Una mirada analítica de género sobre políticas públicas en la realidad de las mujeres de Hualqui, Región del Bío Bío

Este artículo busca conocer las políticas que guían el quehacer institucional en dos grandes temáticas, participación de las mujeres y violencia doméstica, temas priorizados por las mujeres integrantes de las respectivas comunas. La investigación asume una perspectiva de género, y se propone detectar el grado de legitimación de dichas políticas sociales nacionales, e identificar los niveles de involucramiento de las mujeres en dichas políticas sociales. En sus conclusiones, aparecen constatadas diversas limitaciones en la implementación de dichas políticas.Cet article cherche à connaître et à identifier les politiques qui orientent le travail institutionnel selon deux grandes thématiques, la participation des femmes et la violence domestique, thèmes privilégiés par les femmes membres des communes respectives. La recherche assume une perspective de genre, et propose d’identifier le degré de légitimation de ces politiques sociales nationales, et d’identifier les niveaux d’engagement des femmes dans ces mêmes politiques. En conclusion, de nombreuses limites sont identifiées dans la mise en œuvre de ces politiques.This paper seeks to understand and identify the policies that guide institutional activities in two broad areas, participation of women and domestic violence issues, areas prioritized by women members of the respective communities. The study assumes a gender perspective, and aims to identify the degree of legitimacy of such national social policies, and identifies levels of involvement of women in these social policies. In its conclusions, are observed various limitations in the implementation of these policies

Una mirada analítica de género sobre políticas públicas en la realidad de las mujeres de Hualqui, Región del Bío Bío

Este artículo busca conocer las políticas que guían el quehacer institucional en dos grandes temáticas, participación de las mujeres y violencia doméstica, temas priorizados por las mujeres integrantes de las respectivas comunas. La investigación asume una perspectiva de género, y se propone detectar el grado de legitimación de dichas políticas sociales nacionales, e identificar los niveles de involucramiento de las mujeres en dichas políticas sociales. En sus conclusiones, aparecen constatadas diversas limitaciones en la implementación de dichas políticas.Cet article cherche à connaître et à identifier les politiques qui orientent le travail institutionnel selon deux grandes thématiques, la participation des femmes et la violence domestique, thèmes privilégiés par les femmes membres des communes respectives. La recherche assume une perspective de genre, et propose d’identifier le degré de légitimation de ces politiques sociales nationales, et d’identifier les niveaux d’engagement des femmes dans ces mêmes politiques. En conclusion, de nombreuses limites sont identifiées dans la mise en œuvre de ces politiques.This paper seeks to understand and identify the policies that guide institutional activities in two broad areas, participation of women and domestic violence issues, areas prioritized by women members of the respective communities. The study assumes a gender perspective, and aims to identify the degree of legitimacy of such national social policies, and identifies levels of involvement of women in these social policies. In its conclusions, are observed various limitations in the implementation of these policies

Calidad de vida y función sexual en mujeres con disfunción del piso-pélvico del sur de Chile

