Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| chaperonin function depends on structure and disorder in co-chaperonin mobile loops. | co-chaperonins from diverse organisms exhibit mobile loops which fold into a beta hairpin conformation upon binding to the chaperonin. groes, gp31, and human hsp10 mobile loops exhibit a preference for the beta hairpin conformation in the free co-chaperonins, and the conformational dynamics of the human hsp10 mobile loop appear to be restricted by nascent hairpin formation. backbone conformational entropy must weigh against binding of co-chaperonins to chaperonins, and thus the conformational pr ... | 1999 | 10380224 |
| antimycobacterial activities of riminophenazines. | riminophenazines were specifically developed as drugs active against mycobacterium tuberculosis but extensive research over several decades has shown that these compounds are also active against many other mycobacterial infections, particularly those caused by mycobacterium leprae and the mycobacterium avium complex (mac). clofazimine, the lead compound in this series, is included in the regimens that are approved by the who for the treatment of leprosy and has contributed significantly to the c ... | 1999 | 10382882 |
| molecular mechanism of nerve infection in leprosy. | 1999 | 10383223 | |
| inferring the direction of evolutionary changes of genomic base composition. | 1999 | 10390623 | |
| the groes antigens of mycobacterium avium and mycobacterium paratuberculosis. | the groes antigen provokes a strong immune response in human beings with tuberculosis or leprosy. we cloned and sequenced the mycobacterium avium and mycobacterium paratuberculosis groes genes. m. avium and m. paratuberculosis have identical groes sequences which differ from other mycobacterial species. this supports the current formal designation of m. paratuberculosis as m. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. immunodominant epitopes from mycobacterium tuberculosis groes are conserved in m. avium, b ... | 1999 | 10392775 |
| viability and drug sensitivity of m. leprae isolated from long-term who/mdt treated multibacillary leprosy patients. | 1999 | 10405543 | |
| an assessment of the value of midfinger smears in multibacillary leprosy patients. | in view of the different opinions on fingers as sites for persisting bacilli in multibacillary leprosy patients, it was decided to examine the midfingers for the presence of acid-fast bacilli (afb) and establish its usefulness. sixty-nine multibacillary leprosy patients, [lepromatous (ll) and borderline lepromatous (bl)] treated with multidrug therapy for fixed duration (2 years) were analysed. the bacillary load in the midfinger sites was lower when compared to that in the 'compulsory' (both ea ... | 1999 | 10405544 |
| causative organism and host response. international leprosy congress, beijing, 7-12 september 1998. workshop report. | whether or not the leprosy elimination target is met in all endemic countries by the year 2000, the mdt programme will have greatly reduced worldwide prevalence. however, our workshop chairmen were asked to ignore the prevalence-based leprosy 'elimination' programme and focus on recommendations for a long term, incidence-based eradication target where transmission is blocked. they were asked to be concerned with basic leprosy research goals in the post 2000 era. the members of our workshops are ... | 1999 | 10405553 |
| role of s-100 staining in differentiating leprosy from other granulomatous diseases of the skin. | since mycobacterium leprae are rarely demonstrable in the tuberculoid spectrum of leprosy, a confirmatory diagnosis of leprosy can be made on the basis of finding active destruction of cutaneous nerves by granulomatous inflammation in a skin biopsy. immunoperoxidase staining for s-100 protein, which is a marker for schwann cells, was used to delineate nerves in lesional skin biopsies of 25 patients with tuberculoid and borderline tuberculoid leprosy as well as 15 controls with nonleprous granulo ... | 1999 | 10407622 |
| serum markers of treatment success in leprosy. | intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (icam-1) and e-selectin and other variables were evaluated as possible markers of the success of multidrug therapy (mdt) in leprosy. multibacillary (mb, n = 45) and paucibacillary (pb, n = 29) leprosy patients were examined during mdt, which typically lasted 12 months for mb and 6 months for pb patients. serum values for total protein, albumin, immunoglobulin gamma (igg), icam-1, and e-selectin (selectin) were recorded, as were lesion type, number, and distribut ... | 1999 | 10407625 |
| dermal extracellular matrix in cutaneous leprosy lesions. | thirty-eight biopsies of cutaneous lesions from leprosy patients [borderline tuberculoid (bt) 14, borderline lepromatous (bl) 18, lepromatous (ll) 6] were processed for staining of some extracellular matrix (ecm) components (collagen, proteoglycans, elastic fibers and fibronectin). specific histological staining and the indirect immunofluorescence method with antibodies to collagen and fibronectin were utilized. the ecm of the normal dermis was strikingly modified in the inflammatory infiltrate. ... | 1999 | 10407626 |
