Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is a common member of the human gut flora. It does not proliferate outside the human body. It is detected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in 40–60% of healthy adults. It is usually a commensal organism, but it can become pathogenic in immunocompromised individuals under a variety of conditions. It is one of the few species of the genus Candida that causes the human infection candidiasis, which results from an overgrowth of the fungus. Candidiasis is for example often observed in HIV-infected patients. C. albicans is the most common fungal species isolated from biofilms either formed on (permanent) implanted medical devices or on human tissue. C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, and C. glabrata are together responsible for 50–90% of all cases of candidiasis in humans. A mortality rate of 40% has been reported for patients with systemic candidiasis due to C. albicans. By one estimate, invasive candidiasis contracted in a hospital causes 2,800 to 11,200 deaths yearly in the US. Nevertheless, these numbers may not truly reflect the true extent of damage this organism causes, given new studies indicating that C. albicans can cross the blood brain barrier.
Candida is a genus of yeasts and is the most common cause of fungal infections worldwide. Many species are harmless commensals or endosymbionts of hosts including humans; however, when mucosal barriers are disrupted or the immune system is compromised they can invade and cause disease, known as an opportunistic infection. Candida is located on most of mucosal surfaces and mainly the gastrointestinal tract, along with the skin. Candida albicans is the most commonly isolated species and can cause infections in humans and other animals. In winemaking, some species of Candida can potentially spoil wines.
The corpus albicans is the regressed form of the corpus luteum. As the corpus luteum is being broken down by macrophages, fibroblasts lay down type I collagen, forming the corpus albicans. This process is called "luteolysis". The remains of the corpus albicans may persist as a scar on the surface of the ovary.
Iris albicans, also known as the cemetery iris, white cemetery iris, or the white flag iris, is a species of iris which was planted on graves in Muslim regions and grows in many countries throughout the Middle East and northern Africa. It was later introduced to Spain, and then other European countries. It is a natural hybrid.
Havardia albicans is a perennial tree of the family Fabaceae that grows to 5 meters tall. It is native to Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, in regions around the Yucatan Peninsula. Common names for it include chucum and cuisache. It is reputed to be psychoactive.
Dimorphic fungi are fungi that can exist in the form of both mold and yeast. An example is Penicillium marneffei, a human pathogen that grows as a mold at room temperature, and as a yeast at human body temperature.
Candicidin is an antifungal compound obtained from Streptomyces griseus. It is active against some fungi including Candida albicans. Candicidin is administered intravaginally in the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis.
Oxalis albicans, commonly known as radishroot woodsorrel, is North American species of perennial herbs in the woodsorrel family. It is widespread in Mexico and the southwestern United States.
ESTOLAS is a hybrid type of aircraft that is being developed in a project funded by the European Commission. Instead of an airplane's usual long, relatively narrow fuselage, it will have a bloated central void that can be filled with helium gas to make the aircraft lighter. In addition, vertical lift will be provided by a centrally located horizontal propeller, which, together with a skirt, gives ESTOLAS properties of a hovercraft and capability to land and take off from water, snow, and other surfaces.
Estola is a genus of longhorn beetles of the subfamily Lamiinae, containing the following species:
Estola alternata is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1940. It is known from Brazil.
Estola cuneata is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1940. It is known from Brazil.
Estola flavobasalis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1940. It is known from Brazil and French Guiana.
Estola m-flava is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1940. It is known from Guiana.
Estola rufa is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1940. It is known from Brazil.
Estola subannulicornis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1963. It is known from Bolivia.
Estola porcula is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Bates in 1866. It is known from Brazil and French Guiana.
Estola truncatella is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Bates in 1866. It is known from Brazil.
Estola insularis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Blair in 1933.
Kaustuv Sanyal is an Indian molecular biologist, mycologist and a professor at the Molecular Biology and Genetics Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR). He is known for his molecular and genetic studies of pathogenic yeasts such as Candida and Cryptococcus). An alumnus of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya and Madurai Kamaraj University from where he earned a BSc in agriculture and MSc in biotechnology respectively, Sanyal did his doctoral studies at Bose Institute to secure a PhD in Yeast genetics. He moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA to work in the laboratory of John Carbon on the discovery of centromeres in Candida albicans. He joined JNCASR in 2005. He is a member of the Faculty of 1000 in the disciplines of Microbial Evolution and Genomics and has delivered invited speeches which include the Gordon Research Conference, EMBO conferences on comparative genomics and kinetochores. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2012. He has also been awarded with the prestigious Tata Innovation Fellowship in 2017. The National Academy of Sciences, India elected him as a fellow in 2014. He is also an elected fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (2017), and the Indian National Science Academy (2018). In 2019, he has been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology.
