Brown leaf spot of Jacaranda mimosifolia Caused by Colletotrichum karstii in Sichuan, China.

Jacaranda mimosifolia D. Don is widely cultivated in southwest China (Yunnan, Sichuan, and other regions). It is widely applied in papermaking, medicine, environmental monitoring, timber, urban and rural afforestation, and soil and water conservation. In October 2020, a new brown leaf spot disease of J. mimosifolia was discovered in Xichang City (27°49' to 27°56'N, 102°16' to 102°11'E), with approximately 66.23% disease incidence. Firstly, the typical symptoms showed deep yellow necrotic lesions in the center or on the margin of the leaves. Gradually, the necrotic lesions expanded and developed into brown spots. Under humid conditions, the edges of necrotic lesions turned dark brown progressively. Finally, the leaves withered, died, and fell off. Infected tissues from ten samples were cut into small pieces of 2.5 × 2.5 mm. The surfaces of infected tissues were sterilized for 30 s in 3% sodium hypochlorite, 60 s in 75% ethanol, and rinsed three times in sterile water. They were then blot-dried with autoclaved paper towels and cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25℃ for 3 to 8 days. After culturing for 8 days at 25℃ and 12 h/12 h light/dark on PDA, the colony diameter reached 78.2 to 82.7 mm. The colonies were light orange, turned pale pink with light orange beneath. The conidia were single-celled, aseptate, cylindrical, smooth-walled, straight, hyaline with both ends bluntly rounded, measuring 12.3 to 16.8 × 4.3 to 5.6 µm (n = 100; average=14.5 × 5.1µm). These morphological characteristics were consistent with the description of C. karstii (Zhao et al. 2021). For molecular identification, the genomic DNA of the representative isolate JM202010 was extracted using a fungal genomic DNA extraction kit (Solarbio, Beijing). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) [ITS1/ITS4 (White et al., 1990)], calmodulin (CAL) [CL1C/CL2C (Weir et al., 2012)], actin (ACT) [ACT512F/ACT-783R (Carbone & Kohn, 1999)], chitin synthase (CHS-1) [CHS-79F/CHS-345R (Carbone & Kohn, 1999)], ß-tubulin (TUB2) [BT2A/BT2B (O'Donnell et al., 1997)], and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) [GDF/GDR (Templeton et al. 1992)] were amplified. Sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS: OL454787, CAL: OL518966, ACT: OL518967, CHS-1: OL518968, TUB2: OL518969, and GAPDH: OL518970). BLAST results indicated that the ITS, CAL, ACT, CHS-1, TUB2 and GAPDH sequences showed >99% identity with Colletotrichum karstii sequences at NCBI (GenBank MW494453.1, MW495036.1, MG387951.1, MW495038.1, MW495042.1, and MG602034.1). The conidial suspension (1 × 106 conidia/ml) was sprayed on the leaves of 4-year-old J. mimosifolia plants (10 plants) and inoculated for pathogenicity test. Fifteen leaves of each plant (10 pots in total) were inoculated with spore suspensions on both sides of the leaves. An equal number of control leaves was sprayed with sterilized distilled water as a control. Finally, all pots were kept in a greenhouse at 26°C under a 16 h/8 h photoperiod and 60 to 68% relative humidity. The inoculated plants showed symptoms similar to those of the original diseased plants, but the controls remained asymptomatic. Colletotrichum karstii was re-isolated from the infected leaves and identified by both morphological characteristics and DNA sequence analysis. The pathogenicity test was repeated thrice, which showed similar results, confirming Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of brown leaf spot on J. mimosifolia caused by C. karstii in China. C. karstii was previously reported as the causal agent of anthracnose on Fatsia japonica (Xu et al. 2020) and Nandina domestica (Li et al. 2017) in China. This finding provides an important basis for further research on the control of this disease.

Brown Culm Rot of Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro Caused by Diaporthe guangxiensis in Sichuan Province, China.

Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro, the most widely cultivated bamboo species in southern China, has high ornamental value used in gardens, while culms are also used for buildings and as fibers and edibles (Gao et al. 2011). In June 2020, brown culm rot of bamboo was observed in Yibin city, Sichuan Province, in an area of approximately 1000 hectares. Disease incidence was approximately 60%, of which 30% of the plants had died. At the end of June, the lesions expanded but did not surround the base of the culm. From the end of June to the beginning of September, the lesions expanded upward and formed a streak, of which the color gradually deepened to purple-brown and black-brown. At the same time, the disease spots at the base of the culm also expanded horizontally. After the spots surrounded the base of the culm, the diseased bamboo died. Ten culms showing typical symptoms were collected and cut into 5×5 mm pieces at the junction of infected and healthy tissues. The tissues were sterilized for 1 to 2 min in 3% sodium hypochlorite, decontaminated in 75% alcohol for 3 to 5 min, placed on modified potato glucose agar (PDA) with streptomycin sulfate (50 µg/ml), and incubated at 26°C. Two isolates were obtained by the single-spore method (Sivan et al. 1992). The isolates both produced white round colonies similar to Diaporthe guangxiensis and two types of conidia: one was α type (5.5 to 8.2×1.0 to 2.8 µm, n=30), colourless, single-celled, undivided, and oval, containing two oil droplets; and ß type (21.1 to 30.2×0.8 to 1.4 µm, n=30), colourless, single celled and hook shaped. Genomic DNA was extracted from the two isolates by using a fungal genomic DNA extraction kit (Solarbio, Beijing). The products were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers for the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS) region (White et al. 1990), calmodulin (CAL) gene (Carbone and Kohn 1999), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF) gene (Glass and Donaldson 1995) and beta-tubulin (TUB) gene (Soares et al. 2018). The amplified products were sequenced and blasted in GenBank (accession numbers MW380383, MW431318, MW431317 and MW431316 for ITS, CAL, TEF, and TUB, respectively). The ITS, CAL, TEF, and TUB sequences showed 100%, 99.33%, 100%, and 99.80% identity to D. guangxiensis JZB320094 (accession numbers MK335772.1, MK736727.1, MK523566.1, MK500168.1 in GenBank), respectively. To evaluate the pathogenicity of the isolates, five plants were each inoculated with two isolates. The cortex of potted bamboo were injured locally with sterilized needle, and the bamboo culms were inoculated with 100 µl of conidial suspension (105 cfu/ml). The surface of the inoculation wound was covered with gauze soaked with sterilized water. Five plants inoculated with sterile water were used as controls. The treated plants were maintained in a greenhouse at a temperature of 22 to 29°C and relative humidity of 70 to 80%. One month later, of all inoculated plants showed similar symptoms as those observed in the field. D. guangxiensis was re-isolated from all inoculated plants. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times with similar results. This is the first report of D. guangxiensis causing brown culm rot of D. latiflorus in China. These results will facilitate an enhanced understanding of factors affecting bamboo and the design of effective management strategies of the pathogenic species on bamboo and thus to develop corresponding control measures.

Screening of Antagonistic Bacillus against Brown Rot in Dendrocalamus latiflorus and Preparation of Applying Bacterial Suspension.

The aim of this study was to isolate biocontrol bacteria that could antagonize brown rot of Dendrocalamus latiflorus, optimize the culture conditions, and develop an effective biocontrol preparation for brown rot of D. latiflorus. This study isolated a bacterium with an antagonistic effect on bamboo brown rot from healthy D. latiflorus rhizosphere soil. Morphology, molecular biology, and physiological biochemistry methods identified it as Bacillus siamensis. The following culturing media and conditions improved the inhibition effect of B. siamensis: the best culturing media were 2% sucrose, 1.5% yeast extract, and 0.7% potassium chloride; the optimal culturing time, temperature, pH, and inoculation amount were 48 h, 30℃, 6, and 20%. The optimum formula of the applying bacterial suspension was 14% sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate emulsifier, 4% Na2HPO4·2H2O, 0.3% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose thickener, and 20% B. siamensis. The pot experiment results showed the control effect of applying bacterial suspension, diluted 1,000 times is still better than that of 24% fenbuconazole suspension. The applying bacterial suspension enables reliable control of brown rot in D. latiflorus.

Hypothyroidism and sinus dysfunction associated with lithium-paliperidone combination therapy for bipolar disorder with psychotic symptoms: a case report.

Background and aim: Lithium is considered to be the first-line treatment for bipolar disorder, and paliperidone was approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and acute bipolar manic/mixed episodes. However, both agents have been associated with thyroid dysfunction and cardiovascular adverse effects like subclinical hypothyroidism, bradycardia, and sinus arrest, even at therapeutic doses. Case presentation: Here, we reported a case of a 17-year-old Han Chinese female who developed symptomatic hypothyroidism, sinus bradycardia, and sinus arrest while being treated with lithium and paliperidone for bipolar disorder with psychotic features including auditory hallucinations. Her workup suggested that these adverse effects might be related to the combined lithium and paliperidone treatment, although other causes could not be ruled out. After discontinuing both medications, her thyroid function and heart rhythm normalized over 20 days. Conclusion: To our knowledge, hypothyroidism, sinus bradycardia, and sinus arrest associated with the combined use of lithium and paliperidone had not been reported previously. Further research is warranted to elucidate the potential risks and benefits of this combination therapy for bipolar disorder with psychotic symptoms.

Exploring the potential mechanism of Chinese herbal medicine Fuzi on aplastic anemia based on UHPLC-MS/MS method combined with network pharmacology and molecular docking.

To reveal the potential mechanism of the effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine Fuzi on Aplastic anaemia (AA) according to the network pharmacology approach and molecular docking. According to Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), 146 chemical ingredients of Fuzi were obtained. By SwissADME online system analysis, a total of 55 compounds such as Magnoflorine, Scutellarein, Luteolin and Gingerol may be the main active components of Fuzi and 145 common targets related to AA were predicted. 17 targets such as MAPK1, AKT1 and GRB2 were considered as hub targets. KEGG and GO enrichment analysis obtained 122 signalling pathways and 950 remarkable results. These results suggested that Fuzi exerted pharmacological effects on AA mainly by regulating PI3K-Akt, MAPK and JAK-STAT signalling pathways and epithelial cell proliferation, cell differentiation, regulate energy production and other biological processes. Meanwhile, molecular docking results showed that the hub targets had good binding ability with the main active ingredients.

[Research Progress of Mitochondrial Dynamics in Leukemia --Review].

Mitochondria is one of the most important organelles of eukaryotic cells, which is closely related to cell proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy and other life processes. Mitochondrias in biological cells are actually in a highly dynamic state. The fusion and division of mitochondria and their secondary effects play an important role in the regulation of cell life. As a malignant disease of hematopoietic system, leukemia is characterized by excessive proliferation, limited apoptosis, abnormal autophagy and other abnormal cell regulation. Therefore, abnormal mitochondrial dynamics regulation may play a key role in the pathogenesis of leukemia, refractory and drug resistance of leukemia. The article reviews the role of mitochondrial dynamics and abnormal regulation in the pathogenesis and development of leukemia, and provides a theoretical basis for the research on the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics in leukemia.

Public Preference Heterogeneity and Predicted Uptake Rate of Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening Programs in Rural China: Discrete Choice Experiments and Latent Class Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Rapid increases in the morbidity and mortality of patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGC) in high-incidence countries in Asia have raised public health concerns. Screening can effectively reduce the incidence and mortality of patients with UGC, but the low population uptake rate seriously affects the screening effect. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the characteristics that influence residents' preference heterogeneity for a UGC-screening program and the extent to which these characteristics predict residents' uptake rates. METHODS: A discrete choice experiment was conducted in 1000 residents aged 40-69 years who were randomly selected from 3 counties (Feicheng, Linqu, and Dongchangfu) in Shandong Province, China. Each respondent was repeatedly asked to choose from 9 discrete choice questions of 2 hypothetical screening programs comprising 5 attributes: screening interval, screening technique, regular follow-up for precancerous lesions, mortality reduction, and out-of-pocket costs. The latent class logit model was used to estimate residents' preference heterogeneity for each attribute level, their willingness to pay, and the expected uptake rates. RESULTS: Of the 1000 residents invited, 926 (92.6%) were included in the final analyses. The mean age was 57.32 (SD 7.22) years. The best model contained 4 classes of respondents (Akaike information criterion=7140.989, Bayesian information criterion=7485.373) defined by different preferences for the 5 attributes. In the 4-class model, out of 926 residents, 88 (9.5%) were assigned to class 1, named as the negative latent type; 216 (3.3%) were assigned to class 2, named as the positive integrated type; 434 (46.9%) were assigned to class 3, named as the positive comfortable type; and 188 (20.3%) were assigned to class 4, named as the neutral quality type. For these 4 latent classes, "out-of-pocket cost" is the most preferred attribute in negative latent type and positive integrated type residents (45.04% vs 66.04% importance weights), whereas "screening technique" is the most preferred factor in positive comfortable type residents (62.56% importance weight) and "screening interval" is the most valued attribute in neutral quality type residents (47.05% importance weight). Besides, residents in different classes had common preference for painless endoscopy, and their willingness to pay were CNY ¥385.369 (US $59.747), CNY ¥93.44 (US $14.486), CNY ¥1946.48 (US $301.810), and CNY ¥3566.60 (US $552.961), respectively. Residents' participation rate could increase by more than 89% (except for the 60.98% in class 2) if the optimal UGC screening option with free, follow-up for precancerous lesions, 45% mortality reduction, screening every year, and painless endoscopy was implemented. CONCLUSIONS: Public preference heterogeneity for UGC screening does exist. Most residents have a positive attitude toward UGC screening, but their preferences vary in selected attributes and levels, except for painless endoscopy. Policy makers should consider these heterogeneities to formulate UGC-screening programs that incorporate the public's needs and preferences to improve participation rates.

