Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted ascending) Filter |
|---|
| pitfalls in the cytological classification of borderline leprosy in the ridley-jopling scale. | this is a blinded, retrospective, correlative study of classification of leprosy by cytomorphology, clinical examination, and bacterial density. one hundred consecutive adequate aspirates from skin lesions of leprosy were studied. the ridley-jopling (r-j) five-group classification system was used. may-gruenwald-giemsa (mgg) and ziehl-neelsen (z-n) stains were employed. complete clinical, cytological, and bacteriological concordance was found in 88 patients. one-step mismatch in classification wa ... | 2004 | 15176024 |
| genotypic variation and stability of four variable-number tandem repeats and their suitability for discriminating strains of mycobacterium leprae. | it has not been possible to distinguish different strains of mycobacterium leprae according to their genetic sequence. however, the genome contains several variable-number tandem repeats (vntr), which have been used effectively in strain typing of other bacteria. to determine their suitability for differentiating m. leprae, we developed pcr systems to amplify 5 different vntr loci and examined a battery of 12 m. leprae strains derived from patients in different regions of the united states, braz ... | 2004 | 15184434 |
| an in vitro model for the lepromatous leprosy granuloma: fate of mycobacterium leprae from target macrophages after interaction with normal and activated effector macrophages. | the lepromatous leprosy granuloma is a dynamic entity requiring a steady influx of macrophages (mphi) for its maintenance. we have developed an in vitro model to study the fate of mycobacterium leprae in a ll lesion, with and without immunotherapeutic intervention. target cells, consisting of granuloma mphi harvested from the footpads of m. leprae-infected athymic nu/nu mice, were cocultured with normal or ifn-gamma-activated (act) effector mphi. the bacilli were recovered and assessed for viabi ... | 2004 | 15187161 |
| tunel and limited immunophenotypic analyses of apoptosis in paucibacillary and multibacillary leprosy lesions. | some mycobacterial infections, such as tuberculosis, are characterized by apoptosis of infected or by-stander mononuclear immune cells. for localized (paucibacillary, pb) and disseminated (multibacillary, mb) leprosy, characterized by polarized th1-like vs. th2-like immune responses, respectively, little is known about lesional apoptosis. we analyzed sections of paraffin-embedded, untreated leprosy lesions from 21 patients by an indirect immunofluorescent terminal deoxynucleotide-transferase-med ... | 2004 | 15196577 |
| tissue-specific down-regulation of ripk 2 in mycobacterium leprae-infected nu/nu mice. | ripk 2 is adapter molecule in the signal pathway involved in toll-like receptors. however, there has been no reported association between receptor-interacting serine/threonine kinase 2 (ripk 2) expression and the infectious diseases involving mycobacterial infection. this study found that its expression was down-regulated in the footpads and skin but was up-regulated in the liver of mycobacterium leprae-infected nu/nu mice compared with those of the m. leprae non-infected nu/nu mice. it was obse ... | 2004 | 15203566 |
| lepromatous leprosy with extensive unusual ulcerations and cachexia. is it the first case of lucio's phenomenon from iran? | we report a 33-year-old iranian woman with widespread ulcerative lesions in the setting of lepromatous leprosy. we think that the sudden appearance of the characteristic necrotic lesions in the absence of fever and other systemic manifestation, and in accordance with epidermal necrosis and the presence of large numbers of afb in the endothelium are all in favor of the diagnosis of lucio's phenomenon for this patient. to our knowledge this is the first patient who may have had this phenomenon rep ... | 2004 | 15217312 |
| active surveillance of leprosy contacts in country with low prevalence rate. | for advanced control of leprosy in pakistan where the world health organization leprosy elimination goal was achieved in 1996, we conducted surveillance of mycobacterium leprae-seropositive patients and their contacts and drug resistant strains of m. leprae. we measured anti-pgl-i antibody level in sera from leprosy patients and their contacts for early detection of m. leprae infection. out of 34 leprosy patients undergoing treatment, 4 lepromatous leprosy patients were antibody positive, and 6. ... | 2004 | 15217314 |
| leprosy patients with lepromatous disease have an up-regulated il-8 response that is unlinked to tnf-alpha responses. | tumor necrosis factor (tnf-alpha) in conjunction with interferon-gamma (ifn-gamma) plays an important role in lymphocyte recruitment and granuloma formation in mycobacterial diseases. lepromatous leprosy infections are typically associated with low to absent t cell responses and the absence of inf-gamma secretion. chemokines such as il-8, mcp-1, and mip-1beta, have also been shown to recruit neutrophils and lymphocytes to the site of mycobacterial infections. we have studied il-8 expression in r ... | 2004 | 15217317 |
| il-10 treatment of macrophages bolsters intracellular survival of mycobacterium leprae. | in these studies, metabolically active mycobacterium leprae were maintained for as long as 8 weeks in monolayer cultures of mouse peritoneal macrophages (mphi). supplemental il-10, but not tgf-beta, bolstered, directly or indirectly, m. leprae metabolism in mouse mphi. in the cell culture system temperature setting is extremely important and 31 to 33 degrees c incubation temperature was more permissive than 37 degrees c. acid fast staining and transmission electron microscopy (tem) of intracellu ... | 2004 | 15217319 |
| design of the leprosy component of the brazilian bcg revaccination trial for assessing bcg effectiveness against leprosy in school children. | background: bcg vaccination confers protection against leprosy, and vaccination among household contacts has been recommended in brazil. nevertheless, vaccination of the entire community against leprosy is not advocated as leprosy has low incidence in most populations. despite that, in brazil, bcg vaccination is recommended among school children to prevent tuberculosis and this large scale vaccination may also affect the occurrence of leprosy, which led to investigations of its impact on leprosy ... | 2004 | 15217320 |
| relapses in multibacillary patients treated with multi-drug therapy until smear negativity: findings after twenty years. | the schieffelin leprosy research and training center at karigiri, india participated in several of the world health organization (who) trials. the first trial on combined therapy in multi-bacillary leprosy was initiated in 1981. the main objectives of this field trial were to evaluate the efficacy of who recommended regimens in preventing relapses, especially drug resistance relapses. this paper reports on the relapses twenty years after patients were inducted into the who field trial. between 1 ... | 2004 | 15217321 |
