Orofacial lesions in treated southeast Brazilian leprosy patients: a cross-sectional study.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to clinically evaluate the oral mucosa lesions of leprosy patients during and after multi-drug therapy. METHODS: Clinical examination, medical and dental history examination was performed in 100 leprosy patients. RESULTS: The results revealed that 71 patients, 50 men and 21 women, exibited oral lesions. The most frequent lesions were: fissured tongue (18 cases), inflammatory papillary hyperplasia (16 cases), chronic atrophic candidiasis (10 cases), fibroma (10 cases), erythematous candidiasis (eight cases), and traumatic ulceration (seven cases). CONCLUSION: We conclude that leprosy-related lesions are not present in patients undergoing treatment for leprosy, probably due to response to multidrug therapy.

A chitinase encoding gene (chit1 gene) from the entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae: isolation and characterization of genomic and full-length cDNA.

There are no reports to date of entire gene sequences coding for chitinolytic enzymes from entomopathogenic fungi, even though these enzymes act synergistically with proteolytic enzymes to solubilize insect cuticle during the key step of host penetration, having considerable importance in the biological control of some insect pests. This paper reports the complete nucleotide sequence and analysis of the chromosomal and full-length cDNA copies of the regulated gene (chit1) coding one of the chitinases produced by the biocontrol agent Metarhizium anisopliae. Degenerated primers, encompassing conserved regions of other fungal chitinases, were used to amplify a 650-bp DNA fragment, which was used to isolate genomic and cDNA clones from M. anisopliae. Albeit at least two different chitinases are characterized in this fungus, only one chit gene was isolated. The chit1 gene is interrupted by three short typical fungal introns and has a 1,521-bp ORF, which encodes a protein of 423 amino acids with a stretch of 35 amino acid residues displaying characteristics of signal peptide. The deduced sequence of the mature protein predicts a 42-kDa protein with pI of 5.8. Southern analysis of genomic DNA indicates a single copy of chit1 in the M. anisopliae genome.