Correction to: Alterations in bacterial communities, SCFA and biomarkers in an elderly HIV-positive and HIV-negative population in western Mexico.

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Alterations in bacterial communities, SCFA and biomarkers in an elderly HIV-positive and HIV-negative population in western Mexico.

BACKGROUND: The study of stool microbiota has taken great relevance in the last years, given its role in the maintenance of the intestinal metabolic, physiological, and immunological homeostasis, as well as, its effect over HIV biomarkers levels such as CD4/CD8 ratio, high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP), related to poor outcomes (rapid progression to AIDS). Several efforts have been made to characterize the gut microbiome. In HIV infection, most of the studies report the presence of a dysbiotic pattern; however, few of them have made an approach in elderly HIV-positive subjects despite the fact that nowadays this subgroup is rising. In this study, we compared the composition of faecal microbiota, Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs), and systemic biomarkers between elderly HIV-positive and HIV-negative subjects. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 18 HIV-negative controls and 20 HIV-positive patients. The quantification of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Lactobacillus, Enterobacteriaceae, Bifidobacterium, Escherichia coli, Clostridium leptum, Clostridium coccoides was performed in faecal samples by qPCR. The analysis was performed by calculating the ΔCq of each microorganism using 16S rDNA as a reference gene. Faecal SCFAs were measured by HPLC. The hs-CRP and sCD14 were performed by ELISA. RESULTS: An increase in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, coupled with a significant increase in the proteobacteria phylum was detected in HIV-positive subjects. In contrast, a decrease in the Clostridium leptum group was observed. Nevertheless, these elderly HIV-positive patients showed higher levels of total SCFAs mainly by an augmented propionic acid values, compared to HIV-negative subjects. Whereas high levels of hs-CRP were positively correlated with sCD14 in the HIV-positive group. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in bacterial communities reveals a dysbiotic state related to an unbalance of faecal SCFAs. Therefore, these intestinal conditions might drive an increase of poor prognostic biomarkers in elderly HIV-positive subjects.

A hybrid mathematical modeling approach of the metabolic fate of a fluorescent sphingolipid analogue to predict cancer chemosensitivity.

Sphingolipid (SL) metabolism is a complex biological system that produces and transforms ceramides and other molecules able to modulate other cellular processes, including survival or death pathways key to cell fate decisions. This signaling pathway integrates several types of stress signals, including chemotherapy, into changes in the activity of its metabolic enzymes, altering thereby the cellular composition of bioactive SLs. Therefore, the SL pathway is a promising sensor of chemosensitivity in cancer and a target hub to overcome resistance. However, there is still a gap in our understanding of how chemotherapeutic drugs can disturb the SL pathway in order to control cellular fate. We propose to bridge this gap by a systems biology approach to integrate i) a dynamic model of SL analogue (BODIPY-FL fluorescent-sphingomyelin analogue, SM-BOD) metabolism, ii) a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) of the fluorescence features to identify how the SL pathway senses the effect of chemotherapy and iii) a fuzzy logic model (FLM) to associate SL composition with cell viability by semi-quantitative rules. Altogether, this hybrid model approach was able to predict the cell viability of double experimental perturbations with chemotherapy, indicating that the SL pathway is a promising sensor to design strategies to overcome drug resistance in cancer.

Multiple fibroepithelial basal cell carcinoma of Pinkus associated with seborrheic keratosis in a nevoid distribution.

We describe a patient with multiple fibroepithelial basal-cell carcinoma (FEBCC) associated with seborrheic keratosis distributed in a neviform fashion on the left side of the body and clinically resembling skin tags.

