Primary retroperitoneal masses constitute a heterogeneous group of uncommon lesions and represent a challenge due to overlapping imaging findings. Most are malignant lesions. Although they are more prevalent in adults, they can occur at any age. Such lesions are classified as primary when they do not originate from a specific retroperitoneal organ and are divided, according to the image findings, into two major groups: solid and cystic. The clinical findings are nonspecific and vary depending on the location of the lesion in relation to adjacent structures, as well as on its behavior. The main imaging methods used for staging and surgical planning, as well as for selecting the biopsy site and guiding the biopsy procedure, are computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. In most cases, the treatment is challenging, because of the size of the lesions, vascular involvement, or involvement of adjacent organs. In this article, we present a review of the retroperitoneal anatomy and a practical approach to the main imaging features to be evaluated, with a view to the differential diagnosis, which can guide the clinical management.

Two supplemented broths (Christensen's urea with 0.1% Tween 80 and 0.5% Tween 40 and RPMI 1640 with 1% glycerol, 1% peptone, 1.8% glucose, and 0.05% Tween 80) were evaluated to determine voriconazole, itraconazole, and ketoconazole MICs for 200 Malassezia sp. isolates. Malassezia globosa and M. restricta were the least susceptible species (MICs at which 90% of the isolates tested were inhibited, 1 to >8 g/ml versus 0.25 to 1 g/ml).An increased incidence of severe dermatological and systemic infections by Malassezia spp. has been reported among immunosuppressed patients. Standardized assays are not available to determine the in vitro susceptibilities of these yeasts to any antifungal due to their complex nutritional requirements. Recently, Christensen's urea (measures metabolic activity) and supplemented RPMI 1640 (measures growth inhibition) broths were evaluated (16,21 pachydermatis).The 200 isolates were cultured from 77 patients (human immunodeficiency virus positive and negative) with dermatological pathologies (3) and 33 healthy volunteers. Isolates were identified by following conventional standard guidelines (10,11,15). Six reference Malassezia strains (see Table 2), CLSI quality control strain Candida krusei ATCC 6258 (2, 17), and Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC 90112 were tested as controls. The identification of representative isolates of each species and of the six reference isolates was confirmed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (8). For the quality control strain, the MICs of the three azoles were within the expected ranges (2, 17).CLSI RPMI 1640 medium (17)

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.

We studied the diversity and biocontrol potential of 100 fungal endophytes isolated from Espeletia spp., endemic plant species from the Paramo in the Andean mountain range. Our sample was genotypically highly diverse at all ITS similarity levels. The antagonistic properties of these isolates were tested against common crop pathogens in Colombia, including Pectobacterium carotovorum, Ralstonia solanacearum, Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthomonas campestris, Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, and Phytophthora infestans. All endophytic isolates were able to significantly inhibit the growth of at least one of the plant pathogens tested (P \ 0.05). Three main types of endophyte/pathogen interactions were observed.However, only those endophytes that produced an evident inhibition halo were further studied using their crude extracts to confirm that the inhibitory effect was due to the production of endophytic bioactive metabolites. From these experiments, nine promising isolates were selected for co-inoculation tests with R. solani in tomato plants. The isolates identified as Aureobasidium pullulans and Paraconiothyrium sporulosum not only protected the plants against this pathogen but also allowed them to exhibit similar growth and development as the uninoculated control. This work explores new alternatives for disease management without the application of chemical pesticides.

Fusariosis have been increasing in Colombia in recent years, but its epidemiology is poorly known. We have morphologically and molecularly characterized 89 isolates of Fusarium obtained between 2010 and 2012 in the cities of Bogotá and Medellín. Using a multi-locus sequence analysis of rDNA internal transcribed spacer, a fragment of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (Tef-1α) and of the RNA-dependent polymerase subunit II (Rpb2) genes, we identified the phylogenetic species and circulating haplotypes. Since most of the isolates studied were from onychomycoses (nearly 90 %), we carried out an epidemiological study to determine the risk factors associated with such infections. Five phylogenetic species of the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC), i.e., F. falciforme, F. keratoplasticum, F. lichenicola, F. petroliphilum, and FSSC 6 as well as two of the Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC), i.e., FOSC 3 and FOSC 4, were identified. The most prevalent species were FOSC 3 (38.2%) followed by F. keratoplasticum (33.7%). In addition, our isolates were distributed into 23 haplotypes (14 into FOSC and nine into FSSC). Two of the FSSC phylogenetic species and two haplotypes of FSSC were not described before. Our results demonstrate that recipients of pedicure treatments have a lower probability of acquiring onychomycosis than those not receiving such treatments. The antifungal susceptibility of all the isolates to five clinically available agents showed that amphotericin B was the most active drug, while the azoles exhibited lower in vitro activity.

