Announcements

Antimicrobial resistance is a never-ending problem, as many intensivists and physicians know. In this collection, we are going to describe a wide range of conditions in which antimicrobial resistance represents a challenge and sometimes a pathological event that is difficult to resolve.

 “Multidrug Resistence Prevalence in COVID Area”
by Caterina Aurilio, Pasquale Sansone, Antonella Paladini, Manlio Barbarisi, Francesco Coppolino, Vincenzo Pota, and Maria Caterina Pace
Life 2021, 11(7), 601; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11070601
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/7/601

“Emerging Treatment Options for Multi-Drug-Resistant Bacterial Infections”
by Roberto Giurazza, Maria Civita Mazza, Roberto Andini, Pasquale Sansone, Maria Caterina Pace and Emanuele Durante-Mangoni
Life 2021, 11(6), 519; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11060519
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/6/519

“Inappropriateness of Antibiotic Prescribing in Medical, Surgical and Intensive Care Units: Results of a Multicentre Observational Study”
by Margherita Macera, Federica Calò, Lorenzo Onorato, Giovanni Di Caprio, Caterina Monari, Antonio Russo, Anna Galdieri, Antonio Giordano, Patrizia Cuccaro and Nicola Coppola
Life 2021, 11(6), 475; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11060475
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/6/475

“Ceftolozane/Tazobactam for Resistant Drugs Pseudomonas aeruginosa Respiratory Infections: A Systematic Literature Review of the Real-World Evidence”
by Luca Gregorio Giaccari, Maria Caterina Pace, Maria Beatrice Passavanti, Francesca Gargano, Caterina Aurilio and Pasquale Sansone
Life 2021, 11(6), 474; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11060474
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/6/474

“Postoperative Complications Are Associated with Long-Term Changes in the Gut Microbiota Following Colorectal Cancer Surgery”
by Felix C. F. Schmitt, Martin Schneider, William Mathejczyk, Markus A. Weigand, Jane C. Figueiredo, Christopher I. Li, David Shibata, Erin M. Siegel, Adetunji T. Toriola, Cornelia M. Ulrich et al.
Life 2021, 11(3), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11030246
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/3/246

“Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Plasmid from Commensal E. coli towards Human Intestinal Microbiota in the M-SHIME: Effect of E. coli dosis, Human Individual and Antibiotic Use”
by Ellen Lambrecht, Els Van Coillie, Nico Boon, Marc Heyndrickx and Tom Van de Wiele
Life 2021, 11(3), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11030192
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/3/192

“Detection of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales in Simulated Blood Culture in 15 Minutes”
by Daria Baer, Maya Azrad, Nora Saleh and Avi Peretz
Life 2021, 11(2), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11020145
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/2/145

“Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Wall. ex Nees: An Updated Review of Phytochemistry, Antimicrobial Pharmacology, and Clinical Safety and Efficacy”
by Sanower Hossain, Zannat Urbi, Hidayah Karuniawati, Ramisa Binti Mohiuddin, Ahmed Moh Qrimida, Akrm Mohamed Masaud Allzrag, Long Chiau Ming, Ester Pagano and Raffaele Capasso
Life 2021, 11(4), 348; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11040348
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/4/348

“COVID-19 and Antimicrobial Resistance: Data from the Greek Electronic System for the Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance—WHONET-Greece (January 2018–March 2021)”
by Michalis Polemis, Georgia Mandilara, Olga Pappa, Athina Argyropoulou, Efstathia Perivolioti, Nikolaos Koudoumnakis, Spyros Pournaras, Alexandra Vasilakopoulou, Sophia Vourli, Helen Katsifa et al.
Life 2021, 11(10), 996; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11100996
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/10/996

“Plazomicin against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: A Scoping Review”
by Aniello Alfieri, Sveva Di Franco, Valerio Donatiello, Vincenzo Maffei, Ciro Fittipaldi, Marco Fiore, Francesco Coppolino, Pasquale Sansone, Maria Caterina Pace and Maria Beatrice Passavanti
Life 2022, 12(12), 1949; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12121949
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/12/1949

Antibodies are immune proteins that mark the evolution of the host’s immune response to infection. In recent years, both passive and active immunotherapies based on antibodies have shown a growing potential. In this collection, the articles reported here demonstrate how important antibody-based therapies are, and therefore, that their clinical and laboratory research should continue to flourish, so to optimize their clinical use.

