Fruit Anthracnose on Cavendish bananas Caused by Colletotrichum fructicola in Guangxi, China

Cavendish banana (Musa spp. AAA group) is one of the main fruit crops worldwide. It is widely planted in Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Fujian and Yunnan provinces in southern China. In November 2020, banana fruits with anthracnose symptoms were collected from Dayu Town (N 23.17°, E 109.80°), Guigang City, and Chengjun Town (N 22.60°, E 110.00°), Yulin City, Guangxi Province, China, where the disease was found on about 70% of the banana plants, and on individual fruit, up to 10% of the surface was covered with symptoms. The symptoms initially began with rust-colored spots on the surface of the immature fruit, which gradually became sunken and cracked as the disease progressed. Small tissues (5×5 mm) from the pericarp at the junction of disease and health were surface-disinfected in 75% ethanol for 10 s, 2% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 1 min, and washed three times in sterile water. Tissue pieces were placed on potato dextrose ager (PDA) and incubated at 25°C. Fifty-nine morphologically similar colonies were obtained after 5 days of incubation, with 100% isolation frequency. Of 59 isolates, GG1-3 isolated from Guigang City and YL4-2 isolated from Yulin City were selected as representative strains for intensive study. Mycelia were off-white for both isolates and conidia obtained from PDA were cylindrical, unicellular, hyaline and obtuse ends, with sizes of 11.5 ± 1.8×3.9 ± 0.8 µm (n=60) and 11.5 ± 1.6×4.1 ± 0.6 µm (n=60) for GG1-3 and YL4-2, respectively (Prihastuti et al. 2009). Genomic DNA was extracted from 7-day-old aerial mycelia using a DNAsecure Plant Kit (Tiangen Biotech, China). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the intergenic region of apn2 and MAT1-2-1 (ApMAT) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) were amplified and sequenced (White et al. 1990; Silva et al.2012; Templeton et al. 1992). Sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS, OR596961 to OR596962; GAPDH, OR661771 to OR661772; APMAT, OR661773 to OR661774) and showed 100% identities with the corresponding type strains sequences of C. fructicola. Phylogenetic tree was constructed with software raxmlGUI v.2.0.0 based on sequences of multiple loci (ITS, GAPDH and ApMAT) and Maximum Likelihood method. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the two isolates and C. fructicola were clustered in the same clade, with 94% bootstrap support. According to morphology and phylogenetic analysis, the two isolates GG1-3 and YL4-2 were identified as C. fructicola. For pathogenicity tests, healthy fruits were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol followed by a wash with sterilized water. Five adjacent needle punctures in a 5-mm-diameter circle were made with a sterilized needle on healthy fruits, followed by inoculation with 20 μL of conidial suspension (106 spores/ml), and sterilized water was used as controls. All banana fruit were incubated in a humid chamber at 28°C. After 4 days, all inoculated fruits showed visible symptoms and had rust-colored spots on the margins, while control banana fruits remained symptomless. The fungus was isolated from the inoculated fruit and the isolates were found to match the morphological and molecular characteristics of the original isolates, confirming Koch's hypothesis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of fruit anthracnose on Cavendish bananas caused by C. fructicola in China. This study will provide valuable information for prevention and management of anthracnose on banana fruit.

Leaf Spot Caused by Colletotrichum siamense, C. fructicola, and C. aeschynomenes on Ixora chinensis in Guangxi, China

Ixora chinensis Lam., an important ornamental flower, has become more and more popular in the southwest and southeast regions of China for its bright and abundant flowers (Li et al. 2019). In March 2022, 100% I. chinensis plants showed typical anthracnose symptoms on leaf in Nanning, Guangxi, China (108°22' N, 22°48' E). The central areas of lesions were grayish white with small black particles arranged in a wheel pattern, and the edges of lesions were light red to brown. Three diseased leaf samples were collected from three gardens, respectively. 5×5 mm tissues were cut from infected margins, surface-disinfected in 75% ethanol for 10 s, 2% NaClO for 2 min, rinsed three times in sterilized distilled water, and incubated on PDA at 25°C under 12/12 h light/darkness. Eighty-three morphologically similar colonies were observed on PDA after 5 days, and eight isolates G1-3, G2-1, G3-3, W-1, W-2, LCH2-1, LCH3-3, and LCH4-1 were selected for further study. Genomic DNA of these isolates were extracted from 7-day-old mycelia. Primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, GDF1/GDR1, T1/βt2b, CHS Ⅰ-79F/CHS Ⅰ-354R, CL1/CL2, ACT-512F/ACT-783R, and MAT1-2-1/apn2 were used to amplify ITS loci and GAPDH, CHS-Ⅰ, CAL, ACT, ApMAT genes, respectively (Yang et al. 2009; Silva et al. 2012; Liu et al. 2015). Sequences have been deposited in GenBank (ITS: OQ771884 to OQ771891, GAPDH: OQ759576 to OQ759583, TUB2: OQ759584 to OQ759591, CHS-1: OQ759568 to OQ759575, CAL: OQ759560 to OQ759567, ACT: OQ759552 to OQ759559, ApMat: OQ759544 to OQ759551). Phylogenetic analysis was performed with raxmlGUI v.2.0.0. based on combined sequences of ITS, GAPDH, TUB2, CHS-1, CAL, ACT, and ApMAT using maximum parsimony analysis. The results revealed that isolates G2-1 and W-2 were clustered with Collectrichum fructicola, G3-3, W-1, G1-3, LCH2-1, and LCH3-3 were clustered with C. siamense, and LCH4-1 was clustered with C. aeschynomenes. Three representative isolates W-2, G3-3, and LCH4-1 were selected for morphology and pathogenicity observation. On PDA, the colonies of three isolates presented white to grey cottony mycelia，from the margin to the center, W-2 was white, grey, and light gray, G3-3 showed light gray, white, and grey, LCH4-1 was white and light gray, respectively. Conidia were all hyaline, one-celled, cylindrical, and straight. The conidial sizes of W-2, G3-3, and LCH4-1 were 11.03 to 17.53 × 4.93 to 8.42 μm (n=100), 10.63 to 19.06 × 3.73 to 6.92 μm (n=100), and 11.61 to 20.39 × 3.65 to 6.67 μm (n=100), respectively. Pathogenicity tests of three isolates were conducted on leaves of 1-year-old I. chinensis plants with and without wounds, three plants for each treatment, and five leaves inoculated for each plant. Conidial suspensions (10 µL, 106 conidia/mL in 0.1% sterile Tween 20) were inoculated on each site. Control group was treated with 0.1% sterile Tween 20. All inoculated sites were covered with wet cotton, and all plants were bagged and placed in the greenhouse to maintain humidity at 25℃. After 10 days, all wounded and inoculated leaves showed leaf spot, whereas unwounded and control leaves remained asymptomatic. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by re-isolating the causal agents from diseased leaves. C. siamense and C. aeschynomenes could cause anthracnose of I. chinensis in China (Liu et al. 2016, Li et al. 2021). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of C. fructicola infecting I. chinensis in China. This study may provide reference for further epidemiological study and prevention of anthracnose on I. chinensis.

Leaf Spot of Sanhua Plum caused by Botryosphaeria wangensis in China

Sanhua plum (Prunus salicina L.) is planted widely in Babu district of Hezhou, Guangxi with a planting history of more than 70 years (Zhou et al., 2021). In August 2021, leaf spot disease was observed with approximately 50% incidence on Sanhua plum leaves in Babu district in Hezhou, Guangxi (N23°49'-24°48', E111°12'-112°03'). The symptoms initially appeared as small, round, and chlorotic spots. As the disease progressed, the lesions enlarged and margins became dark brown. To isolate the pathogen, small pieces (5 × 5 mm) of the infected tissue margins were sterilized by exposure to 75% ethanol for 10 sec, 2% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min and rinsed three times in sterile water. Pieces were incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 28℃. In total, 75 isolates were obtained from leaves which were collected from three trees. Fifty of them were morphologically identical with a 67% average isolation frequency. Three representative isolates (HZ13-1, HZ26-3 and HZ47-1) were selected for further study. The cultures on PDA were initially white, fluffy with uneven margins and turned smoky gray to olivaceous at the surface. The reverse sides were olivaceous gray to iron gray after seven days. The growth rate of mycelium was 2.5 cm/day. Conidia were produced after two weeks by exposure to near-fluorescent light for 10 hours per day. Conidia were fusiform, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth with granular contents unicellular, and 19.7 ± 0.13 × 5.8 ± 0.06 μm (n=90), 19.8 ± 0.09 × 6.5 ± 0.23 μm (n=90), and 20.6 ± 0.20 × 6.7 ± 0.12 μm (n=90) for HZ13-1, HZ26-3 and HZ47-1, respectively. These characteristics were consistent with the descriptions of the Botryosphaeria wangensis (Hattori et al. 2021). The DNA was extracted from mycelia, and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), elongation factor 1-alpha gene (EF1-α) and β-tubulin (TUB2) were amplified using the primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, EF1-728F/EF1-986R and T1/BT2b (White et al. 1990, Carbone et al. 1999, Yu et al. 2021), respectively. The sequences were compared with GenBank and they all showed over 99% identity to the type strain of B. wangensis CERC 2298 (Li et al. 2020). Sequences of the three isolates were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos.: ITS, OP804110-OP804112; EF1-α, OP821748-OP821750; TUB2, OP821745-OP821747). The three isolates were identified as B. wangensis based on the maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of concatenated sequences of ITS, EF1-α, and TUB2 with RAxML version 2.0. Pathogenicity tests were performed on healthy leaves of 2-year-old Sanhua plum, which were wounded by a sterilized needle in a greenhouse. A 5-mm-diam hyphal plug was placed on the wound. Each isolate was used to inoculate three plants, with 20 leaves per plant. Control plants were inoculated with sterile PDA plugs. All the plants were sprayed with distilled water and covered with plastic bags. After four days of incubation at 28℃ with constant light, lesion began to develop in the inoculated leaves. After ten days, the average diameter of lesions was up to 1.5 cm but controls remained symptom-free. The fungi were reisolated from inoculated symptomatic leaves and were identical to the inoculated isolates, thus completing Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of B. wangensis associated with leaf spot of Sanhua plum in China. The results will contribute to accelerating the development of future epidemiological studies of B. wangensis on Sanhua plum.

Bacterial Leaf Spot of Plum Caused by Sphingomonas spermidinifaciens in Guangxi, China

Plum (Prunus salicina L.) is a traditional fruit in Southern China and is ubiquitous throughout the world. In August 2021, leaves of plum trees showed water-soaking spots and light yellow-green halos with incidence exceeding 50% in Babu district in Hezhou, Guangxi (N23°49'-24°48', E111°12'-112°03'). To isolate the causal agent, three diseased leaves collected from three different trees growing in different orchards were cut into 5 mm × 5 mm pieces, disinfected with 75% ethanol for 10 sec, 2% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min and rinsed three times in sterile water. The diseased pieces were ground in sterile water and then kept static for about 10 min. Ten-fold serial dilutions in water were prepared and 100 µL of each dilution from 10-1 to 10-6 were plated on Luria-Bertani (LB) Agar. After incubation at 28℃ for 48 h, the proportion of isolates with similar morphology was 73%. Three representative isolates (GY11-1, GY12-1 and GY15-1) were selected for further study. The colonies were non-spore-forming, yellow, round, opaque, rod shaped, convex with smooth and bright neat edges. Biochemical test results showed that the colonies were strictly aerobic and gram-negative. The isolates were able to grow on LB agar containing 0-2% (w/v) NaCl and could utilize glucose, lactose, galactose, mannose, sucrose, maltose and rhamnose as a carbon source. They displayed a positive reaction for H2S production, oxidase, catalase and gelatin, but negative for starch. Genomic DNA of the three isolates was extracted for amplification of the 16S rDNA with primers 27F and 1492R. The resulting amplicons were sequenced. Additionally, five housekeeping genes atpD, dnaK, gap, recA, and rpoB of the three isolates were amplified using the corresponding primer pairs and sequenced. The sequences were deposited in GenBank (16S rDNA, OP861004-OP861006; atpD, OQ703328-OQ703330; dnaK, OQ703331-OQ703333; gap, OQ703334-OQ703336; recA, OQ703337-OQ703339; and rpoB, OQ703340-OQ703342). The isolates were identified as Sphingomonas spermidinifaciens based on the phylogenetic tree inferred by maximum-likelihood using MegaX 7.0 of the concatenated six sequences (multilocus sequence analysis, MLSA) compared with sequences from different Sphingomonas type strains . Pathogenicity of the isolates was tested on healthy leaves of the two-year-old plum plants in a greenhouse. The leaves were wounded by a sterilized needle and sprayed with bacterial suspensions prepared in PBS (Phosphate buffer saline) at OD600=0.5. PBS buffer solution was used as negative control. Each isolate was used to inoculate on 20 leaves per plum tree. The plants were covered with plastic bags to maintain high humidity. Dark brown-to-black lesions were observed on leaves 3 days post incubation at 28℃ with constant light. The average diameter of lesions was 1 cm after seven days, but the negative controls were symptomless. Bacteria reisolated from the diseased leaves were the same as the ones used for inoculation on the basis of morphological and molecular identification, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Plant disease caused by a Sphingomonas species has been reported on mango, pomeand Spanish melon. However, this is the first report of S. spermidinifaciens causing leaf spot disease of plum in China. This report will help to develop effective disease control strategies in the future.

