Publications by authors named "Vera G"

The high salinity and organic content in oil and gas wastewaters can cause ion suppression during liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis, diminishing the sensitivity and accuracy of measurements in available methods. This suppression is severe for low molecular weight organic compounds such as ethanolamines (, monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamine (TEA), -methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), and ,-ethyldiethanolamine (EDEA)). Here, we deployed solid phase extraction (SPE), mixed-mode LC, triple quadrupole MS with positive electrospray ionization (ESI), and a suite of stable isotope standards (, one per target compound) to correct for ion suppression by salts and organic matter, SPE losses, and instrument variability.

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Cisplatin, a chemotherapeutic drug, is known for causing gastrointestinal disorders and neuropathic pain, but its impact on visceral sensitivity is unclear. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has been shown to improve gastrointestinal dysmotility and neuropathic pain induced by cisplatin in rats. This study aimed to determine if repeated cisplatin treatment alters visceral sensitivity and whether dietary MSG can prevent these changes.

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  • Cancer treatments can lead to severe gastrointestinal side effects, both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term), impacting patients' overall health.
  • This article reviews chemotherapy's neurotoxic effects on the enteric nervous system (ENS) and how chemotherapy-induced enteric neuropathy (CIEN) may cause persistent gastrointestinal dysfunctions.
  • Research indicates that CIEN results in reduced nerve cell density and altered neuronal activity in the ENS, affecting gut functions and potentially leading to brain-gut axis disorders, highlighting the need for more research in this overlooked area.
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Instant Cascara (IC) is a sustainable beverage made from dried coffee cherry pulp, a by-product of coffee processing. It is rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds and has a high concentration of antioxidants. This study explored the impact of regular IC consumption on colonic motor function and innervation.

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Despite curative-intent local therapy, approximately 27% to 53% of prostate cancer (PCa) patients experience prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence, known as biochemical recurrence (BCR). BCR significantly raises the risk of PCa-related morbidity and mortality, yet there is no consensus on optimal management. Prostate-specific membrane antigen-positron emission tomography (PSMA PET) has emerged as highly sensitive imaging, distinguishing local recurrences from distant metastases, crucially influencing treatment decisions.

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SCY1-like protein 2 (SCYL2) is a member of the SCY1-like pseudokinase family which regulates secretory protein trafficking. It plays a crucial role in the nervous system by suppressing excitotoxicity in the developing brain. Scyl2 knockout mice have excess prenatal mortality and survivors show severe neurological dysfunction.

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  • Prenatal exome sequencing (pES) is increasingly used to diagnose fetuses with structural defects, identifying additional conditions in about 30% who have normal chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA).
  • A study categorized prenatal phenotypes for fetuses with pathogenic variants, finding typical features in 67.9% of cases, while uncommon or unreported features complicated some interpretations.
  • Recommendations include standardizing prenatal feature descriptions, enhancing follow-up practices, and collecting larger datasets to improve pES analysis.
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Colloidal gels typically exhibit mechanical properties akin to a viscoelastic solid, influenced by their underlying particulate network. Hence, the structural and morphological characteristics of the colloidal network have a significant effect on the rigidity of the gel. In this study, we show how seemingly small variations in the particle-level interactions throughout the system result in larger scale structural heterogeneities.

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The objective of this study is to compare and contrast the quality statements and quality indicators across clinical care standards for low back pain. Searches were performed in Medline, guideline databases, and Google searches to identify clinical care standards for the management of low back pain targeting a multidisciplinary audience. Two independent reviewers reviewed the search results and extracted relevant information from the clinical care standards.

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Background: Certain antineoplastic drugs cause gastrointestinal disorders even after the end of treatment. Enteric neuropathy has been associated with some of these alterations. Our goal was to assess the impact of repeated treatment with cisplatin and vincristine on the contractility of circular and longitudinal muscle strips isolated from the rat colon.

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In the global race to produce green hydrogen, wastewater-to-H is a sustainable alternative that remains unexploited. Efficient technologies for wastewater-to-H are still in their developmental stages, and urgent process intensification is required. In our study, a mechanistic model was developed to characterize hydrogen production in an AnMBR treating high-strength wastewater (COD > 1000 mg/L).

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Background: Chemotherapy-induced adverse effects are an unresolved nightmare. In preclinical studies in rats, the food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG) improved some of the side effects caused by cisplatin, but its effects in other models of chemotherapy-treated animals are not well known. The aim of this study was to test if MSG may improve some of the adverse effects induced by vincristine in rats.

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  • Variants of uncertain significance (VUS) present challenges in diagnosing rare diseases, and episignatures have emerged as potential biomarkers to help classify these variants.
  • A study analyzed DNA methylation data from different groups, including carriers of pathogenic variants and healthy controls, using a k-nearest-neighbour classifier to assess the predictive abilities of various episignatures.
  • Results revealed that while some signatures (ATRX, DNMT3A, KMT2D, NSD1) achieved 100% sensitivity, others (CREBBP-RSTS, CHD8) showed lower performance, indicating that not all episignatures are equally reliable for diagnostic use and highlighting the need for further validation with larger sample sizes.
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5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is an antineoplastic drug used to treat colorectal cancer, but it causes, among other adverse effects, diarrhea and mucositis, as well as enteric neuropathy, as shown in experimental animals. It might also cause neuropathic pain and alterations in visceral sensitivity, but this has not been studied in either patients or experimental animals. Cannabinoids have antimotility and analgesic effects and may alleviate 5-FU-induced adverse effects.

