Asthma exacerbations can be caused by a number of factors, including the fungal allergen Alternaria, which is specifically associated with severe and near-fatal attacks. The mechanisms that trigger lung responses are unclear and might vary between allergens. A comparison between Alternaria, Aspergillus, Candida, and house dust mite, all allergens in humans, showed that only Alternaria promoted ...

Purple blotch, caused by Alternaria porri (Ellis) Cifferi, is a serious disease incurring heavy yield losses in the bulb and seed crop of onion and garlic worldwide. There is an immediate need for identification of effective resistance sources for use in host resistance breeding. A total of 43 Allium genotypes were screened for purple blotch resistance under field conditions. Allium cepa access...

Sensitization and exposure to the allergenic fungus Alternaria alternata has been associated with increased risk of asthma and asthma exacerbations. The first cells to encounter inhaled allergens are epithelial cells at the airway mucosal surface. Epithelial barrier function has previously been reported to be defective in asthma. This study investigated the contribution of proteases from Altern...

Aeroallergens produced by Alternaria alternata can elicit life-threatening exacerbations of asthma in patients sensitized to this fungus. In this study, the effect of Alternaria on ion transport mechanisms underlying mucociliary clearance and airway epithelial barrier function was investigated in human airway epithelial cells. Apical exposure to Alternaria induced an increase in anion secretion...

Fungal spores are known to trigger allergic respiratory diseases. Very little is known about airborne fungal spore presence in Trieste. This paper reports the seasonal (June-October) Alternaria (1993-2004) and Epicoccum (1994-2004) spore concentrations during these years, using a Hirst sampler. Daily spore counts fluctuate considerably from one day to the next. Airborne spores of Alternaria and...

In 2011, a leaf blight disease was observed on cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) leaves in Nonsan, Korea. The causal pathogen was isolated and identified based on morphological and molecular approaches. Morphological characteristics of the pathogen matched well with the Alternaria cosmosa and also easily distinguishable from Alternaria zinniae reported from cosmos seeds by producing branched beak. Phy...

Plant-microbial interactive relations with respect to determine mycoflora of the Sorbus domestica L.--fruits, crust, leaves and pollen were studied in 2 Slovak regions. On the fruit samples the genera Alternaria, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Mucor and Penicillium occurred, on the leaves the genera Alternaria, Cladosporium and Penicillium prevailed and on crust the genera Alternaria, Cladosporium, Pe...

Cutaneous Alternaria spp. infections occur mainly in immunosuppressed patients and itraconazole is considered as the drug of choice. We report the case of a 64-year-old heart transplanted female patient with multiple cutaneous lesions caused by Alternaria infectoria. Treatment with posaconazole resulted in complete recovery. Due to lower minimal inhibitory concentrations, better distribution an...

Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler strain PPRI 21032 was isolated from onion leaves collected in Roodeplaat, Pretoria, South Africa. The whole genome of this strain was sequenced and produced a total of 33.12 Mb with a GC content of 50.9%. The whole genome comprises 11,701 predicted coding sequences.

Complexes of the type Na(6)[M(HL)(2)(H(2)O)(2)], where M= Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) and Na(3)H(2)L= 2-(4-sulphophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxy 3,6 naphthalene disulphonic acid trisodium salt, have been synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical (elemental analyses, solubility, electrolytic conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurement) and spectral (UV-Visible, IR, ES...