[The recent completion of the sequence of the human genome - thanks to the developments in biotechnology - has increased interest in genetics, but confusion remains about the role of genetic information in the medical practice. The role of genomics (a term coined only 15 years ago) in medicine is even more confusing. This review summarizes briefly the most important advances relating to the robust development in biotechnology, by which the practice of medicine has entered an era where the individual patient’s genome could help to determine the optimal approach to care, whether it is preventive, diagnostic, or therapeutic.]

[Heat-shock proteins, or stress proteins play important role in cellular survival owning to their protective function. Their highly conserved structure renders them ideal messengers of cellular stress response. One of the best known representative of these proteins is the 70 kDa heat-shock protein (Hsp70), there is increasing amount of data about the intraand extracellular functions of this stress protein. In the present review the regulation of hsp70 gene expression, and hsp70 polimorfisms, the possible impact of polymorphisms to certain diseases, and the multilevel relationship between Hsp70 and the immun response are discussed. The authors review the role of Hsp70 in anti-tumor immunity, and the presence of anti-Hsp70 antibodies and their possible association with certain diseases. Here they present some of their recent observations: they detected the presence of anti-Hsp70 antibodies in all adult sera and found no correlation between these antibody levels and the presence of severe coronary heart disease. Recently we also showed, that human Hsp70 can activate the classical pathway of complement system in vitro, by direct binding of the first complement C1q.]

[Recurrent cystitis is a very common disease in women; every second women experiences at least one episode of acute cystitis during their lifetime, and in 20% of the cases it develops to recurrent cystitis. The disease also has a significant negative impact on quality of life. In 60% percent of the cases mild-severe depression can be shown, which can be reduced by 30-40% with the properly chosen prophylaxis. Therefore the up-to-date knowledge of the evidence based recommendations on disease management is mandatory to all clinicans dealing with this patient group. In case of a recurrent urinary tract infection treatment of the actual episode is not enough. Rather, emphasis has to be placed on appropriate prevention strategy. Alway non-antimicrobial methods has to be preferred as first choice, antibiotic prophylaxis should be considered only when the non-antimicrobials have been unsuccessful. In this review the authors summarise the evidence based management options of recurrent urinary tract infections in detail, based on the guideline recommendations of the European Association of Urology. ]

[In this review we summarise the current results of the genomic investigation of allergic diseases. From the genetic point of view allergy is multifactorial, which means that the susceptibility to the disease is determined by the effect of one or more genes or the interactions between multiple genes and involves important nongenetic factors such as the environment for their expression. Among allergic diseases the genomic background of asthma was studied most thoroughly. Until now, using hundreds of DNA markers, located across all of the human chromosomes, 16 genome-wide screens for susceptibility genes for asthma or asthma related intermediate phenotypes in 12 different populations have been published and 20 chromosomal regions have been highlighted for further analysis. In genetic association studies more than 500 genes were identified as candidate genes for asthma. In this review, we selected those results which were consistently reported by several independent studies or appeared particularly important or interesting. According to the results of the human genome programs and association studies we discuss the possible roles of candidate genes found in these loci in the pathomechanism of allergy and atopy.]

[Introduction - This is the first Hungarian paper on the insertion/deletion polymorphism of ACE gene in stroke patients. According to literature data, the role of this polymorphism is controversial in the pathogenesis of stroke. The aim was to study the prevalence of the polymorphism in healthy persons and in stroke patients. Patients and methods - Blood samples from 173 unrelated healthy donors and 253 stroke patients were investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Preivous stroke was documented by CT or MRI and CDS. A routine questionnaire was used to study previous vascular events and the risk profile of patients. Results - I/I allele was found in 20%, I/D 52% and D/D 28% in the healthy group. Prevalence of the pathologic D/D allele did not differ between healthy and patients group (28% and 27%, OR: 0.88, and in subgroup age under 50 years OR: 1.00). No correlation was found between D/D and conventional risk profile but a positiv correlation was found in young patients having D/D and hyperlipidemia (p<0.05) and hyperfibrinogenemia (p<0.05). D/D prevalence was found higher in patients with family anamnesis of myocardial infarction (p<0.05). Very low prevalence of D/D allele was found in cardiogen embolic group (p>0.05). Conclusions - The ACE polymorphism does not seem to be an independent risk factor for stroke. However, in young stroke patients with D/D allele, hyperlipidemia and/or hyperfibrinogenemia present very high risk for stroke.]