[Adipose tissue: immune function and alterations caused by obesity].

The adipose tissue, which is currently viewed as an organ with neuroimmunoendocrine functions, participates in the homeostasis of the human organism. It has great plasticity and functional variability based on the intake of nutrients or to the increase or decrease of its tissue volume, which modifies both the function and the number of the cells that form it or reach it. The elements that are released abnormally by these cells, among other cytokines and adipokines, cause both local and systemic inflammation, mainly when they come from the visceral adipose tissue, and they can affect diverse organs like the liver and the cardio-vascular system.

[Aging: Some theories, genetic, epigenetic and environmental considerations].

In this review several characteristics of the aging process are described and some theories that try to explain it are briefly mentioned. Although none of them fully explains this phenomenon, they can interact between each other in a complex way, out of which cellular senescence is the common outcome. Molecular changes take place on both genetic and epigenetic levels, and several studies have associated senescence with changes in the epigenetic-mediated chromatin condensation, while others consider that free radicals represent a useful mechanism to explain aging and age-related disorders that, along with the alteration of mitochondrial homeostasis, promote the aging process through the accumulation of damage along time.

[Sleep and immune system].

Sleep is a process that occupies one third part of the life of the human being, and it is essential in order for the individual to be able to maintain body homeostasis. It emerges as an important regulator of the immune system since, during sleep, the necessary functions to maintain its balance are carried out. On the other hand, decreased sleep has deleterious effects that alter the metabolism and produce an increase in the secretion of C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF).

[Senescence of the immune system and alterations related with asthma].

Senescence is an irreversible process by which cells enter to a permanent cell cycle arrest with generalized molecular changes. Senescent cells remain metabolically active and most of them show a secretory phenotype; through its secretion may induce senescence or cancer in other cells. The secretory cells in the so-called transient senescence may participate in embryogenesis, tissue regeneration and immune response.

Increased anxiety-like behavior is associated with the metabolic syndrome in non-stressed rats.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a cluster of signs that increases the risk to develop diabetes mellitus type 2 and cardiovascular disease. In the last years, a growing interest to study the relationship between MS and psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, has emerged obtaining conflicting results. Diet-induced MS rat models have only examined the effects of high-fat or mixed cafeteria diets to a limited extent.

[Common and inductors factors of inflammation in asthma and obesity].

The incidence of asthma and obesity is increasing, therefore they have been classified as public health problems; epidemiology suggests a link between these diseases. It has been detected a relationship between the body mass index and lung function, moreover some works show a direct correlation between the aforementioned index and severity of asthma. By a search for articles in indexed journals from medical databases with the key words asthma and obesity: pathogenesis, inflammation, adipokines, hypoxia, nutrition, pregnancy, this paper deeps in the knowledge about basic elements that offer an asthma and obesity link.

[Allergic hypersensitivity to antiretroviral drugs: etravirine, raltegravir and darunavir].

All antiretroviral drugs can have both short-term and long-term adverse events. The risk of specific side effects varies from drug to drug, from drug class to drug class, and from patient to patient. A better understanding of the adverse effects of antiretroviral agents is of interest not only for HIV specialists, but also for other physicians who care allergy reactions in HIV-positive patients.

[Occupational asthma].

The occupational asthma is the most common form of lung disease caused by factors that are attributed to a specific working environment in industrialized countries. It causes variable limitation of airflow and/or hyper-responsiveness of the airway due to contact with specific agents present in an atmosphere of work and not to stimuli found out of this place. It is recognized more and more frequently, and many agents are capable of causing occupational asthma by different pathophysiological mechanisms.

[Epigenetics, environment and asthma].

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the respiratory tract with a complex genetic background influenced by the exposition to a series of environmental factors. Genetic studies can only elucidate part of the heritability and susceptibility of asthma and even though several diseases have an evident genetic etiology, only a fraction of the genes involved in their pathogenicity have been identified. The epigenetic regulation of the latter is a fact one should bear in mind in order to explain the major triggers of diseases whose understanding is complicated, such as allergies and asthma.

