Trapping \u3cem\u3ePhyllophaga\u3c/em\u3e spp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) in the United States and Canada Using Sex Attractants

The sex pheromone of the scarab beetle, Phyllophaga anxia, is a blend of the methyl esters of two amino acids, L-valine and L-isoleucine. A field trapping study was conducted, deploying different blends of the two compounds at 59 locations in the United States and Canada. More than 57,000 males of 61 Phyllophaga species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) were captured and identified. Three major findings included: (1) widespread use of the two compounds [of the 147 Phyllophaga (sensu stricto) species found in the United States and Canada, males of nearly 40% were captured]; (2) in most species intraspecific male response to the pheromone blends was stable between years and over geography; and (3) an unusual pheromone polymorphism was described from P. anxia. Populations at some locations were captured with L-valine methyl ester alone, whereas populations at other locations were captured with L-isoleucine methyl ester alone. At additional locations, the L-valine methyl ester-responding populations and the L-isoleucine methyl ester-responding populations were both present, producing a bimodal capture curve. In southeastern Massachusetts and in Rhode Island, in the United States, P. anxia males were captured with blends of L-valine methyl ester and L-isoleucine methyl ester

Hoplia equina (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Nontarget Capture Using 2-Tetradecanone-Baited Traps

Using bucket traps baited with 2-tetradecanone, the sex pheromone of Hoplia equina LeConte, an important pest of cranberries in Massachusetts, we investigated the effect of trap height, color, pheromone load, and lure aging on male capture, as well as captures of nontarget arthropods including pollinators. Male capture was inversely related to height of traps over the four heights tested (0, 20, 60, and 100 cm). Captures increased with increasing pheromone load over the doses of 0, 100, 300, and 600 μg, but captures at the highest load, 1,000 μg, were not significantly different from 300 or 600 μg. H. equina captures were strongly diurnal, with a flight period spanning ≈6 wk starting in mid-June. Vane color of traps (white, yellow, green, blue, red, black) did not affect H. equina capture but significantly influenced capture of nontargets, including pollinators. A bucket trap with the funnel opening at 20 cm, and green (or red) vanes, baited with 600 μg of 2-tetradecanone, was the optimal design for high male capture and low nontarget capture. The low-cost capture of over 50,000 H. equina on a 2.4-ha commercial bog in Massachusetts with this lure-trap combination indicates the feasibility of mass trapping for managing established infestations of H. equin

Gene Flow Among Three Races of European Corn Borers (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in New York State

In New York state, there are three races of European corn borer moths, which are characterized principally by differences in voltinism and the sex pheromone communication system. One race is bivoltine, with females producing and males responding to a 99:1 E/Z isomeric ratio of ∆11-14:0Ac's as the sex pheromone. Two races, one univoltine and one bivoltine, produce and respond to a 3:97 E/Z blend of ∆11-14:OAc's. The races are referred to as BE, UZ, and BZ to denote these differences. Analyses by gas chromatography of field-collected females indicate that there is significant hybridization between the Z and E races when in sympatry, with hybrid females producing a 68:32 ratio of E/Z11-14:OAc. Gene flow among the races was investigated using differences in triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) allozyme frequencies of moths from sites sampled across the state. The fixed nature of the Tpi-1 allele in the BE race and increases in the Tpi-1 allele frequencies in UZ populations in sympatry with the BE race support the hypothesis that gene flow following hybridization is unidirectional from BE populations into the Z populations. In addition, the TPI genotypes of the 10 hybrid females analyzed were consistent with hybridization occurring by E males mating with Z female

Approccio alla lingua italiana per allievi stranieri - ALIAS

Contiene, di P. E. Balboni, - "Approccio alla lingua italiana per allievi stranieri", pp. 55-71 - "Problemi interculturali nei rapporti con allievi stranieri e con le loro famiglie", pp. 73-90 - "La fomrazione dei docenti: i contenuti e gli strumenti di base", pp. 181-184

Sex Pheromone Responses of the Oriental Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

The synthetic female sex pheromone of the oriental beetle, Anomala orientalis Waterhouse, was evaluated in the field and in a sustained-flight tunnel. In a 2-wk period, > 150,000 beetles were captured on three golf course fairways in Connecticut. Contrary to earlier reports that these beetles are most active during the warm, sunny portions of the day, we observed that peak activity occurs around sunset. Ten micrograms of either (Z)-7-tetradecen-2-one or an 89/11 (Z/E) blend on a rubber septum was found to be the minimum concentration with which no significant decrease in catch was observed in the field. There was no discrimination between Z and the blend at 1 μg and higher concentrations, but the E-isomer alone trapped significantly fewer beetles than either Z alone or the blend. These results are consistent with the flight tunnel data. The effects of temperature and light intensity on the mating behavior of A. orientalis also are discusse

Amplification of Fluctuations in Unstable Systems with Disorder

We study the early-stage kinetics of thermodynamically unstable systems with quenched disorder. We show analytically that the growth of initial fluctuations is amplified by the presence of disorder. This is confirmed by numerical simulations of morphological phase separation (MPS) in thin liquid films and spinodal decomposition (SD) in binary mixtures. We also discuss the experimental implications of our results.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Association between increasing agricultural use of 2,4-D and population biomarkers of exposure: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001-2014.

BACKGROUND: 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is one of the most extensively used herbicides in the United States. In 2012, 2,4-D was the most widely used herbicide in non-agricultural settings and the fifth most heavily applied pesticide in the US agricultural sector. The objective of this study was to examine trends in 2,4-D urinary biomarker concentrations to determine whether increases in 2,4-D application in agriculture are associated with increases in biomonitoring levels of urine 2,4-D. METHODS: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with available urine 2,4-D biomarker measurements from survey cycles between 2001 and 2014 were utilized. Urine 2,4-D values were dichotomized using the highest limit of detection (LOD) across all cycles (0.40 μg/L or 0.4 ppb). Agricultural use of 2,4-D was estimated by compiling publicly available federal and private pesticide application data. Logistic regression models adjusted for confounders were fitted to evaluate the association between agricultural use of 2,4-D and urine 2,4-D level above the dichotomization threshold. RESULTS: Of the 14,395 participants included in the study, 4681 (32.5%) had urine 2,4-D levels above the dichotomization threshold. The frequency of participants with high 2,4-D levels increased significantly (p \u3c .0001), from a low of 17.1% in 2001-2002 to a high of 39.6% in 2011-2012. The adjusted odds of high urinary 2,4-D concentrations associated with 2,4-D agricultural use (per ten million pounds applied) was 2.268 (95% CI: 1.709, 3.009). Children ages 6-11 years (n = 2288) had 2.1 times higher odds of having high 2,4-D urinary concentrations compared to participants aged 20-59 years. Women of childbearing age (age 20-44 years) (n = 2172) had 1.85 times higher odds than men of the same age. CONCLUSIONS: Agricultural use of 2,4-D has increased substantially from a low point in 2002 and it is predicted to increase further in the coming decade. Because increasing use is likely to increase population level exposures, the associations seen here between 2,4-D crop application and biomonitoring levels require focused biomonitoring and epidemiological evaluation to determine the extent to which rising use and exposures cause adverse health outcomes among vulnerable populations (particularly children and women of childbearing age) and highly exposed individuals (farmers, other herbicide applicators, and their families)

Characterisation of the pathogenic effects of the in vivo expression of an ALS-linked mutation in D-amino acid oxidase: Phenotype and loss of spinal cord motor neurons

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common adult-onset neuromuscular disorder characterised by selective loss of motor neurons leading to fatal paralysis. Current therapeutic approaches are limited in their effectiveness. Substantial advances in understanding ALS disease mechanisms has come from the identification of pathogenic mutations in dominantly inherited familial ALS (FALS). We previously reported a coding mutation in D-amino acid oxidase (DAOR199W) associated with FALS. DAO metabolises D-serine, an essential co-agonist at the N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid glutamate receptor subtype (NMDAR). Using primary motor neuron cultures or motor neuron cell lines we demonstrated that expression of DAOR199W, promoted the formation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates, activated autophagy and increased apoptosis. The aim of this study was to characterise the effects of DAOR199W in vivo, using transgenic mice overexpressing DAOR199W. Marked abnormal motor features, e.g. kyphosis, were evident in mice expressing DAOR199W, which were associated with a significant loss (19%) of lumbar spinal cord motor neurons, analysed at 14 months. When separated by gender, this effect was greater in females (26%; p< 0.0132). In addition, we crossed the DAOR199W transgenic mouse line with the SOD1G93A mouse model of ALS to determine whether the effects of SOD1G93A were potentiated in the double transgenic line (DAOR199W/SOD1G93A). Although overall survival was not affected, onset of neurological signs was significantly earlier in female double transgenic animals than their female SOD1G93A littermates (125 days vs 131 days, P = 0.0239). In summary, some significant in vivo effects of DAOR199W on motor neuron function (i.e. kyphosis and loss of motor neurons) were detected which were most marked in females and could contribute to the earlier onset of neurological signs in double transgenic females compared to SOD1G93A littermates, highlighting the importance of recognizing gender effects present in animal models of ALS

Ground-state properties of a supersymmetric fermion chain

We analyze the ground state of a strongly interacting fermion chain with a supersymmetry. We conjecture a number of exact results, such as a hidden duality between weak and strong couplings. By exploiting a scale free property of the perturbative expansions, we find exact expressions for the order parameters, yielding the critical exponents. We show that the ground state of this fermion chain and another model in the same universality class, the XYZ chain along a line of couplings, are both written in terms of the same polynomials. We demonstrate this explicitly for up to N = 24 sites, and provide consistency checks for large N. These polynomials satisfy a recursion relation related to the Painlev\'e VI differential equation, and using a scale-free property of these polynomials, we derive a simple and exact formula for their limit as N goes to infinity.Comment: v2: added more information on scaling function, fixed typo

Identification and Synthesis of a Male-Produced Pheromone for the Neotropical Root Weevil Diaprepes abbreviatus

An unsaturated hydroxy-ester pheromone was isolated from the headspace and feces of male Diaprepes abbreviatus, identified, and synthesized. The pheromone, methyl (E)-3-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methyl-2-pentenoate, was discovered by gas chromatography-coupled electroantennogram detection (GC-EAD), and identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The synthesis yielded an 86:14 mixture of methyl (E)-3-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methyl-2-pentenoate (active) and methyl (Z)-3-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methyl-2-pentenoate (inactive), along with a lactone breakdown product. The activity of the synthetic E-isomer was confirmed by GC-EAD, GC-MS, NMR, and bioassays. No antennal response was observed to the Z-isomer or the lactone. In a two-choice olfactometer bioassay, female D. abbreviatus moved upwind towards the synthetic pheromone or natural pheromone more often compared with clean air. Males showed no clear preference for the synthetic pheromone. This pheromone, alone or in combination with plant volatiles, may play a role in the location of males by female D. abbreviatus