Use of N-acetylcysteine as treatment adjuvant regulates immune response in visceral leishmaniasis: Pilot clinical trial and experiments.

This investigation aimed to assess the effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) as an adjuvant treatment to alleviate visceral leishmaniasis (VL). The present work includes both blinded randomized clinical intervention and experimental studies. The clinical trial included 60 patients with VL randomly allocated into two groups: a test group (n = 30) treated with meglumine antimoniate plus NAC (SbV + NAC) and a control group (n = 30) treated with meglumine antimoniate only (SbV).

Absence of Bim sensitizes mice to experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

Chagas disease is a life-threatening disorder caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Parasite-specific antibodies, CD8 T cells, as well as IFN-γ and nitric oxide (NO) are key elements of the adaptive and innate immunity against the extracellular and intracellular forms of the parasite. Bim is a potent pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family implicated in different aspects of the immune regulation, such as negative selection of self-reactive thymocytes and elimination of antigen-specific T cells at the end of an immune response.

Patterns of vector species richness and species composition as drivers of Chagas disease occurrence in Brazil.

Chagas disease represents one of the major health issue in Latin America. Epidemiological control is focused on disease vectors, so studies on the ecology of triatomine vectors constitute a central strategy. Recently, research at large spatial scale has been produced, and authors commonly rely on the assumption that geographical regions presenting good environmental conditions for most vector species are also those with high risk of infection.

Validity of questions about activities of daily living to screen for dependency in older adults.

Objective: To determine the criterion validity of the activities of daily living present in functionality questionnaires in older adults for population surveys and to identify which activities are valid to quantify the real daily need for help of this population.

Methods: This is a population sample of older adults stratified by levels of functionality, according to self-perception of dependency in the activities of daily living. Self-perception was compared with the gold standard - direct observation of these activities in the household of older adults by a trained professional, blinded to the answers in the questionnaire.

[Screening for dependence in activities of daily living in the elderly: minimum set of questions].

Objective: To analyze non-redundant questions on independence in activities of daily living in the elderly, representing the spectrum of dependency.

Methods: Multicenter project with a probabilistic population sample of 5,371 elderly residents in Sao Paulo, SP, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Fortaleza, CE and Bambui, MG in 2008. A household survey was carried out and a questionnaire with 20 activities of daily living applied for the elderly to self-assess the difficulty/need for help in performing them.

[The health status of the elderly population: what do we need to know?].

The objective of this research was to evaluate the data on the health of the elderly population available in the Brazilian information system and their correspondence with the North American statistics using the Internet. The North American publication "Older Americans 2000: Key Indicators of Well-Being" was used as a standard. The databases and instruments used in the North American and Brazilian surveys are presented.

[Health indicators in the elderly: a comparison of Brazil and the United States].

Objective: To identify indicators used in evaluating the population 65 years of age and older in Brazil that are comparable to those used in the United States, and to compare the situation of this age group in the two countries.

Method: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, based on secondary data. Brazilian equivalents to the well-being indicators employed in the United States were searched in websites published by government health or planning institutions.