PURPOSE We have established a prospective cohort of 1959 patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy to evaluate if a clinical prediction rule based on ECG, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, and other biomarkers can be useful in clinical practice. This paper outlines the study and baseline characteristics of the participants. PARTICIPANTS The study is being conducted in 21 municipalitie...

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, although endemic in many parts of Central and South America, is emerging as a global health threat through the potential contamination of blood supplies. Consequently, in the absence of a gold standard assay for the diagnosis of Chagas disease, additional antigens or strategies are needed. A proteomic analysis of the trypomastigote excreted-secreted ...

OBJECTIVE To measure the serum levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients with chronic chagasic heart disease and in individuals with positive serology for Chagas' disease and no heart impairment, and to correlate the serum BNP levels with the degree of cardiac impairment, cardiac dimensions, presence of a pacemaker, and ejection fraction. METHODS Serum BNP concentrations were dete...

Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi parasite infection is endemic in Latin America and presents an increasing clinical challenge due to migrating populations. Despite being first identified over a century ago, only two drugs are available for its treatment, and recent outcomes from the first clinical trials in 40 years were lackluster. There is a critical ne...

BACKGROUND Syndecan-4 is a transmembrane glycoprotein associated with inflammation and fibrosis. Increased syndecan-4 levels were previously detected after acute myocardial infarction and in subjects with heart failure. However, the levels of syndecan-4 in subjects with Chagas disease have not so far been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential role of serum sydenca...

Chagas' disease is an important cause of heart failure in Latin America, but is rare in the United States. The immigration of persons from endemic countries increases the potential of encountering patients with the disease. Concerns have also been raised about the introduction of Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes the disease, into the blood supply and during organ transplantation. To ...

While the primary focus of the manuscript was repolarization abnormalities we regretfully did not cite the authors important work on ECG fragmentation. Unfortunately, the authors' abstract [1,2] was not noted in our initial literature search. The authors subsequently reported their data in manuscript form [3] in January of 2014. This should serve as a reminder to consider a repeat literature re...

1 Institute of Clinical Medicine-Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, 70210 Kuopio, Finland 2Neurology, Neurocenter, University Hospital of Kuopio, 70210 Kuopio, Finland 3Instituto de Biof́ısica Carlos Chagas Filho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 21941-902 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 4D’Or Institute of Research and Education, 22281-100 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 5Fraunhofer Research I...

1 Infectious Dermatology Clinical Research Laboratory, Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fiocruz,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2 Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fiocruz,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 Departmentof InternalMedicine, Bonsucesso Federal Hospital, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 4 RadiologyDepartment, Evandro Chagas National Instit...

In 1943, the Center for the Study and Prophylaxis of Chagas Disease, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, state of Minas Gerais (MG), was created in the municipality of Bambuí to carry out studies related to Chagas disease in the mid-western region of MG. Since that time, several investigations have been conducted to determine the natural habitat of triatomines, but Panstrongylus megistus colonies have nev...