| roles of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and transforming growth factor-beta in regulating intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression on murine peritoneal macrophages infected with m. leprae. | profiles of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (icam-1) expression on murine peritoneal macrophages (m phi s) infected with mycobacterium leprae during cultivation were examined with special reference to the regulatory effects of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-alpha) and transforming growth factor-beta (tgf-beta). when m phi s were infected with m. leprae or stimulated with heat-killed m. leprae at day 0, their icam-1 expression, measured in terms of the ratio of m phi s positively stained with ... | 1999 | 10407627 |
| a lost talisman: catastrophic decline in yields of leprosy bacilli from armadillos used for vaccine production. | 1999 | 10407632 | |
| effect of prophylactic corticosteroids on the incidence of reactions in newly diagnosed multibacillary leprosy patients. | 1999 | 10407634 | |
| therapy of tuberculosis in mice by dna vaccination. | mycobacterium tuberculosis continues to kill about 3 million people every year, more than any other single infectious agent. this is attributed primarily to an inadequate immune response towards infecting bacteria, which suffer growth inhibition rather than death and subsequently multiply catastrophically. although the bacillus calmette-guerin (bcg) vaccine is widely used, it has major limitations as a preventative measure. in addition, effective treatment requires that patients take large doses ... | 1999 | 10421369 |
| no effect of anti-leprosy drugs in the prevention of alzheimer's disease and beta-amyloid neurotoxicity. | there is continuing controversy as to whether or not anti-leprosy drugs prevent alzheimer's disease (ad). therefore, we examined the effect of anti-leprosy drugs on the prevalence of ad in leprosy patients, and also investigated the effect of anti-leprosy drugs on amyloid beta-protein (abeta)-induced neurotoxicity in vitro. the present study suggests that anti-leprosy treatments do not prevent the onset of ad. none of our data found anti-leprosy drugs (dapsone, rifampicin, clofazimine, minomycin ... | 1999 | 10426143 |
| cold staining method for acid fast bacilli. | 1999 | 11127390 | |
| [gene cloning and expression of mycobacterium leprae alpha 2 antigen]. | the recombinant alpha 2 antigen of m. leprae was prepared using the molecular biologic tools and the recombinant dna expression technology. | 1999 | 12569643 |
| a study on pcr for detecting infection with m. leprae. | so far, it has not been established a satisfactory method for early diagnosis and studying on epidemiology for leprosy, we want to develop a molecular biological method for solving this point. | 1999 | 12894900 |
| kinetic changes of antibody to m. leprae and its relation with clinical disease. | a sero-epidemiological survey on 1,833 healthy residents was carried out in 6 villages of a leprosy high-endemic area in wenshan and guangnan counties, yunnan province. the part of the residents with initially antibody-positive as well as the part of residents with initially antibody-negative have been followed up for 3 consecutive years by serology and clinical examination for studying kinetic changes of antibody to m. leprae and its relation with clinical disease. the results showed that the r ... | 1999 | 12899385 |
| preparation of recombinant alpha2 antigen of m. leprae in e. coli and the application for sero-diagnosis of leprosy. | 1999 | 12901619 | |
| [early diagnosis of leprosy]. | 1999 | 19785194 | |
| [the study of the genome of mycobacterium leprae]. | 1999 | 19785195 | |
| [potential applications of molecular biology to leprosy research]. | 1999 | 19785196 | |
| [vaccine trials against leprosy]. | 1999 | 19785197 | |
| [pathogenic agent and host response]. | 1999 | 19785198 | |
| therapeutic hyperbaric oxygenation as an adjunct to multidrug therapy in hansen's disease. | hansen's disease is a chronic infection caused by mycobacterium leprae. current therapy for this disease is with the who recommended multi drug therapy (mdt) with dds, rifampicin and clofazimine. hyper baric oxygen therapy (hbot) has been used to treat many medical conditions including infections with a great deal of success. it's efficacy on various species of mycobacteria and other bacteria have been studied in vitro and in vivo and it is found to be an effective antimicrobial agent under spec ... | 1999 | 28775595 |
| new tools for leprosy control. | the world health organization (who) is working to reduce the prevalence of leprosy to under 1 case/10,000 people in all endemic countries by 2000. efforts are underway to eliminate leprosy rather than eradicate it because of the current lack of tools with which to eradicate leprosy. the major problem with existing skin test reagents to identify carriers of mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, is their lack of specificity and tendency to cross-react. with a long-term view towa ... | 1998 | 12348562 |
| neural leprosy--a case report. | neural leprosy is rare. this is a report of a 63-year-old indian man who had long standing multiple peripheral neuropathy. the slit skin smear for acid-fast bacilli of mycobacterium leprae was positive. the skin and nerve biopsies were normal. he was treated with rifampicin, dapsone and clofazimine. | 1998 | 10968151 |
