Saturday, October 24, 2009

What's new for 'Trypanosomatids' in PubMed

This message contains My NCBI what's new results from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).
Do not reply directly to this message.

Sender's message:

Sent on Saturday, 2009 Oct 24
Search kinetoplastids OR kinetoplastid OR Kinetoplastida OR "trypanosoma brucei" OR leishmania OR brucei OR leishmaniasis OR "African trypanosomiasis"
Click here to view complete results in PubMed. (Results may change over time.)
To unsubscribe from these e-mail updates click here.



PubMed Results
Items 1 -6 of 6

1: Rev Saude Publica. 2009 Oct 23. pii: S0034-89102009005000063. [Epub ahead of print]

[TG-ROC analysis of immunofluorescence assays in canine visceral leishmaniasis diagnosis.]

[Article in Portuguese]

Silva RM, Laurenti MD, Gomes AD, Nogueira YL.

Seção de Parasitologia, Divisão de Laboratórios Regionais, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, Rio Claro, SP, Brasil.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the accuracy of the diagnosis of two protocols of indirect immunofluorescence assays for canine visceral leishmaniasis. METHODS: Dogs from the seroepidemiological survey conducted in an endemic area of the cities of Araçatuba and Andradina, in Northwestern São Paulo state, in 2003, and in a non-endemic area of the metropolitan region of São Paulo, were used to assess two protocols of indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for leishmaniasis: one using a Leishmania major heterologous antigen (IFA-BM) and another using a Leishmania chagasihomologous antigen (IFA-CH). Two-graph receiver operating characteristic (TG-ROC) analysis was used to estimate accuracy. TG-ROC analysis compared 1:20 dilution readings of the homologous antigen (IFA-CH), considered as reference test, with IFA-BM dilutions (heterologous antigen). RESULTS: The 1:20 dilution used in the IFA-CH test showed the best contingency coefficient (0.755) and the highest strength of association between the two variables studied (chi-square=124.3). Thus, it was considered the test reference dilution in comparisons with different IFA-BM test dilutions. The best IFA-BM results were obtained from 1:40 dilutions with the best contingency coefficient (0.680) and highest strength of association (chi-square=80.8). With the change in the cut-off point, recommended for the IFA-BM 1:40 dilution in this analysis, the specificity parameter value rose from 57.5% to 97.7%, even though the 1:80 dilution showed the best sensitivity estimate (80.2%), with the new cut-off point. CONCLUSIONS: TG-ROC analysis can provide important information about diagnostic tests, in addition to offering suggestions on cut-off points that can improve test sensitivity and specificity estimates and assessing these tests in terms of the best cost-benefit ratio.

PMID: 19851639 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related articles

2: Cad Saude Publica. 2009 Oct;25(10):2291-5.

Etiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis and anthropophilic vectors in Juruti, Pará State, Brazil.

Garcez LM, Soares DC, Chagas AP, Souza GC, Miranda JF, Fraiha H, Flöeter-Winter LM, Nunes HM, Zampiere RA, Shaw JJ.

Seção de Parasitologia, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, Brasil.

In a preliminary study in Juruti, a mining municipality in western Pará State, Brazil, 12 out of 21 patients suspected of presenting cutaneous leishmaniasis showed positive PCR (SSUrDNA and G6PD): Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis (9/12; 75%) and L. (V.) sp. (3/12; 25%). Entomological studies in the same location revealed the presence of 12 different phlebotomine species (n =105). One of the most common species was Lutzomyia (Psychodopygus) complexa (17%) which is both highly anthropophilic and a known vector of L. (V.) braziliensis in other regions of Pará. These preliminary findings should serve to guide future epidemiological surveillance in Juruti.

PMID: 19851628 [PubMed - in process]

Related articles

3: PLoS One. 2009 Oct 23;4(10):e7581.

Infectivity of Leishmania mexicana Is Associated with Differential Expression of Protein Kinase C-Like Triggered during a Cell-Cell Contact.

Alvarez-Rueda N, Biron M, Le Pape P.

Département de Parasitologie et de Mycologie Médicale, Université de Nantes, Nantes Atlantique Universités, EA 1155 - IICiMed, Faculté de Pharmacie, Nantes, France.

Mammalian host cell invasion by Leishmania is a complex process in which various parasite and host cell components interact, triggering the activation of signaling cascades in both cells. Little is known regarding PKC biological functions in Leishmania sp. during parasite-macrophage interaction. PKC-like enzyme was first identified in homogenates and membrane fraction of L. mexicana stationary promastigotes by immunoblot. PKC-like enzyme activity was then detected in cell homogenates but also on intact promastigotes showing for the first time the presence of an ecto-PKC dependent on Ca(2+)/phosphatidylserine for activation. This ecto-PKC was activated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and inhibited by RO-32-0432, a selective PKCalphabeta(I)epsilon bisindolylmaleimide inhibitor. Interestingly, the Leishmania PKC- activity was higher in the infective stationary than in non-infective logarithmic stage. Then, promastigotes at different stages of time proliferation curve were used in order to identify the role of PKC-like during macrophage invasion. After attachment to macrophages, PKC-like is over-expressed in promastigotes at the 6(th) culture day but also at the 4(th) day of culture corresponding to the maximal infection capacity. An antibody microarray for MAPK and PKC corroborate the Leishmania PKC-like over-expression during contact with macrophages. Pretreatment with RO-32-0432 inhibitor reduced the number of infected macrophages and the parasite burden. These data suggest for the first time a direct link between PKC expression level and infectivity, and provide evidence that PKC-like plays a critical role in attachment and in the internalization steps involved in the invasion process.

PMID: 19851504 [PubMed - in process]

Related articles

4: J Biol Chem. 2009 Oct 22. [Epub ahead of print]

REH2 RNA helicase in kinetoplastid mitochondria: ribonucleoprotein complexes and essential motifs for unwinding and guide RNA binding.

Hernandez A, Madina BR, Ro K, Wohlschlegel JA, Willard B, Kinter MT, Cruz-Reyes J.

Texas A&M University;

Regulation of gene expression in kinetoplastid mitochondria is largely postranscriptional and involves the orchestration of polycistronic RNA processing, 3' terminal maturation, RNA editing, turnover and translation, however these processes remain poorly studied. Core editing complexes and their U-insertion/deletion activities are relatively well characterized and a battery of ancilliary factors has recently emerged. This study characterized a novel DExH-box RNA helicase, termed here REH2 (RNA editing associated helicase 2), in unique ribonucleoprotein complexes that exhibit unwinding and guide RNA binding activities, both of which required a double-stranded RNA-binding domain (dsRBD) and a functional helicase motif I of REH2. REH2 complexes and recently identified related particles share a multi-protein core but are distinguished by several differential polypeptides. Finally, REH2 associates transiently, via RNA, with editing complexes, mitochondrial ribosomes and several ancilliary factors that control editing and RNA stability. We propose that these putative higher-order structures coordinate mitochondrial gene expression.

PMID: 19850921 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related articles

5: J Nat Prod. 2009 Oct;72(10):1842-6.

Norselic Acids A-E, Highly Oxidized Anti-infective Steroids that Deter Mesograzer Predation, from the Antarctic Sponge Crella sp.

Ma WS, Mutka T, Vesley B, Amsler MO, McClintock JB, Amsler CD, Perman JA, Singh MP, Maiese WM, Zaworotko MJ, Kyle DE, Baker BJ.

Department of Chemistry, Department of Global Health, and Center for Molecular Diversity in Drug Design, Discovery and Delivery, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, and Wyeth Research, 401 North Middletown Road, Pearl River, New York 10965.

Five new steroids, norselic acids A-E (1-5), were isolated from the sponge Crella sp. collected in Antarctica. The planar structures of the norselic acids were established by extensive NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry studies, and the configuration of norselic acid A (1) was elucidated by X-ray crystallography. Norselic acid A displays antibiotic activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), and Candida albicans and reduces consumption of food pellets by sympatric mesograzers. Compounds 1-5 are also active against the Leishmania parasite at low micromolar levels.

PMID: 19848433 [PubMed - in process]

Related articles

Patient Drug Information

  • Vancomycin (Vancocin®)

    Vancomycin is used to treat colitis (inflammation of the intestine caused by certain bacteria) that may occur after antibiotic treatment. Vancomycin is in a class of medications called glycopeptide antibiotics. It works ...

  • Source: AHFS Consumer Medication Information
6: Res Vet Sci. 2009 Oct;87(2):265-9. Epub 2009 Apr 7.Click here to read LinkOut

Endemic type of animal trypanosomiasis is not associated with lower genotype variability of Trypanosoma congolense isolates circulating in livestock.

Masumu J, Geysen D, Van den Bossche P.

Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng 0110, South Africa. jmasumu@hotmail.com

In order to verify whether the low impact on livestock production in endemic areas is related to a low number of trypanosome strains circulating in livestock, 37 Trypanosoma congolense isolates collected from cattle in 11 sites in an endemic trypanosomiasis area in Eastern Zambia were characterised for genotype variability using a modified amplified fragment length polymorphism technique (AFLP). Isolates were further cloned to evaluate the occurrence of mixed infections in individuals. The results obtained revealed a high genotype diversity (94.6%) among these isolates. Apart from one site, all isolates gave different AFLP profiles in each of the sites. When clones were compared, three (8%) of the 37 isolates had mixed infections. These results indicate the circulation of a high number of strains in this trypanosomiasis endemic area despite the low impact the disease has on livestock production.

PMID: 19356778 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related articles

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)