Morphological Differentiation Between \u3ci\u3eAphis Spiraecola\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eAphis Pomi\u3c/i\u3e (Homoptera: Aphididae)

Aphis pomi and Aphis spiraecola, are both found on agriculturally important hosts such as apple and pear, and in trap collections. Their morphological similarity makes identification difficult. Examination of specimens of both species fom a wide geographical range demonstrated that available keys, especially those based on European material, were not always accurate for North American specimens. Data taken from North American specimens is presented and a key is provided to aid in the identification of trapped alatae preserved in alcohol as well as slide mounted alatae and apterae of these two species

Tropidosteptes forestierae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirinae): a new species of Plant Bug injuring ornamental Florida Swampprivet, Forestiera segregata (Oleaceae), in South Florida

The mirine plant bug Tropidosteptes forestierae, new species (Hemiptera: Miridae) is described from Collier County, Florida, where it was found causing serious injury to an extensive ornamental hedge of Florida swampprivet, Forestiera segregata (Jacq.) Krug and Urb. (Oleaceae). Adult male and female, fifth instar, and egg are described. Color images of the adults, nymph, egg, and injury; scanning photomicrographs of selected adult structures; and illustrations of male genitalia are provided. A key to help distinguish the 16 species of Tropidosteptes known to occur in the southeastern United States is given

Use of mathematical derivatives (time-domain differentiation) on chromatographic data to enhance the detection and quantification of an unknown 'rider' peak

Two samples of an anticancer prodrug, AQ4N, were submitted for HPLC assay and showed an unidentified impurity that eluted as a 'rider' on the tail of the main peak. Mathematical derivatization of the chromatograms offered several advantages over conventional skimmed integration. A combination of the second derivative amplitude and simple linear regression gave a novel method for estimating the true peak area of the impurity peak. All the calculation steps were carried out using a widely available spreadsheet program. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A Leafhopper Pest of Plants in the Mint Family, Eupteryx decemnotata Rey (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae), Ligurian Leafhopper, New to North America

The Ligurian leafhoppter, Eupteryx decemnotata Rey (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae), is reported for the first time in North America (USA: Florida and California). Diagnostic characters for species identification, summary of hosts and damage, and U.S. known distribution are given

Inkjet printing of oral dosage forms to solubilize BCS Class II drugs

Oral drug delivery remains the preferred method of administration but BCS Class II drugs are not ideally suited to this due to their inherent poor solubility. Although a number of methods to increase solubility already exist, there is a need for less damaging methods of production which are more flexible to the needs of the patient. The innovative formulation method of inkjet printing has been suggested for this purpose as it has the capacity to produce highly precise dosing in a continuous manner. The Optomec Aerosol Jet 200 Printer utilised in the current study has never been used in pharmaceutical research before and it is highly interesting as it functions in a manner akin to a miniaturised spray dryer. Due to the low dose content of a single layer, formulations can be easily tailored to the patient’s individual requirements by changing the size and speed of deposition, utilising different nozzle sizes and layering to increase the overall dose. Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and powder x-ray diffraction suggest that printing the drug alone results in a crystalline product. However, in the presence of a polymer it seems to form a less crystalline product suggesting the polymer is promoting solid dispersion formation in a similar manner to a spray dryer. Completely amorphous formulations are achieved on application of a premixed "ink" with a polymer content of 75% or more, allowing up to 25% drug loading. Drug release increases 10-fold on printing relative to a comparable powder blend and thus inkjet printing can be considered to be a viable method of improving the overall performance of the drug. The next steps will be to utilize this established methodology to produce innovative controlled release on a small scale

Taking ethical photos of children for medical and research purposes in low-resource settings: an exploratory qualitative study.

Photographs are commonly taken of children in medical and research contexts. With the increased availability of photographs through the internet, it is increasingly important to consider their potential for negative consequences and the nature of any consent obtained. In this research we explore the issues around photography in low-resource settings, in particular concentrating on the challenges in gaining informed consent

Groundwater surface mapping informs sources of catchment baseflow

This work is funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project scheme through project DP120100253. We greatly appreciate the provision of groundwater chemistry data and introduction to the Gellibrand catchment by Alex Atkinson and Ian Cartwright from Monash University. We thank two anonymous reviewers and Ian Cartwright for their insightful and constructive reviews that helped improve this paper.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Conserved microRNA editing in mammalian evolution, development and disease.

BACKGROUND: Mammalian microRNAs (miRNAs) are sometimes subject to adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing, which can lead to dramatic changes in miRNA target specificity or expression levels. However, although a few miRNAs are known to be edited at identical positions in human and mouse, the evolution of miRNA editing has not been investigated in detail. In this study, we identify conserved miRNA editing events in a range of mammalian and non-mammalian species. RESULTS: We demonstrate deep conservation of several site-specific miRNA editing events, including two that date back to the common ancestor of mammals and bony fishes some 450 million years ago. We also find evidence of a recent expansion of an edited miRNA family in placental mammals and show that editing of these miRNAs is associated with changes in target mRNA expression during primate development and aging. While global patterns of miRNA editing tend to be conserved across species, we observe substantial variation in editing frequencies depending on tissue, age and disease state: editing is more frequent in neural tissues compared to heart, kidney and testis; in older compared to younger individuals; and in samples from healthy tissues compared to tumors, which together suggests that miRNA editing might be associated with a reduced rate of cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that site-specific miRNA editing is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism, which increases the functional diversity of mammalian miRNA transcriptomes. Furthermore, we find that although miRNA editing is rare compared to editing of long RNAs, miRNAs are greatly overrepresented among conserved editing targets

Inkjet printing oral dosage forms

The current study aims to establish an innovative method of effectively solubilising Biopharmaceutical Classification System Class II drugs using inkjet printing. Dosage forms have been produced using an Optomec AJ200 3D Inkjet printer. Printing with an appropriate polymer seems to result in an amorphous product, which will hopefully have a greater overall solubility