Effectiveness of Gaming in Creating Cultural Awareness

Despite the emphasis on cultural competency education in the United States for the past three decades, inequities and disparities in healthcare continue to persist, particularly among minority populations. With the current growing gap in provider and patient cultural congruence, how effectively we train students to work with diverse populations in healthcare settings warrants attention. This article presents the results of a qualitative study on the effectiveness of experiential learning, in the form of the game BaFa’ BaFa,’ in raising cultural awareness among students of health professions. Using thematic analysis, the authors analyzed written reflections from student participants. The findings support earlier studies, conducted mainly outside of healthcare, on the effectiveness of gaming in nurturing cultural awareness

SPOC: A widely distributed domain associated with cancer, apoptosis and transcription

BACKGROUND: The Split ends (Spen) family are large proteins characterised by N-terminal RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and a conserved SPOC (Spen paralog and ortholog C-terminal) domain. The aim of this study is to characterize the family at the sequence level. RESULTS: We describe undetected members of the Spen family in other lineages (Plasmodium and Plants) and localise SPOC in a new domain context, in a family that is common to all eukaryotes using profile-based sequence searches and structural prediction methods. CONCLUSIONS: The widely distributed DIO (Death inducer-obliterator) family is related to cancer and apoptosis and offers new clues about SPOC domain functionality

Transcriptional dissection of pancreatic tumors engrafted in mice.

BACKGROUND: Engraftment of primary pancreas ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) in mice to generate patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models is a promising platform for biological and therapeutic studies in this disease. However, these models are still incompletely characterized. Here, we measured the impact of the murine tumor environment on the gene expression of the engrafted human tumoral cells. METHODS: We have analyzed gene expression profiles from 35 new PDX models and compared them with previously published microarray data of 18 PDX models, 53 primary tumors and 41 cell lines from PDAC. The results obtained in the PDAC system were further compared with public available microarray data from 42 PDX models, 108 primary tumors and 32 cell lines from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We developed a robust analysis protocol to explore the gene expression space. In addition, we completed the analysis with a functional characterization of PDX models, including if changes were caused by murine environment or by serial passing. RESULTS: Our results showed that PDX models derived from PDAC, or HCC, were clearly different to the cell lines derived from the same cancer tissues. Indeed, PDAC- and HCC-derived cell lines are indistinguishable from each other based on their gene expression profiles. In contrast, the transcriptomes of PDAC and HCC PDX models can be separated into two different groups that share some partial similarity with their corresponding original primary tumors. Our results point to the lack of human stromal involvement in PDXs as a major factor contributing to their differences from the original primary tumors. The main functional differences between pancreatic PDX models and human PDAC are the lower expression of genes involved in pathways related to extracellular matrix and hemostasis and the up- regulation of cell cycle genes. Importantly, most of these differences are detected in the first passages after the tumor engraftment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that PDX models of PDAC and HCC retain, to some extent, a gene expression memory of the original primary tumors, while this pattern is not detected in conventional cancer cell lines. Expression changes in PDXs are mainly related to pathways reflecting the lack of human infiltrating cells and the adaptation to a new environment. We also provide evidence of the stability of gene expression patterns over subsequent passages, indicating early phases of the adaptation process

The Mediterranean diet and incidence of hypertension: the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Study

The Mediterranean diet is receiving increasing attention in cardiovascular epidemiology. The association of adherence to the Mediterranean diet with the incidence of hypertension was evaluated among 9,408 men and women enrolled in a dynamic Spanish prospective cohort study during 1999–2005. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline with a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire, and a 9-point Mediterranean diet score was constructed. During a median follow-up period of 4.2 years (range, 1.9–7.9), 501 incident cases of hypertension were identified. After adjustment for major hypertension risk factors and nutritional covariates, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was not associated with hypertension (the hazard ratio was 1.10 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.81, 1.41) for moderate adherence and 1.12 (95% CI: 0.79, 1.60) for high adherence). However, it was associated with reduced changes in mean levels of systolic blood pressure (moderate adherence, 2.4 mm Hg (95% CI: 4.0, 0.8); high adherence, 3.1 mm Hg (95% CI: 5.4, 0.8)) and diastolic blood pressure (moderate adherence, 1.3 mm Hg (95% CI: 2.5, 0.1); high adherence, 1.9 mm Hg (95% CI: 3.6, 0.1)) after 6 years of follow-up. These results suggest that adhering to a Mediterranean-type diet could contribute to the prevention of age-related changes in blood pressure

