Fw: Ref.: (LML) In memoriam Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho

 
Leprosy Mailing List – December 8,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) In memoriam Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho

 

From:  Pieter Schreuder, Maastricht, the Netherlands

 

Dear colleagues,

A week ago, we received from Joel Almeida the 'In memoriam Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho' from the Brasilian Hansenology Society:

Homenagem da Sociedade Brasileira de Hansenologia ao Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricordo Goulart Filho - SBH - Sociedade Brasileira de Hansenologia

Grande nome da ciência brasileira, Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho, nasceu em 25 de maio de 1962 em Uberlândia/MG e faleceu em 24 de outubro de 2021 na mesma cidade, em decorrência de complicações da COVID-19.

www.sbhansenologia.org.br

http://www.sbhansenologia.org.br/noticia/homenagem-da-sociedade-brasileira-de-hansenologia-ao-prof.-dr.-luiz-ricardo-goulart

 

The translation is mine, with help from Google. My apologies for any mistake made.

 

Pieter AM Schreuder

Editor LML

 

Homenagem da Sociedade Brasileira de Hansenologia ao Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricordo Goulart Filho - SBH - Sociedade Brasileira de Hansenologia

 

An Eminent name in Brazilian science, Prof. Dr.  Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho born on May 25, 1962 in Uberlândia/MG/Brazil died October 24, 2021 in the same city, as a result of complications from COVID-19.

 

Graduated in Biological Sciences from the Faculty of Education of Machado/MG, and in Agronomy from the Federal University of Lavras/MG (1984), Master in Genetics (1987) and Doctor in Molecular Genetics from Purdue University/Indiana/USA (1990). He had a Post-Doctorate in Molecular Pathology Molecular from Virginia Commonwealth University/USA (1999) and Post-Doctorate in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of California-Davis/USA (2010), where he was also a visiting professor (2010-2012).

 

He served as Full Professor at the Federal University of Uberlândia (since 1992) and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California-Davis/USA (since 2013). He was coordinator of the National Institute of Science and Technology in Theranostics (a combination of diagnosis and therapeutics; it provides a transition from conventional medicine to personalized medicine) and Nanobiotechnology. He coordinated the Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology, associated with SisNANO (National System of Laboratories in Nanotechnology) and served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Nanotechnology and New Materials, and as a member of the Multidisciplinary Advisory Committees and the Presidency of CNPq (National Council of Scientific and Technological Development -CNPq-, an agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications), Biological Sciences and Biotechnology from FAPEMIG, and of the Advisory Committee of CT-INFRA from FINEP .

 

He participated in Symposiums and Congresses of the Brazilian Society of Hansenology (SBH); the 1st International Symposium on Molecular and Immunological Diagnosis of Leprosy; the 1st Meeting on Leprosy Vaccines in 2009; and the 1st Symposium on Mycobacteria and Drug Resistance in 2011, held at UFU/MG.

 

Talented and visionary, Luiz Ricardo had a great desire for new scientific knowledge. He conducted numerous researches in various areas such as Biotechnology applied to agriculture, genomes, prostate cancer and breast cancer, dengue, coronary heart disease, nanotechnology, biological sensors in human and animal infectious diseases.

 

 

His great passion was to solve challenging problems, such as neglected diseases, especially leprosy, which affect the low-income population with poor access to health. He worked at the National Reference Center for Sanitary Dermatology and Leprosy (CREDESH), Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Uberlândia/MG.

 

His interest in leprosy arose more than 20 years ago, under the influence of his sister Prof. Dr. Isabela Maria Bernardes Goulart, medical specialist in Hansenology. They worked together - clinical and basic research, translational studies on the mechanisms of action of the disease, seeking to translate these results into changes in clinical practice and improvements in public policies related to leprosy.

 

Among the topics of his leprosy research were: the study of genetic components associated with susceptibility and resistance to leprosy, including the first work on the Vitamin D receptor; development of new biological markers to improve the prognosis of leprosy patients and monitor reactional patients, cases of relapse and the treatment effectiveness. Due to his great experience with molecular techniques, he exposed the route of infection and transmission between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and contacts, detecting M. leprae DNA in oral and nasal mucosa, as well as in peripheral blood. Collaborated in the application of these molecular and immunological methods for early assessment of neural damage in patients and contacts associated with electroneuromyography. He developed new biotechnological and immunological platforms, as well as perfected the existing molecular and serological techniques for the detection of M. leprae, enabling the early diagnosis of leprosy.

