Background: Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) has been proposed as the most frequent subtype of vascular cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese (Cantonese) Montreal Cognitive Assessment (CC- MoCA) in patients with SIVD in the Guangdong Province of China. Methods: 71 SIVD patients and 60 matched controls were recruited for the CC-MoCA, Mini Mental State Examination and executive clock drawing tasks. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to determine optimal sensitivity and specificity of the CC-MoCA total score in differentiating mild vascular dementia (VaD) patients from moderate VaD patients and controls. Results: The mean CC-MoCA scores of the controls, and mild and moderate VaD patients were 25.2 ± 3.8, 16.4 ± 3.7, and 10.0 ± 5.1, respectively. In our study, the optimal cutoff value for the CC-MoCA to be able to differentiate patients with mild VaD from controls is 21/22, and 13/14 to differentiate mild VaD from moderate VaD. Conclusion: The CC-MoCA is a useful cognitive screening instrument in SIVD patients.

Adult white-spotted flower chafers (WSFC), Protaetia brevitarsis, feed on developing sweet corn ears in China causing extensive losses in quality and quantity. Considering these losses, the lack of natural enemies caused by excessive past chemical pesticide use and a complete lack of present insecticides for acceptable use against WSFC on developing sweet corn, it is important to find novel measures for controlling this serious pest. The attractiveness of eight compounds, mainly phenolic compounds, fruit esters, acetoin, and some aliphatic alcohols, was established in a specially designed olfactometer. Subsequently, rubber dispensers containing 40-mg of those attractive compounds were hung in field plots on 12 sweet corn ears on the borders and down the center of 11 9 9.6-m plots comprised of 615 plants. One day later, the same ears were sprayed with Malathion. These attract-and-kill plots were maintained in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and provided substantial protection of non-treated ears in the same field. The mean damage value (DV from 0: none to 3: [5% eaten ears) and percent of damaged ears in the treated fields (DV: 0.8 ± 0.3, 0.8 ± 0.3, and 0.7 ± 0.3; % damage: 19.4, 19.4, and 19.0%) was significantly lower than that in control plots (DV: 1.8 ± 0.2, 2.0 ± 0.1, and 1.7 ± 0.1; % damage: 92.1, 89.7, and 95.0%) for 2006-2008. This attract-and-kill method gives sweet corn growers a method to protect their crops.

No abstract

Popillia quadriguttata (F.) has caused extensive damage to ≍20 families and 25 species of plants in Asia, especially in China and Korea. Adult feeding causes serious damage to soybean leaves, and larvae develop on the roots of soybean, turf, and horticultural crops. As Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica Newman) lures have been used for trapping P. quadriguttata in a previous study, mass trapping this pest with various densities of the Japanese beetle pheromone, Japonilure, and floral lure, alone and in combination, were carried out during 2012-2013 in a northeastern China soybean field. Mass trapping in 2012 with Japonilure gave the best results with 72 and 75% adult and larval reduction, respectively. In 2013, mass trapping (30 traps per hectare) with Japonilure, floral lure, or the combination resulted in a 93, 70, and 74% reduction of adults trapped, and a 90, 77, and 93% reduction of overwintering larvae, respectively. In addition, field tests showed that almost twice as many beetles approached the lure combination compared with the floral lure alone, and the pheromone residual was ≍80% of the initial dosage after 30 d. Because reduction of overwintering larvae is the most critical parameter indicating treatment efficacy, the results here indicate that the lure or lure combinations can be recommended for use by Chinese soybean farmers.

Mating disruption and mass trapping of Ostrinia furnacalis (Génuéé), often called the Asian corn borer, were incorporated with insecticides to reduce pesticide use. Pesticides alone are often ineffective owing to problems in timing applications before the larvae enter the protection of corn stalks. In addition, overuse of insecticides has caused environmental contamination and concerns about consumer health. In 2010, 15 insecticides were compared with mating disruption or mass trapping at various dispenser (disp.) densities for reducing egg masses, trap captures, and ear damage. Mass trapping with 30 and 40 disp./ha, mating disruption with 300 disp./ha, or endosulfan, chlorpyrifos, and monosultap (0.55, 0.35, and 0.55 kg/ha, respectively) gave ≍50% ear protection. In 2011, an insecticide alone, no treatments, pheromone alone, and pheromone + insecticide were examined. The same insecticides in combination with mating disruption or mass trapping at ≧200 or≧20 disp./ha gave >90% ear protection even when chemical applications were reduced to 1 from 3, and the rates were reduced 50-75%. Pheromone dispensers contained >50% of their initial load 30 d after exposure.