Integration of artificial intelligence and precision oncology in Latin America

Next-generation medicine encompasses different concepts related to healthcare models and technological developments. In Latin America and the Caribbean, healthcare systems are quite different between countries, and cancer control is known to be insufficient and inefficient considering socioeconomically discrepancies. Despite advancements in knowledge about the biology of different oncological diseases, the disease remains a challenge in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for clinicians and researchers. With the development of molecular biology, better diagnosis methods, and therapeutic tools in the last years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become important, because it could improve different clinical scenarios: predicting clinically relevant parameters, cancer diagnosis, cancer research, and accelerating the growth of personalized medicine. The incorporation of AI represents an important challenge in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for clinicians and researchers in cancer care. Therefore, some studies about AI in Latin America and the Caribbean are being conducted with the aim to improve the performance of AI in those countries. This review introduces AI in cancer care in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the advantages and promising results that it has shown in this socio-demographic context

First report of Brenneria goodwinii, Gibbsiella quercinecans and Rahnella victoriana in declining oaks in France

Acute Oak Decline, Quercus petraea, Quercus robur Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is mediated by abiotic factors (temperature and precipitation) and triggered by insects (mainly the bark-boring beetle Agrilus biguttatus) and a complex of bacterial species (mainly Bren-neria goodwinii, Gibbsiella quercinecans and Rahnella victoriana) (Denman et al., 2017; Doonan et al., 2020). Given the extent of oak dieback and the prevalence of A. biguttatus in France (Saintonge & Goudet, 2020; Sallé et al., 2022), a preliminary study was done in five French forests to assess the prevalence of AOD symptoms (bleeding cortical lesions on the trunk associated with insect emergence holes and dieback) and to determine the bacteria associated with those symptoms. The mean prevalence of AOD symptoms was estimated at 37% arround 20 trees assessed in each of the five forests. Bark samples and, when possible, exudates were taken from lesions associated with insect emergence holes and/or cracks (Fig. 1). Bacterial isolations were made from 43 bark samples and 11 exudate samples by plating on three agar media (Luria, Gifu Anaerobic and Eosin Methylene Blue) and incubated at 22 • C for one to five days. Bacterial strains were identified by high-resolution melting (Brady et al., 2016) or 16S rRNA sequencing (Denman et al., 2016). The sequenced strains had 100% identity with sequences of reference strains (GenBank Accession Nos. CP014137.1, CP014136.1 and NR_146847.1). The percentage of trees infected with G. quercinecans, B. goodwinii and R. victoriana was 21, 16 and 12, respectively. These AOD-associated bacteria were detected with a higher success rate in exudates (81%) than in bark (25%). Gibbsiella quercinecans and B. good-This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Moxifloxacin versus levofloxacin against acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis: the Latin American Cohort

We compared the efficacy and safety of moxifloxacin and levofloxacin for the treatment of patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECB) using a prospective, randomized, double blind, parallel-group clinical trial design. A total of 563 patients with AECB were enrolled (437 efficacy-valid) at 34 centers in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Patients were randomized to oral therapy with either moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily for 5 days or levofloxacin 500 mg once daily for 7 days. Clinical success was achieved in 201 out of 221 (91.0%) patients in the moxifloxacin group, and in 203 out of 216 (94.0%) in the levofloxacin group, indicating that moxifloxacin is equivalently effective to levofloxacin. Bacteriologic eradication or presumed eradication was also similar in the two treatment groups: 92.8% in the moxifloxacin group and 93.8% in the levofloxacin group. Nausea was the most common drug-related adverse event in each treatment group. the rate of discontinuation because of adverse events was very low (<= 2%). in conclusion, a 5-day course of moxifloxacin is clinically and bacteriologically equivalent to a 7-day course of levofloxacin in the treatment of patients with AECB. the short treatment duration with moxifloxacin may have compliance advantages over other currently used therapies in the 'real-Life' clinical setting. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fdn LUSARA, Mexico City 08930, DF, MexicoInst Nacl Enfermedades Resp, Mexico City, DF, MexicoHosp Mi Pueblo, Buenos Aires, DF, ArgentinaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilClin Reina Sofia, Bogota, ColombiaClin Ricardo Palma, Lima, PeruBayer Mexico, SA & CV, Mexico City, DF, MexicoUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Diagnosis and Management of Radiation Necrosis in Patients with Brain Metastases and Primary Tumors

The incidence of radiation necrosis has increased secondary to combined modality therapy for brain tumors and stereotactic radiosurgery. The pathology of progressive brain radiation necrosis (RN) primarily includes inflammation and angiogenesis in which cytokines, chemokines, and vascular endothelial growth factors are upregulated. Combined multiparametric imaging, including lesional metabolism, spectroscopy, and blood flow, could enhance diagnostic accuracy compared with a single imaging study. Nevertheless, a substantial risk of bias restricts firm conclusions about the best imaging technique for diagnosing brain RN. Bevacizumab shows promising results of improving radiographic edema and post-gadolinium enhancement with associated symptomatic improvement. However, this was based on small double-blinded randomized controlled trials, which introduces a high risk of bias due to the small sample size despite the high-quality trial design. Edaravone combined with corticosteroids also resulted in a more significant reduction in radiographic edema than corticosteroids alone but had no impact on reducing the enhancing lesion. There is a great need for further prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to treat brain RN

