Analysis of Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome Treated by Emergency Rescue.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of differential emergency treatment measures on the prognosis of patients with ACS. Methods: 76 patients with ACS treated in the emergency department of our hospital from January 2017 to September 2021 were selected as the research objects. According to their main symptoms, general signs, and various examination results when arriving at the hospital, differential emergency treatment measures were implemented, so as to ensure the curative effect. Result: After comprehensive emergency treatment, the venous blood test indicators of patients, including creatinine (CR), uric acid (UA), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), lipoprotein A (LPA), Apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI), Apolipoprotein B (ApoB), Potassium ion (K+), glucose (GLU), Cardiac troponin I (cTn) returned to normal. In addition, the proportion of patients without cardiogenic shock, ventricular fibrillation, respiratory and cardiac arrest, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, arrhythmia, heart rupture, and other adverse reactions are as high as 92% (70/76). Conclusion: For patients with ACS, it is necessary to take correct emergency rescue and treatment measures immediately, especially to actively implement the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) method, so as to give full play to the safety and effectiveness of emergency treatment and curb the possibility of patient death as much as possible.

Leaf Spot Caused by Didymella glomerata on Chaihu (Bupleurum falcatum L.) in China.

Bupleurum falcatum is a Apiaceae family herbal medicinal plant, which has the functions of soothing liver, relieving depression, relieving fever, dispelling stagnation, and regulating menstruation. B. falcatum roots have been used in Chinese herbal formbulary for at least 2000 years (Ahmadimoghaddam et al. 2021). In June 2021, infected leaves of B. falcatum that had dark brown, circular, elliptical or irregular shaped lesions or severely withered were obtained in Yichang (30.75 ° N，111.24 ° E), Hubei, China. Disease incidence was approximately 40% in the 20 hm2 B. falcatum plantation base. Fifteen small pieces (3 mm) were cut from the junction between disease and health of surface sterilized (with 75% alcohol) leaves and then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA). After 3 days incubation, eight isolates with the same colony morphology were sub-cultured and purified by hyphal tip isolation. Isolate CHYB1 cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) was selected for identification. The colony was initially white and later producing gray and brown. Pycnidia were dark, spherical or flat spherical, and 78.3 to 137.4 µm in diameter. Conidia were oval mostly, smooth, aseptate, and 18 the size was 3.7 to 5.1 × 1.6 to 2.5 µm. Following DNA extraction, PCR was performed using the TSINGKE 2×T5 Direct PCR Mix kit. Target areas of amplification were the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and beta-tubulin gene (TUB2) using ITS1/4 (White et al. 1990) Btu-F-F01/Btu-F-R01 primers (Wang et al. 2014), respectively. BLAST analysis of the ITS sequence (MZ818334.1) had 99% similarity to a 498 bp portion of D. glomerata sequence in GenBank (KR709012.1) and TUB2 sequence (OL439060) had 100% similarity to a 323 bp portion of D. glomerata sequence in GenBank (LT592974.1). All isolates (CHYB1-8) were taken for a pathogenicity test in laboratory on surface-disinfested leaves of B. falcatum. Mycelial plugs (5 mm) were excised from the margin of colony cultured for 5 days, and placed on surface-disinfested leaves of potted B. falcatum which involved creating small wounds. The potted plants were placed in a closed bucket to keep 80% relative humidity. Controls were inoculated with non-colonized PDA plugs (5 mm). All treatments had three replicates. On the inoculated B. falcatum, the leaves of B. falcatum appeared brown spot and been covered with off-white hyphae 7 DPI. By comparision, the control leaves had no symptoms. The pathogen was reisolated from the inoculated leaves and exhibited same morphological characteristics and ITS sequence as those of D. glomerata. D. glomerata was reported to cause round leaf spot on Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep and black spot disease of Actinidia chinensis in China (Pan et al. 2018; Song et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot caused by D. glomerata on B. falcatum in China.

Predicting brain age gap with radiomics and automl: A Promising approach for age-Related brain degeneration biomarkers.

The Brain Age Gap (BAG), which refers to the difference between chronological age and predicted neuroimaging age, is proposed as a potential biomarker for age-related brain degeneration. However, existing brain age prediction models usually rely on a single marker and can not discover meaningful hidden information in radiographic images. This study focuses on the application of radiomics, an advanced imaging analysis technique, combined with automated machine learning to predict BAG. Our methods achieve a promising result with a mean absolute error of 1.509 using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset. Furthermore, we find that the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus play a significant role in predicting age with interpretable method called SHapley Additive exPlanations. Additionally, our investigation of age prediction discrepancies between patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) reveals a notable correlation with clinical cognitive assessment scale scores. This suggests that BAG has the potential to serve as a biomarker to support the diagnosis of AD and MCI. Overall, this study presents valuable insights into the application of neuroimaging models in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.

Retracted: MicroRNA-208b Alleviates Post-Infarction Myocardial Fibrosis in a Rat Model by Inhibiting GATA4.

The laboratory methods and results cannot be replicated and the western blot images in Figures 3 and 4 are not original. Reference: Chaoyuan Zhou, Qintao Cui, Guobao Su, Xiaoliang Guo, Xiaochen Liu, Jie Zhang. MicroRNA-208b Alleviates Post-Infarction Myocardial Fibrosis in a Rat Model by Inhibiting GATA4. Med Sci Monit, 2016; 22: 1808-1816. DOI: 10.12659/MSM.896428.

Cell density detection based on a microfluidic chip with two electrode pairs.

Cell density detection is usually the counting of cells in certain volume of liquid, which is an important process in biological and medical fields. The Coulter counting method is an important method for biological cell detection and counting. In this paper, a microfluidic chip based on two electrode pairs is designed, which uses the Coulter principle to detect the flow rate of liquid and count the cells, and then calculate the cell density. When the cell passes through the sensor channel formed by the electrode pair on the chip, the impedance will change between the electrodes. This phenomenon has been proved by experiments. The designed chip has the advantages of simple structure, small size and low manufacturing cost. The cell density detection method proposed in this article is of great significance to the research in the field of biological cell detection and development of related medical devices.

Pseudomonas cichorii causing leaf spot disease on Banxia (Pinellia ternata) in China.

Banxia (Pinellia ternata) is an important Chinese medicinal material in the family Araceae and is a widely grown herb in China. In September 2021, a leaf spot disease was observed on Banxia field, with an incidence rate of 35 to 40 % in a 4-ha field, in Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province of China. Symptoms were observed as yellow-white centers, water-soaked edges, irregular lesions, and gradually developed into a yellowish-brown center and a dark-brown edge. Necrotic spots gradually increased, leading to leaf chlorosis and plant death. Margins of leaf lesions were excised form diseased tissue and were plated on nutrient agar (NA) using serial dilution. Growth on NA was predominantly cream-colored circular bacterial colonies with undulated margins. Characterization of three randomly chosen bacterial isolates (JYB1, JYB7 and JYB8) suggests they are Gram-negative, levan negative, arginine dihydrolase negative, oxidase positive, potato soft rot positive, and tobacco hypersensitive positive. Isolates were identified as Pseudomonas cichorii based on the LOPAT scheme (Cottyn et al. 2009). Taxonomic positioning was confirmed genetically by PCR analysis using primers set: 16S rRNA gene universal primers 27F/1492R (Weisburg et al. 1991) and hrcRST gene specific primers Hcr1/Hcr2 (Cottyn et al. 2011). Homology search of 16S rRNA gene sequences (GenBank accessions: JYB1, MZ749668; JYB7, MZ823822; and JYB8, MZ823823) indicated 99.93 % (1396 bp) identity with P. cichorii strains (GenBank accessions: MK356431, JX913785, MZ723344). Similarly, comparison of the hrcRST locus (GenBank accessions: JYB1, MZ977010; JYB7, MZ977011; and JYB8, MZ977012) shared 99.38% (812 bp) with P. cichorii strains (GenBank accessions: CP007039, CP074349, GU324131). Koch's postulate was performed on healthy 30-day-old Banxia plants to confirm pathogenicity of the isolated strains. Leaves were injected with 50 µL bacterial suspensions (1x108 cfu/ml) by sterile syringe. The negative control was inoculated with sterile water. The inoculated Banxia plants were incubated at 28 °C, 70 to 80 % relative humidity, and exhibited water-soaked lesions on the leaf surface within two days around the inoculation sites. Within seven days, all leaves withered and plants died. In contrast, control plants remained healthy and symptomless. The pathogen was consistently reisolated from diseased plants and morphologically and molecularly identified as P. cichorii, while no bacterial colonies were isolated from the control plants, fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bacterial leaf spot caused by P. cichorii on Banxia in China. As one of the main producing areas of Banxia in China, Jianghan Plain of Hubei Province has a planting area of nearly 20 square kilometers. The occurrence of this bacterial disease has the potential threat to the Banxia industry, more research is needed for breeding disease resistance and for developing chemical control.

[Identification, biological characteristics, and control of pathogen causing Pinellia ternata soft rot in Hubei province].

This study was designed to identify the pathogen causing soft rot of Pinellia ternata in Qianjiang of Hubei province and screen out the effective bactericides, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the control of soft rot of P. ternata. In this study, the pathogen was identified based on molecular biology and physiological biochemistry, followed by the detection of pathogenicity and pathogenicity spectrum via plant tissue inoculation in vitro and the indoor toxicity determination using the inhibition zone method to screen out bactericide with good antibacterial effects. The control effect of the bactericide against P. ternata soft rot was verified by the leave and tuber inoculation in vitro. The phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the 16 S rDNA, dnaX gene, and recA gene sequences, respectively, and the result showed that the pathogen belonged to the same branch as the type strain Dickeya fangzhongdai JS5. The physiological and biochemical tests showed that the pathogen was identical to D. fangzhongdai, which proved that the pathogen was D. fangzhongdai. The pathogenicity test indicated that the pathogen could obviously infect leaves at 24 h and tubers in 3 d. As revealed by the indoor toxicity test, 0.3% tetramycin, 5% allicin, and 80% ethylicin had good antibacterial activities, with EC_(50) values all less than 50 mg·L~(-1). Tests in tissues in vitro showed that 5% allicin exhibited the best control effect, followed by 0.3% tetramycin and 10% zhongshengmycin oligosaccharide, and their preventive effects were better than curative effects. Therefore, 5% allicin can be used as the preferred agent for the control of P. ternata soft rot, and 0.3% tetramycin and 10% zhongshengmycin oligosaccharide as the alternatives. This study has provided a certain theoretical basis for the control of P. ternata soft rot.