“The Rise of SARS-CoV-2 Variants and the Role of Convalescent Plasma Therapy for Management of Infections”
by Mohamed Moubarak, Keneth Iceland Kasozi, Helal F. Hetta, Hazem M. Shaheen, Abdur Rauf, Hayder M. Al-kuraishy, Safaa Qusti, Eida M. Alshammari, Emmanuel Tiyo Ayikobua, Fred Ssempijja et al.
Life 2021, 11(8), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11080734  
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/8/734

“Previous Humoral Immunity to the Endemic Seasonal Alphacoronaviruses NL63 and 229E Is Associated with Worse Clinical Outcome in COVID-19 and Suggests Original Antigenic Sin”
by Daniele Focosi, Angelo Genoni, Ersilia Lucenteforte, Silvia Tillati, Antonio Tamborini, Pietro Giorgio Spezia, Lorenzo Azzi, Andreina Baj and Fabrizio Maggi
Life 2021, 11(4), 298; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11040298
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/4/298

“Use of Quantitative Dried Blood Spots to Evaluate the Post-Vaccination Level of Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2”
by Alexandre Marchand, Ingrid Roulland, Florian Semence, Olof Beck and Magnus Ericsson
Life 2021, 11(11), 1125; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11111125
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/11/1125

“BiTEs, DARTS, BiKEs and TriKEs—Are Antibody Based Therapies Changing the Future Treatment of AML?”
by Cecily Allen, Amer M. Zeidan and Jan Philipp Bewersdorf
Life 2021, 11(6), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11060465
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/6/465

“Generation of Antibodies against Foot-and-Mouth-Disease Virus Capsid Protein VP4 Using Hepatitis B Core VLPs as a Scaffold”
by Jessica Swanson, Rennos Fragkoudis, Philippa C. Hawes, Joseph Newman, Alison Burman, Anusha Panjwani, Nicola J. Stonehouse and Tobias J. Tuthill
Life 2021, 11(4), 338; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11040338
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/4/338

“A Comparative and Comprehensive Review of Antibody Applications in the Treatment of Lung Disease”
by Yuefeng Wu and Hai Song
Life 2022, 12(1), 130; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12010130
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/1/130

“Body Mass Index Influence for the Personalization of the Monoclonal Antibodies Therapy for Psoriasis”
by Flavia Anghel, Diana Nitusca and Patricia Cristodor
Life 2021, 11(12), 1316; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11121316
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/12/1316

“Serum C-X-C Chemokine Ligand 1 Levels in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: Relationship of Clinical and Laboratory Observations to Anti-CD20 Monoclonal Antibody Administration”
by Ruriko Kawanabe, Ayumi Yoshizaki, Kazuki M. Matsuda, Hirohito Kotani, Teruyoshi Hisamoto, Yuta Norimatsu, Ai Kuzumi, Takemichi Fukasawa, Satoshi Ebata, Asako Yoshizaki-Ogawa et al.
Life 2022, 12(5), 646; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12050646
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/5/646

“The Three Pillars of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Therapy”
by Massimo Franchini, Giancarlo Maria Liumbruno, Giorgio Piacentini, Claudia Glingani and Marco Zaffanello
Life 2021, 11(4), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11040354
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/4/354

“BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Elicits High Titers of Neutralizing Antibodies to Both B.1 and P.1 Variants in Previously Infected and Uninfected Subjects”
by Ilaria Vicenti, Francesca Gatti, Renzo Scaggiante, Adele Boccuto, Daniela Zago, Monica Basso, Filippo Dragoni, Saverio Giuseppe Parisi and Maurizio Zazzi
Life 2021, 11(9), 896; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11090896
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/9/896

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to newjournal-committee@mdpi.com.

MDPI is pleased to announce that we now display the co-authors’ email addresses in addition to the corresponding author’s email address on the webpage of published papers, protected by Captcha. For more information about this change, please visit the journal’s instructions for authors page. 

We believe this change will facilitate academic discussions and advance our cause of open science and research. The corresponding authors are responsible for communicating with their co-authors and indicating in our system (https://susy.mdpi.com/) if co-authors would prefer for their email addresses not to be displayed.

On 9 February 2023, Clarivate, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics, added the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science platform, streamlining the research process by allowing researchers to locate and link to preprints alongside other trusted content in the database.

