Evaluation of Techniques for Recovering Ectoparasites

This study is an attempt to evaluate quantitatively and compare the effectiveness, selectivity and variation of the flotation technique as a method for recovering ectoparasites

Growth Rate of Copepods in the San Francisco Bay

The San Francisco Estuary is a complex ecosystem. A key part of the foodweb are zooplankton crustaceans, specifically copepods. Many fish, especially the endangered delta smelt, rely on copepods as a food source. Measuring the growth of copepods assists in predictions if enough food is available for delta smelt. Traditionally growth rate is measured through lengthy and involved processes. The objective of this research project is to develop an imaging process to analyze biomass of copepods more efficiently. For this research, field samples of copepods were collected and grown over three days. Subsamples were taken and preserved at three predetermined time frames during their growth. Subsamples were imaged on a microscope and measurements were taken using an automated protocol developed using ImageJ scientific imaging freeware. Since copepods are roughly the shape of an ellipsoid, measurements of the major and minor axes of the copepods were used to calculate volumes of their ellipsoid shapes. Results of volumes showed that there is usually a 30%-38% increase in volume growth each day. There is also lower uncertainty in this data than found using past growth rate methods. Future use of this data will be compared to actual carbon masses to create a ratio to determine biomass in relation of volume measurements taken from images. This will assist in predicting abundance of copepod biomass in the San Francisco Estuary and the impact on the food web

Survey of California Pharmacists\u27 Awareness of and Readiness for the New Authorities Granted by SB 493: A Pilot Study

The recent passing of Senate Bill (SB) 493 – effective on January 1, 2014 – addresses a primary care provider shortage in California by declaring pharmacists as health care providers and authorizing new roles for them in patient care. The aims of this pilot study were to examine California registered pharmacists’ awareness and knowledge of the expanded authorities granted by SB 493 as well as to assess their perception of their own readiness to exercise these new authorities. A cross-sectional, observational study was designed, and a 40-question survey was administered electronically through Qualtrics to adjunct faculty, clinical faculty, and alumni of Touro University California College of Pharmacy. All participants were aware of this new legislation. Through their responses to Likert-scale questions, pharmacists’ self-perceived readiness for each new authority was discovered. A Kruskal-Wallis test revealed no statistically significant difference among the three subgroups’ self-perceived readiness to exercise most of the new authorities, except initiating and administering vaccinations independently to those older than three years old without a physician’s collaborative practice protocol (p = 0.0123). The lower degree of self-perceived readiness to provide immunizations independently reported by adjunct faculty might have been due to not being certified as immunizers, reflecting the need to be educated on administration of vaccinations

Simulated Sunlight-UV Sensitivity of Engineered Juvenile Hormone Esterase and Scorpion Toxin Recombinants of the Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus of Autographa californica

There has been an effort over the last decade to enhance the effectiveness of wild-type baculoviruses using genetic engineering. Wild-type viruses are extremely sensitive to sunlight-ultraviolet, but, what about engineered, recombinant baculoviruses? We found that insertion of a foreign gene did not result in recombinant baculoviruses being more or less sensitive to simulated sunlight-UV than a parental wild-type baculovirus. The half-life of activity for all recombinants and the wild-type parental isolate we tested was within that previously reported for other baculoviruses

The Progression of Spring in Southeastern Iowa

Is this spring earlier or later than usual? When is the best time to plant? If the ground-hog comes out of his hole today will he see his shadow? Questions such as these have stimulated people to look for and record the occurrence of natural events either as hobbies, rules of thumb for farming or as methods of predicting and recording the arrival of spring. Natural events such as general thaw, leafing of trees and shrubs and plant-flowering have been used in the past by Jaques (1924, 1944), Dodd et al. (1934) and Hodson (1951). In many instances one biological event can be correlated with the occurrence of another natural event: the flowering of a plant with the arrival of a migratory bird or the advent of a destructive plant or animal species. This paper deals with the progression of spring in Henry County of southeastern Iowa. The first-bloom of a flower served as the gauge of seasonal progression. The study covered the period from 1946-1957 and included both native and cultivated plants which have been grown outdoors

A novel formulation technology for baculoviruses protects biopesticide from degradation by ultraviolet radiation

Biopesticides are biological pest control agents that are viewed as safer alternatives to the synthetic chemicals that dominate the global insecticide market. A major constraint on the wider adoption of biopesticides is their susceptibility to the ultraviolet (UV: 290–400 nm) radiation in sunlight, which limits their persistence and efficacy. Here, we describe a novel formulation technology for biopesticides in which the active ingredient (baculovirus) is micro-encapsulated in an ENTOSTAT wax combined with a UV absorbant (titanium dioxide, TiO2). Importantly, this capsule protects the sensitive viral DNA from degrading in sunlight, but dissolves in the alkaline insect gut to release the virus, which then infects and kills the pest. We show, using simulated sunlight, in both laboratory bioassays and trials on cabbage and tomato plants, that this can extend the efficacy of the biopesticide well beyond the few hours of existing virus formulations, potentially increasing the spray interval and/or reducing the need for high application rates. The new formulation has a shelf-life at 30 °C of at least 6 months, which is comparable to standard commercial biopesticides and has no phytotoxic effect on the host plants. Taken together, these findings suggest that the new formulation technology could reduce the costs and increase the efficacy of baculovirus biopesticides, with the potential to make them commercially competitive alternatives to synthetic chemicals

Adaptive Melanin Response of the Soil Fungus Aspergillus niger to UV Radiation Stress at “Evolution Canyon”, Mount Carmel, Israel

BACKGROUND:Adaptation is an evolutionary process in which traits in a population are tailored by natural selection to better meet the challenges presented by the local environment. The major discussion relating to natural selection concerns the portraying of the cause and effect relationship between a presumably adaptive trait and selection agents generating it. Therefore, it is necessary to identify trait(s) that evolve in direct response to selection, enhancing the organism's fitness. "Evolution Canyon" (EC) in Israel mirrors a microcosmic evolutionary system across life and is ideal to study natural selection and local adaptation under sharply, microclimatically divergent environments. The south-facing, tropical, sunny and xeric "African" slope (AS) receives 200%-800% higher solar radiation than the north-facing, temperate, shady and mesic "European" slope (ES), 200 meters apart. Thus, solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a major selection agent in EC influencing the organism-environment interaction. Melanin is a trait postulated to have evolved for UV-screening in microorganisms. Here we investigate the cause and effect relationship between differential UVR on the opposing slopes of EC and the conidial melanin concentration of the filamentous soil fungus Aspergillus niger. We test the working hypothesis that the AS strains exhibit higher melanin content than strains from the ES resulting in higher UV resistance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We measured conidial melanin concentration of 80 strains from the EC using a spectrophotometer. The results indicated that mean conidial melanin concentration of AS strains were threefold higher than ES strains and the former resisted UVA irradiation better than the latter. Comparisons of melanin in the conidia of A. niger strains from sunny and shady microniches on the predominantly sunny AS and predominantly shady ES indicated that shady conditions on the AS have no influence on the selection on melanin; in contrast, the sunny strains from the ES displayed higher melanin concentrations. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We conclude that melanin in A. niger is an adaptive trait against UVR generated by natural selection