Trichosporon is a yeast-like basidiomycete, a conditional pathogenic fungus that is rare in the clinic but often causes fatal infections in immunocompromised individuals. Trichosporon asahii is the most common pathogenic fungus in this genus and the occurrence of infections has dramatically increased in recent years. Here, we report a systematic literature review detailing 140 cases of T. asahii infection reported during the past 23 years. Statistical analysis shows that T. asahii infections were most frequently reported within immunodeficient or immunocompromised patients commonly with blood diseases. Antibiotic use, invasive medical equipment and chemotherapy were the leading risk factors for acquiring infection. In vitro susceptibility, clinical information and prognosis analysis showed that voriconazole is the primary drug of choice in the treatment of T. asahii infection. Combination treatment with voriconazole and amphotericin B did not show superiority over either drug alone. Finally, we found that the types of infections prevalent in China are significantly different from those in other countries. These results provide detailed information and relevant clinical treatment strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of T. asahii infection.

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We report for the first time that conducting objects could be propelled in folded liquid filled channels by bipolar electrochemistry. This approach was based on controlling the formation of hydrogen bubbles at one extremity of a bipolar electrode. In this work, copper wires used as microswimmers could move in folded channels with angles from 30 to 180 by bubble propulsion and the velocity fluctuated over time. A proportional relation between polarization voltage and average velocity in linear channel was verified. The motion of microswimmers could be controlled within these types of channels in space and time, which might broaden the applications of micromachines in bipolar electrochemistry.

Conventional absorption spectroscopy (CAS) with a blank reference has only a slight capacity to detect high concentrations at characteristic wavelengths owing to the corresponding large molar absorption coefficient (ε) on the scale of 10 or 10 cm M. To monitor concentrated analytes as high as the molar range in a plating bath and on a chemical production line, we propose a new approach using sideband differential absorption spectroscopy (SDAS). SDAS is obtained by subtracting the absorption spectra of the samples, A(λ,C), from that of a reference containing a concentrated standard analyte, A(λ,C>C), resulting in concave spectra with peaks at the sideband of conventional spectra with generally low ε values on the scale of 100 cm M or less. The negative absorbance changes linearly with the sample concentration at a certain peak wavelength, obeying Lambert-Beer's law. In this work, SDAS was obtained and verified using inorganic and organic substances, such as chromate potassium, rhodamine B, and paracetamol.

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