Publications by authors named "Ragone P"

Introduction: Breastfeeding can lower postpartum oral glucose tolerance test results by 5%. Similar data do not exist regarding fructosamine and HbA1c. The primary outcome was to determine if breastfeeding would lower fructosamine values by 5%.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Trypanosomes are a group of parasitic flagellates with medical and veterinary importance. Despite many species having been described in this genus, little is known about many of them. Here, we report a genetic and morphological characterization of trypanosomatids isolated from wild mammals from the Argentine Chaco region.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Benznidazole and nifurtimox are the only drugs specifically approved for the treatment of Chagas disease. Both compounds are given orally in tablets, but occasionally are ineffective and cause adverse effects. Benznidazole, the first-line treatment in many countries, is a compound with low solubility in water that is administered at high doses for long periods of time.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The relationship among genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi and clinical forms of Chagas disease remain elusive. In order to assess the possible association between different T. cruzi Discrete Typing Units (DTUs) and the clinical pictures of the disease, 205 chronic patients from Salta province, Argentina, were analysed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Genetic exchange in Trypanosoma cruzi is controversial not only in relation to its frequency, but also to its mechanism. Parasexual genetic exchange has been proposed based on laboratory hybrids, but population genomics strongly suggests meiosis in T. cruzi.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This paper deals with the evaluation of geo- and bioavailability of trace elements, including heavy metals, present in a typical serpentinite-derived soil of the Pollino Massif (Southern Italy). Precisely, the research was aimed to (1) assess processes and factors controlling the mobility of metals in the soil in order to identify the elements "potentially harmful" for the human health, (2) estimate possible metals accumulation in horticultural crops, and (3) evaluate phyto- and genotoxicity of Cr naturally present in soils and water. The studied profile has a homogeneous mineralogical composition consisting of metal-rich phases as prevailing minerals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The discovery and characterization of novel parasite antigens to improve the diagnosis of by serological methods and for accurate and rapid follow-up of treatment efficiency are still needed. TcTASV is a -specific multigene family, whose products are expressed on the parasite stages present in the vertebrate host. In a previous work, a mix of antigens from subfamilies TcTASV-A and TcTASV-C (Mix A + C) was sensitive and specific to identify dogs with active infection of high epidemiological relevance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan causative of Chagas disease, is classified into six main Discrete Typing Units (DTUs): TcI-TcVI. This parasite has around 105 copies of the minicircle hypervariable region (mHVR) in their kinetoplastic DNA (kDNA). The genetic diversity of the mHVR is virtually unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Triatoma virus occurs infecting Triatominae in the wild (Argentina) and in insectaries (Brazil). Pathogenicity of Triatoma virus has been demonstrated in laboratory; accidental infections in insectaries produce high insect mortality. When more than one microorganism enters the same host, the biological interaction among them differs greatly depending on the nature and the infection order of the co-existing species of microorganisms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

People living in areas with active vector-borne transmission of Chagas disease have multiple contacts with its causative agent, Trypanosoma cruzi. Reinfections by T. cruzi are possible at least in animal models leading to lower or even hardly detectable parasitaemia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In regions where Chagas disease is endemic, canine Trypanosoma cruzi infection is highly correlated with the risk of transmission of the parasite to humans. Herein we evaluated the novel TcTASV protein family (subfamilies A, B, C), differentially expressed in bloodstream trypomastigotes, for the detection of naturally infected dogs. A gene of each TcTASV subfamily was cloned and expressed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many infectious diseases arise from co-infections or re-infections with more than one genotype of the same pathogen. These mixed infections could alter host fitness, the severity of symptoms, success in pathogen transmission and the epidemiology of the disease. Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, exhibits a high biological variability often correlated with its genetic diversity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The transmission cycles of Trypanosoma cruzi in the Gran Chaco are complex networks involving domestic and wild components, whose interrelationships are not well understood. Knowing the circuit of transmission of the different Discrete Typing Units (DTUs) of T. cruzi in the complex environment of the Chaco region is relevant to understanding how the different components (reservoirs, vectors, ecotopes) interact.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dogs are considered the main mammal reservoir of Trypanosoma cruzi in domiciliary environments. Consequently, accurate detection of T. cruzi infection in canine populations is epidemiologically relevant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The research focuses on optimizing a Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) method for identifying genetic variations in Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, which is known for its significant genetic diversity.
