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Invasive fungal infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunodeficient individuals (such as AIDS patients) and in transplant recipients or tumor patients undergoing immunosuppressive chemotherapy. Amphotericin B is one of the oldest, yet most efficient antimycotic agents. However, its usefulness is limited due to dose-dependent side-effects, notably nephrotoxicity. In order to improve its safety margin, new pharmaceutical formulations of amphotericin B have been designed especially to reduce its detrimental effects on the kidneys. Since the 1980s, a wide variety of new amphotericin B formulations have been brought forward for clinical testing, many of which were approved and reached market value in the 1990s. This review describes and discusses the molecular genetics, pharmacological, toxicological, and clinical aspects of amphotericin B itself and many of its innovative formulations.

To investigate the vascular contribution to the measured apparent diffusion coefficient and to validate the Intra Voxel Incoherent Motion theory, the signal as a function of the b-value was measured in the healthy pancreas with and without suppression of the vascular component and under varying echo times (TE 5 50, 70, and 100 msec). The perfusion fraction f and the diffusion coefficient D were extracted from the measured DWdata using the original Intra Voxel Incoherent Motion-equation and a modified version of this equation incorporating relaxation effects. First, the perfusion fraction f in the blood suppressed pancreatic tissue decreased significantly (P 5 0.03), whereas the diffusion coefficient D did not change with suppression (P 5 0.43). Second, the perfusion fraction f increased significantly with increasing echo time (P 5 0.0025), whereas the relaxation time compensated perfusion fraction f 0 showed no significant dependence on TE (P 5 0.31). These results verify a vascular contribution to the diffusion weighted imaging measurement at low b values and support the Intra Voxel Incoherent Motiontheory. Magn Reson Med 64:1580-1585,

We thank the officers, crew, and shipboard scientific party for excellent support during RV SONNE cruises SO143 and SO148. Tina Treude helped with sampling on board, Julia Polansky is acknowledged for assistance with FISH, Sabine Schäfer for total cell counts, Tina Lösekann and Heiko Löbner for sulfate reduction rates, Doris Setzkorn for thymidine incorporation, and Dirk Rickert for sulfate and porosity data. We thank Beth Orcutt and the two reviewers for their extremely helpful comments on the manuscript. This study was part of the programs MUMM (Mikrobielle UMsatzraten von Methan in gashydrathaltigen Sedimenten, 03G0554A) and TECFLUX I and II (TECtonically induced FLUXes, 03G0148A) supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Germany). Further support was provided from the Max-Planck Society, Germany. This is publication GEOTECH-17 of the program GEOTECHNOLOGIEN of the BMBF and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany).