Rapid purification of serine proteinases from Bothrops alternatus and Bothrops moojeni venoms

AbstractEnvenomation by Bothrops species results, among other symptoms, in hemostatic disturbances. These changes can be ascribed to the presence of enzymes, primarily serine proteinases some of which are structurally similar to thrombin and specifically cleave fibrinogen releasing fibrinopeptides. A rapid, three-step, chromatographic procedure was developed to routinely purify serine proteinases from the venoms of Bothrops alternatus and Bothrops moojeni. The serine proteinase from B. alternatus displays an apparent molecular mass of ∼32 kDa whereas the two closely related serine proteinases from B. moojeni display apparent molecular masses of ∼32 kDa and ∼35 kDa in SDS–PAGE gels. The partial sequences indicated that these enzymes share high identity with serine proteinases from the venoms of other Bothrops species. These proteins coagulate plasma and possess fibrinogenolytic activity but lack fibrinolytic activity

Intensidade da intradermorreação de Montenegro e tempo de evolução da lesão como preditores de falha na resposta terapêutica da leishmaniose cutânea

A case-control study was conducted to examine the association among the Montenegro skin test (MST), age of skin lesion and therapeutic response in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) treated at Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For each treatment failure (case), two controls showing skin lesion healing following treatment, paired by sex and age, were randomly selected. All patients were treated with 5 mg Sb5+/kg/day of intramuscular meglumine antimoniate (Sb5+) for 30 successive days. Patients with CL were approximately five times more likely to fail when lesions were less than two months old at the first appointment. Patients with treatment failure showed less intense MST reactions than patients progressing to clinical cure. For each 10 mm of increase in MST response, there was a 26% reduction in the chance of treatment failure. An early treatment - defined as a treatment applied for skin lesions, which starts when they are less than two months old at the first appointment -, as well as a poor cellular immune response, reflected by lower reactivity in MST, were associated with treatment failure in cutaneous leishmaniasis.Conduzimos estudo caso-controle que verificou a associação entre a intradermorreação de Montenegro (IDRM), o tempo de evolução da lesão e a resposta terapêutica em pacientes com leishmaniose cutânea (LC) atendidos no Instituto de Infectologia Evandro Chagas (INI), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Para cada caso com má resposta à terapêutica foram selecionados aleatoriamente dois controles que evoluíram com cicatrização das lesões após o tratamento, pareados por sexo e idade. Todos os pacientes realizaram tratamento com antimoniato de meglumina (Sb5+) IM, na dose de 5 mg Sb5+/kg/dia, continuamente, por 30 dias. Pacientes com LC apresentaram aproximadamente cinco vezes mais chance de falhar quando as lesões apresentavam menos de dois meses de evolução no primeiro dia de atendimento. Pacientes com falha terapêutica apresentaram reações de IDRM menos intensas que pacientes que evoluíram para a cura clínica. A cada 10 milímetros de aumento na resposta à IDRM, houve uma redução de 26% na chance de ocorrência de falha. O tratamento precoce, traduzido pelo tempo de evolução da lesão menor que dois meses no primeiro dia de atendimento, e resposta de imunidade celular deficiente, traduzida por IDRM menos intensa, demonstraram contribuir para a ocorrência de falha terapêutica na leishmaniose cutânea

Sporotrichoid leishmaniasis: a cross-sectional clinical, epidemiological and laboratory study in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Background Atypical presentations of cutaneous leishmaniasis include sporotrichoid leishmaniasis (SL), which is clinically described as a primary ulcer combined with lymphangitis and nodules and/or ulcerated lesions along its pathway. Aims To assess the differences between patients with sporotrichoid leishmaniasis and typical cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Methods From January 2004 to December 2010, 23 cases of SL (4.7%) were detected among 494 CL patients diagnosed at a reference center for the disease in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. These 23 cases were compared with the remaining 471 patients presenting CL. Results SL predominated in female patients (60.9%, p = 0.024), with older age (p = 0.032) and with lesions in upper limbs (52.2%, p = 0.028). CL affected more men (64.5%), at younger age, and with a higher number of lesions exclusively in lower limbs (34.8%). Conclusions Differences in clinical and epidemiological presentation were found between SL patients as compared to CL ones, in a region with a known predominance of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis. The results are similar to the features of most of the sporotrichosis patients as described in literature, making the differential diagnosis between ATL and sporotrichosis more important in overlapping areas for both diseases, like in Rio de Janeiro State

Trabalho Infantil: De gente pequena à gente grande!

O presente artigo analisa como as famílias percebem a saúde/doença da criança/adolescente trabalhadora. Considerando que o trabalho precoce acarreta riscos à saúde afetando diretamente seu desenvolvimento físico, psicológico e social, pois é notório que a maturidade de sistemas (fisiológico, imunológico, neurológico, psicológico) difere entre adultos e crianças. Busca ainda: traçar o perfil das famílias de crianças/adolescentes trabalhadoras; identificar a partir dos relatos dos responsáveis, as principais doenças que acometem as crianças/adolescentes trabalhadoras e mostrar a relação que os mesmos fazem entre os riscos, as doenças e o trabalho. O enfoque foi dado às crianças/adolescentes assistidas pelo Programa de Erradicação ao Trabalho Infantil de Mossoró/RN. O trabalho consiste em uma pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, atendendo as nuances quantitativas e qualitativas. As reflexões foram construídas através de questionários realizados com as famílias, bem como com a literatura e legislação vigente. Foi identificado como o trabalho precoce pode prejudicar a formação intelectual, já que eles deixam de brincar, ir à escola e realizar atividades compatíveis com sua idade. Isso, de certa forma, é prejudicial ao seu desenvolvimento psíquico, intelectual e afetivo, acarretando perda de etapas fundamentais da sua vida. Além disso, compromete a formação escolar, uma vez que a falta de tempo e condições físicas e mentais de pelo trabalho e estudo ao mesmo tempo proporcionam um aumento na evasão escolar e índices de baixa escolaridade. Desta forma, foi identificado que o trabalho infantil desenvolve diversos problemas de saúde, como: asma, problemas cardíacos, respiratórios, intestinais, de coluna, garganta e ouvido, alergia, hepatite, epilepsia, dores de cabeça e nas pernas, anemia e hipertireoidismo. Sendo que o trabalho infantil ainda é uma realidade presente na vida dessas famílias

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio