The spread of COVID-19 changes consumer preferences and behaviors greatly across the world. Extant literature has demonstrated that when there is a threat to disease, people stay away from those who do not seem healthy as they can be potentially infectious. Based on the previous literature, this research shows that individuals exposed to disease threat avoid products of which designs are high in visual complexity. When disease threat was present, individuals had lower purchase intention for products with complex designs. The perceived uncleanliness mediated the effect of visual complexity and disease threat on purchase intention. The findings provide a novel insight into the effect of disease salience on consumer perception of product design.

It is well known that the root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., incite and aggravate the diseases caused by fungal and bacterial pathogens. The synergistic effects of the inoculation of Meloidogyne incognita combined with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici showed the greatly increased wilt symptoms developed on tomato plants compared to the inoculation of either of the two pests alone. For the biological control of the complex disease, a variety of bacterial isolates were tested for antagonistic effects to select ones that had both nematicidal and antifungal activities. Among forty plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) tested, Paenibacillus polymyxa G508 and G462 and P. lentimorbus G158 showed strong antifungal and nematicidal activities against F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and second-stage juveniles (J2) of M. incognita, respectively, and also inhibited egg hatch of the nematode. The addition of Paenibacillus strains into potted soil suppressed the Fusarium-wilt severity and root galling on tomato and increased plant growths. P. lentimorbus G158 were abundantly proliferated on tomato seeds and hypocotyls more than P. polymyxa G 462 and had no phytotoxic effect on tomato plant. Under the greenhouse conditions, seed treatment of P. lentimorbus G158 reduced wilt severity caused by Fusarium wilt-root knot disease complex and root gall formation and increased tomato growth compared to the untreated control. Root-galls caused by both pathogens treated with bacterial culture had fewer and smaller giant-cells than untreated control, and scanning electron microscopy revealed alteration and distortion of hyphal cell wall of F. oxysporum and lysis of M. incognita egg shell by the bacterial treatment. All of these results suggest the Paenibacillus strains, especially G158 may have a high potential developed as biological control agents for the complex disease.

Root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., are the most important plant-parasitic nematodes, causing severe crop yield loss with an estimated 1000 billion dollars a year worldwide. The nematodes also cause disease complexes with other microbial pathogens, damaging plants more severely than each of the pathogens alone or their sum does and making control efficiencies weakened or nullified in disease complexes. In our study, the synergistic effect of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita was confirmed in the fusarium wilt of tomato caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, which showed greatly increased wilt symptoms in combined inoculations. Use of antifungal and nematicidal plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) were considered for controlling the disease complex because of its causal agents. Among forty PGPR strains tested, P. polymyxa G508, G462 and P. lentimorbus G158 showed strong antifungal and nematicidal activities against F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and M. incognita second stage juveniles (J2), respectively. The Cultures of these bacterial strains inhibited the nematode egg hatching completely even at 1% diluted concentration. In pot experiments, treatment of the Paenibacillus strains reduced wilt severity of tomato with the control efficacy of about 90% ~ 98%. Their treatment also reduced gall formation by 64% - 88% compared to the untreated control. P. lentimorbus GBR158, which well established on seeds and hypocotyls at high population levels, reduced the disease complex greatly with the control value of about 98% when the tomato seeds were treated with the bacterial strain. Plant growth was also stimulated by the seed treatment of the bacterial strain. Scanning electron microscopy revealed alteration and distortion of hyphal cell walls of F. oxysporum and lysis of M. incognita egg shell by the bacterial treatment, showing direct antifungal and nematicidal action mechanisms. No extensive giant cell formation was observed near nematode in the tomato roots treated with the bacteria, indicating a systemic action mechanism. All of these results suggest that the Paenibacillus strains, especially G158 may have a high potential to be developed as biological agents for controlling the root-knot nematode and the disease complex.

The purpose of this study is to compare the correlation of clinical characteristics and patterns of disease. Subjects of the study were the adults(207) living in Geoje City, the diabetes mellitus and the hypertension patients(166) and the normal people(41). In the diabetes mellitus group and the hypertension group, blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholestero LDL-cholesterol and atherogenic index(AI) were significantly high. As the obesity index was getting higher, the blood pressure of the diabetes mellitus group was high, and the HDL-cholesterol of the hypertension group was low, but AI of it was significantly high. The AI was significantly high as serum lipid index were getting higher in both groups. The rate of the prevalence was very high in the diabetes mellitus group(74.3%) and the hypertension group(73.7%). The pattern in the diabetes mellitus group was in order of the hypertension, the hyperlipidemia, and the obesity but, in the hypertension group was the hyperlipidemia, and the obesity. The obesity index and serum lipid index of complex patient group were higher than single patient group.

To investigate the forecasting of plant disease and insect for an agricultural complex and farm in environment-friendly cultivation of Rice, environment-friendly agricultural five complexs and five farms were selected in Youngam and Naju area, Jonnam, Korea. Preventation objects of plant disease and insect were leaf blast, neck blast, sheath blight, bacterial leaf blight, and hopper. Factors of sheath blight occurrence in environment-friendly ag꺼cultural complex were a fast transplanting time and a naπ。w planting density. Bacterialleaf blight in rice occurred severely in the area under water. Rice growth in environment-friendly agricultural complex was decreased heavy drying by hopper appearance.