Obesity is a significant public health concern affecting more than half a billion people worldwide. Obesity rise is not only limited to developed countries, but to developing nations as well. This ...paper aims to compare the mean body mass index trends in the World Health Organisation- (WHO-) categorised regions since 1980 to 2008 and secondly to appraise how socioeconomic disparities can lead to differences in obesity and physical activity level across developing nations. Taking into account past and current BMI trends, it is anticipated that obesity will continue to take a significant ascent, as observed by the sharp increase from 1999 to 2008. Gender differences in BMI will continue to be as apparent, that is, women showing a higher BMI trend than men. In the coming years, the maximum mean BMI in more developed countries might be exceeded by those in less developed ones. Rather than focusing on obesity at the individual level, the immediate environment of the obese individual to broader socioeconomic contexts should be targeted. Most importantly, incentives at several organisational levels, the media, and educational institutions along with changes in food policies will need to be provided to low-income populations.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Sufficient intake of fruits and vegetables has been associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases and body weight management but the exact mechanism is unknown. The World Health Organisation and ...Food and Agriculture of the United Nation reports recommend adults to consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day excluding starchy vegetables. This review focuses on the importance of fruits and vegetables as well as the benefits and progress of nutrition education in improving intake.
For this narrative review, more than 100 relevant scientific articles were considered from various databases (e.g Science Direct, Pub Med and Google Scholar) using the keywords Fruit and vegetable, Nutrition education, Body weight, Obesity, Benefits and challenges.
Existing data suggests that despite the protective effects of fruits and vegetables, their intakes are still inadequate in many countries, especially developing ones. Consequently enhancing strategies to promote fruit and vegetable intake are essential for health promotion among population. A number of reviews confirm that a well planned and behaviour focused nutrition education intervention can significantly improve behaviour and health indicators.
Despite challenges in nutrition education intervention programs, they are considered as a good investment in terms of cost benefit ratio. Rapid improvement in trends of nutrition education can be seen in many countries and majority of interventions has been successful in increasing fruits and vegetables intake. It is recommended that health professionals use multiple interventions to deliver information in several smaller doses over time to ensure improved outcomes.
Considered as the "King of spices", black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is a widely used spice which adds flavor of its own to dishes, and also enhances the taste of other ingredients. Piper nigrum has ...also been extensively explored for its biological properties and its bioactive phyto-compounds. There is, however, no updated compilation of these available data to provide a complete profile of the medicinal aspects of P. nigrum. This study endeavors to systematically review scientific data on the traditional uses, phytochemical composition, and pharmacological properties of P. nigrum. Information was obtained using a combination of keywords via recognized electronic databases (e.g., Science Direct and Google Scholar). Google search was also used. Books and online materials were also considered, and the literature search was restricted to the English language. The country with the highest number of traditional reports of P. nigrum for both human and veterinary medicine was India, mostly for menstrual and ear-nose-throat disorders in human and gastrointestinal disorders in livestock. The seeds and fruits were mostly used, and the preferred mode of preparation was in powdered form, pills or tablets, and paste. Piper nigrum and its bioactive compounds were also found to possess important pharmacological properties. Antimicrobial activity was recorded against a wide range of pathogens via inhibition of biofilm, bacterial efflux pumps, bacterial swarming, and swimming motilities. Studies also reported its antioxidant effects against a series of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species including the scavenging of superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide, DPPH, ABTS, and reducing effect against ferric and molybdenum (VI). Improvement of antioxidant enzymes in vivo has also been reported. Piper nigrum also exhibited anticancer effect against a number of cell lines from breast, colon, cervical, and prostate through different mechanisms including cytotoxicity, apoptosis, autophagy, and interference with signaling pathways. Its antidiabetic property has also been confirmed in vivo as well as hypolipidemic activity as evidenced by decrease in the level of cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein and increase in high-density lipoprotein. Piper nigrum also has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anticonvulsant, and neuroprotective effects. The major bioactive compound identified in P. nigrum is piperine although other compounds are also present including piperic acid, piperlonguminine, pellitorine, piperolein B, piperamide, piperettine, and (-)-kusunokinin, which also showed biological potency. Most pharmacological studies were conducted in vitro (n = 60) while only 21 in vivo and 1 clinical trial were performed. Hence, more in vivo experiments using a pharmacokinetic and pharmacokinetic approach would be beneficial. As a conclusive remark, P. nigrum should not only be regarded as "King of spices" but can also be considered as part of the kingdom of medicinal agents, comprising a panoply of bioactive compounds with potential nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.
