Quantitative PCR as a marker for preemptive therapy and its role in therapeutic control in Trypanosoma cruzi/HIV coinfection.

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi and HIV coinfection can evolve with depression of cellular immunity and increased parasitemia. We applied quantitative PCR (qPCR) as a marker for preemptive antiparasitic treatment to avoid fatal Chagas disease reactivation and analyzed the outcome of treated cases.

Methodology: This mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal study included 171 Chagas disease patients, 60 coinfected with HIV.

Assessment of biomarkers and clinical parameters as predictors of survival in patients with chagasic heart failure.

Background: Chagas disease, endemic in Latin America and spreading globally due to emigration, has a significant health burden, particularly in relation to chagasic heart failure (HF). Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM) is characterized by chronic inflammatory myocardial disease. This study aimed to identify inflammatory parameters and biomarkers that could aid in the management of patients with chagasic HF.

Reliability and validity of two-dimensional motion capture to assess ankle dorsiflexion motion and heel raise work.

Objectives: To determine the inter-rater reliability and criterion validity of two-dimensional (2D) measures of ankle function in the sagittal plane for participants with Achilles tendinopathy (AT).

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: University Laboratory, Participants, Adults with AT (N = 18, Women: 72.

Real-time PCR in HIV/Trypanosoma cruzi coinfection with and without Chagas disease reactivation: association with HIV viral load and CD4 level.

Background: Reactivation of chronic Chagas disease, which occurs in approximately 20% of patients coinfected with HIV/Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is commonly characterized by severe meningoencephalitis and myocarditis. The use of quantitative molecular tests to monitor Chagas disease reactivation was analyzed.