Effects of Neighboring Nectar-Producing Plants on Populations of Pest Lepidoptera and Their Parasitoids in Broccoli Plantings

Eggs and larvae of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae, were much more abundant in broccoli interplanted with nectar-producing plants than in broccoli monoculture. More diamondback moth larvae, Plutella xylostella, occurred in broccoli interplanted with or adjacent to nectar-producing plants than in broccoli monoculture. Density of cabbage looper larvae, Trichoplusia ni, was similar among the three types of broccoli plantings. For Cotesia rubecula, established in Michigan after introduction from Yugoslavia, pupae were more numerous in broccoli interplanted with nectar-producing plants than in other plots. High parasitism rates of diamondback moth, mainly by Diadegma insulare, were observed in every plot, but there were no differences in parasitism of diamondback moth between the treatments. Results indicate that the interactions between pests, parasitoids and nectar-producing plants are complex and may be different for each species

Post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth: an update of current issues and recommendations for future research

Objective: This paper aimed to report the current status of research in the field of post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth (PTSD FC), and to update the findings of an earlier 2008 paper. Background: A group of international researchers, clinicians and service users met in 2006 to establish the state of clinical and academic knowledge relating to PTSD FC. A paper identified four key areas of research knowledge at that time. Methods: Fourteen clinicians and researchers met in Oxford, UK to update the previously published paper relating to PTSD FC. The first part of the meeting focused on updating the four key areas identified previously, and the second part on discussing new and emerging areas of research within the field. Results: A number of advances have been made in research within the area of PTSD FC. Prevalence is well established within mothers, several intervention studies have been published, and there is growing interest in new areas: staff and pathways; prevention and early intervention; impact on families and children; special populations; and post-traumatic growth. Conclusion: Despite progress, significant gaps remain within the PTSD FC knowledge base. Further research continues to be needed across all areas identified in 2006, and five areas were identified which can be seen as ‘new and emerging’. All of these new areas require further extensive research. Relatively little is still known about PTSD FC

Randomized trial of polychromatic blue-enriched light for circadian phase shifting, melatonin suppression, and alerting responses.

Wavelength comparisons have indicated that circadian phase-shifting and enhancement of subjective and EEG-correlates of alertness have a higher sensitivity to short wavelength visible light. The aim of the current study was to test whether polychromatic light enriched in the blue portion of the spectrum (17,000 K) has increased efficacy for melatonin suppression, circadian phase-shifting, and alertness as compared to an equal photon density exposure to a standard white polychromatic light (4000 K). Twenty healthy participants were studied in a time-free environment for 7 days. The protocol included two baseline days followed by a 26-h constant routine (CR1) to assess initial circadian phase. Following CR1, participants were exposed to a full-field fluorescent light (1 × 10 14 photons/cm 2 /s, 4000 K or 17,000 K, n = 10/condition) for 6.5 h during the biological night. Following an 8 h recovery sleep, a second 30-h CR was performed. Melatonin suppression was assessed from the difference during the light exposure and the corresponding clock time 24 h earlier during CR1. Phase-shifts were calculated from the clock time difference in dim light melatonin onset time (DLMO) between CR1 and CR2. Blue-enriched light caused significantly greater suppression of melatonin than standard light ((mean ± SD) 70.9 ± 19.6% and 42.8 ± 29.1%, respectively, p \u3c 0.05). There was no significant difference in the magnitude of phase delay shifts. Blue-enriched light significantly improved subjective alertness (p \u3c 0.05) but no differences were found for objective alertness. These data contribute to the optimization of the short wavelength-enriched spectra and intensities needed for circadian, neuroendocrine and neurobehavioral regulation

Postnatal mental health and mothers' processing of infant emotion: an eye-tracking study

BACKGROUND: Postnatal mental illnesses are associated with less maternal sensitivity. Differences in how mothers with and without mental illness process infant emotions could explain this. People with mental illness in non-perinatal populations show certain processing patterns when viewing emotional faces, but it is not clear whether these patterns are present in mothers. OBJECTIVE: Compared to mothers without affective symptoms (anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress). Task 1 aimed to identify whether mothers with affective symptoms show an attentional bias towards negative infant faces; and Task 2 aimed to identify whether mothers with affective symptoms look less at infants' eyes compared to eyes and mouth. DESIGN: An experimental design was used in two tasks to answer the research objective. METHODS: Mothers with affective symptoms (n = 23) and without affective symptoms (n = 47) had their eye movements tracked whilst: Task 1, viewing pairs of infant faces; and Task 2, viewing morphed infant faces. RESULTS: In Task 1 mothers with affective symptoms were more likely to fixate first on neutral faces when the choice was between negative and neutral. In Task 2, no differences were found between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from Task 1 are unexpected given previous research. More research is needed to identify potential explanations for this

The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra

An experimental study of strings, woodwinds (organ pipe, flute, clarinet, saxophone and recorder), and the voice was undertaken to illustrate the basic principles of sound production in music instruments. The setup used is simple and consists of common laboratory equipment. Although the canonical examples (standing wave on a string, in an open and closed pipe) are easily reproduced, they fail to explain the majority of the measurements. The reasons for these deviations are outlined and discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures (jpg files). Submitted to European Journal of Physic

Evaluation of Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic for resistance to gray leaf spot

Gray leaf spot (GLS) of maize (Zeamays), caused by Cercospora zeae-maydis, has become an increasing disease problem in the United States. Resistance to this pathogen is generally higher in inbred lines of Lancaster origin compared to lines derived from Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic (BSSS). This study was conducted to determine whether recurrent selection for yield had altered the level of GLS resistance in BSSS and to identify BSSS(R)Cl 1 S1 lines that combine GLS resistance with high yield. The distribution of GLS ratings for S1 lines derived from BSSSCO and BSSS(R)CI I were very similar, indicating that selection for yield had not altered G LS resistance· levels. Although the mean rating for both cycles was a susceptible 7 (I= resistant, 9 =susceptible), S1 lines with intermediate levels of resistance (4-6) were identified. The 250 BSSS(R)Cl I S1 lines were crossed to LH51, and the testcrosses were evaluated for yield and agronomic performance. S1 lines were identified which combine intermediate levels of GLS resistance with above-average standability and yield. These S1 lines will be recombined to develop an Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic population adapted to eastern maize growing conditions

Quasiparticle properties in a density functional framework

We propose a framework to construct the ground-state energy and density matrix of an N-electron system by solving selfconsistently a set of single-particle equations. The method can be viewed as a non-trivial extension of the Kohn-Sham scheme (which is embedded as a special case). It is based on separating the Green's function into a quasi-particle part and a background part, and expressing only the background part as a functional of the density matrix. The calculated single-particle energies and wave functions have a clear physical interpretation as quasiparticle energies and orbitals.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Phys. Rev.