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The patient was an 18-year-old man who had suffered from various visual symptoms as follows since he was 17 years old: 1) a diagonal line appeared in his visual field, shifting his upper field of view to the right and his lower field of view to the left; 2) his whole vision seemed distorted with ripples; and 3) black spots covered parts of his visual field and moved up and down. These visual symptoms were followed by out-of-body experience (OBE), which he felt as seeing his own body apart from his left back. Headache attacks followed these symptoms. On brain MRI, bilateral occipital atrophy was suspected. An electroencephalogram showed intermittent irregular delta in the bilateral occipital area. No epileptiform discharges were observed. We finally diagnosed him as having migraine with multiple visual auras and OBE. He was very well treated with a small dose of valproic acid which he tolerated well. OBE rarely occurs in migraine and should be distinguished from epilepsy.

The nanocrystal (NC) form of zero-dimensional perovskite (Cs4PbBr6) has attracted a great deal of attention due to both its elusive green emission and phase-pure nature, which has posed a major challenge to the impurity theory used to explain CsPbBr3 being an emitter. In this work, we revisit the NC formation process in real time by using an in situ photoluminescence (PL) monitoring system. Through analyzing the evolution of the PL spectra, the formation process was divided into two stages, namely the nucleation stage and growing stage, which were well explained by the LaMer mechanism and the Ostwald ripening model. In addition, the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami (JMA) model was used to simulate the transformation from non-emissive Cs4PbBr6 to green-emitting Cs4PbBr6, and the ensuing activation energy (Ea = 39.0 ± 5.0 kJ mol−1) was extracted. Importantly, an accompanied transformation from “white spots” to “black spots” was observed, which suggested that the black spots were responsible for PL emission despite their amorphous nature. Our work represents a step forward in unraveling the PL origin of the Cs4PbBr6 phase, although the nature of the white and black spots remained elusive.

Citrus fruit diseases are the major cause of extreme citrus fruit yield declines. As a result, designing an automated detection system for citrus plant diseases is important. Deep learning methods have recently obtained promising results in a number of artificial intelligence issues, leading us to apply them to the challenge of recognizing citrus fruit and leaf diseases. In this paper, an integrated approach is used to suggest a convolutional neural networks (CNNs) model. The proposed CNN model is intended to differentiate healthy fruits and leaves from fruits/leaves with common citrus diseases such as black spot, canker, scab, greening, and Melanose. The proposed CNN model extracts complementary discriminative features by integrating multiple layers. The CNN model was checked against many state-of-the-art deep learning models on the Citrus and PlantVillage datasets. According to the experimental results, the CNN Model outperforms the competitors in a variety of measurement metrics. The CNN Model has a test accuracy of 94.55 percent, making it a valuable decision support tool for farmers looking to classify citrus fruit/leaf diseases.

The paper presents the results of field and laboratory studies on the disease diversity in sorghum and Sudan grass. It is found that leaf spotting in sorghum in the wooded-steppe of the Middle Volga region is caused by a broader range of pathogens than previously assumed, whilst the symptoms of damage caused by different types of fungi might be similar in occurrence. It is of paramount importance to proceed with phyto-examination of the seeds with further identification of the accumulated infection sources in the seed material under field conditions, at the time of harvest and during subsequent processing of the seed material in seed refiners, etc. For that to happen, the leaves with distinct spotting occurrence are collected and, given the preliminary storage of the material in humidity cabinet, are examined in the laboratory employing microscopic techniques. On the leaves of grain sorghum collected over the vegetation season of 2018 and dried up to be preserved as herbarium, the dark purple coming near to black spots of various sizes and shapes were predominantly observed. When identifying leaf pathogens, the fungi were largely detected and identified, i.e.: Alternaria tenuissima, Botrytis cenerea, Trichothecium roseum. In 2019, the leaves touched by spotting were already picked from different specimen varieties of sorghum and Sudan grass; and their identification was carried out with regard to dissimilar occurrence of symptoms during the period of plant vegetation. In the spotted areas of the infected leaves, there were mycelium and sporulation revealed of the fungi as follows: Cladosporium herbarum genera (82.1% of all specimens studied), Alternaria sp. (71.1%) and Verticillium sp. (71.4%). The midrange frequency of occurrence was estimated for Trichothecium roseum (53.6%), Helminthosporium sp. (42.9%), Cercospora sorghi (39.3%), Fusarium sp. (35.7%). Besides, the bacterial infection was discovered as well in 32.1% of the specimens.

Road safety is the main problem in developing countries. Every year, millions of people die in road traffic accidents, resulting in huge losses of humankind and the economy. This study focuses on the road traffic accident analysis and identification of black spots on the Lahore-Islamabad Highway M-2. Official data of road traffic accidents were collected from National Highway and Highway Police (NH & MP) Pakistan. The data was digitized on MS Excel and Origin Pro. The accident Point weightage (APW) method was employed to identify the black spots and rank of the top ten black spots. The analysis shows that the trend of road traffic accidents on M-2 was characterized by a high rate of fatal accidents of 35.3%. Human errors account for 66.8% as the major contributing factors in road traffic accidents, while vehicle errors (25.6%) and environmental factors (7.6%) were secondary and tertiary contributing factors. The main causes of road traffic accidents were the dozing on the wheel (27.9%), the careless driving (24.6%), tyre burst (11.7%), and the brakes failure (7.4%). Kallar Kahar (Salt Range) was identified as a black spot (223 km, 224 km, 225 km, 229 km, and 234 km) due to vehicle brake failure. The human error was a major contributory factor in road traffic accidents, therefore public awareness campaign on road safety is inevitable and use of the dozen alarm to overcome dozing on the wheel. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2020-03091629 Full Text: PDF

Cercospora coffeicola is the causal agent of brown eye spot, an important disease of coffee (Coffea arabica) in Brazil. However, atypical symptom as darker and larger lesions, named black spot, has been reported in field. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the causal agent of black spot belongs to the same species pathogenic to brown eye spot. Nineteen strains obtained from diseased coffee found in the five largest coffee-producing states of Brazil were characterized by a combination of molecular phylogenic methods, using a multi-locus approach (internal transcribed spacer regions and intervening 5.8S nrRNAs, actin, calmodulin, histone H3, and translation elongation factor 1-alpha), analyses of morphological markers and pathogenicity. Strains from brown eye spot and black spot disease on coffee leaves formed a clade with C. coffeicola strain from Japan. All strains showed same morphological characteristics and caused brown eye spot symptoms in greenhouse. These results confirm that the species associated with brown eye spot and black spot disease on coffee leaves is C. coffeicola. Additionally, an epitype is proposed for C. coffeicola.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought several changes to people's routine habits. Educating the public about the importance of washing and disinfecting hands as often as possible and the use of personal protective equipment such as masks, googles or face shields to avoid disease transmission and sunbathing habits to get the benefits of sunlight for health and the immune system has an impact on behavior changes on the community. These new habits can bring a negative effect to the skin. The use of disinfectants and personal protective equipment can cause allergic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, skin maceration, secondary fungal infection and acne. Sunbathing can cause changes in skin pigmentation, the appearance of black spots, the skin looks dull and rough and accelerates the appearance of premature wrinkles on the skin. Proper skin care routine during this pandemic situation is essential to maintain skin healthy and avoid skin problems due to the use of disinfectants or PPE. The use of emollients, moisturizers and barrier creams can prevent skin problems to happen. Skin moisturizers can be used regularly after hand washing and before using personal protective equipment. When it comes to maintaining healthy skin during pandemic, skin care routine consists of facial cleansers, toners, moisturizers, serums, morning creams and night creams are also recommended to keep the skin healthy and slow the appearance of premature aging signs on the skin. This activity aims to provide a better understanding to people especially worker how to prevent skin problems and how to maintain healthy skin during pandemic.

Background Peach scab, caused by Venturia carpophila, can significantly reduce both the yield and quality of peach fruit. It is difficult to distinguish peach scab from other peach diseases such as black spot and bacterial spot. An efficient assay is needed to identify V. carpophila in order to develop scientific management strategies. Results A set of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) primers was designed based on the internal transcribed spacer (rDNA-ITS) sequence to detect V. carpophila. Compared with the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, the LAMP method not only exhibited higher sensitivity and specificity in the detection of V. carpophila, but also required simpler equipment and less operational time. The minimum detectable concentration of V. carpophila genomic DNA with the LAMP method was 56.6 fg μl-1 , which was 100 times lower than with the conventional PCR method. When eight fungal species including V. carpophila (23 isolates from 14 provinces) and one bacterial species were used with LAMP detection, only V. carpophila showed a color change, from brown to yellowish green, and ladder-like bands in electrophoresis, indicating successful amplification. Moreover, when crude DNAs of peach fruit samples were used in LAMP detection, amplification was observed only from diseased fruits, and not from healthy fruits and the negative control. Conclusion The LAMP assay shows simplicity, rapidity, high sensitivity and specificity, and will be useful in distinguishing scab caused by Venturia carpophila from other diseases with similar symptoms. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

A new species of the genus Goniurosaurus is described based on three specimens collected from a limestone cave in Huaiji County, Guangdong Province, China. Based on molecular phylogenetic analyses, the new species is nested within the Goniurosaurus yingdeensis species group. However, morphological analyses cannot ascribe it to any known species of that group. It is distinguished from the other three species in the group by a combination of the following characters: scales around midbody 121–128; dorsal tubercle rows at midbody 16–17; presence of 10–11 precloacal pores in males, and absent in females; nuchal loop and body bands immaculate, without black spots; iris orange, gradually darker on both sides. The discovery of yet another limestone-adapted species of Goniurosaurus in Guangdong Province underscores a growing body of evidence for the high biodiversity of limestone habitats and brings into sharp focus the urgent need for their conservation.

A definition of the Goniurosaurus yingdeensis group is presented in this study, on the basis of morphological and phylogenetic analyses based on a series of additional specimens. Moreover, a new species of this group, Goniurosaurus variussp. nov., is proposed for northern Guangdong Province, China. The new species can be distinguished from the other two congeners of this group by the following unique characters: one or two internasals; enlarged supraorbital tubercles absent; paravertebral tubercles between limb insertions 27–29; dorsal tubercle rows at midbody 21–24; ten precloacal pores in males and absent in females; body bands with black spots; iris orange-red.

