Global frameworks, local strategies: Women's rights, health, and the tobacco control movement in Argentina

The article examines how civil society organisations in Argentina used the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to frame the country's failure to enact strong national tobacco control legislation as a violation of women's rights in the late 2000s. We analyze this case study through the politics of scale, namely the social processes that produce, reproduce, and contest the boundaries of policies and socio-economic relations. This approach understands how multiple scales overlap and connect to obstruct or enhance the right to health in Latin America. In Argentina, the global organisation of tobacco companies, the reach of international financial institutions and the national dynamics of economic austerity and export-orientation promoted the local production and use of tobacco (leaf and cigarettes) and reproduced health inequalities in the country throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s. Yet, the visible legacy of local and national human rights struggles in the adoption of international human rights treaties into Argentina's national constitution allowed the tobacco control movement to link the scale of women's bodies to the right to health through the use of CEDAW to change national legislation, tackling the social determinants of the tobacco epidemic.

Abstract P2-10-11: A microRNA signature associated with pathological complete response to a novel neoadjuvant therapy regimen in triple negative breast cancer

Background: Locally advanced triple negative breast cancer (laTNBC) patient's exhibits resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) and poor survival. Distinct therapeutic combinations have been used to reduce high mortality. Recently, novel regimens of NC for laTNBC have achieved pathological complete response (pCR) rates of 10-50%. Evaluation of pCR during oncologic treatment is decisive to identify those patients that response or not response to NC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that represent novel and potential predictive biomarkers useful to identify the patients who will get pCR in cancer.

Methods: Thirty-five patients diagnosed with laTNBC, were invited to participate in this study and enrolled after they signed an informed consent. The 22 patients with pCR and 13 patients without pCR received the experimental NC fluorouracil, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, paclitaxel (FAC--CDDP/paclitaxel). MiRNA expression profiling was evaluated for 754 miRNAs. A discovery cohort (n=10 pCR and n=8 no-pCR) and a validation cohort (n=12 pCR and n=5 no-pCR). Bioinformatics analysis revealed the affected cellular pathways in pCR group. After a median clinical follow-up of 60 months, statistical analysis was performed to identify miRNAs that could discriminate pCR from no-pCR by using FAC--CDDP/paclitaxel.

Results: MiRNAs expression profiling identified 11 miRNAs that showed significant differences between pCR and no-pCR (p<0.05 and fold change >1.5) groups. Eight miRNAs (miR-9-3p, -30a-3p, -135b, -135b*, -380-5p, -941, -652 and miR-181c*) were upregulated and three miRNAs (miR-770-5p, -584 and miR-143) were downregulated in pCR patients. The altered cellular pathways for the set of miRNAs were PI3K/AKT, FoxO, Ras and ERBB (p<0.05). Four differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-770-5p, miR-143-5p, miR-30a-3p, miR-9-3p) were confirmed in the validation phase. Expression of these miRNAs above the median level was a significant predictor of pCR to experimental NC in laTNBC patients (p<0.001).

Conclusions: These four validated miRNAs could be used as predictors of pCR in response to FAC---CDDP/Paclitaxel treatment in laTNBC patients.

Citation Format: Vázquez RG, Camarillo CL, Marchau LM, García ER, Miranda AA, Martínez HM, Parra AC, De la Vega HA, Barrios AG, Cuevas SR. A microRNA signature associated with pathological complete response to a novel neoadjuvant therapy regimen in triple negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-10-11.

La guerra contra las drogas en México, la política exterior canadiense y los derechos humanos

En la actualidad, la política exterior de Canadá hacia México se enfoca principalmente en el comercio, la inversión y la seguridad, mientras que los derechos humanos tienen escasa visibilidad en la agenda bilateral. El presente artículo argumenta que esta escasa visibilidad se debe a tres razones. Primera, la concepción limitada de democracia electoral del gobierno canadiense evita que este último considere discutir los abusos de derechos humanos en su agenda con México porque es considerado una democracia. Segundo, un enfoque de derechos humanos hacia México podría afectar la actual estrategia gubernamental canadiense de comercio e inversión, particularmente en el sector minero, respecto de su país vecino del sur. Tercera, la subordinación de los asuntos de derechos humanos en México a la agenda bilateral de seguridad coincide con la estrategia doméstica de seguridad canadiense.

[Multicenter study of satisfaction with fast-dissolving ebastine, 20 mg/ day, in Mexican patients with allergic rhinitis]

BACKGROUND

Allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the nasal mucosa, with common symptoms, which is essentially characterized by nasal itching, nasal congestion, sneezing, hyaline rhinorrhea and repetitive sneezing. The disease is very common, 15% of the population worldwide suffers it. Among many treatments that have been used to relieve the symptoms of this disease there is a selective inhibitor of H1 receptors, ebastine.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate patient satisfaction using the scale of Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A multicentric, retrospective, observational study performed in 250 Mexican patients with the diagnosis of intermittent allergic rhinitis (IAR) or persistent allergic rhinitis (PER), confirmed by prick test, specific IgE, or both, treated with lyophilised ebastine in fast-dissolving (FDT) 20 mg at any time in the last two months, prescribed for at least two weeks by their doctor to relieve the symptoms of intermittent allergic rhinitis or persistent allergic rhinitis. We used a validated questionnaire assessment scales, TSQM.

RESULTS

The presentation of ebastine fast-dissolving (FDT) is effective and has good tolerability, over 80% of patients reported comfort and satisfaction using it.

CONCLUSIONS

Assessment of overall satisfaction, efficacy, tolerability and comfort showed that ebastine in fast-dissolving is an antihistamine with clear benefits to encourage compliance.