Brazilian strains of Toxoplasma gondii are controlled by azithromycin and modulate cytokine production in human placental explants.

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that causes congenital toxoplasmosis by transplacental transmission. Parasite strains are genetically diverse and disease severity is related to the genotype. In Uberlândia city, Brazil, two virulent strains were isolated: TgChBrUD1 and TgChBrUD2.

Prospective study of the hemodynamic behavior of ophthalmic arteries in postpartum preeclamptic women: A doppler evaluation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic behavior of the ophthalmic artery by means of the Doppler ultrasound, in postpartum preeclamptic women. It was an observational prospective study with 44 postpartum preeclamptic women (group 1) and 49 postpartum normal women with normal blood pressure and with no previous illnesses known (group 2). All the pregnant women had a Doppler ultrasound exam of the ophthalmic artery in the immediate puerperium, that is, 10 days for the delivery (time 1).

[Study of ophthalmic artery hemodynamic pattern in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus].

Purposes: To evaluate the hemodynamic patterns of the ophthalmic artery by Doppler analysis in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), comparing them to normal pregnant women.

Methods: A prospective case-control study that analyzed the ophthalmic artery Doppler indices in two groups: one consisting of 40 women diagnosed with GDM and the other of 40 normal pregnant women. Included were pregnant women with GDM criteria of the American Diabetes Association-2012, with 27 weeks of pregnancy to term, and excluded were women with hypertension, use of vasoactive drugs on or previous diagnosis of diabetes.

[Alcohol use pattern in pregnant women cared for in a public university hospital and associated risk factors].

Purpose: To determine the pattern of alcohol use before and during pregnancy and associated risk factors in puerperal women hospitalized in a public university hospital in Southeastern Brazil.

Methods: Between June and September 2009, 493 puerperae were consecutively evaluated. Those with cognitive impairment were excluded from the study.

Effect of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in human placental explants infected with Toxoplasma gondii depends on gestational age.

Because macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a key cytokine in pregnancy and has a role in inflammatory response and pathogen defense, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of MIF in first- and third-trimester human placental explants infected with Toxoplasma gondii. Explants were treated with recombinant MIF, IL-12, interferon-γ, transforming growth factor-β1, or IL-10, followed by infection with T. gondii RH strain tachyzoites.

[Orbital territory hyperperfusion in pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Purpose: to analyze the ophthalmic artery functioning in pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus (PL) without active renal disease as compared to non-pregnant women with lupus (NPL) without active renal disease, and to normal pregnant women (PN).

Methods: observational study that analyzed ophthalmic artery dopplervelocimetric variables of 20 PN, 10 PL and 17 NPL women. The variables analyzed were: pulsatility index (PI), final diastolic velocity (FDV) and velocity peak ratio (VPR).