Publications by authors named "Ana Betancourt"

Article Synopsis
  • Access to safe surgery is a human right, but significant disparities exist between high-income and low-to-middle-income countries in terms of surgical care.* -
  • The LASOS-Peds study is a 14-day international research project exploring the rates of complications after pediatric surgeries in Latin America, focusing on both elective and emergency cases.* -
  • Approved by an Institutional Review Board, the findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and shared at international conferences, with the aim of improving pediatric surgical outcomes.*
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In this study, we screened a chemical library to find potent anticancer compounds that are less cytotoxic to non-cancerous cells. This study revealed that pyrazole PTA-1 is a potent anticancer compound. Additionally, we sought to elucidate its mechanism of action (MOA) in triple-negative breast cancer cells.

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Unlabelled: Purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) are capable of anoxygenic photosynthesis via oxidizing reduced sulfur compounds and are considered key drivers of the sulfur cycle in a range of anoxic environments. In this study, we show that (a PSB species) is capable of autotrophic growth using pyrite as the electron and sulfur source. Comparative growth profile, substrate characterization, and transcriptomic sequencing data provided valuable insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the bacterial utilization of pyrite and autotrophic growth.

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Article Synopsis
  • COVID-19 continues to be a major global health issue, with a study analyzing 3641 positive samples from El Paso, Texas, over 48 weeks between Fall 2021 and Summer 2022.
  • The community experienced a transition from the Delta variant to the Omicron variant, notably during a 5-week period when Omicron rapidly became the dominant strain, leading to increased positivity rates and hospitalizations.
  • The study highlights the need for ongoing surveillance and preparedness in healthcare systems as more transmissible variants can quickly supplant existing ones in urban environments.
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In this study, we identified a novel pyrazole-based derivative (P3C) that displayed potent cytotoxicity against 27 human cancer cell lines derived from different tissue origins with 50% cytotoxic concentrations (CC) in the low micromolar and nanomolar range, particularly in two triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines (from 0.25 to 0.49 µM).

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We investigate the clinical and pathological features related to variations in colorectal tumour apoptosis, proliferation and angiogenesis and the influence of the latter in short-term mortality (2 years); 551 tumour samples from a prospective cohort of patients with colorectal cancer were examined and tumour biology markers were determined as follows: percentage of apoptotic cells, by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) dUTP Nick-End Labeling technique; Ki-67 antigen, as a cell proliferation marker and density of microvessels (as a marker of angiogenesis). An increase in the percentage of cellular apoptosis is significantly related to the presence of poorly differentiated tumours, with vascular invasion (p < 0.001).

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Mutations in the gene encoding the presenilin-1 protein (PSEN1) were first discovered to cause Alzheimer's disease (AD) 20 years ago. Since then more than 200 different pathogenic mutations have been reported, including a p.Gly206Ala founder mutation in the Hispanic population.

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