Descriptive molecular epidemiology study of Giardia duodenalis in children of Parana State, Brazil

Background and aims: We investigated the children of Parana State, Brazil the prevalence of intestinal parasitosis and the associated factors involved in the transmission of intestinal parasites, and we genotyped the Giardia duodenalis isolates obtained. Methods: Fecal samples were analyzed by established microscopic methods. G. duodenalis positive samples were subjected to genotypic characterization by PCR amplification of sequences of the glutamate dehydrogenase gene (gdh) and by enzymatic digestion with the restriction enzyme NlaIV for classification of genotypes. Results: Of the 877 samples tested, 41% were positive for some intestinal parasitosis, the most common being the presence of protozoa (87.8%). Lack of basic sanitation and poor health education were associated for the intestinal parasite cases found, and the only associated factor for giardiasis was low family income. The G. duodenalis assemblages of gdh amplified samples were 68.6% B and 31.4% AII. Conclusion: These data demonstrate the importance of epidemiological studies for the development of effective strategies with the aim of decreasing the incidence of intestinal parasites in children. Moreover, these results contribute to our knowledge of G. duodenalis assemblages circulating in the world and also offer support for future work on the molecular and clinical aspects of giardiasis

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

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

The effects of nitric oxide on the immune response during giardiasis

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical synthesized from L-arginine by different isoforms NO-synthases. NO possesses multiple and complex biological functions. NO is an important mediator of homeostasis, and changes in its generation or actions can contribute or not to pathological states. The knowledge of effects of NO has been not only important to our understanding of immune response, but also to new tools for research and treatment of various diseases. Knowing the importance of NO as inflammatory mediator in diverse infectious diseases, we decided to develop a revision that shows the participation/effect of this mediator in immune response induced against Giardia spp. Several studies already demonstrated the participation of NO with microbicidal and microbiostatic activity in giardiasis. On the other hand, some works report that Giardia spp. inhibit NO production by consuming the intermediate metabolite arginine. In fact, studies in vitro showed that G. lamblia infection of human intestinal epithelial cells had reduced NO production. This occurs due to limited offer of the crucial substrate arginine (essential aminoacid for NO production), consequently reducing NO production. Therefore, the balance between giardial arginine consumption and epithelial NO production could contribute to the variability of the duration and severity of infections by this ubiquitous parasite

<b>Ocorrência de enteroparasitoses em escolares do município de Jataizinho, Estado do Paraná, Brasil</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v28i2.1063

As enteroparasitoses são responsáveis por altos índices de morbidade principalmente nos países em desenvolvimento, onde o crescimento populacional não é acompanhado de melhoria das condições de vida da população. O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar a ocorrência e os fatores associados às enteroparasitoses em escolares de Jataizinho, Estado do Paraná, Brasil. Foram avaliadas 264 amostras de fezes pelos métodos de sedimentação espontânea, método direto e Kato-Katz. A prevalência geral de enteroparasitoses foi de 68,2% (180/264). Os protozoários de maior prevalência foram a Endolimax nana (47,5%) e a Entamoeba coli (23,5%). Já entre os helmintos foram o Ascaris lumbricoides (10,2%) e o Trichuris trichiura (6,1%). Houve predominância de casos de poliparasitismo (50,5%) em relação aos de monoparasitismo (49,5%). Ovos de Schistosoma mansoni foram encontrados em quatro (1,5%) amostras analisadas. O principal fator associado às parasitoses intestinais foi o hábito de freqüentar rio, riacho ou lagoa (OR = 2,78; IC 95%; 1,32 – 5,92). De acordo com os resultados encontrados, medidas de educação sanitária devem ser implantadas com urgência, enfatizando o risco de freqüentar rios ou lagos, melhores hábitos de higiene pessoal e higienização dos alimento

Experimental Chemotherapy in Paracoccidioidomycosis Using Ruthenium NO Donor

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a granulomatous disease caused by a dimorphic fungus, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Pb). To determine the influence of nitric oxide (NO) on this disease, we tested cis-[Ru(bpy)2(NO)SO3](PF6), ruthenium nitrosyl, which releases NO when activated by biological reducing agents, in BALB/c mice infected intravenously with Pb 18 isolate. In a previous study by our group, the fungicidal activity of ruthenium nitrosyl was evaluated in a mouse model of acute PCM, by measuring the immune cellular response (DTH), histopathological characteristics of the granulomatous lesions (and numbers), cytokines, and NO production. We found that cis-[Ru(bpy)2(NO)SO3](PF6)-treated mice were more resistant to infection, since they exhibited higher survival when compared with the control group. Furthermore, we observed a decreased influx of inflammatory cells in the lung and liver tissue of treated mice, possibly because of a minor reduction in fungal cell numbers. Moreover, an increased production of IL-10 and a decrease in TNF-alpha levels were detected in lung tissues of infected mice treated with cis-[Ru(bpy)2(NO)SO3](PF6). Immunohistochemistry showed that there was no difference in the number of VEGF- expressing cells. The animals treated with cis-[Ru(bpy)2(NO)SO3](PF6) showed high NO levels at 40 days after infection. These results show that NO is effectively involved in the mechanism that regulates the immune response in lung of Pb-infected mice. These data suggest that NO is a resistance factor during paracoccidioidomycosis by controlling fungal proliferation, influencing cytokine production, and consequently moderating the development of a strong inflammatory response.Fundacao Araucaria/SETI-PRCoordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)WHO/TDR - Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Disease