Histoplasmosis presenting as hyperplastic gingival lesion

A case of histoplasmosis presenting as ulcerated, hyperplastic gingiva and with no other systematic signs and symptoms is reported. The clinical presentation and the rarity of this condition led one of us to the differential diagnosis of a malignant lesion. The correct diagnosis was made after histological examination and tissue culture which yielded Histoplasma capsulatum. The patient was successfully treated with ketoconazole.     

Predominance of Candida tropicalis bloodstream infections in a Singapore teaching hospital.

An 18-month epidemiologic investigation of Candida bloodstream infections in a Singapore hospital identified 52 candidemic patients: 36% of whose infections were caused by C. tropicalis, 29% were due to C. albicans, 10% with C. parapsilosis and 21% involved C. glabrata. A predominant clonal C. tropicalis strain was demonstrated. No association with ICU stay, prior exposure to fluconazole/broad-spectrum antibiotics or increased mortality was found in this apparent shift towards non-C. albicans Candida species as the primary agents of candidemia.     

Alkaloids from Rauvolfia canescens

Ten indole alkaloids, ajmaline, yohimbine, a-yohimbine, isoreserpine, corynanthine, deserpidine, reserpiline, isoreserpiline, aricine, and a new alkaloid, named lankanescine, have been isolated and identified from Rauvolfia canescens.     

An unusual presentation of thoracic aortic aneurysm rupturing into the esophagus: an autopsy case report

Ruptured aortic aneurysms often present with sudden death, and have varied signs and symptoms depending on the site of rupture and hemorrhage. We report a case of an aortic aneurysm with an aorto-esophageal fistula, which showed slow gastrointestinal bleeding for days before death. A 79-year-old male was brought to a hospital emergency unit, with a history of melena for about 3 days, and recent hematemesis. He collapsed immediately after endoscopy and died. A forensic autopsy which was performed due to possible medical malpractice demonstrated a large saccular aneurysm of the descending thoracic aorta with a fistula into the esophagus. A significant finding was a lid or valve shaped thrombus covering the aortic orifice of the fistula, which may have partly contributed to slow bleeding, and which may have been dislodged by endoscopy. This case suggests that very careful management of aorto-esophageal fistula is needed in patients with clinical signs of possible thoracic aortic aneurysm with slow hemorrhage.     

Subcellular localization and functions of the barley stem rust resistance receptor-like serine/threonine-specific protein kinase Rpg1

The Rpg1 gene confers resistance to many pathotypes of the stem rust fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici and has protected barley from serious disease losses for over 60 years. Rpg1 encodes a constitutively expressed protein with two tandem kinase domains. Fractionation by differential centrifugation and aqueous two-phase separation of the microsome proteins located Rpg1 mainly in the cytosol but also in the plasma membrane and intracellular membranes. Recombinant Rpg1 autophosphorylates in vitro intramolecularly only serine and threonine amino acids with a preference for Mn(2+) cations and a K(m) of 0.15 and a V(max) of 0.47 nmol.min(-1).mg(-1) protein. The inability of wild-type Rpg1 to transphosphorylate a recombinant Rpg1 inactivated by site-directed mutation confirmed that Rpg1 autophosphorylation proceeds exclusively via an intramolecular mechanism. Site-directed mutagenesis of the two adjacent lysine residues in the ATP anchor of the two-kinase domains established that the first of the two tandem kinase domains is nonfunctional and that lysine 461 of the second domain is the catalytically active residue. Transgenic barley, expressing Rpg1 mutated in either the kinase 1 or 2 domains, were fully susceptible to P. graminis f. sp. tritici revealing requirement of both kinase domains for resistance. In planta-expressed Rpg1 mutant protein confirmed that mutation in domain 2, but not 1, rendered the protein incapable of autophosphorylation.     

Xantha-l encodes a membrane subunit of the aerobic Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester cyclase involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis

Chlorophyll biosynthesis is a process involving approximately 20 different enzymatic steps. Half of these steps are common to the biosynthesis of other tetrapyrroles, such as heme. One of the least understood enzymatic steps is formation of the isocyclic ring, which is a characteristic feature of all (bacterio)chlorophyll molecules. In chloroplasts, formation of the isocyclic ring is an aerobic reaction catalyzed by Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester cyclase. An in vitro assay for the aerobic cyclase reaction required membrane-bound and soluble components from the chloroplasts. Extracts from barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) mutants at the Xantha-l and Viridis-k loci showed no cyclase activity. Fractionation of isolated plastids by Percoll gradient centrifugation showed that xantha-l and viridis-k mutants are defective in components associated with chloroplast membranes. The Xantha-l gene, corresponding to Arabidopsis thaliana CHL27, Rubrivivax gelatinosus acsF, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii CRD1, and CTH1 and situated at the short arm of barley chromosome 3 (3H), was cloned, and the mutations in xantha-l(35), xantha-l(81), and xantha-l(82) were characterized. This finding connected biochemical and genetic data because it demonstrated that Xantha-l encodes a membrane-bound cyclase subunit. The evidence suggests that the aerobic cyclase requires at least one soluble and two membrane-bound components.     

Qualification of LSP1-2111 as a Brain Penetrant Group III Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Orthosteric Agonist

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