Fruit Rot Caused by Fusarium sulawesiense on Chilli in Guangxi, China

Chilli (Capsicum annuum) is considered as one of the most important vegetables and spice crops throughout the world which is widely cultivated in China. In October 2019, fruit rot symptoms were observed on chilli in Guilin, Guangxi, China (N24°18', E109°45'). Irregular dark green spots initially appeared on the middle or bottom of the fruit, then extended to larger grayish brown lesions and started to rot. In the late stage, the whole fruit dried up after water loss. Three disease samples were collected from three towns of different counties in Guilin where the disease incidence of chilli fruits was 15-30%. The margin of diseased fruits was cut into small pieces (3×3 mm), disinfected with 75% ethanol solution for 10 s, 2% NaOCl for 1 min, and rinsed in sterile distilled water three times. Tissue pieces were separately plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25°C for seven days. Fifty-four fungal isolates with similar morphology were consistently recovered from diseased tissues of three fruits, with 100% isolation frequency. Three representatives GC1-1, GC2-1 and PLX1-1 were selected for further analysis. The colonies produced abundant whitish to yellowish aerial mycelium on PDA after 7 days incubation at 25°C in the dark. Macroconidia cultured on carnation leaf agar (CLA) for 7 days were long, hyaline, falcate, with dorsal and ventral lines often gradually wider toward apex, curved apical cell and foot-shaped basal cell, mostly 2 to 5 septa, and ranged from 24.16 to 38.88 × 3.36 to 6.55 μm (average 31.39×4.48 μm), from 19.44 to 28.68 × 3.02 to 4.99 μm (average 23.02×3.89 μm), and from 20.96 to 35.05 × 3.30 to 6.06 μm (average 26.24×4.51 μm) for GC1-1, GC2-1, and PLX1-1, respectively. Microconidia were hyaline, fusoid or ovoid, one-septate or nonseptate, and ranged from 4.61 to 10.14 × 2.61 to 4.77 μm (average 8.13×3.58 μm), from 3.55 to 7.85 × 1.95 to 3.04 μm (average 5.79×2.39 μm), and from 6.75 to 18.48 × 3.05 to 9.07 μm (average 14.32×4.31 μm) for GC1-1, GC2-1, and PLX1-1, respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from 7-day-old aerial mycelia of these isolates. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor (TEF1), calmodulin (CAM) and partial RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) were amplified using primers ITS4/ITS1, EF1/EF2, CL1/CL2A, and 5F2/7cR, respectively (White et al. 1990; O'Donnell et al. 2000, 2010). Sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS: OQ080044-OQ080046; TEF1: OQ101589-OQ101591; CAM: OQ101586-OQ101588; RPB2: OQ101592-OQ101594). A maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree was constructed with RAxML version 8.2.10 based on the concatenated sequences (ITS, CAM, TEF1, RPB2). According to morphology and phylogenetic analysis, the isolates were identified as Fusarium sulawesiense (Maryani et al. 2019). For pathogenicity tests, multiple punctures in a 5-mm-diameter circle were made with a sterilized toothpick on detached young healthy fruits, followed by inoculation with 10 μl of conidial suspension (106 spores/ml in 0.1% sterile Tween 20). Each isolate was inoculated onto eighteen fruits. Controls were inoculated with water containing 0.1% sterile Tween 20 under the same conditions. Symptoms were observed on the inoculated fruits 7 days after incubation at 25°C, whereas non-inoculated controls were asymptomatic. The fungus was re-isolated from inoculated chilli fruits, completing Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Fusarium sulawesiense causing fruit rot on Chilli in China. These results will provide valuable information for prevention and management of fruit rot on Chilli.

Fruit Rot on Persimmon Caused by Neopestalotiopsis saprophytica and Neopestalotiopsis ellipsospora in Guangxi, China

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) is widely cultivated in China. On October 15, 2019, about 10% of persimmon fruits showed fruit rot in the orchards of Guilin, Guangxi, China (24°45' N, 110°24' E), which could cause more than 15% of yield losses. The initial symptoms of fruit rot exhibited irregular brown to black spots (range from 2 to 4 cm in diameter), the areas surrounding the blackened spots would be soft and rotten, and three diseased fruit samples were collected from three orchards, respectively. Tissues (5×5 mm) were cut from infected margins, surface-disinfected in 75% ethanol for 10 s, 2% NaClO for 2 min, rinsed three times in sterilized distilled water, and incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25°C under 12/12 h light/darkness for a week. Forty-one tissues yielded morphologically similar cultures, and three representative isolates LPG1-1, LPG1-2, and YSG-1 were selected from three samples for further study, respectively. Their colonies showed wavy edges, white surfaces, and dense aerial hyphae on PDA after two weeks. Conidia were fusiform, straight to slightly curved, and 4-septate; basal cells were conical, hyaline, thin, and verruculose with two or three long and hyaline apical appendages and one short apical appendage; three median cells of LPG1-1 with length 14.06 to 17.69 μm (n=100), and LPG1-2 with length 14.03 to 17.61 μm (n=100) were dark brown to olivaceous, while three median cells of YSG-1 with length 12.54 to 15.58 μm (n=100) were dark brown. The conidial sizes of LPG1-1, LPG1-2, and YSG-1 were 17.41 to 27.68 × 4.63 to 8.55 μm (n=100), 18.06 to 27.41 × 4.33 to 8.21 μm (n=100), and 16.58 to 27.73 × 4.99 to 8.39 μm (n=100), respectively. The morphological characteristics were consistent with Neopestalotiopsis spp. (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2012; Maharachchikumbura et al. 2014). Primer pairs ITS4/ITS5, BT2a/BT2b, and EF1-526F/EF-1567R were used to amplify internal transcribed spacer (ITS), beta-tubulin (TUB2), and translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1-α), respectively (Shu et al., 2020). All DNA fragments were sequenced by Sangon Biotech Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). Sequences have been deposited in GenBank (ITS: OM349120 to OM349122, TUB2: OM688188 to OM688190, TEF1-α: OM688191 to OM688193). Based on BLASTn analysis of ITS, TUB2, and TEF1-α sequences, the LPG1-1 and LPG1-2 showed over 99% similarity to N. saprophytica, and YSG-1 showed over 99% similarity to N. ellipsospora. Phylogenetic analysis of the three isolates was performed with MEGA10 (version 10.0) based on sequences of ITS, TUB2, and TEF1-α using maximum parsimony analysis. The results revealed that LPG1-1 and LPG1-2 were clustered with N. saprophytica, and YSG-1 was clustered with N. ellipsospora. Pathogenicity tests of three isolates were conducted on 72 healthy persimmon fruits with and without wounds, and 9 fruits are for each treatment. The wound was made by a sterilized needle. Fruits were pre-processed with 75% ethanol for 10 s, 1% NaClO for 2 min and rinsed three times in sterile water. Conidial suspensions (10 µL, 10⁶ conidia/mL in 0.1% sterile Tween 20) were inoculated on each site (4 sites/fruit). Control group was treated with 0.1% sterile Tween 20. All inoculated sites were covered with wet cotton. The inoculated fruits were placed in a plastic box to maintain humidity at 28℃. After 5 days, all wounded fruits showed fruit rot, whereas unwounded and control fruits remained asymptomatic, there were significant differences (P<0.05) in aggressiveness between N. saprophytica (average lesion diameter 13.1 mm) and N. ellipsospora (average lesion diameter 14.9 mm). Koch's postulates were fulfilled by re-isolating the causal agents from inoculated fruits. N. ellipsospora was previously reported as an endophyte in D. montana in southern India (Reddy et al. 2016). N. saprophytica could cause leaf spot of Erythropalum scandens and Magnolia sp., and fruit rot of Litsea rotundifolia in China and leaf spot of Elaeis guineensis in Malaysia (Yang et al. 2021, Ismail et al. 2017). To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. ellipsospora and N. saprophytica causing fruit rot on persimmon in the world. The results will provide a foundation for controlling fruit rot caused by pestalotioid fungi on persimmon.

First Report of Bacterial Necrosis Caused by Pantoea vagans in Mango in China

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most important tropical fruits in China. Bacterial black spot is one of the primary factors limiting mango production and thus leads to huge economic losses (Bie et al. 2022). In June 2020, necrotic symptoms similar to bacterial black spot was observed with incidence 30% to 65% on mango cultivar Yuwen, Jinhuang, Tainong and Guifei in Baise, Guangxi, China. Typically, the lesions began as chlorotic spots that coalesced into an irregular shape, becoming black and slightly raised, with a yellow halo. Thirteen diseased samples collected from five orchards were cut into approximately 5-mm pieces, sterilized for 10 s with 75% ethanol, soaked with 2% NaClO for 1 min, and rinsed in sterilized water three times. The samples were then homogenized and a 10-fold serial dilution was made before plating onto Lysogeny broth (LB) agar. After incubation at 28°C for 3 days, one representative colony that was beige to yellow in color, round, convex and smooth with entire margins from each orchard was selected for further study. Genomic DNA was extracted to amplify the 16S rRNA gene (Lane et al. 1991). The resulting 16S rRNA sequences were compared in GenBank using BLASTn and shared at least 99% identity with Pantoea spp.. Furthermore, six housekeeping genes fusA, gyrB, leuS, pyrG, rplB and rpoB partial sequences of five isolates were amplified and sequenced (Delétoile et al. 2009). The sequences were deposited in GenBank (16S rRNA: OL413424 to OL413246, OP225727-OP225728; leuS: OL441796, OL441798 to OL441801; fusA, gyrB, leuS, pyrG, rplB and rpoB: OP272638-OP272662). The five bacterial isolates were classified as P. vagans based on the phylogenetic tree of the concatenated sequences and sequences derived from different Pantoea reference isolates inferred by maximum-likelihood using MegaX software (Kumar et al. 2018). Biochemical tests showed the isolates were Gram-negative, oxidase negative, and hydrogen oxidase positive, and could use D-glucose, D-fructose, L-rhamnose, D-galactose and D-mannitose as a carbon resource (Bradbury, 1986). Pathogenicity tests were performed on mango cv. Yuwen. The representative isolate was inoculated by infiltration with sterile needleless syringes on healthy leaves and spraying onto slightly scratched leaves with bacterial suspensions (OD600=0.1) respectively (Kutschera, et al. 2019). A Xanthomonas citri pv. mangiferaeindicae (Xcm) suspension and sterilized water were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. Inoculated plants were kept with 90 ± 5% relative humidity and 28 ± 1°C in the greenhouse for 1 week. Black to brown necrotic symptoms were observed on all leaves inoculated by infiltration except the negative control. These were observed in plants inoculated by spraying only after 2 weeks. Bacteria re-isolated from diseased tissues were consistent with the inoculated isolates and identified as P. vagans, fulfilling Koch's postulates. To date, P. vagans have been isolated from eucalyptus with bacterial blight and dieback, and maize with brown stalk rot (Brady et al. 2009). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of P. vagans causing bacterial necrosis on mango in China. It was also found that some of the diseased samples were coinfected with P. vagans and Xcm in our investigation. Therefore, it is necessary to further study the infection mechanisms of this pathogen.

