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Immunotherapy is currently approved for a subset of patients diagnosed with advanced triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), based on the phase III randomized controlled trial, IMpassion130. The anti-programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab combined with nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel is currently the standard first-line therapy in patients with metastatic TNBC who have a PD-L1-positive peritumoral immune infiltrate. Although this approval is limited to only a subset of patients, strategies to expand indications in breast cancer for this treatment modality are being extensively evaluated. A substantial need exists for the identification of patient characteristics, disease settings, immune markers, ideal partners for combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, and the ideal sequence with traditional anticancer therapies. Additionally, in light of the results of the KEYNOTE-522 study of adjuvant pembrolizumab in TNBC, evaluation of immunotherapy in the early disease setting is a subject of great interest. This review article discusses current knowledge on immune checkpoint inhibitors in clinical practice, and provides an overview of a variety of markers evaluated to predict benefit of immunotherapy and of promising new strategies to enhance immune response and enable more patients to benefit from immunotherapy.

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Treatment paradigms in advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer were substantially transformed with cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) approval. The addition of these drugs to endocrine treatment profoundly improved progression-free and overall survival. Additionally, other important endpoints, such as the response rate, time to chemotherapy, and a delay in quality of life deterioration, were positively impacted by CDK4/6 inhibitors' addition to the treatment of advanced HR-positive breast cancer. This review article will summarize current knowledge on CDK4/6 inhibitors in clinical practice for advanced HR-positive metastatic breast cancer, as well as describe recent efforts to more precisely characterize mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to these drugs, both on the molecular and clinical characterization level.

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The diversity of free-living aquatic nematodes is largely unknown for the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The Cuban Archipelago is an important part of this because of its large area and diversity of habitats. We analyzed the free-living nematodes from 83 sites from seven aquatic habitats around Cuba, to produce a checklist for many habitats, including seagrass meadows, coral degradation zones, algal turf, bare sands, unvegetated muds, freshwater and anchihaline caves, and deep-sea sediments. The checklist contains 469 species, 229 genera, 50 families, and 9 orders. Chromadorida, Enoplida, and Monhysterida were the best represented orders with 112, 100, and 83 species respectively. The most abundant species were Euchromadora vulgaris, Terschellingia longicaudata, Desmodora pontica, Sabatieria pulchra , and Epsilonema sp. Most of the listed species were new records for the region. There were differences in the number of species recorded in each habitat type, with seagrass meadows having 280 species, coral degradation zones having 139 species, deep waters having 116 species, algal turf having 114 species, bare sands having 100 species, unvegetated muds having 78 species, freshwater caves having 19 species, anchihaline caves having 16 species, and freshwater streams having 6 species. The checklist is the most comprehensive recent report of the diversity of free-living nematodes in the regions of Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The reported diversity is higher than many other regional checklists likely reflecting the intense sampling effort and the variety of microhabitats in Cuban Archipelago.

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Basic psychological needs are an energizing state that, if satisfied, will produce an increase in confidence and a healthy motivational orientation that leads to wellness. Frustration of these needs is the opposite concept of satisfaction, which refers to the negative sensation experimented by an individual when he or she perceives that their psychological needs are being actively limited by the actions of the significant other. To date, we have not found instruments validated in Spanish that measure both the satisfaction and the frustration of basic psychological needs in the physical education (PE) context. Therefore, the aims of this study are adapting the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) to the PE context in Mexico; and examine its psychometric properties, structure, and factorial invariance by gender in a sample of fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students. This study included a total of 1,470 fifth- and sixth-grade students from elementary schools in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The results support the reliability, validity, structure, and strict invariance of the sixth Mexican version of the BPNSFS in physical education (BPNSFS-PE). The BPNSFS-PE can be used to measure the satisfaction and/or frustration of the basic psychological needs of students in PE class and to perform comparisons between groups of boys and girls.