Automatic medium exchange for micro-volume cell samples based on dielectrophoresis.

Cell medium exchange is a crucial step for life science and medicine. However, conventional cell medium exchange methods, including centrifuging and filtering, show limited ability for micro-volume cell samples such as circulating tumor cell (CTC) and circulating fetal cell (CFC). In this paper, we proposed an automatic medium exchange method for micro-volume cell samples based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) in microfluidic chip. Fresh medium and cell suspension were introduced into the microfluidic channel as the laminar flow. Plane stair-shaped interdigital electrodes were employed to drive the cells from the cell suspension to fresh media directly by DEP force. Additionally, we characterized and optimized the cell medium exchange according to both the theory and experiments. In the end, we achieved a 96.9% harvest rate of medium exchange for 0.3 µL samples containing micro-volume cells. For implementing an automatic continuous cell medium exchange, the proposed method can be integrated into the automatic cell processing system conveniently. Furthermore, the proposed method is a great candidate in micro-volume cell analysis and processing, cell electroporation, single cell sequencing, and other scenarios.

ABHD15 promotes cell viability, glycolysis, and inhibits apoptosis in cardiomyocytes under hypoxia.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Myocardial infarction (MI) has been an important heart disease affecting human health. The aim of this study was to investigate the regulatory effect of abhydrolase domain containing 15 (ABHD15) on hypoxic cardiomyocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Hypoxic cardiomyocytes are commonly used as an vitro model for the study of MI. We found that cardiomyocyte viability was decreased under hypoxia, but cell glucose uptake, insulin receptor phosphorylation level and apoptosis were increased. Interestingly, ABHD15 expression was up-regulated in hypoxia-induced cardiomyocytes. Then, we identified the function of ABHD15 in hypoxic cardiomyocytes by using ABHD15 overexpression vector or short interfering RNA (siRNA) against ABHD15. The results showed that overexpression of ABHD15 promoted hypoxic cardiomyocyte viability, glucose uptake and IR phosphorylation (p-IR), and inhibited cell apoptosis. However, knockdown of ABHD15 attenuated hypoxic cardiomyocyte viability, glucose uptake and IR phosphorylation, and promoted apoptosis. Moreover, we found that ABHD15 promoted glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expression, translocation and enhance rate-limiting enzyme activation of glycolysis, thereby affecting glucose uptake. Furthermore, our study suggested that ABHD15 may affect the viability and apoptosis of hypoxic cardiomyocytes through IR/Ras/Raf/ERK/MEK and IR/PI3K/AKT/Bcl2/Bad/caspase9 signaling pathways, respectively. When the phosphorylation of IR, Raf or ERK was blocked by inhibitors, the protective effect of overexpressing ABHD15 on the viability of hypoxic cardiomyocytes was eliminated. Furthermore, inhibiting the phosphorylation of IR, AKT or Bcl2 abolished the inhibitory effect of overexpressing ABHD15 on hypoxic cardiomyocyte apoptosis. CONCLUSION: ABHD15 regulated myocardial cell viability, glycolysis, and apoptosis under hypoxia, providing a novel potential therapeutic strategy for MI.

LncRNA PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis by miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis via ERK/p38 pathway.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: LncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) plays a regulatory role in some cardiovascular diseases, but its role in atherosclerosis (AS) remains barely explored. The study aimed to investigate the effects of PVT1 on high fat diet-induced AS and its potential mechanisms. METHODS AND RESULTS: ApoE -/- mice were fed with high fat diet for 8 weeks to establish an AS model. Lentiviral vectors containing PVT1 short hairpin RNA (PVT1-shRNA) or NC-shRNA were administered by tail vein injection. Cell viability, apoptosis, inflammatory factor secretion, and cellular oxidative stress were measured to evaluate oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury. Dual-luciferase reporter gene and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were used to confirm the interaction between miR-153-3p and PVT1 or growth factor receptor binding protein 2 (GRB2). Atherosclerotic lesions, lipid deposition, and cell apoptosis in aorta were analyzed by H&E, Oil Red O, and TUNEL straining. PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress in HUVECs. PVT1 acted as a sponge of miR-153-3p, and GRB2 was confirmed as a target of miR-153-3p. MiR-153-3p overexpression attenuated the enhanced effects of PVT1 on ox-LDL-induced cell damage. GRB2 overexpression reversed the mitigating effects of miR-153-3p on ox-LDL-caused injury. Inhibiting PVT1 restrained the activation of ERK1/2 and p38 pathway via miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis. Additionally, silencing PVT1 in vivo reduced atherosclerotic plaques, lipid deposition, inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in AS mice. CONCLUSION: PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis through miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis via ERK1/2 and p38 pathway.

Duohua huangjing (Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua) seedling basal rot caused by Fusarium redolens in China.

Duohua huangjing (Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua) seedling basal stem rot caused by Fusarium redolens in China Tao Tang1, Fanfan Wang1, Jie Guo1, Xiaoliang Guo1, Yuanyuan Duan1,Jingmao You1* 1 Institute of Chinese Herbal Medicines, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Enshi, 445000, China. Duohua huangjing (Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua), a herbal medicine, that is mostly planted in several provinces in China. In April 2020, severe diseases with about 40% seedling losse was found in the Huangjing seedling base in Shiyan city, Hubei province. The symptoms included softening and decay of the roots and stem bases, a progressive yellowing and wilting of leaves, and finally being completely rotted. Small pieces of symptomatic stems (0.5 cm in length) and leaves (0.5 × 0.5 cm in size) were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 30 s, followed by 0.1% HgCl2 for 1 min, rinsed three times with sterile water, and then dried with sterilized absorbent paper. The sections were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium containing 10 µg/ml of ampicillin and incubated at 25°C in the dark. After 3 days incubation, eight isolates with the same colony morphology were sub-cultured and purified by hyphal tip isolation. Macroconidia were sickle-shaped, 15.8 - 32.3 × 3.1 - 5.6 µm (n = 25), and three to five septate. Microconidia were oval or kidney-shaped, 5.2 - 11.4 × 2.0 - 3.2 µm (n = 25), and zero to one septate. To confirm the identity of the pathogen, molecular identification was performed with strain HJCD1. Following DNA extraction, PCR was performed using the TSINGKE 2×T5 Direct PCR Mix kit. Target areas of amplification were the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and translation elongation factor 1α (TEF-1α) using ITS1/4 (White et al. 1990) , EF1/EF2 (Taylor et al. 2016), respectively. Following BLAST searches and phylogenetic reconstruction, the ITS region (GenBank MW485770.1) showed 99% identity with those of Fusarium redolens in GenBank (KU350713.1) and the TEF-1α (GenBank MW503930.1) showed 100% identity with F. redolens GenBank (MK922537.1). Pathogenicity tests were performed to fulfill Koch's postulates. Huangjing seedlings were rinsed with sterile water, wiped clean with sterile absorbent paper, and transferred to a tray covered with wet filter paper to maintain high humidity. The mycelial piugs of F. redolens HJCD1 were inoculated onto the surface of leaves and basal stems. Controls were inoculated with sterile PDA plugs. The inoculated seedlings were sealed with plastic wrap, and then cultivated in a 25 ℃ growth chamber with 16 h of light per day. The pathogen-inoculated plants exhibited etiolation and typical wilt symptoms after 4 days, whereas no symptoms were observed in the control plants. F. redolens was reisolated from the infected tissues, and colony morphology and ITS sequence of re-isolates were same as that of HJCD1. The pathogen has been reported previously in american ginseng in China (Fan et al. 2021), lentil in Pakistan (Rafique et al. 2020), and wild rocket in United Kingdom (Taylor et al. 2019). However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. redolens causing seelding basal rot on Duohua huangjing in China. References: White, T. J., et al. 1990. Page 315 in: PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. Taylor, A., et al. 2016. Mol. Plant Pathol. 17:1032. https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.12346 Fan, S. H., et al. 2021. Plant Dis. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-19-2519-PDN Rafique, K., et al. 2020. Plant Dis. 9:104. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-19-2519-PDN Taylor, A., et al. 2019. Plant Dis.6:103. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-12-18-2143-PDN Funding: Science Funds for Young Scholar of Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science (grant no. 2020NKYJJ20), National Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System (grant no. CARS-21), Technology R&D Program of Enshi (grant no. D20190015), Science Funds for Young Scholar of Institute of Chinese Herbal Medicines, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences (grant no. 2019ZYCJJ03), Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crops of Central China, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R. China / Hubei Key Laboratory of Crop Disease, Insect Pests and Weeds Control (grant no.2020ZTSJJ6).

Occurrence of Stem Blight Caused by Pseudomonas extremorientalis on Pinellia ternata in China.

Pinellia ternata is a perennial herbaceous plant, which tubers can be used for anti-inflammatory and has a significant position in Traditional Chinese Medicine (Marki et al. 1987). In April 2020, bacterial stem blight first occurred on P. ternata in Jingmen City (30°32'N, 111°51'E), Hubei Province, China. In the follow-up investigation, the disease also appeared in plantations of P. ternata in Qianjiang City, Tianmen City. Initial symptoms showed orange-red streak on the stem, then progressed into chlorotic and water-soaked lesions, which caused roots to be necrotic and leaves to stunting, fading, and wilting. In the end, the leaves withered, the stems rotted completely, and the incidence of plant collapse reached 20~30%. To isolate the plant pathogenic bacteria, twenty P. ternata plant samples with distinct chlorotic stem symptoms were obtained from two fields in Jingmen City. Symptomatic samples were cut to 1-cm-long pieces by sterile scalpel, then were streaked onto nutrient agar medium and grow at 28℃ for 48 h. Four pure typical aerobic, gram-negative bacteria were isolated by characterized with transparent, smooth, round, convex surfaces. The isolated colonies did not produce fluorescent pigments on King's B medium. In addition, the isolates were positive for nitrate reduction, arabinose, mannitol, D-ribose, sucrose, D-sorbitol, and were negative for gelatin liquefaction, rhamnose, D-glucose, D-melibiose. These characteristics were identified as Pseudomonas extremorientalis (Ivanova et al. 2002). One representative colony ZJH1 was selected randomly for further verification. The 16s rRNA, gyrB, and rpoD regions were obtained with primers 27F/1492R (Weisburg et al. 1991), gyrB-Fps/ gyrB-Rps, and rpoD-Fps/ rpoD-Rps, respectively (Sarkar and Guttman. 2004). These sequences were deposited in GenBank as accession nos. MT459234.1, MT469887.1 and MT469886.1, which revealed 99% homology with P. extremorientalis strain BS2774 (accession nos. LT629708.1). The pathogenicity of P. extremorientalis strain ZJH1 was confirmed by using 3-month-old, healthy, greenhouse-grown P. ternata plants. The stems were stabbed and inoculated 10 µL of the bacterial suspension (108 CFU / ml), inoculating the same amount of sterile water as a control, repeated 5 times for each treatment. The plants were cultivated in a greenhouse at 28 °C and a humidity of 80%. Three days later, the stems showed necrosis, followed by the withered leaves and died plants, whereas the control had no symptoms. P. extremorientalis were reisolated and verified again from symptomatic plants, which was consistent with Koch's postulates. This experiment was repeated thrice to get the same result. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bacterial stem blight caused by P. extremorientalis on P. ternata in China. Stem blight caused by P. extremorientalis poses a significant threat to yield and marketability of P. ternata. Further research on selecting resistant variety and effective chemical control is needed. References: Ivanova, E. P., et al. 2002. Int J Syst Evol Micr. 2113:2120. https://doi.org/10.1099/00207713-52-6-2113 Marki, T., et al. 1987. Planta Med. 53:412. Sarkar, S. F., Guttman, D. S. 2004. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70:1999. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.70.4.1999-2012.2004 Weisburg, W. G., et al. 1991. J. Bacteriol. 173:697. https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.173.2.697-703.1991 F. F. Wang and Y. J. You contributed equally to this work. The author(s) declare no conflict of interest. Funding: National Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System (grant no. CARS-21), Technology R&D Program of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (grant no. D20190015), Science Funds for Young Scholar of Institute of Chinese Herbal Medicines, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences (grant no. 2019ZYCJJ01), Key R&D Program of Hubei Province (grant no. 2020BCA059), Key Technology R&D Projects of Hubei Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Center (grant no. 2020-620-000-002-04).

Occurrence of Dickeya fangzhongdai Causing Soft Rot of Banxia (Pinellia ternata) in China.

Banxia [Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit., Araceae] is a perennial herbaceous plant, where the tuber is commonly used in traditional Chinese herbal medicine. In the summer of 2020, an outbreak of soft rot of Banxia was observed in Zhugentan Town (30°50'N, 112°91'E), Qianjiang City, Hubei Province, with about 56% percentage of infected plants. Symptomatic plants initially appeared with small water-soaked spots on leaves that progressed into extensive translucent spots when facing a light source. The bacteria further spread to the stems and tubers. Infected tubers appeared normal, but inner macerated inclusions exuded when touched. The whole plant was macerated and collapsed within a few days. Ten leaves with typical symptoms were obtained from a diseased field, by surface sterilizing in 75% ethanol for 30 s and 0.3% NaClO for 5 min, washing the tissue sections three times in sterile water. Small pieces of tissue (5 × 5 mm) were removed from lesion borders, plated on nutrient ager medium, and cultivated at 37 ℃ for 48 h. Five representative isolates were selected for further identification. Colonies were all smooth and transparent. In addition, these strains were Gram-negative, and had the ability to reduce D-arabinose, melibiose, galactose, raffinose, rhamnose, inositol, and mannitol, but not reduce 5-keto-D-gluconate, L-xylose, amygdalin, and sorbitol. Genomic DNA was extracted from isolate stain ZG5. The 16S rDNA gene, recombinase A (recA) gene, and DNA polymerase III subunits gamma and tau (dnaX) were amplified by PCR with the primers 27f/1492r (Weisburg et al. 1991), recF/recR (Waleron et al. 2002), and dnaXf/dnaXr (Slawiak et al. 2009), respectively. The PCR products were sequenced, then submitted to GenBank (GenBank MW332472, MW349833, MW349834, respectively). BLAST search showed that the sequences of 16S rDNA, recA, and dnaX respectively matched ≥99% with D. fangzhongdai strains DSM 101947 (CP025003), QZH3 (CP031507), and PA1 (CP020872). Pathogenicity tests were performed on 10 healthy, 3-month-old P. ternate plants. Five plants were injected with 20 µl of bacterial suspension (108 CFU/ml) of isolate ZG5, and other plants were injected with sterile water as a negative control. All tested plants were incubated at 28 ℃ and individually covered with a plastic bag. After 24 h, soft rot symptoms all appeared on the pathogen-inoculated leaves, whereas no symptoms on the control leaves. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times and obtained same results. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by reisolating D. fangzhongdai from inoculated plants. Meanwhile, PCR were performed on the reisolated bacteria as above described, and the pathogen was identified and confirmed as D. fangzhongdai. Here we report that D. fangzhongdai causes soft rot of P. ternata in China. The disease progressed very rapidly, and reduced the yield and quality of tubers. Thus, more research is needed to implement effective strategies to manage this disease.

Baseline Sensitivity and Control Efficacy of Strobilurin Fungicide Pyraclostrobin Against Sclerotium rolfsii.

Sclerotium rolfsii is a fungi pathogen of southern blight with broad host range. The quinone outside inhibitor fungicide pyraclostrobin was officially approved for controlling many diseases in 2015. In this study, baseline sensitivity of S. rolfsii to pyraclostrobin was established by measuring the 50% effective concentration (EC50) values of 155 isolates of S. rolfsii. The EC50 values ranged from 0.0291 to 1.0871 µg/ml, with a mean EC50 of 0.4469 ± 0.2490 µg/ml (mean ± standard deviation). In a preventive fungicide in vitro experiment and a field experiment, pyraclostrobin preventive efficacy reached 90% and 80%, respectively, which were much higher than that of the control agent carbendazim. Curative efficacy of pyraclostrobin was significantly lower than its preventive efficacy. Pyraclostrobin at 0.1, 0.5, and 2 µg/ml significantly reduced the number of sclerotia produced on potato dextrose agar medium, but had no significant influence on their total weight. Pyraclostrobin had no significant influence on mycelial cell membrane permeability, but it significantly reduced oxalate secretion and protein synthesis of S. rolfsii. Our findings are of great significance for resistance monitoring of S. rolfsii and also provide new insight into the action mechanism of pyraclostrobin against S. rolfsii.

Performance Evaluation of IMU and DVL Integration in Marine Navigation.

Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) spoofing poses a significant threat to maritime logistics. Many maritime electronic devices rely on GNSS time, positioning, and speed for safe vessel operation. In this study, inertial measurement unit (IMU) and Doppler velocity log (DVL) devices, which are important in the event of GNSS spoofing or outage, are considered in conventional navigation. A velocity integration method using IMU and DVL in terms of dead-reckoning is investigated in this study. GNSS has been widely used for ship navigation, but IMU, DVL, or combined IMU and DVL navigation have received little attention. Military-grade sensors are very expensive and generally cannot be utilized in smaller vessels. Therefore, this study focuses on the use of consumer-grade sensors. First, the performance of a micro electromechanical system (MEMS)-based yaw rate angle with DVL was evaluated using 60 min of raw data for a 50 m-long ship located in Tokyo Bay. Second, the performance of an IMU-MEMS using three gyroscopes and three accelerometers with DVL was evaluated using the same dataset. A gyrocompass, which is equipped on the ship, is used as a heading reference. The results proved that both methods could achieve less than 1 km horizontal error in 60 min.

Simultaneous Microcystin Degradation and Microcystis aeruginosa Inhibition with the Single Enzyme Microcystinase A.

Harmful Microcystis blooms (HMBs) seriously threaten the ecology of environments and human health. Microcystins (MCs) produced by Microcystis are powerful mediators of HMB induction and maintenance. In this study, microcystinase A (MlrA), an enzyme with MC-degrading ability, was successfully obtained at over 90% purity for the first time through overexpression in Escherichia coli K12 TB1. The obtained MlrA exhibited high stability at high temperature and under alkaline conditions, while also exhibiting a long half-life. MlrA selectively inhibited MC-producing Microcystis cultures, but had no effect on MC-nonproducing Synechocystis cultures. The inhibition mechanism of MlrA against Microcystis was investigated by evaluating the morphological and physiological characteristics of cultures. MlrA effectively degraded extracellular MCs and decreased the synthesis of intracellular MCs by causing downregulation of genes involved in the microcystin biosynthesis pathway. Concomitantly, MlrA inhibited Microcystis photosynthesis by causing the downregulated expression of important photosynthesis pathway genes and interrupting electron transport chain activities and pigment synthesis. Thus, MlrA achieved the inhibition of Microcystis growth by reducing its photosynthetic capacity and intracellular MC contents, while also degrading extracellular MCs. On the basis of these results, we propose a new paradigm to achieve the simultaneous removal of MCs and HMBs using the single enzyme characterized here.

