Actinomycosis is an infectious disease caused by certain Actinomyces species. Actinomyces are Gram-positive, non-spore forming organisms characterized by obligate or facultative anaerobic rods that normally inhabit anaerobic niches of the human oral cavity. Cervicofacial, abdominal, pelvic and thoracic infections of Actinomyces are not uncommon, but endobronchial actinomycosis is rarely reporte...

Polyphosphate kinase (PPK), the principal enzyme required for the synthesis of inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) from ATP, also exhibits other enzymatic activities, which differ significantly in their biochemical optima and responses to chemical agents. These several activities include: polyP synthesis (forward reaction), nATP --> polyP(n) + nADP (Equation 1); ATP synthesis from polyP (reverse re...

Recently two approaches were reported that addressed a vitally important problem in regenerative medicine, i. e. the successful treatment of wounds even under diabetic conditions. Accordingly, these studies with diabetic rabbits [Sarojini et al. PLoS One 2017, 12(4):e0174899] and diabetic mice [Müller et al. Polymers 2017, 9, 300] identified a novel (potential) target for the acceleration of wo...

Inorganic polyphosphates (polyp) are naturally occurring linear polymers of orthophosphate that are found in microorganisms, lower eukaryotes such as yeast, and animals (Harold 1966, Kulaev and Vagabov 1983; Wood and Clark 1988). In certain cases, polyp can accumulate to more than 10% of total dry mass. The ubiquitous presence of polyp suggests that they may have important physiological functio...

Endobronchial valves are increasingly used as a treatment modality as a less invasive alternative to lung volume reduction surgery in patients with severe emphysema. Endobronchial valves have also been used to treat patients with persistent pulmonary air leaks and those with bronchopleural fistulae. We report a case of a 61-year-old male with severe bullous emphysema. Following video-assisted t...

Endobronchial tuberculosis commonly affects young patients and presents as acute or insidious onset cough, wheeze, low grade fever, and constitutional symptoms. Although endobronchial lesions usually result in sputum positivity for acid fast bacilli (AFB), a false negative sputum or absence of radiological lesions may result in delayed diagnosis. On the other hand, sputum positivity with presen...

A 47 year old female with papillary thyroid carcinoma was referred to our department for post-treatment whole body iodine scanning. The acquired images revealed a focal zone of intense radiotracer uptake in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. SPECT/CT fused slices showed a focal zone of the radioiodine (131I) uptake in the right colon wall. Colonoscopy revealed a pedunculated po...

The presentation of a Nocardia infection is quite variable. We report a case of nocardiosis presenting as endobronchial obstruction with postobstructive pneumonia and atelectasis, in a patient with a low index of suspicion for bronchogenic carcinoma. Our report emphasizes the importance of considering the diagnosis of endobronchial nocardiosis in patients with endobronchial obstruction and a lo...

Benign neoplasm of the endobronchial tree is quite rare, while endobronchial lipoma is extremely rare. The irreversible pulmonary damage is due to progressive bronchial obstruction; even so, pleural empyema is exceptionally encountered in a case of endobronchial lipoma. We report a case of a 47-year-old man who had left lung pneumonia with hemoptysis. The chest computed tomography showed cystic...