Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| effect of cryo preservation on mycobacterium leprae growth in the footpads of non-immunosuppressed mice. | to investigate using the mouse footpad system, whether the use of cryopreservants help in retaining the viability of mycobacterium leprae samples stored at three different temperatures of 4 degrees, -20 degrees and -70 degrees c for 30 days. | 2007 | 18309712 |
| socio-demographic profile of leprosy patients in two districts of western uttar pradesh. | despite achieving the goal of national elimination of leprosy, it remains a serious public health problem in the high prevalence states of uttar pradesh, bihar and orissa. a significant percentage of newly detected cases are multibacillary. it underscores the importance of developing a more effective strategy to combat the disease in high prevalence pockets of the country. a glance into sociodemographic profile of the leprosy patients of one the high prevalence states might help in understanding ... | 2007 | 18338716 |
| liposomal delivery of mycobacterium leprae antigen(s) with murabutide and trat peptide inhibits fas-mediated apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from leprosy patients. | protective immunity against intracellular pathogen mycobacterium leprae is dependent on the activation of t cells. repeated stimulation of t cells by m. leprae antigens mlcwa (m. leprae total cell wall antigen) and manlam (mannose capped lipoarabinomannan) may lead to apoptosis in leprosy patients. in the present study, inhibition of the fas-induced apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of leprosy patients was investigated using above m. leprae antigen(s), in combination with immunomod ... | 2007 | 18341215 |
| thermal threshold tester, a useful tool for detection of very early nerve damage--determination of normal values in a healthy population unexposed to mycobacterium leprae and its application in the a9 study. | in ethiopia, a large percentage of leprosy patients present with established nerve damage. present techniques for measuring nerve function impairment show no abnormality until 30% of nerve axons are destroyed. nerve damage in leprosy occurs first in small diameter unmyelinated fibres, then in small myelinated fibres, and much later in large myelinated fibres. the thermal threshold tester (ttt) was used to measure function in nerves carrying heat sensation (unmyelinated c fibres) and cold sensati ... | 2007 | 18710071 |
| a geospatial risk assessment model for leprosy in ethiopia based on environmental thermal-hydrological regime analysis. | geospatial methods were used to study the associations of the environmental thermal-hydrological regime with leprosy prevalence in the oromia and amhara regions of ethiopia. prediction models were developed that indicated leprosy prevalence was related to: (i) long-term normal climate grid data on temperature and moisture balance (rain/potential evapo-transpiration); (ii) satellite surveillance data on the normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi) and daytime earth surface temperature (tmax) ... | 2006 | 18686236 |
| a drug-resistant leprosy case detected by dna sequence analysis from a relapsed mexican leprosy patient. | a skin biopsy sample was obtained from a relapsed lepromatous leprosy patient from the central area of mexico. genes associated with resistance to anti-leprosy drugs were analyzed by dna sequence assay. a single nucleotide substitution was found at codon 53 (acc-->gcc) in the folp gene, which is known to confer dapsone resistance. no mutations in the rpob and gyra, which indicate resistance to rifampicin and fluoroquinoles, were detected. this is the first reported case of dapsone resistant lepr ... | 2006 | 18293659 |
| hansen's disease and the eye. | 2006 | 17253016 | |
| [conjunctival bacilloscopy in leprosy diagnosis and follow-up]. | to identify mycobacterium leprae in ocular conjunctivae and evaluate conjunctival bacilloscopy as leprosy diagnosis and follow-up test. | 2006 | 17273681 |
| on cell signalling mechanism of mycobacterium leprae soluble antigen (mlsa) in jurkat t cells. | we investigated the role of mycobaterium leprae soluble antigen (mlsa) in the modulation of calcium signalling, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein (map) kinases and il-2 mrna expression in human jurkat t cells. we observed that mlsa induced an increase in free intracellular calcium concentrations, [ca2+]i, via opening crac (ca2+-release activated- ca2+) channels. furthermore, mlsa failed to potentiate both thapsigargin- and anti-cd3 antibodies-induced capacitative calcium influx in jur ... | 2006 | 16583135 |
| dc-sign association with the th2 environment of lepromatous lesions: cause or effect? | the clinical spectrum of leprosy is related to patients' immune responses. non-responsiveness towards mycobacterium leprae (ml) seems to correlate with a th2 cytokine profile. the reason for such a polarized immune response remains unclear. the c-type lectin, dc-sign, expressed by subsets of dendritic cells (dcs) and macrophages, has previously been associated with th2 responses. here we show abundant dc-sign expression in lepromatous but not borderline tuberculoid leprosy, in both hiv-positive ... | 2006 | 16583355 |
| synthesis and antileprosy activity of some dialkyldithiocarbamates. | to investigate the antileprosy potential of a set of original compounds with antimycobacterial activity. | 2006 | 16595643 |
| isothermal amplification and molecular typing of the obligate intracellular pathogen mycobacterium leprae isolated from tissues of unknown origins. | molecular diagnostic and epidemiology studies require appreciable amounts of high-quality dna. molecular epidemiologic methods have not been routinely applied to the obligate intracellular organism mycobacterium leprae because of the difficulty of obtaining a genomic dna template from clinical material. accordingly, we have developed a method based on isothermic multiple-displacement amplification to allow access to a high-quality dna template. in the study described in this report, we evaluated ... | 2006 | 16597883 |
| distribution of environmental mycobacteria in karonga district, northern malawi. | the genus mycobacterium includes many species that are commonly found in the environment (in soil and water or associated with plants and animals), as well as species that are responsible for two major human diseases, tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis) and leprosy (mycobacterium leprae). the distribution of environmental mycobacteria was investigated in the context of a long-term study of leprosy, tuberculosis, mycobacterium bovis bcg vaccination, and the responses of individuals to vario ... | 2006 | 16597928 |
