Braz J Microbiol
July 2024
Braz J Microbiol
September 2024
Sporotrichosis is recognized as the predominant subcutaneous mycosis in South America, attributed to pathogenic species within the Sporothrix genus. Notably, in Brazil, Sporothrix brasiliensis emerges as the principal species, exhibiting significant sapronotic, zoonotic and enzootic epidemic potential. Consequently, the discovery of novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of sporotrichosis is imperative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Histoplasmosis is a systemic form of endemic mycosis to the American continent and may be lethal to people living with HIV/AIDS. The drugs available for treating histoplasmosis are limited, costly, and highly toxic. New drug development is time-consuming and costly; hence, drug repositioning is an advantageous strategy for discovering new therapeutic options.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBraz J Microbiol
March 2023
Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) is the most common opportunistic fungal infection of the oral cavity and is a significant clinical problem, particularly in immunocompromised individuals, such as people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Although Candida albicans is the most frequent pathogen, at least 30 species capable of causing infection have been described. Identifying the infecting organism is necessary because the species respond differently to therapy, and antifungal susceptibility testing is important to determine the appropriate treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFB-1 cells are considered an innate-like B cell population that participates in effective innate and adaptive responses to pathogens. B-1 cells produce immunoglobulins, cytokines, chemokines, migrate to inflammatory sites, and differentiate into mononuclear phagocyte-like cells. Murine B-1 cells phagocytosed and and participate in immunity against .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBraz J Microbiol
December 2020
Punicalagin is a phenolic compound extracted from Lafoensia pacari A. St.-Hil (Lythraceae) leaves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Mycol
October 2020
The hospital environment requires special attention to air quality, since it needs to be healthy for the protection of patients and health professionals in order to prevent them against hospital infections. The objective of this study was to isolate, identify and evaluate the susceptibility profile of isolated fungi from two hospitals. For air sampling the impaction (Spin Air, IUL®) and passive sedimentation methods were used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Candida parapsilosis complex species differ from each other with regard to their prevalence and virulence.
Methods: The hydrolytic enzyme activity, biofilm production, and adhesion to epithelial cells were analyzed in 87 C. parapsilosis complex strains.
This study evaluated the antifungal activity and cytotoxicity profile of the ellagitannin punicalagin, a compound extracted from the L. pacari A. St.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction:: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are an important complication in immunocompromised individuals, particularly neutropenic patients with hematological malignancies. In this study, we aimed to verify the epidemiology and diagnosis of IFIs in patients with hematologic problems at a tertiary hospital in Goiânia-GO, Brazil.
Methods:: Data from 117 patients, involving 19 cases of IFIs, were collected.
Histoplasmosis is a systemic mycosis that is considered an important public health problem. In this work, we performed a descriptive, observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study with a secondary data analysis of medical records from 2000 to 2012 at a tertiary hospital. The study sample consisted of 275 patients with laboratory-confirmed Disseminated Histoplasmosis (DH)/AIDS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Soc Bras Med Trop
January 2016
Introduction: Candida parapsilosis is a common yeast species found in cases of onychomycosis and candidemia associated with infected intravascular devices. In this study, we differentiated Candida parapsilosis sensu stricto, Candida orthopsilosis , and Candida metapsilosis from a culture collection containing blood and subungual scraping samples. Furthermore, we assessed the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of these species to fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, amphotericin B, and caspofungin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This is the first study to examine the in vitro susceptibility and the expression of virulence factors in Candida species in the presence of Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus (Gomes) L.R. Landrum (Myrtaceae), a Brazilian plant known as paucravo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The great potential of plants as Hymenaea courbaril L (jatoba) has not yet been throughly explored scientifically and therefore it is very important to investigate their pharmacological and toxicological activities to establish their real efficacy and safety. This study investigated the cytotoxicity of xylem sap of Hymenaea courbaril L and its bioactivity against the fungi Cryptococcus neoformans species complex and dermatophytes.