| igg response to some mycobacterial antigens in selected leprosy patients. | serum samples from selected leprosy patients with putative tuberculosis were tested by indirect elisa to determine the level of igg antibody against six mycobacterial antigen preparations. pcr-positive leprosy patients were confirmed with pgl-i elisa. a ratio of antibodies to antigens of tuberculosis and leprosy was found to be a valuable serological marker for tuberculosis in long-treated leprosy patients. | 1998 | 10437959 |
| sensitivity and specificity of methods of classification of leprosy without use of skin-smear examination. | 1998 | 10347564 | |
| incidence of nerve damage in leprosy patients treated with mdt. | the incidence rates of sensory and motor impairments during and after multidrug therapy (mdt) are reported for a prospective cohort of patients who had no nerve damage at registration (n = 1621). sensory and motor loss increased with age and both were high among multibacillary patients as compared with paucibacillary patients. the lateral popliteal (common peroneal) and posterior tibial nerves seem to be most affected for sensory loss; whereas the posterior tibial and ulnar nerves are mainly res ... | 1998 | 10347565 |
| susceptibility to mycobacterium leprae of aly (alymphoplasia) mice and ifn-gamma induction in the culture supernatant of spleen cells. | the aly/aly (alymphoplasia) mice from a mutation of a colony of the c57bl/6j mouse strain, which has a systemic absence of lymph nodes and peyer's patches, are deficient in both t- and b-cell-mediated immune functions. we have undertaken a comparison of susceptibility to mycobacterium leprae of aly (aly/aly, aly/+) mice with c57bl/6j mice. the aly/aly mouse was found to have an excellent high susceptibility to m. leprae with no distinction between female and male. the aly/+ mouse also was more s ... | 1998 | 10347567 |
| cellular immune responses of healthy and mycobacterium leprae-inoculated armadillos (dasypus novemcinctus) | 1998 | 10347570 | |
| achievements and prospects on leprosy prevention and control in china. | 1998 | 10347571 | |
| taking home lessons from the 15th international leprosy congress. | 1998 | 10347572 | |
| report of workshop on defining the disease and antibacterial therapy. | 1998 | 10347574 | |
| causative organism and host response early diagnosis of leprosy. | 1998 | 10347582 | |
| vaccine trials against leprosy. | 1998 | 10347583 | |
| the mycobacterium leprae genome project. | 1998 | 10347584 | |
| report of workshop on new tools for diagnosis and epidemiology. | 1998 | 10347586 | |
| report of workshop on epidemiology/transmission/vaccines. | 1998 | 10347588 | |
| report of workshop on pathogenesis and lessons from leprosy. | 1998 | 10347589 | |
| report of workshop on nerve damage and reactions. | 1998 | 10347590 | |
| comparative leprosy vaccine trial in south india. | this report provides results from a controlled, double blind, randomized, prophylactic leprosy vaccine trial conducted in south india. four vaccines, viz bcg, bcg+ killed m. leprae, m.w and icrc were studied in this trial in comparison with normal saline placebo. from about 3,00,000 people, 2,16,000 were found eligible for vaccination and among them, 1,71,400 volunteered to participate in the study. intake for the study was completed in two and a half years from january 1991. there was no instan ... | 1998 | 10189587 |
| quality control tests for vaccines in leprosy vaccine trial, avadi. | all the vaccines supplied for the large scale comparative leprosy vaccine trial of icrc bacilli, m.w, bcg plus killed m. leprae (candidate vaccines), bcg and normal saline (control arms) at cjil field unit, chennai were tested for quality control by the suppliers following the procedures laid down in the who protocol for killed m. leprae. quality control for bcg was carried out at bcg vaccine laboratory as per protocol. toxicity and sterility tests were done on all the vaccine batches/lots recei ... | 1998 | 10189588 |
| identification of m.leprae in conjunctiva of leprosy patients using the superior tarsal conjunctiva scrape technique. | the technique of superior tarsal conjunctiva scrape was used for identifying m.leprae in the conjunctiva in 56 leprosy patients (all of them multibacillary, some untreated and others treated with multidrug therapy). the technique of tarsal conjunctiva scrape was shown to be more suitable than conjunctival biopsy for identifying lepra bacilli. this technique is also easier to perform and has shown a statistical relation between bacilloscopical index of skin (bisk) and bacilloscopical index of tar ... | 1998 | 10189589 |
| why mycobacterium leprae invades the eyes? | 1998 | 10189593 | |
| comparative mycobacterial genomics. | genomics is providing us with a mass of information about the biochemistry, physiology and pathogenesis of mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae. comparison of the two genome sequences is mutually enriching and indicates that the m. leprae genome appears to have undergone shrinkage and large-scale gene inactivation, which may account for the exceptionally slow growth of this organism. | 1998 | 10066528 |