[The role and importance of the microRNAs in the diagnosis and development of diseases].

MicroRNAs are small non-coding ribonucleic acids of endogenous nature. They persist in various groups of eukaryotes and perform critical functions during the development and the cell homeostasis. They have from 19 to 25 nucleotides in length and regulate the translation of the target RNA messenger (mRNA).

[Association of obesity in adults with allergic asthma].

Background: Obesity and asthma are diseases of high prevalence around the world. The increment in their incidence constitutes a challenge to public health. Asthma can be worse in patients with obesity.

[Immunological mechanisms involved in pregnancy].

Pregnancy progresses through mechanisms that allow the embryo implantation and its development during gestation. Those mechanisms involve the immune cells that participate in the regulation of immune tolerance and response, as well as the protection conferred by Th2 cytokines and molecules expressed on trophoblast cells. Local factors expressed in the fetal interface as HLA-G, which inhibits the cytotoxicity of uterine natural killer cells and induces apoptosis of activated CD8 cells; transforming growth factor-beta, that induces tolerance, and uterine natural killer cells that are functionally different to the peripheral, as well as circulating progesterone and the glicodeline molecules that are important regulators of the immune response, also intervene in the process.

[New trends in macrophages, inflammation and adipose tissue].

Obesity is considered a low-inflammatory condition. An increasing number of reports suggest that the adipose tissue itself might be a source of proinflammatory factors and a target of inflammatory processes. Accumulating evidence suggest the involvement of adipose tissue derived proteins, collectively known as adipokines as well as other factors produced in this tissue by cells besides to adipocytes, like fibroblasts, lymphocytes and macrophages.

The involvement of NF-?B Transcription factor in asthma.

Unlabelled: PubMed search was performed using the key words: NF-?B, nuclear factors, asthma. Articles were selected based on their relevance to this review.

Objective: To review the literature regarding the involvement of the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-?B) transcription factor in asthma.

[Allergy to materials used in dental procedures].

Objective: To provide a review of the literature regarding the pathological effects of material used in clinical dentistry.

Data Sources: PubMed search was performed using the key words: dental biomaterial, odontologic toxicity, odontologic allergy, dental allergens, dental resins.

Study Selection: Articles were selected based on their relevance to this topic.

[Peripheral anticholinergic syndrome].

This is a case report of a woman of 38 years old, studied and analyzed at the service of allergy and immunology with clinical manifestations of allergic rhinitis; studies of laboratory, cabinet and intradermal test were made to corroborate this diagnosis and the treatment with specific hyposensitization, oral antihistaminines and inhaled steroids was started. Two years later the patient referred urinary retention without important antecedents, so, a peripheral anticholinergic syndrome (PAS) was suspected, a urodynamic test study was carried out consisting in a uroflujometry, static and dynamic urethral profile, cystometry, flow pressure study and electromyography, which diagnosed low urinary obstruction (functional) and vesical sphincter pseudodysfunction, demonstrating the PAS associated with oral antihistamines.

Maize (Zea mays): allergen or toleragen? Participation of the cereal in allergic disease and positivity incidence in cutaneous tests.

Background: The maize (zea mays) is considered one of the fundamental nutrients in the diet of the Mexican population. It can cause allergic reactions, according to reports from countries other than Mexico.

Objective: To know the participation of maize in the etiology of allergic disease and the incidence of positivity to its antigens by cutaneous tests, in Mexican patients.

Effect of zinc-treated Entamoeba histolytica on the human polymorphonuclear respiratory burst.

One of the mechanisms that Entamoeba histolytica uses to evade host immune response is inhibition of the polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocyte respiratory burst. In studies previously conducted in a model used in our laboratory, we observed that when treating trophozoites with different zinc concentrations certain amebic functions are inhibited while significantly limiting development of hepatic abscess in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus aureatus). We carried out an in vitro study using a chemoluminescent method to assess the effect zinc-treated amebic trophozoites exercise on respiratory burst in human PMNs.