These data provide the epidemiological evidence that serum UA may act as a protective factor against the development of incident OFs in Korean men.

A rapid, sensitive, and simple method was developed to detect the sapstain fungi Ophiostoma piceae and O. quercus in stained wood. By using microwave heating for DNA extraction and PCR with internal transcribed spacer-derived-specific primers, detection was feasible within 4 h, even with DNA obtained from a single synnema. This method can easily be extended for the detection of other wood-inhabiting fungi.

Two synonymous sapstain species, Ophiostoma montium and Ophiostoma ips, which are vectored by Dendroctonus ponderosae and various bark beetles, respectively, were differentiated into separate species using growth and molecular characteristics. Analysis of 32 isolates of the two species from different countries showed that O. ips was able to grow at 35 degrees C while O. montium was not. This growth-based differentiation was strongly supported by sequence data for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), 5.8S and partial 28S rDNA, and the beta-tubulin genes. The beta-tubulin gene sequence data indicate that the two species can easily be differentiated with a single polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.

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