Asymmetry in childcare responsibilities is one of the main reasons behind gender gaps in the labor market. In that context, the ability to work from home may alleviate the hindrances of women with children to participate in the labor market. We study these issues in Latin America, a region with wide gender gaps, in the framework of a major shock that severely affected employment: the COVID-19 pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe advent of single-cell sequencing is providing unprecedented opportunities to disentangle tissue complexity and investigate cell identities and functions. However, the analysis of single cell data is a challenging, multi-step process that requires both advanced computational skills and biological sensibility. When dealing with single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) data, the presence of technical artifacts, noise, and biological biases imposes to first identify, and eventually remove, unreliable signals from low-quality cells and unwanted sources of variation that might affect the efficacy of subsequent downstream modules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are an expanding global threat to public health, security, and economies. Increasing populations, urbanization, deforestation, climate change, anti-vaccination movements, war, and international travel are some of the contributing factors to this trend. The recent Ebola, MERS-CoV, and Zika outbreaks demonstrated we are insufficiently prepared to respond with proven safe and effective countermeasures (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper reports the first application of the silica based mesoporous material MCM-41 as a sorbent in solid phase extraction, to pre-concentrate pharmaceuticals of very different polarity (atenolol, nadolol, pindolol, timolol, bisoprolol, metoprolol, betaxolol, ketoprofen, naproxen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, tolfenamic acid, flufenamic acid and meclofenamic acid) in surface waters. The analytes were extracted from 100mL water samples at pH 2.0 (containing 10(-3) mol/L of sodium chloride) by passing the solution through a cartridge filled with 100 mg of MCM-41.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Biopsies of clival lesions are usually performed, under general anaesthesia, through an anterior endoscopic approach or, alternatively, through a trans-nasal or trans-oral stereotactic approach.
Methods: A 57-year-old man with a symptomatic osteolytical lesion of the clivus, who refused general anaesthesia, underwent a sterotactically guided biopsy of the lesion by an antero-lateral approach through the temporal and sphenoid bones.
Results: Biopsy was successfully performed and the resulting diagnosis was myeloma.
Background Context: Intradural extramedullary (IDEM) cavernomas are rare vascular malformations. They are well-circumscribed dark berry-like lesions with a histologic appearance of sinusoidal vascular channels. Neurofibromas are the most common IDEM tumors, originating from all nerve elements and leading to firm enlargement of the affected nerve root.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParacrine and juxtacrine signaling via proteins expressed on the cell surface are an integral part of metazoan biology. More than one-half billion years ago epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its cognate receptor formed a functional binding partnership, which has been conserved through evolution in essentially all eubilaterate members of the animal kingdom. Early chordates spawned offspring of these seminal genes to begin the creation of new gene families and an expanded cell-cell signaling network, which included the Neuregulin (NRG) ligands and the erbB receptors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug transit through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is essential for therapeutic responses in malignant glioma. Conventional methods for assessment of BBB penetrance require synthesis of isotopically labeled drug derivatives. Here, we report a new methodology using matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI MSI) to visualize drug penetration in brain tissue without molecular labeling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 76-year-old woman presenting with tetraparesis, left-sided hemisensory loss and occasional neck pain was urgently admitted to our department. A cervical spine MRI scan revealed a partially cystic lesion compressing the cord at the C2-4 level. The lesion was surgically excised.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To compare minilaparotomic and vaginal surgery in selected obese patients with early-stage endometrial cancer at high surgical risk.
Patients And Methods: Data of 37 consecutive class II-III obese patients submitted to minilaparotomic surgery were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty-seven women matched for demographic characteristics, BMI and stage of disease submitted to vaginal surgery in the same period comprised the control group.
Long-term users of tamoxifen (TMX) are at increased risk for developing endometrial cancer. Early diagnosis is mainly based on transvaginal scan (TVS) and hysteroscopy with endometrial biopsy. Nevertheless, TVS does not provide a definitive diagnosis in most cases, particularly due to its high false-positive rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The efficacy of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of early-stage endometrial carcinoma (EC) is still under debate. This study was aimed to review the outcome and adverse effects in patients treated for EC with postoperative RT at a single center.
Methods: A total of 883 patients with pathological stages I to II EC were retrospectively analyzed.
First access is crucial in laparoscopic surgery because of its potentially life-threatening complications. A number of procedures using a variety of instruments have been previously described; however, the safest approach remains uncertain. Herein, we describe a simple and inexpensive method for direct trocar insertion using reusable instruments that was developed over 10 years in a series of 4721 consecutive gynecologic laparoscopic procedures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system may represent an effective treatment option in >85% of endometrial hyperplasia cases, but histologic regression during and/or at the end of treatment does not assure stable recovery. We recommend periodic endometrial samplings for at least the first 2 years of follow-up and long-term clinical surveillance thereafter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYoung women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at increased risk of endometrial adenocarcinoma (EAC) through chronic unopposed estrogen production. We describe the first case, to our knowledge, of grade 1 endometrioid EAC arising in the context of complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia in a 26-year-old woman with thrombophilia and PCOS who wished to retain fertility potential and was treated using a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system alone. At first follow-up biopsy, a single focus of complex hyperplasia without atypia was documented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol
December 2009
Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) is a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of doxorubicin (Dox)-induced heart failure. NRG1, however, activates the erbB2 receptor, which is frequently overexpressed in breast cancers. It is, therefore, important to understand how NRG1, via erbB2, protects the heart against Dox cardiotoxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of Investigation: To assess the ability of detecting the number of uterine myomas by transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS) performed supporting the clinical examination of general gynecologists' office practice.
Methods: A retrospective comparison of the number of myomas revealed by preoperative in-office TVS and documented after laparotomic myomectomy was conducted in 110 consecutive premenopausal patients referred for surgery.
Results: The sensitivity of TVS in revealing the exact number of myomas was 59.
Aim: To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of cylindrical or cone-shaped excision performed by laser CO2 in the conservative management of persistent-recurrent high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-CIN) in women of fertile age.
Patients And Methods: Ninety-four premenopausal patients with persistent-recurrent HG-CIN had undergone re-conization or cylindrical excision according to the time of reappearance of the disease. The length of the procedures, intra- and postoperative complications, height of the excised specimens, final histological findings and follow-up data were retrospectively evaluated.
Intracranial enterogenous cysts are rare. There have been only two cases reported of such cysts that extended into both the infratentorial and supratentorial compartments. We add a third case and review the literature to assess their pathogenesis, clinical features, and management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF