Performance of Sirex noctilio’s biocontrol agent Deladenus siricidicola, in known and predicted hosts

Survival of the free-living mycetophagous form of Deladenus siricidicola, the major biological control agent of Sirex woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, was tested in known (Pinus taeda) and predicted novel (P. elliottii subsp. elliottii × P. caribaea var. hondurensis) hybrid host taxa. Trials were established in the field to simulate nematode dispersal both naturally by infected wasps and following commercial inoculation, as well as in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Nematodes showed reduced survival in hybrid pine compared with P. taeda for all tree-associated treatments, but performed equivalently in petri-dish bioassays containing substrate of each taxon. Growth of Amylostereum areolatum, the food source of D. siricidicola was lower on plates containing ground hybrid substrate than on plates containing ground P. taeda. Some physical differences were found between taxa, including differences in bordered pit diameters, tracheid widths, and basic density, but these did not consistently explain reduced performance. More plant secondary compounds (predominantly oleoresins) were present in hybrid taxa than in P. taeda, and in standing trees compared with felled trees. Our results suggested that D. siricidicola may not be as effective in hybrid pine taxa for the biological control of S. noctilio as it is in its current known host taxa, possibly because of reduced growth of its food source, A. areolatum in hybrid pine

Nonlinear hyperbolic systems: Non-degenerate flux, inner speed variation, and graph solutions

We study the Cauchy problem for general, nonlinear, strictly hyperbolic systems of partial differential equations in one space variable. First, we re-visit the construction of the solution to the Riemann problem and introduce the notion of a nondegenerate (ND) system. This is the optimal condition guaranteeing, as we show it, that the Riemann problem can be solved with finitely many waves, only; we establish that the ND condition is generic in the sense of Baire (for the Whitney topology), so that any system can be approached by a ND system. Second, we introduce the concept of inner speed variation and we derive new interaction estimates on wave speeds. Third, we design a wave front tracking scheme and establish its strong convergence to the entropy solution of the Cauchy problem; this provides a new existence proof as well as an approximation algorithm. As an application, we investigate the time-regularity of the graph solutions $(X,U)$ introduced by the second author, and propose a geometric version of our scheme; in turn, the spatial component $X$ of a graph solution can be chosen to be continuous in both time and space, while its component $U$ is continuous in space and has bounded variation in time.Comment: 74 page

Oncological outcome after lymph node dissection for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundAlthough cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is common, lymph node metastases are relatively rare and are usually treated with lymph node dissection (LND). The aim of this study was to describe the clinical course and prognosis after LND for cSCC at all anatomical locations.MethodsA retrospective search at three centres was performed to identify patients with lymph node metastases of cSCC who were treated with LND. Prognostic factors were identified by uni- and multivariable analysis.ResultsA total of 268 patients were identified with a median age of 74. All lymph node metastases were treated with LND, and 65% of the patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. After LND, 35% developed recurrent disease both locoregionally and distantly. Patients with more than one positive lymph node had an increased risk for recurrent disease.165 (62%) patients died during follow-up of whom 77 (29%) due to cSCC. The 5-year OS- and DSS rate were 36% and 52%, respectively. Disease-specific survival was significantly worse in immunosuppressed patients, patients with primary tumors >2cm and patients with more than one positive lymph node.ConclusionsThis study shows that LND for patients with lymph node metastases of cSCC leads to a 5-year DSS of 52%. After LND, approximately one-third of the patients develop recurrent disease (locoregional and/or distant), which underscores the need for better systemic treatment options for locally advanced cSCC. The size of the primary tumor, more than one positive lymph node, and immunosuppression are independent predictors for risk of recurrence and disease-specific survival after LND for cSCC.Analysis and support of clinical decision makin

Resveratrol Targeting of Carcinogen-Induced Brain Endothelial Cell Inflammation Biomarkers MMP-9 and COX-2 is Sirt1-Independent

