Clinical Manifestations Associated with Neurocysticercosis: A Systematic Review

Neurocysticercosis is an infection of the brain with the flatworm Taenia solium which is normally transmitted between humans and pigs. Sometimes, humans can infect other humans and the larva of the parasite can go the brain, causing the disease neurocysticercosis. There has never been a systematic review of what clinical signs are found among people with neurocysticercosis. We conducted a thorough review of the literature to answer this question. We reviewed 1569 and 21 were of a sufficient quality to be included in the final analysis. Among neurocysticercosis patients who are seeking care in neurology clinics, about 79% have seizures/epilepsy, 38% severe headaches, 16% focal deficits and 12% signs of increased intracranial pressure. Several other symptoms were also reported in less than 10% of patients. People with neurocysticercosis who seek care in neurology clinics show a whole range of manifestations. Clinicians should be encouraged to consider neurocysticercosis in their differential diagnosis when a patient presented with one of the symptoms described in this review. This would ultimately improve the estimates of the frequency of symptoms associated with neurocysticercosis

G6PD deficiency in Latin America: systematic review on prevalence and variants

Plasmodium vivax radical cure requires the use of primaquine (PQ), a drug that induces haemolysis in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient (G6PDd) individuals, which further hampers malaria control efforts. The aim of this work was to study the G6PDd prevalence and variants in Latin America (LA) and the Caribbean region. A systematic search of the published literature was undertaken in August 2013. Bibliographies of manuscripts were also searched and additional references were identified. Low prevalence rates of G6PDd were documented in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, but studies from Curaçao, Ecuador, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad, as well as some surveys carried out in areas of Brazil, Colombia and Cuba, have shown a high prevalence (> 10%) of G6PDd. The G6PD A-202A mutation was the variant most broadly distributed across LA and was identified in 81.1% of the deficient individuals surveyed. G6PDd is a frequent phenomenon in LA, although certain Amerindian populations may not be affected, suggesting that PQ could be safely used in these specific populations. Population-wide use of PQ as part of malaria elimination strategies in LA cannot be supported unless a rapid, accurate and field-deployable G6PDd diagnostic test is made available

A workflow for bacterial metabolic fingerprinting and lipid profiling: application to Ciprofloxacin challenged Escherichia coli

The field of lipidomics focuses upon the non-targeted analysis of lipid composition, the process of which follows similar routines to those applied in conventional metabolic profiling, however lipidomics differs with respect to the sample preparation steps and chosen analytical platform applied to the sample analysis. Conventionally, lipidomics has applied analytical techniques such as direct infusion mass spectrometry and more recently reverse phase liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, for the detection of mono-, di-, and tri-acyl glycerols, phospholipids, and other complex lipophilic species such as sterols. The field is rapidly expanding, especially with respect to the clinical sciences where it is known that changes of lipid composition, especially phospholipids, are commonly associated with many disease processes. As a proof of principle study, a small number of Escherichia coli isolates were selected on the basis of their sensitivity to a second generation fluoroquinolone antibiotic, known as Ciprofloxacin (E. coli isolates 161 and 171, non-ST131 isolates, which are resistant and sensitive respectively: E. coli isolates 160 and 173, ST131 sequence isolates which are resistant and susceptible respectively). It has been proposed that Ciprofloxacin may be a surface active drug that interacts at the surface-water interface of the phospholipid bi-layer where the head groups reside. Further, antibiotic resistance through intracellular exclusion is known to result in remodelling of the phospholipid membrane. Therefore, to study the effects of Ciprofloxacin on both susceptible and resistant bacterial strains, lipid profiling would present an informative approach. Control and antibiotic challenged cultures for each of the isolates were compared for changes in metabolite and lipid composition as detected by FT-IR spectroscopy and RP-UHPLC–MS, and appraised with a variety of chemometric data analysis approaches. The developed bacterial lipidomics workflow was deemed to be highly reproducible (with respect to the employed technical and analytical routines) and led to the detection of a large array of lipid classes as well as highlighting a range of significant lipid alterations that differed in regulation between susceptible and resistant E. coli isolates

The Principles of Menu Making (Second Edition)

Determining the distribution of disease prevalence among heterogeneous populations at the national scale is fundamental for epidemiology and public health. Here, we use a combination of methods (spatial scan statistic, topological data analysis, epidemic profile) to study measurable differences in malaria intensity by regions and populations of Colombia. This study explores three main questions: What are the regions of Colombia where malaria is epidemic? What are the regions and populations in Colombia where malaria is endemic? What associations exist between epidemic outbreaks between regions in Colombia? \textit{Plasmodium falciparum} is most prevalent in the Pacific Coast, some regions of the Amazon Basin, and some regions of the Magdalena Basin. \textit{Plasmodium vivax} is the most prevalent parasite in Colombia, particularly in the Northern Amazon Basin, the Caribbean, and municipalities of Sucre, Antioquia and Cordoba. Malaria has been reported to be most common among 15-45 year old men. We find that the age-class suffering high risk of malaria infection ranges from 20 to 30 with an acute peak at 25 years of age. Second, this pattern was not found to be generalizable across Colombian populations, Indigenous and Afrocolombian populations experience endemic malaria (with household transmission). Third, clusters of epidemic malaria for \textit{Plasmodium vivax} were detected across Southern Colombia including the Amazon Basin and the Southern Pacific region. \textit{Plasmodium falciparum}, was is epidemic in 13 of the 1,123 municipalities (1.2\%). Some key locations act as bridges between epidemic and endemic regions. Finally, we generate a regional classification based on intensity and synchrony, dividing the country into epidemic areas and bridge areas