Identification of novel pesticides for use against glasshouse invertebrate pests in UK tomatoes and peppers

To inform current and future pesticide availability to glasshouse vegetable growers, the current project trialled more than twenty products, including existing industry standards, against four key pests of glasshouse tomatoes and bell peppers. These included experimental conventional chemical pesticides as well as alternative biopesticide and biorational products based on phytochemicals, microbials and physically-acting substances. The results suggest that certain biopesticide products, particularly botanicals, provide good levels of pest control, with the same being true of experimental conventional chemical pesticides not yet recommended for use against these pests on these crops. Efforts are on-going to ensure that results of the current project translate to industry benefit via new pesticide approvals

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Loss of PTB or Negative Regulation of Notch mRNA Reveals Distinct Zones of Notch and Actin Protein Accumulation in Drosophila Embryo

Polypyrimidine Tract Binding (PTB) protein is a regulator of mRNA processing and translation. Genetic screens and studies of wing and bristle development during the post-embryonic stages of Drosophila suggest that it is a negative regulator of the Notch pathway. How PTB regulates the Notch pathway is unknown. Our studies of Drosophila embryogenesis indicate that (1) the Notch mRNA is a potential target of PTB, (2) PTB and Notch functions in the dorso-lateral regions of the Drosophila embryo are linked to actin regulation but not their functions in the ventral region, and (3) the actin-related Notch activity in the dorso-lateral regions might require a Notch activity at or near the cell surface that is different from the nuclear Notch activity involved in cell fate specification in the ventral region. These data raise the possibility that the Drosophila embryo is divided into zones of different PTB and Notch activities based on whether or not they are linked to actin regulation. They also provide clues to the almost forgotten role of Notch in cell adhesion and reveal a role for the Notch pathway in cell fusions

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Exploiting the aggregation pheromone of strawberry blossom weevil Anthonomus rubi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): Part 2. Pest monitoring and control

This study was the second part of a project to assess the applicability of the male-produced, aggregation pheromone of the strawberry blossom weevil, Anthonomus rubi, for commercial monitoring and control. Following optimisation of pheromone lure and trap in previous work, the potential of the pheromone traps for monitoring and control of the pest was investigated. There was no obvious relationship between total pheromone trap catches and numbers of weevils on the crop determined by beating. However, good correlations were obtained at five sites during two seasons between the cumulative numbers of weevils and the amount of severing damage on the crop. Early catches of weevils preceded the first occurrence of damage by at least 1 week in several instances,providing useful information for timing the application of insecticide sprays against the adults to prevent occurrence of damage. The number of flowers severed was usually in the range of 0.5–2.0 times the cumulative number of weevils captured per trap. Adult weevil catches started at a low level in April or early May with similar numbers of males and females. The catches showed a marked increase in mid June coinciding with the emergence of new adults from the damaged flower buds, even though these are in reproductive diapause. Male weevils predominated in catches beyond this date by a factor of approximately 2:1. Two field experiments investigated the interference between traps and the effects of the traps on populations and crop damage by this pest. There was no evidence for interference between traps at spacings as close as 1.7 m, and no effect on weevil damage or distribution was observed. Replicated trials were carried out of three approaches to exploit the pheromone for control of strawberry blossom weevil damage in 0.5 ha plots in commercial strawberry crops. These involved surrounding the crop with a perimeter of lures, the same method but with a boarder spray of the pyrethroid insecticide bifenthrin or by mass trapping with sticky stake pheromone traps at a density of 1000 per ha. None of these showed any reduction in crop damage compared to untreated plots. Possible reasons for this lack of success are discusse

The virome of Drosophila suzukii, an invasive pest of soft fruit

International audienceDrosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is one of the most damaging and costly pests to invade temperate horticultural regions in recent history. Conventional control of this pest is challenging, and an environmentally benign microbial biopesticide is highly desirable. A thorough exploration of the pathogens infecting this pest is not only the first step on the road to the development of an effective biopesticide, but also provides a valuable comparative dataset for the study of viruses in the model family Drosophilidae. Here we use a metatransciptomic approach to identify viruses infecting this fly in both its native (Japanese) and invasive (British and French) ranges. We describe eighteen new RNA viruses, including members of the Picornavirales, Mononegavirales, Bunyavirales, Chuviruses, Nodaviridae, Tombusviridae, Reoviridae, and Nidovirales, and discuss their phylogenetic relationships with previously known viruses. We also detect 18 previously described viruses of other Drosophila species that appear to be associated with D. suzukii in the wild

Exploiting the aggregation pheromone of strawberry blossom weevil Anthonomus rubi Herbst (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): Part 1. Development of lure and trap

This study was the first part of a project to assess the applicability of the male-produced, aggregation pheromone of the strawberry blossom weevil, Anthonomus rubi, for commercial monitoring and control. An optimised pheromone lure and trap were developed. Low-cost, robust and reliable polyethylene sachet dispensers containing 100 ml of a blend of grandlures I, II and (7)-lavandulol in the naturally occurring 1:4:1 ratio were shown to have constant release rates of 0.64 and 0.96 mg/day at 20 and 27 1C, respectively and a life of over 8 weeks in the field. Field experiments showed that increasing the release rate by approximately five times marginally increased attractiveness but a four times reduction in the release rate significantly decreased attractiveness. It was concluded that the standard release rate was satisfactory. Male A. rubi weevils were shown to produce the R enantiomer of lavandulol, but it was also demonstrated that the S enantiomer is not repellent and that low-cost racemic (7)-lavandulol is equally attractive. Although (-)-germacrene-D showed a weak synergistic effect when added to the pheromone components, inclusion in a commercial lure was uneconomic. Two further experiments examined the effect of reducing the amount of grandlure I, a costly chemical, in the blend. Although the results of one of these experiments was inconclusive, in the other it was found that reducing the amount of grandlure I by a factor of four did not decrease attractiveness significantly, though the ratio of males to females decreased significantly. A four times reduction in grandlure I content gives a 40% reduction in the cost of the chemicals in the lures. Experiments were carried out to develop an effective and practical trap design. Various modifications of the sticky board trap used in the original work were compared with boll weevil, funnel, delta and sticky stake designs. Most weevils were caught with the sticky stake design, made from a pointed wooden stake inserted vertically into the ground with a band of polybutene sticker around the circumference and a plastic board fixed horizontally on top of the stake to provide protection of the sticky surface from rain. A lure was hung from one corner of the boar