"Engyodontium album" is an environmental saprobic mould and an emerging opportunistic pathogen able to cause both superficial and systemic infections. In this study, we isolated a mould from the skin lesion biopsy specimen of the right shin in a patient who received renal transplantation for end-stage renal failure with prednisolone, tacrolimus, and azathioprine immunosuppressant therapy. Histology of the skin biopsy showed mild squamous hyperplasia and neutrophilic infiltrate in the epidermis, active chronic inflammation in the dermis, and fat necrosis in the subcutis, with numerous fungal elements within the serum crusts. On Sabouraud glucose agar, the fungus grew as white, cobweb-like, floccose colonies. Microscopically, conidiogenous cells were arranged in whorls of one to seven at wide angles, with zigzag-shaped terminal fertile regions and smooth, hyaline, oval, apiculate conidia. DNA sequencing showed the mould isolate belonged to "E. album" but matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) failed to identify the isolate. Phylogenetic analyses based on the internal transcribed spacer region, 28S nuclear ribosomal DNA, and β-tubulin gene and MALDI-TOF MS coupled with hierarchical cluster analysis showed that "E. album" is distantly related to other Engyodontium species and should be transferred to a novel genus within the family Cordycipitaceae, for which the name Parengyodontium album gen. et comb. nov. is proposed. Three potential cryptic species within this species complex were also revealed. Antifungal susceptibility testing showed posaconazole and voriconazole had high activities against all clinical P. album isolates and may be better drug options for treating P. album infections.
Background: The existing staging systems of uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS) cannot classify the patients into four non-overlapping prognostic groups. This study aimed to develop a prediction model to predict the three-year survival status of uLMS. Methods: In total, 201 patients with uLMS who had been treated between June 1993 and January 2014, were analyzed. Potential prognostic indicators were identified by univariate models followed by multivariate analyses. Prediction models were constructed by binomial regression with 3-year survival status as a binary outcome, and the final model was validated by internal cross-validation. Results: Nine potential parameters, including age, log tumor diameter, log mitotic count, cervical involvement, parametrial involvement, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, tumor circumscription and lymphovascular space invasion were identified. 110 patients had complete data to build the prediction models. Age, log tumor diameter, log mitotic count, distant metastasis, and circumscription were significantly correlated with the 3-year survival status. The final model with the lowest Akaike’s Information Criterion (117.56) was chosen and the cross validation estimated prediction accuracy was 0.745. Conclusion: We developed a prediction model for uLMS based on five readily available clinicopathologic parameters. This might provide a personalized prediction of the 3-year survival status and guide the use of adjuvant therapy, a cancer surveillance program, and future studies.
Spontaneous regression of malignant tumour is a rare phenomenon. This report describes such an occurrence in a gastric large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of a 77-year-old man. The patient presented with dyspepsia, and biopsy of the fungating mass in the cardia showed a high grade neuroendocrine carcinoma. The pre-operative biopsy taken after 3 months showed chronic inflammation and cytomegalovirus inclusions, but no tumour. In the gastrectomy specimen, no residual tumour was found. Instead, there were foamy histiocytes, chronic inflammatory cells and fibrovascular tissue splitting apart the muscularis propria. In addition, there was ganglionitis involving the myenteric plexus, even in areas of the stomach away from the inflamed site. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy or alternative medicine (including herbal medicine) had not been given. We postulate that cytomegalovirus infection initiated a cross-autoimmune reaction against neuronal cells, and this reaction "unintentionally" eliminated the carcinoma cells which also expressed neural antigens.
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