The Preprint Citation Index will act as a bridge to connect cutting-edge preprints with peer-reviewed journal articles published within the Web of Science Core Collection. Alerts can be easily set to monitor new research across several repositories and authors will also be able to include preprints on their Web of Science Research Profile to more accurately display their various research outputs.

As of its launch, the Preprint Citation Index will provide nearly two million preprints from various repositories, including MDPI’s own Preprints.org.

MDPI's Preprints Platform – Preprints.org

To advance Open Science and the fast dissemination of research, MDPI offers researchers a free multidisciplinary preprint platform. Preprints.org accepts submissions from all research areas and offers authors high visibility, permanent archiving, article-level Metrics and immediately citable content by assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to all preprints.

During submission to any MDPI journal, authors have the option to share their research as a preprint. After an initial screening, the manuscript is available online in 48 hours or less. Once online, preprints can be downloaded, shared, commented on, and cited, providing authors maximum visibility.

We invite you to join the ranks of the over 100k researchers using Preprints.org and share your research.

For more information, please visit Preprints.org.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the MDPI Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program will enable early career researchers (who must hold a Ph.D. in a related field) to experience editing a Special Issue in MDPI journals, under the mentorship of our experienced Editorial Board Members or other experienced scientists. The mentor program will provide an excellent opportunity for early career scientists to gain editorial experience, and to cultivate their ability to edit scientific research.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Proposing a Special Issue title and assisting the mentor in preparing a summary (around 200–400 words) and 3–10 keywords describing the background, importance, and goal of the Issue;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Preparing a list of scholars who may be interested in the Issue and personally e-mailing invitations on behalf of Guest Editors;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue together with the mentor.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Performing editorial control of the Special Issue and quality control of the publications, both of which must be carried out in a timely manner;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have any doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the Editorial Office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue;
• Making and submitting decisions regarding submissions with the assistance of mentees.

Certificates and awards:
After the Special Issue closes, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors and early career researchers.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Editorial Office of a journal you choose, and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. The full list of MDPI journals is as follows: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, we will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.

The scientists who were selected into this year’s list of Highly Cited Researchers have published highly cited papers in the 11-year period from January 2011 to December 2021, with citation frequency in the top 1% of academic subjects and the same year of publication in the Web of Science^TM database. Based on Web of Science Citation data, 6,938 researchers from across the globe who have demonstrated a disproportionate level of significant and broad influence in their chosen field or fields over the last decade have been awarded Highly Cited Researcher 2022 designations. The list is truly global, spanning 69 countries or regions and spread across a diverse range of research sciences and social sciences.

According to statistics, 6 members of the Editorial Board of Life (ISSN: 2075-1729) have been selected into the list of Highly Cited Researchers of Clarivate in 2022. They are being recognized for their high-quality scientific research achievements and outstanding contributions to professional fields. The Life journal office sincerely congratulates all elected Editorial Board Members and hopes that they continue to have an academically productive relationship with the journal.

MDPI has just become the first open access (OA) publisher to reach the milestone of one million articles published. That is one million articles freely available to all, to circulate and build upon! We are proud to share this special moment with the global scientific community.

This landmark has been reached thanks to the immeasurable support of more than 600,000 expert reviewers, 66,000 editorial board members and 6700 hard-working colleagues across MDPI’s global offices.

Within more than 25 years of publishing, our journals received 2.1 million manuscripts and generated 4.6 million peer review reports to get to one million papers published.

Reaching the milestone of one million articles published reinforces our mission to remove any existing barriers and to make scientific research accessible to all. Since its inception, MDPI’s goal has been to create reliable processes to make science open. This is a path towards facilitating the dissemination of novel insights in scientific communities.

Regular feedback from authors and reviewers shows that our service is greatly appreciated and needed. At the same time, the feedback helps us identify areas for further improvement.

As it stands, a significant share of published research findings remain closed access. More than half of the content published with the most well-known legacy publishers stays behind a paywall, and that is not including articles published in hybrid OA journals, or made available months or years after publication.

A new policy announced by the US administration in August 2022 requires that, as of January 2026, all US federally funded research be made freely and immediately available after publication. While the new policy does not mandate articles be published under an open access license, it is aligned with the open access movement in removing all barriers to research. Similarly, some of the most advanced research institutions in the world intend to have all funded research articles published in open access by 2025.

