Lack of evidence for western flower thrips biotypes base don intra and inter-strain variation in gut bacteria

Western flower thrips is a polyphagous insect, which during the last 30 years has become a world wide pest. It was found earlier that these thrips are associated with a type of Erwinia species gut bacteria. In this study we examine the variation of bacteria within and between thrips individuals and try to find evidence for biotypes in western flower thrips regarding the type of gut bacteria. The existence of biotypes in this thrips species has been suggested by different authors. For example, thrips populations have been found that differ in resistance against pesticides and in their ability to transmit plant viruses. With biotypes we mean groups of individuals (strains, populations, lines) of a species which differ in one or more traits with other groups of that species. The gut bacteria of thrips are acquired by young thrips larvae via the host plant and have a beneficial effect on thrips development and oviposition. We studied thrips strains from different countries and host plants, and the isofemale lines that were created from them, on bean plant leaves. All thrips lines that we studied contained Erwinia species gut bacteria. Morphological and biochemical characteristics of gut bacteria from the thrips isofemale lines were similar to the Erwinia type strain from the reference, a thrips strain cultured on chrysanthemum in Amsterdam (TAC 93.XII.8). Per isofemale line we studied five thrips individuals and per thrips we studied four bacterial colonies, with RAPD markers. The genetic variation between bacteria isolated from thrips was as large among isofemale lines as within isofemale lines. No evidence for thrips biotypes was found. Bacteria within one thrips individual show a stronger degree of similarity than bacteria from different thrips individuals within a single rearing. This is probably due to a bottleneck caused by the limited number of successful infections of bacteria into the gut of the thrip

Resource Management in Diffserv On DemAnd (RODA) PHR

The purpose of this draft is to present the Resource Management in Diffserv (RMD) On DemAnd (RODA) Per Hop Reservation (PHR) protocol. The RODA PHR protocol is used on a per-hop basis in a Differentiated Services (Diffserv) domain and extends the Diffserv Per Hop Behavior (PHB) with resource provisioning and control

Efektivitas Model dan Ketinggian Perangkap dalam Menangkap Hama Lalat Buah Jantan, Bactrocera Spp

. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui model dan ketinggian perangkap yang efektif dalam menangkap lalat buah, Bactrocera spp. Penelitian ini dilakukan di kebun petani di Kenagarian Kacang pada pertanaman polikultur dan Alahan Panjang pada pertanaman monokultur, Solok mulai Maret 2003-Desember 2004. Model alat perangkap yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu perangkap bekas botol air mineral, modifikasi gipsy moth, modifikasi perangkap steiner, perangkap delta, dan perangkap McPhail. Masing-masing perangkap diberi umpan dengan 0,5 ml metil eugenol atau cue lure yang diteteskan pada sepotong kapas dan digantungkan di dalam perangkap. Untuk mengetahui ketinggian perangkap yang efektif untuk menangkap lalat buah, penelitian dilakukan dengan memasang perangkap dari botol air mineral pada ketinggian 0,5, 1, 1,5, 2, dan 2,5 m dari permukaan tanah. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa jumlah lalat buah yang tertangkap per perangkap/hari pada masing-masing jenis perangkap yang digunakan berbeda nyata. Lalat buah yang paling banyak tertangkap per perangkap/hari adalah pada perangkap McPhail yaitu 52 ekor dan yang paling sedikit diperoleh pada perangkap gipsy moth yaitu 6 ekor/perangkap/hari. Ketinggian perangkap terlihat berbeda nyata, di mana lalat buah yang paling banyak tertangkap adalah pada perangkap dengan ketinggian 1,5 m dari permukaan tanah. Penggabungan antara model perangkap dengan atraktan sintetis, seperti metil eugenol atau cue lure meningkatkan kemampuan tidak hanya sebagai perangkap lalat buah yang potentsial tetapi juga sebagai alat monitoring hama lalat buah

Distribusi Spesies Lalat Buah di Sumatera Barat dan Riau

. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui distribusi dan diversitas spesies lalat buah di Sumatera Barat dan Pulau Kundur Kabupaten Karimun, Riau. Penelitian dilakukan dengan metode survei mulai bulan Juni 2003 – Desember 2004. Lalat buah ditangkap menggunakan perangkap yang terbuat dari botol bekas air mineral yang di dalamnya digantungkan kapas yang telah dibasahi dengan metil eugenol dan cue lure. Lalat buah hasil tangkapan dibawa ke Laboratorium Proteksi Balai Penelitian Tanaman Buah Tropika Solok untuk diidentifikasi menggunakan kunci identifikasi elektronik Cabikey. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dari semua lokasi penelitian diperoleh 45 spesies lalat buah (2 spesies belum teridentifikasi). Tiga spesies lalat buah ditemukan di semua lokasi penelitian, yaitu B. albistrigata, B. carambolae, dan B. papayae. Keragaman spesies lalat buah paling tinggi ditemukan di Kabupaten Solok, Sumatera Barat dan Pulau Kundur, berturut-turut ditemukan 30 spesies dan 25 spesies lalat buah. Hasil penelitian ini bermanfaat sebagai informasi terutama bagi karantina sebagai dasar untuk memperketat aturan mengenai keluar masuknya buah-buahan dari dan ke suatu daerah sehingga spesies-spesies yang ada di daerah tertentu terutama daerah yang mempunyai diversitas spesies tinggi tidak masuk ke daerah lain

Vascular architecture and hypoxic profiles in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

Tumour oxygenation and vasculature are determinants for radiation treatment outcome and prognosis in patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. In this study we visualized and quantified these factors which may provide a predictive tool for new treatments. Twenty-one patients with stage III–IV squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck were intravenously injected with pimonidazole, a bioreductive hypoxic marker. Tumour biopsies were taken 2 h later. Frozen tissue sections were stained for vessels and hypoxia by fluorescent immunohistochemistry. Twenty-two sections of biopsies of different head and neck sites were scanned and analysed with a computerized image analysis system. The hypoxic fractions varied from 0.02 to 0.29 and were independent from T- and N-classification, localization and differentiation grade. No significant correlation between hypoxic fraction and vascular density was observed. As a first attempt to categorize tumours based on their hypoxic profile, three different hypoxia patterns are described. The first category comprised tumours with large hypoxic, but viable, areas at distances even greater than 200 μm from the vessels. The second category showed a typical band-like distribution of hypoxia at an intermediate distance (50–200 μm) from the vessels with necrosis at greater distances. The third category demonstrated hypoxia already within 50 μm from the vessels, suggestive for acute hypoxia. This method of multiparameter analysis proved to be clinically feasible. The information on architectural patterns and the differences that exist between tumours can improve our understanding of the tumour micro-environment and may in the future be of assistance with the selection of (oxygenation modifying) treatment strategies. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Living with the Past: Nutritional Stress in Juvenile Males Has Immediate Effects on their Plumage Ornaments and on Adult Attractiveness in Zebra Finches

The environmental conditions individuals experience during early development are well known to have fundamental effects on a variety of fitness-relevant traits. Although it is evident that the earliest developmental stages have large effects on fitness, other developmental stages, such as the period when secondary sexual characters develop, might also exert a profound effect on fitness components. Here we show experimentally in male zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, that nutritional conditions during this later period have immediate effects on male plumage ornaments and on their attractiveness as adults. Males that had received high quality food during the second month of life, a period when secondary sexual characteristics develop, were significantly more attractive as adults in mate choice tests than siblings supplied with standard food during this period. Preferred males that had experienced better nutritional conditions had larger orange cheek patches when nutritional treatments ended than did unpreferred males. Sexual plumage ornaments of young males thus are honest indicators of nutritional conditions during this period. The mate choice tests with adult birds indicate that nutritional conditions during the period of song learning, brain and gonad development, and moult into adult plumage have persisting effects on male attractiveness. This suggests that the developmental period following nutritional dependence from the parents is just as important in affecting adult attractiveness as are much earlier developmental periods. These findings thus contribute to understanding the origin and consequences of environmentally determined fitness components

Preventing crime in cooperation with the mental health care profession

Although major mental disorders do not have a central position in many criminological theories, there seems to be an evident relationship between these disorders and criminal behavior. In daily practice police officers and mental health care workers work jointly to prevent nuisance and crime and to keep the city livable. Examining the situations where the criminal justice system and mental health institutes are jointly involved to prevent crime, some pitfalls emerge that seem to threaten successful cooperation. There appear to be unrealistic expectations of the possibility to reduce the risk of reoffending by means of treatment and of the possibility to predict which offender poses a risk to society. Another complexity is the fact that both parties work from different backgrounds and pursue different goals. The way society and the criminal justice system deal with persons who are assumed to be a risk to the community because of a mental disorder demands a further investigation from a criminological perspective

The late radiotherapy normal tissue injury phenotypes of telangiectasia, fibrosis and atrophy in breast cancer patients have distinct genotype-dependent causes

The relationship between late normal tissue radiation injury phenotypes in 167 breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and: (i) radiotherapy dose (boost); (ii) an early acute radiation reaction and (iii) genetic background was examined. Patients were genotyped at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eight candidate genes. An early acute reaction to radiation and/or the inheritance of the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFβ1 −509T) SNP contributed to the risk of fibrosis. In contrast, an additional 15 Gy electron boost and/or the inheritance of X-ray repair cross-complementing 1 (XRCC1) (R399Q) SNP contributed to the risk of telangiectasia. Although fibrosis, telangiectasia and atrophy, all contribute to late radiation injury, the data suggest that they have distinct underlying genetic and radiobiological causes. Fibrosis risk is associated with an inflammatory response (an acute reaction and/or TGFβ1), whereas telangiectasia is associated with vascular endothelial cell damage (boost and/or XRCC1). Atrophy is associated with an acute response, but the genetic predisposing factors that determine the risk of an acute response or atrophy have yet to be identified. A combined analysis of two UK breast cancer patient studies shows that 8% of patients are homozygous (TT) for the TGFβ1 (C-509T) variant allele and have a 15-fold increased risk of fibrosis following radiotherapy (95% confidence interval: 3.76–60.3; P=0.000003) compared with (CC) homozygotes