Manganese(II), copper(II) and silver(I) complexes containing 1,10-phenanthroline/1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione against species.

New chemotherapeutics are urgently required to treat infections caused by drug-resistant strains. The effects of 16 1,10-phenanthroline (phen)/1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione/dicarboxylate complexed with Mn(II), Cu(II) and Ag(I) were evaluated against ten different species. Proliferation of , , , , , , , , and was inhibited by three of six Cu(II) (MICs 1.

Oral candidiasis in patients with kidney transplantation in Iran: prevalence and antifungal susceptibility pattern.

This study aimed to identify species recovered from the oral cavity of patients with kidney transplantation. Two swabs were taken from the oral cavities of 40 patients before and after transplantation, cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar, and yeasts identified. Antifungal drug susceptibility testing was performed with fluconazole and itraconazole.

Active Cu(II), Mn(II) and Ag(I) 1,10-phenanthroline/1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione/dicarboxylate chelates: effects on .

species are human pathogens that are resistant to almost all antifungals currently available in clinical practice. The effects of 16 1,10-phenanthroline (phen)/1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione/dicarboxylate chelates containing Cu(II), Mn(II) and Ag(I) against , , and were evaluated. To different degrees, all of the test chelates inhibited the viability of planktonic conidial cells, displaying MICs ranging from 0.

Threads in tubing: an innovative approach towards improved electrochemical thread-based microfluidic devices.

Thread-based microfluidic analytical devices have received growing attention since threads have some advantages over other materials. Compared to paper, threads are also capable of spontaneously transporting fluid due to capillary action, but they have superior mechanical strength and do not require hydrophobic barriers. Therefore, thread-based microfluidic devices can be inexpensively fabricated with no need for external pumps or sophisticated microfabrication apparatus.

Survey for Leptospira and Brucella in Amazonian manatees, Amazon river dolphins, and a tucuxi in the Brazilian Amazon.

Leptospirosis and brucellosis are zoonotic diseases with global distributions that represent severe hazards to humans and animals. We investigated exposure to Leptospira spp. and Brucella spp.

Prevalence, Molecular Identification, and Genotyping of Species Recovered from Oral Cavity among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus from Tehran, Iran.

Background: Oral candidiasis (OC) has been noticed as a common mucous membrane infection in immunocompromised patients such as that diabetes. This study, focused on the genotyping of and enzymatic activities of species recovered from oral mucosa among diabetes patients and healthy individuals.

Materials And Methods: Specimens were obtained from oral mucosa of One-hundred and sixty patients with type 2 diabetic and 108 healthy individuals.

Fully independent validation and updating of a clinical pharmacy prioritizing risk score in an infectious disease hospital ward.

Aims: The aim of this study was to validate and update the risk score originally developed at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, verifying its performance in an infectious disease population.

Methods: This is an observational study with consecutive selection of admission in a ward of participants with infectious diseases. Predictors were age, number of medications, intravenous drugs, potentially dangerous drugs, renal dysfunction, liver dysfunction, use of nasoenteral tube, nasogastric tube, gastrostomy feeding, jejunostomy feeding, oral enteral tube, total parenteral nutrition, cardiac or pulmonary dysfunction and immunosuppression.

A novel miniaturized electroanalytical device integrated with gas extraction for the voltammetric determination of sulfite in beverages.

Voltammetry and amperometry are inexpensive and high-performance analytical techniques. However, their lack of selectivity limits their use in complex matrices such as biological, environmental, and food samples. Therefore, voltammetric and amperometric analyses of these samples usually require time-consuming and laborious sample pretreatments.

Thermoplastic electrodes as a new electrochemical platform coupled to microfluidic devices for tryptamine determination.

This study reports a new electrochemical method for tryptamine determination using a paper-based microfluidic device and a thermoplastic electrode (TPE) as an amperometric detector. Tryptamine (Tryp) is a biogenic amine present in drinks and foods. Even though this compound has some beneficial effects on human health, the ingestion of foods with high concentrations of Tryp may be detrimental, which justifies the need for monitoring the Tryp levels.

Rapid Analysis in Continuous-Flow Electrochemical Paper-Based Analytical Devices.

A simple and low-cost continuous-flow (CF) electrochemical paper-based analytical device (ePAD) coupled with thermoplastic electrodes (TPEs) was developed. The fast, continuous flow combined with flow injection analysis was made possible by adding two inlet reservoirs to the same paper-based hollow channel flowing over detection electrodes, terminating in a fan-shaped pumping reservoir. The upstream inlet reservoir was filled with buffer and provided constant flow through the device.

Ultrastructural viewpoints on the interaction events of Scedosporium apiospermum conidia with lung and macrophage cells.

Background: Scedosporium apiospermum is a ubiquitous, emerging and multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen with still rather unknown virulence mechanisms.

Objectives/methods: The cellular basis of the in vitro interaction between fungi and host cells/tissues is the determinant factor for the development of a successful in vivo infection. Herein, we evaluated the interaction of S.

