Luigi Gradoni

..We conclude that vaccination with MML is not effective to prevent leishmaniasis infection and disease progression in dogs under field conditions...

..8%, while the proportion of amphotericin B treatments increased from 0% to 97.2%. The countrywide change in therapy is a response to both disease reemergence and increasing antimonial failure...

..Finally, some practical requirements for the evaluation of vaccine candidates in dogs are indicated...

..CS n-PCR technique can be a suitable marker for assessing Leishmania exposure in dogs as a non-invasive alternative to current serological and molecular tools...

..Northern continental Italy is now focally endemic for VL and a moderate risk for human disease does exist, although the intensity of transmission seems to be lower than in traditional settings of Mediterranean VL...

..The rK39 ELISA is a relatively simple and rapid assay for assessing the infection status of dogs, and is an alternative to IFAT, especially when screening large numbers of samples...

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..A country's wealth affects the treatment choice, which represents a balance between drug efficacy, toxicity and cost, and costs associated with patient's care...

..Laboratory and field studies have shown improved efficacy of these preparations for both individual and mass protection...

..This is the first evidence of transmissibility of feline parasites to a proven vector, suggesting that cats may represent an additional domestic reservoir for L. infantum...

..perniciosus densities between the two surveyed areas...

..6%) than the promastigote infection rate determined by microscopy in the dissected females (1.4%). The intense Leishmania transmission in the study area was confirmed by the high prevalence of anti-leishmanial antibodies in dogs (33.3%)...

..some geographical isolates looked tightly clustered (e.g. Korean and Punjab isolates), but others were less so...

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..An entomological investigation in the area suggested that three Anopheles species, namely A. superpictus, A. pulcherrimus and A. hyrcanus may have a potential role in the endemic transmission of P. vivax...

..This result underlines the futility and danger of repeated antimonial treatments of dogs with signs of leishmaniasis, as these may produce a permanent reservoir of parasites unsusceptible to the drugs in human clinical use...

..infantum cysteine proteinase from inactivation by SNAP. These results indicate that parasite cysteine proteinase inactivation by NO-donors occurs via NO-mediated S-nitrosylation of the Cys25 catalytic residue...

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..These data suggest that the L. infantum cysteine proteinase undergoes NO-mediated S-nitrosylation, thereby representing a possible mechanism of antiparasitic host defence...

..Considering both, lack of toxicity and inhibitory activity, D-carnitine may have a role in the treatment of African trypanosomiasis, in association with available trypanocidal drugs...

..This case suggests that VL causes an increase in HCV replication, but, although the growth of the HCC can be defined as exceptional, a relationship with VL is not proven...

..gammadelta-T cells may be involved in the host response to this parasite, and prolonged antigenic stimulation and chronic immunosuppression (typical of leishmaniasis) play a crucial role in the etiopathogenesis of T-cell lymphoma...

..44%, and concordance (K) 0.88. The dog panel showed DA 0.998, Sp 99.54%, Se 98.54%, and K 0.98. The proposed method is the best recombinant antigen-based ELISA, and can be used as IFAT substitute for mass screening...

..To evaluate in a retrospective analysis cases of Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis (VL) diagnosed in HIV-negative adults during a 7-year period...

..The public health community should work to broaden access to preferential liposomal amphotericin B pricing by public sector VL treatment programs...

..Among the species, which may act as Leishmania infantum vectors, P. tobbi and P. neglectus were the most abundant...

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..To evaluate in a retrospective analysis the efficacy and safety of a 6 day course of liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) in infantile cases of Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis (VL) diagnosed over a 10 year period in Italy...

..Comparison with the steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetics of homologous plant enzymes suggests that the parasite cysteine proteinase catalytic behavior appears to be of general significance...

..infantum cysteine proteinase displays a maximum at about 340 nm. These results indicate that the parasite cysteine proteinase inactivation by SNO-102 occurs via the NO-mediated S-nitrosylation of the Cys25 catalytic residue...

..Here we report a small series of pregnant women with VL observed in the Neapolitan area over a 7 year period and carry out a systematic review of the literature on this topic...

..Therefore, NO limits Trypanosoma, Plasmodium, and Schistosoma development at all stages of the parasite life cycle...

..Symptoms of VL may be difficult to distinguish from the manifestations of Peg-IFN intolerance. We suggest that VL must be suspected in any immunodepressed patient with an unexplained fever and a history of exposure in an endemic area...

..Despite this possibility, no coordinated surveillance of the disease exists at the European level. In this review of leishmaniasis importance in Europe, we would like to bridge the gap between research and surveillance and control...

..Based on the previous experience of 20 years of coinfection in Europe, this review focuses on the management of Leishmania-HIV-coinfected patients in low-income countries where leishmaniasis is endemic...

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..Nucleotide polymorphisms at 2 codons of the pvmdr1 gene--Y976F and F1076L--were found in 14 of 23 P. vivax isolates from different areas of endemicity, including Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and French Guyana...