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Sent on Tuesday, 2010 Mar 09Search kinetoplastids OR kinetoplastid OR Kinetoplastida OR "trypanosoma brucei" OR leishmania OR brucei OR leishmaniasis OR "African trypanosomiasis"
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| 1. | Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 2009 Dec;42(6):686-690.[Study on the transmission of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Federal District.][Article in Portuguese] Sampaio RN, Gonçalves MD, Leite VA, França BV, Santos G, Carvalho MD, Tauil PL.Laboratório de Dermatomicologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF. The objectives of this study were to characterize cutaneous leishmaniasis in patients from the Federal District, investigate subclinical infection in people living in the same localities as patients and identify the species of Phlebotomus and Leishmania. Patients attended at the University Hospital of Brasília between August 2006 and June 2007 were selected. Relatives and neighbors of the patients underwent the Montenegro intradermal test and indirect immunofluorescence. Phlebotomines were caught at the localities where the patients came from and their species were identified. The species of Leishmania in the patients were also identified. Ten autochthonous cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis were recorded. The intradermal test was done on 32 local residents and 71.8% were positive. Immunofluorescence was performed on 37 individuals and all of them were negative. Lutzomyia whitmani was caught, including in domestic/peridomestic areas, along with Lutzomyia flaviscutellata. The percentage of positive Montenegro intradermal tests suggests that the local residents had subclinical infection. Capture of the vector Lutzomyia whitmani in domestic/peridomestic areas suggests that domestic/peridomestic transmission was occurring. |
| PMID: 20209356 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 2. | Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 2009 Dec;42(6):647-650.[Blood feeding preference of Lutzomyia whitmani (Diptera, Psychodidae) in a transmission area for American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the State of Maranhão, Brazil.][Article in Portuguese] Fonteles RS, Vasconcelos GC, Azevêdo PC, Lopes GN, Moraes JL, Lorosa ES, Kuppinger O, Rebêlo JM.Programa de Pós Graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luis, MA. The aim of this study was to determine the sources of blood meals for females of Lutzomyia whitmani, a phlebotomine species incriminated as the main vector for American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Maranhão. For this, 70 Lutzomyia whitmani females were collected in the municipality of Axixá, an area with one of the greatest numbers of cases of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in humans in Maranhão. They were analyzed using the precipitin technique. Ninety percent of the specimens showed a reaction to some type of antiserum positive immune reaction, among which 73% presented single reactions, with predominance for chicken blood (22%), rodent blood (14.3%) and human blood (12.7%). Among the double reactions, the predominant combinations were chicken/human (6.3%), chicken/opossum (4.8%), ox/human (3.2%) and opossum/human (3.2%). Thus, we conclude that humans and domestic and synanthropic animals are blood meal sources for Lutzomyia whitmani and may play an important role in the transmission cycle for American cutaneous leishmaniasis, thus explaining the cases of this disease in Axixá. |
| PMID: 20209348 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 3. | Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2010 Feb;105(1):109-112.Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction in the routine diagnosis for tegumentary leishmaniasis in a referral centre.Fagundes A, Schubach A, Paula CC, Bogio A, Antonio LD, Schiavoni PB, Monteiro VD, Madeira MD, Quintella LP, Valete-Rosalino CM, Vasconcellos ED, Azeredo-Coutinho RB, Pacheco RS, Marzochi MC, Marzochi KB.Serviço de Anatomia Patológica, Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas. The present study investigated the diagnostic value of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performed in parallel to conventional methods at an American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) referral centre for diagnosis. Accuracy parameters for PCR were calculated using 130 patients with confirmed ATL (ATL group), 15 patients established with other diseases and 23 patients with a lesion suggestive of ATL, but without parasitological confirmation (NDEF group). PCR showed 92.3% sensitivity, 93.3% specificity, a 99.2% positive predictive value and a 13.84 positive likelihood ratio. In the NDEF group, PCR confirmed ATL in 13 of the 23 patients, seven of whom responded to leishmaniasis treatment and six who presented spontaneous healing of the lesion. PCR should be included in the routine diagnostic procedures for ATL, especially for cases found to be negative by conventional methods. |