Antecedentes/Objetivos: La disfunción del piso pélvico (DPP) es muy prevalente, afectando a un tercio de las mujeres adultas. Estas patologías no suponen un riesgo vital, pero sus síntomas pueden interferir con las actividades de la vida diaria incluyendo aspectos físicos, sociales y sexuales. En el sur de Chile, en el Hospital de alta complejidad (Regional-Concepción), se ha implementado la Unidad de Piso Pélvico (UPP). No hay evidencia sobre el efecto que supone en la calidad de vida y la función sexual de las mujeres que la padecen Describir la calidad de vida y función sexual de mujeres controladas en la Unidad de Piso Pélvico de un Hospital de alta complejidad en Chile. Métodos: Estudio transversal. Población: usuarias con DPP de la UPP del H. Regional-Concepción. Muestra 173. Variables: Caract. sociodemográficas, antecedentes obstétricos, tipo de DPP, Variables de Calidad de Vida (percepción del estado de salud, limitación emocional, limitación de actividades cotidianas, alteraciones de actividades sociales) (Short Form-12 Health Survey) y función sexual (PISQ-12). Análisis: medidas de dispersión, frecuencia absoluta- relativa. Resultados: Edad media 57 años, 88% con ingreso menor a 357€. 91% con IMC-sobrepeso y obesidad, 64% ≥ 3 hijos. Tipos DPP: 53% incontinencia de orina (IO), 35% prolapso vaginal (Pp), 12% IO+Pp. Calidad de vida (n = 173): Mala percepción de salud: 95%. Limitación emocional: 37%. Limitación de actividades cotidianas: 67%. Alteraciones de actividades sociales: 57% Función sexual (n = 95): Disfunción alta: 8,4%, moderada: 41,1%, baja 50,5%. El 15% nunca tuvo deseo-sexual los últimos 6 meses. El 14% admite no haber alcanzado el orgasmo en los últimos 6 meses, el mismo porcentaje admite no sentir excitación en el mismo período. El 19% admite no estar satisfechas con las actividades sexuales actuales, el 15% siente dolor durante las relaciones sexuales, el 40% admite sufrir de pérdidas de orina durante la actividad sexual, y el mismo número admite restringir su vida sexual debido al miedo de pérdida de orina durante el acto sexual. El 27% admite tener reacciones emocionales negativas durante las relaciones sexuales. El 10% y el 13% admite que sus parejas sufrían de disfunción eréctil y eyaculación, respectivamente. Por último, el 42% de las mujeres admite que sus orgasmos en los últimos 6 meses son más intensos. Conclusiones: Las mujeres con DPP presentan una alteración negativa de su calidad de vida y de su función sexual, aunque existe cierta incongruencia al valorar positivamente la calidad de los orgasmos cuando los demás aspectos de la vida sexual son negativos

Cadmium, Smoking, and Human Blood DNA Methylation Profiles in Adults from the Strong Heart Study.

The epigenetic effects of individual environmental toxicants in tobacco remain largely unexplored. Cadmium (Cd) has been associated with smoking-related health effects, and its concentration in tobacco smoke is higher in comparison with other metals. We studied the association of Cd and smoking exposures with human blood DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles. We also evaluated the implication of findings to relevant methylation pathways and the potential contribution of Cd exposure from smoking to explain the association between smoking and site-specific DNAm. We conducted an epigenome-wide association study of urine Cd and self-reported smoking (current and former vs. never, and cumulative smoking dose) with blood DNAm in 790,026 CpGs (methylation sites) measured with the Illumina Infinium Human MethylationEPIC (Illumina Inc.) platform in 2,325 adults 45-74 years of age who participated in the Strong Heart Study in 1989-1991. In a mediation analysis, we estimated the amount of change in DNAm associated with smoking that can be independently attributed to increases in urine Cd concentrations from smoking. We also conducted enrichment analyses and in silico protein-protein interaction networks to explore the biological relevance of the findings. At a false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected level of 0.05, we found 6 differentially methylated positions (DMPs) for Cd; 288 and 17, respectively, for current and former smoking status; and 77 for cigarette pack-years. Enrichment analyses of these DMPs displayed enrichment of 58 and 6 Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes gene sets, respectively, including biological pathways for cancer and cardiovascular disease. In in silico protein-to-protein networks, we observed key proteins in DNAm pathways directly and indirectly connected to Cd- and smoking-DMPs. Among DMPs that were significant for both Cd and current smoking (annotated to PRSS23, AHRR, F2RL3, RARA, and 2q37.1), we found statistically significant contributions of Cd to smoking-related DNAm. Beyond replicating well-known smoking epigenetic signatures, we found novel DMPs related to smoking. Moreover, increases in smoking-related Cd exposure were associated with differential DNAm. Our integrative analysis supports a biological link for Cd and smoking-associated health effects, including the possibility that Cd is partly responsible for smoking toxicity through epigenetic changes. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP6345.This work was supported by grants by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) (under contract numbers 75N92019D00027, 75N92019D00028, 75N92019D00029, & 75N92019D00030) and previous grants (R01HL090863, R01HL109315, R01HL109301, R01HL109284, R01HL109282, and R01HL109319 and cooperative agreements U01HL41642, U01HL41652, U01HL41654, U01HL65520, and U01HL65521), by the National Institute of Health Sciences (R01ES021367, R01ES025216, P42ES010349, P30ES009089), by the Spanish Funds for Research In Health Sciences, Carlos III Health Institute, co-funded by European Regional Development Fund (CP12/03080 and PI15/00071), by Chilean CONICYT/FONDECYT-POSTDOCTORADO Nº3180486 (A.L.R.-C) and a fellowship from “La Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434). The fellowship code is “LCF/BQ/DR19/11740016.”S

