Small bowel carcinoma associated with Crohn`s disease: clinical review and case report

Crohn`s disease is a chronic relapsing and remitting inflammation of the bowel involving all its layers. A small bowel adenocarcinoma in Crohn`s disease is a rare entity. The literature about this disease is reviewed. A case report of a 41-year male patient illustrates the significance of the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures

Phylogenetically and spatially close marine sponges harbour divergent bacterial communities

Recent studies have unravelled the diversity of sponge-associated bacteria that may play essential roles in sponge health and metabolism. Nevertheless, our understanding of this microbiota remains limited to a few host species found in restricted geographical localities, and the extent to which the sponge host determines the composition of its own microbiome remains a matter of debate. We address bacterial abundance and diversity of two temperate marine sponges belonging to the Irciniidae family - Sarcotragus spinosulus and Ircinia variabilis – in the Northeast Atlantic. Epifluorescence microscopy revealed that S. spinosulus hosted significantly more prokaryotic cells than I. variabilis and that prokaryotic abundance in both species was about 4 orders of magnitude higher than in seawater. Polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) profiles of S. spinosulus and I. variabilis differed markedly from each other – with higher number of ribotypes observed in S. spinosulus – and from those of seawater. Four PCR-DGGE bands, two specific to S. spinosulus, one specific to I. variabilis, and one present in both sponge species, affiliated with an uncultured sponge-specific phylogenetic cluster in the order Acidimicrobiales (Actinobacteria). Two PCR-DGGE bands present exclusively in S. spinosulus fingerprints affiliated with one sponge-specific phylogenetic cluster in the phylum Chloroflexi and with sponge-derived sequences in the order Chromatiales (Gammaproteobacteria), respectively. One Alphaproteobacteria band specific to S. spinosulus was placed in an uncultured sponge-specific phylogenetic cluster with a close relationship to the genus Rhodovulum. Our results confirm the hypothesized host-specific composition of bacterial communities between phylogenetically and spatially close sponge species in the Irciniidae family, with S. spinosulus displaying higher bacterial community diversity and distinctiveness than I. variabilis. These findings suggest a pivotal host-driven effect on the shape of the marine sponge microbiome, bearing implications to our current understanding of the distribution of microbial genetic resources in the marine realm.This work was financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT - http://www.fct.pt) through the research project PTDC/MAR/101431/2008. CCPH has a PhD fellowship granted by FCT (Grant No. SFRH/BD/60873/2009). JRX’s research is funded by a FCT postdoctoral fellowship (grant no. SFRH/BPD/62946/2009). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Diversity and biocide susceptibility of fungal assemblages dwelling in the Art Gallery of Magura Cave, Bulgaria

Magura Cave, north-western Bulgaria, possesses valuable rock-art paintings made with bat guano and dated from the period between the Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. Since 2008, the Art Gallery is closed to the general public in order to protect the paintings from vandalism, microclimatic changes caused by visitors and artificial illumination, and the consequent growth of fungi and phototrophs. Nevertheless, some tourist visits are allowed under the supervision of cave managers. This study provides the first scientific report on cultivable fungal assemblages dwelling different substrata in the Art Gallery. A total of 78 strains, belonging to 37 OTUs (Ascomycota 81%, Zygomycota 13%, Basidiomycota 5%), were isolated in the study. This fungal diversity was clearly dominated by Penicillium (50% of strains) and Aspergillus (13%). The most relevant visible fungal colonies were detected in sediments rich in bat guano, where, besides Penicillium, other guanophilic fungi such as Mucor, Mortierella, Trichosporon and Trichoderma were dominant. Conversely, scarce fungi were detected on rock surface of painted walls. Based on the biocide susceptibility assay, octylisothiazolinone (OIT) and benzalkonium chloride (BAC) were effective inhibiting the in vitro growth of dominant fungal species in Magura Cave, when applied at concentrations ranged from 100 to 1,000 mg/L. These data provide a valuable knowledge about Magura fungi, and exemplify a type of preliminary test that may be conducted before planning any biocide treatment. However, considering the irreversible effects of biocides on the ecological balance in caves, and the low fungal contamination in painted walls of Magura Cave, there is no reason to use conventional biocides in this cave. Further studies, monitoring microbial communities and microclimatic parameters, should be conducted to improve the knowledge on microbial ecology in Magura Cave and possible human impacts, as well as to allow the early detection of potential microbial outbreaks

Pteratides I-IV, New Cytotoxic Cyclodepsipeptides from the Malaysian Basidiomycete Pterula sp.

Four new cyclodepsipeptides, pteratides I−IV (1−4), have been isolated from the extract of a Pterula species collected from a Malaysian tropical forest. Homonuclear and heteronuclear 2D NMR techniques as well as MS fragmentation experiments, in combination with methanolysis, determined the gross structures of the peptides and showed that pteratides I and II each contained the nonproteinogenic amino acid 4-methylproline. The absolute configurations of the amino acids in pteratides I−IV were established using Marfey's method. Pteratides I and II are each potently cytotoxic against the P388 murine leukemia cell line (IC50 values of 41 and 40 nM, respectively). Pteratides III and IV show weaker, but still notable, activity with IC50 values of 7.4 and 2.9 μM, respectively