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Additives in pet food: is it safe and sound?
In March 2020, a bacterial streak and rot symptom was observed on the onion (Allium cepa L.) leaves in Akita Prefecture of Japan. On the beginning, oval and dark-greenish water-soaked lesions with grayish-white necrotic center, 2-3 mm in diameter, appeared on the middle or the tip of upper leaves. Lesions, frequently surrounded by light yellow halo, expanded along veins and overlapped together. As lesions grew, the center of the lesions turned to light brown necrosis. The basal areas of diseased leaves often rotted, causing the withering of a whole leaf at last. From the water-soaked tissues of young lesions, a bacterium forming cream white colonies and producing fluorescent pigment on King's medium B was consistently isolated, and suggested to be a member of genus Pseudomonas. The isolates were positive for potato soft rot and tobacco hypersensitive reaction, and negative for levan production, oxidase and arginine dihydrolase activity, indicating that they belonged to LOPAT group II, Pseudomonas viridiflava,. LC597475-LC597478), gyrB (LC597479-LC597482) and rpoD (LC597483-LC597486) genes were deposited in DNA Data Bank of Japan. According to these results, the isolates were identified as P. viridiflava (Burkholder 1930) Dowson 1939. This is the first report of the occurrence of bacterial streak and rot of onion caused by P. viridiflava in Japan, causing severe damage on onion growth.A wheat rust survey was conducted in Iraq in 2019 and collected 27 stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.Pers. f. sp. tritici Erikks. SU1498 & E. Henn.) samples. Seven samples were viable, and they were tested for races of P. graminis f. sp. tritici at the Regional Cereal Rust Research Center (RCRRC) in Izmir, Turkey under strict quarantine procedures. Two 0.5 cm segments of each infected stem sheath were incubated in a petri dish at 20°C for three hours for re-hydration of urediniospores, which were multiplied on 10-day old seedlings of susceptible cultivar Morocco grown in a spore free growth chamber at 18°C and 16 hours light. Inoculated seedlings underwent a dew period at 18°C for 16 hours dark and 8 hours fluorescent light and 95% relative humidity. Three days after moving the pots to a growth chamber with eight hours dark at 18°C and 16 hours light (300 µmol m-2s-1), each pot was covered using a cellophane bag. Bulk urediniospores of each collection were collected 14 days post-inoculation from a cellophae TTKTT was first reported from Kenya in 2014 (Patpour et al. 2016), and in 2018 from Ethiopia (Hei et al. 2020). We report the first detection of TTKTT in Iraq and the Middle East region. This represents only the third instance of a member of the Ug99 race group outside of Africa since first detection of race TTKSK in Yemen in 2006, and Iran in 2007 (Nazari et al. 2009). The continued spread of stem rust races with complex virulence and the increasing frequency and early onset of stem rust infections in the Middle East is a cause for concern. Continuous support for rust surveillance and race typing in this region remains crucial. References Hei, N. B., et al. 2020. Plant Dis. 104982. Jin, Y., et al. 2008. Plant Dis. 92923-926. Nazari, K., et al. 2009. Plant Dis. 93317. Patpour, M., et al. 2016. Plant Dis. 100522. Stakman, E. C., et al. 1962. Identification of physiological races of Puccinia graminis var. tritici. U. S. Dep. Agric. ARS E-617.Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the important vegetables in Japan. In the summer of 2019, onions with soft rot were found in commercial fields in Hokkaido, the northern island in Japan. Diseased onion showed chlorosis, maceration of leaves, and rotted bulbs. We sampled some diseased onions and isolated three independent isolations (NAONI191, NAONI192 and NAONI193) from infected bulbs on LB medium. These strains were identified as Pectobacterium wasabiae based on their inability to grow at 37°C, and their ability to utilize raffinose and lactose. These bacterial strains were gram-negative, rod-shaped, N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase, gelatin liquefaction. The bacterium was positive for O-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside, N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase, gelatin liquefaction, and acid production from D-galactose, lactose, melibiose, raffinose, citrate, and trehalose. The bacterium was negative for indole production and acid production from maltose, α-methyl-D-glucoside, sorbitol, D-arabitol, inositol, inzation and multiple genetic analyses. Based on the disease symptoms, the cultural, molecular, and pathological features of the strains, we conclude that the soft rot symptoms of onion in Hokkaido in 2019 were caused by P. wasabiae. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. wasabiae as the soft rot disease agent of onion in Japan.BACKGROUND The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) report for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) focuses on reducing existing symptoms, decreasing the risk of future exacerbations, and improving health status by recommending specific drug therapy based on exacerbation risk and symptoms. However, disparities exist between evidence-based recommendations and clinical practice. Research that quantifies the real-world effect of COPD regimen alignment with the GOLD recommendations on clinical and economic outcomes is needed. OBJECTIVE To compare COPD-related health care resource utilization (HRU) and costs, as well as exacerbation rates, among patients with COPD on maintenance therapy based on 2017 GOLD treatment recommendation compliance status per GOLD ABCD risk group classification in a U.S. commercially insured/Medicare Advantage population. METHODS This retrospective cohort study utilized administrative claims data in the HealthCore Integrated Research Data001) and GOLD C/D (RR = 0.93; P = 0.0129) groups. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests a continuing trend of high prevalence of suboptimal prescriber compliance to GOLD treatment recommendations. Treatment regimens compliant with GOLD recommendations were associated with improvement in exacerbations, reduced COPD-related HRU, and COPD-related medical cost offsets. DISCLOSURES This study was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI). BIPI was given the opportunity to review the manuscript for medical and scientific accuracy as well as intellectual property considerations. Palli and Shaikh are employees of BIPI. Willey is an employee of HealthCore, which was contracted by BIPI to conduct this study. Zhou was an employee of HealthCore at the time of study execution. Data were presented in part during an AMCP webinar (recording not made public) held in lieu of the Spring 2020 AMCP conference, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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