Beat to Beat: Implementing a Tailored Literature Review e-Newsletter for a Multidisciplinary Subspecialty Group

Objective: To increase availability and exposure to recent, relevant, reliable literature from a range of sources, for a multidisciplinary cardiac center, by creating an e-newsletter summarizing articles of interest.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1043/thumbnail.jp

Is Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Brazil? First detailed molecular detection report

The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is a quarantine agricultural pest for the American continents. It is thought to have invaded the American continents and led the founding of current H. zea populations in the American continents ~1.5 million years ago. This relatively recent divergence is evident via hybridisation under laboratory conditions. Despite periodic incursions of H. armigera into North America, this pest species is not believed to have successfully established significant populations in the New World. For the first time, we provide molecular evidence via mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cyt b) partial gene sequences the successful recent incursion of H. armigera into the New World, with populations from the state of Mato Grosso (central-eastern and southern regions) in Brazil, likely to have taken place post 2006. The mtDNA haplotypes detected in the Brazilian H. armigera individuals are common throughout the Old World, thus precluding identification of Old World origins of the founder populations. Combining the two partial mtDNA gene sequences we showed that at least two matrilines were present in Brazil, while the inclusion of three nuclear DNA Exon-Primed Intron-Crossing (EPIC) markers identified a further two possible matrilines. Based upon five genetic markers, the Brazilian H. armigera from Mato Grosso likely originated from at least four maternal lineages. (Résumé d'auteur

The efficacy and sustainability of the CIMBAA transgenic Cry1B/Cry1C Bt cabbage and cauliflower plants for control of lepidopteran pests

In 2003 the Collaboration on Insect Management for Brassicas in Asia and Africa (CIMBAA) public/private partnership selected the Cry1B/Cry1C Bt protein combination as having the potential to provide effective and sustainable control of diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella. Following transformations and extensive plant selection, insect efficacy trials were undertaken in 2008 to 2010 in north India (Murthal near New Delhi) and south India (near Bengaluru) in large scale screen-house experiments using artificial infestations on the best performing (Elite Event) plant lines and on hybrids produced from them. Plant damage was scored on a scale of 0 (no visible damage) to 4 (plant effectively destroyed). For DBM, cabbage cluster caterpillar (Crocidolomia binotalis), cabbage webworm (Hellula undalis) and semi-looper (Trichoplusia ni) there was zero insect survival and a zero damage score on the Elite Event lines and on their hybrids, while control plants had 50 to 100% insect survival (depending on species, life stage and trials) and damage scores of 3.3 to 4. Cabbage white (Pieris brassicae) and common army worm (Spodoptera litura) showed some larval survival and damage scores up to 1.4 (especially in early trials) but no survival to pupation. Screening of DBM populations worldwide (inc. 18 populations for Cry1B and 13 for Cry1C from India) showed mean LC50s close to that of international susceptible strains. To date F2 screening has not identified the presence of resistance genes in DBM in the field. Cry1B resistance was slowly developed artificially in the laboratory but 1C resistance and resistance to the Cry1B/1C combination was harder to develop and had higher fitness costs. The ‘resistant’ lines showed some extended survival of stunted DBM larvae on dual gene Bt plants but no survival to pupation. There was no cross-resistance between Cry1B and Cry1C. Resistance to both genes was autosomal and recessive. Beneficial insects were demonstrated to have the potential to provide additional mortality on rare surviving insects in Bt fields. Aphids were well controlled for the first 40 days post-transplanting using imidacloprid pelleted onto seed and, if necessary, by 1-2 Verticillium lecanii sprays thereafter. Surviving S. litura and Helicoverpa armigera in Bt sprayed fields were well controlled by one or two application

Evaluation of a continuous chromatography process through process modeling and resin characterization

Increased product yield at reduced cost and time has been the driving force of any manufacturing process. However, inevitable increase in future demand for biopharmaceutical drugs, along with intensified competition and stringent regulatory laws have exhibited an imperative need for established platform processes. In this regard, the implementation of continuous processing, in whole or in components, has demonstrated to increase the manufacturing productivity with key impact on speed, cost and facility implications. While, upstream operations have confirmed increased productivity by implementation of continuous processing components, such as perfusion culture, similar adaptation for downstream processes has been limited. We have evaluated a continuous process for separation of a mAb in a closed environment by employing a combined approach of process modelling for continuous chromatography column and characterization of the Protein A resin. The process model utilized several semi-empirical parameters namely Peclet number and effective diffusivity from previous batch processes for continuous separation mAbs, which were appraised for process efficiency. The resin characteristics were assessed for the impact of pH, temperature, pressure and shelf life using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results and associated outcome confirmed that this model can be employed with significant impact on the process time. The approach elucidates the conditions required to perform the continuous unit operation for mAb capture step, with indications of alleviating the bottleneck posed by conventional batch processes. Overall, the outcomes of the evaluated approach supports the shift away from conventional fed batch processes to continuous processing for improved biomanufacturing

Virtual faces as a tool to study emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia

Studies investigating emotion recognition in patients with schizophrenia predominantly presented photographs of facial expressions. Better control and higher flexibility of emotion displays could be afforded by virtual reality (VR). VR allows the manipulation of facial expression and can simulate social interactions in a controlled and yet more naturalistic environment. However, to our knowledge, there is no study that systematically investigated whether patients with schizophrenia show the same emotion recognition deficits when emotions are expressed by virtual as compared to natural faces. Twenty schizophrenia patients and 20 controls rated pictures of natural and virtual faces with respect to the basic emotion expressed (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutrality). Consistent with our hypothesis, the results revealed that emotion recognition impairments also emerged for emotions expressed by virtual characters. As virtual in contrast to natural expressions only contain major emotional features, schizophrenia patients already seem to be impaired in the recognition of basic emotional features. This finding has practical implication as it supports the use of virtual emotional expressions for psychiatric research: the ease of changing facial features, animating avatar faces, and creating therapeutic simulations makes validated artificial expressions perfectly suited to study and treat emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia