Digital Commons Network^™

A Hierarchical Method For Removal Of Baseline Drift From Biomedical Signals: Application In Ecg Analysis, Yurong Luo, Rosalyn H. Hargraves, Ashwin Belle, Ou Bai, Xuguang Qi, Kevin R. Ward, Michael Paul Pfaffenberger, Kayvan Najarian

Computer Science Publications

Noise can compromise the extraction of some fundamental and important features from biomedical signals and hence prohibit accurate analysis of these signals. Baseline wander in electrocardiogram (ECG) signals is one such example, which can be caused by factors such as respiration, variations in electrode impedance, and excessive body movements. Unless baseline wander is effectively removed, the accuracy of any feature extracted from the ECG, such as timing and duration of the ST-segment, is compromised. This paper approaches this filtering task from a novel standpoint by assuming that the ECG baseline wander comes from an independent and unknown source. The technique …

Characterization Of Schizophrenia Adverse Drug Interactions Through A Network Approach And Drug Classification, Jingchun Sun, Min Zhao, Ayman H. Fanous, Zhongming Zhao

Psychiatry Publications

Antipsychotic drugs are medications commonly for schizophrenia (SCZ) treatment, which include two groups: typical and atypical. SCZ patients have multiple comorbidities, and the coadministration of drugs is quite common. This may result in adverse drug-drug interactions, which are events that occur when the effect of a drug is altered by the coadministration of another drug. Therefore, it is important to provide a comprehensive view of these interactions for further coadministration improvement. Here, we extracted SCZ drugs and their adverse drug interactions from the DrugBank and compiled a SCZ-specific adverse drug interaction network. This network included 28 SCZ drugs, 241 non-SCZs, …

A Core Microbiome Associated With The Peritoneal Tumors Of Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, Jeremy J. Gilreath, Cristina Semino-Mora, Christopher J. Friedline, Hui Liu, Kip L. Bodi, Thomas J. Mcavoy, Jennifer Francis, Carol Nieroda, Armando Sardi, Andre Dubois, David W. Lazinski, Andrew Camilli, Traci L. Testerman, D Scott Merrell

Study of Biological Complexity Publications

Background

Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a malignancy characterized by dissemination of mucus-secreting cells throughout the peritoneum. This disease is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and despite effective treatment options for early-stage disease, patients with PMP often relapse. Thus, there is a need for additional treatment options to reduce relapse rate and increase long-term survival. A previous study identified the presence of both typed and non-culturable bacteria associated with PMP tissue and determined that increased bacterial density was associated with more severe disease. These findings highlighted the possible role for bacteria in PMP disease.

Methods

To more clearly define the …

Endosymbiosis In Trypanosomatids: The Genomic Cooperation Between Bacterium And Host In The Synthesis Of Essential Amino Acids Is Heavily Influenced By Multiple Horizontal Gene Transfers, João M.P. Alves, Cecilia C. Klein, Flávia Maia Da Silva, André G. Costa-Martins, Myrna G. Serrano, Gregory A. Buck, Ana Tereza R. Vasconcelos, Marie-France Sagot, Marta M.G. Teixeira, Maria Cristina M. Motta, Erney P. Camargo

Study of Biological Complexity Publications

Background

Trypanosomatids of the genera Angomonas and Strigomonas live in a mutualistic association characterized by extensive metabolic cooperation with obligate endosymbiotic Betaproteobacteria. However, the role played by the symbiont has been more guessed by indirect means than evidenced. Symbiont-harboring trypanosomatids, in contrast to their counterparts lacking symbionts, exhibit lower nutritional requirements and are autotrophic for essential amino acids. To evidence the symbiont’s contributions to this autotrophy, entire genomes of symbionts and trypanosomatids with and without symbionts were sequenced here.

