VEGF Gene Expression in Adult Human Thymus Fat: A Correlative Study with Hypoxic Induced Factor and Cyclooxigenase-2

UNLABELLED:It is well known that the adult human thymus degenerates into fat tissue; however, it has never been considered as a potential source of angiogenic factors. Recently, we have described that this fat (TAT) produces angiogenic factors and induces human endothelial cell proliferation and migration, indicating its potential angiogenic properties. DESIGN:Adult thymus fat and subcutaneous adipose tissue specimens were obtained from 28 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, making this tissue readily available as a prime source of adipose tissue. We focused our investigation on determining VEGF gene expression and characterizing the different genes, mediators of inflammation and adipogenesis, and which are known to play a relevant role in angiogenesis regulation. RESULTS:We found that VEGF-A was the isoform most expressed in TAT. This expression was accompanied by an upregulation of HIF-1alpha, COX-2 and HO-1 proteins, and by increased HIF-1 DNA binding activity, compared to SAT. Furthermore, we observed that TAT contains a high percentage of mature adipocytes, 0.25% of macrophage cells, 15% of endothelial cells and a very low percentage of thymocyte cells, suggesting the cellular variability of TAT, which could explain the differences in gene expression observed in TAT. Subsequently, we showed that the expression of genes known as adipogenic mediators, including PPARgamma1/gamma2, FABP-4 and adiponectin was similar in both TAT and SAT. Moreover the expression of these latter genes presented a significantly positive correlation with VEGF, suggesting the potential association between VEGF and the generation of adipose tissue in adult thymus. CONCLUSION:Here we suggest that this fat has a potential angiogenic function related to ongoing adipogenesis, which substitutes immune functions within the adult thymus. The expression of VEGF seems to be associated with COX-2, HO-1 and adipogenesis related genes, suggesting the importance that this new fat has acquired in research in relation to adipogenesis and angiogenesis

Untargeted profiling of concordant/discordant phenotypes of high insulin resistance and obesity to predict the risk of developing diabetes

This study explores the metabolic profiles of concordant/discordant phenotypes of high insulin resistance (IR) and obesity. Through untargeted metabolomics (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS), we analyzed the fasting serum of subjects with high IR and/or obesity ( n = 64). An partial least-squares discriminant analysis with orthogonal signal correction followed by univariate statistics and enrichment analysis allowed exploration of these metabolic profiles. A multivariate regression method (LASSO) was used for variable selection and a predictive biomarker model to identify subjects with high IR regardless of obesity was built. Adrenic acid and a dyglyceride (DG) were shared by high IR and obesity. Uric and margaric acids, 14 DGs, ketocholesterol, and hydroxycorticosterone were unique to high IR, while arachidonic, hydroxyeicosatetraenoic (HETE), palmitoleic, triHETE, and glycocholic acids, HETE lactone, leukotriene B4, and two glutamyl-peptides to obesity. DGs and adrenic acid differed in concordant/discordant phenotypes, thereby revealing protective mechanisms against high IR also in obesity. A biomarker model formed by DGs, uric and adrenic acids presented a high predictive power to identify subjects with high IR [AUC 80.1% (68.9-91.4)]. These findings could become relevant for diabetes risk detection and unveil new potential targets in therapeutic treatments of IR, diabetes, and obesity. An independent validated cohort is needed to confirm these results

Tratamiento de la cirrosis biliar primaria con ácido ursodesoxicólico. Resultados a corto y medio plazo y relación con el estudio de la enfermedad

We present the results of the treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA, 7-9 mg/kg body weight daily) of 17 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (8 in stages I-II; 9 in stages III-IV). At two months the mean values of alkaline phosphatase, gammaglutamiltranspeptidase, alanine and aspartate aminotransferase were reduced (p less than 0.001, p less than 0.001, p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.01 respectively). This improvement persisted without increase during the first year. At two months the total bilirubin value was reduced (p less than 0.01) associated with a reduction in the conjugated fraction (p less than 0.05). Cholesterol and gammaglobulin mean values also decreased at two months (p less than 0.05). We found no changes in IgM levels and antimitochondrial antibody titers. The improvement was similar in both groups (early I-II and advanced III-IV stages) and the treatment showed no undesirable effects either in early or advanced stages. Almost all the patients with pruritus (6 out of 7) improved with the treatment and the use of cholestyramine was reduced in al

Laser treatment of Ag@ZnO nanorods as long-life-span SERS surfaces.

This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ACS at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/am506622x.UV nanosecond laser pulses have been used to produce a unique surface nanostructuration of Ag@ZnO supported nanorods (NRs). The NRs were fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at low temperature applying a silver layer as promoter. The irradiation of these structures with single nanosecond pulses of an ArF laser produces the melting and reshaping of the end of the NRs that aggregate in the form of bundles terminated by melted ZnO spherical particles. Well-defined silver nanoparticles (NPs), formed by phase separation at the surface of these melted ZnO particles, give rise to a broad plasmonic response consistent with their anisotropic shape. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in the as-prepared Ag@ZnO NRs arrays was proved by using a Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) chromophore as standard analyte. The surface modifications induced by laser treatment improve the stability of this system as SERS substrate while preserving its activity.We thank the Junta de Andalucía (TEP8067, FQM-6900 and P12-FQM-2265) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Projects CONSOLIDER-CSD 2008-00023, MAT2011-28345-C02-02, MAT2013-40852-R, MAT2013-42900-P and RECUPERA 2020) for financial support. The authors also thank the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreements 312483-ESTEEM2 (Integrated Infrastructure Initiative-I3) and REGPOT-CT-2011-285895-Al-NANOFUNC, and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement 291522 - 3DIMAGE. R. J. Peláez acknowledges the grant JCI-2012_13034 from the Juan de la Cierva program

Comparison of different prognostic scores for patients with cirrhosis hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Introduction and Objectives: Viral infections have been described to increase the risk of decompensation in patients with cirrhosis. We aimed to determine the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on outcome of hospitalized patients with cirrhosis and to compare the performance of different prognostic models for predicting mortality. Patients: We performed a prospective cohort study including 2211 hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from April 15, 2020 through October 1, 2020 in 38 Hospitals from 11 Latin American countries. We registered clinical and laboratory parameters of patients with and without cirrhosis. All patients were followed until discharge or death. We evaluated the prognostic performance of different scoring systems to predict mortality in patients with cirrhosis using ROC curves. Results: Overall, 4.6% (CI 3.7–5.6) subjects had cirrhosis (n = 96). Baseline Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class was assessed: CTP-A (23%), CTP-B (45%) and CTP-C (32%); median MELD-Na score was 19 (IQR 14−25). Mortality was 47% in patients with cirrhosis and 16% in patients without cirrhosis (P 30. The areas under the ROC curves for performance evaluation in predicting 28-days mortality for Chronic Liver Failure Consortium (CLIF-C), North American Consortium for the Study of End-Stage Liver Disease (NACSELD), CTP score and MELD-Na were 0.85, 0.75, 0.69, 0.67; respectively (P < .0001). Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with elevated mortality in patients with cirrhosis. CLIFC had better performance in predicting mortality than NACSELD, CTP and MELD-Na in patients with cirrhosis and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Clinicaltrials.gov:NCT04358380.Fil: Mendizabal, Manuel. Universidad Austral; Argentina. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; ArgentinaFil: Ridruejo, Ezequiel. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; Argentina. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Piñero, Federico. Universidad Austral; Argentina. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; ArgentinaFil: Anders, Margarita. Hospital Alemán; Argentina. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; ArgentinaFil: Padilla, Martín Jesus. Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen; PerúFil: Toro, Luis G.. Fundación de Medellín y Rionegro; ColombiaFil: Torre, Aldo. Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición; MéxicoFil: Montes, Pedro. Hospital Nacional Daniel A. Carrión; ArgentinaFil: Urzúa, Alvaro. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Gonzalez Ballerga, Esteban. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas General San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Silveyra, María Dolores. Sanatorio Anchorena; ArgentinaFil: Michelato, Douglas. Hospital Especializado en Enfermedades Infecciosas Instituto Couto Maia; BrasilFil: Díaz, Javier. Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins; PerúFil: Peralta, Mirta. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Infecciosas "Dr. Francisco Javier Muñiz"; ArgentinaFil: Pages, Josefina. Universidad Austral; Argentina. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; ArgentinaFil: García, Sandro Ruiz. Hospital de Víctor Lazarte Echegaray; PerúFil: Gutierrez Lozano, Isabel. Centro Médico ABC; MéxicoFil: Macias, Yuridia. IMSS Hospital General Regional No. 1 “Dr. Carlos Mc Gregor Sánchez”; MéxicoFil: Cocozzella, Daniel. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; Argentina. Hospital Italiano de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Chavez Tapia, Norberto. Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation; MéxicoFil: Tagle, Martín. Clínica Anglo-Americana; PerúFil: Dominguez, Alejandra. Hospital Padre Hurtado; ChileFil: Varón, Adriana. Red Latinoamericana de Concientización y Educación en Investigación del Hígado; Argentina. Fundación Cardio Infantil; ColombiaFil: Vera Pozo, Emilia. Hospital Regional Dr. Teodoro Maldonado Carbo del IESS; EcuadorFil: Higuera de la Tijera, Fátima. Hospital General de México “Dr. Eduardo Liceaga”; MéxicoFil: Bustios, Carla. Fundación Cardio Infantil; ColombiaFil: Conte, Damián. Hospital Privado de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Escajadillo, Nataly. Universidad Austral; ArgentinaFil: Rubinstein, Fernando Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Hospital Especializado en Enfermedades Infecciosas Instituto Couto Maia; BrasilFil: Tenorio, Laura. Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins; Per

Turismo y Género. Una mirada desde Iberoamérica

En las últimas cuatro décadas ha crecido el interés de la academia, gobiernos y organizaciones internacionales por estudiar cómo ha sido, en qué circunstancias y qué efectos ha traído la incorporación de las mujeres al turismo. De esta forma se inicia un debate internacional en el que se cuestionan, por un lado, los efectos negativos de esta actividad en la vida de las mujeres y, por el otro, se realzan beneficios económicos que mejoran su calidad de vida y la de sus familias. A pesar del interés y la importante participación de mujeres en el sector turístico, aún son insuficientes los estudios enfocados en explicar y evidenciar su situación laboral. En este contexto, surge la idea de publicar un libro que compilara trabajos recientes en torno a las condiciones de las trabajadoras en el sector turístico de Iberoamérica.Esta obra se compone de tres secciones, Aproximaciones teórico metodológicas, Mujer y turismo en zonas rurales y La mujer en empresas turísticas, cuyas investigaciones abordan distintos temas para evidenciar los problemas enfrentados por las mujeres, proponer diversas soluciones y comprender su escenario laboral. En la primera sección, hay dos capítulos que proponen marcos teóricos para analizar el empoderamiento de las mujeres en el turismo rural. Los resultados de investigaciones de la segunda sección visibilizan las desigualdades, reflexionan y proponen acciones para mejorar las condiciones de las trabajadoras turísticas. En la última, en los tres capítulos, concentrados en las actividades empresariales, se estudian las desventajas y obstáculos de la empleada en alguna compañía turística.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Apuntes para un modelo mexicano de atención y acompañamiento psicosocial

Este libro surge debido al contexto de violencia y violaciones graves de derechos humanos que se enfrentan en México desde los primeros años del siglo XXI, los autores reflexionan sobre el campo de la atención y el acompañamiento psicosocial a víctimas. De esta manera se pretende realizar una aportación que proporcione a los lectores elementos teórico-contextuales que les permitan acercarse de manera ética y respetuosa a las personas que se han visto impactadas por algún evento de violencia sociopolítica que han trastocado y desarticulado los procesos vitales y los proyectos de vida