Enhanced Specificity in Colorimetric LAMP Assay for Detection Using a Combination of Two Additives.

The genus comprises fungal species closely related to , with and being medically important. These species can cause infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. The current detection methods are limited, prompting the need for rapid and specific diagnostic tools.

Maternal or neonatal infection: association with neonatal encephalopathy outcomes.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/pr.2014.

Smaller Cerebellar Growth and Poorer Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Very Preterm Infants Exposed to Neonatal Morphine.

Objective: To examine the relationship between morphine exposure and growth of the cerebellum and cerebrum in very preterm neonates from early in life to term-equivalent age, as well as to examine morphine exposure and brain volumes in relation to neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 months corrected age (CA).

Study Design: A prospective cohort of 136 very preterm neonates (24-32 weeks gestational age) was serially scanned with magnetic resonance imaging near birth and at term-equivalent age for volumetric measurements of the cerebellum and cerebrum. Motor outcomes were assessed with the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Second Edition and cognitive outcomes with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition at 18 months CA.

Early postnatal docosahexaenoic acid levels and improved preterm brain development.

Background: Preterm birth has a dramatic impact on polyunsaturated fatty acid exposures for the developing brain. This study examined the association between postnatal fatty acid levels and measures of brain injury and development, as well as outcomes.

Methods: A cohort of 60 preterm newborns (24-32 wk gestational age) was assessed using early and near-term magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies.

Genetic diversity of Aspergillus species isolated from onychomycosis and Aspergillus hongkongensis sp. nov., with implications to antifungal susceptibility testing.

Thirteen Aspergillus isolates recovered from nails of 13 patients (fingernails, n=2; toenails, n=11) with onychomycosis were characterized. Twelve strains were identified by multilocus sequencing as Aspergillus spp. (Aspergillus sydowii [n=4], Aspergillus welwitschiae [n=3], Aspergillus terreus [n=2], Aspergillus flavus [n=1], Aspergillus tubingensis [n=1], and Aspergillus unguis [n=1]).

Polyketides, toxins and pigments in Penicillium marneffei.

Penicillium marneffei (synonym: Talaromyces marneffei) is the most important pathogenic thermally dimorphic fungus in China and Southeastern Asia. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, particularly in China and other Southeast Asian countries, has led to the emergence of P. marneffei infection as an important AIDS-defining condition.

Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Specific Novel Tetrapeptide and Potential Anti-Inflammatory Metabolites in Pathogenic Aspergillus species.

Infections related to Aspergillus species have emerged to become an important focus in infectious diseases, as a result of the increasing use of immunosuppressive agents and high fatality associated with invasive aspergillosis. However, laboratory diagnosis of Aspergillus infections remains difficult. In this study, by comparing the metabolomic profiles of the culture supernatants of 30 strains of six pathogenic Aspergillus species (A.

Neonatal Pain and Infection Relate to Smaller Cerebellum in Very Preterm Children at School Age.

Objective: To examine whether specific neonatal factors differentially influence cerebellar subregional volumes and to investigate relationships between subregional volumes and outcomes in very preterm children at 7 years of age.

Study Design: Fifty-six children born very preterm (24-32 weeks gestational age) followed longitudinally from birth underwent 3-dimensional T(1)-weighted neuroimaging at median age 7.6 years.

Maternal Postsecondary Education Associated With Improved Cerebellar Growth After Preterm Birth.

The preterm cerebellum is vulnerable to impaired development impacting long-term outcome. Preterm newborns (<32 weeks) underwent serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The association between parental education and cerebellar volume at each time point was assessed, adjusting for age at scan.

The biosynthetic pathway for a thousand-year-old natural food colorant and citrinin in Penicillium marneffei.

Monascorubrin and its derivatives are polyketides used as natural colorants for a wide range of food for more than one thousand years. Since the biosynthetic pathway for this ancient chemical compound is unknown and genome sequence unavailable for any Monascus species, monascorubrin production has relied on extraction from fungal cultures of Monascus species. In vitro synthesis and genetic manipulation are not possible.

Fatal systemic necrotizing infections associated with a novel paramyxovirus, anaconda paramyxovirus, in green anaconda juveniles.

Beginning in July 2011, 31 green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) juveniles from an oceanarium in Hong Kong died over a 12-month period. Necropsy revealed at least two of the following features in 23 necropsies: dermatitis, severe pan-nephritis, and/or severe systemic multiorgan necrotizing inflammation. Histopathological examination revealed severe necrotizing inflammation in various organs, most prominently the kidneys.

Maternal or neonatal infection: association with neonatal encephalopathy outcomes.

Background: Perinatal infection may potentiate brain injury among children born preterm. The objective of this study was to examine whether maternal and/or neonatal infection are associated with adverse outcomes among term neonates with encephalopathy.

Methods: This study is a cohort study of 258 term newborns with encephalopathy whose clinical records were examined for signs of maternal infection (chorioamnionitis) and infant infection (sepsis).

Misidentification of Aspergillus nomius and Aspergillus tamarii as Aspergillus flavus: characterization by internal transcribed spacer, β-Tubulin, and calmodulin gene sequencing, metabolic fingerprinting, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry.

Aspergillus nomius and Aspergillus tamarii are Aspergillus species that phenotypically resemble Aspergillus flavus. In the last decade, a number of case reports have identified A. nomius and A.

Potential mechanisms of cerebellar hypoplasia in prematurity.

Introduction: The cerebellum undergoes dramatic growth and maturation over the neonatal period after preterm birth and is thus particularly sensitive to impaired development due to various clinical factors.

Methods: Impairments in growth can occur independent of cerebellar parenchymal damage, such as from local hemorrhage, resulting from reduced expression of sonic hedgehog signaling to trigger the appropriate expansion of the granule precursor cells.

Results: The primary risk factors for impaired cerebellar development include postnatal glucocorticoid exposure, which has direct effects on the sonic hedgehog pathway, and supratentorial brain injury, including intraventricular hemorrhage and white matter injury, which may result in crossed cerebellar diaschisis and local toxic effects of blood products on the external granular layer.

First discovery of two polyketide synthase genes for mitorubrinic acid and mitorubrinol yellow pigment biosynthesis and implications in virulence of Penicillium marneffei.

Background: The genome of P. marneffei, the most important thermal dimorphic fungus causing respiratory, skin and systemic mycosis in China and Southeast Asia, possesses 23 polyketide synthase (PKS) genes and 2 polyketide synthase nonribosomal peptide synthase hybrid (PKS-NRPS) genes, which is of high diversity compared to other thermal dimorphic pathogenic fungi. We hypothesized that the yellow pigment in the mold form of P.

Hypoglycemia is associated with increased risk for brain injury and adverse neurodevelopmental outcome in neonates at risk for encephalopathy.

Objective: To investigate the contribution of hypoglycemia in the first 24 hours after birth to brain injury in term newborns at risk for neonatal encephalopathy.

Study Design: A prospective cohort of 94 term neonates born between 1994 and 2010 with early postnatal brain magnetic resonance imaging studies were analyzed for regions of brain injury. Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed at 1 year of age.

Postnatal infection is associated with widespread abnormalities of brain development in premature newborns.

Introduction: Infection is a risk factor for adverse neurodevelopmental outcome in preterm newborns. Our objective was to characterize the association of postnatal infection with adverse microstructural and metabolic brain development in premature newborns.

Results: In 34/117 newborns studied, clinical signs were accompanied by positive cultures whereas 17 had clinical signs of sepsis alone.

Preterm cerebellar growth impairment after postnatal exposure to glucocorticoids.

As survival rates of preterm newborns improve as a result of better medical management, these children increasingly show impaired cognition. These adverse cognitive outcomes are associated with decreases in the volume of the cerebellum. Because animals exhibit reduced preterm cerebellar growth after perinatal exposure to glucocorticoids, we sought to determine whether glucocorticoid exposure and other modifiable factors increased the risk for these adverse outcomes in human neonates.

Hypothermia is correlated with seizure absence in perinatal stroke.

Within a single-center prospective cohort study of neonatal encephalopathy involving 315 subjects, 15 neonates were found to have a focal stroke on magnetic resonance imaging. These 15 patients were matched on the basis of gender and degree of encephalopathy to 30 neonates without stroke from the same cohort. On Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the stroke group had Mental Development Index scores that were 1.

Differential effects of intraventricular hemorrhage and white matter injury on preterm cerebellar growth.

Objective: To hypothesize that detailed examination of early cerebellar volumes in time would distinguish differences in cerebellar growth associated with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and white matter injury in preterm infants.

Study Design: Preterm newborns at the University of California San Francisco (n = 57) and the University of British Columbia (n = 115) were studied with serial magnetic resonance imaging scans near birth and again at near term-equivalent age. Interactive semi-automated tools were used to determine volumes of the cerebellar hemispheres.

Cerebellar hemorrhage on magnetic resonance imaging in preterm newborns associated with abnormal neurologic outcome.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between cerebellar hemorrhage in preterm infants seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but not on ultrasonography, and neurodevelopmental outcome.

Study Design: Images from a cohort study of MRI in preterm newborns were reviewed for cerebellar hemorrhage. The children were assessed at a mean age of 4.

High diversity of polyketide synthase genes and the melanin biosynthesis gene cluster in Penicillium marneffei.

Despite the unique phenotypic properties and clinical importance of Penicillium marneffei, the polyketide synthase genes in its genome have never been characterized. Twenty-three putative polyketide synthase genes and two putative polyketide synthase nonribosomal peptide-synthase hybrid genes were identified in the P. marneffei genome, a diversity much higher than found in other pathogenic thermal dimorphic fungi, such as Histoplasma capsulatum (one polyketide synthase gene) and Coccidioides immitis (10 polyketide synthase genes).

Cerebellar development in the preterm neonate: effect of supratentorial brain injury.

Cerebellar injury has been increasingly recognized as a complication of preterm birth, with decreased cerebellar volumes seen on follow-up neuroimaging. A cohort of 38 preterm newborns, including 14 with two scans, was studied with MRI, including single-shot fast spin-echo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) sequence specifically to assess the posterior fossa. Early changes in the cerebellum [apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA)] were assessed and correlated with supratentorial manifestations of injury [intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) or white matter injury (WMI)].