobility is associated with the (re)occurrence of “unusual” infectious agents. PCR diagnostics will increasingly become relevant for mycotic diseases in the near future. In case of dermatophytic outbreaks, extensive screening and treatment of asymptomatic carriers must be considered after risk-benefit assessment, depending on the dynamics of the individual outbreak. Data on the epidemiology of The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.No funding was received. We thank Professor Pietro Nenoff for conducting the specific PCR diagnostics and Monika Schöll for the linguistic revision of the manuscript.


Rhacocarpus purpurascens (Brid.) Paris, Sphagnum sp. and Thuidium delicatulum (Hedw.) Schimp.) from Ecuador. Significant differences were found for the three species in the concentrations of Al, Mn, Fe and Zn between urban and control areas, pointing to the Central zone as the main source of contamination with the highest concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn and Zn, related to vehicular traffic. Lead did not differ between zones for Rhacocarpus purpurascens and Sphagnum sp.; however, Thuidium delicatulum accumulated different concentrations between urban areas and the control areas. The three species of mosses provided valuable information on the contamination of Al, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn in the urban area of the city of Loja, and therefore can be used in future air quality monitoring programs over time in tropical cities.Air pollution is one of the main global environmental problems, where bryophytes, due to their high capacity to retain metals and other pollutants, have been widely used in active air quality monitoring studies in temperate and tropical zones. Thus, in this study, we analyzed for the first time the concentrations of eight metals  in three species of transplanted mosses ( Anthropogenic activities such as industrial discharges, agricultural practices, combustion, vehicular traffic, and poor waste management are the main causes of environmental pollution in urban areas ,2, causiVehicular traffic is one of the most important sources of air pollution in urban areas  includinIn this context, one of the methods to assess air quality is biomonitoring based on the use of biological species to detect air pollutants, allowing the establishment of an environmental quality control program, including air . BiomoniCeratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid. [Haplocladium microphyllum (Hedw.) Broth. [Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp. [Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw. [Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. [Scleropodium purum (Hedw.) Limpr. [Sphagnum denticulatum Brid. [Sphagnum girgensohnii Russow. [Thuidium delicatulum (Hedw.) Schimp. [Thuidium tamariscellum  Bosch and Sande Lac. [Bryophytes take up essential elements directly from the air and have stronger adsorption capacities for metals ,19,20; t.) Brid. , Haplocl) Broth. , Hylocom Schimp. ,26, Hypnme Hedw. ,27, Pleu.) Mitt. , Sclerop) Limpr. , Sphagnuum Brid. , Sphagnu Russow. , Thuidiu Schimp. , and Thunde Lac.  have beende Lac. , the coande Lac. ,34. HoweRhacocarpus purpurascens, Sphagnum sp. and Thuidium delicatulum) due to the fact that urban areas of the city of Loja, Ecuador have high levels of air pollution  related to vehicular traffic [In Ecuador, only one active biomonitoring study has been conducted using mosses as indicators of air pollution in the city of Quito , where t traffic ,37. We hThe study was carried out in the city of Loja, located in the south of Ecuador at 2100 m a.s.l. For monitoring purposes, the city of Loja was divided into three zones , with three locations in the North and South zones and four locations in the Central zone . The des−1, 21.27 mg g−1, 53.49 mg g−1, 39.48 mg g−1, and 91.37 mg g−1, respectively. The Central zone (C) is characterized by a high level of air pollution with metals and a high degree of urbanization. In this area, levels of Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in the air reach values up to 34.66 mg g−1, 25.41 mg g−1, 20.03 mg g−1, 25.29 mg g−1, and 100.54 mg g−1, respectively. Finally, the North zone (N) is an urban area with high levels of metals, but the zone still has some recreational parks. In this area, levels of Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in the air reach values up to 27.99 mg g−1, 31.02 mg g−1, 56.81 mg g−1, 42.95 mg g−1, and 44.46 mg g−1, respectively [The South zone (S) is characterized by a greater concentration of metals in the air and by recent urban development. Here, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in the air reach values up to 30.83 mg gRhacocarpus purpurascens, Sphagnum sp. and Thuidium delicatulum. Samples were collected from an uncontaminated area in the buffer zone (Control zone: Ctr) of the Podocarpus National Park, which is located on the outskirts of the city . The moss vouchers were deposited in Herbario de la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (HUTPL).Transplants were carried out using terrestrial mosses of the species Rhacocarpus purpurascens  6 by CEM Corporation was used . The digp-value > 0.05) and the nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test for those that did not have a normal distribution . In addition, to identify significant differences in metal accumulation between zones, the Tukey HSD post hoc multiple comparison test was implemented as a parametric test, and Dunn’s non-parametric test with the Dunn test package was used [To evaluate the changes in the concentration of metals in each of the zones, parametric and nonparametric statistical tests were performed based on the Shapiro–Wilk normality test. Cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) showed values of zero for the control samples and the samples transplanted in the city; thus, these metals were not considered in the statistical analyses. For the three species, a one-way analysis of variance was performed (ANOVA) for metals that met normality assumptions  for Fe and Mn , manganese (Mn), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) between the urbanized areas and the control samples. Lead (Pb) concentrations did not show significant differences for the control samples for nificant . On the e and Mn .Sphagnum sp., the Tukey HSD test and the Dunn test showed significant differences between the accumulation of metals in the control samples and the urban zones  for Al, Fe, Mn and Zn , manganese (Mn), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) between the urban areas  and the control samples. Similar to our results, previous studies have shown that the highest concentrations of these elements were observed in areas characterized by the intense flow of public transportation ,31,47,55Rhacocarpus purpurascens and Sphagnum sp., due to the fact that industrial areas report higher Pb concentration levels than areas with high vehicular traffic [In addition, corroborating this pattern, passive monitoring studies using lichens and bromeliads in the city of Loja have identified urban areas with high levels of contaminants such as zinc and manganese ,37. All  traffic —as in ouRhacocarpus purpurascens, significant differences were shown between the accumulation of metals in the control samples and urban areas  only for two of the metals analyzed . This suggests that the species has a low capacity to retain certain metals; this may be due to the structure of the cell walls of the leaves, which are highly porous and thus water can easily penetrate the reticular layer, increasing the likelihood that certain metals are leached [Sphagnum sp., significant differences were found for Al, Fe, Mn and Zn between the control samples and the urban areas . Sphagnum sp. has a high capacity to retain metals related to vehicular traffic, as shown by previous studies that have observed positive results in terms of the accumulation of Al, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn in urban areas [For  leached ,63. In San areas ,61,64,65an areas ,67,68.Thuidium delicatulum Al, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn showed significant differences between control samples and the urban areas. These results are in agreement with Rodríguez-Quiel et al. [T. delicatulum and Pseudoscleropodium purumis is effective for determining the variation of Al, Fe, Pb and Zn as the main air pollutants. Likewise, our results show that of the three mosses used in the study, T. delicatulum showed significant differences for lead, which indicates that the physiology and morphology of mosses are involved in the process of bioconcentration and absorption of pollutants [On the other hand, for l et al.  and Castl et al. , who shollutants ,70.Rhacocarpus purpurascens, Sphagnum sp., and Thuidium delicatulum) related to vehicular traffic. Sphagnum sp. and T. delicatulum point to the Central zone as the main source of contamination, with the highest concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn and Zn. Thus, this study might serve as a reference for future investigations on the bioaccumulation of pollutants in Rhacocarpus purpurascens, Sphagnum sp., and Thuidium delicatulum in similar urban tropical areas.The three urban zones of the city of Loja showed higher concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn and Zn compared to the control samples for the three species of mosses (


Author Contributions Statement appears below.“Mohamad Nageeb Hassan” was not included as an author in the published article. The corrected “SSh and KM conceived and designed the study. SSh performed the experiments, data collection, data analysis and drafted the manuscript. CK, SM-A, MY, HD, DE, ST, and MH assisted with data collection, data analysis/interpretation and drafting the manuscript. AS, AB, SSu, and KM assisted with data analysis/interpretation and drafting the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.”The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.


