Pediculosis capitis: Treatment options among schoolchildren in Greece

Background: Pediculosis capitis remains a significant health problem worldwide. Purpose: It was to record the preferred treatment options against pediculosis capitis in school-age children in Greece. Method and Material: A randomly selected, stratified sample of schools from all over Greece was used. A questionnaire with closed and open-type questions was used. Five thousand, eighty four questionnaires were distributed and 2792 returned. Descriptive statistics was conducted. Results: Median age of the children was 8 (3-13) years. 88,6% of the parents answered the would not visit a dermatologist in the case of pediculosis. Insecticides were the treatment of choice in most cases (80 %), while louse comb as a single treatment was preferred by 1 % of the parents. Conclusion: Drugs remain the main treatment choice in Greece. Dermatologists infrequently treat patients with pediculosis capitis

Home cage activity of mice in Experiment 2.

<p>(A) Fraction of time spent on high activity behaviors during the 2.5 h period preceding PM presentation (The sum of time of high activity behaviors during the 2.5 h before PM is divided by total seconds of high activity behaviors during entire recording period). Fraction of time spent sniffing the food bin (B), and hang cuddling (C) during the 2.5 h period preceding PM presentation. (D) The maximum number of seconds per hour of high activity behaviors in 2.5 h preceding mealtime is divided by the maximum number of seconds of high activity at nighttime. Ratios greater than 1 are shown in red, between 0.7 and 1 in orange, between 0.5 and 0.7 in yellow, and between 0.4 and 0.5 in green. Bars represent medians +/− IQR. Statistics were performed using Mann-Whitney Test * denotes p<0.05 and ** denotes p<0.01.</p

Fold change in c-Fos immunoreactive counts hypothalamic nuclei of mice fed rodent high fat diet and cheese.

<p>The Dorsomedial Hypothalamus (DMH) and Arcuate Nucleus (Arc) (Panels A, and B respectively) of AL controls and PM-fed HF and CH groups at TP -3 (ZT 5) and TP -1 (ZT 7). (C) The change in c-Fos counts from TP -3 to TP -1 show an positive increase in c-Fos counts in HF mice for the DMH, LHA, and the SCN, and a positive increase in counts of CH mice for LHA, Arc, and SCN.</p

c-Fos expression in the Lateral Hypothalamic Area (LHA) in mice fed rodent high fat diet and cheese.

<p>(A) Graph showing mean (+/− SEM) number of c-Fos-immunoreactive (c-Fos IR) nuclei in the LHA of AL controls (black), CH (green), and HF (red) at ZT 5 (TP -3 hours) and ZT 7 (TP -1 hours). TP 0 represents time of PM presentation as highlighted by the vertical dotted line on the x-axis. CH and HF mice show a lower and statistically significant c-Fos count compared to AL controls. Counts for CH and HF reach similar values to AL group by TP -1. (B) Representative coronal brain atlas image with Nissl stain showing location of the region studied (adapted from Paxinos and Franklin). (C) Representative micrographs at TP -3 and -1 of c-Fos expression in the LHA. int (internal capsule); fx, fornix.</p

Daily palatable meals of rodent high fat diet do not cause a pre-prandial increase in activity in 129S1 mice, which do show robust food anticipatory activity for 60% CR (Experiment

<p> <b>3).</b> Fraction of time per hour spent walking, hanging, jumping, or rearing observed in PM-fed 129S1 mice during each hour of the 24-hour recording in Days 0, 7, and 14 (A–C). Free-feeding mice fed high fat diet at ZT 9 do not show any significant differences in pre-prandial high activity after 14 days in feeding schedule. Fraction of time per hour spent walking, hanging, jumping, or rearing observed in 129S1 mice in 60% CR schedule during each hour of the 24-hour recording in Days 14 and 21 (D–E). Mice subject to calorie restriction show significantly higher pre-prandial high activity in Days 14 and 21. Lines represent medians +/− IQ Range (significance was tested with Mann-Whitney test with Dunn’s post test. * denotes p<0.05.</p

Body temperature is moderately correlated with Food Anticipatory Activity.

<p>(A) Mean temperature during the 2.5 h preceding PM presentation. Error bars represent SEM. Statistical comparisons were performed using an ANOVA followed by Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons test, * denotes p<0.05, ** denotes p<0.01, and *** denotes p<0.001. (B) Mean temperature and high activity 14 days after start of PM feeding regimen. Mean temperature is represented by dashed lines in top half of the panel (corresponding to left y-axis) and mean high activity in seconds is represented by the solid line in the bottom half of the panel (corresponding to right y-axis). Temperature plotted against the fraction of high activity during the 2.5 H preceding mealtime for day 0 (C), day 7 (D), day 14 (E), and Day 21 (F). Linear regression lines and R² are shown.</p

Inhibiting GPI Anchor Biosynthesis in Fungi Stresses the Endoplasmic Reticulum and Enhances Immunogenicity

