A5038883557- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Viral Infections and Vectors
- HIV Research and Treatment
- SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- HIV/AIDS drug development and treatment
- Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology
- SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing
- Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
- Malaria Research and Control
- Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology
- Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences
- COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Influenza Virus Research Studies
- COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Gut microbiota and health
- Dengue and Mosquito Control Research
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research
- Respiratory viral infections research
- Data-Driven Disease Surveillance
- HIV-related health complications and treatments
- Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
Ponce Health Sciences University
2015-2025
AID Atlanta
2024
Vector & Vector-Borne Diseases Research Institute
2024
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2022-2023
Puerto Rico Department of Health
2022-2023
Swedish Veterinary Agency
2023
University of Puerto Rico System
2023
University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras
2022
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
2013
Washington State University
1999-2004
Campylobacter jejuni, a gram-negative motile bacterium, secretes set of proteins termed the invasion antigens (Cia proteins). The purpose this study was to determine whether flagellar apparatus serves as export for Cia proteins. Mutations were generated in five genes encoding three structural components flagella, basal body (flgB and flgC), hook (flgE2), filament (flaA flaB) genes, well whose products are essential protein (flhB fliI). While mutations that affected assembly found be...
Distinguishing between non-severe and severe dengue is crucial for timely intervention reducing morbidity mortality. World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended warning signs offer a practical approach clinicians but have limited sensitivity specificity. This study aims to evaluate machine learning (ML) model performance compared WHO-recommended in predicting among laboratory-confirmed cases Puerto Rico. We analyzed data from Rico's Sentinel Enhanced Dengue Surveillance System (May...
Presented here is the first evidence that Campylobacter jejuni secrete proteins upon co‐cultivation with host cells and in INT 407 cell‐conditioned medium. A C. gene designated ciaB for invasion antigen B was identified, using a differential screening technique, which required this secretion process efficient entry of bacterium into cell. The encodes protein 610 amino acids calculated molecular mass 73 154 Da. deduced acid sequence CiaB shares similarity type III secreted associated from...
Campylobacter jejuni are a common cause of human diarrheal illness. Previous work has demonstrated that C. synthesize novel set proteins upon coculturing with epithelial cells, some which secreted. The secreted have been collectively referred to as invasion antigens (Cia proteins). Metabolic labeling experiments revealed Cia protein synthesis and secretion separable is the rate-limiting step these processes. Additional indicated induced in response bile salts various eukaryotic host cell...
The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) epidemic has negatively affected over 40 million people worldwide. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) improved life expectancy and changed the outcome of HIV-1 infection, making it a chronic manageable disease. However, AIDS non-AIDS comorbid illnesses persist during course infection despite use ART. In addition, development neuropsychiatric comorbidities (including depression) by HIV-infected subjects significantly affects quality life, medication...
Problem/Condition: Dengue is the most prevalent mosquitoborne viral illness worldwide and endemic in Puerto Rico.Dengue's clinical spectrum can range from mild, undifferentiated febrile to hemorrhagic manifestations, shock, multiorgan failure, death severe cases.The disease presentation nonspecific; therefore, various other illnesses (e.g., arboviral respiratory pathogens) cause similar symptoms.Enhanced surveillance necessary determine prevalence, characterize epidemiology of disease,...
The first vaccine against chikungunya virus (CHIKV) was recently licensed in the U.S., Europe, and Canada (brand IXCHIQ
In addition to its role in virus entry, HIV-1 gp120 has also been implicated HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. However, the mechanism(s) responsible for gp120-mediated neuroinflammation remain undefined. view of increased levels IL-6 HIV-positive individuals with neurological manifestations, we sought address whether is involved over-expression astrocytes. Transfection a human astrocyte cell line plasmid encoding resulted expression at mRNA and protein by 51.3±2.1 11.6±2.2 fold...
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is increasingly used for HIV-1 drug resistance genotyping. NGS methods have the potential a more sensitive detection of low-abundance variants (LAV) compared to standard Sanger (SS) methods. A standardized threshold reporting LAV that generates data comparable those derived from SS needed allow comparability laboratories using and SS. Ten specimens were tested in ten Illumina MiSeq-based The consensus sequences each specimen thresholds 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% other...
Mosquito-transmitted viruses such as dengue are a global and growing public health challenge. Without widely available vaccines, mosquito control is the primary tool for fighting spread of these viruses. New technologies needed to complement existing methods, given current challenges with scalability, acceptability, effectiveness. A field trial was conducted in collaboration Communities Organized Prevent Arboviruses project Ponce, Puerto Rico, measure entomological epidemiological effects...
