Publications by authors named "Montoya M"

Background: We evaluated the microbial burden on gel polished nails (GPN), standard polished nails (SPN) and unpolished nails (UPN) before and after an alcohol-based hand rub (HHAB).

Methods: Three GPN, two SPN and five UPN in both hands were analyzed in 46 health-care workers volunteers. Nail length was maintained ≤2mm during the study.

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Introduction: Eliminating racial inequities in access to kidney transplantation requires multilevel interventions that target both patients and health systems.

Research Question: The aim of this study was to determine whether adding culturally sensitive, web-based patient education to a transplant center-level intervention was associated with increased knowledge, motivation to pursue living donor kidney transplant, and confidence in the behavioral skills to discuss living donation among Black/African American patients with end-stage kidney disease.

Design: A total of 411 transplant candidates were randomized to intervention (N = 222) or control groups (N = 189) and completed measures at baseline and immediate follow-up during the transplant evaluation visit.

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Background: Skin adhesives containing 2-ocyl cyanoacrylate are a common source of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) that complicate postoperative wound healing. There are limited studies that describe postoperative cutaneous reactions to skin adhesives and clinical management.

Objectives: To review the incidence, description, and clinical management of surgical site ACD to 2-ocyl cyanoacrylate.

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Adult dogs and cats in overweight or obese condition are common, but prevalence data for different life stages, especially growth, are limited, and may help inform when preventative measures may be most effective. In this retrospective observational study, prevalences of overweight and obese condition were determined from the electronic medical records of dogs and cats of all life stages visiting Banfield Pet Hospital in the USA between 2020 and 2023. Animals were identified either by body condition score (BCS; overweight 6-7; obese 8-9) or from a clinical diagnosis of overweight condition or obesity when recorded.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The authors suggest new metrics to measure how well vaccines stimulate CD8 T cells and identify key viral parts that trigger immune response, considering genetic differences among people and viral changes.
  • * The proposed methods were tested successfully using proteins from the Ebola virus and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, showing the effectiveness of their approach.
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Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the population unequally, with a greater impact on older and immunosuppressed people.

Methods: Hence, we performed a prospective experimental cohort study to characterise the effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination in immune-compromised patients (older adults and oncohaematologic patients), compared with healthy counterparts, based on deep characterisation of the circulating immune cell subsets.

Results And Discussion: While acquired humoral and cellular memory did not predict subsequent infection 18 months after full vaccination, spectral and computational cytometry revealed several subsets within the CD8 T-cells, B-cells, natural killer (NK) cells, monocytes and TEMRA Tγδ cells that were differentially expressed in individuals who were subsequently infected and not infected not just following immunisation, but also prior to vaccination.

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Article Synopsis
  • Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from virus-infected cells could aid in vaccine development by encapsulating viral peptides and indicating tissue changes in infections.
  • Blood samples from severe COVID-19 patients, mild cases, and uninfected healthcare workers were collected to analyze the molecular characteristics of EVs and identify suitable vaccine peptides.
  • Despite the expectation to find viral peptides, the proteomic analysis revealed no such findings, but highlighted a diverse EV cargo linked to inflammation and viral replication, suggesting EVs play a significant role in COVID-19 pathology.
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Background: Despite the significant global burden of sexually transmitted infections (STI), detection rates are poor. Acceptance of these tests is influenced by several factors that have not been explored among Colombian medical students.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the behaviors and psychosocial factors toward STI screening among medical students of two universities in Pereira, Colombia, between March and June 2020.

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Only three classes of antifungal drugs are currently in clinical use. Here, we report that derivatives of the malarial drug mefloquine have broad-spectrum antifungal activity including difficult-to-treat molds and endemic fungi. Pharmacokinetic and efficacy studies of NSC-4377 indicate that it penetrates the central nervous system and is active against .

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A bacterial consortium was isolated from a soil in Noblejas (Toledo, Spain) with a long history of mixed hydrocarbons pollution, by enrichment cultivation. Serial cultures of hydrocarbons polluted soil samples were grown in a minimal medium using diesel (1 mL/L) as the sole carbon and energy source. The bacterial composition of the Noblejas Consortium (NC) was determined by sequencing 16S rRNA gene amplicon libraries.

