Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a global epidemic, currently representing the worldwide leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Atherosclerosis is the fundamental pathophysiologic component of CVD, where the immune system plays an essential role. Monocytes and macrophages are key mediators in this aspect: due to their heterogeneity and plasticity, these cells may act as either pro- or anti-inflammatory mediators. Indeed, monocytes may develop heterogeneous functional phenotypes depending on the predominating pro- or anti-inflammatory microenvironment within the lesion, resulting in classic, intermediate, and non-classic monocytes, each with strikingly differing features. Similarly, macrophages may also adopt heterogeneous profiles being mainly M1 and M2, the former showing a proinflammatory profile while the latter demonstrates anti-inflammatory traits; they are further subdivided in several subtypes with more specialized functions. Furthermore, macrophages may display plasticity by dynamically shifting between phenotypes in response to specific signals. Each of these distinct cell profiles is associated with diverse biomarkers which may be exploited for therapeutic intervention, including IL-10, IL-13, PPAR-γ, LXR, NLRP3 inflammasomes, and microRNAs. Direct modulation of the molecular pathways concerning these potential macrophage-related targets represents a promising field for new therapeutic alternatives in atherosclerosis and CVD.

PurposeTo determine the prevalence and factors associated with computer vision syndrome in medical students at a private university in Paraguay.MethodsA survey study was conducted in 2021 in a sample of 228 medical students from the Universidad del Pacífico, Paraguay. The dependent variable was CVS, measured with the Computer Visual Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q). Its association with covariates (hours of daily use of notebook, smartphone, tablet and PC, taking breaks when using equipment, use of preventive visual measures, use of glasses, etc.) was examined.ResultsThe mean age was 22.3 years and 71.5% were women. CVS was present in 82.5% of participants. Higher prevalence of CVS was associated with wearing a framed lens (PR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.03–1.20). In contrast, taking a break when using electronic equipment at least every 20 min and every 1 h reduced 7% (PR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87–0.99) and 6% (PR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.89–0.99) the prevalence of CVS, respectively.ConclusionEight out of 10 students experienced CVS during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of framed lenses increased the presence of CVS, while taking breaks when using electronic equipment at least every 20 min and every 1 h reduced CVS.

Cell therapy has shown beneficial effects on ventricular function and tissue regeneration in patients with acute and chronic myocardial infarction, although with diverse grades of variability in the results, possibly by proportion, subtype and cell cycle status. Objective: Identify and phenotypically characterize, via CXCR4 and SDF-1 expression, the bone marrow cell subpopulations that are mobilized into the bloodstream in patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) and Acute Ischemia (AI) such as acute angina and Chronic Ischemia (CI) such as chronic stable angina, and also determine the cell cycle status of these cells. Method: Patients with AMI and AI were recruited in the ICCU, and patients with CI in the departments of cardiology and cardiovascular surgery. The quantification of cellular subpopulations was made by cytofluorometry with a FACS caliburcyto fluorometry (Becton Dickinson) with specific FITC-labeled anti human monoclonal antibodies against CD34, CD133, CD117, CD48, CXCR4, SDF-1 and Ki67 (Becton Dickinson). Serum concentration of IL-6 and IL-8 were determined by a sequential solid phase chemiluminescent assay performed in a SIEMENS IMMULITE 1000 Analyzer. Statistical analysis was made with the SPSS version 20.0 for Windows. A p value < 0.05 was considered as statistical significant. Results: We analyzed 174 patients. 67 had Acute Myocardial Infarction, 55 Acute Ischemia and 52 Chronic Ischemia. Total cellularity of bone marrow and SDF-1+ cells was significantly higher in patients with AMI (14.6 ± 1.5 × 10 3 /ml) than that in AI (9.2 ± 1.3 × 10 3 /ml) and CI (6.6 ± 1.1 × 10 3 /ml) patients (p * Corresponding author. J. L. Aceves et al. 362< 0.001). There were no significant differences in the amount of CD34+, CD117+, CD133+ and CD48+ cells between AMI (49.9 ± 3.9, 45 ± 4.7, 43.2 ± 3.7, 35.4 ± 6.7 respectively) and AI (36.7 ± 2.5, 36 ± 3.2, 33.7 ± 5.1, 32 ± 5 respectively) patients (p = 0.22 to 0.39), but interestingly in AMI and AI patients, cells were CXCR4+ in almost half of these mobilized cells, although the proportion was significantly higher in AMI patients (46.8% ± 7.1% to 55.7% ± 6.3% vs 23% ± 1.6% to 28.4% ± 2.1%, p = 0.03 to 0.05). A similar behavior was observed with the Ki67 antibody (29.9% ± 2.1% to 36.1% ± 6.3% vs 10% ± 1.2% to 24% ± 1.1%, p = 0.001 to 0.05). Bivariate analysis of the results showed a significant correlation of the cell proportion in AMI but not in AI and CI patients (p = 0.001 to 0.05; 0.12 to 0.87 and 0.17 to 0.92 respectively). The amount of myocardial tissue infarcted did not show any correlation with the amount of cellular subpopulations mobilized to peripheral blood (r = 0.10 to 0.20; p = 0.21 to 0.64) from the bone marrow. Conclusion: The proportion of cellular subpopulations with regenerative potential mobilized to circulation during an event of Acute Myocardial Infarction is significantly higher than during an event of acute angina and chronic stable angina, with a significant proportion of mobilized cells that expressed CXCR4, most of which were ...