Background: Gossypiboma refers to incidences of retained foreign bodies usually forgotten within the abdominal cavity at the end of an operation. It may be a surgical sponge, gauze pad, or other forms of textiles, instruments. Aims and objective: To try and identify the factors which are responsible for the formation of Gossypiboma. Material and method: A Retrospective study was carried out in patients presented with postop (following open surgery) complications; diagnosis is made first followed by looking into possible causative factors. Results: In our study of 900 patients (age group>20 yrs; underwent open surgery in past); Out of 900 patients included in the study, it was found that 5 patients were found to have retained foreign objects in the abdomen. Among four patients two were operated for caesarian-section, one for open cholecystectomy, and one underwent laparotomy for intestinal perforation. The Surgical safety checklist was not being followed in all five cases; the adequacy and compatibility of OT staff was questionable in 2 cases. Conclusion: By following standard surgical protocol of Surgical safety checklist along with proper teamwork (good rapport and communication among the dedicated OT staffs and operating surgeon); allocation of ample working hours; regular teaching and training of OT staff personnel about the maintenance of standard surgical protocols and finally addressing the consequences of legal repercussions as well as ignominy faced by hospital administration; such rarely occurring incidences can be minimized to never happening incidence. Keywords: Gossypiboma, Mops, Sponge, Surgical safety checklist.

In agricultural ecosystems, weeds indirectly affect crops via phytophagous insects that feed on both weeds and crops. In paddy fields, heteropteran insects are among the most serious pests of rice plants. In some heteropterans, the proboscis is used to suck rice ears, inducing black spots on the grains (i.e., pecky rice). Even a low proportion of pecky rice (>0.1%) significantly decreases the market price of rice; in Japan, this problem has led to severe economic losses. Because heteropterans feed on the reproductive organs of weeds as well as rice plants, various weeds that grow around paddy fields may increase the populations of heteropterans that cause pecky rice. To clarify which types of weeds can be used by heteropterans causing pecky rice, we investigated the interactions between plants (including rice plants) and heteropterans in an agricultural landscape in Hyogo, Japan. We observed 833 individuals of 27 heteropteran species (13 families) feeding on the reproductive organs of 35 plant species (Poales: three families) including rice plants from June to October 2019. All heteropteran species were native, whereas six of 35 plant species were non‐native. We found 12 heteropteran species on rice plants; nine of the 12 heteropteran species fed on weeds (a total of 32 species) as well as rice plants, whereas the other three species fed exclusively on rice plants. Heteropterans fed on native weeds throughout the growing seasons (June–October), but on non‐native weeds only before rice plants bloomed (June–July). Therefore, diverse weed species that grow around paddy fields are food resources for heteropteran insects and they might indirectly increase the incidence of pecky rice.

Ayan Mammadkhanova, Aziz Mehtiyev, Tural Galbinur From the Ophthalmologi Division Prime National Hospital, Baku Azerbaijan; Department of Ophthalmology Azerbaijan Medical University, Baku, Azerbaijan Corresponding Author Tural Galbinur Received: August 7, 2020; Published: September, 2020 Abstract We present a clinical case of macular burn as a result of the effect of laser pointer observed in our 14-year-old patient. The laser pointer was a class IIIb laser according to the classification of laser power (based on the wavelength and output power of the laser). The patient focused the laser beam on his eyes for a few seconds and then noticed a black spot on both eyes. Examinations revealed decreased visual acuity in both eyes, and spectral-domain optical coherent tomography (SD-OCT) and fluorescent angiography (FAQ) revealed defects in the outer lamellar layers of the retina. Topical corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drops were used for treatment. Re-examination after 3 months showed some clinical improvement, but there were persistent effects.

Chinese kale black spot disease is caused by the fungus Alternaria brassicicola (Schw.), which is one of the most significant destructive pathogens that attacks vegetable crops, especially Chinese kale. Currently, the pathogen management is achieved by using synthetic fungicides, but these are harmful to human health and tend to be expensive. Consequently, there is an urgent need to find alternative management options. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antagonistic activity of Talaromyces flavus (Klocker) Stolk and Samson Bodhi001, Talaromyces trachyspermus (Shear) Stolk and Samson Bodhi002, Talaromyces flavus (Klocker) Stolk and Samson Bodhi003, Neosartorya fischeri (Wehmer) Malloch and Cain, Bodhi004, Eupenicillium sp., and Gongronella butleri (Lendn.) Peyronel and Dal Vesco in in vitro tests for the control of A. brassicicola causing Chinese kale black spot disease under greenhouse conditions. The in vitro tests showed that among the tested pathogens, T. flavus Bodhi001 inhibited the mycelial growth of A. brassicicola by 65% in a dual culture method and formed an inhibition zone 0.8–0.9 cm wide. Under greenhouse conditions, spore suspensions of 106 spores mL−1 of Eupenicillium sp., T. flavus Bodhi001, T. trachyspermus Bodhi002, N. fischeri Bodhi004, G. butleri, and T. flavus Bodhi003 effectively reduced and suppressed the incidence of black spots caused by A. brassicicola at 30 days after transplanting (DAT). However, the greatest suppression of the development of black spots in terms of disease incidence was 32.56% and occurred when plants were treated with the spore suspension of T. flavus Bodhi001 once at 30 DAT and again at 40 DAT compared to a water control. The results of this study indicated that T. flavus Bodhi001 could provide protection for Chinese kale, and is a promising biological control agent against A. brassicicola.

