A case of cutaneous Rhodotorula infection mimicking cryptococcosis.

Rhodotorula is a ubiquitous environmental and commensal yeast, and an emerging opportunistic pathogen, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. Clinical infections with Rhodotorula have been increasingly recognized over the past 30 years; however, infections in solid-organ transplant recipients are uncommon, and cutaneous manifestations have rarely been reported. We describe a 59-year-old male renal transplant recipient, who developed cutaneous infection with Rhodotorula upon failure of his graft and commencement of haemodialysis.

The effect of afterload and angiotensin II on proto-oncogene mRNA levels in the isolated working rat heart.

Objectives: The proto-oncogenes c-fos, c-myc and H-ras have been shown to rise in a characteristic pattern in the left ventricle undergoing hypertrophy in the coarctation model of experimental hypertension and there is some evidence to suggest that they might play a role in the initiation of hypertrophic growth. However, in vivo studies do not discriminate between the direct effects of pressure and pressure-independent trophic stimuli such as angiotensin II. To examine these influences separately we studied isolated working hearts exposed to different afterloads in the presence or absence of angiotensin II.

Neurotoxicity associated with oral acyclovir in patients undergoing dialysis.

Neurotoxicity associated with intravenous acyclovir therapy is well documented. We report 4 cases of acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity in dialysis patients receiving oral therapy at a reduced dose.