First Report of Anthracnose of Sanhua Plum Caused by Colletotrichum aeschynomenes in Guangxi, China

There is nearly 5,800 ha of Sanhua plum (Prunus salicina Linn) planted in Babu district in Hezhou, Guangxi, with over 67,000 tons of annual output. In August 2021, anthracnose symptoms were observed on Sanhua plum leaves in three different cultivated towns in Babu district in Hezhou, Guangxi (N23°49' - 24°48', E111°12' - 112°03'). The plant disease incidence was over 50% with approximately 20 to 30% of leaves on a plant being symptomatic. The disease outbreak occurred in the warm and damp climate (June to August) in Hezhou. Initially, small chlorotic spots developed on the leaves which gradually enlarged to larger irregular dark brown sunken lesions with yellowish halos, necrotic lesions abscised and formed holes at a later stage. In severe cases, the whole leaf withered and defoliated. Three symptomatic leaf samples were collected from three different cultivated towns in Hezhou. Margins of infected tissues were cut into 3×3 mm pieces, surface disinfected with 75% alcohol for 10 s, 2% NaOCl for 2 min followed by three washes in sterile distilled water and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates. In total, forty-one isolates were obtained after 4 days of incubation at 25℃ on PDA, and thirty-one of them were Colletotrichum (average isolation frequency 76%). Three representative isolates (HZ18-1, HZ22-3, and HZ46-3) were selected for further study. After 7 days on PDA at 25℃, isolates had white to light grey cottony aerial mycelium on the obverse and revealed dark grey on the reverse. Conidia were hyaline, cylindroid, tapering slightly near both ends, measuring 16.3 ± 1.2 μm × 5.6 ± 0.4 μm, 16.1 ± 1.4 μm × 6.4 ± 0.7 μm, 16.2 ± 1.1 μm × 6.0 ± 0.4 μm (n=90) for HZ18-1, HZ22-3, and HZ46-3, respectively. Appressoria were brown, elliptic or fusoid, deeply lobed, measuring 10.2 ± 1.6 μm × 6.8 ± 1.0 μm, 10.7 ± 1.3 μm × 6.6 ± 0.8 μm, 9.3± 1.3 μm × 6.9 ± 0.9 μm (n=90) for HZ18-1, HZ22-3, and HZ46-3, respectively. These characteristics were consistent with the descriptions of Colletotrichum aeschynomenes B. Weir & P. R. Johnst (Weir et al. 2012). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the intergenic region and flanking regions of Apn2 and MAT1-2-1 (ApMAT) were amplified using ITS1/ITS4 and AM-F/AM-R primers, respectively (White et al. 1990; Silva et al. 2012). BLASTn analysis of the sequences showed over 99% identity with the corresponding loci from the culture collection C. aeschynomenes ICMP 17673 (ex-type). Sequences from the three isolates were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos.: ITS, OM838335, OM838339, OM838370; ApMAT, OM816771, OM816775, OM816806). Phylogenetic maximum likelihood analysis with RAxML version 8.2.10 based on the concatenated sequences of ITS and ApMAT showed that the three isolates clustered with the ex-type specimen of C. aeschynomenes ICMP 17673. Pathogenicity was confirmed on leaves with and without wounds of 24 two-year-old Sanhua plum plants in a greenhouse. The wound was made with a sterilized toothpick. Wounded and unwounded leaves were inoculated with 20 μL of conidial suspension (106 conidia/mL) of the three isolates and control plants were inoculated with sterile distilled water (20 leaves/plant, 3 plants/treatment). All plants were covered with plastic bags to maintain high humidity. After 8 days of incubation at 25℃ with constant light, necrotic lesions were observed on inoculated leaves, whereas control plants showed no symptoms. To fulfill Koch's postulates, all fungi were successfully reisolated from symptomatic leaves. This species has been reported on Aeschynomene virginica in the United States (Weir et al. 2012), Manihot esculenta in Thailand (Sangpueak et al. 2018), Theobroma cacao (Nascimento et al. 2019) and Myrciaria dubia (Matos et al. 2020) in Brazil. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. aeschynomenes causing Sanhua plum leaf anthracnose in China. The results will provide valuable information for management of anthracnose associated with Sanhua plum.

First Report of Leaf Blight Caused by Fusarium pernambucanum and Fusarium sulawesiense on Plum in Sichuan, China

Plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) is widely cultivated for its rich nutrients and flavor in China. In August 2020, leaf blight symptoms were observed on plum in Meishan, Sichuan, China (N29°24', E104°30'). Irregular brown spots initially appeared on the edge or tip of the leaf, then extended to larger taupe lesions that were surrounded by a chlorotic halo. In the late stage, grey-brown blighted tissue covered the entire leaf causing leaves to wither, curl and abscise. The leaves with blight were collected from three different towns in Meishan where the disease incidence was found on 15-30% of plum plants. The margin of diseased leaves was cut into small pieces (3×3 mm), surface disinfected with 75% ethanol solution for 10 s, 2% NaOCl for 1 min, and rinsed in sterile distilled water three times. Tissue pieces were plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25°C. Forty-nine morphologically similar colonies were observed on PDA plates after 3-5 days and three of these (TEY9-1, TEY12-1, TEY15A-1) were selected for intensive study. The colonies produced abundant whitish to yellowish aerial mycelium after 7 days incubation at 25°C in the dark. Macroconidia on carnation leaf agar (CLA) were falcate, hyaline, straight to slightly curved, smooth to slightly rough with 3 to 6 septa, the apical cell was blunt or hooked, and the basal cell was barely notched, 31.6 ± 2.4 μm × 4.7 ± 0.4 μm, 28.9 ± 3.0 μm × 4.5 ± 0.5 μm, 32.5 ± 3.4 μm × 4.5 ± 0.5 for TEY9-1, TEY12-1, TEY15A-1, respectively. Microconidia were hyaline, fusoid or ovoid, nonseptate or one-septate, 14.4 ± 3.9 μm × 4.3 ± 0.6 μm, 13.0 ± 3.0 μm × 4.0 ± 0.4 μm, 11.0 ± 2.4 μm × 3.7 ± 0.5 for TEY9-1, TEY12-1, TEY15A-1, respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from 7-day-old aerial mycelia of these isolates. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor (TEF1), calmodulin (CAM) and partial RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) were amplified using primers ITS4/ITS1, EF1/EF2, CL1/CL2A, and 5f2/7cr, respectively (White et al. 1990; O'Donnell et al. 2000, 2010). Sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS: OK315638-OK315640; TEF1: OK338756-OK338758; CAM: OK338759-OK338761; RPB2: OK338762-OK338764). A maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree was constructed with RAxML version 8.2.10 based on the concatenated sequences (ITS, TEF1, CAM, RPB2). According to morphology and phylogenetic analysis, TEY9-1 and TEY15A-1 were identified as Fusarium pernambucanum, and TEY12-1 was identified as Fusarium sulawesiense. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on young healthy leaves of 12 two-year-old plum plants in a 28°C greenhouse in Nanning, Guangxi, China. The epidermis of tested leaves was slightly scratched with sterile toothpick-tips forming a 3-mm-diameter cross-shaped wound, followed by inoculation with a 10 μl conidial suspension (106 spores /ml in 0.1% sterile Tween 20). Control leaves were wounded in the same way and treated with 0.1% sterile Tween 20. Plants were covered with polythene bags to maintain high humidity for 5 days. Inoculated leaves showed light brown to dark brown lesions, whereas control leaves were symptomless. Both species were re-isolated from symptomatic leaves, completing Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of F. pernambucanum and F. sulawesiense causing leaf blight on plum trees in China. These results will provide valuable information for prevention and management of leaf blight on plum trees.

First Report of Leaf Spot Caused by Colletotrichum citricola on Cavendish bananas in China

Cavendish banana (Musa spp. AAA group) is an important tropical and subtropical fruit with significant economic value. It is widely planted in Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan, Fujian and Guangdong provinces in China. In November 2020, leaf spots were observed on nearly 80% of the plants growing in three Cavendish banana plantations in Chongzuo, Guangxi, China. The symptoms on Cavendish banana leaves initially appeared as small black necrosis spots, which gradually expanded and connected, eventually covered the entire leaf. Three diseased leaves from three plantations were collected, sectioned into small pieces (5 ×5 mm), surface sterilized (10 s in 75% ethanol, followed by 1 min in 1% sodium hypochlorite and rinsed three times in sterile water) and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 28℃ for 5 days for pathogen isolation. The fungal colonies were white, cottony, while the reverse sides were white, concentric circles with yellowish-brown discoloration in 7-day cultures. The conidia were hyaline, aseptate, cylindrical, oval, measuring 10.3 to 17.71 μm (mean 14.06 ± 1.45 μm; n = 200) in length and 4.48 to 9.57 μm (mean 7.46 ± 0.69 μm; n = 200) in width. Three representative isolates (DX1-5, LZ4-5, and FS1-3) were obtained by monosporic isolation. The partial internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, actin (ACT), chitin synthase (CHS-1), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), calmodulin (CAL), and β-tubulin (TUB2) were amplified from genomic DNA for the three isolates (Weir et al. 2012). The sequences of the amplified fragments were deposited in GenBank (accessions OL361844 to OL361858, for GAPDH, CAL, ACT, CHS-1, and TUB2 of isolate DX1-5, LZ4-5 and FS1-3; OL305066 to OL305068 for ITS) and showed over 99% identities with the corresponding sequences of C. citricola. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on the above six genes of type or ex-type specimens of Colletotrichum (Fu et al. 2019) was constructed with MEGA 5.2 using the concatenation of multiple sequences (Kumar et al. 2016). All three isolates clustered together with the type culture of C. citricola (CBS 134228, CBS 134229, CBS 134230) with 82% bootstrap support in the phylogenetic tree. According to the molecular and morphological characteristics, all three isolates were identified as C. citricola. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on one-month-old primary hardened tissue culture plantlets. Tender, healthy leaves were gently scratched with a sterile needle, and each wound site was inoculated with sterile cotton impregnated with conidial suspension (106 spores/ml) for each isolate. Wounded leaves were treated with sterile cotton impregnated with conidial suspension of C. fructicola as positive controls and sterile water as negative controls. Each isolate was inoculated with three tissue culture plantlets, six inoculated sites on each plantlet, the same as controls. All inoculated tissue culture plantlets were covered with plastic bags to maintain high humidity and placed in a 28℃ growth chamber with constant light. Black necrotic lesions were clearly observed on the inoculated leaves and the positive controls after 7 days, whereas no symptoms appeared on the negative control leaves. The fungus was re-isolated from inoculated leaves, and these isolates matched the morphological and molecular characteristics of the original isolates confirming Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot caused by C. citricola on Cavendish banana worldwide.

Duodenal microbiota makes an important impact in functional dyspepsia

Duodenal microbiota may have impact in Functional Dyspepsia. The aim of this study was to explore the difference of microbiota on duodenal mucosa between patients with Functional Dyspepsia and normal subjects. The duodenal mucosa of the subjects were collected under upper gastrointestinal endoscope and the contents of the descending duodenal intestine were extracted with cell brushes in 20 patients with Functional Dyspepsia and 5 healthy subjects. The microbiome on duodenal was studied by 16SrDNA gene sequencing. The differences of duodenal flora were analyzed and compared by LEfSe, FAPROTAX, SPSS and other software. There were significant differences in ACE index, shannon index and observedspecies index between patients with functional dyspepsia and healthy people (P < 0.05). PCoA analysis of the structure of bacteria between two groups found that the duodenal microbiome showed a separate trend. In further study, Amova analysis showed a significant difference (P < 0.05). We found that the there are obvious differences in the composition of duodenal microbiome in functional dyspepsia and healthy people. At the genus level, there were significant differences in Alloprevotella, Peptostreptococcus,Sutterella, Corynebacteriurn,Catonella, Faecalibacterium,Staphylococcus,Eubacteriumnodatumgro-up, Lachnoclostridiurn and Lautropia between the two groups (P < 0.05). The prediction results of Microflora function from FAPROTAX showed that the urea decomposing (ureolysis) and fumaric acid respiratory (fumaraterespiration) function of duodenal bacteria in patients with functional dyspepsia were significantly different from those in healthy people (P < 0.05). In conclusion, there is a significant difference in mucosal microflora of duodenum between patients with functional dyspepsia and healthy groups. It includes greater microflora diversity, different microflora structure, different microflora composition, specific taxa and specific microbiome function. The disorder of duodenal microecology may be the formation mechanism of functional dyspepsia.

Litchi anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum karstii in Guangxi, China

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), a native fruit tree from southern China, has been planted in many subtropical and tropical countries for its fruit which are considered delicious and of medicinal value (Anderson et al. 2013). Anthracnose, one of the most important diseases on litchi, can cause flower drop, fruit drop, and fruit rot. Infected leaves form dark brown spots which turn to reddish brown with gray-white edges. Infected fruits formed dark brown spots which developed eventually to entire black rotted fruits. On both tissues, small dots of acervuli appeared with high humidity (Lai et al. 2004). On 20 April 2019, two leaf spots samples of litchi from different plants were collected from a 2 ha litchi orchard in Xintang Town (N 22.38˚, E 108.61˚), Qinzhou City, Guangxi province. The incidence of leaf spots in the orchard was above 20%. Each sample was cut into multiple pieces targeting zone between symptomatic and healthy plant tissues, disinfected with 75% ethanol for 10 s and 1% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 1 min, and then washed three times with sterilized distilled water. The sterilized leaf tissues were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 28°C in darkness for one week. The growing hyphae from each sample was transferred to fresh PDA. The pieces from each leaf yielded a similar fungal morphotype over 75% of the time, and a representative one from each leaf was retained and called LZ1-1 and LZ3-1. The resulting colonies were incubated on the PDA for 7 days with gray to white aerial tufted hyphae, and abundant colorless to pale orange conidia in center of colony. The conidia were smooth, apex obtuse, base truncate, straight, cylindrical, and the contents remained granular. The conidial size of LZ1-1 was 10.6 to 21.4 × 4.5 to 9.1 μm (n=100) and that of LZ3-1 was 12.7 to 16.7 × 5.5 to 8.0 μm (n=100). Appressoria of LZ1-1 (6.9 to 14.9 × 6.0 to 11.1 μm) (n=100) and LZ3-1 (6.5 to 15.4 × 5.4 to 11.4 μm) (n=100) were pale to medium brown, ovoid to bullet-shaped, not nodose, and smooth-walled to undulate. DNA was extracted from two isolates, followed by PCR amplification and sequencing using primers for the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), actin (ACT), calmodulin (CAL), chitin synthase (CHS-1), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and β-tubulin (TUB2) (Damm et al. 2012). The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS: MW494453 and MW494454, ACT: MW495034 and MW495035, CAL: MW495036 and MW495037, CHS-1: MW495038 and MW495039, GAPDH: MW495040 and MW495041, TUB2: MW495042 and MW495043). The concatenated sequences comprised of six genomic regions of LZ1-1, LZ3-1 and other sequences of Colletotrichum obtained from GenBank were used to construct a Neighbor-Joining (NJ) tree with 1000 bootstrap replicates using MEGA4 (Tamura et al. 2007). The results revealed both LZ1-1 and LZ3-1 were clustered with type strain of C. karstii with high bootstrap value. The pathogenicity of the two isolates was determined by inoculating on leaves of 1-year-old litchi saplings in the greenhouse. Slight scratches were made on the surface of healthy leaves and 10 μL of spore suspension (106 conidia/mL) in 0.1% Tween 20 were inoculated onto each wounded spot. The blank control groups were inoculated with 10 μL 0.1% Tween 20. Each isolate was inoculated onto at least 27 leaves of three saplings, with each leaf wounded at spots. The inoculated saplings were placed in a greenhouse (12 h/12 h light/dark, 25 ± 2°C), and humidity maintained by covering plastic bags. The leaves inoculated with spore suspension showed reddish-brown spots after one week, while no symptoms were observed in the control. Each fungal isolate was consistently reisolated from inoculated leaves, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. It was reported that members of the C. acutatum species complex and the C. gloeosporioides species complex could cause anthracnose on litchi (Ling et al. 2019), including C. gloeosporioides, C. siamense, C. fioriniae, and C. simmondsii (Ling et al. 2019; 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of anthracnose on litchi in China caused by C. karstii, a member of the C. boninense species complex. This study expands the understanding of the pathogen of anthracnose on litchi which can lead to improved management and control.

First Report of Anthracnose of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) Caused by Colletotrichum siamense in China

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a rosaceous plant widely grown in China, which is economically important. Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum sp. is an important postharvest disease, which severely affects the quality of papaya fruits (Liu et al., 2019). During April 2020, some mature papaya fruits with typical anthracnose symptoms were observed in Fusui, Nanning, Guangxi, China with an average of 30% disease incidence (DI) and over 60% DI in some orchards. Initial symptoms of these papayas appeared as watery lesions, which turned dark brown, sunken, with a conidial mass appearing on the lesions under humid and warm conditions. The disease severity varied among fruits, with some showing tiny light brown spots, and some ripe fruits presenting brownish, rounded, necrotic and depressed lesions over part of their surface. Samples from two papaya plantations (107.54°E, 22.38°N) were collected, and brought to the laboratory. Symptomatic diseased tissues were cut into 5 × 5 mm pieces, surface sterilized with 2% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite for 1 minute, and rinsed three times with sterilized water. The pieces were then placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA). After incubation at 25°C in the dark for one week, colonies with uniform morphology were obtained. The aerial mycelium on PDA was white on top side, and concentric rings of salmon acervuli on the underside. A gelatinous layer of spores was observed on part of PDA plates after 7 days at 28°C. The conidia were elliptical, aseptate and hyaline (Zhang et al., 2020). The length and width of 60 conidia were measured for each of the two representative isolates, MG2-1 and MG3-1, and these averaged 13.10 × 5.11 μm and 14.45 × 5.95 μm. DNA was extracted from mycelia of these two isolates with the DNA secure Plant Kit (TIANGEN, Biotech, China). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), partial actin (ACT), calmodulin (CAL), chitin synthase (CHS), β-tubulin 2 (TUB2) and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) regions were amplified by PCR and sequenced. The sequences were deposited into GenBank with accessions MT904003, MT904004, and MT898650 to MT898659. BLASTN analyses against the GenBank database showed that they all had over 99% identity to the type strain of Colletotrichum siamense isolate ICMP 18642 (GenBank accession numbers JX010278, GQ856775, JX009709, GQ856730, JX010410, JX010019) (Weir et al., 2012). A phylogenetic tree based on the combined ITS, ACT, CAL, CHS, TUB2 and GAPDH sequences using the Neighbor-joining algorithm also showed that the isolates were C. siamense. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on 24 mature, healthy and surface-sterilized papaya fruits. On 12 papaya fruits, three well separated wounded sites were made for inoculation, and for each wounded site, six adjacent pinhole wounds were made in a 5-mm-diameter circular area using a sterilized needle. A 10 µl aliquot of 1 × 106 conidia/ml suspension of each of the isolates (MG2-1 and MG3-1) was inoculated into each wound. For each isolate, there were six replicate fruits. The control fruits were inoculated with sterile distilled water. The same inoculation was applied to 12 non-wound papaya fruits. Fruits were then placed in boxes which were first washed with 75% alcohol and lined with autoclaved filter paper moistened with sterilized distilled water to maintain high humidity. The boxes were then sealed and incubated at 28°C. After 10 days, all the inoculated fruits showed symptoms, while the fruits that were mock inoculated were without symptoms. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by re-isolation of C. siamense from diseased fruits. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. siamense causing anthracnose of papaya in China. This finding will enable better control of anthracnose disease caused by C. siamense on papaya.

First Report of Colletotrichum siamense Causing Leaf Spot on Alocasia macrorrhiza in China

Alocasia macrorrhiza (L.) Schott, known as Alocasia is found in the Araceae, and is widely planted in southern China for its ornamental and medicinal value. This plant has a wide range of pharmacological effects, and has potential anti-tumor activity (Lei et al. 2013). In July of 2019, leaf spots were observed on A. macrorrhiza in the Xixiangtang Area, Nanning, Guangxi, China. Disease symptoms began with water-soaked yellow-green spots and progressed to form brown, round or oval lesions with yellow halos. Under severe conditions, spots merged into larger irregular lesions. More than 60% of the plants in a 0.5 ha field showed disease symptoms. Symptomatic leaves were collected and cut into small pieces (3×3 mm). Leaf pieces from the margin of the necrotic tissue were surface sterilized in 75% alcohol for 10 s, followed by 2% sodium hypochlorite solution for 2 min, then rinsed three times in sterile distilled water. Tissues were plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 28°C for 5 days in the dark. Among over 30 isolates, most shared a similar morphology, the isolation rate of these was 86.7% and three of these (GY1-1A, GY1-1B, and GY1-1C) were chosen for single-spore purification and used for fungal morphological characterization and identification. White feathery aerial mycelia with olivaceous gray mycelia below were observed in 7-day cultures. After 14 days, orange conidia were observed. Conidia were hyaline, guttulate, smooth, one-celled, and cylindrical, averaged 13.79 μm × 5.26 μm, 13.89 μm × 5.33 μm and 13.92 μm × 5.42 μm for GY1-1A, GY1-1B and GY1-1C, respectively. Appressoria were mostly irregular in outline, deeply lobed or lightly lobed, gray brown to dark brown, conidial appressoria were 7.93 to 8.74 μm × 5.26 to 5.42 μm, mycelial appressoria were 7.15 to 10.11 μm × 5.60 to 7.44 μm. These morphological characteristics were similar to the C. siamense as previously described (Weir et al. 2012). The partial internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, actin (ACT), chitin synthase (CHS-1), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), calmodulin (CAL), β-tubulin (TUB2), and the intergenic region of apn2 and MAT1-2-1 (ApMAT) were amplified from genomic DNA for the three isolates using primers ITS4/ITS1 (White et al. 1990), ACT-512F/ACT-783R, CHS-79F/CHS-354R, GDF1/GDR1, CL1C/CL2C, Bt2a/Bt2b (Weir et al. 2012), and AM-F/AM-R (Silva et al. 2012) and sequenced. All sequences showed over 99% identity with C. siamense and were deposited in GenBank (ITS, MW040179-MW040181; ACT, MW049220-MW049222; CHS-1, MW049229-MW049231; GAPDH, MW049232-MW049234; CAL, MW049226-MW049228; TUB, MW049235-MW049237; ApMAT, MW049223-MW049225). Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree was constructed with MEGA 5 using the concatenation of multiple sequences (ACT, CHS-1, GAPDH, ITS, TUB2, CAL). According to the phylogenetic tree, all three isolates were found with C. siamense with 95% bootstrap support. To confirm pathogenicity, three sets (three plants per set) of healthy leaves were slightly scratched with autoclaved toothpicks at each of eight locations. Each inoculation location was a cross (2 mm length) and inoculation location was at least 3 cm apart. Ten μl of conidial suspension (106 conidia /ml in 0.1% sterile Tween 20) was applied to the inoculation areas. A control group was mock inoculated with 0.1% sterile Tween 20. Plants were covered with plastic bags to maintain a high humidity environment and placed in a 28°C growth chamber with constant light for 7 days. Inoculated leaves showed yellowish brown spots (0.4 × 0.65 cm), but no symptoms were observed in the control group. The fungus was reisolated from inoculated leaves, and these isolates matched the molecular and morphological characteristics of the original isolates confirming Koch's postulates. Reported hosts of this pathogen include Coffea arabica, Carica papaya, Melilotus indicus and Litchi chinensis (Weir et al. 2012; Qin et al. 2017; Ling et al. 2019) and so on. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. siamense causing leaf spot on A. macrorrhiza in China. The identification of this pathogen provides a foundation for the management of leaf spot on this medicinal plant.

D-galacturonic acid ameliorates the intestinal mucosal permeability and inflammation of functional dyspepsia in rats

BACKGROUND

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a gastrointestinal disease caused by imbalanced gastrointestinal function. Traditional treatments are deemed to be limited, and new therapeutic drugs are required. New study suggested that duodenal low-grade inflammation and increased intestinal permeability play an important role in the pathogenesis of FD. Previous studies have shown that polysaccharides containing D-galacturonic acid (GA) could modulate intestinal immune activity in vitro and in animal models. However, the ability of GA monomer to improve intestinal mucosal permeability and inflammation in FD has not been clearly elucidated.

METHODS

A FD rat model was established using iodoacetamide (IA). FD Rats were administrated different doses of GA. Subsequently, the body weight and behavioral sensitivity of the rats were measured and evaluated; the permeability of the intestinal barrier was measured by determining D-lactose, lactulose/mannitol ratio (LMR), and permeability-related genes [desmocollin-2 (DSC2), TJP1, and OCLN] in FD rats. Also, inflammatory cells [cluster of differentiation (CD)3+ cells and mast cells] were assessed by immunohistochemistry, and the levels of immune-related factors, such as the Toll-like receptor-nuclear factor kappa B (TLR/NF-κB) pathway, were monitored by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) or western blot assays.

