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A 31-year-old African American woman with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) (recent CD4 count of 66/mm) presented to the emergency room with a tension pneumothorax that required an emergent chest tube placement. Computed tomography scan showed fungus balls in multiple lung cavities and surrounding infiltrates. The patient showed remarkable improvement with voriconazole suggesting aspergillosis. However, the patient was serologically negative for Aspergillus and other common fungal infections. Because of a persistent air leak, surgical intervention was needed. The histological finding was consistent with invasive mycosis, and cultures were positive for Scedosporium apiospermum. Literature review showed that, among patients with HIV/AIDS, Scedosporium can present from focal localized to systemic disease, is resistant to traditional antifungal agents, and may respond to prompt management with voriconazole.

Zooplankton distribution, abundance and size structure were characterised on leg 2 of the PRIME cruise in the northeast Atlantic during July 1996. Latitudinal sampling was carried out from 60°N to 37°N along a meridian at approximately 20°W. Zooplankton were characterised using an Optical Plankton Counter (OPC), and from traditional depth-integrated net hauls for taxonomy and carbon. The former method allows zooplankton to be described in terms of biovolume and size. There was good agreement between the two methods for abundance and a good correlation between OPC biovolume and carbon analysis. These data also showed compatibility with concurrent acoustic measurements of zooplankton. Results for the cruise compared to recent studies in the region, show that, overall abundance was generally low, although most of the previous studies were closer to spring bloom conditions. The size structure over latitude shows that mean size fluctuated, but there was a general trend of decreasing mean size from the north of the transect to about 47°N. Further statistical treatment of the OPC data, using principal component analysis, showed that zooplankton size structure changed at five positions along the transect. Three of these coincided with changes in physical structure, one each side of the front at 48°N and the third on the outer edge of an eddy. The other two occurred in regions of high-surface chlorophyll concentration.

The Atlantic Meridional Transect programme uses the twice-annual passage of the RRS James Clark Ross between the UK and the Falkland Islands, before and after the Antarctic research programme in the Austral Summer (see Aiken, J., & Bale, A. J. (2000). An introduction to the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) Programme. Progress in Oceanography, this issue). This paper examines the scientific rationale for a spatially-extensive time and space series programme and reviews the relevant physical and biological oceanography of the Atlantic Ocean. The main scientific observations from the research programme are reported. These are set in the context of historical and contemporary observations pertinent to the principal objectives of the cruise, notably the satellite remotely sensed observations of ocean properties. The extent to which the programme goals have been realised by the research to date is assessed and discussed. New bio-optical signatures, which can be related to productivity parameters, have been derived. These can be used to interpret remotely sensed observations of ocean colour in terms of productivity and production processes such as the air/sea exchange of biogenic gases, which relate to the issues of climate change and the sustainability of marine ecosystems.

The optical properties of North Sea phytoplankton (refractive index and fluorescence-specific scattering) were measured using flow cytometry in July 1987 during a research cruise sponsored by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Environmental Research Council of the UK. Refractive index and associated size distributions of chlorophyll-containing cells were quite broad and did not provide unique descriptions of North Sea water masses. Fluorescence-specific scattering was found to increase within northern and central North Sea waters. AVHRR channel 1 data from satellite overpasses prior to and during the initial stages of the cruise indicate that a large coccolithophore bloom was developing within the northern portion of the North Sea and within Norwegian coastal waters. This bloom may account for the large values of fluorescence-specific scattering.