Trichoderma fungi have been intensively studied for mycoparasitism, and the latter is closely related to their cell-wall degrading enzymes including chitinase. Here, we studied marinederived Trichoderma spp., isolated from distinct sources and locations, for chitinolytic and antifungal activity. Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, two strains designated GJ-Sp1 and TOP-Co8 (isolated from a marine sponge and a marine alga, respectively) were identified as Trichoderma bissettii. This species has recently been identified as a closely related species to Trichoderma longibrachiatum. The extracellular crude enzymes of GJ-Sp1 and TOP-Co8 showed activities of chitobiosidase and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (exochitinase) and chitotriosidase (endochitinase). The optimum chitinolytic activity of the crude enzymes was observed at 50°C, pH 5.0, 0–0.5% NaCl concentrations, and the activities were stable at temperatures ranging from 10 to 40 C for 2 h. Moreover, the crude enzymes showed inhibitory activity against hyphal growth of two filamentous fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the chitinolytic and antifungal activity of T. bissettii.

Species that belong to Penicillium section Sclerotiora are commonly found in various terrestrial environments, but only a few have been reported in marine environments. Because the number of Penicillium species reported in marine environments is increasing, we investigated the diversity of Penicillium section Sclerotiora in marine environments in Korea. Based on sequence analyses of β-tubulin and calmodulin loci, 21 strains of section Sclerotiora were identified as P. bilaiae, P. daejeonium, P. exsudans, P. herquei, P. cf. guanacastense, P. mallochii, P. maximae, and P. viticola. Three of them were confirmed as new to Korea: P. exsudans, P. mallochii, and P. maximae. Here, we have provided detailed morphological descriptions of these unrecorded species.
Calmodulin ; Korea ; Penicillium ; Phylogeny ; Sequence Analysis

Objective: To prove the hypothesis that the parameters of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) during will be more deteriorated in neuromuscular scoliosis (NMS) than in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Methods: This retrospective study reviewed the data of 69 patients (NMS=32, AIS=37) who underwent scoliosis surgery under IONM. The amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs), and the amplitude and the latency of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were examined. Demographic, preoperative, perioperative and postoperative data were analyzed to determine whether they affected the IONM parameters for each group. Results: Of the items analyzed, the bleeding amount was the only significant risk factor for SEP latency deterioration in the NMS group only. The amplitude of SEP and MEP did not correlate with the hemodynamic parameters. The NMS/AIS ratios of the bleeding-related parameters were higher in the order of bleeding amount/weight (2.62, p<0.01), bleeding amount/body mass index (2.13, p<0.01), and bleeding amount (1.56, p<0.01). This study suggests that SEP latency is more vulnerable than SEP or MEP amplitude in ischemic conditions during scoliosis surgery. Conclusion In NMS patients, it should be considered that the bleeding amount can have a critical effect on intraoperative electrophysiological deterioration.

Background/Aims: To determine whether metformin, which is considered a host-directed therapy for tuberculosis (TB), is effective in improving the prognosis of patients with TB and diabetes mellitus (DM), who have higher mortality than those without DM. Methods: This cohort study included patients who were registered as having TB in the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System. The medical and death records of matched patients were obtained from the National Health Information Database and Statistics Korea, respectively, and data from 2011 to 2017 were collected retrospectively. We classified patients according to metformin use among participants who used diabetes drugs for more than 28 days. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality during TB treatment. Double propensity score adjustment was applied to reduce the effects of confounding and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The all-cause mortality rate during TB treatment was lower (9.5% vs. 12.4%, p < 0.01) in the metformin user group. The hazard of death due to all causes after double propensity score adjustment was also lower in the metformin user group (aHR 0.76, 95% CI 0.67–0.86, p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in mortality between metformin users and non-users for TB-related deaths (p = 0.22); however, there was a significant difference in the non-TB-related deaths (p < 0.01). Conclusions Metformin use in patients with TB–DM co-prevalence is associated with reduced all-cause mortality, suggesting the potential for metformin adjuvant therapy in these patients.