| oxidative stress and anti-oxidant status in leprosy patients. | severe oxidative stress has been reported in leprosy patients because of malnutrition and poor immunity. the purpose of this study was to investigate the serum lipid peroxidation products, serum ldh and important free radical scavenging enzymes, i.e. superoxide dismutase (sod), and catalase and anti-oxidant glutathione levels and total anti-oxidant status, in different types of leprosy patients. the subjects for this study were normal human volunteers (nhvs, n=14), paucibacillary leprosy patient ... | 2003 | 15242269 |
| leprosy situation in endemic states of india and prospects of elimination of the disease. | in india there is a dramatic fall in the prevalence rate (pr) of leprosy, but the new case-detection rate (ncdr) has not been reduced concomitantly. it is the operational efficiency of the national leprosy eradication programme (nlep) that has led to a significant reduction in the ncdr in andhra pradesh and tamil nadu. the ratio of pr to ncdr has been declining in these two states and it reveals that elimination could be reached even with the high ncdr level of 3 to 4 per 10000 population, parti ... | 2003 | 15242272 |
| impact of integration of nlep into phc system in madurai district, tamil nadu, and status of integration of leprosy patients into the community. | based on the encouraging results of the integration in tamil nadu, the government of india introduced integration in the entire country. in this study on integration, madurai district was taken as the study area. the impact of integration on essential indicators of leprosy elimination was analyzed and the results are discussed so that they will be useful to other states that are still considering integration. | 2003 | 15242273 |
| leprosy in hiv infection: a study of three cases. | the course of leprosy in patients with hiv infection has been a controversial issue for a long time. it is still a matter of debate whether the hiv status of an individual has any impact on the natural history of leprosy and response to anti-leprosy treatment. we report here three hiv-positive leprosy cases (two bt and one bb) along with their cd4 counts and hiv staging with anti-leprosy therapeutic response. both bt cases responded well to conventional who mdt (pb) for 6 months, whereas the bb ... | 2003 | 15242274 |
| mycobacterium leprae-induced demyelination: a model for early nerve degeneration. | the molecular events that occur at the early phase of many demyelinating neurodegenerative diseases are unknown. a recent demonstration of rapid demyelination and axonal injury induced by mycobacterium leprae provides a model for elucidating the molecular events of early nerve degeneration which might be common to neurodegenerative diseases of both infectious origin and unknown etiology. the identification of the m. leprae-targeted schwann cell receptor, dystroglycan, and its associated molecule ... | 2004 | 15245748 |
| a study of relapse after mdt in a district in west bengal, india. | a study was undertaken to estimate the magnitude of the problem of relapse and to identify factors responsible for relapse in leprosy units that were delivering mdt in purulia district of west bengal. from records patients were classified as "relapse" or "not relapse". "not relapse" patients were selected by simple random sampling from the surveillance register and were matched according to age, sex, and the leprosy control unit. 128 cases ("relapse") and 128 controls ("not relapse") were interv ... | 2003 | 15253389 |
| population survey to determine risk factors for mycobacterium leprae transmission and infection. | not every leprosy patient is equally effective in transmitting mycobacterium leprae. we studied the spatial distribution of infection (using seropositivity as a marker) in the population to identify which disease characteristics of leprosy patients are important in transmission. | 2004 | 15256520 |
| truncated structural variants of lipoarabinomannan in mycobacterium leprae and an ethambutol-resistant strain of mycobacterium tuberculosis. | current knowledge on the structure of lipoarabinomannan (lam) has resulted primarily from detailed studies on a few selected laboratory strains of mycobacterium tuberculosis, mycobacterium bovis bcg, and mycobacterium smegmatis. our previous work was the first to report on the salient structural features of m. tuberculosis clinical isolates and demonstrated significant structural variations. a prime effort is to correlate a particular structural characteristic with observed differences in elicit ... | 2004 | 15263002 |
| differential production of interleukin-10 and interleukin-12 in mononuclear cells from leprosy patients with a toll-like receptor 2 mutation. | toll-like receptor 2 (tlr2) is a key mediator of the immune response to mycobacterial infections, and mutations in tlr2 have been shown to confer susceptibility to infection with mycobacteria. this study investigated the profiles of cytokines, such as interferon (ifn)-gamma, interleukin (il)-10, il-12 and tumour necrosis factor (tnf)-alpha in response to mycobacterium leprae in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) with the tlr2 mutation arg677trp, a recently reported polymorphism that is as ... | 2004 | 15270740 |
| patterns of intracellular cytokines in cd4 and cd8 t cells from patients with mycobacterial infections. | using a short-term bulk culture protocol designed for an intracellular-staining method based on a flow cytometry approach to the frequencies of cytokine-producing cells from tuberculosis and leprosy patients, we found distinct patterns of t cell subset expression. the method also reveals the profile of peak cytokine production and can provide simultaneous information about the phenotype of cytokine-producing cells, providing a reliable assay for monitoring the immunity of these patients. the imm ... | 2004 | 15273814 |
| isolated superficial peroneal nerve lesion in pure neural leprosy: case report. | patients with leprosy may have only nerve involvement without skin changes. these cases are known as pure neural leprosy and can be seen in 10% of leprosy patients. most patients have mononeuritic or multiple mononeuritic neuropathy patterns. the isolated lesion of the superficial peroneal nerve is uncommonly seen. we report a patient with involvement of this nerve in which there was no thickening of superficial nerves. the performed nerve biopsy showed inflammatory infiltration, loss of fibers ... | 2004 | 15273859 |
| molecular detection of drug resistance in mycobacterium leprae. | 2004 | 15282962 | |
| a strategy to improve the ml flow test for detection of anti-phenolic glycolipid-1 antibodies. | 2004 | 15282973 | |
| involvement of c4 allotypes in the pathogenesis of human diseases. | the complement system is an important humoral defense mechanism that plays a relevant role against microbial agents, inflammatory response control, and immunocomplex clearance. classical complement pathway activation is antibody-dependent. the c4 component participates in the initial step of activation, and c4 expression is determined by 2 pairs of allotypes: c4a and c4b. deficiencies in c4 allotypes have been associated with several diseases. the aim of the present review is evaluate the report ... | 2004 | 15286835 |