Following the publication of the original article [1], it was brought to our attention that the first author is affiliated with the below two institutions:1. Department of Endocrinology, Genetics and Metabolism, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children’s Health, Beijing 100,045, China.2. Department of Endocrinology, Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen 518,038, China.This is shown in the "Author details" section of this Correction as well as the original article which has now been revised.


Currently, the knowledge of associations among newly recovered cases (NR), newly healed cases (NH), newly confirmed cases (NC), and newly dead cases (ND) can help to monitor, evaluate, predict, control, and curb the spreading of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to explore the panel associations of ND, NH, and NR with NC.Data from China Data Lab in Harvard Dataverse with China , the United States of America , and the World  had been analyzed. The main variables included in the present analysis were ND, NH, NR, and NC. Pooled regression, stacked within-transformed linear regression, quantile regression for panel data, random-effects negative binomial regression, and random-effects Poisson regression were conducted to reflect the associations of ND, NH, and NR with NC. Event study analyses were performed to explore how the key events influenced NC.Descriptive analyses showed that mean value of ND/NC ratio regarding China was more than those regarding the USA and the World. The results from tentative analysis reported the significant relationships among ND, NH, NR, and NC regarding China, the USA, and the World. Panel regressions confirmed associations of ND, NH, and NR with NC regarding China, the USA, and the World. Panel event study showed that key events influenced NC regarding USA and the World more greatly than that regarding China.The findings in this study confirmed the panel associations of ND, NH, and NR with NC in the three datasets. The efficiencies of various control strategies of COVID-19 pandemic across the globe were compared by the regression outcomes. Future direction of research work could explore the influencing mechanisms of the panel associations. Despite travel restrictions  and limiTill now, regarding the epidemic evolution of total COVID-19 infections, analytical methods of control efficiency of COVID-19 pandemic are limited and biased. Notably, trend forecast with publicly available micro epidemiological data has been particularly the mainstream in the field of COVID-19 control. For example, multiple studies forecast a trend of the COVID-19 spreading in China . MoreoveTo date, analytical tools in published studies were limited to reflect the associations of ND, NH, and NR with NC. For example, a substantial body of time series models and simulations employed not spatial and locational factors but temporal factors –26. SeveFurthermore, policy interventions were not considered in the current studies. From December 12, 2019 till now, a series of daily policies and regulations were released by the Chinese government, global organizations, and western countries and documented in China Data Lab . With puThe progress in COVID-19 crisis was formally characterized by ND, NH, NR, and NC. Thus, this study based on publicly available longitudinal datasets to explore panel associations of ND, NH, and NR with NC. According to the presumptions of the panel models, pooled regression, stacked within-transformed linear regression, quantile regression for panel data, random-effects negative binomial regression, and random-effects Poisson regression would be conducted to reflect the associations of interest regarding China, the USA, and the World. Subsequently, panel event study was performed to reflect the trends of NC. Consequently, the endemic control performance would be further analyzed, assessed, and compared on the basis of the empirical outcomes.Daily cases in China included the numbers of NH, NC, and ND at the province-level unit available from January 15, 2020 to January 14, 2021 . Daily cBefore designing statistical strategies, the relationships between NC and ND, between NH and NC, and between NH and ND regarding China, the relationship between ND and NC regarding USA, and the relationships between NC and ND, between NC and NR, and between ND and NR regarding the World were depicted by front-and-back plots in Figs. Tentative analysis on the relationships between ND, NH, NR, and NC was performed by a one-stop solution for robust inference with multiway clustering (Stata package vcemway) . In the The main associations of interest in this study were panel associations of ND and NH with NC regarding China, panel associations between ND and NC regarding the USA, and panel associations of ND and NR with NC regarding the World. In the pooled regression analysis, the regions of China , the USA , and the World  were also considered as covariates.The count data of ND, NH, NR, and NC tended to follow the Poisson or negative binomial distributions. In this large sample, the distributions approached to normal distributions approximately. Regarding the associations, the feasible panel models could be linear and nonlinear models. When NR, NH, NC, and ND were considered as count data, random-effects negative binomial regression and random-effects Poisson regression could be employed to reflect the associations of interest in nonlinear models. When ND, NH, NR, and NC were considered as continuous variables, pooled regression, stacked within-transformed linear regression, and quantile regression for panel data could be employed to explore the associations of interest in linear models.Regarding China, the panel associations of ND and NH with NC could be found by using the regression model :1\documeRegarding the USA, the panel associations between ND and NC could be found by using the regression model :2\documeRegarding the World, the panel associations of ND and NR with NC could be found by using the regression model :3\documeβ0 was constant. β1 and β2 were coefficients. μ1, μ2, and μ3 were random errors. If optimized iterations were not concave, the possible calculations of chosen methods were deleted.Here, Regarding cubic or quadratic equations, this study aimed to explore the associations of interest rather than dynamic system analysis. Thus, it was unnecessary to conduct regressions with squared terms or interactions.Pooled regressions are usually carried out to analyze available time series of cross-sections. The main advantage of pooled regression is the ability to measure different factors at the region level and aggregate results at the national level. The main disadvantages of pooled regression are overestimating and underestimating the impact in the regions.Stacked within-transformed linear regression analysis was performed by Stata program xtstackreg . RegardiT [Quantile regression for panel data was performed by Stata program qregpd with Nelder–Mead optimization . LikewisT . Simultahttp://en.nhc.gov.cn/2020-02/06/c_76511.htm). Coronavirus Guidelines for America was issued on March 16, 2020 in the USA (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/coronavirus-guidelines-america/). On March 11, 2020, WHO characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic (https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen).This study included panel models for the associations of interest and prediction models for the effects of key events. A panel event study implemented by the program “eventdd” in Stata  was emplAll analyses were performed with Stata .Table In Table p < 0.001), ND , Central China , East China , Northeast China , and Western China  had significantly positive associations with NC.In Table p < 0.001) and the West Region  had significantly positive associations with NC, while Mid-Atlantic Region  had significantly negative association with NC.In the USA, ND , ND , Africa , and Europe  had significantly positive associations with NC.Regarding the World, NR  were treated as missing values. The results from the estimation presented in Table The results from the estimation presented in Table The results from the estimation presented in Table Figure R squares regarding China Total, Central China, East China, Northeast China, and Western China were 0.9841, 0.9864, 0.9933, 0.9917, and 0.9895, respectively. R squares regarding the USA Total, Mid-West Region, Mid-Atlantic Region, New England, the South Region, the Southwest Region, and the West Region were 0.8056, 0.9259, 0.8886, 0.9131, 0.9654, 0.9899, and 0.9739, respectively. R squares regarding the World Total, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America were 0.9488, 0.9984, 0.9934, 0.8921, 0.9958, 0.9861, and 0.9992, respectively.Exponential rise of NC was plotted in the Figs. This study employed publicly available daily datasets including the samples of China, the USA, and the World  and obtained the associations of ND, NR, and NH with NC regarding China, the USA, and the World, respectively. In panel event study, curve lines showed key events influenced NC regarding the USA and the World significantly, while straight line showed key events nearly had no significant influence on NC regarding China.Congruent with a prior study , this stWith regard to methodologies, the findings in panel event study were in line with prior studies. For example, an exploratory data analysis with visualizations had been made to understand the number of NR, NC, and ND in China . An 82-dChanges of COVID-19 ND, NH, NR, and NC in various regions could be influenced by life style, environmental factors, regulations, and progressing stages. Regarding life style, change in social distancing , increasThere were small curves in the point estimation regarding China and wide range of trajectories regarding the USA. This could be partially explained by several studies. For example, a study showed rapid nucleation and diffusion in January 2020 followed by rapid NC decrease in February in China, while the USA showed a wide range of trajectories, with an abrupt transition from slow NC increase in January and February, to rapid geographic dispersion shortly before mobility reductions occurred in March . RegardiRegarding data sources, this study employed three datasets. The current study had a large sample size which increased the precision of the study. Additionally, more than 1-year period could provide reliable results regarding epidemic control and daily changes in the prevalence of COVID-19 conditions. Regarding statistical methods, this study adopted several advanced panel regression methods. Especially, the event study with difference in difference was used to analyze the role of key events. Compared with the other studies –69, the There were several limitations. First, several variables including demographics, financial support, and international aids were not taken into account. Statistically, a study in South Korea found that sex, region, and infection reasons affected on both NR and ND . Second,Using panel analysis and data collected in China province-level units, the USA state-level units, and the World country-level units , regressions confirmed the positive panel associations between NH, ND, and NC regarding China, between ND and NC regarding the USA, between NR, ND, and NC regarding the World. Panel event study showed key events influenced NC regarding the World and the USA more forceful and unsteady as compared to that regarding China. Future work on the basis of the current study should be performed on the influencing mechanism of the panel associations.


