• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.79 no.2
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• pp.101-103
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• 2016

Nocardia species are aerobic, gram-positive pathogens found worldwide in soil. Nocardia is considered an opportunistic pathogen, and its infection mostly occurs in immunocompromised patients. We report a case of Nocardia farcinica induced mediastinitis and pneumonia that occurred in a 64-year-old male patient who had no significant medical history except for hypertension. He visited another hospital with a complaint of dyspnea and left chest wall pain. The symptoms arose 7 days ago without any trauma and they worsened. A mediastinal mass was found on computed tomography scan. After being transferred to our hospital for further evaluation, he was diagnosed with mediastinitis and pneumonia. As N. farcinica was found to be the causative organism by 16S rRNA sequencing, proper antibiotic therapy including trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole was initiated immediately. After this, the patient improved and he was discharged. If an infection has a disseminating course, nocardiosis cannot be excluded even in immunocompetent patients. Once the diagnosis is established, prompt antibiotic therapy should be performed based on the severity.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.85-90
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• 2009

A method for the identification of Nocardia seriolae, the causative agent of nocardiosis in cultured fishes, using PCR was developed in the study. A PCR primer set specific to N. seriolae was designed based on 16S-23S rRNA sequence of various Nocardia species accessed in GenBank. Designed PCR primer set, Nseri-F (5'-GCA AAC TCT TCG AAC AGT CG-3') and Nseri-R (5'-GGA TAT CAG GAC TTA CCG GC-3'), amplifies the target regions of N. seriolae only, but not 4 other Nocardia species, N. asteroides, N. crassostreae, N. farcinica and N. salmonicida.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.439-447
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to isolate and identify the chemical structure of a biosurfactant produced by Nocardia farcinica strain BN26 isolated from soil, and evaluate its in vitro antitumor activity on a panel of human cancer cell lines. Strain BN26 was found to produce glycolipid biosurfactant on n-hexadecane as the sole carbon source. The biosurfactant was purified using medium-pressure liquid chromatography and characterized as trehalose lipid tetraester (THL) by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Subsequently, the cytotoxic effects of THL on cancer cell lines BV-173, KE-37 (SKW-3), HL-60, HL-60/DOX, and JMSU-1 were evaluated by MTT assay. It was shown that THL exerted concentration-dependent antiproliferative activity against the human tumor cell lines and mediated cell death by the induction of partial oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation. These findings suggest that THL could be of potential to apply in biomedicine as a therapeutic agent.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.396-398
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• 2011

Nocardia brain abscess is rare. We report on a unique case of N. farcinica brain abscess in a liver transplant recipient, following Aspergillus fumigatus pneumonia. A 43-year-old liver transplant recipient presented with altered mentality at 2 months after A. fumigates pneumonia. He was successfully treated with surgical removal and antibiotic therapy with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ceftriaxone.

• The Korean Journal of Medicine
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• v.99 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2024

Nocardiosis is uncommon. Immunocompromising conditions predispose individuals to pulmonary and disseminated nocardiosis of the brain, skin, and subcutaneous tissues. The most common pathogens are Nocardia cyriacigeorgica, Nocardia nova, and Nocardia farcinica. The speciation of Nocardia to determine antimicrobial susceptibility is difficult using traditional biochemical methods. Here, we report the case of a 73-year-old man with chronic obstructive lung disease who developed a rapidly progressing intramuscular abscess around the left hip and thigh. Within 3 days, the lesions progressed to an epidural abscess at the L4 to S1 level. Although he was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics and extensive incision and drainage, he died of rapidly progressive respiratory failure. Nocardia abscessus (N. abscessus) was identified in pus samples using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). This case shows that the diagnosis of an intramuscular abscess caused by N. abscessus is challenging and that using MALDI-TOF MS may facilitate the diagnosis and ensure appropriate treatment.