Prevalence and clinical outcomes of dystrophin-associated dilated cardiomyopathy without severe skeletal myopathy

Aims: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) associated with dystrophin gene (DMD) mutations in individuals with mild or absent skeletal myopathy is often indistinguishable from other DCM forms. We sought to describe the phenotype and prognosis of DMD associated DCM in DMD mutation carriers without severe skeletal myopathy. Methods and results: At 26 European centres, we retrospectively collected clinical characteristics and outcomes of 223 DMD mutation carriers (83% male, 33 ± 15 years). A total of 112 individuals (52%) had DCM at first evaluation [n = 85; left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 34 ± 11.2%] or developed DCM (n = 27; LVEF 41.3 ± 7.5%) after a median follow-up of 96 months (interquartile range 5–311 months). DCM penetrance was 45% in carriers older than 40 years. DCM appeared earlier in males and was independent of the type of mutation, presence of skeletal myopathy, or elevated serum creatine kinase levels. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) occurred in 22% individuals with DCM, 18% developed end-stage heart failure and 9% sudden cardiac death or equivalent. Skeletal myopathy was not associated with survival free of MACE in patients with DCM. Decreased LVEF and increased left ventricular end-diastolic diameter at baseline were associated with MACE. Individuals without DCM had favourable prognosis without MACE or death during follow-up. Conclusions: DMD-associated DCM without severe skeletal myopathy is characterized by incomplete penetrance but high risk of MACE, including progression to end-stage heart failure and ventricular arrhythmias. DCM onset is the major determinant of prognosis with similar survival regardless of the presence of skeletal myopathy

Bioenergy production and sustainable development: science base for policymaking remains limited

The possibility of using bioenergy as a climate change mitigation measure has sparked a discussion of whether and how bioenergy production contributes to sustainable development. We undertook a systematic review of the scientific literature to illuminate this relationship and found a limited scientific basis for policymaking. Our results indicate that knowledge on the sustainable development impacts of bioenergy production is concentrated in a few well-studied countries, focuses on environmental and economic impacts, and mostly relates to dedicated agricultural biomass plantations. The scope and methodological approaches in studies differ widely and only a small share of the studies sufficiently reports on context and/or baseline conditions, which makes it difficult to get a general understanding of the attribution of impacts. Nevertheless, we identified regional patterns of positive or negative impacts for all categories – environmental, economic, institutional, social and technological. In general, economic and technological impacts were more frequently reported as positive, while social and environmental impacts were more frequently reported as negative (with the exception of impacts on direct substitution of GHG emission from fossil fuel). More focused and transparent research is needed to validate these patterns and develop a strong science underpinning for establishing policies and governance agreements that prevent/mitigate negative and promote positive impacts from bioenergy production

Cognitive impairment induced by delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol occurs through heteromers between cannabinoid CB1 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptors

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound of marijuana, induces numerous undesirable effects, including memory impairments, anxiety, and dependence. Conversely, THC also has potentially therapeutic effects, including analgesia, muscle relaxation, and neuroprotection. However, the mechanisms that dissociate these responses are still not known. Using mice lacking the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, we revealed that the analgesic and amnesic effects of THC are independent of each other: while amnesia induced by THC disappears in the mutant mice, THC can still promote analgesia in these animals. In subsequent molecular studies, we showed that in specific brain regions involved in memory formation, the receptors for THC and the 5-HT2A receptors work together by physically interacting with each other. Experimentally interfering with this interaction prevented the memory deficits induced by THC, but not its analgesic properties. Our results highlight a novel mechanism by which the beneficial analgesic properties of THC can be dissociated from its cognitive side effects

Operations of and Future Plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory

Technical reports on operations and features of the Pierre Auger Observatory, including ongoing and planned enhancements and the status of the future northern hemisphere portion of the Observatory. Contributions to the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz, Poland, July 2009.Comment: Contributions to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 200

Anisotropy and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the distribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies $E>E_{th}=5.5\times 10^{19}$ eV. These show a correlation with the distribution of nearby extragalactic objects, including an apparent excess around the direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at $E>E_{th}$ are heavy nuclei with charge $Z$, the proton component of the sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies $E/Z$. We here report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above $E_{th}/Z$ (for illustrative values of $Z=6,\ 13,\ 26$). If the anisotropies above $E_{th}$ are due to nuclei with charge $Z$, and under reasonable assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies