Environmentally acquired gut-associated bacteria are not critical for growth and survival in a solitary bee, .

Social bees have been extensively studied for their gut microbial functions, but the significance of the gut microbiota in solitary bees remains less explored. Solitary bee, females provision their offspring with pollen from various plant species, harboring a diverse microbial community that colonizes larvae guts. The is the most abundant microbe, but evidence concerning the effects of and other provision microbes on growth and survival are lacking.

Telomere length is longer following diapause in two solitary bee species.

The mechanisms that underlie senescence are not well understood in insects. Telomeres are conserved repetitive sequences at chromosome ends that protect DNA during replication. In many vertebrates, telomeres shorten during cell division and in response to stress and are often used as a cellular marker of senescence.

Effectiveness of the Spot Vision Screener With Variations in Ocular Pigments.

Purpose: To evaluate Spot in detecting American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) Amblyopia risk factors (ARF) and for ARF myopia and hyperopia with variations in ocular pigments.

Design: Diagnostic screening test evaluation.

Methods: Study population: Children presented for a complete eye examination in pediatric clinic.

Metabolic and transcriptomic characterization of summer and winter dormancy in the solitary bee, Osmia lignaria.

The solitary bee Osmia lignaria is a native pollinator in North America with growing economic importance. The life cycle of O. lignaria provides a unique opportunity to compare the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying two ecologically contrasting dormancies within the same species.

Molecular mechanisms and trade-offs underlying fluctuating thermal regimes during low-temperature storage.

Insects exposed to constant low temperatures (CLT) exhibit high rates of mortality as well as a variety of sublethal effects. In many species, interruptions of CLT with brief pulses of warm temperatures (fluctuating thermal regimes, FTR) lead to increases in survival and fewer sublethal effects. However, we still lack a complete understanding of the physiological mechanisms activated during FTR.

Nesting cavity diameter has implications for management of the alfalfa leafcutting bee (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae).

Body size influences performance in many bee species and may be influenced by nesting cavity diameter in cavity-nesting bees. Megachile rotundata (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a commercially-managed, solitary cavity-nesting bee. In M.

The blinq™ Vision Screener in Detection of Amblyopia and Strabismus.

Purpose: The blinq (Rebion Inc) is a new screening device designed to directly detect amblyopia and strabismus rather than amblyopia risk factors. We performed an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the blinq in detecting amblyopia and strabismus.

Design: Prospective clinical validity analysis of a screening device based on sensitivity and specificity.

Effectiveness of the Spot Vision Screener using updated 2021 AAPOS guidelines.

Purpose: To evaluate the Spot Vision Screener according to updated 2021 AAPOS Vision Screening Committee guidelines for instrument-based pediatric vision screen validation.

Methods: As part of an IRB-approved ongoing prospective study, children were screened with the Spot prior to a complete examination.

Results: Spot screening was successful in 1,036 of 1,090 children (95%).

Effects of Temperature and Wildflower Strips on Survival and Macronutrient Stores of the Alfalfa Leafcutting Bee (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) Under Extended Cold Storage.

Megachile rotundata (F.) is an important pollinator of alfalfa in the United States. Enhancing landscapes with wildflowers is a primary strategy for conserving pollinators and may improve the sustainability of M.

Quantification of lung function on CT images based on pulmonary radiomic filtering.

Purpose: To develop a radiomics filtering technique for characterizing spatial-encoded regional pulmonary ventilation information on lung computed tomography (CT).

Methods: The lung volume was segmented on 46 CT images, and a 3D sliding window kernel was implemented across the lung volume to capture the spatial-encoded image information. Fifty-three radiomic features were extracted within the kernel, resulting in a fourth-order tensor object.

Life stage and the environment as effectors of transposable element activity in two bee species.

Diapause is a complex physiological phenomenon that allows insects to weather stressful environmental conditions. The regulation of diapause is accordingly complex, including signaling pathways that involve both small RNA and mRNA and affect the cell cycle, stress resistance, and developmental timing. Transposable elements, mobile genetic elements that replicate within the genome, are also thought to be stress responsive and regulated by the small RNA pathway.

Fluctuating temperatures extend longevity in pupae and adult stages of the sepsid Themira biloba.

Fluctuating Thermal Regimes (FTR), where organisms are held at low temperatures with a brief, daily warm pulse, have been shown to increase longevity in adult insects and improve pupa survival while reducing sublethal effects. We used FTR to extend the longevity and thus generation time of the fly species Themira biloba (Diptera: Sepsidae). T.

Environmental impacts on diapause and survival of the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata.

Megachile rotundata exhibits a facultative prepupal diapause but the cues regulating diapause initiation are not well understood. Possible cues include daylength and temperature. Megachile rotundata females experience changing daylengths over the nesting season that may influence diapause incidence in their offspring through a maternal effect.

Body size allometry impacts flight-related morphology and metabolic rates in the solitary bee Megachile rotundata.

Body size is related to many aspects of life history, including foraging distance and pollination efficiency. In solitary bees, manipulating the amount of larval diet produces intraspecific differences in adult body size. The goal of this study was to determine how body size impacts metabolic rates, allometry, and flight-related morphometrics in the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata.

Body and Wing Allometries Reveal Flight-Fecundity Tradeoff in Response to Larval Provisioning in Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae).

Variation in body size has important implications for physical performance and fitness. For insects, adult size and morphology are determined by larval growth and metamorphosis. Female blue orchard bees, Osmia lignaria, (Say) provision a finite quantity of food to their offspring.

Microclimate Temperatures Impact Nesting Preference in Megachile rotundata (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae).

The temperature of the nest influences fitness in cavity-nesting bees. Females may choose nest cavities that mitigate their offspring's exposure to stressful temperatures. This study aims to understand how cavity temperature impacts the nesting preference of the solitary bee Megachile rotundata (Fabricius) under field conditions.

Fluctuating thermal regimes prevent chill injury but do not change patterns of oxidative stress in the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata.

In insects, prolonged exposure to unseasonably low temperatures can lead to detrimental physiological effects known as chill injury. Changes to active and passive transport across epithelia during chilling likely drive the collapse of ion gradients, metabolic imbalance and potentially oxidative stress. In the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata transcriptomic evidence provides support for these responses at the level of gene expression, but variable expression profiles between life stages in M.

Thermoprofile Parameters Affect Survival of Megachile rotundata During Exposure to Low-Temperatures.

Insects exposed to low temperature stress can experience chill injury, but incorporating fluctuating thermoprofiles increases survival and blocks the development of sub-lethal effects. The specific parameters required for a protective thermoprofile are poorly understood, because most studies test a limited range of thermoprofiles. For example, thermoprofiles with a wave profile may perform better than a square profile, but these two profiles are rarely compared.

Task Group 174 Report: Utilization of [ F]Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography ([ F]FDG-PET) in Radiation Therapy.

The use of positron emission tomography (PET) in radiation therapy (RT) is rapidly increasing in the areas of staging, segmentation, treatment planning, and response assessment. The most common radiotracer is F-fluorodeoxyglucose ([ F]FDG), a glucose analog with demonstrated efficacy in cancer diagnosis and staging. However, diagnosis and RT planning are different endeavors with unique requirements, and very little literature is available for guiding physicists and clinicians in the utilization of [ F]FDG-PET in RT.

Immediate Transcriptional Response to a Temperature Pulse under a Fluctuating Thermal Regime.

The response of ectotherms to temperature stress is complex, non-linear, and is influenced by life stage and previous thermal exposure. Mortality is higher under constant low temperatures than under a fluctuating thermal regime (FTR) that maintains the same low temperature but adds a brief, daily pulse of increased temperature. Long term exposure to FTR has been shown to increase transcription of genes involved in oxidative stress, immune function, and metabolic pathways, which may aid in recovery from chill injury and oxidative damage.

Is the synovial fluid cobalt-to-chromium ratio related to the serum partitioning of metal debris following metal-on-metal hip arthroplasty?

Objectives: We investigated the reliability of the cobalt-chromium (CoCr) synovial joint fluid ratio (JFR) in identifying the presence of a severe aseptic lymphocyte-dominated vasculitis-associated lesion (ALVAL) response and/or suboptimal taper performance (SOTP) following metal-on-metal (MoM) hip arthroplasty. We then examined the possibility that the CoCr JFR may influence the serum partitioning of Co and Cr.

Methods: For part A, we included all revision surgeries carried out at our unit with the relevant data, including volumetric wear analysis, joint fluid (JF) Co and Cr concentrations, and ALVAL grade (n = 315).

Long-Distance Transportation Causes Temperature Stress in the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae).

Pollination services provided by the honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Linnaeus, 1758) have broad economic impacts and are necessary for production of a diversity of important crops. Hives may be transported multiple times per year to provide pollination. To test how temperature may contribute to transportation stress, temperature sensors were placed in hives in different locations and orientations on the trailer during shipping.

Comparative analysis reveals the complex role of histoblast nest size in the evolution of novel insect abdominal appendages in Sepsidae (Diptera).

Background: The males of some sepsid species (Sepsidae: Diptera) have abdominal appendages that are remarkable in several ways. They are sexually dimorphic, have a complex evolutionary history of gain and loss, and can be jointed and thus highly mobile. The sternite brushes are used extensively in complex courtship behaviors that differ considerably between species and during mating.