Results

Analyses of the essential amino acid pathways revealed that most biosynthetic routes are in the symbiont genome. By contrast, the …

Global Taxonomic Diversity Of Living Reptiles, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Aaron M. Bauer, Shai Meiri, Peter Uetz

Study of Biological Complexity Publications

Reptiles are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily remarkable groups of living organisms, having successfully colonized most of the planet, including the oceans and some of the harshest and more environmentally unstable ecosystems on earth. Here, based on a complete dataset of all the world’s diversity of living reptiles, we analyse lineage taxonomic richness both within and among clades, at different levels of the phylogenetic hierarchy. We also analyse the historical tendencies in the descriptions of new reptile species from Linnaeus to March 2012. Although (non-avian) reptiles are the second most species-rich group of amniotes after birds, most of …

Contributions Of Vldlr And Lrp8 In The Establishment Of Retinogeniculate Projections, Jianmin Su, Michael A. Klemm, Anne M. Josephson, Michael A. Fox

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Background

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the output neurons of the retina, project to over 20 distinct brain nuclei, including the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a thalamic region comprised of three functionally distinct subnuclei: the ventral LGN (vLGN), the dorsal LGN (dLGN) and the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL). We previously identified reelin, an extracellular glycoprotein, as a critical factor that directs class-specific targeting of these subnuclei. Reelin is known to bind to two receptors: very-low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 8 (LRP8), also known as apolipoprotein E receptor 2 (ApoER2). Here we examined the roles of these canonical reelin …

Paclitaxel-Induced Apoptosis Is Bak-Dependent, But Bax And Bim-Independent In Breast Tumor, Anna V. Miller, Mark A. Hicks, Wataru Nakajima, Amanda C. Richardson, Jolene J. Windle, Hisashi Harada

Philips Institute for Oral Health Research Publications

Paclitaxel (Taxol)-induced cell death requires the intrinsic cell death pathway, but the specific participants and the precise mechanisms are poorly understood. Previous studies indicate that a BH3-only protein BIM (BCL-2 Interacting Mediator of cell death) plays a role in paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. We show here that BIM is dispensable in apoptosis with paclitaxel treatment using bim−/− MEFs (mouse embryonic fibroblasts), the bim−/− mouse breast tumor model, and shRNA-mediated down-regulation of BIM in human breast cancer cells. In contrast, both bak−/− MEFs and human breast cancer cells in which BAK was down-regulated by shRNA were more resistant to paclitaxel. However, paclitaxel …

Two-Component System Response Regulators Involved In Virulence Of Streptococcus Pneumoniae Tigr4 In Infective Endocarditis, My Trihn, Xiuchun Ge, Alleson Dobson, Todd Kitten, Cindy Munro, Ping Xu

Philips Institute for Oral Health Research Publications

Streptococci resident in the oral cavity have been linked to infective endocarditis (IE). While other viridans streptococci are commonly studied in relation to IE, less research has been focused on Streptococcus pneumoniae. We established for the first time an animal model of S. pneumoniae IE, and examined the virulence of the TIGR4 strain in this model. We hypothesized that two-component systems (TCS) may mediate S. pneumoniae TIGR4 strain virulence in IE and examined TCS response regulator (RR) mutants of TIGR4 in vivo with the IE model. Thirteen of the 14 RR protein genes were mutagenized, excluding only the essential …

Structure-Based Mechanism For Early Plp-Mediated Steps Of Rabbit Cytosolic Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase Reaction, Martino L. Di Salvo, J. Neel Scarsdale, Galina Kazanina, Roberto Contestabile, Verne Schirch, H. Tonie Wright

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Serine hydroxymethyltransferase catalyzes the reversible interconversion of L-serine and glycine with transfer of one-carbon groups to and from tetrahydrofolate. Active site residue Thr254 is known to be involved in the transaldimination reaction, a crucial step in the catalytic mechanism of all pyridoxal 5′-phosphate- (PLP-) dependent enzymes, which determines binding of substrates and release of products. In order to better understand the role of Thr254, we have expressed, characterized, and determined the crystal structures of rabbit cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase T254A and T254C mutant forms, in the absence and presence of substrates. These mutants accumulate a kinetically stable gem-diamine intermediate, and their …

Osu-03012 Sensitizes Breast Cancers To Lapatinib-Induced Cell Killing: A Role For Nck1 But Not Nck2, N. Winston West, Aileen Garcia-Vargas, Charles E. Chalfant, Margaret A. Park

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Background

Lapatinib is characterized as an ErbB1/ErbB2 dual inhibitor and has recently been approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. In this study, we examined mechanisms associated with enhancing the activity of lapatinib via combination with other therapies.

