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Scientific production in Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced great growth in recent years (Álvarez-Muñoz y Pérez-Montoro, 2016; Santa y Herrero, 2010), due in part to the increase in public investment in science in these countries and the indexing of their journals in global (Scopus or Wos) and regional (Latindex or Redalyc) databases of bibliographic references. However, in communication, the publication of academic articles is still embryonic. There are several academic studies (Flores-García y Becerril-García, 2020; López-Ornelas et al., 2017; Rogel-Salazar et al., 2017) that highlight the scarce of disclosure of scientific knowledge in this region, remarking the limited presence of communication journals published in Latin America and indexed in databases. In the specific area of public relations, the conceptualization and recognition of this discipline in the academic and professional field has been increasing since the mid-twentieth century. However, despite the progress experienced, the small number of existing studies on the subject in these journals, justify this investigation line. In this sense, this research, within the framework of bibliometric studies, proposes to determine the position occupied by public relations in the academic production about communication of the main journals of the Latin American Caribbean in the last ten years (2010-2020); as well as analyzing the main characteristics of these publications by examining the areas of knowledge of the published texts, the institutions from which they come or its authorship, among other aspects such as the object of study and the methodological procedure used in the research. The scientific journals that make up the sample (Comunicación y Sociedad, from Mexico, Palabra Clave and Signo y Pensamiento, both from Colombia) have been selected based on representativeness criteria such as the impact index in the Scopus bibliographic database and the geographical scope of the Latin American Caribbean. The results indicate that the discipline of public relations is marginal in the overall scientific production in communication in the Latin American Caribbean. Most of the texts published by the journals with the highest impact index in the region focus on fields related to communication but are far removed from the specific area of public relations. However, it is noticeable that in recent years greater attention has been paid to this discipline, with an increase in scientific production in the period between 2016 and 2020. The findings obtained also allow us to establish a profile of the scientific production on public relations disseminated in the decade from 2010 to 2020 by the leading journals in the Latin American Caribbean. A collective authorship, balanced in terms of the sex of the signatories, mainly from universities in Latin America and Spain, and the use of empirical approaches from a qualitative perspective, define the type of academic production analysed. Despite the limitations that this research presents when it comes to extrapolating the results to the whole of the scientific production on public relations in territories other than the Latin American Caribbean, it is outlined as an exploratory study and a first approach to the still incipient research on the discipline of public relations in Caribbean academic journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Several variants of the SARS-CoV-2 have been documented globally during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The N501Y, 69-70del, K417N, and E484K SARS-CoV-2 mutations have been documented among the most relevant due to their potential pathogenic biological effects. This study aimed to design, validate, and propose a fast real-time RT-qPCR assay to detect SARS-CoV-2 mutations with possible clinical and epidemiological relevance in the Mexican population. Methods: Targeting spike (S) gene mutations of SARS-CoV-2 (N501Y, 69-70del, K417N, and E484K), specific primers, and probes for three specific quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) assays were designed, and validated using Sanger sequencing. These assays were applied in clinical samples of 1060 COVID-19 patients from Jalisco Mexico. Results: In silico analyzes showed high specificity of the three assays. Amplicons of samples were confirmed through sequencing. The screening of samples of COVID-19 patients allowed the identification of the E484K mutation in nine individuals and the identification of P.2 Brazilian variant in Mexico. Conclusion: This work provides low-cost RT-qPCR assays for rapid screening and molecular surveillance of mutations with potential clinical impact. This strategy allowed the detection of E484K mutation and P.2 variant for the first time in samples from the Mexican population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current study evaluated the metalloproteinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression in epithelial cells and the surrounding stroma in ovarian tumors and the association of MMPs with the histological subtypes, the clinical stage and the presence of steroid hormone receptors. Tumor samples were obtained from 88 patients undergoing surgical cytoreduction of primary ovarian tumors in Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, from México City. The formalin fixed and paraffin embedded samples were processed in order to demonstrate the presence of androgen receptor,estrogen receptor alpha, progesterone receptor, MMP-2,MMP-9 and collagen IV by immunohistochemistry and/or immunofluorescence. Results: MMP-2 and MMP-9 were differentially expressed in the epithelium and the stroma of ovarian tumors associated to histological subtype, clinical stage and sexual steroid hormone receptor expression. Based on Cox proportional hazard regression model we demonstrated that MMP-2 located in the epithelium and the stroma are independent prognostic biomarkers for overall survival in epithelial ovarian tumors. Kaplan Meir analysis of the combination of AR (+) with MMP-2 (+) in epithelium and AR (+) with MMP-2 (−) in stroma displayed a significant reduction of survival. Conclusions: The presence of MMP-2 in the stroma of the tumor was a protective factor while the presence of MMP-2 in the epithelium indicated an adverse prognosis. The presence of AR associated with MMP-2 in the tumor cells was a risk factor for overall survival in epithelial ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Respiratory viral infections represent a significant global health burden. Historically, influenza, rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and adenovirus have been the prevalent viruses; however, the landscape shifted with the widespread emergence of SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of viral respiratory infections in Jalisco, Mexico., Methods: Data encompassing individuals with flu-like symptoms from July 2021 to February 2023 was scrutinized for viral diagnosis through PCR multiplex. The effect of social mobility on the increase in respiratory viral diagnosis infection was considered to estimate its impact. Additionally, sequences of respiratory viruses stored in public databases were retrieved to ascertain the phylogenetic classification of previously reported viruses in Mexico., Results: SARS-CoV-2 was the most detected virus ( n  = 5,703; 92.2%), followed by influenza ( n  = 479; 7.78%). These viruses were also found as the most common co-infection ( n  = 11; 50%), and for those with influenza, a higher incidence of severe disease was reported ( n  = 122; 90.4%; p  < 0.001). Regarding comorbidities and unhealthy habits, smoking was found to be a risk factor for influenza infection but a protective factor for SARS-CoV-2 (OR = 2.62; IC 95%: 1.66-4.13; OR = 0.65; IC 95%: 0.45-0.94), respectively. Furthermore, our findings revealed a direct correlation between mobility and the prevalence of influenza infection (0.214; p  < 0.001)., Discussion: The study presents evidence of respiratory virus reemergence and prevalence during the social reactivation, facilitating future preventive measures., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Pedroza-Uribe, Vega Magaña, Muñoz-Valle, Peña-Rodriguez, Carranza-Aranda, Sánchez-Sánchez, Venancio-Landeros, García-González, Zavala-Mejía, Ramos-Solano, Viera-Segura and García-Chagollán.)