Field and Laboratory Responses of Male Leaf Roller Moths, Choristoneura rosaceana and Pandemis pyrusana, to Pheromone Concentrations in an Attracticide Paste Formulation

Male leafroller moths, Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and Pandemis pyrusana (Kearfott), were evaluated for responses to a paste formulation loaded with a range of concentrations of the two species' pheromone blends and evaluated in a laboratory wind tunnel and in the field. Response criteria were flight, flight towards the pheromone source, and contact with the pheromone source for the wind tunnel assays, and capture of moths in traps for the field tests. In the wind tunnel and field, responses of males of both species to the paste generally increased as the pheromone concentration in the paste was increased. There was little response by either species to paste with less than 0.16% pheromone. The relationship between pheromone concentration and response for P. pyrusana was linear and for C. rosaceana was sinusoidal over the range of pheromone concentrations tested. These patterns were seen both in the wind tunnel and in the field. Initial release rates from the paste of (Z)-11-tetradecenyl acetate, the main component of the pheromone blends of both species was 3.6–3.8 ng/h. Inhibitory thresholds for responses were not reached for either species, using pheromone concentrations as high as 16%, in either the wind tunnel or the field. For both species, response of males to rubber septa with one mg pheromone loads was similar to the response to the paste with pheromone at concentrations greater than 3–4%. For C. rosaceana, rates of contact with the paste in the wind tunnel were statistically similar to rates of contact in response to conspecific females, with paste pheromone concentrations above 1.6%. Response rates for males of P. pyrusana were significantly lower to the paste than to conspecific females at all paste pheromone concentrations tested. Overall, the optimum pheromone concentration in the paste for moth attraction to contact was 3.2 % for C. rosaceana and 8% for P. pyrusana

Searching for Programme theories for a realist evaluation: a case study comparing an academic database search and a simple Google search

Background: Realist methodologies are increasingly being used to evaluate complex interventions in health and social care. Programme theory (ideas and assumptions of how a particular intervention works) development is the first step in a realist evaluation or a realist synthesis, with literature reviews providing important evidence to support this. Deciding how to search for programme theories is challenging and there is limited guidance available. Using an example of identifying programme theories for a realist evaluation of Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Instruments in clinical practice, the authors explore and compare several different approaches to literature searching and highlight important methodological considerations for those embarking on a programme theory review. Methods: We compared the performance of an academic database search with a simple Google search and developed an optimised search strategy for the identification primary references (i.e. documents providing the clearest examples of programme theories) associated with the use of Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Instruments (PU-RAIs). We identified the number of primary references and the total number of references retrieved per source. We then calculated the number needed to read (NNR) expressed as the total number of titles and abstracts screened to identify one relevant reference from each source. Results: The academic database search (comprising CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, HMIC, Medline) identified 2 /10 primary references with a NNR of 1395.The Google search identified 7/10 primary references with a NNR of 10.1. The combined NNR was 286.3. The optimised search combining Google and CINAHL identified 10/10 primary references with a NNR of 40.2. Conclusion: The striking difference between the efficiency of the review’s academic database and Google searches in finding relevant references prompted an in-depth comparison of the two types of search. The findings indicate the importance of including grey literature sources such as Google in this particular programme theory search, while acknowledging the need for transparency of methods. Further research is needed to facilitate improved guidance for programme theory searches to enhance practice in the realist field and to save researcher time and therefore resource

Suicide trends in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time-series analysis of preliminary data from 21 countries

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is having profound mental health consequences for many people. Concerns have been expressed that at its most extreme, this may manifest itself in increased suicide rates.MethodsWe sourced real-time suicide data from around the world via a systematic internet search and recourse to our networks and the published literature. We used interrupted time series analysis to model the trend in monthly suicides prior to COVID-19 in each country/area-within-country, comparing the expected number of suicides derived from the model with the observed number of suicides in the early months of the pandemic. Countries/areas-within countries contributed data from at least 1 January 2019 to 31 July 2020 and potentially from as far back as 1 January 2016 until as recently as 31 October 2020. We conducted a primary analysis in which we treated 1 April to 31 July 2020 as the COVID-19 period, and two sensitivity analyses in which we varied its start and end dates (for those countries/areas-within-countries with data beyond July 2020).OutcomesWe sourced data from 21 countries (high income [n=16], upper-middle income [n=5]; whole country [n=10], area(s)-within-the-country [n=11]). In general, there does not appear to have been a significant increase in suicides since the pandemic began in the countries for which we had data. In fact, in a number of countries/areas-within-countries there appears to have been a decrease.InterpretationThis is the first study to examine suicides occurring in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple countries. It offers a consistent picture, albeit from high- and upper-middle income countries, of suicide numbers largely remaining unchanged or declining in the early months of the pandemic. We need to remain vigilant and be poised to respond if the situation changes as the longer-term mental health and economic impacts of the pandemic unfold

Prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in people with severe mental illness: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundAlthough people with serious mental illnesses have a high risk of contracting blood-borne viral infections, sexual health has largely been neglected by researchers and policy makers involved in mental health. Failure to address this shortcoming could increase morbidity and mortality as a result of undetected and untreated infection. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of blood-borne viral infection in people with serious mental illness.MethodWe searched the Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL, and DARE for studies of the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus in people with serious mental illness, published between Jan 1, 1980, and Jan 1, 2015. We group prevalence data by region and by virus and estimated pooled prevalence. We did a sensitivity analysis of the effect of study quality on prevalence.FindingsAfter removal of duplicates, we found 373 abstracts, 91 of which met our eligibility criteria. The prevalences of blood-borne viral infections in people with serious mental illness were higher than in the general population in places with low prevalence of blood-borne viruses, such as the USA and Europe, and on par with the general population in regions with high prevalence of blood-borne viruses (Africa for HIV and southeast Asia for hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus). Pooled prevalence of HIV in people with serious mental illness in the USA was 6·0% (95% CI 4·3–8·3). Sensitivity analysis showed that quality scores did not significantly affect prevalence.InterpretationPeople with serious mental illness are at risk of blood-borne viral infections. However, because of methodological limitations of the studies the prevalence might be overestimated. Serious mental illness is unlikely to be a sole risk factor and risk of blood-borne viral infection is probably multifactorial and associated with low socioeconomic status, drug and alcohol misuse, ethnic origin, and sex. Health providers should routinely discuss sexual health and risks for blood-borne viruses (including risks related to drug misuse) with people who have serious mental illness, as well as offering testing and treatment for those at risk

Control de "Pseudococcus longispinus" (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) con imidacloprid aplicado al follaje o al tronco en naranjos en Chile

Se evaluó el control de pseudocóccidos en naranjos usando una nueva formulación de imidacloprid. Las aplicaciones fueron hechas con pulverizadora, en tres dosis, al follaje, o con pistola aplicadora, en dos dosis, sobre el tronco a aproximadamente 80 cm del suelo. Los tratamientos realizados en enero intentaron evitar la colonización de la cavidad calicinal aproximadamente 5 meses antes de la cosecha (junio). Ellos se contrastaron con tratamientos al follaje con clorpirifos aplicado sólo y un programa con clorpirifos (enero) e imidacloprid (60 días antes de la cosecha). El ensayo se realizó en un huerto comercial de 5 años (Quillota, V Región, Chile Central) severamente infestado con Pseudococcus longispinus. Se evaluó el número de individuos vivos antes y, periódicamente, después de las aplicaciones, mediante revisiones de frutos y trampas de agregación (cartón corrugado) hasta la cosecha. Se concluyó que una única aplicación de imidacloprid al follaje proporcionó un control similar al logrado con una aplicación de clorpirifos y con el programa que incluyó ambos insecticidas. Todos los tratamientos con insecticidas fueron significativamente superiores al testigo, pero ninguno fue capaz de evitar la infestación a cosecha. Las aplicaciones al tronco no fueron efectivas contra P. longispinus aparentemente debido a la reducida o nula absorción y/o movimiento de imidacloprid desde el sitio de aplicación hacia los frutos, no obstante hubo actividad local por algunas semanas en el punto de aplicación

Control de machos de Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) y Pandemis pyrusana Kearfott (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) en huertos de manzanos del Estado de Washington (EE.UU.) tratados con diferentes densidades de varias formulaciones atracticidas.

This is the first report on attracticides loaded with 1.6 or 16% pheromone, with or without 6% permethrin, tested for Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) and Pandemis pyrusana Kearfott male control. Different densities of attracticide sources (750-3,600 droplets ha-1) homogeneously applied on the canopy were compared in apple (Malus pumila Mill.) orchards. Before attracticide application, no differences in male captures using pheromone baited trap were observed. Afterwards, a significant reduction of captures occurred along with the increasing pheromone concentration, when larger density sources were used. The addition of permethrin into the attracticide formulation, however, did not significantly improve the reduction of males. Overall, these results suggest that mating disruption or other mechanism, instead of the killing effect attributed to attracticides, controlled males. The attracticide formulations matrix reported is suggested to be tested as an alternative to the current ones used for mating disruption. It is suggested to test the attracticide formulation matrix reported as an alternative to the current ones used for mating distuptionÉste es el primer informe del control de machos de Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) y Pandemis pyrusana Kearfott con atracticidas que contengan 1,6 ó 16% de feromona, con o sin permetrina al 6%. Se compararon diferentes densidades de atracticidas (750-3.600 gotas ha-1), aplicadas homogéneamente en la copa de los manzanos (Malus pumila Mill.). Antes de los tratamientos no se observaron diferencias estadísticas en las capturas en trampas cebadas con feromona. Después de aplicar los tratamientos, se observó una reducción significativa en las capturas, al usar mayores concentraciones de feromona y mayores densidades de gotas por hectárea. La incorporación de permetrina en la formulación atracticida no mejoró su actividad en el control de machos. En general, los resultados sugieren que un efecto similar a la confusión de cópula, en lugar de un efecto letal atribuible al atracticida, o bien otro mecanismo, controló a los machos de estas especies. La matriz grasosa usada en la formulación atracticida se sugiere como una alternativa para ser probada respecto de las formulaciones actualmente usadas para confusión de cópul