Browsing by Author "Antony, Molly"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    An elusive diagnosis: Scedosporium apiospermum infection after near-drowning
    (ANNALS OF INDIAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY, 2010)
    A 51-year-old male was admitted in our institute following an episode of near-drowning. He later developed ventriculitis and cerebral ring-enhancing lesions. He died following a subarachnoid hemorrhage due to rupture of a mycotic aneurysm involving the right fetal posterior cerebral artery. Scedosporium apiospermum was isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid. Central nervous system invasion by S apiospermum may present insidiously in near-drowning patients and, therefore, requires a high index of suspicion. In cases with the characteristic cerebral ring-enhancing lesions and concomitant ventriculitis, treatment should be instituted while awaiting fungal culture. With this article we intend to alert neurologists, intensivists, and physicians to this near fatal infection, as early identification and prompt treatment with voriconazole may be life saving.
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    High polymeric IgA content facilitates recognition of microbial polysaccharide-natural serum antibody immune complexes by immobilized human galectin-1
    (IMMUNOLOGY LETTERS, 2011)
    Dextran-binding immunoglobulin (Dig) and anti-beta-glucan antibody (ABG) are naturally occurring human serum antibodies specific to alpha- and beta-glucoside epitopes respectively of polysaccharide antigens and heavily enriched in IgA. ABG and Dig are shown here to have much more of their IgA in polymeric form than does serum IgA in general. Cell wall beta-glucans and glycoproteins of the widely consumed yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) offered several hundred fold better ligands for ABG than did small beta-glucosides. Candida albicans cell wall antigen (CCA), a commonly encountered polysaccharide-rich fungal antigen was recognized by normal human serum anti-carbohydrate antibodies to precipitate maximally at a definite stoichiometry typical of immune complexes (IC). IC formed in serum in vitro on addition of CCA contained a significantly higher percentage of IgA than did either naturally occurring IC or serum. Polymeric IgA was far better ligand than monomeric IgA for both anti-IgA antibody and the most widely expressed human tissue lectin galectin-1 which recognizes O-linked oligosaccharides characteristic of IgA, in contrast to N-linked oligosaccharides present in all immunoglobulins. Moreover, desialylation by neuraminidase, an enzyme released into circulation during many microbial infections and diabetes, increased lectin-binding activity of polymeric IgA much more than that of monomeric IgA. Human galectin-1 immobilized in active form in vitro sugar-specifically captured IgA and IgA-containing IC formed by CCA in serum but not IgG. Results suggest that while high IgA content especially in polymeric form may render polysaccharide IC more susceptible to tissue uptake, desialylation of IgA in IC could enhance the process. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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    Kodamaea ohmeri tricuspid valve endocarditis with right ventricular inflow obstruction in a neonate with structurally normal heart.
    (Annals of pediatric cardiology, 2011)
    The yeast Kodamaea (Pichia) ohmeri is a rare human pathogen with infrequent report of neonatal infection. Native valve endocarditis by Kodamaea ohmeri is extremely rare. The current case report describes a case of fatal nosocomial native valve endocarditis without any structural heart defects in a 40dayold baby. The patient was referred to our institute after having ICU stay of 18 days in another hospital for necrotizing enterocolitis and was found to have obstructive tricuspid valve mass and fungemia with Kodamaea ohmeri. In spite of the treatment, patient developed sepsis with disseminated intravascular coagulation and could not be revived.