Case Report: A Case of Sarocladium strictum Meningoencephalitis in an Immunocompetent Patient After Invasive Operation

Deciphering the Cape Gooseberry Fruits Mycobiome for Further Safety Improvement Postharvest

Cape gooseberries are exquisitely flavored fruits; their rapid deterioration reduces their shelf life. Understanding the unique mycobiome of fruit peels is an essential step in identifying the taxa causing postharvest loss. The current study proposes to analyze the fungal communities of cape gooseberry peels collected from an organic orchard at unripe and ripe stages and purchased from open-air market sites, using the ITS2 region metabarcoding. According to the Kruskal-Wallis test, there were no statistically significant differences found in either the phylogenetic or non-phylogenetic alpha diversity indices. Significant differences in fungal communities were observed between the market and orchard groups based on beta diversity results. Ascomycota (85.72-96.76%), Basidiomycota (3.21-13.91%), and Chytridiomycota (0.07-9.35%) were the most common fungal phyla, their abundance varying with the ripening stage and origin. Dothideomycetes in the orchard group and Saccharomycetes in the market group were the two most prevalent classes. Furthermore, we investigate which taxa showed a significant difference in abundance between the two conditions (market vs. orchard) using the analysis of compositions of microbiomes with bias correction (ANCOM-BC) test. Regardless of the phase, the orchard samples exhibited a notable increase in the mean absolute abundance of various beneficial fungal taxa, including Tilletiopsis washingtonensis and Articulospora proliferata, whereas the market samples demonstrated a high abundance of harmful yeasts and molds such as Meyerozyma guilliermondii, Candida railenensis, and Botrytis caroliniana. Although it is unclear how these microorganisms augment at the market sites and might impact the fruit quality after harvest, from a fruit safety perspective, it is essential to comprehend the diversity and variation of the mycobiome composition at different ripening stages to further develop strategies to improve food safety postharvest.

Case Report: An Intracranial Aspergillus Infection with Cyst Formation

Intracranial fungal infection is a rare condition that often requires surgical intervention. In this study, we present a case of intracranial fungal infection with a space-occupying effect and a long medical history of five years. We comprehensively evaluated the medical history, symptoms, imaging manifestations, and pathological examinations of the patient to confirm this rare case of fungal infection with cyst formation. Moreover, we reviewed the literature on intracranial fungal infection, hoping to draw awareness and attention to this rare disease.