• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.5095-5099
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• 2015

Background: The statistical methods to analyze and predict the related dangerous factors of deep fungal infection in lung cancer patients were several, such as logic regression analysis, meta-analysis, multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis, retrospective analysis, and so on, but the results are inconsistent. Materials and Methods: A total of 696 patients with lung cancer were enrolled. The factors were compared employing Student's t-test or the Mann-Whitney test or the Chi-square test and variables that were significantly related to the presence of deep fungal infection selected as candidates for input into the final artificial neural network analysis (ANN) model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the performance of the artificial neural network (ANN) model and logistic regression (LR) model. Results: The prevalence of deep fungal infection from lung cancer in this entire study population was 32.04%(223/696), deep fungal infections occur in sputum specimens 44.05%(200/454). The ratio of candida albicans was 86.99% (194/223) in the total fungi. It was demonstrated that older (${\geq}65$ years), use of antibiotics, low serum albumin concentrations (${\leq}37.18g/L$), radiotherapy, surgery, low hemoglobin hyperlipidemia (${\leq}93.67g/L$), long time of hospitalization (${\geq}14$days) were apt to deep fungal infection and the ANN model consisted of the seven factors. The AUC of ANN model($0.829{\pm}0.019$)was higher than that of LR model ($0.756{\pm}0.021$). Conclusions: The artificial neural network model with variables consisting of age, use of antibiotics, serum albumin concentrations, received radiotherapy, received surgery, hemoglobin, time of hospitalization should be useful for predicting the deep fungal infection in lung cancer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1337-1345
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• 2014

A novel antifungal protein produced by the fungal strain Penicillium citrinum W1, which was isolated from a Southwest Indian Ocean sediment sample, was purified and characterized. The culture supernatant of P. citrinum W1 inhibited the mycelial growth of some plant pathogenic fungi. After saturation of P. citrinum W1 culture supernatants with ammonium sulfate and ion-exchange chromatography, an antifungal protein (PcPAF) was purified. The N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis showed that PcPAF might be an unknown antifungal protein. PcPAF displayed antifungal activity against Trichoderma viride, Fusarium oxysporum, Paecilomyces variotii, and Alternaria longipes at minimum inhibitory concentrations of 1.52, 6.08, 3.04, and $6.08{\mu}g/disc$, respectively. PcPAF possessed high thermostability and had a certain extent of protease and metal ion resistance. The results suggested that PcPAF may represent a novel antifungal protein with potential application in controlling plant pathogenic fungal infection.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.340-345
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• 2019

An 82-year-old man with diabetes was admitted to the emergency department with a third-degree burn on his left leg. The deep swab specimen from his left leg was cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar without cycloheximide and incubated at $25^{\circ}C$ for 5 days. On the basis of morphological characteristics and multigene phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA and partial fragments of beta-tubulin and translation elongation factor 1-alpha, the causal agent of fungal skin infection was identified as Bisifusarium delphinoides, which was newly introduced by accommodating a Fusarium dimerum species complex. Thus, we describe here the first case of skin infection caused by B. delphinoides on a burn patient with diabetes mellitus based on morphological observation and molecular analysis.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.159-161
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• 2005

