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Loquat fruit rot, caused by Pestalotiopsis sensu lato, is a key problem for loquat producers in Nagasaki Prefecture, the area with the highest loquat fruit production in Japan. In a previous study, it was postulated that fruit rot pathogens latently infect flowers, with the corresponding disease symptoms occurring in wounded fruits. To reveal whether the pathogens responsible for the development of fruit rot disease are found in the asymptomatic flowers and immature fruits of loquat trees, we sprayed a conidial suspension of nitrate-nonutilizing mutants, containing strains derived from pathogenic Neopestalotiopsis sp. (TAP18N004) and Pestalotiopsis sp. (TAP18N010), onto the flowers of “Mogi” and “Nagasaki-wase” trees. Both inoculated mutants were reisolated using selective media (minimal media with chlorate) from the part of the asymptomatic immature fruit that includes the flower apex. Symptoms were observed in the mature fruits of both cultivars, and mutants were specifically detected in the symptomatic tissues of all rotted fruits. Additionally, all reisolated mutants were reconfirmed by assessing corresponding nitrate auxotrophy characteristics. Thus, it was revealed that both fruit rot pathogens that latently infect loquat flowers can cause fruit rot after maturation. [Figure: see text] The author(s) have dedicated the work to the public domain under the Creative Commons CC0 “No Rights Reserved” license by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law, 2023.

Background: The Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) is commonly used in screening for major postpartum depression (PPD). We explored the clinical factors associated with score changes. Methods: Mothers (n=1,287) who delivered a single live-born infant in Kokura Medical Center in Japan during 2018–2019 were analyzed. The EPDS-Japanese version was conducted at the first and fourth weeks after childbirth. Scores of ≥9 were considered to indicate an increased risk of PPD. Results: The scores improved during the four-week period (5.03±0.12 to 3.79±0.10). Primiparity, Cesarean section (CS), and a low Apgar score were identified as initial risk factors, however, primiparity remained in the multivariate analysis (aOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.37–2.97). Age ≥35 years was associated with worsened scores (aOR 1.88, 95%CI 1.01–3.51), but CS improved (aOR 0.38, 95%CI 0.21–0.70). Primiparity, CS, and neonatal respiratory support were the initial risk factors, while infant anomaly was a late risk factor in mothers whose infants were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) (aOR 3.35, 95%CI 1.31–8.56). In mothers of infants with an NICU stay of ≥4 weeks, infant anomaly was associated with worsened scores (aOR 6.61, 95%CI 1.11–39.3), while respiratory support was associated with improved scores (aOR 0.09, 95%CI 0.01–0.65). Twenty-six mothrs with worsened scores received psychiatric support; three developed PPD. Two of the three were ≥35 years of age, neither of their infants had anomalies. Conclusion: Maternal aging and infant anomaly were risk factors for PPD. PPD occurred in mothers with worsened EPDS scores after mental care. Puerperants with worsening risk factors should be targeted to control PPD.

Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) tropical race 4 (TR4) severely affects banana production worldwide. Thus, specific PCR primers have been developed to rapidly diagnose and monitor Foc TR4-related fusarium wilt outbreaks in bananas. However, evaluation of these primers revealed room for improvement in the accuracy. This study aimed to design highly specific PCR primers based on genome data for Foc TR4 downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information database. The specificity of the primers was assessed using Foc TR4, Foc races 1 and 2, and 15 other formae speciales strains. The utility of the primers was verified by correctly detecting Foc TR4 in 7 out of 86 isolates of Fusarium spp. obtained from banana farms in the Philippines. The primers allowed for rapid detection in experimentally diseased tissues. We concluded that this novel primer set enables the simplified diagnosis of fusarium wilt caused by Foc TR4 in bananas.

This study investigates the frequency of a clinically reported variant in PMS2, NM_000535.7:c.2523G>A p.(W841∗), from next-generation sequencing studies in 2 racially diverse cohorts. We identified clinical reports of the PMS2 c.2523G>A p.(W841∗) variant in the National Precision Oncology Program’s somatic testing database (n = 25,168). We determined frequency of the variant in germline exome sequencing from the Penn Medicine BioBank (n = 44,256) and in gnomAD. The PMS2 c.2523G>A p.(W841∗) was identified as a homozygous variant on tumor testing in an adult patient of self-identified Black race/ethnicity with no evidence of constitutional mismatch repair deficiency. The variant was clinically reported on 35 total tumor and liquid biopsy tests (0.1%), and all individuals with the variant were of self-identified Black race/ethnicity (0.6% of n = 5787). In individuals of African genetic ancestry (AFR), the variant's germline frequency was reported to be 0.2% and 1.3% in the Penn Medicine BioBank (PMBB) and gnomAD, respectively. The variant cannot be found in any individuals of European genetic ancestry (EUR) from either of the databases. The variant is found in a region of PMS2 with 100% homology to the PMS2CL pseudogene. PMS2 c.2523G>A p.(W841∗), when identified, is typically an African-ancestry-specific PMS2CL pseudogene variant, which should be recognized to prevent misdiagnosis of Lynch syndrome in Blacks.

Abstract The X-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emitted during solar flares can rapidly change the physical composition of Earth’s ionosphere, causing space weather phenomena. It is important to develop an accurate understanding of solar flare emission spectra to understand how it affects the ionosphere. We reproduced the entire solar flare emission spectrum using an empirical model and physics-based model, and input it into the Earth’s atmospheric model, GAIA to calculate the total electron content (TEC) enhancement due to solar flare emission. We compared the statistics of nine solar flare events and calculated the TEC enhancements with the corresponding observed data. The model used in this study was able to estimate the TEC enhancement due to solar flare emission with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.9. The results of this study indicate that the TEC enhancement due to solar flare emission is determined by soft X-ray and EUV emission with wavelengths shorter than 35 nm. The TEC enhancement is found to be largely due to the change in the soft X-ray emission and EUV line emissions with wavelengths, such as Fe XVII 10.08 nm, Fe XIX 10.85 nm and He II 30.38 nm. Graphical Abstract

Similar to cacao pod rot, cherelle wilt decreases production from cacao fields. Among all known fungal pathogens of the cacao, Colletotrichum spp. are common infectious agents that affect the cherelles and pods of cacao; thus, cacao diseases are often classified by stage. Therefore, knowing whether these pathogens are common in both fruit stages is necessary for implementing disease control measures. Symptoms of cherelle wilt were found in cacao plants in Pangasinan, Philippines, in 2022. The fungal strain obtained from the lesion was found to be pathogenic towards cherelles, but not towards pods. The strain was classified as an unknown species belonging to the gigasporum species complex, based on the morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses of ITS, GAPDH, CHS1, ACT, and TUB2. We propose Colletotrichum kapreanum sp. nov. as a causal agent of cacao cherelle wilt, but not pod rot.

Thermal microwave emissions detected from stellar atmospheres contain information on stellar activity. However, even for the Sun, the relationship between multifrequency microwave data and other activity indices remains unclear. We investigated the relationships among the thermal microwave fluxes with 1, 2, 3.75, and 9.4 GHz, their circular polarizations, and several activity indices recorded during recent solar cycles and observed that these relationships can be categorized into two groups. In the first group, the relationship between the microwave fluxes and solar indices, which are strongly related to the active regions, can be well-fitted by using a linear function. In the second group, the fitting function is dependent on frequency. Specifically, the microwave fluxes at 1 and 2 GHz can be well-fitted to the total unsigned magnetic and extreme ultraviolet fluxes by employing a power-law function. The trend changes around 3.75 GHz, and the trend for the 9.4 GHz fluxes can be fitted by using a linear function. For the first time, we present the relationship between circular polarization and solar indices. Moreover, we extrapolated these relationships of the solar microwave fluxes to higher values and compared them with the solar-type stars. We found that ϵ Eri, whose microwave emission originates from thermal plasma, follows the extrapolated relationship. However, to date, only one star’s emission at 1–10 GHz has been confirmed as thermal emission. More solar-type stars should be observed with future radio interferometers to confirm that relationships based on solar data can be applied to stellar microwave data.

Solar flares are broadly classified as impulsive or gradual. Ions accelerated in a gradual flare are thought to be accelerated through a shock acceleration mechanism, but the particle acceleration process in an impulsive flare is still largely unexplored. To understand the acceleration process, it is necessary to measure the high-energy gamma rays and neutrons produced by the impulsive flare. Under such circumstances, on 7 November 2004, a huge X2.0 flare occurred on the solar surface, where ions were accelerated to energies greater than 10 GeV. The accelerated primary protons collided with the solar atmosphere and produced line gamma rays and neutrons. These particles were received as neutrons and line gamma rays, respectively. Neutrons of a few GeV, on the other hand, decay to produce secondary protons while traveling 0.06 au in the solar–terrestrial space. These secondary protons arrive at the magnetopause. Although the flux of secondary protons is very low, the effect of collecting secondary protons arriving in a wide region of the magnetosphere (the Funnel or Horn effect) has resulted in significant signals being received by the solar neutron telescope at Mt. Sierra Negra (4600 m). This information suggests that ions on the solar surface are accelerated to over 10 GeV with an impulsive flare.

Abstract Although solar activity may significantly impact the global environment and socioeconomic systems, the mechanisms for solar eruptions and the subsequent processes have not yet been fully understood. Thus, modern society supported by advanced information systems is at risk from severe space weather disturbances. Project for solar–terrestrial environment prediction (PSTEP) was launched to improve this situation through synergy between basic science research and operational forecast. The PSTEP is a nationwide research collaboration in Japan and was conducted from April 2015 to March 2020, supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. By this project, we sought to answer the fundamental questions concerning the solar–terrestrial environment and aimed to build a next-generation space weather forecast system to prepare for severe space weather disasters. The PSTEP consists of four research groups and proposal-based research units. It has made a significant progress in space weather research and operational forecasts, publishing over 500 refereed journal papers and organizing four international symposiums, various workshops and seminars, and summer school for graduate students at Rikubetsu in 2017. This paper is a summary report of the PSTEP and describes the major research achievements it produced.

Abstract We attempted to reproduce the total electron content (TEC) variation in the Earth's atmosphere from the temporal variation of the solar flare spectrum of the X9.3 flare on September 6, 2017. The flare spectrum from the Flare Irradiance Spectral Model (FISM), and the flare spectrum from the 1D hydrodynamic model, which considers the physics of plasma in the flare loop, are used in the GAIA model, which is a simulation model of the Earth's whole atmosphere and ionosphere, to calculate the TEC difference. We then compared these results with the observed TEC. When we used the FISM flare spectrum, the difference in TEC from the background was in a good agreement with the observation. However, when the flare spectrum of the 1D-hydrodynamic model was used, the result varied depending on the presence or absence of the background. This difference depending on the models is considered to represent which extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is primarily responsible for increasing TEC. From the flare spectrum obtained from these models and the calculation result of TEC fluctuation using GAIA, it is considered that the enhancement in EUV emission by approximately 15–35 nm mainly contributes in increasing TEC rather than that of X-ray emission, which is thought to be mainly responsible for sudden ionospheric disturbance. In addition, from the altitude/wavelength distribution of the ionization rate of Earth's atmosphere by GAIA (Ground-to-topside Atmosphere and Ionosphere model for Aeronomy), it was found that EUV radiation of approximately 15–35 nm affects a wide altitude range of 120–300 km, and TEC enhancement is mainly caused by the ionization of nitrogen molecules.

Abstract X-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emissions from solar flares rapidly change the physical composition of the Earth’s thermosphere and ionosphere, thereby causing space weather phenomena such as communication failures. Numerous empirical and physical models have been developed to estimate the effects of flare emissions on the Earth’s upper atmosphere. We verified the reproduction of the flare emission spectra using a one-dimensional hydrodynamic calculation and the CHIANTI atomic database. To validate the proposed model, we used the observed EUV spectra obtained by the Extreme ultraviolet variability experiment (EVE) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We examined the “EUV flare time-integrated irradiance” and “EUV flare line rise time” of the EUV emissions for 21 events by comparing the calculation results of the proposed model and observed EUV spectral data. The proposed model successfully reproduced the EUV flare time-integrated irradiance of the Fe VIII 131 Å, Fe XVIII 94 Å, and Fe XX133 Å, as well as the 55–355 Å and 55–135 Å bands. For the EUV flare line rise time, there was an acceptable correlation between the proposed model estimations and observations for all Fe flare emission lines. These results demonstrate that the proposed model can reproduce the EUV flare emission spectra from the emitting plasma with a relatively high formation temperature. This indicates that the physics-based model is effective for the accurate reproduction of the EUV spectral irradiance.

Summary: The habenula plays a key role in various motivated and pathological behaviors and is composed of molecularly distinct neuron subtypes. Despite progress in identifying mature habenula neuron subtypes, how these subtypes develop and organize into functional brain circuits remains largely unknown. Here, we performed single-cell transcriptional profiling of mouse habenular neurons at critical developmental stages, instructed by detailed three-dimensional anatomical data. Our data reveal cellular and molecular trajectories during embryonic and postnatal development, leading to different habenular subtypes. Further, based on this analysis, our work establishes the distinctive functional properties and projection target of a subtype of Cartpt+ habenula neurons. Finally, we show how comparison of single-cell transcriptional profiles and GWAS data links specific developing habenular subtypes to psychiatric disease. Together, our study begins to dissect the mechanisms underlying habenula neuron subtype-specific development and creates a framework for further interrogation of habenular development in normal and disease states.

Abstract Solar flares trigger an increase in plasma density in the ionosphere including the D region, and cause the absorption of radio waves, especially in high-frequency (HF) ranges, called short-wave fadeout (SWF). To evaluate the SWF duration and absorption statistically, we analyze long-term (36 years) ionosonde data observed by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). The minimum reflection frequency, fmin, is used to detect SWFs from 15-min-resolution ionosonde observations at Kokubunji, Tokyo, from 1981 to 2016. Since fmin varies with local time (LT) and season, we refer to dfmin, which is defined as fmin subtracted by its 27-day running median at the same LT. We find that the occurrence of SWFs detected by three criteria, (i) dfmin ≥ 2.5 MHz, (ii) dfmin ≥ 3.5 MHz, and (iii) blackout, during daytime associated with any flare(s) greater than the C1 class is maximized at local noon and decreases with increasing solar zenith angle. We confirm that the dfmin and duration of SWFs increase with the solar flare class. We estimate the absorption intensity from observations, which is comparable to an empirical relationship obtained from sudden cosmic noise absorption. A generalized empirical relationship for absorption from long-distance circuits shows quantitatively different dependences on solar flare flux, solar zenith angle, and frequency caused by different signal passes compared with that obtained from cosmic noise absorption. From our analysis and the empirical relationships, we estimate the duration of extreme events with occurrence probabilities of once per 10, 100, and 1000 years to be 1.8–3.6, 4.0–6.8, and 7.4–11.9 h, respectively. The longest duration of SWFs of about 12 h is comparable to the solar flare duration derived from an empirical relationship between the solar flare duration and the solar active area for the largest solar active region observed so far.

