Plantation forestry is expanding rapidly in China to meet an increasing demand for wood and pulp products globally. Fungal pathogens including species of Calonectria represent a serious threat to the growth and sustainability of this industry. Surveys were conducted in the Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan Provinces of South China, where Eucalyptus trees in plantations or cuttings in nurseries displayed symptoms of leaf blight. Isolations from symptomatic leaves and soils collected close to infected trees resulted in a large collection of Calonectria isolates. These isolates were identified using the Consolidated Species Concept, employing morphological characters and DNA sequence comparisons for the β-tubulin, calmodulin, histone H3 and translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene regions. Twenty-one Calonectria species were identified of which 18 represented novel taxa. Of these, 12 novel taxa belonged to Sphaero-Naviculate Group and the remaining six to the Prolate Group. Southeast Asia appears to represent a centre of biodiversity for the Sphaero-Naviculate Group and this fact could be one of the important constraints to Eucalyptus forestry in China. The remarkable diversity of Calonectria species in a relatively small area of China and associated with a single tree species is surprising.

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The toxicological impact of traditional perfluoroalkyl chemicals has led to the elimination and restriction of these substances. However, many novel perfluoroalkyl alternatives remain unregulated and little is known about their potential effects on environmental and human health. Daily administration of two alternative perfluoroalkyl substances, HFPO2 and HFPO4 (1 mg kg body weight), for 28 days resulted in hepatomegaly and hepatic histopathological injury in mice, particularly in the HFPO4 group. We generated and compared high-throughput RNA-sequencing data from hepatic tissues in control and treatment group mice to clarify the mechanism of HFPO2 and HFPO4 hepatotoxicity. We identified 146 (101 upregulated, 45 downregulated) and 1295 (716 upregulated, 579 downregulated) hepatic transcripts that exhibited statistically significant changes (fold change ≥2 or ≤0.5, false discovery rate < 0.05) after HFPO2 and HFPO4 treatment, respectively. Among them, 111 (82 upregulated, 29 downregulated) transcripts were changed in both groups, and lipid metabolism associated genes were dominant. Thus, similar to their popular predecessors, HFPO2 and HFPO4 exposure exerted hepatic effects, including hepatomegaly and injury, and altered lipid metabolism gene levels in the liver, though HFPO4 exerted greater hepatotoxicity than HFPO2. The unregulated use of these emerging perfluoroalkyl alternatives may affect environmental and human health, and their biological effects need further exploration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose. To examine the public's views towards their choice of first-contact care and its associated factors in urban China. Methods. A mixed-method study was adopted using individual interviews, focus group interviews and a cross-sectional survey. The study was conducted among the general public between September 2014 and September 2015 in Zhejiang province, China. Results. Six focus groups and 13 individual interviews were conducted. The questionnaire was completed by 1248 respondents with a response rate of 83%. Survey results showed that 70% of the respondents preferred hospital-based services for first-contact care, it is especially the case with paediatric patients (83.3%). The qualitative data revealed that a major cause was the public distrust in the competence of primary care practitioners with lower educational qualifications. In the decision-making process, compared to cost factors like medical expenses and waiting times, participants attached greater emphasis on organizational characteristics. Respondents who rated sophisticated medical equipment, reputation of the facility, average education of doctors as important were significantly more inclined to choose hospital services. Respective adjusted odds ratios (AOR) were 2.14 (P < 0.001), 1.83 (P < 0.001) and 1.40 (P = 0.043) for their own conditions and 2.19 (P = 0.004), 1.94 (P = 0.002) and 1.86 (P = 0.003) for their children's conditions. Availability of medications and perceived severity of illness were also significantly associated with their choice of hospital services for their children. Conclusion. The public's preference for hospital-based services for first-contact care places a huge obstacle to promoting community-based primary care. Addressing the public's concerns about the primary care practitioners' competence is worth more efforts.

The Botryosphaeriaceae is a species-rich family that includes pathogens of a wide variety of trees, including Eucalyptus species. Symptoms typical of infection by the Botryosphaeriaceae have recently been observed in Eucalyptus plantations in South China. The aim of this study was to identify the Botryosphaeriaceae associated with these symptoms. Isolates were collected from branch cankers and senescent twigs of different Eucalyptus spp. All isolates resembling Botryosphaeriaceae were separated into groups based on conidial morphology. Initial identifications were made using PCR-RFLP fingerprinting, by digesting the ITS region of the rDNA operon with the restriction enzymes CfoI and KspI. Furthermore, to distinguish isolates in the Neofusicoccum parvum ⁄ N. ribis complex, a locus (BotF15) previously shown to define these species, was amplified and restricted with CfoI. Selected isolates were then identified using comparisons of DNA sequence data for the ITS rDNA and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF-1a) gene regions. Based on anamorph morphology and DNA sequence comparisons, five species were identified: Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae, L. theobromae, Neofusicoccum parvum, N. ribis sensu lato and one undescribed taxon, for which the name Fusicoccum fabicercianum sp. nov. is provided. Isolates of all species gave rise to lesions on the stems of an E. grandis clone in a glasshouse inoculation trial and on the stems of five Eucalyptus genotypes inoculated in the field, where L. pseudotheobromae and L. theobromae were most pathogenic. The five Eucalyptus genotypes differed in their susceptibility to the Botryosphaeriaceae species suggesting that breeding and selection offers opportunity for disease avoidance in the future.

