Hemolin triggers cell survival on fibroblasts in response to serum deprivation by inhibition of apoptosis.

Fibroblasts are the main cellular component of connective tissues and play important roles in health and disease through the production of collagen, fibronectin and growth factors. Under certain conditions, such as wound healing, fibroblasts intensify their metabolic demand, while the restriction of nutrients affect matrix composition, cell metabolism and behavior. In lepidopterans, wound healing is regulated by ecdysteroid hormones, which upregulate multifunctional proteins such as hemolin.

Effects of maternal vitamin B12 supplementation on early infant neurocognitive outcomes: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Maternal nutritional status during pregnancy impacts fetal brain development. Vitamin B12 plays a vital role in neuronal development. However, findings from studies on the association between maternal B12 status and child cognitive functions have been inconsistent.

Uroflowmetry in healthy women: A systematic review.

Background: Although uroflowmetry is a widely used diagnostic test, reference values of uroflowmetry parameters in women are lacking making it difficult to interpret the test results.

Aim: To quantify the range of results in uroflowmetry parameters in healthy women based on a systematic review.

Methods: A search was made in the International Continence Society standardization articles, PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library (from inception to 27 February 2014).

Brain abnormalities in adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder revealed by voxel-based morphometry.

Unlabelled: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) commonly affects children, although the symptoms persist into adulthood in approximately 50% of cases. Structural imaging studies in children have documented both cortical and subcortical changes in the brain. However, there have been only a few studies in adults and the results are inconclusive.

Maternal Antiretroviral Therapy Is Associated with Lower Risk of Diarrhea in Early Childhood.

Objectives: To identify risk factors, including maternal antiretroviral therapy (ART), for diarrhea in Tanzanian children exposed to HIV during the first 2 years of life.

Study Design: Using generalized estimating equations, we analyzed data from a cohort of 2387 Tanzanian children exposed to HIV from age 6 weeks to 2 years, as well as data from their mothers, to determine risk factors for diarrhea in children. Mothers recorded diarrhea in a diary and reported results at visits scheduled every four weeks.

Innate immune reconstitution with suppression of HIV-1.

Progressive HIV-1 infection leads to both profound immune suppression and pathologic inflammation in the majority of infected individuals. While adaptive immune dysfunction, as evidenced by CD4 T cell depletion and exhaustion, has been extensively studied, less is known about the functional capacity of innate immune cell populations in the context of HIV-1 infection. Given the broad susceptibility to opportunistic infections and the dysregulated inflammation observed in progressive disease, we hypothesized that there would be significant changes in the innate cellular responses.

Higher Time-Updated Body Mass Index: Association With Improved CD4+ Cell Recovery on HIV Treatment.

Background: Prior studies found overweight or obese HIV-infected individuals had greater early CD4 cell recovery on antiretroviral therapy (ART), but the results have been inconsistent. We assessed the longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and CD4 cell recovery on ART in a large, multisite cohort to identify potential physiologic links between adiposity and CD4 cell expansion.

Methods: We modeled the relationship of time-updated BMI with CD4 count in patients starting ART from 17 North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD) cohorts.

Amblyomin-X induces ER stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and caspase activation in human melanoma and pancreatic tumor cell.

During the last two decades, new insights into proteasome function and its role in several human diseases made it a potential therapeutic target. In this context, Amblyomin-X is a Kunitz-type FXa inhibitor similar to endogenous tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) and is a novel proteasome inhibitor. Herein, we have demonstrated Amblyomin-X cytotoxicity to different tumor cells lines such as pancreatic (Panc1, AsPC1BxPC3) and melanoma (SK-MEL-5 and SK-MEL-28).

Exclusive Breast-feeding Protects against Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV-1 through 12 Months of Age in Tanzania.

The jury on transmission of HIV through breast-feeding is still on. Data from a clinical trial in children born to HIV-positive mothers were evaluated with respect to their relationship to mother-to-child transmission. A total of 1629 infants who were not infected at age 6 weeks, had HIV results available at 12 months and who were breast-fed were included in this study.

Fluid status telemedicine alerts for heart failure: a randomized controlled trial.

Aims: Hospital admissions are frequently preceded by increased pulmonary congestion in heart failure (HF) patients. This study evaluated whether early automated fluid status alert notification via telemedicine improves outcome in HF patients.

Methods And Results: Patients recently implanted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) with or without cardiac resynchronization therapy were eligible if one of three conditions was met: prior HF hospitalization, recent diuretic treatment, or recent brain natriuretic peptide increase.

Brief Report: Relationship Among Viral Load Outcomes in HIV Treatment Interruption Trials.

Viral load (VL) rebound timing and set point were analyzed in 235 participants undergoing analytic treatment interruption (ATI) in 6 AIDS Clinical Trials Group studies. There was no significant association between rebound timing and ATI VL set point for those who rebounded ≤12 weeks. VL set points were lower in participants with rebound >12 weeks (P < 0.

An Ex Vivo Phantom Validation Study of an MRI-Transrectal Ultrasound Fusion Device for Targeted Prostate Biopsy.

Objectives: To evaluate the ex vivo accuracy of an MRI-TRUS fusion device for guiding targeted prostate biopsies, to identify the origin of errors, and to evaluate the likelihood that lesions can be accurately targeted.

Materials And Methods: Three prostate phantoms were used to perform 27 biopsies using transperineal MRI-TRUS fusion. All phantoms underwent 3-T MRI.

Mechanisms of Photoaging and Cutaneous Photocarcinogenesis, and Photoprotective Strategies with Phytochemicals.

