Publications by authors named "Herrera E"

Of 1.2 million Americans who would benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), only 36% were prescribed PrEP in 2023. Project HOMES is an ongoing study that evaluates recovery residences for individuals in medication-assisted recovery from opioid use disorder across five Texas cities.

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The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic pinpointed the vulnerability of nations to disasters regardless of their relative level of development. The coordination of their emergency management response organisations was seen as extremely important in not only dealing with the global health emergency, but also with respect to natural hazards and public health threats in the future. Coming to these conclusions and working to enhance a country's coordination of emergency management actors are, however, two very different things.

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Nano-patterned magnetic materials have opened new venues for the investigation of strongly correlated phenomena including artificial spin-ice systems, geometric frustration, and magnetic monopoles, for technologically important applications such as reconfigurable ferromagnetism. With the advent of atomically thin 2D van der Waals (vdW) magnets, a pertinent question is whether such compounds could make their way into this realm where interactions can be tailored so that unconventional states of matter can be assessed. Here, it is shown that square islands of CrGeTe vdW ferromagnets distributed in a grid manifest antiferromagnetic correlations, essential to enable frustration resulting in an artificial spin-ice.

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Eph/ephrin signaling is crucial for organizing retinotopic maps in vertebrates. Unlike other EphAs, which are expressed in the embryonic ventral retina, EphA4 is found in the retinal ganglion cell (RGC) layer at perinatal stages, and its role in mammalian visual system development remains unclear. Using classic stripe assays, we demonstrate that, while RGC axons are repelled by ephrinB2, they grow on ephrinB1 stripes through EphA4-mediated adhesion.

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Background: Gestational hypoxia (GH) has been implicated in the developmental programming of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in the offspring, with most studies focusing on males, conversely, the effects on female cardiovascular health remain understudied. We aimed to investigate the impact of GH on the cardiovascular system of female guinea pig offspring from the early postnatal period to adulthood.

Methods: Pregnant guinea pigs were subjected to normoxic or hypoxic conditions from gestational day 30 until delivery (∼70 days).

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Introduction: As the US continues to battle the opioid epidemic, recovery residences remain valuable services for people in recovery. While there is a growing body of literature describing positive outcomes experienced by people who live in recovery residences, little is known about the experience of people who live in these residences while taking medications for an opioid use disorder (MOUD) as part of their recovery. Thus, this study has three aims: (1) expand the availability of recovery residences that meet the National Alliance for Recovery Residences standards in Texas and serve individuals taking medications for an opioid use disorder as part of their recovery; (2) evaluate recovery residences for people taking MOUD as part of their recovery; and (3) compare the cost-effectiveness of recovery residences to treatment-as-usual.

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  • Structural income inequality, defined as the uneven distribution of income across regions, affects brain dynamics and functions more significantly than individual factors like age or education.
  • This study used EEG signals from 1,394 healthy participants across 10 countries to explore how structural inequality predicts various brain activity metrics, revealing a connection between socioeconomic conditions and neural functioning.
  • Results show that higher structural income inequality is associated with lower brain signal complexity, increased random neural activity, and reduced power in certain brain wave frequencies, suggesting the need for a broader understanding of how social factors influence brain health.
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We provide the superconducting density of states of the pnictide superconductor LaRuP(= 4.1 K), measured using millikelvin scanning tunneling microscopy. From the tunneling conductance, we extract a density of states which shows the opening of a s-wave single superconducting gap.

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The coercivity of single-domain magnetic nanoparticles typically decreases with the nanoparticle size and reaches zero when thermal fluctuations overcome the magnetic anisotropy. Here, we used SQUID-on-tip microscopy to investigate the coercivity of square-shaped CrGeTe nanoislands with a wide range of sizes and width-to-thickness aspect ratios. The results reveal an anomalous size-dependent coercivity, with smaller islands exhibiting higher coercivity.

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Background: Although considerable research has been conducted on post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS), cognitive symptoms, particularly those related to language, are still not well understood.

Aims: To provide a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of language performance in PCS patients using a comprehensive set of semantic and verbal production tasks.

Methods & Procedures: The study involved 195 PCS patients aged 26-64 years and 50 healthy controls aged 25-61 years.

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This dataset includes spectra obtained through Raman spectroscopy of acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol, and ibuprofen commercialized in San Lorenzo, Central Department of Paraguay. The pharmaceuticals were randomly purchased from pharmacies, official sales points, and street vendors, simulating purchases for self-consumption. These drugs were selected due to their high demand and consumption by the population, aiming to document and facilitate the identification of adulterations or alterations in their original structures caused by poor storage conditions.

