Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases最新文献

{"title":"The coevolution between telson morphology and venom glands in scorpions (Arachnida).","authors":"Wilson R Lourenço","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0128","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As in previous contributions to the <i>JVATiTD</i>, the aim of this note is to bring some general information on a particular aspect of the scorpion biology. An attempt is made to explain the possible coevolution of telson morphology and venom glands, which took place during several hundred million years and in particular since scorpions migrated from aquatic to terrestrial environments. Three components can be directly associated with predation and defensive behaviours: (1) morphology of the chelae and structure of the chelae fingers granulations; (2) morphology of the metasoma and in particular of the telson; (3) evolution of tegumentary glands in the telson toward different types of venom glands. Since a number of recent contributions already treated some of these aspects, I will limit my comments to the possible evolution of the telson in relation to the evolution of venom glands. As in previous contributions, the content of this article is basically addressed to non-specialists on scorpions whose research embraces scorpions in several fields such as venom toxins and public health.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20200128"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7546543/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38516665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Erratum: Streamlined downstream process for efficient and sustainable F(ab')₂ antivenom preparation.","authors":"","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0025er","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0025er","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1590/1678-9199-jvatitd-2020-0025.].</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e2020025er"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7546365/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38516666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Kunitz-type peptide from <i>Dendroaspis polylepis</i> venom as a simultaneous inhibitor of serine and cysteine proteases.","authors":"Roberto Tadashi Kodama,&nbsp;Alexandre Kazuo Kuniyoshi,&nbsp;Cristiane Castilho Fernandes da Silva,&nbsp;Daniela Cajado-Carvalho,&nbsp;Bruno Duzzi,&nbsp;Douglas Ceolin Mariano,&nbsp;Daniel C Pimenta,&nbsp;Rafael Borges,&nbsp;Wilmar Dias da Silva,&nbsp;Fernanda Calheta Vieira Portaro","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Proteases play an important role for the proper physiological functions of the most diverse organisms. When unregulated, they are associated with several pathologies. Therefore, proteases have become potential therapeutic targets regarding the search for inhibitors. Snake venoms are complex mixtures of molecules that can feature a variety of functions, including peptidase inhibition. Considering this, the present study reports the purification and characterization of a Kunitz-type peptide present in the <i>Dendroaspis polylepis</i> venom as a simultaneous inhibitor of elastase-1 and cathepsin L.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The low molecular weight pool from <i>D. polylepis</i> venom was fractionated in reverse phase HPLC and all peaks were tested in fluorimetric assays. The selected fraction that presented inhibitory activity over both proteases was submitted to mass spectrometry analysis, and the obtained sequence was determined as a Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitor homolog dendrotoxin I. The molecular docking of the Kunitz peptide on the elastase was carried out in the program Z-DOCK, and the program RosettaDock was used to add hydrogens to the models, which were re-ranked using ZRANK program.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The fraction containing the Kunitz molecule presented similar inhibition of both elastase-1 and cathepsin L. This Kunitz-type peptide was characterized as an uncompetitive inhibitor for elastase-1, presenting an inhibition constant (K_i) of 8 μM. The docking analysis led us to synthesize two peptides: PEP1, which was substrate for both elastase-1 and cathepsin L, and PEP2, a 30-mer cyclic peptide, which showed to be a cathepsin L competitive inhibitor, with a K_i of 1.96 µM, and an elastase-1 substrate.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This work describes a Kunitz-type peptide toxin presenting inhibitory potential over serine and cysteine proteases, and this could contribute to further understand the envenomation process by <i>D. polylepis</i>. In addition, the PEP2 inhibits the cathepsin L activity with a low inhibition constant.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20200037"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7546081/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38516662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative gender peptidomics of <i>Bothrops atrox</i> venoms: are there differences between them?","authors":"Adriana Simizo, Eduardo S Kitano, Sávio S Sant'Anna, Kathleen Fernandes Grego, Anita Mitico Tanaka-Azevedo, Alexandre K Tashima","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0055","DOIUrl":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0055","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong><i>Bothrops atrox</i> is known to be the pit viper responsible for most snakebites and human fatalities in the Amazon region. It can be found in a wide geographical area including northern South America, the east of Andes and the Amazon basin. Possibly, due to its wide distribution and generalist feeding, intraspecific venom variation was reported by previous proteomics studies. Sex-based and ontogenetic variations on venom compositions of <i>Bothrops</i> snakes were also subject of proteomic and peptidomic analysis. However, the venom peptidome of <i>B. atrox</i> remains unknown.