| effect of trifluoperazine on in vitro atp synthesis by mycobacterium leprae. | the effect of trifluoperazine (tfp), a calmodulin antagonist, was investigated on in vitro atp levels of human derived mycobacterium leprae. m. leprae were obtained from biopsies from multi-bacillary forms of leprosy and were incubated in a modified dubos medium system which supports limited in vitro synthesis of m. leprae. this incubation was carried out in the absence and presence of different concentrations of trifluoperazine. samples for estimation of bacillary atp levels were taken at day 0 ... | 1998 | 9544776 |
| identification of mycobacterial hsp70 reactive human t cell clones discriminating between m. tuberculosis and m. leprae. | m. tuberculosis reactive cd4+ t cell clones were established from a bcg vaccinated donor and tested for proliferative responses against complex mycobacterial antigens like m. tuberculosis, m. leprae, and ppd, as well as the recombinant m. tuberculosis hsp70 and hsp65 antigens from both m. tuberculosis and m. leprae. this screening permitted the identification of t cell clones specifically recognizing the mycobacterial hsp70 or hsp65 antigen. all hsp65 reactive t cell clones were cross-reactive f ... | 1998 | 9544782 |
| [present situation of leprosy in highly endemic area of tropical asia--a seroepidemiological study of mycobacterium leprae infection in general inhabitants]. | one of the most important unsolved problems in epidemiology of leprosy is the heterogeneous geographic distribution of the disease. there are highly endemic area called "pocket" in the endemic countries. little is known why leprosy is so endemic in the area. we conducted, therefore, an epidemiological study on m. leprae infection and distribution of leprosy bacilli in the environment by using serological and molecular biological techniques. it was found that considerable number of general inhabi ... | 1998 | 10028831 |
| [how should leprosy be treated?]. | 1998 | 9922859 | |
| [leprosy disclosed by polyarthritis]. | we report a case of leprosy observed in a french woman who had lived in africa 30 years earlier. the clinical presentation was misleading, suggesting connective tissue disease. | 1998 | 9922861 |
| delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions followed by erythema nodosum leprosum. | reported herein are 13 borderline lepromatous (bl) or subpolar lepromatous (lls) patients who presented with or developed delayed-type hypersensitivity (dth) reactions after initiation of antibacterial therapy, but who subsequently developed erythema nodosum leprosum (enl), the dth to enl group. during the same time, three lls patients had enl followed by relapse-associated dth, a significant (p < 0.05) difference in sequence of the two conditions. the dth to enl group had statistically signific ... | 1998 | 9934358 |
| assessment of anti-pgl-i as a prognostic marker of leprosy reaction. | the anti-phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) assay as currently applied for leprosy is conceived as an early marker of asymptomatic infection, early disease diagnosis and cure monitoring. its use as a prognostic marker of reaction is still a matter of controversy. we conducted a case-control study to investigate whether igm and igg anti-pgl-i antibodies could discriminate patients at increased risk of developing reactions. eligible cases were untreated leprosy patients at the onset of type 1 and type ... | 1998 | 9934362 |
| lepromatous orchitis associated with seminoma. | 1998 | 9934365 | |
| dapsone at onset of diabetes lowers glycated hemoglobin and delays death in nod mice. | dapsone (4,4'-diaminodiphenyl sulfone) is a compound that has a large clinical experience due to its antimicrobial effects against mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy. it is increasingly used in a number of clinical situations where inflammation may play an ancillary role. an inhibitory effect of the drug or lack thereof in the cumulative incidence or propagation of diabetes mellitus in the nod mouse has mechanistic as well as therapeutic implications. we previously showed that ... | 1998 | 9867128 |
| multibacillary leprosy: lesions with macrophages positive for s100 protein and dendritic cells positive for factor 13a. | in the defense against mycobacterium leprae, macrophages play an essential part in the mechanism of bacterial lysis but require the presence of cytokines such as interleukin 2 and gamma interferon from lymphocytes in order to effectively kill the organisms in any number. while there have been many studies of the lymphocytes in lesions of leprosy, less attention has been given to the immunohistochemical characterization of the macrophage populations. in this study, the cutaneous lesions of 69 pat ... | 1998 | 9870671 |
| correlation of quantitative tests of nerve and target organ dysfunction with skin immunohistology in leprosy. | loss of nociception and hypohidrosis in skin are hallmarks of leprosy, attributed to early invasion by mycobacterium leprae of schwann cells related to unmyelinated nerve fibres. we have studied skin lesions and contralateral clinically unaffected skin in 28 patients across the leprosy spectrum with a range of selective quantitative sensory and autonomic tests, prior to biopsy of both sites. unaffected sites showed normal skin innervation, when antibodies to the pan-neuronal marker pgp (protein ... | 1998 | 9874477 |
