Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proviral load of HTLV-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) patients according to new diagnostic criteria of HAM/TSP.

A high human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proviral load is described in HTLV-1-associated diseases, especially HAM/TSP. However, the cut-off value to define high levels of HTLV-1 proviral load is not well established. 281 HTLV-1-infected patients from the HTLV reference center in Salvador, Brazil, were followed from 2005 to 2008.

Zinc and glutamine improve brain development in suckling mice subjected to early postnatal malnutrition.

Objective: The effect of zinc and glutamine on brain development was investigated during the lactation period in Swiss mice.

Methods: Malnutrition was induced by clustering the litter size from 6-7 pups/dam (nourished control) to 12-14 pups/dam (undernourished control) following birth. Undernourished groups received daily supplementation with glutamine by subcutaneous injections starting at day 2 and continuing until day 14.

Preemptive analgesic effect of lidocaine in a chronic neuropathic pain model.

Preemptive analgesia inhibits the progression of pain caused by surgical lesions. To analyze the effect of lidocaine on postoperative pain relief, we performed compression of the right sciatic nerve in Wistar rats and observed the differences on behavior between the group that received lidocaine and the group that was not treated with the local anesthetics pre-operatively. Group 1 was not operated (control); group 2 underwent the sciatic nerve ligature without lidocaine; group 3, underwent surgery with previous local infiltration of lidocaine.

On the spectrum of leprosy neuropathies: multifocal inflammatory neuropathy heralding leprosy relapse.

We report a 52 year-old woman with a past history of lepromatous leprosy (14 years prior to our first evaluation) who presented with progressive weakness and severe arm/leg pain. CSF analysis revealed elevated protein level with normal cell count. Skin and sural nerve biopsy showed no bacilli.

Proposal for diagnostic criteria of tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM).

After the first description of TSP/HAM in 1985 and the elaboration of WHO's diagnostic criteria in 1988, the experience of the professionals in this field has increased so that a critical reappraisal of these diagnostic guidelines was considered timely. Brazilian neurologists and observers from other countries met recently to discuss and propose a modified model for diagnosing TSP/HAM with levels of ascertainment as definite, probable, and possible, according to myelopathic symptoms, serological findings, and/or detection of HTLV-I DNA and exclusion of other disorders.

Apolipoprotein E knockout mice have accentuated malnutrition with mucosal disruption and blunted insulin-like growth factor I responses to refeeding.

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is synthesized mainly in the liver and in the brain and is critical for cholesterol metabolism and recovery from brain injury. However, although apoE mRNA increases at birth, during suckling, and after fasting in rat liver, little is known about its role in early postnatal development. Using an established postnatal malnutrition model and apoE knock-out (ko) mice, we examined the role of apoE in intestinal adaptation responses to early postnatal malnutrition.

APOE4 protects the cognitive development in children with heavy diarrhea burdens in Northeast Brazil.

Polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E (APOE) have constituted the major rationale to identify potential risk groups for developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease and help to predict recovery of cognitive function after brain injury. However, the APOE impact on cognitive development in children living in poor areas of the developing world, where we have discovered profound significant associations of early childhood diarrhea (at 0-2 y) with lasting impairments of growth, cognition, and school performance, is not known. Therefore, we conducted APOE genotyping in 72 Brazilian shantytown children under active surveillance since birth, using purified DNA extracted from buccal cell samples.