BACKGROUNDAllergy to cow's milk is the most frequent allergy occurring in infants and young children. The dietary management of these patients consists of the elimination of any cow's milk proteins from the diet, and for formula-fed infants, the substitution of the usual infant formula with an adapted formula that is generally based on extensively hydrolyzed cow's milk proteins.
Regulation of immune responses is critical for ensuring pathogen clearance and for preventing reaction against self-antigens. Failure or breakdown of immunological tolerance results in autoimmunity. CD28 is an important co-stimulatory receptor expressed on T cells that, upon specific ligand binding, delivers signals essential for full T-cell activation and for the development and homeostasis of suppressive regulatory T cells.
DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was widely used worldwide to control agricultural pests and vectors of several insect-borne human diseases, but its use was banned in most industrialized countries since 1972 due to toxicological concerns. However, due to its persistence in the environment, residues still remain in environ-mental compartments becoming long-term sources of exposure affecting organisms. The metabolic and enzy-matic versatility of fungi can be exploited for DDT biodegradation purposes.
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