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Sent on Thursday, 2011 May 19Search kinetoplastids OR kinetoplastid OR Kinetoplastida OR "trypanosoma brucei" OR leishmania OR brucei OR leishmaniasis OR "African trypanosomiasis"
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| PubMed Results |
| 1. | Geospat Health. 2011 May;5(2):205-15.Incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in the Vaishali district of Bihar, India: spatial patterns and role of inland water bodies.Bhunia GS, Kesari S, Chatterjee N, Pal DK, Kumar V, Ranjan A, Das P.SourceDepartment of Vector Biology and Control, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (ICMR), Agamkuan, Patna, Bihar, India. AbstractThe role of the distribution of inland water bodies with respect to the transmission of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and its dominant vector, Phlebotomous argentipes, has been studied at the regional scale in Bihar, eastern India. The Landsat TM sensor multispectral scanning radiometer, with a spatial resolution of 30 m in the visible, reflective-infrared and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) bands, was used to identify water bodies using the normalized differential pond index (NDPI) calculated as follows: (Green - SWIR I)/(Green + SWIR I). Nearest neighbour and grid square statistics were used to delineate spatial patterns and distribution of the sandfly vector and the disease it transmits. The female P. argentipes sandfly was found to be associated with the distance from open water and particularly abundant near non-perennial river banks (68.4%; P <0.001), while its association with rivers was focused further away from the water source (χ(2) = 26.3; P <0.001). The results also reveal that the distribution of VL is clustered around non-perennial riverbanks, while the pattern is slightly random around the perennial river banks. The grid square technique illustrate that the spatial distribution of the disease has a much stronger correlation with lower density of open waters surfaces as well as with sandfly densities (χ(2) = 26.0; P <0.001). The results of our study suggest that inland water presence poses a risk for VL by offering suitable breeding sites for P. argentipes, a fact that should be taken into account when attempting to control disease transmission. |
| 2. | Parasitol Res. 2011 May 18. [Epub ahead of print]Comparison of the sensitivity of imprint and scraping techniques in the diagnosis of American tegumentary leishmaniasis in a referral centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.de Mello CX, de Oliveira Schubach A, de Oliveira RV, Conceição-Silva F, Pimentel MI, Lyra MR, E Vasconcellos EC, de Fátima Madeira M.SourceLaboratório de Vigilância em Leishmanioses, Instituto de Pesquisa Clinica Evandro Chagas-IPEC, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-FIOCRUZ, Avenida Brasil, 4365, 21040-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, cintia.mello@ipec.fiocruz.br. AbstractAmerican tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) is an infectious disease that presents a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations making parasitological tests important for its diagnosis. Direct examination, although considered of low sensitivity is still employed mainly in areas with poor laboratory infrastructure. The aim of this study was to standardize the method of collecting and reading the scraping procedure and to then compare sensitivity of this procedure on two sites of the lesion (outer edge-OE and inner edge-IE) and of the imprint against the reference method (isolation in culture) in a group of 110 patients treated at a Referral Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ATL diagnosis was confirmed in 40 patients (36.4%), 39 cases were caused by L. braziliensis and 1 by L. amazonensis. Imprint was positive in 28 patients and scraping in OE in 17 and in IE in 25 patients, resulting in sensitivity of 70%, 42.5%, and 62.5% respectively. When the three direct examinations were combined, sensitivity value attained 77.5%. Aspects related to ease and quality of the collected material, pain intensity and frequency of bleeding in the scraping procedure were also broached and discussed in this study. The parameters of accuracy presented indicate that the direct methods can be safely used in ATL diagnosis, principally in IE scraping, as it is easy to produce and the examination is not costly, which allows the procedure to be repeated at different moments which, in turn, increases the possibility of finding the parasite. Despite that the direct methods are technically widespread, they are not standardized and the parameters of accuracy are unknown. If we consider the high incidence of leishmaniasis in low-income areas, the implantation of standardized and selective methods would provide advances in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis. |
