Atypical Mycobacterium Skin Infection in a Heart Transplant Patient.

Atypical mycobacterium infections are an uncommon cause of cutaneous infection, and they are especially rare infections of the facial region. Immunocompromised patients, such as transplant patients, are at higher risk for infections of this nature with concurrent hematogenous spread to other organ systems. We report a patient with a previous heart transplant who developed an atypical mycobacterium infection of the skin with possible dissemination to the lung.

Beyond hypertrophy: Changing views of astrocytes in glaucoma.

Astrocytes serve multiple roles in helping to maintain homeostatic physiology of central nervous system tissue, ranging from metabolic support to coupling between vascular and neural elements. Astrocytes are especially critical in axonal tracts such as the optic nerve, where axons propagate energy-demanding action potentials great distances. In disease, astrocyte remodeling is a dynamic, multifaceted process that is often over-simplified between states of quiescence and reactivity.

Morphological and electrophysiological characterization of a novel displaced astrocyte in the mouse retina.

Astrocytes throughout the central nervous system are heterogeneous in both structure and function. This diversity leads to tissue-specific specialization where morphology is adapted to the surrounding neuronal circuitry, as seen in Bergman glia of the cerebellum and Müller glia of the retina. Because morphology can be a differentiating factor for cellular classification, we recently developed a mouse where glial-fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-expressing cells stochastically label for full membranous morphology.