Sinibaldo R. Romero Arocha

• Bachelor of Science
• DPhil student at University of Oxford

Purpose: Education on medical Spanish, defined as the use of Spanish by clinicians for communication with patients, has proliferated rapidly since the first guidelines were published in 2008. This study aims to characterize the scope of the field, identify gaps, and propose emerging questions for future study. Method: The authors conducted a narrat...

Context Spanish is the language in the United States with the greatest language-concordant physician deficit. Allopathic medical Spanish programs have proliferated, but the national prevalence of medical Spanish education at osteopathic medical schools has never been evaluated. Objectives The objectives of this study are to describe the medical Sp...

Background Persistent headache is a frequent symptom after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and there is currently limited knowledge about its clinical spectrum and predisposing factors. A subset of patients may be experiencing new daily persistent headache (NDPH) after COVID-19, which is among the most treatment-refractory primary headache synd...

La sepsis es una disfunción orgánica potencialmente mortal debida a una respuesta desregulada del hospedero a la infección. No sólo contribuye con el 20 % de todas las causas de muerte de forma global, sino que los sobrevivientes de esta también pueden experimentar una significativa morbilidad a largo plazo. La sepsis y el shock séptico son emergen...

Background Persistent headache is a frequent symptom after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and there is currently limited knowledge about its clinical spectrum and predisposing factors. A subset of patients may be experiencing new daily persistent headache (NDPH) after COVID-19, which is among the most treatment-refractory primary headache synd...

Background Malaria‐endemic areas are not spared from the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to co-infection scenarios where overlapping symptoms impose serious diagnostic challenges. Current knowledge on Plasmodium spp. and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) co‐infection in pregnant women remains limite...

Hypertensive syndromes of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide.Their etiology is complex, multifactorial and not yet fully understood; however, there is recent evidence that the symptoms are attributable to an excessive inflammatory response causing widespread endothelial damage. During the last...

Abstract Background We have here assessed the impact of demographic, clinical, and treatment compliance characteristics on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Venezuelan patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We have used a disease-specific questionnaire, the Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL), validated in our patient population, to...

Background and objectives: Traditionally, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been assessed using instruments that neglect the specific characteristics of the disease. This study determines the validity of the Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL) questionnaire as a psychometrically stable...

Background We have here assessed the impact of demographic, clinical, and treatment compliance characteristics on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Venezuelan patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We have used a disease-specific questionnaire, the Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL), validated in our patient population, to measure...

Introduction: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) studies related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) allow the identification of erroneous concepts and inadequate practices about this disease. This baseline information is essential to design effective strategies and improve adherence to prevention measures. Objective: Identify the KAP re...

Resumen Antecedentes y objetivos Tradicionalmente, la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud (CVRS) de los pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES) ha sido evaluada utilizando instrumentos que desatienden las características específicas de la enfermedad. Este estudio determina la validez del cuestionario Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL) c...

The management of patients with heart failure focuses on halting the progression of disease. To date, no therapeutic approach has been able to restore cardiac function to its original baseline state. Cell therapies, such as cardiopoietic (CP) stem cells, have shown to be promising platforms to restore cardiac function. The CP platform enhances the...

Background Clinical trials utilizing mesenchymal stem cells (MCSs) for the treatment of perianal Crohn disease are expanding. Most enrolled Crohn patients are being actively treated with corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologic therapy for their luminal and perianal disease at the time of enrollment and treatment. Aim We sought to broaden t...

The use of mesenchymal stem cells to treat perianal fistulas is becoming increasingly common with more clinical trials being conducted worldwide. No clinical trial to date has excluded patients taking immunosuppressive medication at the time of mesenchymal stem cell delivery. Little is known about the effect of immunosuppression on mesenchymal stem...

NKAP and HDAC3 are critical for T cell maturation. NKAP and HDAC3 physically associate, and a point mutation in NKAP, NKAP(Y352A), abrogates this interaction. To evaluate the significance of NKAP and HDAC3 association in T cell maturation, transgenic mice were engineered for cre-mediated endogenous NKAP gene deletion coupled to induction of NKAP(Y3...

NKAP is a multifunctional nuclear protein that associates with the histone deacetylase HDAC3. Although both NKAP and HDAC3 are critical for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) maintenance and survival, it was not known whether these two proteins work together. To assess the importance of their association in vivo, serial truncation and alanine scanning w...

CD4 and CD8 T cells are vital components of the immune system. We found that histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) is critical for the development of CD4 T cells, as HDAC3-deficient DP thymocytes generate only CD8SP thymocytes in mice. In the absence of HDAC3, MHC Class II-restricted OT-II thymocytes are redirected to the CD8 cytotoxic lineage, which occur...

The transcription factor Runx1 is critical for T cell development and maturation. CD4-Cre Runx1 conditional knockout mice have a block in T cell maturation, leading to complement deposition on CD4+ recent thymic emigrants, leaving very few CD4+ T cells in peripheral lymphoid organs. Consistent with a block in maturation, peripheral Runx1-deficient...

Nearly 1.25 million Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease which destroys insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreatic islets. Although insulin therapy is a lifesaving treatment, it is not a cure and secondary complications remain a significant concern. Experimental islet transplantation as a curative measure has yet to over...

Regulatory T cells are critical for the generation and maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Conditional deletion of the transcriptional repressor NKAP in Tregs using Foxp3-YFP-cre NKAP conditional knockout mice causes aggressive autoimmunity characterized by thymic atrophy, lymphadenopathy, peripheral T cell activation, generation of autoantibodies...

NKT cells are a distinct subset that have developmental requirements that often differ from conventional T cells. Here, we show that NKT-specific deletion of Hdac3 results in a severe reduction in the number of iNKT cells, particularly of NKT1 cells. In addition, there is decreased cytokine production by Hdac3-deficient NKT2 and NKT17 cells. Hdac3-...

iNKT cells are a unique lineage of T cells that recognize glycolipid presented by CD1d. In the thymus, they differentiate into iNKT1, iNKT2 and iNKT17 effector subsets, characterized by preferential expression of Tbet, Gata3 and ROR-γt and production of IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-17, respectively. We demonstrate that the transcriptional regulator Runx1 is...

T cells require additional developmental steps after positive selection before they are functionally competent and can enter the long-lived peripheral T cell pool. During maturation, T cells gain the ability to produce cytokines upon stimulation, and the ability to protect themselves from TNF and complement-mediated cell death. In three different m...

MHC-restricted CD4 and CD8 T cells are vital components of the immune system. The decision to generate CD4 or CD8 T cells occurs in the thymus. After positive selection, intermediate thymocytes downregulate CD8 to test coreceptor specificity. Thymocytes develop into CD4 T cells if they experience persistent TCR signaling, while termination of TCR s...

NKAP is a transcriptional regulator essential for conventional T cell maturation. It does not have any previously defined DNA binding domains and is thought to interact with HDAC3 to exert its functions. The deletion of NKAP at the double positive stage (DP) in T cell development using the CD4-cre NKAP conditional knockout (cKO) mouse model renders...

Patients with iron overload disorders often develop lymphocyte deficiencies, indicating iron homeostasis is critical for lymphopoiesis. Loss of ABCB7, a mitochondrial iron transporter, leads to mitochondrial iron accumulation and rapid hematopoietic failure. We found that ABCB7 is required for lymphopoiesis, as CD2-icre ABCB7 cKO mice have a severe...

NKAP is a transcriptional repressor required at various stages of conventional αβ T cell development. Here, we asked if NKAP is also required in regulatory T cells. To answer this, we created Foxp3-YFP-cre NKAP conditional knock-out (cKO) mice in which NKAP deletion occurs upon the expression of Foxp3 during Treg development in the thymus. Deletion...

The transcription factor Runx1 has essential roles throughout hematopoiesis. Here, we demonstrate that Runx1 is critical for T cell maturation. Peripheral naïve CD4+ T cells from CD4-cre Runx1 cKO mice are phenotypically and functionally immature as shown by decreased production of TNF-α upon TCR stimulation. The loss of peripheral CD4+ T cells in...