The traffic safety screening could provide guidance for determining the use of resources for traffic safety improvements and is critical for the traffic management. To account for the impacts of traffic safety and the effects of intersection as a node in the roadway network, a framework with six indicators and four strategies is proposed for intersection traffic safety screening. The traffic flow has been incorporated into the process of developing three indicators from the perspective of the complex network theory to measure the node importance. For the assessment of traffic safety, other than the observed and estimated crash frequency and modified time-to-collision, a distance that describes the nonlane-based movements has been proposed from the perspective of traffic safety. A multilayer entropy-weighted VIKOR (MEW-VIKOR) approach is proposed to compute the ranking results, and four strategies have been developed to better account for the effects of the six indicators simultaneously. A roadway network with 28 intersections in Shenzhen has been adopted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed framework for intersection traffic safety screening. The results indicate that the proposed framework with two layers could represent the features of traffic safety and the characteristics of node importance and satisfy the expectation from the public, government, and research institutes. With an appropriate threshold setting, the ranking results are consistent with the intersection safety investigation and contribute significantly to the reduction of false-positive and false-negative cases in identifying the black spot intersections.

The article examines the intersections of the most accidental streets of Vilnius, which are classified as black spots, and provides suggestions on how to rearrange them. The statistics of traffic accidents are analyzed to identify the most accident-prone streets. Dangerous intersections are identified by the black spot methodology. The technical parameters of the most accident-prone streets, the behavior of pedestrians and cyclists at intersections are analyzed. After analyzing the factors that determine the accident, solutions are proposed to help reduce the number of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists. Article in Lithuanian. Pėsčiųjų ir dviratininkų saugumo analizė avaringiausiose Vilniaus miesto gatvėse Santrauka Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos avaringiausių Vilniaus miesto gatvių sankryžos, kurios priskiriamos juodosioms dėmėms, bei pateikiami pasiūlymai, kaip jas pertvarkyti. Siekiant nustatyti avaringiausias gatves analizuojama įskaitinių eismo įvykių statistika. Pavojingos sankryžos nustatomos juodųjų dėmių metodika. Analizuojami avaringiausių gatvių techniniai parametrai, pėsčiųjų ir dviratininkų elgesys sankryžose. Išanalizavus veiksnius, lemiančius avaringumą, siūlomi sprendiniai, padėsiantys sumažinti eismo įvykių, kurių metu nukenčia pėstieji ir dviratininkai, skaičių. Reikšminiai žodžiai: inžinerinės eismo saugumo priemonės, įskaitiniai eismo įvykiai, juodosios dėmės, pėsčiųjų ir dviratininkų saugumas.

Tropospheric ozone stress adversely affects crop cultivars growth and productivity variably. The variable response of crop cultivars raised the need for identification of ozone (O3) stress-tolerant cultivars as an adaptive option. In the present study, forty cultivars of Amaranthus hypochondriacus were screened for susceptibility and tolerance to ozone stress. The cultivars were exposed to ambient (AO3) and elevated (EO3) ozone levels in free air ozone enrichment (FAOE) facility and monitored for foliar ozone injury symptoms appearance and yield attributes response. Foliar ozone injury symptoms on Amaranthus cultivars were interveinal yellow or black spots. Foliar ozone injury was observed in almost half of the cultivars and the maximum foliar injury (> 75%) was observed in cultivar IC-5527. The maximum yield reduction (> 90%) was observed in cultivars IC-4200 (94.9%) and IC-5569 (91.4%) compared to other cultivars. The results showed that Amaranthus cultivars exhibited variable response towards ozone stress where foliar ozone injury does not always correspond with grain yield reductions. Among the indices, Relative Yield Index (RYI), Stress tolerance (TOL), Abiotic Tolerance Index (ATI), Susceptibility Index (S) and Stress Susceptibility Index (SSSI) were positively correlated with relative yield loss in all the cultivars under ozone stress. With the help of cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA), the cultivars were categorized into ozone tolerant, moderately ozone tolerant and ozone susceptible category. The most tolerant cultivars were IC-5527 and IC-1733 which exhibited lower yield losses whereas the most susceptible cultivars were IC-3599 and IC-7924 having high foliar injury and maximum yield losses as compared to other cultivars. The most ozone tolerant cultivars of Amaranthus identified in this study may be recommended for cultivation to farmers in the areas experiencing EO3 during the Amaranthus crop growth period.