In fungi, the anchoring of proteins to the plasma membrane <i>via</i> their covalent attachment to glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) is essential and thus provides a valuable point of attack for the development of antifungal therapeutics. Unfortunately, studying the underlying biology of GPI-anchor synthesis is difficult, especially in medically relevant fungal pathogens because they are not genetically tractable. Compounding difficulties, many of the genes in this pathway are essential in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>. Here, we report the discovery of a new small molecule christened gepinacin (for GPI acylation inhibitor) which selectively inhibits Gwt1, a critical acyltransferase required for the biosynthesis of fungal GPI anchors. After delineating the target specificity of gepinacin using genetic and biochemical techniques, we used it to probe key, therapeutically relevant consequences of disrupting GPI anchor metabolism in fungi. We found that, unlike all three major classes of antifungals in current use, the direct antimicrobial activity of this compound results predominantly from its ability to induce overwhelming stress to the endoplasmic reticulum. Gepinacin did not affect the viability of mammalian cells nor did it inhibit their orthologous acyltransferase. This enabled its use in co-culture experiments to examine Gwt1’s effects on host–pathogen interactions. In isolates of <i>Candida albicans</i>, the most common fungal pathogen in humans, exposure to gepinacin at sublethal concentrations impaired filamentation and unmasked cell wall β-glucan to stimulate a pro-inflammatory cytokine response in macrophages. Gwt1 is a promising antifungal drug target, and gepanacin is a useful probe for studying how disrupting GPI-anchor synthesis impairs viability and alters host–pathogen interactions in genetically intractable fungi

Short interval feeding schedule.

<p>(A) Fraction of median +/− IQR normalized high activity for AL and CR mice on day 14 of LS CR, corresponding to the 21^st day of 60% CR. (Day -7 is the first day of CR feeding, which occurred as a single feeding event at ZT 8, then the mice were switched to being fed 6 small meals at 30 min intervals beginning at ZT 4.5). (B) Fraction of high activity for AL and CR mice on day 17 (24 total days of 60% CR). (C) Days 21–22 of LS interval feeding (day 28–29 of CR). The yellow arrows indicate the 6 feeding times, whereas the 6 black dashed arrows indicate the expected time of feedings, which were omitted, on day 22 of LS feeding schedule. (D) Fraction of high activity in the two h preceding the first meal delivery for AL and CR mice on days 0, 14, 17, 21, and 22 of LS interval feeding. (E–F) Group median +/− IQR data for high activity shown in one min bins for (E) day 14 and (F) day 17. Min 1140 corresponds to ZT 3 and min 1140 corresponds to ZT 8. Blue line indicated median AL data. (G–I) Individual data for 30 min scheduled CR feeding; (G) s of high activity for CR mouse 901 from ZT3-8 on day 14 of LS interval feeding, (H) s of high activity for CR mouse 903 from ZT3-8 on day 17 of LS interval, and (I) s of high activity for CR mouse 905 from ZT3–8 on day 14 of LS interval feeding. n = 6 for both LS AL and LS CR at all time points.</p

12 h interval feeding schedule.

<p>(A) Normalized median +/− IQR high activity data on day 14 of 2X feeding. The normalization is equivalent to dividing the number of frames during which high intensity activity (walking, hanging, jumping, or rearing) is observed per h by the number of frames the high intensity activity is observed during the duration of the 24 h video, yielding a fraction of high activity per hourly bin. Each ZT time represents the total number of s of high activity in the h preceding it (eg. The data point at ZT 9 comprises the amount of high activity that occurred from ZT 8:00-ZT 8:59. (B) The amount of normalized high activity in the 2 h preceding each feeding on day 14. (C) Normalized median +/− IQR high activity data on day 42 of 2X feeding. (D) The amount of normalized high activity in the 2 h preceding each feeding on day 42. Statistical significance was determined using the Mann-Whitney Test with asterisks denoting * = p<0.05, **  = p<0.01, *** = p<0.001. n = 8 for both 2X AL and 2X CR at all time points. Yellow arrows represent feeding times. Note: arrows are offset from feeding times to denote that the data point at the feeding time represents data from before the feeding event. For example, for a feeding at ZT21 the data point at ZT21 represents data from ZT20 to ZT21 and does not include time when food was present, as food was delivered at ZT21. Gray box indicates the 11h dark period. (E) Individual data from 2X CR mouse #1 on day 42, (F) for mouse #4, (G) mouse #5, and (H) mouse #8. Mean 2X AL high activity is sown as a blue line and gray bars indicate the amount of high activity occurring per one h bin for the CR mouse. Dark line indicates the 11 h dark period and arrows indicate feeding times.</p

8 h interval feeding schedule.

<p>(A) Normalized median +/− IQR high activity data on day 7 of 3X feeding. (B) The amount of normalized high activity in the 2 h preceding each feeding event on day 7. (C) Normalized high activity data on day 35 of 3X feeding. (D) The amount of normalized high activity in the 2h preceding each feeding event on day 42. For 3X AL data n-6 on day 7 and n = 8 on day 35; for 3X CR, n = 8 on day 7 and 35. (E–H) Individual mouse data for 8 h interval feeding. The s of high intensity activity in each h for individual CR mice on days 35 3X CR feeding for (E) mouse #2, (F) mouse #3, (G) mouse #6, and (H) mouse #8. Black arrows represent feeding times. Weighted black line on the x-axis indicates the 11h dark cycle.</p