Annals of medicine
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The prevalence of atopic diseases is increasing worldwide for reasons that are not clear. Food allergies are the earliest manifestations of atopy. This review defines the foods most commonly involved in allergic reactions and identifies an emerging group of syndromes in which food allergy is involved. ⋯ In two-thirds of the patients, symptoms relapsed when challenged with low-allergen soy formula or extensively hydrolysed formula. We propose that a period of food protein intolerance is a part of the normal development of the immune system as it encounters common dietary proteins in infancy and early childhood. Future targets for research are development of appropriate dietary and management strategies for these entities and identification of genetic markers for these disorders.
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Calcification of extracellular matrix (ECM) can be either physiological or pathological. Physiological calcification (or mineralization) of ECM is restricted to bones, teeth and, to a lesser extent, growth plate cartilages. Pathological calcification appears often in the ECM of arteries where it is a frequent complication of atherosclerosis. ⋯ Indeed, human diseases have been described that are characterized by calcification of the aortic media in the absence of any atherosclerotic lesions. The existence of these rare diseases, along with several mouse models recently generated and discussed below, indicates that the formation of atherosclerotic lesions and the calcification of the artery ECM are controlled by different genetic pathways. This emerging knowledge has implications for our understanding of ECM calcification beyond atherosclerosis.
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The most frequent viruses associated with respiratory infections are human rhinoviruses (HRVs). Although the majority of HRV infections are mild and self-limited, HRV is an important cause of respiratory disease across all age groups. ⋯ How often active viral replication occurs in the middle ear, sinuses or the lower respiratory tract remains to be determined. However, the high incidence of HRV infections and their frequent association with upper and lower respiratory tract complications highlight the need for more effective means of prevention and treatment.
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Drug addiction is characterized by motivational disturbances such as compulsive drug taking and episodes of intense drug craving. Recent advances using animal models of relapse have shown that drug-seeking behaviour can be triggered by drug-associated cues, by stress and by 'priming' injections of the drugs themselves, events also known to trigger drug craving in human drug addicts. Current evidence suggests that these stimuli all induce relapse, at least in part, by their common ability to activate the mesolimbic dopamine system. ⋯ Chronic neuroadaptations in dopamine receptor signalling pathways in the nucleus accumbens caused by repeated drug use are hypothesized to produce tolerance to the rewarding effects of D1-receptor stimulation, leading to increased drug intake during drug self-administration. Conversely, these same neuroadaptations are hypothesized to enhance drug craving by potentiating D2 receptor-mediated signals during abstinence. These findings identify D1 and D2-dopamine receptor mechanisms as potential targets for developing anticraving compounds to treat drug addiction.
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Review Comparative Study
Cellular adaptations of the heart muscle to exercise training.
Exercise training is unique in that it represents a stress that elicits positive adaptations in the heart. Hallmark adaptations of the heart to training include resting and submaximal exercise bradycardia, increases in end-diastolic dimension, improved ventricular function, and an increase in the resistance of the heart to ischaemic insult. ⋯ Over the last 20-25 years, considerable effort has been directed towards identifying the cellular basis for the global adaptations of the normal and pathologically involved heart to endurance exercise training. It is the intent of this brief review to identify some of the known and hypothetical cellular adaptations that underlie the positive effects of endurance exercise training on the heart.