Acute lung injury (ALI) is an intractable disorder associated with macrophages. This bibliometric analysis was applied to identify the characteristics of global scientific output, the hotspots, and frontiers about macrophages in ALI over the past 10 years. We retrieved publications published from 2011 to 2020 and their recorded information from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded) of Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometrix package was used to analyze bibliometric indicators, and the VOSviewer was used to visualize the trend and hotspots of researches on macrophages in ALI. Altogether, 2,632 original articles were reviewed, and the results showed that the annual number of publications (Np) concerning the role of macrophages in ALI kept increasing over the past 10 years. China produced the most papers, the number of citations (Nc) and H-index of the USA ranked first. Shanghai Jiaotong University and INT IMMUNOPHARMACOL were the most prolific affiliation and journal, respectively. Papers published by Matute-Bello G in 2011 had the highest local citation score (LCS). Recently, the keywords “NLRP3” and “extracellular vesicles” appeared most frequently. Besides, researches on COVID-19–induced ALI related to macrophages seemed to be the hotspot recently. This bibliometric study revealed that publications related to macrophages in ALI tend to increase continuously. China was a big producer and the USA was an influential country in this field. Most studies were mainly centered on basic researches in the past decade, and pathways associated with the regulatory role of macrophages in inhibiting and attenuating ALI have become the focus of attention in more recent studies. What is more, our bibliometric analysis showed that macrophages play an important role in COVID-19–induced ALI and may be a target for the treatment of COVID-19.

Long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to contribute to progression and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, expression profiling and interaction of lncRNAs with messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) remain largely unknown in HCC. The expression profiling of lncRNAs, mRNA and miRNAs was obtained using microarray. The Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis were used to characterize potential functions of differentially expressed mRNAs. Cytoscape was applied to construct an lncRNA‑miRNA‑mRNA co‑expression network and candidate lncRNAs were validated via quantitative PCR in 30 pairs of HCC and adjacent tumor‑free tissues. In this study, 1,056 upregulated and 1,288 downregulated lncRNAs were identified, while 2,687 mRNAs and 6 miRNAs were aberrantly expressed in HCC compared with adjacent tumor‑free tissues. Potential functions of differentially expressed mRNAs were demonstrated to significantly participate in modulating critical genes in the cell cycle, such as cyclin E1 and cyclin B2. After screening, 95 lncRNAs, 5 miRNAs and 36 mRNAs were recruited for construction of lncRNA‑mRNA‑miRNA co‑expression network in the cell cycle pathway. Subsequently, the top 5 lncRNAs that potentially modulate critical genes in the cell cycle were selected as the candidates for further verification. Kaplan‑Meier curves using the Cancer Genome Atlas database showed that 13 targeted mRNAs were associated with overall survival of HCC patients. Finally, three lncRNAs, including ENST00000522221, lnc‑HACE1‑6:1 and lnc‑ICOSLG‑11:1, are significantly upregulated in HCC tissues compared with adjacent tumor‑free tissues. These findings suggest that lncRNAs play essential roles in the pathogenesis of HCC via regulating coding genes and miRNAs, and may be important targets for diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Electroacupuncture (EA) is reported to possess anti‐inflammatory properties and has beneficial effects on acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, the underlying mechanisms of the effects of EA on ARDS remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the protective effect of EA on LPS‐induced ARDS. In this study, Sprague‐Dawley male rats were treated with EA at Hegu (LI4) for 45 minutes before LPS instillation (0.4 mg/kg, 100 ul). H&E staining, wet‐to‐dry weight (W/D) ratio, PaO₂, and protein content in BALF were employed to determine the function of lung tissues. Inflammatory cytokines in serum and BALF were detected by enzyme‐linked immunoassay assay (ELISA). The levels of oxidative stress markers were detected to determine the oxidative stress status. Cell apoptosis was observed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick‐end labeling (TUNEL) staining and western blot. Here, we found that EA pretreatment effectively alleviated lung pathological damage. Moreover, EA suppressed the oxidative stress damage by upregulating glutathione and superoxide dismutase and downregulating malondialdehyde. EA pretreatment also regulated apoptosis‐related proteins, such as Bax and Bcl‐2. We found that peroxisome proliferators‐activated receptors γ (PPARγ) play a critical role during ARDS, EA up‐regulated the expression of PPARγ, which inhibited the activation of nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) and decreased the inflammatory cytokines (interleukin‐1β, interleukin‐6, and tumor necrosis factor‐α). When rats were treated with GW9662, a selective PPARγ antagonist, these effects of EA were reversed. Our study demonstrated that EA pretreatment had a beneficial effect on LPS‐induced ARDS in rats by anti‐inflammatory, antioxidative, and antiapoptotic properties which was regulated via PPARγ/NF‐κB signaling pathway.

Background: This study discusses the developmental trends and research hotspots in bronchoscopy anesthesia in the past six decades.Methods: The original and review articles published from 1975 to June 2021 related to bronchoscopy anesthesia were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Three different scientometric tools (CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix) were used for this comprehensive analysis.Results: There was a substantial increase in the research on bronchoscopy anesthesia in recent years. A total of 1,270 publications were retrieved up to June 25, 2021. Original research articles were 1,152, and reviews were 118, including 182 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). These publications were cited a total of 25,504 times, with a mean of 20.08 citations per publication. The US had the largest number of publications (27.6%) and the highest H-index of 44. The sum of publications from China ranked second (11.5%), with an H-index of 17. Keyword co-occurrence and references co-citation visual analysis showed that the use of sedatives such as dexmedetomidine in the process of bronchoscopy diagnosis and treatment was gradually increasing, indicating that bronchoscopy anesthesia was further progressing toward safety and comfort.Conclusion: Based on a bibliometric analysis of the publications over the past decades, a comprehensive analysis indicated that the research of bronchoscopy anesthesia is in a period of rapid development and demonstrated the improvement of medical instruments and surgical options that have significantly contributed to the field of bronchoscopy anesthesia. The data would provide future directions for clinicians and researchers in relation to bronchoscopy anesthesia.