Hedychium gardnerianum Sheph. ex Ker Gawl. is one of the 100 world's worst invasive alien species and the research target in areas as diverse as biological control, natural fibres uses, taxonomy or the biological activity of its compounds. This review aimed to clarify the taxonomic status and the native range of H. gardnerianum and bring accuracy to the history of its introduction and escape from cultivation through the analysis of the increasing number of accessible digitalized dry specimens and grey literature. The analysis of the available information allowed to conclude that: (a) Hedychium gardnerianum is a validly published name, the authority of the name is Sheph. ex Ker Gawl., the species holotype is the illustration published along with the species name, and the Natural History Museum BM000574691 specimen collected in 1815 is the first dried specimen of H. gardnerianum; (b) This species is native to the Central and Eastern Nepal, Bhutan, Northeast India and North Myanmar; (c) The species was cultivated at Cambridge Botanical Garden since 1818 and the first known herbarium specimen collected in Europe dates back to 1821; (d) Kathmandu  and Khasi Hills (India) specimens are considered two varieties of the same species and the BM000574691 specimen is the lectotype of H. gardnerianum var. speciosum; (e) Specimens, references, and/or pictures support that H. gardnerianum escaped from cultivation at Galicia (Spain), Azores archipelago, Madeira, Tenerife, Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, Ascension, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Réunion, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, and Vietnam; and (f) H. gardnerianum is a serious pest in Azores, Madeira, Jamaica, Réunion, New Zealand and Hawaii and continues to expand its distribution area in South and Central America, Australia and Southern Africa. This review presents linear raw information compiled with precision, allowing the world databases updating their data but also gives the most detailed information possible to each country/region identifying new regions of concern and updating the invasiveness status in each region. Hedychium gardnerianum Sheph. ex Ker Gawl. Hedychiumwl. IPNI  with higH. gardnerianum control actions  with the specimen collected by Matthew Robert Smith and referred by Wallich in 1820  and his team, will have collected an 0 Roscoe . The pro0 Roscoe . In 1824H. speciosum was not validly published in 1820 since no illustration or dried specimen  is clearly identified: 'My examination of this stately plant has hitherto been confined to a well-preserved spike and a few leaves only, which however point it out as the largest of the genus’  and H. gardnerianum var. speciosum  Horan. from the Khasi Hills (India)  Fig. . At the H. gardnerianum is native to the Central and Eastern Nepal  and the Khasia Hills (India)  allowed to update the world distribution and status of um Table .Table 5HH. gardnerianum is only considered invasive at Réunion (Soubeyran H. gardnerianum is mentioned as cultivated at Saint-Claude in 1897 (the Atlantic Guadeloupe Island) , the species is not mentioned in the book ‘Garden Plants of Japan’  (CABI um) CABI  Table 5um) CABI k, Dominium) CABI , Guadeloum) CABI , Kenya (um) CABI , Tasmanium) CABI , New Calum) CABI , Cook Isum) CABI , French um) CABI , Federatum) CABI , and Chium CABI kH. gardnerianum had or is escaped from cultivation at Galicia (Spain), Azores archipelago, Madeira Island, Tenerife Island, Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, Ascension, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Réunion, Mauritius, Australia  New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, and Vietnam . Although no recent botanic studies were made to prove the spreading of this species, the species is mentioned in 3 environmental impact assessments at Mapastepec (Chiapas) and the nearby states of Oaxaca and Campeche  a 2006 Master thesis  with no reference of the putative source of this escape , found at Ponta Delgada Public Library and Regional Archive. Other nineteenth century documents available online allowed to verify the presence of this species as an ornamental plant at Canaries (1893), Martinique (1882), Brazil (1871), Australia (1875/83) and New Zealand (1865) , it is possible that slaves and marooned slaves had their role in this species propagation at Réunion; in fact, Hedychium spp. are identified among the food plants of marooned slaves from East Africa, Madagascar, and the Mascarene Islands  Table . Concern5) Table . The ana5) Table  and Grub5) Table , did not5) Table . FinallyRegarding the severity of these escapes Table  to MauriThis research was only possible due to the valuable resources already available