Geochemistry and Geochronology of the Guajira Eclogites, northern Colombia : evidence of a metamorphosed primitive Cretaceous Caribbean Island-arc

The chemical composition of eclogites, found as boulders in a Tertiary conglomerate from the Guajira Peninsula, Colombia suggests that these rocks are mainly metamorphosed basaltic andesites. They are depleted in LILE elements compared to MORB, have a negative Nb-anomaly and flat to enriched REE patterns, suggesting that their protoliths evolved in a subduction related tectonic setting. They show island-arc affinities and are similar to primitive islandarc rocks described in the Caribbean. The geochemical characteristics are comparable to low-grade greenschists from the nearby Etpana Terrane, which are interpreted as part of a Cretaceous intra-oceanic arc. These data support evidence that the eclogites and the Etpana terrane rocks formed from the same volcano-sedimentary sequence. Part of this sequence was accreted onto the margin and another was incorporated into the subduction channel and metamorphosed at eclogite facies conditions. 40Ar-39Ar ages of 79.2±1.1Ma and 82.2±2.5Ma determined on white micas, separated from two eclogite samples, are interpreted to be related to the cooling of the main metamorphic event. The formation of a common volcano-sedimentary protolith and subsequent metamorphism of these units record the ongoing Late Cretaceous continental subduction of the South American margin within the Caribbean intra-oceanic arc subduction zone. This gave way to an arc-continent collision between the Caribbean and the South American plates, where this sequence was exhumed after the Campanian

VP20.12 : Lymphangioma : fetal neck mass, delivery of pregnancy through EXIT technique – case report, University Hospital San Ignacio (HUSI)

Q1Lymphangioma is a rare type of benign tumour, caused by a lack of development of the lymphatic's system components. This malformation is an accumulation of fluid mainly located in the posterolateral region of the neck in 75% of cases, followed by armpit 20%, mediastinum 1%, abdominal organs, mesenteric retroperitoneal in 2–3% & bone, lower limbs in 2%. This develops in the second and third trimester. It could be aggressive due to the infiltration in adjacent tissues or closer organs, additionally, it could be associated with chromosomal abnormalities or other malformations, basically, the prognosis depends weather it is present or not. In isolated forms, these tumours have a good prognosis. In cases where the malformation is found on the neck in the first trimester, the assessment, behaviour, name, management and etiology could be different and it is called increased NT. The prenatal management includes serial ultrasound in maternal-fetal unit, karyotyping, MRI to see the level of infiltration and the associated airway obstruction, and multidisciplinary team experienced in airways management. In cases of cervical lymphangiomas, the gestation delivery should be done by a Caesarean section (CS) with an EXIT technique in order to guarantee the fetal airway before separation of the maternal-fetal circulation. it is imperative to set up the procedure through a multidisciplinary team meeting, in order to assign each of the roles in surgery and to know the additional materials or procedures in accordance with the fetal airway compromise. In this case the diagnosis was confirmed by maternal medicine team as a cervical lymphangioma in the HUSI in Bogotá through US performed on the 34.5 week. Additionally, we used an MRI to assess the fetal airway and after words we booked meetings with an interdisciplinary team with the objective of planning the procedures and materials required during the delivery through a CS with an EXIT technique, following the institutional protocols.Revista Internacional - Indexad