Occurrence of a new race 2.9 of leaf mold of tomato in Japan

Leaf mold symptoms were found on tomato varieties carrying the Cf-9 resistance gene against Passalora fulva, the causal agent of leaf mold, in Japan in 2008. Disease symptoms and morphological characteristics of the isolates were similar to those of P. fulva. After inoculating a set of tomato differentials with the isolates, all isolates were identified as race 2.9 of P. fulva, previously unreported.     

Development of an air-injection press for preventing blowout of particleboard (III): effects of pressing temperature on board performance

An air-injection press, which has holes punched in the heating plates, injects high-pressure air through the holes of one plate into particleboards and discharges the air and vapor through the other plate during press heating. The press can manufacture particleboards from high-moisture particles by preventing blowouts of the boards. In this study, the effects of pressing temperature were investigated by pressing boards at 190, 210, and 230°C. The internal bond strength increased from 0.43 to 0.60?MPa by raising the temperature from 190 to 210°C, but did not increase further when the temperature was raised to 230°C. Raising the temperature from 190 to 210°C also helped improve the thickness swelling. No relationship was found between the modulus of rupture and pressing temperature.     

Evapotranspiration from understory vegetation in an eastern Siberian boreal larch forest

We measured evapotranspiration in an eastern Siberian boreal forest, in which the understory was cowberry and the overstory was larch, during the entire growing seasons of 2005 and 2006. We compared evapotranspiration from the understory vegetation above the forest floor E_U with evapotranspiration from the whole ecosystem above the overstory canopy E_O. The E_U/E_O ratio had a seasonal trend with a flat-bottomed U-shape during the growing season (4 May–30 September). High-E_U/E_O ratios at the beginning and end of the growing season were observed because larch, one of the two sources of E_O, was a deciduous tree, while the understory was the evergreen cowberry. The mean daily E_U values during the foliated period of larch (1 June–31 August) were 0.8 and 0.9 mm day^?1, or 51.4 and 51.8% of E_O in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The understory vegetation was one of the most important components of the hydrologic cycle in this forest. A significant amount of E_U was caused by plant physiological control, due to the aerodynamic conductance, which was much larger than the surface conductance, leading to a smaller decoupling coefficient. We found that 71% of E_U was caused by the vapour pressure deficit above the forest floor.     

Studies on pre-treatment by compression for wood impregnation I: effects of compression ratio,compression direction,compression speed and compression-unloading place on the liquid impregnation of wood

To improve the impregnation of wood, the pre-treatment by compression was systematically studied in terms of effects of compression ratio, compression direction, compression speed and compression-unloading place on the liquid impregnation in poplar and Chinese fir. The results showed: the impregnation increased 0.0065 or 0.0074 g/cm³ for every 1% increase of compression ratio when the compression ratio was lower or equal to 50 and 40% for poplar and Chinese fir, respectively; it continued to increase afterwards while the variation was quite big. There existed a significant difference of the impregnation of wood compressed at different directions in Chinese fir, but not in poplar. There existed a significant difference of the impregnation of wood compressed at different speed in both species. The impregnation of wood is likely to be in favor of radial compression in terms of the amount of impregnation. 5 and 10 mm/min were recommended as a compromise of impregnation and pre-treatment efficiency. The impregnation of wood that the compression unloaded in water was about 18.2 (poplar) and 9.2% (Chinese fir) higher in amount and was much quicker in speed than that the compression unloaded in air, and the difference between them was significant, suggesting that compression unloaded in water is significant to improve the impregnation.     

3-Methylthiopropionic acid ethyl ester, isolated from Katsura-uri (Japanese pickling melon, Cucumis melo var. conomon), enhanced differentiation in human colon cancer cells

The fully ripened fruit of Katsura-uri Japanese pickling melon ( Cucumis melo var. conomon) has rarely been used for food because the midripened fruit is utilized for making pickles, but the fully ripened fruit is no longer valuable for pickles due to the fruit body being too soft. We have considered the utilization of the fully ripened Katsura-uri fruit that may be used for nonpickling products, particularly if the fully ripened fruit demonstrated health benefits such as anticarcinogenic properties. The phytochemical extract from the fully ripened fruit of Katsura-uri Japanese pickling melon was purified via a bioassay-guided fractionation scheme, which was based on the induction of differentiation in a RCM-1 human colon cancer cell line. On the criteria of two differentiation markers (duct formation and alkaline phosphatase activity), the most potent fraction contained a compound identified as 3-methylthiopropionic acid ethyl ester, based on GC retention time, EI-MS, (1)H NMR, and (13)C NMR spectra. Previously, the role of 3-methylthiopropionic acid ethyl ester was considered as an odor producing compound in many fruits, but this study indicates potential medical benefits of this compound.     

Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in intestinal contents of healthy animals in Japan.

A total of 1,705 fecal specimens or ileo-cecal contents of cattle, pigs, dogs, cats, chicken and rats were submitted for the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes by the use of the combination of Oxford-LPM agar plates after the cold enrichment in PBS at 4 degrees C for 4-6 weeks. Prevalence of L. monocytogenes was found to be 1.9% in cattle, 0.6% in pigs, 0.9% in dogs and 6.5% in rats. However, none of L. monocytogenes was isolated from chicken or cats. Among 26 isolates of L. monocytogenes, 13 strains (50%) were classified into types 1/2a (3 strains), 1/2b (5 strains) and 4b (5 strains) and were often associated with human listeriosis. The majority of the Listeria spp. other than L. monocytogenes isolated from these animals was found to be L. innocua.