Development of Food-Luring Baited Traps for Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Monitoring in the Field in Southern China

Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a red imported fire ant that originated from South America, is a worldwide invasive pest. This study investigated the efficacy of the newly designed baited trap to detect red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta Buren, under field conditions in China. Among the five food lures tested for red imported fire ants, the ants preferred ham sausage and fish powder, followed by mixed powder (50% fish powder + 50% black soldier fly powder) and black soldier fly powder. These lures were compared to sugar water (control) to determine their efficacy in trapping red imported fire ants. Field data revealed that the ham sausage powder trap was more efficient than the fish powder trap based on its ability to trap more red imported fire ants under field conditions and ease of use. Thus, it was concluded that the baited traps are efficient for longterm red imported fire ants monitoring

Therapeutic Strategies Targeting Cancer Stem Cells and Their Microenvironment

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been demonstrated in a variety of tumors and are thought to act as a clonogenic core for the genesis of new tumor growth. This small subpopulation of cancer cells has been proposed to help drive tumorigenesis, metastasis, recurrence and conventional therapy resistance. CSCs show self-renewal and flexible clonogenic properties and help define specific tumor microenvironments (TME). The interaction between CSCs and TME is thought to function as a dynamic support system that fosters the generation and maintenance of CSCs. Investigation of the interaction between CSCs and the TME is shedding light on the biologic mechanisms underlying the process of tumor malignancy, metastasis, and therapy resistance. We summarize recent advances in CSC biology and their environment, and discuss the challenges and future strategies for targeting this biology as a new therapeutic approach

Enhanced Responsivity of Photodetectors Realized via Impact Ionization

To increase the responsivity is one of the vital issues for a photodetector. By employing ZnO as a representative material of ultraviolet photodetectors and Si as a representative material of visible photodetectors, an impact ionization process, in which additional carriers can be generated in an insulating layer at a relatively large electric field, has been employed to increase the responsivity of a semiconductor photodetector. It is found that the responsivity of the photodetectors can be enhanced by tens of times via this impact ionization process. The results reported in this paper provide a general route to enhance the responsivity of a photodetector, thus may represent a step towards high-performance photodetectors

RHΔgra17Δnpt1 strain of Toxoplasma gondii elicits protective immunity against acute, chronic and congenital toxoplasmosis in mice

In the present study, a dense granule protein 17 (gra17) and novel putative transporter (npt1) double deletion mutant of Toxoplasma gondii RH strain was engineered. The protective efficacy of vaccination using RHΔgra17Δnpt1 tachyzoites against acute, chronic, and congenital toxoplasmosis was studied in a mouse model. Immunization using RHΔgra17Δnpt1 induced a strong humoral and cellular response, as indicated by the increased levels of anti-T. gondii specific IgG, interleukin 2 (IL-2), IL-10, IL-12, and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Vaccinated mice were protected against a lethal challenge dose (103 tachyzoites) of wild-type homologous (RH) strain and heterologous (PYS and TgC7) strains, as well as against 100 tissue cysts or oocysts of Pru strain. Vaccination also conferred protection against chronic infection with 10 tissue cysts or oocysts of Pru strain, where the numbers of brain cysts in the vaccinated mice were significantly reduced compared to those detected in the control (unvaccinated + infected) mice. In addition, vaccination protected against congenital infection with 10 T. gondii Pru oocysts (administered orally on day 5 of gestation) as shown by the increased litter size, survival rate and the bodyweight of pups born to vaccinated dams compared to those born to unvaccinated + infected dams. The brain cyst burden of vaccinated dams was significantly lower than that of unvaccinated dams infected with oocysts. Our data show that T. gondii RHΔgra17Δnpt1 mutant strain can protect mice against acute, chronic, and congenital toxoplasmosis by balancing inflammatory response with immunogenicity

Tandem Michael addition/ylide epoxidation for the synthesis of highly functionalized cyclohexadiene epoxide derivatives

A highly efficient diastereoselective synthesis of cyclohexadiene epoxide derivatives with a multi-stereocenter has been developed via a tandem ylide Michael addition/epoxidation. By employing a chiral sulfonium ylide, up to 96% ee can be achieved in good yields

A simulation study on the measurement of D0-D0bar mixing parameter y at BES-III

We established a method on measuring the \dzdzb mixing parameter $y$ for BESIII experiment at the BEPCII $e^+e^-$ collider. In this method, the doubly tagged $\psi(3770) \to D^0 \overline{D^0}$ events, with one $D$ decays to CP-eigenstates and the other $D$ decays semileptonically, are used to reconstruct the signals. Since this analysis requires good $e/\pi$ separation, a likelihood approach, which combines the $dE/dx$, time of flight and the electromagnetic shower detectors information, is used for particle identification. We estimate the sensitivity of the measurement of $y$ to be 0.007 based on a $20fb^{-1}$ fully simulated MC sample.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure