Publications by authors named "Acevedo M"

Background: The genus Metlapilcoatlus was recently erected to include six species of stout venomous snakes, known as the jumping pitvipers, which inhabit mountainous areas of Mesoamerica. This group maintains affinity with Atropoides picadoi, another jumping pitviper with restricted distribution in Costa Rica and Panama. Although the venom of A.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common manifestation of oral cancer. It has been proposed that periodontal pathogens contribute to OSCC progression, mainly by their virulence factors. However, the main periodontal pathogen and its mechanism to modulate OSCC cells remains not fully understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The genome sequences of thousands of bacteriophages have been determined and functions for many of the encoded genes have been assigned based on homology to characterized sequences. However, functions have not been assigned to more than two-thirds of the identified phage genes as they have no recognizable sequence features. Recent genome-wide overexpression screens have begun to identify bacteriophage genes that encode proteins that reduce or inhibit bacterial growth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease, but the physical and emotional burden of patients with SD experience has not been well characterized.

Methods: The Harris Poll conducted online surveys of US patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) from December 2021 to January 2022.

Results: Almost half of patients reported that SD negatively impacts their emotional and physical well-being "a lot/a great deal"; HCPs underestimate the level of impact on patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) is a common inflammatory skin condition that affects patients' quality of life, but its causes and mechanisms are not well understood, making effective diagnosis critical.
  • An online survey conducted through the Harris Poll revealed that many patients (71%) were unaware of SD prior to diagnosis and experienced significant delays (average of 3.6 years) in seeking medical attention, often due to misconceptions about the severity of their symptoms.
  • The survey also indicated that patients feel embarrassed discussing their symptoms (58%), with many preferring to see dermatology specialists, highlighting a gap in understanding between patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding symptom severity and management preferences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aegilops umbellulata serve as an important reservoir for novel biotic and abiotic stress tolerance for wheat improvement. However, chromosomal rearrangements and evolutionary trajectory of this species remain to be elucidated. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation into Ae.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the relationship between meniscal tears and associated articular surface damage, which is important for clinical outcomes, focusing on characterizing these lesions and their severity in patients undergoing meniscal surgery from 2017 to 2023.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 758 surgeries, finding that a significant percentage of patients (35.22%) had chondral lesions, with degenerative meniscal tears more likely to lead to these injuries, especially in the lateral meniscus.
  • Statistical methods, including chi-square tests and logistic regression, were employed to identify associations between patient characteristics, meniscal injury types, and the severity of articular surface damage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection has been somewhat limited due to the widespread dissemination of the Omicron variant, its subvariants, and the immune response dynamics of the naturally infected with the virus.

Methods: Twelve subjects between 3-17 years old (yo), vaccinated with two doses of CoronaVac, were followed and diagnosed as breakthrough cases starting 14 days after receiving the second dose. Total IgGs against different SARS-CoV-2 proteins and the neutralizing capacity of these antibodies after infection were measured in plasma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Intensive Care to facilitate Organ Donation (ICOD) consists of the initiation or continuation of intensive care measures in patients with a devastating brain injury (DBI) in whom curative treatment is deemed futile and death by neurological criteria (DNC) is foreseen, to incorporate organ donation into their end-of-life plans. In this study we evaluate the outcomes of patients subject to ICOD and identify radiological and clinical factors associated with progression to DNC. In this first prospective multicenter study we tested by multivariate regression the association of clinical and radiological severity features with progression to DNC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This review examines the impact of obesity on the pathophysiology of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and focuses on novel mechanisms for HFpEF prevention using a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonism (GLP-1 RA). Obesity can lead to HFpEF through various mechanisms, including low-grade systemic inflammation, adipocyte dysfunction, accumulation of visceral adipose tissue, and increased pericardial/epicardial adipose tissue (contributing to an increase in myocardial fat content and interstitial fibrosis). Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is an incretin hormone that is released from the enteroendocrine L-cells in the gut.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Parasite transmission is a heterogenous process in host-parasite interactions. This heterogeneity is particularly apparent in vector-borne parasite transmission where the vector adds an additional level of complexity. Haemosporidian parasites, a widespread protist, cause a malaria-like disease in birds globally, but we still have much to learn about the consequences of infection to hosts' health.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Understanding variation in food web structure over large spatial scales is an emerging research agenda in food web ecology. The density of predator-prey links in a food web (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Disturbance and recovery dynamics are characteristic features of many ecosystems. Disturbance dynamics are widely studied in ecology and conservation biology. Still, we know less about the ecological processes that drive ecosystem recovery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers examined 15 L. monocytogenes and 55 L. innocua samples from various dairy supply chains in Ethiopia using whole-genome sequencing to understand their genetic diversity and relationships.
  • * The study identified 3 L. monocytogenes and 12 L. innocua sequence types, finding both region-specific and widespread strains, with low genetic variation among L. monocytogenes indicating possible selection pressures in the dairy supply chain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The activation of the alternative pathway (AP) of the complement system plays a significant role in the development of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV), but the exact mechanisms are not fully understood.
  • Researchers analyzed gene variants and plasma levels of different complement components in a Spanish cohort of 102 AAV patients to explore the impact of the AP on the disease.
  • The study found that specific genetic variants influence disease susceptibility and kidney damage severity, while high levels of AP activation and certain plasma component ratios correlate with worse outcomes, highlighting FHR-1 as a potential therapeutic target.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Systematic assessments of species extinction risk are crucial for effective conservation, and the second Global Amphibian Assessment evaluated over 8,000 species for their threat levels.
  • - Amphibians are the most at-risk vertebrates, with 40.7% of species globally threatened, and their status has worsened since previous assessments, especially in salamanders and the Neotropics.
  • - The major threats contributing to declining amphibian populations include disease, habitat loss, and increasing impacts from climate change, highlighting the urgent need for more conservation funding and initiatives to reverse negative trends.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Speciation leads to adaptive changes in organ cellular physiology and creates challenges for studying rare cell-type functions that diverge between humans and mice. Rare cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-rich pulmonary ionocytes exist throughout the cartilaginous airways of humans, but limited presence and divergent biology in the proximal trachea of mice has prevented the use of traditional transgenic models to elucidate ionocyte functions in the airway. Here we describe the creation and use of conditional genetic ferret models to dissect pulmonary ionocyte biology and function by enabling ionocyte lineage tracing (FOXI1-Cre::ROSA-TG), ionocyte ablation (FOXI1-KO) and ionocyte-specific deletion of CFTR (FOXI1-Cre::CFTR).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Patients with mesothelioma often have next-generation sequencing (NGS) of their tumor performed; tumor-only NGS may incidentally identify germline pathogenic or likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants despite not being designed for this purpose. It is unknown how frequently patients with mesothelioma have germline P/LP variants incidentally detected via tumor-only NGS.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of incidental germline P/LP variants detected via tumor-only NGS of mesothelioma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Insulin resistance (IR) is the root cause of type II diabetes, yet no safe treatment is available to address it. Using a high throughput compatible assay that measures real-time translocation of the glucose transporter glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), we identified small molecules that potentiate insulin action. In vivo, these insulin sensitizers improve insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation, glucose tolerance, and glucose uptake in a model of IR.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The second wave of COVID-19 occurred in South America in early 2021 and was mainly driven by Gamma and Lambda variants. In this study, we aimed to describe the emergence and local genomic diversity of the SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant in Argentina, from its initial entry into the country until its detection ceased. Molecular surveillance was conducted on 9356 samples from Argentina between October 2020 and April 2022, and sequencing, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic analyses were performed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A growing understanding of the complexities of hematopoietic malignancies necessitates the existence of clinical recommendations that are sufficiently comprehensive. Although hereditary hematopoietic malignancies (HHMs) are increasingly recognized for conferring risk of myeloid malignancy, frequently utilized clinical recommendations have never been appraised for the ability to reliably guide HHM evaluation. We assessed established society-level clinical guidelines for inclusion of critical HHM genes and graded the strength of testing recommendations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The Omicron variant has challenged the control of the COVID-19 pandemic due to its immuno-evasive properties. The administration of a booster dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine showed positive effects in the immunogenicity against SARS-CoV-2, effect that is even enhanced after the administration of a second booster.

Methods: During a phase-3 clinical trial, we evaluated the effect of a second booster of CoronaVac®, an inactivated vaccine administered 6 months after the first booster, in the neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 (n = 87).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF