Fighting for inclusion across borders: Latin American Trans women's health in Canada.

Background: Worldwide, Trans women from Latin America experience some of the highest rates of violence, which has led many to emigrate. There is limited research exploring the experiences of Trans migrants, and most LGBTQI2S + migrant research focuses on immigrant gay men. This study uses the frameworks of Intersectionality and the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) to examine the impact of migration on the health and wellbeing of Latin American Trans women living in Toronto, Canada. Methodology: This qualitative arts-based study included nine participants and used hand mapping, a sociodemographic questionnaire, and focus groups to generate data. Data analysis encompassed inductive and deductive approaches and rigor was maintained through reflexivity and several verification strategies. Results: While migration was used as a safety strategy, participants' multiple identities as immigrants, Trans women, and Latinas, produced compounded experiences of oppression post-migration. Facing transphobia and xenophobia simultaneously, participants were forced to navigate precarious housing and employment, minimal social capital, and low social position. This limited their ability to exercise power and ultimately caused poor health and wellbeing post-migration; however, participants used sophisticated strategies to resist asymmetrical power relations, actively searching for safety and community participation, and caring for themselves and each other. Conclusion: The participants fought for inclusion across borders of economic exclusion and gender identity, borders of power and social position, as well as geopolitical borders. Their intersectional experiences across these "borders" should be understood in the context of migration without liberation, consumption without income, compounding oppressions, as well as positive intersectionality. While the women's resistance and strength are positive by-products of fighting oppression, they cannot be the solution. Access to health and wellbeing should not be a privilege for some; it must be a right for all.

Nuclear lipid droplets: a novel nuclear domain.

We investigated nuclear neutral-lipid (NL) composition and organization, as NL may represent an alternative source for providing fatty acids and cholesterol (C) to membranes, signaling paths, and transcription factors in the nucleus. We show here that nuclear NL were organized into nonpolar domains in the form of nuclear-lipid droplets (nLD). By fluorescent confocal microscopy, representative nLD were observed in situ within the nuclei of rat hepatocytes in vivo and HepG2 cells, maintained under standard conditions in culture, and within nuclei isolated from rat liver. nLD were resistant to Triton X-100 and became stained with Sudan Red, OsO4, and BODIPY493/503. nLD and control cytosolic-lipid droplets (cLD) were isolated from rat-liver nuclei and from homogenates, respectively, by sucrose-gradient sedimentation. Lipids were extracted, separated by thin-layer chromatography, and quantified. nLD were composed of 37% lipids and 63% proteins. The nLD lipid composition was as follows: 19% triacylglycerols (TAG), 39% cholesteryl esters, 27% C, and 15% polar lipids; whereas the cLD composition contained different proportions of these same lipid classes, in particular 91% TAG. The TAG fatty acids from both lipid droplets were enriched in oleic, linoleic, and palmitic acids. The TAG from the nLD corresponded to a small pool, whereas the TAG from the cLD constituted the main cellular pool (at about 100% yield from the total homogenate). In conclusion, nLD are a domain within the nucleus where NL are stored and organized and may be involved in nuclear lipid homeostasis.

Cervical scrapes levels of insulin-like growth factor-II and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 in women with squamous intraepithelial lesions and cervical cancer.

A growing number of studies have demonstrated an association between serum levels of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) and increased risk for various cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between levels of IGF-II or IGFBP-3 in cervical scrapes with cervical cancer and precancerous lesions: low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). 4 groups of cases were examined: LSIL (n=20), HSIL (n=28), cervical cancer (n=45), and controls (n=51). Control subjects were women with normal, HPV DNA-negative Papanicolau (Pap) test. IGF-II and IGFBP-3 levels in cervical scrapes were measured by ELISA. Results show that median protein levels of IGF-II were significantly lower in cervical cancer cases vs. controls (446.5 ng/mg vs. 1,168.6 ng/mg, p<0.001). Significantly higher values of IGFBP-3 were found in HSIL vs. controls (median: 549.5 ng/mg vs. 216 ng/mg; p=0.018), and were not affected by HR HPV infection, meanwhile no significant differences were observed in IGFBP-3 levels between LSIL or cervical cancer as compared to controls. These data suggests that the progression to cervical cancer is associated with alterations in the IGF system and not affected by HR HPV infection. More studies are needed to understand the possible role of IGFBP-3 in cervical carcinogenesis.

Differential expression of IGF-I and insulin receptor isoforms in HPV positive and negative human cervical cancer cell lines.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main risk factor for cervical cancer; however, some carcinomas occur in the absence of the virus. IGF-IR and an isoform of the insulin receptor, IR-A, play important roles in cancer. In this study we assessed the role of the IGF/insulin receptors in cervical cancer cell lines with different HPV status, SiHa (HPV positive), and C33a (HPV negative). Different patterns of receptor expression were found; while SiHa expressed IGF-IR, IR-A and IR-B, and IR/IGF-IR hybrid receptors, C33a cells expressed the IR-A only. Tyrosine phosphorylation of these receptors in response to their corresponding ligands correlated with the expression level of these receptors in the cell lines. Activation of PI3-K and MAPK pathways was revealed in both cell lines, however, no effects on proliferation, migration, or invasion were observed. Here we show that cervical cancer cell lines--positive and negative for HPV--differ in the type of insulin and IGF-1 receptors expressed. Additional studies are needed for characterization of the role of IR-A in cervical carcinogenesis.

