Resumen

Orofacial clefts are known to be defects in the fusion of the oral cavity during the development of the fetus. This research aims to explore the link between the dietary intake of mothers during early pregnancy and occurrences of orofacial clefts in children of Puerto Rico by employing the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Logistic regression constructs revealed certain foods that had associations with prevalence of orofacial clefts. Among those studied, some vegetables such as raw carrots (p=0.02), green beans (p=0.02), and bell peppers (p=0.03) were among the most significant. Also examined were typical Puerto Rican cuisines like “pasteles” (p=0.04) and “mofongo” (p=0.04) that had varying levels of consumption. Among the significant were also proteins like hamburgers (p=0.04) and fried seafood (p=0.04), non fried seafood (p=0.01) as well as dairy products such as flavored milk (p=0.01) and hard cheese (p=0.05). The consumption during these periods suggests that  maternal intake of certain vegetables, protein, and cultural cuisines may be a contributor to orofacial clefts. More investigations should be performed to determine the effects of maternal nutrition and to identify the foods that could be helpful. These factors are paramount during the planning of prenatal care programs and public health to lessen the occurrence of orofacial clefts, especially in high risk areas.

Palabras claves: Nutrición, embarazo, malformaciones orofaciales, riesgo de incidencia 

Resumen

Comprender los mecanismos de la regeneración en organismos modelo es crucial para avanzar en la medicina regenerativa, especialmente en enfermedades neurodegenerativas y la reparación de órganos. Este estudio explora los mecanismos genéticos subyacentes a la regeneración intestinal en Holothuria glaberrima, una especie con capacidades regenerativas excepcionales. Utilizando secuenciación unicelular de ARNm, se identificaron 59 genes relacionados con los nervios, agrupados en 14 categorías funcionales que incluyen neurotransmisión, señalización celular y diferenciación. La sobreexpresión más significativa se observó en células neuroepiteliales, destacando su papel crucial en la regeneración. Los alineamientos de secuencias entre especies revelaron hasta un 76.7% de homología con genes humanos, lo que sugiere una conservación evolutiva, que se puede asemejar funcionalmente, de secuencias relacionadas con procesos neuronales. Estos hallazgos proporcionan una base para estudios futuros que busquen aprovechar los mecanismos regenerativos de H. glaberrima para informar avances en la medicina regenerativa humana.

Palabras claves: Regeneración, Holothuria Glaberrima, Neural-related genes, Gene expression profiles, Sequence Allignment