 

His ability to innovate and develop projects in the area of leprosy resulted in more than 30 articles published in journals, 1 book chapter, 2 texts in newspapers, 92 works published in conference proceedings, 2 patent applications and guidance of many bachelor, master and doctorate students.

 

His big dream was to develop an easy, fast, low-cost and accessible diagnostic technique that could be used in the field without the need for a specialized professional, thus revolutionizing the way of diagnosing not only leprosy, but also other infectious diseases.

 

Luiz Ricardo engaged till his last days in research, creating and constructing a method of analysis and detection by electrochemical and photonic biosensors (the same technique he used to successfully develop the first reagent-free sensor for COVID-19 applied on a world scale). This technique is able to detect the presence of M. leprae in dermal scrapings and also monitor antibodies in blood and saliva through a microchip coupled to a small analysis equipment, where results can be observed and interpreted by a cell phone application, with quick results in less than 2 minutes.

 

As a great leader who trained highly qualified professionals, Luiz Ricardo leaves a prepared multidisciplinary team that, together with Prof. Isabela Goulart, will continue their research in favour of people affected by leprosy and, in the name, respect and admiration for everything that the illustrious and unforgettable Professor Doctor Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho has built so far.

 

Our eternal gratitude to this enlightened human being, who leaves an eternal longing in the hearts of his family, friends and society.

 

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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Fw: Ref.: (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

 

 
Leprosy Mailing List – December 8,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

From:  Zhaudat Umerov, Moscow and Antalya

 

 

Dear Pieter & colleagues,

 

Dr. Naafs expressed the most painful problem - the prevention and treatment of nerve damage in HD (LML, November 29, 2021). Successes in this area are associated with careful monitoring of changes in the functional state of peripheral nerves. The list of procedures for persons engaged in HD, proven by many years of successful experience, is presented. I believe this is an invaluable gift from Dr. Naafs to a new generation of fighters for «0» patients of HD in the world. The implementation of these recommendations can be timely for taking neuroprotective actions and this is the main goal. 

This stage of the fight against HD can become even more effective in the early diagnosis of the disease. In various countries with endemic foci, there are examples of an effective organization of the logistics chain for combating HD. One of these countries is Russia (before the collapse into separate sovereign states). 

In endemic areas, early diagnosis of HD was combined with primary medical care. Doctors of all specialties received short-term training in the diagnosis of characteristic signs of HD in order to identify persons with suspected HD. The number of tests was much smaller than that presented by Dr. Naafs and consisted of examining open areas of the skin to identify pigmented, burn spots, hair loss of eyebrows, eyelashes, facial muscle asymmetry with grimaces, thickening of the nerve trunks of the upper extremities, the large ear nerve.

Tactile sensitivity was determined by touching the cotton tail on a skin spot and the patient repeated with his eyes closed. To determine discriminative sensitivity, the skin spot was touched alternately with the sharp or blunt end of a sterile syringe needle. The result was evaluated by the patient's response. The indication of temperature sensitivity was evaluated by the reliability of the patient's responses to touching test tubes with hot and cold water. The strength of the muscles of the hands by the force of compression in the fist of the doctor's fingers.

Usually, this volume of research with minimal tools does not take much time and allows you to control a lot of the population visiting doctors of various profiles in polyclinics.

At the next stage, these persons are sent to specialized medical HD departments for in-depth diagnostics (including bacterioscopy, microscopy of biopsied material, Electroneuromyography, etc. ) and collegial diagnosis and appointment of a course of therapy. These could be leprosy colonies, dispensaries of skin diseases. After effective treatment in the leprosarium, patients are discharged for outpatient observation with the continuation of the necessary chemo- and physiotherapy. Often in leprosy colonies, people who have completely recovered from HD, deep helpless invalids end their lives. All costs for the treatment and maintenance of such patients were provided by the state.

As the analysis showed many years later, such a logistical form of organizing the fight against leprosy is quite effective and has allowed to reduce the number of registered patients per year (!965-1970) from 250 patients to 1-2-3 patients in 2 years (1995 to date).

