We examined four staining methods on replicate smears of 313 respiratory specimens submitted for Pneumocystis jiroveci examination. The sensitivity and specificity of Calcofluor white stain (CW) were 73.8 and 99.6%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of Grocott-Gomori methenamine silver stain (GMS) were 79.4 and 99.2%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of Diff-Quik stain ...

Besides the remarkable progress which has been made in the laboratory diagnosis of mycoses, there is still a need for an affordable diagnostic procedure which would allow the rapid diagnosis of deep seated mycoses which may be life threatening in compromised patients and are often difficult to treat. A step forward to alleviate this situation was the introduction of the optical brighteners into...

Besides the remarkable progress which has been made in the laboratory diagnosis of mycoses, there is still a need for an affordable diagnostic procedure which would allow the rapid diagnosis of deep seated mycoses which may be life threatening in compromised patients and are often difficult to treat. A step forward to alleviate this situation was the introduction of the optical brighteners into...

PURPOSE To report impression cytology findings in specimens obtained from eyes with clinical and confocal microscopic features of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). METHODS In this interventional case series, impression cytology was obtained from corneas of patients with clinical and confocal microscopic features indicative of AK. Specimens were stained with Periodic acid-Schiff/Papanicolaou (PAS/P...

In the genus Paradiplozoon, few hard structures are present therefore most of the taxonomic studies have focused on the unique ultrastructure of the sclerites. Alcohol-fixed specimens were transferred to BSA-saline for 5 min. before staining indefinitely with 5 microl WGA-TRX, 5 microl SYTO 9 and 5 microl of Calcofluor White M2R. Rhodamine, Fluorescein and DAPI bandpass filters on the microscop...

The flow-injection analysis (FIA) method has long been used for the quantitative determination of b-glucans. FIA makes use of the enhanced fluorescence produced when b-glucan forms complexes with Calcofluor. For successful application of this analysis method, the lowest molecular weight (MW) in the sample has to be higher than a critical MW below which the fluorescence intensity of the complex ...

Superficial mycoses caused by dermatophyte fungi are among the most common infections worldwide, yet treatment is restricted by limited effective drugs available, drug toxicity, and emergence of drug resistance. The stilbene fluorescent brightener calcofluor white (CFW) inhibits fungi by binding chitin in the cell wall, disrupting cell wall integrity, and thus entails a different mechanism of i...