The redox potential interferes with the expression of laminin binding molecules in Bacteroides fragilis

The Bacteroides fragilis ATCC strain was grown in a synthetic media with contrasting redox potential (Eh) levels [reduced (-60 mV) or oxidised (+100mV)] and their adhesion capacity to extracellular matrix components was evaluated. The strain was capable of adhering to laminin, fibronectin, fibronectin + heparan sulphate and heparan sulphate. A stronger adherence to laminin after growing the strain under oxidising conditions was verified. Electron microscopy using ruthenium red showed a heterogeneous population under this condition. Dot-blotting analyses confirmed stronger laminin recognition by outer membrane proteins of cells cultured at a higher Eh. Using a laminin affinity column, several putative laminin binding proteins obtained from the cultures kept under oxidising (60 kDa, 36 kDa, 25 kDa and 15 kDa) and reducing (60 kDa) conditions could be detected. Our results show that the expression of B. fragilis surface components that recognise laminin are influenced by Eh variations.

Entorno Colaborativo de Trabajo: La Intranet 2.0 de la Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía

The Department of Health of the Government of Andalusia provides professionals of the Andalusian Public Health Care System a collaborative working environment (Entorno colaborativo de trabajo [ECT]) based on the principles of web 2.0. The ECT is organized into communities, understood as sets of people with a common interest who share a space with its own information and collaboration tools. This space is managed and powered autonomously by the communities themselves. This paper analyzes the use and degree of implementation of the ECT, considering the user communities and activity statistics in 2009 and 2010. From the data obtained we deduce that instrumental services have easier acceptance than collaboration and knowledge management services; content generation is focused on a small number of users; and communities associated with organizational units have less development than those associated with work areas or projects.

Immunological imbalance between IFN-³ and IL-10 levels in the sera of patients with the cardiac form of Chagas disease

The immune response is crucial for protection against disease; however, immunological imbalances can lead to heart and digestive tract lesions in chagasic patients. Several studies have evaluated the cellular and humoral immune responses in chagasic patients in an attempt to correlate immunological findings with clinical forms of Chagas disease. Moreover, immunoglobulins and cytokines are important for parasitic control and are involved in lesion genesis. Here, cytokine and IgG isotype production were studied, using total epimastigote antigen on sera of chagasic patients with indeterminate (IND, n = 27) and cardiac (CARD, n = 16) forms of the disease. Samples from normal, uninfected individuals (NI, n = 30) were use as controls. The results showed that sera from both IND and CARD patients contained higher levels of Trypanosoma cruzi-specific IgG1 (IgG1) antibodies than sera from NI. No difference in IgG2 production levels was observed between NI, IND and CARD patients, nor was a difference in IL-10 and IFN-³ production detected in the sera of IND, CARD and NI patients. However, IND patients displayed a positive correlation between IL-10 and IFN-³ levels in serum, while CARD patients showed no such correlation, indicating an uncontrolled inflammatory response in CARD patients. These findings support the hypothesis that a lack of efficient regulation between IFN-³ and IL-10 productions in CARD patients may lead to cardiac immunopathology.

Use of the internet as a source of health information by Spanish adolescents

The Internet is a fundamental part of the daily life of adolescents, they consider it as a safe and confidential source of information on health matters. The aims is to describe the experience of Spanish adolescents searching for health information on the Internet. Methods A cross-sectional study of 811 school-age adolescents in Granada was carried out. An adapted and piloted questionnaire was used which was controlled by trained personnel. Sociodemographic and health variables were included together with those concerning the conditions governing access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Results 811 adolescents were surveyed (99.38% response rate), mean age was 17 years old. Of these, 88% used the Internet; 57.5% used it on a daily or weekly basis and 38.7% used it occasionally. Nearly half the sample group (55.7%) stated that they used the Internet to search for health-related information. The main problems reported in the search for e-health were the ignorance of good web pages (54.8%) and the lack of confidence or search skills (23.2%). Conclusions In conclusion, it seems plausible to claim that websites designed and managed by health services should have a predominant position among interventions specifically addressed to young people.

ELOVL6 Genetic Variation Is Related to Insulin Sensitivity: A New Candidate Gene in Energy Metabolism

BACKGROUND: The elongase of long chain fatty acids family 6 (ELOVL6) is an enzyme that specifically catalyzes the elongation of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with 12, 14 and 16 carbons. ELOVL6 is expressed in lipogenic tissues and it is regulated by sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP-1). OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether ELOVL6 genetic variation is associated with insulin sensitivity in a population from southern Spain. DESIGN: We undertook a prospective, population-based study collecting phenotypic, metabolic, nutritional and genetic information. Measurements were made of weight and height and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Insulin resistance was measured by homeostasis model assessment. The type of dietary fat was assessed from samples of cooking oil taken from the participants' kitchens and analyzed by gas chromatography. Five SNPs of the ELOVL6 gene were analyzed by SNPlex. RESULTS: Carriers of the minor alleles of the SNPs rs9997926 and rs6824447 had a lower risk of having high HOMA_IR, whereas carriers of the minor allele rs17041272 had a higher risk of being insulin resistant. An interaction was detected between the rs6824447 polymorphism and the intake of oil in relation with insulin resistance, such that carriers of this minor allele who consumed sunflower oil had lower HOMA_IR than those who did not have this allele (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Genetic variations in the ELOVL6 gene were associated with insulin sensitivity in this population-based study.

An antibody-based ELISA for quantification of Ani s 1, a major allergen from Anisakis simplex.

Anisakis simplex is a nematode parasite that can infect humans who have eaten raw or undercooked seafood. Larvae invading the gastrointestinal mucosa excrete/secrete proteins that are implicated in the pathogenesis of anisakiasis and can induce IgE-mediated symptoms. Since Ani s 1 is a potent secreted allergen with important clinical relevance, its measurement could assess the quality of allergenic products used in diagnosis/immunotherapy of Anisakis allergy and track the presence of A. simplex parasites in fish foodstuffs. An antibody-based ELISA for quantification of Ani s 1 has been developed based on monoclonal antibody 4F2 as capture antibody and biotin-labelled polyclonal antibodies against Ani s 1 as detection reagent. The dose-response standard curves, obtained with natural and recombinant antigens, ranged from 4 to 2000 ng/ml and were identical and parallel to that of the A. simplex extract. The linear portion of the dose-response curve with nAni s 1 was between 15 and 250 ng/ml with inter-assay and intra-assays coefficients of variation less than 20% and 10%, respectively. The assay was specific since there was no cross-reaction with other extracts (except Ascaris extracts) and was highly sensitive (detection limit of 1·8 ng/ml), being able to detect Ani s 1 in fish extracts from codfish and monkfish.

Microbiological and host features associated with corynebacteriosis in cancer patients: a five-year study

During a five-year period, 932 clinical isolates from cancer patients treated in a Brazilian reference centre were identified as corynebacteria; 86% of the cultures came from patients who had been clinically and microbiologically classified as infected and 77.1% of these patients had been hospitalised (71.1% from surgical wards). The adult solid tumour was the most common underlying malignant disease (66.7%). The univariate and multivariate analyses showed that hospitalised patients had a six-fold greater risk (OR = 5.5, 95% CI = 1.15-26.30 p = 0.033) related to 30-day mortality. The predominant species were Corynebacterium amycolatum (44.7%), Corynebacterium minutissimum (18.3%) and Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum (8.5%). The upper urinary tracts, surgical wounds, lower respiratory tracts, ulcerated tumours and indwelling venous catheters were the most frequent sources of C. amycolatum strains. Corynebacterium jeikeium infection occurred primarily in neutropenic patients who have used venous catheters, while infection caused by C. amycolatum and other species emerged mainly in patients with solid tumours.

Histological and histochemical evaluation of human oral mucosa constructs developed by tissue engineering

Reconstruction of large oral mucosa defects is often challenging, since the shortage of healthy oral mucosa to replace the excised tissues is very common. In this context, tissue engineering techniques may provide a source of autologous tissues available for transplant in these patients. In this work, we developed a new model of artificial oral mucosa generated by tissue engineering using a fibrin-agarose scaffold. For that purpose, we generated primary cultures of human oral mucosa fibroblasts and keratinocytes from small biopsies of normal oral mucosa using enzymatic treatments. Then we determined the viability of the cultured cells by electron probe quantitative X-ray microanalysis, and we demonstrated that most of the cells in the primary cultures were alive and had high K/Na ratios. Once cell viability was determined, we used the cultured fibroblasts and keratinocytes to develop an artificial oral mucosa construct by using a fibrin-agarose extracellular matrix and a sequential culture technique using porous culture inserts. Histological analysis of the artificial tissues showed high similarities with normal oral mucosa controls. The epithelium of the oral substitutes had several layers, with desmosomes and apical microvilli and microplicae. Both the controls and the oral mucosa substitutes showed high suprabasal expression of cytokeratin 13 and low expression of cytokeratin 10. All these results suggest that our model of oral mucosa using fibrin-agarose scaffolds show several similarities with native human oral mucosa.

Promoción de la salud bucodental en el ámbito escolar : "programa aprende a sonreír" : propuesta didáctica

En port.: Secretaría General de Salud Pública y Participación. Consejería de Salud. Dirección General de Innovación Educativa. Consejería de Educación. Publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Salud: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Salud / Ciudadanía / Nuestra Salud / Vida sana / Salud bucodental / Materiales para la Salud Bucodental Infantil)

Desarrollo positivo adolescente y los activos que lo promueven : un estudio en centros docentes andaluces

Publicación compuesta por: El desarrollo positivo adolescente y los activos que lo promueven: un estudio en centros docentes andaluces (149 p.); Instrumentos para la evaluación de la salud mental y el desarrollo positivo adolescente y los activos que lo promueven (291 p.); Activos para el desarrollo positivo y la salud mental en la adolescencia (369 p.) y Salutogénesis, activos y desarrollo positivo (Video 24 min. 20 seg.)

