Seasonal phenology and bionomics of clearwing moths in Tennessee

Larvae of clearwing moths (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) attack and cause serious damage to more than 100 deciduous trees and shrubs in North America. Clearwing moth larvae, commonly referred to as borers , damage plants by tunnelling beneath the bark while feeding. These borers can destroy vascular tissue and cause loss of vigor, structural weakness, branch dieback or complete girdling and death of trees (Wallace 1945, Schread 1971, Purrington and Nielsen 1977, Potter and Timmons 1983). With the isolation, characterization and synthesis of the first clearwing moth sex pheromone by Tumlinson and coworkers (1974) additional information concerning borers and their life history could be obtained (Nielsen 1979). Using these sex pheromones, numerous researchers have monitored and reported the seasonal incidence of selected adult Sesiidae (Gentry et al. 1978, Sharp et al. 1978, Neal 1981, Riedl et al. 1985, Meyer et al. 1988). A clearwing moth, Synanthedon scitula (Harris) (the dogwood borer), is one of the most serious pests of flowering dogwoods, Cornus florida L., in the eastern United States, especially in Tennessee (Pless and Stanley 1967, Williams et al. 1985). Due to the availability of a synthetic pheromone attractive to dogwood borer and the lack of information available on clearwing moths in Tennessee, a two-year study was conducted to monitor the seasonal incidence of clearwing moths in eastern and middle Tennessee and to assess infestation levels of dogwood borer on dogwood in commercial nursery, urban, and forest habitats. Eight species of clearwing moths were collected during 1987-1988 and included: Podosesia syringae (Harris), lilac borer; Paranthrene simulans palmii (Grote), an oak borer; Synanthedon scitula, dogwood borer; Synanthedon rhododendri (Beutenmilller), rhododendron borer: Synanthedon exitiosa (Say), peachtree borer; Synanthedon fatifera Hodges, a viburnum borer; Synanthedon acerni (Clemens), maple callous borer; and Synanthedon decipiens (Hy. Edwards), a borer of cynipid galls on oak. Lilac borers were the most abundant species collected during this two-year study and represented ca. 70% of the moths collected in the nursery and urban habitats and ca. 41% of the moths collected in the forest habitat. The dogwood borer represented ca. 10% of the moths collected in the nursery and urban habitats but was not collected in the forest habitat. Approximately 45% of the moths collected in the forest habitat were rhododendron borers. The high percentage of rhododendron borers collected in the forest habitat is a result of the large number of rhododendrons found in the forest areas sampled. The dogwood borer exhibited a bimodal period of emergence with the first peak occurring in mid-May and the second in the beginning of August. This information is important from a managerial standpoint and suggests the application of two properly timed chemical treatments for the control of dogwood borer. The highest infestation level (ca. 60%) of dogwood borer on dogwood was found in the urban habitat. The high infestation level in the urban habitat is due to adverse environmental stresses placed on the tree growing in an unnatural environment. Dogwood trees planted as ornamentals in the urban habitat are usually planted in full sun and subject to mechanical injuries (e.g. damage by lawnmowers) which increase the susceptibility of the tree to borer infestation (Potter and Timmons 1983). All nursery blocks examined were infested with dogwood borer and percent infestation averaged ca. 7%. Approximately 1% of the trees examined in the forest habitat were infested with dogwood borer

Initial Metabolic Profiles Are Associated with 7-Day Survival among Infants Born at 22-25 Weeks of Gestation.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the association between early metabolic profiles combined with infant characteristics and survival past 7 days of age in infants born at 22-25 weeks of gestation. STUDY DESIGN:This nested case-control consisted of 465 singleton live births in California from 2005 to 2011 at 22-25 weeks of gestation. All infants had newborn metabolic screening data available. Data included linked birth certificate and mother and infant hospital discharge records. Mortality was derived from linked death certificates and death discharge information. Each death within 7 days was matched to 4 surviving controls by gestational age and birth weight z score category, leaving 93 cases and 372 controls. The association between explanatory variables and 7-day survival was modeled via stepwise logistic regression. Infant characteristics, 42 metabolites, and 12 metabolite ratios were considered for model inclusion. Model performance was assessed via area under the curve. RESULTS:The final model included 1 characteristic and 11 metabolites. The model demonstrated a strong association between metabolic patterns and infant survival (area under the curve [AUC] 0.885, 95% CI 0.851-0.920). Furthermore, a model with just the selected metabolites performed better (AUC 0.879, 95% CI 0.841-0.916) than a model with multiple clinical characteristics (AUC 0.685, 95% CI 0.627-0.742). CONCLUSIONS:Use of metabolomics significantly strengthens the association with 7-day survival in infants born extremely premature. Physicians may be able to use metabolic profiles at birth to refine mortality risks and inform postnatal counseling for infants born at <26 weeks of gestation