| a ten-year historic study of paranasal cavity endoscopy in patients with leprosy. | leprosy is an infectious condition that has a chronic evolution caused by the mycobacterium leprae. it very often attacks the nasal cavities mucosa independent of its clinical form, even before skin lesions or lesions to other parts of the body arise, in the presence or not of clinical complaints. | 2006 | 16612522 |
| the continuing challenges of leprosy. | leprosy is best understood as two conjoined diseases. the first is a chronic mycobacterial infection that elicits an extraordinary range of cellular immune responses in humans. the second is a peripheral neuropathy that is initiated by the infection and the accompanying immunological events. the infection is curable but not preventable, and leprosy remains a major global health problem, especially in the developing world, publicity to the contrary notwithstanding. mycobacterium leprae remains no ... | 2006 | 16614253 |
| socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioural risk factors for leprosy in north-east brazil: results of a case-control study. | brazil reports almost 80% of all leprosy cases in the americas. this study aimed to identify socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioural factors associated with risk of leprosy occurrence in the endemic north-eastern region. | 2006 | 16645029 |
| who global strategy for further reducing the leprosy burden and sustaining leprosy control activities (plan period: 2006-2010). | 2006 | 16646281 | |
| who regional strategy for sustaining leprosy services and further reducing the burden of leprosy, 2006-2010. | 2006 | 16646282 | |
| national leprosy eradication programme, india. national action plan for 2006-07. | 2006 | 16646283 | |
| a thai patient with generalised inflammatory skin disease 18 years after migration to europe. | 2006 | 16650656 | |
| signature proteins that are distinctive characteristics of actinobacteria and their subgroups. | the actinobacteria constitute one of the main phyla of bacteria. presently, no morphological and very few molecular characteristics are known which can distinguish species of this highly diverse group. in this work, we have analyzed the genomes of four actinobacteria (viz. mycobacterium leprae tn, leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli str. ctcb07, bifidobacterium longum ncc2705 and thermobifida fusca yx) to search for proteins that are unique to actinobacteria. our analyses have identified 233 actinobacter ... | 2006 | 16670965 |
| impaired maturation and function of dendritic cells by mycobacteria through il-1beta. | dendritic cells (dc) are pivotal for initiation and regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses evoked by vaccination and natural infection. after infection, mycobacterial pathogens first encounter monocytes, which produce pro-inflammatory cytokines, including il-1beta, tnf-alpha and il-6. the role of these cytokines in dc maturation remains incompletely understood. here, we show that maturation of dc from monocytes was impaired by pretreatment of monocytes with low doses of il-1beta. und ... | 2006 | 16673446 |
| histological and genotypical characterization of feline cutaneous mycobacteriosis: a retrospective study of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. | twenty-nine cases presumptively diagnosed as feline cutaneous mycobacteriosis were evaluated microscopically with haematoxylin and eosin and modified fite's stained sections using archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens. lesions were characterized histologically as feline leprosy (7 cases lepromatous and 16 cases tuberculoid) or atypical mycobacteriosis (3 cases); three cases did not fit these criteria and were classified as 'miscellaneous'. actinomycetales-specific polymerase ... | 2006 | 16674729 |
| mycobacterium leprae in untreated lepromatous leprosy: more than skin deep. | 2006 | 16681612 | |
| cytokine measurement in lymphocyte culture supernatant of inactive lepromatous leprosy patients. | the aim of the present study was to determine the effects of stimulation of sonicated mycobacterium leprae (mls) extract and phorbol myristate acetate (pma) on the pattern of cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) and to find out whether there is any difference between stimulation of mls extract and pma. blood samples were collected and pbmc isolated from 43 inactive lepromatous leprosy patients. after culture for 24 hours, lymphocytes were stimulated with mls extract a ... | 2006 | 16687863 |
| dc-sign interacts with mycobacterium leprae but sequence variation in this lectin is not associated with leprosy in the pakistani population. | the c-type lectin dc-sign is involved in early interactions between human innate immune cells and a variety of pathogens. here we sought to evaluate whether dc-sign interacts with the leprosy bacillus, mycobacterium leprae, and whether dc-sign genetic variation influences the susceptibility and/or pathogenesis of the disease. a case-control study conducted in a cohort of 272 individuals revealed no association between dc-sign variation and leprosy. however, our results clearly show that dc-sign ... | 2006 | 16698431 |
| the mouse footpad model. | 2006 | 16715685 | |
| the mouse foot-pad technique for cultivation of mycobacterium leprae. | although multiplication of mycobacterium leprae in the foot pads of immune-competent mice is limited, and no leprosy-like lesions are produced in these animals, the mouse foot-pad system represents the first truly useful and reproducible animal model of m. leprae infection. its employment has enabled research into basic questions with respect to the microbiology of m. leprae, and the epidemiology, treatment and control of leprosy. the mouse foot-pad technique is labour-intensive and time-consumi ... | 2006 | 16715686 |
| risk factors for developing leprosy--a population-based cohort study in indonesia. | we identified risk factors associated with increased yearly incidence rates of leprosy in five island populations. age, sex, household size and mycobacterium leprae-specific antibodies as well as contact factors were studied. of 94 index patients (patients diagnosed in 2000), 43 (46%) were classified as multibacillary (mb), 17 (19%) were seropositive for pgl-1 [corrected] antibodies and 6 (7%) had m. leprae dna in nasal swabs as determined by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) testing. all pcr posi ... | 2006 | 16715690 |
| hla and leprosy in the pre and postgenomic eras. | leprosy has intrigued immunologists for many decades. despite minimal genetic variation between mycobacterium leprae isolates worldwide, two completely different forms of the disease can develop in the susceptible human host: localized, tuberculoid, or paucibacillary leprosy, which can heal spontaneously, and disseminating, lepromatous, or multibacillary leprosy, which is progressive if untreated. the questions which host factors regulate these very different outcomes of infection, by what mecha ... | 2006 | 16728267 |
| interactions between hiv infection and leprosy: a paradox. | early in the hiv epidemic it was feared that the disease would undermine leprosy control, as has occurred with tuberculosis. it was predicted that patients with leprosy and hiv coinfection would have an increased risk of lepromatous disease and a faster clinical evolution, and that the leprosy would be more difficult to treat. none of these concerns have materialised and the interaction between hiv and mycobacterium leprae seems to be far more subtle than that between hiv and tuberculosis. we re ... | 2006 | 16728321 |
| high-level expression of pseudogenes in mycobacterium leprae. | recent studies have revealed that some rnas are transcribed from noncoding dna regions, including pseudogenes, and are functional as riboregulators. we have attempted to assess the gene expression profile throughout the mycobacterium leprae genome using an array technique. twelve highly expressed gene regions were identified that show an alteration in expression levels upon infection. six of these were pseudogenes. although m. leprae has an exceptional number and proportion of pseudogenes among ... | 2006 | 16734781 |
| cyclooxygenase 2 expression in vessels and nerves in reversal reaction leprosy. | tissue expression of cyclooxygenase (cox)2, an inducible enzyme synthesizing eicosanoids in inflammation, was studied in reversal reaction (rr) leprosy in comparison with nonreactionary leprosy. cox2 was consistently expressed in cells of the mononuclear-macrophage lineage across the leprosy spectrum. only in rr, the following two additional sites showed cox2 expression in the dermis and subcutis: 1) microvessels and 2) nerve bundles and isolated nerve fibers. the same sites also express vascula ... | 2006 | 16760523 |
| immunogenicity of mycobacterium ulcerans hsp65 and protective efficacy of a mycobacterium leprae hsp65-based dna vaccine against buruli ulcer. | buruli ulcer, a disease caused by mycobacterium ulcerans, is emerging as an increasingly important cause of morbidity throughout the world, for which surgery is the only efficient treatment to date. the aim of this work was to identify potential vaccine candidates in an experimental model of mouse infection. in balb/c mice infected with m. ulcerans subcutaneously, hsp65 appeared to be an immunodominant antigen eliciting both humoral and cellular responses. however, vaccination of mice with a dna ... | 2006 | 16781179 |
| towards an immunodiagnostic test for leprosy. | in addition to multidrug therapy, elimination of leprosy requires improved diagnostic methods. using a comparative genomics approach, 17 potential protein antigens (mlp) that are restricted to mycobacterium leprae, or of limited distribution, were produced and tested for antigen-specific immune responses on leprosy patients, healthy contacts of leprosy patients, and tuberculosis patients in mali and bangladesh, as well as on non-endemic controls. t-cell antigenicity of mlp was confirmed by ifn-g ... | 2006 | 16797206 |
| schwann cells: origins and role in axonal maintenance and regeneration. | the schwann cell plays a vital role in maintaining the peripheral nervous system (pns). schwann cells are derived from neural crest cells, and come in two types either myelinating or non-myelinating schwann cells. both play a pivotal role in the maintenance and regeneration of axons of the neurons in the pns. the regulation of schwann cells is mediated a number of different neurotrophic factors which signal to transcription factors such as krox-20, oct-6 and sox-10. schwann cells are affected in ... | 2006 | 16807057 |
| first report of leprosy presenting as acute polyarthritis in the setting of type i downgrading lepra reaction. | leprosy is a rare cause of acute polyarthritis. we describe the occurrence of oedema of the hands and feet and acute polyarthritis in the setting of type i (downgrading) lepra reaction in an untreated patient with borderline leprosy. this case report further expands the range of articular manifestations that can occur in leprosy. | 2006 | 16247582 |
| the "domino theory" of gene death: gradual and mass gene extinction events in three lineages of obligate symbiotic bacterial pathogens. | during the adaptation of an organism to a parasitic lifestyle, various gene functions may be rendered superfluous due to the fact that the host may supply these needs. as a consequence, obligate symbiotic bacterial pathogens tend to undergo reductive genomic evolution through gene death (nonfunctionalization or pseudogenization) and deletion. here, we examine the evolutionary sequence of gene-death events during the process of genome miniaturization in three bacterial species that have experienc ... | 2006 | 16237210 |
| pure neural leprosy: diagnostic value of the polymerase chain reaction. | pure neural leprosy (pnl) is often difficult to diagnose when acid-fast bacilli (afb) cannot be detected. we undertook the present study to evaluate use of the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) in diagnosing pnl. fifty-eight patients (41 men and 17 women) suspected of pure neural leprosy (pnl) were examined. patients were classified as borderline tuberculoid (bt, 40 cases) and polar tuberculoid (tt, 18 cases) types. nerve biopsy was performed and was positive for afb in 20 patients (all bt patient ... | 2006 | 16315323 |
| nitric oxide scavenging by mycobacterium leprae glbo involves the formation of the ferric heme-bound peroxynitrite intermediate. | ferrous oxygenated (fe(ii)o2) hemoglobins (hb's) and myoglobins (mb's) have been shown to react very rapidly with no, yielding no3(-) and the ferric heme-protein derivative (fe(iii)), by means of the ferric heme-bound peroxynitrite intermediate (fe(iii)oono), according to the minimum reaction scheme: fe(ii)o2 + no (k(on))--> fe(iii)oono (h)--> fe(iii) + no3(-). for most hb's and mb's, the first step (indicated by k(on)) is rate limiting, the overall reaction following a bimolecular behavior. by ... | 2006 | 16307730 |