Brain volume and intelligence have been previously found to have shared genetic etiology, but the specific common genetic signals have not been identified. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study on brain volume, finding common genetic loci driving brain volume and intelligence.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

The pathogen causing Fusarium wilt in banana is reported to be Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC). In 2019, wilt symptoms in banana plants (cultivar: Cavendish) in the Philippines were detected, i.e., the yellowing of the leaves and discoloration of the pseudostem and vascular tissue. The fungus isolated from the vascular tissue was found to be pathogenic to Cavendish bananas and was identified as a new species, F. mindanaoense, belonging to the F. fujikuroi species complex (FFSC); species classification was assessed using molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the tef1, tub2, cmdA, rpb1, and rpb2 genes and morphological analyses. A reciprocal blast search using genomic data revealed that this fungus exclusively included the Secreted in Xylem 6 (SIX6) gene among the SIX homologs related to pathogenicity; it exhibited a highly conserved amino acid sequence compared with that of species in the FFSC, but not with that of FOC. This was the first report of Fusarium wilt in Cavendish bananas caused by a species of the genus Fusarium other than those in the F. oxysporum species complex.

The Kepler space telescope and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite unveiled that Sun-like stars frequently host exoplanets. These exoplanets are subject to fluxes of ionizing radiation in the form of X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation that may cause changes in their atmospheric dynamics and chemistry. While X-ray fluxes can be observed directly, EUV fluxes cannot be observed because of severe interstellar medium absorption. Here we present a new empirical method to estimate the whole stellar X-ray plus EUV (XUV) and far-UV (FUV) spectra as a function of total unsigned magnetic fluxes of stars. The response of the solar XUV and FUV spectrum (0.1–180 nm) to the solar total unsigned magnetic flux is investigated by using the long-term Sun-as-a-star data set over 10 yr, and the power-law relation is obtained for each wavelength with a spectral resolution of 0.1–1 nm. We applied the scaling relations to active young Sun-like stars (G dwarfs), EK Dra (G1.5V), π ^1 Uma (G1.5V), and κ ^1 Ceti (G5V) and found that the observed spectra (except for the unobservable longward EUV wavelength) are roughly consistent with the extension of the derived power-law relations with errors of an order of magnitude. This suggests that our model is a valuable method to derive the XUV/FUV fluxes of Sun-like stars, including the EUV band mostly absorbed at wavelengths longward of 36 nm. We also discuss differences between the solar extensions and stellar observations at wavelengths in the 2–30 nm band and conclude that simultaneous observations of magnetic and XUV/FUV fluxes are necessary for further validations.

The use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to model human complex diseases is gaining popularity as it allows investigation of human cells that are otherwise sparsely available. However, due to its laborious and cost intensive nature, iPSC research is often plagued by limited sample size and putative large variability between clones, decreasing statistical power for detecting experimental effects. Here, we investigate the source and magnitude of variability in the proteome of parallel differentiated astrocytes using mass spectrometry. We compare three possible sources of variability: inter-donor variability, inter- and intra-clonal variability, at different stages of maturation. We show that the interclonal variability is significantly smaller than the inter-donor variability, and that including more donors has a much larger influence on statistical power than adding more clones per donor. Our results provide insight into the sources of variability at protein level between iPSC samples derived in parallel and will aid in optimizing iPSC studies.

Several cortical association areas have rapidly expanded in size during human evolution, including elements of the central cognitive default mode network (DMN). Here, the authors show that genes highly divergent between humans and other primates (HAR genes) are particularly expressed in these brain regions.

Tissue- and cell type-specific information helps to interpret findings from genome-wide association studies. Here, the authors leverage multiple single cell expression datasets to infer cell type specificity of traits.

Neuroticism can be assessed as a composite score of individual items. Here, Nagel et al. perform genetic association studies for 12 neuroticism items and the sum-score and demonstrate genetic heterogeneity at the item-level.

Prioritizing genetic variants is a major challenge in genome-wide association studies. Here, the authors develop FUMA, a web-based bioinformatics tool that uses a combination of positional, eQTL and chromatin interaction mapping to prioritize likely causal variants and genes.