Comparative responsiveness and minimally important difference of Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) scales and the FSI-3 in trials with cancer survivors

Background Fatigue is a highly prevalent and disabling symptom in cancer survivors. Although many measures have been developed to assess survivors’ fatigue, their ability to accurately capture change following intervention has rarely been assessed in post-treatment survivors. Ultra-brief fatigue measures are preferable in clinical practice but have limited evidence supporting their use with cancer survivors. We examined the psychometric properties of four Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) measures, including the new FSI-3, in cancer survivors. Examined properties included responsiveness to change and minimally important differences (MIDs). Methods We analyzed data from three randomized controlled trials with post-treatment cancer survivors (N = 328). Responsiveness to change was evaluated by comparing standardized response means for survivors who reported their fatigue as being better, the same, or worse at 2–3 months. Responsiveness to intervention was assessed via effect sizes, and MIDs were estimated by using several methods. We also computed area under the curve (AUC) values to assess FSI measures’ discriminative accuracy compared to an established cut-point. Results All FSI measures differentiated survivors who reported improvement at 2–3 months from those with stable fatigue, but did not uniformly differentiate worsening fatigue from stable fatigue. Measures showed similar levels of responsiveness to intervention, and MIDs ranged from 0.29 to 2.20 across FSI measures. AUC analyses supported the measures’ ability to detect significant fatigue. Conclusions Four FSI scales show similar responsiveness to change, and estimated MIDs can inform assessment of meaningful change in fatigue. The FSI-3 shows promise as an ultra-brief fatigue measure for survivors

Non-perturbative dynamics of hot non-Abelian gauge fields: beyond leading log approximation

Many aspects of high-temperature gauge theories, such as the electroweak baryon number violation rate, color conductivity, and the hard gluon damping rate, have previously been understood only at leading logarithmic order (that is, neglecting effects suppressed only by an inverse logarithm of the gauge coupling). We discuss how to systematically go beyond leading logarithmic order in the analysis of physical quantities. Specifically, we extend to next-to-leading-log order (NLLO) the simple leading-log effective theory due to Bodeker that describes non-perturbative color physics in hot non-Abelian plasmas. A suitable scaling analysis is used to show that no new operators enter the effective theory at next-to-leading-log order. However, a NLLO calculation of the color conductivity is required, and we report the resulting value. Our NLLO result for the color conductivity can be trivially combined with previous numerical work by G. Moore to yield a NLLO result for the hot electroweak baryon number violation rate.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

A new locality with ctenochasmatid pterosaurs (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile

We describe a new locality with ctenochasmatid pterosaurs found in a tidal estuarine paleoenvironment of the Quebrada Monardes Formation (Lower Cretaceous). The new locality, which is named “Cerro Tormento”, is in Cerros Bravos in the northeast Atacama region, Northern Chile. Here, we describe four cervical vertebrae, one of them belonging to a small individual, the impression of a right scapulocoracoid, a left coracoid, an impression of a left humerus, an incomplete left humerus, a distal fragment of the right humerus, and impressions of a left femur and tibiotarsus. The presence of three humeri and a cervical vertebra belonging to a small pterosaur indicate that these materials represent more than one individual. The cervical vertebrae present diagnostic traits shared with ctenochasmatid pterosaurs, such as elongated vertebral centra, with integrated neural arch, low neural spines, and dorsally located neural canal. It is currently not possible to determine if there are one or more species represented. This finding is the second geographic occurrence of pterosaurs of the clade Ctenochasmatidae in the Atacama region, although it is currently uncertain if ctenochasmatids from both locations were contemporaneous. This suggests that the clade Ctenochasmatidae was widespread in what is now northern Chile. In addition, the presence of bones belonging to more than one individual preserved in Cerro Tormento suggest that pterosaur colonies were present at the southwestern margin of Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous.Fil: Alarcón Muñoz, Jhonatan Andrés. Universidad de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas. Departamento de Geología; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Codorniú, Laura. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología; ArgentinaFil: González, Edwin. Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería; ChileFil: Suárez, Mario E.. Atacama Fosil Research; ChileFil: Suárez, Manuel. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Vicencio Campos, Omar. Atacama Fosil Research; ChileFil: Soto Acuña, Sergio. Universidad de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas. Departamento de Geología; ChileFil: Kaluza, Jonatan Ezequiel. Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vargas, Alexander O.. Universidad de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas. Departamento de Geología; ChileFil: Rubilar Rogers, David. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Chile; Chil

An Advanced Trajectory-Based Operations Prototype Tool and Focus Group Evaluation

Trajectory-based operations (TBO) is a key concept in the Next Generation Air Transportation System transformation of the National Airspace System (NAS) that will increase the predictability and stability of traffic flows, support a common operational picture through the use of digital data sharing, facilitate more effective collaborative decision making between airspace users and air navigation service providers, and enable increased levels of integrated automation across the NAS. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been developing trajectory-based systems to improve the efficiency of the NAS during specific phases of flight and is now also exploring Advanced 4-Dimensional Trajectory (4DT) operational concepts that will integrate these technologies and incorporate new technology where needed to create both automation and procedures to support gate-to-gate TBO. A TBO Prototype simulation toolkit has been developed that demonstrates initial functionality that may reside in an Advanced 4DT TBO concept. Pilot and controller subject matter experts (SMEs) were brought to the Air Traffic Operations Laboratory at NASA Langley Research Center for discussions on an Advanced 4DT operational concept and were provided an interactive demonstration of the TBO Prototype using four example scenarios. The SMEs provided feedback on potential operational, technological, and procedural opportunities and concerns. After viewing the interactive demonstration scenarios, the SMEs felt the operational capabilities demonstrated would be useful for performing TBO while maintaining situation awareness and low mental workload. The TBO concept demonstrated produced defined routings around weather which resulted in a more organized, consistent flow of traffic where it was clear to both the controller and pilot what route the aircraft was to follow. In general, the controller SMEs felt that traffic flow management should be responsible for generating and negotiating the operational constraints demonstrated, in cooperation with the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, while air traffic control should be responsible for the implementation of those constraints. The SMEs also indicated that digital data communications would be very beneficial for TBO operations and would result in less workload due to reduced communications, would eliminate issues due to language barriers and frequency problems, and would make receiving, loading, accepting, and executing clearances easier, less ambiguous, and more expeditious. This paper describes an Advanced 4DT operational concept, the TBO Prototype, the demonstration scenarios and methods used, and the feedback obtained from the pilot and controller SMEs in this focus group evaluation

Higher carbohydrate intake is associated with increased risk of allâ cause and diseaseâ specific mortality in head and neck cancer patients: results from a prospective cohort study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145268/1/ijc31413.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145268/2/ijc31413-sup-0001-suppinfo01.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145268/3/ijc31413_am.pd

Tailoring gold nanoparticle characteristics and the impact on aqueous-phase oxidation of glycerol

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-stabilized Au nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by colloidal methods in which temperature variations (−75 to 75 °C) and mixed H2O/EtOH solvent ratios (0, 50, and 100 vol/vol) were used. The resulting Au NPs were immobilized on TiO2 (P25), and their catalytic performance was investigated for the liquid phase oxidation of glycerol. For each unique solvent system, there was a systematic increase in the average Au particle diameter as the temperature of the colloidal preparation increased. Generation of the Au NPs in H2O at 1 °C resulted in a high observed activity compared with current Au/TiO2 catalysts (turnover frequency = 915 h−1). Interestingly, Au catalysts with similar average particle sizes but prepared under different conditions had contrasting catalytic performance. For the most active catalyst, aberration-corrected high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis identified the presence of isolated Au clusters (from 1 to 5 atoms) for the first time using a modified colloidal method, which was supported by experimental and computational CO adsorption studies. It is proposed that the variations in the populations of these species, in combination with other solvent/PVA effects, is responsible for the contrasting catalytic properties

Family coordination in families who have a child with autism spectrum disorder

Little is known about the interactions of families where there is a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study applies the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) to explore both its applicability to this population as well as to assess resources and areas of deficit in these families. The sample consisted of 68 families with a child with ASD, and 43 families with a typically developing (TD) child. With respect to the global score for family coordination there were several negative correlations: the more severe the symptoms (based on the child’s ADOS score), the more family coordination was dysfunctional. This correlation was particularly high when parents had to play together with the child. In the parts in which only one of the parents played actively with the child, while the other was simply present, some families did achieve scores in the functional range, despite the child’s symptom severity. The outcomes are discussed in terms of their clinical implications both for assessment and for interventio