Penicilliosis incidence correlates with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Viet nam. The number of cases increases during rainy months. Injection drug use, shorter history, absence of fever or skin lesions, respiratory difficulty, higher lymphocyte count, and lower platelet count predict poor in-hospital outcome.

Penicillium marneffei is an important human immunodeficiency virus-associated opportunistic infection endemic in Southeast Asia. Central nervous system infection has not been described. We report the first case series of 21 human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients who presented with a syndrome consistent with acute central nervous system infection and who had Penicillium marneffei isolated from cerebrospinal fluid.

The HIV epidemic is emerging rapidly in Vietnam. We studied the prevalence of opportunistic infections by performing clinical and microbiological investigations in 100 hospitalized HIV-infected adults in Ho Cho Minh City, Vietnam. The median CD4 count was 20 cells/mm(3) and in-hospital mortality was 28%. The most frequent diagnoses were oral candidiasis (54), tuberculosis (37), wasting syndrome (34), lower respiratory tract infection (13), cryptococcosis (9), and penicilliosis (7). Bacterial (other than tuberculosis) and parasitic infections were uncommon. Regional differences should be considered when deciding which diagnostic procedures and prophylactic measures to implement. In Vietnam, routine mycobacterial blood cultures do not provide greater yield than chest radiography and sputum and lymph node aspirate smears. Prophylactic trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole against Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia may confer little benefit, and high rates of isoniazid resistance may affect the efficacy and feasibility of tuberculosis chemoprophylaxis. However, the usefulness of itraconazole prophylaxis for cryptococcosis and penicilliosis merits further consideration.

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The formation of basal laminae in peripheral nerve was studied by immunofluorescence with laminin antisera in the rat embryo. Peripheral nerves were identified with neurofilament antisera in double labeled sections. In the adult rat perineurium and endoneurium were uniformly decorated by the antisera. Sensory neurons in posterior root ganglia were surrounded by a laminin positive basal lamina. Laminin immunoreactivity was first observed in posterior spinal roots on day 14. Anterior spinal roots and peripheral nerves remained laminin negative until day 17. The adult pattern (uniform decoration of endoneurium in large and small nerve trunks) was only observed on day 21. The formation of a basal lamina surrounding posterior root ganglion neurons was still not completed in 3-day-old rats. The only laminin positive structures in the brain and spinal cord were the external basal laminae and the blood vessels. The external basal lamina was present at all stages of development. In the spinal cord and brain stem vascular basal laminae were first identified with laminin antisera on day 14, in the diencephalon and telencephalon on day 15. Laminin immunoreactivity in the basal laminae surrounding myotubes was first observed on day 16.

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For the article "Feto-Maternal Cell Trafficking: A Transfer of Pregnancy-Associated Progenitor Cells" (Stem Cell Reviews volume 2, issue 2, pp. I I I-I 1 6), the first author's surname is incorrectly indicated; the correct surname is Nguyen I-luu, first name Sau.