Radioprotective Effects In Vivo of Phenolics Extracted from Olea europaea L. Leaves Against X-Ray-Induced Chromosomal Damage:

O. Benavente-Garcia,J. Castillo,J. Lorente,M. Alcaraz 한국식품영양과학회 2002 Journal of medicinal food Vol.5 No.3

The radioprotective effects of a polyphenolic extract of Olea europaea L. leaves (OL); theflavonoids diosmin and rutin, which are widely used as pharmaceuticals; and the sulfur-con-taining compounds dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) were de-termined by using the micronucleus test for anticlastogenic activity, evaluating the reductionof the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MnPCEs) in bone marrow ofmouse before and after X-ray irradiation. With treatment before X-irradiation, the most ef-fective compounds were, in order, rutin . DMSO . OL . PTU. diosmin. These resultsshowed, for the polyphenols studied, a linear correlation (r2 5 0.965) betwen anticlastogenicactivity and antioxidant capacity. The magnitude of protection with treatment after X-irradi-ation were lower, and the most effective compounds were, in order, OL . diosmin . rutin;DMSO and PTU lacked radioprotective activity. Therefore, OL is the only substance thatshowed a significant anticlastogenic activity both before and after X-ray irradiation treatments.Structurally, the fre oxygen radicals and lipoperoxyradicals scavenging capacity and, conse-quently, the anticlastogenic activity of these polyphenolic compounds are based principallyon the presence of specific functional groups, mainly catechol groups (rutin, oleuropein, hy-droxytyrosol, verbascoside, luteolin), that also increase the stability of the aroxyl-polyphenolradical generated in the above processes.125

VivaxGEN: An open access platform for comparative analysis of short tandem repeat genotyping data in <i>Plasmodium vivax</i> populations

Trimarsanto, Hidayat,Benavente, Ernest D.,Noviyanti, Rintis,Utami, Retno Ayu Setya,Trianty, Leily,Pava, Zuleima,Getachew, Sisay,Kim, Jung-Yeon,Goo, Youn-Kyoung,Wangchuck, Sonam,Liu, Yaobao,Gao, Qi,Dow Public Library of Science 2017 PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol.11 No.3

<▼1><P><B>Background</B></P><P>The control and elimination of <I>Plasmodium vivax</I> will require a better understanding of its transmission dynamics, through the application of genotyping and population genetics analyses. This paper describes VivaxGEN (http://vivaxgen.menzies.edu.au), a web-based platform that has been developed to support <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> short tandem repeat data sharing and comparative analyses.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>The VivaxGEN platform provides a repository for raw data generated by capillary electrophoresis (FSA files), with fragment analysis and standardized allele calling tools. The query system of the platform enables users to filter, select and differentiate samples and alleles based on their specified criteria. Key population genetic analyses are supported including measures of population differentiation (<I>F</I><SUB>ST</SUB>), expected heterozygosity (<I>H</I><SUB>E</SUB>), linkage disequilibrium (<I>I</I><SUB>A</SUB><SUP>S</SUP>), neighbor-joining analysis and Principal Coordinate Analysis. Datasets can also be formatted and exported for application in commonly used population genetic software including <I>GENEPOP</I>, <I>Arlequin</I> and <I>STRUCTURE</I>. To date, data from 10 countries, including 5 publicly available data sets have been shared with VivaxGEN.</P><P><B>Conclusions</B></P><P>VivaxGEN is well placed to facilitate regional overviews of <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> transmission dynamics in different endemic settings and capable to be adapted for similar genetic studies of <I>P</I>. <I>falciparum</I> and other organisms.</P></▼1><▼2><P><B>Author summary</B></P><P>The <I>Plasmodium vivax</I> malaria parasite inflicts significant morbidity in endemic populations across the globe, but has been overshadowed by the more fatal <I>P</I>. <I>falciparum</I> parasite. In malaria-endemic regions outside of Africa, the declining prevalence of <I>P</I>. <I>falciparum</I> is coupled with a proportionate rise in <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I>, reflecting the greater refractoriness of <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> to transmission interventions. This worrying trend emphasizes the need for a better understanding of the patterns of <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> transmission and spread within and across borders. Genotyping parasite population samples at short tandem repeat (STR) markers such as microsatellites informs on diversity, population structure and underlying transmission patterns. We have established vivaxGEN, an online platform providing a repository for <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> STR genotyping data, and tools for standard population genetic analyses. The platform currently holds publicly available data from 5 vivax-endemic countries that can be browsed on the website (http://vivaxgen.menzies.edu.au). VivaxGEN will support researchers to conduct local STR-based <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> studies with greater autonomy and foster collaborative studies enabling regional overviews of <I>P</I>. <I>vivax</I> diversity in different endemic settings and across borders. The system can be adapted for STR-based analyses in other microorganisms and the open access source code is provided to facilitate these developments.</P></▼2>

