New Data to the Knowledge on the Corticolous Mite Fauna in Hungary (Acari: Prostimata, Astigmata, Oribatida)

Authors give a report on the results of the regular collections made between 1990 and 1998 on ornamental trees and shrubs,on streets, in parks, in green spaces of housing estates, in private gardens and in arboreta. A total of 19 corticolous mite species were found belonging to 14 families.Michaelopus corticalis (Michael,1885), Hericia hericia Robin,1868, Eupalopsis maseriensis (Canestrini et Fanzago, 1876), Mediolata vandergeesti (Gomaa et Bolland,1982), Cunaxoides kielczewskii Michocka, 1982, and Neophyllobius spec.nov. are reported for the first time for the Hungarian fauna. Hemisarcoptes budensis Fain et Ripka, 1998, M.corticalis and Cheletogenes ornatus (Canestrini et Fanzago,1876) were the most frequent species in the acarofauna associated with scale insects

Catchment-wide interactive effects of anthropogenic structures and river levels on fish spawning migrations

Worldwide, rivers are extensively fragmented by anthropogenic structures, reducing longitudinal connectivity, inhibiting migration and leading to severe declines in many fish populations, especially for diadromous species. However, few studies have determined the effects of annual differences in hydrology on catchment penetration past barriers to spawning habitats. We investigated the upstream spawning migration of 120 (n = 61 & 59) acoustic tagged river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) across two contrasting (dry and wet) years in the River Yorkshire Ouse, England. Overall, significantly more lamprey reached spawning habitat (76% vs 39%) and penetrated significantly further upstream (median [km] from release, 53.9 vs 16.8) in the wet year than the dry year. Passage at weirs was almost exclusively during elevated river levels, which directly and collectively influenced catchment-wide distribution, especially in the dry year. Indeed, higher proportions entered two upper tributaries in the wet year (9.8% vs 27.1% and 9.8% vs 30.5%), due to increased passage efficiencies at the two main river weirs (60.5–87.5% and 54.5–83.8%), and reached assumed spawning locations 66.5% and 10.9% quicker. By contrast, there was no difference in numbers of lamprey entering, or time taken to arrive at assumed spawning location, in the two lower river tributaries between years. Our study supports the landscape-scale paradigm for ecosystem restoration because of the observed catchment-level effects of hydrology and barrier distribution on fish migration. Connectivity restoration for migratory fish should be implemented at a catchment scale, with planning incorporating spatial information regarding accessibility to key habitats to reap the largest gains

A novel method for identifying coded tags recorded on aquatic acoustic monitoring systems.

Aquatic biotelemetry increasingly relies on using acoustic transmitters ('tags') that enable passive detection of tagged animals using fixed or mobile receivers. Both tracking methods are resource-limited, restricting the spatial area in which movements of highly mobile animals can be measured using proprietary detection systems. Transmissions from tags are recorded by underwater noise monitoring systems designed for other purposes, such as cetacean monitoring devices, which have been widely deployed in the marine environment; however, no tools currently exist to decode these detections, and thus valuable additional information on animal movements may be missed. Here, we describe simple hybrid methods, with potentially wide application, for obtaining information from otherwise unused data sources. The methods were developed using data from moored, acoustic cetacean detectors (C-PODs) and towed passive receiver arrays, often deployed to monitor the vocalisations of cetaceans, but any similarly formatted data source could be used. The method was applied to decode tag detections that were found to have come from two highly mobile fish species, bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Twaite shad (Alosa fallax), that had been tagged in other studies. Decoding results were validated using test tags; range testing data were used to demonstrate the relative efficiency of these receiver methods in detecting tags. This approach broadens the range of equipment from which acoustic tag detections can be decoded. Novel detections derived from the method could add significant value to past and present tracking studies at little additional cost, by providing new insights into the movement of mobile animals at sea

Pediatric Cushing disease: disparities in disease severity and outcomes in the Hispanic and African-American populations.

