Phytotherapy in the control of helminthiasis in production animals

Parasitic diseases constitute one of the main problems affecting livestock; however the use of chemical medicaments provides drug resistance residues in animal and environmental contamination. Changes in production concepts require that food must be produced in hygienic conditions, per healthy animals and that are not eliminating antibiotic residues, pesticides or other drugs. This scenario has favored organic production and the use of medicinal plants. For the control of endoparasites, several studies have published the benefits of Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Punica granatum Linn., Musa sp., Operculina hamiltonii G. DON., propolis, among others. However, despite the existence in- vitro studies that demonstrate the pharmacological properties of phytotherapics, there is still need for clinical trials to determine dosage and its effects in- vivo. Investigations of new bioactive natural substances can be of great value for the control of animal health and food safety, which is particularly important for organic production systems in which the use of chemical drugs is a limiting factor for certification.

Prevalence survey of selected bovine pathogens in water buffaloes in the north region of Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Malaria and Vascular Endothelium

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Programa de conscientização de idosos sobre posse responsável de animais de estimação em bairro periférico do município de Araçatuba, SP

Currently, responsible ownership of pets has been widely discussed. In the past, they were brought to our society and it is our duty nowadays to establish this relationship between man and animal. This study aimed at evaluating the level of knowledge of elderly dog owners about responsible ownership with emphasis on control of canine visceral leishmaniasis and at the same time make them aware of the precautions to be taken. An individual questionnaire on the subject was applied to 68 elderly people. They all belong to Nossa Senhora Aparecida Village, located on the suburb of Araçatuba-SP. Along with the interview, veterinary students advised them on the control of canine visceral leishmaniasis, the importance of sterilization in cats and dogs and the responsible ownership, with distribution of informative leaflets. Fecal samples from dogs were collected by the owners and they were sent to the Laboratory of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases at Odontology Faculty at Araçatuba UNESP to be processed through the Willis-Mollay technique. Anthelmintic were acquired in the project and donated for the treatment of animals tested positive. 56.25% (63/112) out of the total number of dogs examined were females, aged between one and ten years. Only 32.14% (36/112) had access to the streets, 90.18% (101/112) were not castrated and 58% (65/112) were mixed breed (SRD). Among the owners, 88.24% (60/68) did not know what zoonosis is and 14.71% (10/68) were not aware what leishmaniasis is. Regarding the researched animals, 62.50% (70/112) had ectoparasites (fleas and ticks). It was also observed that 67.86% (76/112) of dogs had been dewormed, but in 59.82% (36/112) of cases, the intervals between these processes were irregular. For females, 85.71% (54/63) had no prevention heat and it was noted that 19.51% (8 / 41) had already given birth, had dystocia. With these data we can confirm the lack of information by these elderly and the need to establish community awareness and continued programs.

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of feline leishmaniasis in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Estudo de transcriptomas por RNAseq em tecidos de cabeça e glândula salivar de Rhodnius montenegrensis e Rhodnius robustus (Hemiptera, Reduviidade, Triatominae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Intestinal parasitic infections in HIV/AIDS patients: epidemiological, nutritional and immunological aspects

This study applied a socioeconomic questionnaire designed to evaluate the frequency of intestinal parasites and characterize epidemiological, nutritional, and immunological variables in 105 HIV/AIDS patients - with and without parasitic infections, attending the Day Hospital in Botucatu, UNESP, from 2007 to 2008. Body mass index was calculated and the following tests performed: parasitological stool examinations; eosinophil, IgE, CD4(+) T and CD8(+) T lymphocyte cell counts; albumin test; viral load measure; and TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, IL-2, IL-5 and IL-10 cytokine levels. Results were positive for parasitic intestinal infections in 12.4% of individuals. Most patients had good socioeconomic conditions with basic sanitation, urban dwellings, treated water supply and sewage, good nutritional and immunological status and were undergoing HAART. Parasites were found at the following frequencies: Entamoeba - five patients (38.5%), Giardia lamblia-four (30.7%), Blastocystis hominis-three (23.0%), Endolimax nana-two (15.4%), and Ascaris lumbricoides - one (7.7%). There were no significant differences between the two groups for eosinophils, albumin, IgE, CD4(+) T and CD8(+) T lymphocytes, INF-gamma, IL-2, or IL-10. Most patients also showed undetectable viral load levels. Significant differences were found for TNF-alpha and IL-5. These results show the importance of new studies on immunodeficient individuals to increase understanding of such variables.

Control of parasitic infections among school children in the peri-urban area of Botucatu, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The prevalence of intestinal parasitosis was investigated in a primary school located in Rubiao Junior, a peri-urban district of Botucatu, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, in order to assess the effect of treatment and practical measures of prophylaxis in the control of parasitic infections among 7-to-18-year-old school children of a low socio-economic status. The first series of parasitological examinations included 219 school children, of which 123 (56.1%) were found to be infected with one or more parasite species. Eighty-four children carrying pathogenic parasites were submitted to various anti-parasitic treatment schedules. We re-evaluated 75 (89%) students after 4 to 6 months postchemotherapy. The results indicate that the combination of treatment with prophylactic measures has been successful in the control of parasitic infections, since reinfection rates were generally low (≤5.3%), except for Giardia lamblia infections (18.6%), and a marked reduction on the prevalence rates was observed with a significant percentage of cure (≤73.1%) in children infected with most parasite species. The reasons for the apparent failure in the control of infections caused by Hymenolepsis nana and Strongyloides stercoralis are discussed.

Chronic Diseases: Chronic Diseases and Development 2 Health, agricultural, and economic effects of adoption of healthy diet recommendations

Transition to diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar has caused a global public health concern as the pattern of food consumption is a mayor modifiable risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases Although agri food systems are intimately associated with this transition, agriculture and health sectors are largely disconnected in their priorities policy, and analysis with neither side considering the complex inter relation between agri trade patterns of food consumption health, and development We show the importance of connection of these perspectives through estimation of the effect of adopting a healthy diet on population health, agricultural production trade the economy and livelihoods, with a computable general equilibrium approach on the basis of case studies from the UK and Brazil we suggest that benefits of a healthy diet policy will vary substantially between different populations, not only because of population dietary intake but also because of agricultural production trade and other economic factors

HEMATOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT IN FOUR BRAZILIAN TELEOST FISH WITH PARASITIC INFECTIONS, COLLECTED IN FEEFISHING FROM FRANCA, São Paulo, BRAZIL

The effects of parasitic infections in condition factor, hematocrit, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and leucocytes and thrombocytes distribution in Piaractus mesopotamicus, Leporinus macrocephalus, hybrid tambacu (P. mesopotamicus x Colossoma macropomum and Brycon amazonicus collected in feefishing from Franca, São Paulo, Brazil were evaluated. Parasitized tambacu and L. macrocephalus had higher (p<0.05) condition factor than unparasitized fish. However, the contrary occurred in P. mesopotamicus and B. amazonicus. Changes in the hematocrit, hemoglobin and MCHC were not related to parasitism. Parasitic infections did not cause effect on leucocytes and thrombocytes percentage (p>0.05) of tambacu. In P. mesopotamicus parasitized by Monogenea Anacanthorus penilabiatus and dinoflagellate Piscinoodinium pillulare, increase in monocytes and decrease in thrombocytes percentage (p<0.05) were found. However, the same parasitic association in L. macrocephalus caused a decrease in lymphocytes percentage accompanied by increase in neutrophils percentage (p<0.05). In B. amazonicus, infection by Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, P. pillulare and monogeneans caused increase in neutrophils percentage.