| 3. | Int J Nanomedicine. 2011;6:835-42. Epub 2011 Apr 20.Nanovaccine for leishmaniasis: preparation of chitosan nanoparticles containing Leishmania superoxide dismutase and evaluation of its immunogenicity in BALB/c mice.Danesh-Bahreini MA, Shokri J, Samiei A, Kamali-Sarvestani E, Barzegar-Jalali M, Mohammadi-Samani S.SourceDepartment of Pharmaceutics. AbstractBACKGROUND:Leishmaniasis is a protozoan disease, affecting 12 million people in different regions of the world with a wide spectrum of diseases. Although several chemotherapeutic agents have been used for treating the disease, long-term therapy, limited efficacy and the development of drug-resistant parasites remain the major limitations. METHODS:To develop a new nanovaccine for leishmaniasis, recombinant Leishmania superoxide dismutase (SODB1) was loaded onto chitosan nanoparticles by the ionotropic gelation method. Size and loading efficiency of the nanoparticles were evaluated and optimized, and an immunization study was undertaken on BALB/c mice. The mice received phosphate buffer saline (PBS), superoxide dismutase B1 (SODB1) in PBS and nanoparticles via subcutaneous injection. Soluble Leishmania Antigens (SLA) and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) were also injected subcutaneously three times every three weeks (some groups received only a single dose). Three weeks after the last injection, blood samples were collected and assessed with ELISA to detect IgG2a and IgG1. RESULTS:Immunological analysis showed that in single and triple doses of SODB1 nanoparticles, IgG2a and IgG2a/IgG1 were significantly higher than the other groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION:The results revealed that formulations of SODB1 in biodegradable and stable chitosan nanoparticles can increase the immunogenicity toward cell-mediated immunity (T(H)1 cells producing IgG2a in mice) that is effective in Leishmania eradication and could be presented as a single dose nanovaccine for leishmaniasis. |
| 4. | J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 May 6. [Epub ahead of print]Antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, and cytotoxic activities of Galium mexicanum.Bolivar P, Cruz-Paredes C, Hernández LR, Juárez ZN, Sánchez-Arreola E, Av-Gay Y, Bach H.SourceDepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Departamento de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. AbstractAIM OF THE STUDY:To study the potential benefit of the traditional Mexican medicinal plant Galium mexicanum Kunth (Rubiaceae). Hexane, chloroform, and methanol extracts as well as various fractions from these extracts were tested to determine antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic or anti-inflammatory activities in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Aerial parts of the plant were extracted with various solvents and fractionated accordingly. Their antibacterial and antifungal activities were assessed on nine bacterial and four fungal strains. Leishmania donovani was used as a protozoan strain for antiparasitic activity. The anti-inflammatory activity of the compounds was investigated by measuring the secretion of interleukin-6 when macrophages were exposed to lipopolysaccharide. RESULTS:Various extracts and fractions obtained from this plant exhibit antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Of special interest was the hexane fraction HE 14b, which show antibacterial (ranging between 67 and 666μg/ml) and antifungal (at concentrations of 333μg/ml) activities. Also the hexane fraction HE 5 exhibited antiparasitic activity (at a concentrations of 260μg/ml), whereas the methanol fraction ME 13-15 showed a potent anti-inflammatory activity when compared to dexametasone. Chemical analyses of the chloroform extract show the presence of triterpenes, saponins, flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones, and glucosides, but no tannins were detected in the assayed extract. CONCLUSIONS:The benefit of Galium mexicanum as a traditional medicinal plant was confirmed using antibacterial and antifungal assays in vitro. We also report for the first time, and to the best of our knowledge, antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory activities of this plant. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. |
| 5. | Med Trop (Mars). 2011 Feb;71(1):104.[Visceral leishmaniasis, pemphigus and immunosuppressive treatment: case report from Morocco]. [Article in French] Maleb A, Messaoudi N, Chbouki O, Daoudi N, Oumghar K, Lahmadi K, Elmoussaoui D, Ezzahraoui K, Ngoh AE, Benomar F, Abi R, Jeaidi A, Nazih M, Belmekki A, Chakour M.AbstractAtypical forms of visceral leishmaniasis associated with immunosuppressive treatment are difficult to diagnose and cause high mortality. The purpose of this report is to describe a case involving a 42-year-old patient living in a leishmaniasis-endemic area, who was undergoing immunosuppressive treatment using corticosteroids and methotrexate for pemphigus. Despite clinical and laboratory findings consistent with visceral leishmaniasis, detection of Leishmania bodies was a coincidental finding of cytological examination of bone marrow during workup for pancytopenia and associated clinical signs. This case argues in favor of systematic screening for this opportunistic parasitic disease before undertaking immunosuppressive treatment in patients presenting risk factors and consistent clinical/laboratory findings. |
| 6. | Methods Mol Biol. 2011;720:219-35.Identification and assay of allosteric regulators of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase.Willert EK, Kinch LN, Phillips MA.SourceDepartment of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA. AbstractPolyamine biosynthesis is extensively regulated in cells by multiple mechanisms, including regulation of enzyme activity posttranslationally. The identified regulatory factors include both small molecules and regulatory proteins, and the mechanisms vary in different species across the evolutionary tree. Based on this diversity of mechanism, it is likely that regulatory factors of the pathway remain unidentified in many species. This article focuses on methods for identifying novel regulatory factors of polyamine biosynthesis as illustrated by the discovery of a novel protein activator of the key biosynthetic enzyme S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase in the protozoan trypanosomatid parasites. |
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| 7. | Nat Prod Rep. 2011 Apr 23;28(4):809-23. Epub 2011 Feb 3.Natural products and Chagas' disease: a review of plant compounds studied for activi ty against Trypanosoma cruzi.Izumi E, Ueda-Nakamura T, Dias Filho BP, Veiga Júnior VF, Nakamura CV.SourcePrograma de Pós-Graduação em Microbiologia, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid s/n, 86051-990, Londrina-PR, Brazil. AbstractHere, we review studies that have investigated the activity of plant-derived compounds against Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas' disease. In the last decade, more than 300 species belonging to almost 100 families have been evaluated for activity, and here we describe the compounds isolated; 85 references are cited. |
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| 8. | PLoS Pathog. 2010 Dec 16;6(12):e1001226.The killing of African trypanosomes by ethidium bromide.Roy Chowdhury A, Bakshi R, Wang J, Yildirir G, Liu B, Pappas-Brown V, Tolun G, Griffith JD, Shapiro TA, Jensen RE, Englund PT.SourceDepartment of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America. AbstractIntroduced in the 1950s, ethidium bromide (EB) is still used as an anti-trypanosomal drug for African cattle although its mechanism of killing has been unclear and controversial. EB has long been known to cause loss of the mitochondrial genome, named kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), a giant network of interlocked minicircles and maxicircles. However, the existence of viable parasites lacking kDNA (dyskinetoplastic) led many to think that kDNA loss could not be the mechanism of killing. When recent studies indicated that kDNA is indeed essential in bloodstream trypanosomes and that dyskinetoplastic cells survive only if they have a compensating mutation in the nuclear genome, we investigated the effect of EB on kDNA and its replication. We here report some remarkable effects of EB. Using EM and other techniques, we found that binding of EB to network minicircles is low, probably because of their association with proteins that prevent helix unwinding. In contrast, covalently-closed minicircles that had been released from the network for replication bind EB extensively, causing them, after isolation, to become highly supertwisted and to develop regions of left-handed Z-DNA (without EB, these circles are fully relaxed). In vivo, EB causes helix distortion of free minicircles, preventing replication initiation and resulting in kDNA loss and cell death. Unexpectedly, EB also kills dyskinetoplastic trypanosomes, lacking kDNA, by inhibiting nuclear replication. Since the effect on kDNA occurs at a >10-fold lower EB concentration than that on nuclear DNA, we conclude that minicircle replication initiation is likely EB's most vulnerable target, but the effect on nuclear replication may also contribute to cell killing. |
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