Tissue and stage-specific juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) and epoxide hydrolase (JHEH) enzyme activities and \u3ci\u3eJhe \u3c/i\u3etranscript abundance in lines of the cricket\u3ci\u3e Gryllus assimilis \u3c/i\u3eartificially selected for plasma JHE activity: Implications for JHE microevolution

Fat body and midgut juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) and juvenile hormone epoxide hydrolase (JHEH) specific activities, and plasma JHE activity, were measured throughout the last stadium in two pairs (blocks) of lines of the cricket Gryllus assimilis, each pair of which had been artificially selected for high- or low-plasma JHE activity. Highly significant differences were observed between high- and low-activity lines of each block on most days for fat body JHE, and on one day for midgut JHE activity. In each block, line differences in developmental profiles for fat body JHE activity paralleled line differences in plasma JHE activity during the early-mid stadium, but not during the latter part of the stadium. The developmental profile of midgut JHE activity differed from that of plasma and fat body JHE activity, exhibiting peaks during the early and latter parts of the stadium. Midgut and fat body JHEH activities exhibited a mid-stadium peak in all lines, but activities were very similar in all lines. Fat body JHE appears to be a more significant contributor to plasma JHE than is midgut JHE. During the middle of the last stadium (day 4), Jhe transcript abundance was significantly higher in fat body or midgut of highvs. low-JHE-activity lines. Jhe transcript abundance was positively correlated with JHE enzyme activity in either fat body or midgut, and with plasma JHE activity. Natural populations of G. assimilis harbor genetic variation for Jhe gene expression which appears to contribute to genetic variation in JHE specific activity in fat body and midgut. These genes appear to have been the targets of artificial selection that resulted in lines that differ dramatically in high- or low-plasma JHE activity. These genes appear to have little, if any, pleiotropic effects on JHEH specific activity

\u3ci\u3eJhe in Gryllus assimilis\u3c/i\u3e: Cloning, sequence-activity associations and phylogeny

The 458 amino acid sequence of a mature JHE protein from the cricket Gryllus assimilis was identified after isolating the partial cDNA sequence encoding this protein from a fat body and midgut cDNA library. This hemimetabolan JHE sequence shows over 40% amino acid similarity to the known JHE sequences of several holometabolous insects. It also includes previously determined peptide sequences for G. assimilis JHE as well as two other motifs associated with JHE enzymes in holometabolous insects. The predicted molecular weight of the protein agrees with that of the JHE previously purified from G. assimilis. Partial genomic sequence encoding the Jhe contains two large (1330 and 2918 bp) introns. No coding DNA sequence variation was observed over a 1293 bp region between selected lines differing six to eight-fold in hemolymph JHE activity. However, a 19 bp indel was found in one of the introns; the insertion was strongly associated with elevated hemolymph activity, both in the selected lines and in the F2 progeny of crosses between them. Phylogenetic analyses localised the G. assimilis JHE to a clade containing dipteran and coleopteran JHEs, with lepidopteran JHEs occurring in a separate clade

\u3ci\u3eJhe in Gryllus assimilis\u3c/i\u3e: Cloning, sequence-activity associations and phylogeny

The 458 amino acid sequence of a mature JHE protein from the cricket Gryllus assimilis was identified after isolating the partial cDNA sequence encoding this protein from a fat body and midgut cDNA library. This hemimetabolan JHE sequence shows over 40% amino acid similarity to the known JHE sequences of several holometabolous insects. It also includes previously determined peptide sequences for G. assimilis JHE as well as two other motifs associated with JHE enzymes in holometabolous insects. The predicted molecular weight of the protein agrees with that of the JHE previously purified from G. assimilis. Partial genomic sequence encoding the Jhe contains two large (1330 and 2918 bp) introns. No coding DNA sequence variation was observed over a 1293 bp region between selected lines differing six to eight-fold in hemolymph JHE activity. However, a 19 bp indel was found in one of the introns; the insertion was strongly associated with elevated hemolymph activity, both in the selected lines and in the F2 progeny of crosses between them. Phylogenetic analyses localised the G. assimilis JHE to a clade containing dipteran and coleopteran JHEs, with lepidopteran JHEs occurring in a separate clade

