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INTRODUCTION: Genetic studies have shown associations of several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) with different rates of progression and variation in susceptibility to HIV infection. This study aimed to estimate the frequency of ccr5Δ32, IL-6-174G/C, IFN-γ+874T/A and IL-10-1082A/G polymorphisms in Cuban HIV-infected patients and a group of sero-discordant couples to assess their influence on risk and disease progression. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 120 subjects registered at the Institute of Tropical Medicine «Pedro Kour¼ (IPK) and the Ameijeiras Hospital from June 2018 until December 2019. The amplification of fragments of the ccr5, IL-6, IFN-γ and IL-10 genes was performed by polymerase chain reaction followed by identification of polymorphisms using the restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for IL-6 with the restriction enzymes Nla III. Amplification Refractory Mutation System was used for IFN-γ and IL-10 genes. RESULTS: The allelic and genotypic distributions of the genes ccr5, IL-6, IFN-γ and IL-10 did not differ significantly between the two groups. Cell counts and plasma viral load values did not differ significantly between genotypes of the ccr5, IL-6, IFN-γ and IL-10 genes. Only the IL-6 GC genotype was associated with higher viral load values. The combination of alleles of the four considered SNPs showed a highly significant increase in the risk of HIV infection for one of them, but with a very low frequency (<1%). CONCLUSION: This study contributes to evaluating the frequency of these polymorphisms and their influence on biomarkers of the progression of HIV infection in the Cuban HIV-population.
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Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida , Infecções por HIV , Humanos , Infecções por HIV/genética , Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/genética , Interleucina-6/genética , Interleucina-10/genética , Estudos Transversais , Frequência do Gene , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único , Receptores CCR5/genéticaRESUMO
By using the principles behind phononic crystals, a periodic array of circular holes made along the polarization thickness direction of piezoceramic resonators are used to stop the planar resonances around the thickness mode band. In this way, a piezoceramic resonator adequate for operation in the thickness mode with an in phase vibration surface is obtained, independently of its lateral shape. Laser vibrometry, electric impedance tests and finite element models are used to corroborate the performances of different resonators made with this procedure. This method can be useful in power ultrasonic devices, physiotherapy and other external medical power ultrasound applications where piston-like vibration in a narrow band is required.
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BACKGROUND: In developing countries, there is a deficiency of densitometers with which to screen the population for osteoporosis. Thus, strategies with which to select patients for a bone density test are desirable. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether breast vascular calcifications (BVCs) may be employed to identify postmenopausal women with osteoporosis/osteopenia. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of postmenopausal women subjected to bilateral mammography and bone densitometry (DXA) of the spine and hip. A medical interview registered possible confounding factors, such as age, length of menopause, previous use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, family history of osteoporosis, smoking, alcoholism, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and medication use. RESULTS: The study included 211 postmenopausal women aged 62.1 ± 9.3 years, 38 of whom (18.0%) exhibited BVC. Osteoporosis was detected in 36 (17.1%), and a T-score < 21.0 for any site was found in 164 (77.7%). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups without BVC (n = 173) and with BVC (n = 38) for the prevalence of 'osteoporosis' or 'moderate/severe osteopenia or osteoporosis' at the spine or at any other site. There was a difference between the groups in terms of age (59.0 ± 7.8 vs. 71.9 ± 8.9 years, respectively; p < 0.001), sedentary lifestyle (57.8% vs. 84.2%, respectively; p = 0.002), smoking (27.7% vs. 7.9%, respectively; p = 0.009), and high blood pressure (65.3% vs. 92.1%, respectively; p = 0.001). Logistic regression analysis confirmed the lack of statistical significance for BVC as a predictor of an osteoporosis diagnosis. Sensitivity values of BVCs to detect osteoporosis or osteopenia ranged from 17.9% to 25.0%. CONCLUSION: BVCs have been shown to be inadequate to identify postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia.