| dihydropteroate synthase mutations in the folp1 gene predict dapsone resistance in relapsed cases of leprosy. | molecular detection was compared with the mouse footpad inoculation test for detection of dapsone resistance in 38 strains of mycobacterium leprae. mutations of the folp1 gene (at codons 53 or 55) were found in 6 of 6 strains with high-level resistance, in 3 of 4 strains with intermediate-level resistance, and in 1 of 6 strains with low-level resistance, but not in 22 dapsone-susceptible strains. in cases of infection with strains of m. leprae carrying the folp1 mutation, therapy with dapsone ma ... | 2006 | 16355335 |
| localization of coro1a in the macrophages containing mycobacterium leprae. | mycobacteria have acquired an intracellular lifestyle within the macrophage, which is best exemplified by the enlarged infected histiocytes seen in lepromatous leprosy. to survive within the cell, mycobacteria must escape intracellular bactericidal mechanisms. in a study of mycobacterium bovis bacille calmette-guérin (m. bovis bcg) infection, it was shown that the host protein, coro1a, also known as tryptophan aspartate-containing coat protein (taco), accumulates on the phagosomal membrane, resu ... | 2006 | 17327897 |
| current epidemiology of leprosy in india. | 2006 | 17343215 | |
| association between anti-pgl-i igm and clinical and demographic parameters in leprosy. | to determine the risk factors and clinical significance of anti-pgl-i seropositivity. | 2006 | 17343221 |
| isolation of mycobacterium leprae from untreated borderline tuberculoid, mid-borderline and indeterminate cases using the mouse foot pad technique--a study of 209 cases. | using the mouse foot pad (mfp) system, isolation of mycobacterium leprae was attempted in 209 skin biopsies obtained from 114 borderline tuberculoid (bt), 62 mid borderline (bb) and 33 indeterminate (1) untreated cases. unequivocal growth in the foot pads of mice was seen in 100 (47.8%) cases. of these 100 cases that showed growth in the mouse foot pad system, in 20 cases acid fast bacilli (afb) were detected in small numbers (1 + ) in either smear or homogenate. the remaining 80 (42%) cases wer ... | 2006 | 17343223 |
| indeterminate leprosy in an infant. | an infant, 8 months old having histologically confirmed indeterminate leprosy is reported. the source of infection and possible mode of transmission are discussed. | 2006 | 17343225 |
| [record of dasypus novemcinctus (mammalia: xenarthra) parasited by tunga terasma (siphonaptera: tungidae) in alegre, state of espírito santo, brazil]. | during a survey of mycobacterium leprae in wild armadillos in the state of espírito santo, thirty-four armadillos were captured in the municipality of alegre (20 degrees 45's, 41 degrees 29'w, 150m). the armadillos, dasypus novemcinctus were examined by clinical and macroscopic examination. in four armadillos (11.7%), were found nodes in the abdomen. the nodules were identified as tunga terasma. this is the first report of t. terasma in d. novemcinctus armadillos in the state of espírito santo, ... | 2006 | 17196127 |
| a simplified reverse transcriptase pcr for rapid detection of mycobacterium leprae in skin specimens. | an rna-based assay is an additional molecular tool for leprosy diagnosis and determination of the viability of leprosy bacilli. to simplify rna detection, a one-step reverse transcriptase pcr (rt-pcr) was established and evaluated. rna and dna could be isolated simultaneously. with the use of mycobacterium leprae-specific primers targeting a 171-bp fragment of the m. leprae 16s rna gene, rt-pcr resulted in detection of m. leprae in both slit skin smears and skin biopsy specimens. to enhance the ... | 2006 | 17052269 |
| immunostimulatory activity of recombinant mycobacterium bovis bcg that secretes major membrane protein ii of mycobacterium leprae. | we previously demonstrated that major membrane protein ii (mmp-ii) is one of the immunodominant antigens (ags) of mycobacterium leprae capable of activating t cells through toll-like receptor 2. based on the observation that mycobacterium bovis bcg secreting a 30-kda protein offered better protection against tuberculosis, we constructed a recombinant bcg strain (bcg-sm) that secretes mmp-ii to improve the potency of bcg against leprosy. the secreted mmp-ii protein from bcg-sm stimulated monocyte ... | 2006 | 17057093 |
| the new mycobacteria: an update. | the continuous evolution of mycobacterial taxonomy may represent a source of confusion for laboratories and clinicians. apart from the obvious pathogenic strains of the mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium ulcerans, the role of other mycobacteria may be associated with varying conditions ranging from contamination to specific disease processes. of the more than 120 mycobacterial species recognized currently, very few have not been reported as pathogenic in h ... | 2006 | 17064273 |
| comparative genomics of metabolic pathways in mycobacterium species: gene duplication, gene decay and lateral gene transfer. | the genus mycobacterium comprises significant pathogenic species that infect both humans and animals. one species within this genus, mycobacterium tuberculosis, is the primary killer of humans resulting from bacterial infections. five mycobacterial genomes belonging to four different species (m. tuberculosis, mycobacterium bovis, mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis) have been sequenced to date and another 14 mycobacterial genomes are at various stages of completion ... | 2006 | 17064286 |
| peroxynitrite scavenging by ferrous truncated hemoglobin glbo from mycobacterium leprae. | mycobacterium leprae glbo has been proposed to represent merging of both o(2) uptake/transport and scavenging of nitrogen reactive species. peroxynitrite reacts with m. leprae glbo(ii)-no leading to glbo(iii) via the glbo(iii)-no species. the value of the second order rate constant for glbo(iii)-no formation is >1x10(8)m(-1)s(-1) in the absence and presence of co(2) (1.2x10(-3)m). the co(2)-independent value of the first order rate constant for glbo(iii)-no denitrosylation is (2.5+/-0.4)x10(1)s( ... | 2006 | 17069757 |
| lepromatous leprosy: a review and case report. | leprosy is a contagious and chronic systemic granulomatous disease caused by mycobacterium leprae (hansen s bacillus). it is transmitted from person to person and has a long incubation period (between two and six years). the disease presents polar clinical forms (the multibacillary lepromatous leprosy and the paucibacillary tuberculoid leprosy), as well as other intermediate forms with hybrid characteristics. oral manifestations usually appear in lepromatous leprosy and occur in 20-60% of cases. ... | 2006 | 17072249 |
