The 2024 Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa

With the simultaneous growth in interest from the mycological community to discover fungal species and classify them, there is also an important need to assemble all taxonomic information onto common platforms. Fungal classification is facing a rapidly evolving landscape and organizing genera into an appropriate taxonomic hierarchy is central to better structure a unified classification scheme and avoid incorrect taxonomic inferences. With this in mind, the Outlines of Fungi and fungus-like taxa (2020, 2022) were published as an open-source taxonomic scheme to assist mycologists to better understand the taxonomic position of species within the Fungal Kingdom as well as to improve the accuracy and consistency of our taxonomic language. In this paper, the third contribution to the series of Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa prepared by the Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is published. The former is updated considering our previous reviews and the taxonomic changes based on recent taxonomic work. In addition, it is more comprehensive and derives more input and consensus from a larger number of mycologists worldwide. Apart from listing the position of a particular genus in a taxonomic level, nearly 1000 notes are provided for newly established genera and higher taxa introduced since 2022. The notes section emphasizes on recent findings with corresponding references, discusses background information to support the current taxonomic status and some controversial taxonomic issues are also highlighted. To elicit maximum taxonomic information, notes/taxa are linked to recognized databases such as Index Fungorum, Faces of Fungi, MycoBank and GenBank, Species Fungorum and others. A new feature includes links to Fungalpedia, offering notes in the Compendium of Fungi and fungus-like Organisms. When specific notes are not provided, links are available to webpages and relevant publications for genera or higher taxa to ease data accessibility. Following the recent synonymization of Caulochytriomycota under Chytridiomycota, with Caulochytriomycetes now classified as a class within the latter, based on formally described and currently accepted data, the Fungi comprises 19 Phyla, 83 classes, 1,220 families, 10,685 genera and ca 140,000 species. Of the genera, 39.5% are monotypic and this begs the question whether mycologists split genera unnecessarily or are we going to find other species in these genera as more parts of the world are surveyed? They are 433 speciose genera with more than 50 species. The document also highlights discussion of some important topics including number of genera categorized as incertae sedis status in higher level fungal classification. The number of species at the higher taxonomic level has always been a contentious issue especially when mycologists consider either a lumping or a splitting approach and herein we provide figures. Herein a summary of updates in the outline of Basidiomycota is provided with discussion on whether there are too many genera of Boletales, Ceratobasidiaceae, and speciose genera such as Colletotrichum. Specific case studies deal with Cortinarius, early diverging fungi, Glomeromycota, a diverse early divergent lineage of symbiotic fungi, Eurotiomycetes, marine fungi, Myxomycetes, Phyllosticta, Hymenochaetaceae and Polyporaceae and the longstanding practice of misapplying intercontinental conspecificity. The outline will aid to better stabilize fungal taxonomy and serves as a necessary tool for mycologists and other scientists interested in the classification of the Fungi

Recurrent sinonasal chondrosarcoma with intracranial extension- A case report

Chondrosarcoma (CS) is the rare, slowly growing, malignant neoplasm. CS of the sino nasal cavity is extremely rare. It is usually present with common symptoms like nasal obstruction and epistaxis. It rarely present with ocular symptoms. Histopathological examination is useful for confirmation of diagnosis. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice. Radiotherapy is indicated if the tumor involves the vital structures. Here we are reporting a case of recurrent chondrosarcoma. Patient is presented to our department with proptosis of left eye and nasal obstruction since two months. Combined with neurosurgeon bi frontal craniotomy with endoscopic excision of mass done. Post operatively patient received adjuvant radiotherapy. Patient is on regular follow up

Coping preferences of head and neck cancer patients - Indian context

Background: Cancer is a major health-related stress and demands adequate coping. Patients with head and neck carcinoma (HNC) often face exhaustive and debilitating treatment as well as physical and functional residual effects such as disfigurement, compromised speech, dry mouth and difficulty in swallowing. Understanding how patients cope with these challenges is important in comprehensive care of patients with HNC. Objective: To assess and evaluate the coping preferences of head and neck cancer patients. Materials and Methods:Towards this goal, a prospective study was conducted at the Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai. 176 HNC patients participated in the study. The age group ranged from 19 to 87 years. The questionnaire used for assessing coping preferences was Jalowiec coping preference scale containing 40 items, with responses ranging on a 5-point scale. The variables chosen were treatment, site, education, survival, age and gender. Statistical analysis used: SPSS 9.0 version was used for both descriptive and multivariate analysis. Results: No significant difference was observed in the preference of Emotion-Oriented Coping (EOC) in relation to age, treatment, site, education and survival. Treatment, site, education and gender showed significant differences in the preference of Problem-Oriented Coping (POC). There was, however, no difference in the preference of POC among the patients with different survival periods and age. Conclusion:In conclusion, HNC patients adapt both EOC and POC during the course of the illness. Literates, males and patients subjected to different modalities of treatment preferred more of POC compared to other groups

