Notable correlation between serum epidermal growth factor values and inflammatory status in patients with COVID-19.

Introduction: Despite its crucial role in Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) activation, and the resulting impact on the health-disease process, epidermal growth factor (EGF) is an underexplored molecule in relation to how its serum concentrations relate to other analytes and clinical variables in pathological contexts.

Objective: To clarify the possible correlation between EGF and clinical and analytical variables in the context of COVID-19.

Methods: Cross-sectional observational and analytical study, in patients with virological and clinical diagnosis of COVID-19, selected by simple random sampling, admitted between August and September 2021.

Safety and effectiveness of CIMAvax-EGF administered in community polyclinics.

Unlabelled: In spite of the advances in immunotherapy and targeted therapies, lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related death. The epidermal growth factor receptor is an established target for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and its overactivation by the ligands can induce accelerated proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis as well as proinflammatory or immunosuppressive signals. CIMAvax-EGF is an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-depleting immunotherapy that is approved for the treatment of NSCLC patients in Cuba.

Surgical Antibiotic Prophylaxis: A Proposal for a Global Evidence-Based Bundle.

In the multimodal strategy context, to implement healthcare-associated infection prevention, bundles are one of the most commonly used methods to adapt guidelines in the local context and transfer best practices into routine clinical care. One of the most important measures to prevent surgical site infections is surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP). This narrative review aims to present a bundle for the correct SAP administration and evaluate the evidence supporting it.

A phase 3, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluation of the efficacy and safety of a SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike RBD protein vaccine in adults (ABDALA-3 study).

Background: The pandemic of COVID-19 raised the urgent need for safe and efficacious vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of a new SARS-CoV-2 virus receptor-binding domain (RBD) vaccine.

Methods: A phase 3, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was carried out at 18 clinical sites in three provinces of the south-eastern region of Cuba.

Nimotuzumab Concurrent with Gemcitabine as First-Line Treatment of Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

Background: Nimotuzumab exerts its antitumor effect (mainly antiproliferative, proapoptotic, and antiangiogenic) by blocking the epidermal growth factor receptor overexpressing between 30 and 95% in pancreatic tumors cells.

Methods: A prospective, nonrandomized, uncontrolled, open-label, and multicenter clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of nimotuzumab combined with gemcitabine as first-line treatment in unresectable locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic tumors in a real-world condition. Adverse events, their intensity, severity, and causality were determined using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE, version 4.

Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike RBD protein vaccine: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1-2 clinical trial (ABDALA Study).

Background: Multiple vaccine candidates against COVID-19 are currently being evaluated. We evaluate the safety and immunogenicity protein of a novel SARS-CoV-2 virus receptor-binding domain (RBD) vaccine.

Methods: A phase 1-2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was carried out in "Saturnino Lora" Hospital, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Cuba.

Introduction: With a global adult prevalence of 24%, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a global health problem that parallels the worldwide increase of obesity. Its frequency, clinical characteristics and related diseases in Cuba remain unknown.

Objective: Describe the clinical characteristics, comorbidities and personal habits of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease who are being treated in secondary and tertiary health facilities in seven Cuban provinces.

Dose-response study for the highly aggressive and metastatic primary F3II mammary carcinoma under direct current.

Electrochemical treatment has been suggested as an effective alternative to local cancer therapy. Nevertheless, its effectiveness decreases when highly aggressive primary tumors are treated. The aim of this research was to understand the growth kinetics of the highly aggressive and metastatic primary F3II tumor growing in male and female BALB/c/Cenp mice under electrochemical treatment.

[Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants. A new clinical entity?].

Recently Shoenfeld and Agmon-Levin proposed a new clinical entity called autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA), which includes four clinical entities called: 1) siliconosis, 2) Gulf War syndrome, 3) macrophage myofasciitis) and 4) post-vaccination phenomenon associated with adjuvants. They all have a common denominator: a prior exposure to immunoadjuvants, and, in addition, they also share several clinical criteria associated to chronic inflammation and autoimmune reactions. This proposal still needs to be validated by the scientific community, but nowadays is a topic of hot discussion in the literature and in various international conferences.

Is cancer a pure growth curve or does it follow a kinetics of dynamical structural transformation?

Background: Unperturbed tumor growth kinetics is one of the more studied cancer topics; however, it is poorly understood. Mathematical modeling is a useful tool to elucidate new mechanisms involved in tumor growth kinetics, which can be relevant to understand cancer genesis and select the most suitable treatment.

Methods: The classical Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami as well as the modified Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami models to describe unperturbed fibrosarcoma Sa-37 tumor growth are used and compared with the Gompertz modified and Logistic models.

Minimally Conscious State: Evolution of Concept, Diagnosis and Treatment.

The study of consciousness disorders is a scientific challenge, and clinical differentiation among the various sorts of alterations in consciousness is difficult. Persistent vegetative state was defined in 1972, but years later cases appeared in which diagnosed patients showed signs of cognitive activity, and therefore could not be considered vegetative. Minimally conscious state was defined in 2002.

