Phenology of the Diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) in the UK and provision of decision support for brassica growers

In the UK, severe infestations by Plutella xylostella occur sporadically and are due mainly to the immigration of moths. The aim of this study was to develop a more detailed understanding of the phenology of P. xylostella in the UK and investigate methods of monitoring moth activity, with the aim of providing warnings to growers. Plutella xylostella was monitored using pheromone traps, by counting immature stages on plants, and by accessing citizen science data (records of sightings of moths) from websites and Twitter. The likely origin of migrant moths was investigated by analysing historical weather data. The study confirmed that P. xylostella is a sporadic but important pest, and that very large numbers of moths can arrive suddenly, most often in early summer. Their immediate sources are countries in the western part of continental Europe. A network of pheromone traps, each containing a small camera sending images to a website, to monitor P. xylostella remotely provided accessible and timely information, but the particular system tested did not appear to catch many moths. In another approach, sightings by citizen scientists were summarised on a web page. These were accessed regularly by growers and, at present, this approach appears to be the most effective way of providing timely warnings

The accelerating influence of humans on mammalian macroecological patterns over the late Quaternary

The transition of hominins to a largely meat-based diet ~1.8 million years ago led to the exploitation of other mammals for food and resources. As hominins, particularly archaic and modern humans, became increasingly abundant and dispersed across the globe, a temporally and spatially transgressive extinction of large-bodied mammals followed; the degree of selectivity was unprecedented in the Cenozoic fossil record. Today, most remaining large-bodied mammal species are confined to Africa, where they coevolved with hominins. Here, using a comprehensive global dataset of mammal distribution, life history and ecology, we examine the consequences of “body size downgrading” of mammals over the late Quaternary on fundamental macroecological patterns. Specifically, we examine changes in species diversity, global and continental body size distributions, allometric scaling of geographic range size with body mass, and the scaling of maximum body size with area. Moreover, we project these patterns toward a potential future scenario in which all mammals currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN\u27s Red List are extirpated. Our analysis demonstrates that anthropogenic impact on earth systems predates the terminal Pleistocene and has grown as populations increased and humans have become more widespread. Moreover, owing to the disproportionate influence on ecosystem structure and function of megafauna, past and present body size downgrading has reshaped Earth\u27s biosphere. Thus, macroecological studies based only on modern species yield distorted results, which are not representative of the patterns present for most of mammal evolution. Our review supports the concept of benchmarking the “Anthropocene” with the earliest activities of Homo sapiens

Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary

Since the late Pleistocene, large-bodied mammals have been extirpated from much of Earth. Although all habitable continents once harbored giant mammals, the few remaining species are largely confined to Africa. This decline is coincident with the global expansion of hominins over the late Quaternary. Here, we quantify mammalian extinction selectivity, continental body size distributions, and taxonomic diversity over five time periods spanning the past 125,000 years and stretching approximately 200 years into the future. We demonstrate that size-selective extinction was already under way in the oldest interval and occurred on all continents, within all trophic modes, and across all time intervals. Moreover, the degree of selectivity was unprecedented in 65 million years of mammalian evolution. The distinctive selectivity signature implicates hominin activity as a primary driver of taxonomic losses and ecosystem homogenization. Because megafauna have a disproportionate influence on ecosystem structure and function, past and present body size downgrading is reshaping Earth’s biosphere. Includes Supplementary materials

Health related quality of life trajectories and predictors following coronary artery bypass surgery

BACKGROUND: Many studies have demonstrated that health related quality of life (HRQoL) improves, on average, after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABGS). However, this average improvement may not be realized for all patients, and it is possible that there are two or more distinctive groups with different, possibly non-linear, trajectories of change over time. Furthermore, little is known about the predictors that are associated with these possible HRQoL trajectories after CABGS. METHODS: 182 patients listed for elective CABGS at The Royal Melbourne Hospital completed a postal battery of questionnaires which included the Short-Form-36 (SF-36), Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Everyday Functioning Questionnaire (EFQ). These data were collected on average a month before surgery, and at two months and six months after surgery. Socio-demographic and medical characteristics prior to surgery, as well as surgical and post-surgical complications and symptoms were also assessed. Growth curve and growth mixture modelling were used to identify trajectories of HRQoL. RESULTS: For both the physical component summary scale (PCS) and the mental component summary scale (MCS) of the SF-36, two groups of patients with distinct trajectories of HRQoL following surgery could be identified (improvers and non-improvers). A series of logistic regression analyses identified different predictors of group membership for PCS and MCS trajectories. For the PCS the most significant predictors of non-improver membership were lower scores on POMS vigor-activity and higher New York Heart Association dyspnoea class; for the MCS the most significant predictors of non-improver membership were higher scores on POMS depression-dejection and manual occupation. CONCLUSION: It is incorrect to assume that HRQoL will improve in a linear fashion for all patients following CABGS. Nor was there support for a single response trajectory. It is important to identify characteristics of each patient, and those post-operative symptoms that could be possible targets for intervention to improve HRQoL outcomes

Restriction landmark genomic scanning (RLGS) spot identification by second generation virtual RLGS in multiple genomes with multiple enzyme combinations.