| PMID: 20209340 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 4. | Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2010 Feb;105(1):86-91.Comparative evaluation of phenol and thimerosal as preservatives for a candidate vaccine against American cutaneous leishmaniasis.Mayrink W, Tavares CA, Deus RB, Pinheiro MB, Guimarães TM, Andrade HM, Costa CA, Toledo VD.Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. For decades thimerosal has been used as a preservative in the candidate vaccine for cutaneous leishmaniasis, which was developed by Mayrink et al. The use of thimerosal in humans has been banned due to its mercury content. This study addresses the standardization of phenol as a new candidate vaccine preservative. We have found that the proteolytic activity was abolished when the test was conducted using the candidate vaccine added to merthiolate (MtVac) as well as to phenol (PhVac). The Montenegro's skin test conversion rates induced by MtVac and by PhVac was 68.06% and 85.9%, respectively, and these values were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The proliferative response of peripheral mononuclear blood cells shows that the stimulation index of mice immunized with both candidate vaccines was higher than the one in control animals (p < 0.05). The ability of the candidate vaccines to induce protection in C57BL/10 mice against a challenge with infective Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes was tested and the mice immunized with PhVac developed smaller lesions than the mice immunized with MtVac. Electrophoresis of phenol-preserved antigen revealed a number of proteins, which were better preserved in PhVac. These results do in fact encourage the use of phenol for preserving the immunogenic and biochemical properties of the candidate vaccine for cutaneous leishmaniasis. |
| PMID: 20209335 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 5. | Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2009 Dec;51(6):309-324.Epidemiolo gy of neglected tropical diseases in transplant recipients. Review of the literature and experience of a Brazilian HSCT center.Machado CM, Martins TC, Colturato I, Leite MS, Simione AJ, Souza MP, Mauad MA, Colturato VR.Fundação Hospital Amaral Carvalho, Jaú, SP, Brazil. The rising success rate of solid organ (SOT) and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and modern immunosuppression make transplants the first therapeutic option for many diseases affecting a considerable number of people worldwide. Consequently, developing countries have also grown their transplant programs and have started to face the impact of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in transplant recipients. We reviewed the literature data on the epidemiology of NTDs with greatest disease burden, which have affected transplant recipients in developing countries or may represent a threat to transplant recipients living in other regions. Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Chagas disease, Malaria, Leishmaniasis, Dengue, Yellow fever and Measles are the topics included in this review. In addition, we retrospectively revised the experience concerning the management of NTDs at the HSCT program of Amaral Carvalho Foundation, a public transplant program of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. |
| PMID: 20209266 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 6. | Cad Saude Publica. 2010 Jan;26(1):195-198.[Occurrence of sand flies (Diptera, Psychodidae) in leishmaniasis foci in an ecotourism area around the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil.][Article in Portuguese] Rebêlo JM, Assunção Júnior AN, Silva O, Moraes JL.Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís, Brasil. The distribution and relative abundance of sand fly species were studied in the municipality of Barreirinhas, Maranhão State, Brazil, around the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, from January to June 2005, August 2004, July 2005, and September/2008. A total of 6,658 specimens were captured. The most frequent species were Lutzomyia whitmani (46.6%), L. longipalpis (29.9%), L. evandroi (17.1%), and L. lenti (4.8%), while L. termitophila, L. flaviscutellata, L. migonei, L. infraspinosa, L. sordellii, L. wellcomei, L. antunesi, and L. trinidadensis represented 1.6%. The presence of Leishmania vector species explains the high detection rate for tegumentary leishmaniasis in 2000 (308.2), 2001 (310.9), 2002 (338.2), and 2005 (313.6) and active foci of human visceral leishmaniasis in the municipality of Barreirinhas. |
| PMID: 20209223 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 7. | PLoS One. 2010 Mar 2;5(3):e9486.A Structural Domain Mediates Attachment of Ethanolamine Phosphoglycerol to Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 1A in Trypanosoma brucei.Greganova E, Heller M, Bütikofer P.Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Ethanolamine phosphoglycerol (EPG) represents a protein modification that so far has only been found in eukaryotic elongation factor 1A (eEF1A). In mammals and plants, EPG is covalently attached to two conserved glutamate residues located in domains II and III of eEF1A. In contrast, Trypanosoma brucei eEF1A contains a single EPG attached to Glu362 in domain III. The sequence and/or structural requirements for covalent linkage of EPG to eEF1A have not been determined for any organism. Using a combination of biosynthetic labelling of parasites with tritiated ethanolamine and mass spectrometry analyses, we demonstrate that replacement of Glu362 in T. brucei eEF1A by site-directed mutagenesis prevents EPG attachment, whereas single or multiple amino acid substitutions around the attachment site are not critical. In addition, by expressing a series of eEF1A deletion mutants in T. brucei procyclic forms, we demonstrate that a peptide consisting of 80 amino acids of domain III of eEF1A is sufficient for EPG attachment to occur. Furthermore, EPG addition also occurs if domain III of eEF1A is fused to a soluble reporter protein. To our knowledge, this is the first report addressing amino acid sequence, or structure, requirements for EPG modification of eEF1A in any organism. Using T. brucei as a model organism, we show that amino acid substitutions around the modification site are not critical for EPG attachment and that a truncated version of domain III of eEF1A is sufficient to mediate EPG addition. |
