Medium Cut-Off Membrane Can Be a New Treatment Tool in Amanita phalloides Poisoning.

Mushroom poisoning is a common health problem that can be seen seasonally and geographically. Most mushroom poisoning requiring treatment worldwide is due to Amanita phalloides. Although liver failure and kidney injury are frequent, poisoning can also lead to more serious clinical situations, such as shock, pancreatitis, encephalopathic coma, cardiac failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and may cause death. In addition, when standard treatment approaches fail, extracorporeal treatment methods are often used. We report 2 cases in which hemodialysis with medium cut-off membrane was performed. We observed an improvement in liver and kidney function in both of our cases. The first case recovered, but the second case proved fatal owing to Acinetobacter sepsis, despite an improvement in renal function. Medium cut-off membrane hemodialysis may be an alternative option in the treatment of Amanita phalloides poisoning.

Boron contents of some wild-growing mushrooms collected from the vicinity of boron mines in Balikesir, Turkey.

The aim of the study was to determine the boron contents of some wild-growing mushrooms collected from the vicinity of several boron mines located in Balikesir, Turkey and compare the boron contents of some mushroom and soil samples. The locations of the mushroom samples collected were within the distance of 0-100, 100-500, and 500-1,000 m to the mines. Soil samples were taken from beneath randomly selected fungal fruit bodies. A total of 40 mushroom samples were found in the study area and 37 different species were identified. Among the 40 samples analyzed, the highest boron content was detected to be 273 mg kg(-1) in Suillus collinitus. Also, Tricholoma terreum (69.52 mg kg(-1)), Myxomphalia maura (36.52 mg kg(-1)), Otidea concinna (30.70 mg kg(-1)), Sepultaria arenosa (28.94 mg kg(-1)), Melanoleuca paedida (28.33 mg kg(-1)), and Lycoperdon lividum (28.31 mg kg(-1)) relatively have high levels of boron and these species are proposed as candidates for boron accumulation. The boron contents of the other mushrooms varied and a pattern was observed where the boron content was found to be decreased as the distance from the mines increased.

Morchella anatolica (Ascomycota), a new species from southwestern Anatolia, Turkey.

Morchella anatolica (Ascomycota, Pezizales, Morchellaceae), a new species collected from pine forest of southwestern Anatolia, Turkey, is described and illustrated.

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Russula delica Fr.

Russula delica Fr. is a well known macrofungi which is used as a food in Turkey. The ethanolic extract of R. delica exhibited antimicrobial activity against some of the tested foodborne and spoilage bacteria. The phenolic composition of R. delica ethanolic extract was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The major component in R. delica ethanolic extract was catechin (5.33 mg/L). Antioxidant activities of the ethanolic extract of R. delica was evaluated by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals scavenging and chelating ability on ferrous ions assays. Scavenging effect on DPPH radicals was 26% at 10mg/ml and chelating effects on ferrous ions was 58% at 5mg/ml. In addition, the amounts of total phenol content (6.23 mg/g), ascorbic acid (2.93 mg/g), beta-carotene (0.11 mg/g) and lycopene (0.03 mg/g) in the macrofungi ethanolic extract were determined.

New records of macrofungi from Turkey.

This taxonomic study is based on macrofungi collected Babadag District (Denizli) in the period 2005-2006. As a result of field and laboratory studies, five new records are presented. These species are Leptopodia elastica, Entoloma incarnatofuscescens, Geastrum minimum, Hygrophorus speciosus and Russula sororia.