RESULTS

Our results suggested that GA could markedly increase the body weight and attenuate the behavioral sensitivity of FD rats. Moreover, GA also has an obvious ameliorating effect on the intestinal mucosal permeability and inflammatory response of FD rats. Furthermore, we found that GA could markedly downregulate TLR2, TLR4, and NF-κB in FD rats.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that GA could significantly attenuate the intestinal mucosal permeability and inflammation FD rats. The effect of GA was partially mediated by the TLR/NF-κB signaling pathway.

First Report of Black Spot Caused by Neoscytalidium dimidiatum on Sisal in Guangxi, China

Sisal (Agave sisalana Perrine) is an important hard fiber crop that is widely planted in Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan, and Fujian provinces, China. In July 2019, a new leaf disease of sisal with a disease incident of about 36% was found in Guangxi (Fig.1a~d). The oval or circular black lesions were 2.3 cm to 15.9 cm in length and 1.6 cm to 5.5 cm in width on both sides of the diseased leaves. The central part of the lesions was slightly hollow. The lesions continuously enlarged and ultimately penetrated the leaves. Reddish brown and dark mucus was secreted from the lesions. The junction of lesions and healthy parts was reddish brown to yellow. The diseased leaf fiber and mesophyll tissues were reddish brown and necrotic. Fresh leaf yield was reduced about 30% by the disease, and fiber quality was significantly compromised every year in Guangxi. Six kinds of fungi distinguished by their morphology, size and color of the colonies were isolated from diseased leaf tissues of 60 sisal plants sampled from five different farms in Guangxi. Isolate JMHB1 was isolated at a rate of 95.67%. The isolate JMHB1 was initially white with dense and hairy aerial mycelium, gradually turning dark grey to olive green on PDA (Fig. 2). Conidia, arthrospores, and chlamydospores were observed on PDA in culture (Fig. 3). The conidia formed arthric chains, disarticulating, cylindrical-truncate, oblong-obtuse to doliiform, colorless and transparent, zero- to one-septate, and averaging 4.4 to 13.8 µm × 2.2 to 5.6 µm (n=100). Arthrospores were short columnar, pigmented and transparent, single or formed arthric chains, averaging 5.5 to 17.9 µm × 2.1 to 3.5 µm (n=100). Chlamydospores were dark brown, round or oval, averaging 4.5 to 9.6 µm × 4.5 to 8.6 µm (n=100). Pathogenicity testing was conducted by inoculating 3-year-old healthy sisal plants with PDA plugs (5 × 5 mm) on which the fungus had grown for 5 days. Nine healthy plants were wounded on the leaves with a sterile needle, and mycelial plugs were placed on the wounds, covered with sterile moist cotton, and wrapped with parafilm. Nine control plants were wounded and treated with PDA plugs as the negative control. The test was repeated three times. All treated plants were kept in a greenhouse at ~28 ℃ and 40% RH. After 5 days, only leaves inoculated with isolate JMHB1 showed lesions similar to symptoms observed in the field (Fig.1e~f). The fungus was re-isolated from all nine diseased plants, and no symptoms were observed on the leaves of control plants. Molecular identification of the fungus was made by PCR amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA, EF1-α gene and β-tubulin gene using primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EFl-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), TUB2Fd/TUB4Rd (Aveskamp et al. 2009) respectively. The ITS (MT705646), EF1-α (MT733516) and β-tubulin (MT773603) sequences of JMHB1 were similar to the ITS (AY819727), EF1-α (EU144063) and β-tubulin (KF531800) sequences of the epitype of Neoscytalidium dimidiatum (CBS 499.66) with 100%, 99.65% and 99.02% identity, respectively. Based on pathogenicity testing, morphological characteristics, and molecular identification, the pathogen of sisal causing black spot was identified as N. dimidiatum (Penz.) Crous & Slippers (Crous et al. 2006). To our knowledge, this is the first report of black spot caused by N. dimidiatum on sisal in China. Sisal is the main economic crop in arid and semi-arid areas that is widely planted in several provinces of southern China. The serious occurrence of the disease caused by N. dimidiatum has greatly affected the development of sisal industry and local economic income in China. Identification of the pathogen of the disease is of great significance to guide disease control, increase farmers' income and promote the development of sisal industry. References: Aveskamp, M. M., et al. 2009. Mycologia, 101: 363. https://doi.org/10.3852/08-199. Carbone, I., and Kohn, L. M. 1999. Mycologia, 91:553. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.1999. 12061051. Crous, P. W., et al. 2006. Stud. Mycol. 55:235. https://doi.org/10.3114/sim.55.1.235. White, T. J., et al. 1990. PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, Page 315. doi.org/10.1002/mrd.1080280418. Supplemental photographs: Fig. 1 Symptoms of sisal black spot disease a, b, c, d showed symptoms in the field, e and f were symptoms after inoculating Neoscytalidium dimidiatum JMHB1. a, c, and e were the front of the lesions, b, d, and f were the back of the lesions. Fig. 2 Primary colony (a) and old colony (b) of Neoscytalidium dimidiatum JMHB1 Fig. 3 Arthrospores (a), conidia and chlamydospores (b) of Neoscytalidium dimidiatum JMHB1.

First report of Colletotrichum fructicola causing anthracnose on Pouteria campechiana in China

Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni (=Lucuma nervosa A. DC.) is a fruit crop planted in southern China (Gao et al. 2019). It is originally from Central America, and also grown there commercially as well as in some American states (Fadzilah et al. 2018). In March 2019, a leaf spot disease was found on P. campechiana in Baoshan, Yunnan, China. Field surveys were done in a 0.06 ha orchard in Yunnan Province. Leaf spots were found on 90% of six-year-old plants in this field and were observed in other planting areas. The symptoms initially appeared as small, round, brown spots. As the disease developed, the center of the lesions was sunken with a dark brown border (Fig. 1). Under severe conditions, some spots were joined into larger irregular spots, and even whole leaves died. The disease severity of different plants varied, and some leaves showed only a few brown spots while others showed many spots. Small fragments of diseased tissues (3×3 mm) were disinfected in 75% ethanol for 10 s, 1% NaClO for 1 min, and rinsed three times in sterilized water. Then, tissues were placed onto potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 25°C in the dark for 5 days. Fungal isolates with similar morphology were consistently recovered from diseased tissues. The 25 colonies were initially cottony, pale white to pale gray on the upper side and greyish-green with black zonation on the underside of plates. Conidia were single-celled and hyaline, aseptate, straight, and cylindrical, with rounded ends (Fig. 1B). The length and width of 200 conidia were measured for two representative isolates, DHG-1 and DHG-2, and these averaged 14.48 × 5.59 μm and 14.92 × 5.57 μm. Appressoria were ovoid, sometimes clavate, brown, averaged 7.47 × 5.86 μm and 7.25 × 5.85 μm (n=30). Brown and globose ascocarp were observed on the leaves of Pouteria campechiana. Asci were unitunicate, thin-walled, 6-8 spored, clavate, averaged 51.53×13.01 μm and 50.21 × 13.32 μm (n=30). Ascospores were hyaline, one-celled, slightly curved to curved with obtuse to slightly rounded ends, averaged 14.64×5.97 μm and 15.19 × 6.23 μm (n=30). These two isolates were selected for molecular identification. DNA was extracted from mycelia with the DNA secure Plant Kit (TIANGEN, Biotech, China). For further molecular identification, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), partial actin (ACT), calmodulin (CAL), chitin synthase (CHS-1), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), beta-tubulin (TUB2), and the Apn2-Mat1-2 intergenic spacer and partial mating type (Mat1-2) gene (ApMat) genes of the strains (DHG-1, DHG-2) were amplified using the primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, ACT-512F/ACT-783R, CL1C/CL2C, CHS-79F/CHS-345R, GDF1/GDR1, T1/Bt-2b, and AM-F/AM-R (Weir et al. 2012; Silva et al. 2012), respectively.The sequences were obtained and compared with GenBank and they all showed over 99% identity to the type strain of Colletotrichum fructicola ICMP 18581 (Accession nos. JX010165, JX010033, JQ807838, FJ907426, JX010405, JX009866, and FJ917508) (Weir et al. 2012). A phylogenetic tree based on the combined ITS, ACT, CAL, CHS-1, TUB2, GAPDH and ApMat sequences using the Neighbor-joining algorithm revealed that the isolates were C. fructicola (Fig. 2). The sequences were deposited into GenBank with accession MN955541, MN955542, and MN966581 to MN966592. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on eighteen healthy and tender leaves of six 1-year-old P. campechiana plants in a greenhouse. The experiment was repeated twice. The length and width of the inoculated leaves were between 8-13 cm × 2.5-3.6 cm. The epidermis of each tested leaf was lightly scratched in six separate areas with a sterilized needle. Each isolate was inoculated onto at least three wounded leaves by placing 20 μL of a conidial suspension (106 conidia/mL) on the wound sites. Control leaves were also wounded and inoculated with distilled water. All the plants were then sprayed with distilled water and covered with plastic bags. After 10 days, initial symptoms appeared as circular and deep yellow spots. After a few more days, the spots became brown, enlarged to up to 4.0 mm which was similar to symptoms observed in the field, whereas controls remained symptomless. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by re-isolation of C. fructicola from diseased leaves, and identification confirmed by sequencing. Colletotrichum fructicola has been associated with anthracnose on mango, apple, pear and cassava (Oliveira et al. 2018). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. fructicola associated with anthracnose of P. campechiana worldwide. These results will provide crucial information for future epidemiological studies and for management of this disease.

[Application of the China-PAR stroke risk equations in a rural northern Chinese population]

OBJECTIVE

To validate five-year risk prediction models for stroke in a contemporary rural Northern Chinese population.

METHODS

Totally 6 483 rural adults aged 40 to 79 years without cardiovascular diseases were enrolled at baseline between June and August 2010, and followed up through January 2017. Expected prediction risk using the China-PAR (prediction for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in China) stroke risk equations were compared with the new Framingham stroke risk profile (FSRP). The recalibrated models were applied by adjusting the five-year baseline survival rate and the mean score to our rural northern Chinese population, while keeping other coefficient parameters the same as the original models. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to obtain the observed event (nonfatal or fatal stroke) rate for the five years, and the expected-observed ratios were calculated to evaluate overestimation or underestimation in the cohort. The models were assessed by discrimination C statistic, calibration χ², and calibration charts and plots for illustration as well.

RESULTS

Over an average of (5.83 ± 1.14) years of the follow-up in this validation cohort with 6 483 rural Chinese participants, 438 subjects deve-loped a first stroke event. Recalibrated China-PAR stroke risk equations and FSRP well-performed for predicting five-year stroke risk in men, and had C statistics of 0.709 (95%CI, 0.675 - 0.743) and 0.721 (95%CI, 0.688 - 0.754), with calibration χ² values being 5.7 (P = 0.770) and 13.6 (P = 0.137), respectively. However, both China-PAR and FSRP overestimated stroke events by 11.6% and 30.0% in women, and had C statistics of 0.713 (95%CI, 0.684-0.743) and 0.710 (95%CI, 0.679-0.740), respectively. Calibration χ² values in women were 12.5 (P = 0.188) for China-PAR and 24.0 (P = 0.004) for FSRP. In addition, the calibration charts and plots illustrated good agreement between the observations and the predictions only in the China-PAR stroke risk equations, especially for men.

CONCLUSION

In this validation cohort of rural northern Chinese adults, the China-PAR models had better performance of five-year stroke risk prediction than the FSRP, indicating that recalibrated China-PAR stroke risk equations might be appropriate tools for risk assessment and primary prevention of stroke in China.

A case report of a post-polypectomy syndrome with severe sepsis and organ dysfunction

Post-polypectomy syndrome (PPS) results from electrocoagulation injury to the bowel wall that induces a transmural burn and localized peritonitis. It has a good prognosis; however, there are exceptions when complications are observed. We here report a case of a 50-year-old man who developed lumbosacral pain and high fever with chills four days after colonoscopy, during which polypectomy was performed by endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and argon plasma coagulation (APC). Both the plain abdominal film and abdominal CT scan showed no free air, and lumbar CT showed no apparent lesions, which satisfied the diagnosis of PPS. However, the patient was in a critical condition as he developed septic shock caused by bacteremia. Following active treatment, the patient's condition rapidly improved. Therefore, we suggest that clinicians should consider the severity of PPS with sepsis and colon transmural burn. Patients with a diagnosis of PPS should be admitted to the hospital for observation and treatment to avoid adverse consequences.

[Experimental observation on the effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells transplanting CXCR4 over gentamicin ototoxicity]

Objective:To observe the survival and migration ability of CXCR4-BMSCs in guinea pig cochlea with gentamycin induced sensorineural hearing loss, and to explore whether SDF-1/CXCR4 axis can mediate bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) to cochlear homing.Method:BMSCs were isolated and extracted from guinea pigs. A bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell line with overexpression of CXCR4 was established. The animal model of sensorineural deafness was established by intraperitoneal injection of gentamicin［100 mg/(kg·d)］in 50 healthy guinea pigs. The successful deafness animals were randomly divided into three groups(14 rats in each group): sterilizing water group, BMSCs transplantation group and CXCR4-BMSCs transplantation group.Auditory brainstem response(ABR) were performed at 2 weeks and 4 weeks respectively after the tansplantation through cochlear tympanic pathway. The directional homing of the implanted cells in the cochlea was traced by the frozen section fluorescence of the cochlear tissue.Result:The hearing thresholds of the three groups were (91.3±5.2),(90.7±4.8)and (90.9±5.6)dB (SPL) respectively. There was no significant difference among them(P>0.05). In sterile Water group, the hearing thresholds were(89.7±6.4)dB and (89.2±6.7)dB respectively when detected on 2 and 4 weeks after transplantation. There were no significant difference(P>0.05);In BMSCs group, the hearing thresholds were (88.6±5.3)dB(SPL) on 2 weeks and (78.4±7.3)dB(SPL) on 4 weeks after transplantation. In CXCR4-BMSCs group, the hearing thresholds were(75.3±7.8)dB(SPL) on 2 weeks and (62.1±8.4)dB(SPL) on 4 weeks after transplantation. The differences were statistically significant (PThe hearing threshold was (75.3±7.8)dB (SPL) at 2 weeks after operation. The hearing enhancement was about 15 dB, the hearing threshold was (62.1±8.4)dB(SPL) at 4 weeks, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Fluorescence tracing showed that the number of CXCR4-BMSCs homing cells was significantly increased, and showed a cohort like arrangement.Conclusion:The SDF-1/CXCR4 axis plays an important role in the directional homing and differentiation of the cells into the cochlea, which can improve the hearing repair ability of guinea pigs induced by gentamicin induced sensorineural deafness.

[Progress in research of family-based cohort study on common chronic non-communicable diseases in rural population in northern China]

Family-based cohort study is a special type of study design, in which biological samples and environmental exposure information of the member in a family are collected and related follow up is conducted. Family-based cohort study can be applied to explore the effect of genetic factors, environmental factors, gene-gene interaction, and gene-environment interaction in the etiology of complex diseases. This paper summarizes the objectives, methods and results, as well as the opportunities and challenges of the family-based cohort study on common chronic non-communicable diseases in rural population in northern China.

Efficacy and safety of Xiangsha Liujunzi granules for functional dyspepsia: A multi-center randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical study

AIM

To assess the efficacy and safety of a Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), Xiangsha Liujunzi granules, in the treatment of patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).

METHODS

We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with patients from three centers. Two hundred and sixteen subjects diagnosed with FD according to ROME III criteria and confirmed by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and spleen-deficiency and Qi-stagnation syndrome were selected to receive Xiangsha Liujunzi granules or placebo for 4 wk in a 2:1 ratio by blocked randomization. The subjects also received follow-up after the 4-wk intervention. Herbal or placebo granules were dissolved in 300 mL of water. Participants in both groups were administered 130 mL (45 °C) three times a day. Participants were evaluated prior to and following 4 wk of the intervention in terms of changes in the postprandial discomfort severity scale (PDSS) score, clinical global impression (CGI) scale score, hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) score, traditional Chinese medicine symptoms score (SS), scores of various domains of the 36-item short form health survey (SF-36), gastric emptying (GE) and any observed adverse effects.

RESULTS

Compared with the placebo group, patients in the CHM group showed significant improvements in the scores of PDSS, HADS, SS, SF-36 and CGI scale (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). They also showed the amelioration in the GE rates of the proximal stomach and distal stomach (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Xiangsha Liujunzi granules offered significant symptomatic improvement in patients with FD.

[Analysis of Animal Modeling Methods for Functional Dyspepsia]

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common disease in clinics. It is necessary to establish suitable animal models for clarifying the pathogenesis of FD. FD belongs to "Piman" (abdominal disten- sion) , "Weiwantong" (epigastric pain) , "Caoza" (epigastric upset) in Chinese medicine (CM). It is inor- ganic disease but functional disease. There is no unified standard for FD animal models. Pi deficiency syndrome model is often used as FD animal model now, but they are not completely the same thing. Au- thors summarized and analyzed common methods for FD modeling.

Growth under elevated air temperature alters secondary metabolites in Robinia pseudoacacia L. seedlings in Cd- and Pb-contaminated soils

Plant secondary metabolites play a pivotal role in growth regulation, antioxidant activity, pigment development, and other processes. As the global climate changes, increasing atmospheric temperatures and contamination of soil by heavy metals co-occur in natural ecosystems, which alters the pH of rhizosphere soil and influences the bioavailability and mobility of metals. Elevated temperatures in combination with heavy metals are expected to affect plant secondary metabolites, but this issue has not been extensively examined. Here, we investigated secondary metabolites in Robiniapseudoacacia seedlings exposed to elevated temperatures using a passive warming device in combination with Cd- and Pb-contaminated soils. Heavy metals significantly stimulated the accumulation of saponins, phenolic compounds, and flavonoids in leaves and stems; alkaloid compounds increased in leaves and decreased in stems, and condensed tannins fluctuated. Elevated temperatures, alone and in combination with Cd and Pb, caused increases in secondary metabolites in the plant tissues. Phenolic compounds showed the greatest changes among the secondary metabolites and significant interactive effects of temperature and metals were observed. These results suggest that slightly elevated temperature could enhance protective and defense mechanisms of Robinia pseudoacacia seedlings exposed to heavy metals by stimulating the production of secondary metabolites.

The interaction of serum testosterone levels and androgen receptor CAG repeat polymorphism on the risk of erectile dysfunction in aging Taiwanese men

Testosterone has been found to play important roles in men's sexual function. However, the effects of testosterone can be modulated by androgen receptor (AR) CAG repeat polymorphism. It could also contribute to the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of this study is to evaluate the interaction of serum testosterone levels and AR CAG repeat polymorphism on the risk of ED in aging Taiwanese men. This cross-sectional data of Taiwanese men older than 40 years were collected from a free health screening held between August 2010 and August 2011 in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan. All participants completed a health questionnaires included five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) and the International Prostate Symptoms Score, received a detailed physical examination and provided 20 cm3 whole blood samples for biochemical and genetic evaluation. The IIEF-5 was used to evaluate ED. Serum albumin, total testosterone (TT), and sex hormone-binding globulin levels were measured. Free testosterone level was calculated. AR gene CAG repeat polymorphism was determined by direct sequencing. Finally, 478 men with the mean age of 55.7 ± 4.8 years were included. When TT levels were above 330 ng/dL, the effect of testosterone level on erectile function seemed to reach a plateau and a significantly negative correlation between AR CAG repeat length and the score of IIEF-5 was found (r = -0.119, p = 0.034). After adjusting for other covariates, the longer AR CAG repeat length was still an independent risk factor for ED in subjects with TT above 330 ng/dL (p = 0.006), but not in TT of 330 ng/dL or below. In conclusion, both serum testosterone levels and AR CAG repeat polymorphism can influence erectile function concomitantly. In subjects with normal TT concentration, those with longer AR CAG repeat lengths have a higher risk of developing ED.

First Report of Lasiodiplodia theobromae Associated with Stem Canker of Cassia fistula in Guangxi, South China

Cassia fistula, a member of the Fabaceae, known as the golden shower tree, is native to South Asia. It is now distributed worldwide and is popular as an ornamental plant as well as being used in herbal medicine. In October 2013, symptoms of stem canker were observed on C. fistula in a nursery (108°38' E, 22°87' N) in Nanning, Guangxi, China. The symptoms began as small brown lesions, which enlarged over several months to long, striped, slightly sunken lesions, 1 to 9 cm in width and 16 to 135 cm in length. The conspicuous cankers had vertical cracks outlining the canker and evenly spaced horizontal cracks, eventually resulting in whole plants dying back. The cankers were found on 90% of six-year-old plants in this nursery and were also observed in other plantings. On potato dextrose agar (PDA), isolates with similar morphological characteristics were consistently recovered from symptomatic plant tissues after surface sterilization in 75% ethanol for 30 sec and then in 0.1% mercuric chloride for 2 min. Over 100 conidia were examined from three isolates and were found to be elliptical and hyaline when immature, becoming dark brown, one-septate, and longitudinally striate when mature and ranging from 20 to 31 × 11 to 16 μm (average 25.5 × 13.6 μm). The rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of isolate LC-1 was sequenced (GenBank Accession No. KM387285), and it showed 100% identity to Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.) Griffon & Maubl. (GenBank KC964548), confirming the morphological identification (2) as L. theobromae (also known as Botryosphaeria rhodina (Cooke) Arx). A culture of this isolate has been preserved in the Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences fungal collection. The pathogenicity of the isolate was tested on healthy twigs and branches of C. fistula trees in a field setting at Guangxi Agricultural Vocational-Technical College, Nanning, Guangxi, in June and August 2014. For each treatment, five green twigs and five 2-year-old branches were used. Five adjacent needle punctures were made on each branch with a sterilized needle. A mycelial plug was then placed on the wound of each branch and wrapped with Parafilm. Control twigs were treated with sterile PDA plugs. One week later, typical lesions were observed on the inoculated branches, with symptoms becoming more extensive after two weeks, but no symptoms were seen on the controls. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by re-isolation of L. theobromae from diseased branches. L. theobromae is recognized as an important wood pathogen and has been reported to cause cankers, dieback, and fruit and root rots in over 500 different hosts, including perennial fruit and nut trees, vegetable crops, and ornamental plants (2). The fungus has been reported on C. fistula in India since the 1970s (1); however, to our knowledge, this is the first report of L. theobromae infecting C. fistula in China. References: (1) R. S. Mathur. The Coelomycetes of India. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Delhi, India, 1979. (2) J. R. Úrbez-Torres et al. Plant Dis. 92:519, 2008.

First Report of Leaf Spot Disease Caused by Glomerella magna on Lobelia chinensis in China

Lobelia chinensis is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Campanulaceae that is native to China, where it grows well in moist to wet soils. It is commonly used as a Chinese herbal medicine. In May 2012, symptoms of leaf spot were observed on leaves of L. chinensis in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. The leaf lesions began as small, water-soaked, pale greenish to grayish spots, which enlarged to gray to pale yellowish spots, 4 to 6 mm in diameter. At later stages, numerous acervuli appeared on the lesions. Acervuli were mostly epiphyllous, and 40 to 196 μm in diameter. On potato dextrose agar (PDA), a fungus was consistently recovered from symptomatic leaf samples, with a 93% isolation rate from 60 leaf pieces that were surface sterilized in 75% ethanol for 30 s and then in 0.1% mercuric chloride for 45 s. Three single-spore isolates were used to evaluate cultural and morphological characteristics of the pathogen. Setae were two to three septate, dark brown at the base, acicular, and up to 90 μm long. Conidia were long oblong-elliptical, guttulate, hyaline, and 11 to 20 × 4.1 to 6.3 μm (mean 15.2 × 5.1 μm). These morphological characteristics of the fungus were consistent with the description of Colletotrichum magna (teleomorph Glomerella magna Jenkins & Winstead) (1). The rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of one isolate, LC-1, was sequenced (GenBank Accession No. KC815123), and it showed 100% identity to G. magna, GenBank HM163187.1, an isolate from Brazil cultured from papaya (2). Although KC815123 was identified as G. magna, it shows 99% identity to GenBank sequences from isolates of C. magna, and more research is needed to elucidate the relationships between these taxa, especially with consideration to host specificity. Pathogenicity tests were performed with each of the three isolates by spraying conidial suspensions (1 × 10⁶ conidia/ml) containing 0.1% Tween 20 onto the surfaces of leaves of 30-day-old and 6- to 8-cm-high plants. For each isolate, 30 leaves from five replicate plants were treated. Control plants were treated with sterilized water containing 0.1% Tween 20. All plants were incubated for 36 h at 25°C and 90% relative humidity in an artificial climate chamber, and then moved into a greenhouse. Seven days after inoculation, gray spots typical of field symptoms were observed on all inoculated leaves, but no symptoms were seen on water-treated control plants. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by reisolation of G. magna from diseased leaves. To our knowledge, this is the first report of G. magna infecting L. chinensis worldwide. References: (1) M. Z. Du et al. Mycologia 97:641, 2005. (2) R. J. Nascimento et al. Plant Dis. 94:1506, 2010.