| leprosy accidentally transmitted from a patient to a surgeon in a nonendemic area. | 2004 | 15289237 | |
| characterization of three glycosyltransferases involved in the biosynthesis of the phenolic glycolipid antigens from the mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. | mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, the two main mycobacterial pathogens in humans, produce highly specific long chain beta-diols, the dimycocerosates of phthiocerol, and structurally related phenolic glycolipid (pgl) antigens, which are important virulence factors. in addition, m. tuberculosis also secretes glycosylated p-hydroxybenzoic acid methyl esters (p-hbad) that contain the same carbohydrate moiety as the species-specific pgl of m. tuberculosis (pgl-tb). the genes involv ... | 2004 | 15292272 |
| end-stage renal disease in leprosy. | leprosy or hansen's disease (had) undoubtedly remains an emergency in certain countries. it is an ancient deforming disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. the countries with the highest endemic leprosy rate in 2000 were brazil, india and madagascar. in italy, the old epidemic has been defeated and there are approximately 400 patients under constant monitoring with three to four new cases per year involving italian residents. the kidney is one of the target organs during the splanchnic localizat ... | 2004 | 15293533 |
| improved protocol for pcr detection of mycobacterium leprae in buffered formalin-fixed skin biopsies. | 2004 | 15301582 | |
| should large lesions of leprosy be considered as "multibacillary" for treatment purposes even if the total number of lesions is less than five? | 2004 | 15301583 | |
| neuropathic pain in leprosy. | neuropathic pain appears to be much more common in leprosy than has been generally appreciated. emphasis in leprosy control programs has been on the distribution of multi-drug therapy, on early and better detection, and on the prevention of disability related to anesthetic limbs. most have thus been inattentive to the problem of neuropathic pain in leprosy patients. neuropathic pain does not respond to the usual analgesics employed for reactions, for example, and so it is important that those tr ... | 2004 | 15301584 |
| classification of leprosy: a full color spectrum, or black and white? | 2004 | 15301586 | |
| leprosy reactions: humoral and cellular immune responses to m. leprae, 65kda, 28kda, and 18 kda antigens. | this study examines the immune responses against some stress proteins of mycobacterium leprae in leprosy patients with and without leprosy reactions. leprosy patients showed a higher level of antibodies to all antigens compared to healthy controls. the antibody response to 18kda antigen was significantly higher in patients with type 1 reaction compared to those of tt or borderline patients without type 1 reaction, or those with type 2 reaction. borderline (bt/bl), lepromatous (ll) and patients w ... | 2004 | 15301588 |
| single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) at -238 and -308 positions in the tnfalpha promoter: clinical and bacteriological evaluation in leprosy. | tumor necrosis factor alpha (tnfalpha) plays a key role in orchestrating the complex events involved in inflammation and immune response. the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) within the promoter region of the tnfa gene has been associated with a number of diseases. the aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of polymorphisms at positions -238 (g/a) and -308 (g/a) at the tnfalpha promoter, and its association to the outcome of different clinical forms of leprosy. f ... | 2004 | 15301589 |
| neuropathic pain in leprosy patients. | the introduction of multidrug therapy by the world health organization has dramatically reduced the world prevalence of leprosy but the disease is still a public health problem in many countries, with a world prevalence of almost 600,000 cases in 2001. damage to peripheral nerves is a key component of leprosy and the sensory and motor loss that follows is the basis for many of the classical features of this disease, such as skin wounds, cracks, plantar ulcers, clawed hands, drop foot, and incomp ... | 2004 | 15301591 |
| epidemiological characteristics of leprosy reactions: 15 years experience from north india. | a retrospective analysis of patient's leprosy clinic records at pgimer, chandigarh, india for the period 1983 to 1998 was undertaken to study the frequency, time of onset, and risk factors for leprosy reactions. of the 2600 cases analyzed, 1494 were multibacillary and 1106 had paucibacillary disease. presentation with reaction was common with 30.9% of our patients having reactions at the time of first visit. the incidence of reversal reaction (rr) was highest during 6 to 12 months after starting ... | 2004 | 15301592 |
| acyl-coa carboxylases (accd2 and accd3), together with a unique polyketide synthase (cg-pks), are key to mycolic acid biosynthesis in corynebacterianeae such as corynebacterium glutamicum and mycobacterium tuberculosis. | the corynebacterianeae such as corynebacterium glutamicum and mycobacterium tuberculosis possess several unique and structurally diverse lipids, including the genus-specific mycolic acids. although the function of a number of genes involved in fatty acid and mycolic acid biosynthesis is known, information relevant to the initial steps within these biosynthetic pathways is relatively sparse. interestingly, the genomes of corynebacterianeae possess a high number of accd genes, whose gene products ... | 2004 | 15308633 |
| immune regulatory effect of phsp65 dna therapy in pulmonary tuberculosis: activation of cd8+ cells, interferon-gamma recovery and reduction of lung injury. | a dna vaccine based on the heat-shock protein 65 mycobacterium leprae gene (phsp65) presented a prophylactic and therapeutic effect in an experimental model of tuberculosis. in this paper, we addressed the question of which protective mechanisms are activated in mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected mice after immune therapy with phsp65. we evaluated activation of the cellular immune response in the lungs of infected mice 30 days after infection (initiation of immune therapy) and in those of uninf ... | 2004 | 15312144 |
| upregulation of t-cell-stimulating activity of mycobacteria-infected macrophages. | macrophages are one of the most abundant host cells to come in contact with mycobacteria. however, the infected macrophages less efficiently stimulate autologous t cells in vitro. we investigated the effect of the induction of phenotypic change of macrophages on the host cell activities by using mycobacterium leprae as a pathogen. the treatment of macrophages with interferon-gamma (ifn-gamma), gm-csf and interleukin-4 deprived macrophages of cd14 antigen expression but instead provided them with ... | 2004 | 15320885 |
