Human schistosomiasis is a chronic neglected tropical disease caused by blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma, infecting 250 million people worldwide, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, thousands of cases have been reported in immigrants to non-endemic countries, including Italy. Serological screening is recommended but so far, no accurate point-of-care (POC) and lab-free test is available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbdominal ultrasound (US) is a reliable method for visualizing gastric wall layers and measuring their thickness. The objective of this study is to characterize the ultrasound features of -induced gastritis and assess its predictive potential role for this condition. A cohort of 119 patients underwent gastroscopy with biopsy and abdominal US to evaluate antral wall thickness (AWT), submucosal wall thickness (SLT), mucosal wall thickness (MLT), gastric motility, and the presence of ingested material.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFish tank granuloma has traditionally been associated with Mycobacterium marinum. We report the case of a 54 old-year woman that worked in a freshwater fish pet store and developed a skin ulcer in a hand finger with a suppurative granuloma secondary to Microbacterium paraoxydans. This is a bacterial fish pathogen, rarely observed in human infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecular diagnostic methods to detect and quantify viral RNA in clinical samples rely on the purification of the genetic material prior to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Due to the large number of samples processed in clinical laboratories, automation has become a necessity in order to increase method processivity and maximize throughput per unit of time. An attractive option for isolating viral RNA is based on the magnetic solid phase separation procedure (MSPS) using magnetic microparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing constitutive GRF1/2 knockout mice, we showed previously that GRF2 is a key regulator of nuclear migration in retinal cone photoreceptors. To evaluate the functional relevance of that cellular process for two putative targets of the GEF activity of GRF2 (RAC1 and CDC42), here we compared the structural and functional retinal phenotypes resulting from conditional targeting of RAC1 or CDC42 in the cone photoreceptors of constitutive GRF2 and GRF2 mice. We observed that single RAC1 disruption did not cause any obvious morphological or physiological changes in the retinas of GRF2 mice, and did not modify either the phenotypic alterations previously described in the retinal photoreceptor layer of GRF2 mice.
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