Publications by authors named "Patricia Rivera"

Background/objectives: Alzheimer's disease (AD), a leading cause of dementia, lacks effective long-term treatments. Current therapies offer temporary relief or fail to halt its progression and are often inaccessible due to cost. AD involves multiple pathological processes, including amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition, insulin resistance, tau protein hyperphosphorylation, and systemic inflammation accelerated by gut microbiota dysbiosis originating from a leaky gut.

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  • The study aimed to review how biomarkers of neural injury relate to neurodevelopment in children with fetal growth restriction.
  • Only five relevant studies were found, revealing that certain biomarkers, like urinary S100B and neuron-specific enolase, were linked to negative neurodevelopmental outcomes.
  • The researchers highlighted the importance of more research on these biomarkers to improve understanding and predictive models for neurodevelopment in affected children.
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  • The study investigates how autophagy and oxidized low-density lipoproteins (ox-LDL) impact the function of extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs), which are vital for proper placentation.
  • Autophagy is found to be essential for EVTs to transition into an endothelial-like phenotype but doesn't influence their invasion capabilities, while ox-LDL negatively affects both invasion and the formation of vital structures, independent of autophagy.
  • The research highlights that alterations in autophagy levels and ox-LDL concentrations could play a significant role in placental development issues, including complications like preeclampsia.
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Background: This study protocol describes a community-based intervention that will seek to reduce added sugar intake in Yup'ik Alaska Native children by targeting reductions in sugar-sweetened fruit drinks.

Methods: A two-group non-randomized design will be used to evaluate the intervention in three Yup'ik communities in Alaska focusing on children age 1 to less than age 12 years with a minimum enrollment target of 192 children. Families in the intervention arm will participate in a program consisting of five sessions plus four brief check-ins, all delivered by a Yup'ik Community Health Worker.

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Comprehensive biomarker testing is a crucial requirement for the optimal treatment of advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with emerging relevance in the adjuvant treatment setting. To advance its goal of ensuring optimal therapy for persons diagnosed with lung cancer, the American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable (ACS NLCRT) held The Summit on Optimizing Lung Cancer Biomarkers in Practice in September 2020 to align its partners toward the goal of ensuring comprehensive biomarker testing for all eligible patients with NSCLC. The ACS NLCRT's Strategic Plan for Advancing Comprehensive Biomarker Testing in NSCLC, a product of the summit, comprises actions to promote comprehensive biomarker testing for all eligible patients.

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Accurate staging improves lung cancer survival by increasing the chances of delivering stage-appropriate therapy. However, there is underutilization of, and variability in, the use of guideline-recommended diagnostic tests used to stage lung cancer. Consequently, the American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable (ACS NLCRT) convened the Triage for Appropriate Treatment Task Group-a multidisciplinary expert and stakeholder panel-to identify knowledge and/or resource gaps contributing to guideline-discordant staging and make recommendations to overcome these gaps.

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Comprehensive biomarker testing for patients with non-small cell lung cancer is critical for selecting appropriate targeted therapy or immunotherapy. Ensuring timely ordering, processing, and reporting is key to optimizing patient outcomes. However, various factors can prevent or delay patients from being offered the option of treatment selection based on comprehensive biomarker testing.

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Background: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has become the standard for initial lung cancer diagnosis and staging. Previous guidelines have generally focused on the "when" and "how" of EBUS-TBNA; however, little guidance is available on handling and processing specimens during and after acquisition to help optimize both diagnostic yield and tissue integrity for ancillary studies. This document examines the available literature on EBUS-TBNA specimen processing and handling.

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Background: Hispanics/Latinos are the largest racial/ethnic group among underrepresented populations in the U.S. and multiple sociodemographic, cultural, and linguistic factors have been found to impact their performances on cognitive testing.

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Lung cancer in women is a modern epidemic and represents a global health crisis. Cigarette smoking remains the most important risk factor for lung cancer in all patients and, among women globally, rates of smoking continue to increase. Although some data exist supporting sex-based differences across the continuum of lung cancer, there is currently a dearth of research exploring the differences in risk, biology, and treatment outcomes in women.

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  • The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) and the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) are important tools for assessing cognitive functions such as constructional praxis and visuospatial skills, particularly in diagnosing neurological disorders.
  • This study aimed to establish normative data for these tests in Spanish-speaking adults in the U.S., using a sample of 245 cognitively healthy participants and analyzing factors like education, age, and language proficiency.
  • Findings indicated that education and age influenced test performance, highlighting the impact of bilingualism, while sex was not a significant factor; this research is crucial for improving neuropsychological assessments among Hispanic populations.
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Background: Despite its efficacy in reducing lung cancer (LC)-specific mortality by 20%, screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in eligible groups remains low (5-16%). Black individuals are more commonly affected by LC than other racial/ethnic groups in the United States (U.S.