| genes required for intrinsic multidrug resistance in mycobacterium avium. | genes required for intrinsic multidrug resistance by mycobacterium avium were identified by screening a library of transposon insertion mutants for the inability to grow in the presence of ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, and penicillin at subinhibitory concentrations. two genes, pks12 and maa2520, were disrupted in multiple drug-susceptible mutants. the pks12 gene (maa1979), which may be cotranscribed with a downstream gene (maa1980), is widely conserved in the actinomycetes. its ortholog in myco ... | 2004 | 15328105 |
| role of the polypeptide region of a 33kda mycobacterial lipoprotein for efficient il-12 production. | mycobacterium leprae lipoprotein, lpk, induced il-12 production from human monocytes. to determine the components essential for cytokine production and the relative role of lipidation in the activation process, we produced lipidated and non-lipidated truncated forms of lpk. while 0.5nm of lipidated lpk-a having n-terminal 60 amino acids of lpk produced more than 700pg/ml il-12 p40, the non-lipidated lpk-b having the same amino acids as that of lpk-a required more than 20nm of the protein to prod ... | 2004 | 15331324 |
| an update on the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy. | 2004 | 15337986 | |
| leprous osteitis presenting as bone cyst and erosions. | a 30-year-old man presented to the hansen outpatient department with swelling and ulceration of toes for 2 months and swelling of the right fifth and fourth fingers and the left second finger for 1 month. in addition to skin lesions of lepromatous leprosy (subpolar type), there was nontender, non-fluctuant swelling of the right fifth and fourth fingers and left second finger. skin over the right fifth finger showed sinus-like openings with associated purulent discharge. he also had swelling and ... | 2004 | 15347499 |
| metal ion transport and regulation in mycobacterium tuberculosis. | the regulation of metal ion concentrations is central to the physiology of the interaction between pathogenic bacteria and their hosts. apart from the nramp orthologue, mnth, metal ion transporters in mycobacterium tuberculosis have not been studied. mn, the physiological substrate of mnth in other bacteria, may play an important role as a structural and redox-active cofactor in a wide range of metabolic processes. fe, cu and zn play structural and catalytic roles in metalloenzymes involved in o ... | 2004 | 15353332 |
| activation of signaling lymphocytic activation molecule triggers a signaling cascade that enhances th1 responses in human intracellular infection. | t cell production of ifn-gamma contributes to host defense against infection by intracellular pathogens, including mycobacteria. lepromatous leprosy, the disseminated form of infection caused by mycobacterium leprae, is characterized by loss of cellular response against the pathogen and diminished th1 cytokine production. relieving bacterial burden in ag-unresponsive patients might be achieved through alternative receptors that stimulate ifn-gamma production. we have previously shown that ligati ... | 2004 | 15356162 |
| mycobacterium leprae infection of human schwann cells depends on selective host kinases and pathogen-modulated endocytic pathways. | mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular pathogen, shows a unique tropism for schwann cells (sc). this leads to the peripheral neuropathy disorder observed in leprosy. in this study, we investigated signal transduction events and the intracellular fate of m. leprae during the interaction of the microorganism with sc. first, we demonstrated that the human schwannoma cell line st88-14 readily phagocytized the bacteria as observed by time-lapse microscopy, actin staining and electron microsc ... | 2004 | 15358430 |
| prospective study of serological conversion as a risk factor for development of leprosy among household contacts. | although the prevalence of leprosy has declined over the years, there is no evidence that incidence rates are falling. a method of early detection of those people prone to develop the most infectious form of leprosy would contribute to breaking the chain of transmission. prophylactic treatment of serologically identified high-risk contacts of incident patients should be an operationally feasible approach for routine control programs. in addition, classification of high-risk household contacts wi ... | 2004 | 15358649 |
| [erythema nodosum leprosum case series report: clinical profile, immunological basis and treatment implemented in health services]. | erythema nodosum leprosum is an acute inflammatory event in the chronic course of leprosy. it is considered an immunological disorder and an important cause of morbidity and disability. we evaluate the clinical profile, serology and histopathology 58 erythema nodosum leprosum patients sequentially recruited, from july- december 2000, in an endemic area in central brazil (goiás state). half of the reactins were considered severe and 66% of the cases had the first episode of reaction during specif ... | 2004 | 15361954 |
| leprosy and the peripheral nervous system: basic and clinical aspects. | leprosy is one of the most common causes of nontraumatic peripheral neuropathy in the developing world. the causative agent, mycobacterium leprae, has a predilection for schwann cells, where the organism multiplies unimpeded by organism-specific host immunity, resulting in destruction of myelin, secondary inflammatory changes, and destruction of the nerve architecture. the cardinal diagnostic features of leprosy are anesthetic skin lesions, neuropathy, and positive skin smears for the bacilli. h ... | 2004 | 15372437 |
| continued proteomic analysis of mycobacterium leprae subcellular fractions. | recently the sequence of the mycobacterium leprae chromosome, the only known obligate intracellular mycobacterium, was completed. it has a dramatic reduction in functional genes, with a coding capacity of only 49.5%, the lowest one so far observed among bacterial genomes. the leprosy bacillus seems to preserve a minimal set of genes that allows its survival in the host. the identification of genes that are actually expressed by the bacterium is of high significance in the context of mycobacteria ... | 2004 | 15378742 |
| identification of mycobacterium avium genes up-regulated in cultured macrophages and in mice. | to investigate mycobacterium avium gene expression upon infection of macrophages, we created a m. avium-promoter library upstream of a promoter-less gene encoding the green fluorescent protein (gfp) in mycobacterium smegmatis. clones were evaluated for increased expression of gfp after infection of u937 macrophages. a number of m. avium genes were up-regulated more than 3-fold after 24 and 48 h following macrophage infection. m. avium genes expressed by m. smegmatis during growth in macrophages ... | 2004 | 15451099 |
