Consumo de drogas de síntesis en estudiantes de secundaria del Principado de Asturias (España)

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la situación del consumo de drogas de síntesis entre la población juvenil del Principado de Asturias, así como identificar las variables relacionadas con el uso de estas sustancias. La muestra se compuso de 1597 estudiantes de educación secundaria de esta Comunidad. Los resultados señalan que el 8% de los jóvenes encuestados había consumido drogas de diseño alguna vez, el 7% había consumido a lo largo del último año y el 4,7% en los últimos 30 días. La prevalencia aumenta con la edad y los hombres consumen más que las mujeres. Las variables relacionadas con el consumo son, entre otras, pobre rendimiento académico, actitudes tolerantes hacia las drogas, vivir solo con uno de los padres, tener mala relación con la familia y consumo de drogas de los amigos y la familia. Estos resultados indican un crecimiento importante del consumo de estas sustancias en Asturias y apuntan la necesidad de la puesta en marcha de estrategias que frenen este incremento entre la población juvenil

SOX2 Expression Is an Independent Predictor of Oral Cancer Progression

Potentially malignant oral lesions, mainly leukoplakia, are common. Malignant transformation varies widely, even in the absence of histological features such as dysplasia. Hence, there is a need for novel biomarker-based systems to more accurately predict the risk of cancer progression. The pluripotency transcription factor SOX2 is frequently overexpressed in cancers, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), thereby providing a link between malignancy and stemness. This study investigates the clinical relevance of SOX2 protein expression in early stages of oral carcinogenesis as a cancer risk biomarker, and also its impact on prognosis and disease outcome at late stages of OSCC progression. SOX2 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 55 patients with oral epithelial dysplasia, and in 125 patients with OSCC, and correlated with clinicopathological data and outcomes. Nuclear SOX2 expression was detected in four (7%) cases of oral epithelial dysplasia, using a cut-off of 10% stained nuclei, and in 16 (29%) cases when any positive nuclei was evaluated. Univariate analysis showed that SOX2 expression and histopathological grading were significantly associated with oral cancer risk; and both were found to be significant independent predictors in the multivariate analysis. Nuclear SOX2 expression was also found in 49 (39%) OSCC cases, was more frequent in early tumor stages and N0 cases, and was associated with a better survival. In conclusion, SOX2 expression emerges as an independent predictor of oral cancer risk in patients with oral leukoplakia. These findings underscore the relevant role of SOX2 in early oral tumorigenesis rather than in tumor progression