11 research outputs found
Genetic variability of Eucoleus aerophilus from domestic and wild hosts.
Eucoleus aerophilus (syn. Capillaria aerophila) is a trichuroid nematode affecting domestic and wild carnivores and, sometimes, humans. This parasite has a worldwide distribution and may cause significant clinical disease in pet animals. The present paper investigates the sequence variation in partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene of E. aerophilus isolates from pets and wild animals from different countries. Forty-four egg pools of E. aerophilus were collected from dogs, cats and foxes from Italy, while seventeen adult stages of E. aerophilus were obtained from red foxes and beech martens from Portugal, Romania, Serbia and UK. Fifteen different haplotypes were characterized and five were shared between pets in Italy and wildlife from Europe. The remaining haplotypes were either confined only in hosts or countries, or in a given host from a country. The phylogenetic analysis showed that all haplotypes clustered as a monophyletic group with a strong nodal support, indicating that all sequence types represented E. aerophilus. The results here presented have implications for a better understanding of the epidemiology, phylo-geography and clinical impact of E. aerophilus. In particular, the geographic distribution of E. aerophilus haplotypes in different host species and geographic regions, and their variation in terms of pathogenic impact and zoonotic role, warrant further investigations
Genetic characterization of Eucoleus aerophilus from different hosts and Countries
The parasitic nematode Eucoleus aerophilus (syn. Capillaria aerophila) affects the respiratory tract of different carnivore species. Infected animals may display minimal respiratory signs to sneezing, wheezing, and chronic dry or moist cough; heavy parasite burdens lead to bronchopneumonia, respiratory failure and may be life-threatening (Traversa D et al, 2011, Parasitol Res, 109: S97-104). Occasionally E. aerophilus may cause lung damages in humans and can even mimick carcinoma-like masses (Lalosevic D et al, 2008, Am J Trop Med Hyg, 78: 14-16). Despite the importance of E. aerophilus and the recent evidence of an increasing trend of the infection in companion animals (Traversa D et al, 2010, Parasit Vectors, 3: 62), several aspects of lung capillariosis remains to be elucidated, also for the absence of genetic studies.
AIM: this work based on molecular analysis of target region of the mitochondrial DNA of E. aerophilus isolates from different hosts and countries. The aim was to gain insights into the population structure, geographical distribution and possible affiliation of isolates of this nematode with wild and domestic animals.
METHODS: single adult nematodes from 14 red foxes (4 from Romania, 3 from Portugal, 3 from Serbia, 3 from UK and 1 from Canada), from 3 beech marten from Portugal, and 44 egg batches from 33 dogs, 10 cats and 1 fox from Italy, were subjected to a PCR-coupled sequencing protocol to amplify a ~344 bp informative region within mitochondrial partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (pcox1) of E. aerophila. The open reading frames were confirmed by conceptual translation using the invertebrate mitochondrial code by MEGA5 (Tamura K et al, 2011, Mol Biol Evol, 28: 2731-2739). The evolutionary relationships of taxa belonging to Capillarinae available in GenBankTM with the herein generated sequences was inferred using the Neighbor-Joining method (Saitou N, Nei M, 1987, Mol Biol Evol 4: 406-425).
RESULTS: Sixty-one amplicons of all E. aerophilus isolates were sequenced: fifteen sequence types (i.e. haplotypes I–XV) were found according to the different hosts and geographical origin. The most prevalent haplotypes from all collection sites were I (n = 36.59%), haplotype II and III (n = 8, 13.1%), followed by the other eleven haplotypes (n = 17, 27.8%). Haplotype I were represented by sequences of E. aerophilus found in dogs, cats and the fox from Italy, as well in foxes coming from Serbia and Romania. All 15 haplotypes were aligned over 299 positions. Sequences included 274 conserved and 25 variable sites, of which 21 were singletons and four parsimony-informative. The majority of the variable sites (n = 18; 72%) was at the third codon position, whereas the remainder (n = 7; 28%) at the first and second codon positions. Almost all the intraspecific nucleotide variations were synonymous. Amino acid sequences had an open reading frame in first position and did not contain a further stop codon. The mean intraspecific nucleotide differences among the haplotypes was of 1.5%, ranging from 0.4 to 5.1% in haplotype VIII (e.g., dogs, Italy) vs haplotype XIV (e.g., foxes, UK). All 15 haplotypes clustered all together, with strong statistical support (≥49%), and were separated from sequences representing other Capillarinae, inferring that all haplotypes, irrespective of their geographical and host origin, represented different haplotypes of E. aerophilus.
CONCLUSIONS: This study identified significant genetic variation among sequences of E. aerophilus found in domestic and wild animals from different countries. Although 15 distinct haplotypes were identified, the sequence variation found in the cox1 region examined was lower than that among nematodes for which homologous sequence data are available in public databases. The existence of these population variants might be due to a higher mutation rate in this cox1 region to inbreeding within particular host populations and geographical regions. Some haplotypes were shared between domestic and wild animals in different areas, thus indicating that some E. aerophilus populations co-infect pets and wildlife. In summary, these results represent a foundation for further approaches to address epidemiology, phylo-geography and population-genetic make-up of this neglected lungworm in different hosts and countries
Lyme disease presenting with facial palsy and myocarditis mimicking myocardial infarction
Diagnostic Value of Non-invasive Scoring Systems in the Prediction of Esophageal Varices in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis—Single Center Experience
Background and Objectives: Upper endoscopy is considered the gold standard for screening and diagnosis of esophageal varices (EV). Non-invasive methods for predicting EV have become a research hotspot in recent years. The aim of this study was to assess the role of non-invasive scores in predicting the presence of EV in patients with liver cirrhosis, and to determine the value of these scores in predicting the outcome of patients with cirrhosis presenting with acute variceal bleeding. Materials and Methods: A total of 386 patients with liver cirrhosis were included. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio (AST/ALT), AST to platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis-4-index (FIB-4), fibrosis index (FI), King’s Score, albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score, and platelet-albumin-bilirubin (PALBI) score were calculated. The discriminatory capacities of the examined scores in predicting the presence of esophageal varices were tested using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The ROC curve analysis showed (area under the curve) AUC values of ALBI and PALBI of 0.603, and 0.606, respectively, for the prediction of EV. APRI, MELD, PALBI, King’s, FIB-4, and ALBI scores showed statistically significant correlation with EV bleeding (p Conclusions: ALBI and PALBI scores had modest diagnostic accuracy of EVs in liver cirrhosis. APRI and MELD can be used as a reference index for the EV bleeding, and MELD score is best associated with short-term outcome in cirrhotic patients