Background: Hepatitis D virus research has advanced in recent decades. In this study, we aim to quantitatively analyze the scientific data in the field of "hepatitis D virus" by using bibliometric analysis. Methods: Research documents published in the Web of Science database between 1984 and 2022 were included in the study. The search keywords were "hepatitis D" or "hepatitis-D" or "HDV" or "hepatitis virus D." The full record and cited references of documents extracted were converted to a "bibtex" file as well. The R-Studio software's Bibliometrix package and Biblioshinny application are used to perform the bibliometric analysis. Results: A total of 1530 publications written by 6042 authors were identified. Most of the publications were articles (62.81%). The number of published articles increased gradually, especially after 2008. The articles of the authors were mostly published in the United States, Germany, and China. The affiliation where the most studies were conducted was Hannover Medical School (8.82%). Also, the United States and Germany were found to be the main countries in the collaboration network. Mario Rizzetto was the author of the most published articles on HDV. The most frequently used words in the articles were "infection," "prevalence," and "b-virus." Conclusion: Clinical and epidemiological studies on HDV were given more focus, while studies on treatment were less numerous. It can also be predicted that potent treatment options will increase more in the coming years, and the frequency of studies on this will increase.

Infectious spondylodiscitis is a life-threatening disease and has some challenges in terms of diagnostic, differentiative, and therapeutic processes. Therefore, rapid and effective management of infectious spondylodiscitis is necessary. Hematological inflammation indices (HIIs) such as the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and aggregate index of systemic inflammation are derived from blood cells and used as diagnostic, prognostic, predictive, and treatment monitoring indicators. This study aimed to evaluate HIIs for discriminating between infectious spondylodiscitis pathogens. This retrospective comparative study included 116 patients with infectious spondylodiscitis. According to the responsible infectious pathogens, three types of infectious spondylodiscitis were defined: Brucella (n = 51), pyogenic (n = 43), and tuberculous (n = 22). The HIIs were derived from baseline complete blood counts. The three types of infectious spondylodiscitis were statistically compared for the HII scores. We found that the Brucella group had significantly lower HII scores than the pyogenic group (p < 0.05). Also, the Brucella group had significantly lower HII scores than the tuberculous group (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found between the pyogenic and tuberculous groups regarding HIIs (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the HIIs may be considered in the differentiation between Brucella spondylodiscitis and other types of infectious spondylodiscitis.

Objective: It is increasingly important to identify risk factors for COVID-19-associated mortality to provide access to early treatment. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 severity and laboratory data and demographic characteristics of hospitalized patients and to identify factors predicting mortality in COVID-19. Materials and Methods: The study is a retrospective and single-center study. Data of 1298 COVID-19 patients confirmed by a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction test for COVID-19 and treated at the hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Study patients were divided into three groups based on the clinical severity of disease: the mild-moderate group (n:954) and the severe (n:310) and critical (n:34) groups. Demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, and laboratory findings were compared between groups. Results: Multivariate logistic and ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that male gender, old age, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular event, malignancy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic renal failure, chronic hepatitis B, and Alzheimer’s disease/dementia/Parkinson’s disease (among neurological diseases) were independently associated with and significantly increased the development of severe disease and mortality. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a significant health problem affecting all of humanity. Determining risk factors for COVID-19 severity and mortality are critical for classifying critical cases at the time of initial diagnosis, establishing appropriately specific treatment protocols, and ensuring access to early treatment. Keywords: SARS-Cov-2, pandemic, prognosis, comorbidities, severity.

Aims: In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the psychological status of healthcare professionals regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and to examine their perspectives and knowledge levels regarding the mpox epidemic. Methods: Having a cross-sectional design, the present study was carried out by using questions addressing sociodemographic characteristics of healthcare professionals, their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, and their knowledge and anxiety levels regarding mpox. Results: 202 healthcare professionals were involved in the present study. Of the participants, 55% were female and the mean age was 35.0±7.7 years. The majority (63.4%) of the participants were midwives/nurses/medical assistants. Of the participants, 68.8% were infected by COVID-19 during the pandemic. Considering the questions addressing their level of knowledge about mpox, 44.1% of participants stated that they had never heard of this disease before. Participants were found to have mainly moderate levels of depression and anxiety and low level of stress, whereas the ratios of very severe depression and anxiety were 5.0% and 7.4%, respectively. Conclusion: It was determined that almost half of the participants had no full knowledge of the disease before the increase in mpox cases. It was found that the participants varying levels of depression, anxiety, and stress about a new pandemic. We think that it is important to provide healthcare professionals with psychosocial support, make effort in order to determine and eliminate the sources of psychological negativities.