| the clinical and immunological features of leprosy. | leprosy is a granulomatous disease affecting the skin and nerves caused by mycobacterium leprae. it continues to be a significant public health problem. multidrug therapy (mdt) cures the infection, but immunological reactions may occur and neuropathy may lead to disability and deformity. it is important that the manifestations of the condition are recognized as early as possible so that early nerve damage can be identified and treated rapidly. | 2006 | 17090777 |
| selection for unequal densities of sigma70 promoter-like signals in different regions of large bacterial genomes. | the evolutionary processes operating in the dna regions that participate in the regulation of gene expression are poorly understood. in escherichia coli, we have established a sequence pattern that distinguishes regulatory from nonregulatory regions. the density of promoter-like sequences, that could be recognizable by rna polymerase and may function as potential promoters, is high within regulatory regions, in contrast to coding regions and regions located between convergently transcribed genes ... | 2006 | 17096598 |
| the oral mucosa in leprosy: a clinical and histopathological study. | multibacillary leprosy may involve the oral mucosa, with or without apparent lesions. there are few studies that deal with this issue in the era of multidrug therapy. | 2006 | 17119765 |
| awareness about the persons with disability act among leprosy patients and other disabled persons. | to assess the level of awareness about the different provisions of the persons with disability act (pwd act) among leprosy patients and other disabled, 233 disabled persons from the self-help groups formed by vadathorasalur leprosy control unit have been interviewed using a structured interview checklist. the results show that 74.7% of the respondents were aware that identity cards are available for the disabled, 56.2% were aware of the free education benefit to the disabled, as low as 35.6% wer ... | 2006 | 17120505 |
| profile of new cases of childhood leprosy in a hospital setting. | a hospital-based prospective study was carried out to assess the frequency of occurrence of leprosy in childhood. out of 800 patients registered for leprosy, 67 (8.4%) were children aged 4-14 years. the male-to-female ratio was 2.5:1. family history of leprosy was found in 14.9% of cases. the commonest type of leprosy was bt leprosy (35.8%), followed by bb leprosy (25.4%) and bl leprosy (19.4%). more than half of the patients had more than one lesion. nerve involvement was noted in 70.1% of case ... | 2006 | 17120506 |
| role of target groups in integrated leprosy programmes. | the introduction of integrated leprosy services into the primary health care set-up has taken away active case-detection in the community and is replaced by passive reporting by the suspected, afflicted individuals. this can only be made operative effectively with intensive iec activities in the community. a research study involving school-children (219,000) in leprosy work achieved spectacular success in new case-detection, effective monitoring, completion of mdt and coverage of a large number ... | 2006 | 17120507 |
| inter-state variations in integration of leprosy services into general health system in low/ moderately endemic states of india. | the objective of the study was to analyse inter-state variations in integration of leprosy services into the general health system, covering broad categories of structure integration, training of health functionaries, availability of mdt services and record maintenance, in 24 low/moderately endemic states. multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 9 states, 86 health facilities (including district hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres) and 108 sub-centres. in ... | 2006 | 17120508 |
| primary neuritic leprosy: a reappraisal at a tertiary care hospital. | to study the clinico-epidemiological profile of primary neuritic leprosy. | 2006 | 17120509 |
| affection of immune zones in leprosy: a clinico-epidemiological study. | the study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of involvement of immune zones in leprosy and to assess the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of the disease in patients presenting with immune zone involvement. 200 leprosy cases were included in this study and detailed history, clinical examination, slit-skin smears and skin biopsies were carried out on all patients. those cases presenting with immune zone involvement were further evaluated for clinical and epidemiological characteristi ... | 2006 | 17120510 |
| lepromatous leprosy with bilateral facial nerve palsy and hyperthyroidism. | bilateral lagophthalmos secondary to facial nerve is extremely uncommon. further, the aetiology in most of these cases is of central origin unlike the peripheral involvement in leprosy. a patient of lepromatous leprosy (ll) may be euthyroid or hypothyroid on account of leprous involvement of the thyroid gland. a case of ll with bilateral lagophthalmos and hyperthyroidism is reported. | 2006 | 17120512 |
| tattooing in leprosy: the myth continues! | 2006 | 17120513 | |
| [basic evaluation for new antimicrobial susceptibility testing of mycobacterium leprae by bioluminescence assay (atp method)]. | antimicrobial susceptibility testing of mycobacterium leprae by non-radioactive bioluminescence assay was developed. optimization of the assay conditions such as temperature and time for atp extraction, bacteria dose, preparation of bacteria suspension and ph of culture medium was carried out using m. leprae thai 53 strain. samples of bacterial suspension of m. leprae were first treated with filamentous cell treatment reagent at room temperature for 30 minutes and atp was extracted from the lepr ... | 2006 | 17037377 |
| [current practice of genetic diagnosis for mycobacterium leprae]. | laboratory tests necessary for the diagnosis of leprosy have not been well introduced in general hospitals and clinical laboratories. therefore, several tests have been performed in leprosy research center, national institute of infectious diseases since july, 1997, as a part of administrative examinations (tests done by request of ministry of health, labour and welfare). these examinations include histopathology, serum antibody titers (anti-pgl-i antibody), pcr test and bioactivity of anti-bact ... | 2006 | 17037381 |