Methods

In the present studies, estrogen receptor (ER) positive and ER negative breast cancer cells were genetically manipulated to up- or downregulate eIF2-alpha, its phospho-mutant, Nck1, or Nck2, then treated with OSU-03012, lapatinib or the combination and assayed for cytotoxicity/cytostaticity using clonogenic assays.

Results

Treatment of breast cancer cell lines with lapatinib and OSU-03012 (a small molecule derivative of the Cox-2 …

The Geometry Of Locomotive Behavioral States In C. Elegans, Thomas Gallagher, Theresa Bjorness, Robert Greene, Young-Jai You, Leon Avery

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

We develop a new hidden Markov model-based method to analyze C elegans locomotive behavior and use this method to quantitatively characterize behavioral states. In agreement with previous work, we find states corresponding to roaming, dwelling, and quiescence. However, we also find evidence for a continuum of intermediate states. We suggest that roaming, dwelling, and quiescence may best be thought of as extremes which, mixed in any proportion, define the locomotive repertoire of C elegans foraging and feeding behavior.

Light-Induced Translocation Of Rgs9-1 And Gβ5l In Mouse Rod Photoreceptors, Mei Tian, Marisa Zallocchi, Weimin Wang, Ching-Kang Chen, Krzysztof Palczewski, Duane Delimont, Dominic Cosgrove, You-Wei Peng

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

The transducin GTPase-accelerating protein complex, which determines the photoresponse duration of photoreceptors, is composed of RGS9-1, Gβ5L and R9AP. Here we report that RGS9-1 and Gβ5L change their distribution in rods during light/dark adaptation. Upon prolonged dark adaptation, RGS9-1 and Gβ5L are primarily located in rod inner segments. But very dim-light exposure quickly translocates them to the outer segments. In contrast, their anchor protein R9AP remains in the outer segment at all times. In the dark, Gβ5L's interaction with R9AP decreases significantly and RGS9-1 is phosphorylated at S475 to a significant degree. Dim light exposure leads to quick de-phosphorylation of …

Hif- And Non-Hif-Regulated Hypoxic Responses Require The Estrogen-Related Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Yan Li, Divya Padmanabha, Luciana B. Gentile, Catherine I. Dumur, Robert B. Beckstead, Keith D. Baker

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Low-oxygen tolerance is supported by an adaptive response that includes a coordinate shift in metabolism and the activation of a transcriptional program that is driven by the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway. The precise contribution of HIF-1a in the adaptive response, however, has not been determined. Here, we investigate how HIF influences hypoxic adaptation throughout Drosophila melanogaster development. We find that hypoxic-induced transcriptional changes are comprised of HIF-dependent and HIF-independent pathways that are distinct and separable. We show that normoxic set-points of carbohydrate metabolites are significantly altered in sima mutants and that these animals are unable to mobilize glycogen in hypoxia. …

Effect Of Substrate Stiffness On Early Human Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation, Nikolai Eroshenko, Rukmani Ramachandran, Vamsi K. Yadavalli, Raj R. Rao

Chemical and Life Science Engineering Publications

Background

The pluripotency and self renewing properties of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) make them a valuable tool in the fields of developmental biology, pharmacology and regenerative medicine. Therefore, there exists immense interest in devising strategies for hESC propagation and differentiation. Methods involving simulation of the native stem cell microenvironment, both chemical and physical, have received a lot of attention in recent years. Equally important is evidence that cells can also sense the mechanical properties of their microenvironment. In this study, we test the hypothesis that hESCs accept mechanical cues for differentiation from the substrate by culturing them on flexible …

Epigenetics In Research And Practice, Debra E. Lyon, Susan G. Dorsey, Leorey Saligan

School of Nursing Publications

This special issue focused on the intersection of epigenetics with nursing research and practice. The first paper in this series addresses the role of epigenetic modifications in pain and analgesia response, highlighting the need for future research on epigenomic modification in the development of chronic pain, and summarizes the therapeutic potential to alter epigenetic processes to improve health outcomes. The second studies the epigenetic alterations and an increased frequency of micronuclei in women with fibromyalgia, highlighting a difference in an epigenetic biomarker in participants versus controls. The third paper explored the role of epigenetics in critical illness and the need …

Recruiting For Epigenetic Research: Facilitating The Informed Consent Process, Nancy Jallo, Debra E. Lyon, Patricia Anne Kinser, Debra Lynch Kelly, Victoria Menzies, Colleen Jackson-Cook

School of Nursing Publications

Because the effects of epigenetic (gene-environment interaction) changes have been associated with numerous adverse health states, the study of epigenetic measures provides exciting research opportunities for biobehavioral scientists. However, recruitment for studies focusing on any aspect of genetics poses challenges. Multiple factors, including lack of knowledge regarding a research study, have been identified as barriers to recruitment. Strengthening the informed consent process through extended discussion has been found to be effective in recruiting for research studies in general, yet there is a paucity of information that focused on such a recruitment strategy for epigenetic studies. In this paper, we share …

Psychoneuroimmunology-Based Stress Management During Adjuvant Chemotherapy For Early Breast Cancer, Jo Lynne W. Robins, Nancy L. Mccain, R. K. Elswick Jr., Jeanne M. Walter, D. Patricia Gray, Inez Tuck

School of Nursing Publications

Objective. In a randomized trial of women with early stage breast cancer undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy, two stress management interventions, tai chi training and spiritual growth groups, were compared to a usual care control group, to evaluate psychosocial functioning, quality of life (QOL), and biological markers thought to reflect cancer- and treatment-specific mechanisms. Method. The sample consisted of 145 women aged 27–75 years; 75% were Caucasian and 25% African American. A total of 109 participants completed the study, yielding a 75% retention rate. Grounded in a psychoneuroimmunology framework, the overarching hypothesis was that both interventions would reduce perceived stress, enhance QOL …

Epigenetic Alterations And An Increased Frequency Of Micronuclei In Women With Fibromyalgia, Victoria Menzies, Debra E. Lyon, Kellie J. Archer, Kimberly Jones, Guimin Gao, Timothy P. York, Colleen Jackson-Cook

School of Nursing Publications

Fibromyalgia (FM), characterized by chronic widespread pain, fatigue, and cognitive/mood disturbances, leads to reduced workplace productivity and increased healthcare expenses. To determine if acquired epigenetic/genetic changes are associated with FM, we compared the frequency of spontaneously occurring micronuclei (MN) and genome-wide methylation patterns in women with FM () to those seen in comparably aged healthy controls ( (MN); (methylation)). The mean (sd) MN frequency of women with FM (51.4 (21.9)) was significantly higher than that of controls (15.8 (8.5)) (; df = 1; ). Significant differences ( sites) in methylation patterns were observed between cases and controls considering a 5% …

Hypothermic Machine Perfusion Preservation Of The Dcd Kidney: Machine Effects, Susanne L. Lindell, Heather Muir, John Brassil, Martin J. Mangino

Surgery Publications

Purpose. Kidneys from DCD donors represent a significant pool, but preservation problems exist. The study objective was to test the importance of machine type for hypothermic preservation of DCD kidneys.Methods. Adult Beagle dog kidneys underwent 45 minutes of warm in situ ischemia followed by hypothermic perfusion for 24 hours (Belzer-MPS Solution) on either an ORS LifePort or a Waters RM3 using standard perfusion protocols. Kidneys were then autotransplanted, and renal function was assessed over 7 days following contralateral nephrectomy. Results. Renal vascular resistance was not different between the two pumps. After 24 hours, the oxygen partial pressure and oxygen delivery …

Improving The Diagnosis Of Meningitis Due To Enterovirus And Herpes Simplex Virus I And Ii In A Tertiary Care Hospital, Eduardo Casaroto, Alexandre R. Marra, Fernando Morgadinho S. Coelho, Joao Renato Rebello Pinho, Roberta Sitnik, Fernando Colombari, Elivane Silva Victor, Nair Hideko Muto, Carlos Senne, Oscar Fernando Pavão Dos Santos, Michael B. Edmond

Internal Medicine Publications

Background Enterovirus and herpes simplex viruses are common causes of lymphocytic meningitis. The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of the use molecular testing for Enteroviruses and Herpes simplex viruses I and II in all suspected cases of viral meningitis.

