RESUMO
Babesia spp. are tick-borne protozoans that involve birds and mammals in their transmission cycles and cause babesiosis, a severe hemolytic malaria-like disease. Opossums of the genus Didelphis are recognized hosts of tick-borne pathogens. Therefore, exploring tick-borne agents in Didelphis species is important to understand the circulation of pathogens in areas where opossums occur. In this study, we targeted Anaplasmataceae, Babesia, Borrelia and Hepatozoon DNA in ticks, blood and organ samples collected from three hunted Didelphis marsupialis specimens in eastern Guatemala. While the samples were negative for Hepatozoon and bacterial DNA, sequences of Babesia 18S rDNA, cox1 and cytb genes were retrieved from two opossums. Ticks collected on the animals included Amblyomma parvum and an undetermined Ornithodoros sp. The Babesia sp. detected in this study (Babesia sp. THB1-2) clusters phylogenetically within the "Western Babesia group", which includes pathogenic species such as Babesia conradae, Babesia duncani, and Babesia negevi. Our results represent the first record of a Babesia sp. in Guatemala and highlight the importance of D. marsupialis as potential spreaders of ticks and pathogens in Central America.
Assuntos
Babesia , Babesiose , Didelphis , Eucoccidiida , Animais , Guatemala/epidemiologia , Babesia/genética , América Central , Babesiose/epidemiologiaRESUMO
The effects of in vivo cocoa-based supplementation were studied as a preconditioning treatment for ex vivo acute oxidative conditions in a controlled randomized clinical trial. Subjects were 100 healthy young men at Universidad Industrial de Santander blinded to the intervention and divided into two groups: The intervention group (n = 50) receiving 30 g of cocoa powder and 50 g of dark chocolate/d for 1 week with the remaining subjects receiving placebo. Cocoa products preconditioning for 1 week resulted in modifications in the susceptibility of plasma lipids over ex vivo oxidative conditions with effects of i) a significant increase in the oxidative resistance of plasma lipids measured by dienes formation (4.2, CI: 0.18, 8.2; P = 0.04), and ii) a significant reduction in the production of toxic aldehydes as established by a decrease in the content of hexanal, quantified by gas chromatography (-0.22, CI: -0.38, -0.05; P = 0.009). The in vivo cocoa-based preconditioning demonstrated protective properties against ex vivo oxidative modifications, improving total plasma lipids resistance to oxidation and protecting plasma lipids against great acute oxidative insult in comparison with placebo. This trial was registered at clinical clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01347450.
Assuntos
Antioxidantes/administração & dosagem , Chocolate , Suplementos Nutricionais , Peroxidação de Lipídeos/efeitos dos fármacos , Lipídeos/sangue , Estresse Oxidativo/efeitos dos fármacos , Administração Oral , Adulto , Biomarcadores/sangue , Colômbia , Voluntários Saudáveis , Humanos , Masculino , Estudos Prospectivos , Método Simples-Cego , Fatores de Tempo , Adulto JovemRESUMO
This paper evaluates the production of superoxide as an indicator of the activity of neutrophils from healthy individuals, stimulated with Entamoeaba histolytica membrane antigens, chemical stimulators and antigens from other parasites. The kinetic nitroblue tetrazolium reduction test was used. No significant differences were observed in the control group as to superoxide production by neutrophils primed with Entamoeba histolytica antigens or Cisticercus cellulosae, Toxoplasma gondii and Giardia lamblia antigens. These results allow us to conclude that Entamoeba histolytica membrane antigens do not induce superoxide production by neutrophils, which contradicts previous statements on suppresed activity of neutrophils after they get in contact with Entamoeaba histolytica antigens.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Protozoários/imunologia , Entamoeba histolytica/imunologia , Neutrófilos/imunologia , Animais , Humanos , Neutrófilos/metabolismo , Superóxidos/metabolismoRESUMO
La formación del esmalte en el humano comienza en el útero. Este proceso, que ocurre en diferentes etapas, puede verse afectado por cambios fisiológicos, sistémicos externos, o disturbios mayores, antes o durante el período de formación dental, manifestándose como hipoplasia e hipocalcificación. El propósito de este estudio fue comparar los defectos del esmalte en los dientes temporales de niños prematuros con las anomalías dentales presentes en niños nacidos a término. Se tomaron 33 niños para cada grupo, los cuales tenían dentición temporal completa. Se analizaron los dientes afectados, la superficie y el tercio en el cual se presentaba el defecto. Estos datos fueron registrados en historias clínicas individuales y luego en tablas comparativas entre los dos grupos en estudio. Se examinaron una sola vez por dos observadores clínicos. Para el análisis de los resultados se elaboraron tablas de distribución de frecuencias para cada variable de estudio, para determinar la existencia de diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre el grupo estudio y el grupo control, se aplicó una prueba de chi cuadrado con un nivel de significancia de P<0.05. La frecuencia de displasia del esmalte fue mayor en el grupo prematuro 76 por ciento comparado con el 24 por ciento en el grupo control con un Chi cuadrado de 17,5151 y P<0,05 que fue significativo estadísticamente. Sin embargo la diferencia entre hipoplasia no fue significativa entre los dos grupos mientras que la prevalencia de hipocalcificación fue significativamente mayor en el grupo prematuro.