M ycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has become the single most used immunosuppressant in solid-organ transplantation. Despite a well-documented relationship and efficacy (in terms of acute rejection prophylaxis) and exposure to mycophenolic acids (MPA) as measured by area under the curve (AUC), excellent results have been achieved using a fixed-dosage regimen. In the past several years, there has been...

The two compounds compactin and ML-236B are identical fungal metabolites isolated from strains of Penicilliunz brevicompactum and Penicillium citrinum, respectively. ML-236B has been shown to be a potent competitive inhibitor of rat liver microsomal 3-hydroxy-3-methylgluiaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), the rate-controlling enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis (Endo, A., Kuroda, M.,...

Fungi in drinking water are involved in the production of tastes and odours in water. Health problems are possible, originating from mycotoxins, animal pathogens and allergies. This report concerns the surveillance of mesophilic fungi in tap water and assessment of their potential for causing problems. The methods for the determination of the filamentous fungi (ff) were filtering, swabbing and ...

In the indoor environment, people are exposed to several fungal species. Evident dampness is associated with increased respiratory symptoms. To examine the immune responses associated with fungal exposure, mice are often exposed to a single species grown on an agar medium. The aim of this study was to develop an inhalation exposure system to be able to examine responses in mice exposed to mixed...

Adenophostins A and B, which are metabolic products of the fungus Penicillium brevicompactum, are potent agonists at the D-myo-inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3] receptor. In the current study, adenophostin A was approximately 50-fold more potent than Ins(1,4,5)P3 at both releasing Ca2+ from the intracellular stores of permeabilized platelets and displacing [3H]Ins(1,4,5)P3 from its re...

BACKGROUND Few studies describing eukaryotic communities in the human gut microbiota have been published. The objective of this study was to investigate comprehensively the repertoire of plant and fungal species in the gut microbiota of an obese patient. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A stool specimen was collected from a 27-year-old Caucasian woman with a body mass index of 48.9 who was livi...

Five bacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. fluorescens subgroup G strain 2, P. marginalis, P. putida subgroup B strain 1 and P. syringae strain 1) and three fungi (Penicillium brevicompactum, P. solitum strain 1 and Trichoderma atroviride) were evaluated to determine their promoting effect on the growth of mature healthy tomato plants grown under hydroponic conditions. P. putida and T. atroviri...

Mining activities mainly deal with the excavation of raw material from earth’s crust. The sources of particulate matter (PM) emission in opencast coal mines include blasting and drilling operations, coal handling plant operation, loading and transport of overburden and coal by shovel-dumper combination, crushing, conveying and handling of overburden by draglines, and vehicular emission from unp...