Abstract Parental monitoring has been described as a protective factor and useful strategy to prevent substance misuse among youths. The aim of this study was to examine whether perceived parental ...monitoring influences frequency of alcohol use, age of drinking onset and risky drinking among entering public high school and university students in Mexico City. The study is a cross-sectional survey of entering first year students in the high school and university school system of a large public university in Mexico City conducted during registration at the beginning of the school year. In 2008, of 34,840 students accepted to the affiliated high schools, 28,996 students (51.8% female) completed the alcohol survey and of 37,683 students accepted into university 30,084 students (51.5% female) completed the alcohol survey. The findings suggest that compared to students with higher perceived parental monitoring those reporting lower perceived parental monitoring were more likely to report risky behavior. They were more likely to be ever drinkers, frequent drinkers, have earlier age of onset and high AUDIT scores. Overall, higher parental monitoring was strongly associated with being female and lower parental monitoring with being male. Our findings suggest that more research on parental monitoring as a protective strategy against alcohol misuse is needed. Research focusing on cultural factors including gender and age-related norms and familismo would increase knowledge of the association of parental monitoring and alcohol use among Mexican youths, Mexican American youths and potentially youths from other Hispanic backgrounds.
We show in this study that PTEN regulates p53 protein levels and transcriptional activity through both phosphatase-dependent and -independent mechanisms. The onset of tumor development in
p53
+/−;
...Pten
+/− mice is similar to
p53
−/− animals, and p53 protein levels are dramatically reduced in
Pten
−/−
cells and tissues. Reintroducing wild-type or phosphatase-dead PTEN mutants leads to a significant increase in p53 stability. PTEN also physically associates with endogenous p53. Finally, PTEN regulates the transcriptional activity of p53 by modulating its DNA binding activity. This study provides a novel mechanism by which the loss of PTEN can functionally control “two” hits in the course of tumor development by concurrently modulating p53 activity.
This study explores the impact of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) subtypes classified by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) values on maternal and perinatal outcomes.
This multicenter prospective ...cohort study (May 2019-December 2022) included participants from the Mexican multicenter cohort study
(CME). Women were classified into four groups per 75-g 2-h OGTT: 1) normal glucose tolerance (normal OGTT), 2) GDM-Sensitivity (isolated abnormal fasting or abnormal fasting in combination with 1-h or 2-h abnormal results), 3) GDM-Secretion (isolated abnormal values at 1-h or 2-h or their combination), and 4) GDM-Mixed (three abnormal values). Cesarean delivery, neonates large for gestational age (LGA), and pre-term birth rates were among the outcomes compared. Between-group comparisons were analyzed using either the
-test, chi-square test, or Fisher's exact test.
Of 2,056 Mexican pregnant women in the CME cohort, 294 (14.3%) had GDM; 53.7%, 34.4%, and 11.9% were classified as GDM-Sensitivity, GDM-Secretion, and GDM-Mixed subtypes, respectively. Women with GDM were older (p = 0.0001) and more often multiparous (p = 0.119) vs without GDM. Cesarean delivery (63.3%; p = 0.02) and neonate LGA (10.7%; p = 0.078) were higher in the GDM-Mixed group than the overall GDM group (55.6% and 8.4%, respectively). Pre-term birth was more common in the GDM-Sensitivity group than in the overall GDM group (10.2% vs 8.5%, respectively; p=0.022). At 6 months postpartum, prediabetes was more frequent in the GDM-Sensitivity group than in the overall GDM group (31.6% vs 25.5%). Type 2 diabetes was more common in the GDM-Mixed group than in the overall GDM group (10.0% vs 3.3%).
GDM subtypes effectively stratified maternal and perinatal risks. GDM-Mixed subtype increased the risk of cesarean delivery, LGA, and type 2 diabetes postpartum. GDM subtypes may help personalize clinical interventions and optimize maternal and perinatal outcomes.
In radiotherapy, it is essential to deliver prescribed doses to tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Accurate measurements of absorbed dose are required for this purpose. ...Gafchromic
external beam therapy (EBT) radiochromic films have been widely used in radiotherapy. While the dosimetric characteristics of the EBT3 model film have been extensively studied for photon and charged particle beams (protons, electrons, and carbon ions), little research has been done on
-particle dosimetry.