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Only three classes of antifungal drugs are currently in clinical use. Here, we report that derivatives of the malarial drug mefloquine have broad spectrum antifungal activity including difficult to treat molds and endemic fungi. Pharmacokinetic and efficacy studies of NSC-4377 indicate it penetrates the central nervous system and is active against in vivo.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The treatment of pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is difficult due to a lack of standardized guidelines and effective options, prompting a systematic review of biologic therapies.
  • - Researchers analyzed 82 studies involving 108 patients and found that Infliximab, adalimumab, and etanercept were the most commonly used biologics, with 88.9% of patients experiencing complete recovery.
  • - On average, patients showed improvement within 30 days and full resolution in about 161 days; however, there was a recurrence rate of 15.5% among those tracked.
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Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) has a highly immunosuppressive tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), largely mediated by myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Here, we utilized a retroviral replicating vector (RRV) to deliver Interferon Regulatory Factor 8 (IRF8), a master regulator of type 1 conventional dendritic cell (cDC1) development, in a syngeneic murine GBM model. We hypothesized that RRV-mediated delivery of IRF8 could "reprogram" intratumoral MDSCs into antigen-presenting cells and thereby restore T-cell responses.

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Nanodiscs are discoidal lipoproteins that have often been used as vehicles to study membrane proteins in their native configuration. Nanodiscs have been primarily made from synthetic lipids. However, nanodiscs also offer a format by which native lipids can be studied in their natural configuration.

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Introduction. Colombia is home to 2 million indigenous people who live in conditions of poverty and with health deficiencies, making them vulnerable to contracting hepatitis B (HBV). Amazonas has a high virus prevalence, and there are barriers to accessing vaccination; thus, part of the population is susceptible to infection.

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Ice-core records from the interior of the Greenland ice sheet suggest widespread thinning during the Holocene. However, the recurring underestimation of this thinning in numerical models raises concerns about both the veracity of such reconstructions and the reliability of glaciological models. Recent work suggests the 8000-year-old Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS), including a now-extinct northern tributary, may have been an early influence on Greenland ice-sheet dynamics.

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Proactive esophageal cooling for the purpose of reducing the likelihood of ablation-related esophageal injury resulting from radiofrequency (RF) cardiac ablation procedures is increasingly being used and has been Food and Drug Administration cleared as a protective strategy during left atrial RF ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. In this review, we examine the evidence supporting the use of proactive esophageal cooling and the potential mechanisms of action that reduce the likelihood of atrioesophageal fistula (AEF) formation. Although the pathophysiology behind AEF formation after thermal injury from RF ablation is not well studied, a robust literature on fistula formation in other conditions (eg, Crohn disease, cancer, and trauma) exists and the relationship to AEF formation is investigated in this review.

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The Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic had a sanitary, psychosocial, and economic impact on individuals of reproductive age. The primary concern revolved around infection during pregnancy due to possible vertical transmission and its association with adverse fetal and infant outcomes, known as Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS). This qualitative study employs phenomenology and grounded theory.

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Article Synopsis
  • - SARS-CoV-2 accessory proteins ORF3a, ORF9b, ORF9c, and ORF10 disrupt mitochondrial functions and cell metabolism in lung epithelial cells, affecting antiviral signaling and immune responses.
  • - While ORF9b, ORF9c, and ORF10 have similar effects on gene expression, ORF3a shows unique impacts, including significant changes in mitochondrial structure and the downregulation of key mitochondrial genes.
  • - Research reveals that different accessory proteins modify metabolic processes, with lower amino acid metabolism in ORF9b, ORF9c, and ORF10, and increased lipid metabolism in ORF3a, highlighting potential new therapeutic targets for COVID-19 intervention.
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In low- and middle-income countries, the substantial costs associated with traditional data collection pose an obstacle to facilitating decision-making in the field of public health. Satellite imagery offers a potential solution, but the image extraction and analysis can be costly and requires specialized expertise. We introduce SatelliteBench, a scalable framework for satellite image extraction and vector embeddings generation.

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Providing accurate, evidence-based information to women with Zika infection during pregnancy was problematic because of the high degree of uncertainty in the diagnosis of the infection and the associated risk. The 2015-17 Zika virus epidemic overwhelmingly affected women in countries with limited access to safe abortion. Understanding women's perspectives on risk communication during pregnancy in the context of an emerging pathogen can help inform risk communication in response to future outbreaks that affect fetal or child development.

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The identification and quantification of misfolded proteins from complex mixtures is important for biological characterization and disease diagnosis, but remains a major bioanalytical challenge. We have developed Hsp40 Affinity Profiling as a bioanalytical approach to profile protein stability in response to cellular stress. In this assay, we ectopically introduce the Hsp40 DNAJB8 into cells and use quantitative proteomics to determine how protein affinity for DNAJB8 changes in the presence of cellular stress, without regard for native clients.

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