Human islet amyloid peptide (hIAPP_1–37) aggregation is an early step in Diabetes Mellitus. We aimed to evaluate a family of pharmaco-chaperones to act as modulators that provide dynamic interventions and the multi-target capacity (native state, cytotoxic oligomers, protofilaments and fibrils of hIAPP_1–37) required to meet the treatment challenges of diabetes. We used a cross-functional approach that combines in silico and in vitro biochemical and biophysical methods to study the hIAPP_1–37 aggregation-oligomerization process as to reveal novel potential anti-diabetic drugs. The family of pharmaco-chaperones are modulators of the oligomerization and fibre formation of hIAPP_1–37. When they interact with the amino acid in the amyloid-like steric zipper zone, they inhibit and/or delay the aggregation-oligomerization pathway by binding and stabilizing several amyloid structures of hIAPP_1–37. Moreover, they can protect cerebellar granule cells (CGC) from the cytotoxicity produced by the hIAPP_1–37 oligomers. The modulation of proteostasis by the family of pharmaco-chaperones A–F is a promising potential approach to limit the onset and progression of diabetes and its comorbidities.

Recent scientific developments, along with growing awareness of cultural and social diversity, have led to a continuously growing range of available treatment options; however, such developments occasionally lead to an undesirable imbalance between science, technology and humanism in clinical practice. This study explores the understanding and practice of values and value clusters in real-life clinical settings, as well as their role in the humanization of medicine and its institutions. The research focuses on the values of clinical practice as a means of finding ways to enhance the pairing of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) with Values-based Medicine (VBM) in daily practice. The views and representations of clinical practice in 15 pre-CME and 15 post-CME interviews were obtained from a random sampling of active healthcare professionals. These views were then identified and qualitatively analyzed using a three-step hermeneutical approach. A clinical values space was identified in which ethical and epistemic values emerge, grow and develop within the biomedical, ethical, and socio-economic dimensions of everyday health care. Three main values—as well as the dynamic clusters and networks that they tend to form—were recognized: healthcare personnel-patient relationships, empathy, and respect. An examination of the interviews suggested that an adequate conceptualization of values leads to the formation of a wider axiological system. The role of clinician-as-consociate emerged as an ideal for achieving medical excellence. By showing the intricate clusters and networks into which values are interwoven, our analysis suggests methods for fine-tuning educational interventions so they can lead to demonstrable changes in attitudes and practices.

Protein folding is a process of self-assembly defined by the sequence of the amino acids of the protein involved. Additionally, proteins tend to unfold, misfold and aggregate due to both intrinsic and extrinsic causes. Human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) aggregation is an early step in diabetes mellitus. However, the aggregation of rat IAPP (rIAPP) remains an open question. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 150–250 g were divided into two groups. The experimental group (streptozotocin [STZ]) (n = 21) received an intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of 40 mg/kg STZ. We used the mouse anti-IAPP antibody and the anti-amyloid oligomer antibody to study the temporal course of rIAPP oligomerization during STZ-induced diabetes using a wide array of methods, strategies and ideas derived from biochemistry, cell biology, and proteomic medicine. Here, we demonstrated the tendency of rIAPP to aggregate and trigger cooperative processes of self-association or hetero-assembly that lead to the formation of amyloid oligomers (trimers and hexamers). Our results are the first to demonstrate the role of rIAPP amyloid oligomers in the development of STZ-induced diabetes in rats. The IAPP amyloid oligomers are biomarkers of the onset and progression of diabetes and could play a role as therapeutic targets.

La biblioterapia, una tendencia con raíces ancestrales, ha cobrado un nuevo auge mundial en tiempos recientes. Esta propuesta de intervención educativo-terapéutica plantea que es posible mejorar la salud por medio del contacto habitual con la lectura. Partiendo del entendido de que los actos significativos de lectura propician cambios en los individuos, los teóricos y practicantes de la biblioterapia argumentan que leer puede aumentar el bienestar de las personas en diversos contextos y etapas de sus vidas, en especial cuando se hace de manera guiada y propositiva. En este artículo se presenta una revisión de los conceptos y facetas actuales de esta práctica interdisciplinaria, seguida de una exploración sobre sus posibilidades de estudio y aplicación a futuro.AbstractBiblio-therapy, an age-old technique, has recently regained some momentum in diverse settings around the world. This therapeutic-didactic approach posits that one can regain or improve health by reading on a regular basis. Taking this as a point of departure, the idea that significant acts of reading elicit changes in the reader, theorists and active practitioners of bibliotherapy argue that books can improve the well-being of individuals, particularly when it is guided in some way. This paper offers an assessment of concepts and current trends in biblio-therapy as an interdisciplinary practice, along with an exploration of potential paths for further development.

Conformational diseases represent a new aspect of proteomic medicine where diagnostic and therapeutic paradigms are evolving. In this context, the early biomarkers for target cell failure (neurons, β-cells, etc.) represent a challenge to translational medicine and play a multidimensional role as biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets. This systematic review, which follows the PICO and Prisma methods, analyses this new-fangled multidimensionality, its strengths and limitations, and presents the future possibilities it opens up. The nuclear diagnosis methods are immunoassays: ELISA, immunodot, western blot, etc., while the therapeutic approach is focused on pharmaco- and molecular chaperones.

Overweight children and childhood obesity are a public health problem in Mexico. Obesity is traditionally assessed using body mass index (BMI), but an excess of adiposity does not necessarily reflect a high BMI. Thus, body composition indexes are a better alternative. Our objective was to generate body composition percentile curves in children from Mexico City. A total of 2026 boys and 1488 girls aged 6 to 12 years old were studied in Mexico City. Body weight, height, and BMI calculation were measured. Total body fat percentage (TBFP) was derived from the skinfold thicknesses, and fat mass (FMI) and free fat mass indexes (FFMI) were calculated. Finally, age- and gender-specifıc smoothed percentile curves were generated with Cole’s Lambda, Mu, and Sigma (LMS) method. In general, height, weight, waist circumference (WC), and TBFP were higher in boys, but FFM was higher in girls. TBFP appeared to increase significantly between ages 8 and 9 in boys (+2.9%) and between ages 10 and 11 in girls (+1.2%). In contrast, FFM% decreased noticeably between ages 8 and 9 until 12 years old in boys and girls. FMI values peaked in boys at age 12 (P97 = 14.1 kg/m²) and in girls at age 11 (P97 = 8.8 kg/m²). FFMI percentiles increase at a steady state reaching a peak at age 12 in boys and girls. Smoothed body composition percentiles showed a different pattern in boys and girls. The use of TBFP, FMI, and FFMI along with BMI provides valuable information in epidemiological, nutritional, and clinical research.