BackgroundRestriction landmark genomic scanning (RLGS) is one of the most successfully applied methods for the identification of aberrant CpG island hypermethylation in cancer, as well as the identification of tissue specific methylation of CpG islands. However, a limitation to the utility of this method has been the ability to assign specific genomic sequences to RLGS spots, a process commonly referred to as "RLGS spot cloning."ResultsWe report the development of a virtual RLGS method (vRLGS) that allows for RLGS spot identification in any sequenced genome and with any enzyme combination. We report significant improvements in predicting DNA fragment migration patterns by incorporating sequence information into the migration models, and demonstrate a median Euclidian distance between actual and predicted spot migration of 0.18 centimeters for the most complex human RLGS pattern. We report the confirmed identification of 795 human and 530 mouse RLGS spots for the most commonly used enzyme combinations. We also developed a method to filter the virtual spots to reduce the number of extra spots seen on a virtual profile for both the mouse and human genomes. We demonstrate use of this filter to simplify spot cloning and to assist in the identification of spots exhibiting tissue-specific methylation.ConclusionThe new vRLGS system reported here is highly robust for the identification of novel RLGS spots. The migration models developed are not specific to the genome being studied or the enzyme combination being used, making this tool broadly applicable. The identification of hundreds of mouse and human RLGS spot loci confirms the strong bias of RLGS studies to focus on CpG islands and provides a valuable resource to rapidly study their methylation

Kupe Virus, a New Virus in the Family Bunyaviridae, Genus Nairovirus, Kenya

One-sentence summary for table of contents: A new nairovirus isolated from ticks collected from cattle hides was characterized

Psychological wellbeing in survivors of cardiac arrest, and its relationship to neurocognitive function

© 2016 Objective To characterise psychological wellbeing in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and examine its relationship to cognitive function. Patients Forty-one highly functioning cardiac arrest survivors were drawn from the follow-up cohort of a randomised controlled trial of initial airway management in OHCA (ISRCTN:18528625). Design Psychological wellbeing was assessed with a self-report questionnaire (the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale; DASS) and cognitive function was examined using the Delayed Matching to Samples (DMS) test from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Results Mean anxiety levels were significantly higher in this patient group than normative data drawn from the general population (p=0.046). Multiple regression analyses showed that cognitive function, measured by the DMS, did not predict any of the DASS scales. Conclusions Anxiety plays an important role in determining perceived QoL in high functioning survivors, but psychological wellbeing is unrelated to cognitive function in this group. To achieve a comprehensive assessment of wellbeing, resuscitation research should consider outcomes beyond neurological function alone

Aberrant brain responses to emotionally valent words is normalised after cognitive behavioural therapy in female depressed adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Depression in adolescence is debilitating with high recurrence in adulthood, yet its pathophysiological mechanism remains enigmatic. To examine the interaction between emotion, cognition and treatment, functional brain responses to sad and happy distractors in an affective go/no-go task were explored before and after Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in depressed female adolescents, and healthy participants. METHODS: Eighty-two Depressed and 24 healthy female adolescents, aged 12-17 years, performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) affective go/no-go task at baseline. Participants were instructed to withhold their responses upon seeing happy or sad words. Among these participants, 13 patients had CBT over approximately 30 weeks. These participants and 20 matched controls then repeated the task. RESULTS: At baseline, increased activation in response to happy relative to neutral distractors was observed in the orbitofrontal cortex in depressed patients which was normalised after CBT. No significant group differences were found behaviourally or in brain activation in response to sad distractors. Improvements in symptoms (mean: 9.31, 95% CI: 5.35-13.27) were related at trend-level to activation changes in orbitofrontal cortex. LIMITATIONS: In the follow-up section, a limited number of post-CBT patients were recruited. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first fMRI study addressing the effect of CBT in adolescent depression. Although a bias toward negative information is widely accepted as a hallmark of depression, aberrant brain hyperactivity to positive distractors was found and normalised after CBT. Research, assessment and treatment focused on positive stimuli could be a future consideration. Moreover, a pathophysiological mechanism distinct from adult depression may be suggested and awaits further exploration.The study was funded by the Medial Research Council (grant: G0802226). The IMPACT clinical trial was funded by the NHS Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Cambridge and Peterborough Mental Health Trust. Additional support was provided by the jointly funded Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.09.00

