Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis antimicrobial resistance has been followed with great concern during the last years, while the need for new drugs able to control leprosy and ...tuberculosis, mainly due to extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), is pressing. Our group recently showed that M. leprae is able to induce lipid body biogenesis and cholesterol accumulation in macrophages and Schwann cells, facilitating its viability and replication. Considering these previous results, we investigated the efficacies of two statins on the intracellular viability of mycobacteria within the macrophage, as well as the effect of atorvastatin on M. leprae infections in BALB/c mice. We observed that intracellular mycobacteria viability decreased markedly after incubation with both statins, but atorvastatin showed the best inhibitory effect when combined with rifampin. Using Shepard's model, we observed with atorvastatin an efficacy in controlling M. leprae and inflammatory infiltrate in the BALB/c footpad, in a serum cholesterol level-dependent way. We conclude that statins contribute to macrophage-bactericidal activity against Mycobacterium bovis, M. leprae, and M. tuberculosis. It is likely that the association of statins with the actual multidrug therapy effectively reduces mycobacterial viability and tissue lesion in leprosy and tuberculosis patients, although epidemiological studies are still needed for confirmation.
Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and frequently resulting in irreversible deformities and disabilities. Ticks play an important role in infectious disease transmission ...due to their low host specificity, worldwide distribution, and the biological ability to support transovarial transmission of a wide spectrum of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and protozoa. To investigate a possible role for ticks as vectors of leprosy, we assessed transovarial transmission of M. leprae in artificially-fed adult female Amblyomma sculptum ticks, and infection and growth of M. leprae in tick cell lines. Our results revealed M. leprae RNA and antigens persisting in the midgut and present in the ovaries of adult female A. sculptum at least 2 days after oral infection, and present in their progeny (eggs and larvae), which demonstrates the occurrence of transovarial transmission of this pathogen. Infected tick larvae were able to inoculate viable bacilli during blood-feeding on a rabbit. Moreover, following inoculation with M. leprae, the Ixodes scapularis embryo-derived tick cell line IDE8 supported a detectable increase in the number of bacilli for at least 20 days, presenting a doubling time of approximately 12 days. As far as we know, this is the first in vitro cellular system able to promote growth of M. leprae. Finally, we successfully transformed a clinical M. leprae isolate by inserting the reporter plasmid pCHERRY3; transformed bacteria infected and grew in IDE8 cells over a 2-month period. Taken together, our data not only support the hypothesis that ticks may have the potential to act as a reservoir and/or vector of leprosy, but also suggest the feasibility of technological development of tick cell lines as a tool for large-scale production of M. leprae bacteria, as well as describing for the first time a method for their transformation.
Leprosy is a chronic dermato-neurological disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae. In 2013 almost 200,000 new cases of leprosy were detected around the world. Since the first symptoms ...take from years to decades to appear, the total number of asymptomatic patients is impossible to predict. Although leprosy is one of the oldest records of human disease, the mechanisms involved with its transmission and epidemiology are still not completely understood. In the present work, we experimentally investigated the hypothesis that the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus and the hemiptera Rhodnius prolixus act as leprosy vectors. By means of real-time PCR quantification of M. leprae 16SrRNA, we found that M. leprae remained viable inside the digestive tract of Rhodnius prolixus for 20 days after oral infection. In contrast, in the gut of both mosquito species tested, we were not able to detect M. leprae RNA after a similar period of time. Inside the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus digestive tract, M. leprae was initially restricted to the anterior midgut, but gradually moved towards the hindgut, in a time course reminiscent of the life cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi, a well-known pathogen transmitted by this insect. The maintenance of M. leprae infectivity inside the digestive tract of this kissing bug is further supported by successful mice footpad inoculation with feces collected 20 days after infection. We conclude that Rhodnius prolixus defecate infective M. leprae, justifying the evaluation of the presence of M. leprae among sylvatic and domestic kissing bugs in countries endemic for leprosy.