| secreted proteins of mycobacterium leprae. | in mycobacteria, secreted proteins represent a distinct group, probably of particular importance for development of immune responses following infection. quantification of individual proteins in culture fluid and corresponding disrupted bacilli permits determination of a localization index for identification of secreted proteins. this procedure cannot be applied to mycobacterium leprae because secreted proteins are lost during isolation of bacilli from tissues. the dna sequences of secreted prot ... | 1998 | 9874491 |
| a welcome mat for leprosy and lassa fever. | 1998 | 9874652 | |
| type 1- and type 2-like lesional skin-derived mycobacterium leprae-responsive t cell clones are characterized by coexpression of ifn-gamma/tnf-alpha and il-4/il-5/il-13, respectively. | in an earlier study, we generated a large number of mycobacterium leprae-responsive and m. leprae-nonresponsive t cell clones (tcc) from the lesional skin of immunologic unstable borderline leprosy patients. in that study, we divided tcc into type 1- and type 2-like on the basis of their ifn-gamma and il-4 expression. to explore whether other cytokines are coproduced along with ifn-gamma and il-4, we investigated the secretion of a panel of other cytokines (tnf-alpha, il-5, il-6, il-10, and il-1 ... | 1998 | 9498780 |
| a simple dipstick assay for the detection of antibodies to phenolic glycolipid-i of mycobacterium leprae. | among the many reported applications of the detection of antibodies to phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) of mycobacterium leprae, in particular, the use of seroprevalence as an indicator of the magnitude of the leprosy problem may turn out to be very useful in leprosy control programs. an operational function of serology within the leprosy control services requires a simple test system. we have developed a simple dipstick assay for the detection of antibodies to pgl-i and compared its performance wi ... | 1998 | 9502593 |
| molecular interaction of cd1b with lipoglycan antigens. | the ability of human cd1b molecules to present nonpeptide antigens is suggested by the t cell recognition of microbial lipids and lipoglycans in the presence of cd1b-expressing antigen-presenting cells. we demonstrate the high-affinity interaction of cd1b molecules with the acyl side chains of known t cell antigens, lipoarabinomannan, phosphatidylinositol mannoside, and glucose monomycolate. furthermore, cd1b-antigen binding was optimal at acidic ph, consistent with the known requirement for end ... | 1998 | 9529150 |
| predominant recognition of species-specific determinants of the groes homologues from mycobacterium leprae and m. tuberculosis. | the mycobacterium leprae and m. tuberculosis 10,000 mw heat-shock protein homologues of groes have previously been identified as major immunogens for human t cells. we used synthetic peptides to characterize the determinants recognized by murine t cells. the findings suggest that, despite 90% sequence identity between these two proteins, t cells recognize prominently the species-specific determinants localized within amino acid residues 21-40 and 49-72. analysis of the molecular determinants of ... | 1998 | 9536120 |
| infection genomics: nramp1 as a major determinant of natural resistance to intracellular infections. | the scope of the tuberculosis (tb) epidemic in the world today is enormous, with about 30 million active cases. current research into preventing the spread of tb is focused on development of new drugs to inactivate mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tb, as well as on identifying the critical steps of host defense to infection with mycobacteria, which might also yield therapeutic targets. our infection genomics approach toward the latter strategy has been to isolate and characteri ... | 1998 | 9509263 |
| recurrent scleritis in lepromatous leprosy. | recurrent immune-mediated scleritis after adequate treatment of leprosy is not well documented in the literature. we describe an australian resident with unilateral intra-ocular lepromatous leprosy who had persistent non-infectious scleritis. | 1998 | 9524032 |
| articular inflammatory manifestations in patients with different forms of leprosy. | to study the articular inflammatory manifestations of leprosy. | 1998 | 9458213 |
| igg subclass distribution of antibody responses to protein and polysaccharide mycobacterial antigens in leprosy and tuberculosis patients. | immunoenzymatic assays were developed for the measurement of antibodies against mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan (lam), a cell-free proteic extract (cfx) of mycobacterium leprae, and the 38-kd protein antigen of m. tuberculosis. sera from 108 leprosy patients, belonging to all clinical-immunological forms of the spectrum, and 81 patients with localized or disseminated tuberculosis (tb) were tested for antibodies of the four igg subclasses. standard calibration curves were used to allow comparison ... | 1998 | 9472660 |
| potential role of b7-1 and cd28 molecules in immunosuppression in leprosy. | in order to understand the mechanism of unresponsiveness towards mycobacterium leprae antigens in leprosy, we evaluated the role of m. leprae sonicate antigens in regulating the expression of the costimulatory molecules b7-1, cd28, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (icam-1), lfa-1alpha, lfa-1beta and mac-1 on the lymphocytes of both leprosy patients and healthy subjects. it was observed that the expression of b7-1 and cd28 was significantly decreased but the levels of icam-1 and lfa-1alpha were ... | 1998 | 9472661 |
| characterization of the dnag locus in mycobacterium smegmatis reveals linkage of dna replication and cell division. | we have isolated a uv-induced temperature-sensitive mutant of mycobacterium smegmatis that fails to grow at 42 degrees c and exhibits a filamentous phenotype following incubation at the nonpermissive temperature, reminiscent of a defect in cell division. complementation of this mutant with an m. smegmatis genomic library and subsequent subcloning reveal that the defect lies within the m. smegmatis dnag gene encoding dna primase. sequence analysis of the mutant dnag allele reveals a substitution ... | 1998 | 9422594 |
| pentoxifylline decreases in vivo and in vitro tumour necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-alpha) production in lepromatous leprosy patients with erythema nodosum leprosum (enl). | increasing evidence has implicated tnf-alpha as a pivotal molecule involved in the systemic inflammatory manifestations of enl, an acute inflammatory complication that may occur in the chronic course of leprosy. in the present study, the mechanism of action of pentoxifylline (ptx) as an alternative therapy for management of leprosy reactions has been evaluated. the effect of ptx on tnf-alpha production was examined in leprosy patients at the protein level and at the transcriptional level as well ... | 1998 | 9486396 |
| engineering a change in metal-ion specificity of the iron-dependent superoxide dismutase from mycobacterium tuberculosis-- x-ray structure analysis of site-directed mutants. | we have refined the x-ray structures of two site-directed mutants of the iron-dependent superoxide dismutase (sod) from mycobacterium tuberculosis. these mutations which affect residue 145 in the enzyme (h145q and h145e) were designed to alter its metal-ion specificity. this residue is either gln or his in homologous sod enzymes and has previously been shown to play a role in active-site interactions since its side-chain helps to coordinate the metal ion via a solvent molecule which is thought t ... | 1998 | 9490054 |
| cd1-restricted t-cells influence igg subclass and ige production. | human cd1 has recently emerged as a third family of antigen-presenting molecules that is distinct from either major histocompatibility complex class i or class ii. | 1998 | 9564809 |
| mycobacterium leprae binds to a 25-kda phosphorylated glycoprotein of human peripheral nerve. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, specifically invades and destroys the peripheral nerve, which results in the main clinical manifestation of the disease. little is known about the bacteria-nerve protein interaction. we show in the present work that m leprae binds to a 25 kda glycoprotein from human peripheral nerve. this protein is phosphorylatable and it binds to lectins which have alpha-mannose specificity. this m leprae-protein interaction could be of importance in the pa ... | 1998 | 9572680 |
| reverse transcription-pcr detection of mycobacterium leprae in clinical specimens. | a reverse transcription (rt)-pcr assay targeting the 16s rrna of mycobacterium leprae was developed to detect the organism in clinical specimens. a 171-bp fragment was amplified when m. leprae rna was used as a template but not when a panel of rnas from 28 potentially cross-reacting mycobacterial species, seven genera related to mycobacterium, and three organisms normally found among skin or nose flora were tested. as few as 10 organisms isolated from infected tissue could be detected, confirmin ... | 1998 | 9574704 |
| polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection and identification of mycobacterium leprae in patients in the united states. | the differentiation of leprosy from other cutaneous granulomatous diseases is routinely based on characteristic histopathologic features and the demonstration of mycobacterium leprae by acid-fast staining. increased ascertainment of other mycobacterial infections in the skin has made this task more difficult, but the distinction remains fundamental for the selection of appropriate treatment. experience with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, frozen tissues, and tissue lysates referred fo ... | 1998 | 9576586 |
| [diagnosis and treatment of leprosy]. | 1998 | 9580503 | |
| aspiration cytologic diagnosis in clinically unsuspected leprosy--a case report. | 1998 | 9581083 | |
| mycobacterial genome structure. | genome maps have been constructed for the mycobacterial pathogens mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as for the attenuated vaccine strain mycobacterium bovis bcg pasteur. while the chromosomes of m. tuberculosis and m. bovis bcg pasteur show extensive conservation at the gross level, comparison with m. leprae revealed a high degree of diversification, with a mosaic-like pattern apparent. the ordered libraries of m. tuberculosis and m. leprae produced during the course o ... | 1998 | 9588804 |
