Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a complex disease that is endemic and an important problem in public health in Latin America. The T. cruzi parasite is classified into six discrete taxonomic units (DTUs) based on the recently proposed nomenclature (TcI, TcII, TcIII, TcIV, TcV and TcVI). The discovery of genetic variability within TcI showed the presence of five genotypes (Ia, Ib, I...

Repeated boluses of i.v. morphine are often used for analgesia after cardiac surgery, but this procedure frequently provides inadequate pain relief. Target controlled infusion (TCI) of opioid drugs has been proposed as an alternative. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of prolonged sufentanil TCI adjusted to an effort pain score on the postoperative course after cardiac sur...

BACKGROUND The combination of propofol-remifentanil for procedural deep sedation in spontaneously breathing patients is characterized by the frequent incidence of side effects, especially respiratory depression. These side effects may be due to either the drug combination or the drug delivery technique. Target-controlled infusion (TCI) might optimize drug delivery. In this prospective, randomiz...

Epidemiologic data of malaria cases were correlated with satellite-based vegetation health (VH) indices to investigate if they can be used as proxy for monitoring malaria epidemics in Bangladesh. The VH indices were represented by the vegetation condition index (VCI) and the temperature condition index (TCI). The VCI and TCI estimate moisture and thermal conditions, respectively. Sensitivity of...

BACKGROUND The imidazoquinoline derivate imiquimod induces inflammatory responses and protection against transplanted tumors when applied to the skin in combination with a cognate peptide epitope (transcutaneous immunization, TCI). Here we investigated the role of regulatory T cells (T(reg)) and the suppressive cytokine IL-10 in restricting TCI-induced cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. ...

BACKGROUND Transcutaneous immunization (TCI) is a novel vaccination strategy, which is expected to have therapeutic applications. However, to develop effective TCI systems, a simple, non-invasive and safe transdermal formulation is required. This study developed a novel TCI system utilizing the co-administration of a liposoluble absorption enhancer, propylene glycol monocaprylate (PGMC) and hyd...

BACKGROUND We investigated how one pharmacokinetic (PK) model differed in prediction of plasma (C(p)) and effect-site concentration (C(eff)) using a reproducing simulation of target-controlled infusion (TCI) with another PK model of propofol. METHODS Sixty female patients were randomly assigned to TCI using Marsh PK (Group M) and TCI using Schnider PK (Group S) targeting 6.0 µg/ml of C(p) of ...