Enhancing the Formation of the New Trigonal Polymorph in Isotactic Propene-1-Pentene Copolymers: Determination of the X-ray Crystallinity

Ernesto Pérez,María L. Cerrada,Rosario Benavente,José M. Gómez-Elvira 한국고분자학회 2011 Macromolecular Research Vol.19 No.11

A metallocene copolymer of isotactic propene and 1-pentene was subjected to different crystallization conditions with 13 mol% of 1-pentene counits, aiming to enhance the formation of a new trigonal modification of iPP. Since it was not possible to obtain a diffractogram for the amorphous sample of cPPe13 at room temperature,the X-ray crystallinity was determined using the profile of the molten polymer, extrapolated to room temperature according to the resulting temperature coefficients. The X-ray diffraction results indicate a very interesting polymorphism in this copolymer; when crystallized from solution, amazingly high degrees of crystallinity - as high as 65%- are obtained, and this value is similar to those obtained for the iPP homopolymer. Further, the enthalpy of melting for a 100% crystalline sample of the trigonal modification was estimated from those crystallinities and the actual enthalpies of melting.

Characterization and Properties of Ethylene-Propylene Copolymers Synthesized with Homogeneous and Supported Metallocene Catalyst in the Whole Range of Compositions

Javier Arranz-Andrés,Inmaculada Suárez,Rosario Benavente,Ernesto Pérez 한국고분자학회 2011 Macromolecular Research Vol.19 No.4

Two series of ethylene-propylene copolymers were synthesized in the whole composition range using a metallocene catalyst, one in the homogeneous phase (H copolymers), and the other with the catalyst supported in silica (S copolymers). Some differences were found between the two groups. Therefore, the amount of ethylene needed to obtain a certain proportion of the γ form is lower in the H than in S series. Moreover, the composition to obtain the pseudo hexagonal form is also different for the two groups. On the other hand, degree of crystallinity, crystal sizes and microhardness values display a similar variations with the comonomer content of the two series. Consequently, from a macroscopic point of view, materials with similar macroscopic mechanical properties can be produced using both supported and homogeneous metallocene catalysts despite the structural differences.

Potential strategies for prevention of tumor spillage in minimally invasive radical hysterectomy

Vicente Bebia,Sonia Monreal-Clua,Assumpció Pérez-Benavente,Silvia Franco-Camps,Berta Díaz-Feijoo,Antonio Gil-Moreno 대한부인종양학회 2020 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.31 No.5

Objective: The publication of a prospective [1] and several retrospective [2,3] studiesdescribing a worse prognosis in patients affected with early-stage cervical cancer whounderwent a minimally invasive radical hysterectomy has raised a high concern in whatmeasures should be undertaken in order to revert these results. Potential strategies [4] toprevent tumor spillage have been previously proposed. Methods: In this video, we describe nine strategies that should be addressed in future trialsregarding this procedure. Results: These strategies are:1. Fallopian tubes should be coagulated prior to start the surgery. 2. All sentinel lymph nodes and lymphadenectomy specimens should be obtained withoutlymph nodes fragmentation. 3. All surgical specimens should be extracted within a containment bag. 4. Uterine manipulators must never be used. 5. Prior to vaginal section, a closed knotted ligature should be placed around the vagina,proximal to the section line, and the remaining vaginal cavity profusely washed. 6. Once the vagina is opened, the surgical specimen should be extracted vaginally within aspecimen retrieval bag. 7. After surgery, the pelvic cavity is profusely washed with physiological serum, and the vaginashould be washed with iodopovidone diluted to 10% [5]. 8. Port-site metastasis prevention measures should be performed. 9. Every action made to prevent tumor spillage should be recorded in the surgical report. Conclusion: As there is a biological rationale in these measures that would prevent tumorspillage and seeding, there is a need of prospectively exploring them within appropriatestudies in order to determine their own oncological outcome.

