Publications by authors named "Melissa Rivera"

Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an important cytokine that invokes early immune responses. TSLP, an IL-7-like cytokine encoded by the TSLP gene, activates JAK1 and JAK2 signaling pathways, stimulating dendritic cells to induce inflammatory Th2 cells. This cytokine is associated with pruritus in various cutaneous disorders, particularly atopic dermatitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Nurse-led education can improve patient satisfaction, and telemedicine has increased patient access during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: The aim of this article was to investigate how nursing telemedicine educational visits influence patient satisfaction.

Methods: Patients receiving standard of care in-person education for breast cancer radiation therapy (RT) between January 2019 and June 2019 comprised the preintervention cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MBC) represents a heterogeneous group of aggressive primary breast cancers that can show differentiation into carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements. Due to its rapid growth, this malignancy can replace precursor lesions, which remain unknown in most cases. Herein, we describe a MBC presenting as a deceptive post-biopsy hematoma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Aseptic loosening, as a consequence of an extended inflammatory reaction induced by wear particles, has been classified as one of the most common complications of total joint replacement (TJR). Despite its high incidence, no therapeutical approach has yet been found to prevent aseptic loosening, leaving revision as only effective treatment. The local delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs to modulate wear-induced inflammation has been regarded as a potential therapeutical approach to prevent aseptic-loosening.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The solid-state structures of seven solvates of C (C·4tetrachloroethylene, C·2tetrachloroethylene, C·3benzene, C· n-pentane, C·diethyl ether, C·chlorobenzene, and C·benzene·dichloromethane) were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction at low temperature. At 90 K, the fullerene and solvate components are generally well-ordered and do not show the orientational disorder that plagues similar structures determined at room temperature. Interactions between the solvate molecules and the fullerene and between adjacent C molecules were examined and analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Although many institutions in the United States have incorporated palliative care practices in their emergency departments, very little has occurred in Puerto Rico. Information regarding palliative care training of emergency medicine physicians in Puerto Rico is unclear and most physicians have poor or no access to palliative care services for their patients. This study explores the perceptions and barriers encountered by practicing emergency physicians in providing palliative care in Puerto Rican Emergency Departments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This work aimed at the development of biodegradable nanocapsules as carriers of two bioactive compounds, 5-aminosalycilic acid and glycomacropeptide. Nanocapsules were produced through layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition of chitosan (CH) and alginate (ALG) layers on polystyrene nanoparticles. The bioactive compounds were incorporated on the third layer of the nanocapsules being its encapsulation efficiency and release behaviour evaluated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

New insight into the complexity of the reaction of the prominent catalyst RuCl2(PPh3)3 with carbon disulfide has been obtained from a combination of X-ray diffraction and (31)P NMR studies. The red-violet compound originally formulated as a cationic π-CS2 complex, [RuCl(π-CS2)(PPh3)3]Cl, has been identified as a neutral molecule, RuCl2(S2CPPh3)(PPh3)2, which contains the unstable zwitterion S2CPPh3. In the absence of RuCl2(PPh3)3, there is no sign of a reaction between triphenylphosphine and carbon disulfide, although more basic trialkylphosphines form red adducts, S2CPR3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

MDC1 functions in checkpoint activation and DNA repair following DNA damage. To address the physiological role of MDC1, we disrupted the MDC1 gene in mice. MDC1-/- mice recapitulated many phenotypes of H2AX-/- mice, including growth retardation, male infertility, immune defects, chromosome instability, DNA repair defects, and radiation sensitivity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ribonucleoprotein telomerase is a specialized reverse transcriptase minimally composed of an RNA, TER, and a protein catalytic subunit, TERT. The TER and TERT subunits of telomerase associate to form a dimeric enzyme in several organisms, including human. A small portion of TER, the template domain, is used by telomerase for the synthesis of tandem repeats of telomeric DNA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The integral RNA (hTER) of the human telomerase ribonucleoprotein has a conserved secondary structure that contains a potential pseudoknot. Here we examine the role of an intermolecular hTER-hTER interaction in the previously reported functional dimerization of telomerase. We provide evidence that the two conserved, complementary sequences of one stem of the hTER pseudoknot domain can pair intermolecularly in vitro, and that formation of this stem as part of a novel "trans-pseudoknot" is required for telomerase to be active in its dimeric form.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF