Medical Mycology and Clinical Practices

Medical mycology deals with the infections which caused serious illness in humans, and animals resulting from pathogenic fungi. This also provides a clear method, diagnosis, and treatment process for all fungal diseases of humans which are specific. Mycological research has been providing a vast opportunity for drug development for many deadly diseases and also has a leading role in finding different antibiotics such as penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline, as well as many other drugs. Few diseases which are recommended for diagnosing, preventing, and treating due to fungal infections in various patients in a population-based upon the specific epidemiology and infection control policy, pathogenesis, immunology, histopathology, and laboratory diagnosis and antifungal therapy can be considered under the clinical study of mycology. Join us at this mycology conference in New York, USA, and stay updated with the current research findings.

• Medical Mycology
• Clinical Mycology
• Fungal Immunology
• Phylogeny of Fungal Pathogens
• Epidemiology and Public Health
• Fungal Pathogenicity

Immunology Of Fungal Infections

The session on the immunology of fungal infections will be focussing on advanced research discussion on these topics. Due to the emergence of agriculture, urban societies, and high population densities the spread of pathogens is easier and rapidly growing, and thus human action is currently the single most important driver of infectious epidemiology. On the other hand, the success of chemotherapy, as well as the AIDS pandemic, has led to immune deficiencies in a significant segment of the patient population, and the extensive use of intravenous catheters has provided a way of access to microorganisms. Also, the usage of immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ rejection or treat autoimmune diseases has resulted in an increase in individuals at risk for acquiring fungal diseases. These concerns highlight the need to elucidate mechanisms of inducing protective immune responses against fungal pathogens. Consequently, several experimental models of human mycoses have been developed to study these diseases. The availability of transgenic animal models allows for in-depth analysis of specific components, receptors, and indicating pathways that elicit protection against fungal diseases. We invite all the microbiologists working in this field to join and contribute to a better scientific outcome at this best platform.

Mycology Market Trends and R&D

Approximately 14,000 described species of the 1.5 million fungi estimated in the world produce fruiting bodies that are large enough to be considered as mushrooms. The world market for the mushroom industry in 2005 was valued at over $45 billion. The mushroom industry can be divided into three main categories: edible mushrooms, medicinal mushroom products, and wild mushrooms. International bodies/forums have developed for each of these segments of the mushroom industry that have helped to bring them to the forefront of international attention: (1) International Society of Mushroom Science, for edible mushrooms; (2) World Society for Mushroom Biology and Mushroom Products, for mushroom biology and medicinal mushroom products; and (3) International Workshop on Edible Mycorrhizal Mushrooms, for some wild mushrooms. The three international bodies/forums have done much to promote each of their respective fields, not the least of which is bringing together scientists in international forums for useful discussions, encouraging research, and the dissemination of valuable information. The outlook for many of the known mushroom species is bright. Production of mushrooms worldwide has been steadily increasing, mainly due to contributions from developing countries such as China, India, and Vietnam. There is also increasing experimentally based evidence to support centuries of observations regarding the nutritional and medicinal benefits of mushrooms. The value of mushrooms has recently been promoted to tremendous levels with medicinal mushrooms trials conducted for HIV/AIDS patients in Africa, generating encouraging results. However, harvests of highly prized edible mycorrhiza mushrooms are continuously decreasing. This has triggered research into devising methods for improved cultivation. It is hoped that there will be even more research into this area, so that larger quantities can be massively harvested through semicultivation methods. Technological developments in the mushroom industry in general have witnessed increasing production capacities, innovations in cultivation technologies, improvements to final mushroom goods, and utilization of mushrooms' natural qualities for environmental benefits. However, there is always the need to maintain current trends and to continue to seek out new opportunities. The challenge is to recognize opportunities such as increasing consumption capabilities with the increase in world population and to take advantage of this by promoting the consumption of mushrooms.

Fungal Diversity and Classification

The field of Fungi is not limited to only mushrooms and in this present advanced research and development time there's still more to explore about the diverse field of fungi. These are the source of severe illnesses as well as they are the earth's best degraders of organic matter, and they are proving to be more beneficial to science and engineering every year. They come in many forms, ranging from single celled yeasts to metres sized mushrooms. A mushroom is the plump, spore bearing fruiting body of a fungus, naturally produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. In general the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus. Classifying mushrooms requires a basic understanding of their macroscopic structure. Their spores, called basidiospores, are produced on the gills and fall in a fine rain of powder from under the caps as a result. Regardless of the diversity that science has discovered about fungi and their varied roles in health, ecology, and industry, much about these organisms’ stills remains a mystery and yet to explore. 

• Molecular Phylogeny
• Fungal Biodiversity
• Fungal Systematics
• Types of Mushrooms and their Uses
• Symbiotic Fungi

Current Fungal Infection Reports

Current Fungal Infection Reports provides in-depth review articles contributed by international experts on the most significant developments in the field. By presenting clear, insightful, balanced reviews that emphasize recently published papers of major importance, the journal elucidates current and emerging approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of fungal infection.

Management of Invasive Fungal Infections

The specific type and dose of antifungal medication used to treat invasive candidiasis usually depends on the patient’s age, immune status, and location and severity of the infection. For most adults, the initial recommended antifungal treatment is an echinocandin (caspofungin, micafungin, or anidulafungin) given through the vein (intravenous or IV). Fluconazole, amphotericin B, and other antifungal medications may also be appropriate in certain situations.

Fungal Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing and classifying different organisms and includes all plants, animals and microorganisms of the world. Fungi are usually classified into four divisions i.e. the Chytridiomycota (chytrids), Zygomycota (bread molds), Ascomycota (yeasts and sac fungi), and the Basidiomycota (club fungi). Placement into a division is based on the way in which the fungus replicates sexually. Fungal taxonomists pursue an apparently impossible mission, to discover and give names to all of the world's mushrooms, moulds and yeasts. Taxonomists have a reputation for being traditionalists, but as we outline here, the community has recently embraced the modernization of its nomenclatural rules by discarding the requirement for Latin descriptions, endorsing electronic publication and ending the dual system of nomenclature, which used different names for the sexual and asexual phases of pleomorphic species. It will be a big challenge and more difficult future step to develop community standards for sequence-based classification.

• Evolution and Phylogeny of Fungi
• Morphology of Fungi
• Phylogeny of Fungi
• Systematics of the Fungi
• A Genome-scale Phylogeny
• Major Ecological Adaptations

Pathogenic Fungi and Fungal Diseases

There are millions species of Fungi existing and is significant in terms of the diversity of its impact on global health, biodiversity, ecology, manufacturing, agriculture and biomedical research. Approximately six hundreds or more fungal species are associated with our micro-biome or as pathogens that cause some of the most deadly transferable diseases. With the worldwide surge in the frequency of invasive fungal infections and the occurrence and spread of fungal pathogens resistant to all current classes of antifungal drugs, which is a big threat to human health. Mycological diseases in humans have been increasing coincident with the advent of revolutionary new medical therapies, including antibiotics, immunosuppressive therapies, and indwelling medical devices. A fungus that attacks the tissue can cause a disease that's restricted to the skin, spreads into tissue, bones and organs or affects the whole body. Warning signs depend on the area affected, but can include skin rash or vaginal infection resulting in abnormal discharge. We can treat almost all fungal diseases with antifungal medicines. 

• Candidiasis
• Cryptococcosis
• Aspergillosis
• Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever)
• Histoplasmosis and Blastomycosis
• Fungal Nail and Skin Infections

Mushroom Biology and Biotechnology

• Fungal Genetics and Biology
• Fungal Genome
• Fungal Genome Sequencing
• Fungal Enzymes and Applications
• Filamentous Fungi
• Mycology in Recycling

Food Mycology and Mycotoxicology

1. Basic research for the development of technological strategies to reduce food contamination with fungi and mycotoxins, by mean of the following approaches:
   a. Plant immunology: Prevention of fungal infections in corn and peanuts by Fusarium verticillioides and Thecaphora frezii, respectively, by chemical induction of systemic acquired resistance (SAR).
   b. Mechanisms involved in peanut infection by T. frezii: Study of chemical communication between the anatomical sites of fungal income to the plant (pods) and fungal structures of resistance (teliospores) nearby in the ground, which induce germination of spores and subsequent infection for production of smut.
    
2. Identification and characterization of mechanisms involved in the induction of hepatotoxic and immunotoxic effects produced by the mycotoxins aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), fumonisin B1 (FB1), and mixtures of both toxins, specially focusing in:
   a. The oxidative stress as a mediator of toxicity.
   b. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) as a transcription factor probably involved in the biological responses to both mycotoxins.