| a rational approach to nasal reconstruction in leprosy. | destruction of the nasal septum and nasal bones by mycobacterium leprae and subsequent infection is still seen regularly in leprosy endemic areas. the social stigma associated with this deformity is significant. many different procedures have been developed to reconstruct the nose. patients operated on at anandaban hospital and the green pastures hospital and rehabilitation center between 1986 and 2001 were reviewed. there were 48 patients with an average age of 47 years. five deformities were m ... | 2004 | 15468392 |
| an approach to understanding the transmission of mycobacterium leprae using molecular and immunological methods: results from the milep2 study. | the current strategy for leprosy control using case detection and treatment has greatly reduced the prevalence of leprosy, but has had no demonstrable effect on interrupting transmission. | 2004 | 15485283 |
| in situ hybridization in the histological diagnosis of early and clinically suspect leprosy. | the present study tests the utility of the in situ hybridization procedure for m. leprae rrna in the histological diagnosis of early leprosy and clinically suspect leprosy, both diagnostically demanding situations. the histological confirmation obtained with routine histopathology (haematoxylin-eosin staining for studying morphologic alterations and fite-faraco staining for demonstration of acid-fast bacilli) were 32% for early leprosy and 25% for clinically suspect leprosy. with performance of ... | 2004 | 15485287 |
| commentary: is it really m. leprae? | 2004 | 15485289 | |
| false positive reaction of the immunohistochemistry technique using anti-bcg polyclonal antibodies to identify mycobacterium leprae in wild nine-banded armadillos. | the authors studied 66 wild nine-banded armadillos from brazil. the ear samples were collected and ziehl-neelsen or fite-faraco stains were performed, as well as immunostaining using polyclonal bcg antibody, to avaluate the presence of the mycobacterium leprae. the afb were not detected by the ziehl-neelsen or fite-faraco staining, neither immunoexpression of the bcg marker. however, many normal structures from the ears of the nine-banded armadillos, such as condrocytes, condroblasts, fibroblast ... | 2004 | 15485291 |
| clinico-histopathological correlation of skin and nerve in leprosy. | the histopathological features of skin tissue sections in patients clinically diagnosed as leprosy were correlated with the histopathological features of nerve specimens obtained from the same patients. fifty untreated leprosy patients attending the outpatient department of the department of dermatology and sexually transmitted diseases of smt. sucheta kriplani and kalawati saran children's hospitals, new delhi, india were included in the study. on correlating the histological features of skin a ... | 2004 | 15492436 |
| characterization of phylogenetically distant members of the adenylate cyclase family from mycobacteria: rv1647 from mycobacterium tuberculosis and its orthologue ml1399 from m. leprae. | analysis of the genome sequence of mycobacterium tuberculosis h37rv has identified 16 genes that are similar to the mammalian adenylate and guanylate cyclases. rv1647 was predicted to be an active adenylate cyclase but its position in a phylogenetically distant branch from the other enzymes characterized so far from m. tuberculosis makes it an interestingly divergent nucleotide cyclase to study. in agreement with its divergence at the sequence level from other nucleotide cyclases, the cloning, e ... | 2005 | 15500449 |
| [diaminodiphenylsulfone resistance of mycobacterium leprae due to mutations in the dihydropteroate synthase gene]. | the relation between diaminodiphenylsulfone (called dapsone)-resistance and point mutations of the dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) gene was analyzed using dapsone resistant mycobacterium leprae isolates derived from japanese leprosy patients. the mutation was found at amino acid residues 53 or 55 of the dhps. this finding suggests that two specific mutations in the dhps gene involved in dapsone resistance of m. leprae. | 2004 | 15508724 |
| [multi-drug resistant mycobacterium leprae from patients with leprosy]. | dna sequences of mycobacterium leprae in particular regions of the gyra, rpob, and folp genes responsible for resistance to new quinolones, rifampicin and dapsone, respectively, were analyzed. among 88 isolates of m. leprae from leprosy patients in japan, haiti, indonesia, pakistan, and the philippines, eleven isolates had mutational changes in 2 genes (resistance to 2 drugs), and 2 isolates (shinsei-1 and zensho-4) showed mutations in 3 genes (resistance to 3 drugs). these findings are suggesti ... | 2004 | 15508725 |
| [functional changes of macrophages in hansen's disease]. | as an obligate intracellular pathogen, the principal host cells for mycobacterium leprae are mononuclear phagocytes or macrophages. the macrophage is a primitive cell type being found in both early and advanced life forms, and possesses a variety of functions, such as phagocytosis of invaded bacteria, production of cytokines, antigen presentation and tumor killing. hansen's disease is a chronic infectious disease characterized by specific host immune responses against m. leprae. in this article ... | 2004 | 15508728 |
| clinical, electroneuromyographic and morphological studies of pure neural leprosy in a brazilian referral centre. | nineteen patients with pure neural leprosy were analysed with clinical examination, electroneuromyography and histopathology of nerve biopsies. clinical examination showed sensory loss (78.9%), paresis (78.9%), nerve enlargement (68.4%) and nerve pain (42.1%). electroneuromyographic study revealed an axonal pattern in 18 patients (94.7%) and a demyelinating pattern in one (0.5%). mononeuropathy multiplex was the most frequent presentation (78.9%), followed by mononeuropathy simplex (10.5%) and p ... | 2004 | 15508901 |
| utility of serodiagnostic tests for leprosy: a study in an endemic population in south india. | in order to evaluate the usefulness of natural disaccharide (pgl1) and 35 kda antigens based serology in diagnosis of leprosy and in detecting high risk groups for leprosy, this study was conducted in an endemic population in south india. out of 3346 cases and their households and neighbouring household contacts, serum samples from 2994 and 2875 individuals were screened for antibodies against pgl1 and 35kda antigens respectively. while the overall positivity for contacts and leprosy cases was 3 ... | 2004 | 15508903 |
| mycobacterium leprae infection and serum lactoferrin levels. | serum lactoferrin level, using competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) method, was estimated in 298 leprosy patients admitted into the hospital and attending the out-patient department of the schieffelin leprosy research and training center. serum from an equal number of non-leprosy individuals served as control. mean (sd) of serum lactoferrin in non-leprosy individuals was 0.277 (0-092) microg/ml while in leprosy patients it was 0.494 (0.394) microg/ml, the difference being signif ... | 2004 | 15508905 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae dna for 36kda protein in urine from leprosy patients: a preliminary report. | we have searched for mycobacterium leprae dna for 36kda protein in urine using a m. leprae specific pcr technique. a limited number of 16 patients (of which 11 belonged to lepromatous leprosy and five to tuberculoid leprosy) and eight healthy individuals were included for the present study. the number of urine samples positive by pcr were 36.4% (4/11) in lepromatous patients and 40% (2/5) in tuberculoid patients. none of the samples from healthy individuals was positive. to our knowledge, the re ... | 2004 | 15517032 |
