Prior COVID-19 infection may increase risk for developing endothelial dysfunction following hematopoietic cell transplantation

Endothelial dysfunction underlies many of the major complications following hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), including transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA), veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (VOD/SOS), and engraftment syndrome (ES). Emerging evidence similarly implicates endothelitis and microangiopathy in severe COVID-19-related multi-system organ dysfunction. Given the overlap in these two illness states, we hypothesize that prior COVID-19 infection may increase risk for HCT-related endotheliopathies. This retrospective, multicenter study included patients aged 0-25 years who underwent autologous or allogeneic HCT for any indication between January 1, 2020 and September 21, 2021, with close attention to those infected with COVID-19 in either the six months prior to transplant or twelve months following transplant. Incidences of TA-TMA, VOD/SOS, and ES were compared among patients with COVID-19 infection pre-HCT and post-HCT, as well as with historical controls who were never infected with SARS-CoV-2. Those who underwent HCT following COVID-19 infection displayed significantly increased rates of TA-TMA compared to those who were never infected. Additionally, our data suggests a similar trend for increased VOD/SOS and ES rates, although this did not reach statistical significance. Therefore, a history of COVID-19 infection prior to undergoing HCT may be a nonmodifiable risk factor for endothelial-related complications following HCT. Further studies are warranted to better clarify this relationship among larger cohorts and in the era of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover.

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Global variations in diabetes mellitus based on fasting glucose and haemogloblin A1c

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but may identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and detected as having diabetes in survey screening had elevated FPG, HbA1c, or both. We developed prediction equations for estimating the probability that a person without previously diagnosed diabetes, and at a specific level of FPG, had elevated HbA1c, and vice versa. The age-standardised proportion of diabetes that was previously undiagnosed, and detected in survey screening, ranged from 30% in the high-income western region to 66% in south Asia. Among those with screen-detected diabetes with either test, the agestandardised proportion who had elevated levels of both FPG and HbA1c was 29-39% across regions; the remainder had discordant elevation of FPG or HbA1c. In most low- and middle-income regions, isolated elevated HbA1c more common than isolated elevated FPG. In these regions, the use of FPG alone may delay diabetes diagnosis and underestimate diabetes prevalence. Our prediction equations help allocate finite resources for measuring HbA1c to reduce the global gap in diabetes diagnosis and surveillance.peer-reviewe

Research in Sickle Cell Disease: From Bedside to Bench to Bedside

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an exemplar of bidirectional translational research, starting with a remarkable astute observation of the abnormally shaped red blood cells that motivated decades of bench research that have now translated into new drugs and genetic therapies. Introduction of hydroxyurea (HU) therapy, the only SCD-modifying treatment for >30 years and now standard care, was initiated through another clinical observation by a pediatrician. While the clinical efficacy of HU is primarily due to its fetal hemoglobin (HbF) induction, the exact mechanism of how it increases HbF remains not fully understood. Unraveling of the molecular mechanism of how HU increases HbF has provided insights on the development of new HbF-reactivating agents in the pipeline. HU has other salutary effects, reduction of cellular adhesion to the vascular endothelium and inflammation, and dissecting these mechanisms has informed bench—both cellular and animal—research for development of the 3 recently approved agents: endari, voxelotor, and crizanlizumab; truly, a bidirectional bench to bedside translation. Decades of research to understand the mechanisms of fetal to adult hemoglobin have also culminated in promising anti-sickling genetic therapies and the first-in-human studies of reactivating an endogenous (γ-globin) gene HBG utilizing innovative genomic approaches

Tumor de mediastino anterior en un paciente varón de 28 años. Reporte de caso y revisión de la literatura

Se presenta el caso clínico de un paciente de 28 años de edad, que acudió al Servicio de Emergencia del Hospital Nacional Arzobispo Loayza, presentando masa mediastinal asociada a tos, hemoptisis y disnea. Se discuten los diagnósticos diferenciales, timoma, linfoma, patología de tiroidea y tumores germinales y se realiza el estudio anatomopatológico para el diagnóstico definitivo. (Rev Horiz Med 2012;12(1):48-54)

Iniciativas para el Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Agroindustrial del Istmo de Tehuantepec 2022 - No.1

Ramón Jiménez López, Director General del Tecnológico Nacional de México. Juan Antonio Villanueva Jiménez, Director General del Colegio de Postgraduados. Bram Govaerts, Director General del Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo. Rafael Marín Mollinedo, Director General del Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec Gabriel Cué Navarro, Secretario de Desarrollo Agropecuario, Pesca y Acuacultura del estado de Oaxaca. Cuitláhuac García Jiménez, Gobernador constitucional del estado de Veracruz. Víctor Del Ángel González, Coordinador General de Enlace Sectorial. Víctor Suárez Carrera, Subsecretario de Autosuficiencia. Humberto Castro García, Fundador de la empresa ReyColl productora de semillas Gustavo López Romero, Investigador, Colegio de Postgraduados. José Regalado López, Investigador, Colegio de Postgraduados. Ángela Contreras Ramírez, Colaboradora del Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo. Antonio Turren Fernández, Investigador, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias. Jonatan Villa Alcántara, Colaborador del Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo. Francisco Hernández Rosas, Investigador, Colegio de Postgraduados. Flavio Aragón Cuevas, Investigador del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias. Lino Velázquez Morales, Subsecretario de Planeación y Desarrollo Rural. Abel Jaime Leal González, Gerente del Hub Pacífico Sur del Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo. Ernesto Cruz González, Récord mundial en producción de maíz, fundador de ATIDER. Gonzalo Guillermo Lucho Constantino, Profesor Investigador del Instituto Tecnológico Superior. Ramsés Alejandro Galindo Cota, Director del Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Jesús Carranza. Herminio Baltazar Cisneros, Coordinador General de Universidades Tecnológicas y Politécnicas. Luis Ángel Rodríguez Del Bosque, Director General del instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias. Ana Lilia Cruz Salinas, Coordinadora General para el Desarrollo del Sector Agroalimentario y Agroindustrial del Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec. Víctor Del Ángel González, Coordinador General de Enlace Sectorial, Secretaría de Agricultura.El Seminario Iniciativas para el Desarrollo del Sector Agroalimentario y Agroindustrial se realiza en el marco del Programa para el Desarrollo del Istmo de Tehuantepec que busca impulsar el crecimiento de la economía regional y el bienestar de su población, así como fortalecer el sector agroalimentario y agroindustrial

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale