Teste intradérmico e biópsia cutânea no diagnóstico das filarioses humanas: estudo comparativo

Comparative results between skin snips and intradermal skin tests for the diagnosis of filariasis are presented and discussed. Purified protein extracted from adult worms of Dirofilaria immitis were used as antigens for the skin test. Tests were performed on members of the Sanomã and Mayongong Indian tribes located in the northwest region of the Brazilian Amazon near Venezuela as well as on residents of Belém, state of Pará. There was a high degree of correlation between the two tests in the case of onchocerciasis and a low degree of correlation in mansoneliasis. Individuals with bancroftian filariasis had negative reactions to the D. immitis antigen.Resultados comparativos entre os testes "biópsia cutânea e intradérmico" para o diagnóstico das filarioses, são apresentados e discutidos. O antígeno usado no teste intradérmico foi obtido de frações proteicas purificadas, extraídas de vermes adultos de Dirofilaria immitis. Os testes foram realizados em silvícolas pertencentes às tribos Sanomã e Mayongong, localizadas ao noroeste da Amazônia brasileira, próximo a Venezuela. Testes foram também realizados em indivíduos residentes na cidade de Belém, Estado do Pará. Houve uma alta concordância entre os dois testes no caso de oncocercose e pouco concordância nos pacientes com mansonelose. O teste intradérmico foi negativo em todos os indivíduos portadores de bancroftiase

Caso incomum de filariose linfática mediastinal com estenose da artéria pulmonar

E descrito um caso incomum de filariose linfática, devido a Wuchereria Bancrofti, com localização dos vermes nos linfonodos e linfáticos do mediastino. A intensa reação do conjuntivo mediastinal, provavelmente desencadeada por macrofilárias mortas, determinou no paciente - de 9 anos, residente em Belém, Estado do Pará - estreitamento do tronco e dos ramos principais da artéria pulmonar, defeito tido, inicialmente, como de natureza congênita. O exame histopatológico de duas dentre várias formações nodulares encontradas no mediastino, durante o ato operatório,permitiu, no entanto, estabelecer-se a verdadeira causa da alteração exibida pelo paciente. O achado representa uma formà curiosa de infecção por W. bancrofti, completamente inesperada, quando se considera que a prevalência da bancroftose é, hoje, muito baixa na cidade de Belém. Segundo dados oficiais, o índice de microfilaremia atingiu, em 1985, nessa cidade, cerca de 0,1% apenas, enquanto que, há algumas décadas, era ele estimado em mais de 10%.An unusual case of bancroftian filariasis caused by the presence of macrofilariae in the mediastinal lymphatic vessels is presented. The considerable tissue reaction developed in the mediastinum, probably in relation to products released by dead worms, provoked a severe constriction of the trunk and main branches ofthe pulmonary artery, which conducted to a initial diagnosis of congenital heart disease. The patient, a 9-year-old boy living in Belém-Pará, was admitted to the Belém Hospital and operated at the heart unit, on March 1983. Several fibrous masses were found in the anterior mediastinum, some of them being close to the bifurcation of the pulmonary trunk. The artery presented a severe constriction and a thickened wall. Two of the fibrous nodules were removed for histopathological examination and the sections showed that the masses consisted of lymph nodes surrounded by fibrous tissue and dilated lymphatic vessels. Lying inside the vessels there were numerous sections of filarial worms, recognized as mature females of Wuchereria bancrofti. Some of the worms had died and become calcified. Blood films obtained from the patient after the operation were negative for microfilariae. However, a member of his family, a 14-year-old sister, had been given a course of diethylcarbamazine (DEC), in January of the same year, because, in a routine examination, microfilariae of Wuchereria bancrofti had been demonstrated in her peripheral blood

Infecção pulmonar fatal por Lagochilascaris sp., provavelmente Lagochilascaris minor Leiper, 1909

É descrito um caso fatal de infecção por Lagochilascaris sp., provavelmente Lagochilascaris minor Leiper, 1909 , com localização pulmonar. O paciente, do sexo feminino, oriundo de Curralinho-Estado do Pará, desenvolveu uma pneumonite grave, que lhe acarretou a morte, por insuficiência respiratória, em pouco menos de três meses. À autópsia, numerosas lesões de natureza exsudativa e granulomatosa podiam ser vistas em ambos os pulmões, indicando tuberculose ou infecção micótica pulmonar. Todavia, quando se procedeu ao exame microscópico, ovos, larvas e até uma fêmea grávida do verme foram encontrados nos tecidos, como causa da doença sempre no interior de granulomas ou de extensas áreas de necrose. Em quase todos os casos, até agora conhecidos, de lagoquilascaríase humana cerca de 25 , o parasito se localizava nos tecidos do pescoço, nos seios da face ou sobre a apófise mastóide. Neste caso, pela primeira vez, um representante do gênero Lagochilascaris é referido em sítio bem distinto do habitual, no hospedeiro humano. O achado, por outro lado, dos diferentes estádios evolutivos do helminto, dispersos pelo parênquima pulmonar, além de mostrar a natureza errática do parasitismo, sugere fortemente a existência de um ciclo pulmonar na lagoquilascaríase humana.A fatal case of pulmonary infection with Lagochilascaris sp. probably Lagochilascaris minor is presented. A 18-year-old girl from Curralinho State of Para developed a severe pneumonitis of unknown origin, and died less than three months after the onset of the illness, She was admitted to the Hospital, in Belem-Pará, on 16 June 1983, with fever, productive cough, dyspnea and, eventually, cyanosis. At that time, she had been sick for at least four or five weeks. A chest X-ray film taken shortly after admission disclosed extensive bilateral infiltrates, predominantly on the right lung. Acid-fast bacilli and fungi, however, could not be demonstrated in the sputum. The leucocyte count was low (3.900), with 60% neutrophils and 40% lymphocytes. In spite of several therapeutic schedules (no definite cause for the disease could be found) the patient's condition rapidly deteriorated. She persisted with fever, cough, expectoration of thick sputum, dyspnea and cyanosis, but other symptoms also came forth: hoarseness, fatigue, weight loss and labored breathing. On 13 July she developed respiratory insufficiency and died. At autopsy, the lungs appeared distended with numerous areas of consolidation; the cut surface, when exposed, revealed disseminated foci, both nodular and diffuse, of granulomatous and exsudative inflammation. Microscopically, sections of eggs and round worms were found in the preparations, always surrounded by granulomas or large areas of necrotic tissue. The worms were recognized as evolutive stages larvae, adult males and a gravid female of a nematode belonging to the genus Lagochilascaris, probably Lagochilascaris minor. The identification was based, mainly, on the aspect of the eggs, which exhibited the irregular-shaped, saucerlike depressions or pits, characteristic of the genus. The female worm had lateral alae and the uterus full with similar eggs. In all 25 cases of human lagochilascariasis so far described, the location of the lesions was in the region of neck, ear, mastoid process, orbit, paranasal sinuses and retropharyngeal tissues. For the first time, the present case, a member of the genus Lagochilascaris is referred to in a different site of the host. Besides that, the finding of eggs, larvae and adult worms in the lung tissues strongly suggests the existence of a pulmonary cycle in human lagochilascariasis

Aspecto histológico incomum em caso de febre amarela ocorrido no grupo indígena Yanomami

Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Universidade de Brasília. Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde. Brasília, DF, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Fundação Nacional do índio. Boa Vista, RR, Brasil

Li diffusion and electrochromism in amorphous and crystalline vanadium oxide thin film electrodes

Amorphous vanadium oxide films were synthesized onto ITO-coated glass substrates by the hot filament metal oxide deposition technique. The as-deposited samples were heat-treated in an argon atmosphere. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the films treated at 200 and 300 ºC were still amorphous, while those treated at 400 and 500 ºC were crystalline, with a V2O5 structure. All electrodes were electrochemically reversible for Li+ intercalation, exhibiting the electrochromic effect, observed from optical transmittance measurements at 632.8 nm. The Li-diffusion coefficient, DC, was measured by the galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) as function of the inserted charge. For the crystalline films it was observed that the optical absorbance and the DC increase with increasing Li insertion in the single-phase regions of crystalline Li xV2O5 and decrease in the two-phase regions. For the latter, an effective DC was considered. The presence of other vanadium oxides mixed to the V2O5 matrix was inferred for the crystalline films from the chronopotentiometric and DC measurements

Genome of the Avirulent Human-Infective Trypanosome—Trypanosoma rangeli

Background: Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagellate protozoan parasite infecting humans and other wild and domestic mammals across Central and South America. It does not cause human disease, but it can be mistaken for the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. We have sequenced the T. rangeli genome to provide new tools for elucidating the distinct and intriguing biology of this species and the key pathways related to interaction with its arthropod and mammalian hosts.  Methodology/Principal Findings: The T. rangeli haploid genome is ,24 Mb in length, and is the smallest and least repetitive trypanosomatid genome sequenced thus far. This parasite genome has shorter subtelomeric sequences compared to those of T. cruzi and T. brucei; displays intraspecific karyotype variability and lacks minichromosomes. Of the predicted 7,613 protein coding sequences, functional annotations could be determined for 2,415, while 5,043 are hypothetical proteins, some with evidence of protein expression. 7,101 genes (93%) are shared with other trypanosomatids that infect humans. An ortholog of the dcl2 gene involved in the T. brucei RNAi pathway was found in T. rangeli, but the RNAi machinery is non-functional since the other genes in this pathway are pseudogenized. T. rangeli is highly susceptible to oxidative stress, a phenotype that may be explained by a smaller number of anti-oxidant defense enzymes and heatshock proteins.  Conclusions/Significance: Phylogenetic comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial genes indicates that T. rangeli and T. cruzi are equidistant from T. brucei. In addition to revealing new aspects of trypanosome co-evolution within the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, comparative genomic analysis with pathogenic trypanosomatids provides valuable new information that can be further explored with the aim of developing better diagnostic tools and/or therapeutic targets