2,3-Butanediol from the leachates of pine needles induces the resistance of Panax notoginseng to the leaf pathogen Alternaria panax.

Compared with the use of monocultures in the field, cultivation of medicinal herbs in forests is an effective strategy to alleviate disease. Chemical interactions between herbs and trees play an important role in disease suppression in forests. We evaluated the ability of leachates from needles of Pinus armandii to induce resistance in Panax notoginseng leaves, identified the components via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and then deciphered the mechanism of 2,3-Butanediol as the main component in the leachates responsible for resistance induction via RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Prespraying leachates and 2,3-Butanediol onto leaves could induce the resistance of P. notoginseng to Alternaria panax. The RNA-seq results showed that prespraying 2,3-Butanediol onto leaves with or without A. panax infection upregulated the expression of large number of genes, many of which are involved in transcription factor activity and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Specifically, 2,3-Butanediol spraying resulted in jasmonic acid (JA) -mediated induced systemic resistance (ISR) by activating MYC2 and ERF1. Moreover, 2,3-Butanediol induced systemic acquired resistance (SAR) by upregulating pattern-triggered immunity (PTI)- and effector-triggered immunity (ETI)-related genes and activated camalexin biosynthesis through activation of WRKY33. Overall, 2,3-Butanediol from the leachates of pine needles could activate the resistance of P. notoginseng to leaf disease infection through ISR, SAR and camalexin biosynthesis. Thus, 2,3-Butanediol is worth developing as a chemical inducer for agricultural production.

Phytoremediation potentiality of garlic roots for 2,4-dichlorophenol removal from aqueous solutions.

2,4-Dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) is considered as an important pollutant because of its high toxicity and wide distribution in wastewaters. Innocuous remediation technologies have been studied for the removal of this pollutant. This study investigated the feasibility of using garlic roots as a plant system for the removal of 2,4-DCP. The optimal conditions for its removal were established based on orthogonal experiments (OA25 matrix). Significant factors that affect removal efficiency, arranged from high to low importance, include pH, reaction time, 2,4-DCP concentration, and H2O2 concentration. In addition, garlic roots could be re-used for as much as three consecutive cycles. The decrease in pH and the increase of Cl(-) ion content in the post-removal solutions indicated that 2,4-DCP dehalogenation occurred during transformation. Changes in the deposition pattern of lignin in roots exposed to 2,4-DCP suggested that several of the products deposited were lignin-type polymers. The acute toxicity test revealed that the post-removal solutions were less toxic than the parent solutions. Therefore, garlic roots have considerable potential to effectively and safely remove 2,4-DCP from wastewater.

[Observation on therapeutic effect of "Shandong Xiaoying" needling method for treatment of cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To search for an effective method for treatment of cerebral infarction. METHODS: Sixty cases of cerebral infarction were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. All of them were treated with routine needling method, and "Shandong Xiaoying" needling was added to the observation group. The therapeutic effects, recovery of myodynamia and daily living ability were compared in the two groups. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the total effective rate for recovery of upper limb myodynamia (P > 0.05), but there was a very significant difference in the total effective rate for recovery of lower limb myodynamia and increase of daily living ability between the two groups (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: "Shandong Xiaoying" needling has markedly therapeutic effect on cerebral infarction.