Resveratrol ameliorates oxidative stress and organ dysfunction in Schistosoma mansoni infected mice.

Schistosoma mansoni causes a major chronic debilitating disease in more than 230 million people around the world. The pathognomonic granuloma is a major cause of the oxidative stress encountered as a consequence of infection not only in the liver, but also in other important organs as spleen, lung, brain and kidney. Resveratrol administration at a dose of 20 mg/kg once daily for two weeks to mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni resulted in improvement in serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Enzymatic antioxidant profile showed significant modulations in Superoxide dismutase, catalase activities and reduced glutathione levels. Specific biomarkers for homeostasis of brain and lung i.e. Tau and RAGE respectively, showed significant improvement after resveratrol administration.

A novel nested multiplex PCR for the simultaneous detection and differentiation of Cryptosporidium spp., Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis.

Cryptosporidium spp. and microsporidia are opportunistic parasites affecting a wide range of hosts in which they can be potentially life threatening in immunocompromised individuals. Diagnosis usually relies on the identification of the stained Cryptosporidium oocyst or microsporidial spores, but these methods lack sensitivity and require highly trained technicians to perform and interpret the results. Molecular diagnosis offers an alternative with both superior sensitivity and specificity as compared to microscopy. Although replacing microscopy with nucleic acid based methods is hampered by the higher costs, in particular in developing countries, multiplexing the detection of more than one parasite in a single test has been found to be very effective and would decrease the cost of the test without the need for new equipment, as it would be the case for quantitative PCR. The method shown in this report for the simultaneous detection of Cryptosporidium spp., Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis by multiplex nested PCR, has proved to have several advantages versus microscopy such as higher sensitivity and specificity, low subjectivity and a minimal need for specialist's training to interpret the results. The present multiplex assay can fill an important gap to identify other possible causative agents of several diarrheal diseases which until present remain undiagnosed and can improve the epidemiology of the disease with a more reliable detection method.

Identification of a novel Assemblage B subgenotype and a zoonotic Assemblage C in human isolates of Giardia intestinalis in Egypt.

Giardia intestinalis (G. intestinalis) is a flagellate parasite which has been considered the most common protozoan infecting human. Molecular techniques are of great value in studying the taxonomy, the zoonotic potential of animal isolates and the correlation between the genetic variability of the parasite and the range of clinical symptoms observed in humans. The present work aims at genotyping G. intestinalis isolates from Egypt using molecular techniques. PCR targeting the ß-giardin locus, RFLP and sequencing were applied to 12 microscopically positive and 3 microscopically negative samples (which were positive by real time PCR targeting SSUr DNA). Two other loci, triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) gene and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) gene PCR and RFLP were also applied to all study isolates. The most frequent genotype was Assemblage B (13 out of 15), while Assemblage A and C were present in one sample each. This is the first report on zoonotic transmission of Assemblage C (dog genotype) to human in Egypt. Sequencing of the Assemblage B isolates revealed new subgenotypes with consistent mutations at specific positions, some of which were not characterized previously. The results shed light on the possibility that G. intestinalis can infect humans through a zoonotic route and open the door to wider investigations using different genetic loci to genotype Giardia isolates.