Diapause survival requires a temperature-sensitive preparatory period.

Diapause is a form of internally-controlled dormancy that allows insects to avoid stressful conditions and periods of low food availability. Eastern spruce budworm ( Clemens), like many cold-adapted insects, enter diapause well in advance of winter conditions, thus exposing them to elevated temperatures during fall that can deplete energy stores and impact post-diapause survival. We explored the impact of fall conditions on by manipulating the length of the fall period and exposure temperatures during the diapause initiation phase of second instar larvae in a factorial design.

Identification of allergens from Aspergillus fumigatus-Potential association with lung damage in asthma.

Background: Component-resolved diagnosis allows detection of IgE sensitization having the advantage of reproducibility and standardization compared to crude extracts. The main disadvantage of the traditional allergen identification methods, 1- or 2-dimensional western blotting and screening of expression cDNA libraries with patients' IgEs, is that the native structure of the protein is not necessarily maintained.

Methods: We used a novel immunoprecipitation technique in combination with mass spectrometry to identify new allergens of Aspergillus fumigatus.