Alzheimer’s disease (AD), once considered a rare disease, is now the most common form of dementia in the elderly population. Current drugs (cholinesterase inhibitors and glutamate antagonists) are safe but of limited benefit to most patients, offering symptomatic relief without successful cure of the disease. Since the last several decades, there has been a great need for the development of a treatment that might cure the underlying causes of AD and thereby slow its progression in vulnerable individuals. That is why phase I, II, and III studies that act on several fronts, such as cognitive improvement, symptom reduction, and enhancing the basic biology of AD, are imperative to stop the disease. This review discusses current treatment strategies, summarizing the clinical features and pharmacological properties, along with molecular docking analyses of the existing medications.

Increased environmental pollution, urbanization, and a wide variety of anthropogenic activities have led to the release of toxic pollutants into the environment, including heavy metals (HMs). It has been found that increasing concentrations of HMs lead to toxicity, mineral imbalances, and serious diseases, which are occurring more and more frequently. Therefore, testing has become imperative to detect these deficiencies in a timely manner. The detection of traces of HMs, especially toxic ones, in human tissues, various biological fluids, or hair is a complex, high-precision analysis that enables early diagnosis, addressing people under constant stress or exposed to a toxic environment; the test also targets people who have died in suspicious circumstances. Tissue mineral analysis (TMA) determines the concentration of toxic minerals/metals at the intracellular level and can therefore determine correlations between measured concentrations and imbalances in the body. Framing the already-published information on the topic, this review aimed to explore the toxicity of HMs to human health, the harmful effects of their accumulation, the advantages vs. the disadvantages of choosing different biological fluids/tissues/organs necessary for the quantitative measurement of HM in the human body, as well as the choice of the optimal method, correlated with the purpose of the analysis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multifactorial disorder of autoimmune etiology with a complex pathophysiological mechanism that is not yet fully elucidated. RA pharmacotherapy includes active molecules of chemical or biological nature that offer symptomatic relief and a slowing of progression, but still in a context of incurability. Therefore, the development of continuous research and multidisciplinary collaboration is essential. Although the management of RA is a topic of significant scientific relevance, existing bibliometric analyses are insufficient to assess this vast field. Consequently, the present study examines numerous manuscripts indexed in the Web of Science database using the VOSviewer software to provide through statistical interpretation of the data a comprehensive description of RA pharmacotherapy in terms of scientific impact, current state of research, number and frequency of citations, most prolific journals, authors, and countries, along with their relationships and other useful data for the literature search/publication process. Furthermore, the use of bubble maps of term occurrence has applicability in identifying current research trends in the field of RA pharmacotherapy as well as their evolution over the years. The leader in this field in terms of published papers is the United States, and the most prolific journal is Annals of the rheumatic diseases. The global management of RA, which is characterized by extensiveness and depth due to many variables, suggests the need for a conceptual framework based on pharmacotherapy coupled with comprehensive bibliometric studies, and the results may be useful for researchers in setting specific objectives that contribute to improving RA outcomes.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents an unmet clinical need, due to a high mortality rate, rapid mutation rate in the virus, increased chances of reinfection, lack of effectiveness of repurposed drugs and economic damage. COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for effective molecules. Clinically proven efficacy and safety profiles have made favipiravir (FVP) and remdesivir (RDV) promising therapeutic options for use against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Even though both are prodrug molecules with an antiviral role based on a similar mechanism of action, differences in pharmacological, pharmacokinetic and pharmacotoxicological mechanisms have been identified. The present study aims to provide a comprehensive comparative assessment of FVP and RDV against SARS-CoV-2 infections, by centralizing medical data provided by significant literature and authorized clinical trials, focusing on the importance of a better understanding of the interactions between drug molecules and infectious agents in order to improve the global management of COVID-19 patients and to reduce the risk of antiviral resistance.

Significant environmental and social issues confront the textile and apparel industries, including resource depletion and excessive textile waste. Implementing circular economy principles is essential for the sustainability of this industry. The present paper is a bibliometric analysis study type designed to identify collaborative networks, prolific countries, journals, and influential articles pertaining to the implementation of the circular economy in the textile and apparel industries that may serve as a starting point for an in-depth understanding of the subject, facilitating the knowledge of essential bibliometric parameters for pre-publication phases. The data were extracted from the Web of Science and analyzed using both the Web of Science web interface and the VOSviewer software version 1.6.19. The bibliometric data were divided into two distinct periods to analyze the evolution of this subject over time: from 1975 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2023. In the first period, the most productive country was the United States, with 527 publications, accounting for 10.81% of the scientific output during that time. In the second period, China emerged as the most productive country, with 2478 published documents, constituting 18.44% of the total production in this period. During the first period, Istanbul Technical University was the most active institution, with 91 publications (1.87% of the total production), while in the second period the Indian Institute of Technology System was the most productive, with 265 documents (1.95%). These key findings demonstrate the textile industry’s commitment to sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. They also highlight the industry’s adoption of advanced technologies and its exploration of new research areas; but there is still room for improvement, which is why continuous research implemented through future research areas is essential.

Technology transfer (TT) is a complex process that considers various components and variables. The mechanisms underlying innovation and TT have led to the development of applications in a context of sustainable development, framing an expanding area of research in terms of bibliometric quantity, quality, and structural indicators in recent years. Although there is considerable academic interest in TT in the context of sustainable development, there has not been a recent analysis of the literature in the field to assess its relevance in terms of scientific impact, citations, and other information prior to the literature search/publication process. Therefore, the present paper conducts a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer to assess research performance and to perform a scientific mapping of the most relevant literature in the field included in the Web of Science (W.o.S.) database. Furthermore, 39,958 manuscripts published between 1976 and 2022 have been systematically assessed in terms of influential indicators, citations, and publication trends. Major contributors in the field include the United States, China, and England, while the most prolific journals include Sustainability, Environmental Science & Technology, and Applied Energy. This study contributes to the scientific literature by providing a significant theoretical reference for the potential application of TT in the context of sustainable development through statistical analysis and interpretation of the bibliometric data obtained.