Highlights•Positive and negative interactions among 7 respiratory viruses found in Puerto Rico•Bayesian modeling adjusted for seasonality, long-term trends, other confounders•Wavelet coherence revealed synchronized virus co-variation pre-pandemic periods•Significant virus-virus include RSV/HPIV-3, IBV/HAdV, IAV/HAdV•Findings guide strategies surveillance interventionsAbstractBackgroundUnderstanding is important evaluating disease transmission severity. Positive suggest concurrent...
The representativeness and timeliness of sentinel surveillance for endemic emerging arboviral respiratory diseases in low-resource settings are understudied. We compared laboratory-confirmed epidemic dengue, non-epidemic Zika, chikungunya, COVID-19 (pre-Omicron Omicron periods) cases reported Puerto Rico's Sentinel Enhanced Dengue Surveillance System (SEDSS) with island-wide trends by the Department Health's passive disease system (PADSS). plotted over time to assess used lagged...
Depression is the most common psychiatric diagnosis in HIV/AIDS population and represents a risk factor for disease progression. Since HIV-1 infection characterized by immunologic metabolic disturbances, we want to study effects of depression on different components related pro-inflammatory oxidative stress markers. We hypothesize that will lead increased cytokine levels altered antioxidant/oxidant balance.We included males females who were ≥21 years age, whose sero-status was confirmed...
Tobacco use has been implicated as an immunomodulator in the oral cavity and contributes to development of cancer. In present study, we investigated effects cigarette smoking on bacterial diversity host responses compared healthy nonsmoking controls. Saliva samples were collected from eighteen smokers sixteen individuals by passive drool. The 16S rRNA gene was used characterize salivary microbiome using Illumina MiSeq platform. Cytokine chemokine expression analyses performed evaluate...
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) caused a large outbreak in Puerto Rico 2014, followed by Zika (ZIKV) 2016. Communities Organized for the Prevention of Arboviruses (COPA) is cohort study southern Rico, initiated 2018 to measure arboviral disease risk and provide platform evaluate interventions. To identify factors infection, we assessed prevalence previous CHIKV infection recent ZIKV DENV cross-sectional among COPA participants. Participants aged 1–50 years (y) were recruited from randomly selected...
Infections with Chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne alphavirus, cause an acute febrile syndrome often followed by chronic arthritis that persists for months to years post-infection. Neutralizing antibodies are the primary immune correlate of protection elicited infection, and major goal vaccinations in development. Using convalescent blood samples collected from both endemic non-endemic human subjects at multiple timepoints following suspected or confirmed chikungunya we identified broad...
The implementation of antiretroviral treatment combined with the monitoring drug resistance mutations improves quality life HIV-1 positive patients. mutation patterns and viral genotypes are currently analyzed by DNA sequencing virus in plasma However, compartmentalizes, different T cell subsets may harbor distinct subsets. In this study, we compared HIV distribution cell-free (blood plasma) cell-associated viruses (peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMCs) derived from ART-treated patients...
Abstract Background Neurocognitive impairments remain prevalent in HIV-1 infected individuals despite current antiretroviral therapies. It is increasingly becoming evident that astrocytes play a critical role neuropathogenesis through the production of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines. viral protein R (Vpr) plays an important neuronal dysfunction; however, its neuroinflammation not well characterized. The major objective this study was to determine effect Vpr induction chemokine CCL5 and...
Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), most commonly Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC), suffer from chronic intestinal inflammation of unknown etiology. Increased proinflammatory macrophages (M1) have been documented in tissue patients CD. Anti-inflammatory (M2) may play a role UC given the preponderance Th2 cytokines this variant IBD. Animal and clinical studies shown that probiotic VSL#3 can ameliorate signs symptoms Although animal data suggests modulatory effect on...
Dengue and influenza are pathogens of global concern cause febrile illness similar to COVID-19. We analyzed data from an enhanced surveillance system operating three emergency departments urgent care clinic in Puerto Rico identify clinical features predictive or dengue compared with Participants fever respiratory symptoms aged ≥18 years enrolled May 2012-January 2021 dengue, influenza, SARS-CoV-2 confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction were included. calculated adjusted...
Abstract We reconstructed the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic caused by Omicron variant in Puerto Rico sampling genomes collected during October 2021–May 2022. Our study revealed that BA.1 emerged and replaced Delta as predominant December 2021. Increased transmission rates a dynamic landscape of sublineage infections followed.
Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral, acute febrile illness (AFI) is associated with polyarthralgia and polyarthritis. Differentiation from other AFI difficult due to the non-specific presentation limited availability of diagnostics. This 3-year study identified independent clinical predictors by day post-illness onset (DPO) at age-group that distinguish chikungunya cases two groups: dengue. Specimens collected participants fever ≤7 days were tested for chikungunya, dengue viruses 1–4, 20...