First Report of Neofusicoccum parvum causing leaf spot on Camellia japonica in China.

Camellia japonica is an important garden landscape plant in southern China. In April 2022, leaf spot symptoms were observed at the camellia garden of Jiaying University (24°32'83″N, 17 116°12'31″E) in Meizhou city, Guangdong Province, China. The initial symptoms were grayish brown spots on the leaves, as the disease progressed, the lesions were enlarged and affected the whole leaf and eventually led to the loss of its ornamental value. The disease incidence was above 15%. Leaf pieces (5 × 5 mm) from 3 diseased Camellia leaves were sterilized in 75% ethanol for 1 min, then in 1% NaOCl for 1 min; and rinsed three times with sterile water. Leaf pieces were inoculated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium and incubated at 25 °C. Three days later, fungal colonies initially showed a white aerial mycelium, turning gray after 5 days, and dark gray after 7 days of incubation. Conidia were single-celled, hyaline, ellipsoidal and without septa. Dimensions of conidia (n≥50) were 14.27 to 20.65 × 4.28 to 6.56 µm. The morphological characteristics matched the genus Neofusicoccum (Pavlic et al. 2009). For molecular identification, the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2) region, translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α), and beta-tubulin (tub2) of a representative isolate SC6-2 were amplified using the primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, EF1/EF2 and BT2a/-BT2b, respectively (Golzar and Burgess，2011). The sequences obtained were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. PP064173, PP479650 and PP082457 for ITS, tef1-α and tub2, respectively). Nucleotide BLAST analysis showed a 99.81% homology with N. parvum (519/520 bp, OQ509869; 519/520 bp, KF294003; 518/519 bp KF293989) for ITS, 100% homology with N. parvum (398/398 bp, MN318108; 398/398 bp, MK294085; 398/398 bp, MH936021) for tub2, and >99% homology with N. parvum (259/259 bp, 100%, MW390561; 263/265 bp, 99.25%，MN175952; 263/265 bp, 99.25%, MK781982) for tef1-α. The combined phylogenetic analyses (ITS, tef1-α, and tub2) showed that the sequence of the tested isolate and the corresponding sequence of N. parvum (CMW9081, SHSJ1-2) in GenBank grouped in the same branch of the phylogenetic tree. Based on morphological characters, DNA sequencing, and the phylogenetic tree, it can be determined that the pathogen was Neofusicoccum parvum. Inoculation on Camellia leaves was performed to confirm pathogenicity. Nine healthy camellia leaves were pin-pricked with a sterile needle and inoculated with mycelial plugs of isolate SC6-2. Nine other healthy leaves were pin-pricked and inoculated with noncolonized PDA plugs as control leaves. The inoculated leaves were maintained on water agar solid medium at 25°C. To keep a high-humidity environment the inoculation sites were covered by moistened cotton for 2 days. The experiment was repeated three times. Five days after inoculation, all the inoculated leaves showed similar symptoms to those observed in the field, whereas control leaves were asymptomatic for 6 days. The fungal isolates recovered from inoculated leaves were morphologically identical to the N. parvum isolates originally recovered from symptomatic leaves collected in the field, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Neofusicoccum parvum is an aggressive pathogen that causes severe disease on important tree and woody species (Liddle et al. 2019). It has been reported that N. parvum can infect the leaves and branches of grapes (Otoya-Martinez et al. 2023), dieback on Camellia japonica (Pintos, et al. 2012), Brazilian pepperwood (Bertetti et al. 2022), mango (Giancarlo et al. 2023) and other plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. parvum causing leaf spot on Camellia japonica in China.

The impact of modified Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy in social adjustment functions of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their parents' stress levels: A nonrandomized clinical trial.

This study aims to investigate the potential of a modified Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) intervention in promoting social adjustment and reducing their parental stress among children exhibiting symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research also highlights the mechanisms and advantages of employing modified CBGT to address negative symptoms associated with ADHD in children. The study was conducted at Fuzhou Children's Hospital of Fujian Province, with a total of 20 pairs of parents and children with ADHD participating. The assessment utilized measures including SNAP, Barratt Impulsivity, and Conners to evaluate changes in the children's social adjustment abilities and core/associated ADHD symptoms before and after CBGT intervention. Additionally, the Parental Stress Index was employed to gauge the level of stress experienced by the parents. Consequently, CBGT interventions have shown substantial improvements in children's social adjustment abilities and have proven to be a significant source of stress relief for parents.