Effects of insecticides and defoliants applied alone and in combination for control of overwintering boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis; Coleoptera: Curculionidae)—laboratory and field studies

In laboratory, greenhouse and field tests, we determined the effects of combining full rates of the defoliants tribufos and thidiazuron and the herbicide thifensulfuron-methyl with half rates of the insecticides lambda-cyhalothrin or azinphos-methyl, and the combination of tribufos and thidiazuron, both in half rates, on mortality of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman and on the quality of defoliation. Tribufos, 0.47 kg ha−1 and tribufos, 0.235 kg ha−1 + thidiazuron, 0.125 kg ha−1 exhibited a slightly toxic effect to boll weevil, while tribufos, 0.47 kg ha−1+ lambda − cyhalothrin, 0.019 kg ha−1, tribufos, 0.47 kg ha−1 + azinphos − methyl, 0.14 kg ha−1, and tribufos, 0.235 kg ha−1 + thidiazuron, 0.125 kg ha−1 + azinphos − methyl, 0.14 kg ha−1, provided control of boll weevil as good as or better than full-rate azinphos-methyl or lambda-cyhalothrin alone owing to synergistic effects. Thidiazuron or thifensulfuron-methyl alone or in combination with insecticides did not affect boll weevil mortality. Treatment with tribufos + thidiazuron, both at half rate, significantly increased defoliation compared to full rates of tribufos or thidiazuron alone, and provided adequate defoliation for approximately the same cost per hectar

Two-Dimensional Central-Upwind Schemes for Curvilinear Grids and Application to Gas Dynamics with Angular Momentum

In this work we present new second order semi-discrete central schemes for systems of hyperbolic conservation laws on curvilinear grids. Our methods generalise the two-dimensional central-upwind schemes developed by Kurganov and Tadmor. In these schemes we account for area and volume changes in the numerical flux functions due to the non-cartesian geometries. In case of vectorial conservation laws we introduce a general prescription of the geometrical source terms valid for various orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems. The methods are applied to the two-dimensional Euler equations of inviscid gas dynamics with and without angular momentum transport. In the latter case we introduce a new test problem to examine the detailed conservation of specific angular momentum.Comment: 38 pages, 1

Medical and Welfare Officers beliefs about post-deployment screening for mental health disorders in the UK Armed Forces:a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine currently serving United Kingdom (UK) military Medical and Welfare Officers views on the potential introduction of post-deployment screening for mental ill health. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Medical and Welfare Officers. Interview transcripts were analysed using data-driven thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: positive views of screening; reliability of responses; impact on workload; and suggestions for implementation. Interviewees viewed the introduction of screening post-deployment as likely to increase awareness of mental health problems whilst also reporting that service personnel were likely to conceal their true mental health status by providing misleading responses to any screening tool. Concern over reliability of responses may provide one explanation for the reluctance of service personnel to seek help for problems, as they could feel they will not be taken seriously. Welfare Officers felt they would not have the knowledge or experience to respond to help-seeking. Although participants were concerned about potential impact on their personal workload, they indicated a desire to positively engage with the screening programme if research showed it was an effective tool to improve mental health care. CONCLUSIONS: Welfare and healthcare providers are well disposed towards a screening programme for mental health but highlight a few concerns in its implementation. In particular Welfare Officers appear to require more training in how to respond to mental ill health. Concerns about available funding and resources to respond to increased workload will need to be addressed should post-deployment screening for mental health be introduced in the UK military

Phytosterol Pygeum africanum regulates prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo

Background Prostate cancer is an important public health problem. It is an excellent candidate disease for chemo-prevention because prostate cancer is typically slow growing and is usually diagnosed in elderly males. Pygeum africanum (Prunus africana or Rosaceae) is an African prune (plum) tree found in tropical Africa. An extract from the bark of Pygeum africanum has been used in Europe as a prevention and treatment of prostate disorders including benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). More recently in the USA, the phytotherapeutic preparations of Pygeum africanum and Saw palmetto have been marketed for prostate health including prostate cancer prevention and treatment. Methods The anti-cancer potential of Pygeum africanum has been tested both in vitro (PC-3 and LNCaP cells) and in␣vivo (TRAMP mouse model). Results In tissue culture, ethanolic extracts (30%) of Pygeum africanum inhibited the growth of PC-3 and LNCaP cells; induced apoptosis and altered cell kinetics; down regulated ERα and PKC-α protein, and demonstrated good binding ability to both mouse uterine estrogen receptors and LNCaP human androgen receptors. TRAMP mice fed Pygeum africanum showed a significant reduction (P = 0.034) in prostate cancer incidence (35%) compared to casein fed mice (62.5%). Conclusion Pygeum africanum, which is widely used in Europe and USA for treatment of BPH, has a significant role in regulation of prostate cancer both in␣vitro and in␣vivo and therefore may be a useful supplement for people at high risk for developing prostate cancer

