Characterization of beta tubulin DNA sequences within the Candida parapsilosis complex

Abstract Background and Purpose: Candida parapsilosis is a common cause of candidemia in children and onco-hematologic patients as well as in patients with septic arthritis, peritonitis, vaginitis, and nail and skin infections. Here, we evaluated intra- and inter-species beta tubulin DNA sequence variation within the C. parapsilosis complex with a view to establishing its utility in the identification and phylogenetic analysis of the species. Materials and Methods: The novel primers successfully amplified the target for all 23 strains included in the study. Results and Conclusion: Multiple alignment of 623–629 bp-long nucleotide (nt) sequences reflecting the beta tubulin gene indicated an inter-species divergence ranging from 0 to 68 nt in C. parapsilosis, C. orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis with a mean similarity of 84.7% among the species. Meanwhile, intra-species differences of 0–20 and 0–6 nt were found within the strains of C. parapsilosis and C. orthopsilosis, respectively. The phylogenetic tree topology was characterized by a clade made up by C. parapsilosis and C. orthopsilosis, while C. metapsilosis formed a related but separate lineage. Our data provide the basis for further discoveries of the relationship between the species belonging to the C. parapsilosis complex and the value of beta tubulin DNA sequence data in the identification and taxonomy of C. parapsilosis and other pathogenic yeasts. &nbsp

Molecular characterization of environmental Cladosporium species isolated from Iran

Background and Purpose: Cladosporium species are ubiquitous, saprobic,dematiaceous fungi, only infrequently associated with human and animal opportunisticinfections. Materials and Methods: Airborne samples were collected using the settle plate method, and soil samples were obtained from a depth of 5-10 cm of the superficial soil layer. Samples were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) plates, incubated at 25°C, and examined daily for fungal colonies for two to three weeks. Isolates were identified as Cladosporium species according to the macroscopic and microscopic criteria. For species differentiation, DNA from 53 isolates was extracted and subjected to amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region followed by sequencing. Results: A total of 270 samples were collected from various environmental sources, of which 79 strains of Cladosporium species were isolated. The most frequent species was C. cladosporioides (50.6%), followed by C. iridis (44.3%), C. elatum (2.5%), C. peranqestum (1.3%), and C. alicinum. (1.3%). Conclusion: The collected data can serve as baseline information for future research and may be useful in the development of preventive and educational strategies

Performance of an amine-based CO2 capture pilot plant at the Fortum Oslo Varme Waste to Energy plant in Oslo, Norway

Fortum Oslo Varme AS (FOV) decided (in July 2018) to build a 1:350 scale pilot plant to demonstrate that the selected Shell’s CANSOLV capture technology using solvent DC-103 is suitable for cleaning CO₂ from the exhaust gases of their waste to energy (WtE) plant at Klemetsrud in Oslo, Norway. This paper presents the most important measurement data and results from a pilot plant testing campaign from March to December 2019. The project stated requirements for the successful completion of the first pilot plant campaign were at least 2000 operational hours and total amine emissions lower than 0.4 ppmv on average over the last 500 h of testing. Emphasis is on the online emission measurement results both with and without an aerosol emissions mitigation system located downstream of the capture unit. The impact of perturbations in the plant operating conditions and inlet gas quality is discussed, in particular the particulates content. The pilot plant campaign achieved its primary purpose of demonstrating low amine emissions. It also produced important data on absorbent degradation in actual operation on WtE flue gas while confirming other performance parameters such as CO2 capture efficiency, steam consumption and CO2 product purity. Thus, it can be concluded that the all requirements according to objectives of the pilot campaign were successfully met