Pain and osteolysis of the thoracic spine--a case of a rare monostotic fibrous dysplasia manifestation.

We describe a case of a young farmer from Central Macedonia, Greece suffering of a mild back pain more than one year. His medical history included hypercholesterolaemia (IIa type) and two episodes of spontaneous pneumothorax of unknown origin two and three years ago respectively. A full imaging survey revealed a single osteolytic lesion at the seventh thoracic vertebra. A CT guided needle biopsy was performed. Diagnosis based on clinical, imaging and histological findings was monostotic fibrous dysplasia of the thoracic spine. We discuss the clinical features and treatment of this non neoplastic condition which may simulate bone osteolytic tumor. Furthermore a possible correlation of concomitant conditions existing in our patient such as the metabolic disorder of hypercholesterolaemia and especially the history of spontaneous pneumothorax episodes with fibrous dysplasia within the spectrum of connective tissue disorder is discussed.

Assimilation of cholesterol by yeast strains isolated from infant feces and Feta cheese.

Eight yeast strains isolated from infant feces and the traditional Greek Feta cheese, selected for their probiotic properties, were tested along with a commercially available strain of Saccharomyces boulardii for their ability to remove cholesterol from a growth medium (yeast extract glucose peptone broth) supplemented with 0.3% Oxgall. The amount of cholesterol removed during 72 h of growth at 37 degrees C revealed significant variations among the yeast strains examined. Two isolates from infant feces, namely Saccharomyces cerevisiae KK1 and Isaatchenkia orientalis KK5.Y.1 and one isolate from Feta cheese, namely S. cerevisiae 832, along with the commercial strain S. boulardii, were able to remove cholesterol from the growth medium after 48 h of incubation at 37 degrees C. However, Saccharomyces strains proved to be able to remove cholesterol even after 24 h of growth at 37 degrees C. The cholesterol removed from the growth medium was not metabolically degraded but was rather assimilated into the yeast cells. The ability to assimilate cholesterol in vitro and to tolerate low pH levels, gastric juice, and bile indicate that S. cerevisiae 832, and especially S. cerevisiae KK1 and I. orientalis KK5.Y.1 (being more bile and gastric juice tolerant because of their human origin) may be promising candidate strains for use as probiotics.

Some probiotic properties of yeast isolates from infant faeces and Feta cheese.

Yeast isolates from infant faeces and Feta cheese were characterized to species level by phenotypic criteria, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR and mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) restriction analysis. Results suggested that there is a good agreement between phenotypic characterization of yeasts and RAPD-PCR at species level; in addition, RAPD-PCR as well as mt-DNA restriction analysis provided good discrimination at strain level. Some technological and probiotic properties of selected strains were also investigated. The test strains exhibited lipolytic and proteolytic activities. They also tolerated low pH and survived satisfactory in gastric juice in vitro as well as in the presence of bile. In general, the isolates from faeces were more resistant to low pH and bile than those from Feta cheese. Selected strains could be used as starter supplements for industrial fermentations.

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR for the identification of yeasts isolated from dairy products.

In the present work randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) with primers M13 and RF2 was applied to the identification at species level of yeast strains isolated from cheeses. RAPD-PCR analysis of the type strains of different yeast species gave distinctive band profiles that allowed a clear differentiation of all the considered species. Forty-two of the 48 dairy associated yeasts were clearly assigned to the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces marxianus (anamorph Candida kefyr), Kluyveromyces lactis (anamorph Candida sphaerica), Debaryomyces hansenii (anamorph Candida famata), Yarrowia lipolytica and Torulaspora delbrueckii (anamorph Candida colliculosa). The method, which is rapid and easy to perform, could be a useful tool for the identification of yeasts present in dairy products.