Neuropathies related to hepatitis E virus infection: A prospective, matched case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Acute hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has recently emerged as a potential trigger for acute dysimmune neuropathies, but prospective controlled studies are lacking. AIMS: To compare the frequency of concomitant acute HEV infection in patients with neuralgic amyotrophy (NA), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and Bell's palsy with a matched control population. METHODS: Swiss multicenter, prospective, observational, matched case-control study over 3 years (September 2019-October 2022). Neurological cases with NA, GBS, or Bell's palsy were recruited within 1 month of disease onset. Healthy controls were matched for age, sex, geographical location, and timing of blood collection. Diagnostic criteria for acute hepatitis E were reactive serum anti-HEV IgM and IgG assays (ELISA test) and/or HEV RNA detection in serum by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RT-PCR was performed on sera to confirm IgM positivity. RESULTS: We included 180 patients (59 GBS, 51 NA, 70 Bell's palsy cases) and corresponding matched controls (blood donors) with median age 51 years for both groups and equal gender distribution. Six IgM+ cases were detected in the NA, two in the GBS, and none in the Bell's palsy group. Two controls were anti-HEV IgM-positive. At disease onset, most cases with acute HEV infection had increased liver enzymes. A moderate association (p = 0.027, Fisher's exact test; Cramér's V = -0.25) was observed only between acute HEV infection and NA. CONCLUSION: This prospective observational study suggests an association between concomitant acute HEV infection and NA, but not with GBS or Bell's palsy.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry using the Vitek MS system for rapid and accurate identification of dermatophytes on solid cultures.

The objective of this research was to extend the Vitek MS fungal knowledge base version 2.0.0 to allow the robust identification of clinically relevant dermatophytes, using a variety of strains, incubation times, and growth conditions. First, we established a quick and reliable method for sample preparation to obtain a reliable and reproducible identification independently of the growth conditions. The Vitek MS V2.0.0 fungal knowledge base was then expanded using 134 well-characterized strains belonging to 17 species in the genera Epidermophyton, Microsporum, and Trichophyton. Cluster analysis based on mass spectrum similarity indicated good species discrimination independently of the culture conditions. We achieved a good separation of the subpopulations of the Trichophyton anamorph of Arthroderma benhamiae and of anthropophilic and zoophilic strains of Trichophyton interdigitale. Overall, the 1,130 mass spectra obtained for dermatophytes gave an estimated identification performance of 98.4%. The expanded fungal knowledge base was then validated using 131 clinical isolates of dermatophytes belonging to 13 taxa. For 8 taxa all strains were correctly identified, and for 3 the rate of successful identification was >90%; 75% (6/8) of the M. gypseum strains were correctly identified, whereas only 47% (18/38) of the African T. rubrum population (also called T. soudanense) were recognized accurately, with a large quantity of strains misidentified as T. violaceum, demonstrating the close relationship of these two taxa. The method of sample preparation was fast and efficient and the expanded Vitek MS fungal knowledge base reliable and robust, allowing reproducible dermatophyte identifications in the routine laboratory.

Detection and quantification of Flavobacterium psychrophilum in water and fish tissue samples by quantitative real time PCR.

BACKGROUND: Flavobacterium psychrophilum is the agent of Bacterial Cold Water Disease and Rainbow Trout Fry Syndrome, two diseases leading to high mortality. Pathogen detection is mainly carried out using cultures and more rapid and sensitive methods are needed. RESULTS: We describe a qPCR technique based on the single copy gene ß' DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (rpoC). Its detection limit was 20 gene copies and the quantification limit 103 gene copies per reaction. Tests on spiked spleens with known concentrations of F. psychrophilum (106 to 101 cells per reaction) showed no cross-reactions between the spleen tissue and the primers and probe. Screening of water samples and spleens from symptomless and infected fishes indicated that the pathogen was already present before the outbreaks, but F. psychrophilum was only quantifiable in spleens from diseased fishes. CONCLUSIONS: This qPCR can be used as a highly sensitive and specific method to detect F. psychrophilum in different sample types without the need for culturing. qPCR allows a reliable detection and quantification of F. psychrophilum in samples with low pathogen densities. Quantitative data on F. psychrophilum abundance could be useful to investigate risk factors linked to infections and also as early warning system prior to potential devastating outbreak.