What are the effects of having an illness or injury whilst deployed on post deployment mental health? A population based record linkage study of UK Army personnel who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan

Background: The negative impact of sustaining an injury on a military deployment on subsequent mental health is well-documented, however, the relationship between having an illness on a military operation and subsequent mental health is unknown.Methods: Population based study, linking routinely collected data of attendances at emergency departments in military hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan [Operational Emergency Department Attendance Register (OpEDAR)], with data on 3896 UK Army personnel who participated in a military health study between 2007 and 2009 and deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan between 2003 to 2009.Results: In total, 13.8% (531/3896) of participants had an event recorded on OpEDAR during deployment; 2.3% (89/3884) were medically evacuated. As expected, those medically evacuated for an injury were at increased risk of post deployment probable PTSD (odds ratio 4.27, 95% confidence interval 1.80-10.12). Less expected was that being medically evacuated for an illness was also associated with a similarly increased risk of probable PTSD (4.39, 1.60-12.07) and common mental disorders (2.79, 1.41-5.51). There was no association between having an OpEDAR event and alcohol misuse. Having an injury caused by hostile action was associated with increased risk of probable PTSD compared to those with a non-hostile injury (3.88, 1.15 to 13.06).Conclusions: Personnel sustaining illnesses on deployment are just as, if not more, at risk of having subsequent mental health problems as personnel who have sustained an injury. Monitoring of mental health problems should consider those with illnesses as well as physical injuries.</p

Effects of Conventional vs. Conservation Tillage Systems on Population Dynamics of Boll Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Dryland Cotton

Studies were conducted during 2000-2001 to determine the effects of a conservation tillage system in dryland cotton on soil surface temperatures, soil moisture, plant canopy structure, light interception, timing of fruit set, and how these factors affect crop yield and boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, populations compared with a conventional moldboard tillage system. Soil moisture at the 10-40 cm depth was 1.6-1.9-fold higher in the conservation tillage treatment than in the conventional tillage treatment throughout the first 90 days of crop growth due to the decreased evaporation from crop residue mulch. The conventional tillage cotton treatment had a greater water stress, causing plants to shed squares and bolls. Cotton plants in the conventional tillage treatment allocated more resources into vegetative growth while the conservation tillage cotton responded by fruiting at a higher rate. At 110 days after planting the conservation tillage cotton had an average height of 42.4 cm per plant versus 63.0 cm in conventional tillage, and the number of leaves per plant was 32.4 versus 51.7, while fruit numbers were 13.0 versus 7.1, respectively. Increased plant height and number of leaves in the conventional tillage provided significantly more light interception and shading of the soil surface. In the conservation tillage cotton, 60.2% of the incoming sunlight reached the soil surface, while the conventional tillage had only 36.2%. Soil temperatures between the rows in conservation tillage cotton were 8-11º C higher than in conventional tillage and significantly influenced boll weevil mortality in infested squares shed from plants. The number of boll weevils per plant was 2.3 to 3.4-fold higher in the conventional tillage compared with the conservation tillage. Trap counts of weevil populations followed a similar trend with 1.6 to 2.8-fold more weevils in the conventional tillage compared to conservation tillage. The mortality of boll weevils in fallen, naturally infested squares, and in cohorts of laboratory-infested squares collected from the middle of the rows was 1.5-1.8-fold higher in the conservation tillage field than in the conventional. Percent punctured squares by boll weevils during the growing season averaged 2.1-fold higher in conventional than in conservation tillage fields

Modeling the strangeness content of hadronic matter

The strangeness content of hadronic matter is studied in a string-flip model that reproduces various aspects of the QCD-inspired phenomenology, such as quark clustering at low density and color deconfinement at high density, while avoiding long range van der Waals forces. Hadronic matter is modeled in terms of its quark constituents by taking into account its internal flavor (u,d,s) and color (red, blue, green) degrees of freedom. Variational Monte-Carlo simulations in three spatial dimensions are performed for the ground-state energy of the system. The onset of the transition to strange matter is found to be influenced by weak, yet not negligible, clustering correlations. The phase diagram of the system displays an interesting structure containing both continuous and discontinuous phase transitions. Strange matter is found to be absolutely stable in the model.Comment: 14 pages, 1 table, 8 eps figures, revtex. Submitted to Phys. Rev. C, Presented at INPC2001 Berkeley, Ca. july 29-Aug

Combined extracellular matrix cross-linking activity of the peroxidase MLT-7 and the dual oxidase BLI-3 is critical for post-embryonic viability in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>

The nematode cuticle is a protective collagenous extracellular matrix that is modified, cross-linked, and processed by a number of key enzymes. This Ecdysozoan-specific structure is synthesized repeatedly and allows growth and development in a linked degradative and biosynthetic process known as molting. A targeted RNA interference screen using a cuticle collagen marker has been employed to identify components of the cuticle biosynthetic pathway. We have characterized an essential peroxidase, MoLT-7 (MLT-7), that is responsible for proper cuticle molting and re-synthesis. MLT-7 is an active, inhibitable peroxidase that is expressed in the cuticle-synthesizing hypodermis coincident with each larval molt. mlt-7 mutants show a range of body morphology defects, most notably molt, dumpy, and early larval stage arrest phenotypes that can all be complemented with a wild type copy of mlt-7. The cuticles of these mutants lacks di-tyrosine cross-links, becomes permeable to dye and accessible to tyrosine iodination, and have aberrant collagen protein expression patterns. Overexpression of MLT-7 causes mutant phenotypes further supporting its proposed enzymatic role. In combination with BLI-3, an H2O2-generating NADPH dual oxidase, MLT-7 is essential for post-embryonic development. Disruption of mlt-7, and particularly bli-3, via RNA interference also causes dramatic changes to the in vivo cross-linking patterns of the cuticle collagens DPY-13 and COL-12. This points toward a functionally cooperative relationship for these two hypodermally expressed proteins that is essential for collagen cross-linking and proper extracellular matrix formation

Extremely red galaxies: dust attenuation and classification

We re-address the classification criterion for extremely red galaxies (ERGs) of Pozzetti and Mannucci (2000 -- PM00), which aims to separate, in the Ic-K (or Rc-K) vs. J-K colour--colour diagram, passively evolving, old (> 1 Gyr) stellar populations in a dust-free environment, associated with ellipticals (Es), from dusty starburst galaxies (DSGs), both at 1 < z < 2. We explore a category of objects not considered previously, i.e., galaxies forming in this redshift range on short (0.1 Gyr) timescales and observed also in their early, dusty post-starburst phase. We also investigate the impact of structure of the dusty medium and dust amount on the observed optical/near-IR colours of high-z DSGs/DPSGs, through multiple-scattering radiative transfer calculations for a dust/stars configuration and an extinction function calibrated with nearby dusty starbursts. As a main result, we find that dusty post-starburst galaxies (DPSGs), with ages between 0.2 and 1 Gyr, at 1.3 < z < 2 mix with Es at 1 < z < 2 for a large range in dust amount. This ``intrusion'' is a source of concern for the present two-colour classification of ERGs. On the other hand, we confirm, in agreement with PM00, that DSGs are well separated from Es, both at 1 < z < 2, in the Ic-K vs. J-K colour--colour diagram, whatever the structure (two-phase clumpy or homogeneous) of their dusty medium and their dust amount are. This result holds under the new hypothesis of high-z Es being as dusty as nearby ones. Thus the interpretation of the optical/near-IR colours of high-z Es may suffer from a multiple degeneracy among age, metallicity, dust and redshift. We also find that DPSGs at z around 1 mix with DSGs at 1 < z < 2, as a function of dust amount and structure of the dusty medium. All these results help explaining the complexity of the ERG classification... (Abridged)Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA