A survey for intestinal parasites was carried out in a homogenous rice cultivation area, in which people had equal opportunities of acquiring the local endemic helminthiases, including schistosomiasis mansoni. The numbers of Schistosoma mansoni eggs excreted in faeces were counted. Infections with S. mansoni, Ascaris lumbricoides, ancylostomes and Trichuris trichiura were not randomly distributed, but were correlated, depending on the species of worms present. The S. mansoni egg counts were positively correlated with ancylostome infection but inversely correlated with A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura. Patients with schistosomiasis associated with 2 other helminth infections excreted more S. mansoni eggs than the patients with S. mansoni plus only one other helminth infection.

SUMMARYAntibody in human sera that induces lysis of sheep erythrocytes in hemolytic assay was investigated. The present study showed that the presence in serum of the thermostable cytolytic anti-sheep red blood cells antibodies is dependent on the Schistosoma mansoni infection, and this is more frequent in adults than in children. The thermostable characteristic of hemolysins in normal sera was not dependent on the presence of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura or hookworm geo-helminths. Further, thermostable complement-activating heterophile antibodies were noticed in children in association with massive number of S. mansoni eggs. The results were obtained by using the z-and the chi-square tests. The z-test allows us to formulate a one-sided alternative, i.e., a tendency of one of the attributes. On the other hand, the chi-square test analyzes the independence between attributes by using a contingency table. Besides the obtained results being interesting in the field of schistosomiasis mansoni, they can provide a new insight into the use of statistics in medical science.

The parasitism by <em>Ascaris lumbricoides</em> tends to affect the course of human infection with Schistosoma mansoni on several levels. At least two aspects were addressed in this communication: (1) the influence of the immune response with complement-activating antibody functions (cytotoxic antibody against schistosomula) and (2) the interference between these species of helminths indicated by analyses carried out after the rearrangement of data from seven prevalence surveys from the literature to illustrate our purpose. In fact, the approach focusing on these seven hidden authors' contributions has not been previously submitted considering the associations between <em>S. mansoni</em> and <em>A. lumbricoides</em> infections. Present findings suggest that the occurrence of <em>A. lumbricoides</em> infection affects both the development of cytotoxic antibodies against schistosomula and the prevalence of S. mansoni infection that features a negative association.

The disability incidence was 91.5/1000 person-years in robust, 118.6/1000 person-years in pre-frail, and 223.2/1000 person-years in frail elderly. Frailty is associated to the risk of developing disability (OR¼3.32; p¼0.015). In model 1, adjusted for age, sex and education, frailty remains significantly associated (OR¼2.54; p¼0.045). In model 2, after adding depression, falls, BMI, and mobility limitation, frailty lost significance, but still shows risk (OR¼2.61; p¼0.066). Conclusions Incidence rate of ADL limitation was greater in frail elderly, but other factors, as depression and falls, are also important and should be considered.

In Brazil, when prevalence data were examined using simple summary statistics, there is a negative association between prevalence of Taenia spp. infection and Schistosoma mansoni or soil-transmitted helminths (STH) irrespective to routes of infection. That does not occur in African data. However, they vary considerably when plotted. So, in data collected on Brazilian area, it to show in ordered (smallest first) scores prevalence of STH infections both long lag phase in prevalence of STH infecting by oral route (Ascaris and Trichuris), and into STH infecting by skin route (hookworm and Strongyloides). To the other side, African study it show smaller lag phase in prevalence of STH infecting by oral route or into STH infecting by skin route. Darwinian, it was suggested Taenia spp. and STH, inhabiting a nonhuman environment which became so suitable for them according to their biological needs, their develop by means of natural selection.