Safety and efficacy of mesenchymal stromal cells mitochondria transplantation as a cell-free therapy for osteoarthritis.

Objective: The inflammatory responses from synovial fibroblasts and macrophages and the mitochondrial dysfunction in chondrocytes lead to oxidative stress, disrupt extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis, and accelerate the deterioration process of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis (OA). In recent years, it has been proposed that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) transfer their functional mitochondria to damaged cells in response to cellular stress, becoming one of the mechanisms underpinning their therapeutic effects. Therefore, we hypothesize that a novel cell-free treatment for OA could involve direct mitochondria transplantation, restoring both cellular and mitochondrial homeostasis.

Stroke severity shapes extracellular vesicle profiles and their impact on the cerebral endothelial cells.

Ischaemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) post-stroke may help brain endothelial cells (BECs) counter ischaemic injury. However data on how EVs from ischaemic stroke patients, considering injury severity, affect these cells are limited.

Extracellular Vesicles From Preeclampsia Disrupt the Blood-Brain Barrier by Reducing CLDN5.

Background: The physiopathology of life-threatening cerebrovascular complications in preeclampsia is unknown. We investigated whether disruption of the blood-brain barrier, generated using circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) from women with preeclampsia or placentae cultured under hypoxic conditions, impairs the expression of tight junction proteins, such as CLDN5 (claudin-5), mediated by VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), and activation of KDR (VEGFR2 [VEGF receptor 2]).

Methods: We perform a preclinical mechanistic study using sEVs isolated from plasma of pregnant women with normal pregnancy (sEVs-NP; n=9), sEVs isolated from plasma of women with preeclampsia (sEVs-PE; n=9), or sEVs isolated from placentas cultured in normoxia (sEVs-Nor; n=10) or sEVs isolated from placentas cultured in hypoxia (sEVs-Hyp; n=10).

The Steiner tree Prosecutor: Revealing and disrupting criminal networks through a single suspect.

Disrupting a criminal organization requires a significant deployment of human resources, time, information, and financial investment. In the early stages of an investigation, details about a specific crime are typically scarce, often with no known suspect. The literature has shown that an effective approach for analyzing criminal organizations is social network analysis.

Disruption of the Mouse Blood-Brain Barrier by Small Extracellular Vesicles from Hypoxic Human Placentas.

Cerebrovascular complications, including cerebral edema and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, constitute the leading cause of maternal mortality associated with preeclampsia. The underlying mechanisms of these cerebrovascular complications remain unclear. However, they are linked to placental dysfunction and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption.

Efficacy of an Enterotoxigenic (ETEC) Vaccine on the Incidence and Severity of Traveler's Diarrhea (TD): Evaluation of Alternative Endpoints and a TD Severity Score.

The efficacy of an Oral Whole Cell ETEC Vaccine (OEV) against Travelers' Diarrhea (TD) was reexamined using novel outcome and immunologic measures. More specifically, a recently developed disease severity score and alternative clinical endpoints were evaluated as part of an initial validation effort to access the efficacy of a vaccine intervention for the first time in travelers to an ETEC endemic area. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial followed travelers to Guatemala or Mexico up to 28 days after arrival in the country following vaccination (two doses two weeks apart) with an ETEC vaccine.

Reduced Brain Cortex Angiogenesis in the Offspring of the Preeclampsia-Like Syndrome.

Background: Children from pregnancies affected by preeclampsia have an increased risk of cognitive and behavioral alterations via unknown pathophysiology. We tested the hypothesis that preeclampsia generated reduced brain cortex angiogenesis in the offspring.

Methods: The preeclampsia-like syndrome (PELS) mouse model was generated by administering the nitric oxide inhibitor NG-nitroarginine methyl ester hydrochloride.