Fusarium acuminatum Associated with Root Rot of Ophiopogon japonicus (Linn. f.) in China.

Ophiopogon japonicus (Linn. f.) is a perennial evergreen in the Liliaceae family that is cultivated in many provinces of China due to its high medicinal and economic value . In April 2019, an unknown root rot disease was observed on the rhizomes of O. japonicus in a commercial production field in Xiangyang City (30.83° N, 112.53° E), Hubei Province. Disease incidence was approximately 10-20%. Symptoms included chlorosis, drooping and rolling of the leaves followed by rapid death of entire plant. Infected roots appeared to be softened, necrotic, and shriveled with reddish fungal growth. Infected tissues were disinfested on surface with 75% ethanol for 30 s and 0.1% HgCl2 for 1 min, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and dried. Small pieces (2 mm × 2 mm) were then excised from disinfested tissue and incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium at 25 ℃ in the dark. After 3 days of incubation, six isolates with 75% of isolation rate and same colony morphology were sub-cultured and purified by hyphal tip isolation. Purified cultures grew rapidly and media plates (70×70 mm ) were covered with hyphae after 3 to 4 days. Cultures were initially white and became pink or red over 5 days. Microconidia were not observed. Macroconidia were produced from monophialides on branched conidiophores, which were slender, equilaterally curved, and measured 32.5 to 53.5 µm in length and 3.5 to 5.1 µm in width, with three to five septa. All strains were preliminarily identified as Fusarium acuminatum (Eslie and Summerell 2006) on the basis of morphology. To confirm the identity of the pathogen, molecular identification was performed with strain MD1. Following DNA extraction, PCR was performed using the TSINGKE 2×T5 Direct PCR Mix kit. Target areas of amplification were internal transcribed spacer (ITS), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) and beta-tubulin gene (TUB2) regions of rDNA, using ITS1,4 (Yin et al. 1990) , RPB2-5f2/7cr (O'Donnell et al. 2010)and Btu-F-F01, Btu-F-R01 primers(Wang et al. 2014), respectively. Nucleotide sequences were deposited in NCBI (GenBank MT525360.1; MW164629; MT588110.1). BLAST analysis of the ITS sequence had 100% similarity to a 517 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (MK764994.1) ；RPB2 sequence had 100% similarity to a 687 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (HM068330.1) and TUB2 sequence had 99% similarity to a 964 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (KT965741.1). A pathogenicity test was performed in laboratory on O. japonicus roots with isolate MD1. Mycelial plugs (5 mm) were excised from the margin of colony cultured for 5 days, and placed on three-years-old tuberous roots covered with wet sterile cotton and kept at 25℃, under 80% relative humidity. Controls were inoculated with non-colonized PDA plugs (5 mm). All treatments had three replicate plants. On incolated plants, white hyphae covered on O. japonicus roots 3 DPI became pink and by 5 DPI, roots had rot symptoms. By comparision, the control plants had no symptoms. The pathogen was reisolated from the inoculated roots and exhibited same morphological characteristics and ITS sequence as those of F. acuminatum. F. acuminatum was reported to cause fruit rot on postharvest pumpkin and Vaccinium corymbosum in China (Li et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2016).To our knowledge, this is the first report of root rot caused by F. acuminatum on O. japonicus in China.

First report of Sclerotinia blight caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum on Pinellia ternata in China.