| [dna microarray based rapid drug susceptibility test for mycobacterium leprae]. | antibiotic susceptibility test of mycobacterium leprae still relies on the time consuming methods based on the growth of m. leprae in the mouse footpad. thus, the establishment of a rapid, simple and reliable method for the detection of drug-resistant m. leprae is one of the most urgent subjects in the treatment of leprosy patients. recently, many data on the mutation of specific genes correlating with drug resistance have been accumulated. application of these data permit the establishment of n ... | 2006 | 17037383 |
| [identification of an immunodominant antigen of mycobacterium leprae and its application for the development of protective measures]. | host defense against mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) is chiefly conducted by cellular immunity. the adaptive immunity plays an important role, and t cells are activated through recognition of some immunodominant antigens of m. leprae. a search for an immunodominant antigen was carried out using human peripheral monocytes-derived dendritic cells and m. leprae-derived cell membrane fraction which is the most antigenic fraction of the bacteria, and major membrane protein (mmp)-ii was found as one ... | 2006 | 17037384 |
| diagnosis of leprosy: serological aspects. | the most convenient way of diagnosing an infectious disease is by serological methods. to improve the quality of diagnosis in leprosy, simple tests in addition to diagnosis by clinical signs, are necessary. here, pgl-i based methods for detection of multibacillary and paucibacillary leprosy, have been revisited and newer methods are discussed. | 2006 | 17037385 |
| bactericidal activities of r207910 and other newer antimicrobial agents against mycobacterium leprae in mice. | as measured by a proportional bactericidal technique in the mouse footpad system, the bactericidal activity against mycobacterium leprae of r207910 was equal to that of rifapentine, rifampin, or moxifloxacin and significantly greater than those of minocycline, pa-824, and linezolid. these data suggest that r207910 may play an important role in treatment of leprosy. | 2006 | 16569884 |
| genotypic analysis of mycobacterium leprae isolates from japan and other asian countries reveals a global transmission pattern of leprosy. | the genotype of single-nucleotide polymorphism type 3, ctc, at positions 14676, 164275, and 2935685, along with four copies of 6 bp repeats in the rpot gene, was predominant for isolates originating in the japanese mainland. type 1, cga, type 2, cta, and type 3 were detected from korea, indonesia, and myanmar. no isolates with four copies of 6 bp were detected from myanmar, okinawa, and japanese brazilian patients. type 4, ttc, with three copies of 6 bp, was detected only from japanese brazilian ... | 2006 | 16842372 |
| s-100 as a useful auxiliary diagnostic aid in tuberculoid leprosy. | the diagnosis of tuberculoid leprosy is often difficult on hematoxylin and eosin (h&e) due to the absence of demonstrable nerve destruction. this study evaluates the utility of s-100 staining in identifying nerve fragmentation and differentiation of tuberculoid leprosy from other cutaneous granulomatous diseases. | 2006 | 16872470 |
| mycobacterium leprae interactions with the host cell: recent advances. | the significance of hansen disease, or leprosy, is underscored by fact that detection of this disease has remained stable over the past 10 yr, even though disease prevalence is reduced. due to the long incubation time of the organism, health experts predict that leprosy will be with us for decades to come. despite the fact that mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, cannot be cultured in the laboratory, researchers are using innovative and imaginative techniques to discern the int ... | 2006 | 16885596 |
| tyrosine kinases: maiming myelin in leprosy. | 2006 | 16892032 | |
| erbb2 receptor tyrosine kinase signaling mediates early demyelination induced by leprosy bacilli. | demyelination is a common pathologic feature in many neurodegenerative diseases including infection with leprosy-causing mycobacterium leprae. because of the long incubation time and highly complex disease pathogenesis, the management of nerve damage in leprosy, as in other demyelinating diseases, is extremely difficult. therefore, an important challenge in therapeutic interventions is to identify the molecular events that occur in the early phase before the progression of the disease. here we p ... | 2006 | 16892039 |
| analysis of gene probes and gene amplification techniques for diagnosis and monitoring of treatment in childhood leprosy. | nucleic acid sequences of mycobacterium leprae were detected using gene probes hybridizing with targeting ribosomal rna (16s rrna), ribosomal dna (16s rdna) and gene amplification techniques (pcr) in skin lesion of paediatric leprosy patients and the effect of treatment on the by these methods. eighty paediatric leprosy patients were included in the study. most cases (79%) were between 9 and 16 years of age. cases were divided into three groups according to treatment status, viz. untreated (30), ... | 2006 | 16895070 |
| an immunohistochemical, clinical and electroneuromyographic correlative study of the neural markers in the neuritic form of leprosy. | the nerve biopsies of 11 patients with pure neuritic leprosy were submitted to routine diagnostic procedures and immunoperoxidase staining with antibodies against axonal (neurofilament, nerve growth factor receptor (ngfr), and protein gene product (pgp) 9.5) and schwann cell (myelin basic protein, s-100 protein, and ngfr) markers. two pairs of non-adjacent histological cross-sections of the peripheral nerve were removed for quantification. all the fascicles of the nerve were examined with a 10x- ... | 2006 | 16906282 |
| mannan-binding lectin plasma levels in leprosy: deficiency confers protection against the lepromatous but not the tuberculoid forms. | mannan-binding lectin (mbl) is an important component of the first-line defence against infections. evidence has shown that mbl deficiency, reducing phagocytosis and internalization of intracellular pathogens may protect the host against intracellular infections such as leprosy. in this study, we speculated whether genetically determined low mbl serum levels confer protection against mycobacterium leprae infection. one hundred and ninety-one patients with leprosy, presenting lepromatous (n = 118 ... | 2006 | 16907914 |