Preference for endoscopic screening of upper gastrointestinal cancer among Chinese rural residents: a discrete choice experiment.

Background: The low uptake rate of upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGC) screening substantially reduces the benefits of endoscopic screening. This study aimed to obtain residents' UGC screening preferences to optimize screening strategies and increase the participation rate. Methods: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted to assess UGC screening preferences of 1,000 rural residents aged 40 to 70 years from three countries (Linqu, Feicheng, and Dongchangfu) of Shandong province in China. The DCE questionnaire was developed from five attributes: out-of-pocket costs, screening interval, regular follow-up for precancerous lesions, mortality reduction, and screening technique. The data from the DCE were analyzed within the framework of random utility theory using a mixed logit model. Results: In total, 926 of 959 residents who responded were analyzed. The mean (SD) age was 57.32 (7.22) years. The five attributes all significantly affected residents' preferences, and the painless endoscopy had the most important impact (ß=2.927, P<0.01), followed by screening interval of every year (ß = 1.184, P<0.01). Policy analyses indicated that switching the screening technique to painless endoscopy would increase the participation rate up to 89.84% (95%CI: 87.04%-92.63%). Residents aged 40-49, with a history of cancer, with a family income of more than ¥30,000 were more likely to participate in a screening. Conclusions: UGC screening implementation should consider residents' preferences to maximize the screening participation rate. Resources permitting, we can carry out the optimal screening program with shorter screening intervals, lower out-of-pocket costs, less pain, follow-up, and higher UGC mortality reduction.

Prevalence and risk factors of anxiety symptoms in first-episode and drug-naïve major depressive disorder patients with metabolic syndrome

Background and objectives Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have high comorbidity with metabolic syndrome (MetS), although anxiety is prevalent comorbidity in MDD patients. However, there is no study on anxiety symptoms (AS) in MDD patients with MetS. Therefore, we aimed to identify the prevalence and risk factors of AS in patients with MetS who experienced a first-episode and drug naïve (FEDN) of MDD. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 1718 FEDN of MDD outpatients with MetS were included. Sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, suicidal attempts, and physical and biochemical parameters were collected. Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive subscale were performed to detect the AS. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the correlation. Results The prevalence of AS in MDD patients with MetS was 85.96%, which was 1.79 times greater than that in patients with MDD alone (P<0.05). MDD patients with MetS had a greater rate of attempted suicide, a higher HAMD total score, and a higher diastolic blood pressure than MDD patients without AS (P<0.05). Their combination could distinguish AS in MDD patients. Moreover, HAMD score, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels, PANSS positive score, and suicide attempts were related to HAMA scores in MDD patients with comorbid MetS (P<0.05). Conclusion There is a significant frequency of AS in MDD patients with MetS. Multiple clinical indicators and metabolic markers are associated with AS in patients with MDD and MetS. (AU)

Association between nutritional status and indicators of physical fitness and physical capacity among primary and secondary school students in Xiamen / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the nutritional status and its relationship with the indexes of physical function and physical capacity among primary and middle school students in Xiamen, so as to provide statistical support for improving their nutritional status and physical health.@*Methods@#A total of 2 752 primary and middle school students aged between 6 and 18 years old were selected in Xiamen. They were divided into malnutrition group, normal group and overweight and obesity group according to the national standards. Statistical analysis was carried out by chi square test, Kruskal wallis test and partial correlation analysis.@*Results@#The prevalence of malnutrition among primary and secondary school students in Xiamen was 8.4%(231), the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 24.2%(667), and the prevalence of overweight and obesity among boys(31.4%) was higher than girls( 17.0 %).The distribution of nutritional status between different ages was statistically significant ( χ 2=40.43, P <0.05). On the lung activity index, both boys and girls were shown to be overweight and obesity<normal weight group<malnutrition group( χ 2=14.2,5.6; 17.2, 11.6, P <0.01)；Both girl and boy students in grip body mass index, 50 meter running and PFI were shown to be better than overweight obesity ( χ 2=99.5, 6.6, 10.4; 8.18, 5.16 , 7.13, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#The prevention and control situation of overweight between primary and secondary school students in Xiamen city, is more serious. Overweight and obesity are related to decline in physical function and physical fitness. Nutritional status should be paid more attention for physical fitness improvement among students.