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a mass spectrometry-based analysis of the venom peptides of individual male and female specimens combining bottom-up and top-down approaches.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We identified in <i>B. atrox</i> a total of 105 native peptides in the mass range of 0.4 to 13.9 kDa. Quantitative analysis showed that phospholipase A₂ and bradykinin potentiating peptides were the most abundant peptide families in both genders, whereas disintegrin levels were significantly increased in the venoms of females. Known peptides processed at non-canonical sites and new peptides as the Ba1a, which contains the SVMP BATXSVMPII1 catalytic site, were also revealed in this work.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The venom peptidomes of male and female specimens of <i>B. atrox</i> were analyzed by mass spectrometry-based approaches in this work. The study points to differences in disintegrin levels in the venoms of females that may result in distinct pathophysiology of envenomation. Further research is required to explore the potential biological implications of this finding.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20200055"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7546584/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38516664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spider bites of medical significance in the Mediterranean area: misdiagnosis, clinical features and management.","authors":"Gabriele Fusto,&nbsp;Luigi Bennardo,&nbsp;Ester Del Duca,&nbsp;Daniela Mazzuca,&nbsp;Federica Tamburi,&nbsp;Cataldo Patruno,&nbsp;Steven Paul Nisticò","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2019-0100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2019-0100","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the disrepute spiders have had for centuries, their bite is a rare occurrence. In the Mediterranean area, only two of the numerous known species are considered of medical significance: <i>Latrodectus tredecimguttatus</i> and <i>Loxosceles rufescens</i>. Spider bites have no pathognomonic signs or symptoms, therefore most diagnoses are presumptive; a spider bite can only be diagnosed when a spider (seen at the time of the bite) is collected and identified by an expert, since most physicians and patients are unable to recognize a certain spider species or distinguish spiders from other arthropods. Skin lesions of uncertain etiology are too often attributed to spider bites. In most cases, these are actually skin and soft-tissue infections, allergic reactions, dermatoses etc. Misdiagnosing a wound as a spider bite can lead to delays in appropriate care, cause adverse or even fatal outcomes and have medical-legal implications. Concerningly, misinformation on spider bites also affects the medical literature and it appears there is lack of awareness on current therapeutic indications for verified bites.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20190100"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7534902/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38498556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intravitreal injection of peptides PnPa11 and PnPa13, derivatives of <i>Phoneutria nigriventer</i> spider venom, prevents retinal damage.","authors":"Lays Fernanda Nunes Dourado,&nbsp;Flavia Rodrigues da Silva,&nbsp;Cibele Rodrigues Toledo,&nbsp;Carolina Nunes da Silva,&nbsp;Cleildo Pereira Santana,&nbsp;Bruna Lopes da Costa,&nbsp;Maria Elena de Lima,&nbsp;Armando da Silva Cunha","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>PnPa11 and PnPa13 are synthetic peptides derived from <i>Phoneutria nigriventer</i> spider venom, which display antinociceptive and neuroprotective properties. In this work, we evaluated the safety of intravitreal use and the neuroprotective effect of these peptides.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The cytotoxicity and the antiangiogenic activity of these peptides were evaluated by the sulforhodamine-B method and chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, respectively. The <i>in vivo</i> safety was analyzed in Wistar rats that were intravitreally injected with different doses (0.50; 1.25; 2.50; 3.75 and 5.00 µg/mL) of these peptides (right eye, n = 6). The retinal function was assessed by electroretinography exams (ERG), intraocular pressure (IOP), and histological analyzes. In order to investigate the neuroprotective effect, Wistar rats received intravitreal injections (right eye, n = 6) of peptides at 1.25 µg/mL and then were exposed to blue LED light. In addition, the visual function and the retinal microstructure were verified.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Cytotoxicity analyses demonstrated that the peptides did not present any toxicity over ARPE-19 (adult retinal pigmented epithelial) cell line and the antiangiogenic study highlighted that the peptides promoted the reduction of blood vessels. The intravitreal injection did not cause major changes, neither induced any irreversible damage. In the retinal degeneration assay, the ERG records demonstrated that the prior treatment with PnPa11 and PnPa13 protected the retina from damage. Morphological analyses confirmed the ERG findings. Immunoblotting analyses revealed that PnPa11 increased Erk1/2, NR2A, and NR2B retinal expression after the light stress model, but did not cause Akt1 activation, while PnPa13 prevented Erk1/2 and Akt1 dephosphorylation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The intraocular administration of these peptides was well tolerated and presented protective activity against retinal degeneration, suggesting the potential use of these peptides as neuroprotectors in the ophthalmological field.