| glycoconjugates: roles in neural diseases caused by exogenous pathogens. | numerous reports indicate that lipid or protein associated carbohydrates are essential for infection of cells by various viruses, bacteria, or bacterial toxins, some of which affect the nervous system. examples of such pathogens include tetanus and botulinum neurotoxin, shiga and shiga-like toxins, borrelia burgdorferi, mycobacterium leprae, and human immunodeficiency virus. this review discusses evidence indicating that carbohydrates are essential for these pathogens to induce their deleterious ... | 2006 | 16918390 |
| inactivation of rv2525c, a substrate of the twin arginine translocation (tat) system of mycobacterium tuberculosis, increases beta-lactam susceptibility and virulence. | the twin arginine translocation (tat) system is used by many bacteria to export fully folded proteins containing cofactors. here, we show genetically that this system is essential for mycobacterium tuberculosis, as the tatac operon and tatb genes could be inactivated only in partially diploid strains. using comparative genomics, the rv2525c gene of m. tuberculosis was identified as encoding a histidine-rich protein, with a twin arginine signal peptide, and orthologous genes were shown to be pres ... | 2006 | 16952959 |
| evaluation of real-time and conventional pcr targeting complex 85 genes for detection of mycobacterium leprae dna in skin biopsy samples from patients diagnosed with leprosy. | in spite of the decrease in the number of registered leprosy patients, the number of new cases diagnosed each year (400,000) has remained essentially unchanged. leprosy diagnosis is difficult due to the low sensitivity of current methodologies to identify new cases. in this study, conventional and taqman real-time pcr assays for detection of mycobacterium leprae dna were compared to current classification based on clinical, bacteriological, and histological evaluation. m. leprae dna was extracte ... | 2006 | 16954241 |
| interaction of taqi polymorphism at exon 9 of the vitamin d receptor gene with the negative lepromin response may favor the occurrence of leprosy. | controversies over the vitamin d receptor (vdr) acting as a susceptibility factor in mycobacterium sp. infections may be the result of incorrect population stratification. the risk of leprosy occurrence conditioned by vdr polymorphism was investigated by stratifying the population of a highly endemic brazilian region into negative and positive mitsuda responses. leprosy patients (102) and a group of healthy nonconsanguineous household contacts (68) were genotyped for the vdr taqi polymorphism (t ... | 2006 | 16965356 |
| use of protein microarrays to define the humoral immune response in leprosy patients and identification of disease-state-specific antigenic profiles. | although the global prevalence of leprosy has decreased over the last few decades due to an effective multidrug regimen, large numbers of new cases are still being reported, raising questions as to the ability to identify patients likely to spread disease and the effects of chemotherapy on the overall incidence of leprosy. this can partially be attributed to the lack of diagnostic markers for different clinical states of the disease and the consequent implementation of differential, optimal drug ... | 2006 | 16966411 |
| evaluation of recombinant serine-rich 45-kda antigen (ml0411) for detection of antibodies in leprosy patients. | the potential of the recombinant serine-rich 45-kda antigen (ml0411) of mycobacterium leprae to aid in detecting m. leprae-specific serum antibodies was assessed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) in leprosy patients and controls comprising of tuberculosis patients, other unrelated skin-diseased patients and healthy individuals from india. all 18 multibacillary (mb) and 18/38 (47.4%) of the paucibacillary (pb) leprosy patients were found positive. none of the controls was positive, ... | 2006 | 16970689 |
| genetic predisposition to leprosy: a major gene reveals novel pathways of immunity to mycobacterium leprae. | the elucidation of the genetic control of susceptibility to common infectious diseases is expected to provide new and more effective tools for prevention and control of some of the most pressings health needs on a global scale. a major advantage of whole genome based genetic approaches is that no a priori assumptions about mechanisms of pathogenesis need to be made in these studies. hence, genetic studies can identify previously unrecognized pathways of disease susceptibility and tag critical pa ... | 2006 | 16973374 |
| m. leprae inhibits apoptosis in thp-1 cells by downregulation of bad and bak and upregulation of mcl-1 gene expression. | virulent mycobacterium leprae interfere with host defense mechanisms such as cytokine activation and apoptosis. the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis is regulated by the bcl-2 family of proteins. expression of fas ligand and apoptotic proteins is found in leprosy lesions and m. leprae has been shown to activate pro-apoptotic bcl-2 genes, bak and bax. however, the mechanism by which m. leprae modulates apoptosis is as yet unclear. we investigated expression of apoptotic genes in thp-1 monocytes ... | 2006 | 16978419 |
| [preliminary study on the genotyping of mycobacterium leprae on 50 isolates from china]. | to understand the genotypic mapping of mycobacterium leprae identified in china and to compare with those from other countries to select suitable alleles for epidemiological investigation in the transmission chain of leprosy. | 2006 | 16981335 |
| effect of thalidomide on the expression of tnf-alpha m-rna and synthesis of tnf-alpha in cells from leprosy patients with reversal reaction. | hypersensitivity reactions called reversal reaction (rr) and erythema nodosum leprosum (enl) occur in leprosy. they are characterized by an increase in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-alpha). thalidomide is an effective treatment for enl but not rr. its effectiveness in enl is attributed to inhibition of tnf-alpha, and this does not explain its failure to treat rr. we assessed thalidomide's effect on tnf-alpha in rr. mononuclear cells from rr and non-rr patients and healthy individuals were tre ... | 2006 | 16997792 |
| detection of antibodies against mycobacterium leprae culture filtrate protein-10 in leprosy patients. | the prevalence of igg antibodies against mycobacterium leprae recombinant culture filtrate protein-10 (rcfp-10) was investigated in serum samples from 56 leprosy patients, 15 tuberculosis (tb) patients, 14 other skin-diseased patients and 20 healthy subjects. on classifying the patients into bacterial index (bi)-positive and bi-negative groups, the assay showed 83.3 % (15/18) sensitivity for detection of bi-positive leprosy patients. on the other hand, the sensitivity for detection of bi-negativ ... | 2006 | 17005781 |
