MONITORING THE REPRODUCTIVE INDIVIDUALS IN THE ORIENTAL HORNET Vespa orientalis

Individuals of the oriental hornet, Vespa orien-talis Fab. were monitored at the apiary of Faculty of Agriculture .Ain Shams University throughout the year of 2006. The individual which was first detected in early spring at the first week of Febru-ary was the mated queens, later during the last week of April workers were appeared. At the first week of September individuals large in size ap-peared which were workers with developed ovary and not a new queen as believed previously. New queens started to appear at the second week of November after about three weeks from appear-ance the drones which appear at the last week of October. The numbers of ovarioles varied from 7 to 8 for each ovary in queens either in spring or in autumn. On the other hand the numbers of ovari-oles were only 7 for each ovary in workers either normal or with developed ovary. The measure-ments of the spermatheca showed no significant differences between all female individuals. The average numbers of spermatozoa in the queen's spermatheca of spring queen hornet were 1.486± 0.370 million spermatozoa and in the new queens who appear in the end of the year, the numbers of spermatozoa recorded 1.343±0.332 million. The counts of spermatozoa in the seminal vesicles of drone hornet recorded 2.336 ± 0.408 million sperms per drone

OCCURANCE OF LAYING WORKERS AT DIFFERENT HONEY BEE COLONIES STATUS

Laying workers expressed as Workers with Activate Ovaries (WAO) having ma-ture oocytes had been studied in colonies headed with natural mated carnica queens. The results showed that the WAO were affected by the age of the queen, where it reached 0.8, 1.3 and 2.2 % for colonies headed with queens 10, 20 and 30 month old, respectively. The worker ovaries started to activate when the reached 22. 18 and 12 days from emergence for colonies headed with caged mated queens, caged virgin queens and queenless colonies, respectively. Also, when the worker's age reached 30 days, the percentages of WAO occurrence reached 3.3, 7.3 and 14.7 % for the corre-sponding colonies status, respectively. In preparing swarm boxes, when the bee-keepers failed to introduce the queens into the nuclei until two days, one week and two weeks, the WAO recorded 1.4, 4.8 and 9.2 %, respectively. In case of queen rearing, the presence of WAO was not significant until the fifth day, and then in-creased gradually to reach an average of 4.6% in the tenth day

Fish biogeography in the â Lost Worldâ of the Guiana Shield: Phylogeography of the weakly electric knifefish Gymnotus carapo (Teleostei: Gymnotidae)

AimThe Guiana Shield region exhibits extraordinary topography that includes sheer, flatâ topped mountains (tepuis) atop an upland platform. Rivers of the eastern Pakaraima Mountains descend to Atlantic coastal lowlands, often traversing spectacular rapids and waterfalls. For fish species distributed in both uplands and lowlands, it is unclear whether these rapids and waterfalls present population or biogeographical boundaries. We sought to test this using the geographically widespread bandedâ electric knifefish (Gymnotus carapo) as a model.LocationThe Guiana Shield region of South America.MethodsWe sampled 60 Gymnotus carapo specimens from the Guiana Shield region, and 75 G. carapo and closely related species from other parts of South America. We sequenced the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and an intron from the nuclear S7 ribosomal protein gene, and used maximum likelihood and Bayesian treeâ building approaches to generate phylogenetic trees of haplotypes.ResultsHaplotype sharing is minimal between populations separated by elevational barriers. We found evidence for two main haplotype clades in the Guiana Shield: one distributed in Atlantic coastal regions that includes most lowland samples, and one inland that includes most upland samples. Inland Guiana samples are more closely related to samples from the Amazon basin than to those of Atlantic coastal regions. A single sample from Tafelberg tepui in Suriname was most closely related to the Atlantic coastal lineages.Main conclusionsRiverine barriers that result from steep elevational gradients in the Guiana Shield inhibit gene flow between uplands and lowlands, even for a widely distributed species. Biogeographical relationships of Guiana Shield G. carapo are complex, with most upland lineages showing affinities to the Amazon basin, rather than to nearby lowland drainages of the Atlantic coast.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142908/1/jbi13177.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142908/2/jbi13177_am.pd

