Untangling the role of eosinophils in trichinellosis: a never-ending story

Untangling the role of eosinophils in trichinellosi

Solid Organ Transplant and Parasitic Diseases: A Review of the Clinical Cases in the Last Two Decades.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of parasitic infections in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. We conducted a systematic review of literature records on post-transplant parasitic infections, published from 1996 to 2016 and available on PubMed database, focusing only on parasitic infections acquired after SOT. The methods and findings of the present review have been presented based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist. From data published in the literature, the real burden of parasitic infections among SOT recipients cannot really be estimated. Nevertheless, publications on the matter are on the increase, probably due to more than one reason: (i) the increasing number of patients transplanted and then treated with immunosuppressive agents; (ii) the "population shift" resulting from immigration and travels to endemic areas, and (iii) the increased attention directed to diagnosis/notification/publication of cases. Considering parasitic infections as emerging and potentially serious in their evolution, additional strategies for the prevention, careful screening and follow-up, with a high level of awareness, identification, and pre-emptive therapy are needed in transplant recipients

Neurocysticercosis in Europe: Still a public health concern not only for imported cases.

Neurocysticercosis (NCC), a parasitic disease caused by the larvae of the cestode Taenia solium, is the most frequent parasitic disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in the world and the leading cause of secondary epilepsy in Central and South America, East and South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. It is endemic in many low- and middle-income countries of the world. Due to increased travels and immigration, NCC may be diagnosed also in non-endemic areas. In fact, tapeworm carriers from endemic zones can transmit infection to other citizens or arrive already suffering NCC. This phenomenon, occurred first in USA during the last 30 years, has been also observed in Europe, as well as in Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan and Muslim countries of the Arab World. Actually, concerning Europe, although, in some areas only few cases have been described, nevertheless the prevalence of NCC may be considered increasing, especially in Spain and Portugal. We reviewed the literature on the burden of NCC in Europe, by a search of PubMed regarding papers from 1970 to present. We only considered on PubMed published and available papers in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, the languages understood by the authors. One hundred seventy six cases of NCC have been reported in seventeen European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Croatia, Norway, Switzerland). A particular epidemic situation is present in Spain and Portugal. In fact, we collected data that show, in Spain, an increasing incidence both in immigrated patients and in those which were born in certain Spanish geographical areas and, in Portugal, prevalence similar to that observed in endemic areas. Globally, it is clear that as a result of increased migrations and travels from endemic regions, NCC is becoming an emerging public health problem in high-income countries, particularly affecting communities where hygiene conditions are poor and sub-sequentially the parasite can spread from human to human through eggs even in absence of a travel to the tropics. NCC is a preventable disease, it derives that it's important to acquire a great consciousness of the epidemiology and to implement accurate surveillance systems

Ocular Toxoplasmosis: Mechanisms of Retinal Infection and Experimental Models

Ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) is caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii and affects many individuals throughout the world. Infection may occur through congenital or acquired routes. The parasites enter the blood circulation and reach both the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium, where they may cause cell damage and cell death. Different routes of access are used by T. gondii to reach the retina through the retinal endothelium: by transmission inside leukocytes, as free parasites through a paracellular route, or after endothelial cell infection. A main feature of OT is the induction of an important inflammatory state, and the course of infection has been shown to be influenced by the host immunogenetics. On the other hand, there is evidence that the T. gondii phenotype also has an impact on the distribution of the pathology in different areas. Although considerable knowledge has been acquired on OT, a deeper knowledge of its mechanisms is necessary to provide new, more targeted treatment strategies. In particular, in addition to in vitro and in vivo experimental models, organotypic, ex vivo retinal explants may be useful in this direction

Allergy and parasites.

Editoria

Allergy and parasites

It is estimated that at least one-fifth of the world’s population suffers from allergic diseases (atopic asthma and allergic rhinitis are the most common). Different factors contribute to the development of allergies; a predisposing genetic background is needed; however, environmental factors play an important role, among them is the exposure to infectious agents

New strategies for the control of infectious and parasitic diseases in blood donors: the impact of pathogen inactivation methods

AbstractAround 70 infectious agents are possible threats for blood safety.The risk for blood recipients is increasing because of new emergent agents like West Nile, Zika and Chikungunya viruses, or parasites such as Plasmodium and Trypanosoma cruzi in non-endemic regions, for instance.Screening programmes of the donors are more and more implemented in several Countries, but these cannot prevent completely infections, especially when they are caused by new agents.Pathogen inactivation (PI) methods might overcome the limits of the screening and different technologies have been set up in the last years.This review aims to describe the most widely used methods focusing on their efficacy as well as on the preservation integrity of blood components

The “Eyeballing” technique : an emerging and alerting trend of alcohol misuse

Alternative methods of alcohol consumption have recently emerged among adolescents and young adults, including the alcohol “eyeballing”, which consist in the direct pouring of alcoholic substances on the ocular surface epithelium. In a context of drug and behavioural addictions change, “eyeballing” can be seen as one of the latest and potentially highly risky new trends. We aimed to analyze the existing medical literature as well as online material on this emerging trend of alcohol misusePeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Identification of Design Principles for the Preparation of Colloidal Plexcitonic Materials

: Colloidal plexcitonic materials (CPMs) are a class of nanosystems where molecular dyes are strongly coupled with colloidal plasmonic nanoparticles, acting as nanocavities that enhance the light field. As a result of this strong coupling, new hybrid states are formed, called plexcitons, belonging to the broader family of polaritons. With respect to other families of polaritonic materials, CPMs are cheap and easy to prepare through wet chemistry methodologies. Still, clear structure-to-properties relationships are not available, and precise rules to drive the materials' design to obtain the desired optical properties are still missing. To fill this gap, in this article, we prepared a dataset with all CPMs reported in the literature, rationalizing their design by focusing on their three main relevant components (the plasmonic nanoparticles, the molecular dyes, and the capping layers) and identifying the most used and efficient combinations. With the help of statistical analysis, we also found valuable correlations between structure, coupling regime, and optical properties. The results of this analysis are expected to be relevant for the rational design of new CPMs with controllable and predictable photophysical properties to be exploited in a vast range of technological fields