Potential Drug Development Candidates for Human Soil-Transmitted Helminthiases

There are few drugs - none ideal - for the treatment and control of gastrointestinal helminths (soil-transmitted nematodes) which, as chronic infections jeopardize children's growth, learning and ultimately individual, community and country development. Drugs for helminths are not attractive in human medicine, but are lucrative in animal health. Traditionally, investment in veterinary medicines has benefited humans for these diseases. With modern regulations an approved veterinary medicine can be tested in humans with little adaptation, reducing time and cost of development. We searched for products that could easily be transitioned into humans, having the necessary characteristics for use in communities exposed to these infections. A limited number of candidates met the main criteria for selection. We provide here a detailed analysis of two veterinary products, emodepside and monepantel, and nitazoxanide, which is approved for human use. In addition we include a less detailed analysis of all products examined, and the criteria on which the analysis was based. It is clear that the pipeline of easily obtainable human anthelminthics remains extremely limited, and further efforts are needed to find replacements for the inadequate number of products available today

PTX3 Polymorphisms and Invasive Mold Infections After Solid Organ Transplant

Donor PTX3 polymorphisms were shown to influence the risk of invasive aspergillosis among hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Here, we show that PTX3 polymorphisms are independent risk factors for invasive mold infections among 1101 solid organ transplant recipients, thereby strengthening their role in mold infection pathogenesis and patients' risk stratificatio

Hold your strength! Motivation, attention, and emotion as potential psychological mediators between cognitive and physical self-control

The process model of self-control posits motivation, emotion, and attention as psychological mediators in the relationship between cognitive and physical self-control. However, this model has never been tested in a sport context. Participants (N=69) completed 2 isometric biceps endurance trials (physical self-control task; T1 and T2), separated by a 6-min cognitive manip-ulation of self-control. Motivation and emotion were assessed before the respective biceps task, and attention was assessed in terms of gaze behavior on task-relevant in comparison with task-irrelevant stimuli during the biceps task (T1 and T2). To test the hypothesis that motivation, emotion, and attention mediated the relationship between cognitive and physical self-control, aparallel multiple mediator model was calculated. The results indicate that motivation, emotion,and attention (relative change between T1 and T2) did not mediate the relationship between cognitive and physical self-control (b=-0.01, 95% bias corrected and accelerated [BCa]confidence interval [-0.06, 0.03]) and that the exertion of cognitive self-control did not necessarily lead to impaired performance. Future studies should investigate the role of task demands and other potential mediators of self-control (e.g., belief about a limited willpower). Keywords:self-regulation, process model, psychological mediators, sports, mediation mode