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Parasite Versus Host: Pathology and Disease
Published in Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin, Parasitology, 2023
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin
Toxins produced by various bacteria contribute to their disease-causing capacity. Some fungal pathogens likewise cause disease, at least in part from the toxins they produce. An interesting example is Claviceps purpurea, a parasite of rye grass. If infected grain is used to produce bread, anyone consuming the bread may also ingest a fungal toxin called ergot. Ergot causes vasoconstriction and mental disturbances. It has recently been reported that Candida albicans, the fungal pathogen responsible for oral and vaginal candidiasis, owes its pathology in part to a protein toxin it releases (Figure 5.14). This is surprising because C. albicans has always been described as an opportunist, which under certain circumstances causes pathology when it produces filaments called hyphae that invade host tissue.
St. Anthony's fire and leprosy
Published in Dinesh Kumar Jain, Homeopathy, 2022
Ergot is a fungus to which rye is particularly susceptible … The eating of bread made from contaminated rye was responsible in the past for many outbreaks of ergotism … The effects of ergotism are alarming and explain why the disease was once regarded with superstitious dread. The most usual symptoms of ergotism was gangrene which was a consequence of vasoconstriction and which resulted in fingers, toes or whole limbs becoming dried, shrivelled and black so that they sometimes fell off … It was for this reason (and perhaps also because the blackened limbs appeared to have been charred by fire) that ergotism was popularly known as St. Anthony's fire. St. Anthony's name was attached because it was believed that pilgrims to his shrine would be cured of this affliction. This promise did not go entirely unfulfilled for the act of pilgrimage ensured that the victim left the area in which the infected rye was growing. Ergotism is also associated with the occurrence of spontaneous abortions and with disturbance of central nervous function including convulsions and acute mania.
Third Stage Of Labor
Published in Vincenzo Berghella, Obstetric Evidence Based Guidelines, 2022
Alyssa R. Hersh, Jorge E. Tolosa
Syntometrine is a combination drug containing oxytocin 5 IU and ergometrine 0.5 mg and is administered intramuscularly. As with ergot alkaloids alone, side effects are significant, including nausea, vomiting, and hypertension [7, 15].
Safety of drugs used for the treatment of migraine during pregnancy: a narrative review
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 2023
Jessica A Spiteri, Gabrielle Camilleri, Carlo Piccinni, Janet Sultana
Several effective antimigraine medications are reasonably safe for use by pregnant women. For the acute episode, acetaminophen remains a recommended first-line agent although concerns with its possible association with negative endocrine and neurodevelopmental outcomes cannot be ignored and require further research. NSAIDs in the first trimester, with perhaps exception of ibuprofen, have been associated with spontaneous abortion. They do not seem to be major teratogens although the available evidence is less clear on this point. While as a class they seem safe during the second trimester, they are less so beyond 20–30 weeks and are associated with adverse neonatal renal and vascular effects. Triptans seem not to be associated with congenital malformations or spontaneous abortions with sumatriptan being the drug with most evidence behind it. Ergot alkaloids remain contraindicated in pregnancy and have lost their role in migraine management in general due to the advent of better alternatives.
Biosensors for the detection of mycotoxins
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Akansha Shrivastava, Rakesh Kumar Sharma
Ergot alkaloids are the secondary metabolites of fungi and these are produced by various species of Claviceps. The effect of this group of alkaloids has been shown in the middle ages called "Holy Fire" or "St. Anthony’s Fire", also known as the disease ergotism. Other alkaloids include ergometrine, ergotamine, and ergotoxine (Crews 2015, Miedaner and Geiger 2015). There are two forms of ergotism: Gangrenous, which affects the blood supply to extremities and convulsive, and ultimately affects the central nervous system. The fungal species which produce these alkaloids include Claviceps purpurea (rye and other cereals), Claviceps paspali (forage grass), Claviceps fusiformis, Claviceps gigantea, and Sphacelia sorghi (an anamorphic form of Claviceps). The clinical symptoms of ergotism are a manifestation in the form of gangrene, abortion, convulsions, suppression of lactation, and hypersensitivity (Berthiller et al. 2017). The ingestion of ergot occurs through infected cereals, commonly in the form of bread produced from contaminated flour. A recently reported another alkaloid from the same class, purpurolic acid from plant-parasitic sclerotia of Claviceps purpurea has been reported and considered as highly toxic for animal feed (Roberts et al. 2016). Ergot alkaloids contamination has been reported in rye food, wheat food, multigrain food, rye feed, wheat feed, and triticale feed. Among these samples, rye feed contained the highest amount of ergot alkaloids, i.e. 12,340 µg/kg (Malysheva et al. 2014).
Angina due to coronary artery spasm (variant angina): diagnosis and intervention strategies
Published in Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy, 2021
Thanh Ha Nguyen, Gao-Jing Ong, Olivia C Girolamo, Viviane De Menezes Caceres’, Armin Muminovic, Yuliy Y Chirkov, John D Horowitz
Over the next 15 years, there were only occasional reports of ‘Prinzmetal’s variant angina’, but with the advent of diagnostic coronary angiography, it became increasingly obvious that some patients had no fixed obstructive coronary artery disease, but that in many cases, spontaneous spasm of one or more coronary arteries were observed during pain. A report by Oliva et al. [3] was typical of this development: spasm was observed, and it was noted that, although the clinical syndrome described by Prinzmetal [1] was quite common, only 14 cases of CAS had been documented previously. Thus, at this early stage, it was obvious that the definitive diagnosis of CAS involving the large coronary vessels was always going to present some difficulties, unless some diagnostic modality beyond routine coronary angiography became available. Indeed, the period between 1975 and 1978 saw a substantial increase in the utilization of intravenous ergonovine, an ergot alkaloid predominantly used in obstetrics, as a diagnostic test for CAS, via provocation of spasm [4].