Introduction: This study proves that the procedure of inspecting road traffic accident black spots (RTA BS) needs improvement. This improvement is to involve the tools and insights associated with the targeted program approach, as well as a road infrastructure indicator system, and information technology tools. The creation of a road infrastructure indicator system and its comprehensive application, coupled with analytical methods and accident prediction system methods, enables the assessment of measures aimed at reducing the number of RTAs. Accounting for information technology tools and systems (such as the digital traffic safety inquiries desk) is also necessary if traffic safety is to be organized and maintained in a systemic way. Purpose of the study: The study is aimed at finding a new approach to improving the procedure of inspecting RTA black spots. Methods: In the course of the study, we use systemic analysis, analytical methods, traffic safety evaluation based on defining the safety and accident coefficients and revealing RTA black spots, probability theory methods, research results processing, and IT computational methods. Results: We provide a rationale for a comprehensive approach to inspecting RTA black spots within the “traffic participant – vehicle – road – external environment” system. We also demonstrate how a group of parameters can be used for studying the systemic indicators of road infrastructure, in the context of the parameters’ characteristics, as well as the conditions of their use. We determine the capabilities of analytical methods, as well as accident prediction methods, in the context of finding an approach to improving the procedure of inspecting RTA black spots. We propose applying a comprehensive approach to the improvement of the RTA BS inspection procedure.

The increase in motor vehicles accompanied with expansion of roads has brought with it the challenge of addressing the adverse influence of road traffic accidents. Road incidents are a nationwide cataclysm with ever increasing trend which incurs a human health and development challenge and highly affect the human capital development of every nation. A mortality rate database (WHO, 2002) assures that India has highest number of accidents. Accident Black Spots are those locations on the road which have higher severity of accident either in terms of numbers or in terms of injuries. In this paper, efforts have been made to identify the location of accident black spots on national highway from singhpora pattan to panthachowk srinagar.The present era accidents are contributing major deaths worldwide due to increase in vehicular traffic.It has been estimated that every year 1.38 lakh lose their limbs and 6 lakh people get injured in road accidents in india.our country incurs a loss of 58000 crore each year due to road accidents. The most used roads to travel from jalandhar in punjab to uri in kashmir is NH-1A.The old name for NH-44 is NH-1A which was replaced after renumbering of all national highways in year 2010. In this report,the analysis includes study of some major accident spots or busy intersections in the NH-1A in between Pantha chowkh Srinagar to Singhpora Pattan.The study includes visiting sites,collecting required data for analysis and derives the results and remedies from what we had got. This report will be containing the material surveyed,pictures of road at different locations ,road details,figures,material for understanding of the unknown and finally the conclusion

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of using overripe banana and plantain mixed with maize to develop composite flours for making doughnuts. The fresh pulp of banana or plantain at maturity stage 7 (appearance of black spots on the surfaces of their peels) was substituted by maize flour at levels of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35% for composite flours production. The sensory properties of flours were evaluated to prepare doughnuts. Banana or plantain fresh pulps compared with maize flour showed significant (p 0.05) in the overall acceptability (7.46 ± 1.26 to 8.14 ± 1.21) of banana and plantain doughnuts in 35% incorporation of maize. Furthermore, the results revealed that more than 33% of the panelist greatly like the doughnuts made from composite flours. Technically, organoleptically acceptable doughnuts were formulated from banana-maize and plantain-maize composite flours using 65:35 (w/w) ratio of banana:maize and plantain:maize mixtures.

Marssonina brunnea, the causative pathogen of Marssonina leaf spot of poplars (MLSP), devastates poplar plantations by forming black spots on leaves and defoliating trees. Although MLSP has been studied for over 30 years, the key genes that function during M. brunnea infection and their effects on plant growth are poorly understood. Here, we used multigene association studies to investigate the effects of key genes in the plant-pathogen interaction pathway, as revealed by transcriptome analysis, on photosynthesis and growth in a natural population of 435 Populus tomentosa individuals. By analyzing transcriptomic changes during three stages of infection, we detected 628 transcription factor genes among the 7,611 differentially expressed genes that might be associated with basal defense responses. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses revealed that transcriptomic changes across different stages of infection lead to the reprogramming of metabolic processes possibly related to defense activation. We identified 29,399 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 221 full-length genes in plant-pathogen interaction pathways that were significantly associated with photosynthetic and growth traits. We also detected 4,460 significant epistatic pairs associated with stomatal conductance, tree diameter, and tree height. Epistasis analysis uncovered significant interactions between 2,561 SNP-SNP pairs from different functional modules in the plant-pathogen interaction pathway, revealing possible genetic interactions. This analysis revealed many key genes that function during M. brunnea infection and their potential roles in mediating photosynthesis and plant growth, shedding light on genetic interactions between functional modules in the plant-pathogen interaction pathway.

