A polymerase chain reaction 'PCR' for a quick diagnosis of aspergillosis

Centralized Drinking Water Treatment Operations Shape Bacterial and Fungal Community Structure

Drinking water microbial communities impact opportunistic pathogen colonization and corrosion of water distribution systems, and centralized drinking water treatment represents a potential control for microbial community structure in finished drinking water. In this article, we examine bacterial and fungal abundance and diversity, as well as the microbial community taxonomic structure following each unit operation in a conventional surface water treatment plant. Treatment operations drove the microbial composition more strongly than sampling time. Both bacterial and fungal abundance and diversity decreased following sedimentation and filtration; however, only bacterial abundance and diversity was significantly impacted by free chlorine disinfection. Similarly, each treatment step was found to shift bacterial and fungal community beta-diversity, with the exception of disinfection on the fungal community structure. We observed the enrichment of bacterial and fungal taxa commonly found in drinking water distribution systems through the treatment process, for example, Sphingomonas following filtration and Leptospirillium and Penicillium following disinfection. Study results suggest that centralized drinking water treatment processes shape the final drinking water microbial community via selection of community members and that the bacterial community is primarily driven by disinfection while the eukaryotic community is primarily controlled by physical treatment processes.

A case of pulmonary aspergilloma molecular biological identification and typing of the isolates from antemortem sputa and autopsy fungus ball

Filamentous fungi were isolated from antemortem sputum and an autopsy fungus ball of the lung in a case of aspergilloma. Both of the isolates were analyzed for the sequences of species or strain-specific nuclear ribosomal DNA (partial 28S and ITS1 regions), and were identified as Aspergillus fumigatus. The molecular biological technique saved time and is thought to be a powerful tool in the accurate diagnosis of pulmonary fungal infection to assure effective treatment.