Onychomycosis is one of the most frequent reasons for visiting podiatrist clinics. Complementary tests and the accurate identification of the infectious agents are key issues for a successful treatment of onychomycosis. This is particularly important when lifestyle, age and immunodepressed patients increase the prevalence of non-dermatophyte fungal infection. In this paper, we describe issues related to onychomycosis prevalence in a population of patients, mostly with rural lifestyles, visiting a podiatry clinic in a rural area of Spain. A total of 51 cases were studied with an average age of 65.96 ± 21.28 years (the youngest being 16 years and the oldest being 95 years). Fungal agents were isolated using conventional sampling and microbiological culture techniques. The results obtained with these techniques were compared with the results obtained with a direct methodology using molecular biology, by PCR and nucleotide sequencing of the ITS-5.8S rDNA fragment. The classical culture methodology confirmed the infection in 76.5% of the samples (n = 39), while the PCR confirmed the infection in 84.3% (n = 51) of the nails, although the difference between these results did not show statistical significance (p = 0.388). We found a high variability in agents, with more yeasts than dermatophytes as etiological agents of onychomycosis. However, only among individuals older than 65 years, was the difference between yeasts (82%) and dermatophytes (18%) was statistically significant (p = 0.004). Among the agents of non-dermatophyte onychomycosis, we found predominantly fungi (yeasts) of the Candida genus, interestingly with no isolates of Candida albicans, and moulds of the Aspergillus genus.

In natural and artificial aquatic environments, population structures and dynamics of photosynthetic microbes are heavily influenced by the grazing activity of protistan predators. Understanding the molecular factors that affect predation is critical for controlling toxic cyanobacterial blooms and maintaining cyanobacterial biomass production ponds for generating biofuels and other bioproducts. We previously demonstrated that impairment of the synthesis or transport of the O-antigen component of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) enables resistance to amoebal grazing in the model predator-prey system consisting of the heterolobosean amoeba HGG1 and the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (R. S. Simkovsky et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:16678–16683, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1214904109 ). In this study, we used this model system to identify additional gene products involved in the synthesis of O antigen, the ligation of O antigen to the lipid A-core conjugated molecule (including a novel ligase gene), the generation of GDP-fucose, and the incorporation of sugars into the lipid A core oligosaccharide of S. elongatus . Knockout of any of these genes enables resistance to HGG1, and of these, only disruption of the genes involved in synthesis or incorporation of GDP-fucose into the lipid A-core molecule impairs growth. Because these LPS synthesis genes are well conserved across the diverse range of cyanobacteria, they enable a broader understanding of the structure and synthesis of cyanobacterial LPS and represent mutational targets for generating resistance to amoebal grazers in novel biomass production strains.

Nail disorders are the most frequent reason for visits to the podiatry clinic. Although they are not a severe health problem, these types of pathologies have a psychosocial impact on patients, affecting their self-esteem and leading to social and professional self-isolation that can cause anxiety and depression. Laser therapy is considered a potential treatment for nail disorders because it is a fast, easily applied treatment that avoids interaction with medication. However, the literature includes no definitive studies with scientific evidence about the efficacy of laser treatment in traumatic onycholysis, the most frequent clinical sign of nail disorders. Objective: We carried out an objective and quantitative study of the efficacy of laser in treating traumatic onycholysis to provide a new, non-invasive treatment for this pathology, and describe an objective method for its clinical evaluation and evolution. Methods: A strictly repetitive protocol of Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser (PinPointe FootLaser™, Spain) was applied to nails with idiopathic disorders, following the manufacturer’s instructions. The clinical evolution of nail dystrophy was quantitatively evaluated using the affected percentage of the longitudinal axis of the nail. Results: A significant improvement was obtained in nail appearance (dystrophy) in 100% of cases (p < 0.006) after treatment with Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser. Conclusion: Treating traumatic onycholysis with Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser can be a good alternative to conventional pharmacological treatments.