Swine influenza: Then and now

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Modulation of cell signalling by human coronavirus HKU1 S and M proteins

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Talaromyces marneffei genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic studies reveal mechanisms for environmental adaptations and virulence

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Comparative mitogenomic and phylogenetic characterization on the complete mitogenomes of <i>Talaromyces</i> (<i>Penicillium</i>) <i>marneffei</i>

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Polyketides, Toxins and Pigments in Penicillium marneffei

Penicillium marneffei (synonym: Talaromyces marneffei) is the most important pathogenic thermally dimorphic fungus in China and Southeastern Asia. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, particularly in China and other Southeast Asian countries, has led to the emergence of P. marneffei infection as an important AIDS-defining condition. Recently, we published the genome sequence of P. marneffei. In the P. marneffei genome, 23 polyketide synthase genes and two polyketide synthase-non-ribosomal peptide synthase hybrid genes were identified. This number is much higher than those of Coccidioides immitis and Histoplasma capsulatum, important pathogenic thermally dimorphic fungi in the Western world. Phylogenetically, these polyketide synthase genes were distributed evenly with their counterparts found in Aspergillus species and other fungi, suggesting that polyketide synthases in P. marneffei did not diverge from lineage-specific gene duplication through a recent expansion. Gene knockdown experiments and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector/electrospray ionization-quadruple time of flight-mass spectrometry analysis confirmed that at least four of the polyketide synthase genes were involved in the biosynthesis of various pigments in P. marneffei, including melanin, mitorubrinic acid, mitorubrinol, monascorubrin, rubropunctatin, citrinin and ankaflavin, some of which were mycotoxins and virulence factors of the fungus.published_or_final_versio

Nucleic acid technology and infectious diseases

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in the knowledge of microbial genetics, pathogenesis, and antimicrobial resistance as a result of advances in molecular technology. This has brought important breakthroughs in the management of patients with infectious diseases, as organisms that had previously been difficult to demonstrate in vitro can now be detected by molecular techniques such as the polymerase chain reaction. Not only is rapid diagnosis now possible, but old diseases of uncertain aetiology have been found to have an infective origin, for instance, Whipple's disease. Molecular technology has also contributed greatly to epidemiological studies of outbreaks, understanding antimicrobial resistance, developing new antimicrobial agents, the in vitro synthesis of immunomodulators, production of vaccines, and gene therapy. The limitations of these latest technologies, however, need to be remembered so that they yield meaningful information for patient care.published_or_final_versio

Acupuncture mycobacteriosis [6]

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Bacteremia caused by staphylococci with inducible vancomycin heteroresistance

The clinical significance of bacteremia due to vancomycin- heteroresistant staphylococci and a rapid laboratory screening method were examined; 203 strains of staphylococci isolated from patients with clinically significant bacteremia were screened by the disk-agar method with use of vancomycin-salt agar to demonstrate satellitism around an aztreonam disk as well as by conventional population screening. Eighteen isolates (three Staphylococcus aureus and 15 coagulase-negative staphylococci) were shown to be heteroresistant to vancomycin. A case-control clinical study showed that the interval between admission and bacteremia, admission to the intensive care unit, prior use of vancomycin and/or β-lactams, and isolation of methicillin-resistant staphylococci were significantly more common among patients with bacteremia due to staphylococci with heteroresistance to vancomycin; these patients had an overall mortality of 44.4%. The use of vancomycin and admission to the intensive care unit were independently significant risk factors on multivariate analysis. Vancomycin heteroresistance is inducible by salt and β-lactams. Indiscriminate sequential use of β-lactams and glycopeptides may facilitate the emergence of glycopeptide resistance.published_or_final_versio

Failure of phylogeny inferred from multilocus sequence typing to represent bacterial phylogeny

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Report of isolation of Cryptobacterium curtum from a pelvic abscess

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