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Softness plays a key role in the deformation of soft elastic substrates at the three-phase contact line, and the acting forces lead to the formation of a wetting ridge due to elastocapillarity. The change in wetting ridge and surface profiles at different softness has a great impact on the droplet behavior in different phenomena. Commonly used materials to study soft wetting are swollen polymeric gels or polymer brushes.

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  • A pilot study in France used trio-ES on 150 fetuses with significant ultrasound anomalies, with a focus on influencing pregnancy management, and found a causal diagnosis in 34% of cases within about 28 days.
  • The study demonstrated a high diagnostic yield for trio-ES, comparable to postnatal diagnosis, indicating its potential for routine use in prenatal care when anomalies are detected.
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  • - Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a rare developmental disorder with about 50% of cases lacking a known genetic cause, despite existing gene tests.
  • - Researchers conducted whole genome and RNA sequencing on five unresolved cases, discovering pathogenic mutations in three patients and deep intronic variations in the other two.
  • - The study highlights the importance of whole genome sequencing in identifying genetic issues in CdLS and suggests that deep intronic mutations might be significant in some unsolved cases.
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  • Biofilm formation is a significant barrier to treating infections, as it gives bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa enhanced resistance to antibiotics, leading to public health concerns and economic impacts.
  • Researchers are exploring new therapeutic options targeting Quorum Sensing (QS) to disrupt biofilm formation, using molecular docking to identify effective compounds that interact with the PqsR receptor.
  • In their study, a library of chromone carboxamides was synthesized, with several compounds demonstrating over 50% inhibition of P. aeruginosa biofilm formation, making one compound particularly promising for further development.
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Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a clinically-recognizable rare developmental disorder. About 70% of patients carry a missense or loss-of-function pathogenic variant in the NIPBL gene. We hypothesized that some variants in the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of NIPBL may create an upstream open reading frame (uORF), putatively leading to a loss of function.

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Background: In the absence of antiviral alternatives, interventions under research for COVID-19 might be offered following guidelines from WHO for monitored emergency use of unregistered and experimental interventions (MEURI). Ivermectin is among several drugs explored for its role against SARS-CoV-2, with a well-known safety profile but conflicting data regarding clinical utility for COVID-19. The aim of this report is to inform on the results of a MEURI Program of high-dose ivermectin in COVID-19 carried out by the Ministry of Health of the Province of La Pampa, Argentina.

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Horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing (HDHF) relies on the use of anthropogenic organic chemicals in proximity to residential areas, raising concern for groundwater contamination. Here, we extensively characterized organic contaminants in 94 domestic groundwater sites in Northeastern Pennsylvania after ten years of activity in the region. All analyzed volatile and semi-volatile compounds were below recommended United States Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant levels, and integrated concentrations across two volatility ranges, gasoline range organic compounds (GRO) and diesel range organic compounds (DRO), were low (0.

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  • This study investigates the role of high-impact genetic variants in over a thousand genes linked to Mendelian neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) by characterizing 28 probands with de novo heterozygous coding variants.
  • Among the identified variants, 15 unique changes were found, including missense, in-frame deletions, and a splice variant, affecting the Argonaute 1 protein involved in gene-silencing pathways, which suggests these mutations may disrupt mRNA processing.
  • The affected individuals exhibited a range of symptoms, such as intellectual disabilities, speech and motor delays, and autistic behaviors, highlighting the potential significance of these genetic variants in understanding NDD.
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  • * A study identified 41 patients with this specific mutation, revealing that most present CALs and freckling, while 83% meet the NIH diagnostic criteria for NF1, but there’s a significant absence of neurofibromas and gliomas, with only one documented case of a subcutaneous neurofibroma.
  • * Learning disabilities
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Imidazo[1,2-b]pyridazine scaffold represents an important class of heterocyclic nucleus which provides various bioactives molecules. Among them, the successful kinase inhibitor ponatinib led to a resurgence of interest in exploring new imidazo[1,2-b]pyridazine-containing derivatives for their putative therapeutic applications in medicine. This present review intends to provide a state-of-the-art of this framework in medicinal chemistry from 1966 to nowadays, unveiling different aspects of its structure-activity relationships (SAR).

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A new series of twenty-two C-5 substituted -arylsulfonylindoles was prepared with the aim of exploring the influence of C-5 substitution on 5-HT receptor affinity. Eleven compounds showed moderate to high affinity at the receptor ( = 58-403 nM), with compound being identified as the most potent ligand. However, regarding C-5 substitution, both methoxy and fluorine were detrimental for receptor affinity compared to our previously published unsubstituted compounds.

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