AbstractNitzschia with 40 taxa is far the most important genus followed by Navicula s.l. and Pinnularia and with 15 and 13 taxa respectively. Particular attention was paid to the local research of students found in unpublished theses at bachelor, licentiate, master and PhD level. Diatom records in these works are almost all restricted to genus level, although in the last decade an attempt to delimit species can be observed. This accompanies the renewed taxonomic interest in the Congo basin during the last decade. Renewed taxonomic interest can also be seen in the genera: the first period being situated during the lumping period, while more recent works follow the current taxonomic classification, for example Navicula s.l. versus Navicula, Cavinula, Craticula, Diadesmis, Geissleria, Humidophila, Luticola, etc.An overview of the diatom research in the DR Congo is given based on literature data starting in 1938 with the work of Zanon and excluding the East African Lakes as these were already discussed in previous papers. For each literature record the diatom genera mentioned are presented as well as all diatom taxa described from the Congo as new. In total, 106 new taxa were documented, of which  In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), research in the field of plant biology mostly concerned the study of terrestrial forest ecosystems , while tEarly publications on freshwater algae in tropical Africa focused on the great lakes of the Albertine rift: Malawi (Nyassa/Nyasa), Tanganyika (Tanganika) and Victoria (Victoria Nyanzae) e.g. . A revieThe present paper aims to give an overview of the research that has been conducted in the DR Congo or that has investigated Congolese material, not only found in international publications, but also by means of local publications as well as unpublished theses at different levels .Initially international publications on algae, and more specifically on the diatoms, of DR Congo  were searched for on the Web of Science and in the available international literature. Subsequently, inquiries were made regarding papers that were published locally in journals of the different universities in DR Congo and in final reports of national and international projects. The last step was to retrieve all theses, PhD level and other dissertations  from universities and scientific institutions in DR Congo. Licentiate is an academic degree below that of a PhD, used in Belgium (and the DR Congo), and obtained after a university study of 4 to 5 years. In the Bachelor-Master structure, it is the degree that corresponds to  a Master.A brief overview follows on the diatom research conducted on materials collected in DR Congo, including the former Congo and the Republic of Zaire, as found in mainstream literature, thus taking into consideration only published work accessible to the international scientific community.Pinnularia Ehrenberg, the others belonging to the genera Cocconeis Ehrenberg, Cymbella C. Agardh, Eunotia Ehrenberg, Neidium Pfitzer and Synedra Ehrenberg  with a drawing (fig. 27) from a puddle on the Karisimbi volcano in the region Lake Kivu and mentioned this taxon name also (on page 545) in his species list of the diatoms from the region of Lake Kivu. However, in the same publication Pinnulariaborealisvar.africana v. n. (on page 556) and Pinnulariacongolensis n. sp. (on page 571) and in the species list he mentioned sample nr 5 from a puddle on the Karisimbi volcano and sample nr 21 from a puddle from Nanindhja respectively. However, no description is given for these two taxa, consequently both names have to be considered nomina nuda and therefore invalidly published. Two decades later Pinnulariaborealisvar.congolensis to species level: Pinnulariacongolensis (Zanon) Cholnoky.th century by that of Nitzschia Hassall, 11 to Navicula Bory and 6 to Eunotia. The other taxa are from more than 10 other genera including Achnanthes Bory, Amphora Ehrenberg, Caloneis Cleve, Cymbella, Fragilaria Lyngbye, Gomphonema Ehrenberg, Pinnularia, Stauroneis Ehrenberg, Stephanodiscus Ehrenberg and Surirella Turpin  W. Smith, Rhopalodia O. Müller, Rhoicosphenia Grunow and Synedra.Further studies which included diatoms, were carried out in the Kivu region in the 1950’s by st century research on algae of Lake Kivu continued with the work of At the beginning of the 21We have not included the research conducted on diatoms of Lake Tanganyika because this ancient lake, located on the territory of four African countries , does not fall within the scope of this paper. Moreover, there are a number of reports regarding this lake which have been produced in the last decades e.g. , 2006.Coscinodiscus Ehrenberg, one Craspedodiscus Ehrenberg, one Melosira C. Agardh, nine Nitzschia and one Synedra. It should be noted that some marine species are included in the results of these surveys, which is not surprising as the two localities are close to the mouth of the Congo River into the Atlantic Ocean. In 1948, Kufferath reported on the plankton of the Congo River near Makanza, formerly called New Antwerp, halfway between Kisangani and Kinshasa in the Equateur province. Among the 25 taxa Nitzschia species  in the vicinity of Yangambi. The dominant genera were Eunotia, Cocconeis and Achnanthes; the other genera mentioned are: Bacillaria Ehrenberg, Caloneis, Coscinodiscus Ehrenberg, Cyclotella Kützing ex Brébisson, Diatoma Bory, Diploneis (Ehrenberg) Cleve, Epithemia Kützing, Frustulia Rabenhorst, Gomphonema, Gyrosigma Hassall, Cymbella, Navicula, Nitzschia, Pleurostaurum (Rabenhorst) C. Janisch, Pinnularia, Stauroneis, Surirella, Synedra and some other centric diatoms. Diatom research in the Tshopo province was started again at the end of the 20th century, as is shown in the publication record. The Congo River as well as localities downstream the Lindi River, a major tributary of the Congo river, the Tshopo River and several small rivers and ponds in Kisangani were studied by Gomphonema species, G.zairense Compère, was described from the Tshopo River (Compère 1995)   J.C. Taylor and Cocquyt, E.leonardii J.C. Taylor & Cocquyt, E.rudis Cocquyt & M. de Haan and Geisslerialubiluensis Cocquyt & Lokele , Cylindrotheca Rabenhorst, Cymbella, Diatoma, Epithemia, Eunotia, Fragilaria, Frustulia, Gomphonema, Gyrosigma, Navicula, Nitzschia, Pinnularia, Rhopalodia, Surirella, Synedra, Tabellaria Ehrenberg ex Kützing , was also investigated. It is located 4.5 km from the old road to Buta in the north of the city. Mbuyu  and only four were found in the benthos .A pond (étang du Grand-séminaire) in Kisangani, dominated by yu Table  reportedka Table  studied re Table  reportedya Table  studied Melosira was found to be dominant in the stomach contents of Citharinus sp., a tropical African lutefish, and Labeo sp., a genus of carp, while Cymbella and Navicula were found in Distichodus sp., an African ray-finned fish. In addition to diatoms belonging to these three genera, 15 other genera were reported: Amphora, Amphipleura, Arcella Ehrenberg, Cocconeis, Caloneis, Cymatopleura, Cylindrotheca, Diatoma, Fragilaria, Gomphonema, Gyrosigma, Nitzschia, Pinnularia, Surirella and Synedra.Asterionella, Aulacoseira Thwaites, Cyclotella, Cymbella, Encyonema Kützing, Eunotia, Fragilariforma D.M. Williams & Round, Frustulia, Gomphonema, Navicula, Nitzschia, Pinnularia, Sellaphora Mereschkowsky, Stenopterobia (Brébisson) Van Heurck and Surirella. For the benthos and epiphyton a total of 13 taxa were reported . Most were the same genera as reported in the plankton, however Asterionella and Cymbella were not present in the periphytic samples while Cymatopleura was present but not in the plankton.The Boyekoli Ebale Congo 2010 expedition, together with initiatives taken by the VLIR–UOS at the University of Kisangani and the FORETS project at Yangambi, encouraged a number of students to choose diatom related subjects for their theses. In 2013, two students investigated the diatoms of some fish ponds at NgeneNgene, about 20 km from the city center of Kisangani. One thesis concentrated on the diatoms in the phytoplankton (Mosunga), the other on the benthos and the epiphyton (Mukinzi)  according to the classification of Robyns  Krammer, Diploneis, Encyonema, Encyonopsis Krammer, Fragilaria, Fragilariforma, Frustulia, Gomphonema, Luticola D.G. Mann, Neidium, Nitzschia, Orthoseira Thwaites, Placoneis Mereschkowsky, Planothidium Round & Bukhtiyarova, Pinnularia, Sellaphora, Stauroneis, Stenopterobia, Surirella and Ulnaria (Kützing) Compère. A professional bachelor thesis at the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Geel, Belgium, was written by Madden on epiphytic diatoms growing on a restricted number of Nymphaealotus herbarium specimens from the same phytogeographic region (VI)  Levkov, Humidophila  Lowe, Kociolek, Johansen, Van de Vijver, Lange-Bertalot & Kopalová, Iconella, Mayamaea Lange-Bertalot, Navicula, Nupela Vyverman & Compère, Staurosira Ehrenberg, Staurosirella D.M. Williams & Round.Okito studied diatoms present on herbarium material of aquatic plants collected during the 20f Robyns  and keptDuring the academic year 2017–2018 several other students started studying diatoms in rivers in the Tshopo province. Although most are not finished at the time of publication of the present paper, the preliminary titles of these theses  are included in Table Achnanthes, Actinella, Aulacoseira, Bacillaria, Cocconeis, Cyclotella, Diadesmis, Diatoma, Encyonopsis, Fragilaria, Fragilariforma, Melosira, Navicula, Nitzschia, Stephanodiscus, Synedra, Tabellaria and Thalassiosira Cleve) we can conclude that more recent literature , followed by Pinnularia (12) . Of interest are the similarities and differences with the neo-tropical (South America) diatom flora as evidenced by the presence of Eunotiaenigmatica L.F. Costa & C.E. Wetzel and Encyonopsisfrequentis Krammer  have been described from DR Congo, with a peak (51 taxa) at the end of the 1940’s  Krammer  in DR Cost century (Eunotiapseudoflexuosa Hustedt, Nitzschiaelliptica Hustedt and Pinnulariatropica Hustedt. All three aforementioned species were described in a publication in which Hustedt described a total of 50 new taxa from the “Parc national Albert” (Nitzschiaepiphyticoides Hustedt was thoroughly studied (It is worth noting that almost all of the new diatoms (see Table  century  as well  Albert” . Althoug studied  it still studied .


