Biology, damage potential and molecular identification of Conogethes punctiferalis Guenee in cocoa

Conogethes punctiferalis is an important polyphagous pest attacking many economically important crops. Recently, C. punctiferalis has been found to be an emerging pest in cocoa and was found to feed and bore into cocoa pods. The larvae feed on the rind of cocoa cherelles/pods, later bore into pods, feed the internal contents of the pods, the granular faecal pellets are seen outside the pods. When pods/cherelles touch each other, it is easy for the larvae to damage more than one pod/cherelle. Pods damaged by Conogethes are exposed to secondary infection by pathogens that lead to pod rot. The larvae sometimes feed on flower buds and flowers cushions. The damaged flower cushions may dry and shed prematurely. The damage of C. punctiferalis on cocoa is observed from December and peak incidence is noticed during March to May. On an average 2 per cent damage was recorded in the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Regional Station, Vittal. In order to develop a DNA-based molecular identification system for this species, primers were designed based on two nuclear genes viz., ribosomal protein S5 (RPS5) gene and carbamoyl phosphate synthetase/ aspartate transcarbamylase/dihydroorotase (CAD). PCR-amenable DNA was isolated from C. puntiferalis larva. The designed primers amplified single bands of expected sizes using genomic DNA as template. The amplicons were purified, cloned and sequenced and sequence analysis revealed close homology to the gene of interest from related moths

Uniform planarization technique for the realization of a twin-guide membrane laser

The InP Membrane on Silicon (IMOS) generic technology promises high index contrast photonic integrated circuits. To make this a reality fabrication of an electrically pumped twin-guide laser is pursued. In this paper, one of the bottle-necks for the processing is discussed, the planarization step and subsequent etch-back. Benzocyclobutene (BCB) is used to planarize SOA structures before contacting. Complete curing of BCB at 280oC creates uniformity issues during etch-back. To mitigate this, a partial cure at 180oC before the etch-back and a complete cure afterwards is performed. Experiments show repeatability and reproducibility. Good uniformity after etch-back is found

Evidence of Color Coherence Effects in W+jets Events from ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV

We report the results of a study of color coherence effects in ppbar collisions based on data collected by the D0 detector during the 1994-1995 run of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, at a center of mass energy sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. Initial-to-final state color interference effects are studied by examining particle distribution patterns in events with a W boson and at least one jet. The data are compared to Monte Carlo simulations with different color coherence implementations and to an analytic modified-leading-logarithm perturbative calculation based on the local parton-hadron duality hypothesis.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Physics Letters

Fungal diversity notes 253–366: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa

Notes on 113 fungal taxa are compiled in this paper, including 11 new genera, 89 new species, one new subspecies, three new combinations and seven reference specimens. A wide geographic and taxonomic range of fungal taxa are detailed. In the Ascomycota the new genera Angustospora (Testudinaceae), Camporesia (Xylariaceae), Clematidis, Crassiparies (Pleosporales genera incertae sedis), Farasanispora, Longiostiolum (Pleosporales genera incertae sedis), Multilocularia (Parabambusicolaceae), Neophaeocryptopus (Dothideaceae), Parameliola (Pleosporales genera incertae sedis), and Towyspora (Lentitheciaceae) are introduced. Newly introduced species are Angustospora nilensis, Aniptodera aquibella, Annulohypoxylon albidiscum, Astrocystis thailandica, Camporesia sambuci, Clematidis italica, Colletotrichum menispermi, C. quinquefoliae, Comoclathris pimpinellae, Crassiparies quadrisporus, Cytospora salicicola, Diatrype thailandica, Dothiorella rhamni, Durotheca macrostroma, Farasanispora avicenniae, Halorosellinia rhizophorae, Humicola koreana, Hypoxylon lilloi, Kirschsteiniothelia tectonae, Lindgomyces okinawaensis, Longiostiolum tectonae, Lophiostoma pseudoarmatisporum, Moelleriella phukhiaoensis, M. pongdueatensis, Mucoharknessia anthoxanthi, Multilocularia bambusae, Multiseptospora thysanolaenae, Neophaeocryptopus cytisi, Ocellularia arachchigei, O. ratnapurensis, Ochronectria thailandica, Ophiocordyceps karstii, Parameliola acaciae, P. dimocarpi, Parastagonospora cumpignensis, Pseudodidymosphaeria phlei, Polyplosphaeria thailandica, Pseudolachnella brevifusiformis, Psiloglonium macrosporum, Rhabdodiscus albodenticulatus, Rosellinia chiangmaiensis, Saccothecium rubi, Seimatosporium pseudocornii, S. pseudorosae, Sigarispora ononidis and Towyspora aestuari. New combinations are provided for Eutiarosporella dactylidis (sexual morph described and illustrated) and Pseudocamarosporium pini. Descriptions, illustrations and / or reference specimens are designated for Aposphaeria corallinolutea, Cryptovalsa ampelina, Dothiorella vidmadera, Ophiocordyceps formosana, Petrakia echinata, Phragmoporthe conformis and Pseudocamarosporium pini. The new species of Basidiomycota are Agaricus coccyginus, A. luteofibrillosus, Amanita atrobrunnea, A. digitosa, A. gleocystidiosa, A. pyriformis, A. strobilipes, Bondarzewia tibetica, Cortinarius albosericeus, C. badioflavidus, C. dentigratus, C. duboisensis, C. fragrantissimus, C. roseobasilis, C. vinaceobrunneus, C. vinaceogrisescens, C. wahkiacus, Cyanoboletus hymenoglutinosus, Fomitiporia atlantica, F. subtilissima, Ganoderma wuzhishanensis, Inonotus shoreicola, Lactifluus armeniacus, L. ramipilosus, Leccinum indoaurantiacum, Musumecia alpina, M. sardoa, Russula amethystina subp. tengii and R. wangii are introduced. Descriptions, illustrations, notes and / or reference specimens are designated for Clarkeinda trachodes, Dentocorticium ussuricum, Galzinia longibasidia, Lentinus stuppeus and Leptocorticium tenellum. The other new genera, species new combinations are Anaeromyces robustus, Neocallimastix californiae and Piromyces finnis from Neocallimastigomycota, Phytophthora estuarina, P. rhizophorae, Salispina, S. intermedia, S. lobata and S. spinosa from Oomycota, and Absidia stercoraria, Gongronella orasabula, Mortierella calciphila, Mucor caatinguensis, M. koreanus, M. merdicola and Rhizopus koreanus in Zygomycota

