In elderly patients with metabolic syndrome, worse metabolic control, represented by higher HbA1c levels, was found associated to increased prevalence of thyroid nodules and larger thyroid volume. Moreover, within the whole metabolic syndrome group, patients with T2DM had the largest thyroid volumes.

The defining characteristic of neural stem cells (NSCs) is their ability to multiply through symmetric divisions and proliferation, and differentiation by asymmetric divisions, thus giving rise to different types of cells of the central nervous system (CNS). A strict temporal space control of the NSC differentiation is necessary, because its alterations are associated with neurological dysfunctions and, in some cases, death. This work reviews the current state of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the transcription in NSCs, organized according to whether the origin of the stimulus that triggers the molecular cascade in the CNS is internal (intrinsic factors) or whether it is the result of the microenvironment that surrounds the CNS (extrinsic factors).

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a group I carcinogen and is one of the most efficient human pathogens with over half of the world's population colonized by this gram-negative spiral bacterium. H. pylori can cause a chronic infection in the stomach during early childhood that persists throughout life due to diverse mechanisms of immune response evasion. H. pylori has several factors strongly associated with increased risk of disease such as toxins, adhesins, and chemoattractants, some of which are highly polymorphic, phase variable, and have different functions. Conventional treatments involve the use of antibiotics. However, treatment frequently fails due to the resistance H. pylori has progressively developed to antibiotics. This creates the need for different treatments made possible by identifying new therapeutic targets in the pathogen’s genome.The purpose of this study was an in silico prediction of T- and B- epitopes in H. pylori proteins. Twenty-two external membrane proteins from H. pylori Strain 26695 (accession number NC_000915) were identified using the web tool Vaxign (http://www.violinet.org/vaxign/). A total of one-hundred epitopes (60 class I epitopes and 40 class II epitopes) that could be used to develop novel non-antibiotics drugs for an H. pylori infection were predicted.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to determine the polymorphism of the CYP2C19 gene in the Lebanese population living in Colombia due to the lack of information and the importance of establishing its behavior which can predict a diminished or increased metabolism of medication related to it.METHODS & RESULTS: 109 Lebanese volunteers residents of Colombia were included, genotypes for the CYP2C19 were detected by polymerase Chain Reaction-PCR finding that the most frequent allele was *1 (73.4%), followed by *2 (26.6%) the allele *3 was not found in the studied population. Only fast metabolites were found because of the *1/*1 (73.4%) and *1/*2 (26.6%) genotypes, any *1/*3, *2/*2 or *3/*3 genotype were found. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained show a similar behavior with the alleles frequencies of the previous studies made in Colombia, Africa, Europe and other American population. Knowing the genotype of the population is important for the selection and adjustment of the doses of the best medication to give the optimal treatment in medical practice. The pharmacogenetics will reduce the adverse reactions during medical treatment for a better and more accurate clinical approach.

El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la actividad antimicrobiana de dos enjuagues bucales sobre streptococcus orales. Material y métodos: La investigación realizada fue de tipo clínico, prospectivo y longitudinal en un total de 45 pacientes de ambos sexos cuyas edades oscilaron entre 21 y 35 años de edad. Los pacientes fueron asignados aleatoriamente en tres grupos; el primero que recibió colutorios de cloruro de cetilpiridinio, el segundo que recibió colutorios de triclosán y el tercero que fue consignado como grupo-control (colutorios con agua). Previo al uso del enjuague bucal se realizó una encuesta a la totalidad de pacientes con respecto a los hábitos básicos de higiene bucal y un odontograma en el que se determinó el riesgo de caries de los sujetos incluidos en el estudio. Así mismo se realizó un recuento de colonias de streptococos orales en una muestra de saliva inicial de cada paciente. Después del uso del colutorio respectivo se realizó un nuevo recuento de colonias de streptococos, cuyos resultados fueron contrastados con la muestra inicial. Los resultados mostraron que el uso de triclosán o cloruro de cetilpiridinio reducen significativamente el recuento de colonias de streptococos orales. La reducción media en el recuento de streptococos fue 146,200 UFC/ml en los pacientes que usaron triclosán y 113,670 UFC/ml en los pacientes que utilizaron cloruro de cetilpiridinio. Además, se halló una asociación significativa entre el tipo de saliva, el número de superficies de caries y el recuento inicial de colonias de streptococos. (p<0.05). Conclusiones: Se concluyó en la verificación experimental acerca de la mayor eficacia que presentó el colutorio de triclosán frente al colutorio de cloruro de cetilpiridinio.