online, namely, the Herbaria digitalized specimens or the digitalized historical documents at Biodiversity Heritage Library and Internet Archive. However, although the word search tool is extremely useful to accelerate the research inside documents, in some situations the names are not detected, e.g. a lack of a letter due to digitalization quality, letters not perfectly printed or misspelt words  or about the species distribution  or even about the name authority. Moreover lacks of information were identified as the years of introduction of the species , or about the severity of its escapes in certain regions. Although Hedychium spp. are cultivated worldwide, there is a substantial paucity of studies about the presence and spreading of this species in Central and South America, Africa and several oceanic islands. Finally, H. gardnerianum is a serious pest in Azores, Madeira, Jamaica, Réunion, New Zealand and Hawaii and continues to expand its distribution area in South and Central America, Australia and Southern Africa. The species continues to escape from cultivation as the recents escapes in Tenerife and Viti Levu islands and Galicia.In synthesis, this study updated the information about Hedychium spp. too. The same for several specially frequent trouble associations as H. gardnerianum plus Pittosporum undulatum .While in some regions two or three species of the genus are considered invasive (e.g. Brazil) in others although two species are considered escaped from cultivation one wined the invasive status above the other (e.g. Azores); a future analysis of expansion risk of this species should consider all the Hedychium gardnerianum is a validly published name, the authority of the name is Sheph. ex Ker Gawl., the species holotype is the illustration published along with the species name, and the Natural History Museum BM000574691 specimen collected in 1815 is the first dried specimen of H. gardnerianum; (b) This species is native to the Central and Eastern Nepal, Bhutan, Northeast India and North Myanmar; (c) The species was cultivated at Cambridge Botanical Garden since 1818 and the first known herbarium specimen collected in Europe dates back to 1821; (d) Kathmandu  and Khasi Hills (India) specimens are considered two varieties of the same species and the BM000574691 specimen is the lectotype of H. gardnerianum var. speciosum; (e) Specimens, references, and/or pictures support that H. gardnerianum escaped from cultivation at Galicia (Spain), Azores archipelago, Madeira, Tenerife, Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, Ascension, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Réunion, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, and Vietnam; and (f) H. gardnerianum is a serious pest in Azores, Madeira, Jamaica, Réunion, New Zealand and Hawaii and continues to expand its distribution area in South and Central America, Australia and Southern Africa.In summary, the analysis of the available information allowed to conclude that: (a)


The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the progress in the manufacturing, characterization, and applications of environmentally friendly polymeric blends from renewable resources.Materials from renewable resources have attracted increasing attention in past decades as a result of environmental concerns and due to the depletion of petroleum resources. Polymeric materials from renewable sources have a long history. They were already used in ancient times and later accompanied man along with the development of civilization. Currently, they are widespread in many areas of life and used, for example, in packaging, and in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries.Polymers from renewable resources are generally classified into three groups: (i) natural polymers, such as cellulose, starch and proteins; (ii) synthetic polymers from natural monomers, such as poly(lactic acid), and (iii) polymers from microbial processes, such as poly(hydroxybutyrate). The emergence of new methods and analytical tools provides a new level of understanding of the structure–property relationship of natural polymers and allows the development of materials for new applications.One of the attractive properties of the natural polymers and synthetic polymers produced from natural monomers is their inherited biodegradability. On the other hand, this is related to their moisture sensitivity, which limits their application. Other important limitations of most polymers from renewable resources are their lower softening temperature and mechanical strength. These and many other properties of polymers can be modified and improved through the blending of two or more compounds, for example two or more polymers, polymers and