The satisfactory growth and development at 2 years of age of the INTERGROWTH-21st Fetal Growth Standards cohort support its appropriateness for constructing international standards.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends that human growth should be monitored with the use of international standards. However, in obstetric practice, we continue to monitor fetal growth using numerous local charts or equations that are based on different populations for each body structure. Consistent with World Health Organization recommendations, the INTERGROWTH-21st Project has produced the first set of international standards to date pregnancies; to monitor fetal growth, estimated fetal weight, Doppler measures, and brain structures; to measure uterine growth, maternal nutrition, newborn infant size, and body composition; and to assess the postnatal growth of preterm babies. All these standards are based on the same healthy pregnancy cohort. Recognizing the importance of demonstrating that, postnatally, this cohort still adhered to the World Health Organization prescriptive approach, we followed their growth and development to the key milestone of 2 years of age. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the babies in the INTERGROWTH-21st Project maintained optimal growth and development in childhood. STUDY DESIGN: In the Infant Follow-up Study of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project, we evaluated postnatal growth, nutrition, morbidity, and motor development up to 2 years of age in the children who contributed data to the construction of the international fetal growth, newborn infant size and body composition at birth, and preterm postnatal growth standards. Clinical care, feeding practices, anthropometric measures, and assessment of morbidity were standardized across study sites and documented at 1 and 2 years of age. Weight, length, and head circumference age- and sex-specific z-scores and percentiles and motor development milestones were estimated with the use of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards and World Health Organization milestone distributions, respectively. For the preterm infants, corrected age was used. Variance components analysis was used to estimate the percentage variability among individuals within a study site compared with that among study sites. RESULTS: There were 3711 eligible singleton live births; 3042 children (82%) were evaluated at 2 years of age. There were no substantive differences between the included group and the lost-to-follow up group. Infant mortality rate was 3 per 1000; neonatal mortality rate was 1.6 per 1000. At the 2-year visit, the children included in the INTERGROWTH-21st Fetal Growth Standards were at the 49th percentile for length, 50th percentile for head circumference, and 58th percentile for weight of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards. Similar results were seen for the preterm subgroup that was included in the INTERGROWTH-21st Preterm Postnatal Growth Standards. The cohort overlapped between the 3rd and 97th percentiles of the World Health Organization motor development milestones. We estimated that the variance among study sites explains only 5.5% of the total variability in the length of the children between birth and 2 years of age, although the variance among individuals within a study site explains 42.9% (ie, 8 times the amount explained by the variation among sites). An increase of 8.9 cm in adult height over mean parental height is estimated to occur in the cohort from low-middle income countries, provided that children continue to have adequate health, environmental, and nutritional conditions. CONCLUSION: The cohort enrolled in the INTERGROWTH-21st standards remained healthy with adequate growth and motor development up to 2 years of age, which supports its appropriateness for the construction of international fetal and preterm postnatal growth standards

Cotton in the new millennium: advances, economics, perceptions and problems

Cotton is the most significant natural fibre and has been a preferred choice of the textile industry and consumers since the industrial revolution began. The share of man-made fibres, both regenerated and synthetic fibres, has grown considerably in recent times but cotton production has also been on the rise and accounts for about half of the fibres used for apparel and textile goods. To cotton’s advantage, the premium attached to the presence of cotton fibre and the general positive consumer perception is well established, however, compared to commodity man-made fibres and high performance fibres, cotton has limitations in terms of its mechanical properties but can help to overcome moisture management issues that arise with performance apparel during active wear. This issue of Textile Progress aims to: i. Report on advances in cotton cultivation and processing as well as improvements to conventional cotton cultivation and ginning. The processing of cotton in the textile industry from fibre to finished fabric, cotton and its blends, and their applications in technical textiles are also covered. ii. Explore the economic impact of cotton in different parts of the world including an overview of global cotton trade. iii. Examine the environmental perception of cotton fibre and efforts in organic and genetically-modified (GM) cotton production. The topic of naturally-coloured cotton, post-consumer waste is covered and the environmental impacts of cotton cultivation and processing are discussed. Hazardous effects of cultivation, such as the extensive use of pesticides, insecticides and irrigation with fresh water, and consequences of the use of GM cotton and cotton fibres in general on the climate are summarised and the effects of cotton processing on workers are addressed. The potential hazards during cotton cultivation, processing and use are also included. iv. Examine how the properties of cotton textiles can be enhanced, for example, by improving wrinkle recovery and reducing the flammability of cotton fibre