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Viola betonicifolia (Violaceae) is commonly recognized as “Banafsha” and widely distributed throughout the globe. This plant is of great interest because of its traditional, pharmacological uses. This review mainly emphases on morphology, nutritional composition, and several therapeutic uses, along with pharmacological properties of different parts of this multipurpose plant. Different vegetative parts of this plant  contained a good profile of essential micro- and macronutrients and are rich source of fat, protein, carbohydrates, and vitamin C. The plant is well known for its pharmacological properties, e.g., antioxidant, antihelminthic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and has been reported in the treatment of various neurological diseases. This plant is of high economic value. The plant has potential role in cosmetic industry. This review suggests that V. betonicifolia is a promising source of pharmaceutical agents. This plant is also of significance as ornamental plant, however further studies needed to explore its phytoconstituents and their pharmacological potential. Furthermore, clinical studies are needed to use this plant for benefits of human beings. Demand of medicinal plants is increasing day by day around the globe for improved quality of life ,2. In reThe family Violaceae is also known by different names such as Retrosepalaceae, Leoniaceae, and Alsodeiaceae. This family includes ~20 genera as well as 800 species . Viola iSome of the species of this genus are used to treat appendicitis, acute nephritis, hepatitis, snake bites, and bronchitis. Many species of this genus are exploited as traditional remedies in Russia, Korea, Romania, and Iran for the treatment of trophic ulcers, shingles, and diuretics and, while as anti-inflammatory agents for skin eruptions, rheumatism, bronchitis, and dermatitis in traditional medicines. The plants of this genus are used in landscape beautification because of splendid colors of flowers . This geV. betonicifolia comprehensively. It is a nutritive plant, and due to widely exploitation in folk medicine, enthused us to write review on this medicinal plant. We have comprehensively described its distribution, nutritional, and medicinal properties, together with its phytochemicals.As part of our studies of documenting the indigenous flora of Pakistan ,19,20,21Viola betonicifolia, nutrients, viola, antioxidant, antimicrobial, volatile, etc., to search electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, Scifinder, Google, and Google Scholar for information. Different relevant abstracts and all full text articles and books were consulted.Extensive literature survey was carried out with different keyword as Viola betonicifolia  is recognized as Banafsha or Banfosha in Pakistan. It may be found in different habitats, including woodland, forest, shrubland, and herb fields -oct-3-ene (10%) [Chemical composition of different subfractions of the ne (10%) .V. betonicifolia could be investigated as a potential source of higher added value compounds for the nutraceutical industry as well as the food industry. However, further studies needed to explore the chemical constituents and their pharmaceutical potential. Further experimentation required to explore uses of this multipurpose plant in cosmetic industry as well.Medicinal treatments through the exploitation of plant-based natural compounds are widely investigated and numerous plants as well as herbs have been proclaimed already for their employments as analeptic. The higher nutritive value and functional characteristics, e.g., antioxidant, analgesic, antidepressant, antipyretic, anticonvulsant, and anti-inflammatory, linked to this plant recommend its exploitation in nutraceutics, medicines, and pharmaceutics. Henceforth, we corroborated that


Zingiber officinale Roscoe is commonly used in food and pharmaceutical products but can also be used in cosmetics and daily necessities. In recent years, many scholars have studied the chemical composition of Zingiber officinale Roscoe; therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively summarize the chemical composition of Zingiber officinale Roscoe in one article. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the chemical constituents of Zingiber officinale Roscoe. The results show that Zingiber officinale Roscoe contains 194 types of volatile oils, 85 types of gingerol, and 28 types of diarylheptanoid compounds, which can lay a foundation for further applications of Zingiber officinale Roscoe. Zingiber officinale Roscoe  is a perennial herb from the Zingiberaceae family, native to the Pacific Islands. It can be found in the Chinese provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Jiangsu. ZOR is the fresh root of ginger, which is not only an important condiment but also one of the most commonly used Chinese medicines in clinical practice. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that ZOR has effects of releasing exterior and dissipating cold, arresting vomiting, resolving phlegm, and relieving coughs and can be used to treat fish and crab poison, stomach colds and vomiting, and cold sputum cough [um cough . Modern um cough –5. Due tum cough , toothpaum cough , and heaum cough –10.All development and utilization of ZOR are based on its material composition. The chemical composition of ZOR is complex, includes more than 300 types of species, and can be broadly divided into three categories: volatile oils, gingerol, and diarylheptanoids –13. In tVolatile oils, also known as ginger essential oils, are generally composed of terpenoids . Ginger Gingerol is the spicy component of ZOR. It is a mixture of various substances, all of which contain the 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl functional group. Gingerols can be divided into gingerols, shogaols, paradols, zingerones, gingerdiones, and gingerdiols, according to the different fatty chains connected by this functional group , 29. TheDiarylheptanoid is a group of compounds with 1,7-disubstituted phenyl groups and heptane skeletons in its parent structure. Currently, it can be divided into linear diphenyl heptane and cyclic diphenyl heptane compounds with antioxidant activity . The strZOR contains a variety of amino acids, including glutamate, aspartic acid, serine, glycine, threonine, alanine, cystine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, histidine, arginine, proline , 60, andZOR also contains polysaccharides , celluloZOR contains oxalic acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, formic acid, and malonic acid .ZOR has been shown to contain more than 20 inorganic elements such as K, Mg, Ga, Mn, P, Al, Zn, Fe, and Ba .β-sesquiphellandrene (18.4%), which were quite different from those of ginger grown in other regions. Another study showed the volatile oil content of ginger grown in five different areas of China  was 0.13%, 0.23%, 0.30%, 0.14%, and 0.17% [β-citronellal, citral, geraniol, geranyl acetate, and zingiberene in mature ginger are lower than those in fresh ginger. The relative content of α-curcumene in mature ginger was higher than that in fresh ginger. In spicy gingerol compounds, the relative content of gingerol in mature ginger is higher than that in fresh ginger, which may be the result of further synthesis and accumulation of gingerol components in the process of continued growth of mature ginger in the second year [Various gingers have different regions and chemical compositions. Jolad  conductend 0.17% , respectnd 0.17% , 65. Thend 0.17% . Mature ond year . The varond year .Ginger, as a kind of food and medicine, has many functions, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, antiobesity, antidiabetic, antinausea, antiemetic, antiallergic, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, cardiovascular protective, and respiratory protective activities . CurrentZOR is a widely used drug and food in clinical and daily life and has been used in the prevention and treatment of the digestive, circulatory, respiratory, and central nervous system diseases and other diseases. In this paper, the chemical constituents found in ZOR in recent years are summarized, and the results show that more than 300 chemical constituents are identified from the extracts of ZOR, including 194 types of volatile oil, 85 types of gingerol, and 28 types of diarylheptanoids compounds. From this, it can be clearly observed that ZOR has a complex chemical composition. The interactions between the components provide the clinical effects; therefore, it is necessary to further study the chemical composition and pharmacological action of ginger, for further applications. Exploring the mechanism by which different components perform the same effects is a new way to develop drugs in the future; for example, 4-terpineol and beta-sitosterol can act on the two targets of the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 3A and the mu-type opioid receptor, respectively, and provide corresponding therapeutic effects on diarrhea and dysentery. This can provide ideas for the research and development of new drugs and lay a foundation for further applications of ZOR.


Opoku NO, Bakajika DK, Kanza EM, et al. Single dose moxidectin versus ivermectin for Onchocerca volvulus infection in Ghana, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a randomised, controlled, double-blind phase 3 trial. Lancet 392: 1207–16—2018; In this Article , the number of people who received ivermectin in 2014 should have been more than 110 million, and George Olipoh and Asare Sampson should have been included as authors rather than listed in the Acknowledgments section. These corrections have been made to the online version as of Oct 4, 2018. The printed Article is correct.


