Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease disseminated through the centuries in the whole world which causes symptoms that go from self-limited diseases to hemorrhagic manifestations and organ failure, including acute kidney injury (AKI), composing the severe disease known as the Weil's syndrome. Mortality rates varies according to the clinical presentation and usually increases when kidney injury is present, and is even higher in the setting of pulmonary hemorrhage. There are recent advances in the search for novel biomarkers of renal involvement and early detection of AKI in leptospirosis, as well as in its pathophysiology. We review in this article the clinical aspects of leptospirosis-associated AKI and the perspectives for future research.

Objective: To find the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of neem oil extract on the selected cancerous (A-549, PC-3 and DU-145) and noncancerous (NIH3T3 and CCD-18Co) cell lines. Methods: Viability and cytotoxic effect induced by the extract was measured by using MTT assay and apoptotic effect of the extract was evaluated by using Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide dual staining through a fluorescent microscope and activity of caspases 3, 8 and 9 through colorimetric assay kits. Results: The results showed that neem oil extract significantly reduced the viability in all selected cancer cells treated with varying concentrations of extract as compared with untreated cells and had less effect on noncancerous cell lines. It significantly increased the percentage of necrotic and apoptotic cells, and caspases 3, 8 and 9 activities in all cancer cells treated with extract as compared with untreated cells whereas no effect on noncancerous cell lines. It suggested that neem oil extract exerted a higher cytotoxic effect on cancer cells than normal cells and lower concentration induced apoptosis only in cancer cells. One of the apoptosis-inducing mechanism was through the activation of caspases signaling pathways. Conclusion: Conclusively, it implies that neem oil extract may contain one or more potential agents that can be used as a safe and effective anticancer therapy.

Objective: To appraise the activity of voriconazole against Leishmania major (L. major) in vitro and its effectiveness on wound regeneration in cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice. Methods: The IC₅₀ of voriconazole against promastigotes and intra-macrophage amastigotes of L. major was investigated in vitro. The in vivo study was performed by treating the L. major infected BALB/c mice. When the wounds appeared in the base of tail, treatment was started by administration of 30 mg/kg voriconazole for 28 consecutive days orally. Results: The IC₅₀ of voriconazole against promastigotes and intra-macrophage amastigotes were 0.74 and 0.89 ģĢ, respectively. Voriconazole decreased lipid peroxidation and IL-6 level. Histopathological findings indicated accelerated healing in the voriconazole treated group compared to other groups. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that voriconazole can be an option in treating the cutaneous leishmaniasis by L. major.

Objective: To evaluate the in vivo antischistosomal activities of the crude extracts of Echinops kebericho Mesfin (E. kebericho) root and Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce) J.F. Gmel (H. abyssinica) flower. Methods: Mice were infected with (150 ± 10) Schistosoma mansoni cercariae by paddling technique. Crude extracts were administered orally for five consecutive days at doses of 300, 600 and 1 200 mg/kg/day along with 200 mg/kg/day praziquantel and 3% tween 80 given as a control. Results: E. kebericho root extract showed a statistically significant (P < 0.05) reduction in fecal egg count of 64.44%, 42.96% & 26.82% and worm burden of 65.71%, 47.86% & 31.43% at treatment doses of 1 200 mg/kg/day, 600 mg/kg/day and 300 mg/kg/day, respectively. Similarly, H. abyssinica flower extracts showed a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in fecal egg count up to 84.57%, 77.06% & 63.89% and worm burden of 91.43%, 81.43% & 70.71% at a respective dose levels. In addition, a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in liver granuloma score was observed in all H. abyssinica administered dose groups and E. kebericho at 1 200 mg/kg/day dose group as compared to infected untreated control group. Conclusions: H. abyssinica and E. kebericho crude extracts show a promising antischistosomal activity.

