Publications by authors named "Agustina Ramirez-Moreno"

Background: The immune system is able to recognize substances that originate from inside or outside the body and are potentially harmful. Foreign substances that bind to immune system components exhibit antigenicity and are defined as antigens. The antigens exhibiting immunogenicity can induce innate or adaptive immune responses and give rise to humoral or cell-mediated immunity.

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This study is the first record of medicinal plants in the southwest of the Coahuila state, an arid zone where extreme dry conditions prevail. One hundred twenty-two residents (in sixteen communities) were interviewed. The residents were questioned with a questionnaire-guided ethnomedical survey protocol about the various plants used.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study focuses on three diterpenes from Salvia ballotiflora, evaluating their immunomodulatory effects on innate immunity and cytokine production in human alveolar cells infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
  • - Findings indicate that anastomosine and 7,20-dihydroanastomosine significantly boost reactive nitrogen species (RNS) production after 36 hours and reactive oxygen species (ROS) after 12 hours post-treatment, showcasing their potential role in enhancing innate immunity.
  • - The diterpenes exhibited an anti-inflammatory effect by modulating TGF-β levels; however, they did not significantly affect TNF-α release, suggesting a selective immune response to the tuberculosis infection.
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Background: An antigen is a small foreign substance, such as a microorganism structural protein, that may trigger an immune response once inside the body. Antigens are preferentially used rather than completely attenuated microorganisms to develop safe vaccines. Unfortunately, not all antigens are able to induce an immune response.

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Dengue fever is a disease with a high mortality rate around the world, which is an important issue for the health authorities of many countries. As a result of this, the search for new drugs that are effective to combat this disease has become necessary. Medicinal plants have been used since ancient times to treat a wide list of diseases, including dengue fever.

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Background: Immunization or vaccination is the process of inducing artificial immunity against an antigen taking advantage of the mechanisms of immunological memory. Current vaccines include substances known as adjuvants, which tend to improve the immunogenicity of the antigen, reduce the antigen quantity employed, and boost the immune response in weak responders. Unfortunately, only a few vaccine adjuvants are approved for human use.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had infected more than 3.5M people around the world and more than 250K people died in 187 countries by May 2020. The causal agent of this disease is a coronavirus whose onset of symptoms to death range from 6 to 41 days with a median of 14 days.

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Background: The world's population is still growing, having an impact on the environment and the economic growth of developing countries; so that, there is a particular interest in the development of new fertility control methods, focused on male contraception.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of methanolic extracts of leaf and fruit of Azadirachta indica on sperm quality and testicular histology of Long Evans rats.

Methods: Antifertility effects of a methanolic leaf and fruit extracts of A.

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Background: Pathogens use multiple mechanisms to disrupt cell functioning in their host and allow pathogenesis. These mechanisms involve communication between the pathogen and the host cell through protein-protein interactions.

Methods: Protein-protein interactions chains referred to as signal transduction pathways are the processes by which a chemical or physical signal transmits through a cell as series of molecular events so the pathogen needs to intercept these molecular pathways at few positions to induce pathogenesis such as pathogen viability, infection or hypersensitivity.

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All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) has been extensively studied as an integrating component of endocrine functions in the pancreas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ATRA on physiopathological biomarkers in an experimental model of rat with type 1 diabetes induced by alloxan (T1D). Twenty Wistar rats were divided equally into five groups, each receiving a different treatment: a control group (CG), a diabetic group without T1D treatment, a diabetic group treated with ATRA, a diabetic group supplemented with vitamin E (VIT E), and a group that was given olive oil (V).

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Background: The immune system is responsible for providing protection to the body against foreign substances. The immune system divides into two types of immune responses to study its mechanisms of protection: 1) Innate and 2) Adaptive. The innate immune response represents the first protective barrier of the organism that also works as a regulator of the adaptive immune response, if evaded the mechanisms of the innate immune response by the foreign substance the adaptive immune response takes action with the consequent antigen neutralization or elimination.

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