First Report of Black Spot Needle Blight of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv. Caused by Heterotruncatella spartii in China.

Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv. (Pinales: Pinaceae) is an excellent tree for soil and water conservation in Northeast China. The Honghua'erji area in Inner Mongolia is the "hometown of P. sylvestris var. mongolica", however, in recent years, coniferous diseases of P. sylvestris var. mongolica have frequently occurred here. During the investigation, it was found that some black spot needle blight had been observed in addition to the common blight caused by Sphaeropsis sapinea. From May to September 2020, black spot needle blight was found on hundreds of P. sylvestris var. mongolica trees in four forest farms, and the infection rate among the forests was 24.58 % (n=240). This disease first appeared on the upper part of the needles, and the needles then became withered and gradually showed light black spots, although they remained green. As the disease progressed, the needles eventually died and turned gray with many dark black spots. Fungal isolate named YJ-1 was obtained from infected needles of symptomatic pine trees, and a voucher specimen was deposited in Heilongjiang Province Key Laboratory of Forest Protection. Microscopic observation showed the conidia were 3-septate (4 cells) clavate spindles that measured 23.9 µm (20.8-25.9) × 5.9 µm (4.5-8.2) (n=50). The middle two cells were dark brown, and the septa were darker than the cells. Both apical and basal cells were hyaline. The apical cell had 2-4 appendages (mostly 3), and the basal cell had a truncate base (n=50). The cultural characteristics on potato dextrose agar medium were flat off-white and dense in 3-5 d. At approximately 5-7 d, the reverse side of the colony turned pale to slightly luteous. Superficial black acervuli were distributed in the center of the mature colonies after 10 d. Morphological, cultural and microscopic characteristics observed were similar of Heterotruncatella spartii (basionym: Truncatella spartii) reported by Hlaiem et al (2019). To further identify, total DNA was extracted and the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-rDNA) was amplified by PCR using the primers ITS1/ITS4 and sequenced for BLASTn analysis and phylogenetic tree construction. The resulting 564 bp sequence (GenBank Accession No. OL662864) had 99.24% (521/525) to H. spartii MFLUCC 15-0537, with bootstrap support of at least 94% using the Neighbor-Joining algorithm by MEGA-X (Felsenstein, 1985). The fungus was identified as H. spartii based on morphology and molecular methods. A pathogenicity test was conducted by preparing a conidial suspension of 2.0 × 107 conidia/mL. The suspension was sprayed onto the needles of 20 pots of annual P. sylvestris ar. mongolica seedlings, and the control was sprayed with sterile water. Then the seedlings were placed in a constant temperature room at 25 °C. After 30 d, typical symptoms appeared on 11 inoculated needles, while the control needles remained symptomless. After 50 d, the re-isolation infection rate reached 66.7 %. The fungus present on the inoculated seedlings was morphologically identical to that originally observed on diseased pines, fulfilling Koch's postulates. The fungus was isolated from Spartium junceum for the first time and designated Truncatella spartii (Senanayake et al, 2015). It was then renamed H. spartii (Liu et al, 2019) and has been reported to infect P. pinea in Tunisia (Hlaiem et al, 2019). To our knowledge, this is the first report of H. spartii causing black spot needle blight on P. sylvestris var. mongolica in China and worldwide.

Curvature-Modulated Si Spherical Cap-Like Structure Fabricated by Multistep Ring Edge Etching.

To create approximately spherical structures with curved sidewalls, this paper presents a method for building a series of decreasing slopes along the sidewall of a circular truncated cone. The multistep ring-edge etching technology of first reducing the concentric mask and then cutting the top off to create a mesa shape can be used to form the slopes. This wet-etching method avoids the constraints of crystallographic properties with surfactant-added Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), enabling the manufacture of successive given inclination angles, the precise modulation of the spherical curvature by reduction design of concentric masks, and the setting of etching time. The newly approximated spherical Si microstructure patterns can be used for microlenses, quartz crystal resonators, micropulleys, and other applications. The present research is an approach to fabricate advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) curved-surface structures, extending the range of 3D structures fabricated by silicon wet etching.

Evaluation of Cry1Ac and Cry2Aa Toxin Binding to Two Important Beneficial Cotton Field Insects, Harmonia axyridis and Orius similis.

Transgenic crops expressing Cry toxins are effective and considered environmentally friendly alternatives to synthetic pesticides, but assessment of environmental risks of their application on nontarget organisms is ongoing. The main risk is the transfer of Cry toxins to natural enemies through the food chain. There is reported evidence supporting that Cry toxins can be detected in the body and gut of some natural enemy insects. Considering that binding of Cry toxins to insect proteins is an essential step in the intoxication process, this work was conducted to evaluate interactions between Cry1Ac and Cry2Aa toxins with proteins from larvae/nymphs and adults of two important predatory natural enemies in cotton fields, Harmonia axyridis and Orius similis. Results support the absence of Cry1Ac or Cry2Aa binding proteins in immature stages of H. axyridis and O. similis, as well as in imaginal stage of H. axyridis. One same binding band about 70 kDa was found in imaginal total protein of O. similis when probed with the two Cry proteins, with the best match to Hsc70 of O. sauteri in the Uniprot database. However, nonspecific binding was verified by following competitive binding assays between the two Cry proteins and imaginal total protein of O. similis. From these results, we may infer that Cry1Ac and Cry2Aa have no likely detrimental effects on H. axyridis and O. similis.

Community-based stroke system of care improves patient outcomes in Chinese rural areas.

BACKGROUND: Building effective and efficient stroke care systems is a key step in improving prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of stroke. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this stroke system of care on stroke management during a 2-year follow-up. METHODS: A stroke system of care was developed from November 2009 to November 2010 in three townships in Ganyu County. Additional three matched townships were invited as controls. We first investigated the stroke incidence of these populations. Subsequently, this stroke system of care and an educational campaign in the three intervention townships were implemented and the effectiveness of the system was evaluated in the next 2 years. RESULTS: At postintervention, more patients in the intervention communities obtained stroke knowledge and then the proportion of patients with stroke who were admitted within 3 hours of onset markedly increased in 2012 (12.0% vs 8.1%, p=0.044) and in 2013 (15.2% vs 9.7%, p=0.008) compared with those in the control communities. In the intervention communities, this proportion of patients with acute ischaemic stroke who received thrombolytic treatment was markedly raised from 2.1% in 2012 to 3.0% in 2013. More importantly, the fatality rate substantially decreased in 2013 in the intervention communities compared with that in the control communities (6.1% vs 9.7%, p=0.032). Similarly, the disability rate significantly decreased in 2013 (45.3% vs 51.5%, p=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: The community-based stroke system of care was effective and practical for optimising stroke treatments and improving patient outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR-RCH-13003408, Post-results.