MAP17 (PDZK1IP1) and pH2AX are potential predictive biomarkers for rectal cancer treatment efficacy

Rectal cancer represents approximately 10% of cancers worldwide. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy increases complete pathologic response and local control, although it offers a poor advantage in survivorship and sphincter saving compared with that of radiotherapy alone. After preoperative chemoradiotherapy, approximately 20% of patients with rectal cancer achieve a pathologic complete response to the removed surgical specimen; this response may be related to a better prognosis and an improvement in disease-free survival. However, better biomarkers to predict response and new targets are needed to stratify patients and obtain better response rates. MAP17 (PDZK1IP1) is a small, 17 kDa non-glycosylated membrane protein located in the plasma membrane and Golgi apparatus and is overexpressed in a wide variety of human carcinomas. MAP17 has been proposed as a predictive biomarker for reactive oxygen species, ROS, inducing treatments in cervical tumors or laryngeal carcinoma. Due to the increase in ROS, MAP17 is also associated with the marker of DNA damage, phosphoH2AX (pH2AX). In the present manuscript, we examined the values of MAP17 and pH2AX as surrogate biomarkers of the response in rectal tumors. MAP17 expression after preoperative chemoradiotherapy is able to predict the response to chemoradiotherapy, similar to the increase in pH2AX. Furthermore, we explored whether we can identify molecular targeted therapies that could help improve the response of these tumors to radiotherapy. In this sense, we found that the inhibition of DNA damage with olaparib increased the response to radio- and chemotherapy, specifically in tumors with high levels of pH2AX and MAP17.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity, Plan Estatal de I+D+I 2013–2016, ISCIII (Fis: PI15/00045) and CIBER de Cáncer (CB16/12/00275)co-funded by FEDER from Regional Development European Funds (European Union), Consejería de Ciencia e Innovación (CTS-1848)Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0096–2014)

Cluster analysis in Higher Education Institutions' knowledge identification and production processes

The objective of this study is to describe the processes of identification and creation of knowledge in higher education institutions (HEI). The sample is composed of 7 universities in the city of Barranquila in Colombia, and is non-probabilistic. For this purpose, a survey was used to collect data from the directors and vice-rectors of research of the research departments. For its part, the research methodology is framed in the tools of cluster analysis and principal component analysis. The established approach made it possible to demonstrate that universities have two characteristics for identifying and creating knowledge in HEIs: community learning and individual learning. © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs

Delito sexual en sala de primera acogida del Hospital Provincial Docente Ambato

Introducción: Los delitos sexuales son un problema de salud pública en el país, reportándose anualmente aproximadamente al año, más de 100 casos de feminicidio según organismos oficiales, violencia sexual, acoso y estupro son problemas que no se reportaban en el pasado, por falta de gestión e información, que empieza a cambiar en los últimos años. Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de delito sexual en la Sala de Primera Acogida en el periodo enero 2015 a diciembre 2016.    Métodos: Tipo de estudio: Observacional, retrospectivo, transversal, durante el periodo enero 2015 a diciembre 2016. El universo son todas las pacientes atendidas con delito sexual en la Sala de Primera Acogida del Hospital Provincial Docente Ambato. Se recolecto la información directamente de las hojas de atención, con un análisis estadístico basado en SPSS Statistics versión 22.0. Resultados: En el año 2015 mes de abril con 19 casos, y en el año 2016 mes de marzo con 24 casos son los de mayor prevalencia, el grupo etario comprendido entre 10 a 19 años en 2015 y 2016 fueron el grupo más vulnerable a delito sexual. Conclusiones: La prevalencia de delitos sexuales atendidos en sala de acogida aumenta en relación a días feriados o días de asueto, se producen mayormente en mujeres de 10 a 19 años de edad y los principales delitos sexuales fueron violación, abuso sexual, el estupro y el acoso sexual