Objective: To investigate the influence of calcium carbonate supplementation on cognitive function in mice. Methods: Mice were fed diets containing 1.0% calcium carbonate for 8 weeks, following which they were evaluated for memory function using object recognition, Y-maze, and Barnes maze tests. Next, the expression levels of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) and phosphorylated CREB, which is involved in the memory process were investigated in both the hippocampus and cerebral cortex using western blotting methods. Results: Mice fed on a diet containing calcium carbonate showed memory impairments in object recognition, Y-maze, and Barnes maze tests with respect to the mice that were on a control diet. Further, mice that were fed a diet containing calcium carbonate and a nimodipine (an L-type calcium channel antagonist), reversed calcium carbonate-induced memory impairments, thus suggesting that excessive entry of calcium in cells may cause memory impairments. A study using western blot revealed that expression of CREB and phosphorylated CREB in hippocampus and cerebral cortex was significantly lower in the calcium carbonate-fed mice than in the control-diet-fed mice. Conclusions: These results suggest that a calcium carbonate diet may cause memory impairment by decreasing CREB expression. This is the first report of calcium carbonate supplementation causing memory impairment. This simple animal model may be useful as a novel cognitive impairment model for drug development.

Objective: To evaluate the potential role of the polysaccharides of the marine algae as an anticancer agent in vitro against colon cancer cell line (CoCa2) and breast cancer (MCF7) cell lines and to measure lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) activity as biomarker of membrane integrity of the cells. Methods: The cells of breast cancer (MCF7) and colon cancer (CoCa2) were used to evaluate the potential anticancer role of the polysaccharides of marine algae. Anti-proliferative activity against MCF7 and CoCa2 cell lines were evaluated in vitro by the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results: The in vitro assay of the antioxidant activity of eight marine seaweed species showed that the red seaweed Jania rubens (J. rubens) had the highest DPPH (2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity. The extracted polysaccharides with concentrations 0.1–40.0 mg/mL from J. rubens were tested for its anticancer potentiality and cytotoxic effects against the cell lines of human breast (MCF7) and colon cancer (CoCa2) cell lines by MTT assay. The inhibitory concentration at 50 (IC₅₀) value the of J. rubens polysaccharide extract was 0.312 5 mg/mL for MCF7 and 20 mg/mL for CoCa2. LDH activity and annexin V concentration were higher in the treated MCF7 and CaCo2 cells than in the untreated ones. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction technique indicated that the polysaccharide treatments caused up-regulation of Bax, caspase 8 and P53 genes expression in CoCa2 cells, and up-regulation of caspase 3 and down-regulation of Bcl2 genes expression in MCF7 cells. Conclusions: The polysaccharides of the red marine alga J. rubens could be a potential candidate for the natural compounds as antioxidant and anticancer therapy.

Objective: To investigate the parasitic infection of Anentome helena (A. helena) and determine the validity of species boundaries for A. helena by combining molecular phylogeny and morphological approaches. Methods: A total of 325 individuals of A. helena were collected throughout northern Thailand. Shells were measured and compared by t-test. Radulae were investigated by using light and scanning electron microscope. Two partial mitochondrial DNA sequences of COI and 16S rRNA from 36 specimens of A. helena and related species were used to test the validity of the morphospecies. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using neighbour joining, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Infection of A. helena with trematode larva was examined and observed. Results: Morphological examination of A. helena revealed 2 distinct morphospecies. Genetic divergences supported the separation of the two morphotypes into two distinct groups. Both individual and combined analyses of the two nucleotide fragments revealed two phylogroups that corresponded with shell and radula characteristics. In addition, A. helena was found infected with 37-collar spined echinostome metacercariae. The prevalence and intensity of metacercariae was highest in the San Kamphaeng district, Chiang Mai province, with 7.5% and 1.670±0.577, respectively. Conclusions: These findings suggest that comprehensive taxonomic revision of this unrecognised species complex is needed. This study represents the preliminary step to reveal new data on the recent distribution of trematode infection in A. helena. This information may be useful for developing conservation management of the snail and the practice of targeted regimes to reduce anthelmintic resistance in the future.