Infection control and the significance of sputum and other respiratory secretions from adult patients with cystic fibrosis

Background

Although various hematologic abnormalities are seen in tuberculosis, immune thrombocytopenic purpura is a rare event.

Case Presentation

We report a case of a 29 year-old male who was presented with immune thrombocytopenia-induced hemoptysis, macroscopic hematuria and generalized petechiae. The patient was found to have clinical, microbiological and radiological evidence of active pulmonary tuberculosis. The immune thrombocytopenic purpura was successfully treated with anti-tuberculous drugs combined with corticosteroids and high dose immune globulin therapy.

Conclusion

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura can be one of the hematological manifestations of tuberculosis which has a global prevalence with increasing incidence secondary to HIV infection.     

Characterization and potential evolutionary impact of transposable elements in the genome of Cochliobolus heterostrophus

Background

Cochliobolus heterostrophus is a dothideomycete that causes Southern Corn Leaf Blight disease. There are two races, race O and race T that differ by the absence (race O) and presence (race T) of ~ 1.2-Mb of DNA encoding genes responsible for the production of T-toxin, which makes race T much more virulent than race O. The presence of repetitive elements in fungal genomes is considered to be an important source of genetic variability between different species.

Results

A detailed analysis of class I and II TEs identified in the near complete genome sequence of race O was performed. In total in race O, 12 new families of transposons were identified. In silico evidence of recent activity was found for many of the transposons and analyses of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) demonstrated that these elements were actively transcribed. Various potentially active TEs were found near coding regions and may modify the expression and structure of these genes by acting as ectopic recombination sites. Transposons were found on scaffolds carrying polyketide synthase encoding genes, responsible for production of T-toxin in race T. Strong evidence of ectopic recombination was found, demonstrating that TEs can play an important role in the modulation of genome architecture of this species. The Repeat Induced Point mutation (RIP) silencing mechanism was shown to have high specificity in C. heterostrophus, acting only on transposons near coding regions.

Conclusions

New families of transposons were identified. In C. heterostrophus, the RIP silencing mechanism is efficient and selective. The co-localization of effector genes and TEs, therefore, exposes those genes to high rates of point mutations. This may accelerate the rate of evolution of these genes, providing a potential advantage for the host. Additionally, it was shown that ectopic recombination promoted by TEs appears to be the major event in the genome reorganization of this species and that a large number of elements are still potentially active. So, this study provides information about the potential impact of TEs on the evolution of C. heterostrophus.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-536) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Array2BIO: from microarray expression data to functional annotation of co-regulated genes

Background  

There are several isolated tools for partial analysis of microarray expression data. To provide an integrative, easy-to-use and automated toolkit for the analysis of Affymetrix microarray expression data we have developed Array2BIO, an application that couples several analytical methods into a single web based utility.     

Diversity of free-living ‘naked’ amoeboid organisms

Amoeboid organisms are phylogenetically diverse, some being more closely related to plants or metazoans than to each other. Amoeboid organisms are ecologically successful, having been isolated on all continents, including Antarctica, as well as being the main predators controlling bacterial populations in soil. The classification of these organisms has historically relied upon morphological characteristics. The application of electron microscopy, comparison of enzymic profiles after electrophoretic separation, and analysis of nucleic acid fractions have provided reliable bases for classifying amoeboid organisms. The extent of diversity of these organisms has been recognized, as methods to detect, culture, characterize and identify them has increased. It is reasonable to anticipate that the current 40 000 species of protists will increase substantially as amoeboid organisms are cultivated from poorly accessible niches and from extreme environs.     

Fatty acid composition of membrane lipids and energy metabolism in mitochondria of pea seedlings under water deficit

The impacts of water deficit and melamine salt of bis(oximethyl)phosphonic acid (melaphen) on the fatty acid (FA) composition of membrane lipids and energy metabolism in mitochondria of 5-day-old pea (Pisum sativum L., cv. Flora-2) seedlings were studied. Insufficient watering resulted in the accumulation of saturated and a decrease in the content of unsaturated FAs with 18 and 20 carbon atoms. Seed treatment with 3 × 10^?10 M melaphen prevented these changes in the FA composition in the mitochondrial membrane lipids. Changes in the FA compositions of membrane lipids were correlated with changes in energy metabolism in mitochondria: the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation and the rate of NAD-dependent substrate oxidation in the presence of ADP and FCCP (carbonyl cyanide-p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone) were reduced. A close correlation was observed between changes in the highest rates of NAD-dependent substrate oxidation and the relative content of FAs with 18 (r = 0.76489) and 20 (r = 0.9637) carbon atoms. The regulatory role of C₁₈ and C₂₀ unsaturated FAs in the mitochondrial energy metabolism of pea seedlings is discussed.