Epidemiological studies show that human papillomaviruses (HPV) are strongly related to cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN). Unlike the case for women, there are no consistent data on the natural history of HPV in the male population even though these viruses are prevalent in males. We carried out a prospective study to assess the prevalence of HPV in males as well as the factors that determine such infections in 99 male sexual partners of women with CIN. The genitalia of the males were physically examined and subjected to peniscopy for the collection of scrapings which were subjected to the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism to detect HPV. Of the 99 males sampled, 54 (54.5%) were positive for HPV DNA, 24% of whom presented normal peniscopy, 28% presented evident clinical lesions and 48% isolated lesions consistent with subclinical infection. In the HPV-negative group, 53% showed normal peniscopy, 4% presented evident clinical lesions and 42% isolated lesions consistent with subclinical infection. The study detected a statistically significant association (P < 0.02, Pearson chi-square test) between HPV infection and both the mean number of sexual partners which a male had during his life and the mean number of sexual partners in the year prior to testing. Viral types 6 and 11 were most frequently encountered. The study shows that infection with HPV was frequent in male sexual partners of women with CIN.

Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer in women worldwide. Several human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes, sexual behavior, and socioeconomic profile represent major risk factors for the development of this carcinoma. Cervical invasive cancer is preceded by cellular abnormalities that can be identified by cytological or histological exams. In order to determine the prevalence and genotypes of HPV in women with abnormal cytology or histopathology, cervical cell samples from 256 patients were evaluated for the presence of HPV/DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by virus genotyping by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). A total of 113 samples (51.2%) were HPV/DNA positive. Viral genotyping showed that the most prevalent genotypes were HPV 16 (34.7%) and 58 (13.8%), followed by HPV 33 (9.72%), 11 (8.33%), 18 (5.55%), 53 (5.55%), and 6 (4.2%). Four samples (5.55%) exhibited multiple infections due to the great similarity of socioeconomic characteristics and sexual behavior of HPV positive women, it was not possible to establish a risk profile for female HPV infection.

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Aging is a multifactorial condition that results in the loss of an organism's fitness over time. Different theories have been formulated to explain the mechanisms of aging, but a synthesis of these theories has not been possible until now. In addition, the increase in molecular data gathered by proteomics projects utilizing different organisms has permitted a better picture of proteins that function in aging. In this sense, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a biological model for aging, and it shows two distinct aging states: a replicative state termed the replicative lifespan (RLS) and a quiescent state known as the chronological lifespan (CLS). Interestingly, both RLS and CLS appear to share common groups of proteins, but a combined model of both aging mechanisms has not been defined. Thus, by applying systems biology tools that allow mining of the yeast proteins associated with aging, it was possible to obtain an interactome network in which both RLS and CLS are represented. In addition, four subgraphs comprising ubiquitin-dependent proteasome/regulation of cell growth, nucleic acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism/RNA metabolism, and carbohydrate-organic acid-amino acid/DNA metabolism were found within the interactome, defining a new model of aging for yeast termed the chronologic-replicative protein network (CRPN).

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