Evaluation of an F Protein-Based Recombinant Protein for Immunization Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most important etiologies of acute respiratory infections that cause bronchiolitis in children under 5 years of age. Treatments are expensive, no vaccine is available, and this is an important cause of hospitalization. Costimulatory molecules have been reported to be good inducers of antiviral type 1 immune response.

Bone Turnover Markers Predict Changes in Bone Mineral Density in Men Treated with Abaloparatide: Results from ATOM.

Early increases in bone turnover markers (BTMs) in response to anabolic therapy correlate with 18-month bone mineral density (BMD) increases in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; however, this relationship has not been assessed in men. In this analysis, the correlation between changes from baseline in fasting intact serum procollagen type I N propeptide (PINP) and serum carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months and percent increase from baseline in BMD at 12 months in men from the randomized phase 3 ATOM study (NCT03512262) were evaluated using Pearson's correlation coefficients. The uncoupling index (UI), a measure of the balance between markers of bone formation (PINP) and bone resorption (CTX), with positive UI favoring bone formation, was calculated.

Country-specific key lifestyle factors and health outcomes for resource allocation in the general population: a network analysis across 29 countries.

Background: We aimed to identify the central lifestyle, the most impactful among lifestyle factor clusters; the central health outcome, the most impactful among health outcome clusters; and the bridge lifestyle, the most strongly connected to health outcome clusters, across 29 countries to optimise resource allocation for local holistic health improvements.

Methods: From July 2020 to August 2021, we surveyed 16 461 adults across 29 countries who self-reported changes in 18 lifestyle factors and 13 health outcomes due to the pandemic. Three networks were generated by network analysis for each country: lifestyle, health outcome, and bridge networks.

A systemic evaluation of COVID-19 vaccination drives in LICs, LMICs, UMICs, and HICs: Preparedness for future pandemics.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted global healthcare systems. Vaccination is an effective strategy to battle the disease. Policies and distribution frameworks have varied widely across countries.

How Does Landscape Structure Affect Dung Beetle Assemblages in Amazon Cities?

The growth of cities is one of the main direct and indirect factors responsible for the loss of native vegetation cover. Urbanization directly affects the biological communities inhabiting forest remnants inserted in cities, compromising the maintenance of urban and natural ecosystems. By understanding the effects of landscape transformation due to urbanization, we can have insights regarding the distribution of land uses that allow a proper maintenance of the urban ecosystems.

Development of a Novel Intraperitoneal Icodextrin/Dextrose Solution for Enhanced Sodium Removal.

Rationale & Objective: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions provide both clearance of uremic toxins and sodium and water. An intraperitoneal (IP) solution of icodextrin and glucose designed without the requirement for uremic toxin clearance could provide substantially greater sodium and water removal than PD solutions.

Study Design: We examined varying concentrations of icodextrin and dextrose IP solutions in rats.

Successful Surgical Management of Giant, Shamblin III Carotid Body Tumor (CBT) on a Male With 5 Years of Follow-Up: Case Report and Literature Review on Giant CBT.

Background: Carotid body tumor (CBT) is a rare neoplasm that arises from the chemoreceptor cells located at the carotid bifurcation. Giant CBTs are extremely rare, with only 16 cases reported to date.

Case Summary: A 63-year-old male with an unremarkable medical history presented with a right-sided, giant, Shamblin III CBT.

Household water security is a mediator of household food security in a nationally representative sample of Mexico.

Objective: Explore the relationship between water insecurity and food security and their covariates in Mexican households.

Design: A cross-sectional study with nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey-Continuous 2021 (in Spanish, ENSANUT-Continua 2021), collected data from 12,619 households.

Setting: Water insecurity was measured using the Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) Scale in Spanish and adapted to the Mexican context.

Functional genotype classification groups distinguish disease severity in recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is a genetic disorder due to pathogenic variants in the COL7A1 gene. In this study we determined the association between different categories of COL7A1 variants and clinical disease severity in 236 RDEB patients in North America. Published reports or in-silico predictions were used to assess the impact of pathogenic variants in COL7A1 on type VII collagen (C7) protein function.

