简介：AbstractBackground:Mycobacterium leprae and Toxoplasma gondii infections are both neglected tropical diseases highly prevalent in Brazil. Infection with certain parasite species can significantly alter susceptibility to other important pathogens, and/or influence the development of pathology. Here we investigated the possible influence of M. leprae/T. gondii co-parasitism on the manifestation of leprosy and its clinical forms.Methods:Participants (n = 291) were recruited in Campos dos Goytacazes city, Rio de Janeiro state, southeast Brazil, from August 2015 to December 2019 and clinically diagnosed for leprosy. Participants were selected based on the presence (patients) or absence (healthy controls) of the leprosy disease. Contacts of patients were also recruited for this study. Serum samples from patients (n = 199) with leprosy, contacts (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 52) were investigated for levels of IgM and IgG anti-phenolic glycolipid-1 (PGL-1) by ELISA. Additionally, IgG antibody against soluble Toxoplasma antigen (STAg) was measured in sera samples from leprosy patients, contacts and healthy controls for Toxoplasma gondii serology by ELISA. Anti-PGL-1 IgG and IgM levels were compared using one-way ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis or Mann-Whitney, while Spearman test was used to correlate levels of IgG anti-STAg and IgM/IgG anti-PGL-1 from seropositive and seronegative individuals for T. gondii infection. The risk of T. gondii infection for leprosy disease was assessed using Fisher's test.Results:Levels of IgM anti-PGL-1 antibodies were significantly higher in multibacillary (MB) patients compared to paucibacillary (PB) patients (P = 0.0068). Higher IgM and IgG levels anti-PGL-1 were detected in patients with the lepromatous forms. The serologic prevalence for T. gondii infection was 74.9%. We detected increased anti-STAg antibody levels in leprosy patients (79.4%), reaching 88.8% within those with lepromatous form of this disease. The leprosy risk increase in T. gondii seropositive individuals was two-fold (odds ratio [OR]= 2.055; 95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 1.18-3.51) higher than those seronegative, and considering the lepromatous leprosy risk this increase was even dramatic (OR = 4.33; 95% CI: 1.76-9.69) in T. gondii seropositive individuals. Moreover the leprosy risk in T. gondii seropositive individuals was weakly correlated to the levels of IgG anti-STAg and IgM/IgG anti-PGL-1.Conclusions:Altogether, our results suggest that T. gondii infection may exert immunomodulatory properties that influence to the susceptibility of leprosy, mainly on its more severe clinical form. A better understanding of parasite immunomodulation can ultimately contribute to the development of medical applications.

简介：AbstractBackground:Electrical stimulation has been recommended as an effective therapy to prevent muscle atrophy after nerve injury. However, the effect of electrical stimulation on the proliferation of satellite cells in denervated muscles has not yet been fully elucidated. This study was aimed to evaluate the changes in satellite cell proliferation after electrical stimulation in nerve injury and to determine whether these changes are related to the restoration of myofiber cross-section area (CSA).Methods:Sciatic nerve crush injury was performed in 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats. In half (24/48) of the rats, the gastrocnemius was electrically stimulated transcutaneously on a daily basis after injury, while the other half were not stimulated. Another group of 24 male Sprague-Dawley rats were used as sham operation controls without injury or stimulation. The rats were euthanized 2, 4, and 6 weeks later. After 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, the gastrocnemia were harvested for the detection of paired box protein 7 (Pax7), BrdU, myofiber CSA, and myonuclei number per fiber. All data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni post-hoc test.Results:The percentages of Pax7-positive nuclei (10.81 ± 0.56%) and BrdU-positive nuclei (34.29 ± 3.87%) in stimulated muscles were significantly higher compared to those in non-stimulated muscles (2.58 ± 0.33% and 1.30 ± 0.09%, respectively, Bonferroni t = 15.91 and 18.14, P < 0.05). The numbers of myonuclei per fiber (2.19 ± 0.24) and myofiber CSA (1906.86 ± 116.51 μm2) were also increased in the stimulated muscles (Bonferroni t = 3.57 and 2.73, P < 0.05), and both were positively correlated with the Pax7-positive satellite cell content (R2 = 0.52 and 0.60, P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the ratio of myofiber CSA/myonuclei number per fiber among the three groups.Conclusions:Our results indicate that satellite cell proliferation is promoted by electrical stimulation after nerve injury, which may be correlated with an increase in myonuclei number and myofiber CSA.

简介：这研究试图在朝鲜在cryptorchidism和hypospadias的全国性的发生代表最近的趋势，并且决定是否有在发生的空间异质的证据。发生在一张人口在实时出生以后在开始的4年期间作为最新诊断的病人(男性)的数字被计算，全国地并且地区性(一个非工业化的区域(Chuncheon)和石油化学的房地产(Yeocheon和Ulsan))，在2000和2005之间。为新病人的数据(分子)从国家健康保险评论机构被获得，并且为居民登记人口的数据(分母)从国家统计办公室。在2000和2005之间，cryptorchidism和hypospadias的国家发生每10 从5.01～17.43有一个增加的趋势；000个人并且从1.40～3.28每10 ；000个人分别地。cryptorchidism的发生在Yeocheon是显著地更高的(在整个学习时期)并且在Ulsan(2001，2002，2004和2005)比国家发生，而在Chuncheon的发生在2001和2002是显著地更低的。因为盒子的小数字，每年并且地区性比较hypospadias的率是困难的。在结论，cryptorchidism的发生最近在朝鲜增加了。石油化学的房地产，Yeocheon和Ulsan，比国家发生有cyptorchidism的显著地更高的发生，它建议进一步的学习被需要在异例的发生获得趋势的一个更精确的评价并且证实在petrochemicals和异例之间的协会。

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