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20200031"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518191/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38553428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Envenomation by <i>Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri</i>: clinical manifestations, treatment and associated factors for wound necrosis.","authors":"Liao-Chun Chiang,&nbsp;Wei-Jen Tsai,&nbsp;Po-Yu Liu,&nbsp;Cheng-Hsuan Ho,&nbsp;Hung-Yuan Su,&nbsp;Chih-Sheng Lai,&nbsp;Kuo-Lung Lai,&nbsp;Wen-Loung Lin,&nbsp;Chi-Hsin Lee,&nbsp;Yi-Yuan Yang,&nbsp;Uyen Vy Doan,&nbsp;Tri Maharani,&nbsp;Yan-Chiao Mao","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong><i>Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri</i> bite induces tissue swelling, pain, thrombocytopenia, rhabdomyolysis, and acute renal failure. However, the incidence of coagulopathy, factors associated with wound necrosis, and the appropriate management of this condition have not been well characterized yet.</p><p><strong>Materials: </strong>This study included patients bitten by <i>T</i>. <i>s</i>. <i>stejnegeri</i> that were admitted to the study hospitals from 2001 to 2016. Patient characteristics, laboratory data, and management approaches were compared in victims with and without wound necrosis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 185 patients were evaluated: three patients (1.6%) were asymptomatic; whereas tissue swelling and pain, local ecchymosis, wound necrosis, coagulopathy, thrombocytopenia, rhabdomyolysis, and renal impairment were present in 182, 53, 13, 15, 10, 1, and 3 patients, respectively. One patient died from coagulopathy and hemorrhagic shock. Antivenom was administered to all envenomed patients at a median time of 1.8 h after the bite. The median total dose of antivenom was five vials. Chi-square analysis showed that bitten fingers, using cold packs during first aid, presence of bullae or blisters, lymphangitis or lymphadenitis, local numbness and suspected infection to be significantly associated with wound necrosis. After adjustment using a multivariate logistic regression model, only cold packs as first aid, bulla or blister formation, and wound infection remained significant.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The main effects of <i>T</i>. <i>s</i>. <i>stejnegeri</i> envenomation are tissue swelling, pain, and local ecchymosis. We do not recommend the use of cold packs during first aid to reduce wound pain, as this may be a risk factor for wound necrosis. In addition, patients with bulla or blister formation should be carefully examined for subsequent wound necrosis. Antiplatelet use may worsen systemic bleeding. No severe rhabdomyolysis or renal failure was observed in this large case series, we therefore considered that they were not prominent effects of <i>T</i>. <i>s</i>. <i>stejnegeri</i> bite.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20200043"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500479/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38425141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pediatric scorpionism in northern Amazonia: a 16-year study on epidemiological, environmental and clinical aspects.","authors":"Jules Vaucel,&nbsp;Remi Mutricy,&nbsp;Maëlle Hoarau,&nbsp;Jean-Marc Pujo,&nbsp;Narcisse Elenga,&nbsp;Magali Labadie,&nbsp;Hatem Kallel","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The Amazon basin is one of the seven major geographical areas where scorpionism is recorded. In French Guiana, 90 stings per 100,000 inhabitants are registered per year. As the severity of cases is higher in children, descriptive studies are needed to have a better understanding of this pathology. The aim of the present study is to describe pediatric scorpionism in French Guiana.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a monocentric descriptive retrospective study on scorpion stings in all pediatric patients admitted to Cayenne General Hospital from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2018.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In this survey, 132 patients were included. Of them, 63% were male. Patients with general signs of envenomation were younger and lighter (p = 0.04). The picture was \"one sting\" (95.3%) by a \"big\" (47.6%), \"black\" (60%) and \"small pincer\" (58%) scorpion on the extremity of the body (84%). Stings occurred mainly during the day, while patients changed clothes. There was no envenomation during night. The monthly evaluation highlights that the number of stings and percentage of general signs of envenomation were closely connected to a composite variable including the variation of the level of rivers (p = 0.005). Cardiac symptoms were recorded in 82% of cases with general signs of envenomation. The presence of pulmonary; ear, nose, and throat (ENT); or gastrointestinal symptoms are related to major envenomation (p = 0.001, p = 0.01, and p = 0.02 respectively). Leukocytosis and glycemia increased according to the envenomation grade whereas serum potassium and alkaline reserve decreased. Forty-six patients needed hospitalization and seven of them required intensive care. No patient died nor presented sequelae at discharge from the hospital.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Pediatric scorpionism in French Guiana is closely associated with child activities and climatic conditions. Severe envenomation presented most of the time with cardiac, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal symptoms.