MDPI is proud to be the leading agent of the transition to open access.

"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!

We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.

The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).

The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.

Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.

Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin that it produces. In 2019, about 8.8% of the worldwide adult population had diabetes. Considering how widespread the disease is, we would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to all of the researchers who have contributed to the fight against this disease. In particular, we would like to highlight multiple research projects in this field, which cover the disease’s pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, early detection, and new therapeutic strategies, as well as the pandemic's prevalence and incidence.

The list of relevant papers can be seen below:

“The Effects of Metformin on the Gut Microbiota of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Two-Center, Quasi-Experimental Study”
by Nakajima, H.; Takewaki, F.; Hashimoto, Y.; Kajiyama, S.; Majima, S.; Okada, H.; Senmaru, T.; Ushigome, E.; Nakanishi, N.; Hamaguchi, M.; Yamazaki, M.; Tanaka, Y.; Oikawa, Y.; Nakajima, S; Ohno, H. and Fukui, M.
Life 2020, 10(9), 195; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10090195
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/9/195

“Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Pancreatic Alpha and Beta Cells Associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus”
by Grubelnik, V.; Zmazek, J.; Markovič, R.; Gosak, M. and Marhl, M.
Life 2020, 10(12), 348; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10120348
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/12/348

“Loganic Acid, an Iridoid Glycoside Extracted from Cornus mas L. Fruits, Reduces of Carbonyl/Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Plasma and Restores Antioxidant Balance in Leukocytes of Rats with Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mellitus”
by Dzydzan, O.; Brodyak, I.; Sokół-Łętowska, A.; Kucharska, A. Z. and Sybirna, N.
Life 2020, 10(12), 349; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10120349
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/12/349

“Improvement of Platelet Respiration by Cell–Permeable Succinate in Diabetic Patients Treated with Statins”
by Avram, V. F.; Bîna, A. M.; Sima, A.; Aburel, O. M.; Sturza, A.; Burlacu, O.; Timar, R. Z.; Muntean, D. M.; Elmér, E. and Crețu, O. M.
Life 2021, 11(4), 288; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11040288
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/4/288

“Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Is Associated with Deterioration of Renal Function and Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in Patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease”
by Roumeliotis, S.; Stamou, A.; Roumeliotis, A.; Theodoridis, M.; Leivaditis, K.; Panagoutsos, S. and Liakopoulos, V.
Life 2020, 10(11), 301; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10110301
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/11/301

“Factors Affecting a Short-Term Response to Anti-VEGF Therapy in Diabetic Macular Edema”
by Usui-Ouchi, A.; Tamaki, A.; Sakanishi, Y.; Tamaki, K.; Mashimo, K.; Sakuma, T. and Ebihara, N.
Life 2021, 11(2), 83. https://doi.org/10.3390/life11020083
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/2/83

“Association of Metabolically Healthy and Unhealthy Obesity Phenotype with Markers Related to Obesity, Diabetes among Young, Healthy Adult Men. Analysis of MAGNETIC Study”
by Lejawa, M.; Osadnik, K.; Czuba, Z.; Osadnik, T. and Pawlas, N.
Life 2021, 11(12), 1350; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11121350
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/12/1350

“The Association of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl-CoA Reductase, Apolipoprotein E, and Solute Carrier Organic Anion Genetic Variants with Atorvastatin Response among Jordanian Patients with Type 2 Diabetes”
by Alhawari, H.; Jarrar, Y.; AlKhatib, M. A.; Alhawari, H.; Momani, M.; Zayed, A.; Alkamhawi, R. and Zihlif, M.
Life 2020, 10(10), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10100232
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/10/232

“Peripheral Neuropathy Presents Similar Symptoms and Pathological Changes in Both High-Fat Diet and Pharmacologically Induced Pre- and Diabetic Mouse Models”
by Jaroslawska, J.; Korytko, A.; Zglejc-Waszak, K.; Antonowski, T.; Pomianowski, A. S.; Wasowicz, K.; Wojtkiewicz, J. and Juranek, J. K.
Life 2021, 11(11), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11111267
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/11/1267

“Use of Anti-Diabetic Agents in Non-Diabetic Kidney Disease: From Bench to Bedside”
by Chung, S. and Kim, G.-H.
Life 2021, 11(5), 389; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11050389
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/5/389