Temperate Zone Plant Natural Products-A Novel Resource for Activity against Tropical Parasitic Diseases.

The use of plant-derived natural products for the treatment of tropical parasitic diseases often has ethnopharmacological origins. As such, plants grown in temperate regions remain largely untested for novel anti-parasitic activities. We describe here a screen of the PhytoQuest Phytopure library, a novel source comprising over 600 purified compounds from temperate zone plants, against in vitro culture systems for , , and .

Paragonimiasis in tuberculosis patients in Nagaland, India.

Background: One of the infections that mimic tuberculosis (TB) is paragonimiasis (PRG), a foodborne parasitic disease caused by lung flukes of the genus . In the northeastern states of India, TB and PRG are endemic; however, PRG is rarely included in the differential diagnosis of TB.

Objective: To address limited evidence on the dual burden of TB and PRG in northeastern India, we aimed to document the prevalence of PRG among TB patients using sputum smear, stool examination for children <15 years and ELISA.

Cathepsins B1 and B2 of Trichobilharzia SPP., bird schistosomes causing cercarial dermatitis.

Trichobilharzia regenti and T. szidati are schistosomes that infect birds. although T.

Cathepsins B1 and B2 in the neuropathogenic schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti: distinct gene expression profiles and presumptive roles throughout the life cycle.

The neurotropic bird schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti possesses papain-like cysteine peptidases which have also been shown to be crucial enzymes in various developmental stages of the related human parasites Schistosoma spp. In this paper, we present data obtained by real-time polymerase chain reaction on the temporal distribution of transcripts of two cathepsins in different developmental stages of T. regenti: cathepsin B1 originally described from the gut lumen of schistosomula with presumptive role in nutrient digestion and cathepsin B2 originally found in penetration glands of cercariae with probable involvement in invasion of the final host.

The functional expression and characterisation of a cysteine peptidase from the invasive stage of the neuropathogenic schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti.

A transcriptional product of a gene encoding cathepsin B-like peptidase in the bird schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti was identified and cloned. The enzyme was named TrCB2 due to its 77% sequence similarity to cathepsin B2 from the important human parasite Schistosoma mansoni. The zymogen was expressed in the methylotropic yeast Pichia pastoris; procathepsin B2 underwent self-processing in yeast media.

Peptidases of Trichobilharzia regenti (Schistosomatidae) and its molluscan host Radix peregra S. Lat. (Lymnaeidae): construction and screening of cDNA library from intramolluscan stages of the parasite.

Trichobilharzia regenti is a neurotropic bird schistosome,causing cercarial dermatitis in humans. In this study, ZAP cDNA expression library from Radix peregra s. lat.