我国医学SCIE研究型论文被撤销的原因分析

【目的】 分析2019—2020年我国学者发表在SCIE收录期刊上的医学研究型论文撤稿原因及其特征,为更有针对性地防范我国医学领域学术不端行为发生、完善科研诚信体系提供参考。【方法】 在撤稿观察数据库(Retraction Watch Database)中检索2019—2020年撤稿的我国医学SCIE研究型论文,提取撤销论文标题、作者姓名和单位、载文期刊名称、期刊出版商、撤稿原因等信息。应用GraphPad Prism 8.3.0软件进行描述性统计分析,对撤销论文发表期刊的影响因子和撤稿率进行Spearman相关性分析。【结果】 2019—2020年,我国医学SCIE研究型论文累计撤稿479篇,撤稿原因主要为关注或问题、重复发表、研究错误等,具体撤稿理由包括数据问题、图片问题、方法与结果问题、作者无回应等。撤销论文分布于194种期刊,其中PLoS ONE、European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences、Journal of Cellular Biochemistry、OncoTargets and Therapy、Biosciences Reports居撤销论文数量前5位,Springer Nature、Elsevier和PLoS居撤销论文出版商前3位。撤销论文载文期刊影响因子与期刊撤稿率呈负相关。【结论】 我国学者发表的医学类SCIE研究型论文因数据和图片等问题而被撤稿的概率较高,应加强我国医学领域科研诚信体系建设,减少学术不端行为发生。     

Aural tuberculosis at the start of the 21st century. Literature review according to SWiM guidelines. Part 2: Treatment

ObjectivesSystematic review of the scientific literature dedicated to treatment modalities and results for aural tuberculosis published since the start of the 21^st century.Material and methodsSearch of the Medline, Cochrane and Embase databases for the period 2000 - 2020. Selection of articles in English, French and Spanish devoted to clinical cases and series documenting treatment of auricular tuberculosis. Extraction of data on pre-established files documenting treatment modalities and results. Reading of articles by two authors. Analysis performed according to SWiM guidelines, evaluating cure, tuberculosis-related death, treatment-related complications, improvement in facial palsy, and hearing sequelae rates.ResultsOne hundred and twenty eight articles: 118 case reports (159 patients) and 10 cohorts (177 patients) from 42 countries were analyzed. Female/male sex ratio was 1.2 with ages ranging from 1 month to 87 years. Medical treatment consisted in 5 to 24 months’ antitubercular antibiotic treatment using 2 to 8 antibiotics. Mastoidectomy, tympanoplasty and facial nerve decompression were associated to medical treatment in 64.7%, 17.4% and 6.2% of cases, respectively. Overall rates of cure, death, treatment-related complications, facial sequelae and hearing sequelae were 96.8%, 2%, 9.5%, 35.8% and 75.5%. In case reports, BCG vaccination did not appear to protect against facial palsy and severe intracranial complications (P > 0.6). There was no significant correlation (P > 0.3) between death and the clinical variables tested, and facial nerve decompression did not appear to influence outcome for facial function (P = 0.4).ConclusionMedical treatment is very effective but not without risk of death, complications and sequelae. It is the same as for pulmonary tuberculosis. Indications for and benefit of major auricular surgery during medical treatment deserve further studies.     

A case of medical liability involving an unexpected systemic amyloidosis

The authors present a case of fatal amyloid cardiomyopathy, which was diagnosed only upon autopsy. A 57-year-old man was admitted to the hospital for scheduled percutaneous cardiac procedure of transcatheter radiofrequency ablation due to persistent atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter. Ventricular fibrillation was recorded in the monitor 2 h after the surgical procedure. Therefore, he was defibrillated and intubated, but he died for nosocomial pneumonia 26 days after being admitted. A judicial autopsy was ordered by the prosecutor due to an alleged medical malpractice. The autopsy confirmed the cause of death being pneumonia, but also revealed an occult restrictive cardiomyopathy with a thick and firm myocardium. Viscera samples were then collected for microscopic examination. Histopathologic analysis showed diffuse amyloid deposits in the myocardium, especially in the perivascular and subendocardial spaces. Amyloid deposits were also detected in all the other organs, except for the brain. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry for light chains was performed on the heart tissue sample, resulting to be positive. In the case presented herein, autopsy and histopathologic examination were crucial to diagnose an occult systemic amyloidosis (AL-type). In fact, it has been observed that the rarity of systematic amyloidosis and its unusual clinical onset were at first mistakenly perceived as a medical malpractice due to a technical error within the catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. As a consequence, upon discussing the clinical and medicolegal implications concerning the case, the focus was placed on the undiagnosed systemic amyloidosis and on the causality between surgical procedure and the patient’s death.     