Control of Permanent Porosity in Type 3 Porous Liquids via Solvent Clustering.

Porous liquids (PLs) are an exciting new class of materials for carbon capture due to their high gas adsorption capacity and ease of industrial implementation. They are composed of sorbent particles suspended in a nonadsorbed solvent, forming a liquid with permanent porosity. While PLs have a vast number of potential compositions based on the number of solvents and sorbent materials available, most of the research has been focused on the selection of the sorbent rather than the solvent.

Mind the gap in kidney care: Translating what we know into what we do.

Historically, it takes an average of 17 years to move new treatments from clinical evidence to daily practice. Given the highly effective treatments now available to prevent or delay kidney disease onset and progression, this is far too long. The time is now to narrow the gap between what we know and what we do.

Public hospital-based care for abortive events in Mexico: complication rates and socio-demographic factors, 2018-2022.

Background: Abortion-related complications are difficult to measure due to lack of standardized definitions and limited available data. We describe the proportion of abortive events that result in a documented complication in Mexico's public sector hospitals.

Methods: We used ICD-10 codes from Mexico's hospital discharge system (2018-2022), Subsistema Automatizado de Egresos Hospitalarios (SAEH), to describe abortive events admitted to hospitals: complications for excessive bleeding, infection, embolism, and unspecified; patient socio-demographic and clinical characteristics; and municipality-level structural vulnerability.

Patient Perspectives on the Psychosocial Impact of Chronic Pelvic Pain and Implications for Integrated Behavioral Care Approaches.

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a medically complex, multifaceted gynecological condition associated with psychological comorbidities and sexual trauma among women. Low rates of positive treatment outcomes underscore the need to better understand complex relationships between CPP, trauma exposure, and the psychosocial context of patients' lives. We conducted a secondary analysis of English and Spanish qualitative interviews with female-identity patients (N = 48) about CPP's impact on psychosocial well-being.

Shaping current European mitochondrial haplogroup frequency in response to infection: the case of SARS-CoV-2 severity.

The frequency of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (mtDNA-HG) in humans is known to be shaped by migration and repopulation. Mounting evidence indicates that mtDNA-HG are not phenotypically neutral, and selection may contribute to its distribution. Haplogroup H, the most abundant in Europe, improved survival in sepsis.

The blood pressure lowering effect of beetroot juice is impaired in periodontitis and recovered after periodontal treatment.

We have previously demonstrated that subgingival levels of nitrate-reducing bacteria, as well as the in vitro salivary nitrate reduction capacity (NRC), were diminished in periodontitis patients, increasing after periodontal treatment. However, it remains unclear if an impaired NRC in periodontitis can affect systemic health. To determine this, the effect of nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BRJ) on blood pressure was determined in 15 periodontitis patients before and 70 days after periodontal treatment (i.

Tip-to-base bark cross-sectional areas contribute to understanding the drivers of carbon allocation to bark and the functional roles of bark tissues.

Along their lengths, stems experience different functional demands. Because bark and wood traits are usually studied at single points on stems, it remains unclear how carbon allocation changes along tip-to-base trajectories across species. We examined bark vs wood allocation by measuring cross-sectional areas of outer and inner bark (OB and IB), IB regions (secondary phloem, cortex, and phelloderm), and wood from stem tips to bases of 35 woody angiosperm species of diverse phylogenetic lineages, climates, fire regimes, and bark morphologies.

Harnessing nature's palette: Exploring photosynthetic pigments for sustainable biotechnology.

Photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, microalgae, and anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (APB) have emerged as sustainable and economic biotechnology platforms due to their ability to transform energy from light into chemicals through photosynthesis. The light is absorbed by photosynthetic pigment-protein antenna complexes which are composed of pigments such as bacteriochlorophylls (BChl) and carotenoids in APB, and chlorophylls (Chl), phycobiliproteins (PBP), and carotenoids in cyanobacteria and microalgae. These photosynthetic pigments are essential in the physiology of photosynthetic microorganisms and offer significant health benefits due to their potent antioxidant activity, with properties that include anticancer, antiaging, antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects.

