Attraction and Electroantennogram Responses of Male Mediterranean Fruit Fly to Volatile Chemicals from Persea, Litchi and Ficus Wood

Trimedlure is the most effective male-targeted lure for the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). A similar response is elicited by plant substances that contain α-copaene, a naturally-occurring sesquiterpene. α-Copaene is a complex, highly-volatile, widely-distributed plant compound, and male C. capitata respond to material from both hosts (e.g., Litchi chinensis) and non-hosts (e.g., Ficus benjamina) that contain α-copaene. Avocado, Persea americana, recently was found to contain varying amounts of α-copaene in the bark and underlying cambial tissue. Short-range attraction bioassays and electroantennography (EAG) were used to quantify responses of sterile male C. capitata to samples of rasped wood from four avocado genotypes, L. chinensis, and F. benjamina. Gas chromatography-mass spectral (GC-MS) analysis was used to identify and quantify the major sesquiterpenes. Attraction and EAG amplitude were correlated, with L. chinensis eliciting the highest and F. benjamina the lowest responses. Responses to the avocado genotypes were intermediate, but varied among the four types. GC-MS identified 13 sesquiterpenes, including α-copaene, from all samples. Amounts of α-copaene in volatile collections from samples (3 g) ranged from 11.8 μg in L. chinensis to 0.09 μg in F. benjamina, which correlated with short-range attraction and EAG response. α-Copaene ranged from 8.0 to 0.8 μg in the avocado genotypes, but attraction and EAG responses were not correlated with the amount of α-copaene. Differences in enantiomeric structure of the α-copaene in the different genotypes and/or presence of additional sesquiterpenes may be responsible for the variation in male response. EAG responses were correlated with the amount of several other sesquiterpenes including α-humulene, and this compound elicited a strong antennal response when tested alone.     

Enhanced Differentiation of Three-Gene-Reprogrammed Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Adipocytes via Adenoviral-Mediated PGC-1α Overexpression

Induced pluripotent stem cells formed by the introduction of only three factors, Oct4/Sox2/Klf4 (3-gene iPSCs), may provide a safer option for stem cell-based therapy than iPSCs conventionally introduced with four-gene iPSCs. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) plays an important role during brown fat development. However, the potential roles of PGC-1α in regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and the differentiation of iPSCs are still unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of adenovirus-mediated PGC-1α overexpression in 3-gene iPSCs. PGC-1α overexpression resulted in increased mitochondrial mass, reactive oxygen species production, and oxygen consumption. Microarray-based bioinformatics showed that the gene expression pattern of PGC-1α-overexpressing 3-gene iPSCs resembled the expression pattern observed in adipocytes. Furthermore, PGC-1α overexpression enhanced adipogenic differentiation and the expression of several brown fat markers, including uncoupling protein-1, cytochrome C, and nuclear respiratory factor-1, whereas it inhibited the expression of the white fat marker uncoupling protein-2. Furthermore, PGC-1α overexpression significantly suppressed osteogenic differentiation. These data demonstrate that PGC-1α directs the differentiation of 3-gene iPSCs into adipocyte-like cells with features of brown fat cells. This may provide a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of mitochondrial disorders and obesity.     

Genetic Programming Neural Networks: A Powerful Bioinformatics Tool for Human Genetics

The identification of genes that influence the risk of common, complex disease primarily through interactions with other genes and environmental factors remains a statistical and computational challenge in genetic epidemiology. This challenge is partly due to the limitations of parametric statistical methods for detecting genetic effects that are dependent solely or partially on interactions. We have previously introduced a genetic programming neural network (GPNN) as a method for optimizing the architecture of a neural network to improve the identification of genetic and gene-environment combinations associated with disease risk. Previous empirical studies suggest GPNN has excellent power for identifying gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. The goal of this study was to compare the power of GPNN to stepwise logistic regression (SLR) and classification and regression trees (CART) for identifying gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. SLR and CART are standard methods of analysis for genetic association studies. Using simulated data, we show that GPNN has higher power to identify gene-gene and gene-environment interactions than SLR and CART. These results indicate that GPNN may be a useful pattern recognition approach for detecting gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in studies of human disease.     

Image-based collision detection for deformable cloth models

Modeling the natural interaction of cloth and garments with objects in a 3D environment is currently one of the most computationally demanding tasks. These highly deformable materials are subject to a very large number of contact points in the proximity of other moving objects. Furthermore, cloth objects often fold, roll, and drape within themselves, generating a large number of self-collision areas. The interactive requirements of 3D games and physically driven virtual environments make the cloth collisions and self-collision computations more challenging. By exploiting mathematically well-defined smoothness conditions over smaller patches of deformable surfaces and resorting to image-based collision detection tests, we developed an efficient collision detection method that achieves interactive rates while tracking self-interactions in highly deformable surfaces consisting of a large number of elements. The method makes use of a novel technique for dynamically generating a hierarchy of cloth bounding boxes in order to perform object-level culling and image-based intersection tests using conventional graphics hardware support. An efficient backward voxel-based AABB hierarchy method is proposed to handle deformable surfaces which are highly compressed.     

籽棉含水率控制

正籽棉水分含量对于棉花加工是非常重要的。籽棉水分含量过高,不适宜籽棉清理和轧花,并且籽棉将会难以开松而形成团状,进而可能导致堵塞、轧花设备的损坏或完全停止工作;籽棉水分过低,棉纤维由于其表面产生的静电而易于粘附在金属的表面,进而导致设备堵塞和停止工作。棉纤维干燥到非常低的含水率时将会变得脆弱,被清理和轧花所需的机械力而损伤。当含水率较低的棉纤维压缩和成包时,如果不增加棉纤维含水率,获得期望的棉包重量     

Mercury emissions from cement-stabilized dredged material

Upland placement of dredged materials from navigation channels in the New York/New Jersey Harbor is currently being used to manage sediments deemed inappropriate for open water disposal. Although upland placement sites are equipped with engineering controls (leachate collection and/or barrier walls), little is known of the potential impacts of this approach to air quality. The aim of this study was to estimate the flux of mercury to the atmosphere from New York/New Jersey Harbor stabilized dredged material (SDM) that was used for land reclamation at a site in northeastern New Jersey. Total gaseous mercury (TGM) was measured at a site receiving SDM in August and October 2001 and May and November 2002. TGM was also monitored at an urban reference site 3.5 km west of the SDM site in September 2001 and from February 2002 to July 2002 and from October 2002 to February 2003. The concentration of TGM at the urban reference site averaged 2.2 +/- 1.1 ng m(-3), indicating some local contribution to the Northern Hemisphere background. TGM concentrations exhibited seasonality with the highest values in summer (3.3 +/- 2.1 ng m(-3) in June 2002) and the lowest in winter (1.7 +/- 0.6 ng m(-3) in January 2003). TGM concentrations at the SDM placement site ranged from 2 to 7 ng m(-3) and were significantly higher (p < 0.001) than those at the urban reference site. Sediment-air fluxes of Hg at the SDM placement site estimated by the micrometeorological technique ranged from -13 to 1040 ng m(-2) h(-1) (sediment to air fluxes being positive) and were significantly correlated to solar radiation (r2 = 0.81). The estimated contribution of Hg emissions from land-applied SDM to local TGM concentrations was found to be negligible (<4%). However, the estimated annual volatilization rate of TGM atthe SDM site (130 kg y(-1))was comparable to those of other industrial sources in New Jersey (140-450 kg y(-1)).     

The antiallergic effect of kefir Lactobacilli

This study demonstrated that oral feeding of heat-inactivated Lactobacillus (L b.) kefiranofaciens M1 from kefir grains effectively inhibited immunoglobulin (Ig) E production in response to ovalbumin (OVA) in vivo. The pattern of cytokine production by splenocyte cells revealed that the levels of cytokines produced by T helper (Th) 1 cells increased, and those of cytokines produced by Th2 cells decreased in the heat-inactivated M1 feeding group. These findings indicated that Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens M1 in the kefir played an important role in antiallergic activities. By additional analysis using flow cytometry and microarray, the mechanism of suppression of IgE production by oral feeding of the heat-inactivated M1 probably occurs because of upregulation of the expression of Cd2, Stat4, and Ifnr leading to skewing the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1 dominance, elevation of the CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T (Treg) percentage, and reduction of activated CD19(+) B cells. Downregulation of complement system and components was also involved in suppression of IgE production. Practical Application: Kefir has long been considered good for health. Its health benefits include immunoregulatory effects. However, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the immunoregulatory effects induced by kefir lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Our data clearly demonstrated the antiallergic activity of kefir LAB, Lactobacillus (L b.) kefiranofaciens M1. By additional analysis using flow cytometry and microarray, the possible mechanism of suppression of IgE production by oral feeding of the heat-inactivated M1 was also elucidated. Our findings indicated that Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens M1 may have a great potential for utilization in functional food products.     