Lesiones urutrales por herida de arma de fuego/presentación de 2 casos / Uretral lesions due to firearm wounds/presentation of 2 cases

Se presentan dos casos de lesión uretral en pacientes que sufrieron heridas abdominales por arma de fuego durante 1996, y se revisa la literatura internacional sobre el tema. Nuestra pequeña experiencia coincide con la de otros autores en destacar que se trata de lesiones poco frecuentes, clínicamente silentes y que generalmente se reconocen sólo en el postoperatorio de las exploraciones abdominales de urgencia. Se expone la conducta dignóstica y terapéutica seguida en estos casos, y se discuten otros tipos de lesiones uretrales(AU)

Lesiones urutrales por herida de arma de fuego/presentación de 2 casos / Uretral lesions due to firearm wounds/presentation of 2 cases

Se presentan dos casos de lesión uretral en pacientes que sufrieron heridas abdominales por arma de fuego durante 1996, y se revisa la literatura internacional sobre el tema. Nuestra pequeña experiencia coincide con la de otros autores en destacar que se trata de lesiones poco frecuentes, clínicamente silentes y que generalmente se reconocen sólo en el postoperatorio de las exploraciones abdominales de urgencia. Se expone la conducta dignóstica y terapéutica seguida en estos casos, y se discuten otros tipos de lesiones uretrales

[Development of a system for epidemiologic surveillance for the XVII Central American and Caribbean Sport Games, Puerto Rico, 1993]. / Diseño de un sistema de vigilancia epidemiológica para los XVII Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Puerto Rico, 1993.

The probability of recording infectious diseases and injuries to the musculoskeletal system during sports events with a large number of participants is very high. From an historical perspective the distribution and trends of diseases that have an impact on public health have been evaluated by means of epidemiological surveillance systems. However, the application of these epidemiological methods to sports medicine is relatively recent. The utilization of an epidemiological surveillance system during sports events with a large number of participating athletes and countries has been reported in a limited number of competitions. In this article we describe the design of a system for epidemiological surveillance utilized during the XVII Central American and Caribbean Sports Games held in Puerto Rico in 1993, as an example of a surveillance system that could be regularly established in this type of event.

[Description of morbidity notified in the epidemiologic surveillance system of the XVII Central American and Caribbean Sport Games, Puerto Rico, 1993]. / Descripción de la morbilidad reportada en el sistema de vigilancia epidemiológica de los XVII Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Puerto Rico, 1993.

The objective of the epidemiological surveillance system for the XVII Central American and Caribbean Sports Games in 1993 in Puerto Rico was to estimate the morbidity related to infectious diseases and sports injuries during the competitions. In the village hospital a total of 794 medical consultations were reported; 57.7% of the patients were athletes. Among athletes, the rate of consultation was 10.4 for every 100 participants. The consultations were more frequent in males (535, 67.4%). The analysis by country of origin revealed that the athletes from Guatemala (42, 9.2%) and Jamaica (35, 7.6%) used the services more frequently. The incidence of consultations by sport was higher in field hockey (47, 10.3%), followed by athletics (46, 10%), and softball (36, 7.9%). The most frequent diagnoses were injuries--302, 38.04%; of these 229 (75.8%) were athletes--,conditions of the respiratory system (180, 22.67%), problems of the skin and mucous membranes (85, 10.71%), and problems of the gastrointestinal tract (56, 7.05%). The severity of the majority of the conditions was mild and required primary care health professionals.

[Teratology and epidemiology in the study of environmental teratogens]. / La teratología y la epidemiología en el estudio de los teratógenos ambientales.

The processes of cellular migration, cellular differentiation and cellular multiplication are studied, since these are the basic developmental processes upon which teratogenic agents act resulting in congenital malformations. We also carefully analyze the interactions between teratogen-embryo in order to establish adequate parameters for analysis of environmental teratogens, as well as experimental teratogenesis and epidemiology. Information on the pathogenesis of congenital malformations obtained from experimental teratology in an adequate biological model, can be extrapolated to the human. The etiology of congenital malformations resulting from environmental teratogens can only be elucidated through epidemiology, since there is species specificity. Such a study must fulfill the following prerequisites: diagnosis of the congenital malformation, ruling out genetic factors in the family tree and determination of the exact time of exposure to the possible teratogen during the pregnancy.