Coping preferences of head and neck cancer patients - Indian context

Background: Cancer is a major health-related stress and demands adequate coping. Patients with head and neck carcinoma (HNC) often face exhaustive and debilitating treatment as well as physical and functional residual effects such as disfigurement, compromised speech, dry mouth and difficulty in swallowing. Understanding how patients cope with these challenges is important in comprehensive care of patients with HNC. Objective: To assess and evaluate the coping preferences of head and neck cancer patients. Materials and Methods:Towards this goal, a prospective study was conducted at the Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai. 176 HNC patients participated in the study. The age group ranged from 19 to 87 years. The questionnaire used for assessing coping preferences was Jalowiec coping preference scale containing 40 items, with responses ranging on a 5-point scale. The variables chosen were treatment, site, education, survival, age and gender. Statistical analysis used: SPSS 9.0 version was used for both descriptive and multivariate analysis. Results: No significant difference was observed in the preference of Emotion-Oriented Coping (EOC) in relation to age, treatment, site, education and survival. Treatment, site, education and gender showed significant differences in the preference of Problem-Oriented Coping (POC). There was, however, no difference in the preference of POC among the patients with different survival periods and age. Conclusion:In conclusion, HNC patients adapt both EOC and POC during the course of the illness. Literates, males and patients subjected to different modalities of treatment preferred more of POC compared to other groups

Screening of Bauhinia purpurea Linn. for analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities

Objectives: Ethanol extract of the stem of Bauhinia purpurea Linn. was subjected to analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities in animal models. Materials and Methods: Albino Wistar rats and mice were the experimental animals respectively. Different CNS depressant paradigms like analgesic activity (determined by Eddy′s hot plate method and acetic acid writhing method) and anti-inflammatory activity determined by carrageenan induced paw edema using plethysmometer in albino rats) were carried out, following the intra-peritoneal administration of ethanol extract of Bauhinia purpurea Linn. (BP) at the dose level of 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg. Results: The analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol extracts of BP were significant (P < 0.001). The maximum analgesic effect was observed at 120 min at the dose of 100mg/kg (i.p.) and was comparable to that of standard analgin (150mg/kg) and the percentage of edema inhibition effect was 46.4% and 77% for 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg (i.p) respectively. Anti-inflammatory activity was compared with standard Diclofenac sodium (5mg/kg). Conclusion: Ethanol extract of Bauhinia purpurea has shown significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities at the dose of 100 mg/kg and was comparable with corresponding standard drugs. The activity was attributed to the presence of phytoconstituents in the tested extract

Validation of quality of life questionnaire for patients with cancer - Indian scenario

BACKGROUND: Quality of Life (QOL) is an important health outcome measure in oncology. Given the underlying pressure of individual geo-political entities, a universal solution may not be applicable and hence there is a need to develop a regional tool and standardize the same to address the linguistic and socio-cultural factors. OBJECTIVE: To standardize a tool to assess the QOL of patients with cancer to suit the Indian scenario. Materials and METHODS: The samples were collected from the Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai. Samples comprise of 400 patients with all sites and stages of cancer. Period: January 2001 to January 2002. Patients were in the age range of 41-60 years. Thirty-eight items were pooled from existing tools, reviews, and the field trial, by which face and factorial validity were established. Reliability of the tool was also tested. Correlation analysis was done to find out the relation between the domains of QOL. Statistics used: Principal component method with varimax rotation was used. Spearmen product moment correlation and Cronbach alpha coefficient were used for reliability analysis. RESULTS: Ten factors emerged with Eigen values ranging from 8.55 to 1.10 and accounted for 62.6% of variance. The first factor contributed maximally, 22% of variance. The remaining nine factors contributed totally to 40% of the variance on QOL. The ten factors that emerged were psychological well being, self-adequacy, physical well being, confidence in self-ability, external support, pain, mobility, optimism and belief, interpersonal relationship and self-sufficiency and independence. The internal consistency using Cronbach alpha test was 0.90 and split-half reliability was 0.74. CONCLUSION: The tool was found to be highly reliable and valid. It was feasible to administer it at clinical settings