Fungus ball in HIV-infected patients

Aspergillus is a phagocyte opportunistic fungus that causes aspergillosis, an unusual disease in patients with AIDS. Six cases of fungal ball in patients with AIDS are reported here. In this group, all patients had hemoptysis and tuberculosis as the underlying lung disease. The diagnosis of pulmonary fungus ball was based on the clinical and radiographic feature, combined with serological and mycological evidence of Aspergillus fumigatus.

Aspergillus fumigatus fungus ball in hospitalized patients with chronic pulmonary disease: usefulness of double immunodiffusion test as a screening procedure

Double immunodiffusion (DID) was used as a screening test for the diagnosis of aspergillosis. Three hundred and fifty patients were tested, all of them referred from a specialized chest disease hospital and without a definitive etiological diagnosis. When DID was positive addtional information such as clinical history and radiographic findings were requested and also surgical specimens were obtained whenever possible. Specific precipitin hamds for Aspergillus fumigatus antigen were found in 29 (8.3%) of 350 patients sera. Nineteen (65.5%) of the 29 patients with positive serology were recognized as having a fungus ball by X-rays signs in 17 or by pathological examination in 2 or by both in 8 patients. This two-year prospective study has shown that pulmonary aspergillos is a considerable problem among patiens admitted to a Chest Diseases Hospital, especially in those with pulmonary cavities or bronchiectasis.

Fungus ball in the urinary tract: A rare entity.

A fungal mass in the urinary tract (fungus ball), mainly occurring in compromised patients, is a rare and dangerous complication of candiduria. We report 2 cases of fungus ball associated with hydronephrosis and sepsis. As reported in the literature, we treated the first patient by prompt relief of obstruction by nephrostomy and local and systemic antifungal agent. The second patient failed to respond to this treatment due to a distal ureteral stenosis and required open surgery with fungus ball removal and ureteral reimplantation. Despite a large success in urinary tract drainage with antifungal treatments, some cases need a modified approach due to anatomical modification.

Chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis in Brazil: report of two cases with cavitation diagnosed by transthoracic needle biopsy

Two cases of Chronic Pulmonary Histoplasmosis are reported and other eleven cases, collected from Brazilian literature, are commented. After being clinically cured, one of our patients presented an Aspergillus fungus ball inside a cavitation in the wall of which H. capsulatum was disclosed. Comments are also done on the diagnosis of the mycosis

Respiratory tract intracavitary colonization due to Scedosporium apiospermum: report of four cases

Four cases of respiratory tract intracavitary colonization (fungus ball) due to Scedosporium apiospermum (teleomorph, Pseudallescheria boydii) are reported. The need for a careful search for anneloconidia, in order to establish the etiologic diagnosis in the clinical specimen by microscopy, is emphasized.

Evaluation of the double agar gel immunodiffusion test and of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento do Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Aspergiloma pulmonar : A propósito de um caso clínico

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

Comparison of radial growth rate of the mutualistic fungus of Atta sexdens rubropilosa forel in two culture media

In vitro culture of the mutualistic fungus of leaf-cutting ants is troublesome due to its low growth rate, which leads to storage problems and contaminants accumulation. This paper aims at comparing the radial growth rate of the mutualistic fungus of Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel in two different culture media (Pagnocca B and MEA LP). Although total MEA LP radial growth was greater all along the bioassay, no significant difference was detected between growth efficiencies of the two media. Previous evidences of low growth rate for this fungus were confirmed. Since these data cannot point greater efficiency of one culture medium over the other, MEA LP medium is indicated for in vitro studies with this mutualistic fungus due its simpler composition and translucent color, making the analysis easier.

A new species of the fungus-farming ant genus Mycetagroicus Brandão & Mayhé-Nunes (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Attini)

The fungus-farming ant genus Mycetagroicus Brandão & Mayhé-Nunes was proposed based on three species from the Brazilian "Cerrado": M. cerradensis, M. triangularis and M. urbanus. Here we describe a new species of Attini ant of the genus Mycetagroicus, M. inflatus n. sp., based on two workers collected in eastern Pará State, Brazil. A new key for species identification, comments on differences among species and new geographical distribution data are furnished.

Genomic islands in the pathogenic filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus

We present the genome sequences of a new clinical isolate of the important human pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus, A1163, and two closely related but rarely pathogenic species, Neosartorya fischeri NRRL181 and Aspergillus clavatus NRRL1. Comparative genomic analysis of A1163 with the recently sequenced A. fumigatus isolate Af293 has identified core, variable and up to 2% unique genes in each genome. While the core genes are 99.8% identical at the nucleotide level, identity for variable genes can be as low 40%. The most divergent loci appear to contain heterokaryon incompatibility ( het) genes associated with fungal programmed cell death such as developmental regulator rosA. Cross-species comparison has revealed that 8.5%, 13.5% and 12.6%, respectively, of A. fumigatus, N. fischeri and A. clavatus genes are species-specific. These genes are significantly smaller in size than core genes, contain fewer exons and exhibit a subtelomeric bias. Most of them cluster together in 13 chromosomal islands, which are enriched for pseudogenes, transposons and other repetitive elements. At least 20% of A. fumigatus-specific genes appear to be functional and involved in carbohydrate and chitin catabolism, transport, detoxification, secondary metabolism and other functions that may facilitate the adaptation to heterogeneous environments such as soil or a mammalian host. Contrary to what was suggested previously, their origin cannot be attributed to horizontal gene transfer ( HGT), but instead is likely to involve duplication, diversification and differential gene loss (DDL). The role of duplication in the origin of lineage-specific genes is further underlined by the discovery of genomic islands that seem to function as designated ""gene dumps'' and, perhaps, simultaneously, as "" gene factories''.