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Doenças Ósseas Metabólicas/diagnóstico , Doenças Mamárias , Osteoporose Pós-Menopausa/diagnóstico , Calcificação Vascular , Absorciometria de Fóton/métodos , Absorciometria de Fóton/estatística & dados numéricos , Idoso , Densidade Óssea , Doenças Ósseas Metabólicas/epidemiologia , Doenças Ósseas Metabólicas/fisiopatologia , Brasil/epidemiologia , Mama/irrigação sanguínea , Mama/patologia , Doenças Mamárias/diagnóstico , Doenças Mamárias/epidemiologia , Doenças Mamárias/fisiopatologia , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Modelos Logísticos , Mamografia/métodos , Mamografia/estatística & dados numéricos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Osteoporose Pós-Menopausa/epidemiologia , Osteoporose Pós-Menopausa/fisiopatologia , Pós-Menopausa , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Prevalência , Fatores de Risco , Calcificação Vascular/diagnóstico , Calcificação Vascular/epidemiologia , Calcificação Vascular/fisiopatologiaRESUMO
SETTING: The epidemiology of zoonotic tuberculosis (ZTB) in humans in Mexico is poorly known. OBJECTIVE: To identify isolates of Mycobacterium bovis in humans and cattle by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and establish the clinical and epidemiological importance of ZTB in humans. DESIGN: From 1995 to 2009, 124 isolates from patients with TB and 60 isolates from cattle were analysed. PCR identification was performed using the oxy R gene, and the clinical and epidemiological aspects of ZTB in humans were investigated. RESULTS: PCR identified 93 M. bovis isolates: 35 (28%) from the 124 human isolates and 58 (97%) from the 60 cattle isolates. The sensitivity and specificity of the method were 100%. ZTB in the 35 patients presented as extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB) in 74%: 51% were children, 69% had malnutrition, 51% had consumed unpasteurised milk and 6% had contact with animals; 11% were relapses and 31% died. CONCLUSIONS: PCR using the oxy R gene is highly sensitive, specific and rapid for the identification of M. bois. ZTB is a serious public health problem, and presented as EPTB in children with malnutrition and those who had consumed unpasteurised milk. ZTB provokes relapses and a high mortality rate.
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Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Mycobacterium bovis/genética , Tuberculose Bovina/microbiologia , Zoonoses/microbiologia , Adulto , Idoso , Animais , Bovinos , Distribuição de Qui-Quadrado , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Masculino , Desnutrição/mortalidade , México/epidemiologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Leite/microbiologia , Epidemiologia Molecular , Mycobacterium bovis/classificação , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Tuberculose Bovina/diagnóstico , Tuberculose Bovina/mortalidade , Tuberculose Bovina/transmissão , Zoonoses/transmissãoRESUMO
SETTING: Cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (CTBL) diagnosis is a critical problem due to the difficulty in culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) for the diagnosis of CTBL. DESIGN: Thirty-eight children initially diagnosed on the basis of clinical and laboratory criteria as suffering from chronic cervical lymphadenitis were included in the study. Forty-one cervical lymph node specimens were analysed by bacterial staining, culture, cytology or histopathology. The IS6110 DNA sequence of M. tuberculosis complex was amplified by nPCR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and efficiency were determined for the assay. RESULTS: The sensitivity of nPCR was 96%, the specificity 93%, PPV 96%, NPV 93% and efficiency 95%. Among 25 patients with CTBL, six presented a 'definite' diagnosis (24%) according to established criteria; 10 were classified as 'highly probable' cases (40%) and nine presented a 'possible' diagnosis (36%). The sensitivity of nPCR was higher than the sensitivity of staining (15%), culture (26%) and cytology or histopathology (62.5%) (95%CI P < 0.05, chi(2) P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The nPCR used is a highly sensitive, specific and efficient method for the diagnosis of CTBL among children.
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis/isolamento & purificação , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase/métodos , Tuberculose dos Linfonodos/diagnóstico , Adolescente , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , México , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Estudos Prospectivos , Sensibilidade e EspecificidadeRESUMO
A new controller based on a combination of Sliding Mode Control and Fuzzy Logic is proposed. The conventional sliding surface is modified using a set of fuzzy rules. This combination confers controller robustness and flexibility. A neutralization process and a mixing process are used to compare the performance of the new controller to that of a conventional sliding mode controller and a PID controller.
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El Micoplasma pneumoniae (MP) es un germen frecuentemente implicado en cuadros de infecciones respiratorias en niños y adultos jóvenes. Se han descrito múltiples afectaciones extrapulmonares asociadas con la enfermedad, fundamentalmente a nivel del sistema nervioso central, como mielitis trasversa, meningoencefalitis y meningitis aséptica. Sin embargo, sólo hemos encontrado, en la literatura, tres casos descritos previamente en los que coexisten infección por MP (confirmada serológicamente) y vasculitis leucocitoclástica (confirmada por biopsia). Creemos que esto se debería a la realización de tratamiento empírico sin confirmación histológica y serológica, lo que conllevaría un infradiagnóstico de esta patología. Presentamos un caso de infección aguda por MP con lesiones cutáneas de vasculitis leucocitoclástica.
