P38 MAPK expression and activation predicts failure of response to CHOP in patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

The p38 MAPK is constitutively activated in B-NHL cell lines and regulates chemoresistance. Accordingly, we hypothesized that activated p38 MAPK may be associated with the in vivo unresponsiveness to chemotherapy in B-NHL patients.Tissue microarrays generated from eighty untreated patients with Diffused Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) were examined by immunohistochemistry for the expression of p38 and phospho p38 (p-p38) MAPK. In addition, both Bcl-2 and NF-κB expressions were determined. Kaplan Meier analysis was assessed.Tumor tissues expressed p38 MAPK (82 %) and p-p38 MAPK (30 %). Both p38 and p-p38 MAPK expressions correlated with the high score performance status. A significant correlation was found between the expression p-p38 and poor response to CHOP. The five year median follow-up FFS was 81 % for p38(-) and 34 % for p38(+) and for OS was 83 % for p38(-) and 47 % for p38(+). The p-p38(+) tissues expressed Bcl-2 and 90 % of p-p38(-) where Bcl-2(-). The coexpression of p-p38 and Bcl-2 correlated with pool EFS and OS. There was no correlation between the expression of p-p38 and the expression of NF-κB.The findings revealed, for the first time, that a subset of patients with DLBCL and whose tumors expressed high p-p38 MAPK responded poorly to CHOP therapy and had poor EFS and OS. The expression of p38, p-p38, Bcl2 and the ABC subtype are significant risk factors both p38 and p-p38 expressions remain independent prognostic factors

La conversión del contrato nulo. Notas desde el Derecho Cubano.

La nulidad absoluta del contrato resulta una respuesta tajante del ordenamiento jurídico ante la violación de normas imperativas por parte de los sujetos contratantes. Empero, en materia de Derecho también se aplica el aforismo de que toda regla tiene su excepción, y es precisamente la conversión del contrato nulo quien viene remover las rígidas bases sobre las que siempre se ha sustentado la teoría de la nulidad absoluta de los actos jurídicos

Campaña Publicitaria y Estrategia para Laive: Caso Muuushake

El siguiente trabajo de investigación tiene como finalidad conocer y empatizar con el público objetivo del producto Muuushake de la empresa Laive con la misión de generar una campaña relevante, memorable y con alto nivel de identificación. Para ello, nos servimos de herramientas de investigación como focus groups, entrevistas, social listening y encuestas que nos permitieron profundizar en las motivaciones e insights del consumidor para de esta manera poder crear una campaña con contenido realmente relevante para ellos. El reto era poder conectar con ellos en un contexto atípico donde la categoría de consumo on the go se había visto fuertemente afectada por la cuarentena. En ese sentido, era la oportunidad para trasladar este consumo al hogar aprovechando los nuevos momentos de consumo creados a partir de los nuevos estilos de vida del público objetivo. Encontramos que el trabajo y el estudio son la combinación perfecta para detonar el estrés en el consumidor, quien aplaca estos sentimientos con pequeños momentos de auto indulgencia. Sin embargo, descubrimos que muchas veces ellos se sienten culpables por darse esos descansos necesarios. En base a estas dos ideas, nació la campaña 2021 para Laive Muuushake que desarrollamos en las siguientes páginas.The purpose of this research is to study and emphatize Laive Muuushake’s consumers. Our mission was to create a meaningful and easy-to-remember campaign for the consumers of the product. In order to do that, we used focus group strategies, research through data, social listening and tools that allow us to go further on their daily motivations and struggles. With the insights we found, we were able to create a message that spoke directly to them. The challenge was to bring value to a very difficult category these days: on the go products. Due to the pandemic crisis, this category has been seriously affected. The opportunity was to move the consumption to the consumer's house, where new occasions of consumption appear. We found that during pandemic, the stress levels on young people increased due to home-office work and online classes. Thus, young people usually reward themselves with little moments of rest, food treats and others. Nonetheless, we discover that these breaks or moments of relaxation create a guilty feeling in them even if they really need it or deserve it. On the base of this two insights our new campaign was born

La mosca de las alas manchadas Drosophila suzukii en la Comarca Andina

La presente obra es una creación colectiva entre el personal de la Agencia de Extensión Rural El Bolsón; Agencia de Extensión Rural El Hoyo y el Instituto de de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB).La mosca de alas manchadas, Drosophila suzukii, es un díptero nativo de Asia que ha invadido gran parte del mundo causando importantes daños en cultivos de fruta, principalmente aquella de piel fina. En Argentina fue detectada por primera vez en 2014 y actualmente se encuentra establecida en gran parte del territorio, incluyendo la Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42. Su alto potencial de daño se debe a que la hembra cuenta con un ovipositor aserrado y rígido, el cual le permite cortar la piel de frutos sanos, inclusive aquellos aún no maduros, para dejar sus huevos en su interior. Una vez introducidos, la fruta comienza a descomponerse mientras la larva se alimenta de la pulpa y, producto de la descomposición, aparecen nuevos microorganismos asociados. Además de la gran variedad de frutos que puede atacar, la mosca presenta una alta fecundidad, un ciclo de vida corto y capacidad para adaptarse a diferentes condiciones climáticas, factores que incrementan las probabilidades de causar daños económicos.Fil: Martinez, Andres. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Cardozo, Andrea Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extensión Rural El Bolsón; ArgentinaFil: Masciocchi, Maite. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Fischbein, Deborah. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Germano, Monica Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Chillo, María Verónica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extensión Rural El Bolsón; ArgentinaFil: De La Vega, Gerardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Mariño, Javier. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Esquel. Agencia de Extensión Rural El Hoyo; ArgentinaFil: Garis, Gabriel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Esquel. Agencia de Extensión Rural El Hoyo; Argentin

Functional electrical stimulation therapy controlled by a P300-based brain–computer interface, as a therapeutic alternative for upper limb motor function recovery in chronic post-stroke patients. A non-randomized pilot study

IntroductionUp to 80% of post-stroke patients present upper-limb motor impairment (ULMI), causing functional limitations in daily activities and loss of independence. UMLI is seldom fully recovered after stroke when using conventional therapeutic approaches. Functional Electrical Stimulation Therapy (FEST) controlled by Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) is an alternative that may induce neuroplastic changes, even in chronic post-stroke patients. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effects of a P300-based BCI-controlled FEST intervention, for ULMI recovery of chronic post-stroke patients.MethodsA non-randomized pilot study was conducted, including 14 patients divided into 2 groups: BCI-FEST, and Conventional Therapy. Assessments of Upper limb functionality with Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), performance impairment with Fugl–Meyer assessment (FMA), Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and spasticity through Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) were performed at baseline and after carrying out 20 therapy sessions, and the obtained scores compared using Chi square and Mann–Whitney U statistical tests ( = 0.05).ResultsAfter training, we found statistically significant differences between groups for FMA (p = 0.012), ARAT (p < 0.001), and FIM (p = 0.025) scales.DiscussionIt has been shown that FEST controlled by a P300-based BCI, may be more effective than conventional therapy to improve ULMI after stroke, regardless of chronicity.ConclusionThe results of the proposed BCI-FEST intervention are promising, even for the most chronic post-stroke patients often relegated from novel interventions, whose expected recovery with conventional therapy is very low. It is necessary to carry out a randomized controlled trial in the future with a larger sample of patients

Understanding different dominance patterns in western Amazonian forests

Dominance of neotropical tree communities by a few species is widely documented, but dominant trees show a variety of distributional patterns still poorly understood. Here, we used 503 forest inventory plots (93,719 individuals ≥2.5 cm diameter, 2609 species) to explore the relationships between local abundance, regional frequency and spatial aggregation of dominant species in four main habitat types in western Amazonia. Although the abundance-occupancy relationship is positive for the full dataset, we found that among dominant Amazonian tree species, there is a strong negative relationship between local abundance and regional frequency and/or spatial aggregation across habitat types. Our findings suggest an ecological trade-off whereby dominant species can be locally abundant (local dominants) or regionally widespread (widespread dominants), but rarely both (oligarchs). Given the importance of dominant species as drivers of diversity and ecosystem functioning, unravelling different dominance patterns is a research priority to direct conservation efforts in Amazonian forests.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Famílies botàniques de plantes medicinals

