Publications by authors named "Carmen Soto"

(1) Background: AO1125 is a Gram-positive, motile, spore-forming bacterium with potential as a probiotic due to its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, inhibiting pathogens like , , and , as well as anti-rotavirus activity. Its resilience in gastrointestinal conditions suggests benefits for gut health. This study evaluates the safety and probiotic potential of AO1125.

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Many different malignancies occur in children, but overall, cancer in childhood is rare. Survival rates have improved appreciably and are higher compared with most adult tumour types. Treatment schedules evolve as a result of clinical trials and are typically complex and multi-modality, with radiotherapy an integral component of many.

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Objective: Central venous access devices (CVADs), often known as central lines, are important for delivering medically complex care in children, and are increasingly used for children living at home. Central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) is a serious, life-threatening complication. Although the physical consequences of CLABSIs are well documented, families' views and experiences of CLABSI are poorly understood.

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Objective: To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research activity and working experience of clinical academics, with a focus on gender and ethnicity.

Design: Qualitative study based on interviews and audio/written diary data.

Setting: UK study within clinical academia.

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Introduction: Anxiety in children triggered by a scheduled surgical intervention is a major issue due to its frequency and consequences. Preoperative anxiety is associated with increased patient fear and agitation on anesthetic induction. The aim of this study is to compare three preoperative anxiety scales for children undergoing elective outpatient surgery, and to correlate each of these tools with the degree of patient compliance on induction, as assessed by the Induction Compliance Checklist (ICC).

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Sticholysin I (StI) is a pore-forming toxin (PFT) belonging to the actinoporin protein family characterized by high permeabilizing activity in membranes. StI readily associates with sphingomyelin (SM)-containing membranes originating pores that can lead to cell death. Binding and pore-formation are critically dependent on the physicochemical properties of membrane.

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Actinoporins (APs) are soluble pore-forming proteins secreted by sea anemones that experience conformational changes originating in pores in the membranes that can lead to cell death. The processes involved in the binding and pore-formation of members of this protein family have been deeply examined in recent years; however, the intracellular responses to APs are only beginning to be understood. Unlike pore formers of bacterial origin, whose intracellular impact has been studied in more detail, currently, we only have knowledge of a few poorly integrated elements of the APs' intracellular action.

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Power ultrasound (US) transmits substantial amounts of small mechanical movements serving for particle detaching in membrane filtrations. This topic has been reviewed in recent years mainly focused on the mechanisms by which the flux is improved under specific processing conditions. US also been shown to improve food quality by changing physical properties and modifying the activity of enzymes and microorganisms.

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Piscirickettsia salmonis is a facultative Gram-negative intracellular bacterium that produces piscirickettsiosis, disease that causes a high negative impact in salmonid cultures. The so-far-unidentified nutritional requirements have hindered its axenic culture at laboratory and industrial scales for the formulation of vaccines. The present study describes the development of a defined culture medium for P.

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The data presented in this article are focused on thermal stability data of both juglone standard (in ethanol and methanol) and a natural extract containing juglone from lyophilized walnut green husk (in ethanol and methanol). On the other hand, we also show the data of the impact of three concentration technologies over the concentration yield of juglone from the natural extract in ethanol and methanol. All data presented are related with the information included in "Polyphenolic extracts of walnut (Juglans regia) green husk containing juglone inhibit the growth of HL-60 cells and induce apoptosis" Soto-Maldonado et al.

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No medications prevent or reverse age-related cognitive decline. Physical activity (PA) enhances memory in rodents, but findings are mixed in human studies. As a result, exercise guidelines specific for brain health are absent.

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The Escherichia coli neutral M1-aminopeptidase (ePepN) is a novel target identified for the development of antimicrobials. Here we describe a solid-phase multicomponent approach which enabled the discovery of potent ePepN inhibitors. The on-resin protocol, developed in the frame of the Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) program, comprises the implementation of parallel Ugi-azide four-component reactions with resin-bound amino acids, thus leading to the rapid preparation of a focused library of tetrazole-peptidomimetics (TPMs) suitable for biological screening.

