Publications by authors named "B Nunez Arana"

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), caused by protozoan parasites of the genus, is prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions, with important morbidity, particularly in low- to middle-income countries. Current systemic treatments, including pentavalent antimonials and miltefosine, are associated with significant toxicity, reduced efficacy, and are frequently ineffective in cases of severe or chronic CL. Immunotherapies leverage the immune system to combat microbial infection and offer a promising adjunct or alternative approach to the current standard of care for CL.

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Article Synopsis
  • Target Product Profiles (TPPs) are critical for developing healthcare products like treatments and vaccines, yet patients are often excluded from the process, which can limit alignment with their actual needs and preferences.* -
  • A study involved 33 cutaneous leishmaniasis patients from Brazil, Colombia, and Austria, using interviews to uncover their treatment experiences and preferences, which highlighted issues like efficacy, safety, and the impact of costs on adherence.* -
  • The findings suggest that including patients in the TPP design process can lead to more effective and compliant healthcare interventions, particularly for neglected diseases affecting underserved populations.*
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Introduction. The entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are 13 activities that new medical graduates should be able to perform without direct supervision. Our objective was to assess the perceptions of residents and teachers regarding their autonomy to perform the EPAs 2 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Checkpoint inhibitors (CIs) are now standard of care for late-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, only a minority of patients treated with a CI show clinical benefit compared to platinum-based chemotherapy alone, regardless of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression levels. We describe a case of durable tumor response and disease stabilization in a patient with advanced pretreated squamous NSCLC given a maintenance treatment comprised of nivolumab, docetaxel, and ramucirumab combined with the allogeneic cellular cancer vaccine viagenpumatucel-L over a period of 28 months. Our case suggests that combination strategies that serve to sensitize tumors to checkpoint inhibition, even in patients refractory to available treatment, may lead to improved efficacy.

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Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic vector-borne disease affecting mostly low- and middle-income countries. CL is endemic in Guatemala, where an increase in the number of cases and incidence and a changing disease distribution in the past decade have been reported. Important research was conducted in Guatemala in the 1980s and 1990s to understand the epidemiology of CL and two Leishmania species were identified as the aetiologic agents.

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