| immunotherapy with plasmid dna encoding mycobacterial hsp65 in association with chemotherapy is a more rapid and efficient form of treatment for tuberculosis in mice. | tuberculosis (tb) remains a threat for public health, killing around 3 million people a year. despite the fact that most cases can be cured with antibiotics, the treatment is long and patients relapse if chemotherapy is not continued for at least 6 months. thus, a better characterization of the working principles of the immune system in tb and identification of new immunotherapeutic products for the development of shorter regimens of treatment are essential to achieve an effective management of ... | 2005 | 15526006 |
| effect of mycobacterium leprae lipids on bcg- and carrageenan-induced cellular recruitment in mouse pleurisy. | pathogenic mycobacteria survive inside macrophages and deactivate these cells, using a mechanism that is still poorly understood. mycobacterial cell wall lipids constitute the first contact with the host cell. although mycobaterium leprae and m. bovis bcg share common antigens, they induce opposite inflammatory responses. apolar m. leprae lipids have been shown to be anti-inflammatory by down-regulating macrophage activation and t-cell functions. we wonder if these lipids would influence cellula ... | 2004 | 15527549 |
| microsatellite mapping of mycobacterium leprae populations in infected humans. | to investigate genetic diversity in a bacterial population, we measured the copy numbers of simple sequence repeats, or microsatellites, in mycobacterium leprae from patients living in and around hyderabad, india. three microsatellite loci containing trinucleotide or dinucleotide repeats were amplified from infected tissues, and the copy numbers were established by sequence analysis. extensive diversity was observed in a cross-sectional survey of 33 patients, but closely related profiles were fo ... | 2004 | 15528676 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae dna by polymerase chain reaction in the blood and nasal secretion of brazilian household contacts. | dna samples from blood and nasal swabs of 125 healthy household contacts was submitted to amplification by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) using a mycobacterium leprae-specific sequence as a target for the detection of subclinical infection with m. leprae. all samples were submitted to hybridization analysis in order to exclude any false positive or negative results. two positive samples were confirmed from blood out of 119 (1.7%) and two positive samples from nasal secretion out of 120 (1.7%). ... | 2004 | 15543415 |
| genome reduction in prokaryotic obligatory intracellular parasites of humans: a comparative analysis. | obligatory intracellular parasites have undergone significant genome reduction by gene loss over time in the context of their obligate associations with the host. the flux, streamlining and elimination of genes in these genomes constitute a selective and ongoing process. comparative analyses of five completely sequenced obligatory intracellular parasite genomes reveal that these genomes display marked similarities in patterns of protein length and frequency distribution, with substantial sharing ... | 2004 | 15545414 |
| dna damage studies in untreated and treated leprosy patients. | the alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis assay was performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes of lepromatous and tubercloid leprosy patients (untreated and those undergoing treatment) in order to ascertain whether differential damage to dna occurs. the study group included 28 male and 2 female patients and 15 healthy males who were matched for age and socio-economic status. the results revealed dna damage in all patients, with a mean dna migration length of 29.88 +/- 3.39 microm and 38% of th ... | 2004 | 15548761 |
| [multibacillary leprosy recurrences]. | 2004 | 15551886 | |
| leprosy. | 2003 | 15555126 | |
| summarizing data through a piecewise linear growth curve model. | most of the research in clinical trials is based on longitudinal designs, which involve repeated measurements of a variable of interest. such designs are very powerful, both statistically and scientifically. recent advances in statistical theory and software development incorporate the covariance structures such as unstructured, compound symmetry, auto-regressive and random effects, etc., for analysing longitudinal data. hathaway et al. propose a technique for summarizing longitudinal data using ... | 2005 | 15568186 |
| human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) and mycobacterium leprae co-infection: hiv-1 subtypes and clinical, immunologic, and histopathologic profiles in a brazilian cohort. | co-infections with human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) and mycobacterium leprae represent unique opportunities to investigate the interaction of both pathogens. we determined the immunologic, virologic, and histopathologic characteristics of 22 co-infected brazilian patients (median age = 38 years, 81.8% males, 72.2% with paucibacillary leprosy, and 95.4% with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). the hiv-1 subtypes b and bf predominated in envelope and gag heteroduplex mobility analysis. borderli ... | 2004 | 15569804 |
| mutations in genes related to drug resistance in mycobacterium leprae isolates from leprosy patients in korea. | identification of the presence and drug resistance of mycobacterium leprae is key to the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy in non-endemic country like korea. the aim of this study was to screen the drug target dna such as folp, rpob, gyr, and 23s rrna of drug resistance strain of m. leprae. | 2005 | 15603834 |
| trochanteric hip fracture in an elderly patient with leprosy during osteoporosis treatment with risedronate and alfacalcidol. | there is no well-established treatment for osteoporosis in male patients with leprosy, because no clinical trials have examined the efficacy of treatment on bone mineral density (bmd) or fracture incidence in patients with leprosy. in this study, we report a case of osteoporosis in a man with leprosy, treated by oral administration of risedronate and alfacalcidol. an 82-year-old man with leprosy presented to our hospital with chronic back pain, due to osteoporosis, in july 2002. to prevent the p ... | 2005 | 15616900 |
| expression of foxp3 mrna is not confined to cd4+cd25+ t regulatory cells in humans. | expression of the transcription factor foxp3 (forkhead box p3) has been implicated as a key element for cd25(+) t regulatory cell function in mice. however, literature over similar involvement of foxp3 expression in human t regulatory cells is limited. we found that, unlike murine cells, foxp3 mrna expression could be induced in human cd25(-) and cd8(+) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which were both negative for foxp3 mrna expression after isolation. expression of foxp3 mrna began as soon a ... | 2005 | 15620457 |
| the acyl-amp ligase fadd32 and accd4-containing acyl-coa carboxylase are required for the synthesis of mycolic acids and essential for mycobacterial growth: identification of the carboxylation product and determination of the acyl-coa carboxylase components. | mycolic acids are major and specific long-chain fatty acids of the cell envelope of several important human pathogens such as mycobacterium tuberculosis, m. leprae, and corynebacterium diphtheriae. their biosynthesis is essential for mycobacterial growth and represents an attractive target for developing new antituberculous drugs. we have previously shown that the pks13 gene encodes condensase, the enzyme that performs the final condensation step of mycolic acid biosynthesis and is flanked by tw ... | 2005 | 15632194 |
| effects of thalidomide on intracellular mycobacterium leprae in normal and activated macrophages. | thalidomide is an effective drug for the treatment of erythema nodosum leprosum (enl). enl is an inflammatory reaction that may occur in multibacillary leprosy patients. its cause(s) as well as the mechanism of thalidomide in arresting this condition are not fully understood. it has been suggested that enl is an immune complex-mediated hypersensitivity precipitated by the release of mycobacterium leprae from macrophages. the released antigen may complex with precipitating antibodies, initiating ... | 2005 | 15642997 |
| leprosy: a case series and review. | hansen disease, historically known as leprosy, is caused by mycobacterium leprae. the disease is rare in the united states but remains endemic among certain immigrant populations, and may manifest years after infection. the us military has a number of active duty troops originally from endemic countries. recently, three us soldiers with hansen disease were evaluated at walter reed army medical center. the mean time to diagnosis was 8 months (range, 2 to 18 months). all three patients were initia ... | 2004 | 15646765 |
| genetic dissection of immunity in leprosy. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that affects an estimated 700,000 new individuals each year. a strong contribution of host genetics to susceptibility to leprosy has long been suggested to account for the considerable variability observed between individuals exposed to m. leprae. as there is no relevant animal model for human leprosy, forward genetics is the main strategy used to identify the genes and, consequently, the immunological pathways involved in pr ... | 2005 | 15653309 |
| spatial analysis of the distribution of leprosy in the state of ceará, northeast brazil. | the aim of this study was to describe spatial patterns of the distribution of leprosy and to investigate spatial clustering of incidence rates in the state of ceará, northeast brazil. the average incidence rate of leprosy for the period of 1991 to 1999 was calculated for each municipality of ceará. maps were used to describe the spatial distribution of the disease, and spatial statistics were applied to explore large- and small-scale variations of incidence rates. three regions were identified i ... | 2004 | 15654421 |
| differential interferon- gamma production characterizes the cytokine responses to leishmania and mycobacterium leprae antigens in concomitant mucocutaneous leishmaniasis and lepromatous leprosy. | tegumentary leishmaniasis and leprosy display similar spectra of disease phenotypes, which are dependent on cell-mediated immunity to specific antigens. diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis and lepromatous leprosy represent the anergic end of the spectrum, whereas mucocutaneous leishmaniasis and tuberculoid leprosy are associated with marked antigen-specific cellular immune response. | 2004 | 15655736 |
| the upstream sequence of mycobacterium leprae 18-kda gene confers transcription repression activity in orientation-independent manner. | in order to understand the role of the upstream region of the mycobacterium leprae 18-kda gene on the gene regulation, the region was divided into two at the -50 position from the first start codon of the gene and their effect on transcription was examined by using a lacz transcriptional reporter gene assay. the presence of each of these two regions conferred transcription repression not only on its cognate m. lepraerae 18-kda gene promoter, but also on a heterologous promoter such as the mycoba ... | 2004 | 15665583 |
| a study on transmission and a trial of chemoprophylaxis in contacts of leprosy patients: design, methodology and recruitment findings of colep. | in this article, we describe the design, methodology and recruitment findings of the colep study. the objectives of this study were to determine the effectiveness of chemoprophylaxis with a single dose of rifampicin in the prevention of leprosy among close contacts of leprosy patients, and to find characteristics of contact groups most at risk to develop clinical leprosy. these characteristics should be usable by routine leprosy control programmes. colep consists of a cluster randomized, double- ... | 2004 | 15682975 |
| a clinical trial of pefloxacin and ofloxacin in lepromatous leprosy. | a 2-month clinical trial of pefloxacin and ofloxacin in previously untreated multibacillary patients was conducted at the leonard wood memorial leprosy research center, cebu, the philippines. treatment with either pefloxacin or ofloxacin resulted in rapid clinical improvement, in this regard pefloxacin appearing somewhat superior. reactions and side effects were minimal. single doses of either agent did not result in significant killing of mycobacterium leprae, but significant bactericidal activ ... | 2004 | 15685736 |
| polymorphism in the rpot gene in mycobacterium leprae isolates obtained from latin american countries and its possible correlation with the spread of leprosy. | the genotypes of mycobacterium leprae isolates originating from mexico, peru and paraguay were analysed for the polymorphism of short tandem repeats in the rpot gene. the genotype with four copies of the six-base tandem repeats in the rpot gene was prominently predominant in mexico, but the genotype of all isolates from peru and paraguay contained three copies of the six-base tandem repeats. these obvious different distributions might reflect the spread of leprosy by the different strains of m. ... | 2005 | 15686829 |