The wide usage of antibiotics contributes to the increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella. Plasmids play a critical role in horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance markers in Salmonella. This study aimed to screen and characterize plasmid profiles responsible for antibiotic resistance in Salmonella and ultimately to clarify the molecular mechanism of transferable plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance. A total of 226 Salmonella isolates were examined for antimicrobial susceptibility by a disk diffusion method. Thirty-two isolates (14.2%) were resistant to at least one antibiotic. The presence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes and β-lactamase genes were established by PCR amplification. PCR-based replicon typing revealed that these 32 isolates represented seven plasmid incompatibility groups (IncP, HI2, A/C, FIIs, FIA, FIB, and I1), and the IncHI2 (59.4%) was predominant. Antibiotic resistance markers located on plasmids were identified through plasmid curing. Fifteen phenotypic variants were obtained with the curing efficiency of 46.9% (15/32). The cured plasmids mainly belong to the HI2 incompatibility group. The elimination of IncHI2 plasmids correlated with the loss of β-lactamase genes (blaOXA-1 and blaTEM-1) and PMQR genes (qnrA and aac(6′)-Ib-cr). Both IncHI2 and IncI1 plasmids in a S. enterica serovar Indiana isolate SJTUF 10584 were lost by curing. The blaCMY -2-carrying plasmid pS10584 from SJTUF 10584 was fully sequenced. Sequence analysis revealed that it possessed a plasmid scaffold typical for IncI1 plasmids with the unique genetic arrangement of IS1294-ΔISEcp1-blaCMY -2-blc-sugE-ΔecnR inserted into the colicin gene cia. These data suggested that IncHI2 was the major plasmid lineage contributing to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella and the activity of multiple mobile genetic elements may contribute to antibiotic resistance evolution and dissemination between different plasmid replicons.

The compound 6:2 chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonate (6:2 Cl-PFESA), an alternative to perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) in the metal-plating industry, has been widely detected in various environmental matrices. However, its hepatotoxicity has yet to be clarified. Here, male mice were exposed to 0.04, 0.2, or 1 mg/kg/day of 6:2 Cl-PFESA for 56 days. Results demonstrated that relative liver weight increased significantly in the 0.2 and 1 mg/kg/day 6:2 Cl-PFESA groups, whereas liver lipid accumulation increased in all 6:2 Cl-PFESA groups. Serum enzyme activities of alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase were increased. Serum triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol both increased, whereas serum total cholesterol and highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol decreased following 6:2 Cl-PFESA exposure. A total of 264 differentially expressed proteins (127 up-regulated and 137 down-regulated), mainly involved in lipid metabolism, xenobiotic metabolism, and ribosome biogenesis, were identified by quantitative proteomics. Bioinformatics analysis highlighted the de-regulation of PPAR and PXR, which may contribute to the hepatotoxicity of 6:2 Cl-PFESA. Additionally, 6:2 Cl-PFESA induced both cell apoptosis and proliferation in the mouse liver. Compared to the overt toxicity of PFOS, 6:2 Cl-PFESA exhibited more-serious hepatotoxicity. Thus, caution should be exercised in the application of 6:2 Cl-PFESA as a replacement alternative to PFOS in industrial areas.

Tomicus species (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) are serious pests of pines with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia and America. In Yunnan, south-western China, T. piniperda has destroyed more than 0.5 million ha of Pinus yunnanensis in the past 15 years. A blue stain fungus belonging to the genus Leptographium is associated with both the shoot-feeding and trunk-attacking stages of the beetle's life cycle. The fungus is morphologically similar to the anamorph of Ophiostoma crassivaginatum and to L. pyrinum, which are both characterised by short robust conidiophores and hyphae covered by a granular layer. Both these species have been isolated from conifers and are associated with insects. After comparing the fungus from T. piniperda with similar Leptographium species, using light and scanning electron microscopy, we concluded that it represents a new taxon, which is described here as L. yunnanense sp. nov.