Abstract Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) is a slowly progressive bilateral disease of corneal endothelium in which accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) and loss of corneal endothelial cells (CECs) are phenotypic features. The corneal endothelium maintains corneal transparency by regulating water hydration; consequently, corneal endothelial dysfunction causes serious vision loss. The only therapy for corneal haziness due to corneal endothelial diseases, including FECD, is corneal transplantation using donor corneas, and no pharmaceutical treatment is available. We provide evidence that the expression levels of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) isoforms and TGF-β receptors are high in the corneal endothelium of patients with FECD. A cell model based on patients with FECD shows that TGF-β signaling induced a chronic overload of ECM proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), thereby enhancing the formation of unfolded protein and triggering the intrinsic apoptotic pathway through the unfolded protein response (UPR). We propose that inhibition of TGF-β signaling may represent a novel therapeutic target that suppresses cell loss as well as the accumulation of ECM in FECD.

A 42-year-old Japanese man presented with persistent headache during treatment for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) with infliximab. Treatment with infliximab was initiated 3 years before and the psoriatic skin lesions with arthritis were well controlled. However, after 21 doses of infliximab, the skin lesions and joint pain exacerbated and became intractable. Ten days after the dosage of infliximab was increased, the patient experienced headache and nausea with high fever. He had scaly, well-circumscribed erythemas on his trunk, extremities, and deformed nails. He also had swelling and pain in multiple joints. His complete blood and differential leukocyte counts were normal. The level of C-reactive protein was 16.66 mg/dL, whereas anti-infliximab antibodies were absent. Nuchal rigidity was absent and there were no abnormal neurological findings; however, jolt test results were positive. Results from magnetic resonance imaging were normal, whereas those from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination were almost normal. The CSF contained mononuclear cells and was negative for bacteriological cultures, India ink staining, and polymerase chain reaction amplification of herpesvirus group DNA. Headache and nausea improved 2 months after infliximab was discontinued. The patient failed to respond to infliximab treatment for PsA, and we diagnosed infliximab-induced aseptic meningitis. Infliximab was discontinued and treatment with ustekinumab and methotrexate was initiated. Thereafter, the psoriatic skin lesion and joint pain gradually improved. Infliximab-induced aseptic meningitis may be a differential diagnosis when symptoms of meningitis develop during infliximab administration.

Transparency of the cornea is essential for vision and is maintained by the corneal endothelium. Consequently, corneal endothelial decompensation arising from irreversible damage to the corneal endothelium causes severe vision impairment. Until recently, transplantation of donor corneas was the only therapeutic choice for treatment of endothelial decompensation. In 2013, we initiated clinical research into cell-based therapy involving injection of a suspension of cultured human corneal endothelial cells (HCECs), in combination with Rho kinase inhibitor, into the anterior chamber. The aim of the present study was to establish a protocol for cryopreservation of HCECs to allow large-scale commercial manufacturing of these cells. This study focused on the effects of various cryopreservation reagents on HCEC viability. Screening of several commercially available cryopreservation reagents identified Bambanker hRM as an effective agent that maintained a cell viability of 89.4% after 14 days of cryopreservation, equivalent to the cell viability of 89.2% for non-cryopreserved control cells. The use of Bambanker hRM and HCECs at a similar grade to that used clinically for cell based therapy (passage 3-5 and a cell density higher than 2000 cells/mm2) gave a similar cell density for cryopreserved HCECs to that of non-preserved control HCECs after 28 days of cultivation (2099 cells/mm2 and 2111 cells/mm2, respectively). HCECs preserved using Bambanker hRM grew in a similar fashion to non-preserved control HCECs and formed a monolayer sheet-like structure. Cryopreservation of HCECs has multiple advantages including the ability to accumulate stocks of master cells, to transport HCEC stocks, and to manufacture HCECs on demand for use in cell-based treatment of endothelial decompensation.

