Pulmonary and Cutaneous Tuberculosis: A Simultaneous Presentation

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an aerobic organism causing a disease commonly called tuberculosis (TB). Skin involvement is rare especially in association with pulmonary TB. It involves skin in a number of ways. Most of the time they are confused with systemic disease causing involvement of both pulmonary and extra pulmonary organs. Diagnosing such cases are challenging and in almost all cases histological confirmation is necessary. We are presenting a case with erythematous nodular skin lesion on nose, cheeks and on her back near scapular area along with chest involvement. KEYWORDS: Pulmonary, Cutaneous, Tuberculosis, Granulomatous Inflammation

The SOD-2 protein is the single active SOD enzyme in C. elegans

ABSTRACTThe nematode C. elegans has a contingent of five sod genes, one of the largest among aerobic organism. Earlier studies revealed each of the five sod genes is capable of making perfectly active SOD proteins in heterologous expressions systems therefore none appears to be a pseudogene. Yet deletion of the entire contingent of sod genes fails to impose any effect on the survival of C. elegans except these animals appear more sensitive to extraneously applied oxidative stress condition. We asked how many of the five sod genes are actually active in C. elegans through an in-gel SOD activity analysis. Here we provide evidence that out of the five genes only the mitochondrial SOD gene is active in C. elegans, albeit at a much lesser amount compared to D. melanogaster and E. coli. Mutant analysis further confirmed that among the mitochondrial forms, SOD-2 is the only naturally active SOD in C. elegans.

A study of head and neck space infections and their sensitivity pattern at tertiary care hospital

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Head and neck space infections including submandibular, buccal, diffuse neck space, peritonsillar, parapharyngeal, parotid, submental, retropharyngeal, result in frequent hospital visits. Infection can be mild or severe life threatening infection.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> 40 patients with head and neck space infections were considered. Pus samples were collected with aseptic precautions and sent to department of microbiology for culture and antibiotic sensitivity. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The most common head and neck space infections are submandibular followed by buccal, diffuse neck abscess, peritonsillar, parapharyngeal, parotid, submental and retropharyngeal. Incidence of aerobic growth is 60%, fungal 10%, anaerobic 7.5%, tubercular 7.5% and no growth 15%. Predominant aerobes are <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>, <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>, Methicillin Resistant<em> Staphlococcus aureus</em>, <em>Klebsiella</em> species and anaerobes are Peptostreptococcus and bacteroides and fungal species is <em>Candida</em>. Aerobic organism showed maximum sensitivity to Amikacin, Vancomycin, Linezolid, Piperacillin+Tazobactum, Clindamycin, Erythromycin, Cefoperazone, Ceftriaxone and maximum resistant to Levofloxacin, Cefoperazone, Ceftriaxone, Meropenem. Anaerobic bacteria showed sensitivity to Clindamycin, Metronidazole and Colistin and resistance to Vancomycin.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Bacteriological examination and culture of head and neck abscesses helps to identify causative organisms. It helps to isolate even rarest of organisms and by knowing their sensitivity pattern we can detect specific therapy against them. Thus it helps in more effective treatment and fast recovery.</p>

Humihabitans oryzae gen. nov., sp. nov.

Strain KV-657T was isolated from a paddy field soil sample collected in Japan using GPM agar plates supplemented with catalase. The strain was a Gram-positive, aerobic organism that formed branching hyphae with ll-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic peptidoglycan diamino acid. The major menaquinone was MK-8(H4). Mycolic acids were not detected. The G+C content of the DNA was 70 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that this strain is closely related to Intrasporangium calvum DSM 43043T, with a similarity of 97.6 %. Based on the morphological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic properties of this strain and phylogenetic analysis, it was concluded that this isolate represents a new genus and species in the family Intrasporangiaceae, for which the name Humihabitans oryzae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Humihabitans oryzae is KV-657T (=NRRL B-24470T =NBRC 101802T).

Role of Molybdate and Other Transition Metals in the Accumulation of Protochelin by Azotobacter vinelandii

ABSTRACT Both molybdate and iron are metals that are required by the obligately aerobic organism Azotobacter vinelandii to survive in the nutrient-limited conditions of its natural soil environment. Previous studies have shown that a high concentration of molybdate (1 mM) affects the formation of A. vinelandiisiderophores such that the tricatecholate protochelin is formed to the exclusion of the other catecholate siderophores, azotochelin and aminochelin. It has been shown previously that molybdate combines readily with catecholates and interferes with siderophore function. In this study, we found that the manner in which each catecholate siderophore interacted with molybdate was consistent with the structure and binding potential of the siderophore. The affinity that each siderophore had for molybdate was high enough that stable molybdo-siderophore complexes were formed but low enough that the complexes were readily destabilized by Fe3+. Thus, competition between Fe3+ and molybdate did not appear to be the primary cause of protochelin accumulation; in addition, we determined that protochelin accumulated in the presence of vanadate, tungstate, Zn2+, and Mn2+. We found that all five of these metal ions partially inhibited uptake of55Fe-protochelin and 55Fe-azotochelin complexes. Also, each of these metal ions partially inhibited the activity of ferric reductase, an enzyme important in the deferration of ferric siderophores. Our results suggest that protochelin accumulates in the presence of molybdate because protochelin uptake and conversion into its component parts, azotochelin and aminochelin, are inhibited by interference with ferric reductase.