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An ocular cysticercosis case of a nine-year-old Balinese girl in Indonesia is reported. She presented with redness and pain in the left eye and showed a cysticercus in the anterior chamber in December 2010. Morphological feature of the cysticercus removed from the anterior chamber indicated that it was an immature cysticercus of Taenia species with no hooklets. However, mitochondrial DNA analysis using a piece of histopathological specimen revealed it a cysticercus of Taenia solium Asian genotype. Serology by immunoblot and ELISA highly specific to cysticercosis was negative., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Four new phenolic derivatives, gnetofurans A-C (1-3) and dihydropinosylvindiol (4), were isolated from a methanol-soluble extract of the stems of Gnetum klossii, together with nine known compounds [gnetifolin F (5), isorhapontigenin, gnetulin, gnetins E and C, latifolol, gnetol, (-)-epsilon-viniferin, and trans-resveratrol]. The structures of the new compounds were determined by spectral data analysis.

Four stilbene derivatives, gnemonols K and L (resveratrol trimers), M (isorhapontigenin dimer), and gnemonoside K (glucoside of resveratrol trimer) together with eleven known stilbenoids and a lignan were isolated from the acetone, methanol and 70% methanol soluble parts of the root of Gnetum gnemon (Gnetaceae). The structures of the isolates were determined by spectral analysis. The antioxidant activity of the stilbenoids on lipid peroxide inhibition and super oxide scavenging activity were also investigated.

Historically, neurocysticercosis (NCC) caused by the larval stage, cysticercus or cysticerci, of the pork tapeworm Taenia solium was recognized in Paniai District, western Irian Jaya Province, Indonesia, in the early 1970s. In the 1990s, we observed a rapid increase in the number of cases of epileptic seizures and burns in Assologaima Sub-District, Jayawijaya District, eastern Irian Jaya. There were totals of 1120 new cases of burns and 293 new cases of epileptic seizures during 1991-95 in Assologaima where the number of inhabitants was 15,939. Histopathological examination of resected cysts from patients and a pig revealed that they were cysticerci of T. solium. DNA analysis of these cysts revealed that the nucleotide sequences of 391 base-pair fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene were exactly the same in those from patients and the pig. Although 3 of 391 base-pair fragments might differ from that of T. solium reported previously, there were no differences in the amino-acid sequences. Approximately 67% and 65% of persons with epileptic seizures and with subcutaneous nodules, respectively, showed antibody responses highly specific to cysticercosis. Therefore, most cases of epileptic seizures and burns were considered to be associated with cysticercosis in Irian Jaya.