Fractional electrodamage in A549 human lung cancer cells was analyzed by introducing a non-integer order parameter to model the influence of electrical stimulation on cellular behavior. Numerical simulations were conducted to evaluate the conversion of electrical energy to heat within A549 cancer cells, emphasizing the electrocapacitive effects and electrical conductivity in modulating dielectric properties. Using the Riemann–Liouville fractional calculus framework, experimental results were accurately fitted, demonstrating the non-integer nature of electrodamage processes. The study identified a strong dependency of electrical behavior on frequency, revealing a critical role of fractional dynamics in the dielectric breakdown and susceptibility of A549 cells to voltage changes. These findings advance our understanding of cellular responses to electrical fields and provide insights into applications in cancer diagnostics, monitoring, and potential therapeutic treatments.
Hyaluronan (HA) is a natural biodegradable biopolymer; its biological functions include cell adhesion, cell proliferation, and differentiation as well as decreasing inflammation, angiogenesis, and regeneration of damaged tissue. This makes it a suitable candidate for fabricating nanomaterials with potential use in tissue engineering. However, HA nanofiber production is restricted due to the high viscosity, low evaporation rate, and high surface tension of HA solutions. Here, hybrids in the form of continuous and randomly aligned polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)–(HA)–siloxane nanofibers were obtained using an electrospinning process. PVA–HA fibers were crosslinked by a 3D siloxane organic–inorganic matrix via sol-gel that restricts natural hydrophilicity and stiffens the structure. The hybrid nanofiber mats were characterized by FT-IR, micro-Raman spectroscopy, SEM, and biological properties. The PVA/HA ratio influenced the morphology of the hybrid nanofibers. Nanofibers with high PVA content (10PVA-8 and 10PVA-10) form mats with few beaded nanofibers, while those with high HA content (5PVA-8 and 5PVA-10) exhibit mats with mound patterns formed by “ribbon-like” nanofibers. The hybrid nanofibers were used as mats to support osteoblast growth, and they showed outstanding biological properties supporting cell adhesion, cell proliferation, and cell differentiation. Importantly, the 5PVA-8 mats show 3D spherical osteoblast morphology; this suggests the formation of tissue growth. These novel HA-based nanomaterials represent a relevant advance in designing nanofibers with unique properties for potential tissue regeneration.
1 January 2025 in Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology
Cervical cancer (CC) is a public health concern related to the human papillomavirus (HPV) persistent infection. Minichromosome maintenance 2 (MCM2) has been postulated as a surrogate marker for HPV infection. Thymopoietin (TMPO) is a nuclear protein regulated by E2F such as MCM2 or p16. TMPO can give rise to six different isoforms. Herein, both the mRNA and protein levels of TMPO isoforms were analyzed in cervical cells. TMPO expression was selected and analyzed through in silico in several databases from the healthy cervix and cervical lesions. TMPO RNA expression was evaluated in cervical samples and cell lines by RT‐PCR and protein expression by Western‐blot and immunohistochemistry assays. TMPO and MCM2 immunostaining were evaluated in cervical smears. The clinical‐pathological correlation analysis was performed using Kruskal–Wallis or X2 tests. TMPO is overexpressed in 74% of CC cells and all CC cell lines. Moreover, negative immunostaining was observed in normal cervical tissue, compared to strong expression for cervical lesions. Interestingly, TMPO‐α, ‐β, ‐δ, ‐ε, and ‐γ are expressed in all cervical cells and tissues, but a differential expression for α, ‐β, and ‐γ isoforms among the cervical cells was observed as overexpressed when HPV is present. Also, the immunostaining of both MCM2 and TMPO was quite similar, but TMPO expression was more sensitive and specific than MCM2 protein. The present study has revealed that TMPO protein expression could be a potential molecular marker for cervical transformed cells, highlighting the TMPO‐α, ‐β, and ‐γ isoforms as a promising molecular marker of HPV infection.
The use of trained dogs for the detection of volatile biomarkers in biological samples has great potential to be used for non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of several diseases such as cancer. It offers early, highly accurate detection with fast response times, non-invasive to patients and allows for repeated sampling. The aforementioned methods are useful as a portable technology to increase detection, screening, and monitoring coverage in populations at risk. In this sense, Cervical Cancer (CC) has become a public health concern of alarming proportions in many developing countries, particularly in low-income sectors and marginalized regions due to different factors that limit the coverage of screening methods and the acceptance rates of women attending their routine gynecological examination. As such, early detection is a crucial medical factor in improving not only their population’s quality of life but also its life expectancy. For the above, the great odor detection threshold exhibited by dogs is not unheard of and represents a potential opportunity to develop an affordable, accessible, and non-invasive method for detection of CC with high sensibility and specificity values.
Age at menarche has been associated with several health outcomes later in life; however, its relationship with depressive symptoms after menopause remains unclear. This study evaluated the association between age at menarche and depressive symptoms in postmenopausal women. We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study of 378 postmenopausal women attending a tertiary care hospital in Mexico City, Mexico. Age at menarche was self-reported and categorized as <12, 12–14, or ≥15 years. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the seven-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-7). We estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using Poisson regression models with robust variance and assessed nonlinearity using restricted cubic splines. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 37.6%. Compared with menarche at 12–14 years, early and late menarche were associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (PR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.06–1.88; and PR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.13–2.28, respectively). Restricted cubic splines showed a nonlinear association (p for nonlinearity = 0.007), with the fitted curve showing a minimum near age 12 years, although the precise location of this minimum was uncertain. Both early and late menarche were associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among postmenopausal women, supporting the relevance of a life-course perspective in women’s mental health.
Background: COVID-19 during pregnancy has been associated with various obstetric complications; however, epidemiological evidence regarding its relationship with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and preterm birth remains inconclusive. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between COVID-19 during pregnancy and the risk of HDP and preterm birth among Mexican pregnant women. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on a review of 3710 medical records of women treated at a tertiary hospital between 2020 and 2023. COVID-19 was diagnosed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. We estimated adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) using robust Poisson regression models, controlling for potential confounders. Results: The COVID-19 rate was 2.5%. We observed that women with COVID-19 had a higher risk of HDP (aRR = 1.59; 95% CI = 1.07–2.36). When HDP subgroups were analyzed separately, COVID-19 was associated with an increased risk of preeclampsia (aRR = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.34–4.20) and preterm birth (aRR = 1.50; 95% CI = 1.02–2.19). The association with gestational hypertension lost statistical significance after adjustment. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that COVID-19 during pregnancy may be associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and preterm birth. However, the observed association with preeclampsia should be interpreted cautiously because diagnostic overlap between severe COVID-19 and preeclampsia cannot be excluded.