Unfortunately, not everything is so joyful - until now we have not learned how to overcome leprosy neuropathy and the recovered disabled people still look at us reproachfully.

 

Don't worry Ben, all is not lost yet.

 

Best regards,

 

Zhaudat

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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Fw: Ref.: (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

 
Leprosy Mailing List – December 6,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

From:  Nora Cardona-Castro, Sabaneta, Columbia

 

Dear all,

 

To contribute to the current discussion, I want to share our study using monofilaments in HHC as a screening test (see attached file). We obtained results that can think of using this tool in the early detection of leprosy.

 

Best regards,

 

Nora Cardona-Castro | MD MSc PhD Investigadora Prof. Titular |

Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical ICMT - Universidad CES |

Carrera 43 A # 52 Sur 99 | Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia |

Tel: (57)(4) 305 3500 Ext. 2314 | Fax: (57)(4) 301 4258

ncardona@ces.edu.co | www.icmt.org.co

 

 

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

 

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Fw: Ref.: (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 
Leprosy Mailing List – December 6,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

From:  Henk Eggens, Santa Comba Dão, Portugal

Dear Pieter,

I follow the discussion initiated by Ben Naafs (LML, November 29, 2021) with interest.

The Semmes-Weinstein set is obviously far more sensitive to detect potential nerve damage in leprosy patients than methods used in the majority of endemic areas, cq ballpoints or needles, both much less sensitive as test instruments.

I have seen the Semmes-Weinstein set successfully used in Brazil in the field. I have seen its absence in many other places.

 
My question is about the feasibility to disseminate and use Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments in endemic countries. The budgets in the Ministries of Health will most likely not allow for the acquisition of these instruments for points-of-care.

For example a quick internet search revealed the price for such sets:
€ 8 on eBay 
€50 on Amazon

Perhaps Sorri in Brazil sells the set more cheaply.

It seems to me that the Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments are excellent tools for those leprosy care institutions that can afford it, but that they are not an appropriate technology for most endemic areas because of its prohibitive cost.

What are suitable effective and affordable alternatives to detect early nerve damage in the field?

Best,
Henk Eggens

---
Henk Eggens

(henk.eggens@gmail.com)

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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Fw: Ref.: (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

Leprosy Mailing List – December 2,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

From:  Wim Theuvenet, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands

 

Dear Pieter,

Thank dr. Naafs so much for his valuable comments  (LML, November 29, 2021) and perhaps of these his most important recommendations:

"Record everything carefully. You can use a ready-made form or mention the deviations in your notes. All this can be done in 5-10 minutes. When he/she comes in, talk to the patient after you have prepared by reviewing your notes about the patient. Talk not only about the disease but about his or her family, work and problems too. Take personal notes (these are private between you and the patient). In this way, an increase in nerve damage can be detected early and the action is timely. The patient can get better instead of worse under your care, what happens too often nowadays" .

Also because of these holistic observations he is one of the most appreciated leprologists within our global horizon!!

 

On a more technical level;

• For the Neurosensory Testing with the Semmes Weinstein Monofilaments:

    In my personal practise I daily use the Semmes Weinstein Monofilants as supplied by North Coast Medical (https://www.ncmedical.com/live_search.php?q=semmes)

    When using these please take into consideration that temperature and humidity can strongly influence the bending force of each filament, this far more than the age of the set.

 

   (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51451043_Semmes-Weinstein_Monofilaments_Influence_of_Temperature_Humidity_and_Age)

 

 

• For the Neurosensory Testing in an even more advanced way (research setting) with the PSSD as developed by Prof. Lee Dellon: (https://tucsonfoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/neuro_testing.pdf)

 

• For the Intrinsic Muscle Strength Assessment dr. Ton Schreuders has developed an impressive apparatus called the RIHM (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15043908/)

 

• Extrinsic Muscle Strength Testing should fall within the routine skills of every Physiotherapist, Occupational therapist and anyone who deals with peripheral neuropathies.

 

Peripheral Muscle Nerve Testing is an important part of "The Surgical and Physiotherapy Training Courses" in leprosy that  dr. Ton Schreuders, dr. Indra Napit and myself regularly conduct abroad, but which are also routinely given in e.g., many TLM Centres in India, Nepal etc. 