fibers, polymers and nanoparticles etc.A blending approach, which may result in both polymer blends or composites, is an effective way to achieve a desirable combination of properties that are often absent in the individual components. Polymer blends and composites are useful as they can be produced from low-cost raw materials, including industrial waste products, without sacrificing their desired properties; they can also be used to prepare high-performance compounds for broader applications due to biodegradability and reusability of the end products.The final properties can be modified by changing the relative concentration and kind of monomeric units used in the synthesis or by varying the proportion of homopolymers and various additives in a blend composition. Development of effective methods of manufacturing products from blends of renewable polymers and environmental friendly synthetic polymers in a controlled way is the challenge of our time.synthesis of composites based on natural fillers;chemical modification of polymers or fillers in order to improve interfacial interactions;potential applications of the biobased materials.Accordingly, in this Special Issue of Materials, which is aimed at recognizing the current state of knowledge and development in the use of environmentally friendly polymeric blends from renewable sources, the following aspects were investigated:In this Special Issue, 13 original articles have been published on various topics, including the preparation, characterization, and some examples of uses of polymeric materials from renewable resources. This issue includes five articles on polyurethanes blended with various types of additives ,3,4,5, oMost of above papers pay particular attention to the role of eco-friendly fillers, i.e., microcrystalline cellulose, wood flower, lignin, rice straw nanofibers, lavender residues, sugar beet pulp, barley fibers, hemp shives, walnut shells, and curauá fibers in the improvement of various properties in the final materials.In the papers of Członka, Strąkowska et al., problems of polyurethane composites with different biofillers were discussed.In the paper “Polyurethane Hybrid Composites Reinforced with Lavender Residue Functionalized with Kaolinite and Hydroxyapatite” , blends In the paper “Rigid Polyurethane Foams Reinforced with POSS-Impregnated Sugar Beet Pulp Filler” , blends In the paper “Impact of Hemp Shives Impregnated with Selected Plant Oils on Mechanical, Thermal, and Insulating Properties of Polyurethane Composite Foams” , materiaIn the paper “Rigid Polyurethane Foams Based on Bio-Polyol and Additionally Reinforced with Silanized and Acetylated Walnut Shells for the Synthesis of Environmentally Friendly Insulating” , composi® Kraft Lignin for Liquid Sensing Applications” [In the paper of Gonçalves, Rudnitskaya, Sales, Costa, Evtuguin  polyureThe papers of Delgado-Aguilar et al. concerned eco-friendly blends derived from polyolefines.The paper of Delgado-Aguilar, Tarrés, Marques, Espinach, Julián, Mutjé, and Vilaseca (“Explorative Study on the Use of Curauá Reinforced Polypropylene Composites for the Automotive Industry” ) studiedIn the paper of Serra-Parareda, Tarrés, Delgado-Aguilar, Espinach, Mutjé, and Vilaseca , barleyAnother two papers were devoted to synthetic resin reinforced with various bio-based fillers.In the paper of Chabros, Gawdzik, Podkościelna, Goliszek, and Pączkowski , modifiIn the paper of Pączkowski, Puszka, Miazga-Karska, Ginalska, and Gawdzik  the proIn the paper of Alcántara, González, Pareta, and Vilaseca , cellulIn the paper of Wang, Liu, Duan, Xu, Zhang, She, and Zheng  biocharThe papers of Du at al. and Goliszek at al. concern synthesis of sorbents based on natural components.In the paper of Du, Dong, Lin, Yang, and Zhao , quaterThe paper of Goliszek, Podkościelna, Sevastyanova, Gawdzik, and Chabros  investiThe usage of polymer blends and composites, both prepared by blending, are two strategies used in the “green” requirements of many industries. Green chemistry strategies are mainly accomplished by reducing waste production, reducing raw material usage, reducing nonrenewable energy sources and overall energy demand, reducing risks, hazards, and costs. In this Special Issue, the great potential of agricultural and wood residuals, as they are or chemically modified, for the improvement of broad range of polymeric materials is clearly demonstrated. Cheap and abundant resources such as wood, rice straw, hemp, walnut shells, and other types of biomass and their constituents can improve the strength, thermal and some specific properties of final polymeric materials that have a great potential to be used in automotive, construction, and pharmaceutical and environmental protection industries.