The occurrence of a functional relationship between the release of metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, two inducible pro-inflammatory biomarkers with important pro-angiogenic effects, has recently been inferred. While brain endothelial cells play an essential role as structural and functional components of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), increased BBB breakdown is thought to be linked to neuroinflammation. Chemopreventive mechanisms targeting both MMPs and COX-2 however remain poorly investigated. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacological targeting of Sirt1 by the diet-derived and antiinflammatory polyphenol resveratrol. Total RNA, cell lysates, and conditioned culture media from human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) were analyzed using qRT-PCR, immunoblotting, and zymography respectively. Tissue scan microarray analysis of grade I–IV brain tumours cDNA revealed increased gene expression of Sirt-1 from grade I–III but surprisingly not in grade IV brain tumours. HBMEC were treated with a combination of resveratrol and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a carcinogen known to increase MMP-9 and COX-2 through NF-κB. We found that resveratrol efficiently reversed the PMA-induced MMP-9 secretion and COX-2 expression. Gene silencing of Sirt1, a critical modulator of angiogenesis and putative target of resveratrol, did not lead to significant reversal of MMP-9 and COX-2 inhibition. Decreased resveratrol inhibitory potential of carcinogen-induced IκB phosphorylation in siSirt1-transfected HBMEC was however observed. Our results suggest that resveratrol may prevent BBB disruption during neuroinflammation by inhibiting MMP-9 and COX-2 and act as a pharmacological NF-κB signal transduction inhibitor independent of Sirt1

Breakdown of K selection in Hf178

Coulomb activation of the four quasiparticle Kπ=16+ Hf178 isomer (t1/2=31y) has led to the measurement of a set of Eλ matrix elements coupling the isomer band to the ground band. The present data combined with earlier Hf178 Coulomb excitation data have probed the K components in the wave functions and revealed the onset and saturation of K mixing in low-K bands, whereas the mixing is negligible in the high-K bands. The implications can be applied to other quadrupole-deformed nuclei

An epigenome-wide association study of posttraumatic stress disorder in US veterans implicates several new DNA methylation loci

Background Previous studies using candidate gene and genome-wide approaches have identified epigenetic changes in DNA methylation (DNAm) associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods In this study, we performed an EWAS of PTSD in a cohort of Veterans (n = 378 lifetime PTSD cases and 135 controls) from the Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) cohort assessed using the Illumina EPIC Methylation BeadChip which assesses DNAm at more than 850,000 sites throughout the genome. Our model included covariates for ancestry, cell heterogeneity, sex, age, and a smoking score based on DNAm at 39 smoking-associated CpGs. We also examined in EPIC-based DNAm data generated from pre-frontal cortex (PFC) tissue from the National PTSD Brain Bank (n = 72). Results The analysis of blood samples yielded one genome-wide significant association with PTSD at cg19534438 in the gene G0S2 (p = 1.19 x 10(-7), p(adj) = 0.048). This association was replicated in an independent PGC-PTSD-EWAS consortium meta-analysis of military cohorts (p = 0.0024). We also observed association with the smoking-related locus cg05575921 in AHRR despite inclusion of a methylation-based smoking score covariate (p = 9.16 x 10(-6)), which replicates a previously observed PGC-PTSD-EWAS association (Smith et al. 2019), and yields evidence consistent with a smoking-independent effect. The top 100 EWAS loci were then examined in the PFC data. One of the blood-based PTSD loci, cg04130728 in CHST11, which was in the top 10 loci in blood, but which was not genome-wide significant, was significantly associated with PTSD in brain tissue (in blood p = 1.19 x 10(-5), p(adj) = 0.60, in brain, p = 0.00032 with the same direction of effect). Gene set enrichment analysis of the top 500 EWAS loci yielded several significant overlapping GO terms involved in pathogen response, including "Response to lipopolysaccharide" (p = 6.97 x 10(-6), p(adj) = 0.042). Conclusions The cross replication observed in independent cohorts is evidence that DNA methylation in peripheral tissue can yield consistent and replicable PTSD associations, and our results also suggest that that some PTSD associations observed in peripheral tissue may mirror associations in the brain.Stress-related psychiatric disorders across the life spa