Role of Micronutrients and Gut Microbiota-Derived Metabolites in COVID-19 Recovery.

A balanced and varied diet provides diverse beneficial effects on health, such as adequate micronutrient availability and a gut microbiome in homeostasis. Besides their participation in biochemical processes as cofactors and coenzymes, vitamins and minerals have an immunoregulatory function; meanwhile, gut microbiota and its metabolites coordinate directly and indirectly the cell response through the interaction with the host receptors. Malnourishment is a crucial risk factor for several pathologies, and its involvement during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic has been reported.

Macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) gene polymorphisms are associated with disease susceptibility and with circulating MIF levels in active non-segmental vitiligo in patients from western Mexico.

Background: The macrophage migration inhibiting factor (MIF) is a protein that promotes the activation of immune cells and the production of other proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IFN-γ, which have proposed to play an essential role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. The study aimed to assess the association between MIF polymorphisms (-794 CATT and -173 G>C), MIF in situ expression, and MIF serum concentrations with susceptibility and disease activity in patients with non-segmental vitiligo (NSV) from western Mexico.

Methods: The study included 111 patients with NSV and 201 control subjects.

Serum Levels of Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) and Expression of MIF and Its Receptor CD74 in Lepromatous Leprosy Patients: A Preliminary Report.

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by that affects the skin and peripheral nerves. It may present as one of two distinct poles: the self-limiting tuberculoid leprosy and the highly infectious lepromatous leprosy (LL) characterized by -specific absence of cellular immune response. The pro-inflammatory cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) enhance the bactericide activities of macrophages after interaction with its receptor, CD74.

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps and Its Implications in Inflammation: An Overview.

In addition to physical barriers, neutrophils are considered a part of the first line of immune defense. They can be found in the bloodstream, with a lifespan of 6-8 h, and in tissue, where they can last up to 7 days. The mechanisms that neutrophils utilize for host defense are phagocytosis, degranulation, cytokine production, and, the most recently described, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) production.

Mutations in the drug resistance-determining region of Mycobacterium lepromatosis isolated from leprosy patients in Mexico.

Mycobacterium lepromatosis, an independent species from Mycobacterium leprae, has been found to be a causative agent for diffuse lepromatous leprosy (DLL) in Mexico, but remains poorly studied. Here, the drug resistance-determining regions (DRDR) of folP1, rpoB and gyrA (conferring resistance to dapsone, rifampicin and quinolone, respectively) in M. lepromatosis from leprosy patients in Mexico were characterized.

Detection of dengue, west Nile virus, rickettsiosis and leptospirosis by a new real-time PCR strategy.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection causes sudden fever along with several nonspecific signs and symptoms and in severe cases, death. DENV is transmitted to people by Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes, whose populations increase during rainy season.