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BACKGROUND Infective endocarditis is a disease characterised by heart valve lesions, which exhibit extracellular matrix proteins that act as a physical barrier to prevent the passage of antimicrobial agents. The genus Candida has acquired clinical importance given that it is increasingly being isolated from cases of nosocomial infections. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the activity of caspofungin compared to that of liposomal amphotericin B against Candida albicans in experimental infective endocarditis. METHODS Wistar rats underwent surgical intervention and infection with strains of C. albicans to develop infective endocarditis. Three groups were formed: the first group was treated with caspofungin, the second with liposomal amphotericin B, and the third received a placebo. In vitro sensitivity was first determined to further evaluate the effect of these treatments on a rat experimental model of endocarditis by semiquantitative culture of fibrinous vegetations and histological analysis. FINDINGS Our semiquantitative culture of growing vegetation showed massive C. albicans colonisation in rats without treatment, whereas rats treated with caspofungin showed significantly reduced colonisation, which was similar to the results obtained with liposomal amphotericin B. CONCLUSIONS The antifungal activity of caspofungin is similar to that of liposomal amphotericin B in an experimental model of infective endocarditis caused by C. albicans.

ABSTRACT Background. The prevalence of two functional polymorphisms (rs1127354 and rs7270101) of the inosine triphosphatase (ITPA) gene associated with ribavirin-induced hemolytic anemia (RIHA) during antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection varies by ethnicity. In Mexico, the distribution of these polymorphisms among Native Amerindians (NA) and admixed population (Mestizos) is unknown. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of the ITPA polymorphisms among healthy NA and Mestizos, as well as in HCV patients from West Mexico. Material and methods. In a cross-sectional study, 600 unrelated subjects (322 Mestizos, 100 NA, and 178 treatment-naïve, HCV-infected Mestizos patients) were enrolled. A medical history was registered. ITPA genotype was determined by Real-Time PCR. Fst-values and genetic relatedness between study and reference populations were assessed. Results. The frequency of the risk genotypes rs1127354CC and rs7270101AA was higher among NA (98-100%) than in Mestizos (87-92.9%), (p < 0.05). The NA presented the highest prevalence of the rs1127354CC genotype reported worldwide. The Fst-values revealed a genetic relatedness among Mexican NA, South Americans and African populations (p > 0.05). The frequency of the predicted risk for RIHA was higher among NA (98%) than in Mestizos (80.5%) and HCV-infected patients (81.5%) (p < 0 .01). The CC/AA alleles were associated with lower values of total bilirubin, aspartate/alanine aminotransferases, and aspartate-to-platelet-ratio-index score among HCV-patients. Conclusion. A high prevalence of the ITPA polymorphisms associated with RIHA was found in Mexican NA. These polymorphisms could be a useful tool for evaluating potential adverse effects and the risk or benefit of antiviral therapy in Mexicans and other admixed populations.

Index code	Element
ti	article title
au	author
kw	article keywords
subject	subject (title words, abstract and keywords)
ab	abstract
ta	journal short title (e.g. Cad. Saúde Pública)
journal_title	journal full title (e.g. Cadernos de Saúde Pública)
la	publication language code (e.g. pt - Portuguese, es - Spanish)
type	document type
pid	publication identifier
publication_year	publication year of publication
sponsor	sponsor
aff_country	country code of the author's affiliation
aff_institution	author affiliation institution
volume	article volume
issue	article issue
elocation	elocation
doi	DOI number
issn	journal ISSN
in	SciELO colection code (e.g. scl - Brasil, col - Colômbia)
use_license	article usage license code

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