 

In these courses we always start with a section on the early detection, prevention and treatment of nerve function loss.

 

In the field leprosy budgets are limited, one will have to deal with limited resources, but with proper training it indeed should be possible to improve on the prevention of nerve damage in leprosy!

 

And indeed, we advocate as recommend that one starts with:

 

"Talk not only about the disease but about his or her family, work and problems too! "

 

 

With Best regards, and please stay healthy,

 

"Worried too!"

 

Wim Theuvenet 

 

Willem J.Theuvenet, M.D., Ph.D

Plastic, Reconstructive and European Certified Hand Surgeon

Consultant for TLMI and the NLR

 

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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Fw: Ref.: (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

 

 
Leprosy Mailing List – December 2,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) Detection of nerve damage in leprosy and timely treatment

 

From:  Marcos Virmond, Bauru, Brazil

 

Dear Pieter

 

I am quite happy with the message by dr. Benn Naafs regarding the relevance of sensory testing in a disease that is primarily a peripheral nerve disorder. I read Dr. Naafs' message as a necessary and a timely warning to health professionals on the need to use monofilaments as a clinical tool in the diagnosis and, most of all, in the follow-up of cases of leprosy with clear sensory nerve compromise. 

 

It is also very interesting and important to have the testimony of Mr. Anthony Nicoll, from SORRI-Bauru, on the history of this famous and widely used (in Brazil) Pocket Monofilaments Set - a real achievement of Mr. Nicoll and this team. I recall the success of this pocket set when Mr. Nicoll presented it during the 2nd Congress of the College of Hansenology of The Endemic Countries held in Baton Rouge-USA in 1985. He offered some 50 sets ( I cannot recall the exact number) and it was sold out after less than half an hour!

 

Besides skin involvement, nerve damage is the real threatening feature of leprosy and health teams must be prepared to cope with this.

 

I wish to thank dr. Naafs for his opportune message.

 

Marcos Virmond MD, PhD

former director ILSL-Bauru

 

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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Fw: Ref.: (LML) Announcement Call for Proposals 2023 - Leprosy Research Initiative

 

 
Leprosy Mailing List – December 2,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) Announcement Call for Proposals 2023 - Leprosy Research Initiative

 

From:  Nicole Dinnissen, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 

 

Dear colleagues,

The Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for funding commencing in 2023. LRI funds research with a focus on leprosy – including research applications combining leprosy with other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) or other diseases that share cross-cutting issues with leprosy.

• Para a versão do edital em português, favor clicar aqui!
• Pour une version française de l'appel à propositions, cliquez ici!
• ¡Para obtener una versión en español de la convocatoria de proyectos, haga clic aquí!

Eligibility criteria:

• The main topic of the study must fall within one of the agreed priority areas (www.leprosyresearch.org). This budget round preference will be given to research applications addressing the following topics:
         i) cost-efficient case finding strategies
         ii) development and validation of lab or field-based assays for leprosy diagnosis.
  Proposals can address these two research topics in combination or individually.
• Research results must be directly applicable to leprosy services or to the wellbeing of persons affected by leprosy.
• Preference will be given to proposals from or in close collaboration with institutions or organisations in endemic countries.
• Project duration must not exceed four years (48 months).
• There is no budget ceiling for the current call. By way of guidance: projects LRI has funded in the past years had an average annual budget of €30,000 (ranging from €10,000 to €75,000) – although in exceptional cases higher annual budgets have been accepted (with a maximum of four years).

 
Researchers interested to apply for funding by the LRI are invited to complete and submit a Letter of Intent (LoI), giving an outline of the intended research. The LoIs should be submitted using the LRI Grant Application portal – which can be accessed via https://leprosyresearch.flexigrant.com/. The online portal will open on December 1st, 2021.
 
LoIs should be submitted by January 28th, 2022 at 23:59 (Amsterdam date and time) after which the application portal will be closed. We strongly advise you to take sufficient time to enter all the required data in the system. Only applications in English will be considered.
 
LoIs will be screened by the LRI Steering Committee (SC). Applicants will be informed about the outcome of the LoI on March 14th 2022. If the feedback by the SC is positive, the applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal before the next deadline (May 2nd, 2022).

 

Leprosy Research Initiative

 

Submit Letter of Intent

 

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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