One major problem of obesity is its common association with arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and diabetes in the metabolic syndrome context3,4. The adipose tissue plays a relevant role in the secretion of inflammatory and humoral mediators, which can favor the increase in blood pressure and insulin resistance5. This area has witnessed several advances, mainly related to e...

ings could be due to a chance or unmeasured confounding and need confirmation in other studies, they do represent the first analytical data of this potential association. If true, the observed association could either be attributed to the unmasking of a latent demyelinating disease6 or to the emergence of a de novo demyelinating disease.1 The rarity of demyelinating diseases limited the statist...

In 1985, Rott and Koprowski reported that serum from patients with bipolar disorder reacted with cells infected with Borna disease virus (BDV)1,an unclassified infectious agent named after a town in Saxony (Eastern Germany) where an outbreak of equine encephalitis in the late 1800s crippled the Prussian cavalry2. Intrigued by the notion that an infectious agent might be implicated in human neur...

inherited blood condition worldwide resulting from single DNA mutation within the beta globin gene1. Due to recent population movements, there is gene flow from high allele frequency areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and India to Europe and parts of America2. This has led to sizeable sickle cell populations emerging in previously unaffected areas of the world. Each year approximatel...

The harmful effects of smoking are now well documented1,2. The UK figures are disturbing: although the prevalence of smoking for adults is falling, in children it has been steadily rising since 19923. Passive smoking has been implicated in lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory diseases4,5. Children are most vulnerable to passive smoking, especially if they already have preexisting lung dis...

RAPID EYE MOVEMENT (REM) SLEEP BEHAVIOR DISORDER (RBD) IS A PARASOMNIA CHARACTERIZED BY DREAM-ENACTING BEHAVIORS RELATED TO LOSS OF the normal generalized skeletal muscle atonia during REM sleep1,2. RBD may be idiopathic or associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease3, multiple system atrophy4, dementia with Lewy bodies5, Machado-Joseph disease6 and parkinsonism with ...

Marfan syndrome (MFS) is an autosomal dominant disease caused by pathogenetic variants in the FBN1 gene, which encodes fibrillin-1. The underlying progressive dilatation of aorta and potential risk acute aortic syndromes highly influence prognosis patients with this syndrome. Surgical correction frequently needed, requiring multiple reinterventions high mortality rates. Because low prevalence M...

By WENDELL F. ROSSE AND THo IAs A. WALDMANN T HE EXISTENCE of a specific hunioral substance stimulating erythropoiesis ( erythropoietin, erythropoiesis stimulating factor, ESF ) was first suspected by Carnot and Defiandre in 1906’ and has since been amply confirmed.2 The site of production of this substance is the subject of considerable controversy. The occurrence of erythrocytosis with renal ...

By WENDELL F. ROSSE AND THo IAs A. WALDMANN T HE EXISTENCE of a specific hunioral substance stimulating erythropoiesis ( erythropoietin, erythropoiesis stimulating factor, ESF ) was first suspected by Carnot and Defiandre in 1906’ and has since been amply confirmed.2 The site of production of this substance is the subject of considerable controversy. The occurrence of erythrocytosis with renal ...

Streptococcus bovis (SB) is a gram-positive, catalase negative, facultative anaerobic coccus that forms part of the usual flora in the digestive system of 10% of healthy people.1 SB belongs to the “bovis” group or Group D streptococci. This Group contains various species: S. equinus, S. gallolyticus (subspecies galactolyticus -biotype I – and pasterianus – biotype II/2), S. infantarius (SB biot...