BackgroundLittle is known about the contribution of racial and socioeconomic disparities to severity and outcomes in children with Cushing disease (CD).MethodsA total of 129 children with CD, 45 Hispanic/Latino or African-American (HI/AA) and 84 non-Hispanic White (non-HW), were included in this study. A 10-point index for rating severity (CD severity) incorporated the degree of hypercortisolemia, glucose tolerance, hypertension, anthropomorphic measurements, disease duration, and tumor characteristics. Race, ethnicity, age, gender, local obesity prevalence, estimated median income, and access to care were assessed in regression analyses of CD severity.ResultsThe mean CD severity in the HI/AA group was worse than that in the non-HW group (4.9±2.0 vs. 4.1±1.9, P=0.023); driving factors included higher cortisol levels and larger tumor size. Multiple regression models confirmed that race (P=0.027) and older age (P=0.014) were the most important predictors of worse CD severity. When followed up a median of 2.3 years after surgery, the relative risk for persistent CD combined with recurrence was 2.8 times higher in the HI/AA group compared with that in the non-HW group (95% confidence interval: 1.2-6.5).ConclusionOur data show that the driving forces for the discrepancy in severity of CD are older age and race/ethnicity. Importantly, the risk for persistent and recurrent CD was higher in minority children

Environmental DNA metabarcoding provides enhanced detection of the European eel Anguilla anguilla and fish community structure in pumped river catchments

© 2020 Fisheries Society of the British Isles The European eel Anguilla anguilla (eel hereafter) is critically endangered and has a catadromous life cycle, which means adult eels that live in pumped catchments must pass through pumps during their downstream spawning migration. Policy makers are currently lacking detailed site-by-site eel distribution information to estimate the overall impact of individual pumping stations on eel escapement, and as such lack the data to enable informed prioritisation of pumping station management and targeted mitigation. This study investigated whether environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding can provide increased detection sensitivity for eel and fish community structure in highly regulated pumped catchments, when compared directly to current standard practice fish survey protocols (seine netting/electric fishing). Eels were detected in 14 of 17 sites (82.4%) using eDNA metabarcoding in contrast to 3 of 17 sites (17.6%) using traditional catch methods. In addition, when using eDNA monitoring, species richness was higher in 16 of 17 sites (94.1%), and site occupancy was greater than or equal to traditional methods for 23 of 26 of the fish species detected (88.5%). Although eDNA methods presented significantly higher average species richness and species site occupancy overall, eDNA and catch methods were positively correlated in terms of species richness and site occupancy. It was therefore found that eDNA metabarcoding was a high-sensitivity method for detecting eels in pumped catchments while also increasing the detection of overall fish community structure compared to traditional catch methods. In addition, this study highlights how eDNA monitoring is especially suited to increase the detection of particular species, with traditional methods sufficient for others. This high sensitivity, coupled with the ability to sample multiple sites in a short time frame, suggests that eDNA metabarcoding workflows could be invaluable tools when prioritising pumping station management

Favourable antibody responses to human coronaviruses in children and adolescents with autoimmune rheumatic diseases

Background: Differences in humoral immunity to coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), between children and adults remain unexplained and the impact of underlying immune dysfunction or suppression unknown. Here, we sought to examine the antibody immune competence of children and adolescents with prevalent inflammatory rheumatic diseases, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) and juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE), against the seasonal human coronavirus (HCoV)-OC43 that frequently infects this age group. // Methods: Sera were collected from JIA (n=118), JDM (n=49) and JSLE (n=30) patients, and from healthy control (n=54) children and adolescents, prior to the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. We employed sensitive flow cytometry-based assays to determine titres of antibodies that reacted with the spike and nucleoprotein of HCoV-OC43 and cross-reacted with the spike and nucleoprotein of SARS-CoV-2, and compared with respective titres in sera from patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents (MIS-C). // Findings: Despite immune dysfunction and immunosuppressive treatment, JIA, JDM and JSLE patients maintained comparable or stronger humoral responses than healthier peers, dominated by IgG antibodies to HCoV-OC43 spike, and harboured IgG antibodies that cross-reacted with SARS-CoV-2 spike. In contrast, responses to HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 nucleoproteins exhibited delayed age-dependent class-switching and were not elevated in JIA, JDM and JSLE patients, arguing against increased exposure. // Conclusions: Consequently, autoimmune rheumatic diseases and their treatment were associated with a favourable ratio of spike to nucleoprotein antibodies

