Cryptococcus laurentii: An unusual cause for atypical pneumonia in hematological malignancy

Xylosyltransferases in Cryptococcus laurentii.

Heteroglycan synthesis in Cryptococcus laurentii.

An enzyme preparation from Cryptococcus laurentii catalyzes the transfer of glycosyl units from sugar nucleotides to exogenous acceptor resulting in the stepwise synthesis of a heteroglycan with the following structure: Z-O-a-n-mannosyl6-O-oc-D-mannosyl-3-~-~-D-mannosyl-(2 -0 -0 -D -xylosyl-) D-mannose. The same enzyme preparation transfers D-[‘T]mannosyl from GDP [WJmannose to an endogenous gl...

Mannosyl transfer in Cryptococcus laurentii.

A particle-bound enzyme from the fungus imperfectus Cryfitococcus taurentii var. flavescens (NRRL Y-1401) mediates transfer of mannosyl units from GDP-mannose to endogenous primer. The enzyme requires divalent cations for activity. The pH optimum is ‘7.5 and the apparent K, for GDP-mannose is 0.14 mbr. A polysaccharide fraction that is associated with the enzyme was found to be similar to a pol...

Pericardial cyst: an unusual cause of pneumonia

INTRODUCTION Pericardial cysts occur rarely with an incidence rate of 1 per 100,000. They are usually detected by chance and are clinically silent in most cases. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of a 66 year old Irish male, with signs and symptoms of pneumonia. A chest X-Ray confirmed left lower lobe consolidation. Further imaging including a CT thorax identified a large pericardial cyst ...

An unusual cause of nonresolving pneumonia.

Non-resolving pneumonia is a challenging clinical problem, with etiological, patient-related, and treatment-related factors to be considered during evaluation. When adequate treatment has been administered, other unusual causes of non-resolving pneumonia need to be considered (Table 1). Primary pulmonary lymphomas are very rare and represent only 3–4% of extra-nodal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and o...