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e202000038"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7485965/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38420405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inflammatory lesions and brain tumors: is it possible to differentiate them based on texture features in magnetic resonance imaging?","authors":"Allan Felipe Fattori Alves,&nbsp;José Ricardo de Arruda Miranda,&nbsp;Fabiano Reis,&nbsp;Sergio Augusto Santana de Souza,&nbsp;Luciana Luchesi Rodrigues Alves,&nbsp;Laisson de Moura Feitoza,&nbsp;José Thiago de Souza de Castro,&nbsp;Diana Rodrigues de Pina","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2020-0011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Neuroimaging strategies are essential to locate, to elucidate the etiology, and to the follow up of brain disease patients. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides good cerebral soft-tissue contrast detection and diagnostic sensitivity. Inflammatory lesions and tumors are common brain diseases that may present a similar pattern of a cerebral ring enhancing lesion on MRI, and non-enhancing core (which may reflect cystic components or necrosis) leading to misdiagnosis. Texture analysis (TA) and machine learning approaches are computer-aided diagnostic tools that can be used to assist radiologists in such decisions.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, we combined texture features with machine learning (ML) methods aiming to differentiate brain tumors from inflammatory lesions in magnetic resonance imaging. Retrospective examination of 67 patients, with a pattern of a cerebral ring enhancing lesion, 30 with inflammatory, and 37 with tumoral lesions were selected. Three different MRI sequences and textural features were extracted using gray level co-occurrence matrix and gray level run length. All diagnoses were confirmed by histopathology, laboratorial analysis or MRI.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The features extracted were processed for the application of ML methods that performed the classification. T1-weighted images proved to be the best sequence for classification, in which the differentiation between inflammatory and tumoral lesions presented high accuracy (0.827), area under ROC curve (0.906), precision (0.837), and recall (0.912).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The algorithm obtained textures capable of differentiating brain tumors from inflammatory lesions, on T1-weghted images without contrast medium using the Random Forest machine learning classifier.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20200011"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473508/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38398604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating Journal Impact Factor: a systematic survey of the pros and cons, and overview of alternative measures.","authors":"Eugene Mech,&nbsp;Muhammad Muneeb Ahmed,&nbsp;Edward Tamale,&nbsp;Matthew Holek,&nbsp;Guowei Li,&nbsp;Lehana Thabane","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2019-0082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2019-0082","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Journal Impact Factor (JIF) has several intrinsic flaws, which highlight its inability to adequately measure citation distributions or indicate journal quality. Despite these flaws, JIF is still widely used within the academic community, resulting in the propagation of potentially misleading information. A critical review of the usefulness of JIF is needed including an overview of the literature to identify viable alternative metrics. The objectives of this study are: <i>(1)</i> to assess the usefulness of JIF by compiling and comparing its advantages and disadvantages; <i>(2)</i> to record the differential uses of JIF within research environments; and <i>(3)</i> to summarize and compare viable alternative measures to JIF.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Three separate literature search strategies using MEDLINE and Web of Science were completed to address the three study objectives. Each search was completed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Results were compiled in tabular format and analyzed based on reporting frequency.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For objective <i>(1)</i>, 84 studies were included in qualitative analysis. It was found that the recorded advantages of JIF were outweighed by disadvantages (18 disadvantages vs. 9 advantages). For objective <i>(2)</i>, 653 records were included in a qualitative analysis. JIF was found to be most commonly used in journal ranking (n = 653, 100%) and calculation of scientific research productivity (n = 367, 56.2%). For objective <i>(3)</i>, 65 works were included in qualitative analysis. These articles revealed 45 alternatives, which includes 18 alternatives that improve on highly reported disadvantages of JIF.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>JIF has many disadvantages and is applied beyond its original intent, leading to inaccurate information. Several metrics have been identified to improve on certain disadvantages of JIF. Integrated Impact Indicator (I3) shows great promise as an alternative to JIF. However, further scientometric analysis is needed to assess its properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":"26 ","pages":"e20190082"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2020-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7458102/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38391639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}