Indicações da punção liquórica nos portadores de sífilis Indications for cerebrospinal fluid punction in syphilis patients

O crescimento recente da incidência da sífilis, principalmente nos últimos 15 anos com a emergência da AIDS, parece conduzir ao aumento dos casos atípicos observados na prática médica diária. A freqüência da co-infecção HIV/sífilis entre homossexuais masculinos em grandes centros urbanos varia entre 20 e 70%; nesses casos, com úlceras persistentes e rápida progressão para os estádios mais tardios. Dentre as complicações mais graves da doença não tratada ou mal conduzida encontra-se a neurolues, que pode produzir manifestações neurológicas e psiquiátricas variadas, por vezes incapacitantes. O diagnóstico pode ser feito pela punção liquórica, pela qual se avaliam a celularidade, as proteínas e se realizam testes treponêmicos e não-treponêmicos. O exame do LCR deveria ser realizado em todos os doentes com sorologia positiva para sífilis, ou doença neuropsiquiátrica, ou oftálmica, ou terciária, ou naqueles em que a terapia falhou e nos doentes infectados pelo HIV com sífilis latente ou de duração ignorada. Entretanto, a neurolues é improvável quando o VDRL sérico estiver negativo. Nesses casos, a punção do liquor não é recomendada. Há razoável certeza quando houver síndrome neuropsiquiátrica associada com VDRL liquórico positivo.<br>The recent increase on the incidence of syphilis, mainly in the last 15 years with the emergence of AIDS, seems to lead to the augment of atypical cases observed in the dairy medical practice. The frequency in the co-infection HIV/syphilis among male homosexuals in larger urban centers varies from 20% to 70%. In these cases, ulcers are persistent, and the evolution to latter stages occurs in a faster way. Among the most severe complications of the untreated or unsuitable treated disease, neurosyphilis can develop, provoking several neurological and psychiatric symptoms and signals, sometimes disabling. Diagnosis can be done by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) punction, permitting to evaluate cells number and proteins abnormalities as so treponemal and non-treponemal tests. CSF tests should be done in all patients with positive serological tests for syphilis, in neurological, ophthalmic, or tertiary disease, or in those who have failed therapy, and in HIV-infected patients with late latent syphilis or syphilis of unknown duration. However, neurolues is unlikely when serologic VDRL is negative. In those patients, CSF punction is not recommended. But this is reasonable certainly of neurolues when neuropsychiatric syndromes are present associated to reactive CSF VDRL

Comparação das contagens das células de Langerhans de tecidos contendo carcinoma anal em doentes com e sem infecção pelo HIV Comparison of Langerhans cells counts from tissues containing anal carcinoma of patients with and without HIV infection

INTRODUÇÃO: As células de Langerhans (LC) são derivadas da medula óssea e constituem-se nas principais apresentadoras de antígeno da pele.conferindo desta forma, a resposta imune cutânea. Seu número está reduzido nos imunodeprimidos, incluindo na infecção pelo HIV, e a presença do tumor inibe sua migração, impedindo que os linfócitos T promovam regressão das células neoplásicas. OBJETIVO: Conhecer as diferenças entre as contagens de LC no tecido tumoral de doentes de carcinomas anais com e sem AIDS. MÉTODO: Avaliamos 24 doentes, sendo 14 com HIV e 10 outros sem HIV . O tratamento para o carcinoma foi semelhante nos dois grupos. Cortes retirados de blocos parafinados submetidos ao teste imunoistoquímico com anticorpo anti-CD68. Contamos as LC com método da histometria e os comparamos aos números obtidos com amostras previamente conhecidas de doentes sem doença infecciosa anorretal ou infecção pelo HIV. Revisamos também a evolução e as contagens séricas de linfócitos T CD4+ de doentes HIV-positivos. RESULTADOS: Observamos que o carcinoma anal foi mais freqüente em mulheres HIV-negativas e em homens HIV-positivos e que esses ultimos eram mais jovens. As LC foram menos numerosas nos doentes HIV-positivos e as maiores contagens estavam associadas com pior evolução. Os doentes HIV-positivos com os níveis mais baixos de linfócitos T CD4+ também tiveram as piores evoluções. CONCLUSÃO: Concluímos que as LC estavam diminuídas nos doentes HIV-positivos, portadores de carcinoma anal, quando comparados aos soronegativos.<br>Langerhans cells (LC) are bone marrow derived dendritic cells that represent the major antigen-presenting cells (APC) in the skin, thus representing an integral part of the cutaneous immune response. Immunossupression decreases their number, including HIV infection, and skin tumors products are sufficient to immobilize LC within the tumor, preventing their migration to lymph nodes. This reduces the number of T cells that infiltrate the tumor, preventing regression. OBJETIVE: Our proposal was to know what are the differences among LC counts comparing HIV-positive and -negative patients with anal carcinoma. METHOD: We evaluated 24 patients, 14 with HIV and 10 HIV-negative. Treatment for carcinoma was similar in both groups. Paraffin blocks containing biopsies were cut and stained with antibody anti-CD68. LC were counted in a histometrical way and number were compared to previous known specimens of HIV-negative patients without infectious anorectal diseases. We also studied cancer evolution and T CD4+ lymphocytes blood counts of HIV-positive patients. RESULTS: Statistics showed that anal carcinomas were more frequent in females HIV-negative and in seropositive males. HIV-positive patients were younger than seronegative ones. LC were decreased in seropositive patients and the most numerous counts were associated to worse prognosis. HIV-positive patients who had the most decreased T CD4+ counts had the worst prognosis, too. CONCLUSION: We conclude that LC were decreased in HIV-positive patients with anal carcinoma rather than in seronegative

Identifying signatures of natural selection in cork oak (Quercus suber L.) genes through SNP analysis

Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is an evergreen tree species endemic to the western Mediterranean Basin with a major economical, social and ecological relevance, associated withcorkextractionandexploitation.In the last years,corkoak stands have been facing a significant decline, which may be aggravated by the climate changes that are predicted to occur within cork oak distribution range during this century. Under this scenario, the assessment of adaptive genetic variation is essential to understand how cork oak may cope with these threats and to delineate strategies for the management of its genetic resources. In this study, six candidate genes possibly significant for environmental adaptation were analysed in cork oak populations from its entire distribution range. Signatures of natural selection were investigated using population genetic statistics and environmental association tests under alternative scenarios of population genetic structure. Signals of balancing selection were detected in the putative non-expressor of pathogenesis-related gene 1 (NPR1), involved in plant defence response against pathogens, in auxin response factor 16 (ARF16), a gene implicated in root development, in RAN3, also involved in developmental processes, and in glutamine synthetase nodule isozyme (GS), involved in nitrogen fixation. Furthermore, for ARF16,aclass I heat shock protein (sHSP) and GS, associations were found between SNP allele and haplotype frequencies and several spatial and climatic variables, suggesting that these genes may have a role on cork oak local adaptation. In this study, the first steps were taken into gathering information on cork oak adaptation to environmental conditions