Overweight, Obesity, and Age Are the Main Determinants of Cardiovascular Risk Aggregation in the Current Mexican Population: The FRIMEX III Study.

Background: The Mexican population exhibits several cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) including high blood pressure (HBP), dysglycemia, dyslipidemia, overweight, and obesity. This study is an extensive observation of the most important CVFRs in six of the most populated cities in Mexico. Methods: In a cohort of 297,370 participants (54% female, mean age 43 ± 12.6 years), anthropometric (body mass index (BMI)), metabolic (glycemia and total cholesterol (TC)), and blood pressure (BP) data were obtained. Results: From age 40, 40% and 30% of the cohort's participants were overweight or obese, respectively. HBP was found in 27% of participants. However, only 8% of all hypertensive patients were controlled. Fifty percent of the subjects 50 years and older were hypercholesterolemic. Glycemia had a constant linear relation with age. BMI had a linear correlation with SBP, glycemia, and TC, with elevated coefficients in all cases and genders. The ß1 coefficient for BMI was more significant in all equations than the other ß, indicating that it greatly influences the other CVRFs. Conclusions: TC, glycemia, and SBP, the most critical atherogenic factors, are directly related to BMI.

Effect of Heterotheca inuloides essential oil on rat cytoskeleton articular chondrocytes.

Osteoarthritis is characterised by progressive loss of articular cartilage through the increase of catabolic metalloproteinases, and chondrocyte cytoskeleton disruption has also been reported. In this regard, we studied the effect of Heterotheca inuloides essential oil (HIEO) on the distribution and immunolocalisation of actin, vimentin and tubulin of chondrocytes from cultured rat articular cartilage explants in the presence of the cytoskeleton disassembly agent acrylamide. After 48 h, chondrocytes treated with acrylamide showed changes in actin immunolocalisation and shrinkage, loss of tubulin compartmentalisation and vimentin collapse and redistribution. However, the immunostaining pattern of these three proteins in acrylamide- and HIEO-treated chondrocytes simultaneously retained their typical characteristics. These results suggest that HIEO promotes protein cytoskeleton reorganisation without providing a preventive effect of acrylamide-associated disassembly. However, it is also possible that HIEO prevents vimentin disorganisation by chemical interaction with acrylamide.

RXRα deletion and E6E7 oncogene expression are sufficient to induce cervical malignant lesions in vivo.

Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. High-Risk-Human Papillomaviruses (HR-HPVs) play an important etiologic role in the development of carcinoma of the uterine cervix. However, host factors are important in determining the outcome of genital HPV infection as most cervical precancerous lesions containing HR-HPVs do not progress to invasive carcinomas. Retinoids, acting through nuclear receptors (RARs, RXRs), play a crucial role in cervix development and homeostasis regulating growth and differentiation of a wide variety of cell types; indeed, they can inhibit cell proliferation, and induce cell differentiation or apoptotic cell death. Here we introduce a mouse model that develops spontaneously malignant cervical lesions allowing the study of the cooperative effect between HPV16E6E7 expression and the lack of RXRα in cervical cancer development. This model could be useful to study multistep carcinogenesis of uterine cervix tissue and might improve chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic strategies for this neoplasia.

In vivo programmed cell death of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites in a hamster model of amoebic liver abscess.

Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites can induce host cell apoptosis, which correlates with the virulence of the parasite. This phenomenon has been seen during the resolution of an inflammatory response and the survival of the parasites. Other studies have shown that E. histolytica trophozoites undergo programmed cell death (PCD) in vitro, but how this process occurs within the mammalian host cell remains unclear. Here, we studied the PCD of E. histolytica trophozoites as part of an in vivo event related to the inflammatory reaction and the host-parasite interaction. Morphological study of amoebic liver abscesses showed only a few E. histolytica trophozoites with peroxidase-positive nuclei identified by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase enzyme-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL). To better understand PCD following the interaction between amoebae and inflammatory cells, we designed a novel in vivo model using a dialysis bag containing E. histolytica trophozoites, which was surgically placed inside the peritoneal cavity of a hamster and left to interact with the host's exudate components. Amoebae collected from bags were then examined by TUNEL assay, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and transmission electron microscopy. Nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation of E. histolytica trophozoites were observed after exposure to peritoneal exudates, which were mainly composed of neutrophils and macrophages. Our results suggest that production of nitric oxide by inflammatory cells could be involved in PCD of trophozoites. In this modified in vivo system, PCD appears to play a prominent role in the host-parasite interaction and parasite cell death.

A 176 amino acid polypeptide derived from the mumps virus HN ectodomain shows immunological and biological properties similar to the HN protein.

BACKGROUND: The hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein is the major antigenic determinant of the Mumps virus (MuV) and plays an important role in the viral infectious cycle through its hemagglutination/hemadsorption (HA/HD) and neuraminidase (NA) activities. OBJECTIVE: analyze the biological and immunological properties of a polypeptide derived from a highly conserved region of the HN ectodomain. METHODS: a highly conserved region of the HN gene among several MuV genotypes was chosen to be cloned in a eukaryotic expression vector. The pcDNAHN176-construct was transfected into Vero cells and RNA expression was detected by RT-PCR, while the corresponding polypeptide was detected by immunofluorescence and immunochemistry techniques. The HD and NA activities were also measured. The immunogenic properties of the construct were evaluated using two systems: rabbit immunization to obtain sera for detection of the HN protein and neutralization of MuV infection, and hamster immunization to evaluate protection against MuV infection. RESULTS: A 567 nucleotide region from the HN gene was amplified and cloned into the plasmid pcDNA3.1. Vero cells transfected with the construct expressed a polypeptide that was recognized by a MuV-hyperimmune serum. The construct-transfected cells showed HD and NA activities. Sera from immunized rabbits in vitro neutralized two different MuV genotypes and also detected both the HN protein and the HN176 polypeptide by western blot. Hamsters immunized with the pcDNAHN176-construct and challenged with MuV showed a mild viral infection in comparison to non-immunized animals, and Th1 and Th2 cytokines were detected in them. CONCLUSIONS: The pcDNAHN176-construct was capable of expressing a polypeptide in Vero cells that was identified by a hyperimmune serum anti Mumps virus, and these cells showed the HD and NA activities of the complete MuV HN protein. The construct also elicited a specific immune response against MuV infection in hamsters.