Cytoadhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes and the infected placenta: a two-way pathway

Malaria is undoubtedly the world's most devastating parasitic disease, affecting 300 to 500 million people every year. Some cases of Plasmodium falciparum infection progress to the deadly forms of the disease responsible for 1 to 3 million deaths annually. P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes adhere to host receptors in the deep microvasculature of several organs. The cytoadhesion of infected erythrocytes to placental syncytiotrophoblast receptors leads to pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM). This specific maternal-fetal syndrome causes maternal anemia, low birth weight and the death of 62,000 to 363,000 infants per year in sub-Saharan Africa, and thus has a poor outcome for both mother and fetus. However, PAM and non-PAM parasites have been shown to differ antigenically and genetically. After multiple pregnancies, women from different geographical areas develop adhesion-blocking antibodies that protect against placental parasitemia and clinical symptoms of PAM. The recent description of a new parasite ligand encoded by the var2CSA gene as the only gene up-regulated in PAM parasites renders the development of an anti-PAM vaccine more feasible. The search for a vaccine to prevent P. falciparum sequestration in the placenta by eliciting adhesion-blocking antibodies and a cellular immune response, and the development of new methods for evaluating such antibodies should be key priorities in mother-child health programs in areas of endemic malaria. This review summarizes the main molecular, immunological and physiopathological aspects of PAM, including findings related to new targets in the P. falciparum var gene family. Finally, we focus on a new methodology for mimicking cytoadhesion under blood flow conditions in human placental tissue.1525153

Cytoadhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes and the infected placenta: a two-way pathway

This find is registered at Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands with number PAN-0005548

Meat and milk black market - Bovine tuberculosis

A carne e o leite bovinos contaminados podem transmitir diversas doenças ao homem, inclusive a tuberculose bovina, que é uma zoonose de ocorrência mundial, ocasionando prejuízos à pecuária e riscos à saúde da população que consome produtos de origem animal. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a magnitude do comércio clandestino de carne e leite no Brasil. Realizou-se uma revisão bibliográfica de publicações nacionais e internacionais, consultando-se as bases de dados Acervo, Higeia, Dedalus, Medline, Lilacs e Cab-abstract, além de publicações em jornais e internet. Neste estudo, foram abordados aspectos referentes à importância da tuberculose causada pelo Mycobacterium bovis no homem e nos bovinos, cuja magnitude é desconhecida no Brasil, e o comércio clandestino de carne e leite, como um grave problema de saúde pública no país, exigindo a adoção urgente de medidas sanitárias.The bovines contaminated meat and milk can transmit several diseases to men, bovine tuberculosis included, which is a zoonosis of worldwide occurrence, causing losses to cattle ranch and risks to the health of the population that consumes products of animal origin. The purpose of this study was to search the magnitude of the meat and milk black market in Brazil. A bibliographic review of national and international publications has been carried out by consulting Acervo, Higeia, Dedalus, Medline, Lilacs and Cab-abstract data bases, besides internet and newspaper articles. In this study, aspects were approached concerning the importance of tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis in man and bovine, whose magnitude is unknown in Brazil, and the meat and milk black market, as a public health problem in the country, claiming urgent adoption of sanitary measures

Adler Function, DIS sum rules and Crewther Relations

The current status of the Adler function and two closely related Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) sum rules, namely, the Bjorken sum rule for polarized DIS and the Gross-Llewellyn Smith sum rule are briefly reviewed. A new result is presented: an analytical calculation of the coefficient function of the latter sum rule in a generic gauge theory in order O(alpha_s^4). It is demonstrated that the corresponding Crewther relation allows to fix two of three colour structures in the O(alpha_s^4) contribution to the singlet part of the Adler function.Comment: Talk presented at 10-th DESY Workshop on Elementary Particle Theory: Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory, W\"orlitz, Germany, 25-30 April 201

Adler Function, Sum Rules and Crewther Relation of Order O(alpha_s^4): the Singlet Case

The analytic result for the singlet part of the Adler function of the vector current in a general gauge theory is presented in five-loop approximation. Comparing this result with the corresponding singlet part of the Gross-Llewellyn Smith sum rule [1], we successfully demonstrate the validity of the generalized Crewther relation for the singlet part. This provides a non-trivial test of both our calculations and the generalized Crewther relation. Combining the result with the already available non-singlet part of the Adler function [2,3] we arrive at the complete ${\cal O}(\alpha_s^4)$ expression for the Adler function and, as a direct consequence, at the complete ${\cal O}(\alpha_s^4)$ correction to the $e^+ e^-$ annihilation into hadrons in a general gauge theory.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Final published versio

Scaling critical behavior of superconductors at zero magnetic field

We consider the scaling behavior in the critical domain of superconductors at zero external magnetic field. The first part of the paper is concerned with the Ginzburg-Landau model in the zero magnetic field Meissner phase. We discuss the scaling behavior of the superfluid density and we give an alternative proof of Josephson's relation for a charged superfluid. This proof is obtained as a consequence of an exact renormalization group equation for the photon mass. We obtain Josephson's relation directly in the form $\rho_{s}\sim t^{\nu}$, that is, we do not need to assume that the hyperscaling relation holds. Next, we give an interpretation of a recent experiment performed in thin films of $YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-\delta}$. We argue that the measured mean field like behavior of the penetration depth exponent $\nu'$ is possibly associated with a non-trivial critical behavior and we predict the exponents $\nu=1$ and $\alpha=-1$ for the correlation lenght and specific heat, respectively. In the second part of the paper we discuss the scaling behavior in the continuum dual Ginzburg-Landau model. After reviewing lattice duality in the Ginzburg-Landau model, we discuss the continuum dual version by considering a family of scalings characterized by a parameter $\zeta$ introduced such that $m_{h,0}^2\sim t^{\zeta}$, where $m_{h,0}$ is the bare mass of the magnetic induction field. We discuss the difficulties in identifying the renormalized magnetic induction mass with the photon mass. We show that the only way to have a critical regime with $\nu'=\nu\approx 2/3$ is having $\zeta\approx 4/3$, that is, with $m_{h,0}$ having the scaling behavior of the renormalized photon mass.Comment: RevTex, 15 pages, no figures; the subsection III-C has been removed due to a mistak

New Results in Four and Five Loop QED calculations

We report on two recent multiloop results in QED: (i) the four-loop corrections to the conversion relations between the QED charge renormalized in the on-shell and MS-bar schemes; (ii) analytical evaluation of a class of asymptotic contributions to the muon anomaly at five-loops.Comment: Talk presented at 9th DESY Workshop on Elementary Particle Theory: Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory, Sondershausen, Germany, 20-25 April 200