Effect of tumor burden and radical surgery on survival difference between upfront, early interval or delayed cytoreductive surgery in ovarian cancer

Martina Aida Angeles,Bastien Cabarrou,Antonio Gil-Moreno,Asunción Pérez-Benavente,Emanuela Spagnolo,Agnieszka Rychlik,Carlos Martínez-Gómez,Frédéric Guyon,Ignacio Zapardiel,Denis Querleu,Claire Illac 대한부인종양학회 2021 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.32 No.6

Objective: We sought to evaluate the impact on survival of tumor burden and surgical complexity in relation to the number of cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in patients with advanced ovarian cancer (OC) with minimal (CC-1) or no residual disease (CC-0). Methods: This retrospective study included patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics IIIC–IV stage OC who underwent debulking surgery at 4 high- volume institutions between January 2008 and December 2015. We assessed the overall survival (OS) of primary debulking surgery (PDS group), early interval debulking surgery after 3–4 cycles of NACT (early IDS group) and delayed debulking surgery after 6 cycles (DDS group) with CC-0 or CC-1 according to peritoneal cancer index (PCI) and Aletti score. Results: Five hundred forty-nine women were included: 175 (31.9%) had PDS, 224 (40.8%) early IDS and 150 (27.3%) DDS. Regardless of Aletti score, median OS after PDS was significantly higher than after early IDS or DDS, but the survival difference was higher in women with an Aletti score <8. Among patients with PCI ≤10, median OS after PDS was significantly higher than after early IDS or DDS. In women with PCI >10, there were no differences between PDS and early IDS, but DDS was associated with decreased OS. Conclusion: The benefit of complete PDS compared with NACT was maximal in patients with a low complexity score. In patients with low tumor burden, there was a survival benefit of PDS over early IDS or DDS. In women with high tumor load, DDS impaired the oncological outcome.

Geographic variation in the prevalence of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and risk factors for transmission.

de Sanjose, Silvia,Mbisa, Georgina,Perez-Alvarez, Susana,Benavente, Yolanda,Sukvirach, Sukhon,Hieu, Nguyen Trong,Shin, Hai-Rim,Anh, Pham Thi Hoang,Thomas, Jaiyeola,Lazcano, Eduardo,Matos, Elena,Herrer University of Chicago Press 2009 The Journal of infectious diseases Vol.199 No.10

<P>BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) in the female general population, to define geographic variation in and heterosexual transmission of the virus. METHODS: The study included 10,963 women from 9 countries for whom information on sociodemographic characteristics and reproductive, sexual, and smoking behaviors were available. Antibodies against KSHV that encoded lytic antigen K8.1 and latent antigen ORF73 were determined. RESULTS: The range of prevalence of KSHV (defined as detection of any antigen) was 3.81%-46.02%, with significant geographic variation noted. In Nigeria, the prevalence was 46.02%; in Colombia, 13.32%; in Costa Rica, 9.81%; in Argentina, 6.40%; in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 15.50%; in Hanoi, Vietnam, 11.26%; in Songkla, Thailand, 10%; in Lampang, Thailand, 8.63%; in Korea, 4.93%; and in Spain, 3.65%. The prevalence of KSHV slightly increased with increasing age among subjects in geographic areas where the prevalence of KSHV was high, such as Nigeria and Colombia, and it significantly decreased with increases in the educational level attained by subjects in those areas. KSHV was not statistically associated with age at first sexual intercourse, number of sex partners, number of children, patterns of oral contraceptive use, presence of cervical human papillomavirus DNA, or smoking status. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides comparable estimates of KSHV prevalence in diverse cultural settings across 4 continents and provides evidence that sexual transmission of KSHV is not a major source of infection in the general population.</P>