Methods From November 18, 2008 to November 17, 2009 (phase II, intervention), all patients admitted with suspected viral meningitis (with pleocytosis) had a CSF sample tested using a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). Data collected during this period were compared to those from the previous one-year period, i.e. November 18, 2007 to November 17, 2008 (phase I, …

Htert Promoter Polymorphism, -1327c>T, Is Associated With The Risk Of Epithelial Cancer, Toshihiko Iizuka, Motoji Sawabe, Kaiyo Takubo, Miao Liu, Yukio Homma, Motofumi Suzuki, Tomio Arai

Internal Medicine Publications

Telomeres are repetitive nucleotide sequences that cap the end of eukaryotic chromosomes. Attrition of these structures has been associated with carcinogenesis in many tissues, and therefore, they are essential for chromosome stabilization. Telomeres are maintained by telomerase complexes, of which human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is an essential component. A functional polymorphism, -1327C>T (rs2735940), located in the promoter of the hTERT gene is associated with telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes. We hypothesized that this polymorphism might affect susceptibility to various epithelial malignancies. The -1327C>T polymorphism was examined in 1,551 consecutive autopsy cases (mean age, 80.3 years), and …

Fenretinide Causes Emphysema, Which Is Prevented By Sphingosine 1-Phoshate, Masanori Yasuo, Shiro Mizuno, Jeremy Allegood, Donatas Kraskauskas, Harm J. Bogaard, Sarah Spiegel, Norbert F. Voelkel

Internal Medicine Publications

Sphingolipids play a role in the development of emphysema and ceramide levels are increased in experimental models of emphysema; however, the mechanisms of ceramide-related pulmonary emphysema are not fully understood. Here we examine mechanisms of ceramide-induced pulmonary emphysema. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with fenretinide (20 mg/kg BW), a synthetic derivative of retinoic acid that causes the formation of ceramide, and we postulated that the effects of fenretinide could be offset by administering sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) (100 µg/kg BW). Lung tissues were analyzed and mean alveolar airspace area, total length of the alveolar perimeter and the number of caspase-3 positive …

Multi-Snp Analysis Of Gwas Data Identifies Pathways Associated With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Qing-Rong Chen, Rosemary Braun, Ying Hu, Chunhua Yan, Elizabeth M. Brunt, Daoud Meerzaman, Arun J. Sanyal, Kenneth Buetow

Internal Medicine Publications

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease; the histological spectrum of which ranges from steatosis to steatohepatitis. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) often leads to cirrhosis and development of hepatocellular carcinoma. To better understand pathogenesis of NAFLD, we performed the pathway of distinction analysis (PoDA) on a genome-wide association study dataset of 250 non-Hispanic white female adult patients with NAFLD, who were enrolled in the NASH Clinical Research Network (CRN) Database Study, to investigate whether biologic process variation measured through genomic variation of genes within these pathways was related to the development of steatohepatitis or cirrhosis. Pathways such as …

Modulation Of The Metabiome By Rifaximin In Patients With Cirrhosis And Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy, Jasmohan S. Bajaj, Douglas M. Heuman, Arun J. Sanyal, Phillip B. Hylemon, Richard K. Sterling, R. Todd Stravitz, Michael Fuchs, Jason M. Ridlon, Kalyani Daita, Pamela Monteith, Nicole A. Noble, Melanie B. White, Andmorgan Fisher, Masoumeh Sikaroodi, Huzefa Rangwala, Patrick M. Gillevet

Internal Medicine Publications

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) represents a dysfunctional gut-liver-brain axis in cirrhosis which can negatively impact outcomes. This altered gut-brain relationship has been treated using gut-selective antibiotics such as rifaximin, that improve cognitive function in HE, especially its subclinical form, minimal HE (MHE). However, the precise mechanism of the action of rifaximin in MHE is unclear. We hypothesized that modulation of gut microbiota and their end-products by rifaximin would affect the gut-brain axis and improve cognitive performance in cirrhosis. Aim To perform a systems biology analysis of the microbiome, metabolome and cognitive change after rifaximin in MHE.

