Identification of Host Fruit Volatiles from Domestic Apple ( Malus domestica ), Native Black Hawthorn ( Crataegus douglasii ) and Introduced Ornamental Hawthorn ( C. monogyna ) Attractive to Rhagoletis pomonella Flies from the Western United States

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests apple (Malus domestica) and hawthorn species (most notably the downy hawthorn, Crataegus mollis) in the eastern USA. Evidence suggests that the fly was introduced into the western USA sometime in the last 60years. In addition to apple, R. pomonella also infests two species of hawthorns in the western USA as major hosts: the native black hawthorn (C. douglasii) and the introduced ornamental English hawthorn, C. monogyna. Apple and downy hawthorn-origin flies in the eastern USA use volatile blends emitted from the surface of their respective ripening fruit to find and discriminate among host trees. To test whether the same is true for western flies, we used coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and developed a 7-component apple fruit blend for western apple-origin flies, an 8-component black hawthorn fruit blend for flies infesting C. douglasii, and a 9-component ornamental hawthorn blend for flies from C. monogyna. Crataegus douglasii and C. monogyna-origin flies showed similar levels of upwind directed flight to their respective natal synthetic fruit blends in flight tunnel assays compared to whole fruit adsorbent extracts, indicating that the blends contain all the behaviorally relevant fruit volatiles to induce maximal response levels. The black and ornamental hawthorn blends shared four compounds in common including 3-methylbutan-1-ol, which appears to be a key volatile for R. pomonella populations in the eastern, southern, and western USA that show a preference for fruit from different Crataegus species. However, the blends also differed from one another and from domesticated apple in several respects that make it possible that western R. pomonella flies behaviorally discriminate among fruit volatiles and form ecologically differentiated host races, as is the case for eastern apple and hawthorn flie

Choosing Motherhood : The complexities of pregnancy decision-making among young black women 'looked after' by the State

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright 2013 the Authors, published by Elsevier Ltd.Objective: This paper addresses the experiences of a group of young black teenage mothers looked after by the State, most of whom were also either migrants or asylum seekers. The paper explores the experience of discovery of pregnancy, attempts to seek professional help and the eventual decision to continue with the pregnancy. Design: An interpretative study with in-depth interviews. Settings: Interviews were carried out in the participants’ homes and focussed on their experiences of pregnancy decision-making. Participants: 15 young women (aged 16-19), from black minority ethnic groups, with a history of care (past or present), currently pregnant or mothers of a child no older than two years of age. Findings: All the pregnancies were unexpected: eight of the informants conceived as a result of rape and seven while in a relationship. All the young women chose motherhood over abortion despite their complex social and pregnancy background. Conclusions: The importance of social positioning of migrants in terms of the cluster of negative aspects and environmental disadvantage generally experienced by most immigrants in the host country is raised in this paper. Care practices of pregnant women with complex social factors were little observant of woman-centred care approaches.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Agreement among optometrists and ophthalmologists in estimating limbal anterior chamber depth using the van Herick method

Purpose To evaluate the inter-observer agreement for measuring limbal anterior chamber depth (LACD) using the van Herick test in community optometrists, glaucoma specialist optometrists and ophthalmologists. Methods The study was divided into two phases. In the first phase, a random sample of 100 UK community optometrists were given an opportunity to select and grade eight digital slit-lamp images of anterior chamber angles using the original van Herick 4 point grading scale. The images were included in a clinical decision making study using computerised virtual case vignettes. In the second phase, hospital-based glaucoma specialist optometrists and glaucoma sub-specialist ophthalmologists graded the LACD of the right eye using a 7-point % grading scale in 57 consecutively presenting patients with suspect glaucoma. Inter-observer agreement was assessed using linearly weighted kappa (κw). Results Inter-observer agreement for community optometrists was moderate, with a mean κw for grading photographic images of 0.50 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43–0.57). Overall, ninety-two percent of observations were within one grade of the actual grade, although grading of narrow angles was associated with a 13% false negative error rate (based on a ≤ grade 2 threshold). For Phase 2 of the study, pairwise comparisons between optometrists and ophthalmologists showed that agreement was moderate to substantial (mean κw = 0.54–0.65) with a false negative rate of 1.9% (based on a ≤ 25% threshold). Grading accuracy of specialist optometrists and ophthalmologists were equivalent. Conclusions In summary, the present study found that community optometrists showed moderate inter-observer agreement for grading LACD. Glaucoma specialist optometrists showed moderate to substantial agreement with weighted kappa values that were equivalent to sub-specialist ophthalmologists. The augmented 7-point % grading scale is intuitive and potentially offers greater accuracy for grading narrow angles than the traditional 4-point scale for grading LACD

Adult vitamin D deficiency leads to behavioural and brain neurochemical alterations in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice

Epidemiological evidence suggests that low levels of vitamin D may predispose people to develop depression and cognitive impairment. While rodent studies have demonstrated that prenatal vitamin D deficiency is associated with altered brain development, there is a lack of research examining adult vitamin D (AVD) deficiency. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of AVD deficiency on behaviour and brain function in the mouse. Ten-week old male C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice were fed a control or vitamin D deficient diet for 10 weeks prior to, and during behavioural testing. We assessed a broad range of behavioural domains, excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in brain tissue, and, in separate groups of mice, locomotor response to d-amphetamine and MK-801. Overall, AVD deficiency resulted in hyperlocomotion in a novel open field and reduced GAD65/67 levels in brain tissue. AVD-deficient BALB/c mice had altered behaviour on the elevated plus maze, altered responses to heat, sound and shock, and decreased levels of glutamate and glutamine, and increased levels of GABA and glycine. By contrast C57BL/6J mice had a more subtle phenotype with no further behavioural changes but significant elevations in serine, homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. Although the behavioural phenotype of AVD did not seem to model a specific disorder, the overall reduction in GAD65/67 levels associated with AVD deficiency may be relevant to a number of neuropsychiatric conditions. This is the first study to show an association between AVD deficiency and prominent changes in behaviour and brain neurochemistry in the mouse

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Spatio-temporal variation in European starling reproductive success at multiple small spatial scales

Funding Information This work received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust and the Royal Society. Acknowledgments We thank Jessica Walkup, Jeroen Minderman, and many volunteers for help with data collection; Deryk and Hollie Shaw and Fair Isle Bird Observatory staff for help and support; Xavier Lambin and Justin Travis for comments on the manuscript and NERC (DB); and Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust (DB) and the Royal Society (JMR) for funding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Electron transport through a strongly correlated monoatomic chain

We study transport properties of a strongly correlated monoatomic chain coupled to metallic leads. Our system is described by tight binding Hubbard-like model in the limit of strong on-site electron-electron interactions in the wire. The equation of motion technique in the slave boson representation has been applied to obtain analytical and numerical results. Calculated linear conductance of the system shows oscillatory behavior as a function of the wire length. We have also found similar oscillations of the electron charge in the system. Moreover our results show spontaneous spin polarization in the wire. Finally, we compare our results with those for non-interacting chain and discuss their modifications due to the Coulomb interactions in the system.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Constraining Type Ia supernova models: SN 2011fe as a test case

The nearby supernova SN 2011fe can be observed in unprecedented detail. Therefore, it is an important test case for Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) models, which may bring us closer to understanding the physical nature of these objects. Here, we explore how available and expected future observations of SN 2011fe can be used to constrain SN Ia explosion scenarios. We base our discussion on three-dimensional simulations of a delayed detonation in a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf and of a violent merger of two white dwarfs-realizations of explosion models appropriate for two of the most widely-discussed progenitor channels that may give rise to SNe Ia. Although both models have their shortcomings in reproducing details of the early and near-maximum spectra of SN 2011fe obtained by the Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory), the overall match with the observations is reasonable. The level of agreement is slightly better for the merger, in particular around maximum, but a clear preference for one model over the other is still not justified. Observations at late epochs, however, hold promise for discriminating the explosion scenarios in a straightforward way, as a nucleosynthesis effect leads to differences in the 55Co production. SN 2011fe is close enough to be followed sufficiently long to study this effect.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

OpenFermion: The Electronic Structure Package for Quantum Computers

Quantum simulation of chemistry and materials is predicted to be an important application for both near-term and fault-tolerant quantum devices. However, at present, developing and studying algorithms for these problems can be difficult due to the prohibitive amount of domain knowledge required in both the area of chemistry and quantum algorithms. To help bridge this gap and open the field to more researchers, we have developed the OpenFermion software package (www.openfermion.org). OpenFermion is an open-source software library written largely in Python under an Apache 2.0 license, aimed at enabling the simulation of fermionic models and quantum chemistry problems on quantum hardware. Beginning with an interface to common electronic structure packages, it simplifies the translation between a molecular specification and a quantum circuit for solving or studying the electronic structure problem on a quantum computer, minimizing the amount of domain expertise required to enter the field. The package is designed to be extensible and robust, maintaining high software standards in documentation and testing. This release paper outlines the key motivations behind design choices in OpenFermion and discusses some basic OpenFermion functionality which we believe will aid the community in the development of better quantum algorithms and tools for this exciting area of research.Comment: 22 page

Multi-ancestry study of blood lipid levels identifies four loci interacting with physical activity.

Many genetic loci affect circulating lipid levels, but it remains unknown whether lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, modify these genetic effects. To identify lipid loci interacting with physical activity, we performed genome-wide analyses of circulating HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in up to 120,979 individuals of European, African, Asian, Hispanic, and Brazilian ancestry, with follow-up of suggestive associations in an additional 131,012 individuals. We find four loci, in/near CLASP1, LHX1, SNTA1, and CNTNAP2, that are associated with circulating lipid levels through interaction with physical activity; higher levels of physical activity enhance the HDL cholesterol-increasing effects of the CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 loci and attenuate the LDL cholesterol-increasing effect of the CNTNAP2 locus. The CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 regions harbor genes linked to muscle function and lipid metabolism. Our results elucidate the role of physical activity interactions in the genetic contribution to blood lipid levels