A new 3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidine-based material for molecular recognition

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Osteonecrosis in genetic disorders

The avascular necrosis of bone is characterized by an abnormality of tissue that can occur whenever a disease process causes major cell stress. Some evidence supports a role for genetic factors in some avascular necrosis suggesting that gene mutations could play a role in the pathogenesis of osteonecrosis. These genetic studies provide hope that tools for identifying high risk patients will be available in the future

Evaluación y predicción de la reincidencia en agresores sexuales argentinos: el svr20

En este estudio se revisan tanto las teorías y conocimientos existentes sobre etiología y factores de riesgo de agresión sexual, como algunas investigaciones internacionales y españolas que sustentan estos conocimientos. Su principal objetivo es la presentación de un nuevo instrumento de predicción en este campo denominado SVR-20: Manual de valoración del riesgo de violencia sexual. Para su validación se ha efectuado un primer estudio exploratorio sobre la capacidad predictiva del SVR-20 con una muestra de 42 agresores sexuales argentinos que cumplen condena en dos prisiones de Mendoza. Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo y la regresión logística binaria y la curva ROC ofrecen resultados satisfactorios para considerarlo un buen instrumento de discriminación entre reincidentes y no reincidentes. La conclusión principal de este estudio es que el SVR-20 es un buen instrumento para predecir el riesgo de reincidencia sexual.In this article, there is a review of theories and knowledge about the etiology and risk factors of sex aggression, and also of international and Spanish research that supports this theoretical foundation. The main goal of this study is to introduce an instrument for risk assessment called SVR-20: Guide for sexual violence risk assessment. In order to validate this instrument, an exploratory study about the predictive accuracy of the SVR-20 has been carried out, using a sample of 42 incarcerated sex offenders from two Argentinian prisons. The main conclusion of this study is that SVR-20 is a good instrument to predict the risk of sexual recidivis

Genetic aspects of Paget’s disease of bone

Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) is a metabolic bone disease characterized by excessive bone resorption and formation due to increased osteoclasts activity. PDB mostly runs asymptomatically, although increased bone turnover can be present and in approximately 30% of patients bone abnormalities, such as bone pain and deformities, pathological fractures and deafness may occur. The existence of familial aggregation of PDB has been reported in numerous papers, describing the occurrence of disease in successive generations. It has been clearly established that PDB is genetically heterogeneous with several loci able to confer an increased susceptibility to develop this bone metabolic disorder. In particular, the PDB3 locus in chromosome 5q35-qter hosts the sequestosome1/ p62 (SQSTM1/p62) gene whose mutations account for most of the sporadic and familial forms of PDB reported in literature. SQSTM1/p62 gene encodes the SQSTM1/p62 protein, component of the NF-kB signaling pathway and mediating intracellular signaling from IL-1/TNF toward NF-kB, crucial for osteoclast differentiation and activity. A functional study suggests that the S Q S T M 1 mutation may predispose to PDB affecting the interaction between SQSTM1/p62 protein and a hitherto unidentified protein(s) modulating the bone turnover, but the underlying molecular mechanism need to be elucidated. However, independently from the knowledge of the functional aspects of S Q S T M 1 / p 6 2 mutation, the opportunity to perform germline mutational analysis in PDB patients may be helpful in detecting new genetic carriers in potentially familial forms of PDB and in studying the co-segregation of such DNA variants with the PDB phenotype. All together these studies could open new possibilities in the prevention and therapy of PDB and of other metabolic bone disorder

Luminescent silicon nanoparticles prepared by ultra short pulsed laser ablation in liquid for imaging applications

Heavy-metal-free semiconductor material like Silicon Nanoparticle (Si-NPs) is attracting scientists because of their diverse applications in biomedical field. In this work, pulsed laser ablation of silicon in aqueous solution is employed to generate Si-NPs in one step avoiding use of chemical precursors. Characterization by absorption, electron and photoluminescence analysis proves the generation of luminescent Si-NPs. The productivity rate of Si-NPs is investigated by Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry. Furthermore, Si-NPs quantum yield and confocal microscopy studies corroborate the potential use of these biocompatible Si-NPs for imaging applications