The species constituting the genus Malassezia are considered to be emergent opportunistic yeasts of great importance. Characterized as lipophilic yeasts, they are found in normal human skin flora and sometimes are associated with different dermatological pathologies. We have isolated seven Malassezia species strains that have a different Tween assimilation pattern from the one typically used to differentiate M. furfur, M. sympodialis, and M. slooffiae from other Malassezia species. In order to characterize these isolates of Malassezia spp., we studied their physiological features and conducted morphological and molecular characterization by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing of the 26S and 5.8S ribosomal DNA-internal transcribed spacer 2 regions in three strains from healthy individuals, four clinical strains, and eight reference strains. The sequence analysis of the ribosomal region was based on the Blastn algorithm and revealed that the sequences of our isolates were homologous to M. furfur sequences. To support these findings, we carried out phylogenetic analyses to establish the relationship of the isolates to M. furfur and other reported species. All of our results confirm that all seven strains are M. furfur; the atypical assimilation of Tween 80 was found to be a new physiological pattern characteristic of some strains isolated in Colombia.The genus Malassezia comprises lipophilic yeasts found in the normal flora of human skin and other mammals. These yeasts were described by Eichstedt in 1848 as being associated with pityriasis versicolor (PV) lesions (13). The taxonomy and nomenclature of the genus Malassezia was controversial for many decades. Indeed, until 1990 only three species were recognized: M. furfur, M. sympodialis, and M. pachydermatis, a non-lipid-dependent species (17,21,38 (4,6,11,17,18,20,21,26,34,38,(40)(41)(42).Malassezia species have been associated with diverse dermatological pathologies, including PV, seborrheic dermatitis dandruff, atopic dermatitis, folliculitis, psoriasis, onicomycosis, and blepharitis. M. furfur and M. pachydermatis have been associated with systemic infections in patients with underlying diseases and those receiving intravenous lipid emulsions (6, 7, 9-11, 16, 29, 33, 34).Although the role of Malassezia species in the development of these diseases is not clear, some authors suggest that M. globosa is the causal agent of PV, while others have found a greater percentage of isolates of M. sympodialis associated with the disease. Differences in diagnosis might be due to sampling methods and differences between the culture media used, leading to controversies in clinical studies of these dermatological pathologies (1, 7, 9, 10). New physiological patterns for identification have been described, and recently the availability of molecular biology and sequencing techniques has allowed the species to be distinguished more clearly (17-21). Despite the difficulty in isolating, maintaining, and identifying these yeasts, different characteristics of ...

Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT is superior to In-octreotide SPECT/CT for the detection of recurrent MTC demonstrating a significantly higher number of lesions.Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT showed a superior detection rate compared to CI in demonstrating bone metastases.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) roots from four different crop sites in Colombia were surface sterilized and 51 fungal isolates were obtained and conserved for further analysis. Based on microscopical observations and growth characteristics, 20 fungal isolates corresponded to genus Fusarium, six presented asexual conidia different from Fusarium, eight were sterile mycelia, seven of which had dark septate hyphae and 17 did not continue to grow on plates after being recovered from conservation. Growth on different media, detailed morphological characterization and ITS region sequencing of the six sporulating and eight sterile isolates revealed that they belonged to different orders of Ascomycota and that the sterile dark septate endophytes did not correspond to the well known Phialocephala group. Interactions of nine isolates with tomato plantlets were assessed in vitro. No effect on shoot development was revealed, but three isolates caused brown spots in roots. Colonization patterns as analyzed by confocal microscopy differed among the isolates and ranged from epidermal to cortical penetration. Altogether 11 new isolates from root endophytic fungi were obtained, seven of which showed features of dark septate endophytes. Four known morphotypes were represented by five isolates, while six isolates belonged to five morphotypes of putative new unknown species.