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BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, KISLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
The species is one of the basic units of biological classification. Both species concepts and recognition are essential topics in taxonomic studies and other biological research. In the first part of ...this review, we briefly discuss the taxonomic history of the class Dothideomycetes. In the second part of the paper, we review four commonly used species concepts, focusing on morphological, ecological, biological and phylogenetic criteria and their applicability in the taxonomy of Dothideomycetes. The application and utility of the four criteria is discussed with examples in the genera
Ascochyta
,
Cercospora
and
Neofusicoccum
. Some problems and challenges of studying Dothideomycetes are analyzed and basic guidelines for classifying species under the above criteria are provided.
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Colletotrichum
is one of the most important plant pathogenic genera that is responsible for numerous diseases which can have a profound impact on the agricultural sector. Species delineation is ...difficult due to a lack of distinctive phenotypic variation. Therefore, in this study three different genomic approaches based on phylogenetic, evolutionary and coalescent-based methods are applied to establish robust species boundaries. The reliability of five different DNA barcodes was also assessed to provide further insights into species delineation. The ITS region can resolve the placement of taxa up to the species complex level. The
GAPDH
and
TUB2
markers are determined to be the most informative for most complexes. However, no single marker could discriminate between species in all complexes, therefore different molecular approaches based on multi-locus datasets are recommended. This is the first study to provide an estimated divergence time for all species complexes in
Colletotrichum.
The estimated divergence time for species complexes ranged between 4.8 to 32.2 MYA
.
Based on the high level of congruent results obtained from the different molecular approaches, a new species complex, the
Colletotrichum agaves
complex is introduced. This complex consists of five taxa which are characterised by the presence of straight or slightly curved conidia with obtuse apices. This study shows that coalescent approaches and multi-locus phylogeny are crucial to establish species boundaries in
Colletotrichum
. The taxonomic placement of three singleton taxa
Colletotrichum axonopodi, C. cariniferi
and
C. parallelophorum
is revised. We accept 248 species and provide recommendations regarding species boundaries in the graminicola–caudatum complex.
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Bipolaris
species are important plant pathogens with a worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate environments. Species recognition in
Bipolaris
has been problematic due to a lack of molecular ...data from ex-type cultures, the use of few gene regions for species resolution and overlapping morphological characters. In this study, we evaluate the efficiency of different DNA barcodes in species delimitation in
Bipolaris
by phylogenetic analyses, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery and Objective Clustering. GAPDH is determined to be the best single marker for the genus. These approaches are used to clarify the taxonomic placement of all sequences currently named as
Bipolaris
in GenBank based on ITS and GAPDH gene sequence data. In checking various publications, we found that the majority of new host records of fungal species published in the Plant Disease journal from 2010 to 2019 were based on BLAST searches of the ITS sequences and up to 82% of those records could be erroneous. Therefore, relying on BLAST searches from GenBank to name species is not recommended. Editorial boards of journals and reviewers of new record papers should be aware of this problem. In naming
Bipolaris
species, whether new or known, it is recommended to perform phylogenetic analyses based on GAPDH using the correct taxon sampling for accurate results and the species relationship should have reliable statistical support. At least two new species are represented by molecular data in GenBank and we provide an updated taxonomic revision of
Bipolaris
. We accept 45 species in
Bipolaris
and notes are provided for all the species including hosts and geographic distribution.