  • By analyzing thirteen concatenated gene fragments from reference strains, the study achieved a robust classification of T. cruzi into its known Discrete Typing Units (DTUs) and found that a combination of seven specific gene fragments offers the best discrimination of genetic variations.
  • The proposed seven-fragment MLST scheme is suggested as a new gold standard for T. cruzi typing, providing a reliable comparison point for other typing methods, especially for simpler single locus techniques
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Trypanosoma cruzi has been historically classified as a species with preponderant clonal evolution (PCE). However, with the advent of highly polymorphic markers and studies at geographically reduced scales, the PCE in T. cruzi was challenged.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A number of water purification processes have been developed in recent years based on the utilisation of low-cost materials with high pollutant removal efficiency. Among these materials, fly ash and zeolite synthesised from fly ash are two examples of high-efficiency adsorbents. Column absorption tests were performed in order to compare the manganese sorption behaviour of an Italian coal fly ash and zeolite synthesised from it.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A total of 221 children from two rural settlements in Northeast Argentina were examined for T. cruzi infection. Blood samples were taken for serology tests and PCR assays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The research project conducted by INAIL and Edilcassa di Basilicata evaluated manual lifting and transport risks among construction workers in Basilicata, aiming to identify related health issues.
  • Manual lifting was deemed risky on 195 out of 204 working days, with an average VLI of 2.1, especially high in the restructuring sector; manual transport risk was identified on 129 days, with average values of 1.2, indicating significant exposure to physical strain.
  • A medical questionnaire revealed that many workers experienced pain or previously diagnosed conditions, yet only a small fraction of reported osteoarticular diseases were communicated to the Insurance Institute, suggesting underreporting of these health issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The biological behavior of the different Trypanosoma cruzi strains is still unclear and the importance of exploring the relevance of these differences in natural isolates is of great significance. Herein we describe the biological behavior of four T. cruzi isolates circulating sympatrically in a restricted geographic area in Argentina endemic for Chagas Disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) scheme was designed and applied to a set of 20 Trypanosoma cruzi stocks belonging to three main discrete typing units (T. cruzi I, V and VI) from a geographically restricted Chagas disease endemic area in Argentina, 12 reference strains comprising two from each of the six main discrete typing units of the parasite (T. cruzi I-VI), and one T.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The rTSSA-II (recombinant Trypomastigote Small Surface II) antigen was evaluated by ELISA to detect anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies in sera from naturally infected dogs and humans. For this evaluation ELISA-rTSSA-II was standardized and groups were classified according to the results obtained through xenodiagnosis, ELISA and PCR. Sensitivity (Se), Specificity (Sp), Kappa index (KI) and area under curve (AUC) were determined.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Internal and geographical clustering within Trypanosoma cruzi I (TcI) has been recently revealed by using Multilocus Microsatellite Typing and sequencing of the Spliced-Leader Intergenic Region (SL-IR). In the present work, 14 isolates and 11 laboratory-cloned stocks obtained from a geographically restricted area in Chaco Province, Argentina, were analyzed by PCR and sequencing of SL-IR. We were able to differentiate 8 different genotypes that clustered into 4 groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Over the last few years a great deal of research has been carried out in order to develop remediation methods for reducing environmental risks due to polluting metals. Zeolite formation in contaminated soils mixed with coal fly ash could be a useful method to reduce both the availability and the mobility of metals in contaminated areas. In this study a soil sample--treated with coal fly ash and artificially contaminated with a high concentration of Ni--was used for synthesizing zeolite at low temperatures.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF