Occurrence of white rust (Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae) on Ipomoea acuminate In the brazilian mid-west.

Spontaneous plants of Ipomoea acuminata ("morning glory") exhibiting white rust pustules were found in a field crop area of Planaltina, DF, in the fall season of 2010 and the disease causal agent was identified as Albugo ipomoea-panduratae (Oomycota). No reports of the association between A. ipomoea-panduratae and I. acuminata were known in Brazil previously to 2010. A reference specimen was deposited at the University of Brasilia Mycological Reference Collection.

A Tomato Fruit Rot Caused by Trichothecium roseum in Brazil.

Fruit rots caused by distinct fungal pathogens are commonly observed on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) throughout all major production areas in Brazil. Samples of fruits displaying white mycelial growth associated with a profuse salmon-color sporulation were collected in greenhouse-grown tomatoes in Brasília-DF in February 2011. The isolated fungus displayed pink-to-white colonies containing several conidiophores with conidia. Mycelia displayed hyaline hyphae as much as 4 µm in diameter; conidiophores were simple or branched, 112 to 300 (360) µm long, and 2 to 4 µm wide. Conidia were produced in basipetal chains (frequently clustered), were ellipsoidal to pyriform with oblique and prominent truncate basal scars, two-celled, hyaline, and (14-) 16 to 26 (-28) × (6-) 7 to 10 (-12) µm. These characteristics allocated the specimen to Trichothecium roseum (Pers.). Koch's postulates were fulfilled for one fungal isolate by either spraying 10 intact fruits or by placing a drop of a spore suspension (adjusted to 105 conidia/ml) into three to five wounds created on 10 mature fruits of each of two tomato cultivars (Santa Clara and Dominador) by puncturing each fruit with a sterile needle. Five fruits of each cultivar were treated with sterile water as the mock-inoculated control treatment. Identical symptoms to those of the original fruit were observed only in the T. roseum-inoculated samples 5 to 7 days after using both inoculation procedures. Total DNA was extracted from a pure colony of the fungus growing on potato dextrose agar medium and used as template in PCR assays with the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-4 (5'-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC-3') and ITS-5 (5'-GGAAGTAAAAGTCGTAACAAGG-3') primer pair (2). A single amplicon of approximately 630 bp was observed and directly sequenced. Sequence analysis of the Brazilian isolate (GenBank No. JN081877) indicated identity levels of 99% with T. roseum isolates reported on Leucadendron xanthoconus in South Africa (GenBank No. EU552162) and isolates from strawberry fruits in South Korea (GenBank No. HM355750). However, phylogenetic analysis was unable to discriminate isolates of T. roseum from Passalora (GenBank No. EF432764) and Fusarium (GenBank No. GU183369) isolates, confirming the low genetic variability of the ITS region in Hypocreales (3). T. roseum has been reported to be infecting greenhouse tomatoes in the United States (4) and causing postharvest disease of tomatoes in Argentina (1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of T. roseum infecting greenhouse tomatoes in Brazil. References: (1) G. Dal Bello. Australas. Plant Dis. Notes 3:103, 2008. (2) N. L. Glass and G. C. Donaldson. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:1323, 1995. (3) L. Lombard et al. Stud. Mycol. 66:31, 2010. (4) A. W. Welch, Jr. et al. Plant Dis. Rep. 59:255, 1975.

Plurispermiopsis: a new capnodiaceous genus from the Brazilian Cerrado.

A new ascomycete genus placed in family Capnodiaceae found in the Brazilian Cerrado is described and designated Plurispermiopsis, type species P. cerradensis.

Occurrence of white rust (Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae) on Ipomoea acuminata in the brazilian mid-west

Spontaneous plants of Ipomoea acuminata ("morning glory") exhibiting white rust pustules were found in a field crop area of Planaltina, DF, in the fall season of 2010 and the disease causal agent was identified as Albugo ipomoea-panduratae (Oomycota). No reports of the association between A. ipomoea-panduratae and I. acuminata were known in Brazil previously to 2010. A reference specimen was deposited at the University of Brasilia Mycological Reference Collection.

Tufts assessment of motor performance: an empirical approach to identifying motor performance categories.

The Tufts Assessment of Motor Performance (TAMP) is a criterion-referenced test that measures motor performance capabilities of basic self-care skills, mobility and physical aspects of communication. Discrete motor performance tasks were identified within each of the 32 items. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an empirical method of determining the factor structure underlying the motor performance tasks of the TAMP. Initially, motor performance tasks were categorized into a priori groupings based on previous literature and clinical judgment. The TAMP was administered to 206 children and adults (age range 6 to 86 years) with physical disabilities. Diagnoses included a variety of musculoskeletal and neurologic disorders. A principal-factor analysis was used to organize and cluster the item tasks into appropriate common factors. Seven factors were identified that accounted for 70.6% of the total variance for the assistance dimension; similar results were obtained for other measurement dimensions of the TAMP. The defined factor structure has patterns of similarity to the motor performance variables as defined by clinical judgment; however, the tasks were organized into factors that were more functionally oriented than expected. The results provide a framework for which the motor performance tasks of the TAMP might be organized into scales that identify essential performance constructs for rehabilitation. The results permit examination of the nature and clinical importance of these common motor performance factors for clinical evaluation and the description of functional disability.

Description and interobserver reliability of the Tufts Assessment of Motor Performance.

This paper describes the conceptual basis for the development of a new clinical evaluation instrument, the Tufts Assessment of Motor Performance (TAMP). The TAMP is a 32-item, diagnosis-independent, criterion-referenced test that samples physical performance items in the areas of mobility, activities of daily living and physical aspects of communication. The administrative and scoring criteria of the TAMP are presented, and the multiple measurement dimensions are described. The documentation of patient status and progress, as described in the functional and performance profiles, is outlined. The paper also reports initial interobserver reliability on the intraitem tasks and the summary indexes of the two profiles. Forty individuals (20 adults and 20 children) with neurologic and musculoskeletal disorders comprised the reliability sample. Kappa and intraclass correlations were used to estimate the reliability of three independent raters on individual tasks and aggregate scores, respectively. Task reliability for the assistance and approach measurement dimensions were generally higher than for the more qualitative pattern and proficiency dimensions. Yet over 90% of all the tasks had acceptable reliability, while all the summary indexes had high interobserver reliability. Determination of interobserver reliability data is the initial phase of defining the most appropriate and technically valuable items, and will serve as a basis for item revision and reduction to enhance the clinical utility of the test.