Mitotic crossing-over induced by two commercial herbicides in diploid strains of the fungus Aspergillus nidulans

Some herbicides are suspected of promoting teratogenic, carcinogenic and mutagenic events. Detection of induced mitotic crossing-over has proven to be an indirect way of testing the carcinogenic properties of suspicious substances, because mitotic crossing-over is involved in the multistep process of carcinogenesis. We examined mitotic crossing-over induced by two commercial herbicides (diuron and trifluralin) in diploid strains of Aspergillus nidulans based on the homozygotization index. Low doses (2.5 mu g/mL) of diuron were sufficient to increase the mean homozygotization index in 2.1 and 11.3 times for UT448//UT196 and Dp II-I//UT196, respectively, whereas the same dose of trifluralin increased this mean only 1.2 (UT448//UT196) and 3.5 (Dp II-I//UT196) times, respectively. The lower homozygotization index value found for trifluralin could be due to its interference with mitotic crossing-over in eukaryotic cells. We concluded that the diploid Dp II-I//UT196 of A. nidulans is more sensitive to organic compounds than UT448//UT196; these compounds cause recombinational events at a greater frequency in the latter diploid. This system holds promise as an initial test for carcino-genicity of organic compounds, including herbicides.

Environmental stresses inhibit splicing in the aquatic fungus Blastocladiella emersonii

Background: Exposure of cells to environmental stress conditions can lead to the interruption of several intracellular processes, in particular those performed by macromolecular complexes such as the spliceosome. Results: During nucleotide sequencing of cDNA libraries constructed using RNA isolated from B. emersonii cells submitted to heat shock and cadmium stress, a large number of ESTs with retained introns was observed. Among the 6,350 ESTs obtained through sequencing of stress cDNA libraries, 181 ESTs presented putative introns (2.9%), while sequencing of cDNA libraries from unstressed B. emersonii cells revealed only 0.2% of ESTs containing introns. These data indicate an enrichment of ESTs with introns in B. emersonii stress cDNA libraries. Among the 85 genes corresponding to the ESTs that retained introns, 19 showed more than one intron and three showed three introns, with intron length ranging from 55 to 333 nucleotides. Canonical splicing junctions were observed in most of these introns, junction sequences being very similar to those found in introns from genes previously characterized in B. emersonii, suggesting that inhibition of splicing during stress is apparently a random process. Confirming our observations, analyses of gpx3 and hsp70 mRNAs by Northern blot and S1 protection assays revealed a strong inhibition of intron splicing in cells submitted to cadmium stress. Conclusion: In conclusion, data indicate that environmental stresses, particularly cadmium treatment, inhibit intron processing in B. emersonii, revealing a new adaptive response to cellular exposure to this heavy metal.

Linoleic acid peroxidation initiated by Fe(3+)-reducing compounds recovered from Eucalyptus grandis biotreated with Ceriporiopsis subvermispora

This work work evaluates linoleic acid peroxidation reactions initiated by Fe(3+)-reducing compounds recovered from Eucalyptus grandis, biotreated with the biopulping fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora. The aqueous extracts from biotreated wood had the ability to reduce Fe(3+) ions from freshly prepared solutions. The compounds responsible for the Fe(3+)-reducing activity corresponded to UV-absorbing substances with apparent molar masses from 3 kDa to 5 kDa. Linoleic acid peroxidation reactions conducted in the presence of Fe(3+) ions and the Fe(3+)-reducing compounds showed that the rate of O(2) consumption during peroxidation was proportional to the Fe(3+)-reducing activity present in each extract obtained from biotreated wood. This peroxidation reaction was coupled with in-vitro treatment of ball-milled E. grandis wood. Ultraviolet data showed that the reaction system released lignin fragments from the milled wood. Size exclusion chromatography data indicated that the solubilized material contained a minor fraction representing high-molar-mass molecules excluded by the column and a main low-molar-mass peak. Overall evaluation of the data suggested that the Fe(3+)-reducing compounds formed during wood biodegradation by C subvermispora can mediate lignin degradation through linoleic acid peroxidation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flux Pinning Optimization of MgB(2) Bulk Samples Prepared Using High-Energy Ball Milling and Addition of TaB(2)

MgB(2) is considered to be an important conductor for applications. Optimizing flux pinning in these conductors can improve their critical currents. Doping can influence flux pinning efficiency and grain connectivity, and also affect the resistivity, upper critical field and critical temperature. This study was designed to attempt the doping of MgB(2) on the Mg sites with metal-diborides using high-energy ball milling. MgB(2) samples were prepared by milling pre-reacted MgB(2) and TaB(2) powders using a Spex 8000M mill with WC jars and balls in a nitrogen-filled glove box. The mixing concentration in (Mg(1-x)Ta(x))B(2) was up to x = 0.10. Samples were removed from the WC jars after milling times up to 4000 minutes and formed into pellets using cold isostatic pressing. The pellets were heat treated in a hot isostatic press (HIP) at 1000 degrees C under a pressure of 30 kpsi for 24 hours. The influence that milling time and TaB(2) addition had on the microstructure and the resulting superconducting properties of TaB(2)-added MgB(2) is discussed. Improvement J(c) of at high magnetic fields and of pinning could be obtained in milled samples with added TaB(2) The sample with added 5at.% TaB(2) and milled for 300 minutes showed values of J(c) similar to 7 x 10(5) A/cm(2) and F(p) similar to 14 GN/m(3) at 2T, 4.2 K. The milled and TaB(2)-mixed samples showed higher values of mu(0)H(irr) than the unmilled-unmixed sample.