The relationship between heart rate variability and serum cytokines in chronic chagasic patients with persistent parasitemia.

Background: Persistent parasitemia, immunological, and autonomic nervous system impairments may play an important role in the evolution and clinical outcome of the chronic phase of Chagas' disease by triggering functional cardiovascular changes.

Methods: Three groups were evaluated: 17 chronic chagasic patients with the indeterminate form (IChD), 12 chronic chagasic patients with cardiac forms (ChHD), and 29 individuals as a healthy control group. Parasitemia was assessed by polymerase chain reaction; hemoculture, heart rate variability by linear and nonlinear methods, and interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, and tumor necrosis factor-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ serum cytokines were assessed by enzyme-linked immune assay.

Expression of cytokines in cervical stroma in patients with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia after treatment with intralesional interferon alpha-2b.

Conservative treatment with interferons (IFNs) has the advantage of preserving reproductive capacity in patients with grade 2 or 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The objective of this work was to study patients with high-grade CIN treated with intralesional IFN alpha-2b and to analyze the expression of Th1, Th2 and Th3 cytokines in cervical stroma. We observed that patients with a satisfactory response (60%) to treatment with IFN alpha-2b expressed more Th1 (IFN-gamma TNF-alpha, IL-2) cytokines, with a significant reduction in the viral load of high-risk human papillomavirus (p = 0.

Heart rate variability in chronic Chagas patients before and after treatment with benznidazole.

Background: There is no consensus regarding large-scale use of benznidazole to treat Chagas disease, because of its toxicity and low efficacy during the chronic phase.

Objectives: To evaluate heart rate variability in chronic Chagas patients before and after treatment with benznidazole.

Methods: Twenty-one Chagas patients with positive blood cultures and/or PCR received benznidazole (5 mg/kg twice daily for 60 days) and were matched for age and gender with 24 Chagas individuals with negative blood cultures, as controls.

The clinical use of type 1 interferon in gynecology.

Interferons were initially described in terms of their role in blocking viral replication. They are important cytokines that act on various aspects of cell physiology. Importantly, they can affect cell proliferation or induce the differentiation of neoplastic cells.

Familial analysis of seropositivity to Trypanosoma cruzi and of clinical forms of Chagas disease.

A cross-sectional study was carried out in Agua Comprida, MG, Brazil, a region previously endemic to Chagas disease whose vectorial transmission was interrupted around 20 year ago. A total of 998 individuals were examined for anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies. Seropositivity was observed in 255 subjects (25.

Using cytokines to treat cervical intraepithelial and invasive neoplasia.

A big challenge for research today is the manipulation of the immune system in order to destroy the neoplastic cells of tumors different origins by using cytokines and other immunostimulants. Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) has been used clinically and has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of various cell types in vivo and in vitro. This cytokine has been widely used in the treatment of infectious and chronic degenerative diseases and cancer.

Mortality indicators among chronic Chagas patients living in an endemic area.

Background: Chagas disease is a serious social-medical problem in Latin American countries because of its high incidence, morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to identify, from demographic, personal history, clinical and electrocardiographic variables, those that might have independent prognostic value regarding mortality, among a population of chronic Chagas patients from a single endemic area where vector transmission has been halted.

Methods And Results: Over a mean of 18.

Heart rate and arterial pressure variability and baroreflex sensitivity in ovariectomized spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Aims: The present study evaluated the effects of ovariectomy on heart rate and arterial pressure variability and cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in female spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY).

Main Methods: Sham-surgery animals were used as control. Sixteen weeks after ovariectomy or sham-surgery, animals were recorded.

High-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, human papillomavirus and factors connected with recurrence following surgical treatment.

Although effective strategies for preventing cancer of the uterine cervix exist, this disease continues to be a serious health problem worldwide, especially in developing countries. Today, the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) as a causal factor for the emergence of cervical cancer and its precursor lesions is well established, and prevention programs against cervical cancer are based on detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). HPV present immunological evasion mechanisms that inhibit detection of the virus by the host, which may result in persistent chronic infection and irrevocably comprise the host defenses.

Cervicovaginal cytological abnormalities in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection, in relation to disease stage, CD4 cell count and viral load.

The objective of the present study was to assess infections and cytologic abnormalities in cervicovaginal smears from 153 HIV-positive women and 169 HIV-negative followed up at the UFTM School of Medicine between May 1999 and May 2002. The medical records and cervicovaginal smears were reviewed and the HIV-positive group was classified according to CD4 cell count, HIV viral load, antiretroviral therapy and HIV subgroups (with or without disease; with or without therapy) and compared to HIV-negative group. We conclude that the frequency of Candida sp, Trichomonas vaginalis and bacterial vaginosis in cervicovaginal smear, is not different between HIV-positive and HIV-negative women, even if the HIV-group is subdivided according to CD4 cell count, HIV viral load, antiretroviral therapy and HIV subgroups.

Experimental evidence suggestive of early intervention in mucoid otitis media.

Conclusions: Mucoid effusion can undergo a process of organization related to the inflammatory process and hypoventilation; organized effusion in the presence of epithelial breaks is a potential source for formation of granulation tissue and cholesterol granuloma within 3 months of evolution.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of mucoid otitis media and its relationship with the organized effusion within a time-span of 3 months.

Materials And Methods: Two groups of animals were selected.

Disseminated Balamuthia mandrillaris amoeba infection in an AIDS patient from Brazil.

This report describes a 32-year-old male AIDS patient. He presented with a clinical picture characterized by severe headache, blurred vision, and fever that had lasted for 10 days. At admission, no remarkable neurologic abnormalities were observed.

Evaluation of the NNECDSG Score in a Brazilian public hospital.

Objective: To compare the observed incidence of mediastinitis and strokes versus the expected incidence according to the NNECDSG score (Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group) in a population submitted to coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Methods: A retrospective consultation was made of medical records of all patients submitted to isolated CABG from January 1st, 2000 to December 31st, 2004, at the Cardiac Surgery Service of the Triângulo Mineiro Federal University (UFTM). Data regarding the incidences of observed mediastinitis and strokes and those estimated by the NNECDSG score were submitted to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test.

Cardiac autonomic function in chagasic elderly patients in an endemic area: A time and frequency domain analysis approach.

Chagas' disease is a common cause of cardiac autonomic impairment. In an endemic area there is a predominance of the indeterminate form and the number of elderly individuals committed by the disease is increasing. This study aimed to investigate the profile of heart rate variability (HRV) in elderly chagasic patients.