The role of sex hormones in aldosterone biosynthesis and their potential impact on its mineralocorticoid receptor.

Blood pressure (BP) regulation is a complex process involving various hormones, including aldosterone and its mineralocorticoid receptor. Mineralocorticoid receptor is expressed in several tissues, including the kidney, and plays a crucial role in regulating BP by controlling the sodium and water balance. During different stages of life, hormonal changes can affect mineralocorticoid receptor activity and aldosterone levels, leading to changes in BP.

[Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B virus in pregnancy women at the time of delivery].

Unlabelled: Worldwide, there is an alert due to the increase in the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV). This can cause up to 3.5% of chronic diseases, of which 40% present secondary complications and/ or early death.

First winter record of Latrodectus mirabilis (Araneae: Theridiidae) in arid Patagonia: A consequence of climate change and urbanization?

Cases of araneism reported in the province of Chubut (Argentina) have tripled in the last two decades, and almost 80 % of them involve Latrodectus mirabilis (Holmberg) (Araneae: Theridiidae). According to descriptions of the life cycle of this species in Argentina, the low temperatures typical of autumn-winter cause the death of all adult spiders, so that no adult specimens of L. mirabilis are observed in winter.

[Recommendations for the diagnosis and management of cytomegalovirus infection in pregnant woman and newborn infant].

The Chilean Society of Infectology, through its Neonatal Infections Committee in conjunction with the Chilean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, propose a document for the Diagnosis and Management of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Pregnant Woman and Newborn Infant. This guideline suggests the management of mother and child infection, its diagnostic and therapeutic options. Considers the global and Latin American epidemiology, with recommendations for clinical and laboratory evaluation; diagnostic criteria, therapeutic approaches according to the clinical situation, analyzes prevention measures and establishes a national proposal for monitoring this disease.

[Newborn with syphilitic pemphigus in pandemic's time].

Congenital syphilis is the infection by Treponema pallidum of the newborn, due to mother-to-child transmission of spirochaetes during pregnancy. It remains as a major cause of preventable fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality if the mother is not opportunely treated. This highlights the importance of an adequate prenatal control, early screening for maternal infection and timely treatment.

[Tuberculosis: a challenge in newborn care and how to deal with it. Update document].

Tuberculosis in the neonatal stage has a high morbidity and mortality, is difficult to diagnose and involves the mother-child binomial and their environment. The particular characteristics of the immune system in pregnant women and the newborn, impact the clinical presentation of this disease. Its diagnosis is complex and the establishment of treatment must be timely and cannot be postponed.

Cat-scratch Disease in the Pediatric Population: 6 Years of Evaluation and Follow-up in a Public Hospital in Chile.

Background: Bartonella henselae is the etiologic agent of cat-scratch disease, which affects the entire world population. Due to how poorly characterized the child population is, the objective was to describe the clinical behavior of this disease in children younger than 16 years of age.

Methods: This was a descriptive study with prospective follow-up of all children younger than 16 years with clinical and serologic diagnoses between 2013 and 2018.

[Blood cultures in newborns: optimizing sample collection and performance].

The request of blood cultures in medical care is frequent, especially in Neonatal Units, where it is performed routinely in case of suspected early or late sepsis. The purpose of this document is to standardize the sampling technique in order to increase its performance and establish criteria to interpret a positive blood culture.

[Evaluation of antimicrobial consumption in a Neonatology Unit: a team work to promote the rational use of antibiotics].

Background: Antibiotics (ATB) are drugs widely used in hospitalized newborns. The indiscriminate use of ATBs promote the rise of resistant bacteria to the most commonly indicated antimicrobials. In addition, ATB prescription presents associations to morbidity, such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, necrotizing enterocolitis, late sepsis and even death.

[Immigration and impact on infectious diseases of the newborn].

Over the past few years immigration has become an important issue in Chile. Particular attention should be paid in foreign pregnant mothers. Infectious diseases screening in this group greatly reduce the risk of transmission to the fetus with appropriate therapy.

Structural and functional identification of vasculogenic mimicry in vitro.