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The WHO recently published a Tobacco Knowledge Summary (TKS) synthesizing current evidence on tobacco and COPD, aiming to raise awareness among a broad audience of health care professionals. Furthermore, it can be used as an advocacy tool in the fight for tobacco control and prevention of tobacco-related disease. This article builds on the evidence presented in the TKS, with a greater level of detail intended for a lung-specialist audience.

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Background: Normative data for Spanish-speaking populations, particularly Hispanics in the U.S., is notably scarce.

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  • The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) is a performance validity measure available in both English and Spanish, but the Spanish version previously lacked reliable data for U.S. Hispanic individuals.
  • The study aimed to collect normative data for the updated TOMM 2 specifically for Hispanic individuals in the U.S., involving 188 cognitively healthy adults.
  • Results showed that the Hispanic sample scored better on the TOMM 2 compared to the English-speaking normative sample, establishing the first culturally appropriate norms for Spanish speakers in the U.S.
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Background: The breath carbon isotope ratio (CIR) was recently identified as a noninvasive candidate biomarker of short-term added sugars (AS) intake.

Objectives: This study aimed to better understand the potential of the breath CIR as a dietary biomarker. We evaluated the effects of short-term and long-term intakes of AS, animal protein (AP), and related variables on breath CIR, in the context of typical dietary intake patterns.

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Background: Linguistic deficits are common across neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. Currently there are limited neuropsychological norms available for Spanish-speaking adults residing in the U.S.

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Background: Latino adults experience multiple barriers to health care access and treatment that result in tobacco-related disparities. Mobile interventions have the potential to deliver smoking cessation treatment among Latino adults, who show the highest use rates of mobile technologies.

Research Question: Is Decídetexto, a culturally accommodated mobile health intervention, more effective for smoking cessation compared with standard care among Latinx adults who smoke?

Study Design And Methods: A two-arm parallel group randomized clinical trial was conducted in Kansas, New Jersey, and New York between October 2018 and September 2021.

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  • Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths globally, highlighting the need for better understanding of its early development stages to enable timely interventions.
  • An international team of scientists identified knowledge gaps in how premalignant lung lesions progress to lung cancer and developed research questions to fill these gaps and guide future investigations.
  • Addressing these gaps is crucial for improving screening and early detection methods, which could lead to innovative strategies that effectively reduce lung cancer incidence and enhance patient outcomes.
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Cocoa is widely known for its health benefits, but its neurocognitive impact remains underexplored. This preclinical study aimed to investigate the effects of cocoa and cocoa polyphenols on hippocampal neuroplasticity, cognitive function and emotional behavior. Seventy young-adult C57BL/6JRj male and female mice were fed either a standard diet (CTR) or a diet enriched with 10% high-phenolic content cocoa (HPC) or low-phenolic content cocoa (LPC) for at least four weeks.

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  • Traditional methods for incorporating active compounds into polymers face issues due to the compounds' volatility and sensitivity to heat, prompting the need for better techniques.
  • The study developed an inclusion complex of β-cyclodextrin/carvacrol using spray drying, which was then integrated into poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and Mater-Bi® films via supercritical CO2 impregnation at various pressures.
  • The results showed that PLA films provided a controlled release of the active compound over time, while Mater-Bi® films had lower incorporation and thus did not showcase the same prolonged release characteristics.
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  • Chronic nicotine exposure leads to dependence, and stopping use triggers a withdrawal syndrome, primarily involving the habenulo-interpeduncular (Hb-IPN) circuit due to its high concentration of nicotine receptors.
  • Researchers focused on two types of GABAergic neurons in the IPN—Amigo1 and Epyc—to understand their role in nicotine withdrawal behaviors.
  • The study found that Amigo1 neurons significantly influence anxiety-like behaviors during withdrawal, highlighting that the somatic (physical) and affective (emotional) aspects of withdrawal are governed by different neuron populations in the IPN.
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Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of a single bout of resistance exercise on mitophagy in human skeletal muscle (SkM).

Methods: Eight healthy men were recruited to complete an acute bout of one-leg resistance exercise. SkM biopsies were obtained one hour after exercise in the resting leg (Rest-leg) and the contracting leg (Ex-leg).

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