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The aim of this study was to explore the roles of FOXN2 (Fork head Box N2) in mediating the proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to determine expression of FOXN2 in HCC tissues and cells. Transfection of plasmid containing FOXN2 was used to exogenously overexpress FOXN2 in vitro. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and transwell assay were applied to detect the proliferation and invasion of HCC cells, respectively.FOXN2 expression decreased significantly in both HCC tissues and cells (p0.05). Upregulation of FOXN2 significantly inhibited the proliferation and invasion of HCC cells (p0.05).FOXN2 acts as a regulator in the progression of HCC. Our findings suggest that FOXN2 may be a novel therapeutic monitoring and prognosis biomarker in HCC.

To investigate the role of circ100284 in osteosarcoma (OS) and the underlying mechanism.Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the level of circ100284 in OS tissues and cells, and to examine the association between its level and clinicopathological features such as tumor size, tumor stage, and survival time. In addition, circ100284 was knocked out in MG63 and U2OS cells to observe the effect of circ100284 on cell viability, migration, cycle, and apoptosis by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), transwell assay, and flow cytometry assay. Correlations of circ100284 with lysine-specific histone demethylase 1A (LSD1) and enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) target proteins were analyzed by RNA co-precipitation experiments. Furthermore, the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay (ChIP)-qPCR assay was performed to analyze the relationship between circ100284 and its target protein and target gene.Circ100284 had a high level in OS tissues. The high expression of circ100284 was positively correlated with tumor size, pathological stage, and lung metastasis, and negatively correlated with patient survival time. Knocking down circ100284 in OS cells damaged the cell viability and invasiveness, blocked cell cycle, and promoted cell apoptosis. Further experiments showed that circ100284 could epigenetically inhibit cell proliferation by negatively regulating Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and epithelial membrane protein 1 (EMP1) in OS.Circ100284 promotes the progression of OS cells by downregulating PTEN and EMP1.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) induce allograft immune tolerance, but low efficacy severely limits their wide application. In this work, Netrin-1 was used to maintain MSC function in an IR environment to study its role in the immune tolerance induction of the allograft.The experiments were divided into three groups: the control group, the IR group and the Netrin-1 group (Netrin-1 was added to MSC medium and then cultured for 48 h). After digestion, MSCs were mixed with TLR4 and TLR3 antibodies (BD), incubated for 20 min, and washed with Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS) three times. The mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of TLR4 and TLR3 was detected by flow cytometry. Isolated lymphocytes were divided into four groups: the control group (no treatment), the MSC group (lymphocytes were co-cultured with MSCs in the control group), the rejection group (lymphocytes were co-cultured with MSCs in the IR group), and the Netrin-1 group (MSCs in the IR group) was stimulated by Netrin-1 for 48h.Our study found that compared with control mice, toll-like receptor (TLR3) expression in bone marrow MSCs decreased as the expression of TLR4 increased, the secretion of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) was reduced, while the secretion of IL-6 significantly increased in immune rejection (IR) mice. MSCs in IR mice promoted T-cell proliferation and reduced the ratio of Treg cells. Netrin-1 inhibited the pro-rejection effect of these MSCs, further inhibited T-cell proliferation and facilitated an increase in the ratio of Treg cells. The animal experiment results showed that MSC transplantation in the rejection group would shorten the mean survival time of the skin graft and induce the infiltration of lymphocytes. Netrin-1 prolonged the mean survival time of the skin graft by enhancing MSC function. The immunohistochemistry results showed that, compared with the rejection group, the T cell number in the skin graft significantly decreased in the Netrin-1 group.MSC can be divided into immune-tolerant and pro-rejection types in organ transplantation and Netrin-1 can induce the transformation of MSC from the pro-rejection to immune-tolerant type and markedly prolong the skin graft survival time.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) TCL6 in early abortion and to explore its underlying mechanism.The expression levels of lncRNA-TCL6 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in placental tissues of normal pregnancy, threatened abortion pregnancy, spontaneous abortion pregnancy, and induced abortion pregnancy were detected by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR), respectively. Trophoblast cells were transfected with siRNA to knock-down lncRNA-TCL6. Cell viability of trophoblast cells was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The protein expression levels of EGFR, extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) and protein kinase B (AKT) in trophoblast cells after lncRNA-TCL6 knockdown were detected by Western blot. Rescue experiments were performed to investigate the relationship between EGFR and lncRNA-TCL6.The expression of lncRNA-TCL6 in placenta tissues of threatened abortion pregnancy was significantly higher than that of normal pregnancy. Meanwhile, the expression of lncRNA-TCL6 in placenta tissues of spontaneous abortion pregnancy was also markedly higher than induced abortion pregnancy. However, the expression of EGFR showed an opposite trend. After knockdown of lncRNA-TCL6 in trophoblast cells, the protein expression levels of EGFR, ERK, and AKT were significantly increased when compared with those of the control group. CCK-8 assay indicated that cell viability was remarkably increased after knockdown of lncRNA-TCL6, which could be reversed by EGFR knockdown.Compared with normal pregnancy, lncRNA-TCL6 was highly expressed in placental tissues of threatened abortion pregnancy. Moreover, the expression of lncRNA-TCL6 in placenta tissues of spontaneous abortion pregnancy was significantly higher than induced abortion pregnancy. Knockdown of lncRNA-TCL6 promoted the proliferation of trophoblast cells and inhibited the abortion via the EGFR signaling pathway.

This study analyzed the differential expression of miRNAs related to alcohol dependence in rats undergoing continued consumption and withdrawal. Furthermore miRNAs were sought and evaluated for potential use as biomarkers for diagnosis. This study used Exiqon miRCURYTM LNA miRNA microarray on alcohol-dependent and normal rats for the expression of microRNAs in perfluorinated compounds, and the stem-loop qPCR method to validate its expression in brain tissue. We forecast the relevant target genes of differentially expressed miRNA and drew the regulatory network. Comparison of the differential expression between brain tissue and plasma was carried out and the correlation and analyzed.65 miRNA with differential expression with threshold of 1.5 were screened out; among them, most miRNA with differential expression in the dependent group had relatively high expression values. The target genes were found with great confidence: PIK3CA, MAPK, NTF, BDNF, NGFR, IGF-1, and the pair consisting of miRNA- mRNA. Among the three groups, the expression levels of miR-101b (F=8.12, P less than0.05) showed significant difference; no significant difference was found in the expression levels of miRNA in plasma among the groups (F=1.23, P0.05). No consistency was shown in the changing trend of miRNA in PFC and plasma (r= -.004, p0.05). The genetic regulatory network of neurotrophic factors, its receptors and the protein kinases that influence metabolism may mediate the incidence of alcohol-dependence. There is a lack of conformity between the expression of miR-101b in the prefrontal cortex and the plasma.

This study aimed to observe the safety and effectiveness of different dosing regimens of low molecular weight heparin in the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and to provide a guideline for the treatment of individualized VTE prophylaxisin patients with postoperative gastrointestinal tumors. Forty patients with high risk for VTE after surgery for gastrointestinal tumors treated in Hongqi Hospital of Mudanjiang Medical University in the period October 2016 to May 2017 were included in the study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups, group A that included 24 patients treated with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) 5000 IU every 12 hours, and group B comprised of 16 patients treated with LMWH 5000IU every 24 hours. On the seventh day post-surgery anti-Xa activity values reached effective anticoagulation (0.5 IU/mL) in both groups. In group A, there was one case of anti-Xa activity exceeding 1.0 IU/mL, but no bleeding complications occurred. Using LMWH 5000 IU subcutaneous injection every 12 hours could also prevent postoperative VTE of gastrointestinal tumor, but the risk of bleeding complications is higher compared with 24-hour administration. Monitoring of plasma D-dimer within 7 days after gastrointestinal surgery did not show a great value for VTE monitoring. This study demonstrated that subcutaneous injection of LMWH can prevent VTE after gastrointestinal tumor surgery and provide a new alternative for VTE prevention.

The use of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) to cure the optic nerve injury was never shown previously. Here, we implanted purified ADSCs into optic nerve injury of rats.Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were used in this study. The vision degeneration was detected by Flash-visual evoked potential (F-VEP) assay. The expression of Macrophage-1 (Mac-1), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), and nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) were studied by Western blot. The expression of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the optical nerve lysates were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).We found out that ADSC implantation inhibits the amplitude decrease and latency increase of the P1 wave caused by the optic nerve injury. The expression of the inflammation associated proteins of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway, including Mac-1, MyD88, NF-κB, IL-6, and TNF-α, were inhibited in the ADSC therapy group compared to the control group.Our results indicated that ADSC implantation can inhibit the inflammation after the optic nerve injury and improve the functional vision impairment. These findings suggested ADSC implantation as a translational therapy method for optic nerve injury in clinics.

Objectives The difficulty in proliferation and availability and the rapid loss functions of primary human hepatocytes highlight the need to develop an alternative, preferably renewable source of human induced hepatocytes in regenerative medicine. Liver organoids generated on a multiple-cell microenvironment in a 3-dimensional (3D) system can provide a highly efficient solution to this issue. Methods Human hepatocytes were induced from fibroblasts by the lentiviral expression of FOXA3, HNF1A, and HNF4A. Together with these induced hepatocytes, human umbilical vein endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells in a 3D system were used to produce liver organoids. Liver-related gene and protein expression of liver organoids and induced hepatocytes were tested using a 2-dimensional (2D) system. Results Liver organoids notably increased the expression of hepatic transcription factors, marker genes, transporter genes, and liver metabolism enzyme genes, while it decreased the specific gene expression of fibroblasts. Liver organoids expressed comparable liver-specific proteins, such as ALB, AAT, and HNF4A in the 3D system. Conclusion Direct reprogramming in multiple-cell microenvironments in 3D systems is more controllable and efficient than cell reprogramming in 2D systems. Liver organoids have the potential for use in disease modeling, pharmaceutical applications, and cellular transplantation.

Oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The gene AT-rich interactive domain 1A (ARID1A), is frequently down regulated and inactivated in endometriosis. This report is focused on the molecular mechanism of the correlation between oxidative stress and ARID1A gene expression in endometrial cell oxidative damage model.In this study, the ARID1A gene expression level and its promoter methylation level were detected in 30 endometriosis and normal tissues. The primary endometrial cell was co-cultured with H2O2. Then, MDA and Gpx level were used to test the ROS level, RT-PCR was employed to detect the expression level of ARID1A. At last, the ARID1A gene promoter methylation level was detected by methylation-specific PCR (MSP). Finally, the expression level of DNMT1 was detected by both RT-PCR and Western blot.The expression level of ARID1A gene was down regulated in endometriosis compared with normal tissues. The low expression level of ARID1A gene was associated with its promoter hyper-methylation. In H2O2 simulated endometrial cells, ARID1A gene expression level was decreased. Finally, ROS regulated ARID1A gene expression by changing the methylation level of ARID1A gene promoter. Finally, both the mRNA level and protein level of DNMT1 increased in H2O2 simulated endometrial cells.In endometriosis, the down-regulated ofARID1A gene was highly correlated with its promoter hyper-methylation. ROS decreased the expression level of ARID1A gene via regulating methylation of its promoter which contributing to the understanding of the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The possible mechanism of ARID1A gene promoter hyper-methylation is ROS up-regulated DNMT1gene expression.

Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), an annual plant in the family Malvaceae, is an important source of fiber and medicine (Flora of China 2007; Su et al. 2010). Dark brown lesions were observed on the leaves of A. theophrasti in the Herbal Garden of Jilin Agricultural University (125.23°E, 43.47°N), Jilin Province, China, in July 2015 and 2016, respectively. The disease incidence was about 20%. The lesions appeared initially as small, light brown spots on the leaves. These enlarged gradually and coalesced with others to form large spots having irregular edges. Finally, the central portions of the lesions broke open leaving small holes on the leaves. A small piece of tissue was cut from the lesion margin of 30 leaves and then surface sterilized in 75% ethanol for 30 s followed by 1.5% NaClO for 1 min, washed three times with sterilized distilled water, and then dried on sterilized filter paper. Each tissue piece was incubated on potato dextrose agar at 25°C in the dark for 7 days. Colonies formed and were light olive (after 3 days) and then became dark olive (after 7 days). The growth rate (colony radius) ranged from 3.5 to 5.2 mm per day. Conidia were hyaline, aseptate, both ends were bent slightly, and measured 21.9 to 28.0 (25.4 ± 1.4) μm in length and 3.2 to 5.8 (4.3 ± 0.6) μm in width. The hyphae were hyaline, septate, and branched. Appressoria were light to dark brown, solitary, with the outline roundish to ellipsoidal, and 7.3 to 9.8 × 4.8 to 6.3 μm in size. Setae were dark brown, two to five septate, and measured 79.2 to 162.6 μm in length. The morphological characteristics corresponded to Colletotrichum truncatum more clearly and directly (Damm et al. 2009). To further confirm the identity of the pathogen, DNA was extracted from one single-spore isolate, CT12. The following loci were amplified according to Weir et al. (2012): the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), β-tubulin-2 (TUB2), and chitin synthase (CHS-1) genes. The numbers of base pairs matching were 548/550 for ITS, 225/228 for GAPDH, 241/242 for CHS-1, and 683/683 for TUB2 compared with the sequences of C. truncatum in GenBank (KX621963 for ITS, MK359986 for GAPDH, MK118057 for CHS-1, and MH925229 for TUB2). Maximum likelihood analysis of the combined four gene sequences and reference sequences of Colletotrichum spp. from GenBank and the results of the phylogenetic tree showed that CT12 belonged in C. truncatum with 100% bootstrap support. Sequences of the representative isolate CT12 were deposited in NCBI GenBank (MG993325 [ITS, 558 bp], MH038172 [GAPDH, 225 bp], MH038171 [TUB2, 683 bp], and MH038173 [CHS-1, 242 bp], respectively). Conidial suspension (10⁶ conidia/ml) of CT12 was sprayed on 10 healthy, 3-month-old velvetleaf leaves, and sterilized distilled water was sprayed on 10 healthy 3-month-old velvetleaf leaves as a control. The experiment was conducted three times. All plants were incubated in a controlled incubator with a 12-h photoperiod and 90% relative humidity at 25°C. After 5 days, necrotic lesions occurred on the inoculated leaves but not on the control plants. The same fungus was reisolated from the infected leaf tissues. C. truncatum has been reported to cause anthracnose on soybean, pepper, tomato, eggplant, muskmelon, chickpea, grapes, and other plants (Damm et al. 2009; Diao et al. 2014). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. truncatum causing anthracnose on velvetleaf in China. The identification of the pathogen will provide a theoretical basis for the identification and control of the disease and reduce economic losses.

Background: Mutations in HBx gene are frequently found in HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) contributes to HCC development and progression. Wild-type HBx has been demonstrated to activate HIF-1α, but the effect of HBx mutations on HIF-1α has not been elucidated. Methods: HBx mutations were identified by gene sequencing in 101 HCC tissues. Representative HBx mutants were cloned and transfected into HCC cells. Expression and activation of HIF-1α were analysed by western blot and luciferase assays, respectively. The relationship between HBx mutants and HIF-1α expression in HCC tissues was also evaluated. Results: The dual mutations K130M/V131I enhanced the functionality of HBx as they upregulated the expression and transcriptional activity of HIF-1α. The C-terminal truncations and deletion mutations, however, weakened the ability of HBx to upregulate HIF-1α. Meanwhile, the C-terminus was further found to be essential for the stability and transactivation of HBx. In the HCC tissues, there was a positive association between the HBx mutants and HIF-1α expression. Conclusion: Different mutations of HBx exert differentiated effects on the functionality of HIF-1α, however, the overall activity of HBx mutants appears to increase the expression and transcriptional activity of HIF-1α.

Autoimmune encephalitis with GABA

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of technical advancement of radiation therapy in patients with LA-NSCLC receiving definitive radiotherapy (RT).Patients treated with definitive RT (≥50 Gy) between 2000 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Overall survival (OS), cancer specific survival (CSS), locoregional progression-free survival (LRPFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were calculated and compared among patients irradiated with different techniques. Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) and esophageal injury (RIEI) were assessed according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events 3.0 (NCI-CTCAE 3.0).A total of 946 patients were eligible for analysis, including 288 treated with two-dimensional radiotherapy (2D-RT), 209 with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) and 449 with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) respectively. The median follow-up time for the whole population was 84.1 months. The median OS of 2D-RT, 3D-CRT and IMRT groups were 15.8, 19.7 and 23.3 months, respectively, with the corresponding 5-year survival rate of 8.7%, 13.0% and 18.8%, respectively (P0.001). The univariate analysis demonstrated significantly inferior OS, LRPFS, DMFS and PFS of 2D-RT than those provided by 3D-CRT or IMRT. The univariate analysis also revealed that the IMRT group had significantly loger LRPFS and a trend toward better OS and DMFS compared with 3D-CRT. Multivariate analysis showed that TNM stage, RT technique and KPS were independent factors correlated with all survival indexes. Compared with 2D-RT, the utilization of IMRT was associated with significantly improved OS, LRPFS, DMFS as well as PFS. Compared with 3D-CRT, IMRT provided superior DMFS (P=0.035), a trend approaching significance with regard to LRPFS (P=0.073) but no statistically significant improvement on OS, CSS and PFS in multivariate analysis. The incidence rates of RILI were significantly decreased in the IMRT group (29.3% vs. 26.6% vs.14.0%, P0.001) whereas that of RIET rates were similar (34.7% vs. 29.7% vs. 35.3%, P=0.342) among the three groups.Radiation therapy technique is a factor affecting prognosis of LA-NSCLC patients. Advanced radiation therapy technique is associated with improved tumor control and survival, and decreased radiation-induced lung toxicity.

To understand genomic characteristics of 2 strains of influenza A(H9N2)virus isolated from human infection cases in Anhui province in 2015.Two human infection with H9N2 virus were confirmed by national influenza surveillance laboratory network in Anhui through viral isolation in April and September, 2015, respectively. The full genomic sequences of the two viral isolates were analyzed in this study by using molecular bioinformatics software Mega 6.0.Human infection with H9N2 virus was first reported in Anhui province. The analysis of genomic sequence showed that the HA and NA genes of the two H9N2 isolates belonged to A/Chicken/Shanghai/F/98(H9N2)-like lineage, and shared high identity with H9N2 virus circulating in poultry in 2013. The PB2 and MP genes belonged to the A/quail/Hong Kong/G1/97-like lineage, and shared high homology with H7N9, H10N8 or H6N2 viruses. The amino acid sequence alignment results showed that several mutations for human infection tropism presented in the two virus strains, including Q226L, H183N and E190T in HA; S31N in M2; 63-65 deletion in NA. In addition, the H9N2 influenza virus strains possessed the PSRSSR\GL motif in HA. Meanwhile several human-like signatures, including PA-100A, PA-356R and PA-409N were also found in the two virus strains.The H9N2 viruses isolated from human infection cases in Anhui province belonged to a reassortant virus originated from different lineage H9N2 avian influenza virus. The virus has possessed several human susceptibility locus.

Within the framework of the dielectric continuum approach and modified random-element-isodisplacement model, the optical vibration mode in a spherical core-shell quantum dot (CSQD) consisting of ternary mixed crystals (TMCs) are investigated. The dispersion relation and electron–phonon interaction Hamiltonian are derived. As a typical case, the numerical results for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] CSQDs are obtained and discussed. Taking the one- and two-mode behaviors of TMCs into account, the effects of TMCs on interface/surface optical (IO/SO) phonon show that there are 3 and 5 branches of IO/SO phonon modes in [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] CSQDs for a given component of TMC, respectively. It is also found that the IO/SO phonon frequencies and electron–phonon interactions are strongly dependent on the component of TMCs and the size of CSQDs. We hope this work would be useful for the study of the phonon-related photoelectric properties in CSQDs consisting of TMCs.

