Papers by Yadira Ramírez Hernández
The Journal of Immunology, 2005
Pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infection of C57BL/6 mice is an established model of a chronic ... more Pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infection of C57BL/6 mice is an established model of a chronic pulmonary fungal infection accompanied by an “allergic” response (T2) to the infection, i.e., a model of an allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis. Our objective was to determine whether IFN-γ plays a role in regulating the pulmonary T2 immune response in C. neoformans-infected C57BL/6 mice. Long-term pulmonary fungistasis was lost in IFN-γ knockout (KO) mice, resulting in an increased pulmonary burden of fungi at wk 3. IFN-γ was required for the early influx of leukocytes into the lungs but was not required later in the infection. By wk 3, eosinophil and macrophage numbers were elevated in the absence of IFN-γ. The inducible NO synthase to arginase ratio was lower in the lungs of IFN-γ KO mice and the macrophages had increased numbers of intracellular cryptococci and YM1 crystals, indicative of alternatively activated macrophages in these mice. There was evidence of pulmonary fibrosis in bot...
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 2019
Introduction: Biomarkers are critical tools for finding new approaches for controlling the spread... more Introduction: Biomarkers are critical tools for finding new approaches for controlling the spread of tuberculosis (TB), including for predicting the development of TB therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostic tools. Methods: Expression of immune biomarkers was analyzed in peripheral blood cells stimulated and non-stimulated with M. tuberculosis antigens ESAT-6, CFP10 and TB7.7. in Warao indigenous individuals. These biomarkers may be able to differentiate TB states, such as active tuberculosis (ATB) cases and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) from non-infected controls (NIC). A real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay was performed on 100 blood samples under non-stimulation or direct ex vivo conditions (NS=50) and stimulation conditions (S=50). Results: The findings are shown as the median and interquartile range (IQR) of relative gene expression levels of IFN-γ, CD14, MMP9, CCR5, CCL11, CXCL9/MIG, and uPAR/PLAUR immune biomarkers. MMP9 levels were significantly higher in the LTBI-NS and LTBI-S groups compared with the NIC-NS and NIC-S groups. However, CCR5 levels were significantly lower in the LTBI-S group compared with both NIC-NS and NIC-S groups. CCL11 levels were significantly lower in the LTBI-S group compared with the NIC-NS group. Conclusions: Preliminary findings showed that MMP9 immune biomarkers separated LTBI indigenous individuals from NIC indigenous individuals, while CCR5, CCL11, CD14, and IFN-γ did not differentiate TB states from NIC. MMP9 may be useful as a potential biomarker for LTBI and new infected case detection among Warao indigenous individuals at high risk of developing the disease. It may also be used to halt the epidemic, which will require further validation in larger studies.
Frontiers in Immunology, 2017
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2013
A numerical method for computational implementation of gradient dynamical systems is presented. T... more A numerical method for computational implementation of gradient dynamical systems is presented. The method is based upon the development of geometric integration numerical methods, which aim at preserving the dynamical properties of the original ordinary differential equation under discretization. In particular, the proposed method belongs to the class of discrete gradients methods, which substitute the gradient of the continuous equation with a discrete gradient, leading to a map that possesses the same Lyapunov function of the dynamical system, thus preserving the qualitative properties regardless of the step size. In this work, we apply a discrete gradient method to the implementation of Hopfield neural networks. Contrary to most geometric integration methods, the proposed algorithm can be rewritten in explicit form, which considerably improves its performance and stability. Simulation results show that the preservation of the Lyapunov function leads to an improved performance, compared to the conventional discretization.
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Papers by Yadira Ramírez Hernández