RESUMEN
Pediatric obesity and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are rising health concerns in the United States, especially among Hispanic children and adolescents. Research on Hispanic children and adolescents indicates disproportionately higher prevalence rates of obesity in this community but scant data on ADHD prevalence rates. In contrast, a plethora of research studies across the general population examines the relationship between childhood obesity and ADHD. In addition, there is a lack of research that examines the role of ethnicity and sub-ethnic group correlations in ADHD, particularly in the Hispanic population. Existing studies in the general population indicate ADHD may be a risk factor for being overweight compared to normal controls. The objective of the present study is to examine the prevalence of obesity in children with ADHD compared to children in the general population in a predominately Hispanic sample on the US-Mexico border. A total of 7,270 pediatric medical records were evaluated. The retrospective analysis included Body Mass Index (BMI) and related health variables, and ethnicity and showed that children with ADHD are more likely to be underweight. In conclusion, no significant relationship existed between obesity and ADHD among Hispanic children on the US-Mexico Border, and instead we found the opposite correlation.
RESUMEN
COVID-19 has catastrophically affected the world's panoramic view of human well-being in terms of healthcare and management. With the increase in the number of cases worldwide, neurological symptoms and psychological illnesses from COVID-19 have increasingly upsurged. Mental health illness and affective disorders, including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, phobia, and panic disorders, are highly impacted due to social distress. The COVID-19 pandemic not only affected people with pre-existing mental and affective illnesses, but also healthy individuals with anxiety, worrying, and panic symptoms, and fear conditioning. In addditon, the novel coronavirus is known to impact the central nervous system in the brain, resulting in severe and certain long-lasting neurological issues. Owing to the significance of neurological and psychological events, the present perspective has been an attempt to disseminate the impact of COVID-19 on neural injury through inflammation, and its interrelation with psychological symptoms. In this current review, we synthesize the literature to highlight the critical associations between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the nervous system, and mental health illness, and discuss potential mechanisms of neural injury through psycho-neuroimmunity.
RESUMEN
α-Synuclein, an abundant and conserved presynaptic brain protein, is implicated as a critical factor in Parkinson's disease (PD). The aggregation of α-synuclein is believed to be a critical event in the disease process. α-Synuclein is characterized by a remarkable conformational plasticity, adopting different conformations depending on the environment. Therefore, it is classified as an "intrinsically disordered protein." Recently, a debate has challenged the view on the intrinsically disordered behavior of α-synuclein in the cell. It has been proposed that α-synuclein is a stable tetramer with a low propensity for aggregation; however, its destabilization leads to protein misfolding and its aggregation kinetics. In our critical analysis, we discussed about major issues: (i) why α-synuclein conformational behavior does not fit into the normal secondary structural characteristics of proteins, (ii) potential amino acids involved in the complexity of misfolding in α-synuclein that leads to aggregation, and (iii) the role of metals in misfolding and aggregation. To evaluate the above critical issues, we developed bioinformatics models related to secondary and tertiary conformations, Ramachandran plot, free energy change, intrinsic disordered prediction, solvent accessibility, and FoldIndex pattern. To the best of our knowledge, this is a novel critical assessment to understand the misfolding biology of synuclein and its relevance to Parkinson's disease.