Pestalopezia brunneopruinosa, the type species of Pestalopezia in Leotiomycetes, produces typical cup-shaped ascomata. Because its asexual morph has conidia comprised of five cells including apical and basal appendages and three pigmented median cells, it was first described as Pestalotia gibbosa, which belongs to Sordariomycetes. This contradiction has not been resolved due to the difficulty in isolating this fungus in culture. In this study, we isolated separate strains from the sexual morph and the asexual morph for molecular analysis. Phylogenetic trees of Sporocadaceae based on internal transcribed spacer, partial β-tubulin, and partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha sequence datasets revealed that both strains fall into the same taxon, in a clade in Pestalotiopsis sensu stricto alongside P. gaultheriae and P. spathulata. We provide the first evidence that fungi producing cup-shaped ascomata in Pestalotiopsis belong to Sordariomycetes, and we have proposed the transfer of Pestalopezia brunneopruinosa to Pestalotiopsis gibbosa.

15-Deoxy-Δ12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15dPGJ2), which is a ligand for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), induced apoptosis of several human tumors including gastric, lung, colon, prostate, and breast. However, the role of PPARγ signals in other types of cancer cells (e.g., leukemia) except solid cancer cells is still unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of 15dPGJ2 to modify the proliferation of the human leukemia cell line THP-1. 15dPGJ2 at 5 μM stimulated the proliferation in THP-1 at 24 to 72 h after incubation. In contrast, 15dPGJ2 at concentrations above 10 μM inhibited the proliferation through the induction of apoptosis. PGD2, PGJ2, and Δ12-PGJ2 (ΔPGJ2), precursors of 15dPGJ2, had similar proliferative effects at lower concentrations, whereas they induced apoptosis at high concentrations. 15dPGJ2 and three precursors failed to induce the differentiation in THP-1 as assessed by using the differentiation marker CD11b. FACScan analysis revealed that PGD2 at 5 μM, PGJ2 at 1 μM, ΔPGJ2 at 1 μM and 15dPGJ2 at 5 μM all accelerated cell cycle progression in THP-1. Immunoblotting analysis revealed that PGD2 at 5 μM and 15dPGJ2 at 5 μM inhibited the expression of phospho-p38, phospho-MKK3/MKK6, and phospho-ATF-2, and the expression of Cdk inhibitors including p18, p21, and p27 in THP-1. In contrast, PGJ2 at 1 μM and ΔPGJ2 at 1 μM did not affect their expressions. These results suggest that 15dPGJ2 and PGD2 may, through inactivation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, inhibit the expression of Cdk inhibitors, leading to acceleration of the THP-1 proliferation. Keywords:: THP-1, proliferation, 15-deoxy-Δ12,14-prostaglandin J2, prostaglandin D2, p38

Synnemapestaloides rhododendri, the type species of the genus Synnemapestaloides, is a pathogen of Rhododendron brachycarpum. This fungus produces six-celled conidia with appendages at both end cells, and are generated by annellidic conidiogenous cells on the synnema. These conidial structures are similar to those of the genus Pestalotia. The monotypic genus Synnemapestaloides is currently classified in the family Amphisphaeriaceae solely based on conidial morphology. Here we demonstrate that Synnemapestaloides represents a distinct genus in the family Sporocadaceae (Amphisphaeriales) based on differences in the nucleotide sequences of the partial large subunit rDNA gene, the rDNA internal transcribed spacer, and the partial β-tubulin. The genus most closely related to Synnemapestaloides is Seimatosporium and the species most similar to Synnemapestaloides rhododendri is Seim. foliicola which produces short synnema-like conidiomata (sporodochia). These results demonstrate that Seim. foliicola should be transferred to Synnemapestaloides, and also demonstrate that Sporocadaceae can have synnematal in addition to pycnidial and acervular conidiomata.