Medicine International Special Issues
Urologic robotic surgery: Past, present and future
Lead Editor:
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Dr Hisashi Takeuchi
Shinmatsudo Central General Hospital
Japan
In recent years, surgical treatment has undergone a major transformation with the advent of robot-assisted surgery. In other words, there has been a shift from conventional open surgery to laparoscopic surgery and even from laparoscopic surgery to robot-assisted surgery. Laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive and allows observation of structures with an expanded bright field, but requires a certain degree of skill in operating forceps during surgery. This robot-assisted surgery using da Vinci has been developed since the 1980s with the idea of remote control in battlefields and space, and in 1999 it was developed in the United States. Approved for clinical use by the FDA. In the same year, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) was performed for the first time. In Japan, in December 2005, the Department of Urology, Tokyo Medical University began performing RARP using Da Vinci, the first robot-assisted surgery in Japan. Furthermore, in April 2012, after health insur¬ance service was applied, the number of surgical procedures rapidly increased. The number of facilities that have introduced assisting surgery robot has increased. Furthermore, following RARP, partial nephrectomy, radical cystectomy, pyeloplasty, and other urologic surgeries were introduced. Furthermore, as da Vinci's patents, which hold the top share of the global market, expired, dozens of competing companies, who were unable to develop robots due to da Vinci's patents, entered the market, and many types of surgical robots have appeared. Urology have always been leaders in advancing surgical technology, will continue to play a leading role in the field of robot-assisted surgery as a central medical department in the future. This special issue aims to highlight the history and current advances in robotic-assisted urologic surgery, present the challenges faced with a focus on the situation in Japan mainly, and highlight the potential for future development.
Submission deadline: 19 March 2024
Chronic inflammation and cancer: Targeting chronic inflammatory mediators for the prevention and treatment of cancers
Lead Editor:
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Dr Sharad Kumar Suthar
Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon University
Republic of Korea
Chronic inflammation has emerged as a central player in the development and progression of cancer. This complex relationship involves a cascade of immunological and molecular events that collectively contribute to tumorigenesis. Persistent inflammation leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, and DNA damage, creating an environment conducive to the growth and survival of malignant cells. Immune evasion and tissue remodeling further facilitate cancer progression. Notably, several cancers, including colorectal, liver, lung, and gastric cancer, have well-established links to chronic inflammation. Understanding the interplay between chronic inflammation and cancer is crucial for advancing cancer prevention and treatment strategies. This special issue aims to publish studies that discern the molecular mechanisms of chronic inflammation leading to cancer, as well as strategies, including the development of new drug candidates targeting inflammatory mediators for cancer prevention and treatment.
Submission deadline: 19 March 2024
The Fight Against Cancer: New Frontiers in Screening, Detection, and Treatment
Lead Editor:
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Dr Arjun Singh
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre
United States
This special issue provides a comprehensive look at the latest developments in the ongoing fight against cancer. One article, "The Life-Saving Impact of Early Detection," focuses on how screening and diagnostic tests for common cancers like breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung can detect tumors at an early stage when they are most treatable. It discusses the tests available, who should be screened, and barriers to broader screening. Another article, "New Hope: Emerging Advances in Cancer Treatments," examines exciting progress in cancer therapies. Immunotherapy, targeted drugs, and precision medicine are unlocking more effective, personalized treatments with fewer side effects. Revolutionary treatments like CAR T-cell therapy are saving lives once considered lost. Together, these articles demonstrate how early detection and advanced treatments are transforming cancer care and fueling a more hopeful outlook for patients.
Submission deadline: 08 March 2024
Long-Read Sequencing, Complex Diseases, and Epigenetics
Lead Editor:
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Dr qiang sun
zhejiang university
China
Long-read sequencing technology, which is primarily attributed to platforms like Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), has had a profound impact on the study of complex diseases, particularly in the realm of epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence itself. Instead, it involves modifications to DNA or associated proteins that can be heritable and play a critical role in complex disease development and progression. This special issue aims to highlight the latest advances and breakthroughs in the application of long-read sequencing technology to the study of complex diseases with a particular focus on the role of epigenetics. It seeks to foster collaboration among researchers from diverse backgrounds, including genomics, epigenomics, bioinformatics, and clinical medicine, to advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases.
Submission deadline: 08 March 2024
Comparative Oncology
Lead Editor:
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Dr Panayiotis Loukopoulos
University of Melbourne
Australia
With a strong background, reseach and links in comparative oncology, and with strong collaboration and links with human oncology, veterinary oncology and One Health Research groups, including within his workplace at the University of Melbourne, the suggested Guest editor wishes to propose this theme as a potential topic to consider. Potential contributors will likely include researchers in both the human cancer research field, the veterinary cancer research field (animal cancer types often serving as excellent spontaneous models of human disease) as well as basic research into carcinogenesis. Several articles may focus on reviews of certain in vitro and in vivo models of human cancer, including spontaneous animal malignancies of species sharing the same environment as humans, such as caine osteosarcoma.
Submission deadline: 09 January 2024
One Health
Lead Editor:
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Dr Panayiotis Loukopoulos
University of Melbourne
Australia
With a background in both wildlife pathology and comparative oncology, and with strong collaboration with One Health Research groups, including within his workplace at the University of Melbourne, the suggested Guest editor wishes to propose the theme of "One Health" as a potential topic to consider. The concept of One Health is defined by WHO ( https://www.who.int/health-topics/one-health#tab=tab_1 ) as: " One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognizes that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent. While health, food, water, energy and environment are all wider topics with sector-specific concerns, the collaboration across sectors and disciplines contributes to protect health, address health challenges such as the emergence of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and food safety and promote the health and integrity of our ecosystems. By linking humans, animals and the environment, One Health can help to address the full spectrum of disease control – from prevention to detection, preparedness, response and management – and contribute to global health security. The approach can be applied at the community, subnational, national, regional and global levels, and relies on shared and effective governance, communication, collaboration and coordination. Having the One Health approach in place makes it easier for people to better understand the co-benefits, risks, trade-offs and opportunities to advance equitable and holistic solutions."
Submission deadline: 09 January 2024
Multi-omics Technologies for Precision Medicine
Lead Editor:
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Professor Chih-Yang Wang
TMU
Taiwan
Multi-Omics and bioinformatics are widely used as systemic approaches to explore differences in expressions of thousands of genes or metabolites for both basic and clinical research. Along with medical innovation to confront the challenges that originated from mitosis in cancer, there has been continuous improvement in paradigm for diseases screening as well as more promising treatment options across disease types to significantly improve patient outcomes, relying on breakthroughs in molecular profiling and high-throughput technologies. Since characteristics of tumors and changes in metabolic pathways that occur during malignant transformation and progression can be revealed by analyzing gene expression profiles. Single-cell RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry analyses, that allow the generation of large-scale data related to multi-omics analysis (such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, phenomics, and metabolomics), are widely facilitated the discovery of significant biomarkers for early diagnosis and novel therapeutic targets of drugs, followed by intercepting premalignancy. Besides that, gene therapy, defined as an approach to treat gene-related disorders by modifying faulty genes via transferring therapeutic genetic materials into the cell, is also emerging as a promising treatment therapy for rare diseases and various cancers resulting from the presence of defective genes. Although the multi-omics data from bioinformatics analysis need to be confirmed via further detailed studies, it nonetheless helps to somehow foresee the trend of information for disease to develop. However, the bioinformatics data accompanied by validation experiments are also sought after.
Submission deadline: 04 January 2024
The epigenetics of chronic inflammation and related elderly diseases
Lead Editor:
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Dr Mohammed Al-obaide
Texas Tech Univ. Health Sci Ctr
United States
The world’s older population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate and are prone to chronic inflammation and associated diseases. It can hardly be said that that past years have explained the causes of chronic inflammation and related aging-associated diseases, e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, cataracts, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and Alzheimer's disease and others. Epigenetic factors, DNA methylation, noncoding RNA and histone modification are mediators of inflammation and chronic inflammatory disease. Intriguingly, epigenetics elements are influenced by environmental and nutritional factors. The aim of this special issue is to update the latest information related to epigenetics and environmental-nutritional factors related to chronic inflammation and associated elderly diseases.
Submission deadline: 07 December 2023
Technology in health sciences education
Lead Editor:
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Professor Carlos M. Ardila
University of Antioquia
Colombia
Technology continues to change healthcare education (and patient results) with new and innovative methods. Technology has also become a connection between universities, professors, undergraduates, and postgraduates. In addition to virtual lectures and online exams, patient simulations are present, as augmented reality, and other training mechanisms that prepare students to enter increasingly tech-heavy careers upon graduation. While few aptitudes trump lively observation, tech abilities and knowledge are on the rise. The integration of technology into health sciences curricula is thought to improve efficiency and enhance student experiences through active learning and interactive learning designs.
Submission deadline: 25 November 2023
Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical pharmacology using big data in medicine.
Lead Editor:
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Dr Yoshihiro Noguchi
Gifu Pharmaceutical University
Japan
The use of big data in medicine will enable the early detection of adverse events and pharmacological effects caused by single drugs or drug-drug interactions. Numerous pharmacoepidemiologists and clinical pharmacologists are already using big data to discover unknown adverse events and new pharmacological effects that were not revealed in pre-marketing clinical trials. These analysis cases will significantly contribute to the proper use of drugs. However, to obtain relevant analysis results, it is necessary to grasp and deepen our understanding of the characteristics and utilization limits of big data (databases) used in research. Therefore, this special issue focuses on actual analysis cases and data analysis methods using big data in pharmacoepidemiology and clinical pharmacology. In addition, big data studies covered in this special issue include not only studies using spontaneous reporting systems and claims databases but also studies using omics and in silico databases.
Submission deadline: 24 December 2023