New trends in active faulting studies for seismic hazard assessment

Vulnerability to earthquakes increases steadily as urbanization and development expand in areas that are prone to the effects of significant earthquakes. As virtually all of the largest earthquakes of the past decade demonstrated, the development of large cities in high seismicity areas is often based on an insufficient knowledge or distorted perception of the local seismic hazard, a condition often worsened by the construction of seismically unsafe buildings and infrastructures

Social support for and through exercise and sport in a sample of men with serious mental illness.

Social support is important for people experiencing serious mental illness and is also important during the initiation and maintenance of exercise. In this article we draw on interpretive research into the experiences of 11 men with serious mental illness to explore four dimensions of social support both for and through exercise. Our findings suggest that informational, tangible, esteem, and emotional support were both provided for and given by participants through exercise. We conclude that experiences of both receiving and giving diverse forms of support in this way are significant for some people living with and recovering from serious mental illness

New trends in active faulting studies for seismic hazard assessment

Vulnerability to earthquakes increases steadily as urbanization and development expand in areas that are prone to the effects of significant earthquakes. As virtually all of the largest earthquakes of the past decade demonstrated, the development of large cities in high seismicity areas is often based on an insufficient knowledge or distorted perception of the local seismic hazard, a condition often worsened by the construction of seismically unsafe buildings and infrastructures

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported beta = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported beta = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates.</p

Juvenile Hormone (JH) Esterase of the Mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus Is Not a Target of the JH Analog Insecticide Methoprene

Juvenile hormones (JHs) are essential sesquiterpenes that control insect development and reproduction. JH analog (JHA) insecticides such as methoprene are compounds that mimic the structure and/or biological activity of JH. In this study we obtained a full-length cDNA, cqjhe, from the southern house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus that encodes CqJHE, an esterase that selectively metabolizes JH. Unlike other recombinant esterases that have been identified from dipteran insects, CqJHE hydrolyzed JH with specificity constant (kcat/KM ratio) and Vmax values that are common among JH esterases (JHEs). CqJHE showed picomolar sensitivity to OTFP, a JHE-selective inhibitor, but more than 1000-fold lower sensitivity to DFP, a general esterase inhibitor. To our surprise, CqJHE did not metabolize the isopropyl ester of methoprene even when 25 pmol of methoprene was incubated with an amount of CqJHE that was sufficient to hydrolyze 7,200 pmol of JH to JH acid under the same assay conditions. In competition assays in which both JH and methoprene were available to CqJHE, methoprene did not show any inhibitory effects on the JH hydrolysis rate even when methoprene was present in the assay at a 10-fold higher concentration relative to JH. Our findings indicated that JHE is not a molecular target of methoprene. Our findings also do not support the hypothesis that methoprene functions in part by inhibiting the action of JHE

The ATLAS fast tracKer system

The ATLAS Fast TracKer (FTK) was designed to provide full tracking for the ATLAS high-level trigger by using pattern recognition based on Associative Memory (AM) chips and fitting in high-speed field programmable gate arrays. The tracks found by the FTK are based on inputs from all modules of the pixel and silicon microstrip trackers. The as-built FTK system and components are described, as is the online software used to control them while running in the ATLAS data acquisition system. Also described is the simulation of the FTK hardware and the optimization of the AM pattern banks. An optimization for long-lived particles with large impact parameter values is included. A test of the FTK system with the data playback facility that allowed the FTK to be commissioned during the shutdown between Run 2 and Run 3 of the LHC is reported. The resulting tracks from part of the FTK system covering a limited η-ϕ region of the detector are compared with the output from the FTK simulation. It is shown that FTK performance is in good agreement with the simulation. © The ATLAS collaboratio