-emitting radionuclides have gained popularity in cancer treatment due to their high linear energy transfer, short range in tissue, and ability to spare surrounding organs at risk, thereby delivering a more localized dose distribution to the tumor. Therefore, a dose-calibration film protocol for
-particles is required.
This study aimed to develop a dose-calibration protocol for the
-particle emitting radionuclide
Am, using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and measurements with unlaminated EBT3 films.
In this study, a MC-based user code was developed using the Geant4 simulation toolkit to model and simulate an
Am source and an unlaminated EBT3 film. Two simulations were performed: one with voxelized geometries of the EBT3 active volume composition and the other using water. The dose rate was calculated within a region of interest in the voxelized geometries. Unlaminated EBT3 film pieces were irradiated with the
Am source at various exposure times inside a black box. Film irradiations were compared to a 6-MV photon beam from a Varian TrueBeam machine. The simulated dose rate was used to convert the exposure times into absorbed doses to water, describing a radiochromic-film-based reference dosimetry protocol for
-particles. The irradiated films were scanned and through an in-house Python script, the normalized pixel values from the green-color channel of scanned film images were analyzed.
The
Am energy spectra obtained from the simulations were in good agreement with IAEA and NIST databases, having differences
0.516% for the emitted
-rays and produced characteristic x-rays and
0.006% for the
-particles. Due to the short range of
-particles, there was no energy deposition in the voxels outside the active
Am source region projected onto the film surface. Thus, the total dose rate within the voxels covering the source was 0.847
0.003 Gy/min within the sensitive layer of the film (LiPCDA) and 0.847
0.004 Gy/min in water, indicating that the active volume can be considered water equivalent for the
Am beam quality. A novel approach was employed in
-film dosimetry using an exponential fit for the green channel, which showed promising results by reducing the uncertainty in dose estimation within 5%. Although the statistical analysis did not reveal significant differences between the 6-MV photon beam and the
calibration curves, the dose-response curves exhibited the expected behavior.
The developed MC user code simulated the experimental setup for
-dosimetry using radiochromic film with acceptable uncertainty. Unlaminated EBT3 film is suitable for the dosimetry of
-radiation at low doses and can be used in conjunction with other unlaminated GafChromic
films for quality assurance and research purposes.
To evaluate whether a change in the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) classification criteria ...threshold score affects accurate classification of SLE cases compared to disease-based control subjects. We evaluated a range of threshold scores to determine the score that maximizes the accurate classification of early SLE.
We conducted a cross-sectional study comparing SLE cases and control patients. A EULAR/ACR criteria score was calculated using baseline information. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios (+LRs), and negative likelihood ratios (-LRs) with 95% CIs were used to evaluate operating characteristics. Threshold scores of 6 to 12 were evaluated in subjects with early disease (ie, disease duration of ≤ 5 years). +LRs > 10 and -LRs < 0.1 provide evidence to rule in or rule out SLE.
A total of 2764 patients were included: 1980 SLE cases who fulfilled either the ACR or Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics criteria and 784 control subjects. The EULAR/ACR SLE criteria had a sensitivity of 98% (95% CI 97-98), a specificity of 99% (95% CI 98-100), a +LR of 95.5 (95% CI 48.0-190), and a -LR 0.03 (95% CI 0.02-0.03). The criteria operated well in those with early disease, in women, in men, and in White, Black, Chinese, and Filipino people. A score of 10 maximized the accurate classification of patients with early disease (+LR 174.4, 95% CI 43.8-694.6; -LR 0.03, 95% CI 0.02-0.04). An increase in the threshold score from 10 to 11 resulted in significant worsening in the -LR (threshold score 10: -LR 0.03, 95% CI 0.02-0.03 vs threshold score 11: -LR 0.05, 95% CI 0.04-0.06).
The EULAR/ACR SLE classification criteria threshold score of 10 performs well, particularly among those with early disease and across sexes and ethnicities.
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