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Sclerotium rolfsii is a fungi pathogen of southern blight with broad host range. The quinone outside inhibitor fungicide pyraclostrobin was officially approved for controlling many diseases in 2015. In this study, baseline sensitivity of S. rolfsii to pyraclostrobin was established by measuring the 50% effective concentration (EC50) values of 155 isolates of S. rolfsii. The EC50 values ranged from 0.0291 to 1.0871 µg/ml, with a mean EC50 of 0.4469 ± 0.2490 µg/ml (mean ± standard deviation). In a preventive fungicide in vitro experiment and a field experiment, pyraclostrobin preventive efficacy reached 90% and 80%, respectively, which were much higher than that of the control agent carbendazim. Curative efficacy of pyraclostrobin was significantly lower than its preventive efficacy. Pyraclostrobin at 0.1, 0.5, and 2 μg/ml significantly reduced the number of sclerotia produced on potato dextrose agar medium, but had no significant influence on their total weight. Pyraclostrobin had no significant influence on mycelial cell membrane permeability, but it significantly reduced oxalate secretion and protein synthesis of S. rolfsii. Our findings are of great significance for resistance monitoring of S. rolfsii and also provide new insight into the action mechanism of pyraclostrobin against S. rolfsii.

Background and aims LncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) plays a regulatory role in some cardiovascular diseases, but its role in atherosclerosis (AS) remains barely explored. The study aimed to investigate the effects of PVT1 on high fat diet-induced AS and its potential mechanisms. Methods and results ApoE −/− mice were fed with high fat diet for 8 weeks to establish an AS model. Lentiviral vectors containing PVT1 short hairpin RNA (PVT1-shRNA) or NC-shRNA were administered by tail vein injection. Cell viability, apoptosis, inflammatory factor secretion, and cellular oxidative stress were measured to evaluate oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury. Dual-luciferase reporter gene and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were used to confirm the interaction between miR-153-3p and PVT1 or growth factor receptor binding protein 2 (GRB2). Atherosclerotic lesions, lipid deposition, and cell apoptosis in aorta were analyzed by H&E, Oil Red O, and TUNEL straining. PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress in HUVECs. PVT1 acted as a sponge of miR-153-3p, and GRB2 was confirmed as a target of miR-153-3p. MiR-153-3p overexpression attenuated the enhanced effects of PVT1 on ox-LDL-induced cell damage. GRB2 overexpression reversed the mitigating effects of miR-153-3p on ox-LDL-caused injury. Inhibiting PVT1 restrained the activation of ERK1/2 and p38 pathway via miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis. Additionally, silencing PVT1 in vivo reduced atherosclerotic plaques, lipid deposition, inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in AS mice. Conclusion PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis through miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis via ERK1/2 and p38 pathway.

The engineering characteristics of remediated soil are easily affected by CO2 erosion in nature. However, there are limited investigations on the mechanical and microscopic properties of heavy metal-contaminated soil. This study introduces effect of accelerated carbonization on the mechanical and microscopic properties of nickel–copper-contaminated soil, and the soil has been treated with a novel curing agent, formed by mixing cement, fly ash and desulfurization gypsum (CFG). The objective of the study is to ascertain CO2 erosion resistance of nickel–copper-contaminated soil solidified by CFG. Using unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests, carbonization depth, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, the sample’s characteristics are investigated under different carbonization times and heavy metal ion concentrations. The results demonstrate that the UCS of samples of Ni0Cu0, Ni0.02, and Ni0.4 decrease with the increasing carbonization time, while that of Ni1, Cu1, and Ni1Cu1 increase initially and then decrease; in addition, when the concentration of heavy metals is lower, the effect of carbonization on UCS of samples is more significant. Moreover, the carbonization depth of samples increases with the increasing carbonization time, and the prediction model is given. Furthermore, the microscopic analysis demonstrates that calcium carbonate is the main carbonization product. The decomposition of hydrated calcium silicate gel leads to poor integrity of the structure and more pores produced in samples, which is the main reason for the decrease of the UCS in the process of carbonization. The outcomes of this investigation provide a reference for the durability in practical engineering of heavy metal-contaminated soil solidified by CFG.

Background and aims Myocardial infarction (MI) has been an important heart disease affecting human health. The aim of this study was to investigate the regulatory effect of abhydrolase domain containing 15 (ABHD15) on hypoxic cardiomyocytes. Methods and results Hypoxic cardiomyocytes are commonly used as an vitro model for the study of MI. We found that cardiomyocyte viability was decreased under hypoxia, but cell glucose uptake, insulin receptor phosphorylation level and apoptosis were increased. Interestingly, ABHD15 expression was up-regulated in hypoxia-induced cardiomyocytes. Then, we identified the function of ABHD15 in hypoxic cardiomyocytes by using ABHD15 overexpression vector or short interfering RNA (siRNA) against ABHD15. The results showed that overexpression of ABHD15 promoted hypoxic cardiomyocyte viability, glucose uptake and IR phosphorylation (p-IR), and inhibited cell apoptosis. However, knockdown of ABHD15 attenuated hypoxic cardiomyocyte viability, glucose uptake and IR phosphorylation, and promoted apoptosis. Moreover, we found that ABHD15 promoted glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expression, translocation and enhance rate-limiting enzyme activation of glycolysis, thereby affecting glucose uptake. Furthermore, our study suggested that ABHD15 may affect the viability and apoptosis of hypoxic cardiomyocytes through IR/Ras/Raf/ERK/MEK and IR/PI3K/AKT/Bcl2/Bad/caspase9 signaling pathways, respectively. When the phosphorylation of IR, Raf or ERK was blocked by inhibitors, the protective effect of overexpressing ABHD15 on the viability of hypoxic cardiomyocytes was eliminated. Furthermore, inhibiting the phosphorylation of IR, AKT or Bcl2 abolished the inhibitory effect of overexpressing ABHD15 on hypoxic cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Conclusion ABHD15 regulated myocardial cell viability, glycolysis, and apoptosis under hypoxia, providing a novel potential therapeutic strategy for MI.

Obtaining a continuous relationship between input and output is essential during sensor characteristic determination. However, it is a little challenging for complicated input data, for example, image data. In this article, a sensor characteristic determining method using deep learning Compact yet Efficient Cascade Context-based Estimation (C3E) network, which can establish the continuous relationship between the input and the output, was proposed. A UV sensing system based on this C3E method was presented. The sensor after algorithm optimization has a sensitivity of $1~\mu \text{W}$ /cm2. The limit of detection is $9~\mu \text{W}$ /cm2. The network test time is close to 3 s, and the error rate is 5%, which is very suitable to transplant to the embedded platform and provides solutions for compact instruments.

Industrial wastes, such as steel slag and desulfurized gypsum, are piled up in large quantities and only a very small portion is recycled, adversely impacting natural ecosystems. Meanwhile, environmental problems caused by CO2 have increasingly received attention. Hence, this study introduces a novel environmentally friendly composite, formed by sodium hydroxide (used as an activator), desulfurized gypsum and steel slag (S-GS). The main objective of this study is to evaluate the potential use of S-GS for solidifying clay under the condition of carbonation curing. Besides, the samples’ characteristics are investigated according to the tests of unconfined compressive strength (UCS), pH, carbonation depth, quality loss and scanning electron microscope (SEM). It is found that the UCS of solidified clay decreases with the increasing water content while it increases first and then decreases with the increasing desulfurized gypsum content, reaching the maximum when the water content is 0.5 times the liquid limit and the content of desulfurized gypsum is 8%. Moreover, compared with the standard curing, carbonation curing can stimulate the activity of S-GS to improve the UCS of samples more effectively. With the increasing carbonation curing time, the mass loss rate and carbonation depth of samples increase while the pH value decreases. Additionally, based on the normalized analysis, the carbonation time has the most significant effect on the UCS. Furthermore, the SEM results indicate that formation of Calcium carbonate and Magnesium carbonate are primary reasons for improving the UCS of the stabilised clay during carbonization. This research promotes steel slag and desulfurized gypsum as green stabilisers for soil stabilization, and the method of carbonation curing contributes to the higher UCS, which also greatly shortens the curing time.

UV absorption coating is an important function material, which can protect the substrates from photoaging. In this work, a class of sustainable UV-absorbent copolymers derived from ethyl cellulose (EC), fatty acid and rosin were prepared by a combination of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and click chemistry. To fulfill this strategy, the pendant azides were first attached onto the backbone of EC. Then, ATRP was applied to fabricate well-defined poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PLMA) bearing terminal alkynes. Finally, click chemistry between the pendant azides in EC and the alkynes in PLMA as well as in rosin esters (DAPE), was performed to achieve the cellulose-rosin graft copolymers (EC-(g-DAPE)-g-PLMA) with UV absorption property. The chemical structure of cellulose-rosin graft copolymers was confirmed by FTIR, 1H NMR and GPC. Thermodynamic performance analysis indicated that these EC-rosin graft copolymers showed better thermal stability than EC. Due to the synergistic hydrophobic interaction of rosin and the hydrophobic lauryl groups in PLMA, these graft copolymers showed excellent hydrophobic property, and the static contact angles were all above 90°. In addition, all the EC-rosin graft copolymers showed outstanding and stable UV absorption capability, and maintained excellent UV absorption capability after continuous UV-irradiation for 1 h or being heated to 100 °C for 0.5 h, which had potential application in UV absorption materials.

Harmful Microcystis blooms (HMBs) seriously threaten the ecology of environments and human health. Microcystins (MCs) produced by Microcystis are powerful mediators of HMB induction and maintenance. In this study, microcystinase A (MlrA), an enzyme with MC-degrading ability, was successfully obtained at over 90% purity for the first time through overexpression in Escherichia coli K12 TB1. The obtained MlrA exhibited high stability at high temperature and under alkaline conditions, while also exhibiting a long half-life. MlrA selectively inhibited MC-producing Microcystis cultures, but had no effect on MC-nonproducing Synechocystis cultures. The inhibition mechanism of MlrA against Microcystis was investigated by evaluating the morphological and physiological characteristics of cultures. MlrA effectively degraded extracellular MCs and decreased the synthesis of intracellular MCs by causing downregulation of genes involved in the microcystin biosynthesis pathway. Concomitantly, MlrA inhibited Microcystis photosynthesis by causing the downregulated expression of important photosynthesis pathway genes and interrupting electron transport chain activities and pigment synthesis. Thus, MlrA achieved the inhibition of Microcystis growth by reducing its photosynthetic capacity and intracellular MC contents, while also degrading extracellular MCs. On the basis of these results, we propose a new paradigm to achieve the simultaneous removal of MCs and HMBs using the single enzyme characterized here.

The study introduces the potential use of a novel curing agent formed by mixing cement, fly ash, and desulfurization gypsum (CFG) for the stabilization/solidification of nickel-copper-contaminated soil. According to the tests of the unconfined compressive strength (UCS), permeability, and scanning electron microscope (SEM), the samples' characteristics, which include UCS, deformation, and permeability, are investigated under different curing time, ion concentration, and curing agent content. The correlation between the UCS and permeability of samples is estimated. The results demonstrates that the gradual increase of the UCS and impermeability of the samples can be recognized with the increase of curing age; however, the failure strain decreased gradually but the trend is reversed with the increase of heavy metal concentration. Besides, greater amounts of CFG results in better mechanical and impermeability properties. The correlation between UCS and permeability coefficient reveals that the UCS of contaminated soil is significantly negatively correlated with permeability coefficient, and the prediction formulas of permeability coefficient based on age and CFG content are given respectively. Moreover, the microscopic analysis demonstrates that the hydration products calcium silicate hydrate(C-S-H) and ettringite (AFt) of CFG curing agent are the main reasons for the enhancement of the UCS and impermeability of contaminated soil. However, the increase of nickel and copper concentration leads to the decrease of hydration products and the compactness of solidified soil, which is the reason for the weakening of the compressive strength and impermeability of contaminated soil.

Banxia (Pinellia ternata) is an important Chinese medicinal material in the family Araceae and is a widely grown herb in China. In September 2021, a leaf spot disease was observed on Banxia field, with an incidence rate of 35 to 40 % in a 4-ha field, in Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province of China. Symptoms were observed as yellow-white centers, water-soaked edges, irregular lesions, and gradually developed into a yellowish-brown center and a dark-brown edge. Necrotic spots gradually increased, leading to leaf chlorosis and plant death. Margins of leaf lesions were excised form diseased tissue and were plated on nutrient agar (NA) using serial dilution. Growth on NA was predominantly cream-colored circular bacterial colonies with undulated margins. Characterization of three randomly chosen bacterial isolates (JYB1, JYB7 and JYB8) suggests they are Gram-negative, levan negative, arginine dihydrolase negative, oxidase positive, potato soft rot positive, and tobacco hypersensitive positive. Isolates were identified as Pseudomonas cichorii based on the LOPAT scheme (Cottyn et al. 2009). Taxonomic positioning was confirmed genetically by PCR analysis using primers set: 16S rRNA gene universal primers 27F/1492R (Weisburg et al. 1991) and hrcRST gene specific primers Hcr1/Hcr2 (Cottyn et al. 2011). Homology search of 16S rRNA gene sequences (GenBank accessions: JYB1, MZ749668; JYB7, MZ823822; and JYB8, MZ823823) indicated 99.93 % (1396 bp) identity with P. cichorii strains (GenBank accessions: MK356431, JX913785, MZ723344). Similarly, comparison of the hrcRST locus (GenBank accessions: JYB1, MZ977010; JYB7, MZ977011; and JYB8, MZ977012) shared 99.38% (812 bp) with P. cichorii strains (GenBank accessions: CP007039, CP074349, GU324131). Koch's postulate was performed on healthy 30-day-old Banxia plants to confirm pathogenicity of the isolated strains. Leaves were injected with 50 μL bacterial suspensions (1x108 cfu/ml) by sterile syringe. The negative control was inoculated with sterile water. The inoculated Banxia plants were incubated at 28 °C, 70 to 80 % relative humidity, and exhibited water-soaked lesions on the leaf surface within two days around the inoculation sites. Within seven days, all leaves withered and plants died. In contrast, control plants remained healthy and symptomless. The pathogen was consistently reisolated from diseased plants and morphologically and molecularly identified as P. cichorii, while no bacterial colonies were isolated from the control plants, fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bacterial leaf spot caused by P. cichorii on Banxia in China. As one of the main producing areas of Banxia in China, Jianghan Plain of Hubei Province has a planting area of nearly 20 square kilometers. The occurrence of this bacterial disease has the potential threat to the Banxia industry, more research is needed for breeding disease resistance and for developing chemical control.

Cell density detection is usually the counting of cells in certain volume of liquid, which is an important process in the field of biomedicine. The Coulter counting method has been an important method for biological cell detection and counting for decades. In this paper, a microfluidic chip based on two electrode pairs is designed, which uses the Coulter principle to detect the flow rate of uncertain volume liquid and count the cells, and then calculate the cell density by statistics. When the cell passes through the sensor channel formed by the electrode pair on the chip, the impedance will change between the electrodes. This phenomenon has been proved by experiments. The designed chip has the advantages of simple structure, small size and low manufacturing cost. The cell density detection method proposed in this article is of great significance to the research in the field of biological cell detection and development of related medical devices.

The development of efficient, stable and inexpensive electrochemical water-splitting catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) over a wide range of pH is of great importance for the production of hydrogen resource. Defect engineering with electronic structure modulation has been expected to be an effective strategy to enhance the electrocatalytic activity. Herein, Ni–Co bimetallic sulfide (NiCo2S4) nanosheet arrays with controlled sulfur vacancies have been developed by multiple vulcanization treatment of the Ni–Co hydroxide precursor for HER catalysis at all pH values. The presence of S vacancies has been identified by various characterization means, and their effects on the HER performance are well investigated. The obtained NiCo2S4 nanosheet arrays with optimal sulfur vacancy content exhibit the best HER performance in alkaline medium, only requiring an overpotential of 150 mA at −10 mA cm−2 with a Tafel slope of 82.5 mV dec−1, as well as excellent durability. Experimental results confirm that the high HER activity could be ascribed to the accelerated electron transfer and good intrinsic activity for the electrocatalyst with optimal S vacancies. These findings should provide a new vacancy modulation for traditional transition metal chalcogenides for the purpose of boosting the HER performance at all pH values.

Maxim (EbM) is a perennial herb grown in China for traditional Chinese medicines. Grey mould symptoms were observed on EbM leaves in several fields in Hubei Province, China, from April to June in 2...

Duohua huangjing (Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua) seedling basal stem rot caused by Fusarium redolens in China Tao Tang1, Fanfan Wang1, Jie Guo1, Xiaoliang Guo1, Yuanyuan Duan1,Jingmao You1* 1 Institute of Chinese Herbal Medicines, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Enshi, 445000, China. Duohua huangjing (Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua), a herbal medicine, that is mostly planted in several provinces in China. In April 2020, severe diseases with about 40% seedling losse was found in the Huangjing seedling base in Shiyan city, Hubei province. The symptoms included softening and decay of the roots and stem bases, a progressive yellowing and wilting of leaves, and finally being completely rotted. Small pieces of symptomatic stems (0.5 cm in length) and leaves (0.5 × 0.5 cm in size) were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 30 s, followed by 0.1% HgCl2 for 1 min, rinsed three times with sterile water, and then dried with sterilized absorbent paper. The sections were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium containing 10 µg/ml of ampicillin and incubated at 25°C in the dark. After 3 days incubation, eight isolates with the same colony morphology were sub-cultured and purified by hyphal tip isolation. Macroconidia were sickle-shaped, 15.8 - 32.3 × 3.1 - 5.6 μm (n = 25), and three to five septate. Microconidia were oval or kidney-shaped, 5.2 - 11.4 × 2.0 - 3.2 μm (n = 25), and zero to one septate. To confirm the identity of the pathogen, molecular identification was performed with strain HJCD1. Following DNA extraction, PCR was performed using the TSINGKE 2×T5 Direct PCR Mix kit. Target areas of amplification were the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and translation elongation factor 1α (TEF-1α) using ITS1/4 (White et al. 1990) , EF1/EF2 (Taylor et al. 2016), respectively. Following BLAST searches and phylogenetic reconstruction, the ITS region (GenBank MW485770.1) showed 99% identity with those of Fusarium redolens in GenBank (KU350713.1) and the TEF-1α (GenBank MW503930.1) showed 100% identity with F. redolens GenBank (MK922537.1). Pathogenicity tests were performed to fulfill Koch's postulates. Huangjing seedlings were rinsed with sterile water, wiped clean with sterile absorbent paper, and transferred to a tray covered with wet filter paper to maintain high humidity. The mycelial piugs of F. redolens HJCD1 were inoculated onto the surface of leaves and basal stems. Controls were inoculated with sterile PDA plugs. The inoculated seedlings were sealed with plastic wrap, and then cultivated in a 25 ℃ growth chamber with 16 h of light per day. The pathogen-inoculated plants exhibited etiolation and typical wilt symptoms after 4 days, whereas no symptoms were observed in the control plants. F. redolens was reisolated from the infected tissues, and colony morphology and ITS sequence of re-isolates were same as that of HJCD1. The pathogen has been reported previously in american ginseng in China (Fan et al. 2021), lentil in Pakistan (Rafique et al. 2020), and wild rocket in United Kingdom (Taylor et al. 2019). However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. redolens causing seelding basal rot on Duohua huangjing in China. References: White, T. J., et al. 1990. Page 315 in: PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. Taylor, A., et al. 2016. Mol. Plant Pathol. 17:1032. https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.12346 Fan, S. H., et al. 2021. Plant Dis. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-19-2519-PDN Rafique, K., et al. 2020. Plant Dis. 9:104. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-19-2519-PDN Taylor, A., et al. 2019. Plant Dis.6:103. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-12-18-2143-PDN Funding: Science Funds for Young Scholar of Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science (grant no. 2020NKYJJ20), National Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System (grant no. CARS-21), Technology R&D Program of Enshi (grant no. D20190015), Science Funds for Young Scholar of Institute of Chinese Herbal Medicines, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences (grant no. 2019ZYCJJ03), Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crops of Central China, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R. China / Hubei Key Laboratory of Crop Disease, Insect Pests and Weeds Control (grant no.2020ZTSJJ6).

Walnuts are an important perennial nut crop widely cultivated in China, which are rich in protein, carbohydrate, renieratene, and other beneficial nutrients. China is the largest producer of walnuts in the world, with the largest planting area and output. At the end of April 2020, several unknown necrotic spots on leaves of walnut trees were observed in a Juglans regia field located in Sancha Town, Enshi, China (30°28'N, 109°64'E). Initially, lesions were black, small, sunken, and turning to yellowish-brown, irregular, well surrounded by brown margins. Severely, leaf spots coalesced and resulted in withered and abscised. In order to identify the pathogen, infected leaves were collected. Sections of leaves were aseptically excised from the margins of necrotic spots following surface sterilization and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 28℃. After 4 days, fungal isolates were obtained and purified by hyphal tip isolation. The isolates looked morphologically similar, producing colonies that appeared hyphae with dark grey, lobed margins, and aerial mycelium with white to light gray. After 15 days of incubation, subglobose, dark brown pycnidia (100-176 μm in wide, 75-95 μm in length) were formed with an orifice in the center, producing conidia. Conidia (3.5 to 9.0 × 1.6 to 4.5 μm) were oval to round, aseptate, occasionally 1-septate. These morphological characteristics lead to the conclusion that the isolates may be identified as Phoma sp. (Boerema et al. 1976). A single isolate was randomly selected and designated for further verification. To confirm the identity, the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), actin (ACT) and beta-tubulin genes were amplified and sequenced ITS1/ITS4, ACT-512F/ACT-783R, and Bt2a/Bt2b, respectively (White et al. 1990, Groenewald et al. 2013). BLAST analysis of the ITS 505-bp sequence (GenBank accession no. MW282913), actin 269-bp sequence (GenBank accession no. MW201958), and beta-tubulin 347-bp sequence (GenBank accession no. MW273782) showed ≥99% homology with the sequences of B. exigua available in GenBank (GenBank accession no. AB454232, LT158234, and KR010463, respectively). Base on the above results, the strain HTY2 was identified as B. exigua. Pathogenicity was tested. Walnut plants were spray-inoculated with a spore suspension (5 x 105 CFU/mL). Controls were inoculated as described above except that sterile distilled water in the dark at 25 ℃. After seven days, lesions were evident at inoculation points, and equivalent to those observed in field were observed. Control leaves remained symptomless. The pathogenicity test was repeated thrice and the results were the same, fulfilling the Koch's postulates. The pathogen has been reported on various plants around the world, causing a series of symptoms. Infected plants rarely died, but the presence of lesions decreased their fruit quality and yield. Previous identification of the disease is essential in formulating management strategies.

Panax japonicus C. A. Mey., known as Japanese ginseng or “Zhujieshen” in China, is a perennial medicinal herb (family Araliaceae) native to China and is widely grown in many provinces including Hub...

Ophiopogon japonicus (Linn. f.) is a perennial evergreen in the Liliaceae family that is cultivated in many provinces of China due to its high medicinal and economic value . In April 2019, an unknown root rot disease was observed on the rhizomes of O. japonicus in a commercial production field in Xiangyang City (30.83° N, 112.53° E), Hubei Province. Disease incidence was approximately 10-20%. Symptoms included chlorosis, drooping and rolling of the leaves followed by rapid death of entire plant. Infected roots appeared to be softened, necrotic, and shriveled with reddish fungal growth. Infected tissues were disinfested on surface with 75% ethanol for 30 s and 0.1% HgCl2 for 1 min, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and dried. Small pieces (2 mm × 2 mm) were then excised from disinfested tissue and incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium at 25 ℃ in the dark. After 3 days of incubation, six isolates with 75% of isolation rate and same colony morphology were sub-cultured and purified by hyphal tip isolation. Purified cultures grew rapidly and media plates (70×70 mm ) were covered with hyphae after 3 to 4 days. Cultures were initially white and became pink or red over 5 days. Microconidia were not observed. Macroconidia were produced from monophialides on branched conidiophores, which were slender, equilaterally curved, and measured 32.5 to 53.5 μm in length and 3.5 to 5.1 μm in width, with three to five septa. All strains were preliminarily identified as Fusarium acuminatum (Eslie and Summerell 2006) on the basis of morphology. To confirm the identity of the pathogen, molecular identification was performed with strain MD1. Following DNA extraction, PCR was performed using the TSINGKE 2×T5 Direct PCR Mix kit. Target areas of amplification were internal transcribed spacer (ITS), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) and beta-tubulin gene (TUB2) regions of rDNA, using ITS1,4 (Yin et al. 1990) , RPB2-5f2/7cr (O'Donnell et al. 2010)and Btu-F-F01, Btu-F-R01 primers(Wang et al. 2014), respectively. Nucleotide sequences were deposited in NCBI (GenBank MT525360.1; MW164629; MT588110.1). BLAST analysis of the ITS sequence had 100% similarity to a 517 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (MK764994.1) ；RPB2 sequence had 100% similarity to a 687 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (HM068330.1) and TUB2 sequence had 99% similarity to a 964 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (KT965741.1). A pathogenicity test was performed in laboratory on O. japonicus roots with isolate MD1. Mycelial plugs (5 mm) were excised from the margin of colony cultured for 5 days, and placed on three-years-old tuberous roots covered with wet sterile cotton and kept at 25℃, under 80% relative humidity. Controls were inoculated with non-colonized PDA plugs (5 mm). All treatments had three replicate plants. On incolated plants, white hyphae covered on O. japonicus roots 3 DPI became pink and by 5 DPI, roots had rot symptoms. By comparision, the control plants had no symptoms. The pathogen was reisolated from the inoculated roots and exhibited same morphological characteristics and ITS sequence as those of F. acuminatum. F. acuminatum was reported to cause fruit rot on postharvest pumpkin and Vaccinium corymbosum in China (Li et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2016).To our knowledge, this is the first report of root rot caused by F. acuminatum on O. japonicus in China.

In response to the large size and high price of traditional wearable gesture recognition systems, we presented a gesture recognition system based on self-developed flexible electronic skin (e-skin) with the advantages of easy portability, low cost and high recognition rate. Fourteen flexible sensors were integrated into the e-skin gesture recognition glove, which could monitor the movement of each finger joint. Meanwhile, an accelerometer was integrated, which could collect rollover information of the wrist. Furthermore, we innovatively proposed an improved dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm to build a gesture template library, which is used to recognize complex and continuously changing gestures. Finally, the recognition results are displayed in the form of text, pictures and even the voice broadcast. Continuous recognition experiments on eight daily gestures were carried out, and the segmentation accuracy and recognition accuracy of continuous gestures is 97.49% and 93.73% respectively, which can meet the needs of deaf-mute people for normal communication with the outside world.

The permeability of soil is a fundamental parameter in hydrological and geotechnical studies, nevertheless, the investigations on the silt especially the heavy mental contaminated silt have rarely been reported. The research introduces the effect of the different factors, including the osmotic pressure, curing time, the content of binders and the concentration of lead, on the permeability and microscopic properties of lead-contaminated silt, which is solidified by a novel curing agent, formed by mixing cement, fly ash and desulphurization gypsum (CFG). According to the tests of the permeability and scanning electron microscope (SEM), the permeability of samples is investigated under different influencing factors. The results demonstrate that the permeability coefficient of the contaminated silt increases with the increasing osmotic pressure and lead ion concentration, while decreases with the increasing CFG content and the curing time, additonally, there are interactions among various factors, which jointly affect the permeability of samples. Moreover, the statistical analysis shows that osmotic pressure has the most significant effect on permeability among various factors. Besides, the influence of lead ion concentration, osmotic pressure and CFG content on the permeability coefficient at the curing time of 14d is more significant than that of 28d, and the influence order of factors was slightly different at different curing time. Furthermore, the SEM test proves the conclusion of the statistical analysis, which also explains the common reasons for the enhancement of the impermeability and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the lead-contaminated silt with the increasing curing time.

Designing and developing a cost-effective and highly stable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst under alkaline conditions is critical for sustainable energy conversion and storage. Cobalt-based oxides have been considered as ideal HER electrocatalysts and have been intensively studied; however, their catalytic activity is still unsatisfactory. The modulation of electrical conductivity, which limits the catalytic activity of the transition metal cobalt-based oxides, is an effective way to improve the electron transfer efficiency, mass transfer and kinetic process of the HER. Herein, an ultrathin carbon layer coated cobalt(II) oxide nanosheet array grown in situ on carbon cloth was synthesized by a simple two-step method for efficient HER. The obtained interconnected C@CoO nanosheet array possesses lower overpotentials and smaller Tafel slopes than those of bare CoO and shows excellent stability in 20 h long-term stability tests. The ultrathin carbon coated structure provides CoO with enhanced electron transfer efficiency, increased number of active sites and strong structural stability. This work paves an interesting route for boosting the HER performance of oxide-based electrocatalysts through introducing an ultrathin carbon coating for various energy systems in the future.

The exploration of high-performance, cost-effective, and stable electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for future energy storage and conversion technologies. Cobalt-based hydroxides and oxides have been considered as ideal OER electrocatalysts and have been intensively studied; however, their catalytic activity is still unsatisfactory. It is known that the interfacial electron and structure engineering of composite electrocatalysts often results in synergistically enhanced catalytic performance. Herein, a self-supported binary heterogeneous catalyst composed of CoFe LDH/Co0.85Se nanosheet arrays vertically grown on carbon cloth has been reported. The heterostructure electrocatalyst exhibits excellent activity for the OER in alkaline electrolyte, requiring an overpotential of only 241 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a small Tafel slope of 48 mV dec−1. These performances are significantly better than those of the bare CoFe LDH and Co0.85Se catalysts. Moreover, the composite electrodes exhibit outstanding durability within 40 h of testing. Our further electrochemical results show that the excellent activities of the heterostructure electrodes should be ascribed to the interfacial coupling effect, increased number of activity sites, accelerated electron transfer, and strong structural stability. This work paves an interesting route for boosting the OER performance of oxide-based electrocatalysts by the regulation of electronic structure through introducing non oxide electrocatalysts for various applications.

Well-defined sustainable and recyclable thermoset elastomers derived from cellulose, fatty acid and furfural were successfully prepared via photoinduced metal-free ATRP and Diels-Alder (DA) reaction. Firstly, metal free ATRP was applied to prepare a range of thermoplastic cellulose graft copolymers with furfural groups. Then, a modified epoxidized soybean oil bearing 6-maleimidohexanoic group (ESOM) as a crosslinker was employed to perform DA reaction with furfural groups in these cellulose graft copolymers, by which the copolymer formed the dynamic crosslinked network and achieved the thermoset elastomers. The dynamic crosslinked network formed by DA reaction not only could increase the chain entanglement that was associated with the improved flexibility and could contribute to enhancing the mechanical strength up to 166 %, but also endowed these thermoset elastomers with recyclability, excellent shape memory and self-healing property. These thermoset elastomers can be used as self-healing strain sensor and wearable sensing devices after compounding them with carbon nanotubes.

Steam dryness detection is crucial in the field of oil exploitation. A steam dryness too high will be dangerous, whereas a low steam dryness too low will affect the efficiency of extraction. Therefore, real-time, high-precision detection of steam dryness is essential. The methods for detecting steam dryness include chemical, thermodynamic, radiometric, and microwave. The manual test method possesses the best detection accuracy. However, the real-time performance is not good, and the detection process is cumbersome. This article uses a silver nitrate solution to titrate chloride ions and combine them with the change in the absorbance of the solution to determine the endpoint of the titration. This article reported that the automatic chloride ion concentration measurement was a rep and that the detection of chloride ion concentration was 15 mg l−1. The detection linearity reached 0.992. Therefore, our titration endpoint judgment method has better anti-interference.