Domestic feline cutaneous leishmaniasis in the municipality of Ribas do Rio Pardo, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil: a case report

Cutaneous leishmaniases are anthropozoonoses that involve many species of Leishmania and a wide variety of wild mammalian hosts, thus presenting high importance to public health. This study reports the second case of feline leishmaniasis in Mato Grosso do Sul state, in which Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis was found in a domestic cat from Ribas do Rio Pardo. Clinical signs were similar to those observed in other diseases commonly diagnosed in cats, such as cryptococcosis and sporotrichosis. Cutaneous leishmaniasis should, therefore, be added to differential diagnoses by feline veterinary practitioners, and also adequate investigations should be carried out to verify the relevance of domestic cats as L. amazonensis reservoirs

Protein substitution to produce a processed cheese with high branched-chain amino acids of medical and genetic importance

Background: The most important metabolic impairment in patients with advanced liver disease is characterized by low levels of circulating branched chain amino acids (BCAAs). The etiology of such abnormal amino acid metabolism is multifactorial including protein restricted diet or inadequatenutritional intake as in protein energy malnutrition. Multiple studies report the beneficial effects of BCAAs supplementation to improve plasma amino acids imbalance, several neurologic diseases, protein energy malnutrition, and subsequently the survival rate of cirrhotic patients.Methods: In the present study we used a protein substitution technique to synthesize a new processed cheese as a dairy source rich in BCAAs, with low phenylalanine content manufactured from Ras cheese, kariesh cheese, butter oil and phenylalanine-free milk. Chemical composition, aminoacids analysis, rheological properties and sensory evaluation were done to all of the cheese samples. L-Phenylalanine was selected to induce hepatic and brain affections in Begg Albino strain c (BALB/c) mice model. Effect of 2.5%, 5% and 10% protein-replacement cheese formulas was evaluated among mice groups including histopathological sections of the liver and brain; colorimetric determinationfor liver enzymes; serum total and differential cholesterol profile, serum albumin, globulin and totalprotein along with phenylalanine levels determinations.Results: Analysis of the processed cheese sample with 10% protein substitution revealed that the protein content was 7.42 mg/g (about 50% of the content in the standard processed cheese) while fat content,acidity and moisture were nearly the same. The sensory score for all the formulas ranged from 79–88. Highest content of BCAAs along with least phenylalanine content was attained in the processed cheese with 10% protein substitution. Weight of mice fed on different substitution formulasranged from 22.8 ± 2.2–24.66 ± 2.5 g compared with 17.8 ± 1.9 g in the untreated diseased mice (P< 0.05). Serum phenylalanine was 1.822 ± 0.42 mg/dl in the mice fed on 10% protein substitution formula compared to 6.2± 1.32 mg/dl in the untreated mice (P < 0.01). There was a highly significant difference (

Theoretical study on electron collisions with SiF and SiF(2) radicals in the low- and intermediate-energy range

A theoretical study on electron collisions with SiF and SiF(2) radicals in the low- and intermediate-energy range is reported. More specifically, calculated elastic differential, integral, and momentum transfer cross sections as well as total and total absorption cross sections are presented in the 1-1000-eV energy range. A complex optical potential is used to represent the electron-radical interaction dynamics, whereas the iterative Schwinger variational method combined with the distorted-wave approximation is used to solve the scattering equations. Comparison of the present results with the available theoretical and experimental results in the literature is made.76

A Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeny Indicates Close Relationships between Populations of Lutzomyia whitmani (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) from the Rain-forest Regions of Amazônia and Northeast Brazil

Phylogenetic analysis of all 31 described mitochondrial (cytochrome b) haplotypes of Lutzomyia whitmani demonstrated that new material from the State of Rondônia, in southwest Amazônia, forms a clade within a lineage found only in the rain-forest regions of Brazil. This rain-forest lineage also contains two other clades of haplotypes, one from eastern Amazônia and one from the Atlantic forest zone of northeast Brazil (including the type locality of the species in Ilhéus, State of Bahia). These findings do not favour recognizing two allopatric cryptic species of L. whitmani, one associated with the silvatic transmission of Leishmania shawi in southeast Amazônia and the other with the peridomestic transmission of Le. braziliensis in northeast Brazil. Instead, they suggest that there is (or has been in the recent past) a continuum of inter-breeding populations of L. whitmani in the rain-forest regions of Brazil

A user's guide to the Encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE)

The mission of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project is to enable the scientific and medical communities to interpret the human genome sequence and apply it to understand human biology and improve health. The ENCODE Consortium is integrating multiple technologies and approaches in a collective effort to discover and define the functional elements encoded in the human genome, including genes, transcripts, and transcriptional regulatory regions, together with their attendant chromatin states and DNA methylation patterns. In the process, standards to ensure high-quality data have been implemented, and novel algorithms have been developed to facilitate analysis. Data and derived results are made available through a freely accessible database. Here we provide an overview of the project and the resources it is generating and illustrate the application of ENCODE data to interpret the human genome

Hierarchical Quantification of Synergy in Channels

The decomposition of channel information into synergies of different order is an open, active problem in the theory of complex systems. Most approaches to the problem are based on information theory, and propose decompositions of mutual information between inputs and outputs in se-veral ways, none of which is generally accepted yet.We propose a new point of view on the topic. We model a multi-input channel as a Markov kernel. We can project the channel onto a series of exponential families which form a hierarchical structure. This is carried out with tools from information geometry, in a way analogous to the projections of probability distributions introduced by Amari. A Pythagorean relation leads naturally to a decomposition of the mutual information between inputs and outputs into terms which represent single node information; pairwise interactions; and in general n-node interactions.The synergy measures introduced in this paper can be easily evaluated by an iterative scaling algorithm, which is a standard procedure in information geometry

Treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism: The present state of the art

AbstractVenous thromboembolism (VTE), a disease entity comprising deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a frequent and potentially life-threatening event. To date different agents are available for the effective treatment of acute VTE and the prevention of recurrence. For several years the standard of care was the subcutaneous application of a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) or fondaparinux, followed by a vitamin K antagonist (VKA). The so-called direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) were introduced rather recently in clinical practice for the treatment of VTE. DOACs seem to have a favourable risk-benefit profile compared to VKAs. Moreover, DOACs significantly simplify VTE treatment, because they are administered in fixed doses and no routine monitoring is needed.Patients with objectively diagnosed DVT or PE should receive therapeutic anticoagulation for a minimum of 3 months. Whether a patient ought to receive extended treatment needs to be evaluated on an individual basis, depending mainly on risk factors determined by characteristics of the thrombotic event and patient-related factors. In specific patients groups (e.g. pregnant women, cancer patients and elderly patients) treatment of VTE is more challenging than in the general population and additional issues need to be considered in those patients.The aim of this review is to give an overview of the currently available treatment modalities of acute VTE and secondary prophylaxis. In particular, specific aspects regarding the initiation of VTE treatment, duration of anticoagulation and specific patient groups will be discussed