Background: Localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL) is a serious public health problem in Southern Mexico. Six species of Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidae) have been found to be infected with Leishmania (Leishmania) mexicana, the causative agent of LCL in the region. However, little is known about the biology and potential participation of Psathyromyia cratifer in the Leishmania transmission cycle in Mexico, and the Americas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide. Helicobacter pylori is the primary cause of GC; therefore, its eradication reduces the risk of developing this neoplasia. There is extensive evidence regarding quadruple therapy with relevance to the European population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Little is known about the companion animals which tested positive in Mexico for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Due to this, it is that we have documented the infection of companion animals, via an exploratory approach in two localities of the Valley of Mexico, in which the companion animal owners tested positive for COVID-19.
Methods: Oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 21 companion animals.
(1) Background: Chagas disease is the main neglected tropical disease in America. It is estimated that around 6 million people are currently infected with the parasite in Latin America, and 25 million live in endemic areas with active transmission. The disease causes an estimated economic loss of USD 24 billion dollars annually, with a loss of 75,200 working years per year of life; it is responsible for around ~12,000 deaths annually.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular disorders in endemic areas of Chagas disease (CD), a neglected tropical illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. CCC is characterized by parasite persistence and inflammatory response in the heart tissue, which occur parallel to microRNA (miRNA) alterations. Here, we investigated the miRNA transcriptome profiling in the cardiac tissue of chronically T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 2015, emergent cases of localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL) were reported in Tinum, Yucatan, Mexico. As part of an eco-epidemiological study to characterize the elements that trigger infection in that area, we conducted a field study to investigate the occurrence of infection in wild rodents. From November 2019 to February 2020, rodents were caught from three sites located in the municipality of Tinum, Yucatan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhlebotomine sand flies are the main vectors of Leishmania genus species worldwide; therefore, the detection of some reproductive parasites, such as Wolbachia, has been considered a possible strategy for biological control. In Mexico, leishmaniasis cases have been recorded in 25 states, yet only two sand fly species have been related to Wolbachia spp. Although the state of Tabasco has a high number of leishmaniasis cases, only few studies have been done on sand fly species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFinfection leads to Chagas disease (CD), a neglected tropical infection of significant public health importance in South and Central America and other, non-endemic, countries. Pregnant women and their children are of particular importance to screen as can be transmitted vertically. The objective of this study was to screen for infection among pregnant women from endemic areas seen at the Hospital General de Mexico for prenatal care, so that they and their children may be quickly connected to CD treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic characteristics, clinical and pathological factors, and the outcome of cancer and COVID-19 patients in Mexico.
Patients And Methods: A prospective, multicentric study was performed through a digital platform to have a national registry of patients with cancer and positive SARS-CoV-2 test results through reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). We performed the analysis through a multivariate logistic regression model and Cox proportional hazard model.
PLoS One
August 2021
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) involves several differential diagnoses as it lacks a gold standard diagnostic test. Its diagnosis is easier in endemic regions; however, many cases come from travelers to endemic areas. A 22-year-old patient, who had recently visited Oaxaca, Mexico, developed two asymptomatic ulcers weeks later on the left auricle and the nose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEquine piroplasmosis is a tropical parasitic disease caused by several intraerythrocytic members of the genera Babesia and Theileria. These pathogens are transmitted by multiple tick species and are considered as important exotic microorganisms in several countries. Equine piroplasmosis causes significant economic losses due to abortions, decreased activity and even death of equines, making surveillance of these infectious disease essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the case of a patient with cutaneous leishmaniasis who showed a rapidly progressing ulcerative lesion after traveling to multiple countries where different Leishmania species are endemic. Diagnosis of Leishmania tropica, an exotic species in Mexico was established by using serological and molecular tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFprotozoa are the etiological agents of visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. In specific geographical regions, such as Latin America, several species are endemic and simultaneously present; therefore, a diagnostic method for species discrimination is warranted. In this attempt, many qPCR-based assays have been developed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe found Rickettsia parkeri in Amblyomma ovale ticks collected in Veracruz, Mexico, in 2018. We sequenced gene segments of gltA, htrA, sca0, and sca5; phylogenetic reconstruction revealed near-complete identity with R. parkeri strain Atlantic Rainforest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancer has had a great improvement due to the "omics" technologies such as genomics, proteomics, epigenomics, pharmacogenomics, and metabolomics. The technological progress of these technologies has allowed precision medicine to become a clinical reality. The study of different biomolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins has helped to detect alterations in genes, changes in gene expression profiles and loss or gain of protein function, which allows us to make associations and better understand the cancer biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies conducted in time series could be far more informative than those that only capture a specific moment in time. However, when it comes to transcriptomic data, time points are sparse creating the need for a constant search for methods capable of extracting information out of experiments of this kind. We propose a feature selection algorithm embedded in a hidden Markov model applied to gene expression time course data on either single or even multiple biological conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo
March 2019
Murine typhus is endemic in several countries. We herein report an imported case of murine typhus caused by Rickettsia typhi in Mexico City. This is the first report of a case after almost 20 years since the last report.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNKT cells have been associated with protection against Leishmania donovani, yet their role in infections with Leishmania mexicana has not been addressed, nor has the activation pathway been defined after stimulation with Leishmania mexicana lipophosphoglycan (LPG). We analyzed the activation of NKT cells and their cytokine production in response to Leishmania mexicana LPG. Additionally we compared NKT-cell numbers and cytokine profile in lymph nodes of skin lesions induced by Leishmania mexicana in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Negl Trop Dis
March 2016
An important NK-cell inhibition with reduced TNF-α, IFN-γ and TLR2 expression had previously been identified in patients with diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL) infected with Leishmania mexicana. In an attempt to pinpoint alterations in the signaling pathways responsible for the NK-cell dysfunction in patients with DCL, this study aimed at identifying differences in the NK-cell response towards Leishmania mexicana lipophosphoglycan (LPG) between patients with localized and diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis through gene expression profiling. Our results indicate that important genes involved in the innate immune response to Leishmania are down-regulated in NK cells from DCL patients, particularly TLR and JAK/STAT signaling pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
December 2015
Leishmania mexicana causes localized (LCL) or diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL). The cause of dissemination in DCL remains unknown, yet NK cells possibly play a role in activating leishmanicidal mechanisms during innate and adaptive immune responses. We had previously shown that Leishmania lipophosphoglycan (LPG) is a ligand for TLR2, activating human NK cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeishmania mexicana can cause both localized (LCL) and diffuse (DCL) cutaneous leishmaniasis, yet little is known about factors regulating disease severity in these patients. We analyzed if the disease was associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-1β (-511), CXCL8 (-251) and/or the inhibitor IL-1RA (+2018) in 58 Mexican mestizo patients with LCL, 6 with DCL and 123 control cases. Additionally, we analyzed the in vitro production of IL-1β by monocytes, the expression of this cytokine in sera of these patients, as well as the tissue distribution of IL-1β and the number of parasites in lesions of LCL and DCL patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGap junctional communication is mainly mediated by connexin36 and connexin43 in neurons and astrocytes, respectively. It has been suggested that connexin36 allows electrical coupling between neurons whereas connexin43 participates in several process including release of ATP. It was recently reported that blockage of gap junctional communication mediated by connexin36 can disrupt the sleep architecture of the rat.
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