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia, Assignatura: Botànica Farmacèutica, Curs: 2013-2014, Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són els recull de 175 treballs d’una família botànica d’interès medicinal realitzats de manera individual. Els treballs han estat realitzat per la totalitat dels estudiants dels grups M-2 i M-3 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos d’abril i maig del curs 2013-14. Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pel professor de l’assignatura i revisats i finalment co-avaluats entre els propis estudiants. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica

Comprehensive and Integrated Genomic Characterization of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Summary Sarcomas are a broad family of mesenchymal malignancies exhibiting remarkable histologic diversity. We describe the multi-platform molecular landscape of 206 adult soft tissue sarcomas representing 6 major types. Along with novel insights into the biology of individual sarcoma types, we report three overarching findings: (1) unlike most epithelial malignancies, these sarcomas (excepting synovial sarcoma) are characterized predominantly by copy-number changes, with low mutational loads and only a few genes (TP53, ATRX, RB1) highly recurrently mutated across sarcoma types; (2) within sarcoma types, genomic and regulomic diversity of driver pathways defines molecular subtypes associated with patient outcome; and (3) the immune microenvironment, inferred from DNA methylation and mRNA profiles, associates with outcome and may inform clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Overall, this large-scale analysis reveals previously unappreciated sarcoma-type-specific changes in copy number, methylation, RNA, and protein, providing insights into refining sarcoma therapy and relationships to other cancer types

It is time to define an organizational model for the prevention and management of infections along the surgical pathway : a worldwide cross-sectional survey

Background The objectives of the study were to investigate the organizational characteristics of acute care facilities worldwide in preventing and managing infections in surgery; assess participants' perception regarding infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, antibiotic prescribing practices, and source control; describe awareness about the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and IPC measures; and determine the role of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic on said awareness. Methods A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted contacting 1432 health care workers (HCWs) belonging to a mailing list provided by the Global Alliance for Infections in Surgery. The self-administered questionnaire was developed by a multidisciplinary team. The survey was open from May 22, 2021, and June 22, 2021. Three reminders were sent, after 7, 14, and 21 days. Results Three hundred four respondents from 72 countries returned a questionnaire, with an overall response rate of 21.2%. Respectively, 90.4% and 68.8% of participants stated their hospital had a multidisciplinary IPC team or a multidisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship team. Local protocols for antimicrobial therapy of surgical infections and protocols for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis were present in 76.6% and 90.8% of hospitals, respectively. In 23.4% and 24.0% of hospitals no surveillance systems for surgical site infections and no monitoring systems of used antimicrobials were implemented. Patient and family involvement in IPC management was considered to be slightly or not important in their hospital by the majority of respondents (65.1%). Awareness of the global burden of AMR among HCWs was considered very important or important by 54.6% of participants. The COVID-19 pandemic was considered by 80.3% of respondents as a very important or important factor in raising HCWs awareness of the IPC programs in their hospital. Based on the survey results, the authors developed 15 statements for several questions regarding the prevention and management of infections in surgery. The statements may be the starting point for designing future evidence-based recommendations. Conclusion Adequacy of prevention and management of infections in acute care facilities depends on HCWs behaviours and on the organizational characteristics of acute health care facilities to support best practices and promote behavioural change. Patient involvement in the implementation of IPC is still little considered. A debate on how operationalising a fundamental change to IPC, from being solely the HCWs responsibility to one that involves a collaborative relationship between HCWs and patients, should be opened.Peer reviewe

Comprehensive and Integrated Genomic Characterization of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Sarcomas are a broad family of mesenchymal malignancies exhibiting remarkable histologic diversity. We describe the multi-platform molecular landscape of 206 adult soft tissue sarcomas representing 6 major types. Along with novel insights into the biology of individual sarcoma types, we report three overarching findings: (1) unlike most epithelial malignancies, these sarcomas (excepting synovial sarcoma) are characterized predominantly by copy-number changes, with low mutational loads and only a few genes (, , ) highly recurrently mutated across sarcoma types; (2) within sarcoma types, genomic and regulomic diversity of driver pathways defines molecular subtypes associated with patient outcome; and (3) the immune microenvironment, inferred from DNA methylation and mRNA profiles, associates with outcome and may inform clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Overall, this large-scale analysis reveals previously unappreciated sarcoma-type-specific changes in copy number, methylation, RNA, and protein, providing insights into refining sarcoma therapy and relationships to other cancer types