Perfíl lipídico en una comunidad de Calarcá, Colombia

Heart disease (HD) in general and ischemic cardiopathy in particular constitute an important public health problem dueto the impact of their high mortality, morbidity, medical costs and lost workdays due to its incapacitating influence. These pathologies constitute the major cause of death in the Colombian adult population, following violent deaths. Several regional studies of plasma lipid behaviour in the population have been made, however their characterisation in other regions in order to establish supervisory policies for HD prevention and control at individual as well as whole population level has been made necessaty. This work attempts to contribute to lipid level behaviour study in Colombian populations. Total cholesterol levels (TC), cholesterol in high density lipoproteins (C-HDL), cholesterol in low density lipoproteins (C-LDL) and triglycerides (TG) were determined in 71 male volunteers' serum, ages ranging from 20 to 70 years old. Enzymatic methods were employed (Boehringer Manheinn reagents). This study's results show that 21 .l%of th e population present TC higherthan 200 mgIdL, 66.6% C-HDL under 35 mgldl, 5.6% C-LDL higherthan 150 mg/dL and 36.6% presented TG higher than 150 mg/dL. This data shows that for this population the CHD (C-HDL) protective factor is seriously affected and furthermore presents an isolated hypertriglyceridemia. High incidences of non-lipid risk factors, such as bodymass, smoking, family antecedents and age, were recorded on the lipid profile's values. The results obtained in this study are like those found in developing countries' populations and are also like those found in Colombian population studies. Therefore, preventative and educational strategies must be implemented to control HD.Las enfermedades cardiovasculares (EC), en general, y la cardiopatía isquémica, en particular, constituyen un importante problema de salud pública por su alta mortalidad, morbilidad, costos médico-hospitalarios e impacto laboral por su poder incapacitante. Estas patologías constituyen la primera causa de muerte en la población adulta en Colombia después de las muertes por violencia. Dado que, en nuestro país, no se han determinado con exactitud parámetros propios del comportamiento de los Iípidos sanguíneos en la población, se hace necesaria su caracterización para que se puedan establecer politicas de intervención para la prevención y control de EC, tanto a nivel individual como poblacional. Este trabajo intenta contribuir al estudio poblacional del comportamiento de los niveles de Iípidos en poblaciones colombianas. Se determinaron los niveles de colesterol total (CT), colesterol en lipoproteínas de baja densidad (C-LDL), colesterol en lipoproteínas alta densidad (C-HDL) y triglicéridos (TG), en sueros de 71 varones escogidos al azar con edades comprendidas entre 20 y 70 años. Se utilizaron métodos enzimáticos con reactivos Boehringer Manheinn. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que 21,1% de la población presenta colesterol mayor de 200 mgldL, 66,2% C-HDL menor de 35 mg/dL, 5,6% presentan C-LDL mayor de 150 mg/dL y 36,6 presenta TG mayor de 150 mg/dL. Estos datos indican que, para esta población, el factor protector para las EC (C-HDL) está seriamente afectado y, además, presenta una zipertrigliceridemia aislada. Se encontró una alta incidencia sobre los valores del perfil lipídico de los factores de riesgo no lipídicos como son el índice de masa corporal, el fumar, los antecedentes familiares y la edad. Los resultados obtenidos en el presente estudio se semejan a los encontrados para poblaciones de países en desarrollo y los encontrados en estudios de poblaciones colombianas, por tal motivo deben iniciarse estrategias de prevención y educación para el control de la EC

Identification of a surrogate to validate irradiation processing of selected spices

Onion powder and talc were inoculated with one of three groups of Salmonella enterica or a putative surrogate, Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354, and the radiation sensitivity of S. enterica was compared to E. faecium. For both inoculated onion powder and inoculated talc, D10-values were greater for E. faecium than any of the three groups of S. enterica. The survival of E. faecium in irradiated talc was used to estimate the potential survival of S. enterica in irradiated spices. Onion powder, dried oregano, whole cumin seeds or peppercorns were mixed with talc inoculated with either S. enterica (previously associated with a foodborne disease outbreak) or E. faecium and irradiated. The D10-values were calculated for each bacterial group and compared between E. faecium and S. enterica within each spice. For each spice, the D10-value for E. faecium was either not statistically different from (P \u3c 0.05) S. entericaor greater than that of S. enterica (onion powder). Quadratic and linear models were developed to allow the estimation of potential surviving populations, and potential decimal reductions of S. enterica, based on surviving populations and decimal reductions determined with E. faecium. The use of E. faecium and these mathematical models would allow a processor to validate an irradiation process by estimating the reduction in S. enterica, based on the population reductions of E. faecium

FONA-7, a Novel Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase Variant of the FONA Family Identified in Serratia fonticola