Delito sexual en sala de primera acogida del Hospital Provincial Docente Ambato

Introducción: Los delitos sexuales son un problema de salud pública en el país, reportándose anualmente aproximadamente al año, más de 100 casos de feminicidio según organismos oficiales, violencia sexual, acoso y estupro son problemas que no se reportaban en el pasado, por falta de gestión e información, que empieza a cambiar en los últimos años. Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de delito sexual en la Sala de Primera Acogida en el periodo enero 2015 a diciembre 2016.    Métodos: Tipo de estudio: Observacional, retrospectivo, transversal, durante el periodo enero 2015 a diciembre 2016. El universo son todas las pacientes atendidas con delito sexual en la Sala de Primera Acogida del Hospital Provincial Docente Ambato. Se recolecto la información directamente de las hojas de atención, con un análisis estadístico basado en SPSS Statistics versión 22.0. Resultados: En el año 2015 mes de abril con 19 casos, y en el año 2016 mes de marzo con 24 casos son los de mayor prevalencia, el grupo etario comprendido entre 10 a 19 años en 2015 y 2016 fueron el grupo más vulnerable a delito sexual. Conclusiones: La prevalencia de delitos sexuales atendidos en sala de acogida aumenta en relación a días feriados o días de asueto, se producen mayormente en mujeres de 10 a 19 años de edad y los principales delitos sexuales fueron violación, abuso sexual, el estupro y el acoso sexual

The relationship of the atlantic diet with cardiovascular risk factors and markers of arterial stiffness in adults without cardiovascular disease

[EN]Abstract: Background: Studying the adherence of the population to the Atlantic Diet (AD) could be simplified by an easy and quickly applied dietary index. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship of an index measuring compliance with recommendations regarding the Atlantic diet and physical activity with cardiovascular disease risk factors, cardiovascular risk factors, obesity indexes and arterial stiffness markers. Methods: We included 791 individuals from the EVIDENT study (lifestyles and arterial ageing), (52.3 ± 12 years, 61.7% women) without cardiovascular disease. Compliance with recommendations on AD was collected through the responses to a food frequency questionnaire, while physical activity was measured by accelerometer. The number of recommendations being met was estimated using a global scale between 0 and 14 points (a higher score representing greater adherence). Blood pressure, plasma lipid and glucose values and obesity rates were measured. Cardiovascular risk was estimated with the Framingham equation. Results: In the overall sample, 184 individuals (23.3%) scored between 0–3 on the 14-point index we created, 308 (38.9%) between 4 and 5 points, and 299 (37.8%) 6 or more points. The results of multivariate analysis yield a common tendency in which the group with an adherence score of at least 6 points shows lower figures for total cholesterol (p = 0.007) and triglycerides (p = 0.002). Similarly, overall cardiovascular risk in this group is the lowest (p < 0.001), as is pulse wave velocity (p = 0.050) and the mean values of the obesity indexes studied (p < 0.05 in all cases). Conclusion: The rate of compliance with the Atlantic diet and physical activity shows that greater adherence to these recommendations is linked to lower cardiovascular risk, lower total cholesterol and triglycerides, lower rates of obesity and lower pulse wave velocity values.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) and the Carlos III Health Institute/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (FIS: PI13/00618, PI13/01526, PI13/00058, PI13/01635, PI13/02528, PI12/01474; RETICS: RD12/0005, RD16/0007), the Regional Health Administration of Castilla and León (GRS 1191/B/15, GRS 909/B/14, GRS 770/B/13) and the Infosalud Foundation. None of the funders were involved in the design, implementation, analysis or interpretation of the data

Correction : Chaparro et al. Incidence, Clinical Characteristics and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain: Large-Scale Epidemiological Study. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 2885

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

Incidence, Clinical Characteristics and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain : Large-Scale Epidemiological Study

(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD-Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)-during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100,000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and 0.5 for IBD-U; 53% of patients were male and median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 31-56 years). During a median 12-month follow-up, 34% of patients were treated with systemic steroids, 25% with immunomodulators, 15% with biologics and 5.6% underwent surgery. The percentage of patients under these treatments was significantly higher in CD than UC and IBD-U. Use of systemic steroids and biologics was significantly higher in hospitals with high resources. In total, 28% of patients were hospitalized (35% CD and 22% UC patients, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusion: The incidence of IBD in Spain is rather high and similar to that reported in Northern Europe. IBD patients require substantial therapeutic resources, which are greater in CD and in hospitals with high resources, and much higher than previously reported. One third of patients are hospitalized in the first year after diagnosis and a relevant proportion undergo surgery

Polymorphisms in DNA-repair genes in a cohort of prostate cancer patients from different areas in Spain: heterogeneity between populations as a confounding factor in association studies

