• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.756-760
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• 2005

Polyene macrolide amphotericin B (AmB) is the drug of choice for the treatment of disseminated fungal infections. However, because of its pronounced side effects, the drug has limited applicability. There are few interesting reports, which state that co-administration of the drug with homo-peptide of polyaspartic acid reduces the side effects of the drug. In our present study, an approach has been made to systematically synthesize low molecular weight heteropeptides consisting of L-aspartic acid and its derivative. It was hypothesized that such heteropeptides will reduce the toxic side effects of the drug by facile hydrophobic binding between the polymer and the drug. We have employed the strategy of solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) to synthesize low molecular weight hetero-peptides by using L-aspartic acid and benzyl-L-aspartic acid to induce the hydrophobic binding between the peptide and the drug. In future, the proposed methodology can be employed to tailor other polypeptides substituted with benzyl groups to reduce the nephrotoxicity of AmB.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1514-1518
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• 2000

Aspergillosis is an uncommon form of fungal infection of the central nervous system in immunocompetent patient, especially those involving the pituitary gland. Several cases of pituitary aspergillosis have been reported, but most of them are directly invaded from aspergillosis of sphenoid sinus. In the present case, a woman with primary pituitary aspergillosis had neither evidence of infection of the sphenoid sinus nor immunodeficiency. The patient underwent a transsphenoidal surgery for a presumed pituitary tumor. Histopathology demonstrated typical findings of aspergillosis. Postoperatively, amphotericin-B was administered and Gallium-67 scan was performed. We describe a case of primary pituitary aspergillosis mimicking pituitary tumor.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1482-1484
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• 2008

Spherical silver nanoparticles (nano-Ag) were synthesized and their antifungal effects on fungal pathogens of the skin were investigated. Nano-Ag showed potent activity against clinical isolates and ATCC strains of Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Candida species ($IC_{80}$, 1-7${\mu}g/ml$). The activity of nano-Ag was comparable to that of amphotericin B, but superior to that of fluconazole (amphotericin B $IC_{80}$, 1-5${\mu}g/ml$; fluconazole $IC_{80}$, 10-30${\mu}g/ml$). Additionally, we investigated their effects on the dimorphism of Candida albicans. The results showed nano-Ag exerted activity on the mycelia. Thus, the present study indicates nano-Ag may have considerable antifungal activity, deserving further investigation for clinical applications.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.56-59
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• 2012

Aspergillus is a ubiquitous fungus and can cause many levels of disease severity. Chronic necrotizing aspergillosis is a rare disease and few cases have been reported in Korea. We experienced a case of pleural aspergillosis that was treated successfully with medical and surgical interventions. The 52-year-old man who was diagnosed with chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis underwent surgical treatment including a lobectomy, decortication, and myoplasty. The patient was also medically treated with amphotericin B followed by voriconazole. Pleural irrigation with amphotericin B was also performed. A multi-dimensional approach should be considered for treating chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 1995

Drug delivery by red cells was established to maintain the release of drugs in the blood. The entrapment method by amphotericin B was re-examined and evaluated for obtaining the suitable entrapping conditions without hemolysis. The amphotericin B treatment below $10{\mu}g/ml$ induced the non-hemolysis to entrap daunorubicin into red cells within 10min. Under these conditions intracellular ATP level was decreased as $18\%$. Membrane fluidity and the shape factor of red cells were maintained. To maintain intracellular ATP, ATP and sodium pyruvate were added during the entrapment procedure because hemolysis during the release test would reflect the loss of intracellular ATP that would be postulate the decrease of the viability invivo. Consequently, the addition of ATP in the reaction solution can raise the intracellular level of ATP.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.203-206
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• 2013

After bathing at a hot spring resort, a 75-year-old man presented to the emergency department because of seizure-like attack with loss of conscious. This is the first case of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by Naegleria fowleri in Taiwan. PAM was diagnosed based on detection of actively motile trophozoites in cerebrospinal fluid using a wet-mount smear and the Liu's stain. The amoebae were further confirmed by PCR and gene sequencing. In spite of administering amphotericin B treatment, the patient died 25 days later.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.239-243
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• 2010

Candidiasis is one of the most common causes of late-onset infection among very-low-birth-weight infants (VLBW) in most neonatal intensive care units and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Standard therapy consists of the administration of amphotericin B, amphotericin B complex, and fluconazole. In many cases, candidiasis is not easily eradicated, despite the administration of these drugs. We report our experience of the addition of high-dose caspofungin to the conventional antifungal drugs in a VLBW infant with refractory candidemia.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.426-428
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• 2002

A seven-year old mare had endometritis after history of abortion and repeated intra-uterine infusion of antibiotics. She showed hyperemia and oedema of the cervical mucosa with grayish white purulent discharge. Candida albicans was determined to be the causative agent of the endometritis. The diagnosis was established by the direct demonstration of the pathogen in the uterine exudate and its isolation in pure, heavy and luxuriant growth. In vitro disc diffusion test showed the organism was sensitive to all the four antifungal drugs tested, which are amphotericin B, clotrimazole, fluconazole and nystatin. The intrauterine nystatin infusion was found very effective as C. albicans could not be recovered 7 days after the last treatment.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.291-294
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• 2019

Primary amebic encephalitis (PAM) is a devastating central nervous system infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, a free-living amoeba, which can survive in soil and warm fresh water. Here, a 43-year-old healthy male was exposed to warm freshwater 5 days before the symptom onset. He rapidly developed severe cerebral edema before the diagnosis of PAM and was treated with intravenous conventional amphotericin B while died of terminal cerebral hernia finally. Comparing the patients with PAM who has similar clinical symptoms to those with other common types of meningoencephalitis, this infection is probably curable if treated early and aggressively. PAM should be considered in the differential diagnosis of purulent meningoencephalitis, especially in patients with recent freshwater-related activities during the hot season.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.385-394
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• 2015

Leishmaniasis is a worldwide uncontrolled parasitic disease due to the lack of effective drug and vaccine. To speed up effective drug development, we need powerful methods to rapidly assess drug effectiveness against the intracellular form of Leishmania in high throughput assays. Reporter gene technology has proven to be an excellent tool for drug screening in vitro. The effects of reporter proteins on parasite infectivity should be identified both in vitro and in vivo. In this research, we initially compared the infectivity rate of recombinant Leishmania major expressing stably enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) alone or EGFP-luciferase (EGFP-LUC) with the wild-type strain. Next, we evaluated the sensitivity of these parasites to amphotericin B (AmB) as a standard drug in 2 parasitic phases, promastigote and amastigote. This comparison was made by MTT and nitric oxide (NO) assay and by quantifying the specific signals derived from reporter genes like EGFP intensity and luciferase activity. To study the amastigote form, both B10R and THP-1 macrophage cell lines were infected in the stationary phase and were exposed to AmB at different time points. Our results clearly revealed that the 3 parasite lines had similar in vitro infectivity rates with comparable parasite-induced levels of NO following interferon-${\gamma}$/lipopolysaccharide induction. Based on our results we proposed the more reporter gene, the faster and more sensitive evaluation of the drug efficiency.