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the most cultured and available fish for Kenyan consumers, and therefore, any tilapine disease deprives them the valuable source of protein. Nile tilapia farm was diagnosed with severe concurrent black spot disease and multiple bacteriosis using gross lesions and parasitological, histopathology, and standard bacteriological procedures. A total of 25 fish were sampled and inspected, and all of them had raised, macroscopic 1 mm-sized black spot lesions. The mean intensity of black spots per fish was 728 with an abundance of 2–1740 metacercariae cysts per fish. A high intensity of black spot infestation was observed in the fins (43.9%), skin and underlying muscles (18.3%), and gills (18%). In addition, histopathological data confirmed presence of a metacercaria of Neascus spp. as the aetiological agent of black spot disease. Furthermore, a thick fibrous capsule around the metacercaria, black pigment melanomacrophages, and moderate muscle atrophy were observed. The most prevalent bacteria isolated were Aeromonas, Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Micrococcus luteus. Physicochemical parameters of pond water were temperature (28.2°C), dissolved oxygen (4.2 mgl−1), pH (8.5), ammonia free nitrogen (15.8 mgl−1), alkalinity (112 mgl−1), hardness (68 mgl−1), nitrites (0.058 mgl−1), nitrates (58 mgl−1), and phosphates (0.046 mgl−1). However, the levels of nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, and ammonia free nitrogen exceeded the recommended limits. In conclusion, these findings suggest that coinfections by these organisms coupled by water quality-related stress can be associated with low-grade mortality observed in postfingerling tilapia as well as reduced growth. The authors recommended immediate destocking, thorough disinfection, and control of piscivorous birds. Moreover, attention ought to be geared towards prevention of parasitic infestations in fish so as to minimize fish deaths related to secondary bacteriosis. Further experimental studies should be carried out to elucidate the relationship of these pathogens.

A new Puntius species is described from a freshwater stream of Kerala, India. It is related to Puntius mahecola, P. amphibius, P. euspilurus, and P. kyphus; all these are small elongate fishes with laterally compressed body having a non-ossified and weak last simple dorsal fin ray. But the new fish shows a number of differences from its close relative species. It can be distinguished from its congeners in having a pointed and unusually elongated snout, a weak and non-osseous last simple dorsal fin ray, 23-24 lateral line scales, 2 ½ scales between lateral line and ventral fin, 7-8 predorsal scales, and a distinct golden or yellow ring surrounding its large caudal black spot on posterior most lateral line scales. The new fish is not uncommon in the water bodies of Kazargod; it is edible and can be used as ornamental fish. The new species is taxonomically analyzed and compared with its congeners.

Road safety is a global concern particularly in developing countries where some road sections are disproportionately more vulnerable in terms of the frequency and severity of crashes. Other than using historical crash data based reactive approaches, those sections need to be identified proactively, so that mitigation measures can be applied. Moreover, those approaches are sometimes questioned mainly due to data reliability issues in developing countries. The study reported here is aimed at highlighting the applicability of traffic conflict techniques as surrogate safety measures to identify those sections of a rural highway in a developing country, which are most likely at risk. An adapted framework is demonstrated to identify traffic conflicts using combined surrogate indicators acknowledging the limited resources and facilities in developing countries. A new model is put forwarded using a count data modelling approach. Both fixed and random parameters model derivatives have been explored as an alternative methodological approach to relate the factors affecting the number and probability of conflicts. The partial effects of individual independent variables were estimated to gain a better insight of their impact. The results show that the model can predict high risk segments in terms of probability of conflicts as well as safety risk, as well as prioritize road sections according to the likelihood of their safety level. The model provides a less expensive alternative to the collection of historical crash data in order to identify hazardous road locations or black spots on two-lane highways in developing countries.11 A part of the paper was presented in the Transport Research Board (TRB) 97th Annual Meeting and an abridged version from that part was published in TRB online forum1. Mahmud, S., et al., Prioritizing Hazardous Road Sections Using Surrogate Safety Measures: A Count Data Modelling Application in a Heterogeneous Traffic Environment, in Transport Research Board (TRB) 97th Annual Meeting 2018, Transport Research Board (TRB) Washington DC. p. 18–02193. Link: http://amonline.trb.org/2017trb-1.3983622/t025-1.3995192/382-1.3995580/18-02193-1.3993134/18-02193-1.3995603?qr=1.

IntroductionRecent studies have proposed revised anatomical targets to improve accuracy of genicular nerve (GN) radiofrequency ablation (RFA). This study aims to compare the accuracy of classical and revised techniques for fluoroscopic-guided GN-RFA in cadaveric models.Materials and methodsFourteen knees from seven fresh frozen human cadavers were included in this study. For each cadaver, RF cannulas were placed to capture the GN according to the current targets in one knee, and the revised targets in the other knee, randomly. The stylet was removed from the cannula, plunged into non-diffusible black paint, and reintroduced entirely in the cannula, to create a limited black spot on the tissues at the top of the active tip. Anatomical dissection was performed, and the accuracy of both techniques was compared.ResultsThe mean distance from the top of the active tip to the nerve was significantly lower with revised than current targets for the superior-medial GN (0.7 mm vs 17.8 mm, p=0.01) and the descending branch of the superior-lateral GN (3.7 mm vs 24.4 mm, p=0.02). In both superior-medial GN and superior-lateral GN, the accuracy rate was higher with revised than current targets: 100% vs 0% and 64% vs 35%, respectively. In addition, the accuracy of revised targets for the recurrent fibular nerve and the infrapatellar branch of saphenous nerve was 100%.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that the revised targets are more accurate than the current targets for GN-RFA.

Background Minoxidil solution has routinely been used for decades for the treatment of androgenic alopecia. Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is a rare side-effect noted following prolonged topical minoxidil therapy for androgenic alopecia. In this report, we describe a case of a 41-year-old young man who developed CSCR following prolonged therapy with topical Minoxidil solution and was treated with oral eplerenone. Case presentation A 41-year-old male presented to the retina clinic with complaints of seeing a black spot, blurred vision and metamorphopsia involving the right eye for the past 4 months. He was on treatment for androgenic alopecia with topical 5% Minoxidil application on scalp two times a day. He noticed the symptoms 8 months after starting the treatment and had stopped the medication since the past 2 months. On examination, best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. Fundoscopic examination of the right eye with +78D lens on slit lamp revealed the presence of subretinal fluid and few focal spots of retinal pigment epithelial alterations. Optical coherence tomography scan evaluation showed the presence of subretinal fluid (SRF) and pachychoroid supporting the diagnosis of CSCR. Indocyanine green angiography revealed dilated hyperpermeable choroidal vasculature on the nasal side of the fovea in the early and later phases of the angiogram. The patient was diagnosed with CSCR as a possible consequence of the topical minoxidil solution. Patient was asked to avoid future use of Minoxidil and was started on oral eplerenone therapy 50 mg/day for 4 consecutive weeks. One month later, there was complete resolution of his symptoms and SRF. At the final follow-up visit, 2 months after starting the therapy, there was no recurrence of SRF. Conclusion CSCR is a rare side-effect noted following prolonged topical minoxidil therapy for androgenic alopecia. While we found oral eplerenone to be safe and effective, further studies would be required before it can be routinely used in the population.

This work was funded by BBSRC grants awarded to J.M.H. and O.P. (BB/N006569/1), C.R. and J.S (BB/N00602X/1), P.G.L (BB/N005945/1), and I.C.C. (BB/N007239/1). An apparent and common feature of aposematic patterns is that they contain a high level of achromatic (luminance) contrast, for example, many warning signals combine black spots and stripes with a lighter colour such as yellow. However, the potential importance of achromatic contrast, as distinct from colour contrast, in reducing predation has been largely overlooked. Here, using domestic chicks as a model predator, we manipulated the degree of achromatic contrast in warning patterns to test if high luminance contrast in aposematic signals is important for deterring naïve predators. We found that the chicks were less likely to approach and eat prey with high contrast compared to low contrast patterns. These findings suggest that aposematic prey patterns with a high luminance contrast can benefit from increased survival through eliciting unlearned biases in naïve avian predators. Our work also highlights the importance of considering luminance contrast in future work investigating why aposematic patterns take the particular forms that they do. Publisher PDF

Characteristics of egg surfaces serve as recognition cues that allow avian hosts to detect and reject foreign eggs in brood parasitism. The blunt egg pole hypothesis suggests that the blunt egg pole is an essential signal in parasitic egg recognition. In the present study, eggs of Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris) were painted with black spots at either the blunt or sharp egg pole to determine and compare the responses of different populations exposed to brood parasitism (parasitized population) or not (non-parasitized population). These results supported the above hypothesis and showed that the parasitized population displayed a higher rate of rejection of eggs with blunt pole-painted spots than with sharp pole-painted spots. In contrast, the non-parasitized population accepted all experimental eggs, which may be related to decreased egg recognition resulting from low exposure to brood parasitism.

Here, we describe Theretra makhrovi sp. nov., a new hawk moth species from Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. This species is most similar to Theretra acuta Vaglia & Liyous, 2010 and T. rhesus (Boisduval, [1875]) but can be distinguished from these taxa by the lack of several marking features such as narrow yellow stripes on the tegula, a large, triangular black spot on the underside of the forewing, and a clear zigzag curved band on the underside of the hindwing. The new species has pink shading on the underside of both wings that is absent in the two other species. It also has narrower and longer wings and specific male genitalia structure compared with the two similar taxa.

The endemic Persian Gulf herring, Herklotsichthys lossei, has similar characteristics with other congeners, especially H. punctatus, which makes it difficult to recognize. Freshly collected samples from the type locality of H. lossei assign morphologically to H. lossei, described by Wongratana in having a dark blotch on the dorsal fin and small dark spots on the flank. However, all the studied materials have a series of black spots along the back and both sides of dorsal–fin base which was not mentioned by Wongratana and was not found in the examined type materials deposited in Natural History Museum, London. Based on the available molecular data (mtCOI) for six species of Herklotsichthys, it is clear that the genus is not monophyletic. Herklotsichthys dispilonotus, H. punctatus and H. lossei make a sister lineage to other congeneric species including H. quadrimaculatus, H. lippa and H. spilurus and also with several phylogenetically distantly related genera Sardinella, Harengula, Amblygaster, Nematalosa, Anodontostoma, Alosa, Clupea and Clupeonella. This situation makes the taxonomic status of clupeid genera, especially Herklotsichthys more complicated. As H. dispilonotus the type species of the genus Herklotsichthys is nested with H. lossei and H. punctaus, these three species remain in the same genus and three others, H. quadrimaculatus, H. lippa and H. spilurus form a distinct genera.

