Socio-epidemiological factors and comorbidities associated with Chagas disease manifestations in two urban reference health care centres in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Background: Chagas disease (CD) is still an important public health issue in Latin America. This study aims to analyse the association between socio-epidemiological factors and comorbidities with clinical manifestations of CD.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 985 adult patients (65±11 y; 59.

Daily 800 mg versus 600 mg Efavirenz for HIV Patients Treating Tuberculosis with a Rifampicin-Based Regimen: An Open Label Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: Pharmacokinetics studies recommend increasing efavirenz dosage in tuberculosis/HIV patients using rifampicin. We aimed to evaluate efficacy and safety of 600 versus 800 mg of efavirenz in tuberculosis/HIV patients using rifampicin.

Design: We conducted an open label, multicentre, randomized trial from 2006 to 2012.

Exploring the parasite load and molecular diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi in patients with chronic Chagas disease from different regions of Brazil.

Chagas disease is still a major public health issue in many Latin American countries. One of the current major challenges is to find an association between Trypanosoma cruzi discrete typing units (DTUs) and clinical manifestations of the disease. In this study, we used a multilocus conventional PCR and quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) approaches to perform the molecular typing and parasite load quantification directly from blood specimens of 65 chronic Chagas disease patients.

Tuberculosis Treatment Outcomes and Factors Associated with Each of Them in a Cohort Followed Up between 2010 and 2014.

Tuberculosis treatment has undergone recent changes in Brazil. . To assess whether favorable outcomes on tuberculosis therapy improved in recent years.

Analysis of Regional Left Ventricular Strain in Patients with Chagas Disease and Normal Left Ventricular Systolic Function.

Background: Chagas heart disease has a high socioeconomic burden, and any strategy to detect early myocardial damage is welcome. Speckle-tracking echocardiography assesses global and segmental left ventricular (LV) systolic function, yielding values of two-dimensional strain (ε). The aim of this study was to determine if patients with chronic Chagas disease and normal LV ejection fractions present abnormalities in global and segmental LV ε.

Performance of Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis of the Amniotic Fluid of Pregnant Women for Diagnosis of Congenital Toxoplasmosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Congenital infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii can cause serious damage that can be diagnosed in utero or at birth, although most infants are asymptomatic at birth. Prenatal diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis considerably improves the prognosis and outcome for infected infants. For this reason, an assay for the quick, sensitive, and safe diagnosis of fetal toxoplasmosis is desirable.

Left atrial and left ventricular diastolic function in chronic Chagas disease.

Background: Left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) diastolic function analysis can yield new strategies to recognize early cardiac involvement and prognostic indicators in Chagas disease.

Methods: Patients with Chagas disease with the indeterminate (n = 69) or with the cardiac form (32 with changes limited to electrocardiography [stage A], 25 with changes in LV systolic function but no heart failure [HF; stage B], and 26 with HF) underwent evaluation of LV diastolic function (mitral inflow, pulmonary vein flow, color M-mode echocardiography, and tissue Doppler analysis), and LA function by three-dimensional echocardiography and strain analysis and were prospectively followed for the occurrence of clinical events. Echocardiograms were also obtained from 32 controls.

Impact of pharmaceutical care on the quality of life of patients with Chagas disease and heart failure: randomized clinical trial.

Background: Pharmaceutical care is the direct interaction between pharmacist and patient, in order to improve therapeutic compliance, promote adequate pharmacotherapeutic follow-up, and improve quality of life. Pharmaceutical care may be effective in reducing complications and in improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases, like Chagas heart disease, while bringing a positive impact on health system costs. The morbidity and mortality indexes for patients with Chagas heart disease are high, especially if this heart disease is complicated by heart failure.