Physiology without Borders: US and Cuban Scientists Meet in Space.

Over 400 delegates from 28 countries gathered recently in Havana for the 2nd Pan-American Congress of Physiological Sciences (May, 2019). It was quite an event, the level of science attesting to the quality of participants from the world over. The conference attracted more US scientists to Cuba than any other in the field of medicine over the last several years: 228.

Cuban Scientific Production on Diabetes, 2000-2017: Peer-reviewed Publications, Collaboration and Impact.

INTRODUCTION The steadily increasing prevalence of diabetes globally has captured researchers' attention. Cuban production of scientific articles on diabetes has not been studied from a bibliometric perspective. OBJECTIVE Characterize the production and impact of research and review articles on diabetes by Cuban authors in journals listed in the Scopus bibliographic database, as well as related collaboration among Cuban institutions and between Cuban and non-Cuban institutions.

Students’ scientific production: a proposal to encourage it.

The scientific production of medical students in Latin America, is poor and below their potential. The reason for this is the low theoretical and practical knowledge of scientific writing, a low margin for new knowledge generation, a heavy academic and clinical load, and the expected profile of the medical school graduate. In the present short communication, we propose teaching courses in research methodology, scientific writing in English and Spanish, a personalized search for students and mentors with research aptitudes.

Neuroimmunological response in neuro-Behçet's.

Behçet's disease is a chronic, multisystem, autoimmune vasculitis characterized by a triad of key signs. We report the case of a 16-year-old Caucasian girl, who complained of headache, dizziness and paresis of the left side of her body. After physical examination and ancillary tests, she was diagnosed with Behçet's disease with neurological manifestations (neuro-Behçet's disease).

Intrathecal activation as a typical immune response within the central nervous system in angiostrongyliasis.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a zoonotic pathogen that occasionally causes human angiostrongyliasis; its main clinical manifestation is eosinophilic meningitis. This report defines the concept of intrathecal activation of complement as evidence of intrathecal synthesis of major immunoglobulins during this disease. Details are presented of the activation of complement system components in cerebrospinal fluid, and their application to our understanding of this tropical disease, which is emerging in the Western hemisphere.

Conventional polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of neurotoxoplasmosis: comparison of three sets of primers for the B1 gene using CSF samples.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has made a significant improvement in the diagnosis of toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE). Nevertheless, a wide variety of targets and primers has been used in different assays, and few comparative studies had been carried out. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficiency of 3 conventional PCR methods by using 3 sets of primers targeting the repetitive B1 gene in the diagnosis of TE.

Mannan-binding lectin in cerebrospinal fluid: a leptomeningeal protein.

Background: Mannan-binding lectin (MBL), a protein of the innate immune response is attracting increasing clinical interest, in particularly in relation to its deficiency. Due to its involvement in brain diseases, identifying the source of MBL in CSF is important. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can provide data that discriminates between blood-, brain-, and leptomeninges-derived proteins.

Different intrathecal immunoglobulins synthesis patterns in human host indicate different strains of Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Eosinophilic meningitis is an emerging disease in western hemisphere produced by Angiostrongylus cantonensis. It was first reported in Cuba in 1981, later was spreading for the Caribbean basin and recently in Ecuador. Ecuadorians have typical intrathecal major immunoglobulins synthesis patterns that are different to Cuban ones.