Assessing Fitness of Culex pipiens Mosquitoes Selected for Enhanced Survival to Methoprene

West Nile virus (WNV) is the most widespread arthropod-borne viral disease in the United States and is transmitted primarily by Culex pipiens. Methoprene is a pesticide used to control mosquito populations. Evolution of resistance threatens the longevity of any given insecticide with continued use. The objective of this research is to examine any fitness costs associated with resistance to methoprene in Cx. pipiens. Fitness will be examined by measuring wing length in laboratory-reared methoprene resistant and susceptible colonies of Cx. pipiens. Wing length serves as a proxy for body size. It is hypothesized that methoprene resistance in Cx. pipiens mosquito populations will result in fitness costs, such as reduced wing size

Tolerance of septoria leaf blotch in winter wheat

For individual varieties, tolerance of septoria leaf blotch was quantified by the slope of the relationship between disease and yield. Variation in disease severity and the associated yield responses were provided across two sites and three seasons of field experiments. Slopes were fitted by residual maximum likelihood for two contrasting models: (i) a fixed-effects model, where no prior assumptions were made about the form of the variety slopes; and (ii) a random-effects model, where deviations in individual variety slopes away from the mean variety slope formed a normal random population with unknown variance. The analyses gave broadly similar results, but with some significant differences. The random model was considered more reliable for predicting variety performance. The effects of disease were quantified as symptom area and green canopy duration. Models of the relationship between symptom area and yield were site-specific. When site effects were not taken into account, these models had poor predictive precision. Models based on the canopy green area gave robust predictions of yield and were not site-specific. Differences in disease tolerance were detected in a comparison of 25 commercial winter wheat varieties. Tolerance was not detected directly through symptom measurements, but instead through measurements of canopy green area, which provides a measurement of the effects of disease that accounts for differences in canopy size across sites and seasons. The varieties showing greatest tolerance tended to have lower attainable yield than the intolerant varieties. Presence of the 1BL/1RS chromosome translocation, which has been reported to increase radiation use efficiency, appeared to be associated with intolerance

Outcomes following biosimilar TNF inhibitors use for inflammatory-mediated immune disorders in pregnancy

Background: Biosimilar tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) are increasingly used to treat inflammatory immune-mediated disorders as they cost less than the originator biologic drug. More women are therefore becoming pregnant on biosimilar TNFi. This is the first paper to explore the safety and efficacy of biosimilar therapies in pregnancy. Methods: A retrospective review of clinical data reviewed pregnancy outcomes and inflammatory disease activity in 18 pregnancies where the mother was using a biosimilar TNFi at conception. Results: Biosimilar therapy was not associated with congenital abnormalities, preterm birth or other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Stopping biosimilar TNFi in pregnancy was associated with childbirth at an earlier gestation, as well as a flare of inflammatory disease in pregnancy or post-partum. Conclusions: Women and clinicians should feel confident in using biosimilar TNFi in early pregnancy, and continuing them through pregnancy to prevent flares in late pregnancy or the early post-partum

Snowball Sampling

Snowball sampling is one of the most popular methods of sampling in qualitative research, central to which are the characteristics of networking and referral. The researchers usually start with a small number of initial contacts (seeds), who fit the research criteria and are invited to become participants within the research. The agreeable participants are then asked to recommend other contacts who fit the research criteria and who potentially might also be willing participants, who then in turn recommend other potential participants, and so on. Researchers, therefore, use their social networks to establish initial links, with sampling momentum developing from these, capturing an increasing chain of participants. Sampling usually finishes once either a target sample size or saturation point has been reached. This entry begins with a description of the conveniences of snowball sampling, followed by some criticisms and limitations of the technique. The next section provides examples of how snowball sampling is used in qualitative research projects. Subsequent sections examine instances in which snowball sampling stalls or fails to produce participants, and offers two examples of cases in which researchers successfully overcame those obstacles. The entry concludes with a look at some variants of snowball sampling that have emerged given technological advances

An ex vivo gene therapy approach to treat muscular dystrophy using inducible pluripotent stem cells.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive and incurable neuromuscular disease caused by genetic and biochemical defects of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex. Here we show the regenerative potential of myogenic progenitors derived from corrected dystrophic induced pluripotent stem cells generated from fibroblasts of mice lacking both dystrophin and utrophin. We correct the phenotype of dystrophic induced pluripotent stem cells using a Sleeping Beauty transposon system carrying the micro-utrophin gene, differentiate these cells into skeletal muscle progenitors and transplant them back into dystrophic mice. Engrafted muscles displayed large numbers of micro-utrophin-positive myofibers, with biochemically restored dystrophin-glycoprotein complex and improved contractile strength. The transplanted cells seed the satellite cell compartment, responded properly to injury and exhibit neuromuscular synapses. We also detect muscle engraftment after systemic delivery of these corrected progenitors. These results represent an important advance towards the future treatment of muscular dystrophies using genetically corrected autologous induced pluripotent stem cells

Snowball Sampling

Snowball sampling is one of the most popular methods of sampling in qualitative research, central to which are the characteristics of networking and referral. The researchers usually start with a small number of initial contacts (seeds), who fit the research criteria and are invited to become participants within the research. The agreeable participants are then asked to recommend other contacts who fit the research criteria and who potentially might also be willing participants, who then in turn recommend other potential participants, and so on. Researchers, therefore, use their social networks to establish initial links, with sampling momentum developing from these, capturing an increasing chain of participants. Sampling usually finishes once either a target sample size or saturation point has been reached. This entry begins with a description of the conveniences of snowball sampling, followed by some criticisms and limitations of the technique. The next section provides examples of how snowball sampling is used in qualitative research projects. Subsequent sections examine instances in which snowball sampling stalls or fails to produce participants, and offers two examples of cases in which researchers successfully overcame those obstacles. The entry concludes with a look at some variants of snowball sampling that have emerged given technological advances

The eventization of leisure and the strange death of alternative Leeds

The communicative potential of city spaces as leisure spaces is a central assumption of political activism and the creation of alternative, counter-cultural and subcultural scenes. However, such potential for city spaces is limited by the gentrification, privatization and eventization of city centres in the wake of wider societal and cultural struggles over leisure, work and identity formation. In this paper, we present research on alternative scenes in the city of Leeds to argue that the eventization of the city centre has led to a marginalization and of alternative scenes on the fringes of the city. Such marginalization has not caused the death of alternative Leeds or political activism associated with those scenes—but it has changed the leisure spaces (physical, political and social) in which alternative scenes contest the mainstream

A model of spatially restricted transcription in opposing gradients of activators and repressors

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102118/1/msb201248-sup-0001.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102118/2/msb201248.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102118/3/msb201248.reviewer_comments.pd