Identification and safety evaluation of Bacillus species occurring in high numbers during spontaneous fermentations to produce Gergoush, a traditional Sudanese bread snack

Gergoush is a naturally fermented Sudanese Bread snack produced in three fermentation steps (primary starter, adapted starter and final dough), followed by three baking steps for a half to one hour at above 200 °C. This study examines the microbiota of two sets of fermentations performed at a traditional production site in Khartoum, Sudan in 2006 and 2009, respectively. In 2006 four different milk/legume based primary starters (faba bean, chick pea, lentil and white bean) were sampled in order to enumerate and identify the Bacillus at species or group level. In 2009 specific focus was on the enumeration and safety evaluation of the dominant Bacillus cereus group species occurring during various Gergoush productions (including the three fermentations steps and after baking). In 2006, the primary starters contained Bacillus spp. in the order of between 7.7 and 8.1 log₁₀ CFU/g. Species identifications were performed by M13-PCR typing using the Escherichia coli phage M13 derived primer PM13 combined with internally transcribed 16-23S rRNA PCR, 16S rRNA gene and gyrA or gyrB gene sequencing, and selected phenotypic tests. Depending on the legume used, 40-68% of the isolates were identified as B. cereus sensu lato, 16-27% as Bacillus licheniformis, 8-32% as Bacillus subtilis and 4-20% as Bacillus sonorensis. During the second set of fermentation trials performed in 2009, the Bacillus spp. and B. cereus occurred in numbers of between 7.7-9.9 and 6.1-7.8 log₁₀ CFU/g, respectively, while no bacteria were detected after baking. A total of 180 B. cereus sensu lato isolates from four different primary starters, adapted starters and final doughs were further identified as B. cereus sensu stricto (118 isolates) and Bacillus thuringiensis (62 isolates). The safety of Gergoush was evaluated based on the counts and toxin gene profiles of the dominant B. cereus species. Considering that no bacteria survived the baking process, and that the cereulide synthetase gene cesB involved in the production of the heat stable emetic toxin cereulide was not detected in any of the investigated B. cereus isolates, the results indicate, that Gergoush produced at the traditional production site is safe for human consumption. This study is the first to identify the Bacillus of Gergoush to species level, and it is the first to perform a safety evaluation of the product, based on the dominant B. cereus species.     

Structural growth, rumen development, and metabolic and immune responses of Holstein male calves fed milk through step-down and conventional methods

Structural growth, feed consumption, rumen development, metabolic response, and immune response were studied in Holstein calves fed milk through either a conventional method or a step-down (STEP) method. In the conventional method, calves (n = 20) were fed colostrum and then milk at a rate of 10% of their BW for the entire period of 44 d. In the STEP method, calves (n = 20) were given colostrum and then milk at a rate of 20% of their BW for 23 d, which was reduced (between d 24 to 28) to 10% of their BW for the remaining 16 d. The calves on both methods were weaned gradually by diluting milk with water between d 45 and 49. After weaning, feed consumption, structural growth, and body weight gain were monitored until calves were 63 d of age. At d 63, twelve calves (6/treatment) were euthanized and rumen papillae length, papillae width, rumen wall thickness, and emptied forestomach weight were recorded. At wk 4, 7, and 9, ruminal contents were collected to enumerate rumen metabolites. The STEP-fed calves consumed a greater amount of milk than conventionally fed calves during the pre-STEP (d 1 to 28), post-STEP (d 29 to 49), and preweaning (d 1 to 49) periods. Consumption of starter and hay was greater during the pre-STEP period and lesser during the post-STEP and postweaning (d 50 to 63) periods in calves on the conventional method than on the STEP method. Body weight gain and structural growth measurements of calves were greater on the STEP method than on the conventional method. A hypophagic condition caused by greater milk consumption depressed solid feed intake of STEP-fed calves during the pre-STEP period, and a hyperphagic response caused by a reduced nutrient supply from milk triggered their consumption of solid feed during the post-STEP and postweaning periods. Ruminal pH and concentrations of ammonia, total volatile fatty acids, acetate, propionate, butyrate, and plasma β-hydroxybutyrate were higher in calves on the STEP method and at weaning and postweaning (d 63) were lower in calves on the conventional method. Emptied weight of the forestomach, rumen wall thickness, papillae length, papillae width, and papillae concentration were higher in calves on the STEP method than in those on the conventional method. Blood glucose was lower, and blood urea nitrogen and β-hydroxybutyrate at weaning and postweaning were higher in STEP-fed calves. Serum IgG, IgA, and triglycerides for 1, 2, and 3 wk of age were higher in calves on the STEP method than in those on the conventional method. In conclusion, greater feed consumption, BW gain, and structural growth, and a more metabolically and physically developed rumen were observed in calves on the STEP method than in those on the conventional method.