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Fusarium spp. have frequently been isolated from patients with onychomycosis. In Colombia, several studies have shown that Fusarium is the most common non-dermatophyte mould causing onychomycosis and its spread has increased in the past years. In this study, samples were collected in 2003 and 2004 from 137 patients who were diagnosed with onychomycosis caused by Fusarium spp. Three species of Fusarium were identified: Fusarium solani (64.9%), Fusarium oxysporum (32.8%) and Fusarium verticillioides (2.3%). The diseases were more common in women (73%) than in men (27%) and occurred mainly among adults between 31 and 40 years old. The percentage of patients who had received previous treatments was 63.5%. In the last years, new and improved antifungal agents like echinocandins or new triazoles like voriconazole have been developed. For this reason, susceptibility testing using voriconazole was performed, by broth microdilution and disk diffusion. The results showed that F. solani had the highest minimum inhibitory concentration. Using the disk diffusion test, many of the isolates showed variable susceptibility. Genetic diversity of F. oxysporum isolates was determined by random amplified polymorphic DNA. Twenty isolates belonging to different haplotypes were selected for PCR amplification of a region of the gene encoding α-l-arabinofuranosidase B, a specific test to determine if the isolates were F. oxysporum f. sp. dianthi. On the basis of these PCR results, we found that five out of the 20 F. oxysporum isolates corresponded to f. sp. dianthi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight in crops of the Solanaceae family, is one of the most important plant pathogens in Colombia. Not only are Solanum lycopersicum, and S. tuberosum at risk, but also several other solanaceous hosts (Physalis peruviana, S. betaceum, S. phureja, and S. quitoense) that have recently gained importance as new crops in Colombia may be at risk. Because little is known about the population structure of Phytophthora infestans in Colombia, we report here the phenotypic and molecular characterization of 97 isolates collected from these six different solanaceous plants in Colombia. All the isolates were analyzed for mating type, mitochondrial haplotypes, genotype for several microsatellites, and sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. This characterization identified a single individual of A2 mating type (from Physalis peruviana) for the first time in Colombia. All isolates had an ITS sequence that was at least 97% identical to the consensus sequence. Of the 97 isolates, 96 were mitochondrial haplotype IIa, with the single A2 isolate being Ia. All isolates were invariant for the microsatellites. Additionally, isolates collected from S. tuberosum and P. peruviana (64 isolates) were tested for: aggressiveness on both hosts, genotype for the isozymes (glucose-6-phosphate isomerase and peptidase), and restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprint pattern as detected by RG57. Isolates from S. tuberosum were preferentially pathogenic on S. tuberosum, and isolates from P. peruviana were preferentially pathogenic on P. peruviana. The population from these two hosts was dominated by a single clonal lineage (59 of 64 individuals assayed), previously identified from Ecuador and Peru as EC-1. This lineage was mating type A1, ha for mitochondrial DNA, invariant for two microsatellites, and invariant for both isozymes. The remaining four A1 isolates were in lineages very closely related to EC-1... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To demonstrate the efficiency of vitrifying mature human oocytes for different clinical indications. Design: Descriptive case series. Setting: Cryobiology laboratory, Centro Colombiano de Fertilidad y Esterilidad–CECOLFES LTDA. (Bogotá, Colombia). Patient(s): Oocyte vitrification was offered as an alternative management for patients undergoing infertility treatment because of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, premature ovarian failure, natural ovarian failure, male factor, poor response, or oocyte donation. Mature oocytes were obtained from 33 donor women and 40 patients undergoing infertility treatment. Intervention(s): Oocytes were retrieved by ultrasound-guided transvaginal aspiration and vitrified with the Cryotops method, with 30% ethylene glycol, 30% dimethyl sulfoxide, and 0.5 mol/L sucrose. Viability was assessed 3 hours after thawing. The surviving oocytes were inseminated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Fertilization was evaluated after 24 hours. The zygotes were further cultured in vitro for up to 72 hours until time of embryo transfer. Main Outcome Measure(s): Recovery, viability, fertilization, and pregnancy rates. Result(s): Oocyte vitrification with the Cryotop method resulted in high rates of recovery, viability, fertilization, cleavage, and ongoing pregnancy. Conclusion(s): Vitrification with the Cryotop method is an efficient, fast, and economical method for oocyte cryopreservation that offers high rates of survival, fertilization, embryo development, and ongoing normal pregnancies, providing a new alternative for the management of female infertility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, the causal agent of potato late blight, is responsible for tremendous crop losses worldwide. Countries in the northern part of the Andes dedicate a large proportion of the highlands to the production of potato, and more recently, solanaceous fruits such as cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) and tree tomato (Solanum betaceum), all of which are hosts of this oomycete. In the Andean region, P. infestans populations have been well characterized in Ecuador and Peru, but are poorly understood in Colombia and Venezuela. To understand the P. infestans population structure in the Northern part of the Andes, four nuclear regions (ITS, Ras, β-tubulin and Avr3a) and one mitochondrial (Cox1) region were analyzed in isolates of P. infestans sampled from different hosts in Colombia and Venezuela., Results: Low genetic diversity was found within this sample of P. infestans isolates from crops within several regions of Colombia and Venezuela, revealing the presence of clonal populations of the pathogen in this region. We detected low frequency heterozygotes, and their distribution patterns might be a consequence of a high migration rate among populations with poor effective gene flow. Consistent genetic differentiation exists among isolates from different regions., Conclusions: The results here suggest that in the Northern Andean region P. infestans is a clonal population with some within-clone variation. P. infestans populations in Venezuela reflect historic isolation that is being reinforced by a recent self-sufficiency of potato seeds. In summary, the P. infestans population is mainly shaped by migration and probably by the appearance of variants of key effectors such as Avr3a.