Publications by authors named "Bustamante J"

Purpose Of Review: Whipple's disease (WD), triggered by Tropheryma whipplei ( T. whipplei ), is a rare, chronic, inflammatory, systemic infectious disease that typically manifests in adults. The most frequent initial manifestations include arthritis, followed by diarrhea, abdominal pain, and weight loss.

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Background: Suppressor of cytokine signalling 1 (SOCS1) insufficiency is an inborn error of immunity affecting the negative regulation of cytokine and growth factor signalling. We aimed to enhance the understanding of clinical manifestations, disease trajectories, disease penetrance, and the effect of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibition in individuals with SOCS1 insufficiency.

Methods: This study used data from two independent cohorts: the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) registry and the UK Biobank.

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Otitis media and otitis externa are common ear conditions affecting individuals of all ages. Symptoms can range from mild to severe ear pain. These conditions result from infections, immune responses, and environmental factors.

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Del Nido cardioplegia (DNC), a blood-and-crystalloid solution containing high and low concentrations of potassium and calcium, respectively, is used as a single-dose antegrade infusion to induce immediate cardiac arrest in the surgery of patients with cardiovascular diseases requiring extracorporeal circulation. Adding cardioprotective molecules may further reduce the damage-triggered ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Angiotensin-(1-9) (Ang-(1-9)) and angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)), members of the counter-regulatory renin-angiotensin system, have shown cardioprotective effects in cardiac hypertrophy and I/R models.

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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to explore the implications of the in-field implementation of a teaching strategy that promotes critical thinking (TPCT) on tactical ability, declarative, and procedural knowledge. The TPCT is grounded in socio-constructivist theory and aims to enhance players' analytical skills through inquiry, problem-solving, and observation. By emphasizing the socio-constructivist approach, the program fosters skills such as interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation, encouraging players' active participation in questioning and collaborative problem-solving activities.

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Studies of microbial communities vary widely in terms of analysis methods. In this growing field, the wide variety of diversity measures and lack of consistency make it harder to compare different studies. Most existing alpha diversity metrics are inherited from other disciplines and their assumptions are not always directly meaningful or true for microbiome data.

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  • Inborn errors of immunity (IEIs) are genetic disorders that increase the risk of infections, autoimmunity, and other health issues, and often show incomplete penetrance despite being caused by single gene mutations.
  • This study examines how autosomal random monoallelic expression (aRMAE)—where only one allele of a gene is actively expressed—contributes to the variability in disease outcomes among individuals within families with IEIs.
  • The findings reveal that specific gene expression patterns related to aRMAE can influence clinical phenotypes, suggesting that understanding both genetic and expression variations is crucial for analyzing the impact of monogenic disorders.
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The spectrum of known monogenic inborn errors of immunity is growing, with certain disorders underlying a specific and narrow range of infectious diseases. These disorders reveal the core mechanisms by which these infections occur in various settings, including inherited and acquired immunodeficiencies, thereby delineating the essential mechanisms of protective immunity to the corresponding pathogens. These findings also have medical implications, facilitating diagnosis and improving the management of individuals at risk of disease.

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Background: The long-term monitoring of the plant cover of Doñana shrublands is part of a harmonised protocol for the Long-term Ecological Monitoring Programme of Natural Resources and Processes targeting Terrestrial Vegetation. The general aim of this protocol is to monitor and assess the dynamics and trends of shrubland plant communities in Doñana. For shrublands, percentage cover is recorded annually, starting in 2008, by the Doñana Long-Term Monitoring Team in one field sampling campaign per year during the flowering season (between March and May) across 21 permanent square plots (15 m x 15 m).

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Rapid cell expansion pushes the Arabidopsis hypocotyl (juvenile stem) through the soil until blue light, acting first through phototropin 1 (phot1) and then through cryptochrome 1 (cry1), suppresses elongation to produce a length characteristic of established, photosynthetically capable seedlings. To determine where these two different blue-light receptors act to suppress hypocotyl elongation, we measured relative elemental growth rate, specifically along the hypocotyl midline at 5-min intervals before and during blue light, using a machine-learning-based image analysis pipeline designed specifically for this kinematic analysis of growth. In darkness, hypocotyl material expanded most rapidly (approximately 4% h) in a broad zone approximately 1 mm below the apical terminus of the hypocotyl (cotyledonary node).

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Background: CD4 T cells play essential roles in adaptive immunity. Distinct CD4 T-cell subsets-T1, T2, T17, T22, T follicular helper, and regulatory T cells-have been identified, and their contributions to host defense and immune regulation are increasingly well defined. IL-9-producing T9 cells were first described in 2008 and appear to play both protective and pathogenic roles in human immunity.

