Environmental effects still unclear

Cytokines and sleep - still an unclear relationship.

Wakefulness and sleep-wake-regulation are complex states, a lot of different components and regulatory mechanisms contribute to these functions. One of the factors involved in sleep wake regulation is the immune system, itself being highly complex, consisting of humoral and cellular components. Molecules that transport the information are, beside others, the “immunotransmitters”, the cytokines....

Leptin and insulin resistance: good, bad, or still unclear?

TO THE EDITOR: the article by Paz-Filho et al. (13) addresses the potential changes in insulin sensitivity in patients with congenital leptin deficiency while on leptin therapy and off leptin therapy. Using the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique, the investigators showed an increase in whole body glucose disposal during a period of leptin withdrawal compared with a period of active the...

Still moving toward environmental justice.

Three years in the making, the Institute of Medicine report Toward Environmental Justice was funded by a consortium of agencies, including the NIEHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The independent review was authored by a 15-member committee that represented academia, public interest, medicine, law, an...

[The association between stomach cancer and colorectal cancer: it still remains unclear].

Unclear symptoms--fatal outcome.

Urosepsis during the first months of life is not entirely uncommon and occurs most frequently in boys, mainly due to urogenital abnormalities (1). Posterior urethral valves, which only occur in boys, manifest themselves in different ways, and when detected pre-natally a pronounced hydronephrosis is an indication for prenatal drainage (2). Postna-tally, urosepsis may be the first symptom – if th...