This commentary focuses on the tenuous line between health and disease and the conflicting characterizations of genetic predisposition that sometimes place it on one side of that line, and sometimes on the other. For example, GINA uses the line between health and disease to distinguish between, respectively, the healthy (including, those with genetic predispositions), who are shielded from disc...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Having relatives with allergic disease is associated with an increased risk of such disease, but children without a significant genetic predisposition account for much of the increase in asthma prevalence. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the prevalence of a reported family history of allergy has increased among atopic respiratory patients diagnosed in O...

En los países desarrollados, el cáncer infantil representa la primera causa de muerte por enfermedad en la edad pediátrica. Su incidencia ha ido aumentando de manera continuada desde los años 50, como consecuencia de las mejoras de las herramientas diagnósticas y de los registros, acompañándose de una mejora importante en el pronóstico y la supervivencia. No obstante, la curación del cáncer inf...

Preterm birth (PTB; <37 weeks of gestation) is a complex disorder, whose etiology is influenced by a variety of factors. A greater understanding of the biological mechanisms that contribute to PTB will facilitate identification of those at increased risk and may inform new treatments. To accomplish this, it is vital to elucidate the heritability patterns of this condition as well as the environ...

The effect of 5-week voluntary ethanol (EtOH) intake on plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leptin levels was determined in adult male Warsaw high EtOH preferring (WHP) and low preferring (WLP) rats. EtOH treatment led to a decrease in leptin CSF concentration in WHP rats when compared to EtOH-naive WHP and control Wistar rats. On the contrary, in EtOH-treated WLP rats, both plasma and CSF lep...

The Wilson-Patterson conservatism scale was psychometrically evaluated using homogeneity analysis and item response theory models. Results showed that this scale actually measures two different aspects in people: on the one hand people vary in their agreement with either conservative or liberal catch-phrases and on the other hand people vary in their use of the "?" response category of the scal...

Genomics is the study of the entire human genome and involves not only studying the actions of single genes but also the interactions of multiple genes with each other and with the environment. This article emphasizes the multifactorial nature of common obesity, which is caused by the interaction of genes, environment, and lifestyle. Individual variation in genes that influence behavior, satiet...

The family of a woman with multiple autoimmune diseases has been investigated. Clinical evidence of an autoimmune disorder was detected in two relatives, and five others had serological and immunoglobulin abnormalities. It is suggested that there is an inherited predisposition to develop immunological abnormalities, and that a number of associated autoimmune diseases may develop in families in ...

OBJECTIVE To determine if the mutations in the CARD15/NOD2 gene predisposing to Crohn's disease (CD) contribute also to the genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS The frequencies of the three commonest mutations of CARD15/NOD2 predisposing to CD (2104C > T, 2722G>C and 3020insC) were determined in 210 RA patients and 227 controls. RESULTS Allelic frequencies of the CAR...

Western society has an increasing proportion of older adults. Increasing age is associated with a general decrease in the control over task-relevant mental processes. In the present study we investigated the possibility that successful transfer of game-based cognitive improvements to untrained tasks in elderly people is modulated by preexisting neuro-developmental factors as genetic variability...