We report a dataset containing full-scale, 3D images of rock plugs augmented by petrophysical lab characterization data for application in digital rock and capillary network analysis. Specifically, ...we have acquired microscopically resolved tomography datasets of 18 cylindrical sandstone and carbonate rock samples having lengths of 25.4 mm and diameters of 9.5 mm. Based on the micro-tomography data, we have computed porosity-values for each imaged rock sample. For validating the computed porosity values with a complementary lab method, we have measured porosity for each rock sample by using standard petrophysical characterization techniques. Overall, the tomography-based porosity values agree with the measurement results obtained from the lab, with values ranging from 8% to 30%. In addition, we provide for each rock sample the experimental permeabilities, with values ranging from 0.4 mD to above 5D. This dataset will be essential for establishing, benchmarking, and referencing the relation between porosity and permeability of reservoir rock at pore scale.
BACKGROUNDLeprosy is curable by multidrug therapy (MDT) treatment regimen ranging from six to 12 months. The variable levels of tolerance and adherence among patients can, however, result in ...treatment failure and the emergence of drug-resistant strains. OBJECTIVESDescribe the impact of MDT over Mycobacterium leprae viability in patient's oral and nasal mucosa along treatment. METHODSMycobacterium leprae viability was monitored by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) quantification of 16S rRNA in lateral and contralateral scrapings of oral and nasal mucosa of 10 multibacillary patients along the initial five months of treatment. FINDINGSThe results demonstrated high heterogenicity of M. leprae viability among patients and between nasal and oral samples. Of six patients who presented good adherence and tolerance to the treatment, only four displayed absence of M. leprae viability in both samples three months after the first MDT dose, while for the other two, the absence of M. leprae viability in the oral and nasal cavities was only detected five months after the first dose. MAIN CONCLUSIONSWe concluded that qPCR of 16S rRNA for the determination of M. leprae viability in nasal and oral scraping samples could represent an interesting approach to monitor treatment efficacy.
We report a dataset containing full-scale, 3D images of rock plugs augmented by petrophysical lab characterization data for application in digital rock and capillary network analysis. Specifically, ...we have acquired microscopically resolved tomography datasets of 18 cylindrical sandstone and carbonate rock samples having lengths of 25.4 mm and diameters of 9.5 mm, respectively. Based on the micro-tomography data, we have computed porosity-values for each imaged rock sample. For validating the computed porosity values with a complementary lab method, we have measured porosity for each rock sample by using standard petrophysical characterization techniques. Overall, the tomography-based porosity values agree with the measurement results obtained from the lab, with values ranging from 8% to 30%. In addition, we provide for each rock sample the experimental permeabilities, with values ranging from 0.4 mD to above 5D. This dataset will be essential for establishing, benchmarking, and referencing the relation between porosity and permeability of reservoir rock at pore scale.
Objetivo: Avaliar fatores associados e desfechos adversos relacionados à prematuridade. Métodos: Estudo caso-controle, realizado numa Maternidade Pública do Sul do Brasil, de agosto a dezembro de ...2020. Realizou-se coleta de dados analisando aspectos sociais, antecedentes patológicos e desfechos adversos em puérperas maiores de 18 anos que tiveram partos realizados na Maternidade do estudo. No cálculo razão de chance (RC), foi utilizado o intervalo de confiança (IC) de 95%, ajustado. Resultados: As puérperas foram divididas em dois grupos: com parto prematuro e parto a termo. Nas características, as pacientes que tiveram parto prematuro apresentaram menor ganho de peso, mais partos normais anteriores, menos consultas de pré-natal, mais Doença Hipertensiva Específica da Gestação e Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica. Nas características dos prematuros encontramos maior incidência de cesárea, baixo peso ao nascer e tratamento em unidade de terapia intensiva. O Diabetes Mellitus (DM) prévio foi associado à prematuridade com RC 5,0 (IC95% 1,2-20,3), houve chance aumentada de RN pequeno para Idade Gestacional (PIG) com RC 4,8 (95% IC 3,0-7,6), baixo peso ao nascer com RC 162,7 (IC 95% 51,8-510,8) e UTI com RC 9,9 (IC95% 5,5-17,8). Conclusão: O DM prévio associou-se à prematuridade. Nos desfechos adversos, a prematuridade aumentou a chance de RN PIG, baixo peso ao nascer e internação em UTI.
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