Spermatophore successive manual extrusions are often employed in hatcheries, but it causes melanin deposition, decreasing sperm quality via cell degeneration. Melanization (brown or black spots) is an indicator of the moment to discard males. The evaluation of more efficient strategies is required to avoid it, increasing males’ lifespan. The effects of two temperatures (26 and 30 °C) on closed thelycum Farfantepenaeus paulensis spermatophore melanization and sperm quality after successive manual extrusions were evaluated. Wild-caught males were acclimated to laboratory conditions for 1 week and fed commercial broodstock feed and fresh-frozen food items ad libitum four times a day. Later, a 35-day trial was conducted with 24 males (26.05 ± 2.4 g) randomly distributed into eight 200-L tanks (4.3 shrimps m−2). Temperature was gradually increased from 23 to 26 °C or 30 °C. Only males showing a formed spermatophore and in the intermolt period were submitted to four consecutive manual extrusions every 11 days. Melanization was visually examined in extruded spermatophores, which were weighed. Spermatozoa were released in saline solution and observed in a hemacytometer under a light microscope. Morphological abnormalities (main body or spike malformations) were identified. Total and abnormal spermatozoa were counted in five fields of the hemacytometer to calculate sperm count and abnormal sperm rate. No significant differences were found on sperm quality among extrusions, but from the second extrusion onwards, an increase of melanization was evident. On the other hand, temperature did not affect the occurrence of spermatophore melanization related to successive extrusions.

A small-spored Alternaria was found from black spots of storaged Koerle pear (Pyrus sinkiangensis), one of the economically important fruit in Xinjiang province, China. The morphology is similar to A. limoniasperae but obviously different in secondary conidiophores and conidial septa. A phylogenetic analysis using sequence datasets of ITS, GAPDH, TEF1, RPB2, Alt a1, OPA10–2, and EndoPG genes revealed that it belonged to the Alternaria alternata complex group. Pathogenicity tests illustrated that the fungus was the causal pathogen of black spot on Koerle pear fruit.

Ber black fruit spot (Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler) is the most serious disease limiting the quality fruit production. The disease produces round, slightly depressed, black spots with clear margin on fruit surface. During surveillance, the disease was present in Ludhiana, Fazilka, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Patiala districts of Punjab with incidence varied from 4.7 to 22.8 per cent. The disease index was highest in Fazilka and lowest in Patiala. Among cultivated varieties, Sanuar-2 showed maximum (20.7%) while Kaithali showed minimum (4.7%) disease incidence. Out of twenty one ber cultivars, Sanuar-2 was susceptible whereas Thornless, Sanuar-4, Pathani, Safeda, Selected Safeda, Seo and Nalagarh were resistant to the disease. In vitro, azoxystrobin and mancozeb were effective in inhibiting the growth of pathogen with ED50 value of 0.8 ppm and 74 ppm, respectively. Two sprays of azoxystrobin (0.1%) and mancozeb (0.25%) in mid-January and mid-February were better in controlling the disease.

Salmo fahrettini, a new species, is distributed in the northern tributaries of the Euphrates River. It differs from other Salmo species in adjacent waters by a combination of the following characters: a greyish body; one black spot behind the eye and on the cheek; three to six black spots on the opercle; numerous black spots on the back (missing on the predorsal area), flank and middle part of body, surrounded by a roundish white ring; red spots in the median part of the body, surrounded by a roundish white ring; short and narrow maxilla; increase in the number of black and red spots with an increase in size; adipose fin medium size, no or rarely one red spot at its posterior edge; 109-116 lateral line scales; 27-30 scale rows between dorsal-fin origin and lateral line; 20-23 scale rows between the lateral line and anal-fin origin; maxilla length 8.8-10.0% standard length in males, 8.8-9.6 in females.

Griffith Buck (Iowa State University) bred roses (Rosa sp.) to survive long, cold winters and hot, humid summers yet still retain their foliage without fungicides. Unfortunately, there is little known about the performance of Buck roses in the southern United States. Thirty-eight Buck rose cultivars were evaluated for flowering, disease resistance, drought tolerance, and overall landscape performance in alkaline soils with no fertilizer, no pesticides, and only limited irrigation. Flowering occurred on a bimodal basis, with the highest per plant mean bloom number (16.3 blooms) and bloom coverage (9.7%) in April, and a second flowering in the fall, with 13.7 blooms per plant and 6.9% bloom coverage in October. Drought stress symptoms were most evident in October, with a wide range of symptom severity across cultivars. Black spot (Diplocarpon rosae) and powdery mildew (Podosphaera pannosa) incidence were rare across all roses and years. Landscape performance scores, rated using a 0 to 10 scale with 10 representing a perfect plant and 0 a dead plant, were highest in April (6.5) and lowest in June (4.6) and July (4.6). Landscape performance was not correlated with bloom number or coverage. While unable to recommend many of the Buck roses for north-central Texas, the cultivars April Moon and Freckles, and possibly a few other roses, can join Carefree Beauty™ (BUCbi) as recommended roses for the area.