Publications by authors named "Velazquez-Ramirez D"

Article Synopsis
  • - Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, particularly affecting indigenous Mayan populations in Chiapas, Mexico, and is linked to genetic factors that may increase the risk of developing severe cases.
  • - A study involving 51 individuals with late-stage trachoma and 102 controls identified specific genetic polymorphisms (SNPs) related to inflammation, particularly in genes like BIRC3 and ABCG2, that correlate with heightened risk of the disease.
  • - Key findings indicate that certain alleles, specifically the T allele of rs11807619, the C allele of rs932335, and the D allele of rs4340 in the ACE gene, are significantly associated with increased risk of late-stage tr
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Article Synopsis
  • Chagas disease is caused by a parasite and is transmitted by triatomine bugs; it poses a significant risk to humans, especially in countries like Mexico where domestic animals, like dogs, can be a source of infection.
  • A study tested 296 dogs in two Mexican cities for Chagas disease using methods like quantitative PCR and antibody assays, revealing a low prevalence of infection among dogs (3.4% positivity, with only 0.7% found through DNA testing).
  • The findings highlight the importance of dogs in monitoring the disease and the need for better diagnostic tools and surveillance in households to manage Chagas disease effectively.
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Introduction: Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is a disease that can affect any organ or tissue. Due to its potential to cause more dangerous sequelae and the barriers to its timely diagnosis, greater clinical awareness of this disease is crucial. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with EPTB in the population of Oaxaca, Mexico.

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Background: Chagas disease, a zoonosis transmitted mainly by hematophagous insects of the subfamily Triatominae, is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, classified into six discrete typing units (DTUs: TcI-TcVI and Tcbat).

Methods: Insect vectors were collected from 84 human dwellings in the municipality of Santo Domingo Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico; 4.76% were infested.

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Triatomine bugs are natural vectors of , which causes Chagas disease or American trypanosomiasis. The role of sylvatic triatomine species as vectors of . in Mexico remains to be fully understood.

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Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica are two distinct cultural areas in northern and central Mexico, respectively, that hosted numerous pre-Hispanic civilizations between 2500 BCE and 1521 CE. The division between these regions shifted southward because of severe droughts ~1100 years ago, which allegedly drove a population replacement in central Mexico by Aridoamerican peoples. In this study, we present shotgun genome-wide data from 12 individuals and 27 mitochondrial genomes from eight pre-Hispanic archaeological sites across Mexico, including two at the shifting border of Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica.

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Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing condition that hinders the treatment and control of tuberculosis (TB). Several factors promote this comorbidity showing variations according to characteristics of the population affected. The objective was to identify the factors associated with the comorbidity of TB-T2DM in a rural population of Oaxaca, Mexico.

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We tested 294 domestic pet dogs in Mexico for neutralizing antibodies for mosquito-borne flaviviruses. We found high (42.6%) exposure to West Nile virus in Reynosa (northern Mexico) and low (1.

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A wide variety of mammals are involved in the sylvatic cycle of , the causative agent of Chagas disease. In many areas in Latin America where is endemic, this cycle is poorly known, and its main reservoirs have not been identified. In this study we analyzed infection in bats and other small mammals from an Ecological Reserve in southeastern Mexico.

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Background: The ability to express the same meaning in different ways is a well-known property of natural language. This amazing property is the source of major difficulties in natural language processing. Given the constant increase in published literature, its curation and information extraction would strongly benefit from efficient automatic processes, for which corpora of sentences evaluated by experts are a valuable resource.

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Background: Crl, identified for curli production, is a small transcription factor that stimulates the association of the σ factor (RpoS) with the RNA polymerase core through direct and specific interactions, increasing the transcription rate of genes during the transition from exponential to stationary phase at low temperatures, using indole as an effector molecule. The lack of a comprehensive collection of information on the Crl regulon makes it difficult to identify a dominant function of Crl and to generate any hypotheses concerning its taxonomical distribution in archaeal and bacterial organisms.

Results: In this work, based on a systematic literature review, we identified the first comprehensive dataset of 86 genes under the control of Crl in the bacterium Escherichia coli K-12; those genes correspond to 40% of the σ regulon in this bacterium.

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Article Synopsis
  • RegulonDB is a detailed online resource launched 20 years ago that tracks transcription regulation in E. coli K-12, using historical molecular biology and recent genomic data.
  • It curates research literature and includes data from ChIP and gSELEX experiments, estimating that only 10% to 30% of the gene regulatory interactions in E. coli are currently known.
  • The platform features a JBrowse for visualizing datasets, a Microbial Conditions Ontology for experiment reproducibility, and analyzes Genetic Sensory-Response Units for transcription factors, enhancing its biocuration with natural language processing techniques.
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Background: Our understanding of the regulation of gene expression has benefited from the availability of high-throughput technologies that interrogate the whole genome for the binding of specific transcription factors and gene expression profiles. In the case of widely used model organisms, such as Escherichia coli K-12, the new knowledge gained from these approaches needs to be integrated with the legacy of accumulated knowledge from genetic and molecular biology experiments conducted in the pre-genomic era in order to attain the deepest level of understanding possible based on the available data.

Results: In this paper, we describe an expansion of RegulonDB, the database containing the rich legacy of decades of classic molecular biology experiments supporting what we know about gene regulation and operon organization in E.

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EcoCyc (EcoCyc.org) is a freely accessible, comprehensive database that collects and summarizes experimental data for Escherichia coli K-12, the best-studied bacterial model organism. New experimental discoveries about gene products, their function and regulation, new metabolic pathways, enzymes and cofactors are regularly added to EcoCyc.

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The B cell antigen receptor repertoire is highly diverse and constantly modified by clonal selection. High-throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) of the lymphocyte repertoire (Rep-Seq) represents a promising technology to explore such diversity ex-vivo and assist in the identification of antigen-specific antibodies based on molecular signatures of clonal selection. Therefore, integrative tools for repertoire reconstruction and analysis from antibody sequences are needed.

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High-throughput sequencing of the antibody repertoire is enabling a thorough analysis of B cell diversity and clonal selection, which may improve the novel antibody discovery process. Theoretically, an adequate bioinformatic analysis could allow identification of candidate antigen-specific antibodies, requiring their recombinant production for experimental validation of their specificity. Gene synthesis is commonly used for the generation of recombinant antibodies identified in silico.

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In the present work we study the transcription-factor regulatory network that controls the synthesis of flagella in E. coli. Our objective is to address how the transcription-factor dynamics (in terms of their promoter activities and associated rates) correlate with their positions in the hierarchical organization of this regulatory network.

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