Brain Vascular Dysfunction in Mothers and Their Children Exposed to Preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a maternal syndrome characterized by the new onset of hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation associated with multisystemic complications, including brain alterations. Indeed, brain complications associated with preeclampsia are the leading direct causes of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In addition to the well-recognized long-term adverse cardiovascular effects of preeclampsia, women who have had preeclampsia have higher risk of stroke, dementia, intracerebral white matter lesions, epilepsy, and perhaps also cognitive decline postpartum.

Dysregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 phosphorylation is associated with disruption of the blood-brain barrier and brain endothelial cell apoptosis induced by plasma from women with preeclampsia.

Disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is central in the pathophysiology of acute cerebral complications in women who have preeclampsia. Underling mechanisms are unclear. Using female human brain endothelial cells as an in vitro model of BBB, we show that plasma of women with preeclampsia increases cell apoptosis and permeability via activation of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2).

Cerebral Biomarkers and Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity in Preeclampsia.

Cerebral complications in preeclampsia contribute substantially to maternal mortality and morbidity. There is a lack of reliable and accessible predictors for preeclampsia-related cerebral complications. In this study, plasma from women with preeclampsia (n = 28), women with normal pregnancies (n = 28) and non-pregnant women (n = 16) was analyzed for concentrations of the cerebral biomarkers neurofilament light (NfL), tau, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S100B.

Disruption of the Blood-Brain Barrier by Extracellular Vesicles From Preeclampsia Plasma and Hypoxic Placentae: Attenuation by Magnesium Sulfate.

[Figure: see text].

Incidence of occult uterine sarcoma and other unexpected pathologies in patients having surgery for presumed myomas: A retrospective observational study.

Objective: To determine the incidence of occult uterine sarcomas and other unexpected pathologies in patients undergoing hysterectomies or myomectomies with a pre-operative diagnosis of uterine leiomyomas.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary hospital in Santiago, Chile.

Advantages in Wound Healing Process in Female Mice Require Upregulation A-Mediated Angiogenesis under the Stimulation of 17β-Estradiol.

Estrogenic steroids and adenosine A receptors promote the wound healing and angiogenesis processes. However, so far, it is unclear whether estrogen may regulate the expression and pro-angiogenic activity of A receptors. Using in vivo analyses, we showed that female wild type (WT) mice have a more rapid wound healing process than female or male A-deficient mice (AKO) mice.

Deletion of the adenosine A receptor increases the survival rate in a mice model of polymicrobial sepsis.

We aim to investigate the role of A receptor in peritonitis-related sepsis by injection of a fecal solution (FS) as a model of polymicrobial infection. C57/black J6 wild-type (WT) and A-deficient mice (AKO) were exposed to sepsis induced by intraperitoneal injection of a FS (FS-induced peritonitis) or instead was injected with saline buffer (Sham). Survival rate and sepsis score were measured up to 48 h.

Physiological response to eccentric and concentric cycling in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We aimed to compare the cardiorespiratory, metabolic, and perceptual responses to high- and moderate-intensity eccentric cycling versus moderate-intensity concentric cycling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Ten patients with moderate COPD (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) = 68.6% ± 20.

Gestational diabetes mellitus is associated with increased pro-migratory activation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and reduced expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1.

Placentas from gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are often hypervascularized; however, participation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors in this placental adaptation is unclear. We aimed to test whether changes in phosphorylation of tyrosine 951 or tyrosine 1175 (pY951 or pY1175) of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (KDR) are associated with the proangiogenic state observed in placentas from GDM. We obtained placental samples from women with normal pregnancies (n = 24) or GDM (n = 18).

Pro-angiogenic Role of Insulin: From Physiology to Pathology.

The underlying molecular mechanisms involve in the regulation of the angiogenic process by insulin are not well understood. In this review article, we aim to describe the role of insulin and insulin receptor activation on the control of angiogenesis and how these mechanisms can be deregulated in human diseases. Functional expression of insulin receptors and their signaling pathways has been described on endothelial cells and pericytes, both of the main cells involved in vessel formation and maturation.

