Seroprevalence of human Toxocara infections in the Roma and non-Roma populations of Eastern Slovakia: a cross-sectional study.

Socioeconomic conditions and health of the Roma population, the most numerous minority in Europe, are worse than that of the non-Roma population. Information about the occurrence of human toxocarosis and other parasitic diseases in the Roma population is scarce or completely missing. The aim of this study was to map the seroprevalence of toxocarosis in the population living in segregated Roma settlements and to compare the data with the occurrence of antibodies in the non-Roma population of Eastern Slovakia. The seropositivity to Toxocara in 429 examined Roma inhabitants of segregated settlements reached 22·1%, while only 4/394 samples of the non-Roma population were found to be positive (odds ratio 27·7, P < 0·0001). Headache, muscle pain, influenza-like symptoms and diarrhoea occurred significantly more often in seropositive persons than in seronegative individuals. In the Roma population positivity was not influenced by gender, level of education and poverty, but age, lack of sanitary facilities and heating with wood significantly increased the risk of infection. It can be assumed that besides the high prevalence of toxocarosis, other parasitic diseases and communicable diseases will also be more prevalent in the Roma population living in segregated settlements.

Two different anticonvulsant actions of tiagabine in developing rats.

PURPOSE: Our goal was to study the anticonvulsant action of tiagabine (TGB) at different levels of brain maturation in rats. METHODS: Wistar rats in five age groups (7, 12, 18, 25, and 90 days old) were injected intraperitoneally with TGB at doses of 0.5-32 mg/kg. Thirty minutes later, motor seizures were induced by the subcutaneous adminstration of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) in a dose of 100 mg/kg for all of the groups except the 18-day-old rat pups, which received a 90-mg/kg dose. The incidence and latency of two types of motor seizures, minimal clonic and generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCSs), were evaluated, and the seizure severity was scored. The time profile of TGB action at the 8-mg/kg dose was studied in the 12-and 25-day-old rats. RESULTS: Minimal clonic seizures were reliably induced in rats 18 days old or older, and the seizures were suppressed by TGB in all of these age groups. Although TGB was very effective against this type of seizure in the 18-day-old rats, the efficacy of the drug decreased with the age of the animal. GTCSs were suppressed by TGB in the adult and 25-day-old rats, and a U-shaped dose-response curve was outlined in these two groups. The 18-and 12-day-old rat pups exhibited a selective suppression of the tonic phase of GTCSs. A mixture of these two effects was observed in the youngest group. TGB demonstrated a markedly longer action in the 12-day-old rats than in the 25-day-old rats. CONCLUSIONS: TGB exhibits anticonvulsant action against both minimal seizures and GTCSs. Ontogenetic development of these two actions is markedly different.

Anticonvulsant action of topiramate against motor seizures in developing rats.

PURPOSE: To study the anticonvulsant action of topiramate (TPM) in developing rats. METHODS: Motor seizures were elicited by administering pentylenetetrazol (100 mg/kg subcutaneously) in five age groups of Wistar rats (7, 12, 18, 25, and 90 days old). TPM was administered intraperitoneally in doses from 10 to 640 mg/kg 2 hours before pentylenetetrazol. The time course of TPM action was studied in 12- and 25-day-old rats up to 24 hours after the 160-mg/kg dose, and the incidence and pattern of seizures were evaluated. RESULTS: TPM did not influence minimal seizures (clonus of forelimb and head muscles with preserved righting ability). Generalized tonic-clonic seizures, however, were reliably changed at all developmental stages studied. The tonic phase was suppressed so that the majority of animals exhibited generalized clonic seizures (with a loss of righting reflexes). In addition, the incidence of generalized seizures was decreased after the 20-, 40-, and 80-mg/kg doses in the 7-day-old rat pups. The specific suppression of the tonic phase of generalized seizures was observed up to 12 hours in the 12-day-old rat pups. The same result was obtained over 6 hours after TPM administration in the 25-day-old animals, and with longer intervals the incidence of generalized seizures decreased in this age group. CONCLUSIONS: TPM exhibits stable anticonvulsant action against the tonic phase of generalized tonic-clonic seizures throughout development. In addition, it suppresses all phases of generalized seizures in 7-day-old rats. The anticonvulsant action of TPM lasted longer in 25-day-old than in 12-day-old rats. The two actions of TPM might be ascribed to two different mechanisms of action.

Changes in NADPH-diaphorase positivity induced by status epilepticus in allocortical structures of the immature rat brain.

The distribution and time course of changes of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d) positivity were studied in immature rats (12 and 25 days old) surviving motor status epilepticus (SE) induced by a high dose of pilocarpine. Motor SE characterized by continuous convulsions was interrupted after 2 h by an injection of clonazepam (0.5 mg/kg or 1 mg/kg in 12- and 25-day-old rats, respectively) in order to reduce mortality. Correlation between electroencephalographic and behavioral seizure activity was confirmed using animals with electrodes implanted bilaterally in the hippocampus and sensorimotor cortex. Brains were examined 2, 6, 13, and 21 days after motor SE using NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry. Two types of changes were found in both age groups: (a) decrease of NADPH-d positivity occurred in both neuropil and cell bodies in piriform, periamygdalar, and entorhinal cortices; and (b) NADPH-d positivity was induced in the cell bodies in the hippocampal fields CA1/2, CA3, and dentate gyrus. These changes were more intense in animals surviving SE at postnatal day 25 than in younger age group, and they peaked 2 days after SE. The changes observed after SE disappeared quickly in 12-day-old rat pups, where only moderate changes could be observed in piriform, periamygdalar, and entorhinal cortices 6 days after SE, whereas the changes in the histochemical positivity persisted in older animals even 21 days after SE.