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Andes Pediatrica/Revista Chilena de Pediatría (AP/RChP), maintains a document profile that covers all scientific publication formats, from Original Articles (OAs) to Letters to the Editor. Adequate editorial planning requires a long-term bibliometric analysis.To describe the profile of OAs published in AP/RChP in the last two decades.From a controlled vocabulary list, the thematic and methodological descriptors of the documents from 2000 to 2020 were standardi zed. Nationality, sex, and profession of the authors, document typology, and design of the OAs were analyzed, as well as the descriptors cited in Google Scholar and the most visited descriptors on the journal's website in recent years.1738 manuscripts were published, 580 (33.4%) were OAs, with an increase from 59 to 129 OAs between the first and last three years. The average number of authors was higher for OAs (4.7) than for non-originals (3.0). In 2020, there were nine multicenter collaborations from different countries. The number of OAs by foreign authors increased from 3.3% to 28.7%, the first authorship by non-medical professionals increased from 15% to 31%, and there was a predominance of female first authors (ratio 1.4/1). Of the OAs, 9.1% were experimental, 3.3% were qualitative and the rest were quantitative observational. The most published descriptors were Nutrition, Infectious Diseases, Neonatology, and Pneumonology, while the most cited descriptors were Nutrition, Neonatology, and Oral Health, with no trend among the most visited. 44% of the most cited articles and 35% of the most visited articles were OAs.A significant increase in published OAs stands out, with a low frequency of experimental designs. Authors of different na tionalities and professions participated. OAs represent one-third of the visits and almost half of the citations, with no correlation between the most published and most cited descriptors.

Sequestration of CO2 via biological sinks is a matter of great scientific importance due to their potential to lower atmospheric CO2 levels. In this study a custom built incubation chamber was used to cultivate a soil microbial community, under ideal conditions, to investigate soil chemoautotrophy. The internal atmospheric CO2 concentrations were monitored and used to estimate the mass of CO2 uptake. It was found after careful background corrections that 256.4 μg CO2 kg−1 dry soil was removed from the chamber atmosphere over 16 h. Comparisons were made to photosynthetic controls (i.e. grass and soil algae) whereupon it was observed that the chemoautotrophic fraction sequestered 2.6 and 5.4 % of that taken up by grass and soil algae respectively. Using isotopically labelled 13CO2 and GCMS-IRMS it was also possible to extract and identify labelled fatty acids after a short incubation time, hence confirming the CO2 uptake potential of the soil slurry. Provided with favourable conditions, chemoautotrophic soil bacteria have the potential to make a significant impact on inorganic carbon sequestration within the environment. The results of this in vivo study have provided ground work for future studies intending to mimic the in situ environment by providing a reliable method for investigating CO2 uptake by soil microorganisms.

Investigation of the relationship between iron deficiency, iron supplementation and susceptibility to infection, was suggested by the author's initial observations of an association of anaemia with serious bacterial infections in infancy in Papua New Guinea. The bulk of previous longitudinal clinical intervention studies in infancy showed beneficial effects of iron supplementation. However, defects of control and design and recording in these studies and contradictory anecdotal reports left the question unresolved. A prospective, placebo-controlled, randomised, double-blind trial of iron prophylaxis (3ml intramuscular iron dextran = 150mg Fe) to two month old infants was carried out on the North Coast of Papua New Guinea where there is high transmission of malaria. A literature review, pilot studies, protocol, demography, geography and laboratory methods developed are described. Findings indicate that the placebo control group became relatively iron deficient over the first year of life and that the iron dextran group had adequate, although not excessive iron stores and a higher mean haemoglobin; however, the prevalence and effects of malaria recorded in the field were higher in the iron dextran group. Analysis of field and hospital infectious morbidity in the trial indicated a deleterious association with iron dextran for all causes including respiratory infections (the main single reason for admission). Total duration of hospitalisation was significantly increased in the iron dextran group. Analysis of other factors showed (1) a higher admission rate associated with low weight-for-height recorded at the start of the trial; (2) a significant positive correlation between birth haemoglobin and hospital morbidity rates; (3) increased malaria rates in primiparous mothers of the cohort infants who received iron infusion during pregnancy; (4) lower relative risk of malaria associated with iron prophylaxis in individuals with alpha thalassaemia, which was found to be highly prevalent in this region. In conclusion, it is suggested that policies of iron supplementation, total dose iron injection and routine presumptive iron therapy for anaemia which are widely in practice in malaria endemic areas should be closely reviewed.

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