The trait-specific timing of accelerated genomic change in the human lineage.

Humans exhibit distinct characteristics compared to our primate and ancient hominin ancestors. To investigate genomic bursts in the evolution of these traits, we use two complementary approaches to examine enrichment among genome-wide association study loci spanning diseases and AI-based image-derived brain, heart, and skeletal tissue phenotypes with genomic regions reflecting four evolutionary divergence points. These regions cover epigenetic differences among humans and rhesus macaques, human accelerated regions (HARs), ancient selective sweeps, and Neanderthal-introgressed alleles.

AQuA-P: A machine learning-based tool for water quality assessment.

This study addresses the critical challenge of assessing the quality of groundwater and surface water, which are essential resources for various societal needs. The main contribution of this study is the application of machine learning models for evaluating water quality, using a national database from Mexico that includes groundwater, lotic (flowing), lentic (stagnant), and coastal water quality parameters. Notably, no comparable water quality classification system currently exists.

PFAS contamination in tap water: Target and suspect screening of zwitterionic, cationic, and anionic species across Canada and beyond.

This study investigated the occurrence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including anionic, cationic, and zwitterionic compounds, in drinking water. Between 2021-2023, an expanded list of 76 target PFAS was screened in tap water samples mainly from Canada, but also including tap water samples from the Eastern United States, Mexico, South America (Argentina), the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Cuba), Africa (Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Morocco, Rwanda, Tunisia), Europe (France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and Asia (Japan, Vietnam, Iran, and Türkiye). An additional ∼ 200 suspect-target PFAS were screened using high-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry.

Rural Surgery Experiences in General Surgery Residency Training-The Current State an ACGME Sponsored Survey of General Surgery Program Directors.

Objective: Nationwide there is a significant shortage of surgeons in rural communities, which has led to a growing interest in training more general surgeons specifically for entry into rural practice. Despite noble intentions, exactly how this training should be performed is unclear, and highly variable across programs. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Surgery Residency Review Committee (RRC) sought to better understand the current state of rural focused training options in general surgery residencies.

Complications in transgender patients undergoing vaginoplasty procedure.

Objective: To report the statistics of complications in gender reassignment surgery (vaginoplasty) observed in the first surgical center in Mexico for public transgender surgery.

Method: We conducted a descriptive, observational study of patients treated and postoperatively underwent vaginoplasty surgery in the period 2019 to 2022. Intraoperative, immediate and late complications were evaluated.

[Initial experience of minimally invasive liver resection at a reference center in Mexico].

Objective: Minimally invasive liver resection is employed worldwide for the management of benign and malignant liver lesions. There is no description of postoperative outcomes in the Mexican population. This study aims to report the initial experience in Mexico.

Food for Cancer Health Equity: A Qualitative Study Among People With Cancer Who Are Low-Income, Latino or Hispanic, Immigrant, and Individuals With Multiple Minoritized Races and Ethnicities.

Purpose: Food insecurity is prevalent among patients with cancer. Gaps in our understanding of preferences for food assistance among Latino or Hispanic, immigrant, and people with multiple races and ethnicities limit uptake of food assistance interventions among these populations. We aimed to deeply understand the needs and preferences and barriers to food assistance intervention uptake among low-income, predominantly Latino or Hispanic, immigrant, and people with multiple races and ethnicities and cancer to inform development of tailored interventions.

Recent advances in HPV biotechnology: Understanding host-virus interactions and cancer progression-a review.

Cervical cancer ranks as the fourth most common cancer among women globally, posing a significant mortality risk. Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary instigator of cervical cancer development, often alongside co-infection with other viruses, precipitating various malignancies. This study aimed to explore recent biotechnological advances in understanding HPV infection dynamics, host interactions, and its role in oncogenesis.