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Nomocharis aperta (Franchet) E. Wilson is a heterogeneous species including morphotypes with pink tepals bearing swellings on both sides of the inner tepal’s basal median channel and those with yellow tepals lacking swellings. Molecular phylogenetic and pair-wise distance analyses of nrITS and chloroplast psbA-trnH support recognition of the yellow-flowered morphotype lacking nectary processes as a new, separate species of Nomocharis. Here, we present the new species, Nomocharis gongshanensis Y. D. Gao et X. J. He sp. nov., and resolve its systematic position in the Lilium–Nomocharis complex using the ITS and psbA-trnH markers. Seven variant copies of ITS were isolated from N. gongshanensis. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses placed the clones in two different Nomocharis clades, N. aperta + N. saluenensis and sect. Eunomocharis, suggesting a putative hybrid origin of the new species. The psbA-trnH sequence of N. gongshanensis is identical to that of N. saluenensis, indicating that the latter may be the maternal ancestor. Our analyses support the monophyly of Lilium–Nomocharis and mutual paraphyly of the two genera. Nomocharis was resolved within Lilium as sister to the European lilies of sect. Liriotypus (sensu Ikinci). The 12 Lilium–Nomocharis clades recovered in this study are consistent with previous molecular studies but are incongruent with traditional circumscription of and subgeneric divisions within Lilium. These results highlight the need for taxonomic revision of Lilium to accommodate Nomocharis and reconsideration of the origin and evolution of Nomocharis.

The highly atherogenic lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is significantly elevated in patients with renal disease. It is discussed controversially whether Lp(a) concentrations decrease after renal transplantation and whether the mode of immunosuppressive therapy influences the Lp(a) concentrations. In a prospective study the Lp(a) concentrations before and on average 48 months after renal transplantation were measured in 145 patients. The determinants of the relative changes of Lp(a) concentrations were investigated in a multivariate analysis. Patients treated by CAPD showed a larger decrease of Lp(a) than hemodialysis patients, reflecting their markedly higher Lp(a) levels before transplantation. The relative decrease of Lp(a) was higher with increasing Lp(a) concentrations before transplantation in combination with an increasing molecular weight of apolipoprotein(a) [apo(a)]. That means that the relative decrease of Lp(a) is related to the Lp(a) concentration and the apo(a) size polymorphism. With increasing proteinuria and decreasing glomerular filtration rate, the relative decrease of Lp(a) became less pronounced. Neither prednisolone nor cyclosporine (CsA) had a significant impact on the Lp(a) concentration changes. Azathioprine (Aza) was the only immunosuppressive drug which had a dose-dependent influence on the relative decrease of Lp(a) levels. These data clearly demonstrate a decrease of Lp(a) following renal transplantation which is caused by the restoration of kidney function. The relative decrease is influenced by Aza but not by CsA or prednisolone.

Comprehensive collaborative studies from our laboratories reveal the extensive biodiversity of the microflora of the surfaces of smear-ripened cheeses. Two thousand five hundred ninety-seven strains of bacteria and 2,446 strains of yeasts from the surface of the smear-ripened cheeses Limburger, Reblochon, Livarot, Tilsit, and Gubbeen, isolated at three or four times during ripening, were identified; 55 species of bacteria and 30 species of yeast were found. The microfloras of the five cheeses showed many similarities but also many differences and interbatch variation. Very few of the commercial smear microorganisms, deliberately inoculated onto the cheese surface, were reisolated and then mainly from the initial stages of ripening, implying that smear cheese production units must have an adventitious “house” flora. Limburger cheese had the simplest microflora, containing two yeasts, Debaryomyces hansenii and Geotrichum candidum , and two bacteria, Arthrobacter arilaitensis and Brevibacterium aurantiacum . The microflora of Livarot was the most complicated, comprising 10 yeasts and 38 bacteria, including many gram-negative organisms. Reblochon also had a very diverse microflora containing 8 yeasts and 13 bacteria (excluding gram-negative organisms which were not identified), while Gubbeen had 7 yeasts and 18 bacteria and Tilsit had 5 yeasts and 9 bacteria. D. hansenii was by far the dominant yeast, followed in order by G. candidum , Candida catenulata , and Kluyveromyces lactis . B. aurantiacum was the dominant bacterium and was found in every batch of the 5 cheeses. The next most common bacteria, in order, were Staphylococcus saprophyticus , A. arilaitensis , Corynebacterium casei , Corynebacterium variabile , and Microbacterium gubbeenense . S. saprophyticus was mainly found in Gubbeen, and A. arilaitensis was found in all cheeses but not in every batch. C. casei was found in most batches of Reblochon, Livarot, Tilsit, and Gubbeen. C. variabile was found in all batches of Gubbeen and Reblochon but in only one batch of Tilsit and in no batch of Limburger or Livarot. Other bacteria were isolated in low numbers from each of the cheeses, suggesting that each of the 5 cheeses has a unique microflora. In Gubbeen cheese, several different strains of the dominant bacteria were present, as determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and many of the less common bacteria were present as single clones. The culture-independent method, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, resulted in identification of several bacteria which were not found by the culture-dependent (isolation and rep -PCR identification) method. It was thus a useful complementary technique to identify other bacteria in the cheeses. The gross composition, the rate of increase in pH, and the indices of proteolysis were different in most of the cheeses.