Biomedical Publications ABOUT PR

INTRODUCTION: Virtually all adults with Down syndrome (DS) will accumulate the neuropathologies associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by age 40, with the majority having a clinical dementia diagnosis by their middle 50s.

It is unclear how plants respond to increasing temperatures. Leaf heat tolerance (LHT) is often at its upper limit in tropical forests, suggesting that climate change might negatively impact these forests. We hypothesized that intraspecific variation in LHT might be associated with changes in the soil microbiome, which might also respond to climate. We hypothesized that warming would increase LHT through changes in the soil microbiome: we combined an in situ tropical warming experiment with a...

The Miradero Water Treatment Plant (MWTP) in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, uses sodium hypochlorite (SH) as a disinfectant. However, SH reacts with humic substances present in surface water, forming disinfection by-products (DBPs) regulated by the U.S. EPA. This study evaluated whether chitosan, a biopolymer with known bactericidal properties, could reduce chlorine demand and improve disinfection. Chitosan, with a 75% degree of deacetylation and a molecular weight of 460 kDa, was solubilized in four...

Distribution networks, with large-scale integration of distributed renewable resources, particularly rooftop solar photovoltaic systems, represent the most extensive yet vulnerable components of modern electric power systems during climate extremes such as hurricanes. However, existing day-ahead electricity dispatch approaches primarily focus on the transmission network and lack the capability to manage the spatiotemporal risks associated with the vast distribution networks, which can...

INTRODUCTION: Obesity in children is a global health crisis, with 46% of children in Puerto Rico classified as overweight or obese based on Body Mass Index. This condition is linked to serious comorbidities, including early-onset type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD), the most common liver disease in U.S. children. This study examines the relationship between body weight, liver size, and texture in children from Puerto Rico.

Background Craniomaxillofacial (CMF) trauma is a significant problem in the United States, with estimated costs of nearly one billion dollars annually. Facial fractures occur based on factors such as facial structure, the direction and intensity of the impact, and the mechanism of injury. The most frequent facial fractures include the nose, orbits, zygomatic complex, mandible, maxilla, and frontal bone. Additionally, demographic, social, cultural, and environmental factors can contribute to...

Detrital inputs from the surrounding terrestrial environment provide essential nutrients that sustain mosquito populations in aquatic containers. The larvae of Aedes aegypti (L.), an anthropophilic invasive vector species, often develop in artificial habitats in urban areas but little is known about how that environment shapes their life history or phenotypic traits. We hypothesized that container detritus, nutrients, and larval interspecific competition with the endemic mosquito, Aedes...

CONCLUSIONS: The second generic atorvastatin (Lipostat^(®)) resulted in comparable outcomes on LDL compared with the original (Xarator^(®)), but significantly lower LDL levels than another generic atorvastatin (Atorvastatin Sandoz^(®)) 6 months after switching therapy. However, renal function should be closely monitored.

BACKGROUND: Rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality are persistently higher among Latina women in the continental United States (US) and women in Puerto Rico (a US territory) compared with non-Hispanic White (NHW) women. Multiple factors contribute to low participation in cancer screening, including structural barriers (e.g., low access to healthcare services, racism/discrimination, lack of culturally and linguistically adequate information), cultural concerns, and low perceived risk...

CONCLUSION: Stressors directly linked with the disaster were most challenging to cope with. Our data highlights the impending need to address cancer patients in future emergency plans to minimize the delay in continuing cancer care.

The Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) is an innovative design alternative that enhances safety and operations, but its unconventional crossover maneuvers might confuse first-time drivers. The first DDI in Puerto Rico opened in 2023 at the interchange of highways PR-30 and PR-189 to improve the level of service of a conventional diamond interchange. Due to the lack of experience with a DDI in Puerto Rico, a driving simulation experiment was conducted in three phases to analyze future user...

CONCLUSIONS: The implications of psychometric research for improving global efforts to triage and respond to psychological distress in the aftermath of natural disasters are discussed, with an emphasis on the critical need for psychometric research to diversify through development and adaptation of instruments in global populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

CONCLUSION: Healthy diets were associated with a reduced risk for incident diverticulitis in women. Consumption of nuts and seeds was not associated with diverticulitis risk.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence that PEBL offers protective effects against ALI induced by acute respiratory viruses. PEBL prevents FXR from binding to ACE2 by inhibiting FXR transcription, which reduces macrophage infiltration, cytokine storm formation, and inflammatory injury, thereby ameliorating viral ALI. These findings underscore the potential of PEBL as a candidate for further exploration in the treatment of viral ALI.

Introduction Medicare payments for radiation oncology (RO) services adhere to a fee-for-service model. However, a growing number of stakeholders, including both payers and physicians, are increasingly supportive of transitioning to an episode-based payment (EBP) model. Multiple novel models have been proposed, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services/Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Radiation Oncology Model and the American Society for Radiation Oncology Radiation...

This study was undertaken to understand the species-specific response and the effect of changes in ambient temperature on the jumping performance of two congeneric tropical frog species, environmental specialist Eleutherodactylus wightmanae and environmental generalist Eleutherodactylus coqui, obtained from three distinct populations across their east-west longitudinal range in Puerto Rico. Three environmental temperatures currently experienced in their natural habitat were selected for...

Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide and is known to have higher mortality among women with African ancestry. Herein, we describe the creation and characterization of a multiethnic breast cancer tissue microarray (ME-BrTMA) representing tumors from non-Hispanic White (n = 41), non-Hispanic Black (NHB; n = 45), and Hispanic patients from Puerto Rico (n = 36) and Florida (n = 52). This ME-BrTMA comprises five blocks with a total of 610 cores: 371...

This poem was inspired by my research and lived experiences. As an associate professor of industrial engineering, my research focuses on dismantling structural racism in health systems. My holistic view of processes has helped map out public health programs and identify where Hispanics are being left behind. As a Hispanic who lived in Montana for over a decade, my family and I have been marginalized solely due to our skin color, language, and accent, irrespective of our nationality or...

Tropical wetlands are some of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. Pterocarpus officinalis exists in swampy wetlands in riparian and fresh-water coastal areas across the neotropics, supporting biodiversity and storm surge and flooding protection as well as water filtration. In Puerto Rico, P. officinalis-dominated forests have been severely declining in recent decades, mainly due to land development. Reversing this trend in the face of climate change and projected sea level rise via...

INTRODUCTION: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the USA. Cancer genetics and genomic studies have improved our understanding of risk, onset and progression. However, disparities by race and ethnicity have resulted in a lack of representation for minorities in these studies, contributing to unequal reductions in the cancer burden across populations. Moreover, the reasons why some individuals decline to participate in cancer genetics and/or genomic studies across diverse populations...