Lupus and leprosy: beyond the coincidence.

Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that presents an increased susceptibility to infections which may trigger reactivation. Disease flares have been mostly associated with parvovirus B19, cytomegalovirus, EBV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections, but it is probable that many other agents may also induce innate and adaptive immune system stimulation including the production of autoantibodies as ANA, anti nDNA and anti-ß2-GPI mainly in lepromatous leprosy. Mycobacterium leprae not only may determine symptoms that mimic lupus flares, including autoantibodies production, but could also act as a trigger for lupus reactivation; however, its association is still not fully explored. As demonstrated for tuberculosis, it is quite possible that molecular mimicry may also be involved in the interface of these two diseases. Some studies reported shared epitopes among idiotypes derived from 8E7 and TH9 lepromatous antibodies and those obtained from SLE patients, and it could partially explain the triggering phenomenon of SLE caused by M. leprae. We report and discuss three Brazilian patients whose disease was inactive and presented disease flares concurrently with the diagnosis of leprosy.

Ocorrência de anticorpos anti-Neospora spp. em jumentos (Equus asinus) no estado de Sucre - Colômbia / Occurrence of anti-Neospora spp. Antibodies in donkeys (Equus asinus) in the state of Sucre - Colombia

A neosporose tem grande importância em bovinos, e sua patogênese neste hospedeiro, em termos gerais, está esclarecida, porém, em equídeos é pobremente conhecida. Na Colômbia ainda não foram reportados anticorpos Anti-Neospora spp. em equídeos, sendo assim objetivou-se no presente estudo avaliar a ocorrência do parasito em jumentos (Equus asinus) de fazendas que apresentavam risco da doença nestes animais. Foram utilizados 56 animais no estado de Sucre (Colômbia), escolhidos aleatoriamente dentro das fazendas selecionadas. Utilizou-se um peptídeo recombinante originado de Neospora caninum (NcGRA1) para o diagnóstico por Dot-ELISA, e o soro foi diluído em 1:200. Este estudo reporta, pela primeira vez no estado de Sucre e na Colômbia, a presença de anticorpos anti-Neospora spp. na espécie Equus asinus, com uma ocorrência de 19,7% (11/56) dos animais amostrados...

The neosporosis has great importance in cattle, and its pathogenesis in this host has been generally clarified, however, in horses, neosporosis is poorly known, and in Colombia anti-Neospora spp antibodies have not been reported. Therefore, the main objective in the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of this parasite in donkeys (Equus asinus) from farms that presented a risk of disease in these animals, as well as no health plan for them. Were used 56 animals randomly chosen inside selected farms in the state of Sucre (Colombia). A recombinant peptide originated from Neospora caninum (NcGRA1) was used for the diagnosis with Dot-ELISA and serum was diluted 1:200. This study is the first to report the presence of anti-Neospora spp. in donkeys (Equus asinus) in the state of Sucre, and in Colombia. The occurrence was in 19.7% of the animals sampled (11/56)...

[Neuropsychological Assessment of Children: a test battery for children between 5 and 16 years of age. A Colombian normative study]. / Evaluacion Neuropsicologica Infantil (ENI): bateria para la evaluacion de niños entre 5 y 16 años de edad. Estudio normativo colombiano.

INTRODUCTION: A neuropsychological test battery for 5 to 16 year old children has recently been developed. This battery is called Neuropsychological Assessment of Children (Evaluacion Neuropsicológica Infantil, ENI) and it includes the following sections: attention, constructional skills, memory encoding, perceptual skills, memory recall, language, metalinguistic skills, reading, writing, arithmetic, spatial skills, conceptual skills and executive functions. AIMS: Our aim was to obtain norms for the ENI in a Colombian population between 5 and 16 years of age. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We selected 252 children (92 boys and 160 girls) in the city of Manizales (Colombia), and they were administered the ENI. In order to obtain an external validity, 21 of the participants were also given the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised (WISC R). RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found on most of the subtests across age groups. Differences between boys and girls appeared more specifically in tests of visuoperceptual, visual constructional, spatial and numerical skills. Some of the ENI subtests correlated with the WISC R subtests. CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that the ENI could satisfy the existing need in the Spanish speaking world for neuropsychological tools with which to assess children and adolescents.