AMERICAN CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS WITH UNUSUAL CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND RESPONSE TO TREATMENT

The clinical manifestations and prognosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) can be influenced by the immune response of the patient and the species of the parasite. A case of atypical clinical presentation of CL, with development of non-characteristic lesions, poor response to therapy, and a long time to resolution is reported. Confirmatory laboratory tests included parasite detection, indirect immunofluorescence, Montenegro skin test, polymerase chain reaction, and parasite identification by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. The parasite was identified as Leishmaniabraziliensis. The lesion was unresponsive to three complete courses of N-methylglucamine antimoniate intramuscular, and to treatment with pentamidine. The patient did not tolerate amphotericin B. The lesion finally receded after treatment with intravenous N-methylglucamine antimoniate. It is essential to ensure the accuracy of diagnosis and the appropriate treatment, which can include the use a second choice drug or a different route of administration

Biological activities of essential oil obtained from Cymbopogon citratus on Crithidia deanei

Summary. We report the effect of the essential oil extracted from Cymbopogon citratus on endosymbiont-harbouring and endosymbiontfree strains of the insect trypanosomatid Crithidia deanei grown at 28°C in a chemically defined medium. A dose-dependent antiprotozoan effect of the essential oil of C. citratus could be observed on both strains of C. deanei. The IC 50 values (50% inhibitory concentration) for symbiont-bearing and symbiont-free strains were 120 and 60 µg/ml, respectively. The viability assay showed that the symbiont-free strain is more sensitive to the presence of the essential oil, because lysed cells were observed after 2 h of exposure at higher concentrations. In addition, alterations in the ultrastructure and in the detection of cell-surface carbohydrate residues in both strains of C. deanei after treatment with the essential oil were also evaluated. Both strains showed ultrastructural alterations in the cellular and flagellar pocket membranes, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. In the lectin assay, the essential oil influenced the expression of carbohydrates in symbiont-free C. deanei, as evidenced by a reduction of sialic acid residues on the cell surface

Efeito do Agaricus blazei na dieta sobre a imunidade, parâmetros séricos e ação antioxidante na carne de frangos de corte

The effect of adding Agaricus blazei to the diet of broilers on immunity, serum parameters, and antioxidant activity was evaluated. A total of 840 1-day-old chicks were used, distributed among five levels of a completely randomized design (0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20% A. blazei), with six replications and 28 birds per experimental unit. The weights of the thymus, spleen and cloacal bursa were not influenced (P > 0.05). Leukocytes, macrophages and nitric oxide were unaffected (P > 0.05), but at each supplementation level compared with the control, differences appeared in the percentages of eosinophils and macrophages (P 0.05) at 42 days. Hypocholesterolemic effect was demonstrated (P 0.05). The antioxidant activity of mushroom showed a positive linear effect (P 0,05). Os leucócitos, macrófagos e o óxido nítrico não foram afetados pelos níveis de Agaricus blazei (P > 0,05), no entanto a porcentagem de eosinófilo e de macrófagos diferenciaram-se (P 0,05) aos 42 dias. A ação hipocolesterolêmica foi comprovada (P 0,05) na concentração sérica de triglicerídeo. A atividade antioxidante do cogumelo apresentou efeito linear positivo (P < 0,05) sobre o DPPH no dia 0 de refrigeração da carne. A inclusão do cogumelo proporcionou atividade imunoestimulante e hipocolesterolêmica. Observou-se a presença de compostos residuais antioxidantes, proteção tecidual do animal “in vivo” e possibilidade de uso do Agaricus blazei como um aditivo natural em rações de frangos

Evaluation of the reference value for the Montenegro skin test

Abstract:INTRODUCTION:The Montenegro skin test (MST) has good clinical applicability and low cost for the diagnosis of American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL). However, no studies have validated the reference value (5mm) typically used to discriminate positive and negative results. We investigated MST results and evaluated its performance using different cut-off points.METHODS:The results of laboratory tests for 4,256 patients with suspected ATL were analyzed, and 1,182 individuals were found to fulfill the established criteria. Two groups were formed. The positive cutaneous leishmaniasis (PCL) group included patients with skin lesions and positive direct search for parasites (DS) results. The negative cutaneous leishmaniasis (NCL) group included patients with skin lesions with evolution up to 2 months, negative DS results, and negative indirect immunofluorescence assay results who were residents of urban areas that were reported to be probable sites of infection at domiciles and peridomiciles.RESULTS:The PCL and NCL groups included 769 and 413 individuals, respectively. The mean ± standard deviation MST in the PCL group was 12.62 ± 5.91mm [95% confidence interval (CI): 12.20-13.04], and that in the NCL group was 1.43 ± 2.17mm (95% CI: 1.23-1.63). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis indicated 97.4% sensitivity and 93.9% specificity for a cut-off of 5mm and 95.8% sensitivity and 97.1% specificity for a cut-off of 6mm.CONCLUSIONS:Either 5mm or 6mm could be used as the cut-off value for diagnosing ATL, as both values had high sensitivity and specificity

Programa de Pós-graduação em Microbiologia, Universidade Estadual de Londrina.

ABSTRACT. This experiment measured total bacterial numbers in the gastrointestinal regions of semi-intensively cultured tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L. (Cichlidae). Mean bacterial numbers were higher in both anterior and posterior gut than in stomach. The percentage of isolated species and the percentage of isolates from any particular species varied significantly among gastrointestinal tract regions. Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas veronii, Burkholderia cepacia, Chromobacterium violaceum, Citrobacter freundii, Escherichia coli, Flavimonas oryzihabitans and Plesiomonas shigelloides were the most frequently isolated Gramnegative bacilli. From these samples, only Plesiomonas shigelloides was present in both gastrointestinal regions, with higher number in the posterior gut (76%), when compared to anterior gut (4.8%) and stomach (0.6%). Aeromonas hydrophila (0.6%), Escherichia coli (7.4%), and Flavimonas oryzihabitans were isolated only in the stomach, and Citrobacter freundii and Burkholderia cepacia were found only in the posterior gut. Chromobacterium violaceum was the dominant bacteria isolated from stomach and anterior gut, with 90 % and 55%, respectively. Unidentified organisms comprised 0- 39.3 % of the gastrointestinal microflora. Key words: tilapia, bacterial flora, gastrointestinal tract, Oreochromis niloticu

Antileishmanial activity of the essential oil from Tetradenia ripariaobtained in different seasons

The herbaceous shrub Tetradenia ripariahas been traditionally used to treat inflammatory and infectious diseases. Recently, a study showed that T. ripariaessential oil (TrEO) obtained in summer has antileishmanial effects, although these results could be influenced by seasonal variation. This study evaluated the activity of the TrEO obtained in different seasons against Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis, in vitro and in vivo. The compounds in the TrEO were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; terpenoids were present and oxygenated sesquiterpenes were the majority compounds (55.28%). The cytotoxicity and nitric oxide (NO) production were also tested after TrEO treatment. The TrEO from all seasons showed a 50% growth inhibitory concentration for promastigotes of about 15 ng/mL; at 30 ng/mL and 3 ng/mL, the TrEO reduced intracellular amastigote infection, independently of season. The TrEO from plants harvested in summer had the highest 50% cytotoxic concentration, 1,476 ng/mL for J774.A1 macrophages, and in spring (90.94 ng/mL) for murine macrophages. NO production did not change in samples of the TrEO from different seasons. The antileishmanial effect in vivo consisted of a reduction of the parasite load in the spleen. These results suggest that the TrEO has potential effects on L. (L.) amazonensis, consonant with its traditional use to treat parasitic diseases