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This article provides morphological descriptions and illustrations of microfungi associated with the invasive weed,
Chromolaena odorata
, which were mainly collected in northern Thailand. ...Seventy-seven taxa distributed in ten orders, 23 families (of which Neomassarinaceae is new), 12 new genera (
Chromolaenicola
,
Chromolaenomyces
,
Longiappendispora
,
Pseudocapulatispora
,
Murichromolaenicola
,
Neoophiobolus
,
Paraleptospora
,
Pseudoroussoella
,
Pseudostaurosphaeria
,
Pseudothyridariella
,
Setoarthopyrenia
,
Xenoroussoella
), 47 new species (
Aplosporella chromolaenae
,
Arthrinium chromolaenae
,
Chromolaenicola chiangraiensis
,
C. lampangensis
,
C. nanensis
,
C. thailandensis
,
Chromolaenomyces appendiculatus
,
Diaporthe chromolaenae
,
Didymella chromolaenae
,
Dyfrolomyces chromolaenae
,
Leptospora chromolaenae
,
L. phraeana
,
Longiappendispora chromolaenae
,
Memnoniella chromolaenae
,
Montagnula chiangraiensis
,
M. chromolaenae
,
M. chromolaenicola
,
M. thailandica
,
Murichromolaenicola chiangraiensis
,
M. chromolaenae
,
Muyocopron chromolaenae
,
M. chromolaenicola
,
Neomassarina chromolaenae
,
Neoophiobolus chromolaenae
,
Neopyrenochaeta chiangraiensis
,
N. chromolaenae
,
N. thailandica
,
N. triseptatispora
,
Nigrograna chromolaenae
,
Nothophoma chromolaenae
,
Paraleptospora chromolaenae
,
P. chromolaenicola
,
Patellaria chromolaenae
,
Pseudocapulatispora longiappendiculata
,
Pseudoroussoella chromolaenae
,
Pseudostaurosphaeria chromolaenae
,
P. chromolaenicola
,
Pseudothyridariella chromolaenae
,
Pyrenochaetopsis chromolaenae
,
Rhytidhysteron chromolaenae
,
Setoarthopyrenia chromolaenae
,
Sphaeropsis chromolaenicola
,
Tremateia chiangraiensis
,
T. chromolaenae
,
T. thailandensis
,
Xenoroussoella triseptata
,
Yunnanensis chromolaenae
), 12 new host records, three new taxonomic combinations (
Chromolaenicola siamensis
,
Pseudoroussoella elaeicola
,
Pseudothyridariella mahakashae
), and two reference specimens (
Torula chromolaenae
,
T. fici
) are described and illustrated. Unlike some other hosts, e.g. bamboo (Poaceae) and Pandanaceae, the dominant group of fungi on Siam weed were Dothideomycetes. Only 15 species previously recorded from northern Thailand were found in this study. Most of the taxa are likely to have jumped hosts from surrounding plants and are unlikely to be a specialist to Siam weed. Most fungal families found on Siam weed had divergence estimates with stem ages in the Cretaceous, which coincided with the expected origin of the host family (Asteraceae). This further indicates that the species have jumped hosts, as it is unlikely that the taxa on the alien Siam weed came from the Americas with its host. They may, however, have jumped from other Asteraceae hosts. In a preliminary screening 40 (65%) of the 62 species tested showed antimicrobial activity and thus, the fungi associated with
C. odorata
may be promising sources of novel bioactive compound discovery. We provide a checklist of fungi associated with
C. odorata
based on the USDA Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory (SMML) database, relevant literature and our study. In total, 130 taxa (116 identified and 14 unidentified species) are distributed in 20 orders, 48 families, and 85 genera.
Pseudocercospora
is the most commonly encountered genus on Siam weed.
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The recent realistic estimate of fungal numbers which used various algorithms was between 2.2 and 3.8 million. There are nearly 100,000 accepted species of Fungi and fungus-like taxa, which is ...between 2.6 and 4.5% of the estimated species. Several forums such as Botanica Marina series, Fungal Diversity notes, Fungal Biodiversity Profiles, Fungal Systematics and Evolution—New and Interesting Fungi, Mycosphere notes and Fungal Planet have enhanced the introduction of new taxa and nearly 2000 species have been introduced in these publications in the last decade. The need to define a fungal species more accurately has been recognized, but there is much research needed before this can be better clarified. We address the evidence that is needed to estimate the numbers of fungi and address the various advances that have been made towards its understanding. Some genera are barely known, whereas some plant pathogens comprise numerous species complexes and numbers are steadily increasing. In this paper, we examine ten genera as case studies to establish trends in fungal description and introduce new species in each genus. The genera are the ascomycetes
Colletotrichum
and
Pestalotiopsis
(with many species or complexes),
Atrocalyx
,
Dothiora, Lignosphaeria
,
Okeanomyces, Rhamphoriopsis
,
Thozetella
,
Thyrostroma
(relatively poorly studied genera) and the basidiomycete genus
Lepiota
. We provide examples where knowledge is incomplete or lacking and suggest areas needing further research. These include (1) the need to establish what is a species, (2) the need to establish how host-specific fungi are, not in highly disturbed urban areas, but in pristine or relatively undisturbed forests, and (3) the need to establish if species in different continents, islands, countries or regions are different, or if the same fungi occur worldwide? Finally, we conclude whether we are anywhere near to flattening the curve in new species description.
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Sordariomycetes is one of the largest classes of Ascomycota that comprises a highly diverse range of fungi mainly characterized by perithecial ascomata and inoperculate unitunicate asci. Freshwater ...Sordariomycetes play an important role in ecosystems and some of them have the potential to produce bioactive compounds. This study documents and reviews the freshwater Sordariomycetes, which is one of the largest and important groups of fungi in aquatic habitats. Based on evidence from DNA sequence data and morphology, we introduce a new order Distoseptisporales, two new families, viz. Ceratosphaeriaceae and Triadelphiaceae, three new genera, viz.
