Patterns of Chromosomal Instability and Clonal Heterogeneity in Luminal B Breast Cancer: A Pilot Study.

Chromosomal instability (CIN), defined by variations in the number or structure of chromosomes from cell to cell, is recognized as a distinctive characteristic of cancer associated with the ability of tumors to adapt to challenging environments. CIN has been recognized as a source of genetic variation that leads to clonal heterogeneity (CH). Recent findings suggest a potential association between CIN and CH with the prognosis of BC patients, particularly in tumors expressing the epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2+). In fact, information on the role of CIN in other BC subtypes, including luminal B BC, is limited. Additionally, it remains unknown whether CIN in luminal B BC tumors, above a specific threshold, could have a detrimental effect on the growth of human tumors or whether low or intermediate CIN levels could be linked to a more favorable BC patient prognosis when contrasted with elevated levels. Clarifying these relationships could have a substantial impact on risk stratification and the development of future therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting CIN in BC. This study aimed to assess CIN and CH in tumor tissue samples from ten patients with luminal B BC and compare them with established clinicopathological parameters. The results of this study reveal that luminal B BC patients exhibit intermediate CIN and stable aneuploidy, both of which correlate with lymphovascular invasion. Our results also provide valuable preliminary data that could contribute to the understanding of the implications of CIN and CH in risk stratification and the development of future therapeutic strategies in BC.

The relationship between sense of coherence and emotional intelligence as individual health assets for mental health promotion in students and healthcare professionals: a scoping review.

Introduction: Workplace Mental health promotion in healthcare sector, is a global priority due to the stress associated with caregiving environments and the increase of mental health problems among health professionals and students. The role of emotional intelligence (EI) and sense of coherence (SOC) have been identified as critical health protectors. However, the relationship between them as well as the underlying mechanisms of these relationships on health benefits in this population is still unclear. Aim: To synthetize the existing literature on the relationship between emotional intelligence and sense of coherence, as well as their mutual impact on healthcare workers' and student's well-being. Method: A scoping review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. A systematic search was conducted in PsyCINFO, CINHAL, SCOPUS and PUBMED databases, using key-terms such as students, health professionals, emotional intelligence, and sense of coherence. Results: A total of 11 articles were included, with a range of years from 2014 to 2022. Evidence was found to support the positive relationship between sense of coherence and emotional intelligence. The use of EI as a training pathway to improve SOC and health promoting behaviors is suggested. The benefits of intervening on these factors contribute to improved health professionals' and students' general well-being and motivation for a better performance, either in their studies or clinical work. Conclusion: The positive relationship between emotional intelligence and a sense of coherence has direct and indirect benefits on students' and healthcare professionals' well-being. Future studies should address longitudinal and experimental analysis to confirm these findings.

Application of Perinatal Derivatives in Ovarian Diseases.

Reproductive diseases could lead to infertility and have implications for overall health, most importantly due to psychological, medical and socio-economic consequences for individuals and society. Furthermore, economical losses also occur in animal husbandry. In both human and veterinary medicine, hormonal and surgical treatments, as well as assisted reproductive technologies are used to cure reproductive disorders, however they do not improve fertility. With ovarian disorders being the main reproductive pathology in human and bovine, over the past 2 decades research has approached regenerative medicine in animal model to restore normal function. Ovarian pathologies are characterized by granulosa cell and oocyte apoptosis, follicular atresia, decrease in oocyte quality and embryonic development potential, oxidative stress and mitochondrial abnormalities, ultimately leading to a decrease in fertility. At current, application of mesenchymal stromal cells or derivatives thereof represents a valid strategy for regenerative purposes. Considering their paracrine/autocrine mode of actions that are able to regenerate injured tissues, trophic support, preventing apoptosis and fibrosis, promoting angiogenesis, stimulating the function and differentiation of endogenous stem cells and even reducing the immune response, are all important players in their future therapeutic success. Nevertheless, obtaining mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) from adult tissues requires invasive procedures and implicates decreased cell proliferation and a reduced differentiation capacity with age. Alternatively, the use of embryonic stem cells as source of cellular therapeutic encountered several ethical concerns, as well as the risk of teratoma formation. Therefore, several studies have recently focussed on perinatal derivatives (PnD) that can be collected non-invasively and, most importantly, display similar characteristics in terms of regenerating-inducing properties, immune-modulating properties and hypo-immunogenicity. This review will provide an overview of the current knowledge and future perspectives of PnD application in the treatment of ovarian hypofunction.

Floods, Hurricanes, and Other Catastrophes: A Challenge for the Immune System of Livestock and Other Animals.

Climate change involves different dramatic phenomena including desertification and wildfires, severe storms such as hurricanes and blizzards, increased sea levels resulting in flooding coastal cities and rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration. The alteration of the climate in a specific region affects the life of indigenous animals and humans. The climate changes influence living beings both directly and indirectly. The immune system of animals dramatically suffers the climate instability, making animals more susceptible to infectious and not infectious diseases. Different species of livestock animals respond with similar mechanisms to global warming, but some of them are more susceptible depending on their age, metabolism, and genetic conditions. The selection and study of autochthonous species and breeds, more easily adapted to specific environmental conditions could be an interesting strategy to face livestock rearing in the future.

Non-lysosomal Activation in Macrophages of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) After Infection With Piscirickettsia salmonis.

