Publications by authors named "Saavedra H"

Glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSDIa) is a rare, life-threatening, inherited carbohydrate metabolism disorder caused by glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) deficiency, which is essential for glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. GSDIa management includes a strict medically prescribed diet that typically includes daily uncooked cornstarch doses, including overnight, to maintain euglycemia. DTX401 is an investigational adeno-associated virus serotype 8 vector expressing the human G6PC1 gene that encodes G6Pase.

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Metabolic rewiring is required for cancer cells to survive in harsh microenvironments and is considered to be a hallmark of cancer. Specific metabolic adaptations are required for a tumor to become invasive and metastatic. Cell division and metabolism are inherently interconnected, and several cell cycle modulators directly regulate metabolism.

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  • The study analyzed breast cancer patients in four different groups: non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics in Florida, and Hispanics in Puerto Rico.
  • Significant disparities were found, with Puerto Rican women having the lowest employment and education levels, along with a higher incidence of advanced tumors and fewer survival rates compared to the other groups.
  • The research highlights the urgent need for further investigation into the factors contributing to these health disparities among Puerto Rican and non-Hispanic Black breast cancer patients.
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Nutrition management for GSD Type I (GSDI; OMIM #232200, 232220) is complex, with the goal being to maintain euglycemia while minimizing metabolic derangements. Management guidelines were published in 2002 and 2014. However, there is limited information on the nuances of nutrition management and the unique feeding challenges of children.

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Background: Genetic Metabolic Dietitians International (GMDI) conducted a professional status survey of metabolic dietitians working in the United States to describe job satisfaction and establish salary and compensation benchmarks specific to metabolic dietitians.

Methods: The survey was anonymously administered in a web-based format via REDCap between October and November 2023. Registered dietitians working with inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) were eligible to participate.

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  • - D-amino acids, particularly D-cysteine, are gaining recognition for their role in the mammalian pancreas, with D-cysteine synthesized by the enzyme serine racemase (SR), leading to significantly higher insulin levels in SR mice.
  • - In diabetic mouse models, D-cysteine levels increase compared to D-serine, along with higher expression of SR, which affects insulin secretion regulation and DNA methylation patterns in pancreatic cells.
  • - Dietary methyl donor supplementation can restore normal insulin levels and decrease certain enzymatic activities in SR mice, indicating that D-cysteine is a crucial regulator of insulin secretion in the pancreas.
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Primary fallopian tube carcinoma (PFTC) is seldom diagnosed preoperatively and is often mistaken for epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). This report details a case of primary high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) of the fallopian tube, highlighting radiological and clinical indicators to aid in accurate diagnosis and avoid misdiagnosis. A 46-year-old premenopausal woman presented with symptoms and a transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) indicating a malignant ovarian tumor.

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  • - This study investigates how transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) can detect changes in blood flow that might indicate vasculitis in patients with neurocysticercosis (NCC), a condition that can lead to strokes.
  • - Out of 53 NCC patients, 12 (22.64%) showed hemodynamic changes linked to vasculitis, primarily affecting the middle cerebral artery, with a higher occurrence in females.
  • - The findings suggest that TCD is a valuable tool for identifying cerebral hemodynamic changes in NCC patients, highlighting the importance of monitoring for complications like vasculitis.
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This review aims to outline mitotic kinase inhibitors' roles as potential therapeutic targets and assess their suitability as a stand-alone clinical therapy or in combination with standard treatments for advanced-stage solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Breast cancer poses a significant global health risk, with TNBC standing out as the most aggressive subtype. Comprehending the role of mitosis is crucial for understanding how TNBC advances from a solid tumor to metastasis.

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  • The study investigated the link between hepatitis E serology and neurocysticercosis (NCC) in neurologic patients in Lima, Perú, from 2008 to 2012.
  • It found that 23.8% of patients with NCC tested positive for anti-hepatitis E IgG, which was significantly higher than the 14.3% in a general rural population without NCC.
  • Seropositive patients were older, with a median age of 44 years compared to 30 for seronegative patients, indicating potential common infection routes.
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  • Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a significant cause of epilepsy globally, particularly in areas where it's endemic, with calcification being the most common finding in affected patients' neuroimaging.
  • A study involving 524 patients in Peru from 2012 to 2022 found that a majority had previous seizures, with specific patterns in seizure types and locations of calcifications predominantly in the frontal lobes.
  • Patients with a prior diagnosis of viable infection tended to have more severe symptoms, including longer seizure duration and a higher number of calcifications, compared to those diagnosed only after the parasites had calcified.
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Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the most common helminthic infection of the human central nervous system. The antibody detection assay of choice is the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot assay using lentil-lectin purified parasite antigens (LLGP-EITB, Western blot), an immunoassay with exceptional performance in clinical samples. However, its use is mainly restricted to a few research laboratories because the assay is labor-intensive and requires sophisticated equipment, expertise, and large amounts of parasite material for preparation of reagents.

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  • The report highlights advancements in regulating online medical product sales in Latin America and aims to guide national regulatory authorities (NRAs) in creating effective e-commerce oversight strategies.
  • It reviews developments and initiatives from four Latin American countries alongside literature on e-commerce control by leading agencies.
  • Proposed strategies include enhancing regulatory frameworks, improving oversight capabilities, fostering collaboration with various authorities, and increasing awareness among the public and healthcare professionals, all with actionable guidelines for NRAs.
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Patients with subarachnoid neurocysticercosis (NCC) are usually older than those with parenchymal disease. Whether this difference reflects a prolonged presymptomatic period or a delay in diagnosis is not clear. From 408 eligible patients, we retrospectively compared the age at symptom onset in 140 patients diagnosed with parenchymal (pure viable or pure calcified) and subarachnoid NCC who had a confirmatory image available not more than 2 years after the beginning of symptoms.

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Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TBNC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype with a poor prognosis. Shugoshin-1 (SGO1) protects chromatids from early separation. Previous studies from our group have demonstrated that transient SGO1 downregulation suppresses early stages of metastasis (the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, or EMT, cell invasion, and cell migration) in TNBC cells.

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Monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a complementary diagnosis technique for neurocysticercosis (NCC), which detects circulating parasite antigen (Ag) indicative of viable infection and Ag levels that correlate well with the parasite burden. In this study, we compared the performance of two Ag-ELISA techniques for the detection of NCC. We assessed the agreement between our in-house TsW8/TsW5 Ag-ELISA and the widely used B158/B60 Ag-ELISA for measuring antigen levels in the sera from 113 patients with calcified, parenchymal, and subarachnoid NCC.

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Molecular epidemiology evidence indicates racial and ethnic differences in the aggressiveness and survival of breast cancer. Hispanics/Latinas (H/Ls) and non-Hispanic Black women (NHB) are at higher risk of breast cancer (BC)-related death relative to non-Hispanic white (NHW) women in part because they are diagnosed with hormone receptor-negative (HR) subtype and at higher stages. Since the cell cycle is one of the most commonly deregulated cellular processes in cancer, we propose that the mitotic kinases TTK (or Mps1), TBK1, and Nek2 could be novel targets to prevent breast cancer progression among NHBs and H/Ls.

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Introduction: Vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) are the leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Timely administration of analgesia, within 60 minutes of patient registration, is the standard of care for SCD patients with VOCs. Patients with VOCs have longer times to initial analgesia compared to similar painful conditions.

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The diagnosis of neurocysticercosis (NCC) is principally based on neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography), instrumentation that is scarcely available in the rural regions where Taenia solium transmission, primarily occurs due to poor sanitation conditions. Immunological assays for antigen or antibody detection complement the neuroimaging approach. However, no field-applicable assays to diagnose viable NCC or to guide the referral of cases for neuroimaging or for appropriate management are available.

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Article Synopsis
  • Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a significant cause of late-onset epilepsy and has a considerable impact on patients' quality of life, which was assessed using the QOLIE-31 questionnaire in this study.* -
  • The study involved 155 Peruvian patients with epilepsy due to NCC, revealing that 76.8% had poor quality of life scores, particularly linked to the frequency of generalized seizures and lower education levels.* -
  • Multivariate analysis indicated that a higher number of generalized epileptic seizures was significantly associated with worse quality of life, underscoring the need for addressing seizure frequency in NCC patients.*
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The diagnosis of neurocysticercosis (NCC) depends on neuroimaging and serological confirmation. While antibody detection by enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (EITB) fails to predict viable NCC, EITB banding patterns provide information about the host's infection course. Adding antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Ag-ELISA) results to EITB banding patterns may improve their ability to predict or rule out of viable NCC.

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Glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSDIa) is caused by defective glucose-6-phosphatase, a key enzyme in carbohydrate metabolism. Affected individuals cannot release glucose during fasting and accumulate excess glycogen and fat in the liver and kidney, putting them at risk of severe hypoglycaemia and secondary metabolic perturbations. Good glycaemic/metabolic control through strict dietary treatment and regular doses of uncooked cornstarch (UCCS) is essential for preventing hypoglycaemia and long-term complications.

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Magnetic resonance images from 197 patients with calcified neurocysticercosis (NCC), 38 with viable NCC and 197 NCC-free healthy rural villagers were evaluated to compare the frequency of hippocampal atrophy/sclerosis (HAS) across these populations. Scheltens' medial temporal atrophy scale was used for hippocampal rating. The median age of the 432 study participants was 46 years (interquartile range, 29-62 years), and 58% were women.

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Mucopolysaccharidosis type IVA (OMIM 253000) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by defective activity of the N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfatase (GALNS) enzyme. In 2014, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) using recombinant human GALNS became available for affected patients. There is a limited number of studies to date that have explored the effect of ERT in infancy and there is also a lack of data assessing the effect of ERT in systems other than the skeletal.

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Objective: To present a case series that illustrates real-world use of pegvaliase based on the initial experiences of US healthcare providers.

Methods: Sixteen healthcare providers from 14 centers across the US with substantial clinical experience in treating patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) with pegvaliase in the two-plus years since FDA approval (May 2018) provided cases that exemplified important lessons from their initial experiences treating patients with pegvaliase. Key lessons from each case and takeaway points were discussed in both live and virtual meetings.

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