Chinese ginseng (Panax ginseng) is a perennial Chinese herb of the Araliaceae family. It is found in the three northeast provinces of China. As a valuable restorative tonic, it is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (Radad et al. 2006). In November 2015 and 2016, gray mold was observed on 10 to 35% of fresh ginseng roots in two storage facilities under complete darkness at 4°C in Ji An and Fu Song City, Jilin Province. Initial symptoms included light brown, water-soaked lesions on ginseng roots. Within 30 days, the diseased areas enlarged, with dense, abundant gray mycelia forming on lesions. To isolate the pathogen, small pieces of diseased roots were surface disinfested in 3% NaClO for 2 min, rinsed twice in distilled water, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 22°C for 5 days. Sixteen isolates were recovered by single-spore isolation. Colony morphology was almost identical among all isolates. Representative isolate PG-S015 was grown on PDA under constant fluorescent light at 22°C. After 5 days, abundant mycelia with branched conidiophores were produced. Conidia were single, aseptate, pale brown, and globose to subglobose. Conidial size ranged from 8.2 to 17.3 μm in length and from 5.8 to 12.2 μm in width, averaging 13.6 ± 0.6 × 8.7 ± 0.3 μm (n = 50). The conidia were slightly longer than B. cinerea (Zhang et al. 2006). After 9 days, black, scattered, irregular sclerotia were produced. Sclerotial size measured 1.0 to 3.0 × 1.3 to 6.0 mm with the average of 2.1 × 3.8 mm (n = 50). DNA was extracted from all isolates. All 16 isolates were sequenced for the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH), DNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunit II (RPB2), and heat-shock protein 60 (HSP60) genetic markers. Their ITS sequences (KY810515 to KY810530) were identical to those of B. pelargonii (AJ716290) and B. cinerea (KY319171). The G3PDH (KY827182 to KY827197) and HSP60 (KY827198 to KY827213) sequences were 137 and 42 bp shorter than those of B. cinerea (GenBank KY275256 and KX229753) and identical to those of B. pelargonii (AJ704990 and AJ716046). The RPB2 sequences (KY827214 to KY827229) were also 99% identical to that of B. pelargonii (AJ745662). The fungus was identified as B. pelargonii based on its morphological and molecular characteristics (Staats et al. 2005; Zhang et al. 2006). Pathogenicity tests were performed by pipetting a 100 μl of conidial suspension (1 × 10⁵ conidia/ml) of each selected isolate PG-S015 and PG-S-FS-017 onto a 5-year-old fresh ginseng root, three replicates per isolate. Sterilized water was used as the noninoculated control treatment. The experiment was carried out three times. All inoculated roots were maintained at 4°C and 90% relative humidity, similar to the environmental conditions in which the disease was observed. Within 30 days, all inoculated ginseng roots developed similar symptoms to those of the naturally occurring disease described above, whereas all noninoculated roots remained healthy. Isolates with identical morphological and molecular characteristics were recovered from the diseased roots. Prior to this report, B. pelargonii was exclusively recovered from Pelargonium spp. (Strider 1985). This is the first report of B. pelargonii causing postharvest gray mold on stored fresh ginseng roots. Proper management should be taken to reduce the losses from this disease to the quality and marketability of ginseng as a highly valuable traditional Chinese medicine.

In the summer of 2015, dark brown lesions were observed on green husk pumpkin cultivar Xiangli No. 23, in Changchun (125.39°E, 43.45°N), Jilin Province, China. Nearly half of the plants in a 0.01-ha field of pumpkin were symptomatic. Symptoms on fruit were initially irregular dark green spots of 2 mm in diameter. As the disease progressed, spots expanded and gradually became round or oval, and the outside and inside of the necrotic areas became black. With higher humidity, abundant white aerial mycelia were produced on the black disease spots and orange conidial cirrhi visible in concentric rings on the margins of the lesions, and fewer acervuli were seen. Finally, the fruit were rotten. To isolate the pathogen, small pieces of symptomatic fruit were surface sterilized in 1.5% NaOCl for 1 min, washed twice with sterile distilled water, and then placed onto potato dextrose agar (PDA). Monoconidial isolate CCCM12 was grown on PDA under a 12-h photoperiod at 25°C. The color of the upper surface of the colony varied from white to off-white with cottony aerial mycelium, and was pale to orange with heavy sporulation on the underside. Conidia (n = 150) were one-celled, straight, hyaline, cylindrical with round ends (98%) or one end with acute apices (2%), smooth-walled, guttulate, and measured 10.8 to 21.4 (16.3 ± 2.1) μm in length and 3.6 to 10.4 (5.7 ± 1.0) μm in width. Appressoria (n = 50) were brown to dark brown, variable in shape including ovoid, clavate, or slightly irregular, and measured 4.9 to 14.5 × 4.7 to 10.8 μm. Based on morphological characteristics, the fungus was preliminarily identified as Colletotrichum brevisporum following descriptions of Noireung et al. (2012). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), β-tubulin (TUB2), actin (ACT), and chitin synthase (CHS-1) gene regions of isolate CCCM12 were amplified by using ITS4/ITS5, Bt2A/Bt2B, ACTF/ACTR, and CHSF/CHSR primers, respectively (Weir et al. 2012). Their GenBank accession numbers were obtained and were submitted to GenBank. A BLAST search revealed that all sequences (GenBank accession nos. KY797632 for ITS, KY797630 for TUB2, KY797629 for ACT, and KY797631 for CHS-1) matched with 99 to 100% identity to C. brevisporum (KC790943 for ITS, JN050244 for TUB2, JN050217 for ACT, and KF687760 for CHS-1). Molecular phylogenetic trees constructed using MEGA7 confirmed this. To confirm pathogenicity, following Bezerra et al. (2016), 5-mm-diameter hyphal plugs were taken from a 7-day-old culture of CCCM12 and singly placed on each of 15 mature and healthy Xiangli No. 23 pumpkins superficially wounded with a sterilized needle. In control fruits, only PDA discs without fungal growth were used. Fruits were covered with plastic bags and incubated in a growth chamber at 25°C at 95% relative humidity. Symptoms (pale to black sunken lesions) developed on inoculated fruit 6 days after inoculation. No lesions were observed on control fruit. When fungi were reisolated from lesions of inoculated fruit onto PDA, colony and conidial morphology were identical to the original isolate. The experiment was performed three times. The fungus was placed in the Herbarium of Mycology of Jilin Agricultural University. This pathogen has been previously reported on Pandanus pygmaeus and Lycium chinense in Thailand and Korea (Noireung et al. 2012; Paul et al. 2014), on fruits of Carica papaya and Sechium edule in Brazil (Bezerra et al. 2016; Vieira et al. 2013), and on pepper fruits in China (Liu et al. 2016). This is the first report of C. brevisporum causing anthracnose on green husk pumpkins.

Crop roots transport water and nutrients to the plants, produce nutrients when they decompose in soil, and provide organic C to facilitate the process of C sequestration in the soil. Many studies on these subjects have been published for cereal crops, but little is known for oilseed and pulse crops. This study was conducted at Swift Current, Saskatchewan, in 2006 and 2007 to characterize the root growth and distribution profile in soil for selected oilseed and pulse crops. Three oilseed [canola (Brassica napus L.), mustard (Brassica juncea L.), flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)], three pulse crops [chickpea (Cicer arietinum L), dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.)], and spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown in 100 cm deep × 15 cm diameter lysimeters pushed into a silt loam soil. Crops were studied under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Lysimeters were removed from the field and sampled for above-ground (AG) and root mass at different depths at five growth stages. Root mass was highest for canola (1470 kg ha-1) and wheat (1311 kg ha-1), followed by mustard (893 kg ha-1) and chickpea (848 kg ha-1), and was lowest for dry pea (524 kg ha-1) and flax (440 kg ha-1). The root mass of oilseeds and pulses reached a maximum between late-flowering and late-pod stages and then decreased to maturity, while wheat root mass decreased to maturity after reaching a maximum at boot stage. On average, about 77 to 85% of the root mass was located in the 0-40 cm depth. Canola, mustard, and wheat rooted to 100 cm, while the pulses and flax had only 4 to 7% of the root mass beyond the 60 cm depth. Irrigation only increased root mass in the 0-20 cm depth. Roots developed more rapidly than AG biomass initially, but the ratio of root biomass to AG biomass decreased with plant maturity. At maturity, the ratio of root biomass to AG biomass was 0.11 for dry pea, and between 0.20 and 0.22 for the other crops tested. Our findings on rooting depths and root mass distribution in the soil profile should be useful for modelling water and nutrient uptake by crops, estimating C inputs into soil from roots, and developing diverse cropping systems with cereals, oilseeds and pulses for semiarid environments.Key words: Root growth, root biomass, rooting depth, chickpea, lentil, pea, canola, mustard, flax, root:shoot ratio

Oilseed and pulse crops have been increasingly used to replace conventional summer fallow and diversify cropping systems in northern high latitude areas. The knowledge of water use (WU) and its distribution profile in the soil is essential for optimizing cropping systems aimed at improving water use efficiency (WUE). This study characterized water use and distribution profile for pulse and oilseed crops compared to spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in a semiarid environment. Three oilseeds [canola (Brassica napus L.), mustard (Brassica juncea L.) and flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)], three pulses [chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.)], and spring wheat were seeded in removable 100 cm deep × 15 cm diameter lysimeters placed in an Aridic Haploboroll soil, in southwest Saskatchewan in 2006 and 2007. Crops were studied under rainfed and irrigated conditions where lysimeters were removed and sampled for plant biomass and WU at various soil depths. Wheat yields were greater than pulse crop yields which were greater than oilseed yields, and WUE averaged 4.08 kg ha−1 mm−1 for pulse crops, 3.64 kg ha−1 mm−1 for oilseeds, and ranged between 5.5 and 7.0 kg ha−1 mm−1 for wheat. Wheat used water faster than pulse and oilseed crops with crop growth. Pulse crops extracted water mostly from the upper 60 cm soil depths, and left more water unused in the profile at maturity compared to oilseeds or wheat. Among the three pulses, lentil used the least amount of water and appeared to have a shallower rooting depth than chickpea and dry pea. Soil WU and distribution profile under canola and mustard were generally similar; both using more water than flax. Differences in WU and distribution profile were similar for crops grown under rainfall and irrigation conditions. A deep rooting crop grown after pulses may receive more benefits from water conservation in the soil profile than when grown after oilseed or wheat. Alternating pulse crops with oilseeds or wheat in a well-planned crop sequence may improve WUE for the entire cropping systems in semiarid environments.

Peptide-based approaches to protein structure within membranes have proven enormously valuable. When one focusses on the detailed manner through which membrane proteins actually traverse the cell bilayer, a simple observation emerges: helical peptide segments of 20 amino acids each constitute the only tangible connection between the inside and outside of the cell. Thus, a major step towards understanding the key relationships between biological function and membrane protein structure can be taken through characterization, by composition, sequence, chain length, hydrophobicity and conformation, of hydrophobic peptides designed as mimics of transmembrane segments.

In this study, resonance enhancement of giant magneto-impedance (GMI) effect in Fe-based Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 glass-coated microwires was investigated. A new method was adopted by sputtering a copper layer in the outside of the Fe-based glass-coated wire. A capacitance forms between the ferromagnetic core and outer copper layer, where the glass insulator works as a dielectric layer. Therefore, the composite wire forms an LC resonance circuit (which consists of an inductor, represented by the letter L, and a capacitor, presented by the letter C) itself, resulting in an increase of GMI ratio from 250% to 330%. Meanwhile, the influence of resonance frequency on the GMI effect was discussed.

In this paper, the influence of RAP state on warm recycled mixture gradation design was experimentally studied. Different kinds of mixture gradations with different content and state of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) were synthesized. The concept of “variation degree of gradation” was proposed to quantify the uncertainty of the recycled mixture gradation. It was described as the different passing rate at each sieve size between the two kinds of gradations that respectively synthesized by using the RAP screening result of pre-extracting and post-extracting. Their properties were then tested and compared with each other. The results show that, when the variation degree of gradation is bigger, the state of RAP should be simplified to complete mixing state, that is to say, the recycling mixture gradation should be synthesized by using the RAP post-extracting screening result; but when it is smaller, the state of RAP could also be simplified to black aggregate state, i.e., using the RAP pre-extracting screening result to synthesize gradation is also feasible.