Background The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of metabolic abnormalities including insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, high blood pressure, and abdominal adiposity. Obese patients develop leptin resistance, and an increased waist circumference (WC) due to deposition of abdominal fat. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between circulating leptin levels and MetS among sample adult Mexican workers. Method A total of 204 workers aged 20–56 were evaluated. Anthropometric index, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and lipid profile were measured by spectrophotometric methods. Fasting insulin and leptin were measured by inmunoenzimatic methods. Furthermore, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) was calculated. Results The prevalence of MetS according to the ATP‐III criteria was 33.8% and leptin concentrations were 2.5 times higher in women than men. Subjects with MetS had higher levels of leptin (26.7 ± 13.7) compared with those without MetS (20.1 ± 13.9; P <0.001). Leptin increased significantly while BMI increased as well (normal 14.0 ± 8.9, overweight 22.7 ± 11.7 and obese 31.4 ± 14.6) in addition to other variables such as WC, HDL‐C, insulin levels, and HOMA index. Each component of MetS was stratified by sex and submitted by linear regression with a 95% of accuracy. The 50% and 53% of the BMI is explained by the concentration of leptin in men and women, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion This study found that leptin was associated with the MetS, especially in obesity and insulin resistance, indicating a high risk for university workers to develop hypertension, DM2, and cardiovascular disease.

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a low-grade inflammatory condition with abnormalities in the immune response mediated by T lymphocytes and macrophages. Drug repositioning for immunomodulatory molecules is an attractive proposal for treating T2D. Nitazoxanide (NTZ) is a broad-spectrum drug with promising immunomodulatory effects. Thus, we investigated the immunomodulatory effect of NTZ on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with T2D. Methods: Fifty patients with T2D were selected, and the proliferative response of T lymphocytes and the M1/M2 ratio of macrophages post cell culture were evaluated by flow cytometry, as well as measuring the concentration of cytokines by ELISA and the relative expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) related to the immune response by real-time PCR. Results: NTZ exerts an inhibitory effect on the cell proliferation of T lymphocytes stimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies without modifying cell viability, and significant decreases in the supernatant concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12. Furthermore, NTZ negatively regulates the relative expression of miR-155-5p without changes in miR-146a-5p. The M1/M2 ratio of monocytes/macrophages decreased the M1 and increased the M2 subpopulation by NTZ. Conclusions: Our results suggest that NTZ exerts immunomodulatory effects on PBMCs from T2D patients, and shows potential alternative therapeutic benefits.

In Mexico, the Modelo Nacional de Farmacia Hospitalaria (MNFH, or National Hospital Pharmacy Model), published in 2009, mainly aims to promote the provision of clinical pharmacy services in private and public hospitals. However, there is little scientific documentation about the quality of these services. To explore healthcare professionals' perceptions related to the quality of clinical pharmacy services provision. A case-study based on a qualitative approach was performed at the pharmaceutical services unit at a public hospital located in Mexico City, which operates under the administrative control of the Ministry of Health. Donabedian's conceptual model was adapted to explore health care professionals' perceptions of the quality of clinical pharmacy services provision. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with pharmacists, physicians and nurses and then transcribed and analyzed via discourse analysis and codification techniques, using the software package Atlas. ti. Limitations in pharmaceutical human resources were identified as the main factor affecting coverage and quality in clinical pharmacy services provision. However, the development in pharmacy staff of technical competences and skills for clinical pharmacy service provision were recognized. Significant improvements in the rational use of medicines were associated with clinical pharmacy services provision. The perception analysis performed in this study suggested that it is necessary to increase pharmacy staff in order to improve interprofessional relationships and the quality of clinical pharmacy services provision.

Much is known about the natural history of syphilis; however, less is known about the immune response against it, and even less is known about people living with HIV (PLWH). Due to the lack of an animal model to study host-pathogen interactions, it remains unclear how the host eliminates the bacteria. Here, we attempt to elucidate the immune response against infection by summarizing all the reported data in a systematic review. We found that only seven papers included PLWH, and they did not accurately describe the immune response against Treponema pallidum since only lymphopenia was reported upon coinfection. On the other hand, at least sixteen papers described the host-pathogen interaction in individual cell populations. Using this information, we established the kinetics of the immune response against syphilis and hypothesized how CD4⁺ T cells, such as Th17 and T rex cells, worsen the progression of the disease in PLWH through their hallmark cytokines, IL-10 and IL-17, and how these two cytokines may play important roles as biomarkers.

Introduction: The third report of the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines recommends calculating the 10-year morbidity of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) using risk calculators when treating high blood cholesterol in adults. We analyzed the changes in cardiovascular risk (CVR) among Mexican patients with HIV. Patients and methods: This observational, prospective cohort study compared the CVR after 1 year of antiretroviral treatment among 460 HIV patients from a Mexican clinic. Changes using the ASCVD risk estimator and changes in clinical outcomes were analyzed. The results were categorized as low or high CVR using a cutoff of 7.5%. Results: The CVR initially had a median of 2.3% (interquartile range [IQR]: 1%–4.8%), which changed to 2.4% (IQR: 1.5%–5.5%) after 1 year (P=0.001). After CVR stratification, we found that 84.3% of the patients had a low CVR, and 18% in this subgroup had metabolic syndrome (MS). Moreover, 15.7% had high CVR, and 47% in this subgroup had MS. The 4.3% of patients had an increase in CVR from the low to high subgroup, and 2.6% had a decrease in CVR from the high to low subgroup. Out of all patients, 22.3% had MS. Conclusion: More than 50% of the population had an increase in CVR after 1 year. Of these patients, 4.3% changed from the low to high CVR group. Although the guidelines proposed different time periods for performing CVR estimations, this study showed that such assessments offered valuable clinical data over a relatively short-term period.

Introduction: Digital health or "e-Health" is a set of applications based on Information and Communication Technologies that can be used to promote self-care and medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to carry out a review of systematic reviews (meta-review) on efficacy studies of e-Health interventions to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy in people living with HIV/AIDS. Method: A review of systematic reviews ("meta-review") was performed using the Medline-PubMed database on efficacy studies of e-Health components to promote adherence to antirretroviral therapy, in patients with HIV/AIDS, proposing a structured search strategy (PICO question). A selection process for systematic reviews was conducted based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Subsequently, the corresponding data were extracted, and the analysis was accomplished in descriptive tables. Results: A total of 29 systematic reviews were identified, from which 11 were selected. These reviews comprised 55 randomized controlled therapies with different e-Health interventions and enrolled a total of 15,311 HIV/AIDS patients. Studies included a total of 66 comparisons (experimental group vs. control group) in indirect adherence measurements based on different measurement techniques (36 statistically significant); 21 comparisons of viral load measurements (10 statistically significant); and 8 comparisons of CD4+ cell count measurements (3 statistically significant). m-Health was the most studied component followed by the telephone call and e-Learning. Conclusions: Evidence was found that supports that some e-Health interventions are effective in promoting adherence to antirretroviral therapy and improving health outcomes in patients with HIV/AIDS, although it is identified that more studies are needed for more robust evidence. (c) 2024 Sociedad Espa & ntilde;ola de Farmacia Hospitalaria (S.E.F.H). Published by Elsevier Espa & ntilde;a, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).