, a new marine fungus from rocky shores in Taiwan.

This article reports a new marine fungus, (, Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota), on trapped wood collected in coastal sites of Taiwan. This new fungus was subjected to a morphological examination and a phylogenetic study based on a combined analysis of the 18S, 28S, ITS rDNA, TEF1-α and RPB2 genes. is characterized by dark-coloured ascomata with a short neck, periphysate ostioles, subclavate, deliquescing asci without an apical ring, presence of wide paraphyses, striated wall ascospores with crown-like appendages on one pole of the ascospores.

25(OH)Vitamin D and autism spectrum disorder: genetic overlap and causality.

Objective: To identify whether there exists a genetic correlation and causal relationship between 25(OH)D and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: Based on large-scale genome-wide association studies, a series of genetic approaches were adopted to obtain summary statistics. Using linkage disequilibrium score regression, we assessed the shared polygenic structure between traits and performed pleiotropic analysis under composite null hypothesis (PLACO) to identify pleiotropic loci between complex traits.

How Do Fungi Survive in the Sea and Respond to Climate Change?

With the over 2000 marine fungi and fungal-like organisms documented so far, some have adapted fully to life in the sea, while some have the ability to tolerate environmental conditions in the marine milieu. These organisms have evolved various mechanisms for growth in the marine environment, especially against salinity gradients. This review highlights the response of marine fungi, fungal-like organisms and terrestrial fungi (for comparison) towards salinity variations in terms of their growth, spore germination, sporulation, physiology, and genetic adaptability.

Culturable Fungal Community of in Keelung, Taiwan: Effects of Surface Sterilization Method and Isolation Medium.

Fungi associated with macroalgae are less known when compared with those on wood in the marine environment. In this study, we assessed the diversity of fungi associated with the red alga at Chao-Jin Park, Keelung, Taiwan. Algal segments of healthy and dead thalli were washed/sterilized with different solutions (sterile artificial seawater, 70% ethanol, and 4% sodium hypochlorite), plated on three different media (glucose-yeast extract-peptone seawater agar (GYPS), potato dextrose seawater agar (PDAS), and artificial seawater agar (SA)), and isolated as pure cultures.

Insights into fungal diversity of a shallow-water hydrothermal vent field at Kueishan Island, Taiwan by culture-based and metabarcoding analyses.

This paper reports the diversity of fungi associated with substrates collected at a shallow hydrothermal vent field at Kueishan Island, Taiwan, using both culture-based and metabarcoding methods. Culture of fungi from yellow sediment (with visible sulfur granules), black sediment (no visible sulfur granules), the vent crab Xenograpsus testudinatus, seawater and, animal egg samples resulted in a total of 94 isolates. Species identification based on the internal transcribed spacer regions of the rDNA revealed that the yellow sediment samples had the highest species richness with 25 species, followed by the black sediment (23) and the crab (13).

A highly diverse fungal community associated with leaves of the mangrove plant var. revealed by isolation and metabarcoding analyses.

A high diversity of culturable foliar endophytic fungi is known from various mangrove plants, and the core taxa include species from , , , , , among others. Since a small fraction of fungi is able to grow in culture, this study investigated the diversity of fungi associated with leaves of var. using both isolation and metabarcoding approaches.

Anti-endothelial cell antibodies in connective tissue diseases associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) in connective tissue diseases (CTD) associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to corroborate the pathologic function of AECA in PAH-associated CTDs.

Methods: AECA were detected by cellular enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in sera of 19 PAH-associated CTD patients, 22 CTD patients without PAH involvement, and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals as controls. Using IgG purified from the sera of AECA-positive, AECA-negative, and healthy subjects, the effects of AECA on the expression of ICAM-1 and the chemokine regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) in cultured endothelial cells were also evaluated.

[A report of 4 cases about gluteal heterotopic ossification caused by injection].

Objective: To study the pathogenesis and treatment of gluteal heterotopic ossification caused by injection.

Methods: From April 2006 to May 2011, 4 old female patients with gluteal heterotopic ossification caused by injection were treated by resection. The average age was 71 years old ranging from 67 to 76.

Artery of Percheron infarction.

Artery of Percheron (AOP) is small perforating arteries supplying paramedian thalamus and mid-brain. The incidence of infarction is rare. We presented a 62-year-old man found conscious drowsy for 4 days.

Minimally invasive plate internal fixation for calcaneal fractures.

Objective: To assess the clinical efficacy of minimally invasive plate internal fixation for the treatment of calcaneal fractures.

Methods: Manual reduction, rectification of deformity, and cold compress with traditional Chinese medicine were used preoperatively to relieve swelling and pain. A small incision was made to expose the articular facet and to perform anatomic reduction and plate fixation.

Effects of CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+)regulatory T cells on early Plasmodium yoelii 17XL infection in BALB/c mice.

The outcome of Plasmodium yoelii 17XL-infected BALB/c and DBA/2 mice, ranging from death to spontaneous cure, respectively, depends largely on the establishment of effective pro-inflammatory type 1 responses during the early stages of infection and associates with CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+)regulatory T cells (Tregs). Here, effects of Tregs were analysed on early P. yoelii 17XL infection in BALB/c and DBA/2 mice.

[Efficacy of Lugua polypeptide injection on active rheumatoid arthritis].

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of Lugua polypeptide on active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Fifty patients with active RA were selected for the study and were randomly divided into study group and control group. Patients in study group were treated with Lugua polypeptide intravenously at a dose of 16 mg per day and those in control group were given Celecoxib 200 mg twice a day for successive 2 weeks.

Plasmodium yoelii: influence of antimalarial treatment on acquisition of immunity in BALB/c and DBA/2 mice.

The effect of antimalarial drugs on immune responses to the malaria infection is evaluated in vivo using two experimental self-cured rodent models. BALB/c and DBA/2 mice were infected by Plasmodium yoelii 17XNL and 17XL strains, respectively, and then treated with different doses of antimalarial drugs: chloroquine (228mg/kg or 114mg/kg of the body weight) or artesunate (78mg/kg or 39mg/kg). The effect of antimalarial drugs on host immune responses was evaluated by parasitemia, splenocyte IFN-gamma production level, and parasite-specific IgG level in the serum, however, no significant differences were observed between drug-treated and untreated groups.