Cultural, morphological and molecular diversity of Ustilaginoidea virens (Cooke) Tak. isolates causing false smut of rice in different agroclimatic regions of Karnataka

The ascomycete fungal pathogen Ustilaginoidea virens (Cooke) Takahshi cause false smut in rice and considerable yield loss. In this study, we collected isolates of U. virens from the rice growing ecosystems of Karnataka and characterized for cultural, morphological and molecular characters. The isolates of the fungus on Potato Sucrose Agar media exhibited distinct colonies with colony growth ranging from 21.50 mm (Uv-20) to 70.00 mm (Uv-15). The colony colour appeared as whitish to yellowish with varied growth pattern from flat, raised flat to fluffy and raised fluffy colonies with sectoring in Uv-1, Uv-3, Uv-6 and Uv-9 isolates. The isolates of U. virens also showed variation in the morphology of spores, where the conidia were globose, irregularly round to elliptical and warty on the surface with spore radius ranging from 2.91 to 5.36 ?m. The scanning electron microscopy revealed hyaline globose to irregularly rounded ornamented chlamydospores with prominent spines. Besides cultural and morphological characters, molecular identification of false smut isolates was confirmed through ITS sequencing which showed 91 to 99 per cent identity with U. virens in NCBI-BLAST analysis. Dendrogram constructed using ITS sequence data broadly separated the isolates into two major clusters with divergence among clusters. This ITS (internal transcribed spacer) sequencing of isolates should help better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among these isolates.

Bladder Metastasis: An Unusual Presentation of Stomach Cancer.

Linitus plastica of the stomach is a type of gastric carcinoma usually diagnosed at a late stage due to a lack of early pathognomonic symptoms. A diagnosis is usually by endoscopy and biopsy, however, lack of mucosal involvement leads to false negative reports. Over 50% of patients present with distant metastasis. Metastasis to bladder is rare and synchronous detection of bladder metastasis along with the primary tumor has only been reported in 5 cases in English literature. We present a case where clinical suspicion of a gastric malignancy was made in retrospect after biopsy of bladder tumor confirmed metastasis from a gastrointestinal primary.

Pantoea agglomerans bloodstream infection in preterm neonates

To report an uncommon incidence of sporadic bloodstream infection [BSI] caused by Pantoea agglomerans in preterm neonates. Case Presentation and Intervention: Fives cases of nosocomial BSI with P. agglomerans in preterm neonates [weight 1,500 g; age 8-17 days; gestational age 26-30 weeks] are presented. All cases were late onset neonatal sepsis [> 7 days of age]. Lethargy, skin mottling and bradycardia were often present. Although there was no evidence of pneumonia, desaturation was a common feature. Thrombocytopenia developed in 4 patients, metabolic acidosis in 2 and jaundice in 2. No bleeding tendency or disseminating intravascular coagulation was recorded. Organisms cultured from blood were identified by the Vitek-2 system [bioMerieux, France] and the findings confirmed by testing the isolate on the API 20E system. All isolates shared in vitro susceptibility to gentamicin, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin/tazobactam and meropenem. One patient was treated with a cefotaxime/amikacin combination, 2 with meropenem and the remaining 2 with tazocin. All patients responded well to antibiotic treatment and survived. P. agglomerans is an unusual pathogen in the etiology of neonatal sepsis. Despite significant clinical deterioration, early detection and proper antibiotic therapy carry a favorable outcome