Chagas disease is one of the most important endemic parasitic diseases in Latin America. In its chronic phase, progression to cardiomyopathy has high morbidity and mortality. The persistence of a ...normal electrocardiogram (ECG) provides a similar prognosis to that of a non-diseased population. Benznidazole (BNZ) is the only drug with trypanocidal action available in Brazil.
A group of 310 patients with chronic Chagas disease who had normal ECGs at the first medical visit performed before 2002 were included. There were 263 patients treated with BNZ and 47 untreated. The follow-up period was 19.59 years. Univariate analyses showed that those treated were younger and predominantly male. As many as 79.08% of those treated and 46.81% of those untreated continued with normal electrocardiograms (p <0.0001). The occurrence of electrocardiographic abnormalities and relevant clinical events (heart failure, stroke, total mortality, and cardiovascular death) was less prevalent in treated patients (p <0.001, p: 0.022, p: 0.047 respectively). In multivariate analyses, the parasiticide treatment was an independent variable for persistence of a normal ECG pattern, which was an independent variable in the prevention of significant clinical events. The immunofluorescence titers decreased with the parasitological treatment. However, the small number of tests in untreated patients did not allow the correlation of the decrease of these titers with electrocardiographic alterations.
These data suggest that treatment with benznidazole prevents the occurrence of electrocardiographic alterations. On the other hand, patients who develop ECG abnormalities present with more significant clinical events.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Approximately seven to eight million people worldwide have Chagas disease. In Brazil, benznidazole is the most commonly used active drug against Trypanosoma cruzi; however, its efficacy is limited, ...and side effects are frequent. Recent studies suggest that amiodarone may be beneficial in the treatment of this disease, by exerting anti-T. cruzi action. This study evaluated changes in T. cruzi cell count in in vitro cultures subjected to different doses of benznidazole, amiodarone, and their combination.
T. cruzi (Y strain) cultures containing approximately 100,000 cells were treated with either 100mg, 50mg, 25mg, 12.5mg, or 10mg of benznidazole, amiodarone, or their combination. On the 4th day, cell count was compared to the baseline data.
On the 4th day, no parasites were observed in any of the treated cultures.
Benznidazole and amiodarone were equally effective in eliminating T. cruzi in culture. The combination of the two drugs was also equally effective, but our data cannot demonstrate synergism, as similar results were obtained when the drugs were tested individually or in combination. It is suggested that this study be repeated with other T. cruzi strains to determine whether similar results can be obtained again.
Mycobacterium leprae infection depends on the competence of the host immune defense to induce effective protection against this intracellular pathogen. The present study investigated the serum levels ...of vitamin D and the antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin, to determine the statistical correlation between them in leprosy patients before and post-six months of multidrug therapy (MDT), household contacts, and healthy individuals. Previous studies associated these molecules with high risks to develop mycobacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis and leprosy. A total of 34 leprosy patients paucibacillary (n = 14), multibacillary (n = 20), and 25 household contacts were recruited. Eighteen healthy adults were selected as a control group. Serum concentrations of vitamin D (25(OH)VD3) and cathelicidin were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, respectively. There were no significant differences in serum levels of 25(OH)VD3 between all groups, and the overall prevalence rate of vitamin D deficiency was 67.1%. Cathelicidin levels were significantly lower in both untreated and treated patients when compared to controls and household contacts (p < 0.05). Strong correlations between hypovitaminosis D and reduced cathelicidin in untreated (r = 0.86) and post-six months of MDT (r = 0.79) leprosy patients were observed. These results suggest that vitamin D status and cathelicidin levels are strongly correlated during multidrug therapy for leprosy and nutritional supplementation from the beginning of treatment could strengthen the immune response against leprosy.
•Correlation between Vitamin D and cathelicidin levels in leprosy patients was investigated.•Vitamin D deficiency was detected in the majority of analyzed individuals.•Cathelicidin serum levels were significantly lower in leprosy patients.•Hypovitaminosis D and low cathelicidin levels are correlated in leprosy patients.•Vitamin D supplementation could strengthen the immune response against leprosy.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
A educação se torna relevante quando se conecta a realidade dos educandos, a horta escolar é uma ferramenta importante na abordagem ambiental. Para o presente trabalho foi realizado uma revisão ...bibliográfica sobre a utilização da horta escolar como método facilitador de ensino na educação em solos dentro do componente curricular de Química. Buscou-se analisar os documentos norteadores do currículo educacional, sendo eles a Base Nacional Comum Curricular, Currículo Base de Química do Território Catarinense e Legislação Ambiental, e complementar a estes, artigos científicos. Como resultado, observou-se a importância da educação como um instrumento de transformação e conscientização ambiental.
Targeted antitumour therapy has revolutionized the treatment of several types of tumours. Among the validated targets, phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) deserves to be highlighted. Several PI3K ...inhibitors have been developed for the treatment of cancer, including gedatolisib (
). This inhibitor was elected as a prototype and molecular modifications were planned to design a new series of simplified gedatolisib analogues (
). The analogues were synthesised, and the comparative cytotoxic activity profile was studied in phenotypic models employing solid and nonadherent tumour cell lines. Compound
(LASSBio-2252) stood out as the most promising of the series, showing good aqueous solubility (42.38 μM (pH = 7.4); 39.33 μM (pH = 5.8)), good partition coefficient (cLogP = 2.96), cytotoxic activity on human leukemia cell lines (CCRF-CEM, K562 and MOLT-4) and an excellent metabolic stability profile in rat liver microsomes (t
= 462 min; Clapp = 0.058 mL/min/g). The ability of
to exert its cytotoxic effect through modulation of the PI3K pathway was demonstrated by flow cytometry analysis in a comparative manner to gedatolisib.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
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Apontamentos sobre educação e ludicidade Macedo, Elizangela Leite da Silva; Moraes, Daniele Ferreira de Campos; Silva, Débora Cenira da ...
Revista Ibero-Americana de Humanidades, Ciências e Educação,
07/2021
Journal Article
Open access
Este livro se propõe discutir os meandros que cercam à ludicidade e as estratégias de jogos e brincadeiras, enquanto importantes atividades lúdicas para o desenvolvimento ominilateral dos ...indivíduos, especialmente no orbe da Edução Infantil. Face ao exposto, o livro em tese, se debruçou sobre a investigação das faces do lúdico sob a perspectiva de autoras que lidam com o universo infantil no seu cotidiano laboral.