BackgroundThe outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought indelible harms to the world and aroused great concern worldwide. This paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on sexual function using bibliometrics, and summarize research hotspots in this field.MethodsRelevant publications concerning the impact of COVID-19 on sexual function in the Web of Science collection database (WoSCC) between January 1, 2020 and March 12, 2022 were screened and analyzed by bibliometric analysis using the visualization software CiteSpace and VOSviewer.ResultsOf the 1,054 publications screened, the United States (US) contributed the most (398/37.8%), followed by the United Kingdom (UK) (119/11.3%). Among all institutions, the University of Toronto in Canada enjoyed the largest number of publications (30), and Johns Hopkins University in the US enjoyed the highest frequency of citation (235). The journal INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH published the largest number of studies in this field (31), and the most-cited journal was LANCET. “Chow, Eric,” “Ong, Jason J,” and “Stephenson, Rob” tied for first place in publications (8), and “Fish, Jessica N.” enjoyed the highest number of citations (99). Burstness analysis of references and keywords showed that the developing research trends in this field mainly focused on “sexual transmission” and “angiotensin converting-enzyme 2 (ACE2)” during the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionThe impact of COVID-19 on sexual function remains an urgent concern at present, and the management of sexual health during the pandemic needs to be further improved. More frequent and deeper cooperation between countries and institutions is required in future. Meanwhile, searching for more evidence on whether COVID-19 can achieve sexual transmission and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the impact of COVID-19 on sexual function remains a focus of research in the coming years.

Background Cryptorchidism is characterized by undescended or incomplete descent of the testes. The pathogenesis of cryptorchidism has not been fully elucidated. In addition, patients with cryptorchidism are at a higher risk of malignancy than normal individuals, and its etiology and underlying molecular mechanisms need to be further investigated. Methods Datasets GSE16191 and GSE25518 were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database to identify the common differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Gene enrichment analyses were performed using the WebGestalt database. A protein-protein interaction network of DEGs was constructed using the STRING database, of which hub genes were identified by Cytoscape software. The GEPIA database was used to validate the expression of the hub genes of cryptorchidism in testicular cancer, and then the protein level of genes was detected in the HPA database. The analysis of immune cell infiltration was conducted in the R package. The clinical significance of the selected genes was analyzed from four aspects: clinical correlation, overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results Of the 438 common DEGs identified, 134 were up-regulated and 304 were down-regulated. Biological functions analysis identified important signaling pathways, key functional modules, and co-expression networks in cryptorchidism. Nine hub genes (HNRNPM, SF1, U2SURP, SNRPA1, AQR, RBM39, PCBP2, RBM5, and HNRNPU) were identified in cryptorchidism, four (SF1, HNRNPM, RBM5, and AQR) of which were significantly expressed in testicular cancer. The high expression of the genes SF1 and HNRNPM predicted poor RFS in cancer patients. Moreover, genes AQR and HNRNPM may contribute to malignant transformation from cryptorchidism to cancer via the spliceosome pathway. Conclusion Our study revealed the potential molecular mechanisms under the pathogenesis of cryptorchidism and its carcinogenesis. The biomarkers identified in this study may provide a theoretical basis and new ideas for further mechanism research of cryptorchidism.

BackgroundRadiotherapy (RT) is one of the important treatments for various cancer types and its application to prostate cancer (PCa) has also gradually gained increasing attention. However, there is a lack of comprehensive and objective studies on the overall status of research on RT for PCa. This article aims to summarize and quantify the dynamic trends of RT in PCa by using bibliometrics.MethodsStudies on RT for PCa were screened from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database between 1 January 2010 and 21 November 2022 to collate and quantify information characteristics by analyzing parameters including annual publications, countries/regions, institutions and authors with the aid of the bibliometric software CiteSpace and VOSviewer. In addition, research trends and hotspots were explored by analyzing keywords and co-cited references.ResultsA total of 21338 documents were retrieved. The United States of America (USA) ranked first and maintained the leading position among all countries in the number of publications (8489) and total citations (266342). The University of Toronto was the most active institution in total publications (n=587). Paul L Nguyen enjoyed the most publications (n=179), and Michael J Zelefsky enjoyed the most co-citations (n=3376). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY BIOLOGY PHYSICS published the most papers (n=1026), and was the most frequently co-cited journal (n=78550). The largest and closest cluster in the reference cluster analysis was “oligorecurrent prostate cancer”. The timeline view of keywords reveals that cluster “biochemical recurrence(BCR)” is ongoing. Moreover, keywords burstness analysis showed that “radiation dosimetry”, “dose rate brachytherapy(BT)”, “salvage radiotherapy”, “stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT)”, “guideline”, and “multicenter” were the terms with great bursts in the past a few years.ConclusionThe application of RT targeting oligometastatic prostate cancer(OMPC) has garnered considerable attention among researchers. SBRT and BT have become hot topics in the field. Additionally, the BCR of PCa has long been a critical issue requiring extensive research and resolution, and salvage radiotherapy has currently emerged as a closely related research focus. Related large-scale multicenter studies have been conducted over the past few years, providing valuable insights. More high-quality research is expected to be employed to guide clinical decision-making.