Serratia fonticola is a human pathogen widely found in the environment, with birds being reported as possible natural hosts. During an epidemiological and genomic surveillance study conducted to monitor the occurrence of extended-spectrum b-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales in South American wild birds, we identified an ESBL-positive S. fonticola in a fecal sample collected from a Hudsonian Whimbrel, during its non-breeding range on the Pacific Coast of Chile. Whole genome sequencing analysis and in silico modeling revealed a novel variant of the class A ESBLs FONA family, designated FONA-7, which shows 96.28% amino acid identity with FONA-6; with amino acid substitutions occurring in the signal peptide sequence (Thr22/Ser), and in the mature protein (Ser39/Asn and Thr227/Ile). This finding denotes that migratory birds can be potential vectors for the transboundary spread of ESBL-producing bacteria, creating a further theoretical riskfor the origin of novel plasmid-encoded b-lactamases.Fil: Fuentes Castillo, Danny. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Power, Pablo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Microbiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Cerdeira, Louise. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Cardenas-Arias, Adriana. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Moura, Quézia. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Oliveira, Flavio A.. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Levy, Carlos E.. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Gutkind, Gabriel Osvaldo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Microbiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Catão-Dias, José L.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Lincopan, Nilton. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasi

q-Form fields on p-branes

In this paper, we give one general method for localizing any form (q-form) field on p-branes with one extra dimension, and apply it to some typical p-brane models. It is found that, for the thin and thick Minkowski branes with an infinite extra dimension, the zero mode of the q-form fields with q<(p-1)/2 can be localized on the branes. For the thick Minkowski p-branes with one finite extra dimension, the localizable q-form fields are those with q<p/2, and there are also some massive bound Kaluza-Klein modes for these q-form fields on the branes. For the same q-form field, the number of the bound Kaluza-Klein modes (but except the scalar field (q=0)) increases with the dimension of the p-branes. Moreover, on the same p-brane, the q-form fields with higher q have less number of massive bound KK modes. While for a family of pure geometrical thick p-branes with a compact extra dimension, the q-form fields with q<p/2 always have a localized zero mode. For a special pure geometrical thick p-brane, there also exist some massive bound KK modes of the q-form fields with q<p/2, whose number increases with the dimension of the p-brane.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, published versio

Influence of Sex on Stroke Prognosis: A Demographic, Clinical, and Molecular Analysis

Identifying the complexities of the effect of sex on stroke risk, etiology, and lesion progression may lead to advances in the treatment and care of ischemic stroke (IS) and non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage patients (ICH). We studied the sex-related discrepancies on the clinical course of patients with IS and ICH, and we also evaluated possible molecular mechanisms involved. The study's main variable was the patient's functional outcome at 3-months. Logistic regression models were used in order to study the influence of sex on different inflammatory, endothelial and atrial dysfunction markers. We recruited 5,021 patients; 4,060 IS (54.8% male, 45.2% female) and 961 ICH (57.1% male, 42.9% female). Women were on average 5.7 years older than men (6.4 years in IS, 5.1 years in ICH), and more likely to have previous poor functional status, to suffer atrial fibrillation and to be on anticoagulants. IS patients showed sex-related differences at 3-months regarding poorer outcome (55.6% women, 43.6% men, p < 0.0001), but this relationship was not found in ICH (56.8% vs. 61.9%, p = 0.127). In IS, women had higher levels of NT-proBNP and 3-months worse outcome in both cardioembolic and non-cardioembolic stroke patients. Stroke patients showed sex-related differences in pre-hospital data, clinical variables and molecular markers, but only IS patients presented independent sex-related differences in 3-months poor outcome and mortality. There was a relationship between the molecular marker of atrial dysfunction NT-proBNP and worse functional outcome in women, resulting in a possible indicator of increased dysfunction

Intra- and extra-hospital improvement in ischemic stroke patients: influence of reperfusion therapy and molecular mechanisms

Neuroprotective treatments in ischemic stroke are focused to reduce the pernicious effect of excitotoxicity, oxidative stress and inflammation. However, those cellular and molecular mechanisms may also have beneficial effects, especially during the late stages of the ischemic stroke. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the clinical improvement of ischemic stroke patients and the time-dependent excitotoxicity and inflammation. We included 4295 ischemic stroke patients in a retrospective study. The main outcomes were intra and extra-hospital improvement. High glutamate and IL-6 levels at 24 hours were associated with a worse intra-hospital improvement (OR:0.993, 95%CI: 0.990-0.996 and OR:0.990, 95%CI: 0.985-0.995). High glutamate and IL-6 levels at 24 hours were associated with better extra-hospital improvement (OR:1.13 95%CI, 1.07-1.12 and OR:1.14, 95%CI, 1.09-1.18). Effective reperfusion after recanalization showed the best clinical outcome. However, the long term recovery is less marked in patients with an effective reperfusion. The variations of glutamate and IL6 levels in the first 24 hours clearly showed a relationship between the molecular components of the ischemic cascade and the clinical outcome of patients. Our findings suggest that the rapid reperfusion after recanalization treatment blocks the molecular response to ischemia that is associated with restorative processes