Separating interface state response from parasitic effects in conductance measurements on organic metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors

A simple model is developed for the admittance of a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitor which includes the effect of a guard ring surrounding the Ohmic contact to the semiconductor. The model predicts most of the features observed in a MIS capacitor fabricated using regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) as the active semiconductor and polysilsesquioxane as the gate insulator. In particular, it shows that when the capacitor is driven into accumulation, the parasitic transistor formed by the guard ring and Ohmic contact can give rise to an additional feature in the admittance-voltage plot that could be mistaken for interface states. When this artifact and underlying losses in the bulk semiconductor are accounted for, the remaining experimental feature, a peak in the loss-voltage plot when the capacitor is in depletion, is identified as an interface (or near interface) state of density of similar to 4 x 10(10) cm(-2) eV(-1). Application of the model shows that exposure of a vacuum-annealed device to laboratory air produces a rapid change in the doping density in the channel region of the parasitic transistor but only slow changes in the bulk semiconductor covered by the gold Ohmic contact. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Coenzyme Q(10) and its effects in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

According to clinical and pre-clinical studies, oxidative stress and its consequences may be the cause or, at least, a contributing factor, to a large number of neurodegenerative diseases. These diseases include common and debilitating disorders, characterized by progressive and irreversible loss of neurons in specific regions of the brain. The most common neurodegenerative diseases are Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ(10)) has been extensively studied since its discovery in 1957. It is a component of the electron transportation chain and participates in aerobic cellular respiration, generating energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The property of CoQ(10) to act as an antioxidant or a pro-oxidant, suggests that it also plays an important role in the modulation of redox cellular status under physiological and pathological conditions, also performing a role in the ageing process. In several animal models of neurodegenerative diseases, CoQ(10) has shown beneficial effects in reducing disease progression. However, further studies are needed to assess the outcome and effectiveness of CoQ(10) before exposing patients to unnecessary health risks at significant costs.

Prodrugs for the treatment of neglected diseases

Recently, World Health Organization ( WHO) and Medicins San Frontieres (MSF) proposed a classification of diseases as global, neglected and extremely neglected. Global diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular and mental (CNS) diseases represent the targets of the majority of the R&D efforts of pharmaceutical companies. Neglected diseases affect millions of people in the world yet existing drug therapy is limited and often inappropriate. Furthermore, extremely neglected diseases affect people living under miserable conditions who barely have access to the bare necessities for survival. Most of these diseases are excluded from the goals of the R&D programs in the pharmaceutical industry and therefore fall outside the pharmaceutical market. About 14 million people, mainly in developing countries, die each year from infectious diseases. From 1975 to 1999, 1393 new drugs were approved yet only 1% were for the treatment of neglected diseases [ 3]. These numbers have not changed until now, so in those countries there is an urgent need for the design and synthesis of new drugs and in this area the prodrug approach is a very interesting field. It provides, among other effects, activity improvements and toxicity decreases for current and new drugs, improving market availability. It is worth noting that it is essential in drug design to save time and money, and prodrug approaches can be considered of high interest in this respect. The present review covers 20 years of research on the design of prodrugs for the treatment of neglected and extremely neglected diseases such as Chagas' disease ( American trypanosomiasis), sleeping sickness ( African trypanosomiasis), malaria, sickle cell disease, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis.

Clinical and pathological assessment of 82 patients with cardiovascular diseases undergoing autopsy at the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu from 1988 to 1993

OBJECTIVE: To evaluated the clinical diagnostic, efficiency for basic death causes in patients dying of circulatory disease and de relative frequency of those diseases. METHODS: Analysis of medical record data of 82 patients, ages from 16 to 84 years old (68 over 40 years old), whose died of circulatory disease and had undergone necropsy in the period from 1988 to 1993 years in the University Hospital of Medicine Faculty of Botucatu-UNESP, Br. RESULTS: The functional class of patients were III or IV, in 78%, and 81.7% needed urgent hospitalization. By the clinical judgment the death were by ischemic heart disease in 32 (21 acute myocardial infarction), Chagas'disease in 12, valvopathy in 11, cardiomyopathy in 7, heart failure with no specification of cardiopathy in 11 and other causes in 9. At the necropsy the death cause was ischemic heart disease in 34 patients, valvopathy in 10, Chagas'disease in 10, cardiomyopathy in 5, and heart failure with no specification of cardiopathy in 2.The concordance taxes were in thhe same order: 94,6%, 90,0%, 83.3%, 71.4% and 28.5%. CONCLUSION: There was a great efficiency of clinical diagnosis for death cause in a general university hospital. The ischemic heart disease were the main causes of death.