Methods: The fresh xylem sap of H.
Changes in the spectrum of clinically important fungal infection have been observed in recent years. Acremonium species has been responsible for eumycotic mycetomas but has also been increasingly implicated in systemic fungal diseases. A case of Acremonium kiliense fungemia with proven involvement of the lungs in an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell patient is reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In this study, the clinical features, underlying diseases and clinical outcomes of patients with cryptococcosis were investigated. In addition, a molecular analysis of the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex isolated from these patients was performed.
Methods: A prospective study of 62 cases of patients with cryptococcal infection was conducted at the Hospital de Doenças Tropicais de Goiás Dr.
The antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are evolutionarily ancient molecules that act as components of the innate immune system. Recently, it was demonstrated that a single AMP can perform various functions; this ability is known as "peptide promiscuity." However, little is known about promiscuity in plant AMPs without disulfide bonds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, defense peptides that are able to act against several targets have been characterized. The present work focuses on structural and functional evaluation of the peptide analogue Pa-MAP, previously isolated as an antifreeze peptide from Pleuronectes americanus. Pa-MAP showed activities against different targets such as tumoral cells in culture (CACO-2, MCF-7 and HCT-116), bacteria (Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923), viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and fungi (Candida parapsilosis ATCC 22019, Trichophyton mentagrophytes (28d&E) and T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the present study, the in vitro susceptibility and capsular width from both melanized and non-melanized Cryptococcus neoformans cells in the presence of Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus crude extract were determined. The results were compared with those obtained for voriconazole and amphotericin B. Melanization was obtained in minimal medium broth with the addition of L-dopa, and the antifungal susceptibility tests were performed using the broth microdilution method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides have been found in mollusks and other sea animals. In this report, a crude extract of the marine snail Cenchritis muricatus was evaluated against human pathogens responsible for multiple deleterious effects and diseases. A peptide of 1485.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Candida albicans is responsible for superficial or systemic infections known as candidiasis, which may be found in infected tissue as unicellular budding yeasts, hyphae, or pseudohyphae. In this study, the effects of both fluconazole and itraconazole antifungal agents on the hyphal formation and genotypic characterization of C. albicans isolates classified as either susceptible or resistant were investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to describe and compare the clinical, laboratory and health care characteristics of newborns (NBs) with confirmed late onset sepsis and NBs with unconfirmed late sepsis, verify if there were any differences between the groups, and describe the germs prevalent in the studied neonatal unit. This is a descriptive study, involving 168 cases. It was observer that 33.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To study the occurrence of congenital cardiopathies at echocardiography (CCE) in fetuses whose mothers had preexisting diabetes mellitus (PGDM) and to study the potential of using fructosamine level as a late marker (beyond the first trimester) for CCE.
Methods: A register study covering 91 pregnant women that underwent routine fetal echocardiography ordered due to PGDM. The first dosage of plasma fructosamine found in 65 medical records was analyzed during prenatal care (20.
Phospholipase and proteinase production and the ability of adhesion to buccal epithelial cells (BEC) of 112 Candida isolates originated from oral cavity of HIV infected patients and from blood and catheter of intensive care unit patients were investigated. The proteinase production was detected by inoculation into bovine serum albumin (BSA) agar and the phospholipase activity was performed using egg yolk emulsion. A yeast suspension of each test strain was incubated with buccal epithelial cells and the number of adherence yeast to epithelial cells was counted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: to evaluate the importance of maternal plasma concentration of fructosamine as an indicator of fetal congenital cardiopathies in pregnancies complicated by diabetes mellitus.
Methods: this was a retrospective study conducted on 91 pregnant women with diabetes mellitus who underwent routine fetal echocardiography at a university reference center in fetal medicine. Sixty-five patientes who presented pre-gestational diabetes mellitus and plasma fructosamine level were registered in the medical records prior to the ultrasound exam.