Localization of gravity on a de Sitter thick braneworld without scalar fields

In this work we present a simple thick braneworld model that is generated by an intriguing interplay between a 5D cosmological constant with a de Sitter metric induced in the 3-brane without the inclusion of scalar fields. We show that 4D gravity is localized on this brane, provide analytic expressions for the massive Kaluza-Klein (KK) fluctuation modes and also show that the spectrum of metric excitations displays a mass gap. We finally present the corrections to Newton's law due to these massive modes. This model has no naked singularities along the fifth dimension despite the existence of a mass gap in the graviton spectrum as it happens in thick branes with 4D Poincare symmetry, providing a simple model with very good features: the curvature is completely smooth along the fifth dimension, it localizes 4D gravity and the spectrum of gravity fluctuations presents a mass gap, a fact that rules out the existence of phenomenologically dangerous ultralight KK excitations in the model. We finally present our solution as a limit of scalar thick branes.Comment: 11 pages in latex, no figures, title and abstract changed, a new section and some references adde

Regulatory T cells participate in the recovery of ischemic stroke patients

BACKGROUND: Recent preclinical studies have shown that regulatory T cells (Treg) play a key role in the immune response after ischemic stroke (IS). However, the role of Treg in human acute IS has been poorly investigated. Our aim was to study the relationship between circulating Treg and outcome in human IS patients. METHODS: A total of 204 IS patients and 22 control subjects were recruited. The main study variable was good functional outcome at 3 months (modified Rankin scale </=2) considering infarct volume, Early Neurological Deterioration (END) and risk of infections as secondary variables. The percentage of circulating Treg was measured at admission, 48, 72 h and at day 7 after stroke onset. RESULTS: Circulating Treg levels were higher in IS patients compared to control subjects. Treg at 48 h were independently associated with good functional outcome (OR, 3.5; CI: 1.9-7.8) after adjusting by confounding factors. Patients with lower Treg at 48 h showed higher frequency of END and risk of infections. In addition, a negative correlation was found between circulating Treg at 48 h (r = - 0.414) and 72 h (r = - 0.418) and infarct volume. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that Treg may participate in the recovery of IS patients. Therefore, Treg may be considered a potential therapeutic target in acute ischemic stroke

Spectral Statistics in Chiral-Orthogonal Disordered Systems

We describe the singularities in the averaged density of states and the corresponding statistics of the energy levels in two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) chiral symmetric and time-reversal invariant disordered systems, realized in bipartite lattices with real off-diagonal disorder. For off-diagonal disorder of zero mean we obtain a singular density of states in 2D which becomes much less pronounced in 3D, while the level-statistics can be described by semi-Poisson distribution with mostly critical fractal states in 2D and Wigner surmise with mostly delocalized states in 3D. For logarithmic off-diagonal disorder of large strength we find indistinguishable behavior from ordinary disorder with strong localization in any dimension but in addition one-dimensional $1/|E|$ Dyson-like asymptotic spectral singularities. The off-diagonal disorder is also shown to enhance the propagation of two interacting particles similarly to systems with diagonal disorder. Although disordered models with chiral symmetry differ from non-chiral ones due to the presence of spectral singularities, both share the same qualitative localization properties except at the chiral symmetry point E=0 which is critical.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex file, 8 postscript files. It will appear in the special edition of J. Phys. A for Random Matrix Theor

VAMOS: a Pathfinder for the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

VAMOS was a prototype detector built in 2011 at an altitude of 4100m a.s.l. in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The aim of VAMOS was to finalize the design, construction techniques and data acquisition system of the HAWC observatory. HAWC is an air-shower array currently under construction at the same site of VAMOS with the purpose to study the TeV sky. The VAMOS setup included six water Cherenkov detectors and two different data acquisition systems. It was in operation between October 2011 and May 2012 with an average live time of 30%. Besides the scientific verification purposes, the eight months of data were used to obtain the results presented in this paper: the detector response to the Forbush decrease of March 2012, and the analysis of possible emission, at energies above 30 GeV, for long gamma-ray bursts GRB111016B and GRB120328B.Comment: Accepted for pubblication in Astroparticle Physics Journal (20 pages, 10 figures). Corresponding authors: A.Marinelli and D.Zaboro