Cáncer de mama en hombres: aspectos clínicos fundamentales / Basic and clinical aspects of male breast cancer

El cáncer mama masculino es poco común. El número de casos de carcinomas de mama en hombres es inferior al 1 por ciento, siendo la edad promedio al momento del diagnóstico entre 60 y 70 años, aunque este puede afectar a hombres de todas las edades. Los factores que predisponen al riesgo parecen incluir la exposición a la radiación, la administración de estrógenos y las enfermedades relacionadas con el hiperestrogenismo, como la cirrosis o el síndrome de Klinefelter. También existen tendencias familiares que son definitivas, habiéndose observados una incidencia mayor entre los hombres que tienen familiares femeninas con cáncer de mama. La patología es similar a la del cáncer femenino, y el cáncer ductal infiltrante el tipo de tumor más común. El compromiso de los ganglios linfáticos y el patrón hematógeno de diseminación son similares a los que se encuentran en el cáncer de mama femenino. Entre los factores pronóstico que se han evaluado se encuentra la etapa al momento del diagnóstico y la presencia o ausencia de compromisos de ganglios linfáticos. La sobrevida general es similar a la de las mujeres con cáncer de mama. La creencia de que el cáncer de mama masculino tiene un pronóstico más precario puede proceder de la tendencia al diagnóstico en etapas más tardías.

Diagnóstico clínico en apendicitis aguda: una evaluación prospectiva / Assessment of clinical signs and symptoms in patients with acute appendicitis

Siendo la apendicitis aguda un cuadro de alta frecuencia en los servicios de urgencias y siendo el diagnóstico de esta patología principalmente clínico, resulta importante evaluar cuál de las distintas manifestaciones que presentan los pacientes tienen mayor relevancia dentro del diagnóstico, para poder así intentar mejorar el rendimiento de este. Con el objetivo de analizar la validez de cada uno de los síntomas clínicos de la apendicitis aguda descritos por Alvarado en su score ¹, se siguieron en forma prospectiva a 323 pacientes ingresados en el Hospital Barros Luco Trudeau, entre el 3 de junio y el 3 de diciembre de 2003, con el diagnóstico presuntivo de apendicitis aguda. A estos pacientes se los ingresó a un protocolo de estudio donde se consignaron parámetros clínicos, hallazgos intraoperatorios y resultados histológicos, el que fue considerado como gold standard para el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda. Las variables clínicas se ingresaron a un modelo de regresión logística para determinar la importancia de cada una de ellas en relación al diagnóstico histopatológico de apendicitis aguda. El diagnóstico de ingreso se confirmó por histopatología en el 78,63 por ciento de los pacientes, los que correspondieron a un 51,7 por ciento mujeres y 48,3 por ciento hombres. La distribución de los síntomas entre grupo con apendicitis y sin apendicitis fue similar. Al aplicar el modelo de regresión logística, la migración del dolor fue el único parámetro con significancia estadística. Se concluye, que variable dentro del diagnóstico clínico debe ser considerada con mayor relevancia que el resto.

Changes in tyrosine phosphorylation associated with true capacitation and capacitation-like state in boar spermatozoa.

Capacitation is defined as a series of events that render boar sperm competent to fertilize, either in vivo or in vitro. Moreover, preliminary stages of cryopreservation of spermatozoa involving cooling to 5 degrees C have been shown to induce capacitation-like changes in boar spermatozoa. Capacitation of boar spermatozoa is accompanied by protein phosphorylation, however the relationship between both processes is poorly understood. Capacitation status was assessed by chlortetracycline (CTC) staining. Changes in protein tyrosine phosphorylation were examined in pre-cleared whole cell lysates using a specific anti-phosphotyrosine monoclonal antibody. Our results in boar spermatozoa show a significant positive correlation between p32 tyrosine phosphorylation levels and percentage of capacitated (CTC pattern B) spermatozoa. Moreover, incubation of boar spermatozoa with two unrelated tyrosine kinase inhibitors induces a significant reduction in the percentages of capacitated and acrosome-reacted (AR) boar spermatozoa and a reduction in the p32 tyrosine phosphorylation. In our conditions, cooling boar spermatozoa to 5 degrees C and rewarming to 39 degrees C in a noncapacitating medium results in similar CTC staining patterns to those obtained after incubation of boar sperm for 1 or 4 hr at 39 degrees C in a capacitating medium. However, cooled-rewarmed fails to induce an increase in p32 tyrosine phosphorylation in boar spermatozoa. Moreover, CTC staining patterns of cooled-rewarmed spermatozoa do not change after incubation with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In conclusion, our results show a direct relationship between capacitation and tyrosine phosphorylation and suggest that p32 tyrosine phosphorylation levels could be used as a marker of the true capacitation changes observed in boar spermatozoa. Moreover, our results show that true capacitation and capacitation-like changes induced after cooling involve alternative intracellular tyrosine phosphorylation pathways in boar spermatozoa.

Metabolism of gammalinolenic acid by human blood platelet microsomes.

The microsomal fraction was used to test the ability of human platelets to metabolize gammalinolenic acid. The microsomal delta 6 and delta 5 fatty acid desaturase activities were measured and the incorporation of [14C]malonyl CoA into prostaglandins was also determined. The results indicate that human platelets have the capacity to elongate gammalinolenic acid (18:3 n-6) to dihomogammalinolenic acid (20:3 n-6) precursor of PGE1. Labeled PGE1 could be detected when human platelets microsomes were incubated with [14C]malonyl CoA in the presence of gammalinolenic acid. The results also show that human platelet microsomes have little delta 6 or delta 5 desaturase enzyme activity.