Seroprevalence of five neglected parasitic diseases among immigrants accessing five infectious and tropical diseases units in Italy: a cross-sectional study.

: This multicentre cross-sectional study aims to estimate the prevalence of five neglected tropical diseases (Chagas disease, filariasis, schistosomiasis, strongyloidiasis, toxocariasis) among immigrants accessing health care facilities in five Italian cities (Bologna, Brescia, Florence, Rome, Verona). : Individuals underwent a different set of serological tests, according to country of origin and presence of eosinophilia. Seropositive patients were treated and further followed up. : A total of 930 adult immigrants were enrolled: 477 men (51.3%), 445 women (47.9%), 8 transgender (0.8%); median age was 37.81 years (range 18-80). Most of them were coming from the African continent (405/930, 43.5%), the rest from East Europe, South America and Asia. A portion of 9.6% (89/930) were diagnosed with at least one of the infections under study. Seroprevalence of each specific infection varied from 3.9% (7/180) for Chagas diseases to 9.7% (11/113) for toxocariasis. Seropositive people were more likely to be 35 to 40 years-old male and to come from South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa or South America. : The results of our study confirm that neglected tropical diseases represent a substantial health problem among immigrants and highlight the need for addressing this emerging public health issue.<br/

Enzymatic synthesis of 2’-O-acyl-prodrugs of 1-(beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)-5(E)-(2-bromovinyl)uracil (sorivudine, BV-araU) and of 2’-O-acyl-araU, -araC and -araA.

Pig liver esterase (EC 3.1.1.1) catalysed regioselective hydrolysis of 1-(2,3,5-tri-O-acyl-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)uracil, -cytosine and -adenine to give the corresponding 2'-monoesters effectively and in high yield. This methodology enabled the preparation of 1-(2-O-acyl-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)-5-[(E)-(2-bromovinyl)]uracil prodrugs which, although slightly less active than the parent 1-(beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)-5-(E)-(2 bromovinyl)uracil (sorivudine; BV-araU), were strongly active in vitro against varicella-zoster virus (ED50 2.4-45 ng/ml). The retarded rates of enzymatic hydrolysis of the 2'-esters imply that they might function as lipophilic prodrugs, leading to increased plasma and cellular concentrations. In view of the marked in vitro activity, they represent an interesting approach to arabinofuranosyl nucleoside prodrugs with improved pharmacokinetics and enzymatic stability

Euclid. I. Overview of the Euclid mission

The current standard model of cosmology successfully describes a variety ofmeasurements, but the nature of its main ingredients, dark matter and darkenergy, remains unknown. Euclid is a medium-class mission in the Cosmic Vision2015-2025 programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) that will providehigh-resolution optical imaging, as well as near-infrared imaging andspectroscopy, over about 14,000 deg^2 of extragalactic sky. In addition toaccurate weak lensing and clustering measurements that probe structureformation over half of the age of the Universe, its primary probes forcosmology, these exquisite data will enable a wide range of science. This paperprovides a high-level overview of the mission, summarising the surveycharacteristics, the various data-processing steps, and data products. We alsohighlight the main science objectives and expected performance