Diffusive transport through surface functionalized nanoporous alumina membranes by atomic layer deposition of metal oxides

V. Vega,L. Gelde,A.S. González,V.M. Prida,B. Hernando,J. Benavente 한국공업화학회 2017 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.52 No.-

Changes associated to surface functionalization of nanoporous alumina membranes by atomic layerdeposition (ALD) of metal oxides (Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2, Fe2O3, ZnO) are presented. ALD modification of thealumina membranes reveals a reduction up to 25–35% in porosity, and confirms the presence of the metaloxide layer coating the pores. Its effect on the membrane permselectivity and other characteristictransport parameters was determined from membrane potential measurements, being correlated withchanges in morphology and physic–chemical characteristics of the alumina membranes. According to ourresults, ALD provides a straight-forward and efficient method to adjust membrane performance forspecific applications.

Chemical, optical and transport characterization of ALD modified nanoporous alumina based structures

A.L. Cuevas,Ma. Valle Martínez de Yuso,L. Gelde,A.S. González,V. Vega,V.M. Prida,J. Benavente 한국공업화학회 2020 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.91 No.-

Nanoporous alumina-based structures (NPA-bSs) obtained by anodization of aluminum in sulfuric acidmedium were coated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a thin conformal layer of different functionaloxides (Al2O3, TiO2, Fe2O3 or ZnO), leading to samples with similar geometrical parameters but differentsurface materials. Morphological characterization of the NPA-bSs confirms a reduction of about 35% inpore size associated to the presence of the oxides of interest, while chemical surface analysis permits theestimation of cover layer purity and thickness. Additionally, ALD functionalization also modifies optical(band-gap, refractive index and dielectric constant) according to transmittance and spectroscopicellipsometry results for visible and near-infrared regions, as well as electrolyte diffusive transportparameters (effectivefixed charge, ion transport numbers or ionic permselectivity) of the NPA-bSs, bothof which are dependent on the nature of the coating layer. Therefore, the suitability of ALD technique forgeometrical and functional modification of nanoporous structures is demonstrated, thus broadening thepotential application of these NPA-bSs platforms to optical sensing, nanophotonics, biosensing,microfluidics or drug delivery applications.

Performance of ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, and Bing on the Peruvian National Licensing Medical Examination: a cross-sectional study

Betzy Clariza Torres-Zegarra,Wagner Rios-Garcia,Alvaro Micael Ñaña-Cordova,Karen Fatima Arteaga-Cisneros,Xiomara Cristina Benavente Chalco,Marina Atena Bustamante Ordoñez,Carlos Jesus Gutierrez Rios,C 한국보건의료인국가시험원 2023 보건의료교육평가 Vol.20 No.-

Purpose We aimed to describe the performance and evaluate the educational value of justifications provided by artificial intelligence chatbots, including GPT-3.5, GPT-4, Bard, Claude, and Bing, on the Peruvian National Medical Licensing Examination (P-NLME). Methods This was a cross-sectional analytical study. On July 25, 2023, each multiple-choice question (MCQ) from the P-NLME was entered into each chatbot (GPT-3, GPT-4, Bing, Bard, and Claude) 3 times. Then, 4 medical educators categorized the MCQs in terms of medical area, item type, and whether the MCQ required Peru-specific knowledge. They assessed the educational value of the justifications from the 2 top performers (GPT-4 and Bing). Results GPT-4 scored 86.7% and Bing scored 82.2%, followed by Bard and Claude, and the historical performance of Peruvian examinees was 55%. Among the factors associated with correct answers, only MCQs that required Peru-specific knowledge had lower odds (odds ratio, 0.23; 95% confidence interval, 0.09–0.61), whereas the remaining factors showed no associations. In assessing the educational value of justifications provided by GPT-4 and Bing, neither showed any significant differences in certainty, usefulness, or potential use in the classroom. Conclusion Among chatbots, GPT-4 and Bing were the top performers, with Bing performing better at Peru-specific MCQs. Moreover, the educational value of justifications provided by the GPT-4 and Bing could be deemed appropriate. However, it is essential to start addressing the educational value of these chatbots, rather than merely their performance on examinations.