Mycoviruses.

Viruses infect virtually all forms of cellular life, and fungi are no exception. Knowledge regarding the diverse fungal viruses, or mycoviruses, including their genome structures, host ranges, and phenotypic effects, is growing at a fast pace. Mycovirus research has been stimulated by the idea that they could be an effective tool for biocontrol of fungal pathogens.

Quantification of serum fibroblast growth factor-19 concentration in healthy dogs before and after feeding.

Objective: To measure serum fibroblast growth factor-19 (FGF-19) concentration and gallbladder volume in healthy dogs before and after feeding to determine whether serum FGF-19 concentration increases following gallbladder contraction and to assess FGF-19 stability in blood samples kept under different storage conditions after collection in tubes containing no anticoagulant or in serum separator tubes.

Animals: 10 healthy dogs of various ages and breeds (30 blood samples and 30 gallbladder volume measurements).

Procedures: Serum FGF-19 concentration was measured with a commercially available ELISA.

The Collection of Zoosporic Eufungi at the University of Michigan (CZEUM): introducing a new repository of barcoded and cultures.

We formed the Collection of Zoosporic Eufungi at the University of Michigan (CZEUM) in 2018 as a cryopreserved fungal collection consolidating the University of Maine Culture Collection (UMCC, or JEL), the University of Alabama Chytrid Culture Collection (UACCC), and additional zoosporic eufungal accessions. The CZEUM is established as a community resource containing 1045 cryopreserved cultures of , , and , with 52 cultures being ex-type strains. We molecularly characterized 431 cultures by amplifying the majority of the rDNA operon in a single reaction, yielding an average fragment length of 4739 bp.

Estimating Herd Immunity to Amphibian Chytridiomycosis in Madagascar Based on the Defensive Function of Amphibian Skin Bacteria.

For decades, Amphibians have been globally threatened by the still expanding infectious disease, chytridiomycosis. Madagascar is an amphibian biodiversity hotspot where () has only recently been detected. While no -associated population declines have been reported, the risk of declines is high when invasive virulent lineages become involved.

The potential of molecular diagnostics and serum procalcitonin levels to change the antibiotic management of community-acquired pneumonia.

Two diagnostic bundles were compared in 127 evaluable patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Diagnostic modalities in all patients included cultures of sputum (if obtainable) and blood, urine for detection of the antigens of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila, and nasal swabs for PCR probes for S. pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus.

The clinical impact of the detection of potential etiologic pathogens of community-acquired pneumonia.

The etiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is determined in less than half of the patients based on cultures of sputum and blood plus testing urine for the antigens of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila. This study added nasal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) probes for S. pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and respiratory viruses.

Synergistic inhibition of the lethal fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: the combined effect of symbiotic bacterial metabolites and antimicrobial peptides of the frog Rana muscosa.

A powerful mechanism for protection against disease in animals is synergy between metabolites present in the natural microbiota of the host and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) produced by the host. We studied this method of protection in amphibians in regard to the lethal disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). In this study, we show that the AMPs of Rana muscosa, as well as the metabolite 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (2,4-DAPG) from Pseudomonas fluorescens, a bacterial species normally found on the skin of R.