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Four Ligularia individuals possessing morphological characters of both L. nelumbifolia and L. subspicata were discovered in Shangrila County, Yunnan Province, China. DNA sequencing showed that the specimens were hybrids of the two species and their maternal parent was L. subspicata. The chemical composition of the root extract was examined for three of them as well as L. nelumbifolia and L. subspicata collected sympatrically. Nelumol was isolated from L. nelumbifolia, and furanoeremophilanes from L. subspicata. 1hile nelumol and furanoeremophilanes were detected in two of the hybrid samples, only furanoeremophilanes were detected in the others.

The chemical constituents of the root extracts and the evolutionarily neutral DNA base sequences were studied for 28 samples of Ligularia duciformis, L. kongkalingensis, and L. nelumbifolia collected in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces of China. The samples could be classified into four chemotypes (1-4). Sesquiterpenoids having eremophilane and oplopane skeletons were isolated from two (Chemotype 1) and three (Chemotype 2) samples, respectively. Two new oplopane derivatives were isolated and their structures were determined. In 18 samples, phenylpropenoids were the major components (Chemotype 3). In five samples, neither phenylpropenoids nor sesquiterpenoids were found (Chemotype 4). Despite this large chemical variety, no correlation was found between the chemotype and the morphological criteria of species identification. The analysis of the evolutionarily neutral DNA regions also indicated that the samples were not separated into distinct clades and that introgression was extensive., (Copyright © 2012 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.)

Different language versions of the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) have been developed, but no studies have evaluated measurement equivalence between the respective non-English and English versions. We investigated differential item functioning (DIF) of the English and Chinese versions using a multidimensional item response theory approach. A community sample of 409 American smokers completed the English version (n=241) and the Chinese version (n=168). Results indicated two correlated dimensions (morning and daytime nicotine dependence) of the FTND and one item (difficult to refrain) showing significant large DIF, suggesting respondents using the Chinese version were more likely to endorse this item and report more difficulty to refrain from smoking at various public places even after controlling for the nicotine dependence level. However, the impact of this DIF item was found negligible on the scale level, suggesting the acceptability of conducting scale-level analysis using both language versions. Further analysis revealed that the reliabilities of two dimensions did not meet the commonly accepted standard. Suggestions were made to improve scale reliabilities of the FTND.