Crop Updates 2002 - Pulse Research and Industry Development in Western Australia

This session covers seventy one papers from different authors: 1. 2001 PULSE INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS CONTRIBUTORS BACKGROUND 2001 REGIONAL ROUNDUP 2. Northern Agricultural Region, M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 3. Central Agricultural Region, R. French and I. Pritchard, Department of Agriculture 4. Great Southern and Lakes, N. Brandon, N. Runciman and S. White, Department of Agriculture 5. Esperance Mallee, M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture PULSE PRODUCTION AGRONOMY AND GENETIC IMPROVEMENT 6. Faba bean, P. White, Department of Agriculture 7. Germplasm evaluation, P. White, M. Seymour and M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 8. Variety evaluation, P. White, M. Harries, N. Brandon and M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 9. Sowing rate and time of sowing, P. White, N. Brandon, M. Seymour and M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 10.Use of granular inoculum in the Great Southern, N. Brandon1, J. Howieson2 and R. Yates2 1Department of Agriculture, 2Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University 11.Tolerance to post emergent herbicides, M. Seymour and M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 12.Herbicide tolerance of new varieties, H. Dhammu and T. Piper, Department of Agriculture Desi chickpea 13. Breeding highlights, T. Khan, Department of Agriculture 14. Variety evaluation, T. Khan and K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 15. Effect of genotype and environment on seed quality, N. Suizu1 and D. Diepeveen2 1School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology 2Department of Agriculture 16. Seed discolouration, C. Veitch and P. White, Department of Agriculture 17. Foliar application on N increases seed yield and seed protein under terminal drought, J. Palta1,2, A. Nandwal3 and N. Turner1,2 , 1CSIRO Plant Industry, 2CLIMA, the University of Western Australia, 3Department of Botany, Haryana Agric University, Hisar, India 18. Tolerance to chilling at flowering, H. Clarke, CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 19. Molecular studies of ascochyta blight disease in chickpea, G. Dwyer1, H. Loo1, T. Khan2, K. Siddique3, M. Bellgard1 and M. Jones1 ,1WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre and Centre for Bioinformatics and Biological Computing, Murdoch University, 2Department of Agriculture, 3CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 20. Effect of row spacing and sowing rate on seed yield, G. Riethmuller and B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 21. Herbicide tolerance on marginal soil types, H. Dhammu and T. Piper, Department of Agriculture 22. Kabuli chickpea, K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 23. Variety and germplasm evaluation, T. Khan and K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 24. Premium quality kabuli chickpea development in the ORIA, K. Siddique1, K. Regan2, R. Shackles2 and P. Smith2 , 1 CLIMA, The University of Western Australia, 2Department of Agriculture 25. Evaluation of ascochylta resistant germplasm from Syria and Turkey, K. Siddique1, C. Francis1 and K. Regan2, 1CLIMA, University of Western Australia 2Department of Agriculture Field pea 26. Breeding highlights, T. Khan Department of Agriculture 27. Variety evaluation, T. Khan Department of Agriculture 28. Comparing the phosphorus requirement of field pea and wheat, M. Bolland and P. White, Department of Agriculture 29. Tolerance of field pea to post emergent herbicides, M. Seymour and N. Brandon, Department of Agriculture 30. Response of new varieties to herbicides, H. Dhammu and T. Piper, Department of Agriculture 31. Lentil, K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 32. Variety evaluation, K. Regan, N. Brandon, M. Harries and M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 33. Interstate evaluation of advanced breeding lines developed in WA, K. Regan1, K. Siddique2 and M. Materne3, 1Department of Agriculture, 2CLIMA, University of Western Australia, 3Victorian Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Agriculture Victoria 34. Evaluation of germplasm from overseas and local projects, K. Regan1, J. Clements2, K.H.M. Siddique2 and C. Francis21Department of Agriculture, 2CLIMA, University of Western Australia 35. Evaluation of breeding lines developed in WA, K. Regan1, J. Clements2, K.H.M. Siddique2 and C. Francis21Department of Agriculture, 2CLIMA, University of Western Australia 36. Productivity and yield stability in Australia and Nepal, C. Hanbury, K. Siddique and C. Francis, CLIMA, the University of Western Australia Vetch 37. Germplasm