Piscirickettsia salmonis is a facultative intracellular pathogen and etiological agent of the systemic disease salmonid rickettsial septicemia. It has been suggested that P. salmonis is able to survive in host macrophages, localized within a vacuole like-compartment which prevents lysosomal degradation. However, the relevant aspects of the pathogenesis of P. salmonis as the host modulation that allow its intracellular survival have been poorly characterized. In this study, we evaluated the role of lysosomes in the response to P. salmonis infection in macrophage-enriched cell cultures established from Atlantic salmon head kidneys. Bacterial infection was confirmed using confocal microscopy. A gentamicin protection assay was performed to recover intracellular bacteria and the 16S rDNA copy number was quantified through quantitative polymerase chain reaction in order to determine the replication of P. salmonis within macrophages. Lysosomal activity in Atlantic salmon macrophage-enriched cell cultures infected with P. salmonis was evaluated by analyzing the lysosomal pH and proteolytic ability through confocal microscopy. The results showed that P. salmonis can survive ≥120 h in Atlantic salmon macrophage-enriched cell cultures, accompanied by an increase in the detection of the 16S rDNA copy number/cell. The latter finding suggests that P. salmonis also replicates in Atlantic salmon macrophage-enriched cell cultures. Moreover, this bacterial survival and replication appears to be favored by a perturbation of the lysosomal degradation system. We observed a modulation in the total number of lysosomes and lysosomal acidification following infection with P. salmonis. Collectively, the results of this study showed that infection of Atlantic salmon macrophages with P. salmonis induced limited lysosomal response which may be associated with host immune evasion mechanisms of P. salmonis that have not been previously reported.

Reduced FOXM1 Expression Limits Trophoblast Migration and Angiogenesis and Is Associated With Preeclampsia.

Trophoblast cells are often compared to highly invasive carcinoma cells due to their capacity to proliferate in hypoxic conditions and to exhibit analogous vascular, proliferative, migratory, and invasive capacities. Thus, genes that are important for tumorigenesis, such as forkhead box M1 ( FOXM1) may also be involved in processes of trophoblast invasion. Indeed, we found Foxm1 protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels decreased as gestational age increased in rat's placentae. Accordingly, when mimicking early placental events in vitro, protein and mRNA expression of FOXM1 increased from 21% to 8% O2, reaching its highest expression at 3% oxygen tension, which reflects early implantation environment, and dropping to very low levels at 1% O2. Remarkably, FOXM1 silencing in JEG-3 cells was able to significantly decrease migration by 27.9%, in comparison with those cells transfected with control siRNA. Moreover, angiogenesis was compromised when conditioned media (CM) from FOXM1-siRNA -JEG-3 (3% O2) was added to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) cells; however, when CM of JEG-3 cells overexpressing FOXM1 at 1% O2 was added, the ability of HUVEC to form tubule networks was restored. Additionally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays of FOXM1 knockdown and overexpression experiments in JEG-3 cells revealed that the depletion of FOXM1 at 3% O2 and overexpression of FOXM1 at 1% O2 led to downregulation and upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor transcriptional (VEGF) levels, respectively. Conversely, we also observed deregulation of FOXM1 in placentae derived from pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia (PE). Therefore, we demonstrate that FOXM1 may be a new regulatory protein of early placentation processes and that under chronic hypoxic conditions (1% O2) and in patients with severe PE, its levels decrease.

[Parasitosis and irritable bowel syndrome]. / Parasitosis y síndrome de intestino irritable.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract characterised by multi-factorial aetiology. In IBS physiopathology are involved diverse factors between them biological, psychosocial, and environmental components which affect the immune activation status of gut mucosa. Among these factors is recognized the intestinal parasitosis. Post-infection IBS (PI-IBS) is recognised as a subgroup of functional disorders whose symptoms onset appear after a symptomatic intestinal infection caused by microbial agents. There are few studies regarding of relationship between IBS and intestinal parasitosis in Chile. However, is has been well described a positive association between IBS and Blastocystis hominis infections, one of prevalent parasites in Chile. In other countries, is also described a relationship between IBS and amebiasis and giardiasis. Both, characterized by a common mode of transmission through water as well as contaminated food. Because the high prevalence of parasitosis in our country it is necessary to expand the association studies to clarify the strength of the parasites ethiology in IBS.

Parasitosis y síndrome de intestino irritable / Parasitosis and irritable bowel syndrome

El síndrome de intestino irritable (SII) es un trastorno funcional digestivo de etiología multifactorial. En su fisiopatología se describen diversos factores, tanto biológicos, como psicológicos y ambientales, que afectan el estado de activación de células inmunes en la mucosa intestinal. Entre los factores ambientales se incluye la presencia de alguna parasitosis intestinal. El síndrome de intestino irritable post-infeccioso (SII-PI) es reconocido como un subgrupo de estos trastornos, cuya aparición de los síntomas es posterior a una infección intestinal provocada por agentes microbianos. A pesar de que en Chile hay pocos estudios respecto a la relación entre SII y parasitosis intestinal, se ha descrito la existencia de una asociación positiva entre SII e infecciones por Blastocistis hominis, uno de los parásitos prevalentes en Chile. En otros países, se ha descrito además una relación entre SII, amebiasis y giardiasis. Por la alta prevalencia de parasitosis en nuestro país, existe la necesidad de ampliar los estudios para clarificar la fuerza de la asociación entre parasitosis y SII.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract characterised by multi-factorial aetiology. In IBS physiopathology are involved diverse factors between them biological, psychosocial, and environmental components which affect the immune activation status of gut mucosa. Among these factors is recognized the intestinal parasitosis. Post-infection IBS (PI-IBS) is recognised as a subgroup of functional disorders whose symptoms onset appear after a symptomatic intestinal infection caused by microbial agents. There are few studies regarding of relationship between IBS and intestinal parasitosis in Chile. However, is has been well described a positive association between IBS and Blastocystis hominis infections, one of prevalent parasites in Chile. In other countries, is also described a relationship between IBS and amebiasis and giardiasis. Both, characterized by a common mode of transmission through water as well as contaminated food. Because the high prevalence of parasitosis in our country it is necessary to expand the association studies to clarify the strength of the parasites ethiology in IBS.