Alzheimer's Disease, Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes: Focus on Common Neuroglial Dysfunctions (Critical Review and New Data on Human Brain and Models).

Background/objectives: Obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are pathologies that affect millions of people worldwide. They have no effective therapy and are difficult to prevent and control when they develop. It has been known for many years that these diseases have many pathogenic aspects in common.

Promoting the Participation of "Hard-to-Reach" Migrant Populations in Qualitative Public Health Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further deepened socioeconomic and health inequities worldwide, especially among populations experiencing social vulnerability, such as international migrants. Sustained lockdowns and social distancing have raised challenges to conducting public health research with hard-to-reach populations. This study aims at exploring strategies to recruit "hard-to-reach" international migrants for qualitative public health research during the pandemic in Chile, based on the authors' experience.

Nail dermatophytoma in HIV-infected patients in Cali, Colombia.

Introduction: A dermatophytoma is a mass of hyphae that is observed at direct examination, it responds poorly to treatment with antifungal drugs, some authors have proposed that it is actually a biofilm. This pathology is underdiagnosed, and its true incidence is unknown.

Objectives: This study presents the clinical findings of dermatophytoma in HIV/AIDS patients from Colombia presenting onychomycosis.

Reflections on Cerebellar Neuropathology in Classical Scrapie.

In this review, the most important neuropathological changes found in the cerebella of sheep affected by classical natural scrapie are discussed. This disease is the oldest known of a group of unconventional "infections" caused by toxic prions of different origins. Scrapie is currently considered a "transmissible spongiform encephalopathy" (due to its neuropathological characteristics and its transmission), which is the paradigm of prion pathologies as well as many encephalopathies (prion-like) that present aberrant deposits of insoluble protein with neurotoxic effects due to errors in their catabolization ("misfolding protein diseases").

Plasma CD59 concentrations are increased in preeclampsia with severe features and correlate with laboratory measures of end-organ injury.

Objectives: Dysregulation of CD59 may lead to increased complement-mediated end-organ injury in preeclampsia. We sought to determine if soluble CD59 concentrations are altered in preeclampsia with severe features.

Study Design: Observational case-control study, which enrolled subjects prospectively from six centers in Colombia from 2015 to 2016.

infection in the central catheter of a patient without sepsis symptoms.

Background: is an emerging yeast frequently reported as resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat infections. This specie can colonize the patient's skin and has great ability for producing outbreaks in hospitals. is phylogenetically related to other species, can be misidentified using conventional biochemical or commercial methods and requires specific technology for its identification.

Down regulation of p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase in petunia uniquely alters the profile of emitted floral volatiles.

Petunia × hybrida cv 'Mitchell Diploid' floral volatile benzenoid/phenylpropanoid (FVBP) biosynthesis ultimately produces floral volatiles derived sequentially from phenylalanine, cinnamic acid, and p-coumaric acid. In an attempt to better understand biochemical steps after p-coumaric acid production, we cloned and characterized three petunia transcripts with high similarity to p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H), hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA:shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT), and caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE). Transcript accumulation of PhC3H and PhHCT was highest in flower limb tissue during open flower stages.

Expression Vectors and Gene Fusions for the Directed Modification of the Carotenoid Biosynthesis Pathway in Mucor circinelloides.

Several fungal species, particularly some included in the Mucoromycotina, have been used to develop fermentation processes for the production of β-carotene. Oxygenated derivatives of β-carotene (xanthophylls) are desirable value-added products, and the preference by the market of carotenoids from biological sources has increased the research in different carotenoid-producing organisms. We currently use Mucor circinelloides f.

Underdetection and underreporting of pertussis in children attended in primary health care centers: Do surveillance systems require improvement?

Background: Pertussis is an underestimated disease. Several European countries have developed models to account for underreporting of pertussis. The aim of this study was to estimate pertussis underdetection and underreporting in pediatric patients attending primary health care centers (PHCCs).

Candida species and other yeasts in the oral cavities of type 2 diabetic patients in Cali, Colombia.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of Candida species and to study factors associated to oral cavity colonization in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: A total of 107 diabetics were classified into controlled and uncontrolled according to glycosylated hemoglobin values. Each patient was assessed for stimulated salivary flow rates, pH, and an oral rinse to search for yeast.

Pseudomembranous candidiasis in HIV/AIDS patients in Cali, Colombia.

Candida albicans is the most frequently isolated yeast from the oral cavity of HIV/AIDS individuals. The use of fluconazole has increased the number of resistant or less-sensitive Candida species different than C. albicans.

Baseline hysteroscopic assessment of endometrium in asymptomatic postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the true prevalence of endometrial pathology in asymptomatic postmenopausal estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer patients and to know whether some patients are particularly at risk.