Pinellia ternata is a perennial herb that belongs to the Araceae Family. The tuber of the P. ternata plant contains active ingredients such as alkaloids and pinellia starch, and can be used as a Chinese medicine for antineoplastic and anti-inflammatory disorders in humans (Marki et al. 1987). In April 2019, lesions with rotting were observed during the flowering phase on spathes of P. ternata in a field in Qianjiang City (30°50'N, 112°92'E), Hubei Province, which is one of the main production areas of P. ternata in China. Approximately 10% of P. ternata plants were symptomatic. The initial symptoms of infection were reddish-brown lesions, followed by the appearance of white cottony mycelia. Subsequently, lesions became gray-brown, and rotted with white mycelium that eventually formed on the lesions after 2 to 3 days. In the later phases, spathes were completely rotted and mycelia began to spread to the stems, until the plant wilted and died. Ten spathes at the initial stage of infection were collected in Zhugentan Town, Qianjiang City disinfested with 0.5% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min and 75% alcohol for 20 sec, then washed with sterile distilled water three times, dried, and placed on Petri plates with potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 22℃ for two days. Six fungal isolates were obtained and purified by hyphal tip isolation in fresh culture, respectively. Culture media was covered with white hyphae after 3 to 4 days of incubation, and dark-gray, rough, irregular sclerotia (1.5 to 5.5 mm in length × 1.0 to 3.5 mm in width) formed on the margins of the media, followed by the melanization as the culture aged. Eventually, black sclerotia were formed and wrapped by white hyphae. All isolates were preliminarily identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lazarovits et al. 2000). To further identify the pathogens, molecular identification was performed with one of the six isolates (BXH1). Polymerase chain reaction was performed with primers ITS1/ITS4 for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (White et al. 1990) and primers SSasprF/SSasprR for the aspartyl protease gene (Abd-Elmagid et al. 2013). BLAST search analysis revealed that the 456-bp ITS sequence (GenBank MT436756.1) was ≥99% similar to S. sclerotiorum (MT177216.1, MN105884.1, MG931017.1, etc.), and the 173-bp aspartyl protease gene sequence (GenBank MT584031.1) was too (MK028159.1, MK028161.1, AF271387.1, etc.). Pathogenicity tests were carried out by inoculating disease-free, surface-disinfested spathes of thirty 30-day-old P. ternata plants in plastic pots with a sterilized mixture of peat moss and vermiculite (3:1). Five mycelial plugs (6 mm) were excised from the margin of a colony cultured for 5 days. The plugs were placed on five spathes covered with wet sterile cotton at 22±1℃, and 80% relative humidity, with a 12-h photoperiod. Five control plants were inoculated with noncolonized PDA plugs. Lesions formed on the second day, then rot and white hyphae began to appear on the third day, while the controls had no symptoms. Similar results were obtained in three repeated experiments with S. sclerotiorum being re-isolated from all diseased plants, in accordance with Koch's postulates. This disease is an emerging problem in P. ternata fields in Qianjiang, leading to extensive yield reduction and significant economic losses. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Sclerotinia blight on P. ternata in China. References: Abd-Elmagid, A., et al. 2013. J. Microbiol. Methods 92:293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2012.12.020 Marki, T., et al. 1987. Planta Med. 53:412. Lazarovits, G., et al. 2000. Pestic Biochem Phys. 54:62. https://doi.org/10.1006/pest.2000.2474 White, T. J., et al. 1990. Page 315 in: PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-372180-8.50042-1 Funding: National Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System (grant no. CARS-21), Technology R&D Program of Enshi (grant no. D20190015), Science Funds for Young Scholar of Institute of Chinese Herbal Medicines, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences (grant no. 2019ZYCJJ01), Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crops of Central China, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R.China / Hubei Key Laboratory of Crop Disease, Insect Pests and Weeds Control (grant no.2019ZTSJJ6).

Flexible capacitive pressure sensor with sensitivity and linear measuring range enhanced based on porous composite of carbon conductive paste and polydimethylsiloxane.

In recent years, the development of electronic skin and smart wearable body sensors has put forward high requirements for flexible pressure sensors with high sensitivity and large linear measuring range. However, it turns out to be difficult to increase both of them simultaneously. In this paper, a flexible capacitive pressure sensor based on a porous carbon conductive paste-polydimethylsiloxane composite is reported, the sensitivity and the linear measuring range of which were developed using multiple methods including adjusting the stiffness of the dielectric layer material, fabricating a microstructure and increasing the dielectric permittivity of the dielectric layer. The capacitive pressure sensor reported here has a relatively high sensitivity of 1.1 kPa-1 and a large linear measuring range of 10 kPa, making the product of the sensitivity and linear measuring range 11, which is higher than that of the most reported capacitive pressure sensors to our best knowledge. The sensor has a detection of limit of 4 Pa, response time of 60 ms and great stability. Some potential applications of the sensor were demonstrated, such as arterial pulse wave measuring and breath measuring, which shows it as a promising candidate for wearable biomedical devices. In addition, a pressure sensor array based on the material was also fabricated and it could identify objects in the shape of different letters clearly, which shows promising application in future electronic skins.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel inhibitors against cyanobacterial pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex E1.

Cyanobacterial pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex E1 (PDHc E1) is a potential target enzyme for finding inhibitors to control harmful cyanobacterial blooms. In this study, a series of novel triazole thiamin diphosphate (ThDP) analogs were designed and synthesized by modifying the substituent group of triazole ring and optimizing triazole-benzene linker as potential cyanobacterial PDHc E1 (Cy-PDHc E1) inhibitors. Their inhibitory activities against Cy-PDHc E1 in vitro and algicide activities in vivo were further examined. Most of these compounds exhibited prominent inhibitory activities against Cy-PDHc E1 (IC50 1.48-4.48 µM) and good algicide activities against Synechocystis PCC6803 (EC50 0.84-2.44 µM) and Microcystis aeruginosa FACHB905 (EC50 0.74-1.77 µM). Especially, compound 8d showed not only the highest inhibitory activity against Cy-PDHc E1 (IC50 1.48 µM), but also the most powerful inhibitory selectivity between Cy-PDHc E1 (inhibitory rate 98.90%) and porcine PDHc E1 (inhibitory rate only 9.54%). Furthermore, the potential interaction between compound 8d and Cy-PDHc E1 was analyzed by a molecular docking method and site-directed mutagenesis and enzymatic analysis and fluorescence spectral analysis. These results indicated that compound 8d could be used as a hit compound for further optimization and might have potential to be developed as a new algicide.