Book Reviews: Raptors in Your Pocket: A Guide to Great Plains Birds of Prey; Dakota Flora: A Seasonal Sampler; The National Grasslands

Reviews of: Raptors in Your Pocket: A Guide to Great Plains Birds of Prey, Dana Gardner, 2006, University of Iowa Press, 16 pages (laminated). Dakota Flora: A Seasonal Sampler, David J. Ode, 2006, South Dakota State Historical Society Press, Pierre, South Dakota, 260 pages. The National Grasslands, Francis Moul, 2006, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 153 pages

Arabidopsis glucosinolates trigger a contrasting transcriptomic response in a generalist and a specialist herbivore.

Phytophagous insects have to deal with toxic defense compounds from their host plants. Although it is known that insects have evolved genes and mechanisms to detoxify plant allochemicals, how specialist and generalist precisely respond to specific secondary metabolites at the molecular level is less understood. Here we studied the larval performance and transcriptome of the generalist moth Heliothis virescens and the specialist butterfly Pieris brassicae feeding on Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes with different glucosinolate (GS) levels. H. virescens larvae gained significantly more weight on the GS-deficient mutant quadGS compared to wild-type (Col-0) plants. On the contrary, P. brassicae was unaffected by the presence of GS and performed equally well on both genotypes. Strikingly, there was a considerable differential gene expression in H. virescens larvae feeding on Col-0 compared to quadGS. In contrast, compared to H. virescens, P. brassicae displayed a much-reduced transcriptional activation when fed on both plant genotypes. Transcripts coding for putative detoxification enzymes were significantly upregulated in H. virescens, along with digestive enzymes and transposable elements. These data provide an unprecedented view on transcriptional changes that are specifically activated by GS and illustrate differential molecular responses that are linked to adaptation to diet in lepidopteran herbivores

Decay Process for Three - Species Reaction - Diffusion System

We propose the deterministic rate equation of three-species in the reaction - diffusion system. For this case, our purpose is to carry out the decay process in our three-species reaction-diffusion model of the form $A+B+C\to D$. The particle density and the global reaction rate are also shown analytically and numerically on a two-dimensional square lattice with the periodic boundary conditions. Especially, the crossover of the global reaction rate is discussed in both early-time and long-time regimes.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Late

Impact of Spacecraft Shielding on Direct Ionization Soft Error Rates

No abstract availabl

Ruxolitinib Adherence in Myelofibrosis and Polycythemia Vera: the “RAMP” Italian multicenter prospective study

Ruxolitinib is beneficial in patients with myelofibrosis (MF) and polycythemia vera (PV). Information on ruxolitinib adherence is scant. The Ruxolitinib Adherence in Myelofibrosis and Polycythemia Vera (RAMP) prospective multicenter study (NCT06078319) included 189 ruxolitinib-treated patients. Patients completed the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS) and Distress Thermometer and Problem List (DTPL) at the earliest convenience, after registration in the study, and at later timepoints. At week-0, low adherence (ARMS > 14) and high distress (DT ≥ 4) were declared by 49.7% and 40.2% of patients, respectively. The main reason for low adherence was difficult ruxolitinib supply (49%), intentional (4.3%) and unintentional (46.7%) non-take. In multivariable regression analysis, low adherence was associated to male sex (p = 0.001), high distress (p < 0.001), and treatment duration ≥ 1 year (p = 0.03). Over time, rates of low adherence and high distress remained stable, but unintentional non-take decreased from 47.9% to 26.0% at week-48. MF patients with stable high adherence/low distress were more likely to obtain/maintain the spleen response at week-24. Low adherence to ruxolitinib represents an unmet clinical need that require a multifaceted approach, based on reason behind it (patients characteristics and treatment duration). Its recognition may help distinguishing patients who are truly refractory and those in need of therapy optimization

Targeting BTK for the treatment of FLT3-ITD mutated acute myeloid leukemia

Approximately 20% of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) have a mutation in FMS-like-tyrosine-kinase-3 (FLT3). FLT3 is a trans-membrane receptor with a tyrosine kinase domain which, when activated, initiates a cascade of phosphorylated proteins including the SRC family of kinases. Recently our group and others have shown that pharmacologic inhibition and genetic knockdown of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) blocks AML blast proliferation, leukaemic cell adhesion to bone marrow stromal cells as well as migration of AML blasts. The anti-proliferative effects of BTK inhibition in human AML are mediated via inhibition of downstream NF-κB pro-survival signalling however the upstream drivers of BTK activation in human AML have yet to be fully characterised. Here we place the FLT3-ITD upstream of BTK in AML and show that the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib inhibits the survival and proliferation of FLT3-ITD primary AML blasts and AML cell lines. Furthermore ibrutinib inhibits the activation of downstream kinases including MAPK, AKT and STAT5. In addition we show that BTK RNAi inhibits proliferation of FLT3-ITD AML cells. Finally we report that ibrutinib reverses the cyto-protective role of BMSC on FLT3-ITD AML survival. These results argue for the evaluation of ibrutinib in patients with FLT3-ITD mutated AML

Synthesis of Fluorine-18 Functionalized Nanoparticles for use as in vivo Molecular Imaging Agents

Nanoparticles containing fluorine-18 were prepared from block copolymers made by ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). Using the fast initiating ruthenium metathesis catalyst (H_2IMes)(pyr)_2(Cl)_2Ru=CHPh, low polydispersity amphiphilic block copolymers were prepared from a cinnamoyl-containing hydrophobic norbornene monomer and a mesyl-terminated PEG-containing hydrophilic norbornene monomer. Self-assembly into micelles and subsequent cross-linking of the micelle cores by light-activated dimerization of the cinnamoyl groups yielded stable nanoparticles. Incorporation of fluorine-18 was achieved by nucleophilic displacement of the mesylates by the radioactive fluoride ion with 31% incorporation of radioactivity. The resulting positron-emitting nanoparticles are to be used as in vivo molecular imaging agents for use in tumor imaging

Impact of Spacecraft Shielding on Direct Ionization Soft Error Rates for Sub-130 nm Technologies

We use ray tracing software to model various levels of spacecraft shielding complexity and energy deposition pulse height analysis to study how it affects the direct ionization soft error rate of microelectronic components in space. The analysis incorporates the galactic cosmic ray background, trapped proton, and solar heavy ion environments as well as the October 1989 and July 2000 solar particle events

The HADES Tracking System

The tracking system of the dielectron spectrometer HADES at GSI Darmstadt is formed out of 24 low-mass, trapezoidal multi-layer drift chambers providing in total about 30 square meter of active area. Low multiple scattering in the in total four planes of drift chambers before and after the magnetic field is ensured by using helium-based gas mixtures and aluminum cathode and field wires. First in-beam performance results are contrasted with expectations from simulations. Emphasis is placed on the energy loss information, exploring its relevance regarding track recognition.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, presented at the 10th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation, Vienna, February 2004, to be published in NIM A (special issue