Long-term Benefits of GM crops: Potential for Diabrotica Suppression in Europe using Bt Maize

Transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from _Bacillus thuringiensis_ (Bt) have been widely adopted since 1996 in the United States of America to combat important pests of maize and cotton. There is growing evidence that several target pest populations have been dramatically reduced in areas where the Bt crops have been most intensively adopted over multiple years. The evidence is most dramatic for nonmigratory monophagous and oligophagous species that show high mortality on Bt crops, such as European corn borer (_Ostrinia nubilalis_), and tobacco budworm (_Heliothis virescens_). Bt cotton is currently being used in the southwestern USA as part of an area-wide eradication program for pink bollworm (_Pectinophora gossypiella_). Single, stacked, and pyramided Bt maize lines producing coleopteran-active insecticidal proteins have been shown in some cases to cause >99% mortality of western corn rootworm (_Diabrotica virgifera virgifera_) larvae every year. Simulation models suggest that long-term area-wide cultivation of these Bt corn lines can lead to dramatic population reduction, and even local extinction, of corn rootworms. An eradication program for this economically important pest, based around Bt maize and incorporating a combination of other tools, would benefit European agriculture and the environment. Post-commercial monitoring programs should be designed to investigate long-term benefits to agricultural production systems that can be reasonably expected from the widespread cultivation of Bt crops in Europe

Zwischen Staatenwelt und Weltstaat: zur Diskussion über Weltordnung und Weltfrieden

Aus den unendlich vielen systematischen Überlegungen oder Phantasien von Menschen über die Ordnung ihrer unmittelbaren Lebenswelt und der darüber hinaus jeweils bekannten äußeren Welt bzw. die Möglichkeiten des Friedens konzentrieren wir uns auf Konzepte des modernen Westens, mit kleinen historischen Rückblicken. Wir behandeln in erster Linie politische bzw. politikwissenschaftliche Konzepte, allerdings mit Übergängen zur Philosophie und zur Soziologie. Es kommen sowohl stärker normative als auch stärker deskriptiv-analytische Konzepte zur Sprache, darunter einige, die beides kombinieren. Die verschiedenen Ansätze unterscheiden sich nicht nur in der Wahl der zentralen Akteure oder der zentralen Kategorien, sondern auch in der Beurteilung der Intensität und der Konfliktträchtigkeit der Globalisierung; letzteres sogar innerhalb bestimmter Theorietraditionen wie etwa des Marxismus oder des Institutionalismus. Insgesamt tendieren wir zu zurückhaltenden Deutungen einer Welt(friedens-)ordnung und betonen wir die Ordnungsfunktionen der Einzelstaaten, gerade auch der Großmächte

Two canine CD1a proteins are differentially expressed in skin

Lipid antigens are presented to T cells by the CD1 family of proteins. In this study, we characterize the complete dog (Canis familiaris) CD1 locus, which is located on chromosome 38. The canine locus contains eight CD1A genes (canCD1A), of which five are pseudogenes, one canCD1B, one canCD1C, one canCD1D, and one canCD1E gene. In vivo expression of canine CD1 proteins was shown for canCD1a6, canCD1a8, and canCD1b, using a panel of anti-CD1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). CanCD1a6 and canCD1a8 are recognized by two distinct mAbs. Furthermore, we show differential transcription of the three canCD1A genes in canine tissues. In canine skin, the transcription level of canCD1A8 was higher than that of canCD1A6, and no transcription of canCD1A2 was detected. Based on protein modeling and protein sequence alignment, we predict that both canine CD1a proteins can bind different glycolipids in their groove. Besides differences in ectodomain structure, we observed the unique presence of three types of cytoplasmic tails encoded by canCD1A genes. cDNA sequencing and expressed sequence tag sequences confirmed the existence of a short, human CD1a-like cytoplasmic tail of four amino acids, of an intermediate length form of 15 amino acids, and of a long form of 31 amino acids

Performance of PE pipes under extractive conditions: Effect of the additive package and processing

Polyethylene (PE) compounds were prepared with five primary antioxidants and five application stabilizers, pelletized and extruded to pipes under industrial conditions. The pipes were stored in water at 80 °C for one year. Samples were taken at various intervals and a range of properties were determined from the functional group (methyl, vinyl, t-vinylene) content of the polymer to the crack propagation rate of the pipe. The results showed that chemical reactions take place both during extrusion and soaking. The chain structure of the polymer is modified only during processing, but not during storage, at least in the time scale of the study. The direction and extent of changes are determined mainly by the type of the application stabilizer, but primary antioxidants also influence them to some extent. Soaking modifies the physical, but not the chemical structure of the polymer. On the other hand, the chemical reactions of the additives determine color and stabilizer loss thus the residual stability of the pipes. The chemical structure of the polymer has a larger effect on final properties, on the rate of slow crack propagation and failure, than the physical structure of the pipes. As a consequence, the application stabilizer plays an important role in the determination of pipe performance

The Time-resolved Atomic, Molecular and Optical Science Instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source

The newly constructed Time-resolved atomic, Molecular and Optical science instrument (TMO), is configured to take full advantage of both linear accelerators at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the copper accelerator operating at a repetition rate of 120 Hz providing high per pulse energy, as well as the superconducting accelerator operating at a repetition rate of about 1 MHz providing high average intensity. Both accelerators build a soft X-ray free electron laser with the new variable gab undulator section. With this flexible light sources, TMO supports many experimental techniques not previously available at LCLS and will have two X-ray beam focus spots in line. Thereby, TMO supports Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO), strong-field and nonlinear science and will host a designated new dynamic reaction microscope with a sub-micron X-ray focus spot. The flexible instrument design is optimized for studying ultrafast electronic and molecular phenomena and can take full advantage of the sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulse generation program