Application of Functional Markers to Identify Genes for Bacterial Blight Resistance in Oryza rufipogon

Field resistances of nine accessions of common wild rice （Oryza rufipogon Griff.） and one rice variety （IR24） were evaluated by using nine strains of bacterial blight pathogen （Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae） from the Philippines. IR24 was highly susceptible to all the strains, and six common wild rice accessions resisted all the nine strains, with a resistance frequency of 67%. The accessions Yulin and Wanning were only susceptible to PXO280 and PXO71, respectively. The accession Gaozhou was susceptible to the three strains PXO79, PXO99 and PXO339, whereas resistant to the other six strains. It could be concluded that there is at least one resistance gene in each common wild rice accession. The functional markers of the genes xa5, xa13, Xa21 and Xa27 were used to detect the presence of these resistance genes in the nine tested wild rice accessions, and it was found that four wild rice accessions contained heterozygous xa13. Among the nine common wild rice accessions, five were homozygous for Xa27 and three homozygous for xa27, and the accession Laibin contained neither xa27 nor Xa27. In addition, there were no xa5 and Xa21 in all of these accessions.

Microstructural Damage Evaluation of High Alumina Castables with Addition of Different Dimensions of Functional Aggregates After Several Thermal Shock Cycles

Refractory materials are subjected to mechanical and chemical loads during application,which respectively lead to fracture and corrosion. The understanding of the mechanical fracture and the microstructural modification after progressive thermal shocks is necessary for the suitable design of high performance refractory materials.The fracture process zone can be divided into two areas,where different toughening mechanisms are likely to take place： the crack tip and the following process region called wake region. In this study,the emphasis is laid on the microstructural mechanisms occurring in the wake region of the crack and the crack tip. Therefore,functional aggregates,namely fused eutectic aggregates of Al2O3- ZrO 2- SiO 2and Al2O3- ZrO 2,and andalusite,are added to a model high alumina castable formulation based on tabular alumina. The discrepancy in thermal behavior between aggregates and matrix as well as phase transformation such as mullite formation favor further the nucleation of microcracks that reduce the stress field at the level of the crack tip. Two different grain fractions of tabular alumina（ 0. 2- 0. 6 mm or2. 24- 3. 00 mm） are substituted by these functional aggregates. After sintering at 1 500 ℃ for 6 h,the samplesare quenched up to 10 times in air without pressure from950 ℃ to room temperature. The resulting elastic properties are examined after each thermal shock cycle,as well as the residual bending strength after 0,1,3,5,7and 10 thermal shocks. These results are correlated with Scanning Electron Microscopy analyses after the different thermal shock cycles.

Advances on Rare Earth Application in Pollution Ecology

The use of rare earth for inducing plant resistance was reviewed. The important developments in recent years were described, and rare earth can alleviate the pollution of acid rain, ozone, pesticide, heavy metals etc. in environment. The authors suggest that the mechanism of rare earth to inducing plant resistance and reducing plant injury is to control biochemical metabolism web in plant cell, to adjust its protection system of free radical, to maintain its photosynthesis, to protect cell membrane system and to carry through its function on mineral metabolism. Meanwhile some problems in the field were discussed as well.

Renal sympathetic denervation reduces left ventricular hypertrophy and improves cardiac function in patients with resistant hypertension

This study investigated the effect of catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation （RD） on left ventricular hypertrophy （LVH） and systolic and diastolic function in patients with resistant hypertension. LVH and diastolic dysfunction are associated with elevated sympathetic activity and increased morbidity and mortality. The effect of RD on LVH and LV function is unclear