Methods: A preliminary cross-sectional study was carried out with 130 postmenopausal ER-positive breast cancer patients. Before any treatment, diagnostic hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy were performed in all women.

Gene fusions for the directed modification of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in Mucor circinelloides.

Several fungal species, particularly some included in the Mucorales, have been used to develop fermentation processes for the production of β-carotene. Oxygenated derivatives of β-carotene are more valuable products, and the preference by the market of carotenoids from biological sources has increased the research in different carotenoid-producing organisms. We currently use Mucor circinelloides as a model organism to develop strains able to produce new, more valuable, and with an increased content of carotenoids.

Functional analysis of the Phycomyces carRA gene encoding the enzymes phytoene synthase and lycopene cyclase.

Phycomyces carRA gene encodes a protein with two domains. Domain R is characterized by red carR mutants that accumulate lycopene. Domain A is characterized by white carA mutants that do not accumulate significant amounts of carotenoids.

Protein-DNA interactions in the promoter region of the Phycomyces carB and carRA genes correlate with the kinetics of their mRNA accumulation in response to light.

Carotene biosynthesis in Phycomyces is photoinducible and carried out by phytoene dehydrogenase (encoded by carB) and a bifunctional enzyme possessing lycopene cyclase and phytoene synthase activities (carRA). A light pulse followed by periods of darkness produced similar biphasic responses in the expression of the carB and carRA genes, indicating their coordinated regulation. Specific binding complexes were formed between the carB-carRA intergenic region and protein extracts from wild type mycelia grown in the dark or 8min after irradiation.

Isolation of Candida dubliniensis for the first time in Cali, Colombia, and its identification with phenotyping methods.

Candida dubliniensis is an emerging pathogenic yeast isolated mainly from the oral cavity of HIV-infected patients. The close phenotypic and genotypic relationship between C. albicans and C.

Medically important fungi found in hallux nails of university students from Cali, Colombia.

The presence of medically important fungi was studied in hallux nails scrapings obtained from 504 students (204 males, 300 females) of three universities in Cali. Specimens were examined by direct microscopic examination and fungal culture. Medically important fungi were found in 49 (9.

Photoperiodic regulation of compensatory testicular hypertrophy in hamsters.

In mammals, removal of one testis results in compensatory testicular hypertrophy (CTH) of the remaining gonad. Although CTH is ubiquitous among juveniles of many species, laboratory rats, laboratory mice, and humans unilaterally castrated in adulthood fail to display CTH. We documented CTH in pre- and postpubertally hemi-castrated Syrian and Siberian hamsters and tested whether day length affects CTH in juvenile and adult Siberian hamsters.

Helicobacter pylori associated with glossitis and halitosis.

Background: Helicobacter pylori is a curved microaerophilic Gram-negative bacterium considered as a risk factor for gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to find an association between burning sensations, acid taste, halitosis, and lingual hyperplasia with the effect of H. pylori on the mouth.

Onychomycosis in Cali, Colombia.

This study presents the epidemiological and mycological aspects of 299 patients with nail lesions who were referred to three diagnostic laboratories in the city of Cali. The diagnosis of mycoses was established through visualization of mycotic structures in a direct microscopic examination of skin scrapings and by isolation. Onychomycosis was found in 183 cases (61.

Long-term persistence of male copulatory behavior in castrated and photo-inhibited Siberian hamsters.

Gonadal steroids are essential for the long-term maintenance of the full repertoire of sexual behavior in male rodents. Typically, all individuals of several species cease to display the ejaculatory reflex within a few weeks of castration. The present study documents the persistence of the ejaculatory reflex 19 weeks after orchidectomy in 40% of male Siberian hamsters maintained in long or short day lengths; testosterone was undetectable in the circulation of these animals.

Expression of the carG gene, encoding geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase, is up-regulated by blue light in Mucor circinelloides.

A new structural gene, carG, involved in the biosynthesis of carotenoids in the fungus Mucor circinelloides was isolated by heterologous hybridisation, using a probe derived from the Gibberella fujikuroi ggs1 gene. Functional analyses in Escherichia coli showed that the encoded protein has geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP) synthase activity. A comparison of the deduced protein with other GGPP synthases suggested that the carG gene might have evolved from other larger genes present in some fungi.

Interallelic complementation provides genetic evidence for the multimeric organization of the Phycomyces blakesleeanus phytoene dehydrogenase.

The Phycomyces blakesleeanus wild-type is yellow, because it accumulates beta-carotene as the main carotenoid. A new carotenoid mutant of this fungus (A486) was isolated, after treatment with ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS), showing a whitish coloration. It accumulates large amounts of phytoene, small quantities of phytofluene, zeta-carotene and neurosporene, in decreasing amounts, and traces of beta-carotene.