1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-Dione-Based Compounds Are Effective in Disturbing Crucial Physiological Events of .

is a dematiaceous fungus able to cause chromoblastomycosis, phaeohyphomycosis and mycetoma. All these fungal diseases are extremely difficult to treat and often refractory to the current therapeutic approaches. Therefore, there is an urgent necessity to develop new antifungal agents to combat these mycoses.

Elucidation of the polyamine biosynthesis pathway during Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia) seed development.

Polyamines (PAs), such as spermidine and spermine, as well as amino acids that are substrates for their biosynthesis, are known to be essential for plant development. However, little is known about the gene expression and metabolic switches associated with the ornithine/arginine and PA biosynthetic pathway during seed development in conifers. To understand these metabolic switches, the enzyme activity of arginine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase, as well as the contents of PAs and amino acids were evaluated in three Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.

Fungal Biofilm - A Real Obstacle against an Efficient Therapy: Lessons from Candida.

The past decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in invasive fungal infections, especially caused by different species belonging to the Candida genus. Nowadays, even after many improvements in several medical procedures, Candida infections (candidiasis) still account for an unacceptable high rate of morbimortality in hospital settings. Corroborating this statement, fungal biofilms formed on both abiotic and living surfaces are responsible for an important medical and economic burden, since biofilm lifestyle confers numerous advantages to the pathogens, including high tolerance to environmental stresses such as antimicrobials and host immune responses.

Susceptibility of Phytomonas serpens to calpain inhibitors in vitro: interference on the proliferation, ultrastructure, cysteine peptidase expression and interaction with the invertebrate host.

A pleiotropic response to the calpain inhibitor MDL28170 was detected in the tomato parasite Phytomonas serpens. Ultrastructural studies revealed that MDL28170 caused mitochondrial swelling, shortening of flagellum and disruption of trans Golgi network. This effect was correlated to the inhibition in processing of cruzipain-like molecules, which presented an increase in expression paralleled by decreased proteolytic activity.

Why calpain inhibitors are interesting leading compounds to search for new therapeutic options to treat leishmaniasis?

Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease, which needs improvements in drug development, mainly due to the toxicity, parasite resistance and low compliance of patients to treatment. Therefore, the development of new chemotherapeutic compounds is an urgent need. This opinion article will briefly highlight the feasible use of calpain inhibitors as leading compounds to search for new therapeutic options to treat leishmaniasis.

The Widespread Anti-Protozoal Action of HIV Aspartic Peptidase Inhibitors: Focus on Plasmodium spp., Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma cruzi.

The introduction of the HIV aspartic peptidase inhibitors (HIV-PIs) has revolutionized the medical arena, since they have drastically reduced the number and the severity of opportunistic infections, including the protozoal diseases that afflict the HIV-infected individuals worldwide. HIV-PIs rapidly and profoundly diminish the viral load, which is paralleled by increase in the CD4+ T lymphocyte counts and stimulation of the survival and activation of neutrophil, monocyte and endothelial cells, culminating in a vigorous reduction in the number of deaths due to the AIDS, in the number of new cases of AIDS and in the number of hospitalization days. Many research groups around the globe are trying to decipher both the in vitro and in vivo antiprotozoal mechanisms behind the use of HIVPIs.

Different classes of hydrolytic enzymes produced by multidrug-resistant yeasts comprising the Candida haemulonii complex.

The production of enzymes in clinical isolates of Candida haemulonii (Ch, n = 5), Candida duobushaemulonii (Cd, n = 4) and Candida haemulonii var. vulnera (Chv, n = 3) was identified by agar plate. Aspartic protease, phytase, caseinolytic and hemolytic activities were detected in all the isolates.

HIV aspartic peptidase inhibitors are effective drugs against the trypomastigote form of the human pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi.

There is a general lack of effective and non-toxic chemotherapeutic agents against Chagas' disease despite more than a century of research. In this regard, we have verified the impact of human immunodeficiency virus aspartic peptidase inhibitors (HIV-PIs) on the viability and morphology of infective trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi as well as on the aspartic peptidase and proteasome activities produced by this parasite. The effects of HIV-PIs on viability were assessed by counting motile parasites in a Neubauer chamber.

Ontogeny of the Appendicular Skeleton in Melanosuchus niger (Crocodylia: Alligatoridae).

The objective of the present study was to analyze chondrogenesis and the ossification pattern of the limbs of Melanosuchus niger in order to contribute with possible discussions on homology and the fusion pattern of autopodial elements and phylogeny. In the Reserva Extrativista do Lago Cuniã, Rondônia, Brazil, six nests were marked and two eggs removed from each nest at 24-hour intervals until hatching. Embryos were cleared using KOH; bone tissue was stained with alizarin red S and cartilage with Alcian blue.

Conidial germination in Scedosporium apiospermum, S. aurantiacum, S. minutisporum and Lomentospora prolificans: influence of growth conditions and antifungal susceptibility profiles.

In the present study, we have investigated some growth conditions capable of inducing the conidial germination in Scedosporium apiospermum, S. aurantiacum, S. minutisporum and Lomentospora prolificans.