Piercings. Fashion or aberrance?

Es preciso reconocer que la juventud cada vez va buscando diferentes maneras de identificarse en lo personal y emocional, búsqueda que en ocasiones, los ha llevado a involucrarse en distractores como alcohol, sexo, drogas, y todo tipo de alternativas de escape como lo son, la música y artes en general. La práctica del piercing se ha convertido en una forma de llamar la atención o pasaporte para ingreso a los grupos de subcultura que conforman los jóvenes de nuestro mundo. Otros son atraídos porque son víctimas de estados depresivos, viven con melancolía por lo que no pudo ser, recuerdos de seres queridos que hoy ya no están, estos entre otras, son los motivos que conducen a los jóvenes y simpatizantes de los piercings a hacerse perforaciones o las llamadas decoraciones corporales con joyas. Esta es una práctica milenaria, que sin duda alguna se ha ido posicionando hasta convertirse en moda, tanto así, que su impacto es cada día más relevante y fuerte entre los adeptos y no adeptos a esta forma de decoración corporal, creando una gran división de criterios en la sociedad.Abstract: We need to admit that youth is always looking for different ways to recognize themselves. Frequently, this search has led them to alcohol, sex, drugs, and all other type of escape activities such as music and arts. Piercing practices became a way to attract attention and to get into youth subculture groups. Young people in depressive conditions are attracted too. Their life turns up in melancholy continuously because of what it could not be or pass away loved ones recollections. These reasons lead young people to be piercing-jewelry sympathizers. Piercing is an ancient practice that is becoming massive in young people fashion. There are many piercing followers and non-followers, and each defend their point of view

Mitochondrial aconitase enzymatic activity: a potential long-term survival biomarker in the blood of ALS patients

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multisystemic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder. Despite it being generally fatal within a period of 2–4 years, it is highly heterogeneous; as a result, survival periods may vary greatly among individual patients. Biomarkers can serve as tools for diagnosis, prognosis, indicators of therapeutic response, and future therapeutics. Free-radical-dependent mitochondrial damage is believed to play a crucial role in neurodegeneration in ALS. Mitochondrial aconitase, which is also known as aconitase 2 (Aco2), is a key Krebs cycle enzyme and is involved in the regulation of cellular metabolism and iron homeostasis. Aco2 is very sensitive to oxidative inactivation and can aggregate and accumulate in the mitochondrial matrix, causing mitochondrial dysfunction. Loss of Aco2 activity may therefore reflect increased levels of mitochondrial dysfunction due to oxidative damage and could be relevant to ALS pathogenesis. The aim of our study was to confirm changes in mitochondrial aconitase activity in peripheral blood and to determine whether such changes are dependent on, or independent of, the patient’s condition and to propose the feasibility of using them as possible valid biomarkers to quantify the progression of the disease and as a predictor of individual prognosis in ALS. Methods: We measured the Aco2 enzymatic activity in the platelets of blood samples taken from 22 controls and 26 ALS patients at different stages of disease development. We then correlated antioxidant activity with clinical and prognostic variables. Results: Aco2 activity was significantly lower in the 26 ALS patients than in the 22 controls (p < 0.05). Patients with higher levels of Aco2 activity survived longer than those with lower levels (p < 0.05). Aco2 activity was also higher in patients with earlier onset (p < 0.05) and in those with predominantly upper motor neuron signs. Conclusions: Aco2 activity seems to be an independent factor that could be used in the long-term survival prognosis of ALS. Our findings suggest that blood Aco2 could be a leading candidate for use as a biomarker to improve prognosis. More studies are needed to confirm these results