Identification of dermatophytes by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

In this study we evaluated the suitability of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for the identification of dermatophytes in diagnostic laboratories. First, a spectral database was built with 108 reference strains belonging to 18 species of the anamorphic genera Epidermophyton, Microsporum and Trichophyton. All strains were well characterized by morphological criteria and ITS sequencing (gold standard). The dendrogram resulting from MALDI-TOF mass spectra was almost identical with the phylogenetic tree based on ITS sequencing. Subsequently, MALDI-TOF MS SuperSpectra were created for the identification of Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporium audouinii, M. canis, M. gypseum (teleomorph: Arthroderma gypseum), M. gypseum (teleomorph: A. incurvatum), M. persicolor, A. benhamiae (Tax. Entity 3 and Am-Eur. race), T. erinacei, T. interdigitale (anthropophilic and zoophilic populations), T. rubrum/T. violaceum, T. tonsurans and T. terrestre. Because T. rubrum and T. violaceum did not present enough mismatches, a SuperSpectrum covering both species was created, and differentiation between them was done by comparison of eight specific peptide masses. In the second part of this study, MALDI-TOF MS with the newly created SuperSpectra was tested using 141 clinical isolates representing nine species. Analyses were done with 3-day-old cultures. Results were compared to morphological identification and ITS sequencing; 135/141 (95.8%) strains were correctly identified by MALDI-TOF MS compared to 128/141 (90.8%) by morphology. Therefore, MALDI-TOF MS has proven to be a useful and rapid identification method for dermatophytes.

Molecular epidemiology of Flavobacterium psychrophilum from Swiss fish farms.

Bacterial cold water disease (BCWD) and rainbow trout fry syndrome (RTFS) caused by Flavobacterium psychrophilum are 2 of the major diseases causing high fish mortality in salmonid fish farms. The molecular epidemiology of F. psychrophilum is still largely unknown. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) has been previously used for this pathogen and underscored a correlation between clonal complexes and host fish species. Here we used MLST to study the relationships among 112 F. psychrophilum isolates from rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and brown trout Salmo trutta fario and S. t. lacustris in Swiss fish farms between 1993 and 2012. The isolates belonged to 27 different sequence types (STs). Most of the Swiss outbreaks were associated with strains belonging to clonal complexes CC-ST2 and CC-ST90, found in both rainbow trout and brown trout and represented by several STs. Eight ST singletons could not be connected to any known clonal complex. Already reported from other parts of Europe and North America, CC-ST2 was the most frequent clonal complex observed, and it caused the majority of outbreaks in Switzerland, with CC-ST90 being the second most important type. In the tightly interconnected Swiss fish farms, no association between clonal complex and host fish was detected, but a temporal evolution of the frequency of some STs was observed. The occurrence of sporadic STs suggests high F. psychrophilum diversity and may reflect the presence of different sequence types in the environment.

Fungal communities on alpine cheese rinds in Southern Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: The biodiversity of the mycobiota of soft cheese rinds such as Brie or Camembert has been extensively studied, but scant information is available on the fungi colonizing the rinds of cheese produced in the Southern Switzerland Alps. This study aimed at exploring the fungal communities present on rinds of cheese matured in five cellars in Southern Switzerland and to evaluate their composition with regards to temperature, relative humidity, type of cheese, as well as microenvironmental and geographic factors. We used macro- and microscopical morphology, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, and sequencing to characterize the fungal communities of the cheeses, and compared them with metabarcoding targeting the ITS region. RESULTS: Isolation by serial dilution yielded 201 isolates (39 yeasts and 162 filamentous fungi) belonging to 9 fungal species. Mucor and Penicillium were dominant, with Mucor racemosus, M. lanceolatus, P. biforme, and P. chrysogenum/rubens being the most frequent species. All but two yeast isolates were identified as Debaryomyces hansenii. Metabarcoding detected 80 fungal species. Culture work and metabarcoding produced comparable results in terms of similarity of the fungal cheese rind communities in the five cellars. CONCLUSIONS: Our study has shown that the mycobiota on the rinds of the cheeses studied is a comparatively species-poor community influenced by temperature, relative humidity, type of cheese, and manufacturing steps, as well as microenvironmental and possibly geographic factors.

Epidemiology of HEV Infection in Blood Donors in Southern Switzerland.

From 2014 to 2016, the number of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections in southern Switzerland increased dramatically and suggested food as a potential infection reservoir. We evaluated the effects of food control measures introduced to limit HEV infections, assessing anti-HEV IgG and IgM rates in blood donors before and after the implementation of food control measures in 2017. From 2012 to 2013, we screened 1283, and from 2017 to 2019, we screened 1447 donors for IgG and IgM antibodies. No statistically significant differences were detected for IgG (32.8% from 2012 to 2013 vs. 31.1% from 2017 to 2019, p = 0.337) or IgM rates (2.0% from 2012 to 2013 vs. 2.8% from 2017 to 2019, p = 0.21). Rural provenience and age > 66 are predictors for positive IgG serology. A total of 5.9% of 303 donors included in both groups lost IgG positivity. We also determined nucleic acid testing (NAT) rates after the introduction of this test in 2018, comparing 49,345 donation results from southern Switzerland with those of 625,559 Swiss donor controls, and only 9 NAT-positive donors were found from 2018 to 2023. The high HEV seroprevalence in southern Switzerland may depend on different food supply chains in rural and urban areas. Local preventive measures probably have a limited impact on blood HEV risk; thus, continuous NAT testing is recommended.

Molecular, proteomic and morphological characterization of the ascomycete Guignardia bidwellii, agent of grape black rot: a polyphasic approach to fungal identification.

Guignardia bidwellii is the etiological agent of grape black rot, a disease affecting Vitis and other Vitaceae that can cause heavy crop losses in vineyards. Its identification is based mainly on morphological characters and the symptoms on plants but, due to their variability, they may be difficult to interpret to reliably distinguish the pathogen to species. To date, despite the economic importance of G. bidwellii, no molecular investigations have been carried out on Vitis isolates and few sequence data are available for cultures derived from ornamental host plants. We analyzed samples of G. bidwellii collected from grapevine cultivars and ornamental plants of various geographic origins by morphological, molecular and proteomic techniques, including ITS1-ITS2 regions and calmodulin gene sequencing, as well as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization analysis by time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). This polyphasic approach allowed assessing the phylogenetic relationships among the different isolates and suggested the existence of two distinct species. The advantages of a polyphasic approach for the identification of G. bidwellii are highlighted.

Control of Raw Pork Liver Sausage Production Can Reduce the Prevalence of HEV Infection.

After an acute hepatitis E (HEV) outbreak in Southern Switzerland, in January 2017 the local public health authorities started an active program of food chain control and public education. In this retrospective study, we analysed all laboratory-confirmed acute cases of HEV infection diagnosed between 2014 and 2020. In the period before the public health intervention, the number of cases increased steadily from 2014 (4 of 40 tests, 10%) reaching a peak in the last quarter of 2016 (42 of 285 tests, 14.7 %). Afterwards, the number of positive cases decreased steadily, reaching its lowest value (0.3%) in the second quarter of 2019. There was a statistically significant difference between the frequency of positive cases and period of testing, i.e., before and after the introduction of the public health interventions. Our study shows that active public health measures to control sausages containing raw pork liver can reduce the prevalence of HEV infection.

Trichoderma asperellum sensu lato consists of two cryptic species.

Analysis of a worldwide collection of strains of Trichoderma asperellum sensu lato using multilocus genealogies of four genomic regions (tef1, rpb2, act, ITS1, 2 and 5.8s rRNA), sequence polymorphism-derived (SPD) markers, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) of the proteome and classical mycological techniques revealed two morphologically cryptic sister species within T. asperellum, T. asperellum, T. asperelloides sp. nov. and a third closely related but morphologically distinct species. T. yunnanense. Trichoderma asperellum and T. asperelloides have wide sympatric distribution on multiple continents; T. yunnanense is represented by a single strain from China. Several strains reported in the literature or represented in GenBank as T. asperellum are re-identified as T. asperelloides. Four molecular SPD typing patterns (I-IV) were found over a large geographic range. Patterns I-III were produced only by T. asperellum and pattern IV by T. asperelloides and T. yunnanense. Pattern I was found in North America, South America, Africa and Europe and Asia (Saudi Arabia). Pattern III was found in Africa, North America, South America and Asia, not in Europe. Pattern II was found only in Cameroon (central Africa) and Peru. Pattern IV was found in all continents. All SPD II pattern strains formed a strongly supported subclade within the T. asperellum clade in the phylogenetic tree based on rpb2 and MLS (combined multilocus sequence). The diversity of DNA sequences, SPD markers and polypeptides in T. asperellum suggests that further speciation is under way within T. asperellum. MALDI-TOF MS distinguished T. yunnanense from related taxa by UPGMA clustering, but separation between T. asperellum and T. asperelloides was less clear.

Mucoactive Agents in the Therapy of Upper Respiratory Airways Infections: Fair to Describe Them Just as Mucoactive?

BACKGROUND: Upper and lower respiratory tract infections are common conditions for which medical advice is sought, and their management relies on the use of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. Ambroxol, bromhexine, carbocysteine, erdosteine, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), and sobrerol are mucoactive agents for which clinical trials have been conducted, have been awarded well-established status by regulatory authorities, and are available as OTC or prescription products. OBJECTIVE: To briefly review the evidence-based efficacy and safety of these substances in the therapy of upper respiratory airways infections. METHODS: We conducted searches in MEDLINE and other databases for clinical trials and reviews done on the efficacy and safety of ambroxol, bromhexine, carbocysteine, erdosteine, NAC, and sobrerol. RESULTS: Clinical trials have shown that these mucolytics have an important place in the relief of cough symptoms by easing the elimination of mucus. All drugs have shown comparable efficacy in the symptomatic treatment of productive cough, with some shared characteristics and some specific features. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: All mucolytics reviewed have a good safety profile, although some precautions should be taken when using ambroxol and bromhexine, and the use of NAC and carbocysteine should be monitored in special patient groups. Overall, however, the available evidence from randomised, controlled, and observational trials, as well as pragmatic, real-life experience, suggests that these products are useful in the therapy of upper respiratory airways infections, including bronchitis, sinusitis, and rhinosinusitis.

Rapid characterization of aquatic hyphomycetes by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Protein fingerprinting using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI--TOF MS) is a rapid, reliable, and economical method to characterize isolates of terrestrial fungi and other microorganisms. The objective of our study was to evaluate the suitability of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification of aquatic hyphomycetes, a polyphyletic group of fungi that play crucial roles in stream ecosystems. To this end, we used 34 isolates of 21 aquatic hyphomycete species whose identity was confirmed by spore morphology and internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 = ITS) nuc rDNA sequencing. We tested the efficiency of three protein extraction methods, including chemical and mechanical treatments using 13 different protocols, with the objective of producing high-quality MALDI-TOF mass spectra. In addition to extraction protocols, mycelium age was identified as a key parameter affecting protein extraction efficiency. The dendrogram based on mass-spectrum similarity indicated good and relevant taxonomic discrimination; the tree structure was comparable to that of the phylogram based on ITS sequences. Consequently, MALDI-TOF MS could reliably identify the isolates studied and provided greater taxonomic accuracy than classical morphological methods. MALDI-TOF MS seems suited for rapid characterization and identification of aquatic hyphomycete species.

Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance in Aeromonas allosaccharophila recovered from a Swiss lake.

OBJECTIVES: To search for plasmid-mediated qnr genes among waterborne environmental Aeromonas spp. recovered from Switzerland. METHODS: Isolates presenting MICs of nalidixic acid or ciprofloxacin > or = 1 mg/L were screened for qnr genes by a multiplex PCR approach followed by sequencing. Plasmids were transferred by transformation, and further analysis of the genetic structures surrounding the qnrS2 gene was carried out by PCR and sequencing. RESULTS: A qnrS2 gene was identified from a single Aeromonas allosaccharophila isolate (Lugano lake, Lugano), as part of a mobile insertion cassette located on a broad host range IncU-type plasmid. This plasmid co-harboured a class 1 integron containing the aac(6')-Ib-cr, bla(OXA-1), catB3 and arr-3 gene cassettes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings strengthen further the role of Aeromonas spp. as a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance determinants in the environment.

Cognitive performance and morning levels of salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase in children reporting high vs. low daily stress perception.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of daily stress perception on cognitive performance and morning basal salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase levels in healthy children aged 9-12. Participants were classified by whether they had low daily perceived stress (LPS, n = 27) or a high daily perceived stress (HPS, n = 26) using the Children Daily Stress Inventory (CDSI). Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase were measured at awakening and 30 minutes later. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Cognitive Drug Research assessment system. The HPS group exhibited significantly poorer scores on speed of memory (p < .05) and continuity of attention (p < .05) relative to the LPS group. The HPS group also showed significantly lower morning cortisol levels at awakening and at +30 minutes measures in comparison with the LPS group (p < .05), and mean morning cortisol levels were negatively correlated with speed of memory (p < .05) in the 53 participants. No significant differences were observed between both groups in alpha-amylase levels. These findings suggest that daily perceived stress in children may impoverish cognitive performance via its modulating effects on the HPA axis activity.

Effect of chronic venous insufficiency on activities of daily living and quality of life: correlation of demographic factors with duplex ultrasonography findings.

The study evaluates to what extent symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) and functional venous incompetence as investigated using color-coded duplex ultrasonography may interfere with activities of daily living (ADLs). This study comprises a cross-sectional survey conducted in urban areas surrounding 24 Italian cities. A spontaneous sample of 5,187 subjects (4,457 women [mean age, 54 years] and 730 men [mean age, 61 years]), selected by advertising on television and in newspapers, underwent a clinical examination that included duplex ultrasonography in 3 vein segments in both legs to determine the presence and severity of venous reflux. Subjective perception of lower limb symptoms of CVI and the effect of leg problems on the ability to perform normal ADLs are assessed by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Most of the respondents have some CVI symptoms, with women being 1.5 to 3 times as likely as men to report leg symptoms. The risk of developing the most frequent subjective symptoms such as heaviness and tiredness in the legs is not statistically significantly different for younger subjects compared with older subjects. Advanced age is considered to be a relevant risk factor only for heat sensation and swollen legs. Persons living in southern Italy are at higher risk of almost all lower limb symptoms. Results of duplex ultrasonography performed on 3875 subjects show that fewer than 1 in 5 young persons, regardless of sex, manifest some degree of venous reflux (primarily mild symptoms). The risk of developing venous incompetence increases rapidly with age until it triples among subjects 50 years and older. Adjusting for all other factors, men are on average 1.5 times as likely as childless women to have venous reflux, and the risk increases in the case of family history of CVI or (among women) in the case of past pregnancies. More women than men report that their leg problems affect their ADLs. Pregnancy and living in the south contribute to a reduction in the ability to perform most heavy housework. Although milder lower limb symptoms such as evening heaviness and tiredness in the legs may begin early in life, venous reflux and related symptoms of heat sensation and swollen legs become more pronounced with age, and their severity can be disabling for those afflicted.

Identification of Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli outbreak isolates by a novel data analysis tool after matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

The fast and reliable characterization of bacterial and fungal pathogens plays an important role in infectious disease control and tracking of outbreak agents. DNA based methods are the gold standard for epidemiological investigations, but they are still comparatively expensive and time-consuming. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a fast, reliable and cost-effective technique now routinely used to identify clinically relevant human pathogens. It has been used for subspecies differentiation and typing, but its use for epidemiological tasks, e. g. for outbreak investigations, is often hampered by the complexity of data analysis. We have analysed publicly available MALDI-TOF mass spectra from a large outbreak of Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli in northern Germany using a general purpose software tool for the analysis of complex biological data. The software was challenged with depauperate spectra and reduced learning group sizes to mimic poor spectrum quality and scarcity of reference spectra at the onset of an outbreak. With high quality formic acid extraction spectra, the software's built in classifier accurately identified outbreak related strains using as few as 10 reference spectra (99.8% sensitivity, 98.0% specificity). Selective variation of processing parameters showed impaired marker peak detection and reduced classification accuracy in samples with high background noise or artificially reduced peak counts. However, the software consistently identified mass signals suitable for a highly reliable marker peak based classification approach (100% sensitivity, 99.5% specificity) even from low quality direct deposition spectra. The study demonstrates that general purpose data analysis tools can effectively be used for the analysis of bacterial mass spectra.

The Trichoderma koningii aggregate species.

The morphological concept of Trichoderma koningii is found to include several species that differ from each other in details of phenotype (including conidium morphology, growth rate) and biogeography. Phylogenetic analysis utilizing partial sequences of the translation-elongation factor 1 alpha (tef1), as well as fragments of actin and calmodulin genes, indicate that phenotypic characters typical of T. koningii evolved independently in three well-separated main lineages. Combined molecular and phenotype data lead to the development of a taxonomy with the recognition of twelve taxonomic species and one variety within the three lineages. These lineages include: (1) T. koningii and T. ovalisporum and the new species T. caribbaeum var. caribbaeum, T. caribbaeum var. aequatoriale, T. dorotheae, T. dingleyae, T. intricatum, T. koningiopsis, T. petersenii and T. taiwanense; (2) the new species T. rogersonii and T. austrokoningii, and (3) the new anamorph T. stilbohypoxyli.Trichoderma koningii s. str. is an uncommon species restricted to Europe and eastern North America; T. caribbaeum var. aequatoriale, T. koningiopsis, and T. ovalisporum were isolated as endophytes of trunks of Theobroma species in tropical America, and T. ovalisporum from the woody liana Banisteropsis caapi in Ecuador; T. koningiopsis is common in tropical America but was isolated also from natural substrata in East Africa, Europe and Canada, and from ascospores in eastern North America, and as an endophyte in Theobroma species; T. stilbohypoxyli, originally described as a parasite of Stilbohypoxylon species in Puerto Rico, is found to be more common in the tropics, besides an endophytic isolate from Fagus in U.K. The additional new species are known almost exclusively from their teleomorphs. Isolates of T. ovalisporum and T. koningiopsis may have biological control potential. A morphophenetic key and a set of tools for molecular species identification were developed.

The role of the extracellular sheath in recognition and attachment of conidia of Discula umbrinella (Berk. & Br.) Morelet to the host surface.

The role of the conidial sheath in the recognition process and in the attachment of conidia of the beech endophyte, Discula umbrinella, to the host surface was investigated. After treatment of conidia with different lectins the adhesion of conidia to the host surface was effectively inhibited. A strong fluorescence was observed after treatment of conidia with TRITC-labelled concanavalin A. Fluorescence with TRITC-labelled wheat germ agglutinin was observed only on spores subjected to enzymatic digestion with proteases. Observations with the transmission electron microscope (TEM), after labelling sections with colloidal gold conjugated lectins, confirmed the presence of mannose and/or glucose in the extracellular sheath. Chitin was present in the conidial ceil wall but not in the extracellular sheath. Enzymatic treatment of the conidial sheath resulted in strongly reduced attachment and changes in the binding of fluorescence-labelled lectins. TEM studies of partially digested conidia revealed that snail enzyme modified only slightly the structure of the sheath, while proteases completely dissolved the fibrillar sheath leaving a comparatively smooth cell wall with no fibrillar structures on its surface. We conclude that a proteinaceous sheath is responsible for the adhesion of Discula umbrinella conidia to the host and that glycoproteins are involved in the recognition and attachment process. This attachment mechanism closely parallels the only other recognition system studied biochemically in endophytes, and is similar to the few analogous cases studied in plant-pathogenic fungi, pointing to the functional relatedness of endophytic and pathogenic interactions.

Reliable diagnoses of dementia by the naive credal classifier inferred from incomplete cognitive data.

Dementia is a serious personal, medical and social problem. Recent research indicates early and accurate diagnoses as the key to effectively cope with it. No definitive cure is available but in some cases when the impairment is still mild the disease can be contained. This paper describes a diagnostic tool that jointly uses the naive credal classifier and the most widely used computerized system of cognitive tests in dementia research, the Cognitive Drug Research system. The naive credal classifier extends the discrete naive Bayes classifier to imprecise probabilities. The naive credal classifier models both prior ignorance and ignorance about the likelihood by sets of probability distributions. This is a new way to deal with small and incomplete datasets that departs significantly from most established classification methods. In the empirical study presented here, the naive credal classifier provides reliability and unmatched predictive performance. It delivers up to 95% correct predictions while being very robust with respect to the partial ignorance due to the largely incomplete data. The diagnostic tool also proves to be very effective in discriminating between Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Trichoderma species associated with the green mold epidemic of commercially grown Agaricus bisporus.

Trichoderma aggressivum sp. nov. and T. aggressivum f. europaeum f. nov. are described. These forms cause the green mold epidemic in commercially grown Agaricus bisporus in North America and Europe, respectively. In the literature they have been reported as T. harzianum biotypes Th 4 and Th 2, respectively. They are strongly separated from their closest relative, T. harzianum, in sequences of the ITS-1 region of nuclear rDNA and an approximately 689 bp fragment of the protein coding translation elongation factor gene (EF-1α). They are distinguished from the morphologically similar T. harzianum and T. atroviride (the latter also known as biotype Th 3) most readily by rate of growth. Of these, only T. harzianum grows well and sporulates at 35 C, while T. atroviride is the slowest growing. Trichoderma aggressivum f. aggressivum and f. europaeum are effectively indistinguishable morphologically although they have subtly different growth rates at 25 C on SNA and statistically significant micromorphological differences. Based on findings of this study, descriptions of T. harzianum and T. atroviride are expanded. A key to Trichoderma species commonly found associated with commercially grown A. bisporus is provided.