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Diversity patterns of free-living marine nematodes in tropical seagrass beds are understudied. Here, we describe the species richness and assemblage composition of nematodes in 13 seagrass sites covering the whole Cuban archipelago. Nematodes were collected from Thalassia testudinum seagrass beds and identified to species level. We provide a checklist of nematode species from seagrass beds. The species richness of nematode assemblages is high, with 215 species, 138 genus, 35 families, seven orders and two classes. That γ-diversity is higher than other studies and points to seagrass beds as diversity hotspots of free-living marine nematodes. Local species richness in seagrass bed sites is about 57 ± 17 species and broadly similar across the sites, despite the environmental heterogeneity. The geographical distance plays a weak, but significant, role on the decay of similarity likely affected by limited dispersal of nematodes. The pairwise similarity values, related to poor-coloniser nematodes, were twice more affected by the distance than those related to good-colonisers, possibly due to differential success of transport and settlement.

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La biodiversidad comprende la variabilidad de organismos y los sistemas ecológicos de los que forma parte, y constituye el sustento de la humanidad. Sin embargo, las actividades humanas han modificado a la biodiversidad en sus distintos niveles a un grado sin precedentes. Por lo cual, el objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar y describir el estado de la biodiversidad global y las cinco importantes causas de su declive: degradación y pérdida del hábitat, introducción de especies exóticas, sobreexplotación de recursos, contaminación y el cambio climático. La crisis actual se califica como la sexta extinción masiva, donde los anfibios y los corales formadores de arrecifes son los que presentan mayor riesgo de desaparecer. Debido a que para los próximos años el panorama no es el mejor, es urgente la toma acciones integrales para relentizar los procesos que dañan la integridad y funcionamiento de la diversidad biológica.

Biodiversity comprises the variability of organisms and the ecological systems of which it is part, and constitutes the livelihood of humanity. However, human activities have modified biodiversity at its various levels to an unprecedented level. Therefore, the aim of this work was to analyze and describe the state of global biodiversity and the five important causes of its decline: degradation and loss of habitat, introduction of exotic species, overexploitation of resources, pollution and climate change. The current crisis is classified as the sixth mass extinction, with amphibians and reef-building corals most at risk of disappearing. Because for the next few years the outlook is not the best, it is urgent to take concrete actions to slow down the processes that damage the integrity and functioning of biological diversity.

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Breast Cancer (BC) can be classified using pathologic features, such as grade and tumor size. It can be categorized based on the gene expression profile, which identifies the distinct molecular subtype. More recently, stromal tissue has been recognized as an important modulator of tumor cell growth, pathogenesis, and progression. Immune cells could drive important clinical characteristics that affect BC outcomes. Subgroups of patients who have tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in the stroma may have better response to chemotherapy and favorable long-term prognosis. Accumulating evidence shows that the immune system plays a crucial role in the outcomes of some BC subgroups, especially more aggressive, proliferative ones such as triple-negative and HER2-positive BC. This review article will present data on the role of lymphocyte infiltration in BC prognosis and response to therapy. This review will also introduce the reader to the challenges of applying this promising prognostic and predictive biomarker in clinical practice.

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Marine nematodes from subtidal tropical sediments of Cienfuegos Bay were subjected to organic enrichment in a microcosm experiment for 32 days. Nematode abundance and diversity decreased, and the taxonomic and trophic structure was altered. The results suggested that the nematodes were not food limited in the microcosms or in their natural environment. Chemical stressors such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide derived from reduced conditions in sediments may be important factors affecting the assemblages. Hypoxic conditions occurred in all experimental units, as well as in the field, suggesting a nematode assemblage adapted to naturally enriched sediments. However, tolerant species showed a grade of sensitivity to reduced conditions. In agreement with the model by Pearson and Rosenberg (1978), we predict that further organic enrichment in sediments from Cienfuegos Bay may cause a phase shift into a strongly depleted benthic fauna and reduced conditions in water and sediments.

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