| comparison of multidrug therapy treatment results between multibacillary leprosy patients in hyperendemic and hypoendemic areas in gowa regency, south sulawesi, indonesia. | we studied 88 multibacillary (mb) leprosy patients, who received multidrug therapy (mdt) treatment in hyperendemic (44 persons) and hypoendemic (44 persons) areas in gowa regency, south sulawesi, indonesia. bacteriological examinations were carried out (bacteria index and morphology index), immunological examinations (mlpa and tnf-alpha) and genetic variation in blood and ear lobe slit skin smears of mb leprosy patients, which had been treated by mdt, were performed. the collected data were anal ... | 2004 | 15691133 |
| point mutations in the dna- and cnmp-binding domains of the homologue of the camp receptor protein (crp) in mycobacterium bovis bcg: implications for the inactivation of a global regulator and strain attenuation. | the genome of mycobacterium tuberculosis h37rv includes a homologue of the crp/fnr (camp receptor protein/fumarate and nitrate reduction regulator) family of transcription regulators encoded by rv3676. sequencing of the orthologous gene from attenuated mycobacterium bovis bacille calmette-guérin (bcg) strains revealed point mutations that affect the putative dna-binding and cnmp-binding domains of the encoded protein. these mutations are not present in the published sequences of the rv3676 ortho ... | 2005 | 15699203 |
| application of a viability-staining method for mycobacterium leprae derived from the athymic (nu/nu) mouse foot pad. | mycobacterium leprae cannot be cultured, so ascertaining viability of the organism remains a major obstacle, impeding many avenues of investigation. this study tested a two-colour, syto9 and propidium iodide, fluorescence assay, which scores for membrane damage in individual bacilli, to determine if a rapid direct-count viability-staining technique can be reliably applied to m. leprae. a variety of experimental conditions were employed to validate this technique. this technique was also used to ... | 2005 | 15713606 |
| an unusual mutation results in the replacement of diaminopimelate with lanthionine in the peptidoglycan of a mutant strain of mycobacterium smegmatis. | mycobacterial peptidoglycan contains l-alanyl-d-iso-glutaminyl-meso-diaminopimelyl-d-alanyl-d-alanine peptides, with the exception of the peptidoglycan of mycobacterium leprae, in which glycine replaces the l-alanyl residue. the third-position amino acid of the peptides is where peptidoglycan cross-linking occurs, either between the meso-diaminopimelate (dap) moiety of one peptide and the penultimate d-alanine of another peptide or between two dap residues. we previously described a collection o ... | 2005 | 15716431 |
| the human cd1-restricted t cell repertoire is limited to cross-reactive antigens: implications for host responses against immunologically related pathogens. | the repertoires of cd1- and mhc-restricted t cells are complementary, permitting the immune recognition of both lipid and peptide ags, respectively. to compare the breadth of the cd1-restricted and mhc-restricted t cell repertoires, we evaluated t cell responses against lipid and peptide ags of mycobacteria in leprosy, comparing tuberculoid patients, who are able to restrict the pathogen, and lepromatous patients, who have disseminated infection. the striking finding was that in lepromatous lepr ... | 2005 | 15728470 |
| co-infection of mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae in human archaeological samples: a possible explanation for the historical decline of leprosy. | both leprosy and tuberculosis were prevalent in europe during the first millennium but thereafter leprosy declined. it is not known why this occurred, but one suggestion is that cross-immunity protected tuberculosis patients from leprosy. to investigate any relationship between the two diseases, selected archaeological samples, dating from the roman period to the thirteenth century, were examined for both mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium tuberculosis dna, using pcr. the work was carried ou ... | 2005 | 15734693 |
| biological implications of mycobacterium leprae gene expression during infection. | the genome of mycobacterium leprae, the etiologic agent of leprosy, has been sequenced and annotated revealing a genome in apparent disarray and in stark contrast to the genome of the related human pathogen, m. tuberculosis. with less than 50% coding capacity of a 3.3-mb genome and 1,116 pseudogenes, the remaining genes help define the minimal gene set necessary for in vivo survival of this mycobacterial pathogen as well as genes potentially required for infection and pathogenesis seen in lepros ... | 2004 | 15741741 |
| [current advances in leprosy research activities]. | due to the advent of multi-drug therapy (mdt) recommended by the who, for the treatment of leprosy, presently, leprosy is regarded as a "curable disease". the number of new cases in japan is relatively very low, due to which the disease is likely to be neglected, but on scientific grounds, there is a necessity to perform in depth studies. leprosy caused by m. leprae is still unclear on various aspects including transmission, immunology, nerve damage etc. here we introduce the recent advances in ... | 2005 | 15745061 |
| [in vitro and in vivo activities of newly synthesized fluoroquinolones wq-3345 and wq-3402 against mycobacterium leprae]. | activities of newly synthesized fluoroquinolnes wq-3345 and wq-3402 against m. leprae were measured by using the buddemeyer method. the % inhibition of the examined drugs for m. leprae was in the order of rfp > wq-3402 > spfx > gflx > wq-3345 > lvfx. the anti-m. leprae activity of wq-3402 was found to be strongest in these five fluoroquinolones when examined by this method, and the activity of wq-3345 was weaker than that of gflx. the anti-m. leprae activities of wq-3345 and wq-3402 were measure ... | 2005 | 15745063 |
| [application of genetic epidemiology to dissecting susceptibility to leprosy]. | 2005 | 15746608 | |
| susceptibility to leprosy may be conditioned by an interaction between the nramp1 promoter polymorphisms and the lepromin response. | controversial results have been achieved by attempting to associate the nramp1 gene with mycobacterium leprae susceptibility as well as with the mitsuda reaction, which represents a specific immune response to m. leprae. this study evaluated this association as well as the interaction of the polymorphism (gt)(n) in the promoter region of the nramp1 gene with a specific immune response to m. leprae measured by the intradermal mitsuda test in leprosy patients and in non-consanguineous household co ... | 2004 | 15755200 |
| a mutation at codon 516 in the rpob gene of mycobacterium leprae confers resistance to rifampin. | a missense mutation at codon 516 in the rpob gene of mycobacterium leprae conferring rifampin resistance was confirmed by the correlation between sequencing results and mouse footpad assay. the isolate was obtained from a relapsed lepromatous leprosy patient. this is the first report on the complete concordance between the mutation located at codon 516 in the rpob gene and the corresponding resistance to rifampin in leprosy. the novel profile of mutation in the rpob gene will contribute to the c ... | 2004 | 15755201 |