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) describes a process by which cancer cells establish an alternative perfusion pathway in an endothelial cell-free manner. Despite its strong correlation with reduced patient survival, controversy still surrounds the existence of an in vitro model of VM. Furthermore, many studies that claim to demonstrate VM fail to provide solid evidence of true hollow channels, raising concerns as to whether actual VM is actually being examined.

[Occult bacteremia in Sótero del Río Hospital: Experience after pneumococcal conjugated vaccine].

Background: Occult bacteremia (OB) is one of the possible diagnoses of children younger than 3 years with fever without source in the emergency room.

Objective: describe OB in the era after introduction of pneumococcal vaccine in Chile.

Patients And Methods: Prospective descriptive review of data of children with possible OB diagnosis, referred from the emergency department between 2010-2013.

[TORCH syndrome: Rational approach of pre and post natal diagnosis and treatment. Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Neonatal Infections Sociedad Chilena de Infectología, 2016].

There is a lot of bacterial, viral or parasite infections who are able to be transmitted vertically from the mother to the fetus or newborn which implicates an enormous risk for it. The TORCH acronym is used universally to refer to a fetus or newborn which presents clinical features compatible with a vertically acquired infection and allows a rational diagnostic and therapeutic approach. The traditional "TORCH test" is nowadays considered not appropriate and it has been replaced for specific test for specific pathogens under well defined circumstances.

miR-101-2, miR-125b-2 and miR-451a act as potential tumor suppressors in gastric cancer through regulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a deadly malignancy worldwide. In the past, it has been shown that cellular signaling pathway alterations play a crucial role in the development of GC. In particular, deregulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway seems to affect multiple GC functions including growth, proliferation, metabolism, motility and angiogenesis.

[Reinstating cloxacilin for empiric antibiotic in late-onset sepsis].

Vancomycin has been used for more than 50 years in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) as the therapy of choice for late-onset sepsis, mainly because Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are common and mostly resistant to oxacyllin despitelow virulence and unusual association with fulminant sepsis. CUs due to several factors including its high pharmacokinetic variability, difficulty in reaching therapeutic plasmatic drug concentrations and progressively increasing minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC). The increase of CoNS with higher MICs as well as the rise of infections caused by resistant gram-negative bacilli and candida should move to reconsider Vancomycin as first line treatment.

The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is activated in gastric cancer with potential prognostic and predictive significance.

Signaling pathway alterations are important in the development of gastric cancer (GC). Deregulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway plays a crucial role in the regulation of multiple cellular functions including cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, and angiogenesis. Our goal was to assess expression of proteins involved in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in tumor and nontumor gastric mucosa from patients with advanced GC.

Immunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A in advanced gallbladder carcinoma.

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a highly fatal disease with poor prognosis and few therapeutic alternatives. The molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of GBC remain poorly understood. The vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is a potent proangiogenic agent involved in the carcinogenesis of many human tumors and is an attractive target for cancer therapy.

AKT/mTOR substrate P70S6K is frequently phosphorylated in gallbladder cancer tissue and cell lines.

Background: Gallbladder carcinoma is a highly malignant tumor and a public health problem in some parts of the world. It is characterized by a poor prognosis and its resistance to radio and chemotherapy. There is an urgent need to develop novel therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of gallbladder carcinoma.

Immunohistochemical expression of phospho-mTOR is associated with poor prognosis in patients with gallbladder adenocarcinoma.

Context: Advanced gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is a highly fatal disease with poor prognosis and few therapeutic alternatives. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a central role in cell growth and homeostasis. Its regulation is frequently altered in various tumors and is an attractive target for cancer therapy; however, its status in GBC remains unclear.

Cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein long form (c-FLIPL) overexpression is related to cervical cancer progression.

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide and infection by high-risk human papillomavirus types is a precursor event. The cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) has been found to be overexpressed in several types of cancers and could be associated with cervical cancer progression because of its ability to inhibit the apoptotic process. To detect c-FLIP expression in cervical cancer, an immunohistochemical staining was performed, using tissue microarrays, on a series of 536 archival biopsy samples, including normal cervical tissues, low-grade and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, and squamous cervical carcinomas.