Search results for "INFECTIOUS"

Additives for vaccine storage to improve thermal stability of adenoviruses from hours to months

2016

Up to 80% of the cost of vaccination programmes is due to the cold chain problem (that is, keeping vaccines cold). Inexpensive, biocompatible additives to slow down the degradation of virus particles would address the problem. Here we propose and characterize additives that, already at very low concentrations, improve the storage time of adenovirus type 5. Anionic gold nanoparticles (10−8–10−6 M) or polyethylene glycol (PEG, molecular weight ∼8,000 Da, 10−7–10−4 M) increase the half-life of a green fluorescent protein expressing adenovirus from ∼48 h to 21 days at 37 °C (from 7 to >30 days at room temperature). They replicate the known stabilizing effect of sucrose, but at several orders of…

Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae

2021

AbstractBackgroundTriatomine bugs, the vectors of Chagas disease, associate with vertebrate hosts in highly diverse ecotopes. When these blood-sucking bugs adapt to new microhabitats, their phenotypes may change. Although understanding phenotypic variation is key to the study of adaptive evolution and central to phenotype-based taxonomy, the drivers of phenotypic change and diversity in triatomines remain poorly understood.Methods/FindingsWe combined a detailed phenotypic appraisal (including morphology and morphometrics) with mitochondrialcytband nuclear ITS2 DNA-sequence analyses to studyRhodnius ecuadoriensispopulations from across the species’ range. We found three major, naked-eye phen…

IRF8 Transcription Factor Controls Survival and Function of Terminally Differentiated Conventional and Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells, Respectively

2016

International audience; Interferon regulatory factor-8 (IRF8) has been proposed to be essential for development of monocytes, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1s) and remains highly expressed in differentiated DCs. Transcription factors that are required to maintain the identity of terminally differentiated cells are designated `' terminal selectors.'' Using BM chimeras, conditional Irf8(fl/fl) mice and various promotors to target Cre recombinase to different stages of monocyte and DC development, we have identified IRF8 as a terminal selector of the cDC1 lineage controlling survival. In monocytes, IRF8 was necessary during early but not late d…

Effects of trans-stilbene and terphenyl compounds on different strains of Leishmania and on cytokines production from infected macrophages.

2017

Most of the antileishmanial modern therapies are not satisfactory due to high toxicity or emergence of resistance and high cost of treatment. Previously, we observed that two compounds of a small library of trans-stilbene and terphenyl derivatives, ST18 and TR4, presented the best activity and safety profiles against Leishmania infantum promastigotes and amastigotes. In the present study we evaluated the effects of ST18 and the TR4 in 6 different species of Leishmania and the modifications induced by these two compounds in the production of 8 different cytokines from infected macrophages. We observed that TR4 was potently active in all Leishmania species tested in the study showing a leishm…

Topoisomerase 1 inhibition suppresses inflammatory genes and protects from death by inflammation

2015

Unwinding DNA and unleasing inflammation Fighting infections often comes with collateral damage, which sometimes can be deadly. For instance, in septic shock, the overwhelming release of inflammatory mediators drives multi-organ failure. Rialdi et al. now report a potential new therapeutic target for controlling excessive inflammation: the DNA unwinding enzyme topoisomerase I (Top1) (see the Perspective by Pope and Medzhitov). Upon infection, Top1 specifically localizes to the promoters of pathogen-induced genes and promotes their transcription by helping to recruit RNA polymerase II. Pharmacological inhibition of Top1 in a therapeutic setting increased survival in several mouse models of s…

Conditional Gene-Targeting in Mice: Problems and Solutions.

2018

Prevalence and intensity of neglected tropical diseases (schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths) amongst rural female pupils in Ugu district,…

2020

Background Inadequate water supply and sanitation adversely affects the health and socio-economic development of communities and places them at risk of contracting schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). The aim of this study was to quantify the prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis (bilharzia) and STHs amongst female school-going pupils in Ugu district. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Ugu district amongst primary school pupils from 18 randomly selected schools in 2010. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the history and knowledge of bilharzia of 1057 pupils. One stool and 3 consecutive days of urine samples were co…

Simple dialkyl pyrazole-3,5-dicarboxylates show in vitro and in vivo activity against disease-causing trypanosomatids.

2017

SUMMARYThe synthesis and antiprotozoal activity of some simple dialkyl pyrazole-3,5-dicarboxylates (compounds 2–6) and their sodium salts (pyrazolates) (compounds 7–9) against Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania infantum and Leishmania braziliensis are reported. In most cases the studied compounds showed, especially against the clinically significant amastigote forms, in vitro activities higher than those of the reference drugs (benznidazole for T. cruzi and glucantime for Leishmania spp.); furthermore, the low non-specific cytotoxicities against Vero cells and macrophages shown by these compounds led to good selectivity indexes, which are 8–72 times higher for T. cruzi amastigotes and 15–113 tim…

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in domestic pigs, sheep, cattle, wild boars, and moose in the Nordic-Baltic region: A systematic review and meta-…

2019

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an important foodborne zoonotic parasite. Meat of infected animals is presumed to constitute a major source of human infection and may be a driver of geographical variation in the prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies in humans, which is substantial in the Nordic-Baltic region in northern Europe. However, data on seroprevalence of T. gondii in different animal species used for human consumption are scattered. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of seroprevalence studies and meta-analysis to estimate the seroprevalence of T. gondii in five animal species that are raised or hunted for human consumption in the Nordic-Baltic region: domestic pigs (Sus sc…

Impact of temperature and soil type on Mycobacterium bovis survival in the environment

2017

Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of the bovine tuberculosis (bTB), mainly affects cattle, its natural reservoir, but also a wide range of domestic and wild mammals. Besides direct transmission via contaminated aerosols, indirect transmission of the M. bovis between wildlife and livestock might occur by inhalation or ingestion of environmental substrates contaminated through infected animal shedding. We monitored the survival of M. bovis in two soil samples chosen for their contrasted physical and-chemical properties (i.e. pH, clay content). The population of M. bovis spiked in sterile soils was enumerated by a culture-based method after 14, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days of incubation…