evaluation, M. Seymour1, R. Matic2 and M. Tate3, 1Department of Agriculture, 2South Australian Research and Development Institute, 3University of Adelaide, Waite Campus 38. Tolerance of common vetch to post emergent herbicides, M. Seymour and N. Brandon, Department of Agriculture Narbon bean 39. Removing narbon bean from wheat, M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 40. Tolerance to low rates of Roundup and Sprayseed, M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 41. Lathyrus development, C. Hanbury, CLIMA, the University of Western Australia 42. Poultry feeding trials, C. Hanbury1 and B. Hughes2 ,1CLIMA, the University of Western Australia,2Pig and Poultry Production Institute, South Australia Pulse Species 43. Species time of sowing, B. French, Department of Agriculture 44. High value pulses in the Great Southern, N. Brandon and N. Runciman, Department of Agriculture 45. Time of Harvest for improved seed yields of pulses, G. Riethmuller and B. French, Department of Agriculture 46. Phosphate acquisition efficiency of pulse crops, P. Rees, Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences UWA DEMONSTRATION OF PULSES IN THE FARMING SYSTEM 47. Howzat desi chickpea in the northern region, M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 48. Field pea harvest losses in the Great Southern and Esperance region, N. Brandon and M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 49. Timing of crop topping in field pea, N. Brandon and G. Riethmuller, Department of Agriculture DISEASE AND PEST MANAGEMENT 50. Ascochyta blight of chickpea, B. MacLeod, M. Harries and N. Brandon, Department of Agriculture 51. Evaluation of Australian management packages, 52. Screening foliar fungicides 53. Row spacing and row spraying 54. Ascochyta management package for 2002, B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 55. Epidemiology of aschochyta and botrytis disease of pulses, J. Galloway and B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 56. Ascochyta blight of chickpea 57. Black spot of field pea 58. Ascochyta blight of faba bean 59. Ascochyta blight of lentil 60. Botrytis grey mould of chickpea 61. Black spot spread: Disease models are based in reality, J. Galloway, Department of Agriculture 62. Black spot spread: Scaling-up field data to simulate ‘Bakers farm’, M. Salam, J. Galloway, A. Diggle and B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 63. Pulse disease diagnostics, N. Burges and D. Wright, Department of Agriculture Viruses in pulses 64. Incidence of virus diseases in chickpea, J. Hawkes1, D. Thackray1 and R. Jones1,2, 1CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 2Department of Agriculture Insect pests 65. Risk assessment of aphid feeding damage on pulses, O. Edwards, J. Ridsdill-Smith, and R. Horbury, CSIRO Entomology 66. Optimum spray timing to control aphid feeding damage of faba bean, F. Berlandier, Department of Agriculture 67. Incorporation of pea weevil resistance into a field pea variety, O. Byrne1 and D. Hardie2, 1CLIMA, The University of Western Australia, 2Department of Agriculture 68. Screening wild chickpea species for resistance to Helicoverpa, T. Ridsdill-Smith1 and H. Sharma2,1CSIRO, Entomology, 2ICRISAT, Hyderabad 69. Field strategies to manage the evolution of pea weevil resistance in transgenic field pea, M. de Sousa Majer1, R. Roush2, D. Hardie3, R. Morton4 and T. Higgins4, 1Curtin University of Technology, 2Waite Campus, University of Adelaide, 3Department of Agriculture, 4CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra 70. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 71. Appendix 1: Summary of previous result

Reduced antibody cross-reactivity following infection with B.1.1.7 than with parental SARS-CoV-2 strains

Background: The degree of heterotypic immunity induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains is a major determinant of the spread of emerging variants and the success of vaccination campaigns, but remains incompletely understood. Methods: We examined the immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 (Alpha) that arose in the United Kingdom and spread globally. We determined titres of spike glycoprotein-binding antibodies and authentic virus neutralising antibodies induced by B.1.1.7 infection to infer homotypic and heterotypic immunity. Results: Antibodies elicited by B.1.1.7 infection exhibited significantly reduced recognition and neutralisation of parental strains or of the South Africa variant B.1.351 (Beta) than of the infecting variant. The drop in cross-reactivity was significantly more pronounced following B.1.1.7 than parental strain infection. Conclusions: The results indicate that heterotypic immunity induced by SARS-CoV-2 variants is asymmetric