Geodynamic controls on the contamination of Cenozoic arc magmas in the southern Central Andes: insights from the O and Hf isotopic composition of zircon

AbstractSubduction zones, such as the Andean convergent margin of South America, are sites of active continental growth and crustal recycling. The composition of arc magmas, and therefore new continental crust, reflects variable contributions from mantle, crustal and subducted reservoirs. Temporal (Ma) and spatial (km) variations in these contributions to southern Central Andean arc magmas are investigated in relation to the changing plate geometry and geodynamic setting of the southern Central Andes (28–32°S) during the Cenozoic. The in-situ analysis of O and Hf isotopes in zircon, from both intrusive (granitoids) and extrusive (basaltic andesites to rhyolites) Late Cretaceous – Late Miocene arc magmatic rocks, combined with high resolution U–Pb dating, demonstrates distinct across-arc variations. Mantle-like δ18O(zircon) values (+5.4‰ to +5.7‰ (±0.4 (2σ))) and juvenile initial εHf(zircon) values (+8.3 (±0.8 (2σ)) to +10.0 (±0.9 (2σ))), combined with a lack of zircon inheritance suggests that the Late Cretaceous (∼73Ma) to Eocene (∼39Ma) granitoids emplaced in the Principal Cordillera of Chile formed from mantle-derived melts with very limited interaction with continental crustal material, therefore representing a sustained period of upper crustal growth. Late Eocene (∼36Ma) to Early Miocene (∼17Ma) volcanic arc rocks present in the Frontal Cordillera have ‘mantle-like’ δ18O(zircon) values (+4.8‰ (±0.2 (2σ) to +5.8‰ (±0.5 (2σ))), but less radiogenic initial εHf(zircon) values (+1.0 (±1.1 (2σ)) to +4.0 (±0.6 (2σ))) providing evidence for mixing of mantle-derived melts with the Late Paleozoic – Early Mesozoic basement (up to ∼20%). The assimilation of both Late Paleozoic – Early Mesozoic Andean crust and a Grenville-aged basement is required to produce the higher than ‘mantle-like’ δ18O(zircon) values (+5.5‰ (±0.6 (2σ) to +7.2‰ (±0.4 (2σ))) and unradiogenic, initial εHf(zircon) values (−3.9 (±1.0 (2σ)) to +1.6 (±4.4 (2σ))), obtained for the Late Oligocene (∼23Ma) to Late Miocene (∼9Ma) magmatic rocks located in the Argentinean Precordillera, and the Late Miocene (∼6Ma) volcanic rocks present in the Frontal Cordillera. The observed isotopic variability demonstrates that the assimilation of pre-existing continental crust, which varies in both age and composition over the Andean Cordillera, plays a dominant role in modifying the isotopic composition of Late Eocene to Late Miocene mantle-derived magmas, implying significant crustal recycling. The interaction of arc magmas with distinct basement terranes is controlled by the migration of the magmatic arc due to the changing geodynamic setting, as well as by the tectonic shortening and thickening of the Central Andean crust over the latter part of the Cenozoic

Determinants of Gammaherpesvirus Shedding in Saliva Among Ugandan Children and Their Mothers.

Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) are transmitted via saliva, but factors associated with salivary shedding are unknown. Methods: We measured the DNA load of both viruses in saliva specimens collected from approximately 500 Ugandan mothers and their 6-year-old children, testing all participants for EBV and KSHV-seropositive individuals for KSHV. Results: EBV and KSHV were shed by 72% and 22% of mothers, respectively, and by 85% and 40% of children, respectively; boys were more likely than girls to shed KSHV (48% vs 30%) but were equally likely to shed EBV. Children shed more KSHV and EBV than mothers, but salivary loads of EBV and KSHV were similar. KSHV shedding increased with increasing anti-KSHV (K8.1) antibodies in mothers and with decreasing antimalarial antibodies both in mothers and children. Among mothers, 40% of KSHV shedders also shed EBV, compared with 75% of KSHV nonshedders; among children, EBV was shed by 65% and 83%, respectively. Conclusions: In summary, in this population, individuals were more likely to shed EBV than KSHV in saliva. We identified several factors, including child's sex, that influence KSHV shedding, and we detected an inverse relationship between EBV and KSHV shedding, suggesting a direct or indirect interaction between the two viruses