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Masculino , Adulto , Humanos , Dermatopatias/microbiologia , Pneumonia por Mycoplasma/complicações , Vasculite Leucocitoclástica Cutânea/diagnóstico , Vasculite Leucocitoclástica Cutânea/microbiologia , Antibacterianos/uso terapêutico , Azitromicina/uso terapêutico , Combinação Amoxicilina e Clavulanato de Potássio/uso terapêutico , Resultado do Tratamento , Vasculite Leucocitoclástica Cutânea/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
There are estimated to be 350 million chronic carriers of hepatitis B infection worldwide. Patients with chronic hepatitis B are at risk of liver cirrhosis with associated mortality because of hepatocellular carcinoma and other complications. An important goal, therefore, is the development of an effective therapeutic vaccine against chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV). A major barrier to the development of such a vaccine is the impaired immune response to HBV antigens observed in the T cells of affected patients. One strategy to overcome these barriers is to activate mucosal T cells through the use of nasal vaccination because this may overcome the systemic immune downregulation that results from HBV infection. In addition, it may be beneficial to present additional HBV epitopes beyond those contained in the traditional hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) vaccine, for example, by using the hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg). This is advantageous because HBcAg has a unique ability to act as a potent Th1 adjuvant to HbsAg, while also serving as an immunogenic target. In this study we describe the effect of coadministration of HBsAg and HBcAg as part of a strategy to develop a more potent and effective HBV therapeutic vaccine.
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Antígenos do Núcleo do Vírus da Hepatite B/imunologia , Antígenos de Superfície da Hepatite B/imunologia , Vacinas contra Hepatite B/administração & dosagem , Vacinas contra Hepatite B/imunologia , Hepatite B/terapia , Células Th1/imunologia , Administração Intranasal , Animais , Formação de Anticorpos , Doença Crônica , Feminino , Antígenos do Núcleo do Vírus da Hepatite B/administração & dosagem , Antígenos de Superfície da Hepatite B/administração & dosagem , Imunoglobulina G/análise , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Mucosa Nasal/imunologiaRESUMO
The conjugation of synthetic peptides to carrier proteins is a widely used method for immunological studies. Different coupling agents have been described to form the conjugate with carrier proteins. In this paper, we demonstrate that the antibody response toward V3-based synthetic MAPs derived from HIV-1, JY1 isolate, conjugated to two different carrier proteins using either m-maleimidobenzoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (MBS) or beta-maleimidopropionic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (MPS), or succinic anhydride (SA) show different behaviors. An excellent anti-JY1 response without a strong response to the coupling agent is observed in the case of succinic anhydride spacer. In contrast, MBS produces total abrogation of the antibody response with a high response toward the coupling agent.
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Reagentes de Ligações Cruzadas/farmacologia , Biossíntese Peptídica , Animais , Formação de Anticorpos , Cromatografia Líquida de Alta Pressão , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática , Feminino , Indicadores e Reagentes/farmacologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Peptídeos/química , Proteínas/síntese química , Anidridos Succínicos/química , Succinimidas/químicaRESUMO
A phase I clinical trial was performed to examine the safety and immunogenicity of a multi-epitope polypeptide comprising the central 15 amino acids of the V3 loop from six HIV-1 isolates. This protein called TAB9 was emulsified in Montanide ISA720 (Seppic, Paris) and administered intramuscularly at doses of 0, 0.2 and 1 mg to 24 healthy, HIV-1 seronegative adult males. Three immunisations were given at months 0, 1 and 6 in a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial. The placebo was generally well tolerated. However, severe local reactions were observed in TAB9 vaccinated subjects after the second and third inoculations. Seven out of eight volunteers from the lower dose group showed moderate or severe local inflammation, while four out of eight subjects from the higher dose group developed granulomas and sterile abscesses. In general, the reactogenicity depended on the number of inoculations given and the dose of TAB9. Both doses were immunogenic, all immunised volunteers seroconverted and antibodies were broadly reactive against the V3 peptides included in the protein. All vaccine's sera reacted against gp120 in Western blot and 50% of them also neutralised at least one out of five laboratory isolates tested. No differences between doses were found. Anti TAB9 lymphoproliferative responses were observed, being more intense in the high dose group. Due to the strong local reactions that were found in this study, a change in the formulation will be required for further trials with this vaccine candidate in humans.