BackgroundCirculating endothelial cells (CEC) may be a biomarker of vascular injury and pro-thrombotic tendency, while circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEP) may be an indicator for angiogenesis and vascular remodelling. However, there is not a universally accepted standardized protocol to identify and quantify these cells and its clinical relevancy remains to be established.ObjectivesTo quantify CEC and CEP in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) and with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), to characterize the CEC for the expression of activation (CD54, CD62E) and procoagulant (CD142) markers and to investigate whether they correlate with other clinical and laboratory data.Patients and MethodsSixteen patients with VTE, 17 patients with MPN and 20 healthy individuals were studied. The CEC and CEP were quantified and characterized in the blood using flow cytometry, and the demographic, clinical and laboratory data were obtained from hospital records.ResultsWe found the CEC counts were higher in both patient groups as compared to controls, whereas increased numbers of CEP were found only in patients with MPN. In addition, all disease groups had higher numbers of CD62E+ CEC as compared to controls, whereas only patients with VTE had increased numbers of CD142+ and CD54+ CEC. Moreover, the numbers of total and CD62+ CEC correlated positively with the white blood cells (WBC) counts in both groups of patients, while the numbers of CEP correlated positively with the WBC counts only in patients with MPN. In addition, in patients with VTE a positive correlation was found between the numbers of CD54+ CEC and the antithrombin levels, as well as between the CD142+ CEC counts and the number of thrombotic events.ConclusionsOur study suggests that CEC counts may reveal endothelial injury in patients with VTE and MPN and that CEC may express different activation-related phenotypes depending on the disease status.

Although the mental health problems of college students have been the subject of increasing research, there are no studies about its prevalence in Ecuadorian college students. The aim of this study was to determine the mental health problems and their associated factors in Ecuadorian freshmen university students. A sample of 1092 students (53.7% women; mean age = 18.3 years) were recruited from the Technical Particular University of Loja (Ecuador). Socio-demographic, academic, and clinical characteristics were gathered, as well as information on the participants’ mental health through a number of mental health screens. Prevalence of positive screens was 6.2% for prevalence of major depressive episodes, 0.02% for generalized anxiety disorders, 2.2% for panic disorders, 32.0% for eating disorders, 13.1% for suicidal risk. Mental health problems were significantly associated with sex, area of study, self-esteem, social support, personality and histories of mental health problems. The findings offer a starting point for identifying useful factors to target prevention and intervention strategies aimed at university students.

: To evaluate the plasma levels of soluble endothelial cell molecules in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) out of the acute phase as compared with healthy individuals. We also investigated the possible associations of the soluble endothelial cell molecules among them, as well as with other clinical and laboratory data, including the numbers of circulating endothelial cells (CEC), circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEP), and CEC expressing activation-related [cluster of differentiation (CD)54 and CD62E] and procoagulant (CD142) markers. In total, 15 patients with VTE and 20 normal individuals were studied. The CEC and CEP were quantified and characterized by flow cytometry. The soluble molecules studied included P-selectin, E-selectin, intercellular cell adhesion molecule 1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 and tissue factor (ELISA), and von Willebrand factor antigen (immunoturbidimetry). VTE patients had significantly higher levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 and von Willebrand factor antigen and lower levels of soluble E-selectin than controls. They also showed significantly higher numbers of CEC, as of activated/procoagulant CEC and lower numbers of CEP, compared with controls. We did not find any correlation between the levels of soluble molecules and the numbers of endothelial cell in circulation, but there was with several clinical and laboratory data in VTE patients. Our results would suggest that in VTE patients, the endothelium remains activated and in some hypercoagulable state. The levels of soluble endothelial cell molecules did not seem to be directly related to the numbers of CEC and CEP neither reflected the number of activated CEC, which may be because of the different function that surface and soluble molecules may have.

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Endothelial cells (EC) have important physiological functions, and they may also have a role in pathology. To better understand their role in health and disease, we must know very well their phenotype. Previous studies have identified and characterized EC mainly by immunohistochemistry, but there are also some studies using flow cytometry (FCM) after exposing these cells to enzymatic digestion, either to isolate and/ or to detach them from the vessel wall. However, it is well known that enzymatic treatment can cause deleterious effects on cell surface receptors, then influencing the antibody-antigen reaction. We describe a simple and cheap mechanical method to isolate EC from human vessels, avoiding alterations in the expression of cell surface receptors caused by the use of enzymes, and we tested it using FCM. With this method we were able to obtain fresh EC that were identified by FCM as a well-defined cluster of CD45 - CD146+bright CD31 +bright cells. This approach can be used in the future to isolate EC for further immunophenotypic characterization and for ex-vivo functional studies, as well as to test the effect of different stimuli, including pharmacological drugs.

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