[Review of numerical simulation study of Stanford type B thoracic aortic dissection].

According to the previous studies, some key indicators such as the hemodynamic parameters (pressure, flow rate, shear stress, etc.) as well as the geometry and the location of tear are closely related to the development of aortic dissection but are hard to measure in vivo. With the help of computational fluid dynamic method, a promising way is just shown to investigate the mechanisms and treatment of aortic dissection from the perspective of hemodynamics by constructing a three-dimensional model to simulate blood flow. This paper presents a systematic review of the development of aortic dissection research and the major research progress of computational fluid dynamics applied to the analysis of aortic dissection.

First Report of Colletotrichum boninense Causing Anthracnose on Pepper in China.

Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum spp., is a severe disease and results in large losses in pepper (Capsicum frutescens) production in China (4). Colletotrichum boninense is one of the Colletotrichum species in pepper in China. In August 2011, anthracnose symptoms (circular, sunken lesions with orange to black spore masses) were observed on pepper fruits in De-Yang, Sichuan Province, China. Three single-spore isolates (SC-6-1, SC-6-2, SC-6-3) were obtained from the infected fruits. A 5-mm diameter plug was transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA); the isolates formed colonies with white margins and circular, dull orange centers. The conidia were cylindrical, obtuse at both ends, and 10.5 to 12.6 × 4.1 to 5.0 µm. The colonies grew rapidly at 25 to 28°C, and the average colony diameter was 51 to 52 mm after 5 days on PDA at 25°C. Based upon these characters, the causal agent was identified as C. boninense. To confirm the identity of the isolates, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were amplified with the ITS1/ITS4 universal primers (1). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences (Accession No. JQ926743) of the causal fungus shared 99 to 100% homology with ITS sequences of C. boninense in GenBank (Accession Nos. FN566865 and EU822801). The identity of the causal agent as C. boninense was also confirmed by species-specific primers (Col1/ITS4) (2). In a pathogenicity test, five detached ripe pepper fruits were inoculated with 1 µl of a conidial suspension (106 conidia/mL) or five fruits with 1 µl of sterile water were kept as control. After 7 days in a moist chamber at 25°C, typical anthracnose symptoms had developed on the five inoculated fruits but not on control fruits. C. boninense was reisolated from the lesions, and which was confirmed by morphology and molecular methods as before. There have reports of C. boninense infecting many species of plants, including pepper (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. boninense causing anthracnose on pepper in China. References: (1) A. K. Lucia et al. Phytopathology 93:581, 2002. (2) S. A. Pileggi et al. Can. J. Microbiol. 55:1081, 2009. (3) H. J. Tozze et al. Plant Dis. 93:106, 2009. (4) M. L. Zhang. J. Anhui Agri. Sci. 2:21, 2000.

Baseline Sensitivity of Monilinia fructicola from China to the DMI Fungicide SYP-Z048 and Analysis of DMI-Resistant Mutants.

Sterol 14α-demethylase inhibitors (DMIs) continue to be important in the management of brown rot of Monilinia spp. worldwide. In this study, the sensitivity of 100 Monilinia fructicola isolates from four unsprayed orchards and two packinghouses in Beijing, China, to the new DMI fungicide SYP-Z048 was evaluated and ranged from 0.003 to 0.039 and 0.016 to 0.047 µg/ml, respectively. Laboratory mutants resistant to SYP-Z048 were generated using UV irradiation but no mutants occurred spontaneously. Resistance was stable after 10 weekly consecutive transfers on fungicide-free medium. Three parameters, including growth rate, sporulation in vitro, and lesion area, were significantly different when sensitive isolates and resistant mutants were analyzed as groups. Mutants grew more slowly and developed significantly smaller lesions on detached fruit, and their sporulation ability in vitro was reduced. Cross resistance was found between SYP-Z048 and propiconazole (ρ = 0.82, P < 0.0001) but not between SYPZ048 and tridemorph, carbendazim, procymidone, azoxystrobin, or pyrimethanil. SYP-Z048 resistance in mutants exhibiting 50% mycelial growth inhibition values greater than 0.3 µg/ml was correlated with the presence of a mutation in the CYP51 gene that encodes the target protein for DMI fungicides. The mutation caused an amino acid change from tyrosine to phenylalanine at position 136 (Y136F). To our knowledge, this is the first baseline sensitivity of M. fructicola collected from China to a DMI fungicide. The inability of M. fructicola to generate spontaneous DMI-resistant mutants coupled with reduced fitness of Y136F mutants can explain why this target site mutation has not yet emerged as a DMI fungicide resistance determinant in M. fructicola field populations worldwide.

Three-dimensional cavity nanoantennas with resonant-enhanced surface plasmons as dynamic color-tuning reflectors.

As plasmonic antennas for surface-plasmon-assisted control of optical fields at specific frequencies, metallic nanostructures have recently emerged as crucial optical components for fascinating plasmonic color engineering. Particularly, plasmonic resonant nanocavities can concentrate lightwave energy to strongly enhance light-matter interactions, making them ideal candidates as optical elements for fine-tuning color displays. Inspired by the color mixing effect found on butterfly wings, a new type of plasmonic, multiresonant, narrow-band (the minimum is about 45 nm), high-reflectance (the maximum is about 95%), and dynamic color-tuning reflector is developed. This is achieved from periodic patterns of plasmonic resonant nanocavities in free-standing capped-pillar nanostructure arrays. Such cavity-coupling structures exhibit multiple narrow-band selective and continuously tunable reflections via plasmon standing-wave resonances. Consequently, they can produce a variety of dark-field vibrant reflective colors with good quality, strong color signal and fine tonal variation at the optical diffraction limit. This proposed multicolor scheme provides an elegant strategy for realizing personalized and customized applications in ultracompact photonic data storage and steganography, colorimetric sensing, 3D holograms and other plasmon-assisted photonic devices.