Each September, CDC, along with 3,000 global, national, regional, and local governments, as well as private and public health institutions, supports emergency preparedness efforts and encourages U.S. residents to take action before, during, and after an emergency. Every community in the United States needs to be ready to respond to an infectious disease outbreak, a chemical or radiologic release, or a natural disaster  personal preparedness, 2) pandemic planning, 3) policy and partnerships, and 4) public health response. Personal preparedness helps communities to be more resilient in the event of an emergency. Through pandemic planning, CDC works to protect the nation from seasonal and pandemic influenza, and through partnerships, CDC plays a pivotal role in state and local readiness. CDC’s Emergency Operations Center and the Division of State and Local Readiness bring together experts and state-of-the-art technology to detect and respond to public health emergencies, such as the recent Zika virus outbreak featured in this issue of


These topics have been prolific since 1990 and before. Polymer science was prolific before, but its publication share declined in the recent two decades. Brazil, China, India, and South Korea have emerged as upcoming major contributors besides USA. Most prolific journals were Food Chemistry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, and PLOS One. Clinical conditions with high citations included Alzheimer's disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson's disease. Chemical terms and structures with high citations included alpha-tocopherol, anthocyanin, ascorbate, beta-carotene, carotenoid, curcumin, cysteine, flavonoid, flavonol, hydrogen peroxide, kaempferol, N-acetylcysteine, nitric oxide, phenolic acid, uric acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and resveratrol. Citation patterns temporal analysis revealed a transition of the scientific interest from research focused on antioxidant vitamins and minerals into stronger attention focus on antioxidant phytochemicals (plant secondary metabolites).Antioxidants are abundant in natural dietary sources, and the consumption of antioxidants has a lot of potential health benefits. However, there has been no literature analysis on this topic to evaluate its scientific impact in terms of citations. This study is aimed at identifying and analysing the antioxidant publications in the existing scientific literature. In this context, a literature search was performed with the Web of Science database. Full records and cited references of the 299,602 identified manuscripts were imported into VOSviewer for bibliometric analysis. Most of the manuscripts were published since 1991. The publications were mainly related to the categories  Antioxidants existed in many dietary natural sources such as vegetables, fruits, and beverages and dietary antioxidants such as flavonoids may help reduce the risk of mortality from coronary heart disease and incidence of myocardial infarction , 2. FurtTo understand the relevant key research categories in antioxidant researchTo identify the countries and journals having a major contribution to this research and to evaluate their citation performances during different time periodsTo reveal which chemicals/pharmaceuticals have had high citation counts during different time periodsTo show the overall impact of the antioxidant research, a bibliometric analysis of the antioxidant research field may allow a deep understanding of the changes in the field in terms of contributors and hot topics and their citation performance –13. To tIn May 2018, a literature search was performed with the multidisciplinary Web of Science (WoS) online database  to identify papers with the following search strategy: TOPIC = (“antioxida∗” OR “anti-oxida∗”). This strategy searched for papers that contain the word antioxidant/antioxidant and its derivatives in their title, abstract, or keywords. No restrictions were imposed on the publication year, publication type , or publication language.The manuscripts resulted from the literature search were evaluated and recorded for (1) publication year, (2) journal title, (3) total citation count, (4) authorship, (5) WoS category, and (6) manuscript type. The full records and cited references of these manuscripts were imported into VOSviewer  for bibliometric analyses, such as citation performances of institutions, countries/regions, and journals.https://www.wordfrequency.info/free.asp?s=y). Supplementary data sheets in an Excel file , food science technology , and pharmacology/pharmacy . Four most prolific institutions have each accounted for 1% or nearly 1% of total publications, namely, the University of California , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Spanish National Research Council , and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research . Consistently, USA , China , and India  were the leading countries in publishing antioxidant-related papers. Meanwhile, the most prolific journals that have each accounted for 1% or nearly 1% of total publications were Food Chemistry , Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , Free Radical Biology and Medicine , and PLOS One .In overall, there were 258,450 (86.3%) original articles and 20,616 (6.9%) reviews in the analysed literature set. The remaining 6.8% of the publications included meeting abstracts, proceedings paper, and editorial material. Most of the publications were written in English . The publications were mainly classified into the WoS categories of In order to perform a systematic analysis and to better evaluate the importance of the research area for the scientific community worldwide, all the 299,602 identified publications were divided into four time periods/decades depending on their publication year, as follows: (i) 1990 and before, (ii) 1991–2000, (iii) 2001–2010, and (iv) 2011–2018.biochemistry/molecular biology , food science technology , polymer science , pharmacology/pharmacy , and chemistry, applied . The five most prolific countries/regions were USA , USSR , Japan , England , and Canada . The five most prolific journals were Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society , Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine , Federation Proceedings , Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society , and Polymer Degradation and Stability . There were 4176 publications. In this earliest survey period, the publications were more evenly distributed into different WoS categories, with the five major categories being the Topics with high citations included carcinogenesis  and lipid peroxidation  . The mosbiochemistry/molecular biology has accounted for a larger share of publications . The four other major categories were pharmacology/pharmacy , endocrinology/metabolism , food science technology , and cell biology . Polymer science  and chemistry, applied  had much reduced share. The five most prolific countries/regions were USA , Japan , Germany , England , and Italy . Russia  has much reduced share  whereas Canada  retained its share. The five most prolific journals were Free Radical Biology and Medicine , Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , FASEB Journal , Free Radical Research , and Biochemical Pharmacology . There were 30,530 publications. During this period, the WoS category of N-acetylcysteine , ascorbate , beta-carotene , vitamin E , and alpha-tocopherol   and atherosclerosis  . Some no5; 65.2) .biochemistry/molecular biology has accounted for a smaller share of publications . The four other major categories were food science technology , pharmacology/pharmacy , nutrition/dietetics , and chemistry, applied . Chemistry, applied has regained its share compared to the previous decade. Meanwhile, polymer science  continued to have a reduced share. The five most prolific countries/regions were USA , China , Japan , India , and Italy . The five most prolific journals were Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , Free Radical Biology and Medicine , Food Chemistry , Free Radical Research , and Food and Chemical Toxicology . Food Chemistry began to become comparable with Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry with regard to publication count and citations per publication.There were 95,627 publications. Compared to the 1990s, the WoS category of Topics with high citations included nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2  , Alzheimfood science technology  has overtaken biochemistry/molecular biology  as the largest WoS category for antioxidant papers. Pharmacology/pharmacy  and chemistry, applied  had similar share relative to the 2000s. Plant sciences have an uprising trend  to take up the fifth spot in terms of the largest share of publications during 2011–2018. On the other hand, polymer science, once one of the five most prolific categories in 1990 and before, has maintained a small share in recent decades .There were 169,269 publications. For the first time in history, Food Chemistry , PLOS One , Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , Molecules , and Free Radical Biology and Medicine . Food Chemistry has finally overtaken Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry as the largest journal in terms of publication count of antioxidant papers. Also, notable is the rise of PLOS One and Scientific Reports , two multidisciplinary journals that have published considerable number of antioxidant papers during this decade.China  has overtaken USA  as the most prolific country. The rest of the five most prolific countries/regions were India , Brazil , and South Korea . The five most prolific journals were Topics with high citations included autophagy , Parkinson's disease , atherosclerosis , carcinogenesis , and Alzheimer's disease  . The mosfood science technology journals, with a leading example being Food Chemistry, has reflected that the attention is shifting towards dietary antioxidants.In overall, we have analysed nearly 300,000 publications on antioxidants that spanned over half a century. The results presented above have highlighted two polyphenols, curcumin and resveratrol, with high citations in the recent two decades. The potential health benefits of dietary curcumin and resveratrol have been discussed by the literature with a relevance to the control of redox signalling, inflammation, and autophagy , 18 and Manuscript related to the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) also attracted high citations. Nrf2 is a transcription factor essential for regulating homeostasis, cytoprotection, and innate immunity and plays an important role in activating the protective genes that are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory .The antioxidant research field has witnessed the increased publication share from China, India, and South Korea since the 2000s. Similar to the recently analysed ethnopharmacology and natural products publication fields, the contributions from Asian countries have been large, which could be partially explained by the notion that antioxidant assays require relatively less sophisticated equipment so that emerging research powers can also contribute comparable research volumes as traditionally established top research countries , 28.biochemistry/molecular biology, food science technology, and pharmacology/pharmacy. Brazil, China, India, and South Korea have emerged as upcoming major contributors to antioxidant research besides USA, which has been dominating the field for half a century. Most prolific journals were Food Chemistry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, and PLOS One. Clinical conditions with high citations included Alzheimer's disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson's disease. Chemicals with high citations included alpha-tocopherol, anthocyanin, ascorbate, beta-carotene, carotenoid, curcumin, cysteine, flavonoid, flavonol, hydrogen peroxide, kaempferol, N-acetylcysteine, nitric oxide, phenolic acid, uric acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and resveratrol  were published after 1991. Article to review ratio was 12.5 : 1. The publications were mainly related to the categories veratrol . In resp


The authors of “A Community-Based Short Message Service Intervention to Improve Mothers’ Feeding Practices for Obesity Prevention: Quasi-Experimental Study” :e13828) wish to change the order of the authors on the publication so that Xu Qian is listed last.The previous order of authorship was as follows:Hong Jiang, Mu Li, Li Ming Wen, Louise Baur, Gengsheng He, Xu Qian, Xiaoying MaThe correct order of authorship is as follows:Hong Jiang, Mu Li, Li Ming Wen, Louise Baur, Gengsheng He, Xiaoying Ma, Xu QianAdditionally, the affiliations listed for author Gengsheng He have also been updated. Previously, only affiliation 2 was listed for this author:2Key Lab of Health Technology Assessment, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaThe revised listing identifies that Gengsheng He is associated with affiliations 1 and 2:1School of Public Health, Global Health Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China2Key Lab of Health Technology Assessment, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaThe corrections will appear in the online version of the paper on the JMIR website on July 18, 2019, 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 also has been resubmitted to those repositories.


After publication of this article , concernThe first author noted that the primary data underlying the results in Fig 3 are no longer available.PLOS ONE Editors retract this article due to concerns about the reliability and integrity of the results.In light of these issues, the RC, MLDB did not respond. AC, FB, IS, SD, DI did not agree with retraction. LM, VZ, PG, could not be reached.


Leachate generation is a major problem for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills and causes significant threat to surface and groundwater. Samples were collected from the landfills of Iranian metropolises , Isfahan, Tabriz, Hamedan, Rasht, Sanandaj and Qazvin) based on the standard sampling methods and transferred to the laboratory. Cr, Cd, Hg, Pb, Ni, As, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Na, K, Zn, Al, Ba, Li, Sr, Ti and V were analyzed. The pH values for the ten leachate samples obtained from 4.57 to 8.95. The results showed the amount of some metals in Iranian landfill sites higher than the DOE standards for agricultural irrigation and surface water. Specifications tableValue of data•Based on the data, the amount of some metals in landfill leachate in Iranian landfill sites higher than the DOE standards for agricultural irrigation and surface water.•Obtained data were used for assessment of soil, surface and ground water pollutions around the landfill sites.•The results can be useful for wide application on leachate treatment plant.1anions, cations, metals and heavy metals  were analyzed The data obtained from the pH analysis of leachates in ten sites are summarized in 2The leachate samples were prepared with the coordination of the waste management organization of Iranian metropolises from different cities. The criterion for selecting cities was determined with the geographic location of these cities in Iran, having a landfill, having leachate drainage. Also, the selected city must have an acceptable population and should be the provincial capital. The basis on this criteria, ten point selected of Iran , Qazvin, Rasht, Mashhad, Sanandaj, and Ahvaz)


The correct Author Contributions statement appears below:“ZA, SS, BB, DW, JB, RV, and BA conducted the experiments. ZA, SS, BB, DW, JB, MM, NG, RV, AB, and BA analyzed and interpreted the data. ZA, SS, DW, JB, NG, MM, RV, AB, and BA helped to write and review the manuscript. ZA agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”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.


Scientific Reports 10.1038/s41598-019-46696-6, published online 15 July 2019Correction to: The original version of this Article contained an error in the name of the author Tyler O. Hughes, which was incorrectly given as Tyler Hughes.Additionally, in the original version of this Article, Affiliation 3 was incorrectly given as ‘Department of Biology, Penn State University, Philadelphia, PA, USA’. The correct affiliation is listed below.Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USAThis has now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article, and in the accompanying Supplementary Information file.


