The complement system is a key component of the innate immune system, participating in the surveillance against infectious agents. Once activated by one of the three different pathways, complement mediates cell lysis, opsonization, signalizes pathogens for phagocytosis and induces the adaptive immune response. The lectin pathway is constituted by several soluble and membrane bound proteins, called pattern recognition molecules (PRM), including mannose binding lectin (MBL), Ficolins-1, -2, and -3, and Collectin 11. These PRMs act on complement activation as recognition molecules of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) such as N-acetylated, found in glycoproteins of viral envelopes. In this study, Ficolin-1 and Ficolin-3 plasma levels were evaluated in 178 HIV patients (93 HIV; 85 HIV/HCV) and 85 controls from southern Brazil. Demographic and clinical-laboratory findings were obtained during medical interview and from medical records. All parameters were assessed by logistic regression, adjusted for age, ancestry, and sex. Significantly lower levels of Ficolin-1 were observed in HIV/HCV coinfected when compared to HIV patients (p = 0.005, median = 516 vs. 667 ng/ul, respectively) and to controls (p < 0.0001, 1186 ng/ul). Ficolin-1 levels were lower in males than in females among HIV patients (p = 0.03) and controls (p = 0.0003), but no association of Ficolin-1 levels with AIDS was observed. On the other hand, Ficolin-3 levels were significantly lower in controls when compared to HIV (p < 0.0001, medians 18,240 vs. 44,030 ng/ml, respectively) and HIV/HCV coinfected (p < 0.0001, 40,351 ng/ml) patients. There was no correlation between Ficolin-1 and Ficolin-3 levels and age, HIV viral load or opportunistic infections. However, Ficolin-3 showed a positive correlation with T CD4 cell counts in HIV monoinfected patients (p = 0.007). We provide here the first assessment of Ficolin-1 and−3 levels in HIV and HIV/HCV coinfected patients, which indicates a distinct role for these pattern recognition molecules in both viral infections.

Fruits and vegetables are the most important sources of phytochemicals. Phytochemicals use for both human diets and natural antimicrobial agents in food preservation. Their beneits for health are mainly due to high antioxidant activity. Antimicrobials of plant origin are known as secondary metabolites that could play a role not only individually or jointly against food-borne pathogens but also contribute to food lavor. Phytochemicals have a strong efect on control and prevention of natural spoilage processes and growth of microorganisms, including pathogens causing food safety issues. Microorganisms are always associated with harvested plants and slaughtered animals, the basic unprocessed materials of the food industry. Since foods consumed by humans undergo several processing treatments, it is important to understand the efect of such treatments on the phytochemical composition of foods.

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Results: a total of 12.9% of HIV+ patients were positive for anti-HCV antibodies, 64.1% were men and 35.9% women, with mean age of 44.5 years (24-66). The frequency of HCV among men was 16.7% and among women 9.1% (p=0.06). HCV prevalence was associated to HIV infection when compared to the general population (p<10 -6 , OR=100.4; 95CI=13.7-734.9). The parenteral route of transmission was the most frequent among coinfected patients (46.1%), and the sexual transmission among HIV+/HCV-(71.8%) (p=0.02, OR=0.2; 95CI=0.1-0.7). The frequency of intravenous drug users was higher among the coinfected patients (61.5%) compared to the non coinfected (12.6%) (p<10 -6 , OR=11.1; 95CI=4.5-27.7). Conclusion: the prevalence of coinfection with HCV in HIV+ patients is 12.9%, 88 times higher than in the general population in Curitiba. The most frequent route of transmission in the coinfected patients is parenteral, but the sexual route is also representative (34.6%).

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Aims To investigate whether FCN3 polymorphisms and circulating ficolin‐3 levels were associated with clinical forms of chronic Chagas disease (CD) and to assess their potential use as biomarkers for the disease or its severity. Methods and Results FCN3 polymorphisms (g.1637delC (rs532781899) in exon 5; g.3524_3532insTATTTGGCC (rs28362807) in intron 5 and g.4473C > A) (rs4494157) in intron 7) were determined in 178 chronic CD patients (65 asymptomatic, 68 cardiac, 21 digestive and 24 cardiodigestive), and 285 healthy controls by sequence‐specific PCR. Ficolin‐3 serum levels, measured by ELISA in 80 patients and 80 controls, did not differ between groups. On the other hand, ficolin‐3 levels were positively correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction (P = .002; r = .5), with lower levels associated with increased risk of cardiac insufficiency (P = .033; OR 7.21, 95%IC 1.17‐44.4). Ficolin‐3 levels were positively correlated with ficolin‐2 (P = .021; r = .63), and negatively with MBL (P = .002; r = −.36) and pentraxin‐3 (P = .04; r = −.32) levels. No significant results were observed for the investigated FCN3 polymorphisms and CD. The g.1637del/1637C heterozygotes presented lower ficolin‐3 levels than g.1637C/1637C homozygotes in the control group (P = .023). Conclusion Low ficolin‐3 levels may play a role in the pathophysiology of cardiac insufficiency associated with CD.

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