Impact of the length of vitamin D deficiency on cardiac remodeling.

Background: This study was aimed to evaluate the influence of vitamin D (VD) deficiency on cardiac metabolism, morphology, and function. Thus, we investigated the relationship of these changes with the length of the nutrient restriction.

Methods And Results: Male weanling Wistar rats were allocated into 4 groups: C2 (n=24), animals were fed an AIN-93G diet with 1000 IU VD/kg of chow and were kept under fluorescent light for 2 months; D2 (n=22), animals were fed a VD-deficient AIN-93G diet and were kept under incandescent light for 2 months; C4 (n=21) animals were kept in the same conditions of C2 for 4 months; and D4 (n=23) animals were kept in the same conditions of D2 for 4 months.

Clinical and nutritional profile of individuals with Chagas disease.

Chagas disease (CD), caused by the protozoan Trypanossoma cruzi, affects approximately 18 million individuals in the Americas, 5 million of which live in Brazil. Most chronic sufferers have either the indeterminate form of the disease, without organic compromise, or the cardiac or digestive forms. Despite the importance of this disease, there is no information on the effect of nutrition on CD evolution.