Curative Control of the Peachtree Borer Using Entomopathogenic Nematodes

The peachtree borer, Synanthedon exitiosa (Say 1823), is a major pest of stone fruit trees in North America. Current management relies upon preventative control using broad-spectrum chemical insecticides, primarily chlorpyrifos, applied in the late summer or early fall. However, due to missed applications, poor application timing, or other factors, high levels of S. exitiosa infestation may still occur and persist through the following spring. Curative treatments applied in the spring to established infestations would limit damage to the tree and prevent the next generation of S. exitiosa from emerging within the orchard. However, such curative measures for control of S. exitiosa do not exist. Our objective was to measure the efficacy of the entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema carpocapsae, as a curative control for existing infestations of S. exitiosa. In peach orchards, spring applications of S. carpocapsae (obtained from a commercial source) were made to infested trees and compared with chlorpyrifos and a water-only control in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, types of spray equipment were compared: nematodes were applied via boom sprayer, handgun, or trunk sprayer. To control for effects of application method or nematode source, in vivo laboratory-grown S. carpocapsae, applied using a watering can, was also included. Treatment effects were assessed 39 d (2014) or 19 d (2015) later by measuring percentage of trees still infested, and also number of surviving S. exitiosa larvae per tree. Results indicated that S. carpocapsae provided significant curative control (e.g., .80% corrected control for the handgun application). In contrast, chlorpyrifos failed to reduce S. exitiosa infestations or number of surviving larvae. In most comparisons, no effect of nematode application method was detected; in one assessment, only the handgun and watering can methods reduced infestation. In conclusion, our study indicates that S. carpocapsae may be used as an effective curative measure for S. exitiosa infestations

Spin depolarization of muonium in mesoporous silica

We report muon spin rotation/relaxation measurements of muonium in mesoporous silica (SBA-15) with a high specific surface area of 600 m2/g. Up to 70 percent of the incoming muons form muonium and escape efficiently into the open pores at all temperatures between 3 and 300K. We present evidence that the interaction with the silica surfaces involves both spin exchange and a transition to a diamagnetic state, possibly due to dangling bonds on the surface. At very low temperatures, below 20K, the interaction between muonium and the silica surfaces is suppressed due to a He film coating the surfaces. These results indicate that it should be possible to use muonium to probe the surfaces of uncapped nanoparticles supported in silica

MISCAST : MIssense variant to protein StruCture Analysis web SuiTe

Human genome sequencing efforts have greatly expanded, and a plethora of missense variants identified both in patients and in the general population is now publicly accessible. Interpretation of the molecular-level effect of missense variants, however, remains challenging and requires a particular investigation of amino acid substitutions in the context of protein structure and function. Answers to questions like 'Is a variant perturbing a site involved in key macromolecular interactions and/or cellular signaling?', or 'Is a variant changing an amino acid located at the protein core or part of a cluster of known pathogenic mutations in 3D?' are crucial. Motivated by these needs, we developed MISCAST (missense variant to protein structure analysis web suite; http://miscast.broadinstitute.org/). MISCAST is an interactive and user-friendly web server to visualize and analyze missense variants in protein sequence and structure space. Additionally, a comprehensive set of protein structural and functional features have been aggregated in MISCAST from multiple databases, and displayed on structures alongside the variants to provide users with the biological context of the variant location in an integrated platform. We further made the annotated data and protein structures readily downloadable from MISCAST to foster advanced offline analysis of missense variants by a wide biological community.Peer reviewe

Comprehensive characterization of amino acid positions in protein structures reveals molecular effect of missense variants

Interpretation of the colossal number of genetic variants identified from sequencing applications is one of the major bottlenecks in clinical genetics, with the inference of the effect of amino acid-substituting missense variations on protein structure and function being especially challenging. Here we characterize the three-dimensional (3D) amino acid positions affected in pathogenic and population variants from 1,330 disease-associated genes using over 14,000 experimentally solved human protein structures. By measuring the statistical burden of variations (i.e., point mutations) from all genes on 40 3D protein features, accounting for the structural, chemical, and functional context of the variations' positions, we identify features that are generally associated with pathogenic and population missense variants. We then perform the same amino acid-level analysis individually for 24 protein functional classes, which reveals unique characteristics of the positions of the altered amino acids: We observe up to 46% divergence of the class-specific features from the general characteristics obtained by the analysis on all genes, which is consistent with the structural diversity of essential regions across different protein classes. We demonstrate that the function-specific 3D features of the variants match the readouts of mutagenesis experiments for BRCA1 and PTEN, and positively correlate with an independent set of clinically interpreted pathogenic and benign missense variants. Finally, we make our results available through a web server to foster accessibility and downstream research. Our findings represent a crucial step toward translational genetics, from highlighting the impact of mutations on protein structure to rationalizing the variants' pathogenicity in terms of the perturbed molecular mechanisms.Peer reviewe

Spectroscopic Analysis of Two Carbon Rich Post-AGB Stars

The chemical compositions of the C-rich pAGB stars IRAS 05113+1347 and IRAS 22272+5424 are determined from high-resolution optical spectra using standard LTE model atmosphere-based techniques. The stars are C, N, and $s$-process enriched suggesting efficient operation of the third-dredge up in the AGB star following a first dredge-up that increased the N abundance. Lithium is present with an abundance requiring Li manufacture. With this pair, abundance analyses are now available for 11 C-rich pAGBs. A common history is indicated and, in particular, the $s$-abundances, especially the relative abundances of light to heavy $s$-process elements, follow recent predictions for the third dredge-up in AGB stars.Comment: 41 pages (including 10 figs). 2001, ApJ, Accepte

Warm Molecular Gas in Dwarf Starburst Galaxies: CO(3-2) Observations

Eight dwarf starburst galaxies have been observed with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) telescope in the CO J= 3 - 2 transition. The galaxies observed are He 2-10, NGC 5253, NGC 1569, NGC 3077, Haro 2, Haro 3, II Zw 40 and Mrk 86; all but the last two are detected. The central regions of He 2-10 and NGC 5253 were mapped and a CO(2-1) spectrum of NGC 5253 was obtained. The error weighted mean CO(3-2)/CO(1-0) ratio of the detected galaxies is 0.60$\pm$0.06, which is virtually identical to what is found for starbursts in the nuclei of nearby spirals, and suggests that the molecular gas is optically thick, warm (T$_{k}>$20 K), and moderately dense ($n_{H_{2}}\sim 10^{3-4} cm^{-3}$). The CO(3-2)/CO(1-0) ratio peaks at or close to the starburst in all cases. CO emission does not appear to be optically thin in these dwarfs, despite the low metallicity and intense radiation fields, which is probably because in order for CO to exist in detectable amounts it must be self-shielding and hence optically thick. Physical properties of the molecular clouds in these dwarf starbursts appear to be essentially the same as nearby spiral nuclei, with the possible exception that CO is more confined to the cloud cores.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures; Accepted for publication by the Astronomical Journa

Development and validation of an improved algorithm for overlaying flexible molecules

A program for overlaying multiple flexible molecules has been developed. Candidate overlays are generated by a novel fingerprint algorithm, scored on three objective functions (union volume, hydrogen-bond match, and hydrophobic match), and ranked by constrained Pareto ranking. A diverse subset of the best ranked solutions is chosen using an overlay-dissimilarity metric. If necessary, the solutions can be optimised. A multi-objective genetic algorithm can be used to find additional overlays with a given mapping of chemical features but different ligand conformations. The fingerprint algorithm may also be used to produce constrained overlays, in which user-specified chemical groups are forced to be superimposed. The program has been tested on several sets of ligands, for each of which the true overlay is known from protein–ligand crystal structures. Both objective and subjective success criteria indicate that good results are obtained on the majority of these sets

The effect of pre-shot routines on golf wedge shot performance

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of pre-performance routines among golfers of low skill and non-golfers on wedge golf shot performance. The intervention strategies involved a physical skill and cognitive-behavioral routine program, as well as a physical skills-only program. Performance was measured on a pre-intervention test, postintervention test, and following a period of time without treatment, and involved wedge shots being played from distances of 40, 50, and 60 m from a target. Participants in this study (N = 68) were assigned to either a golfer or non-golfer group. Participants in the treatment groups attended 2 practice sessions per week during the acquisition phase. A variable practice design was incorporated during the intervention phase. Non-golfers in both intervention groups improved performance following the acquisition phase and maintained these levels of performance in the retention test. Greater improvements in performance were found in the non-golfer physical skills and cognitive-behavioral routine group. The non-golfer physical skills and cognitive-behavioral routine group was the only group to realize significant improvements in performance when comparing initial test performance measures to post-intervention and retention test performance measures across all test distances. Although the golfer treatment groups had consistent improvement in performance measures following the intervention phase, these improvements did not reach statistical significance in the majority of cases