Methods

Twenty cirrhotics with MHE …

Development, Disease, And Regeneration Of Tissues In The Dental-Craniofacial Complex, Brian L. Foster, Yong-Hee P. Chun, Erica L. Scheller, Zhao Lin, Chad M. Novince, Avina Paranjpe

Periodontics Publications

This article has no abstract.

Igfbp-3 Inhibits Cytokine-Induced Insulin Resistance And Early Manifestations Of Atherosclerosis, Lathika Mohanraj, Ho-Seong Kim, Wei Li, Qing Cai, Ki E. Kim, Hye-Jung Shin, Yong-Jae Lee, Woo J. Lee, Jung H. Kim, Youngman Oh

Pathology Publications

Metabolic syndrome is associated with visceral obesity, insulin resistance and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Visceral fat tissue primarily consists of adipocytes that secrete cytokines leading to a state of systemic inflammation in obese conditions. One of the IGF-independent functions of IGFBP-3 is its role as an anti-inflammatory molecule. Our study in obese adolescents show a decrease in total IGFBP-3 levels and increase in proteolyzed IGFBP-3 in circulation when compared to their normal counterparts and establishes a positive correlation between IGFBP-3 proteolysis and adiposity parameters as well as insulin resistance. In human adipocytes, we show that IGFBP-3 inhibits TNF-α-induced …

Ennet: Inferring Large Gene Regulatory Networks From Expression Data Using Gradient Boosting, Janusz Slawek, Tomasz Arodź

Computer Science Publications

Background

The regulation of gene expression by transcription factors is a key determinant of cellular phenotypes. Deciphering genome-wide networks that capture which transcription factors regulate which genes is one of the major efforts towards understanding and accurate modeling of living systems. However, reverse-engineering the network from gene expression profiles remains a challenge, because the data are noisy, high dimensional and sparse, and the regulation is often obscured by indirect connections.

Results

We introduce a gene regulatory network inference algorithm ENNET, which reverse-engineers networks of transcriptional regulation from a variety of expression profiles with a superior accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art …

Biomedical Informatics For Computer-Aided Decision Support Systems: A Survey, Ashwin Belle, Mark A. Kon, Kayvan Najarian

Computer Science Publications

The volumes of current patient data as well as their complexity make clinical decision making more challenging than ever for physicians and other care givers. This situation calls for the use of biomedical informatics methods to process data and form recommendations and/or predictions to assist such decision makers. The design, implementation, and use of biomedical informatics systems in the form of computer-aided decision support have become essential and widely used over the last two decades. This paper provides a brief review of such systems, their application protocols and methodologies, and the future challenges and directions they suggest.

An Entropy-Based Automated Cell Nuclei Segmentation And Quantification: Application In Analysis Of Wound Healing Process, Varun Oswal, Ashwin Belle, Robert Diegelmann, Kayvan Najarian

Computer Science Publications

The segmentation and quantification of cell nuclei are two very significant tasks in the analysis of histological images. Accurate results of cell nuclei segmentation are often adapted to a variety of applications such as the detection of cancerous cell nuclei and the observation of overlapping cellular events occurring during wound healing process in the human body. In this paper, an automated entropy-based thresholding system for segmentation and quantification of cell nuclei from histologically stained images has been presented. The proposed translational computation system aims to integrate clinical insight and computational analysis by identifying and segmenting objects of interest within histological …

Natural Plasmodium Infection In Monkeys In The State Of Rondônia (Brazilian Western Amazon), Maisa S. Araújo, Mariluce R. Messias, Marivaldo R . Figueiró, Luiz Herman S. Gil, Christian M. Probst, Newton M. Vidal, Tony H. Katsuragawa, Luiz H. Pereira Da Silva, Luiz S. Ozaki

Study of Biological Complexity Publications

Background

Simian malaria is still an open question concerning the species of Plasmodium parasites and species of New World monkeys susceptible to the parasites. In addition, the lingering question as to whether these animals are reservoirs for human malaria might become important especially in a scenario of eradication of the disease. To aid in the answers to these questions, monkeys were surveyed for malaria parasite natural infection in the Amazonian state of Rondônia, Brazil, a state with intense environmental alterations due to human activities, which facilitated sampling of the animals.

Methods

Parasites were detected and identified in DNA from blood …