Hypovirus infection of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica is a useful model system to study the hypoviral regulation of fungal gene expression. The hypovirus is known to downregulate the fungal laccase1 (lac 1), the modulation of which is tightly governed by the inositol triphosphate ($IP_3$) and calcium second messenger system in a virus-free strain. We cloned the gene cplc1 encoding a phosphatidyl inositol-specific phospholipase C (PLC), in order to better characterize the fungal gene regulation by hypovirus. Sequence analysis of the cplc1 gene indicated that the protein product contained both the X and Y domains, which are the two conserved regions found in all known PLCs, with a 133 amino acid extension between the 2nd ${\beta}$-strand and the ${\alpha}$-helix in the X domain. In addition, the gene organization appeared to be highly similar to that of a ${\delta}$ type PLC. Disruption of the cplc1 gene resulted in slow growth and produced colonies characterized by little aerial mycelia and deep orange in color. In addition, down regulation of lac1 expression was observed. However, temperature sensitivity, osmosensitivity, virulence, and other hypovirulence-associated characteristics did not differ from the wild-type strain. Functional complementation of the cplc1-null mutant with the PLC1 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae restored lac1 expression, which suggests that the cloned gene encodes PLC activity. The present study indicates that the cplc1 gene is required for appropriate mycelial growth, and that it regulates the lac1 expression, which is also modulated by the hypovirus. Although several PLC genes have been identified in various simple eukaryotic organisms, the deletion analysis of the cplc1 gene in this study appears to be the first report on the functional analysis of PLC in filamentous fungi.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.511-513
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• 2015

A 12-year-old spayed Pomeranian was presented with a purulent, erythematous mass. The dog also suffered from concurrent hyperadrenocorticism and diabetes mellitus. Sporothrix schenckii was isolated through the fungal culture of the mass. Surgical ablation of the mass was performed for the removal of continuous inflammation and fungal infection of deep origin. After histological examination of the mass, severe multifocal pyogranulomatous dermatitis and panniculitis were diagnosed. This is the first confirmed case of pyogranulomatous dermatitis and panniculitis due to Sporothrix schenckii infection in a dog with concurrent hyperadrenocorticism and diabetes mellitus. In addition this is the first case report of sporotrichosis in South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: Spoilage fungi can reduce the shelf life of fresh fruits and cause economic losses by lowering quality. Especially, mulberry fruits have high sensitivity to fungal attack due to their high water content (> 70%) and soft texture. In addition, the surface of these fruits is prone to damage during harvesting and postharvest handling. However, any study on postharvest spoilage fungi in mulberry fruit has not been reported in Korea. This study aimed to examine the spoilage fungi occurring in mulberry fruits during storage after harvest. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, we isolated postharvest spoilage fungi from mulberry fruits stored in refrigerator (fresh fruits) and deep-freezer (frozen fruits) and identified them. In the phylogenetic analysis based on comparisons of the ITS rDNA sequences, the 18 spoilage fungi isolated from mulberry fruits and the 25 reference sequences were largely divided into seven groups that were subsequently verified by high bootstrap analysis of 73 to 100. Alternaria spp. including A. alternate and A. tenuissima, were the most frequently isolated fungi among the spoilage isolates: its occurrence was the highest among the 18 isolates (38.9%). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study will be helpful for increasing the shelf life of mulberry fruits through the application of appropriate control measures against infection by spoilage fungi during storage.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2018

Dimorphic fungi are characterized by the production of mycelia in the environment or when incubated at lower temperatures ($25{\sim}30^{\circ}C$) on media. The conversion to yeast occurs when invading a human body or when incubated at elevated temperatures ($35{\sim}37^{\circ}C$). Dimorphic fungi cause systemic infection and occur only in endemic regions; they can cause deep mycosis, which invades tissues and organs. Imported thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen has five genera, such as Coccidioides immitis, Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Talaromyces (Penicillium) marneffei, and Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. Thus far, 30 cases of dimorphic fungi have been reported in Korea, including C. immitis in 18, H. capsulatum in 5, B. dermatitidis in 3, and T. marneffei in 4 cases. Three 3 cases of C. immitis, 2 cases of H. capsulatum, 1 case of B. dermatitidis, and 1 case of Talaromyces (Penicillium) marneffei were reported in Korea, even though no experience of an epidemic was present. None the dimorphic fungi except for Sporothrix schenkii (Dimorphic fungi) occur in Korea but are caused by endemic fungi that can be found only in specific regions and limited areas of foreign countries. Considering the trends of migratory locals and the increasing number of immigrants living in and returning home, the incidence of imported infections is expected to increase.