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OBJECTIVE: Some evidences indicate that exposure to molds or their products can be relevant for the loss of asthma control. Thus, we measured the mold burden present inside houses of subjects with asthma, and evaluated its relationship with asthma control. METHODS: Markers of asthma control in adult patients residing in Mexico City were evaluated through questionnaires and spirometry. Dust was collected from the patients' houses and its fungal content was determined by mold specific quantitative PCR (MSQPCR) for 36 fungal species. RESULTS: Forty-two patients with asthma (12 males, 30 females) with a mean age of 45 years (18-76 years) were included in the study. The level of asthma control measured through the Asthma Control Test ranged from 9 to 25 (mean 20.9). The FEV1/FVC ratio fluctuated from 38 to 106 %predicted (mean, 87.4 %predicted). Associations between mold burden and asthma control differed between males and females. Thus, concentrations of some molds, particularly Aspergillus fumigatus, Aureobasidium pullulans, Stachybotrys chartarum, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides 2, Cladosporium herbarum, and Epicoccum nigrum, were negatively associated with parameters of asthma control in male subjects, but not in female patients. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that potential indoor exposure to some molds is associated with less asthma control in male subjects.

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Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is responsible for the white mold of soybeans, and the difficulty to control the disease in Brazil is causing million-dollar damages. Stachybotrys levispora has shown activity against S. sclerotiorum. In our present investigation, we analyzed the chemical basis of this inhibition. Eight compounds were isolated, and using spectroscopic methods, we identified their structures as the known substances 7-dechlorogriseofulvin, 7-dechlorodehydrogriseofulvin, griseofulvin, dehydrogriseofulvin, 3,13-dihydroxy-5,9,11-trimethoxy-1-methylbenzophenone, griseophenone A, 13-hydroxy-3,5,9,11-tetramethoxy-1-methylbenzophenone, and 12-chloro-13-hydroxy-3,5,9,11-tetramethoxy-1-methylbenzophenone. Griseofulvin inhibited the mycelial growth of S. sclerotiorum at 2 µg mL-1. Thus, the antagonistic effect of S. levispora to S. sclerotiorum may well be due to the presence of griseofulvins. Our results stimulate new work on the biosynthesis of griseofulvins, to locate genes that encode key enzymes in these routes and use them to increase the production of these compounds and thus potentiate the fungicide effect of this fungus. S. levispora represents an agent for biocontrol, and griseofulvin represents a fungicide to S. sclerotiorum.

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Se ha buscado y seleccionado sistemáticamente una proteasa que pudiese ser usada en la eliminación "limpia" de encolantes sobre soportes documentales con valor de patrimonio histórico de forma eficiente y económica, a partir de la colección de hongos filamentosos del Archivo de Bogotá. De 74 morfotipos viables evaluados sobre placas selectivas, 32 morfotipos presentaron formación de halos de hidrólisis evidentes sobre placas diferenciales. De ellos, se evaluó el perfil isoenzimático de 8 morfotipos provenientes de muestreos documentales directos y de 2 morfotipos proteolíticos promisorios provenientes de un trabajo previo. Los 10 morfotipos seleccionados fueron representativos de los géneros Penicillium, Stachybotrys, Chaetomium, y Eladia. Luego de inducir la producción de proteasas extracelulares en medios líquidos diferenciales bajo tres fases de fermentación, se realizaron isoelectroénfoques analíticos tendientes a la observación de isoformas en el gradiente de pH establecido (3.0-10.0). Solo los morfotipos 8D (Chaetomium sp.) y 21D (Eladia saccula) presentaron una isoforma alcalina extrema, de puntos isoeléctricos 8.5 y 8.8, respectivamente, susceptible de selección con miras a su purificación y caracterización parcial de forma económica y eficiente. Los demás morfotipos, representativos de los géneros Penicillium sp., y Stachybotrys sp., presentaron unicamente isoformas proteolíticas en el rango acido de pH con puntos isoeléctricos que oscilan entre 4.0 y 5.0.

Studies on a protease as an efficient, environmental friendly and relatively economical remover of residual proteins for historical valuable documents were performed and was selected for this work, from the filamentous fungi collection of the Bogota Archive. 32 morphotypes of 74 evaluated show hydrolytic activities over differential solid media. From them, 8 morphotypes obtained directly from documental samples and representative of the genera Penicillium and Stachybotrys were selected and their isoenzyme profile were tested. Also 2 previous morphotypes with promisorius proteolytic activities and representative of the genera Chaetomium and Eladia were analysed. Extracelullar proteases production was induced in differential liquid media on three fermentation steps and analitycal isoelectrofocusing were performed over pH 3.0-10.0 ranges. Only the morphotypes 8D (Chaetomium sp.), and 21D (Eladia sp.), showed an alkaline isoform with pIs 8.5 and 8.8, respectly, suceptible of selection for its purification and characterization through efficient and economical way. The others morphotypes only showed acid isoforms with pIs in the range of 4.0 and 5.0.

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Se comenta e ilustra el hallazgo de 5 hyphomycetes dematiáceos: morrisographium ulmi, dictyochaeta simplex, stachybotrys bisbyi, menispora anamorfo de chaetosphaeria pulviscula y hemicorynespora sp., presentes en la corteza de diversos árboles y otros sustratos vegetales en el norte de Italia

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