Background: Differences in the distribution of genotypes between individuals of the same ethnicity are an important confounder factor commonly undervalued in typical association studies conducted in radiogenomics. Objective: To evaluate the genotypic distribution of SNPs in a wide set of Spanish prostate cancer patients for determine the homogeneity of the population and to disclose potential bias. Design, Setting, and Participants: A total of 601 prostate cancer patients from Andalusia, Basque Country, Canary and Catalonia were genotyped for 10 SNPs located in 6 different genes associated to DNA repair: XRCC1 (rs25487, rs25489, rs1799782), ERCC2 (rs13181), ERCC1 (rs11615), LIG4 (rs1805388, rs1805386), ATM (rs17503908, rs1800057) and P53 (rs1042522). The SNP genotyping was made in a Biotrove OpenArrayH NT Cycler. Outcome Measurements and Statistical Analysis: Comparisons of genotypic and allelic frequencies among populations, as well as haplotype analyses were determined using the web-based environment SNPator. Principal component analysis was made using the SnpMatrix and XSnpMatrix classes and methods implemented as an R package. Non-supervised hierarchical cluster of SNP was made using MultiExperiment Viewer. Results and Limitations: We observed that genotype distribution of 4 out 10 SNPs was statistically different among the studied populations, showing the greatest differences between Andalusia and Catalonia. These observations were confirmed in cluster analysis, principal component analysis and in the differential distribution of haplotypes among the populations. Because tumor characteristics have not been taken into account, it is possible that some polymorphisms may influence tumor characteristics in the same way that it may pose a risk factor for other disease characteristics. Conclusion: Differences in distribution of genotypes within different populations of the same ethnicity could be an important confounding factor responsible for the lack of validation of SNPs associated with radiation-induced toxicity, especially when extensive meta-analysis with subjects from different countries are carried out

Tocilizumab in refractory Caucasian Takayasu's arteritis: a multicenter study of 54 patients and literature review

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab (TCZ) in Caucasian patients with refractory Takayasu's arteritis (TAK) in clinical practice. Methods: A multicenter study of Caucasian patients with refractory TAK who received TCZ. The outcome variables were remission, glucocorticoid-sparing effect, improvement in imaging techniques, and adverse events. A comparative study between patients who received TCZ as monotherapy (TCZMONO) and combined with conventional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) (TCZCOMBO) was performed. Results: The study comprised 54 patients (46 women/8 men) with a median [interquartile range (IQR)] age of 42.0 (32.5-50.5) years. TCZ was started after a median (IQR) of 12.0 (3.0-31.5) months since TAK diagnosis. Remission was achieved in 12/54 (22.2%), 19/49 (38.8%), 23/44 (52.3%), and 27/36 (75%) patients at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. The prednisone dose was reduced from 30.0 mg/day (12.5-50.0) to 5.0 (0.0-5.6) mg/day at 12 months. An improvement in imaging findings was reported in 28 (73.7%) patients after a median (IQR) of 9.0 (6.0-14.0) months. Twenty-three (42.6%) patients were on TCZMONO and 31 (57.4%) on TCZCOMBO: MTX (n = 28), cyclosporine A (n = 2), azathioprine (n = 1). Patients on TCZCOMBO were younger [38.0 (27.0-46.0) versus 45.0 (38.0-57.0)] years; difference (diff) [95% confidence interval (CI) = -7.0 (-17.9, -0.56] with a trend to longer TAK duration [21.0 (6.0-38.0) versus 6.0 (1.0-23.0)] months; diff 95% CI = 15 (-8.9, 35.5), and higher c-reactive protein [2.4 (0.7-5.6) versus 1.3 (0.3-3.3)] mg/dl; diff 95% CI = 1.1 (-0.26, 2.99). Despite these differences, similar outcomes were observed in both groups (log rank p = 0.862). Relevant adverse events were reported in six (11.1%) patients, but only three developed severe events that required TCZ withdrawal. Conclusion: TCZ in monotherapy, or combined with cDMARDs, is effective and safe in patients with refractory TAK of Caucasian origin.Funding: This work was partially supported by RETICS Programs, RD08/0075 (RIER), RD12/0009/0013 and RD16/0012 from “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (ISCIII) (Spain)