Adenosine A receptor regulates expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in feto-placental endothelium from normal and late-onset pre-eclamptic pregnancies.

We aim to investigate whether A/nitric oxide-mediated regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression is impaired in feto-placental endothelial cells from late-onset pre-eclampsia. Cultures of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human placental microvascular endothelial cells (hPMECs) from normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies were used. Assays by using small interference RNA (siRNA) for A were performed, and transfected cells were used for estimation of messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of VEGF, as well as for cell proliferation and angiogenesis in vitro.

Role of Extracellular Vesicles and microRNAs on Dysfunctional Angiogenesis during Preeclamptic Pregnancies.

Preeclampsia is a syndrome characterized by hypertension during pregnancy, which is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both mother and newborn in developing countries. Some advances have increased the understanding of pathophysiology of this disease. For example, reduced utero-placental blood flow associated with impaired trophoblast invasion may lead to a hypoxic placenta that releases harmful materials into the maternal and feto-placental circulation and impairs endothelial function.

Prevalence of neurocognitive disorders and depression in a Brazilian HIV population.

Introduction: Combined antiretroviral therapy has enabled human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) carriers to live longer. This increased life expectancy is associated with the occurrence of degenerative diseases, including HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), which are diagnosed via a complex neuropsychological assessment. The International HIV Dementia Scale (IHDS) is a screening instrument validated in Brazil for use in the absence of neuropsychological evaluation.

Potential role of A2B adenosine receptors on proliferation/migration of fetal endothelium derived from preeclamptic pregnancies.

To investigate the functionality of A2B adenosine receptor (A2BAR) and the nitric oxide (NO) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway in the endothelial cell proliferation/migration during preeclampsia, we used human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) isolated from normal pregnancies (n = 15) or pregnancies with preeclampsia (n = 15). Experiments were performed in presence or absence of the nonselective adenosine receptor agonist NECA, the A2BAR selective antagonist MRS-1754, and the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor L-NAME. Results indicated that cells from preeclampsia exhibited a significant higher protein level of A2BAR and logEC50 for NECA-mediated proliferation than normotensive pregnancies.

Fate of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis after application of contaminated dairy cattle manure to agricultural soils.

Details regarding the fate of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (basonym, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis) after manure application on grassland are unknown. To evaluate this, intact soil columns were collected in plastic pipes (lysimeters) and placed under controlled conditions to test the effect of a loamy or sandy soil composition and the amount of rainfall on the fate of M.

Competitive adsorption of textile dyes using peat: adsorption equilibrium and kinetic studies in monosolute and bisolute systems.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the adsorption by peat of four reactive textile dyes with the following commercial names: Yellow CIBA WR 200% (Y), Dark Blue CIBA WR (DB), Navy CIBA WB (N), and Red CIBA WB 150% (R), used in a cotton-polyester fabric finishing plant. The decolorization levels obtained varied between 5% and 30%, and the most significant variables were pH and ionic strength. Equilibrium studies were carried out at pH 2.

Introduction of non-B subtypes among Spaniards newly diagnosed with HIV type 1 in the Canary Islands.

The Spanish Canary Islands face the northwest coast of Africa, being one gate of entrance of African immigrants into Europe and of HIV-1 non-B strains, prevalent in most African regions. The presence and nature of HIV-1 non-B subtypes were examined in Spanish natives newly diagnosed with HIV-1 infection from 1998 to 2004 in a reference hospital located in one of the largest islands of the archipelago. Subtyping of HIV-1 pol genes was performed in 139 out of 429 individuals found to be HIV-1 positive during that period.

[Laparoscopy assisted vaginal hysterectomy at the Dr. Sótero del Río Hospital].

Twenty three cases of vaginal hysterectomy performed between june 1993 and june 1994 with the aid of laparoscopy were analyzed in Dr. Sótero del Río Hospital. Average ages, parity, date of previous surgeries and associated pathology do not differ from the general population of the patients of the hospital.