A multi-site collaborative study of the hostile priming effect

Data Accessibility Statement: See Table 1.Supplementary data: Peer Review History - docx file - available online at: https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/7/1/18738/116070/A-Multi-Site-Collaborative-Study-of-the-Hostile#supplementary-data .In a now-classic study by Srull and Wyer (1979), people who were exposed to phrases with hostile content subsequently judged a man as being more hostile. And this “hostile priming effect” has had a significant influence on the field of social cognition over the subsequent decades. However, a recent multi-lab collaborative study (McCarthy et al., 2018) that closely followed the methods described by Srull and Wyer (1979) found a hostile priming effect that was nearly zero, which casts doubt on whether these methods reliably produce an effect. To address some limitations with McCarthy et al. (2018), the current multi-site collaborative study included data collected from 29 labs. Each lab conducted a close replication (total N = 2,123) and a conceptual replication (total N = 2,579) of Srull and Wyer’s methods. The hostile priming effect for both the close replication (d = 0.09, 95% CI [-0.04, 0.22], z = 1.34, p = .16) and the conceptual replication (d = 0.05, 95% CI [-0.04, 0.15], z = 1.15, p = .58) were not significantly different from zero and, if the true effects are non-zero, were smaller than what most labs could feasibly and routinely detect. Despite our best efforts to produce favorable conditions for the effect to emerge, we did not detect a hostile priming effect. We suggest that researchers should not invest more resources into trying to detect a hostile priming effect using methods like those described in Srull and Wyer (1979).We have no funding to declare for this project

Global impact of COVID-19 on stroke care and IV thrombolysis

Objective To measure the global impact of COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of IV thrombolysis (IVT), IVT transfers, and stroke hospitalizations over 4 months at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to June 30, 2020) compared with 2 control 4-month periods. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study across 6 continents, 70 countries, and 457 stroke centers. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases. Results There were 91,373 stroke admissions in the 4 months immediately before compared to 80,894 admissions during the pandemic months, representing an 11.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] -11.7 to -11.3, p < 0.0001) decline. There were 13,334 IVT therapies in the 4 months preceding compared to 11,570 procedures during the pandemic, representing a 13.2% (95% CI -13.8 to -12.7, p < 0.0001) drop. Interfacility IVT transfers decreased from 1,337 to 1,178, or an 11.9% decrease (95% CI -13.7 to -10.3, p = 0.001). Recovery of stroke hospitalization volume (9.5%, 95% CI 9.2-9.8, p < 0.0001) was noted over the 2 later (May, June) vs the 2 earlier (March, April) pandemic months. There was a 1.48% stroke rate across 119,967 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was noted in 3.3% (1,722/52,026) of all stroke admissions. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a global decline in the volume of stroke hospitalizations, IVT, and interfacility IVT transfers. Primary stroke centers and centers with higher COVID-19 inpatient volumes experienced steeper declines. Recovery of stroke hospitalization was noted in the later pandemic months.Paroxysmal Cerebral Disorder

DNA barcoding reveals the diversity of sharks in Guyana coastal markets

<div><p>ABSTRACT A fundamental challenge for both sustainable fisheries and biodiversity protection in the Neotropics is the accurate determination of species identity. The biodiversity of the coastal sharks of Guyana is poorly understood, but these species are subject to both artisanal fishing as well as harvesting by industrialized offshore fleets. To determine what species of sharks are frequently caught and consumed along the coastline of Guyana, we used DNA barcoding to identify market specimens. We sequenced the mitochondrial co1 gene for 132 samples collected from six markets, and compared our sequences to those available in the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) and GenBank. Nearly 30% of the total sample diversity was represented by two species of Hammerhead Sharks (Sphyrna mokarran and S. lewini), both listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Other significant portions of the samples included Sharpnose Sharks (23% - Rhizoprionodon spp.), considered Vulnerable in Brazilian waters due to unregulated gillnet fisheries, and the Smalltail Shark (17% - Carcharhinus porosus). We found that barcoding provides efficient and accurate identification of market specimens in Guyana, making this study the first in over thirty years to address Guyana’s coastal shark biodiversity.</p></div

Mitochondrial Genomes Of The South American Electric Knifefishes (Order Gymnotiformes)

