A Native Hymenopteran Predator of \u3ci\u3eAgonopterix Alstroemeriana\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) in East-Central Illinois

Agonopterix alstroemeriana is a European oecophorid moth that defoliates poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), a noxious Eurasian weed extensively naturalized throughout temperate Australia, New Zealand, North America, and South America. Throughout western North America, and increasingly in the Midwest and Northeast, A. alstroemeriana has been utilized in poison hemlock eradication programs. We report, for the first time, predation on A. alstroemeriana by Euodynerus foraminatus (Hymenoptera: Eumenidae), a native solitary wasp that paralyzes these and other lepidopteran larvae and uses them to provision its nests. The presence of an effective predator may reduce the impact of A. alstroemeriana in biological control programs

A Native Hymenopteran Predator of \u3ci\u3eAgonopterix Alstroemeriana\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) in East-Central Illinois

Agonopterix alstroemeriana is a European oecophorid moth that defoliates poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), a noxious Eurasian weed extensively naturalized throughout temperate Australia, New Zealand, North America, and South America. Throughout western North America, and increasingly in the Midwest and Northeast, A. alstroemeriana has been utilized in poison hemlock eradication programs. We report, for the first time, predation on A. alstroemeriana by Euodynerus foraminatus (Hymenoptera: Eumenidae), a native solitary wasp that paralyzes these and other lepidopteran larvae and uses them to provision its nests. The presence of an effective predator may reduce the impact of A. alstroemeriana in biological control programs

Effects of Static and Dynamic Hamstring Stretching on Anaerobic Exercise Performance

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Genotoxic mixtures and dissimilar action: Concepts for prediction and assessment

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. This article is distributed under the terms of the creative commons Attribution license which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s)and the source are credited.Combinations of genotoxic agents have frequently been assessed without clear assumptions regarding their expected (additive) mixture effects, often leading to claims of synergisms that might in fact be compatible with additivity. We have shown earlier that the combined effects of chemicals, which induce micronuclei (MN) in the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay in Chinese hamster ovary-K1 cells by a similar mechanism, were additive according to the concept of concentration addition (CA). Here, we extended these studies and investigated for the first time whether valid additivity expectations can be formulated for MN-inducing chemicals that operate through a variety of mechanisms, including aneugens and clastogens (DNA cross-linkers, topoisomerase II inhibitors, minor groove binders). We expected that their effects should follow the additivity principles of independent action (IA). With two mixtures, one composed of various aneugens (colchicine, flubendazole, vinblastine sulphate, griseofulvin, paclitaxel), and another composed of aneugens and clastogens (flubendazole, doxorubicin, etoposide, melphalan and mitomycin C), we observed mixture effects that fell between the additivity predictions derived from CA and IA. We achieved better agreement between observation and prediction by grouping the chemicals into common assessment groups and using hybrid CA/IA prediction models. The combined effects of four dissimilarly acting compounds (flubendazole, paclitaxel, doxorubicin and melphalan) also fell within CA and IA. Two binary mixtures (flubendazole/paclitaxel and flubendazole/doxorubicin) showed effects in reasonable agreement with IA additivity. Our studies provide a systematic basis for the investigation of mixtures that affect endpoints of relevance to genotoxicity and show that their effects are largely additive.UK Food Standards Agenc

Diabetes is an independent predictor for severe osteoarthritis: Results from a longitudinal cohort study

OBJECTIVE-To evaluate if type 2 diabetes is an independent risk predictor for severe oste-oarthritis (OA). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-Population-based cohort study with an age-and sex-stratified random sample of 927 men and women aged 40-80 years and followed over 20 years (1990-2010). RESULTS-Rates of arthroplasty (95% CI) were 17.7 (9.4-30.2) per 1,000 person-years in patients with type 2 diabetes and 5.3 (4.1-6.6) per 1,000 person-years in those without (P < 0.001). Type 2 diabetes emerged as an independent risk predictor for arthroplasty: hazard ratios (95% CI), 3.8 (2.1-6.8) (P < 0.001) in an unadjusted analysis and 2.1 (1.1-3.8) (P = 0.023) after adjustment for age, BMI, and other risk factors for OA. The probability of arthroplasty increased with disease duration of type 2 diabetes and applied to men and women, as well as subgroups according to age and BMI. Our findings were corroborated in cross-sectional evaluation by more severe clinical symptoms of OA and structural joint changes in subjects with type 2 diabetes compared with those without type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS-Type 2 diabetes predicts the development of severe OA independent of age and BMI. Our findings strengthen the concept of a strong metabolic component in the pathogenesis of OA.\ua9 2013 by the American Diabetes Association

Genetic variability of the bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, occurring on different host plants

The bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a polyphagous pest of worldwide occurrence inflicting annual crop damage in India worth US$ 1billion. In India this insect occurs as a major pest in many economically important crops, including cotton, pigeonpea, chickpea, tomato, okra, and blackgram. Understanding the genetic variation among the H. armigera populations occurring on host plants has become essential to understand the variation in their susceptibility to different insecticides, including Bacillus thuringiensis. This preliminary study uses 10 microsatellite simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, to provide insight into the genetic variability of H. armigera populations from six different host plants. Nine of the SSR primers indicated high variability across the different host associated populations with polymorphism ranging from 75 to 100 per cent. Using the un-weighted pair-group method analysis, H. armigera collected and reared from cotton stood out as unique in one cluster while the insects collected and reared on all other hosts grouped separately