IgG and IgM western blot assay for diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of western blot (WB) analysis as a diagnostic tool for congenital toxoplasmosis in 215 newborn infants. The children were submitted to clinical examinations to assess macular, neurological and hearing signals. The WB results obtained were compared to the persistence of IgG antibodies at the end of 12 months, which is regarded as the "gold standard" diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis. Association between the WB results and the clinical signs presented by the infants was also assessed. Of the 215 children, 177 had a confirmed congenital toxoplasmosis diagnosis and 38 were uninfected. IgG-WB showed a sensitivity of 73.5% and a specificity of 97.4%. IgM-WB showed a sensitivity of 54.8% and a specificity of 94.7%. The IgG-WB and IgM-WB combination increased the sensitivity to 86.5%. The IgM-WB-positive children had a 1.4-fold greater risk of presenting active macular lesions than did those that were IgM-WB-negative. This study showed that the WB assay is a useful tool to confirm a diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis and that the IgM-WB-positive results can indicate active macular lesions in newborn infants.

Differential tissue tropism of Trypanosoma cruzi strains: an in vitro study

We have previously demonstrated selection favoring the JG strain of Trypanosoma cruziin hearts of BALB/c mice that were chronically infected with an equal mixture of the monoclonal JG strain and a clone of the Colombian strain, Col1.7G2. To evaluate whether cell invasion efficiency drives this selection, we infected primary cultures of BALB/c cardiomyocytes using these same T. cruzi populations. Contrary to expectation, Col1.7G2 parasites invaded heart cell cultures in higher numbers than JG parasites; however, intracellular multiplication of JG parasites was more efficient than that of Col1.7G2 parasites. This phenomenon was only observed for cardiomyocytes and not for cultured Vero cells. Double infections (Col1.7G2 + JG) showed similar results. Even though invasion might influence tissue selection, our data strongly suggest that intracellular development is important to determine parasite tissue tropism.

Trypanosoma cruzi benznidazole susceptibility in vitro does not predict the therapeutic outcome of human Chagas disease

Therapeutic failure of benznidazole (BZ) is widely documented in Chagas disease and has been primarily associated with variations in the drug susceptibility of Trypanosoma cruzi strains. In humans, therapeutic success has been assessed by the negativation of anti-T. cruzi antibodies, a process that may take up to 10 years. A protocol for early screening of the drug resistance of infective strains would be valuable for orienting physicians towards alternative therapies, with a combination of existing drugs or new anti-T. cruzi agents. We developed a procedure that couples the isolation of parasites by haemoculture with quantification of BZ susceptibility in the resultant epimastigote forms. BZ activity was standardized with reference strains, which showed IC50 to BZ between 7.6-32 µM. The assay was then applied to isolates from seven chronic patients prior to administration of BZ therapy. The IC50 of the strains varied from 15.6 ± 3-51.4 ± 1 µM. Comparison of BZ susceptibility of the pre-treatment isolates of patients considered cured by several criteria and of non-cured patients indicates that the assay does not predict therapeutic outcome. A two-fold increase in BZ resistance in the post-treatment isolates of two patients was verified. Based on the profile of nine microsatellite loci, sub-population selection in non-cured patients was ruled out.

Immune and inflammatory responses to Leishmania amazonensis isolated from different clinical forms of human leishmaniasis in CBA mice

Leishmania amazonensis causes different diseases depending on the host and parasitic virulence factors. In this study, CBA mice were infected with L. amazonensis isolates from patients with localized (Ba125), diffuse cutaneous (Ba276) or visceral leishmaniasis (Ba109). Mice infected with Ba125 and Ba276 progressed rapidly and lesions displayed an infiltrate rich in parasitized macrophages and were necrotic and ulcerated. Ba109 induced smaller lesions and a mixed inflammatory infiltrate without necrosis or ulceration. Ba109 induced an insidious disease with lower parasite load in CBA mice, similar to human disease. Levels of IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 did not differ among the groups. Because all groups were unable to control the infection, expression of IL-4 associated with low production of IFN-γ in the early phase of infection may account for susceptibility, but others factors may contribute to the differences observed in inflammatory responses and infection progression. Evaluation of some parasitic virulence factors revealed that Ba276 exhibits higher ecto-ADPase and 5'-nucleotidase activities compared to the Ba109 and Ba125 strains. Both Ba276 and Ba125 had higher arginase activity in comparison to Ba109. Finally, these data suggest that the differences in enzyme activities among parasites can account for differences in host inflammatory responses and infection progression.