Device-Associated Infections in COVID-19 Patients: Frequency of Resistant Bacteria, Predictors and Mortality in Medellín, Colombia.

Introduction: Increased antimicrobial use during the COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the spread of resistant bacteria. This study analyzed the frequency of device-associated infections (DAI) caused by resistant bacteria, the predictors of these infections, and 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with and without COVID-19.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on DAI patients admitted to the ICU (intensive care unit) in 20 hospitals in Medellin, Colombia (2020-2021).

Characterization of Antibiotic-Resistance Antarctic That Produce Bacteriocin-like Compounds.

In this study, bacterial isolates C1-4-7, D2-4-6, and M1-4-11 from Antarctic soil were phenotypically and genotypically characterized, and their antibacterial spectrum and that of cell-free culture supernatant were investigated. Finally, the effect of temperature and culture medium on the production of antimicrobial compounds was investigated. The three bacteria were identified as different strains of the genus .

A Tricin Derivative from Desv. Inhibits Colorectal Carcinoma Growth and Liver Metastasis through the Induction of a Specific Immune Response.

In colorectal carcinoma patients, distant metastatic disease is present at initial diagnosis in nearly 25% of them. The majority of patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma have incurable disease; therefore, new therapies are needed. Agents derived from medicinal plants have already demonstrated therapeutic activities in human cancer cells.

Draft Genome Sequence of sp. Strain K2I17, Isolated from the Rhizosphere of Desv.

We present here the draft genome sequence of sp. strain K2I17, which was isolated from the rhizosphere of Desv. The genomic sequence contained 6,113,341 bp.

Draft Genome Sequence of Chilean Antarctic sp. Strain K2I15.

We announce the draft genome sequence of sp. strain K2I15, isolated from the rhizosphere of Desv. The genome sequence had 6,645,031 bp with a G+C content of 60.

Data in support of enhancing metabolomics research through data mining.

Metabolomics research has evolved considerably, particularly during the last decade. Over the course of this evolution, the interest in this 'omic' discipline is now more evident than ever. However, the future of metabolomics will depend on its capability to find biomarkers.

Enhancing metabolomics research through data mining.

Unlabelled: Metabolomics research, like other disciplines utilizing high-throughput technologies, generates a large amount of data for every sample. Although handling this data is a challenge and one of the biggest bottlenecks of the metabolomics workflow, it is also the clue to accomplish valuable results. This work has been designed to supply methodological data mining guidelines, describing systematically the steps to be followed in metabolomics data exploration.

Microarray-based identification of lectins for the purification of human urinary extracellular vesicles directly from urine samples.

As cellular-derived vesicles largely maintain the biomolecule composition of their original tissue, exosomes, which are found in nearly all body fluids, have enormous potential as clinical disease markers. A major bottleneck in the development of exosome-based diagnostic assays is the challenging purification of these vesicles; this requires time-consuming and instrument-based procedures. We employed lectin arrays to identify potential lectins as probes for affinity-based isolation of exosomes from the urinary matrix.

Human mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue reduce functional and tissue damage in a rat model of chronic renal failure.

Therapeutic approaches for CKD (chronic kidney disease) have been able to reduce proteinuria, but not diminish the disease progression. We have demonstrated beneficial effects by injection of BM (bone marrow)-derived MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) from healthy donors in a rat model with CKD. However, it has recently been reported that BM-MSCs derived from uraemic patients failed to confer functional protection in a similar model.

The immunological response and post-treatment survival of DC-vaccinated melanoma patients are associated with increased Th1/Th17 and reduced Th3 cytokine responses.

Introduction: Immunization with autologous dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with a heat shock-conditioned allogeneic melanoma cell lysate caused lysate-specific delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions in a number of patients. These responses correlated with a threefold prolonged long-term survival of DTH(+) with respect to DTH(-) unresponsive patients. Herein, we investigated whether the immunological reactions associated with prolonged survival were related to dissimilar cellular and cytokine responses in blood.

Blocking of p38 and transforming growth factor β receptor pathways impairs the ability of tolerogenic dendritic cells to suppress murine arthritis.

Objective: Dendritic cells (DCs) modulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are able to reduce inflammation when therapeutically administered into mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). The aim of this study was to uncover the mechanisms that define the tolerogenic effect of short-term LPS-modulated DCs on CIA.

Methods: Bone marrow-derived DCs were stimulated for 4 hours with LPS and characterized for their expression of maturation markers and their cytokine secretion profiles.

Heat-shock induction of tumor-derived danger signals mediates rapid monocyte differentiation into clinically effective dendritic cells.

Purpose: This study characterizes, biologically and clinically, a novel type of dendritic cells (DC) produced in the short term and called tumor antigen-presenting cells (TAPCells). In particular, we identified factors present in a lysate derived from heat-shocked allogeneic melanoma cells (TRIMEL) that are associated with TAPCells' enhanced capability to induce CD8(+) T-cell responses in vitro and in vaccinated melanoma patients.

Experimental Design: First, extensive phenotypic and functional characterization of TAPCells was performed, followed by vaccination of 45 melanoma patients with four doses of TAPCells over a period of 2 months.

The presence of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) does not affect the clinical response to adalimumab in a group of RA patients with the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α-308 G/G promoter polymorphism.