| bactericidal activity of a single-dose combination of ofloxacin plus minocycline, with or without rifampin, against mycobacterium leprae in mice and in lepromatous patients. | to develop a fully supervisable, monthly administered regimen for treatment of leprosy, the bactericidal effect of a single-dose combination of ofloxacin (oflo) and minocycline (mino), with or without rifampin (rmp), against mycobacterium leprae was studied in the mouse footpad system and in previously untreated lepromatous leprosy patients. bactericidal activity was measured by the proportional bactericidal method. in mouse experiments, the activity of a single dose of the combination oflo-mino ... | 1998 | 9593137 |
| mapping and identification of the major cell wall-associated components of mycobacterium leprae. | mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular pathogen, can be derived only from host tissue and thus affords the opportunity to study in vivo-expressed products responsible for the particular pathogenesis of leprosy. despite considerable progress in the characterization of the proteins and secondary gene products of m. leprae, there is little information on the nature of the proteins associated with the cell envelope. m. leprae has been fractionated into its major subcellular components, cell ... | 1998 | 9596726 |
| molecular and immunological analyses of the mycobacterium avium homolog of the immunodominant mycobacterium leprae 35-kilodalton protein. | the analysis of host immunity to mycobacteria and the development of discriminatory diagnostic reagents relies on the characterization of conserved and species-specific mycobacterial antigens. in this report, we have characterized the mycobacterium avium homolog of the highly immunogenic m. leprae 35-kda protein. the genes encoding these two proteins were well conserved, having 82% dna identity and 90% identity at the amino acid level. moreover both proteins, purified from the fast-growing host ... | 1998 | 9596734 |
| bilateral iridocyclitis caused by mycobacterium leprae diagnosed through paracentesis. | the authors conducted an anterior chamber paracentesis in a patient with lepromatous leprosy showing bilateral iridocyclitis. the paracentesis was performed in the outpatients department. the aqueous humor was studied by ziehl-nielsen staining method and the result was the isolation of the m. leprae in the anterior chamber. this study shows that m. leprae can promote uveitis in leprosy patients. therefore, it should be looked for in patients having this type of disease. | 1998 | 9598402 |
| pathology of eye in leprosy. | 1998 | 9598408 | |
| presence of m. leprae in the conjunctiva, vitreous body and retina of a patient having lepromatous leprosy. | histopathological study of the ocular globe of a lepromatous leprosy patient revealed the presence of lepra bacilli in the conjunctiva, sclera, episclera, cornea, iris, ciliary body, vitreous body and retina. | 1998 | 9598410 |
| high incidence of igg antibodies to phenolic glycolipid in non-leprosy patients in india. | purified phenolic glycolipid (pgl-1) from mycobacterium leprae was used to detect igg antibodies against pgl-1 in leprosy patients in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). a total of 698 sera were screened; they came from patients suffering from leprosy, autoimmune disease, myeloma, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases (stds). cases with miscellaneous diseases and persons undergoing aids screening were also included. sera from lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy patients gave p ... | 1998 | 9609981 |
| characterization of a haemolysin from mycobacterium tuberculosis with homology to a virulence factor of serpulina hyodysenteriae. | scrutiny of sequence data from the mycobacterium leprae genome sequencing project identified the presence of a gene encoding a 268-amino-acid polypeptide which is highly similar to a pore-forming haemolysin/cytotoxin virulence determinant, tlya, from the swine pathogen serpulina hyodysenteriae. using degenerate oligonucleotide primers based on the tlya sequences, the mycobacterium tuberculosis homologue was amplified and this product was used to obtain the clone and sequence a 2.5 kb fragment co ... | 1998 | 9611795 |
| leprosy reactions--complications of steroid therapy. | the adverse effects of corticosteroid therapy while treating 830 patients suffering from leprosy reaction (type 1 = 581; type 2 = 249) are presented. some of the adverse effects were cosmetically distressing, while others were disabling. patients suffering from type 2 reaction--because of the tendency of the reaction to recur over a long time--needed steroids for a longer duration; hence, adverse effects were more frequent. measures to counter some of the adverse effects are suggested and the ne ... | 1998 | 9614834 |
| dna amplification for detection of leprosy and assessment of efficacy of leprosy chemotherapy. | polymerase chain reaction (pcr) for the detection of mycobacterium leprae was applied to fresh skin biopsies and slit-skin smears from 122 untreated leprosy patients. the pcr positivity rates in biopsies were 95.6% in multibacillary (mb) cases and 44.2% in paucibacillary (pb) cases. following 1 month of treatment, mb cases declined by 54.3% and pb cases by 61.8% of initial values. six-month values also declined from initial positivity rates to 50.3% and 53.8% of initial values in mb and pb, resp ... | 1998 | 9614835 |
