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Gomes P

N-cinnamoylation of antimalarial classics: quinacrine analogues with decreased toxicity and dual-stage activity

Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the most lethal form of malaria, is becoming increasingly resistant to most available drugs. A convenient approach to combat parasite resistance is the development of analogues of classical antimalarial agents, appropriately modified in order to restore their relevance in antimalarial chemotherapy.
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N-Cinnamoylation of Antimalarial Classics: Effects of Using Acyl Groups Other than Cinnamoyl toward Dual-Stage Antimalarials

In a follow-up study to our reports of N-cinnamoylated chloroquine and quinacrine analogues as promising dual-stage antimalarial leads with high in vitro potency against both blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum and liver-stage Plasmodium berghei, we decided to investigate the effect of replacing the cinnamoyl moiety with other acyl groups. Thus, a series of N-acylated analogues were synthesized, and their activities against blood- and liver-stage Plasmodium spp. were assessed along with their in vitro cytotoxicities.
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The SIGLIC System for Improving the Access to Surgery in Portugal

This paper describes the design and definitions of an information system (SIGLIC) to support a new integrated management program (SIGA) to improve the access to surgery in Portugal. SIGIC, the Ministry of Health’s agency responsible for access to surgery management, started re-thinking the system in 2005 by re-defining key processes and workflows. The designed information […]
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Evolution of the human immunodeficiency virus type 2 envelope in the first years of infection is associated with the dynamics of the neutralizing antibody response

Differently from HIV-1, HIV-2 disease progression usually takes decades without antiretroviral therapy and the majority of HIV-2 infected individuals survive as elite controllers with normal CD4+ T cell counts and low or undetectable plasma viral load. Neutralizing antibodies (Nabs) are thought to play a central role in HIV-2 evolution and pathogenesis. However, the dynamic of the Nab response and resulting HIV-2 escape during acute infection and their impact in HIV-2 evolution and disease progression remain largely unknown. Our objective was to characterize the Nab response and the molecular and phenotypic evolution of HIV-2 in association with Nab escape in the first years of infection in two children infected at birth.
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Toward the discovery of inhibitors of babesipain-1, a Babesia bigemina cysteine protease: In vitro evaluation, homology modeling and molecular docking studies

Babesia bigemina is a protozoan parasite that causes babesiosis, a disease with a world-wide distribution in mammals, principally affecting cattle and man. The unveiling of the genome of B. bigemina is a project in active progress that has already revealed a number of new targets with potential interest for the design of anti-babesiosis drugs. In this context, babesipain-1 has been identified as a proteolytically active enzyme whose three-dimensional structure has not been resolved yet, but which is known to be inhibited by cysteine proteases inhibitors such as E64, ALLN, leupeptin, and vinyl sulfones
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Mutations selected in HIV-2-infected patients failing a regimen including atazanavir

To investigate mutations selected in viruses from HIV-2-infected patients failing a highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) regimen including atazanavir/ritonavir.
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Origin and Epidemiological History of HIV-1 CRF14_BG

Background: CRF14_BG isolates, originally found in Spain, are characterized by CXCR4 tropism and rapid disease progression. This study aimed to identify the origin of CRF14_BG and reconstruct its epidemiological history based on new isolates from Portugal.
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Novel potent metallocenes against liver stage malaria

Novel conjugates of the antimalarial drug primaquine (compound 1) with ferrocene, named primacenes, have been synthesized and screened for their activities against blood stage and liver stage malaria in vitro and host-vector transmission in vivo.
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Memory B-cell depletion is a feature of HIV-2 infection even in the absence of detectable viremia.

OBJECTIVE:
Memory B-cell loss has long been recognized as an important contributor to HIV immunodeficiency. HIV-2 infection, which is characterized by a slow rate of progression to AIDS and reduced to undetectable viremia, provides a unique model to investigate B-cell disturbances.
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The SIGLIC system for improving the access to surgery in Portugal.

This paper describes the design and first results of an information system (SIGLIC) that supports the new integrated management program (SIGA) to improve the access to surgery in Portugal.
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