Type 2 Diabetes in Mexico has a high prevalence, 16–87% of patients may experience peripheral neuropathy. Early detection can prevent or halt its progression. The performance of Sudoscan in detecting neuropathy was compared to the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI). The aim was to identificate small fibers neuropathy. Patients type 2 diabetes received both MNSI and sudomotor function assessment through measurement of electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) in the hands and feet. Two hundred twenty-one patients with neuropathy according to MNSI B had lower hands and feet ESC, regardless of diabetes duration. Among the 170 patients who had had diabetes for at least 5 years, 76 of them with normal MNSI B had abnormal hands or feet ESC; this was also the case in 28 out of 51 patients with diabetes than 5 or more years. In contrast, only 5 patients in the first group and 1 in the second group had abnormal MNSI B with normal ESC. Using MNSI B as a reference, abnormal hands or feet ESC (< 60 μS and 70 μS respectively) had a sensitivity of 97%, positive predictive value of 87% to detect neuropathy in patients with longer diabetes duration. The group with shorter diabetes duration, the sensitivity of abnormal hands or feet ESC to detect neuropathy was 91% while the positive predictive value was 88%. The Sudoscan device, which does not require any preparation, is noninvasive, easy and rapid to perform, can be useful in the early diagnosis peripheral neuropathy in type 2 diabetic.

Dengue manifestations range from a mild form, dengue fever (DF), to more severe forms such as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). The ability of the host to present one of these clinical forms could be related to polymorphisms located in genes of the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) which activate the pro-inflammatory response. Therefore, the genotyping of single nucleotide genetic polymorphisms (SNPs) in TLR3 (rs3775291 and rs6552950), TLR4 (rs2737190, rs10759932, rs4986790, rs4986791, rs11536865, and rs10983755), TLR7 (rs179008 and rs3853839), and TLR8 (rs3764880, rs5741883, rs4830805, and rs1548731) was carried out in non-genetically related DHF patients, DF patients, and general population (GP) subjects. The SNPs were analyzed by real-time PCR by genotyping assays from Applied Biosystems^®. The codominance model showed that dengue patients had a lower probability of presenting the TLR4-rs2737190-G/G genotype (odds ratio (OR) (95% CI) = 0.34 (0.14–0.8), p = 0.038). Dengue patients showed a lower probability of presenting TLR4-rs11536865-G/C genotype (OR (95% CI) = 0.19 (0.05–0.73), p = 0.0092) and had a high probability of presenting the TACG haplotype, but lower probability of presenting the TGCG haplotype in the TLR4 compared to GP individuals (OR (95% CI) = 0.55 (0.35–0.86), p = 0.0084). In conclusion, the TLR4-rs2737190-G/G and TLR4-rs11536865-G/C genotypes and TGCG haplotype were associated with protection from dengue.

: The disease burden of arthropod-borne infections is particularly high in low- and middle-income countries, where the availability of resources for surveillance and testing is limited. The lack of local infrastructure demands that biological samples be sent to central laboratories by refrigerated transport, which increases costs and the risk of sample degradation. Dried blood spot samples are an alternative for ensuring sample integrity during transportation and storage. They can be used for the detection of nucleic acids and proteins, such as antigens or antibodies. Here, we compared anti-chikungunya IgM, anti-dengue IgM, anti-dengue IgG, and anti-Zika IgG detection between paired serum and dried serum samples (DSSs); the agreement between results was found to be 90.6%, 94.1%, 85.9%, and 95.5%, respectively, indicating a strong correlation. Our results suggest that DSSs provide a reliable alternative for detection of specific antibodies in arthropod-borne infections.