[Repair of severe flexion contracture deformity of adjacent fingers with trifoliated flap from toe web in six patients].

From May 2014 to January 2018, 6 patients with severe flexion contracture deformity caused by palmar cicatricial hyperplasia of adjacent 2 or 3 fingers were admitted to the Yidu Central Hospital of Weifang. There were 4 males (8 fingers) and 2 females (5 fingers), aged 13-51 years.The degrees of flexion of proximal interphalangeal joint of affected fingers and metacarpophalangeal joint were respectively 60-90°and 60-80°, and the total degree of passive extension of metacarpophalangeal joint, proximal interphalangeal joint, and distal interphalangeal joint was from -180 to -120°. After scar resection, tendon release, and extension of affected fingers, bone and/or tendon were exposed, and the wound area was 4.0 cm×2.0 cm-8.5 cm×4.0 cm.The wound was repaired with trifoliated flap composed of fibular flap of great toe, abdominal flap of the second toe, and plantar metatarsal flap, with flap area of 4.5 cm×2.5 cm-9.0 cm×4.5 cm.The plantar metatarsal wound of the donor site was sutured directly, and the remaining wound was repaired with full-thickness skin graft from the outside of the thigh. All the wounds of patients were healed. All flaps survived and had good blood circulation without vascular crisis after operation.During follow-up of 6 months to 2 years, the flaps were with good appearance, no swelling, similar in color to the surrounding skin, soft in texture, good in sensations of touch and pain, and the distance of discrimination of 6-8 mm. The active and passive flexion and extension of the affected fingers were good, and there was no dysfunction in the donor site of foot, only with slight scar. The article showed that trifoliated flap from toe web is one of the best methods to repair the severe contracture flexion deformity of fingers caused by severe cicatricial hyperplasia of palmar side, especially the soft-tissue defect of the skin after the cicatricial hyperplasia of adjacent 2 or 3 fingers is removed.

First Report of Peanut Pod Rot Caused by Neocosmospora vasinfecta in Northern China.

From 2006 to 2010, peanut (Arachis hypogaea) pod rot became more prevalent in northern China, especially in the Sha River drainage area. The incidence of pod rot ranged from 30 to 100%. Typical symptoms were black rot of the pods, but no obvious morphological abnormality of the aboveground parts of infected plants was observed. Brown or black spots appeared on many pods when initially infected and then all peanut pods became black and rotten. The same fungus was isolated from 54 surface-disinfested lesions (85.2% of all lesions) on potato dextrose agar (PDA) media. One isolate, designated as HBXLb, was chosen for further characterization. In culture, both anamorph and teleomorph were present. Mycelia of the fungus grew quickly (colonies were 3.2 cm in diameter in 3 days) and became white and floccose on PDA at 28°C. The hyaline, elongated-to-cylindrical conidia aggregated on the slimy heads of conidiogenous cells that developed on undifferentiated hyphae after incubation for 3 to 4 days. Conidial sizes varied from 5 to 10 × 1.5 to 3 µm (n = 50) and were mostly single celled. Some conidia appeared slightly curved. The morphology was consistent with Acremonium spp. Numerous ascomata (perithecia) formed within 10 to 14 days when incubated at 28°C under light and dark conditions. Perithecia were orange-brown, strawberry shaped (300 to 400 µm in diameter), and ostiolate on the top. Cylindrical asci, with an average size of 90 to 110 × 7.5 to 9 µm, were present inside the ascomata with each containing eight ascospores in a row. The ascospores were brownish, spherical to ellipsoidal, and 10 to 15 × 8 to 12 µm. The cultural and morphological characteristics of isolate HBXLb matched the description of N. vasinfecta (2). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA was amplified by the primer pairs ITS4/ITS5. A 525-bp amplicon (ITS4-5.8s-ITS5) was obtained and sequenced (GenBank Accession No. HM461901). The ITS sequence was a 100% match to N. vasinfecta strain N-JXLN01 (GenBank Accession No. GU213063) by BLASTn in GenBank. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on detached pods of peanut cultivar Jihua 4. Forty surface-disinfested peanut pods were soaked in a conidial suspension (105 conidia per ml) for 2 min and 40 pods were soaked in sterile water as a control. Then all peanut pods were maintained in moist petri dishes under darkness for 14 days at 28°C. Brown or black spots appeared on all pods inoculated with the fungus within 10 days, while the controls remained healthy. Symptoms were similar to those originally observed in the field, and N. vasinfecta could be reisolated from all infected pods. This fungus previously has been reported as the pathogen of foot rot of peanut in South Africa (1), Taiwan (4), and Australia (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of peanut pod rot caused by N. vasinfecta in China. References: (1) S. W. Baard et al. Phytophylactica 17:49, 1985. (2) O. A. Cornely et al. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 7:149, 2001. (3) M. F. Fuhlbohm et al. Australas. Plant Dis. Notes 2:3, 2007. (4) J. W. Huang et al. Plant Pathol. Bull. 1:203, 1992.

First Report of Neocosmospora striata Causing Peanut Pod Rot in China.

In 2008, an outbreak of pod rot of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) occurred on most of the peanut cultivars in the Old Yellow River drainage area, the largest peanut-growing region in China. Disease incidence reached as high as 90% in some fields, causing severe yield losses. The black rot of pods and blackened, nonrotting taproots is similar to symptoms of peanut black rot caused by Cylindrocladium parasiticum, but the reddish orange perithecia of C. parasiticum were not found on the taproots close to the surface of the soil. The foliage of affected plants was generally asymptomatic, but some plants turned greener. This pod rot disease was further investigated in 2008 and 2010. Twenty-three Fusarium-like isolates were obtained from symptomatic, surface-disinfested pods with a frequency of 82%. These isolates were fast growing, with flat, thin, and grayish white colonies when cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 28°C for 3 to 4 days. The hyaline, elongated to cylindrical conidia, aggregated in slimy heads on conidiogenous cells developed from undifferentiated hyphae when observed with the light microscope. The size of conidia (single celled or one septum) varied from 3 to 9 µm long and 1.5 to 3.5 µm wide on the basis of the measurement of 50 spores. Some conidia appeared slightly curved. Ascomata formed within 10 to 14 days, with a punctate appearance on the colony. The cerebriform ascomata were dark brown, pyriform, ostiolate, glabrous, 120 to 170 × 90 to 130 µm, and with necks 30 to 50 µm long. Asci measured 60 to 90 × 6 to 10 µm, were cylindrical to cylindric-clavate, thin walled, and had an apical ring. Ascospore arrangement was obliquely uniseriate or partially biseriate, very pale yellow to hyaline, ellipsoidal, and measured 8 to 12 × 4.5 to 6 µm. Some spores had a median transverse straight or curved septum and were slightly constricted at the septum, with 6 to 10 thin, transverse, hyaline flanges. Morphological characteristics of the isolates with ascomata dark brown and ascospores with 6 to 10 transverse hyaline flanges matched the description for Neocosmospora striata (1). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA was amplified from extracted template DNA with primer pairs ITS4/ITS5 and sequenced. A 591-bp amplicon (GenBank Accession No. HM461900) had 99% sequence identity with Fusarium solani (HQ607968 and HQ608009) and N. vasinfecta (GU213063), which indicated that these fungi belong to the genus Neocosmospora or Fusarium, although there is no direct sequence evidence that they are N. striata. N. striata has only been previously reported in Japan (2). This species is unique because of the dark brown ascomata and there is no comparable species (1). Koch's postulates were completed by surface-disinfesting 80 peanut pods of cv. Jihua 9813 and soaking them in conidial suspensions (105 conidia/ml) for 2 min. Another 80 other pods soaked in sterile water served as controls. All peanuts were incubated in moist petri dishes under darkness at 28°C. Symptoms similar to those originally observed in the field formed within 10 days on all inoculated peanut pods and not the controls. N. striata was reisolated from all affected peanut pods. To our knowledge, this is first report of N. striata causing peanut pod rot in China and the first description of the anamorph of the fungus. References: (1) P. F. Cannon et al. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 82:673, 1984. (2) S. Udagawa et al. Trans. Mycol. Soc. Jpn. 16:340, 1975.