Aquafiliformis
,
Dematiosporium
and
Neospadicoides
, 47 new species, viz.
Acrodictys fluminicola
,
Aquafiliformis lignicola
,
Aquapteridospora fusiformis
,
Arthrinium aquaticum
,
Ascosacculus fusiformis
,
Atractospora aquatica
,
Barbatosphaeria lignicola
,
Ceratosphaeria aquatica
,
C. lignicola
,
Chaetosphaeria aquatica
,
Ch. catenulata
,
Ch. guttulata
,
Ch. submersa
,
Codinaea yunnanensis
,
Conioscypha aquatica
,
C. submersa
,
Cordana aquatica
,
C. lignicola
,
Cosmospora aquatica
,
Cylindrotrichum submersum
,
Dematiosporium aquaticum
,
Dictyochaeta cangshanensis
,
D. ellipsoidea
,
D. lignicola
,
D. submersa
,
Distoseptispora appendiculata
,
D. lignicola
,
D. neorostrata
,
D. obclavata
,
Hypoxylon lignicola
,
Lepteutypa aquatica
,
Myrmecridium aquaticum
,
Neospadicoides aquatica
,
N. lignicola
,
N. yunnanensis
,
Ophioceras submersum
,
Peroneutypa lignicola
,
Phaeoisaria filiformis
,
Pseudostanjehughesia lignicola
,
Rhodoveronaea aquatica
,
Seiridium aquaticum
,
Sporidesmiella aquatica
,
Sporidesmium lageniforme
,
S. lignicola
,
Tainosphaeria lunata
,
T. obclavata
,
Wongia aquatica
, two new combinations, viz.
Acrodictys aquatica
,
Cylindrotrichum aquaticum
, and 9 new records, viz.
Chaetomium globosum
,
Chaetosphaeria cubensis
,
Ch. myriocarpa
,
Cordana abramovii
,
Co. terrestris
,
Cuspidatispora xiphiago
,
Sporidesmiella hyalosperma
,
Stachybotrys chartarum
,
S. chlorohalonata
. A comprehensive classification of the freshwater Sordariomycetes is presented based on updated literature. Phylogenetic inferences based on DNA sequence analyses of a combined LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF1α dataset comprising species of freshwater Sordariomycetes are provided. Detailed information including their habitats distribution, diversity, holotype, specimens collected and classification are provided.
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The current classification system for the recognition of taxonomic ranks among fungi, especially at high-ranking level, is subjective. With the development of molecular approaches and the ...availability of fossil calibration data, the use of divergence times as a universally standardized criterion for ranking taxa has now become possible. We can therefore date the origin of Ascomycota lineages by using molecular clock methods and establish the divergence times for the orders and families of Dothideomycetes. We chose Dothideomycetes, the largest class of the phylum Ascomycota, which contains 32 orders, to establish ages at which points orders have split; and
Pleosporales
, the largest order of Dothideomycetes with 55 families, to establish family divergence times. We have assembled a multi-gene data set (LSU, SSU, TEF1 and RPB2) from 391 taxa representing most family groups of Dothideomycetes and utilized fossil calibration points solely from within the ascomycetes and a Bayesian approach to establish divergence times of Dothideomycetes lineages. Two separated datasets were analysed: (i) 272 taxa representing 32 orders of Dothideomycetes were included for the order level analysis, and (ii) 191 taxa representing 55 families of
Pleosporales
were included for the family level analysis. Our results indicate that divergence times (crown age) for most orders (20 out of 32, or 63%) are between 100 and 220 Mya, while divergence times for most families (39 out of 55, or 71%) are between 20 and 100 Mya. We believe that divergence times can provide additional evidence to support establishment of higher level taxa, such as families, orders and classes. Taking advantage of this added approach, we can strive towards establishing a standardized taxonomic system both within and outside Fungi. In this study we found that molecular dating coupled with phylogenetic inferences provides no support for the taxonomic status of two currently recognized orders, namely
Bezerromycetales
and
Wiesneriomycetales
and these are treated as synonyms of
Tubeufiales
while
Asterotexiales
is treated as a synonym of
Asterinales
. In addition, we provide an updated phylogenetic assessment of Dothideomycetes previously published as the
Families of Dothideomycetes
in 2013 with a further ten orders and 35 families.
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