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  • The study highlights the role of the BAF chromatin remodeler, specifically the ARID1A subunit, in cranial neural crest cell (CNCC) specification and its link to Coffin-Siris syndrome (CSS).
  • ARID1A haploinsufficiency disrupts the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) vital for CNCC migration, while ARID1A-BAF regulates enhancers connected to EMT genes, demonstrating that ZIC2 binding at these enhancers relies on ARID1A.
  • The research establishes an important connection between ARID1A and ZIC2 in promoting EMT and successful CNCC delamination, suggesting implications for understanding congenital disorders like CSS.
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Brain clocks, which quantify discrepancies between brain age and chronological age, hold promise for understanding brain health and disease. However, the impact of diversity (including geographical, socioeconomic, sociodemographic, sex and neurodegeneration) on the brain-age gap is unknown. We analyzed datasets from 5,306 participants across 15 countries (7 Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC) and 8 non-LAC countries).

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  • * Researchers included additional markers (Penta D, Penta E, D22S1045, TPOX, and SE33) to enhance the effectiveness of their findings.
  • * The data was collected from a sample of 100 unrelated individuals belonging to the Lenca ethnic group in Honduras.
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The development of the visual system is a complex and multistep process characterized by the precise wiring of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axon terminals with their corresponding neurons in the visual nuclei of the brain. Upon reaching primary image-forming nuclei (IFN), such as the superior colliculus and the lateral geniculate nucleus, RGC axons undergo extensive arborization that refines over the first few postnatal weeks. The molecular mechanisms driving this activity-dependent remodeling process, which is influenced by waves of spontaneous activity in the developing retina, are still not well understood.

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Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to identify, analyze, and report patterns (or themes) of planning and preparation considerations of students that scored less than the historic average score on the Pre-NAPLEX® exam.

Methods: This qualitative study was a retrospective, inductive thematic analysis of de-identified semi-structured interview field notes collected from student interviews for those students that scored less than the historic average score on the Pre-NAPLEX® exam.

Results: Ninety-one students were initially contacted based on their score on the Pre-NAPLEX® exam to participate in one-on-one virtual discussions (i.

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Gestation under chronic hypoxia causes pulmonary hypertension, cardiovascular remodeling, and increased aortic stiffness in the offspring. To mitigate the neonatal cardiovascular risk, pharmacological treatments (such as hemin and sildenafil) have been proposed to improve pulmonary vasodilation. However, little is known about the effects of these treatments on the aorta.

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Brain clocks, which quantify discrepancies between brain age and chronological age, hold promise for understanding brain health and disease. However, the impact of multimodal diversity (geographical, socioeconomic, sociodemographic, sex, neurodegeneration) on the brain age gap (BAG) is unknown. Here, we analyzed datasets from 5,306 participants across 15 countries (7 Latin American countries -LAC, 8 non-LAC).

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Article Synopsis
  • Anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age in Mexico fluctuated from 16.4% in 2006 to 11.6% in 2012, then rose to 18.3% in 2016, with little clarity on underlying causes.
  • A systematic assessment analyzed survey data from 2006, 2012, and 2018, highlighting that factors such as household wealth, urban living, and past pregnancies significantly influenced hemoglobin levels.
  • The study revealed ongoing regional and economic inequities, a decrease in funding for nutrition programs, and cultural challenges that necessitate enhanced focus on poverty alleviation and better family planning measures, particularly for young women.
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Growing up in neglectful households can impact multiple aspects of social cognition. However, research on neglect's effects on social cognition processes and their neuroanatomical correlates during adolescence is scarce. Here, we aimed to comprehensively assess social cognition processes (recognition of basic and contextual emotions, theory of mind, the experience of envy and and empathy for pain) and their structural brain correlates in adolescents with legal neglect records within family-based care.

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Diversity in brain health is influenced by individual differences in demographics and cognition. However, most studies on brain health and diseases have typically controlled for these factors rather than explored their potential to predict brain signals. Here, we assessed the role of individual differences in demographics (age, sex, and education; n = 1298) and cognition (n = 725) as predictors of different metrics usually used in case-control studies.

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Objectives: To identify factors associated with poor prognoses in newborns with a prenatal diagnosis of gastroschisis in eight hospitals in Bogota, Colombia, from 2011 to 2022.

Methods: A multi-center retrospective case-control study was conducted on newborns with gastroschisis in eight hospitals in Bogota, Colombia. Poor prognosis was defined as the presence of sepsis, intestinal complications, or death.

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Background: Obesity during pregnancy is related to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Factors involved in these outcomes may include increased maternal insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress, and nutrient mishandling. The placenta is the primary determinant of fetal outcomes, and its function can be impacted by maternal obesity.

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Seeing in three dimensions is a major property of the visual system in mammals. The circuit underlying this property begins in the retina, from which retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) extend to the same or opposite side of the brain. RGC axons decussate to form the optic chiasm, then grow to targets in the thalamus and midbrain, where they synapse with neurons that project to the visual cortex.

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