| mycobacterium leprae is naturally resistant to pa-824. | leprosy responds very slowly to the current multidrug therapy, and hence there is a need for novel drugs with potent bactericidal activity. pa-824 is a 4-nitroimidazo-oxazine that is currently undergoing phase i clinical trials for the treatment of tuberculosis. the activity of pa-824 against mycobacterium leprae was tested and compared with that of rifampin in axenic cultures, macrophages, and two different animal models. our results conclusively demonstrate that pa-824 has no effect on the via ... | 2006 | 17005816 |
| borderline tuberculoid leprosy in a woman from the state of georgia with armadillo exposure. | in the southern and southeastern united states, the 9-banded armadillo is an important reservoir for mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy (hansen's disease). here, we describe a woman living in georgia with borderline tuberculoid leprosy who worked for many years in a garden where armadillos burrowed or were buried. there was no history of foreign travel or known exposure to a person with leprosy. treatment with 6 once-monthly combined doses of rifampin, ofloxacin, and minocyclin ... | 2006 | 17010758 |
| reverse line probe assay for the rapid detection of rifampicin resistance in mycobacterium leprae. | mutations in the rpob gene of 40 biopsy isolates of mycobacterium leprae were analyzed by reverse hybridization-based line probe assay after pcr, and nine distinct single-nucleotide substitutions were found. among them, a 3-nucleotide substitution was found in two, and 2-nucleotide substitutions were found in seven isolates. this is a new finding of multiple mutations in a single point of the rpob gene for rifampicin resistance. this investigation demonstrates that the pattern of mutations in th ... | 2006 | 17017404 |
| two patients coinfected with mycobacterium leprae and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and naive for antiretroviral therapy who exhibited type 1 leprosy reactions mimicking the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. | two case reports of patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) infection who developed leprosy are presented. both developed type 1 leprosy reactions in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. reactions have been described for a number of hiv-1- and mycobacterium leprae-coinfected patients and have been considered to be part of an immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (iris) since the reactions were usually linked to the administration of highly active antiretroviral therapy. ... | 2006 | 17021066 |
| antigen discovery: a postgenomic approach to leprosy diagnosis. | leprosy is an infectious, neurodegenerative disease of humans caused by mycobacterium leprae. despite effective control programs, the incidence of leprosy remains stubbornly high, suggesting that transmission may be more common than expected. the rationale of this work was to use bioinformatics and comparative genomics to identify potentially antigenic proteins for diagnostic purposes. this approach defined three classes of proteins: those restricted to m. leprae (class i), those present in m. l ... | 2006 | 16368971 |
| roles of lsr2 in colony morphology and biofilm formation of mycobacterium smegmatis. | the lipid-rich cell wall is a defining feature of mycobacterium species. individual cell wall components affect diverse mycobacterial phenotypes including colony morphology, biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and virulence. in this study, we describe a transposon insertion mutant of mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 that exhibits altered colony morphology and defects in biofilm formation. the mutation was localized to the lsr2 gene. first identified as an immunodominant t-cell antigen of my ... | 2006 | 16385053 |
| genome-wide scan for loci influencing quantitative immune response traits in the belém family study: comparison of methods and summary of results. | here we report the results from a genome-wide linkage scan to identify genes and chromosomal regions that influence quantitative immune response traits, using multi-case leprosy and tuberculosis families from north-eastern brazil. total plasma ige, antigen-specific igg to mycobacterium leprae soluble antigen (mlsa), m. tuberculosis soluble antigen (mtsa) and m. tuberculosis purified protein derivative (ppd), and antigen-specific lymphocyte proliferation (stimulation index or si) and interferon-g ... | 2006 | 16441259 |
| lepra vaccine: misinterpreted myth. | 2006 | 16445512 | |
| tissue distribution of a plasmid dna encoding hsp65 gene is dependent on the dose administered through intramuscular delivery. | in order to assess a new strategy of dna vaccine for a more complete understanding of its action in immune response, it is important to determine the in vivo biodistribution fate and antigen expression. in previous studies, our group focused on the prophylactic and therapeutic use of a plasmid dna encoding the mycobacterium leprae 65-kda heat shock protein (hsp65) and achieved an efficient immune response induction as well as protection against virulent m. tuberculosis challenge. in the present ... | 2006 | 16445866 |
| false-positive amplified mycobacterium tuberculosis direct test results for samples containing mycobacterium leprae. | nucleic acid amplification tests are widely used in mycobacteriology laboratories to rapidly detect mycobacterium tuberculosis complex directly in clinical specimens. a positive result provides an early diagnosis of tuberculosis, allowing initiation of appropriate therapy and public health measures. | 2006 | 16455924 |
| elevated serum ccl2 concomitant with a reduced mycobacterium-induced response leads to disease dissemination in leprosy. | mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium tuberculosis are successful intracellular pathogens which down regulate host immune responses. t-cell interferon-gamma (ifngamma) and macrophage tumour necrosis factor-alpha (tnfalpha) activate chemokines such as, c-c chemokine ligand-2 (ccl2) and ccl5, which play a role in granuloma formation. lepromatous leprosy is characterized by defective granulomas with lowered t-cell- and macrophage-mediated responses. tuberculosis (tb) can be localized to the lung, ... | 2006 | 16499578 |