Also, it found that high-income cities have a higher technology gap than upper middle–income cities, and media reports efficiency have a high correlation with respiratory diseases and CO2.Over the past few decades, China’s rapid economic, energy, and industrial developments have caused serious environmental damage. However, as there are large resource, energy use, economic, and environmental damage differences across Chinese regions, the Chinese government is seeking to reduce city pollution across the country. Most previous analyses have only looked at these issues on a single level; for example, the impact of environmental pollution on health, or energy and environmental efficiency analyses, but there have been few studies that have conducted overall analyses. Further, many of the methods that have been used in previous research have employed one-stage radial or non-radial analyses without considering regional differences. Therefore, this paper developed a meta undesirable two-stage EBM DEA model to analyze the energy, environment, health, and media communication efficiencies in 31 Chinese cities, from which it was found that the productivity efficiency in most cities was better than the health treatment efficiencies, the GDP and fixed asset efficiency improvements were small, the air quality index (AQI) and CO The World Health Organization  claims tPast studies have focused on the relationship between economic growth and air pollution ,5, the c2 and air quality index (AQI) to the environment. The undesirable output CO2 and AQI—intermediate output from the production stage (first stage)—can be seen in second stage—input resources—to the production of new values in the health treatment stage (second stage). The government provides health expenditures to reduce diseases caused by environmental pollution. Media reports can objectively present air pollution information, identify the causes of pollution in a timely manner, and identify protective measures so as to prevent or control the risk of physical injury and reduce the incidence of diseases. Media reports can reduce the incidence of public diseases, improve the public’s physical and mental health, and improve the health and ethics of the entire population. So, government health expenditures and media reports can reduce disease. Therefore, energy, environmental pollution, health, and media can be constructed by the two-stage model.However, in general, few studies have linked these energy, air pollution, health discussions and media discourse. This article will therefore discuss economics, environmental pollution, health, and media together. The relationship is shown in While several past studies have employed network data envelopment analysis (DEA) to examine production and pollution controls ,42,43,442 emissions and AQI. Health treatment was taken as the second stage based on health expenditure and media report inputs and birth rate and respiratory disease prevalence outputs.As this model not only includes existing production efficiencies but also considers the sustainability of human health, it has two main contributions. First, to avoid under- or over-estimation, the economic, environmental, media communication, and health efficiencies are jointly analyzed. Second, a meta undesirable two stage EBM DEA model is used to avoid the radial and non-radial biases. Sometimes, decision making units (DMUs) are not homogeneous and have different resource endowments, such as income and location, which affects the inputs and outputs of DMUs, so the concept of meta should therefore be adopted to avoid large regional difference by grouping DMUs. Data from 2013–2016 for 31 Chinese cities were extracted and analyzed, with production taken as the first stage based on labor, fixed assets, and energy consumption inputs and GDP output, with the link between the production stage and the health treatment stage variables being COPast research can be divided into discussions on the relationships between economic growth and air pollution and between air pollution and human health, examinations of preventative measures to reduce the effects of air pollution on societal health, and the effect of public awareness raising by the media on air pollution and environmental issues.3 over a 24-h average particulate matter PM2.5 increased the risk for wheezing bronchitis by 5%. In related studies, Chen et al. [2, PM10, and O3. In examinations on the effects of long-term exposure to air pollutants on human health, Loomis et al. [3 increase in PM10 and NO2 was significantly associated with non-accidental mortality. In other studies, Kelly and Fussel [With a focus on economic growth and air pollution, Georgiev and Mihaylo  found thn et al.  used GLMn et al.  examineds et al.  found a s et al.  revieweds et al.  studied d Fussel  analyzedd Fussel  found th3, the cardiovascular mortality increased by 0.47% and the respiratory mortality increased by 0.57%, when PM10 increased by 10μg/m3, cardiovascular mortality increases by 0.27% and respiratory mortality increased by 0.56%, and that short-term exposure to a particulate environment was associated with an increased incidence of cardiopulmonary disease and an increased mortality in low- and middle-income countries. Zigler et al. [Khafaie et al.  used resr et al.  exploredr et al.  found thTo reduce the effects of air pollution on societal health, Torretta et al.  proposedNew York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post over 20 years and found that air pollution was generally explained as being related to asthma. However, the newspapers avoid connecting respiratory disease with environmental problems that reduced the government’s control on air pollution due to low public concern. Elliot et al. [In a study on the relationship between media promotion and air pollution, Dworkin and Pijwaka  exploredt et al.  studied t et al.  investigt et al.  studied t et al.  studied t et al.  examinedt et al.  studied The theoretical framework for this study is based on previous study results and the following assumptions: public media reports positively impact public awareness of air pollution and its impact on the environment and human health.Based on the above literature analysis, this paper makes the following research hypotheses:H1: Public media reports have a correlation with CO2 and AQI.H2: Public media reports have a correlation with respiratory diseases.As can be seen from this brief literature review, much of the previous research has only been on a single level using radial and non-radial methods with little consideration for regional differences. Therefore, to overcome these issues, this paper used a meta undesirable two-stage EBM DEA model to explore the energy, environment, health, and media communication efficiencies in 31 mainland Chinese cities. Due to the difference in income between regions, this paper compares the 31 Chinese cities divided into high- and upper middle–income cities. The hypotheses are as follows:H3: In the efficiencies, high-income cities are higher than upper middle–income cities.H4: In the Technology gap, high-income cities are higher than upper middle–income cities.After Farrell  proposedIn 2007, Färe et al  proposedWhile the EBM DEA resolved the radial and non-radial issues, it failed to deal with the two-stage problem, and while the NDEA model solved the multi-stage problems, it failed to deal with the radial and non-radial problems. As different countries have different social and cultural backgrounds, economic environments, management models, and production efficiencies, and as manufacturers from different countries have different production technologies, if a traditional DEA assumes that all DMUs have the same technical level in the efficiency evaluation, it may be inappropriate to analyze efficiencies using traditional efficiency evaluation models. This paper, therefore, proposes a model based on Tone and Tsutsui , O’Donne2 emissions and AQI. In the second stage, health expenditure and media reports were the input, with the output being birth rate and respiratory diseases. As respiratory diseases were seen as undesirable output, Tone and Tsutsui’s [This study collected data from 31 Chinese cities. In the first stage, labor, fixed assets, and energy consumption were the inputs, and GDP was the output, with the one-stage and two-stage links being COsutsui’s  EBM modeIn a traditional DEA efficiency evaluation, it is usually assumed that all producers have the same level of production technology; however, in reality, most decision-making units have different production technologies because of different geographical locations, national policies, or social and economic conditions. Battese and Rao  and Battn DMU and K division, jDMU = , m input jX = , s output, jY = , DMU efficiency: Due to management, resource, regulatory, and environmental differences, all firms (N) are made up of DMU groups (1 + N2 +…+ NGN = N), with Xij and Yrj denoting the input  and with the final output being r  for unit j . Under the meta-frontier, DMU k then chooses an optimal final output weight  to attain the highest efficiency; therefore, under a non-oriented EBM, the efficiency of DMU k using the meta undesirable two stage EBM DEA can be determined using the following linear programming.Subject toY: DMU output,X: DMU input,From the above equations, the overall technological efficiency of the cities can be determined under the meta-frontier, and using Equation (1)–(5), the overall technological efficiency of all high-income and upper middle–income cities can be determined under the meta-frontier undesirable two-stage EBM group frontier modelThe high- and upper middle–income cities were divided into g decision-making units, each of which was assigned an optimal output weight; therefore, the DMU efficiency under the group frontier was solved using the following equations.Subject toAs the production frontier for the g groups were included in the meta-frontier, the technical efficiency under the meta-frontier needed to be less than the technical efficiency under the group frontier. The ratio of the two frontiers is called the technology gap ratio (TGR):The Hu and Wang  total-faIf the target fixed assets, labor, energy consumption, and health expenditure inputs equaled the actual inputs, then the fixed assets, labor, energy consumption, health expenditure, and media efficiencies equaled 1, indicating overall efficiency. If the target fixed assets, labor, energy consumption, health expenditure, and media inputs were less than the actual inputs, then the fixed assets, labor, energy consumption, health expenditure, and media efficiencies were less than 1, indicating overall inefficiency.If the target GDP and birth rate desirable outputs were equal to the actual GDP and birth rate desirable outputs, then the GDP and birth rate efficiencies equaled 1, indicating overall efficiency. If the actual GDP and birth rate desirable outputs were less than the target GDP and birth rate desirable outputs, then the GDP and birth rate efficiencies were less than 1, indicating overall inefficiency.2, and AQI undesirable outputs were equal to the actual respiratory disease, CO2, and AQI undesirable outputs, then the respiratory diseases, CO2 and AQI efficiencies equaled 1, indicating efficiency. If the target respiratory disease, CO2, and AQI undesirable outputs were less than the actual respiratory disease, CO2, and AQI undesirable outputs, then respiratory diseases, CO2, and AQI efficiencies were less than 1, indicating inefficiency.If the target respiratory diseases, COBased on the World Bank’s classification for rich and poor countries, the 31 Chinese cities were divided into high- and upper middle–income cities, with the upper middle–income economies having a GNI  per capita between $3896 and $12,055, and the high-income economies having a GNI per capita of $12,056 or more .Therefore, the 31 sample cities were divided into 14 high-income cities  and 17 upper middle–income cities .2 and AQI are undesirable outputs . In theh et al. , input ig et al. . The twoThe variables used in the study are explained in the following:First stage: production stageLabor input: Employees; this study used the number of employed people in each city at the end of each year; unit: person.Energy consumption was calculated from the total energy consumption in each city; unit: 100 million Tonnes.Fixed assets: the capital stock in each city was calculated using the fixed assets investment in each city; unit: 100 million CNY.Input variables:Output variables:Desirable output (GDP): the GDP in each city was used as each city’s output; unit: 100 million CNY;2, a common greenhouse gas;Carbon dioxide: CO2), and nitrogen.AQI: the air quality index, which is a measured concentration of the pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, sulfur dioxide , with the number of statistics being the total amount in the year. The official news websites were selected because of the amount of news published and their wide influence.Input variables:2. Karimi et al. [3, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, NOx, SO2, and CO) were associated with increased mortality and hospitalization rates, but PM2.5 and PM10 were more strongly affected.Respiratory Diseases: referring to the prevalence of respiratory diseases. In order to examine the effects of medical health inputs on diseases in various regions, only respiratory disease data can be collected, and data on specific respiratory diseases cannot be obtained. Therefore, in this study, the respiratory disease rate was used to measure the adverse effects of air pollutants and the effects of health management, mainly because a large amount of literature research has been proved. Some researchers had found that respiratory disease is significantly affected by air pollutants as PM10 . In some model specifications, ozone, another measure of pollution, is also found to affect respiratory illness. Furong et al.  studied i et al.  collecte2, had significant effects on female fertility and infant birth rate.Birth rate: this study used the infant birth rate as the second output indicator for medical input. Carré  exploredOutput variables:The average value of the undesirable carbon dioxide emissions fell in 2016, the maximum dropped in 2015, and then rose again in 2016. The maximum and average AQI reached its highest point in 2013 and then continuously declined. The minimum value decreased in 2016 but was slightly smaller compared with the maximum.The maximum respiratory disease efficiency continued to rise, and the average value decreased in 2015 and increased slightly in 2016. The birth rate efficiency was the highest, with both the minimum and average showing a continuous slow rise. The standard deviation reached a high in 2015 and declined slightly in 2016.After reaching a peak in 2013, the maximum, minimum, and average news report efficiencies continued to decline and dropped significantly to the lowest point in 2014. From 2013, when mainland China began to disclose the annual AQI data in each region, the media attention on air pollution began to decline, and the reports decreased.In Chengdu and Shijiazhuang had efficiency fluctuations, with Chengdu’s fluctuating below 0.6 for all four years, and with Shijiazhuang’s being below 0.5 and having a downward trend.Five cities had efficiencies above 0.8 for three years, and four cities had efficiencies between 0.5 and 0.8 for four years. Nanning’s efficiency was 1 in three years, which fell slightly in 2016 to around 0.9. Beijing achieved an efficiency of 1 in 2013, after which it began to decline, reaching its lowest value in 2015 at 0.8.In the production stage, there were annual efficiencies of 1 only in Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai in all four years, and in the treatment stage, there were annual efficiencies of 1 in Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai.Beijing, Changchun, Changsha, Chengdu, Harbin, Hangzhou, Hefei, Hohhot, Jinan, Nanchang, Nanjing, Shenyang, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou had higher efficiency scores in the production stage than the treatment stage, and Chongqing, Guiyang, Haikou, Kunming, Lanzhou, Nanning, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Urumqi, Xi’an, Xining, and Yinchuan had higher efficiency scores in the treatment stage than the production stage.Chongqing, Guiyang, Kunming, Lanzhou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Xining, and Yinchuan had four-year production stage efficiencies below 0.6, with the poorest being in Shijiazhuang, with four-year efficiencies of around 0.4. All other cities had efficiencies between 0.4 and 0.6.The worst performing cities in the treatment stage were Chengdu and Tianjin, with Chengdu having an efficiency of less than 0.4 in three years; therefore, there was a significant need for improvement.The declines in the production stage were much smaller than in the treatment stage, with the largest being in Nanchang, which fell from 0.85 in 2013 to 0.66 in 2016. Efficiency changes in the treatment stage were more volatile, with Beijing and Wuhan having the largest declines, from 1 in 2013 to 0.6 in 2016.The efficiency increases in both the production and treatment stages were much the same. Changsha, Hefei, Jinan had the largest increases, with Jinan rising from 0.47 in 2013 to 1 in 2016 and Hefei rising from 0.48 in 2013 to 1 in 2016.In In production stage, according to the Wilcoxon Test, the efficiency of the high-income and upper middle–income countries from 2013 and 2015 is strong significant. The efficiency of the 2014 and 2016 production stages is not significant, but the efficiency of the 2013 and 2015 production stages is strongly significant. The efficiency values of high-income countries are higher than those of upper middle–income countries, consistent with the H3 hypothesis in 2013 and 2015.In treatment stage, Wilcoxon Test shows that the efficiency of high-income and upper middle–income countries from 2013 and 2015 is strongly significant. The efficiency of the treatment stage in 2014 and 2016 is not significant, but the efficiency of the treatment stage in 2013 and 2015 is strongly significant. The efficiency values of high-income countries are higher than those of upper middle–income countries, consistant with the H3 hypothesis in 2013 and 2015.Only Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had fixed assets efficiencies of 1 in all four years; however, Beijing, Haikou, Nanning, and Urumqi all had annual efficiencies higher than 0.8. The other 24 cities had a significant need for improvement. For example, Changsha, Chongqing, Guiyang, Hefei, Kunming, Nanchang, Nanning, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, Xi’an, and Yinchuan all had efficiencies under or around 0.6, with Tianjin requiring the most improvements at only 0.45 in 2013.Guangzhou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had energy consumption efficiencies of 1 in all four years, and Beijing, Changchun, Fuzhou, Harbin, Haikou, Hefei, Nanchang, Urumqi, and Zhengzhou all had efficiencies higher than 0.8. However, Guiyang, Lanzhou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Xining, and Yinchuan had efficiencies lower that 0.6, with the worst performance being in Taiyuan, at below 0.2, followed by Shijiazhuang, Lanzhou, and Yinchuan at around 0.4.Only Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had labor efficiencies of 1 for all four years, and the worst performing cities were Chongqing, Guiyang, Kunming, Lanzhou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, and Xining at below 0.7 in most years. All other cities had labor efficiencies between 0.8 and 0.9.Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had carbon dioxide emissions efficiencies of 1 in all four years. However, Lanzhou, Taiyuan, and Yinchuan all scored less than 0.4, with all of Taiyuan’s results below 0.2. Changchun, Harbin, Hefei, Nanchang, Urumqi, and Zhengzhou had carbon dioxide emissions efficiencies higher than 0.8, and the other cities had carbon dioxide emissions efficiencies between 0.6 and 0.8.There were also large differences in the AQI efficiencies. Beijing. Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Kunming, Lhasa, Nanjing, Nanning, Shanghai, and Urumqi had AQI efficiencies of 1 in all four years, and many cities had two- or three-year efficiencies of 1, with the other years being above 0.9. However, the AQI efficiencies in Lanzhou, Taiyuan, Xining, and Yinchuan began to decline from 2013 and, by 2016, had fallen to around 0.4. The largest declines were in Lanzhou, Nanchang, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Xi’an, Xining, Yinchuan, and Zhengzhou, but there were AQI efficiency increases in Changchun, Chengdu, Harbin, Hefei, Jinan, Urumqi, and Shenyang.2 emissions and AQI efficiencies in most cities. Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had GDP efficiencies of 1, and the GDP efficiencies in Beijing and Nanning in the first three years were all 1, but both declined slightly in 2016. Guiyang, Kunming, Lanzhou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, and Xining had comparatively poor efficiencies at lower than 0.8, and all other cities had GDP efficiencies between 0.8 and 1.The GDP efficiencies were better than the COFuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, Shanghai. Beijing, Changsha, Urumqi, Xining, and Yinchuan had health expenditure efficiencies of 1 or at least two years above 0.9. However, Zhengzhou’s health expenditure efficiency in all four years was below 0.5, and Tianjin had a health expenditure efficiency less than 0.2 for three years. There were noticeable health expenditure efficiency volatilities. However, 13 cities had reduced efficiencies and needed improvements.Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanjing, and Shanghai had birth rate and respiratory diseases efficiencies of 1, but Chengdu, Harbin, Shijiazhuang, and Tianjin had four-year efficiencies just above 0.7.Compared with the birth rate efficiency, the respiratory diseases efficiencies required significant improvements. Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had respiratory disease efficiencies of 1, Chengdu and Tianjin had respiratory disease efficiencies of around 0.6, and Harbin and Shenyang had three-year efficiencies between 0.7 and 0.8. Nine cities had reduced efficiencies, and 17 cities had rising efficiencies.2 and AQI efficiency exceeded 0.4 , and there is a high correlation, which is consistent with the H1 hypothesis. The correlation coefficient between Media efficiency and Respiratory Diseases efficiency is 0.5932 , which is correlated and conforms to the H2 hypothesis.According to 2 and AQI efficiency are 0.4275 and 0.3387 , and there is a high correlation, which is consistent with the H1 hypothesis. The correlation coefficient between Media efficiency and respiratory diseases efficiency is 0.4252 , which is correlated to and conforms to the H2 hypothesis.In 2014, the correlation coefficient between media efficiency and CO2 and AQI efficiency exceeded 0.4 , and there is a high correlation, which is consistent with the H1 hypothesis. The correlation coefficient between media efficiency and respiratory diseases efficiency is 0.5751 , which is correlated to and conforms to the H2 hypothesis.In 2015, the correlation coefficient between media efficiency and CO2 and AQI efficiency exceeded 0.4 , and there is a high correlation, which is consistent with the H1 hypothesis. The correlation coefficient between media efficiency and respiratory diseases efficiency is 0.3697 , which is correlated and conforms to the H2 hypothesis.In 2016, the correlation coefficient between media efficiency and COChengdu, Chongqing, Nanchang, Shijiazhuang, and Taiyuan had technology frontiers of 0.7, which fell in Nanchang, Shijiazhuang, and Taiyuan. However, the technology frontier in the other cities was mostly between 0.8 and 0.9.Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Shenyang, Wuhan, Urumqi, and Zhengzhou had rising technology frontiers, but they fell in the other 15 cities, indicating that the technology gap between the cities was expanding, which is in line with the economic development and technical level characteristics in mainland China.Fuzhou, Hefei, Jinan, Kunming, Shenyang, Wuhan, Urumqi, and Zhengzhou had rising technology frontiers during the production stage, but those of the other cities fell, further indicating that the technology gap between the regions was expanding. For example, while Harbin, Hohhot, Jinan, Nanchang, Shenyang, and Zhengzhou had higher technology gaps compared to cities in their regions, there was still a large gap compared with other cities in the country. Only Beijing and Shijiazhuang had declining technology gaps; however, the scores in the other 23 cities all rose, indicating that the technology gap between the regional cities in the treatment stage in most cities shrank.According to the Wilcoxon Test in In production stage, Wilcoxon Test shows that the technology gap of strong-income and upper middle–income countries from 2013 to 2016 is strongly significant. In other word, the technology gap of high-income countries is higher than that of upper middle–income countries, consists with the H4 hypothesis.In the treatment stage, the Wilcoxon Test shows that the technology gap of high-income and upper middle–income countries is strongly significant from 2013 to 2016, where the technology gap of the 2014 treatment stage is weakly significant. The treatment stages in 2013, 2015, and 2016, technology gap is strongly significant. The technology gap of high-income countries is higher than that of upper middle–income countries, consistent with the H4 hypothesis.This study used panel data and a meta undesirable two-stage EBM DEA to examine the production and health governance efficiencies in 31 Chinese provincial capital cities from 2013 to 2016 under the influence of media reports and the technology gap between high-income and middle-income cities.Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had overall efficiencies of 1. Beijing’s overall efficiency score was only 1 in 2013 but was lower in other years, and the other 20 cities had four-year efficiency scores between 0.5 and 0.8; therefore, most cities needed efficiency improvements.Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had annual efficiencies of 1 in the production stage, and Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa Nanning, and Shanghai had annual efficiencies of 1 in the treatment stage. Overall, 15 cities had higher efficiencies in the production stage than in the treatment stage, and 12 cities had higher efficiencies in the treatment stage than in the production stage. Chongqing, Guiyang, Kunming, Lanzhou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Xining, and Yinchuan had four-year production stage efficiencies below 0.6, with the poorest being Shijiazhuang, with a four-year efficiency of around 0.4. Chengdu and Tianjin had the poorest treatment efficiencies; however, in general, the treatment stage and production stage efficiencies were similar.Guangzhou, Lhasa and Shanghai had fixed assets efficiencies of 1 in all four years, but 11 cities had four-year fixed assets efficiencies of only about 0.6, with Tianjin, which had a four-year efficiency of below 0.45, requiring the most improvement. Guangzhou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had energy consumption efficiencies of 1 in all four years, nine cities had efficiencies higher than 0.8, and the lowest efficiency was in Taiyuan, at below 0.2. Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had labor efficiencies of 1, and only seven other cities had labor efficiencies below 0.7 in most years.Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had carbon dioxide emissions efficiencies of 1 in all four production stage years, but the other 25 cities had carbon dioxide emissions efficiencies of less than 0.4 in all four years, of which Taiyuan had the lowest, at less than 0.2. Only Beijing had an AQI efficiency of 1 in all four years, and Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Kunming, Lhasa, Nanjing, Nanning, Shanghai, and Urumqi had two- or three-year efficiencies of 1, with the other years being higher than 0.9. However, in most cities, the AQI efficiencies had large fluctuations, with eight cities fluctuating upward. Even though only three cities achieved GDP efficiencies, the efficiencies were relatively good in most cities, at close to 0.8.Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had media report efficiencies of 1 in all four years, and the efficiencies in 17 cities ranged from 0.5 to 0.9 in most years. However, Lanzhou and Xining’s highest annual efficiencies were only about 0.4. The media report efficiencies fluctuated significantly, and many cities experienced large declines, with the largest being in Beijing.Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had four-year health expenditure efficiencies of 1. However, Tianjin had the worst performance, with its health expenditure efficiency in three-years being below 0.2. The health expenditure efficiencies in the other cities fluctuated significantly, and many cities experienced large declines, with the largest being in Beijing. The urban birth rate efficiency improvements were small; however, Chengdu, Harbin, Shijiazhuang, and Tianjin had the lowest four-year efficiencies at above 0.7.The respiratory disease efficiencies required in most cities needed significant improvements, and the efficiency differences between the cities was wide. Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanning, and Shanghai had four-year respiratory disease efficiencies of 1. Chengdu and Tianjin had low efficiencies of around 0.6 in most years. Nine cities had four-year efficiency fluctuations or declines, and the other 17 cities had upward fluctuations or continuous upward trends. Overall, the respiratory disease efficiencies improved.respiratory diseases, AQI, and CO2 efficiency.The media reports efficiency has a high correlation with Guangzhou, Lhasa, and Shanghai had technology frontiers of 1, but Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanchang, Shijiazhuang, and Taiyuan had large technology gaps. Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Shenyang, Wuhan, Urumqi, and Zhengzhou had rising technology frontiers, but the technology frontiers in the other 15 cities fell.Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Haikou, Lhasa, Nanjing, and Shanghai had treatment stage technology frontiers of 1. However, Harbin, Hohhot, Jinan, Nanchang, Shenyang, and Zhengzhou had backward technology frontiers. Beijing and Shijiazhuang had sustained fluctuating technology frontiers, and the technology frontiers in the other 23 cities all rose, indicating that the technological differences in the treatment stage shrank. Also, we found that high-income cities are higher technology gap than upper middle–income cities.The main conclusions from this study were as follows:From these results, the following policy recommendations are given.As there were obvious differences between the cities, cooperation between regions should be actively promoted. The technology gap of high-income countries is higher than that of upper middle–income countries. So, high-income cities have technological advantages and rich experience in air pollution and health management. High-income cities can use advanced technologies for air pollution treatment by combining regional characteristics, economic and social development levels, geographical characteristics of cities, and meteorological conditions.Industrial structure and energy structure adjustments need to be more rapidly implemented to improve the production and environmental efficiencies in the Beijing-Tianjin region. The Beijing-centered Beijing-Tianjin region had lower production and treatment stage efficiencies than the Pearl River Delta area with Guangzhou at the center and the Yangtze River Delta area with Shanghai at the center. Therefore, the energy consumption, fixed assets investment, human resource input, and environmental efficiencies need to be improved in Beijing. The economic and energy structures in the Beijing-Tianjin region are closely related, and the economic growth in the region has relied heavily on coal for its energy production. Therefore, there needs to be a greater focus on energy structure adjustments and clean energy and clean coal–use technological developments to replace coal and maintain production. Developing and maintaining normal economic and social development is also an important treatment measure.The media is an important “link” and “bridge” for the dissemination of health information. It plays an irreplaceable role in reporting health knowledge, changing health concepts, and promoting healthy behavior. The media has strengthened coverage of air pollution, energy conservation and emission reduction, green development, and environmental protection in terms of content and channels. By continuously improving the scientific and professional reporting of the media, this can guide the public to rationally think about and interpret information and improve the accumulation of public health knowledge. On the other hand, it eliminates public fears and threats of air pollution and promotes public health awareness. Therefore, it is important to enhance the strategy of media coverage. In order to increase the effect of media reporting on public health, media organizations need to constantly improve and strengthen reporting strategies. The media needs to strengthen reports on air pollution, energy conservation, green development, and environmental protection in terms of content, channels, and forms of communication and needs to improve the science and professionalism of the reporting that guides the public to think about and interpret information rationally.Drawing on the advanced health management efficiency in the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, the government can enhance the health management efficiency in the Beijing-Tianjin region. Health management investment in the Beijing-Tianjin region needs to continue to increase in line with economic growth and social development. The Beijing-Tianjin region still needs to strengthen its overall management, improve governance, and design more effective systems to improve health management efficiency.The governance in the middle-income cities needs to adopt strategies and measures appropriate to the regional characteristics. Middle-income cities in the west, such as Lanzhou, Xining, and Yinchuan, need to strengthen their industrial and energy structure adjustments. The news reporting efficiencies in these cities also need significant improvement. Therefore, systems need to be developed that are more suitable to the energy, economic, social, environmental and news reporting characteristics in these cities.To improve their production efficiency and environmental efficiencies, middle-income cities in the midwest and some individual middle-income cities in the East  need to learn from the advanced technologies in cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai.Middle-income cities in the northeast and some central cities  need to improve their news report and health governance efficiencies. Therefore, these cities could learn from the governance measures adopted in other cities to improve the effectiveness of their news reports to increase the environmental awareness of their residents.


Author Contributions statement misrepresents the contributions of TN-J, KN, TW, TA, WG, and UH.In the original article, there was an error. The Author Contributions:A correction has been made to “TN-J contributed to the conception and design of the study, and supervised data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, as well as manuscript proofreading. LM, MS, and AN conducted informed consent. WG arranged MRI settings. KN, TW, and VK performed analysis of the MRI data. KN contributed to data acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and wrote the manuscript. CH contributed to data acquisition. TW, TA, WG, and UH contributed to manuscript proofreading.”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.


Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES) is a peer-reviewed journal that targets an international audience, and publishes original theoretical and empirical work in any field of economics. SJES also welcomes work that surveys the state of knowledge on a particular topic, or makes other people’s work accessible, and publishes keynote lectures given at conferences organized by the Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES) or its members. Founded in 1867, SJES is owned and supported by the SSES. The journal originally accepted articles in English, French, Italian, or German, but, since 2006, accepts submissions only in English. SJES particularly welcomes contributions from early-career researchers.The The journal’s day-to-day operations are managed by a team of co-editors: Martin Brown, Volker Grossmann, Rafael Lalive, and Cédric Tille. A board of associate editors supports the co-editors in strategic questions related to the journal: Iwan Barankay, Iris Bohnet, Mike Burkart, Jean-Pierre Danthine, Jordi Gali, Simon Gächter, Urban Jermann, Guido Kursteiner, Andreas Müller, Ugo Panizza, Rene Stulz, and Beatrice Weder di Mauro.Articles submitted to the journal are assigned to a handling co-editor who screens the paper to ensure it fits with the journal’s aims and scope. The co-editor desk-rejects articles which have very low chances of a positive outcome or suggests a transfer to other journals. Articles selected for peer-review are sent to two anonymous external referees, who assess the paper’s novelty, importance, and validity. Based on the reviewer’s reports, the handling co-editor takes a first round decision. SJES is committed to a high-quality, efficient review process with a first round response time of about 2 months.Starting in 2018, SJES publishes with SpringerOpen, the open access portfolio of Springer Nature, ensuring visibility of accepted work. The SSES fully subsidizes the processing charge for accepted papers. All articles are published online immediately after acceptance and production. SJES is indexed in RepEC and places in the top tier of all RepEC journals, based on the impact factor for the last 10 years. Articles of particular relevance for economic policy in Switzerland are selected and disseminated in Die Volkswirtschaft/La Vie économique, a German and French language journal.SJES publishes three invited articles this month, based on keynote lectures given at the 2017 annual conference of the SSES in June 2017. Marion Fourcade (UC Berkeley) dissects the superiority of economists in economic policy advice. Aymo Brunetti (University of Berne) outlines what it takes to give policy advice and where the challenges are. Monika Bütler, the former president of the SSES, comments on the two keynote lectures and provides her own point of view.SJES publishes two regular contributions this month in Springer Open. Philippe Bachetta (University of Lausanne) provides a macroeconomic assessment of the Sovereign Money Initiative in Switzerland. Arun Advani (University of Warwick) provides a review of methods to identify Linear Network Models.Co-EditorsMartin Brown, University of St. Gallen, SwitzerlandVolker Grossmann, University of Fribourg, SwitzerlandRafael Lalive, University of Lausanne, SwitzerlandCédric Tille, Graduate Institute Geneva, SwitzerlandAssociate EditorsWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, USAIwan Barankay, Harvard University, USAIris Bohnet, London School of Economics, UKMike Burkart, Paris School of Economics, FranceJean-Pierre Danthine, CREI, SpainJordi Gali, University of Nottingham, UKSimon Gächter, Wharton School, USAUrban Jermann, University of Maryland, USAGuido Kursteiner, Columbia Business School, USAAndreas Müller, Graduate Institute Geneva, SwitzerlandUgo Panizza, Ohio State University, USARene Stulz, University of Mainz, GermanyBeatrice Weder di Mauro,


Scientific Reports 10.1038/s41598-019-41019-1, published online 13 March 2019Correction to: The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Nagayoshi Katsuta, which was incorrectly given as Katsuta Nagayoshi. In addition, the Article contained an error in Affiliation 3, which was incorrectly given as ‘Department of Education, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan’. The correct affiliation is listed below:Faculty of Education, Gifu University, Gifu, JapanThese errors have now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article, and in the accompanying Supplementary Information file.


Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent airway obstruction, airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), airway inflammation, and airway remodeling, which is often associated with allergy and allergic rhinitis. Many patients with asthma are poorly controlled by current drug treatment, particularly a subgroup of patients with difficult‐to‐treat severe asthma, characterized by chronic symptoms, severe exacerbations, progressive loss of lung function, and resistance to corticosteroids. New therapeutic options are therefore highly warranted.l‐arginine to l‐ornithine and urea. Arginase is also expressed in nonhepatic tissues, including the airways. Two isoforms have been identified, arginases 1 and 2, which are encoded by different genes and are differentially expressed in the body.Our patent covers arginase as a new drug target for the treatment of asthma and/or allergic rhinitis, making use of an arginase inhibitor.l‐arginine is also substrate for constitutive and inducible nitric oxide synthases (cNOS and iNOS) yielding l‐citrulline and NO, one biological function of extrahepatic arginase may be regulating NO levels through competition with NOS for their common substrate−) by particularly inflammation‐induced iNOS, by reduced bioavailability of l‐arginine to these enzymes. Moreover, increased arginase activity increases the production of l‐ornithine and its downstream products polyamines and l‐proline, which may be involved in airway remodeling by inducing cell proliferation, and enhanced collagen production and fibrosis, respectivelySince S)‐amino‐6‐boronohexanoic acid (ABH) considerably reduces the airway sensitivity to inhaled allergen and protects against allergen‐induced early and late asthmatic reactions, AHR after these reactions, and airway inflammation. Moreover, ABH acutely reversed AHR after the early and late asthmatic reaction.Supporting evidence for this mechanism and thus for a role of arginase in the pathophysiology of allergic asthma and, potentially, other allergic disorders like allergic rhinitis was found in a guinea pig model of allergic asthma. Using this model, we discovered that inhalation of the potent specific arginase inhibitor 2, we demonstrated that arginase inhibition reduces guinea pig airway responsiveness in vitro by increasing NO production ; Refs. ARG1 and ARG2 polymorphisms are associated with asthma, asthma severity , and reduced responsiveness to β2‐agonists and glucocorticosteroids.There is growing evidence for an important role of arginase in patients with asthma. Arginase 1 and arginase 2 expression and/or arginase activity are enhanced in asthmatic airways and in serum, and there is an association between arginase expression in bronchial brushings, serum arginase activity, plasma Studies in animal models and in asthmatic patients indicate an important role for both arginase 1 and arginase 2 in the pathophysiology of, particularly severe, asthma and allergic rhinitis. Therefore, arginase inhibitors, having an unique anti‐allergic, bronchoprotective, anti‐inflammatory, and anti‐remodeling profile, may be effective in the treatment of these diseases, possibly guided by the arginine metabolome in blood. Potential drugs are presently under development, some in clinical trials. As no subtype‐selective arginase inhibitors are presently available, development of such selective inhibitors to address potential, as yet unknown, differential roles of arginases 1 and 2 may further benefit patients suffering from these diseases.Dr. Meurs reports grants from Lung Foundation Netherlands, grants from N.V. Organon, Oss, The Netherlands, grants from Schering‐Plough Research Institute, Oss, The Netherlands, grants from Merck Sharpe and Dohme, Oss, The Netherlands, during the conduct of the study; grants from Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), grants from Carmolex Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA, outside the submitted work; In addition, Dr. Meurs has a patent Use of arginase inhibitors in the treatment of asthma and allergic rhinitis licensed to Carmolex Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Dr. Zaagsma reports grants from Lung Foundation Netherlands, grants from N.V. Organon, Oss, The Netherlands, grants from Schering‐Plough Research Institute, Oss, The Netherlands, grants from Merck Sharpe and Dohme, Oss, The Netherlands, during the conduct of the study; In addition, Dr. Zaagsma has a patent Use of arginase inhibitors in the treatment of asthma and allergic rhinitis licensed to Carmolex Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Dr. Maarsingh reports grants from N.V. Organon, Oss, The Netherlands, grants from Schering‐Plough Research Institute, Oss, The Netherlands, personal fees from Schering‐Plough, Kenilworth, NJ, USA, grants from Merck Sharpe and Dohme, Oss, The Netherlands, during the conduct of the study; In addition, Dr. Maarsingh has a patent Use of arginase inhibitors in the treatment of asthma and allergic rhinitis licensed to Carmolex Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA. At the time of this work Dr. van Duin was an employee of Organon/Schering Plough/Merck MSD and involved in the scientific collaboration with the corresponding author, Dr. Meurs. In addition, Dr. van Duin has a patent Use of arginase inhibitors in the treatment of asthma and allergic rhinitis licensed to Carmolex Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA.


