Prevalence of Trichomonas Vaginalis in Women with Precancerous and Indeterminate Lesions at Cytology

Trichomonas vaginalis was investigated by cervicovaginal cytology in pregnant and non-pregnant women receiving care at two public referral hospitals in Goiacircnia, Goias, Brazil. The frequency of Trichomonas vaginalis infection, the correlation between its presence and a diagnosis of precancerous and indeterminate lesions, and potential inflammatory changes in the vaginal epithelial cells in the presence of the parasite were evaluated.Overall, 359 Papanicolaou smears from 157 pregnant women and 202 non-pregnant women were evaluated.nbsp The principal inflammatory changes associated with the presence of T. vaginalis were registered.A second examiner reevaluated the slides. T. vaginalis infection was found in 46% of the slides, withprecancerous lesionsbeing found in 4.2% of the infected women.nbsp Perinuclear halos were the most common inflammatory change associated with the presence of the parasite.nbsp Adherence of the parasite to the vaginal epithelial cellsand ill-defined cytoplasmic borders were more commonly found in the group of pregnant patients.nbsp The prevalence of T. vaginalis was high in the present study, both in the pregnant and non-pregnant women.nbsp The socioeconomic level of the study population and the examinersrsquo experience played a particularly relevant role in the results obtained

A longitudinal assessment of myoelectric activity, postural sway, and low-back pain during pregnancy

The present study aimed at investigating the control of upright quiet standing in pregnant women throughout pregnancy, and whether low-back pain exerts influence on this motor task. Myoelectric signals from postural muscles and stabilometric data were collected from 15 non-pregnant and 15 pregnant women during upright quiet standing. Electromyogram envelopes and center of pressure metrics were evaluated in the control group, as well as in pregnant women in their first and third trimester of pregnancy. A correlation analysis was performed between the measured variables and a low-back pain disability index. Pregnant women exhibited a decreased maximum voluntary isometric activity for all postural muscles evaluated. Additionally, the activity of lumbar muscles during the postural task was significantly higher in the pregnant women in comparison to the non-pregnant controls. The soleus muscle maintained its activity at the same level as the gestation progressed. Higher postural oscillations were observed in the anteroposterior direction while mediolateral sway was reduced in the third trimester of pregnancy. No correlation was detected between the low-back pain disability index and neuromechanical variables. Conclusion: This study provides additional data regarding the functioning and adaptations of the postural control system during pregnancy. Also, we provide further evidence that postural control during quiet standing cannot be used to predict the occurrence of low-back pain. We hypothesize that the modifications in the neural drive to the muscles, as well as in postural sway may be related to changes in the biomechanics and hormonal levels experienced by the pregnant women1937783COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESnão te

Trichomonas vaginalis, Genetic Variation, and Pathogenicity: a Systematic Review

Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted infection that has been associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and cervical cancer.nbsp The objective of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature to identify the genetic variations of Trichomonas vaginalis and their correlations with the vaginal environment in the human host. Two electronic databases, PubMed and the Virtual Health Library (Biblioteca Virtual de Sauacutede), were searched using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS), respectively. The terms ldquoT. vaginalis and genetic variationrdquo and ldquoT. vaginalis and oxidative stressrdquo were searched to identify relevant original articles.nbsp The inclusion and exclusion criteria established took into consideration the specific characteristics of each article, thus guaranteeing the quality of the papers selected (the first and second tests of relevance).nbsp Two principal types of population structure of T. vaginalis were reported in the papers: type 1 and type 2.nbsp Type 1 parasites were associated with pathogenicity, as shown by findings of increased viral loads in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive women

Abnormal cortical networks in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

Recently, many researchers have used graph theory to study the aberrant brain structures in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and have made great progress. However, the characteristics of the cortical network in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are still largely unexplored. In this study, the gray matter volumes obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for all brain regions except the cerebellum were parcellated into 90 areas using the automated anatomical labeling (AAL) template to construct cortical networks for 98 normal controls (NCs), 113 MCIs and 91 ADs. The measurements of the network properties were calculated for each of the three groups respectively. We found that all three cortical networks exhibited small-world properties and those strong interhemispheric correlations existed between bilaterally homologous regions. Among the three cortical networks, we found the greatest clustering coefficient and the longest absolute path length in AD, which might indicate that the organization of the cortical network was the least optimal in AD. The small-world measures of the MCI network exhibited intermediate values. This finding is logical given that MCI is considered to be the transitional stage between normal aging and AD. Out of all the between-group differences in the clustering coefficient and absolute path length, only the differences between the AD and normal control groups were statistically significant. Compared with the normal controls, the MCI and AD groups retained their hub regions in the frontal lobe but showed a loss of hub regions in the temporal lobe. In addition, altered interregional correlations were detected in the parahippocampus gyrus, medial temporal lobe, cingulum, fusiform, medial frontal lobe, and orbital frontal gyrus in groups with MCI and AD. Similar to previous studies of functional connectivity, we also revealed increased interregional correlations within the local brain lobes and disrupted long distance interregional correlations in groups with MCI and AD