Three complete mitochondrial genomes of South American electric fishes (Gymnotiformes), derived from high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), are reported herein. We report the complete mitochondrial genome of the bluntnose knifefish Brachyhypopomus n.sp. VERD, determined from newly sequenced data. We also provide the complete mitochondrial genomes for Sternopygus arenatus and the electric eel Electrophorus electricus, assembled from previously published transcriptome data. The mitochondrial genomes of Brachyhypopomus n.sp. VERD, Sternopygus arenatus and Electrophorus electricus have 13 protein-coding genes, 1 D-loop, 2 ribosomal RNAs and 22 transfer RNAs, and are 16,547, 16,667 and 16,906 bp in length, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the eight available mitochondrial genomes of gymnotiform fishes shows Apteronotus to be the sister lineage of other gymnotiformes, contradicting the “Sinusoidea” hypothesis that Apteronotidae and Sternopygidae are sister taxa

Fish Biogeography In The “Lost World” Of The Guiana Shield: Phylogeography Of The Weakly Electric Knifefish Gymnotus Carapo (Teleostei: Gymnotidae)

Aim: The Guiana Shield region exhibits extraordinary topography that includes sheer, flat-topped mountains (tepuis) atop an upland platform. Rivers of the eastern Pakaraima Mountains descend to Atlantic coastal lowlands, often traversing spectacular rapids and waterfalls. For fish species distributed in both uplands and lowlands, it is unclear whether these rapids and waterfalls present population or biogeographical boundaries. We sought to test this using the geographically widespread banded-electric knifefish (Gymnotus carapo) as a model. Location: The Guiana Shield region of South America. Methods: We sampled 60 Gymnotus carapo specimens from the Guiana Shield region, and 75 G. carapo and closely related species from other parts of South America. We sequenced the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and an intron from the nuclear S7 ribosomal protein gene, and used maximum likelihood and Bayesian tree-building approaches to generate phylogenetic trees of haplotypes. Results: Haplotype sharing is minimal between populations separated by elevational barriers. We found evidence for two main haplotype clades in the Guiana Shield: one distributed in Atlantic coastal regions that includes most lowland samples, and one inland that includes most upland samples. Inland Guiana samples are more closely related to samples from the Amazon basin than to those of Atlantic coastal regions. A single sample from Tafelberg tepui in Suriname was most closely related to the Atlantic coastal lineages. Main conclusions: Riverine barriers that result from steep elevational gradients in the Guiana Shield inhibit gene flow between uplands and lowlands, even for a widely distributed species. Biogeographical relationships of Guiana Shield G. carapo are complex, with most upland lineages showing affinities to the Amazon basin, rather than to nearby lowland drainages of the Atlantic coast

In Silico Prediction of a Multitope Vaccine against Moraxella catarrhalis: Reverse Vaccinology and Immunoinformatics

Moraxella catarrhalis (M. catarrhalis) is a Gram-negative bacterium that can cause serious respiratory tract infections and middle ear infections in children and adults. M. catarrhalis has demonstrated an increasing rate of antibiotic resistance in the last few years, thus development of an effective vaccine is a major health priority. We report here a novel designed multitope vaccine based on the mapped epitopes of the vaccine candidates filtered out of the whole proteome of M. catarrhalis. After analysis of 1615 proteins using a reverse vaccinology approach, only two proteins (outer membrane protein assembly factor BamA and LPS assembly protein LptD) were nominated as potential vaccine candidates. These proteins were found to be essential, outer membrane, virulent and non-human homologs with appropriate molecular weight and high antigenicity score. For each protein, cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), helper T lymphocyte (HTL) and B cell lymphocyte (BCL) epitopes were predicted and confirmed to be highly antigenic and cover conserved regions of the proteins. The mapped epitopes constituted the base of the designed multitope vaccine where suitable linkers were added to conjugate them. Additionally, beta defensin adjuvant and pan-HLA DR-binding epitope (PADRE) peptide were also incorporated into the construct to improve the stimulated immune response. The constructed multitope vaccine was analyzed for its physicochemical, structural and immunological characteristics and it was found to be antigenic, soluble, stable, non-allergenic and have a high affinity to its target receptor. Although the in silico analysis of the current study revealed that the designed multitope vaccine has the ability to trigger a specific immune response against M. catarrhalis, additional translational research is required to confirm the effectiveness of the designed vaccine