Efficacy of Gastrosis No.1 compound on functional dyspepsia of spleen and stomach deficiency-cold syndrome: a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial

OBJECTIVE

To assess the efficacy and safety of Gastrosis No.1 compound in the treatment of functional dyspepsia with Spleen (Pi) and Stomach (Wei) deficiency-cold syndrome.

METHODS

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was performed in 5 centers. Patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) of Spleen-deficiency and qi-stagnation syndrome (162 cases) were randomly assigned to groups given Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) Gastrosis No.1 compound or placebo in a 2:1 ratio. This trial included a 4-week treatment period and a 4-week follow-up period. The outcomes were the dyspepsia symptom scores (measured by total dyspepsia symptom scale and single dyspepsia symptom scale) and syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine score (measured by traditional Chinese medicine syndrome scale). The outcomes were noted at weeks 0, 4 and 8.

RESULTS

Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the CHM group showed significant improvement in the dyspepsia symptom scores as rated by patients and investigators (P <0.01), and also showed improvement in syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine score (P <0.01). No serious adverse event was reported. Safety tests obtained after 4 weeks of treatment showed no abnormal values.

CONCLUSION

CHM Gastrosis No.1 compound was effective and safe in the treatment of functional dyspepsia with Spleen and Stomach deficiency-cold syndrome.

Effect of the ginsenoside Rb1 on the spontaneous contraction of intestinal smooth muscle in mice

AIM: To investigate the effect and the possible mechanism of ginsenoside Rb1 on small intestinal smooth muscle motility in mice.

METHODS: Intestinal smooth muscle strips were isolated from male ICR mice (5 wk old), and the effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on spontaneous contraction was recorded with an electrophysiolograph. The effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on ion channel currents, including the voltage-gated K⁺ channel current (IK_V), calcium-activated potassium channel currents (IK_Ca), spontaneous transient outward currents and ATP-sensitive potassium channel current (IK_ATP), was recorded on freshly isolated single cells using the whole-cell patch clamp technique.

RESULTS: Ginsenoside Rb1 dose-dependently inhibited the spontaneous contraction of intestinal smooth muscle by 21.15% ± 3.31%, 42.03% ± 8.23% and 67.23% ± 5.63% at concentrations of 25 μmol/L, 50 μmol/L and 100 μmol/L, respectively (n = 5, P < 0.05). The inhibitory effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on spontaneous contraction was significantly but incompletely blocked by 10 mmol/L tetraethylammonium or 0.5 mmol/L 4-aminopyridine, respectively (n = 5, P < 0.05). However, the inhibitory effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on spontaneous contraction was not affected by 10 μmol/L glibenclamide or 0.4 μmol/L tetrodotoxin. At the cell level, ginsenoside Rb1 increased outward potassium currents, and IK_V was enhanced from 1137.71 ± 171.62 pA to 1449.73 ± 162.39 pA by 50 μmol/L Rb1 at +60 mV (n = 6, P < 0.05). Ginsenoside Rb1 increased IK_Ca and enhanced the amplitudes of spontaneous transient outward currents from 582.77 ± 179.09 mV to 788.12 ± 278.34 mV (n = 5, P < 0.05). However, ginsenoside Rb1 (50 μmol/L) had no significant effect on IK_ATP (n = 3, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: These results suggest that ginsenoside Rb1 has an inhibitory effect on the spontaneous contraction of mouse intestinal smooth muscle mediated by the activation of IK_V and IK_Ca, but the K_ATP channel was not involved in this effect.

First-principles study: size-dependent optical properties for semiconducting silicon carbide nanotubes

Using first-principles calculations, we investigate the effect of tube size on optical properties of the zigzag, armchair, and chiral SiC nanotubes. The results indicate that the optical spectra of SiC nanotubes are dependent on the diameter and chirality, and that optical anisotropy is observed for different light polarizations. For a given chirality of SiCNTs, redshifts or blueshifts of the peaks in the dielectric function and energy loss function with increasing tube diameter are possible due to the competition between the size effect and pi orbitals overlapping, and the shifts become smaller as the tube diameter increases. The unusual optical properties of semiconducting SiC nanotubes present an opportunity for applications in electro-optical devices.

The application of stem cells in the treatment of ischemic diseases

Ischemia causes oxygen deprivation, cell injury and related organ dysfunction. Although ischemic injury may be local, it involves many biochemical changes in different cell types. The ability of stem cells to differentiate into different cell lineages provides the possibility of their use in treating a variety of diseases requiring tissue repair or reconstitution, such as stroke, ischemic retinopathy, myocardial infarction, ischemic disorders of the liver, ischemic renal failure, and ischemic limb dysfunction. Several cell types including embryonic stem cells, various progenitor and stem cells of hematopoietic or mesenchymal origin have been used in attempts to reconstitute injured tissue. Xenologous or autologous stem cells may be administered either through the peripheral vascular system or directly by regional injection. The stem cells are then guided to the infarct site by homing signals. Either by cell differentiation or paracrine effects, stem cells or progenitor cells participate in the reconstruction of a favorable microenvironment resulting in neovascularization and tissue regeneration that eventually improve the physiological function of organs with ischemic damage.

Correlations of androgen deficiency with clinical symptoms in Taiwanese males

The purpose of this study was to elucidate correlations between different biochemical measurements of androgen deficiency and clinical symptoms in male residents of Taiwan. An investigation of the serum biochemical markers for androgen deficiency in 650 males, including total testosterone, calculated free testosterone, and bioavailable testosterone, was conducted. Measurements of clinical symptoms were obtained using a questionnaire of the androgen deficiency in the aging male (ADAM) by St Louis University (SLQ). Correlations among the biochemical markers, correlations of the biochemical markers and age, and relationships between the biochemical markers and the SLQ were evaluated. The sensitivity and specificity of the SLQ were determined. Bioavailable and calculated free testosterone correlated better with age than did total testosterone. Eighty percent of the men had a positive SLQ, and 20% had a negative SLQ. The percentage of positive SLQ results increased with age. No statistically significant difference was noted between the biochemical markers of bioavailable and calculated free testosterone levels and the SLQ status except for men aged over 70 years. The SLQ in this study showed an acceptable sensitivity of about 80%, but the specificity was poor (about 20%). In conclusion, bioavailable testosterone and calculated free testosterone were more-closely correlated with age and may be better biochemical markers for androgen deficiency. SLQ might not be a suitable single measurement for androgen deficiency and should be used together with biochemical markers.

A seroepidemiology study of varicella among children aged 0-12 years in Taiwan

The epidemiology pattern of varicella appears to vary among regions with different climates, population densities, and degrees of development. This study investigated the age-specific varicella zoster virus (VZV) seroprevalence in children aged 0 to 12 years in Taiwan and compared these seroprevalences between free and private vaccination areas. Residual sera were collected from 13 hospitals with 1,401 valid samples. Immunoglobulin G antibodies to VZV were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Parents of 656 children answered questions about the varicella incidence and varicella vaccination history of their children. In the 8-12 year-olds, the seroprevance ranged between 88.0-93.8% in northern, central, and eastern, while it was only 76.1% in southern Taiwan. The seroprevalence of children 0-5 years old were significantly different between free and private vaccination areas. Seropositive children who reported no history of varicella or receiving varicella vaccine accounted for 26.1-59.3% of the total positive cases. Our findings suggest the possible effects of climate, geographical conditions, and lifestyle on the seroepidemiology of VZV in Taiwan. The efforts of implementing a varicella vaccination program in Taiwan should focus on reaching high levels of coverage.

[Primary exploration on immune associated genome of patients with Pi-Qi deficiency syndrome]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the abnormal change of immune function in patients with Pi-Qi deficiency Syndrome, and to explore the genomic mechanism of its genesis by cDNA chip techniques.

METHODS

The cross probe was made by extracting and microamplifying the total RNA and mRNA of peripheral white blood cells (WBC) in healthy subjects and patients with chronic gastritis and ulcerative colitis, which were labeled by Cy3 and Cy5 respectively. Then equal quantity of the two labeled probes were mixed and hybridized with cDNA chip, fluorescent signal of the chips were scanned with scanner. Data obtained were analyzed for comparing the difference of the expressive levels of immune associated genome in peripheral WBC in healthy subjects with those in patients.

RESULTS

Expressions of CD9, CD164, PF4 and RARB gene in WBC of patients, both gastritis and colitis, were down-regulated while those of IGKC, DEFA1 and GNLY were up-regulated.

CONCLUSION

The genesis of Pi-Qi deficiency syndrome has its immune associated genomic basis, and the immune functions are disordered in patients with that syndrome.

Comparison of hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy with open surgery for upper urinary tract tumor

Herein we report on our initial experience in performing nephroureterectomy by hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery, and compare the results with those performed by traditional open methods. From December 2000 to September 2001, 10 patients with upper urinary tract tumors underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy. Except for one patient who required elective conversion to open surgery due to renal vein injury, this cohort of 9 patients was compared to a group of 35 patients who had received traditional open nephroureterectomy over the last 2 years. Demographic, intraoperative and postoperative data were compared retrospectively. These two groups were similar in age, body mass index, operation time and time to postoperative oral intake. However, the hand-assisted laparoscopy group was found to have significantly less blood loss, less need for parenteral narcotic and a shorter length of time needed for postoperative hospitalization than the open group. Thus, in this report we have demonstrated hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy to be a safe and efficacious treatment of malignant urinary collecting tumors. We believe the benefits of this minimally invasive surgery make it a viable alternative technique for management of upper urinary tract tumor.

Estimating the total number of alleles using a sample coverage method

Previously reported methods for estimating the number of different alleles at a single locus in a population have not described a useful general result. Using the number of alleles observed in a sample gives an underestimate for the true number of alleles. The similar problem of estimating the number of species in a population was first investigated in 1943. In this article we use the sample coverage method proposed by Chao and Lee in 1992 to estimate the number of alleles in a population when there are unequal allele frequencies. Simulation studies under the recurrent mutation model show that, for reasonable sample sizes, a significantly better estimate of the true number can be obtained than that using only the observed alleles. Results under the stepwise mutation model and infinite-allele model are presented. Possible applications include improving the characterization of the prior distribution for the allele frequencies, adjusting the estimates of genetic diversity, and estimating the range of microsatellite alleles.

Color Doppler sonography for ventral hernias in patients with acute abdomen: preliminary findings

PURPOSE

We assessed the usefulness of color Doppler sonography (CDUS) in evaluating the vascular status of ventral hernias and distinguishing incarcerated from nonincarcerated ventral hernias.

METHODS

In this prospective study, 10 patients who presented with acute abdomen and had ventral hernias underwent CDUS from August 1999 to May 2000. Patient age and sex and the clinical severity, mode of therapy, and outcome in these 10 patients were evaluated in relationship to the CDUS findings.

RESULTS

Five patients had readily visible flow in the bowel within the hernial sac on CDUS. Two of these 5 had spontaneous reduction under conservative treatment, and 3 had asymptomatic ventral hernias with acute abdomen caused by spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Barely visible flow was visualized in the bowel by CDUS in 4 other patients. Three of these underwent emergency surgery because of peritoneal signs; 2 of them were found to have ischemic changes in the bowel. The fourth patient underwent a successful manual reduction. The remaining patient had absent flow in the bowel on CDUS and underwent emergency surgery, which revealed gangrenous changes in the bowel.

CONCLUSIONS

The intensity of the Doppler signals on CDUS appears to be a promising predictor of bowel viability in cases of ventral hernia. Thus, CDUS should impact the determination of the treatment plan, including whether to provide conservative treatment or surgery.

Dickkopf1 is required for embryonic head induction and limb morphogenesis in the mouse

Dickkopf1 (Dkk1) is a secreted protein that acts as a Wnt inhibitor and, together with BMP inhibitors, is able to induce the formation of ectopic heads in Xenopus. Here, we show that Dkk1 null mutant embryos lack head structures anterior of the midbrain. Analysis of chimeric embryos implicates the requirement of Dkk1 in anterior axial mesendoderm but not in anterior visceral endoderm for head induction. In addition, mutant embryos show duplications and fusions of limb digits. Characterization of the limb phenotype strongly suggests a role for Dkk1 both in cell proliferation and in programmed cell death. Our data provide direct genetic evidence for the requirement of secreted Wnt antagonists during embryonic patterning and implicate Dkk1 as an essential inducer during anterior specification as well as a regulator during distal limb patterning.

Separation of stilbenes by capillary electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography

Stilbenes, fluorescence whitening agents (FWAs), are usually added to cleaning agents in household and in industry. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was often applied to separate various compounds simultaneously for its multinomial advantages. In this paper, we established analytical methods of six diaminostilbenes with CE and ion-pair chromatography (IPC). The optimum mobile phase for IPC was 11.78 mM tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate (TBA) aqueous and acetonitrile. An IPC method has been developed for simple and direct separation for diaminostilbenes, anionic substances, with TBA as ion-pair reagent. Satisfactory linear ranges (7.0 x 10(-3) approximately 3.0 x 10 microg/mL), correlation coefficients (0.9992-0.9999), and detection limits (6-13 ng/mL) were obtained. Separations were also performed by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) using a buffer consisting of Tris (pH 10.1), n-tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) and acetonitrile. A linear range of 5.0 x 10(-1) - 4.0 x 10 microg/mL, correlation coefficients between 0.9975 and 0.9998, and detection limits between 337 and 446 ng/mL were obtained. In particular, the separation of a pair of similar compounds (mass difference of 2) was achieved by addition of TTAB. The optimum analytical methods of CE and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were applied to commercial household with direct analysis and standard addition. No significant bias were shown between them by t-test at 95% confidence level.

Obstructive jaundice caused by hepatocellular carcinoma: detection by endoscopic sonography

Tumor thrombus in the extrahepatic biliary tree is a rare mechanism of obstructive jaundice. We present a patient with a minute hepatocellular carcinoma in the caudate lobe that invaded the common hepatic duct and caused biliary obstruction. Endoscopic sonography showed a tumor thrombus with central echogenicity and a "nodule-in-nodule" pattern and suggested the correct diagnosis.

Adrenal cyst--a case report

Adrenal cysts are rare and mostly silent clinically. Herein we report a case of adrenal cyst. A 55-year-old female was incidentally found to have a left suprarenal cystic lesion with a calcified wall by abdominal sonography during a work-up for her epigastralgia and left flank pain. Then, computed tomography (CT) revealed a left adrenal cystic mass with wall calcification, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed left retroperitoneal cystic mass with fluid content, and angiography demonstrated an avascular lesion. Surgical exploration was performed via a flank incision and a calcified cystic adrenal mass was excised. The pathologic diagnosis was adrenal pseudocyst with calcified wall. We discuss the diagnosis and management of adrenal cyst and briefly review the literature.

Gray-scale and color Doppler sonographic diagnosis of epiploic appendagitis

Depending on its location, epiploic appendagitis may mimic nearly any acute abdominal condition. We present the case of a patient with left lower quadrant pain. Sonography demonstrated an ovoid, hyperechoic, noncompressible lesion at the point of tenderness but no inflammatory changes in the adjacent colonic wall. Color Doppler sonography showed no flow in the lesion. Based on the sonographic diagnosis of epiploic appendagitis, conservative treatment was given, with complete recovery in 5 days. Awareness of these sonographic findings may aid in the early diagnosis of epiploic appendagitis and avoid unnecessary treatment.

Targeted disruption of the Kcnq1 gene produces a mouse model of Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome

KCNQ1 encodes KCNQ1, which belongs to a family of voltage-dependent K(+) ion channel proteins. KCNQ1 associates with a regulatory subunit, KCNE1, to produce the cardiac repolarizing current, I(Ks). Loss-of-function mutations in the human KCNQ1 gene have been linked to Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome (JLNS), a disorder characterized by profound bilateral deafness and a cardiac phenotype. To generate a mouse model for JLNS, we created a line of transgenic mice that have a targeted disruption in the Kcnq1 gene. Behavioral analysis revealed that the Kcnq1(-/-) mice are deaf and exhibit a shaker/waltzer phenotype. Histological analysis of the inner ear structures of Kcnq1(-/-) mice revealed gross morphological anomalies because of the drastic reduction in the volume of endolymph. ECGs recorded from Kcnq1(-/-) mice demonstrated abnormal T- and P-wave morphologies and prolongation of the QT and JT intervals when measured in vivo, but not in isolated hearts. These changes are indicative of cardiac repolarization defects that appear to be induced by extracardiac signals. Together, these data suggest that Kcnq1(-/-) mice are a potentially valuable animal model of JLNS.

Correlation of histologic subtypes and replication error phenotype with comparative genomic hybridization in gastric cancer

To characterize phenotypic and genotypic changes in gastric cancer (GC), DNA copy number aberrations (CNAs) were assessed in 53 tumors using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and correlated with clinicopathologic characteristics and status of TP53 and replication error (RER). The number of CNAs per tumor was 6.8 (gain 5.3, loss 1.5), and the number of changes was significantly higher in tumors with advanced stage, TP53 mutation, and without RER than in those with early stage (7.7 vs. 3.0), no TP53 mutations (12.4 vs. 4.8) or RER phenotype (8.2 vs. 2.6). Frequent abnormalities included gains on chromosomal arms 8q (43%), 6q (26%), 11q (26%), 13q (24%), 7p (23%), 17q (23%), and 20q (23%), and losses on chromosomal arms 16q (26%), 19p (23%), 5q (19%), 3p (15%), 4q(15%), and 1p (15%). Advanced GC demonstrated a higher prevalence of gains of 8q (51% vs. 10%, P < 0.05) and loss of 16q (33% vs. 0%, P < 0.05) than early GC. Gains on 8q (64% vs. 20%, P < 0.05), 17q (39% vs. 4%, P < 0.05) and losses on 3p (25% vs. 4%, P = 0.05) and 5q (32% vs. 4%, P < 0.05) were higher in intestinal GC than in diffuse GC. On the other hand, gains on 13q were more common in the diffuse type (40% vs. 11%, P < 0.05). As compared with noncardia cancer, cardia cancer showed more gains on 7p (58% vs. 12%, P < 0.05) and 20q (58% vs. 12%, P < 0.05) and more losses on 4q (50% vs. 5%, P < 0.05). The finding of histology-related aberrations and the combination of CGH and molecular data thus provide additional evidence suggesting genetic heterogeneity of GC.

Adult Wilms' tumor associated with polycythemia--a case report

Both Wilms' tumor (nephroblastoma) in adults and polycythemia in Wilms' tumor are rare. Herein we report an extremely rare case of adult Wilms' tumor associated with polycythemia. A 41-year-old female was incidentally found to have right renal mass by abdominal sonography in a routine health examination. Laboratory examination revealed polycythemia (hemoglobin 20.2 g/dL). Although physical examination was unremarkable, CT scan revealed an homogeneous mass at the middle pole of right kidney, and chest x-ray revealed no metastatic lesions. Right radical nephrectomy was performed smoothly. Grossly, the tumor of 5 x 4.5 x 4.5 cm in size was well circumscribed, and had no vascular structure or collecting system involvement. Microscopic features were consistent with adult nephroblastoma. The post-operative course was uneventful. At follow-up, the patient was well, showed no evidence of recurrence and her hemoglobin level had returned to normal (hemoglobin 14.5 g/dl). We suggest that the relationship between polycythemia and Wilms' tumor should be carefully evaluated before surgical treatment.

Correlation of histologic subtypes and replication error phenotype with comparative genomic hybridization in gastric cancer

To characterize phenotypic and genotypic changes in gastric cancer (GC), DNA copy number aberrations (CNAs) were assessed in 53 tumors using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and correlated with clinicopathologic characteristics and status of TP53 and replication error (RER). The number of CNAs per tumor was 6.8 (gain 5.3, loss 1.5), and the number of changes was significantly higher in tumors with advanced stage, TP53 mutation, and without RER than in those with early stage (7.7 vs. 3.0), no TP53 mutations (12.4 vs. 4.8) or RER phenotype (8.2 vs. 2.6). Frequent abnormalities included gains on chromosomal arms 8q (43%), 6q (26%), 11q (26%), 13q (24%), 7p (23%), 17q (23%), and 20q (23%), and losses on chromosomal arms 16q (26%), 19p (23%), 5q (19%), 3p (15%), 4q(15%), and 1p (15%). Advanced GC demonstrated a higher prevalence of gains of 8q (51% vs. 10%, P < 0.05) and loss of 16q (33% vs. 0%, P < 0.05) than early GC. Gains on 8q (64% vs. 20%, P < 0.05), 17q (39% vs. 4%, P < 0.05) and losses on 3p (25% vs. 4%, P = 0.05) and 5q (32% vs. 4%, P < 0.05) were higher in intestinal GC than in diffuse GC. On the other hand, gains on 13q were more common in the diffuse type (40% vs. 11%, P < 0.05). As compared with noncardia cancer, cardia cancer showed more gains on 7p (58% vs. 12%, P < 0.05) and 20q (58% vs. 12%, P < 0.05) and more losses on 4q (50% vs. 5%, P < 0.05). The finding of histology-related aberrations and the combination of CGH and molecular data thus provide additional evidence suggesting genetic heterogeneity of GC.

A large upstream region is not necessary for gene expression or hypersensitive site formation at the mouse beta -globin locus

Developmental expression at the beta-globin locus is regulated in part by the locus control region, a region upstream of the genes containing at least five major DNase I hypersensitive sites (HSs) in mammalian erythrocytes. Sequences farther 5' of these HSs are conserved in mouse and human, and both loci are embedded within a cluster of functional odorant receptor genes. In humans, distant upstream sequences have been implicated in regulation of the beta-globin genes. In this study, the role of the 5'-most HSs and their adjacent sequence was investigated by deletion of an 11-kb region from the mouse locus, including 5'HS 4.2, 5'HS 5, 5'HS 6, and the 5'beta1 odorant receptor gene. Mice that were homozygous for this deletion were fully viable, and no significant effect on adult beta-globin gene expression was seen. 5'HSs 1-4, which are located downstream of the deletion, were still present in the mutant mice. In addition, two new upstream HSs, HS -60.7 and HS -62.5, were found in erythroid tissue of both wild-type and mutant mice. Therefore, although the possibility of a minor role still exists, neither the HSs nor the other regions deleted in this study are essential for beta-globin gene expression, and it is unlikely that chromatin structure is affected either upstream or downstream of the deletion. This is the largest deletion at the mouse locus control region to show no apparent phenotype, and focuses attention on the possible contribution of sequences even farther upstream.

Urgent endoscopic nasobiliary drainage without fluoroscopic guidance: A useful treatment for critically ill patients with biliary obstruction

BACKGROUND

Endoscopic nasobiliary drainage (ENBD) is routinely performed under fluoroscopic control. This is a report of our experience with urgent ENBD without fluoroscopic guidance in critically ill patients.

METHODS

Twenty-six critically ill patients who underwent urgent ENBD for biliary obstruction were analyzed. ENBD was performed without fluoroscopic control because of high risk of transportation or inaccessibility of the x-ray facilities. A pig-tailed nasobiliary catheter was inserted into the bile duct with the help of a guidewire under endoscopic control to bypass the site of obstruction. Successful placement was confirmed by free flow of bile on aspiration via the nasobiliary catheter.

RESULTS

A nasobiliary catheter was successfully placed in 23 patients (88%). Adequate bile drainage was achieved in 20 patients with an overall success rate of 77%. There were no procedure-related complications. The mortality rate for patients with successful biliary drainage was 10% (2 of 20), in contrast to 83% (5 of 6) for the group in which drainage was unsuccessful.

CONCLUSIONS

Urgent ENBD is effective for patients with biliary obstruction. With experience, this procedure may be successfully performed in critically ill patients without fluoroscopic guidance at primary care hospitals or intensive care units where fluoroscopic facilities are not readily available.