| PMID: 20209157 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 8. | PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2010 Mar 2;4(3):e618.Complete In Vitro Life Cycle o f Trypanosoma congolense: Development of Genetic Tools.Coustou V, Guegan F, Plazolles N, Baltz T.Laboratoire de Microbiologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire et Pathogénicité, UMR-5234 CNRS, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France. BACKGROUND: Animal African trypanosomosis, a disease mainly caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma congolense, is a major constraint to livestock productivity and has a significant impact in the developing countries of Africa. RNA interference (RNAi) has been used to study gene function and identify drug and vaccine targets in a variety of organisms including trypanosomes. However, trypanosome RNAi studies have mainly been conducted in T. brucei, as a model for human infection, largely ignoring livestock parasites of economical importance such as T. congolense, which displays different pathogenesis profiles. The whole T. congolense life cycle can be completed in vitro, but this attractive model displayed important limitations: (i) genetic tools were currently limited to insect forms and production of modified infectious BSF through differentiation was never achieved, (ii) in vitro differentiation techniques lasted several months, (iii) absence of long-term bloodstream forms (BSF) in vitro culture prevented genomic analyses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We optimized culture conditions for each developmental stage and secured the differentiation steps. Specifically, we devised a medium adapted for the strenuous development of stable long-term BSF culture. Using Amaxa nucleofection technology, we greatly improved the transfection rate of the insect form and designed an inducible transgene expression system using the IL3000 reference strain. We tested it by expression of reporter genes and through RNAi. Subsequently, we achieved the complete in vitro life cycle with dramatically shortened time requirements for various wild type and transgenic strains. Finally, we established the use of modified strains for experimental infections and underlined a host adaptation phase requirement. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We devised an improved T. congolense model, which offers the opportunity to perform functional genomics analyses throughout the whole life cycle. It represents a very useful tool to understand pathogenesis mechanisms and to study potential therapeutic targets either in vitro or in vivo using a mouse model. |
| PMID: 20209144 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 9. | Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 2010 Mar 1;66(Pt 3):304-308. Epub 2010 Feb 24.Overproduction, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense glycerol kinase.Balogun EO, Inaoka DK, Kido Y, Shiba T, Nara T, Aoki T, Honma T, Tanaka A, Inoue M, Matsuoka S, Michels PA, Harada S, Kita K.Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. In the bloodstream forms of human trypanosomes, glycerol kinase (GK; EC 2.7.1.30) is one of the nine glycosomally compartmentalized enzymes that are essential for energy metabolism. In this study, a recombinant Trypanosoma brucei gambiense GK (rTbgGK) with an N-terminal cleavable His(6) tag was overexpressed, purified to homogeneity and crystallized by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method using PEG 400 as a precipitant. A complete X-ray diffraction data set to 2.75 A resolution indicated that the crystals belonged to the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 63.84, b = 121.50, c = 154.59 A. The presence of two rTbgGK molecules in the asymmetric unit gives a Matthews coefficient (V(M)) of 2.5 A(3) Da(-1), corresponding to 50% solvent content. |
| PMID: 20208167 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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| 10. | Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 2010 Mar 1;66(Pt 3):275-278. Epub 2010 Feb 24.Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of cyanide-insensitive alternative oxidase from Trypanosoma brucei bruc ei.Kido Y, Shiba T, Inaoka DK, Sakamoto K, Nara T, Aoki T, Honma T, Tanaka A, Inoue M, Matsuoka S, Moore A, Harada S, Kita K.Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Cyanide-insensitive alternative oxidase (AOX) is a mitochondrial membrane protein and a non-proton-pumping ubiquinol oxidase that catalyzes the four-electron reduction of dioxygen to water. In the African trypanosomes, trypanosome alternative oxidase (TAO) functions as a cytochrome-independent terminal oxidase that is essential for survival in the mammalian host; hence, the enzyme is considered to be a promising drug target for the treatment of trypanosomiasis. In the present study, recombinant TAO (rTAO) overexpressed in haem-deficient Escherichia coli was purified and crystallized at 293 K by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using polyethylene glycol 400 as a precipitant. X-ray diffraction data were collected at 100 K and were processed to 2.9 A resolution with 93.1% completeness and an overall R(merge) of 9.5%. The TAO crystals belonged to the orthorhombic space group I222 or I2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 63.11, b = 136.44, c = 223.06 A. Assuming the presence of two rTAO molecules in the asymmetric unit (2 x 38 kDa), the calculated Matthews coefficient (V(M)) was 3.2 A(3) Da(-1), which corresponds to a solvent content of 61.0%. This is the first report of a crystal of the membrane-bound diiron proteins, which include AOXs. |
| PMID: 20208159 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] | |
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