The introduction of antitumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents has improved the outcome for many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To date, the only replicated genetic predictor of anti-TNF response is the -308 G > A single-nucleotide polymorphism in the TNF promoter region. The presence of the -308 TNF G/G genotype appears to be a marker of good response to anti-TNF treatment.

Inflammation, synovial angiogenesis and chondroid apoptosis in the evolution of type II collagen-induced arthritis.

Using the murine model of type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), we studied its evolution over time by histopathological, immunohistochemical and clinical evaluations. The first clinical symptoms appeared 28 days post-inoculation (dpi), with bovine type II collagen, with an average arthritic index of 1.00 +/- 0.

Short-term lipopolysaccharide stimulation induces differentiation of murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells into a tolerogenic phenotype.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional, antigen-presenting cells, which induce and regulate T cell reactivity. DCs are crucial in innate and adaptive immune responses, and are also involved in central and peripheral tolerance induction. Tolerance can be mediated by immature and semi-mature DCs expressing low levels of co-stimulator and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules.

G2 checkpoint-dependent DNA repair and its response to catalase in Down syndrome and control lymphocyte cultures.

The amount of DNA lesions repaired in G2 and also G2 timing are controlled by the DNA damage-dependent checkpoint. Down syndrome (DS) lymphocytes showed twice as much constitutive DNA damage in G2 than control ones, when recording it as chromosomal aberrations in metaphase, after caffeine-induced checkpoint abrogation. During G2, DS lymphocytes repaired 1.

Could single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affecting the tumour necrosis factor promoter be considered as part of rheumatoid arthritis evolution?

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF), a cytokine mainly produced by macrophages, is associated with a broad spectrum of biological effects, mainly associated with the host defense against microbes. The TNF gene is located on chromosome six within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease where TNF plays a central role in its etiology and pathogenesis.

[The influence of -238 and -308 TNF alpha polymorphisms on the pathogenesis and response to treatment in rheumatoid arthritis].

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease that affects 0.8% of the world population, it affects the synovial membrane of joints and the clinical presentation encompasses a wide spectrum, ranging from a mild to a severe and erosive disease that causes joint and cartilage destruction which finally provokes irreversible structural damage and patient disability. In the last years, there have been important advances in the pathogenesis of this disease, the efforts have been concentrated on pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha).

[Emergent therapies for rheumatoid arthritis].

The use of biological agents such as etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab and anakinra has been recently approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. All are effective controlling signs and symptoms and inhibiting disease progression. To overcome the problems generated by their high costs and possible participation in reactivating latent infections, other therapeutic tools are being developed.

Loss of fibroblast Thy-1 expression correlates with lung fibrogenesis.

Fibroblasts consist of heterogeneous subpopulations that have distinct roles in fibrotic responses. Previously we reported enhanced proliferation in response to fibrogenic growth factors and selective activation of latent transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta in fibroblasts lacking cell surface expression of Thy-1 glycoprotein, suggesting that Thy-1 modulates the fibrogenic potential of fibroblasts. Here we report that compared to controls Thy-1-/- C57BL/6 mice displayed more severe histopathological lung fibrosis, greater accumulation of lung collagen, and increased TGF-beta activation in the lungs 14 days after intratracheal bleomycin.

Multiple imputation procedures allow the rescue of missing data: an application to determine serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF) concentration values during the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis patients with anti-TNF therapy.

Longitudinal studies aimed at evaluating patients clinical response to specific therapeutic treatments are frequently summarized in incomplete datasets due to missing data. Multivariate statistical procedures use only complete cases, deleting any case with missing data. MI and MIANALYZE procedures of the SAS software perform multiple imputations based on the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to replace each missing value with a plausible value and to evaluate the efficiency of such missing data treatment.

The -308 polymorphism in the promoter region of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) gene and ex vivo lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-alpha expression in patients with aggressive periodontitis and/or type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in the TNF-alpha gene promoter. The transition G-->A at position -308 generates the TNF-alpha1 (G/G) and TNF-alpha2 (G/A or A/A) alleles, where the polymorphic TNF-alpha2 allele is associated with a high, in vitro TNF-alpha expression and an increased susceptibility to diverse illnesses. Here we study the association of the -308 TNF-alpha SNP with the susceptibility for developing aggressive periodontitis (AP), AP combined with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and DM.

[New immunological weapons for medicine in the 21st Century: biological therapy based on the use of the latest generation monoclonal antibodies].

The fusion of a murine B cell and a myeloma cell generates a hybridoma that produces monoclonal antibody (mAb). These murine mAb induce the HAMA (human anti-mouse antibodies) response. Murine mAb have been modified by genetic engineering, producing molecules with a higher proportion of human protein.

Concordant and discordant interleukin-1-mediated signaling in lung fibroblast thy-1 subpopulations.

Following lung injury or inflammation, fibroblasts mediate either restorative repair or disordered remodeling. Interleukin (IL)-1beta is a key mediator in the transition from injury/inflammation to tissue remodeling, in part through its regulation of platelet-derived growth factor alpha receptor (PDGFalphaR). Based on prior demonstration of differential PDGFalphaR expression, we hypothesized that subpopulations of fibroblasts would have heterogeneous responses to IL-1.