Quantitative PCR as a marker for preemptive therapy and its role in therapeutic control in Trypanosoma cruzi/HIV coinfection.

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi and HIV coinfection can evolve with depression of cellular immunity and increased parasitemia. We applied quantitative PCR (qPCR) as a marker for preemptive antiparasitic treatment to avoid fatal Chagas disease reactivation and analyzed the outcome of treated cases.

Methodology: This mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal study included 171 Chagas disease patients, 60 coinfected with HIV.

Multiple myeloma and Chagas disease: qPCR as a marker for preemptive antiparasitic therapy: a case reports series and review.

Multiple myeloma (MM) associated with Chagas disease is rarely described. This disease and its therapy suppress T cell and macrophage functions and increase regulatory T cell function, allowing the increase of parasitemia and the risk of Chagas Disease Reactivation (CDR). We aimed to analyze the role of conventional (cPCR) and quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) for prospective monitoring of T.

Assessment of biomarkers and clinical parameters as predictors of survival in patients with chagasic heart failure.

Background: Chagas disease, endemic in Latin America and spreading globally due to emigration, has a significant health burden, particularly in relation to chagasic heart failure (HF). Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM) is characterized by chronic inflammatory myocardial disease. This study aimed to identify inflammatory parameters and biomarkers that could aid in the management of patients with chagasic HF.

Aplastic Anemia and Chagas Disease: Parasitemia Monitoring by Quantitative PCR and Preemptive Antiparasitic Therapy.

Background: Aplastic anemia is a rare and life-threatening condition, seldomly witnessed concomitantly with Chagas disease. We aim to discuss the management of these patients under risk of chronic Chagas disease reactivation (CDR), a severe condition with a high morbimortality that occurs in chronic Chagas disease patients under immunosuppression. Case reports: Trypanosoma cruzi (T.

Laser-power dependence effects on the structural stability of nanocomposite catalysts studied by Raman spectroscopy: On the structure-activity correlations in glycerol acetylation.

Structural properties of binary CeAl, CeMn, NiAl, CeZr, SnTi and ZrMn nanocomposite oxide catalysts were monitored towards the Laser Raman spectroscopy investigations providing new insights to control catalytic applications upon temperature ranges at which the laser power was varied. The lattice vibrational properties were investigated by varying the incident laser power during Raman measurements from 0.017 mW to 4.

Role of T. cruzi exposure in the pattern of T cell cytokines among chronically infected HIV and Chagas disease patients.

Objectives: The impact of Chagas disease (CD) in HIV-infected patients is relevant throughout the world. In fact, the characterization of the adaptive immune response in the context of co-infection is important for predicting the need for interventions in areas in which HIV and Chagas disease co-exist.

Methods: We described and compared the frequency of cytokine-producing T cells stimulated with soluble antigen of Trypanosoma cruzi (T.

CHAGASIC MENINGOENCEPHALITIS IN AN HIV INFECTED PATIENT WITH MODERATE IMMUNOSUPPRESSION: PROLONGED SURVIVAL AND CHALLENGES IN THE HAART ERA.

The reactivation of Chagas disease in HIV infected patients presents high mortality and morbidity. We present the case of a female patient with confirmed Chagasic meningoencephalitis as AIDS-defining illness. Interestingly, her TCD4+ lymphocyte cell count was 318 cells/mm3.

Real-time PCR in HIV/Trypanosoma cruzi coinfection with and without Chagas disease reactivation: association with HIV viral load and CD4 level.

Background: Reactivation of chronic Chagas disease, which occurs in approximately 20% of patients coinfected with HIV/Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is commonly characterized by severe meningoencephalitis and myocarditis. The use of quantitative molecular tests to monitor Chagas disease reactivation was analyzed.

Inconclusive results in conventional serological screening for Chagas' disease in blood banks: evaluation of cellular and humoral response.

Objective: To find the most reliable screening method for Trypanosoma cruzi infection in blood banks.

Material And Methods: Epidemiological data, lymphoproliferation assay, parasitological, conventional serological tests: immunofluorescence, haemagglutination, ELISA with epimastigote and trypomastigote antigens and reference serological tests: trypomastigote excreted-secreted antigens (TESA) blot and chemiluminescent ELISA assay with mucine from trypomastigote forms were applied to individuals with inconclusive serology, non-chagasic individuals and chronic chagasic patients.

Results: TESA blot had the best performance when used as a single test in all the groups.

[An evaluation of the efficacy of the CSF method for diagnosing intestinal helminthiases].

The recently proposed CSF method for diagnosing intestinal helminthiases was compared with the other methods (direct; Faust et al.; spontaneous sedimentation in water; and Kato-Katz) that are routinely for this purpose. The CSF method performed satisfactorily, thus showing that this technique can be adopted for use in diagnoses or epidemiological analyses.

[Observations on Blastocystis hominis and Cyclospora cayetanensis in routine parasitological examinations].

We report some observations made from routine parasitological examinations on feces. The methods of Faust et al. and of spontaneous sedimentation in water are not enough to identify Blastocystis hominis.

Methylene blue vital staining for Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes and epimastigotes.

The morphological identification of Trypanosoma cruzi is currently considered to have a high specificity, but its sensitivity, which depends on the volume of the sample examined, is rather low. Trypanosome developmental stages suspended in blood, reduviid feces, and culture media are routinely searched for by means of fresh film examination (about 2 microL). High speed centrifugation of blood samples separates the buffy coat, where most trypomastigotes concentrate.

[Evaluation of the efficacy of azithromycin and pyrimethamine, for treatment of experimental infection of mice with Toxoplasma gondii cystogenic strain].

The efficacy of prolonged administration of azithromycin and pyrimethamine was evaluated in mice experimentally infected with cystogenic strain of Toxoplasma gondii. The animals were intraperitoneally inoculated with one cyst of T. gondii and after 20 days were allocated into four groups: GI, infected without treatment; GII, infected and treated with the association of pyrimethamine (12.

[Blastocystosis: a high proportion of cases found in schoolchildren of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil].

As a part of medical assistance activities, parasitological examination of fecal samples from 227 school children from a public institution of São Paulo (SP) revealed a rather high proportion of results positive for Blastocystis hominis. Other protozoan and worm species were markedly scarcer, a peculiar situation according to our judgement. It is acknowledged that blastocystosis is still largely an indefinite and controversial subject, which deserves adequate analysis to avoid drawbacks in the sphere of action of public health and general medical assistance.

[Blastocystosis: controversy and indefinedness].

Blastocystosis is the infection caused by Blastocystis hominis. It is associated with frequent and unquestionably very important controversy and lack of definition, above all due to its implications for general assistance and medical care. In that connection, there is considerable disagreement on the subject of the pathogenicity of this protozoan, which should be categorically defined.

[Preservation of Cryptosporidium oocystis in fecal specimens for parasitological examination].

By using a simple and easily available device which contains a 10% buffered formaldehyde solution, fecal samples are rendered odorless and can be stored at room temperature with no biosafety hazards. Cryptosporidium oocysts contained in such fecal samples can be identified without difficulty by using the Kinyoun method. This system permits an adequate preservation of the material, which facilitates the execution of tasks related to assistance and epidemiology.

Microwave treatment of human milk to prevent transmission of Chagas disease.

It is recognized that breast feeding is an alternative means of transmission of Chagas disease. However, thermal treatment of milk can prevent this occurrence. As domestic microwave ovens are becoming commonplace, the efficacy of microwave thermal treatment in inactivating Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes in human milk was tested.

Exacerbation of HIV viral load simultaneous with asymptomatic reactivation of chronic Chagas' disease.

Chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection can reactivate in patients with immunosuppression related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, resulting in severe meningoencephalitis or myocarditis and high parasitemia. The effects of T. cruzi on HIV infection are unknown.