Aspergillus flavus is the second most important Aspergillus species associated with aspergillosis and the incidence of infections caused by it are increasing in the immunocompromised population. This species is of major epidemiological importance in regions with a dry and hot climate. Despite the growing clinical significance of A. flavus, data on its molecular epidemiology are scarce. This study was aimed at examining whether isolates from distinct genotypes were involved in distinct clinical forms of aspergillosis. Sixty-three clinical isolates of A. flavus recovered from 35 patients with various clinical presentations of aspergillosis were characterized by microsatellite typing. The highest discriminatory power for a single locus was obtained with the AFLA1 marker, which had 14 distinct alleles and a 0.903 D value. The combination of all six markers yielded 48 different genotypes with a 0.994 D value. There was a considerable genetic diversity in the isolates and patients with invasive aspergillosis were usually colonized by multiples genotypes. There was no evidence that a given genotype was associated with a particular clinical presentation of A. flavus aspergillosis. The occurrence of more than one genotype in clinical samples indicates that a patient may be infected by multiple genotypes and that any particular isolate from a clinical specimen may not necessarily be the one causing aspergillosis.

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The Trichophyton mentagrophytes complex is the main cause of superficial mycoses in humans and animals. Molecular research has provided useful insights into the taxonomy of this complex to overcome the challenges with conventional diagnostics. The aim of this study was to identify, type and differentiate anthropophilic and zoophilic species of the T. mentagrophytes complex. Sixty clinical samples identified as T. mentagrophytes by morphological characteristics were isolated using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. The identification of our strains by conventional methods was confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sequencing in 93.34% of the cases. The strains under investigation were recategorised as T. rubrum (Tr2711). In addition, PCR products were independently digested with the restriction endonucleases, MvaI and HinfI, to produce a single dominant profile for T. interdigitale. ITS sequence analysis revealed a polymorphism in the ITS1 and 5.8S regions. Analysis of the consensus sequences distinguished four types of genotypes among our T. interdigitale species. Moreover, ITS type I was the dominant genotype characterising the anthropophilic variant of T. interdigitale. The phylogenetic study showed that only 5% of our strains were zoophilic. PCR sequencing was useful for distinguishing anthropophilic and zoophilic species of T. interdigitale, in which the differentiation is relevant because it helps to prescribe the correct treatment and to identify the surrounding source of infection.

Aspergillosis is one of the most common causes of death in captive birds. Aspergillus fumigatus accounts for approximately 95 % of aspergillosis cases and Aspergillus flavus is the second most frequent organism associated with avian infections. In the present study, the fungi were grown from avian clinical samples (post-mortem lung material) and environmental samples (eggs, food and litter). Microsatellite markers were used to type seven clinical avian isolates and 22 environmental isolates of A. flavus. A. flavus was the only species (28 % prevalence) detected in the avian clinical isolates, whereas this species ranked third (19 %) after members of the genera Penicillium (39 %) and Cladosporium (21 %) in the environmental samples. Upon microsatellite analysis, five to eight distinct alleles were detected for each marker. The marker with the highest discriminatory power had eight alleles and a 0.852 D value. The combination of all six markers yielded a 0.991 D value with 25 distinct genotypes. One clinical avian isolate (lung biopsy) and one environmental isolate (egg) shared the same genotype. Microsatellite typing of A. flavus grown from avian and environmental samples displayed an excellent discriminatory power and 100 % reproducibility. This study showed a clustering of clinical and environmental isolates, which were clearly separated. Based upon these results, aspergillosis in birds may be induced by a great diversity of isolates.

In the framework of the valorization of the pedagogy of project via the development of the learning by the event, we organized a day dedicated to the fair of the Professional Project personalized by a theatrical production of outputs animated by the students accompanied. This experience based on the adoption of the active pedagogy generated interesting results in terms of satisfaction, self-confidence, positive emotions, exceeding itself, vitality, pleasure and self-realization. An event, which constitutes a clinical case of active pedagogy, worthy of the reinvestments in the future. This document will attempt to synthesize this experience in describing, student the inputs to the catalysis of the participation and by analyzing the main results generated by this event.