Managing coextinction of insects in a changing climate

AbstractApproximately a quarter of global terrestrial biodiversity is represented by plant dwelling insects and the potential for thousands of species to be extinguished through widespread disturbances such as a changing climate is high. From a large database of 1,019 insect species on 104 plant species, we identified that 70 species were of immediate conservation concern due to their reliance on threatened plant species. A further 15 insect species were of lesser conservation concern because they rely on several threatened plant species for survival. Of those insects that feed from non-threatened plant species, 178 host-specific species are likely to be at risk in the event that climate change or synergistic factors reduces their host plant’s range size. Insect groups that appear most prone to extinction are sessile feeders and highly host specific groups such as whiteflies, scales, mealybugs. Many weevils are also host specific and at higher risk, possibly as they are dispersal inhibited, such as through brachyptery. More surprisingly, mobile plant louse groups (Psylloidea) were also at high risk. Endophagous insects are predicted to be at high risk, but were under-studied here.Regions such as gullies and mountains provide refugia for some species. The fluctuations in temperature (less within refugia), and average humidity (higher in refugia) appear particularly important in these habitats. Particular vegetation types are associated with refugial regions, with a recognised Threatened Ecological Community (TEC) of flora species associated with the highest peaks of the Eastern Mastif, and there is evidence of insect species restricted to these peaks. For the majority of plant species that are not restricted to certain areas, their insect assemblages differ significantly between plant populations, particularly across different mountains.With the assistance of end-users, we have developed an adaptation management framework. The framework assists with conserving plant-dwelling insect species, after they are identified as in need of conservation action. Whilst the primary reason for the development of the framework was to provide adaptation actions in the face of climate change, the framework can be used when insects require conservation action to ameliorate impacts of other threatening processes. Previously published frameworks can be utilized to determine whether an insect is threatened with extinction. Despite the availability of such tools, a survey of end-users still indicted that lack of expertise is the most important factor inhibiting considering plant-dwelling insects.Land managers currently struggle to determine which insect species inhabit their lands, let alone knowing which are in need of conservation. To assist land managers with these problems, we suggest the employment of dedicated conservation entomologists by the Federal and State governments. Their role would be to bridge the interface between taxonomists, government conservation bodies, land managers and disturbance ecologists. The conservation entomologist’s principle tasks would be to identify insects most at risk of extinction, nominate them for listing, and develop management plans to ensure their survival

Toll-like receptor 9 agonist enhances anti-tumor immunity and inhibits tumor-associated immunosuppressive cells numbers in a mouse cervical cancer model following recombinant lipoprotein therapy

BACKGROUND: Although cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play a major role in eradicating cancer cells during immunotherapy, the cancer-associated immunosuppressive microenvironment often limits the success of such therapies. Therefore, the simultaneous induction of cancer-specific CTLs and reversal of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment may be more effectively achieved through a single therapeutic vaccine. A recombinant lipoprotein with intrinsic Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) agonist activity containing a mutant form of E7 (E7m) and a bacterial lipid moiety (rlipo-E7m) has been demonstrated to induce robust CTL responses against small tumors. This treatment in combination with other TLR agonists is able to eliminate large tumors. METHODS: Mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) were employed to determine the synergistic production of pro-inflammatory cytokines upon combination of rlipo-E7m and other TLR agonists. Antigen-specific CTL responses were investigated using immunospots or in vivo cytolytic assays after immunization in mice. Mice bearing various tumor sizes were used to evaluate the anti-tumor effects of the formulation. Specific subpopulations of immunosuppressive cells in the tumor infiltrate were quantitatively determined by flow cytometry. RESULTS: We demonstrate that a TLR9 agonist (unmethylated CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, CpG ODN) enhances CTL responses and eradicates large tumors when combined with rlipo-E7m. Moreover, combined treatment with rlipo-E7m and CpG ODN effectively increases tumor infiltration by CTLs and reduces the numbers of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the tumor microenvironment. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the dramatic anti-tumor effects of the recombinant lipoprotein together with CpG ODN may reflect the amplification of CTL responses and the repression of the immunosuppressive environment. This promising approach could be applied for the development of additional therapeutic cancer vaccines

Recombinant lipidated dengue-4 envelope protein domain III elicits protective immunity

AbstractThe combination of recombinant protein antigens with an immunostimulator has the potential to greatly increase the immunogenicity of recombinant protein antigens. In the present study, we selected the dengue-4 envelope protein domain III as a dengue vaccine candidate and expressed the protein in lipidated form using an Escherichia coli-based system. The recombinant lipidated dengue-4 envelope protein domain III folded into the proper conformation and competed with the dengue-4 virus for cellular binding sites. Mice immunized with lipidated dengue-4 envelope protein domain III without exogenous adjuvant had higher frequencies of dengue-4 envelope protein domain III-specific B cells secreting antibodies than mice immunized with the nonlipidated form. Importantly, lipidated dengue-4 envelope protein domain III-immunized mice demonstrated a durable neutralizing antibody response and had reduced viremia levels after challenge. The study demonstrates that lipidated dengue-4 envelope protein domain III is immunogenic and may be a potential dengue vaccine candidate. Furthermore, the lipidation strategy can be applied to other serotypes of dengue virus

A Hybrid of Heuristic Orderings and Variable Neighbourhood Descent for a Real Life University Course Timetabling Problem

Academic institutions face timetabling problem every semester. Addressing timetabling problem at academic institutions is a challenging combinatorial optimisation task both in theory and practice. This is due to the size of the problem instances as well as the number of constraints that must be satisfied. Over the years, timetabling problem has attracted many researchers in proposing ways to find an optimal solution. In this paper, we investigate a hybrid of heuristic orderings and variable neighbourhood descent approach in tackling course timetabling problem at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). At FCSIT, some events of 4 lecture hours are not evenly spread over minimum working days and some events are conducted until 9 pm. The objectives of the study are to shorten the daily lecture hours and evenly distribute events’ lecture. In stage 1, heuristic orderings are utilised to find a feasible solution. In stage 2, a hybrid of heuristic orderings and variable neighbourhood descent approach are utilised to improve the quality of the solution. The proposed algorithm is tested on real-world data instances (semesters 1 and 2 of 2019/2020) of FCSIT, UNIMAS. Results show that certain heuristic ordering (largest degree or the combination of largest degree and largest enrolment) are better than others in generating a feasible solution. In addition, the number of timeslots required by heuristic ordering are less compared to that required by the existing timetabling software. In stage 2, the proposed algorithm manages to achieve soft constraint violations of 0 and 1 for instances for semesters 1 and 2, respectively. However, all HO manage to achieve 0 violation for both instances when the proposed algorithm is executed 30 times. Each neighbourhood structures defined in this study contributes to lowering the soft constraint violations thus ensuring a high-quality timetable. Results show that the order of neighbourhood structures do impact the number of soft constraint (SC1) violations achieved

A Novel Single-Dose Dengue Subunit Vaccine Induces Memory Immune Responses

To protect against dengue viral infection, a novel lipidated dengue subunit vaccine was rationally designed to contain the consensus amino acid sequences derived from four serotypes of dengue viruses. We found that the lipidated consensus dengue virus envelope protein domain III (LcED III) is capable of activating antigen-presenting cells and enhancing cellular and humoral immune responses. A single-dose of LcED III immunization in mice without extra adjuvant formulation is sufficient to elicit neutralizing antibodies against all four serotypes of dengue viruses. In addition, strong memory responses were elicited in mice immunized with a single-dose of LcED III. Quick, anamnestic neutralizing antibody responses to a live dengue virus challenge were elicited at week 28 post-immunization. These results demonstrate the promising possibility of a future successful tetravalent vaccine against dengue viral infections that utilizes one-dose vaccination with LcED III

A Survey of university course timetabling problem: perspectives, trends and opportunities

The timetabling problem is common to academic institutions such as schools, colleges or universities. It is a very hard combinatorial optimisation problem which attracts the interest of many researchers. The university course timetabling problem (UCTTP) is difficult to address due to the size of the problem and several challenging hard and soft constraints. Over the years, various methodologies were proposed to solve UCTTP. The purpose of this survey paper is to provide the most recent scientific review of the methodologies applied to UCTTP. The paper unveils a classification of methodologies proposed in recent years based on chronology and datasets used. Perspectives, trends, challenges and opportunities in UCTTP are also presented. It is observed that meta-heuristic approaches are popular among researchers. This is followed closely by hybrid methodologies. Hyper-heuristic approaches are also able to produce effective results. Another observation is that the state-of-art methodologies in the scientific literature are not fully utilised in a real-world environment perhaps due to the limited flexibility of these methodologies