发达国家医学生器官捐献意愿研究现状的范围综述

目的了解发达国家医学生器官捐献意愿研究的目的、结果、障碍因素和解决对策。 方法以主题词和自由词联合的方式对PubMed、Web of Science、Ovid MEDLINE、Ovid EMBASE(Excerpta Medica)、EBSCOhost Complete和Cochrane Library等已发表文献数据库，以及灰色文献数据库York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination、Open Grey、ProQuest Dissertation and Theses和Mednar进行系统、全面地检索，并采用Arksey和O′Malley提出的范围综述框架进行文献资料整合。 结果共纳入17项发达国家医学生器官捐献意愿研究。研究背景主要为医学生未来对于公众器官捐献有着重要影响。研究结果表明，大多数医学生器官捐献意愿性良好，但不同亚组的研究结果不一；其最主要的障碍因素为医学生器官捐献相关知识的缺乏；解决对策主要为施予系统化、结构化和可评价的教育课程。 结论21世纪以来发达国家医学生器官捐献意愿研究方兴未艾，其研究的多层面、多角度以及揭示的问题、寻求的解决对策，可对我国现阶段医学生器官捐献的研究提供一定参考。     

医学期刊编辑对生物医学研究伦理问题的处理方式调研及建议

【目的】 探讨医学期刊编辑处理生物医学研究伦理问题的方式,为推动确立医学期刊伦理审查规范提供参考。【方法】 通过问卷星向国内医学期刊编辑发放调查问卷,对审稿时和论文出版后处理医学伦理相关问题的方式展开调研。【结果】 共回收问卷230份。调查显示:在审稿阶段,在保护患者隐私方面,英文期刊、中英双语期刊的编辑更注重要求作者提供授权同意相关证明材料;中、英文期刊以及中英双语期刊的编辑对涉及人体试验伦理问题的处理方式都比较规范。但是,对于研究是否获得患者知情同意、动物实验研究是否经过伦理委员会审查、回顾性研究是否需要伦理审查、涉及人的研究是否在临床试验注册中心注册等问题,编辑还需要进一步重视。在论文出版后,编辑发现的医学伦理问题主要是“涉及人的研究未说明是否经过伦理委员会审查”。对论文出版后发现的没有保护患者隐私和没有在临床试验注册中心注册的问题,大部分期刊缺乏相关处理方案。【结论】 编辑应加强对论文知情同意、动物实验伦理、回顾性研究伦理的审查,并审查涉及人的研究是否在临床试验注册中心注册,以推动我国医学期刊的高质量发展。     

Do social support and community engagement act as mechanisms in the association between neighbourhood income inequality and the mental health of mothers in Calgary,Canada? A mediation analysis

PurposeAccording to the social determinants of health framework, income inequality is a potential risk factor for adverse mental health. However, few studies have explored the mechanisms suspected to mediate this relationship. The current study addresses this gap through a mediation analysis to determine if social support and community engagement act as mediators linking neighbourhood income inequality to maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms within a cohort of new mothers living in the City of Calgary, Canada.MethodsData collected at three years postpartum from mothers belonging to the All Our Families (AOF) cohort were used in the current study. Maternal data were collected between 2012 and 2015 and linked to neighbourhood socioeconomic data from the 2006 Canadian Census. Income inequality was measured using Gini coefficients derived from 2006 after-tax census data. Generalized structural equation models were used to quantify the associations between income inequality and mental health symptoms, and to assess the potential direct and indirect mediating effects of maternal social support and community engagement.ResultsIncome inequality was not significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.32, 95%CI = −0.067, 0.70), anxiety symptoms (β = 0.11, 95%CI = −0.39, 0.60), or lower social support. Income inequality was not associated with community engagement. For the depression models, higher social support was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms (β = −0.13, 95%CI = −0.15, −0.097), while community engagement was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β = 0.059, 95%CI = −0.15, 0.27). Similarly, for the anxiety models, lower anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with higher levels of social support (β = −0.17, 95%CI = −0.20, −0.13) but not with higher levels of community engagement (β = 0.14, 95%CI = −0.14, 0.41).ConclusionThe current study did not find clear evidence for social support or community engagement mediating the relationship between neighbourhood income inequality and maternal mental health. Future investigations should employ a broader longitudinal approach to capture changes in income inequality, potential mediators, and mental health symptomatology over time.     

Patient and clinician experiences with cross-border reproductive care: A systematic review

ObjectivesThis review analyzes the experiences of patients and clinicians with regards to international cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) for the purpose of conception.MethodsElectronic databases PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched using ‘medical tourism’ AND ‘assisted reproductive technology’ from 1978 to 2020.ResultsPredominant patient motivators for CBRC were cost and legality of assisted reproduction technology (ART) in one's home country, followed by cultural factors like shared language, religion, and cultural familiarity. Clinicians suggested global laws for CBRC would reduce the potential for exploitation of vulnerable populations but believed the enactment of international regulations unlikely and, even if enacted, difficult to enforce.ConclusionsWhile patient and clinician experiences with CBRC varied, patients frequently cited financial and legal reasons for pursuing CBRC, while many providers had concern for the patient’s safety.Clinical practice implicationsThis review recommends clinicians involved in family planning counsel patients seeking treatment abroad by: (i) informing patients of the risks and benefits of treatment abroad, (ii) establishing guidelines and standards for clinicians on resuming patient care post-CBRC, and (iii) creating a directory of reputable CBRC clinicians and experts.