Photoaging and photocarcinogenesis are primarily due to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which alters DNA, cellular antioxidant balance, signal transduction pathways, immunology, and the extracellular matrix (ECM). The DNA alterations include UV radiation induced thymine-thymine dimers and loss of tumor suppressor gene p53. UV radiation reduces cellular antioxidant status by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the resultant oxidative stress alters signal transduction pathways such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), the nuclear factor-kappa beta (NF-κB)/p65, the janus kinase (JAK), signal transduction and activation of transcription (STAT) and the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2).

Specific role of cytoplasmic dynein in the mechanism of action of an antitumor molecule, Amblyomin-X.

The Kunitz-type recombinant protein, Amblyomin-X, is an antitumor recombinant molecule from a cDNA library prepared from the salivary glands of the tick Amblyomma cajennense. The primary target of this protein appears to be the proteasome. Amblyomin-X increased gene and protein expression of distinct subunits of the molecular motor dynein, which plays a key role in the intracellular transport.

A PK-PD model-based assessment of sugammadex effects on coagulation parameters.

Exposure-response analyses of sugammadex on activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time international normalized ratio (PT(INR)) were performed using data from two clinical trials in which subjects were co-treated with anti-coagulants, providing a framework to predict these responses in surgical patients on thromboprophylactic doses of low molecular weight or unfractionated heparin. Sugammadex-mediated increases in APTT and PT(INR) were described with a direct effect model, and this relationship was similar in the presence or absence of anti-coagulant therapy in either healthy volunteers or surgical patients. In surgical patients on thromboprophylactic therapy, model-based predictions showed 13.

Core Content for Undergraduate Medical Education in Spain: Recommendations of the Instructors' Group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV).

Background: Skin problems are among the most frequent reasons for seeking medical attention in primary care. In recent years, as a result of the process of adapting medical curricula to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area, the amount of time students spend learning the concepts of dermatology has been reduced in many universities.

Material And Methods: In order to reach a consensus on core content for undergraduate education in dermatology, we sent a survey to the 57 members of the instructors' group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV), asking their opinions on what objectives should be set for a dermatology course in Spain.

Illness perception, coping and adherence to treatment among patients with chronic kidney disease.

Aim: To analyse the predictive value of illness representations on treatment adherence and coping strategies in a group of patients on haemodialysis.

Background: Understanding the cognitive and emotional factors that influence adherence behaviour and coping strategies and determining their relationship to sociodemographic factors remain a challenge; meeting this challenge would encourage comprehensive patient care, thereby improving their quality of life

Design: Cross-sectional study with predictive means in a sample of 135 patients on haemodialysis.

Methods: Data collection occurred from September 2010-January 2012 and tools included the following: sociodemographic data, Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised, the Cuestionario de Afrontamiento del Estrés and the Morisky-Green test to study adherence to treatment.

Bufadienolides from parotoid gland secretions of Cuban toad Peltophryne fustiger (Bufonidae): Inhibition of human kidney Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase activity.

Parotoid gland secretions of toad species are a vast reservoir of bioactive molecules with a wide range of biological properties. Herein, for the first time, it is described the isolation by preparative reversed-phase HPLC and the structure elucidation by NMR spectroscopy and/or mass spectrometry of nine major bufadienolides from parotoid gland secretions of the Cuban endemic toad Peltophryne fustiger: ψ-bufarenogin, gamabufotalin, bufarenogin, arenobufagin, 3-(N-suberoylargininyl) marinobufagin, bufotalinin, telocinobufagin, marinobufagin and bufalin. In addition, the secretion was analyzed by UPLC-MS/MS which also allowed the identification of azelayl arginine.

The size of the expressed HIV reservoir predicts timing of viral rebound after treatment interruption.

Objectives: Therapies to achieve sustained antiretroviral therapy-free HIV remission will require validation in analytic treatment interruption (ATI) trials. Identifying biomarkers that predict time to viral rebound could accelerate the development of such therapeutics.

Design: A pooled analysis of participants from six AIDS Clinical Trials Group ATI studies to identify predictors of viral rebound.

Waist-to-Height Ratio as an Indicator of High Blood Pressure in Urban Indian School Children.

Objective: To examine the utility of waist-to-height ratio to identify risk of high blood pressure when compared to body mass index and waist circumference in South Indian urban school children.

Design: Secondary data analysis from a cross-sectional study.

Setting: Urban schools around Bangalore, India.

Functional Imaging Changes in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Adult ADHD.

Objective: Functional imaging studies have found reduced frontal activity, mainly in dorso/ventro-lateral regions and reduced task-related de-activation of the default mode network in childhood ADHD. Adult studies are fewer and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate the potential neural bases of executive function in ADHD adults, examining brain activity during N-back task performance, and to explore the potential corrective effects of long-term methylphenidate treatment.

CCR5-Δ32 Heterozygosity, HIV-1 Reservoir Size, and Lymphocyte Activation in Individuals Receiving Long-term Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy.

We conducted a case-controlled study of the associations of CCR5-Δ32 heterozygosity with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reservoir size, lymphocyte activation, and CCR5 expression in 114 CCR5(Δ32/WT) and 177 wild-type CCR5 AIDS Clinical Trials Group participants receiving suppressive antiretroviral therapy. Overall, no significant differences were found between groups for any of these parameters. However, higher levels of CCR5 expression correlated with lower amounts of cell-associated HIV-1 RNA.

Elevated Levels of Microbial Translocation Markers and CCL2 Among Older HIV-1-Infected Men.

The aging of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected population obligates a focus on the interaction between aging, comorbid conditions, and HIV-1. We recruited a cohort of HIV-1-infected men aged ≤ 35 years or ≥ 50 years who were receiving fully suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART). We analyzed plasma markers of inflammation; T-cell activation, exhaustion, proliferation; and innate cellular subsets and functional capacity.