Dengue-1 Envelope Protein Domain III along with PELC and CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides Synergistically Enhances Immune Responses

The major weaknesses of subunit vaccines are their low immunogenicity and poor efficacy. Adjuvants can help to overcome some of these inherent defects with subunit vaccines. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of the newly developed water-in-oil-in-water multiphase emulsion system, termed PELC, in potentiating the protective capacity of dengue-1 envelope protein domain III. Unlike aluminum phosphate, dengue-1 envelope protein domain III formulated with PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides induced neutralizing antibodies against dengue-1 virus and increased the splenocyte secretion of IFN-γ after in vitro re-stimulation. The induced antibodies contained both the IgG1 and IgG2a subclasses. A rapid anamnestic neutralizing antibody response against a live dengue virus challenge was elicited at week 26 after the first immunization. These results demonstrate that PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides broaden the dengue-1 envelope protein domain III-specific immune responses. PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides is a promising adjuvant for recombinant protein based vaccination against dengue virus

Osteoporosis Recovery by Antrodia camphorata

Antrodia camphorata has previously demonstrated the efficacy in treating cancer and anti-inflammation. In this study, we are the first to evaluate Antrodia camphorata alcohol extract (ACAE) for osteoporosis recovery in vitro with preosteoblast cells (MC3T3-E1) and in vivo with an osteoporosis mouse model established in our previous studies, ovariectomized senescence accelerated mice (OVX-SAMP8). Our results demonstrated that ACAE treatment was slightly cytotoxic to preosteoblast at 25 μg/mL, by which the osteogenic gene expression (RUNX2, OPN, and OCN) was significantly upregulated with an increased ratio of OPG to RANKL, indicating maintenance of the bone matrix through inhibition of osteoclastic pathway. Additionally, evaluation by Alizarin Red S staining showed increased mineralization in ACAE-treated preosteoblasts. For in vivo study, our results indicated that ACAE inhibits bone loss and significantly increases percentage bone volume, trabecular bone number, and bone mineral density in OVX-SAMP8 mice treated with ACAE. Collectively, in vitro and in vivo results showed that ACAE could promote osteogenesis and prevent bone loss and should be considered an evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine for osteoporosis therapy through the maintenance of bone health

Development of multifunctional unmanned aerial vehicles versus ground seeding and outplanting: What is more effective for improving the growth and quality of rice culture?

The agronomic processes are complex in rice production. The mechanization efficiency is low in seeding, fertilization, and pesticide application, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Currently, many kinds of research focus on the single operation of UAVs on rice, but there is a paucity of comprehensive applications for the whole process of seeding, fertilization, and pesticide application. Based on the previous research synthetically, a multifunctional unmanned aerial vehicle (mUAV) was designed for rice planting management based on the intelligent operation platform, which realized three functions of seeding, fertilizer spreading, and pesticide application on the same flight platform. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used for machine design. Field trials were used to measure operating parameters. Finally, a comparative experimental analysis of the whole process was conducted by comparing the cultivation patterns of mUAV seeding (T1) with mechanical rice direct seeder (T2), and mechanical rice transplanter (T3). The comprehensive benefit of different rice management processes was evaluated. The results showed that the downwash wind field of the mUAV fluctuated widely from 0 to 1.5 m, with the spreading height of 2.5 m, and the pesticide application height of 3 m, which meet the operational requirements. There was no significant difference in yield between T1, T2, and T3 test areas, while the differences in operational efficiency and input labor costs were large. In the sowing stage, T1 had obvious advantages since the working efficiency was 2.2 times higher than T2, and the labor cost was reduced by 68.5%. The advantages were more obvious compared to T3, the working efficiency was 4 times higher than in T3, and the labor cost was reduced by 82.5%. During the pesticide application, T1 still had an advantage, but it was not a significant increase in advantage relative to the seeding stage, in which operating efficiency increased by 1.3 times and labor costs were reduced by 25%. However, the fertilization of T1 was not advantageous due to load and other limitations. Compared to T2 and T3, operational efficiency was reduced by 80% and labor costs increased by 14.3%. It is hoped that this research will provide new equipment for rice cultivation patterns in different environments, while improving rice mechanization, reducing labor inputs, and lowering costs