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Among invasive fungal infections, cryptococcosis caused by inhalation of Cryptococcus neoformans or Cryptococcus gattii is particularly dangerous because it can disseminate to the central nervous system and cause life-threatening meningitis or meningoencephalitis. Previous reports described significant differences in the histopathological features of C. neoformans and C. gattii infection, such as greater pathogen proliferation and a limited macrophage response in mouse lung infected by C. gattii. To elucidate the difference in pathogenicity of these two Cryptococcus species, we investigated the interaction of C. neoformans and C. gattii with murine macrophages, the first line of host defense, by confocal laser microscopy. Only thin-capsulated, and not thick-capsulated C. neoformans and C. gattii were phagocytosed by macrophages. Preactivation with interferon-γ increased the phagocytic rate of thin-capsulated C. neoformans up to two-fold, but did not promote phagocytosis of thin-capsulated C. gattii . Lipopolysaccharide preactivation or Aspergillus fumigatus conidia co-incubation had no effect on internalization of thin-capsulated C. neoformans or C. gattii by macrophages. Phagocytosis of live thin-capsulated C. neoformans , but not that of live thin-capsulated C. gattii , induced interleukin-12 release from macrophages. However, phagocytosis of heat-killed or paraformaldehyde-fixed thin-capsulated C. neoformans did not increase IL-12 release, showing that the internalization of live yeast is important for initiating the immune response during C. neoformans −macrophage interactions. Our data suggest that macrophage response to C. gattii is limited compared with that to C. neoformans and that these results may partially explain the limited immune response and the greater pathogenicity of C. gattii . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To investigate whether or not the combined ultrasound and antibiotic treatment is effective against chlamydial infection, a new ultrasound exposure system was designed to treat chlamydia-infected cells. First, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics against Chlamydia trachomatis were determined. Infected cultures were treated with antibiotics then sonicated at intensity of 0.15 or 0.44W/cm2 with or without Bubble liposomes. After 48 or 72h after infection, chlamydial inclusions were stained and examined by fluorescence microscopy. The internalization of dextran–fluorescein conjugates by ultrasound irradiation with Bubble liposomes was observed by fluorescence microscopy. The results showed that application of nanobubble-enhanced ultrasound caused no significant effect on cell viability and chlamydial infectivity. However, Doxycycline (1/2 MIC) or CZX (1.0μg/ml) in combination with nanobubble-enhanced ultrasound dramatically reduced the number of inclusions compared with that administered with antibiotics only. Bubble dose-dependent synergy was also observed. After ultrasound irradiation at intensity of 0.44W/cm2 on the presence of Bubble liposomes, 10% of HeLa cells were observed to have internalized the dextran molecules. This study suggests the possibility of using nanobubble-enhanced ultrasound to deliver antibiotic molecules into cells to eradiate intracellular bacteria, such as chlamydiae, without causing much damage to the cells itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two basidiomycete species, Lentinus edodes mycelia (LEM) and Cordyceps sinensis (CS) were examined for induction of cytokines in murine macrophage cell line R309 (R309) and T cell line LBRM-33 1A5 (1A5). When lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated R309 were exposed to the extracts of basidiomycetes, R309 induced significant levels of interleukin 1 (IL-1). Interleukin 2 (IL-2) induction was recognized in 1A5 cultures in the presence of IL-1 and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). However, no enhancement of IL-2 production by these basidiomycetes was discerned in 1A5 cultures with IL-1 and PHA, i.e., direct action of basidiomycetes was not found on IL-2 production of 1A5. PHA-stimulated 1A5 exposed to basidiomycetes induced IL-2 without IL-1 when co-cultured with LPS-activated R309 as a source of IL-1. Effects of basidiomycetes on IL-2 production in 1A5 seemed to be caused through their action on macrophages. The induction of IL-2, Th1 type cytokine in T lymphocyte, is a significant finding since basidiomycetes, taken as a dietary supplement for immuno-suppressed patients, especially cancer patients, would be helpful in improving their immune activity against cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We conducted an antibiotic susceptibility survey of 830 blood-borne methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus collected from nationwide hospitals in Japan over a three-year period from January 2008 through May 2011. Antibiotic susceptibility was judged according to the criteria recommended by the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute. Over 99% of the MRSA showed to be susceptible to teicoplanin, linezolid, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and vancomycin, and over 97% of them were susceptible to daptomycin, arbekacin and rifampin. The majority of the MRSA strains showed resistant to minocycline, meropenem, imipenem, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, cefoxitin, and oxacillin in the rates of 56.6, 72.9, 73.7, 78.7, 89.0, 99.5, and 99.9%, respectively. Among the MRSA strains, 72 showed reduced susceptibility to vancomycin, including 8 strains (0.96%) of vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA), 54 (6.51%) of heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA), and 55 (5.63%) of β-lactam antibiotics-induced vancomycin resistant S. aureus (BIVR). Unexpectedly, among the 54 hVISA and 55 BIVR, 45 isolates (83.3% and 81.8%, respectively) showed both hVISA and BIVR phenotypes. A new trend of vancomycin resistance found in this study was that VISA strains were still prevalent among the bacteremic specimens. The high rates of the hVISA/BIVR two-phenotypic vancomycin resistance, and the prevalence of VISA in the bloodborne MRSA call attention in the MRSA epidemiology in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]