Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a common complication of severe viral pneumonia, such as influenza and COVID‐19, that requires critical care including ventilatory support, use of corticosteroids and other adjunctive therapies to arrest the attendant massive airways inflammation. Although recommended for the treatment of viral pneumonia, steroid therapy appears to be a double‐edged sword, predisposing patients to secondary bacterial and invasive fungal infections (IFIs) whereby impacting morbidity and mortality. Mucormycosis is a fungal emergency with a highly aggressive tendency for contiguous spread, associated with a poor prognosis if not promptly diagnosed and managed. Classically, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (DM) and other immunosuppressive conditions including corticosteroid therapy are known risk factors for mucormycosis. Upon the background lung pathology, immune dysfunction and corticosteroid therapy, patients with severe viral pneumonia are likely to develop IFIs like aspergillosis and mucormycosis. Notably, the combination of steroid therapy and DM can augment immunosuppression and hyperglycaemia, increasing the risk of mucormycosis in a susceptible individual. Here, we report a case of sinonasal mucormycosis in a 44‐year‐old woman with hyperglycaemia secondary to poorly controlled diabetes following dexamethasone therapy on a background of influenza pneumonia and review 15 available literatures on reported cases of influenza and COVID‐19 associated mucormycosis.

Based on epidemiological studies, Aspergillus candidus has been demonstrated as an emerging fungal agent of toenail onychomycosis. Here we report a case of a toenail infection caused by A. candidus in a healthy 60-year-old woman. Based on macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the culture as well as nucleotide sequencing of 28S region, the causative agent was identified as A. candidus.

Background: Legislation regulating for labeling and use of genetically modified (GM) crops are increased considerably worldwide in order to health and safety assurance of consumers. For this purpose, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method has been developed for detection of GM rice in people’s food diet. Methods: In this study, eighty-one non-labeled rice samples were collected randomly from different market sites of Tehran, Iran. In order to analysis, rice genomic DNA was extracted using MBST DNA extraction kit and subsequently, sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) gene was used to confirm the quality of extracted DNA. Then, cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter and Agrobacterium nopaline synthase (NOS) terminator were selected as screening targets for detection of GM rice sequences by PCR. Results: According to our results, 2 out of 81 (2.4%) samples tested were positive for CaMV 35S promoter while no positive result was detected for NOS terminator. Conclusion: The obtained data indicated that this method is capable to identify the GM rice varieties. Furthermore, it can demonstrate the possibility of the presence of GM rice in Tehran’s market, thus putting emphasis on the requirement for developing a precise approach to evaluate this product.

Formation of pseudohyphae is considered a virulence factor in Candida species. Generally, Candida glabrata grows as budding yeast cells; however, reports illustrated that C. glabrata could form pseudohyphal cells in response to some stimuli. In this study, we provided insight into the ability of C. glabrata in forming pseudohyphal cells under different levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). Candida glabrata reference strain (ATCC 90030) was used in this study. Yeast samples were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose broth (SDB) medium and incubated under 3%, 5%, and 10% CO2 levels for 24, 48 and 72 h. Control cultures were prepared without CO2 pressure for three days. The possibility of pseudohyphae and mycelium formation in C. glabrata was investigated. The results of this study revealed that the most branching filament-like cells were obtained at high CO2 pressure (10%) after 72 h. After three days of low CO2 pressure (3%), only yeast and budding cells were observed without any pseudohyphae formation. CO2 could act as a stimulus and induced formation of pseudohyphae in Candida glabrata yeast cells.

Naganishia albida (formerly Cryptococcus albidus) is a non-neoformans cryptococcal species rarely isolated as a human pathogen. Herein, we present the case of a 26-year-old Iranian man with a superficial cutaneous lesion in the axilla. The initial treatment for pityriasis versicolor by clotrimazole was unsuccessful. We performed skin sampling based on the standard protocol and conducted further investigations by the conventional laboratory tests and molecular analysis of the skin samples. All the mentioned analyses revealed N.albida as the causative agent of infection. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analysis was carried out for the isolated agent, and the patient was treated using 100 mg daily of oral itraconazole. N. albida can be the causative agent of some superficial infections. This is the first report on the successful detection and treatment of a superficial skin infection due to N. albida by oral itraconazole.

With increasing concerns about industrial gas contaminants and the growing demand for durable and sustainable technologies, attentions have been gradually shifted to biological air pollution controls. The ability of Pseudomonas putida PTCC 1694 (bacteria) and Pleurotus ostreatus IRAN 1781C (fungus) to treat contaminated gas stream with toluene and its biological degradation was compared under similar operating conditions. For this purpose, a biofilter on the laboratory scale was designed and constructed and the tests were carried out in two stages. The first stage, bacterial testing, lasted 20 days and the second stage, fungal testing, lasted 16 days. Inlet loading rates (IL) for bacterial and fungal biofilters were 21.62 ± 6.04 and 26.24 ± 7.35 g/m³ h respectively. In general, fungal biofilter showed a higher elimination capacity (EC) than bacterial biofilter (18.1 ± 6.98 vs 13.7 ± 4.7 g/m³ h). However, the pressure drop in the fungal biofilter was higher than the bacterial biofilter (1.26 ± 0.3 vs 1 ± 0.3 mm water), which was probably due to the growth of the mycelium. Fungal biofiltration showed a better performance in the removal of toluene from the air stream.