A Phase III Clinical Trial of the Epidermal Growth Factor Vaccine CIMAvax-EGF as Switch Maintenance Therapy in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients.

Purpose: EGFR is a well-validated target for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). CIMAvax-EGF is a therapeutic cancer vaccine composed of human recombinant EGF conjugated to a carrier protein and Montanide ISA51 as adjuvant. The vaccine is intended to induce antibodies against self EGFs that block EGF-EGFR interaction.

Contributions of bioethics to health sector leadership.

Leadership is the perception or acceptance by members of a group of their superior's ability to inspire, influence and motivate them to meet their goals and contribute to the achievement of shared objectives. This article analyzes the characteristics of bioethics and the profile of the bioethicist in relation to the comprehensive development required of health leaders. We address this relationship in the areas of research and clinical practice; intersectoral activity; health sciences education; bioethicist's profile; and influence on organizational structures, functioning and decisionmaking, with particular reference to development and current situation of these aspects in Cuba.

[Peyronie's disease: treatment with interferon and laser].

Objectives: To evaluate comparatively the results of treatment with interferon, laser and their association in a group of patients with Peyronie's disease.

Methods: We performed an experimental study to evaluate the main results of the treatment of Peyronie's disease with interferon and laser, at Hospital Provincial Universitario "Saturnino Lora Torres" and Hospital General Universitario "Dr. Juan Bruno Zayas Alfonso" in the city of Santiago de Cuba from January 2003 to July 2005.

[External genitalia lymphedema. Case report].

Objectives: Penile and scrotal lymphedema produces a monstrous deformity with psychological impact and occasionally extreme mental anguish. The penis is buried in the scrotal tissue, deformed, thickened, edematous, and curved. The scrotum changes to a great, very thick, hard skin mass, sometimes cracked, exudative, and fetid.

[Buccoepithelial cytologic lesions in workers exposed to chemical products].

Objectives: Our aim was to describe the genetic and cytologic lesions induced by occupational exposition to chemicals (barley powder, carbon dioxide, ammonia, organic solvents, and welding vapors) and to correlate frequencies of appearance of buccoepithelial cytologic disorders with age and toxic habits.

Materials And Methods: This descriptive, transverse observational study was comprised of 77 male workers to obtain information concerning age, on-the-job seniority, time of exposure, direct and indirect exposure, use of breathing protection, and toxic habits. We used exfoliated cells of the buccal mucosa to estimate presence of chromosomal aberrations (micronuclei) and nuclear abnormalities (binucleation, pyknosis, condensed chromatin, and karyolysis).

[Supernumerary penis. Report of a case].

Objectives: To report the case of a newborn with a supernumerary penis. To make this extremely rare pathological entity known, although the newborn was not operated due to religious beliefs, so that histological evaluation was not performed.

Methods: We report the case of a newborn that was found to have a perianal malformation at the time of birth.

[Primary intracranial Ewing's sarcoma of the mastoid bone. A case report].

Introduction: Ewing s sarcoma (ES) is a tumorous process that is found mainly in long bones and the pelvis, but its primary location is not often the intracranial zone.

Case Report: We report the case of a 5 year old patient who visited surgery 30 days before hospital admission with increased volume of the left mastoid bone, torticollis, balance disorders and discoordinated movements. A computerised tomography brain scan confirmed our suspicions of a tumorous lesion that was destroying the left mastoid bone, and was invading the projection of the left hemispherium cerebri and edges of the brain stem (mid brain).

[Persistent vegetative state. Paradigm of current discussion on alterations of consciousness].

Introduction: The vegetative state is the current paradigm of discussions about the alterations of conscience.

Development: Although accepted by most investigators, it is still controversial. The dilemma starts with the denomination itself.

[Reactive hepatitis caused by the hemorrhagic dengue virus].

A descriptive lengthwise and prospective study of 37 patients with reactive hepatitis caused by hemorrhagic dengue virus, who were clinically humorally and ecographically followed up for one year, was made to characterize the disease and its development. The results were analyzed as percentages and yielded the predominance of the morbid process in females and young people and of fever as a symptom and hepatomegalia as a sign. Thrombocytopenia and increased hematocrit followed transaminanse levels as the most altered lab values whereas the perivesicular edema was the most striking element from the echographic viewpoint.

[Standards for carrying out and interpreting visual evoked potentials in children].

Introduction: An essential step, prior to the introduction into paediatric practice of visual evoked potentials (VEP) caused by stimulation with light emitting diodes (LED) is their description at different stages of maturity of the nervous system.

Patients And Methods: We obtained VEP to LED in a group of 60 children aged between 1 and 5 years, who were functionally healthy and equally distributed with regard to age and sex. In each case we recorded the responses to monocular stimulation (right and left), binocular stimulation and without stimulation (replicas of each condition).