Cryptorchidism in Children with Zika-Related Microcephaly.

The genitourinary tract was recently identified as a potential site of complications related to the congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). We provide the first report of a series of cryptorchidism cases in 3-year-old children with Zika-related microcephaly who underwent consultations between October 2018 and April 2019 as part of the follow-up of the children cohort of the Microcephaly Epidemic Research Group, Pernambuco, Brazil. Of the 22 males examined, eight (36.4%) presented with cryptorchidism. Among 14 undescended testis cases, 11 (78.6%) could be palpated in the inguinal region. Seven of the eight children had severe microcephaly. Conventional risk factors for cryptorchidism were relatively infrequent in these children. We hypothesize that cryptorchidism is an additional manifestation of CZS present in children with severe microcephaly. As in our cases, for most of the children, the testes were located in the inguinal region, and the possible mechanisms for cryptorchidism were gubernaculum disturbance or cremasteric abnormality

Surgical findings in cryptorchidism in children with Zika-related microcephaly: a case series.

BACKGROUND: Complications in the urinary tract related to congenital Zika syndrome have recently been reported. One complication, cryptorchidism, has been reported by the Microcephaly Epidemic Research Group/MERG, in Pernambuco/Brazil. The present article describes for the first time the surgical findings in a case series of boys with Zika-related microcephaly and cryptorchidism, who underwent surgical testicular exploration as a contribution to better understand the possible mechanisms involved in gonads formation and descent. METHODS: A total of 7 children (11 testicular units), aged 3 to 4 years, were submitted to inguinal or scrotal orchidopexy for the treatment of palpable cryptorchidism between August 2019 and January 2020. Characteristics of the gonads and its annexes related to appendixes, testis-epididymis dissociation, gubernacular insertion, and associated hydroceles and/or hernias were described. Measures in centimetres were taken for volume calculate. RESULTS: We found a low prevalence of testicular and epididymal appendix (66.7%), a high prevalence of testis-epididymis dissociation (55.6%), low mean testicular volume for their ages (lower for older boys) and ectopic gubernacular insertion in all cases. There was no evidence of associated hydroceles and/or hernias in any case. No surgical complication was registered or reported, and all explored gonads were properly placed in the scrotal sac. CONCLUSIONS: We herein describe the surgical findings of these children's orchidopexies and discuss the possible mechanisms of viral action in embryogenesis and postnatal growth and development of the testes and annexes. These children need to be followed over time due to the higher risk of testicular atrophy and malignancy. Surgical timing seems to be relevant to avoid loss of testicular volume

RKIP Inhibition in cervical cancer Is associated with higher tumor aggressive behavior and resistance to cisplatin therapy

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide, being high-risk group the HPV infected, the leading etiological factor. The raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP) has been associated with tumor progression and metastasis in several human neoplasms, however its role on cervical cancer is unclear. In the present study, 259 uterine cervix tissues, including cervicitis, cervical intraepithelial lesions and carcinomas, were analyzed for RKIP expression by immunohistochemistry. We found that RKIP expression was significantly decreased during malignant progression, being highly expressed in non-neoplastic tissues (54% of the samples; 73/135), and expressed at low levels in the cervix invasive carcinomas (,15% (19/124). Following in vitro downregulation of RKIP, we observed a viability and proliferative advantage of RKIP-inhibited cells over time, which was associated with an altered cell cycle distribution and higher colony number in a colony formation assay. An in vitro wound healing assay showed that RKIP abrogation is associated with increased migratory capability. RKIP downregulation was also associated with an increased vascularization of the tumors in vivo using a CAM assay. Furthermore, RKIP inhibition induced cervical cancer cells apoptotic resistance to cisplatin treatment. In conclusion, we described that RKIP protein is significantly depleted during the malignant progression of cervical tumors. Despite the lack of association with patient clinical outcome, we demonstrate, in vitro and in vivo, that loss of RKIP expression can be one of the factors that are behind the aggressiveness, malignant progression and chemotherapy resistance of cervical cancer.This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (grant PTDC/SAU-TOX/114549/2009). Olga Martinho and Sara Granja were recipients of PhD fellowships (SFRH/BD/36463/2007 and SFRH/BD/51062/2010, respectively), and Filipe Pinto and Vera Miranda-Goncalves were recipients of research fellowships (UMINHO/BI/016/2011 and SFRH/BI/33503/2008, respectively), both from FCT, Portugal. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding received for this study

Genome of the Avirulent Human-Infective Trypanosome—Trypanosoma rangeli

Background: Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagellate protozoan parasite infecting humans and other wild and domestic mammals across Central and South America. It does not cause human disease, but it can be mistaken for the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. We have sequenced the T. rangeli genome to provide new tools for elucidating the distinct and intriguing biology of this species and the key pathways related to interaction with its arthropod and mammalian hosts.  Methodology/Principal Findings: The T. rangeli haploid genome is ,24 Mb in length, and is the smallest and least repetitive trypanosomatid genome sequenced thus far. This parasite genome has shorter subtelomeric sequences compared to those of T. cruzi and T. brucei; displays intraspecific karyotype variability and lacks minichromosomes. Of the predicted 7,613 protein coding sequences, functional annotations could be determined for 2,415, while 5,043 are hypothetical proteins, some with evidence of protein expression. 7,101 genes (93%) are shared with other trypanosomatids that infect humans. An ortholog of the dcl2 gene involved in the T. brucei RNAi pathway was found in T. rangeli, but the RNAi machinery is non-functional since the other genes in this pathway are pseudogenized. T. rangeli is highly susceptible to oxidative stress, a phenotype that may be explained by a smaller number of anti-oxidant defense enzymes and heatshock proteins.  Conclusions/Significance: Phylogenetic comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial genes indicates that T. rangeli and T. cruzi are equidistant from T. brucei. In addition to revealing new aspects of trypanosome co-evolution within the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, comparative genomic analysis with pathogenic trypanosomatids provides valuable new information that can be further explored with the aim of developing better diagnostic tools and/or therapeutic targets

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reported. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were recorded in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1 to 4.8 fb-1. Higgs boson decays into oppositely-charged muon or τ lepton pairs are considered for final states requiring either the presence or absence of b-jets. No statistically significant excess over the expected background is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived. The exclusion limits are for the production cross-section of a generic neutral Higgs boson, φ, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for h/A/H production in the MSSM as a function of the parameters mA and tan β in the mhmax scenario for mA in the range of 90GeV to 500 GeV. Copyright CERN