Thursday, April 9, 2009

What's new for 'Trypanosomatids' in PubMed

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Search kinetoplastids OR kinetoplastid OR Kinetoplastida OR "trypanosoma brucei" OR leishmania OR brucei OR leishmaniasis OR "African trypanosomiasis"
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PubMed Results
Items 1 -4 of 4

1: Parasitol Res. 2009 Apr 8. [Epub ahead of print]

Antileishmanial activity and ultrastructural alterations of Leishmania (L.) chagasi treated with the calcium channel blocker nimodipine.

Tempone AG, Taniwaki NN, Reimão JQ.

Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 355, 8 degrees andar, CEP 01246-000, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, atempone@ial.sp.gov.br.

In a search for novel antileishmanial drugs, we investigated the activity of the calcium channel blocker nimodipine against Leishmania spp. and explored the ultrastructural damages of parasites induced by nimodipine after a short period of incubation. Nimodipine was highly effective against promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania (L.) chagasi, with 50% inhibitory concentration values of 81.2 and 21.5 muM, respectively. Nimodipine was about fourfold more effective than the standard pentavalent antimony against amastigotes and showed a Selectivity Index of 4.4 considering its mammalian cells toxicity. Leishmania (L.) amazonensis and Leishmania (L.) major promastigotes were also susceptible to nimodipine in a range concentration between 31 and 128 muM. Ultrastructural studies of L. (L.) chagasi revealed intense mitochondria damage and plasma membrane blebbing, resulting in a leishmanicidal effect as demonstrated by the lack of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism. The amastigote-killing effect suggests other mechanism than macrophage activation, as no upregulation of nitric oxide was seen. This calcium channel blocker is an effective in vitro antileishmanial compound and if adequately studied could be used as a novel drug candidate or as a novel drug lead compound for drug design studies against leishmaniasis.

PMID: 19352709 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Patient Drug Information

  • Nimodipine (Nimotop® )

    Nimodipine is used to treat symptoms resulting from a ruptured blood vessel in the brain (hemorrhage). It increases blood flow to injured brain tissue.

  • Source: AHFS Consumer Medication Information
2: Vet Clin Pathol. 2009 Mar 30. [Epub ahead of print]

What is your diagnosis? Peritoneal effusion from a dog.

Dell'orco M, Bertazzolo W, Paccioretti F.

Pronto Soccorso Veterinario, Lodi, Italy.

A 5-year-old, female Italian hound dog was presented with progressive weight loss, anorexia, and lethargy. Physical examination abnormalities included poor body condition, abdominal distension, splenomegaly, and areas of crusty alopecia on the head and limbs. Clinicopathologic abnormalities included mild normocytic normochromic anemia, moderate hyperproteinemia and hyperglobulinemia, mild hypoalbuminemia, and hyponatremia, a mild increase in serum alkaline phosphatase activity, and a moderate to marked increase in beta- and gamma-globulins on serum protein electrophoresis. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed peritoneal effusion. Abdominocentesis yielded approximately 200 mL of serosanguinous, slightly turbid fluid with 2.6 x 10(9) nucleated cells/L, and a protein concentration of 32 g/L. Cytologic specimens of the fluid contained a mixed population of inflammatory cells. Intracytoplasmic inclusions identified as Leishmania sp. amastigotes were observed in numerous macrophages and also free in the background. An ELISA for canine Leishmania sp. antibody was positive. The abdominal effusion resolved within a few days of beginning treatment with meglumine antimoniate and allopurinol. Finding Leishmania amastigotes in peritoneal fluid is rare in canine leishmaniasias and allows an easy, quick diagnosis of the disease.

PMID: 19351338 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Patient Drug Information

  • Allopurinol (Aloprim® , Zyloprim® )

    Allopurinol is used to treat gout, high levels of uric acid in the body caused by certain cancer medications, and kidney stones. Allopurinol is in a class of medications called xanthine oxidase inhibitors. It works by re...

  • Source: AHFS Consumer Medication Information
3: J Med Entomol. 2009 Mar;46(2):400-2.

Spatial correlation between Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli (Diptera: Psychodidae) and incidence of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Tunisia.

Chelbi I, Kaabi B, Béjaoui M, Derbali M, Zhioua E.

Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Systèmes Vectoriels, 13 Place Pasteur, BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia.

The geographical distribution of Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli, vector of Leishmania major Yakimoff and Schokhor (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), was assessed during September 2006 through a transect from the north to the south of Tunisia using CDC light traps. P. papatasi was found to be abundant in the arid and Saharan bioclimatic zones and rare in the humid, subhumid, and semiarid bioclimatic zones. Similarly, the highest incidence of ZCL was observed in the arid and Saharan bioclimatic zones and the lowest in the humid, subhumid, and semiarid bioclimatic zones. Our overall findings confirm the close spatial association between the abundance of P. papatasi and the incidence of ZCL.

PMID: 19351095 [PubMed - in process]

4: Dynamis. 2008;28:301-28.LinkOut

The emergence of tropical medicine in Portugal: the School of Tropical Medicine and the Colonial Hospital of Lisbon (1902-1935).

Amara I.

Centro de Investigação em História e Filosofia da Ciência e da Tecnologia. imsp-amaral@fct.unl.pt

The School of Tropical Medicine was founded in 1902 along with the Colonial Hospital of Lisbon. The Portuguese government recognized the importance of colonising the tropics and therefore supported the creation of a specific locus of medical training that would prove to be crucial to the clinical and experimental study of tropical diseases. This paper examines the importance of such institutions for the emergence of a new scientific area of research while also functioning as a consolidation factor for the Third Portuguese Colonial Empire. The creation of a new concept of medical practice with respect to tropical diseases characterizes a specific aspect of colonization: it underlies and drives the discourse of colonization itself. Consultation of data collected by the Portuguese Tropical School and the Colonial Hospital during the period between 1902 and 1935, the starting point of the present study, seeks to shed light on the ongoing debate concerning the history of tropical medicine within European colonial discourse.

PMID: 19230343 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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