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Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) trainees face challenges in making the most of the research opportunities available to them. Improved support for trainees throughout the AFP may result in improved outcomes and increase retention of clinical academic trainees. Peer support may address some of the challenges faced by AFP trainees at this early stage of their careers.

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Actinoporins constitute a unique class of pore-forming toxins found in sea anemones that being secreted as soluble monomers are able to bind and permeabilize membranes leading to cell death. The interest in these proteins has risen due to their high cytotoxicity that can be properly used to design immunotoxins against tumor cells and antigen-releasing systems to cell cytosol. In this work we describe a novel actinoporin produced by Anthopleura nigrescens, an anemone found in the Central American Pacific Ocean.

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Clinical inertia is common in all chronic diseases, including diabetes. Despite the advent of newer agents for the management of hyperglycemia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, the number of people with diabetes hitting all three targets remains small. The causes of clinical inertia are multifactorial, with contributory elements from people with diabetes, physicians, and the system within which they work.

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Sticholysin II (StII) is a pore-forming toxin of biomedical interest that belongs to the actinoporin protein family. Sticholysins are currently under examination as an active immunomodulating component of a vaccinal platform against tumoral cells and as a key element of a nucleic acids delivery system to cell cytosol. These proteins form pores in the plasma membrane leading to ion imbalance and cell lysis.

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Actinoporins constitute a unique class of pore-forming toxins found in sea anemones that are able to bind and oligomerize in membranes, leading to cell swelling, impairment of ionic gradients and, eventually, to cell death. In this review we summarize the knowledge generated from the combination of biochemical and biophysical approaches to the study of sticholysins I and II (Sts, StI/II), two actinoporins largely characterized by the Center of Protein Studies at the University of Havana during the last 20 years. These approaches include strategies for understanding the toxin structure-function relationship, the protein-membrane association process leading to pore formation and the interaction of toxin with cells.

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Sticholysin II is a pore-forming toxin produced by the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus that belongs to the actinoporin protein family. The high affinity of actinoporins for sphingomyelin (SM)-containing membranes has been well documented. However, the molecular determinants that define this affinity have not been fully clarified.

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Information received by cancer patients has gained importance in recent decades. The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of information received by oncological patients in a radiotherapy department and to measure the importance of the other information sources. A cross-sectional study was conducted, evaluating patients who received radiotherapy.

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Structured Lipids are generally constituents of functional foods. Growing demands for SL are based on a fuller understanding of nutritional requirements, lipid metabolism, and improved methods to produce them. Specifically, this work was aimed to add value to avocado oil by producing dietary triacylglycerols (TAG) containing medium-chain fatty acids (M) at positions sn-1,3 and long-chain fatty acids (L) at position sn-2.

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The eye-fluke Philophthalmus gralli (Philophthalmidae Looss, 1899) was found in six birds known as great tinamous (Tinamus major) reared in a wild animal shelter located in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The birds presented conjunctival hyperemia, blepharitis, anorexia and weakness. Some of them suffered from unilateral blindness and ocular loss.

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We evaluate the total phenolic compounds (TPC) content and the antioxidant activity (AA) of extracts obtained from ground fresh thyme (FT) and depleted thyme (DT), a by-product of the process of essential oil extraction. In addition, enzymatic treatments were evaluated to improve the extraction yields of polyphenolic compounds from thyme. Extractions were performed using several solvents as methanol, ethanol, and water.

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Objective: To explore how families of children with cancer experience giving consent for tissue banking and to produce recommendations on good practice.

Design: 79 participants from 42 families (41 mothers, 18 fathers, 20 children and young people with cancer) took part in semistructured interviews to explore their experiences of being approached for consent to tissue banking.

Setting: Tertiary care facilities for childhood cancer.

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