Exposure of a Dengue Vector to Tea and Its Waste: Survival, Developmental Consequences, and Significance for Pest Management

Dengue mosquitoes are evolving into a broader global public health menace, with relentless outbreaks and the rise in number of Zika virus disease cases as reminders of the continued hazard associated with Aedes vectors. The use of chemical insecticidesthe principal strategy against mosquito vectorshas been greatly impeded due to the development of insecticide resistance and the shrinking spectrum of effective agents. Therefore, there is a pressing need for new chemistries for vector control. Tea contains hundreds of chemicals, and its waste, which has become a growing global environmental problem, is almost as rich in toxicants as green leaves. This paper presents the toxic and sublethal effects of different crude extracts of tea on Aedes albopictus. The survival rates of larvae exposed to tea extracts, especially fresh tea extract (FTE), were markedly lower than those in the control treatment group. In addition to this immediate toxicity against different developmental stages, the extracts tested caused a broad range of sublethal effects. The developmental time was clearly longer in containers with tea, especially in those with young larvae (YL) and FTE. Among the survivors, pupation success was reduced in containers with tea, which also produced low adult emergence rates with increasing tea concentration. The production of eggs tended to be reduced in females derived from the tea treatment groups. These indirect effects of tea extracts on Ae. albopictus exhibited different patterns according to the exposed larval stage. Taken together, these findings indicate that tea and its waste affect most key components of Ae. albopictus vectorial capacity and may be useful for dengue control. Reusing tea waste in vector control could also be a practical solution to the problems associated with its pollution

GPIHBP1 expression in gliomas promotes utilization of lipoprotein-derived nutrients

GPIHBP1, a GPI-anchored protein of capillary endothelial cells, binds lipoprotein lipase (LPL) within the subendothelial spaces and shuttles it to the capillary lumen. The GPIHBP1-bound LPL is essential for the margination of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs) along capillaries, allowing the lipolytic processing of TRLs to proceed. In peripheral tissues, the intravascular processing of TRLs by the GPIHBP1-LPL complex is crucial for generating lipid nutrients for adjacent parenchymal cells. GPIHBP1 is absent in capillaries of the brain, which uses glucose for fuel; however, GPIHBP1 is expressed in capillaries of mouse and human gliomas. Importantly, the GPIHBP1 in glioma capillaries captures locally produced LPL. We document, by NanoSIMS imaging, that TRLs marginate along glioma capillaries and that there is uptake of TRL-derived lipid nutrients by surrounding glioma cells. Thus, GPIHBP1 expression in gliomas facilitates TRL processing and provides a source of lipid nutrients for glioma cells

Presence of a predator image in potential breeding sites and oviposition responses of a dengue vector

In dengue vector control, attempts to minimize or replace the use of pesticides have mostly involved use of predators, but success has been severely impeded by difficulties associated with financial and environmental costs, predator mass production, and persistence in target habitats. Visual deterrents have been used successfully to control animal pests, in some cases in an effort to replace pesticide use. Despite evidence that visual signals are crucial in site choice for egg deposition by dengue vectors, and that female mosquitoes respond to artificial predation, the role of predator intimidation as it affects the oviposition behavior of dengue vectors remains largely unexplored. Here, we examined the oviposition responses of Aedes aegypti exposed to various mosquito predator pictures. Gravid females were presented with equal opportunities to oviposit in two cups with predator images [Toxorhynchites splendens—TXI, Goldfish (Carassius auratus)—small (SFI) and large (LFI) and Tx. splendens + Goldfish—TXFI] and two others without pictures. Differences in egg deposition were examined between sites with and without these images. When given a chance to oviposit in cups with and without TXI, Ae. aegypti females were similarly attracted to both sites. When provided an opportunity to oviposit in cups displaying pictures of fish (SFI or LFI) and blank cups, egg deposition rates were much lower in the fish picture sites. Females showed a preference for blank cups over TXFI for egg deposition. They also equally avoided cups with pictures of fish, regardless of the size of the picture. Our results indicate that the presence of images of goldfish and their association with Tx. larvae significantly reduced egg deposition by Ae. aegypti, and this was not the case with the predatory larvae alone. The observations that the images of natural predators can repel gravid females of a dengue vector provide novel possibilities to develop effective and inexpensive alternative tools to harmful insecticides

Moduli flow and non-supersymmetric AdS attractors

We investigate the attractor mechanism in gauged supergravity in the presence of higher derivatives terms. In particular, we discuss the attractor behaviour of static black hole horizons in anti-de Sitter spacetime by using the effective potential approach as well as Sen's entropy function formalism. We use the holographic techniques to interpret the moduli flow as an RG flow towards the IR attractor horizon. We find that the holographic c-function obeys the expected properties and point out some subtleties in understanding attractors in AdS.Comment: 41 pages, 3 figures, JHEP style; V2: misprints corrected, expanded references; V3: few typo's fixed in section

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186

Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284

Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$, and D$^{*+}$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$, and for transverse momentum $1< p_{\rm T} <12$ GeV/$c$, were measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D$^0 \rightarrow$K$\pi$, D$^+ \rightarrow$K$\pi\pi$, D$^{*+} \rightarrow$D$^0\pi$, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a $L_{\rm int} = 1.1$ nb$^{-1}$ event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and our previous measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters