Sugar Maple Borer (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) Activity Associated With Periods of Severe Defoliation

A perusal of previous research on sugar maple borer, Glycobius speciosus, in northern New York State strongly associates severe early and late season defoliation with increased borer damage. This re-examination of earlier work suggests foliage protection may be necessary when forest management objectives are concerned with wood volume and quality

Macrophage-dependent nitric oxide expression regulates tumor cell detachment and metastasis after IL-2/anti-CD40 immunotherapy

Immunotherapy with IL-2 and anti-CD40 induces the expression of NOS2 in tumor-associated macrophages, and its expression is required for the inhibition of tumor metastasis

Genome wide SNP discovery, analysis and evaluation in mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Next generation sequencing technologies allow to obtain at low cost the genomic sequence information that currently lacks for most economically and ecologically important organisms. For the mallard duck genomic data is limited. The mallard is, besides a species of large agricultural and societal importance, also the focal species when it comes to long distance dispersal of Avian Influenza. For large scale identification of SNPs we performed Illumina sequencing of wild mallard DNA and compared our data with ongoing genome and EST sequencing of domesticated conspecifics. This is the first study of its kind for waterfowl.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>More than one billion base pairs of sequence information were generated resulting in a 16× coverage of a reduced representation library of the mallard genome. Sequence reads were aligned to a draft domesticated duck reference genome and allowed for the detection of over 122,000 SNPs within our mallard sequence dataset. In addition, almost 62,000 nucleotide positions on the domesticated duck reference showed a different nucleotide compared to wild mallard. Approximately 20,000 SNPs identified within our data were shared with SNPs identified in the sequenced domestic duck or in EST sequencing projects. The shared SNPs were considered to be highly reliable and were used to benchmark non-shared SNPs for quality. Genotyping of a representative sample of 364 SNPs resulted in a SNP conversion rate of 99.7%. The correlation of the minor allele count and observed minor allele frequency in the SNP discovery pool was 0.72.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We identified almost 150,000 SNPs in wild mallards that will likely yield good results in genotyping. Of these, ~101,000 SNPs were detected within our wild mallard sequences and ~49,000 were detected between wild and domesticated duck data. In the ~101,000 SNPs we found a subset of ~20,000 SNPs shared between wild mallards and the sequenced domesticated duck suggesting a low genetic divergence. Comparison of quality metrics between the total SNP set (122,000 + 62,000 = 184,000 SNPs) and the validated subset shows similar characteristics for both sets. This indicates that we have detected a large amount (~150,000) of accurately inferred mallard SNPs, which will benefit bird evolutionary studies, ecological studies (e.g. disentangling migratory connectivity) and industrial breeding programs.</p

An overview of NMR-based metabolomics to identify secondary plant compounds involved in host plant resistance

Secondary metabolites provide a potential source for the generation of host plant resistance and development of biopesticides. This is especially important in view of the rapid and vast spread of agricultural and horticultural pests worldwide. Multiple pests control tactics in the framework of an integrated pest management (IPM) programme are necessary. One important strategy of IPM is the use of chemical host plant resistance. Up to now the study of chemical host plant resistance has, for technical reasons, been restricted to the identification of single compounds applying specific chemical analyses adapted to the compound in question. In biological processes however, usually more than one compound is involved. Metabolomics allows the simultaneous detection of a wide range of compounds, providing an immediate image of the metabolome of a plant. One of the most universally used metabolomic approaches comprises nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). It has been NMR which has been applied as a proof of principle to show that metabolomics can constitute a major advancement in the study of host plant resistance. Here we give an overview on the application of NMR to identify candidate compounds for host plant resistance. We focus on host plant resistance to western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) which has been used as a model for different plant species

Non-Standard Errors

In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: Non-standard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for better reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer-review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants

On the Role of Faith in Sustainability Management: A Conceptual Model and Research Agenda

International audienceThe objective of this article is to develop a faith development perspective on corporate sustainability. A firm’s management of sustainability is arguably determined by the way decision-makers relate to the other and the natural environment, and this relationship is fundamentally shaped by faith. This study advances theoretical understanding of the approach managers take on sustainability issues by explaining how four distinct phases of faith development—improvidence, obedience, irreverence and providence—determine a manager’s disposition towards sustainability. Combining insights from intentional and relational faith development theories, the analysis reveals that a manager’s faith disposition can be measured according to four interrelated process criteria: (1) connectivity as a measure of a manager’s actual engagement and activities aimed at relating to sustainability; (2) inclusivity as a measure of who and what is included or excluded in a manager’s moral consideration; (3) emotional affinity as a measure of a manager’s sensitivity and affection towards the well-being of others and ecological welfare; and (4) reciprocity as a measure of the degree to which a manager is rewarded for responding to the needs and concerns of ‘Others’, mainly in the form of a positive emotional (and relational) stimulus. The conceptual model consolidates earlier scholarly works on the psychological drivers of sustainability management by illuminating our search for a process of faith development that connects with an increasingly complex understanding of the role of business in society

Facial emotion recognition from moving and static point-light images in schizophrenia

It is well established that schizophrenia is associated with difficulties recognising facial expressions of emotion. It has been suggested that this impairment could be specific to moving faces [Archer, J., Hay, D., Young, A., 1994. Movement, face processing and schizophrenia: evidence of a differential deficit in expression analysis. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 33, 517-528]. The current study used point-light images to assess whether people with schizophrenia can interpret emotions from isolated patterns of facial movement in the absence of featural cues. Emotion recognition from moving and static images was assessed using a forced choice design with two sets of three emotions (anger, sadness and surprise; disgust, fear and happiness). The schizophrenia group was significantly better at recognising the emotions from moving images than static images. Although the control group was more accurate overall than the schizophrenia group, both groups presented the same characteristic patterns of performance across tasks. For example, in terms of which emotions were better recognised than others and the types of misidentifications that were made. Hence, it is concluded that people with schizophrenia are sensitive to the motion patterns which underlie individual expressions of emotion and can use this information to accurately recognise emotions

The Oncogenic Properties Of The Redox Inflammatory Protein Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase In ER(-) Breast Cancer

Inflammation generates reactive chemical species that induce conditions of oxidative nitrosative stress as emerged as factor in poor outcome of many cancers. Our recent findings show that in the inflammatory protein inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is a strong predictor of poor outcome in ER(-) patients (Glynn et al. JCI 2010). Furthermore 46 genes, of which 23 were associated with basal like breast cancer, were elevated when iNOS high. In vitro studies using ER(-) cell lines showed that fluxes of nitric oxide (NO) delivered by NO donors surprising mimic this relationship in the patient cohort. Using this model, we show that NO at different specific concentrations stimulate pro-oncogenic mechanisms such as AKT, ERK, NFkB, AP-1, and HIF-1α that lead to increase of metastatic and cancer stem cells proteins. In addition, we show that tumor suppressor gene BRCA1 and PP2A are inhibited by these NO levels. Similarly other studies show that these concentrations of NO increase immunosuppressive proteins TGF-β and IL-10 in leukocytes to decrease efficacy of some anticancer therapies further contributing to pro-tumorigenic environment. Using this model we have identified several new compounds that have efficacy in xenographic models. These finding have provided a model that shows how NO can affect numerous mechanism that leads to a more aggressive phenotype