Background: Recent clinical studies have suggested that serum surfactant protein (SP) A, SP-D and Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) are potential biomarkers for interstitial lung diseases. Serum levels of SP-A and SP-D have also been found to be elevated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but their significance has not been evaluated or compared in induced sputum samples obtained dire...

Xerophilic fungi, especially Aspergillus species, are prevalent in the built environment. In this study, we employed a combined culture-independent (454-pyrosequencing) and culture-dependent (dilution-to-extinction) approach to investigate the mycobiota of indoor dust collected from 93 buildings in 12 countries worldwide. High and low water activity (aw) media were used to capture mesophile and...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the genera of mycelial fungi detected in expressed human milk received at the human milk bank of Instituto Fernandes Figueira after home collection. METHODS We studied 821 expressed human milk samples randomly obtained from flasks filled by the donors at home. The possible presence of molds, yeasts and mesophilic microorganisms was investigated. A total of 48 strains...

Background: Recent clinical studies have suggested that serum surfactant protein (SP) A, SP-D and Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) are potential biomarkers for interstitial lung diseases. Serum levels of SP-A and SP-D have also been found to be elevated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but their significance has not been evaluated or compared in induced sputum samples obtained dire...

Group X secretory phospholipase A2 (GX sPLA2) potently hydrolyzes membrane phospholipids to release arachidonic acid (AA). While AA is an activator of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), its metabolite prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a known inhibitor. In this study, we determined that GX sPLA2 is expressed in insulin-producing cells of mouse pancreatic islets and investigated its role in b...

Aspergillus spp. infect around 11,000,000 patients, resulting in about 600,000 deaths per year, but these numbers are on the rise due to the emergence of antifungal-resistant strains and a lack of sensitive diagnostic tests [1]. It is increasingly acknowledged that soluble pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), such as the complement component C1q, the collectins (MBL, SP, and CL-11), PTX3, and ...

objective(s):   the ongoing increasing antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges faced by global public health. the perennial need for new antimicrobials against a background of increasing antibiotic resistance in pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms obliges the scientific community to constantly develop new drugs and antimicrobial agents. lichens are known prolific sources ...

Microbiological and physicochemical characteristics of swimming pools in South Eastern states of Nigeria (Akwa Ibom and Cross River) were investigated. The bacterial isolates included Enterococcus faecalis, Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli. Others were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus vulgaris and Staphylococcus epidermidis, while fungal isolat...