Luiz Alberto Santana

Biology of Trypanosoma cruzi: An update

Chagas disease, an illness caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is clinically and epidemiologically important in Latin America, and particularly in Brazil. This article presents the main biological characteristics of Trypanosoma cruzi, emphasizing ultrastructural, morphological, evolutionary, transcriptomic, and proteomic aspects. With this purpose a literature review was conducted, which allowed for the construction of different sections of the text. The efforts to expand the knowledge of this protist biology may bring positive implications for the understanding of the pathogenesis, control, and above all, treatment of patients affected by this disease.

As redes neurais artificiais e o ensino da medicina

The transformations that medical practice has undergone in recent years - especially with the incorporation of new information technologies - point to the need to broaden discussions on the teaching-learning process in medical education. The use of new computer technologies in medical education has shown many advantages in the process of acquiring skills in problem solving, which encourages creativity, critical thinking, curiosity and scientific spirit. In this context, it is important to highlight artificial neural networks (ANN) - computer systems with a mathematical structure inspired by the human brain - which proved to be useful in the evaluation process and the acquisition of knowledge among medical students. The purpose of this communication is to review aspects of the application of ANN in medical education.

Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Brazilian Perspective

Objective: The scope of this paper is to present the main aspects related to the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis and implications of this interaction with the human host, allowing the improvement of health care actions. Methods: The paper was put together based on a literature review with a defined search strategy. To obtain the articles we consulted the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and the U. S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed). Results: The leishmaniases are a group of diseases that pose a serious public health problem in at least 88 countries, and are included among the six priority endemic diseases in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In this scenario the visceral form stands out kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis) which, despite its endemic nature, has been reported in different areas of Latin America associated with the process of expansion and urbanization, as well as the unchecked deforestation. Conclusion: The importance of this discussion of the clinical and diagnostic aspects of VL relates particularly to delayed diagnosis of cases by professionals unfamiliar with the disease – which is becoming quite common due to the intense flow of people in the world resulting in the delayed initiation of therapy.

Immune system simulation: Modeling the mast cell

Among the possibilities for simulating the immune system, the multiagent systems approach has proved to be attractive, since only the behavior of the types of agents is specified. The global behavior emerges from the interactions among agents. This feature is similar to the behavior of the immune system, consisting of large amounts of cell types that interact to maintain the body health. The simulation of the immune system requires modeling various types of cells and substances. This paper presents the modeling of a software agent that simulates the behavior of the mast cells. Some simulations were performed to validate the model.

Predicting the Occurrence of Sepsis by In Silico Simulation

From public health and clinical point of view, sepsis is a life-threatening complication and its mechanisms are still not fully understood. This article claims that Multiagent Systems are suitable to help elucidate this phenomenon and that it is possible to carry out simulations that can be used in the observation of emergent behaviors, enabling a better understanding of the disease. Requirements for computational simulation of sepsis in AutoSimmune system are presented as also the simulation results. The results presented when using more aggressive pathogens are compatible with sepsis by simultaneously presenting symptoms such as fever, bacteria in the blood and Leukocytosis as reported in literature.

Malária por Plasmodium falciparum: estudos proteômicos

Despite advances in treatment and campaigns for prevention and control of malaria on the various continents where it is still rampant, this disease remains significantly relevant to the contemporary world. Plasmodium falciparum is the organism that is mainly responsible for severe malaria, which is characterized by disturbances in different organs and systems, with possibly fatal outcomes. Although incipient, proteomic studies of malaria have yielded favorable prospects for elucidating the biological aspects of Plasmodium as well as the pathophysiological, diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic mechanisms of the disease. Thus, the aim of the present article is to present a brief review of the applications of proteomic analysis in P. falciparum malaria.Despite advances in treatment and campaigns for prevention and control of malaria on the various continents where it is still rampant, this disease remains significantly relevant to the contemporary world. Plasmodium falciparum is the organism that is mainly responsible for severe malaria, which is characterized by disturbances in different organs and systems, with possibly fatal outcomes. Although incipient, proteomic studies of malaria have yielded favorable prospects for elucidating the biological aspects of Plasmodium as well as the pathophysiological, diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic mechanisms of the disease. Thus, the aim of the present article is to present a brief review of the applications of proteomic analysis in P. falciparum malaria.

Human Rickettsiosis: An Epidemiological and Clinical Update

Bacteria of the genus Rickettsia, Orientia and Coxiella are major causes of human illness, producing the disease known as rickettsiosis, which can manifest clinically with different clinical signs and symptoms, depending on the species involved. In this article we will present the main clinical and epidemiological elements of human infection with Rickettsia rickettsii, Rickettsia prowazekii, Rickettsia typhi, Rickettsia akari, Orientia tsutsugamushi, and Coxiella burnetti, commenting also, with less emphasis, on the clinical aspects of other species of the genus Rickettsia.