Is cholera disease associated with poverty?

BACKGROUND: Cholera remains a global threat and is one of the key indicators of social development. While the disease no longer poses a menace to countries with minimum standards of hygiene, it remains a serious challenge to countries where access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation cannot be guaranteed. The objective of this work was to analyse the results obtained when contrasting the reports of the World Health Organization (WHO) about cholera disease with those of the World Bank List of economies (countries). METHODOLOGY: Data were obtained from reports of two international organizations, the report on cholera disease incidence of the World Health Organization and the World Bank's classification of countries attending to their income. RESULTS: We determined that low-income countries are more affected by cholera disease than countries with middle or high income. This difference was reflected in the percent of countries, the total number of reported cases, the number of cases per 100,000 habitants, as well as in the reported mortality. These results support the phrase "cholera disease is a disease of poverty." CONCLUSIONS: We consider that economic development is an important factor in the morbidity and mortality of cholera, together with environment, climate, culture, medical management, political intention, and the intrinsic factors of the system.

Identification of hepatitis A virus mimotopes by phage display, antigenicity and immunogenicity.

A phage-displayed peptide approach was used to identify ligands mimicking antigenic determinants of hepatitis A virus (HAV) for the first time. Bacteriophages displaying HAV mimotopes were isolated from a phage-display peptide library by affinity selection on serum antibodies from hepatitis A patients. Selected phage-peptides were screened for reactivity with sera from HAV infected patients and healthy controls. Four cloned peptides with different sequences were identified as mimotopes of HAV; three of them showed similarity in their amino acid sequences with at least one of the VP3 and VP1 antigenic proteins of HAV. One clone was recognised by 92% of the positive sera. The phagotopes competed effectively with HAV for absorption of anti-HAV-specific antibodies in human sera, as determined by ELISA. The four phage clones induced neutralising anti-HAV antibodies in immunised mice. These results demonstrate the potential of this method to elucidate the disease related epitopes of HAV and to use these mimotopes in diagnostic applications or in the development of a mimotope-based hepatitis A vaccine without the necessity of manipulation of the virus.

Transferencia de genes in vitro con polímeros catiónicos / In vitro gene transfer using cationic polymers

La transferencia de genes representa una importante herramienta para el estudio, prevención y tratamiento de enfermedades genéticas y adquiridas así como para estudios relacionados con la función de proteínas de interés. El uso de moléculas catiónicas está ampliamente difundido, ya que su eficiencia en la transfección las convierte en un fuerte rival de otros métodos de transferencia de genes. En este trabajo se transfectaron las líneas celulares COS-7 y BHK-21 con el plásmido psnEGFP que usó los polímeros catiónicos polietilenimina (PEI) y DEAE dextrana. Al medir la eficiencia de transfección se observó que la línea celular BHK-21 deviene en una excelente opción para la transfección con el método de la PEI y que los mejores resultados se obtienen al disolver PEI en NaCl 150 mM. Al centrifugar las placas después de añadidos los complejos ADN-PEI se obtiene cerca del 100(por ciento) de células transfectadas con bajas concentraciones de ADN(AU)