Subacromial bursitis related to HIV infection: case report

UNIFESP Centro de Traumatologia do Esporte Shoulder and ElbowSociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e TraumatologiaUNIFESP Centro de Traumatologia do Esporte Shoulder and Elbow SurgeryHCFMUSP IOTUSPABC Medical College Medical ClinicUNIFESP, Centro de Traumatologia do Esporte Shoulder and ElbowUNIFESP, Centro de Traumatologia do Esporte Shoulder and Elbow SurgerySciEL

SCHOOL FOR PARENTS: A REPORT

De acordo com o previsto pelo Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente - ECA em seu art. 129, parágr. lv, cap. V, o qual afirma que são medidas aplicáveis aos pais ou responsável o “encaminhamento a cursos ou programas de orientação”, a I a Vara da Infancia e Juventude do Rio de Janeiro criou o Projeto “Escola de Pais”, visando a reintegração familiar de crianças e adolescentes que vivem em situações de risco social, por meio de ação sócio-educacional junto aos pais. Desde 1998 foram realizadas 9 Escolas de Pais, cada urna delas constituída de cerca de 8 encontros em sua primeira fase, quando são trabalhados temas relacionados à educação, saúde e cidadania, constituindo-se numa oportunidade para garantir direitos e estabelecer obrigações na relação pais e filhos. As famílias recebem bolsas de alimentos of erecidas pela Fundação da Infància e Adolescência (FIA), vales transporte, apoio para manter seus filhos em escolas ou creches da comunidade e do Juizado, orientação de assistentes sociais e psicólogas, e outros benefícios, graças a parcerias estabelecidas com instituições, organizações e empresas, incluindo o setor privado. Após essa fase, os participantes são acompanhados por 12 meses pelo programa Família Solidária, subsidiado por pessoas que apadrinham uma das famílias com a contribuição de I salário mínimo mensal. Outra forma de reinserção social é o apoio of erecido na busca de oportunidades de geração de renda para as famílias, que inclui a integração à Cooperativa da Escola de Pais, em funcionamento. As Secretarias de Ação Social e Desenvolvimento Social de Estado e Município, respectivamente, assim como os Conselhos Tutelares estão envolvidos no programa, garantindo a continuidade do trabalho além dos limites do Juizado e o acompanhamento das famílias em seus locais de moradia.In conformity with the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (Estatuto da Crianca e do Adolescente - ECA), article 129, paragraph I^V, chapter V, which states that the attendance tocourses and orientation programs are measures that may be applicable to parents and those in charge of children, the first Court for Childhood and Youth of Rio de Janeiro has been developing the project “School for Parents”. This initiative, through social-educational actions for parents, aims at family reintegration of children and adolescents living in social risk conditions. Nine “Schools for Parents” - each with approximately 8 meetings in its first stage - have been implemented since 1998. During these meetings, various education, health and citizenship related topics have been stressed. This procedure has become an opportunity to point out social rights and duties as far as parentschildren relations are concerned. The families received food supply (“food baskets”) from the Chil&ood and Adolescence Foundation (Fundacao da Infancia e Adolescencia - FIA), free transportation tickets, support to keep children in schools or nurseries sponsored by the community or the Court, orientation given by social assistants and psychologists,as well as other benefits, thanks to partnership with institutions, organizations and ente~prises, including the private sector. After this first stage, the participants are granted a 12-month support by the program “Family Solidarity”, which is funded by people who sponsor one of the families with the equivalent to I minimum salary per month. Support to fnd oppor~unities for generating income for the families has been another way of social insertion. This includes integrating the on-going co-operative enterprise of the “School for Parents”. The State Secretariat of Social Assistance, the Municipal Secretariat for Social Development and the Tutelary Councils havebeen involved in the program, ensuring the progress of this work beyond the Court rooms and reaching the families in their home places

Cytotoxic T cells and mycobacteria

How the immune system kills Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still a puzzle. the classical picture of killing due to phagocytosis by activated macrophages may be only partly correct. Based on recent evidence, we express here the view that cytotoxic T lymphocytes also make an important contribution and suggest that DNA vaccines might be a good way to enhance this. (C) 2001 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.Univ São Paulo, Sch Med Ribeirao Preto, Dept Biochem & Immunol, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto, SP, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Sch Pharmaceut Sci Ribeirao Preto, Dept Clin Anal Bromatol & Toxicol, BR-14049 Ribeirao Preto, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Microbiol & Immunol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Microbiol & Immunol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Molecular architecture of the antiophidic protein DM64 and its binding specificity to myotoxin II from Bothrops aasper venom

Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) appliesDM64 is a toxin-neutralizing serum glycoprotein isolated from Didelphis aurita, an ophiophagous marsupial naturally resistant to snake envenomation. This 64 kDa antitoxin targets myotoxic phospholipases A2, which account for most local tissue damage of viperid snakebites. We investigated the noncovalent complex formed between native DM64 and myotoxin II, a myotoxic phospholipase-like protein from Bothrops asper venom. Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) and size exclusion chromatography indicated that DM64 is monomeric in solution and binds equimolar amounts of the toxin. Attempts to crystallize native DM64 for X-ray diffraction were unsuccessful. Obtaining recombinant protein to pursue structural studies was also challenging. Classical molecular modeling techniques were impaired by the lack of templates with more than 25% sequence identity with DM64. An integrative structural biology approach was then applied to generate a three-dimensional model of the inhibitor bound to myotoxin II. I-TASSER individually modeled the five immunoglobulin-like domains of DM64. Distance constraints generated by cross-linking mass spectrometry of the complex guided the docking of DM64 domains to the crystal structure of myotoxin II, using Rosetta. AUC, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), molecular modeling, and molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the DM64-myotoxin II complex is structured, shows flexibility, and has an anisotropic shape. Inter-protein cross-links and limited hydrolysis analyses shed light on the inhibitor’s regions involved with toxin interaction, revealing the critical participation of the first, third, and fifth domains of DM64. Our data showed that the fifth domain of DM64 binds to myotoxin II amino-terminal and beta-wing regions. The third domain of the inhibitor acts in a complementary way to the fifth domain. Their binding to these toxin regions presumably precludes dimerization, thus interfering with toxicity, which is related to the quaternary structure of the toxin. The first domain of DM64 interacts with the functional site of the toxin putatively associated with membrane anchorage. We propose that both mechanisms concur to inhibit myotoxin II toxicity by DM64 binding. The present topological characterization of this toxin-antitoxin complex constitutes an essential step toward the rational design of novel peptide-based antivenom therapies targeting snake venom myotoxins.Ye

Cooperation between Apoptotic and Viable Metacyclics Enhances the Pathogenesis of Leishmaniasis

Mimicking mammalian apoptotic cells by exposing phosphatidylserine (PS) is a strategy used by virus and parasitic protozoa to escape host protective inflammatory responses. With Leishmania amazonensis (La), apoptotic mimicry is a prerogative of the intramacrophagic amastigote form of the parasite and is modulated by the host. Now we show that differently from what happens with amastigotes, promastigotes exposing PS are non-viable, non-infective cells, undergoing apoptotic death. As part of the normal metacyclogenic process occurring in axenic cultures and in the gut of sand fly vectors, a sub-population of metacyclic promastigotes exposes PS. Apoptotic death of the purified PS-positive (PSPOS) sub-population was confirmed by TUNEL staining and DNA laddering. Transmission electron microscopy revealed morphological alterations in PSPOS metacyclics such as DNA condensation, cytoplasm degradation and mitochondrion and kinetoplast destruction, both in in vitro cultures and in sand fly guts. TUNELPOS promastigotes were detected only in the anterior midgut to foregut boundary of infected sand flies. Interestingly, caspase inhibitors modulated parasite death and PS exposure, when added to parasite cultures in a specific time window. Efficient in vitro macrophage infections and in vivo lesions only occur when PSPOS and PS-negative (PSNEG) parasites were simultaneously added to the cell culture or inoculated in the mammalian host. The viable PSNEG promastigote was the infective form, as shown by following the fate of fluorescently labeled parasites, while the PSPOS apoptotic sub-population inhibited host macrophage inflammatory response. PS exposure and macrophage inhibition by a subpopulation of promastigotes is a different mechanism than the one previously described with amastigotes, where the entire population exposes PS. Both mechanisms co-exist and play a role in the transmission and development of the disease in case of infection by La. Since both processes confer selective advantages to the infective microorganism they justify the occurrence of apoptotic features in a unicellular pathogen