Genetic engineering of glomerular sclerosis in the mouse via control of onset and severity of podocyte-specific injury.

This study aimed to generate a mouse model of acquired glomerular sclerosis. A model system that allows induction of podocyte injury in a manner in which onset and severity can be controlled was designed. A transgenic mouse strain (NEP25) that expresses human CD25 selectively in podocytes was first generated.

Molecular diagnosis of cerebral aspergillosis by sequence analysis with panfungal polymerase chain reaction.

The authors describe a patient with osteosarcoma in whom a brain abscess developed after autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation. Serologic markers of fungal infection were negative, but fungal DNA was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by panfungal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using primers derived from fungal 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The sequence of PCR products on the panfungal assay was identical to the 18S rRNA genes of Aspergillus species.