Molecular Blocking of CD23 Supports Its Role in the Pathogenesis of Arthritis

BACKGROUND: CD23 is a differentiation/activation antigen expressed by a variety of hematopoietic and epithelial cells. It can also be detected in soluble forms in biological fluids. Initially known as the low-affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E (Fc epsilonRII), CD23 displays various other physiologic ligands such as CD21, CD11b/c, CD47-vitronectin, and mannose-containing proteins. CD23 mediates numerous immune responses by enhancing IgE-specific antigen presentation, regulating IgE synthesis, influencing cell differentiation and growth of both B- and T-cells. CD23-crosslinking promotes the secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators from human monocytes/macrophages, eosinophils and epithelial cells. Increased CD23 expression is found in patients during allergic reactions and rheumatoid arthritis while its physiopathologic role in these diseases remains to be clarified. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We previously generated heptapeptidic countrestructures of human CD23. Based on in vitro studies on healthy and arthritic patients' cells, we showed that CD23-specific peptide addition to human macrophages greatly diminished the transcription of genes encoding inflammatory cytokines. This was also confirmed by significant reduction of mediator levels in cell supernatants. We also show that CD23 peptide decreased IgE-mediated activation of both human and rat CD23(+) macrophages. In vivo studies in rat model of arthritis showed that CD23-blocking peptide ameliorates clinical scores and prevent bone destruction in a dose dependent manner. Ex-vivo analysis of rat macrophages further confirmed the inhibitory effect of peptides on their activation. Taken together our results support the role of CD23 activation and subsequent inflammatory response in arthritis. CONCLUSION: CD23-blocking peptide (p30A) prevents the activation of monocytes/macrophages without cell toxicity. Thus, targeting CD23 by antagonistic peptide decreases inflammatory markers and may have clinical value in the treatment of human arthritis and allergic reactions involving CD23

Regulation of the cd38 promoter in human airway smooth muscle cells by TNF-α and dexamethasone

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>CD38 is expressed in human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells, regulates intracellular calcium, and its expression is augmented by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). CD38 has a role in airway hyperresponsiveness, a hallmark of asthma, since deficient mice develop attenuated airway hyperresponsiveness compared to wild-type mice following intranasal challenges with cytokines such as IL-13 and TNF-α. Regulation of CD38 expression in HASM cells involves the transcription factor NF-κB, and glucocorticoids inhibit this expression through NF-κB-dependent and -independent mechanisms. In this study, we determined whether the transcriptional regulation of CD38 expression in HASM cells involves response elements within the promoter region of this gene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We cloned a putative 3 kb promoter fragment of the human <it>cd38 </it>gene into pGL3 basic vector in front of a luciferase reporter gene. Sequence analysis of the putative <it>cd38 </it>promoter region revealed one NF-κB and several AP-1 and glucocorticoid response element (GRE) motifs. HASM cells were transfected with the 3 kb promoter, a 1.8 kb truncated promoter that lacks the NF-κB and some of the AP-1 sites, or the promoter with mutations of the NF-κB and/or AP-1 sites. Using the electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we determined the binding of nuclear proteins to oligonucleotides encoding the putative <it>cd38 </it>NF-κB, AP-1, and GRE sites, and the specificity of this binding was confirmed by gel supershift analysis with appropriate antibodies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TNF-α induced a two-fold activation of the 3 kb promoter following its transfection into HASM cells. In cells transfected with the 1.8 kb promoter or promoter constructs lacking NF-κB and/or AP-1 sites or in the presence of dexamethasone, there was no induction in the presence of TNF-α. The binding of nuclear proteins to oligonucleotides encoding the putative <it>cd38 </it>NF-κB site and some of the six AP-1 sites was increased by TNF-α, and to some of the putative <it>cd38 </it>GREs by dexamethasone.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The EMSA results and the cd38 promoter-reporter assays confirm the functional role of NF-κB, AP-1 and GREs in the cd38 promoter in the transcriptional regulation of CD38.</p