Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of risk factors including abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), elevated blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose. In Spain, according to WHO criteria, the MetS prevalence is shown to be 32% in men and 29% in women. The role of dietary habits is one of the main therapeutic strategies for the management of MetS but the most effective dietary pattern has not been established yet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in resource-limited endemic regions is currently based on serological testing with rK39 immunochromatographic tests (ICTs). However, rK39 ICT frequently has suboptimal diagnostic accuracy. Furthermore, treatment monitoring and detection of VL relapses is reliant on insensitive and highly invasive tissue aspirate microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a pressing need for more precise biomarkers of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Plasma samples from 820 subjects [231 with CKD, 325 with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and 264 controls] were analyzed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to determine a metabolic profile of 28 amino acids (AAs) and biogenic amines to test their value as markers of CKD risk and progression. The kynurenine/tryptophan ratio showed the strongest correlation with estimated glomerular filtration rate values (coefficient = -0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeishmaniasis is an endemic parasitic disease in at least 98 countries. In Spain, it is considered a zoonosis caused by Leishmania infantum, with an annual incidence of 0.62 cases/100,000 inhabitants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicromammals have historically been recognized as highly contentious species in terms of the maintenance and transmission of zoonotic pathogens to humans. Limited information is currently available on the epidemiology and potential public health significance of intestinal eukaryotes in wild micromammals. We examined 490 faecal samples, grouped into 155 pools, obtained from 11 micromammal species captured in 11 Spanish provinces for the presence of DNA from Cryptosporidium spp.
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