The authors of the paper “Epidemiology of Surgical Site Infections With Staphylococcus aureus in Europe: Protocol for a Retrospective, Multicenter Study” :e63) made a mistake in the final stage of proofreading. In the affiliations list, Dr Liss’s affiliation was incorrectly listed as “Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany”. Instead, his affiliation should read “Department I of Internal Medicine, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany”.The correction will appear in the online version of the paper on the JMIR website on January 7, 2019, 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 also has been resubmitted to those repositories.


This Editor-in-Chief felt satisfied when he browsed the last volume of the European Journal of General Practice (EJGP). In 2018, we published 39 articles, including as many as 25 reports of original research. In addition to five articles with multinational authors, authors came from various countries across Europe, including Spain, France, Ireland, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Turkey. The topics were as varied as a GP’s working day, reflecting many aspects of family medicine and primary care. Many papers were on clinical topics like cardiovascular diseases, mental health, gastrointestinal diseases, infections, or Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, interdisciplinary collaboration , palliative care and end-of-life medicine, quality and safety issues, including polypharmacy were important overarching themes. Healthcare reform was another relevant topic. We also published several papers on medical education. Our four-paper series on qualitative research methodology published in 2017 and 2018 apparently met a need: over 20 000 views altogether and 21 citations thus far [Of all these publications, like last year, the EJGP editors each picked three articles they found most valuable. The highest-ranking paper, mentioned by three editors, was the original research article by Katarina Vučićević and her colleagues from Serbia . The papAs of now, we re-introduce the ‘four-issues-in-one-volume’ format. That way, we try to offer the visitors of the EJGP website a clear overview of our publications. In 2019, we hope to publish the first parts of a series on eHealth . If you https://www.nhg.org/national-general-practice-research-agenda.I want to highlight one publication in this first issue of Volume 25. I know an Editor-in-Chief should be reluctant in promoting articles written by colleagues from his home country. However, I should like to make an exception for the article on the Dutch research agenda for general practice . The papFinally, I wish you all have a good start in 2019 and I hope it will become a successful year with a lot to read, think, and write about.Department of Family Medicine,Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI),Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands,ejgp-jstoffers@maastrichtuniversity.nl.Jelle Stoffers, Editor-in-Chief, the European Journal of General Practice,


The data on the specifics of synthesis of elemental silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) having various geometric shapes , obtained by using various biological methods, and their use in biology and medicine have been systematized and generalized. The review covers mainly publications published in the current 21st century. Bibliography: 262 references. Nägeli ), as well as organic . The process of reducing Ag(I) compounds to elemental silver according to the Ag(I)→Ag scheme can occur in a variety of reaction media; at the same time, specific chemical reagents (most often polyvinylpyrrolidone) are used to stabilize the resulting nanoparticles (to prevent their aggregation). The formation of Ag-NP, according to data  et al) immobilized in a gelatin mass acts as a silver-containing precursor. The reducing agent is an organic or inorganic substance with strongly pronounced electron-donor properties. One of the most suitable for this purpose is tin dichloride SnCl2, which was used to obtain gelatin-immobilized Ag-NP in , but Ag(I) complexes with the inorganic and organic compounds named above, were actually reduced. The size of the pseudospherical Ag-NP obtained in this variant of biosynthesis is in the range from 10 to 40 nm; this was first experimentally established in [The literature contains a number of data showing the possibility of using for the synthesis of Ag-NP various products of animal origin, in particular polypeptide high molecular weight compounds (proteins). Owing to the large size of their molecules, the molecular mass of which (M) is tens and hundreds of thousands of carbon units , their role in this process is reduced mainly to function (3), i.e. substrates that hinder the aggregation of already formed nanoparticles  is not excluded); in that way, these nanoparticles are immobilized in masses of these substrates. An example of such a substrate is gelatin, which is the main component of various food  jellies. As known ,193,194,Ag-NP in ,200,201.ished in . In thisished in , their aished in ,202,203.Gelatin is not the only polypeptide substrate that can be used for this purpose; so, the various albumins are known for the synthesis of Ag-NP ,205,206.3 precursor in solution of this biopolymer was studied by Apryatina et al. [max) is at 424 nm, at M = 127,000 c.u., at 412 nm, at M = 165,000 c.u., at 400 nm, at M = 240,000 c.u., at 383 nm. Herewith, Ag-NP formed in chitosan solutions with a higher molecular mass and having a size of 8 nm, exhibit much more pronounced bactericidal activity than Ag-NP with a size of 12 nm [Another suitable substrate for the synthesis of Ag-NP can be a natural biopolymer chitin and chitosan derived from it. Chitosan is characterized by so-called mucoadhesive properties (ability to adhere to various mucous membranes) , which sa et al. ,213. It a et al. ,213 wereof 12 nm ,213. In of 12 nm  Uryupina60Co isotope contributed to the restoration of the AgNO3 precursor. As a result of the studies, new radiation-induced bactericidal metal-polymer nanosystems containing the above biopolymer and elemental silver nanoparticles, were created. Besides, by varying the dose of γ-radiation, as well as the degree of filling of the biopolymer macromolecules with Ag+ ions, the authors of works [In ,218,219,of works ,216 weremax in the range of 410–425 nm were received. However, according to the authors of this article, systematic research in this direction has not yet been undertaken.Thus, in principle, other high-molecular compounds belonging to the number of polysaccharides, for example, agar-agar, carrageenan and guar, can be used as substrates for the production of silver nanoparticles. In  pseudo-s2 matrix exhibits catalytic properties in redox reactions involving benzene, carbon monoxide, some dyes, and, possibly, many other chemical compounds. In particular, benzene under these conditions is almost completely oxidized to phenol even when the Ag-NP content in the matrix is about 1 mass. %. Reactions between sodium borohydride and dyes such as methylene blue and eosin, in the presence of Ag-NP in the reaction system, proceed at a very high rate, whereas in their absence such reactions practically do not take place. Besides, the SiO2 substrate actually serves only to prevent the aggregation of Ag-NP in a colloidal solution [Currently, elemental silver nanoparticles obtained by various methods are used in a very diverse fields of science and technology. Thus, an important area of application of Ag-NP is catalysis, which can be implemented in two versions: with the influence on the reaction system of electromagnetic radiation  and without it. For example, in ,222 it wsolution ,227,228.solution , as a bisolution , in biocsolution , for prosolution  and for solution . A layersolution .The foregoing, however, relates mainly to those Ag-NP that were produced by chemical and physicochemical methods. And although Ag-NP obtained using “green synthesis” could also find their application in the above areas of science and technology, nevertheless, their modern practical application is related to the field of their production. As in this case biosynthesis of Ag-NP, as a rule, was carried out in laboratories of biological and/or biochemical section with participation of experts in the field of biochemistry and biotechnology; attention of researchers was focused on the application of Ag-NP in biology, first of all in medicine and pharmacology.Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus aureus, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli: from bacteriostatic  to bactericidal (ability to destroy microbes) [Bacillus [Staphylococcus [Pseudomonas [Klebsiella [Escherichia [Salmonella [Enterococcus [Serratia [Bacillus [Staphylococcus [Pseudomonas [Klebsiella [Escherichia [Salmonella [Enterococcus [Streptococcus [Currently, significant factual material related to bioapplications of Ag-NP already exists ,237,238.Bacillus ,103,106,lococcus , Pseudomudomonas ,100,103,ebsiella ,100,106,herichia , Salmonelmonella ,77, Enterococcus  and SerrSerratia , was notBacillus ,162,186,lococcus ,186, Pseudomonas ,146,155,ebsiella , Escheriherichia ,186, Sallmonella ,186, Entrococcus  and Stretococcus  was obsetococcus . Meanwhitococcus . In quantococcus  the disctococcus ,126,139 An important fact is that clearly expressed anticancer activity of silver nanoparticles was identified ,156,162.Staphylococcus and Escherichia [Ag-NP seems to be characterized by a highly synergistic bactericidal action in combination with such well-known antibiotics as penicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin and vancomycin; such a phenomenon has been observed, for example, against bacteria of the genus herichia . It shouherichia ,247. Anopheles [Plasmodium falciparum [Aedes and Culex [Another possibility for the application Ag-NP is their use as part of larvicidal compositions. In particular, it was proposed to use biosynthesized Ag-NP against malaria mosquitoes of the genus nopheles ,252,253,lciparum , and mosnd Culex . . Finally, it is very important to improve existing methods and develop new methods of isolating nanoparticles from the parent systems in which they were formed .