| fractionation, characterization and diagnostic potential of circulating leprosy antigens isolated from sera of lepromatous leprosy patients. | circulating antigen was isolated from lepromatous sera by ammonium sulfate precipitation. the protein fraction between 36% and 75% ammonium sulfate was reactive with leprosy sera. further fractionation of ultrogel aca 34 gel filtration column gave four protein fractions, cla1, cla2, cla3 and cla4. cla1 and cla2 showed antigenic activity. on sds-page analysis and elution of the protein fractions, cla1-7, cla2-1 and cla2-7 were found to be reactive with leprosy sera. on evaluating the diagnostic u ... | 1998 | 9614836 |
| determinant capture by mhc class ii dr3 during processing of mycobacteria leprae 65kd heat shock protein by human b cells. | using t cell immunoblotting we have characterised the immunogenic fragments derived from the mycobacteria leprae 65kd heat shock protein that become associated with mhc class ii dr3 during processing by a human b cell line. after 5 h incubation with antigen, a peptide of approximately 12kd (approximately 110 amino acids) was the only major fragment found associated with the class ii mhc. the association of this oligopeptide was abolished if an excess of a synthetic peptide representing the minim ... | 1998 | 9619764 |
| use of pcr for diagnosis of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. | microscopy and pcr were compared for use in the diagnosis of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (pkdl) in 63 patients. aspirates of lymph nodes (samples from 52 patients), skin (23 samples), and bone marrow (18 samples) were used. for 11 patients lymph node aspiration could be repeated 6 months after they recovered from pkdl. during active pkdl, pcr was positive for 42 of 52 (80.8%) lymph node aspirates and 19 of 23 (82.7%) skin aspirates, whereas microscopy was positive for only 9 of 52 (17.3% ... | 1998 | 9620389 |
| conformational stability and antibody response to the 18kda heat-shock protein formulated into different vehicles. | protein stability is one of the most important obstacles for successful formulation in the development of new-generation vaccines. here, the 18kda heat-shock protein (18kda-hsp) was chemically modified though conjugation with bovine serum albumin or by esterification with n-hydroxysuccinimide ester of palmitic acid. the biologically active conformation of the protein was preserved after chemical modification. the immune responses to the recombinant 18kda-hsp from mycobacterium leprae were studie ... | 1998 | 9621407 |
| igg antibody subclasses, tumor necrosis factor and ifn-gamma levels in patients with type ii lepra reaction on thalidomide treatment. | a group of 9 mexican lepromatous leprosy patients was studied at the beginning of a type ii reaction (erythema nodosum leprosum, enl) and after 1 or 2 months of thalidomide treatment. enl patients at the onset of the reaction had slightly higher amounts of anti-mycobacterium leprae igg1 and igg2 antibodies, compared to similar lepromatous patients that did not develop enl. neither these antibody levels nor igm and the other igg subclasses were importantly modified after thalidomide treatment. se ... | 1998 | 9623511 |
| is there a microbiological rationale for single-dose treatment of leprosy? | 1998 | 9628091 | |
| protective immunization of monkeys with bcg or bcg plus heat-killed mycobacterium leprae: clinical results. | rhesus and sooty mangabey monkeys (rm and smm) were vaccinated and boosted with bcg or bcg + low dose (ld) or high dose (hd) heat-killed mycobacterium leprae (hkml). one group was not vaccinated. except for a group of controls, all monkeys were challenged with live m. leprae. all animals were studied longitudinally to determine antileprosy protective efficacy. bcg reduced the numbers of rm with histopathologically-diagnosed leprosy by 70% and slowed and ameliorated the appearance of symptoms. bc ... | 1998 | 9628092 |
| impaired responses to mycobacterium leprae antigens in rhesus monkeys experimentally inoculated with simian immunodeficiency virus and m. leprae. | seven of eight rhesus monkeys (rm) coinfected with simian immunodeficiency virus (siv) and mycobacterium leprae harboured acid-fast bacilli (afb) at sites of dermal inoculation and/or at disseminated sites at times of humane sacrifice (up to 270 days post-m. leprae inoculation) due to siv-induced debilitation or, in one long term survivor's case, to date over 3 years post-m. leprae inoculation. detectable afb were cleared in biopsies of inoculation sites of rm inoculated with m. leprae alone aft ... | 1998 | 9628093 |
| conjugal transfer of chromosomal dna in mycobacterium smegmatis. | the genus mycobacterium includes the major human pathogens mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae. the development of rational drug treatments for the diseases caused by these and other mycobacteria requires the establishment of basic molecular techniques to determine the genetic basis of pathogenesis and drug resistance. to date, the ability to manipulate and move dna between mycobacterial strains has relied on the processes of transformation and transduction. here, we describe a n ... | 1998 | 9632259 |