Disseminated Invasive Aspergillosis with Cerebral Involvement Successfully Treated with Caspofungin and Voriconazole

We describe a case of cerebral aspergillosis which was successfully treated with a combination of caspofungin and voriconazole. The patient remains in remission 18 months after stopping antifungal treatment. We discuss primary and salvage therapy of invasive aspergillosis with focus on cerebral involvement. Since historical data showed a fatal outcome in most cases, amphotericin B does not cross the blood brain barrier while voriconazole does, we chose a combination of voriconazole plus caspofungin as primary therap

MOF Derived Porous ZnO/C Nanocomposites for Efficient Dye Photodegradation

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Chemical Society via the DOI in this recordHomogeneously dispersed crystalline ZnO nanoparticles embedded in a porous carbon matrix were synthesized via a one-step carbonization of porous metal–organic framework MOF-5 at 800 and 1000 °C in different gas atmospheres. The resulting ZnO/C nanocomposites generally retain cubic particle morphology and high specific surface area of the precursor MOF-5. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, elemental mapping, Raman, FTIR, and XPS, confirmed that the carbonization of MOF-5 in water vapor atmosphere produced homogeneously dispersed ZnO nanoparticles confined within the functionalized porous carbon matrix. The rich oxygen-containing hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of the nanocomposite, the defects in the carbon-doped ZnO nanostructure, the crystalline ZnO nanoparticles, and the high textural properties resulted in excellent methylene blue adsorption and photodegradation performance under visible light irradiation. This simple and environmentally friendly approach can be further employed to harvest a variety of new homogeneously dispersed functional metal oxide/carbon composites for various environment and energy related applications.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council

Hydrophobicity and dielectric properties across an isostructural family of MOFs: a duet or a duel?

An isoreticular family of metal-organic frameworks is post-synthetically subjected to polymer grafting. Surface hydrophobicity analysis, adsorption experiments, and impedance spectroscopy characterise the water molecules adsorbed, both on the surface and in the pores, while resolving how molecular mobility is impacted

Nitric Oxide and Infection: Another View

Nitric oxide (NO) has been nicknamed "murderer” and "mediator” because it has toxic and signaling properties. We review these two aspects of NO synthesis from the perspective of the clinical infectious disease specialist by considering the potential of NO as an endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) in inflammation and sepsis and its potential as an antimicrobial system. We deviate from observations in recent authoritative reviews and point to important speciesdifferences that make it unlikely that NO serves as an EDRF mediating inflammatory vasodilatation in humans or that NO synthesized by human phagocytes has an antimicrobial function.We propose that in humans, NOsynthesis is moreconfined and compartmentalized than in certain other animal species, and therefore, unwelcome toxicity, vasodilatation, or disturbance of paracrine signaling mechanisms (i.e., modulation of phagocytic cell functions) are avoided during inflammatio

Nitrite Generation in Interleukin-4—Treated Human Macrophage Cultures Does Not Involve the Nitric Oxide Synthase Pathway

The search continues for high-output nitric oxide biosynthesis in human macrophages analogous to murine phagocytes. Recently, generation of nitrite in culture supernatants of human macrophages exposed to interferon-γ and interleukin-4 (IFN-γ/IL-4) was reported. The present study reproduces these findings and shows that L-arginine is not consumed and L-citrulline is not produced during this process. Furthermore, the biosynthesis of the obligatory cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin is not coinduced. These biochemical data provide support against a nitric oxide synthase contribution to nitrite accumulation. Nitrite was generated from nitrate salts even in cell-free media. Nitric oxide synthase activity but not nitrate reduction depended on molecular oxygen. Nitrite accumulation in experiments with IFN-γ/IL-4 in human monocytes appears to be an in vitro artifact produced by nitrate-reducing activities contained in cytokine preparation

Rapid Detection of Pathogenic Fungi from Clinical Specimens Using LightCycler Real-Time Fluorescence PCR

In the study presented here a LightCycler real-time PCR system was used for the diagnosis of fungal infections from clinical tissue samples. Nine specimens were investigated from six patients with suspected or proven invasive fungal infections. Seven of nine samples were positive in a broad-range fungal PCR assay. In four samples, Aspergillus fumigatus was detected both by a species-specific hybridization assay as well as by sequencing of amplification products. In addition, the broad-range fungal PCR assay and PCR sequencing detected and identified, respectively, the following organisms in the specimens noted: Candida albicans in a culture-negative liver biopsy, Histoplasma capsulatum in a bone marrow sample, and Conidiobolus coronatus in a facial soft tissue specimen. Real-time PCR is a promising tool for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in human tissue samples and offers some advantages over culture methods, such as rapid analysis and increased sensitivit