Redescription of Takahashia citricola Kuwana, 1909, and its transfer to the genus Pulvinaria Targioni Tozzetti (Coccoidea, Coccidae)

The Japanese soft scaleTakahashia citricola Kuwana, 1909 is redescribed and transferred to the genus PulvinariaTargioni Tozzettias Pulvinaria citricola (Kuwana, 1909), comb. n.(Coccoidea: Coccidae). Pulvinaria gamazumii Kanda, 1960 is synonymized with Pulvinaria citricolacomb. n. and Pulvinaria nipponica Lindinger, 1933, is resurrected as the replacement name for Pulvinaria citricola Kuwana, 1914 (nec Kuwana, 1909). The adult female of Pulvinaria citricola (Kuwana, 1909) is redescribed and illustrated.     

Cretaceous origins of the vibrotactile bill-tip organ in birds

Some probe-foraging birds locate their buried prey by detecting mechanical vibrations in the substrate using a specialized tactile bill-tip organ comprising mechanoreceptors embedded in densely clustered pits in the bone at the tip of their beak. This remarkable sensory modality is known as ‘remote touch’, and the associated bill-tip organ is found in probe-foraging taxa belonging to both the palaeognathous (in kiwi) and neognathous (in ibises and shorebirds) clades of modern birds. Intriguingly, a structurally similar bill-tip organ is also present in the beaks of extant, non-probing palaeognathous birds (e.g. emu and ostriches) that do not use remote touch. By comparison with our comprehensive sample representing all orders of extant modern birds (Neornithes), we provide evidence that the lithornithids (the most basal known palaeognathous birds which evolved in the Cretaceous period) had the ability to use remote touch. This finding suggests that the occurrence of the vestigial bony bill-tip organ in all modern non-probing palaeognathous birds represents a plesiomorphic condition. Furthermore, our results show that remote-touch probe foraging evolved very early among the Neornithes and it may even have predated the palaeognathous–neognathous divergence. We postulate that the tactile bony bill-tip organ in Neornithes may have originated from other snout tactile specializations of their non-avian theropod ancestors.     

三种药物联合治疗假丝酵母菌性阴道炎的临床疗效评价

目的:研究克霉唑阴道片、硝夫太尔制霉素阴道软胶囊联合定君生栓治疗复发性假丝酵母菌性阴道炎的临床疗效,为临床治疗提供依据。方法:选取2014年9月到2015年6月我院就诊的复发性假丝酵母菌性阴道炎患者60例,按照随机数字表法将患者分为实验组和对照组,每组30例,实验组给予克霉唑阴道片、硝夫太尔制霉素阴道软胶囊联合定君生栓治疗,对照组给予克霉唑阴道片和定君生栓治疗,治疗前检测所有患者病原菌分布情况,治疗后随访3个月,分析两组临床疗效和不良反应。结果:细菌培养结果共分离出158株假丝酵母菌,其中白色假丝酵母菌最多,占66.46%;实验组总有效率为93.33%,显著高于对照组的76.67%,两组比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);两组不良反应发生率比较无统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:克霉唑阴道片、硝夫太尔制霉素阴道软胶囊联合定君生栓治疗复发性假丝酵母菌性阴道炎具有较好的临床疗效,且无明显不良反应。     

Two new species of gorgonian octocorals from the Tropical Eastern Pacific Biogeographic Region (Cnidaria,Anthozoa, Gorgoniidae)

The gorgoniid Eugorgia is exclusively an eastern Pacific genus. It has a wide geographic and bathymetric range of distribution, found from California to Perú and extends down to 65 m deep. Two new species are herein described. The morphological characters were analyzed and illustrated by light and scanning electron microscopy. Eugorgia beebeisp. n. can be distinguished by its white, ascending, sparse colony growth. Eugorgia mutabilissp. n. can be distinguished by its white colony that changes color after collection, and the conspicuous sharp-crested disc sclerites. From a morphological point of view the new species are related to the daniana-group, the rubens-group and the siedenburgae-group of Eugorgia; their affiliations, and the proposal of a new group are discussed. These new species increases the number of species in the genus to 15, and contribute to the knowledge of the eastern Pacific octocoral biodiversity.     

The evaluation of novel chromogenic substrates for the detection of lipolytic activity in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA from two European study groups

Pinellia ternata , a traditional Chinese herb that has been used in China for over 1000 years, is susceptible to a soft rot disease, which may cause major loss of yield. The use of bacteria as potential antagonists against Pectobacterium carotovorum SXR1, the causal agent of the disease on P. ternata , was evaluated. Altogether, 1107 candidate bacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere and surface-sterilized plants of P. ternata . In Petri dish tests, 55 isolates inhibited the growth of strain SXR1, and 21 of these reduced the disease development on P. ternata slices by over 50%. Four selected antagonists significantly reduced the disease incidence on tissue culture seedlings, and also prevented the disease on the transplants. Agonist P-Y2-2 yielded a good prevention level of 81.9%. The four antagonists rapidly colonized the tissue culture seedlings and transplants, whereas greater populations of the antagonists (10⁷–10⁹ CFU g⁻¹ fresh tissues) were observed in the seedlings and in the preinoculated transplants than in those inoculated during transplanting. The use of pathogen-free tissue culture seedlings pre-inoculated with antagonist may provide a strategy for production of P. ternata plantlets resistant to soft rot disease. This is the first report on the efficacy of biocontrol agents against pathogens on P. ternata .     

皮肤软组织感染病原菌分布及耐药性分析

目的 调查皮肤软组织感染病原菌的种类及耐药性,为临床合理使用抗菌药物提供科学依据.方法 利用WHONET 5.6对2009年1月至2011年12月皮肤软组织感染患者脓液或分泌物细菌培养及药敏试验结果进行回顾性分析.结果 共分离菌株444株,金黄色葡萄球菌(SAU)分离率居第1位,171株占38.5％;表皮葡萄球菌居第2位,54株占12.2％;铜绿假单胞菌第3位,43株占9.7％;头孢哌酮/舒巴坦、哌拉西林/他唑巴坦、阿米卡星、亚胺培南和美罗培南对革兰阴性杆菌有较好的抗菌活性(耐药率≤3.3％);金黄色葡萄球菌对青霉素和红霉素的耐药率为93.6％和65.0％,对呋喃妥因、利奈唑胺、利福平、莫西沙星和左旋氧氟沙星耐药率为0％、0％、1.4％、2.2％和9.3％,未检出万古霉素耐药株;耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌(MRSA)检出率25.7％ (44/171);MRSA和甲氧西林敏感金黄色葡萄球菌(MSSA)对氨苄西林/舒巴坦、利福平、莫西沙星三种药物的敏感性差异有统计学意义.结论 引起皮肤软组织感染病原菌以阳性球菌尤其是金黄色葡萄球菌为主,临床上应尽量根据药敏试验结果选用抗生素,合理用药.     

wbnH2基因对北京欧文氏菌生物学特性及致病力的影响

【背景】北京欧文氏菌(Erwinia beijingensis)引起的刺芹侧耳细菌性软腐病(bacterial soft rot)给企业带来了严重的经济损失。wbnH2糖基转移酶基因在北京欧文氏菌中的生物学功能尚不明确。【目的】构建wbnH2基因的缺失株Δ-wbnH2和回补株C-wbnH2,探究wbnH2基因对北京欧文氏菌致病性的影响。【方法】采用同源重组方法构建北京欧文氏菌LMG 27579^TwbnH2基因缺失突变株Δ-wbnH2,并对基因缺失菌株的致病性、生长速度、运动能力、生物膜形成能力、黏附能力等生物学特性与野生型菌株进行比较分析;采用广宿主质粒pBBR1MCS2构建回补株C-wbnH2,排除了极性效应引起的突变株表型变化。【结果】与野生型菌株相比,基因缺失株Δ-wbnH2的生长速度无明显差别。但是wbnH2基因的缺失导致多糖分泌、生物膜形成能力、黏附能力、致病能力明显下降。【结论】wbnH2基因影响北京欧文氏菌多糖分泌、生物膜的形成能力、黏附能力及致病力,表明该基因在北京欧文氏菌致病过程中起重要作用,本研究为软腐病的防控提供了理论基础。     

Long-term patterns of fruit production in five forest types of the South Carolina upper coastal plain

Fleshy fruit is a key food resource for many vertebrates and may be particularly important energy source to birds during fall migration and winter. Hence, land managers should know how fruit availability varies among forest types, seasons, and years. We quantified fleshy fruit abundance monthly for 9 years (1995–2003) in 56 0.1-ha plots in 5 forest types of South Carolina's upper Coastal Plain, USA. Forest types were mature upland hardwood and bottomland hardwood forest, mature closed-canopy loblolly (Pinus taeda) and longleaf pine (P. palustris) plantation, and recent clearcut regeneration harvests planted with longleaf pine seedlings. Mean annual number of fruits and dry fruit pulp mass were highest in regeneration harvests (264,592 ± 37,444 fruits; 12,009 ± 2,392 g/ha), upland hardwoods (60,769 ± 7,667 fruits; 5,079 ± 529 g/ha), and bottomland hardwoods (65,614 ± 8,351 fruits; 4,621 ± 677 g/ha), and lowest in longleaf pine (44,104 ± 8,301 fruits; 4,102 ± 877 g/ha) and loblolly (39,532 ± 5,034 fruits; 3,261 ± 492 g/ha) plantations. Fruit production was initially high in regeneration harvests and declined with stand development and canopy closure (1995–2003). Fruit availability was highest June–September and lowest in April. More species of fruit-producing plants occurred in upland hardwoods, bottomland hardwoods, and regeneration harvests than in loblolly and longleaf pine plantations. Several species produced fruit only in 1 or 2 forest types. In sum, fruit availability varied temporally and spatially because of differences in species composition among forest types and age classes, patchy distributions of fruiting plants both within and among forest types, fruiting phenology, high inter-annual variation in fruit crop size by some dominant fruit-producing species, and the dynamic process of disturbance-adapted species colonization and decline, or recovery in recently harvested stands. Land managers could enhance fruit availability for wildlife by creating and maintaining diverse forest types and age classes. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.     

Recurrent gene amplification and soft selective sweeps during evolution of multidrug resistance in malaria parasites

When selection is strong and beneficial alleles have a single origin, local reductions in genetic diversity are expected. However, when beneficial alleles have multiple origins or were segregating in the population prior to a change in selection regime, the impact on genetic diversity may be less clear. We describe an example of such a "soft" selective sweep in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that involves adaptive genome rearrangements. Amplification in copy number of genome regions containing the pfmdr1 gene on chromosome 5 confer resistance to mefloquine and spread rapidly in the 1990s. Using flanking microsatellite data and real-time polymerase chain reaction determination of copy number, we show that 5-15 independent amplification events have occurred in parasites on the Thailand/Burma border. The amplified genome regions (amplicons) range in size from 14.7 to 49 kb and contain 2-11 genes, with 2-4 copies arranged in tandem. To examine the impact of drug selection on flanking variation, we genotyped 48 microsatellites on chromosome 5 in 326 parasites from a single Thai location. Diversity was reduced in a 170- to 250-kb (10-15 cM) region of chromosomes containing multiple copies of pfmdr1, consistent with hitchhiking resulting from the rapid recent spread of selected chromosomes. However, diversity immediately flanking pfmdr1 is reduced by only 42% on chromosomes bearing multiple amplicons relative to chromosomes carrying a single copy. We highlight 2 features of these results: 1) All amplicon break points occur in monomeric A/T tracts (9-45 bp). Given the abundance of these tracts in P. falciparum, we expect that duplications will occur frequently at multiple genomic locations and have been underestimated as drivers of phenotypic evolution in this pathogen. 2) The signature left by the spread of amplified genome segments is broad, but results in only limited reduction in diversity. If such "soft" sweeps are common in nature, statistical methods based on diversity reduction may be inefficient at detecting evidence for selection in genome-wide marker screens. This may be particularly likely when mutation rate is high, as appears to be the case for gene duplications, and in pathogen populations where effective population sizes are typically very large.