Identification, pathogenicity, and fungicide sensitivity of Eutiarosporella dactylidis associated with leaf blight on maize in China

Maize(Zea mays L.) is an economically vital grain crop that is cultivated worldwide. In 2011, a maize foliar disease was detected in Lingtai and Lintao counties in Gansu Province, China. The characteristic signs and symptoms of this disease include irregular chlorotic lesions on the tips and edges of infected leaves and black punctate fruiting bodies in dead leaf tissues. Given favourable environmental conditions, this disease spread to areas surrounding Gansu. In this study, infected leaves were collected from Gansu and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region between 2018and 2020 to identify the disease-causing pathogen. Based on morphological features, pathogenicity tests, and multilocus phylogenetic analysis involving internal transcribed spacer(ITS), 18S small subunit rDNA(SSU), 28S large subunit rDNA(LSU), translation elongation factor 1-alpha(TEF), and β-tubulin(TUB) sequences, Eutiarosporella dactylidis was identified as the causative pathogen of this newly discovered leaf blight. Furthermore, an in vitro bioassay was conducted on representative strains using six fungicides, and both fludioxonil and carbendazim were found to significantly inhibit the mycelial growth of E. dactylidis. The results of this study provide a reference for the detection and management of Eutiarosporella leaf blight.

Comparative Study on the Trans-Province Transfer of the Multiple Trauma Patients after Sichuan Earthquake

Background: Trans-province transfer of the patients has been successfully carried out and has greatly relieved the burden of the hospitals in Sichuan Province after Sichuan earthquake. The aim of the study was to retrospectively analyze the efficacy and feasibility of the trans-province transfer of the multiple trauma patients after Sichuan earthquake. Methods: A retrospective and descriptive analysis was conducted based on the medical records of the multiple trauma patients (ISS ≥ 16) transferred to the Grade 3A hospitals outside Sichuan province. The patients were divided into two groups based on the distance to Sichuan province, i.e., Group A (the seismic patients transferred to Chongqing) and Group B (the seismic patients transferred to the other provinces/ municipalities). A comparison was done in aspects of distance of transfer, time from injury to transfer, vital signs, the infection rates (at transfer and on discharge), injury severity and prognostic indices (cure rate, disability rate and mortality). Results: The distance between Chengdu and the other places was at a wide range of 313 - 1653 km, whereas the time from injury to transfer showed no statistical difference between groups (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences between both groups with respects to patient demographics, injury mechanism, time from injury to transfer, vital signs, infection rate and injury severity. The prognostic indices showed no significant difference, except for FIM scores (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of the study indicate that the different distance of the transfer of the multiple trauma patients does not aggravate the severity or deteriorate the prognosis, which proves that the medical supportive transfer system is acceptable, effective and worthy of further implementation in China, which may be ascribed to the advanced transportation system and high level of therapeutic capacity of the hospitals. In the meantime, attention should be paid to psychological intervention and functional rehabilitation during the treatment of the transferred seismic patients.

Clinical development of chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy for hematological malignancies

Cellular therapies have revolutionized the treatment of hematological malignancies since their conception and rapid development.Chimeric antigen receptor(CAR)-T cell therapy is the most widely applied cellular therapy.Since the Food and Drug Administration approved two CD19-CAR-T products for clinical treatment of relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B cell lymphoma in 2017,five more CAR-T cell products were subsequently approved for treating multiple myeloma or B cell malignancies.Moreover,clinical trials of CAR-T cell therapy for treating other hematological malignancies are ongoing.Both China and the United States have contributed significantly to the development of clinical trials.However,CAR-T cell therapy has many limitations such as a high relapse rate,adverse side effects,and restricted availability.Various methods are being implemented in clinical trials to address these issues,some of which have demonstrated promising breakthroughs.This review summarizes developments in CAR-T cell trials and advances in CAR-T cell therapy.

Reduced ABO blood group antibody titers in patients after CD19 CAR-T cell therapy

1.INTRODUCTION With rapid developments in genetic engineering,tumor immunology,and cellular engineering,chimeric antigen receptor T cell(CAR-T)cell therapy has become a novel immunotherapy for oncology and other medical fields.1 The promising results of CD19 CAR-T treating B-cell malignancies were reported.2,3 Simultaneously,there existed many adverse events,the most reported of which including B-cell aplasia,hematological toxicity,cytokine release syndrome(CRS),and immune effector-cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome(ICANS),3,4 but there is still lack of reports demonstrating the impact of CD19 CAR-T on the ABO blood group potency of patient’s serum.