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Anthropogenic environments such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and landfills are sources of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) frequently use WWTPs and may be vectors for AMR. We used GPS tracking data for 39 gulls for up to 8 months, combined with a shedding curve, to study sources and dispersal distances of AMR in Iberia.

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Article Synopsis
  • Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) involve various disorders that can be hard to diagnose early, as shown in a Brazilian patient with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) diagnosed at 6 months old due to multiple infections.
  • After undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the patient experienced recurrent infections and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 multiple times over six months.
  • Whole exome sequencing revealed a damaging genetic variant in the Janus Kinase 3 (JAK3) gene, suggesting its role in disrupting protein function and contributing to SCID's pathogenesis.
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  • * Researchers differentiated induced pluripotent stem cells from both a CF patient and a healthy donor into macrophages to study the effects of CFTR deficiency on macrophage function.
  • * The study found that CF macrophages (iMac) had reduced ability to kill bacteria, altered cellular environment, and exhibited signs of inflammation and dysfunctional responses, indicating an impaired immune response in CF.
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  • T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, which are important for antibody production, rely heavily on the immunoreceptor PD-1, and its deficiency leads to weakened Tfh functions and impaired immune responses in mice.
  • Individuals lacking PD-1 or PD-L1 demonstrate fewer memory B cells and diminished antibody responses, highlighting the critical role of these molecules in immune system functionality.
  • PD-1 influences both the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of B cell memory and antibody production, suggesting that disruptions in PD-1 signaling can lead to complications in immune responses, especially during anti-PD-1-PD-L1 therapies.
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Purpose: CTLA4 deficiency is an inborn error of immunity (IEI) due to heterozygosity for germline loss-of-function variants of the CTLA4 gene located on chromosome 2q33.2. CTLA4 deficiency underlies pleiotropic immune and lymphoproliferation-mediated features with incomplete penetrance.

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  • Coronary artery disease impairs blood flow to the heart muscle, while an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a bulge in the abdominal aorta; both share risk factors like smoking and high blood pressure.
  • This case discusses a 71-year-old man with a history of heart problems and an AAA who underwent a combined coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and AAA repair surgery, a rare and complex procedure.
  • The successful outcome of the surgery showcases its potential benefits for high-risk patients, reducing the chances of death and aneurysm rupture.
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Patients heterozygous for germline CBL loss-of-function (LOF) variants can develop myeloid malignancy, autoinflammation, or both, if some or all of their leukocytes become homozygous for these variants through somatic loss of heterozygosity (LOH) via uniparental isodisomy. We observed an upregulation of the inflammatory gene expression signature in whole blood from these patients, mimicking monogenic inborn errors underlying autoinflammation. Remarkably, these patients had constitutively activated monocytes that secreted 10 to 100 times more inflammatory cytokines than those of healthy individuals and CBL LOF heterozygotes without LOH.

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  • * A study examined 131 female patients with X-linked dominant incontinentia pigmenti (IP), finding that 36% produced autoantibodies against IFN-α and/or IFN-ω, significantly higher than age-matched controls.
  • * The presence of these autoantibodies is linked to an abnormally small thymus and predisposes patients to life-threatening viral infections, while those without these autoantibodies do not face the same risk.
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  • Some babies with a specific mutation in the IL7R gene have a serious immune problem called SCID, where they lack a certain type of immune cells called T cells, but still have normal B and NK cells.
  • In a study of 6 adults who have a similar genetic issue, they showed low levels of T cells but had relatively normal levels of other immune cells, indicating a more specific problem in T cell development.
  • Even though their T cells didn’t grow well in the lab, the study hints that there might be another way T cells can develop that doesn’t depend solely on the IL-7 cytokine.
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  • Inborn errors or autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against type I interferons (IFNs) can lead to severe viral infections.
  • Researchers developed a straightforward blood test that can identify these conditions by stimulating blood with glycosylated IFN-α2, -β, or -ω and measuring IP-10 levels.
  • The study found that IP-10 levels in patients with inherited deficiencies only increase with type II IFN (IFN-γ), while those with auto-Abs can still respond to non-neutralized type I IFNs.
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Superior mesenteric venous (SMV) thrombosis is a rare complication of severe appendicitis. Early recognition is due to improved imaging modalities, which ultimately lead to more prompt intervention. Despite being an uncommon phenomenon, SMV thrombosis can have complications stemming from venous hypertension, such as gastric and esophageal varices, bowel ischemia, sepsis, and death.

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