Volatile Organic Compounds as Insect Repellents and Plant Elicitors: an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Strategy for Glasshouse Whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum).

The glasshouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood) is a polyphagous arthropod pest that is of particular detriment to glasshouse grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) across temperate regions of the world. Control of whiteflies with synthetic pesticides has resulted in the evolution of resistant genotypes and a reduction in natural enemies, thus highlighting the need for environmentally sound control strategies. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) offer an environmentally benign alternative to synthetic chemical sprays and this study explored the use of VOCs as insect repellents and plant defence elicitors to control whiteflies on tomato in a commercial glasshouse setting.

Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene.

Horticulturalists and gardeners in temperate regions often claim that planting marigolds next to tomato plants protects the tomatoes from the glasshouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood). If shown to hold true, this technique could be used in larger-scale tomato production, protecting the crop and helping to introduce greater plant diversity into these agro-ecosystems. Here we present two large-scale glasshouse trials corresponding to the two main ways growers are likely to use marigolds to control whiteflies.

Publishing peer review materials.

Publishing peer review materials alongside research articles promises to make the peer review process more transparent as well as making it easier to recognise these contributions and give credit to peer reviewers. Traditionally, the peer review reports, editors letters and author responses are only shared between the small number of people in those roles prior to publication, but there is a growing interest in making some or all of these materials available. A small number of journals have been publishing peer review materials for some time, others have begun this practice more recently, and significantly more are now considering how they might begin.

Associations between Participation in a Ranger Program and Health and Wellbeing Outcomes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Central Australia: A Proof of Concept Study.

Culture can be viewed as an integral part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing. This study explores the association between caring for country, through participation in a Ranger program, and wellbeing. We analyzed cross-sectional data collected in Central Australia in 2017, comparing health and wellbeing (life satisfaction, general health, psychological wellbeing and family wellbeing) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples employed as Rangers (n = 43) versus not employed as Rangers (n = 160).

Neuroticism and negative affect influence the reluctance to engage in destructive obedience in the Milgram paradigm.

The present study employed a variation of Milgram's (1963, 1965, 1974) obedience paradigm that required undergraduate participants (N = 33) to administer noise blasts rather than electric shocks. We found that the individuals who were the most reluctant to obey the commands of the experimenter to continue with the procedure were those with low levels of neuroticism who reported the highest levels of negative affect during the session. This suggests that our procedure may offer a relatively benign means for examining the mechanisms underlying destructive obedience as well as individual differences in the willingness to obey authority.

Symptoms in the month before death for stage 5 chronic kidney disease patients managed without dialysis.

Context: There is little evidence on the symptoms experienced by those with advanced (Stage 5) chronic kidney disease (CKD), managed without dialysis, as they approach death. As palliative care extends to noncancer illnesses, understanding symptom prevalence and severity close to death will clarify which symptom interventions are most needed and which elements of (largely cancer-driven) models of palliative care best translate into end-of-life care for this population.

Objectives: To determine symptom prevalence and severity in the last month of life for patients with Stage 5 CKD, managed without dialysis.

Predictors of renal outcome in HIV-associated nephropathy.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated nephropathy (HIVAN) is an important cause of end-stage renal disease among African American patients. This study was performed to study the epidemiology of HIVAN in a predominantly black African population and the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy and other factors on the development of end-stage renal disease.

Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients with HIVAN, defined by biopsy or strict clinical criteria, in 8 clinics in the United Kingdom.

Symptoms in advanced renal disease: a cross-sectional survey of symptom prevalence in stage 5 chronic kidney disease managed without dialysis.

Background: Numbers of patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) managed conservatively (without dialysis) are increasing steadily but prevalence and severity of symptoms in this population are not yet known.

Aim: To describe symptom prevalence, symptom severity, and total symptom burden in patients with stage 5 CKD managed conservatively.

Method: A cross-sectional survey of patients with stage 5 CKD managed conservatively, in three U.

The use of opioid analgesia in end-stage renal disease patients managed without dialysis: recommendations for practice.

The numbers of patients dying with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), particularly those managed conservatively (without dialysis) or withdrawing from dialysis is increasing rapidly in developed countries. There is growing awareness of the extensive symptom control needs of these patients. Pain is a common problem, and has been both under-recognized and under-treated.

Dialysis or not? A comparative survival study of patients over 75 years with chronic kidney disease stage 5.

Background: The number of elderly patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 is steadily increasing. Evidence is needed to inform decision-making for or against dialysis, especially in those patients with multiple comorbid conditions for whom dialysis may not increase survival. We therefore compared survival of elderly patients with CKD stage 5, managed either with dialysis or conservatively (without dialysis), after the management decision had been made, and explored which of several key variables were independently associated with survival.

Symptom management in patients with established renal failure managed without dialysis.

Increasing numbers of patients with chronic kidney disease Stage 5 (GFR <15ml/minute) are being managed without dialysis, either through their own preference or because dialysis is unlikely to benefit them. This growing group of patients has extensive health care needs. Their overall symptom burden is high, and symptom prevalence matches or exceeds that in other end of life populations, both with cancer and other non-cancer diagnoses.

Tribute to R. G. Boutilier: the role for skeletal muscle in the hypoxia-induced hypometabolic responses of submerged frogs.

Much of Bob Boutilier's research characterised the subcellular, organ-level and in vivo behavioural responses of frogs to environmental hypoxia. His entirely integrative approach helped to reveal the diversity of tissue-level responses to O(2) lack and to advance our understanding of the ecological relevance of hypoxia tolerance in frogs. Work from Bob's lab mainly focused on the role for skeletal muscle in the hypoxic energetics of overwintering frogs.

End-of-life care in end-stage renal disease: renal and palliative care.

The numbers of patients with end-stage renal disease are growing, with a disproportionate increase among those who are elderly, dependent and with multiple co-morbidities. More of these patients are choosing to be managed conservatively, without dialysis. Palliative provision for these patients within UK renal services is limited, but the recent National Service Framework for Renal Services (Department of Health, 2005) has promoted service development.

Mild hypothermia, but not propofol, is neuroprotective in organotypic hippocampal cultures.

The neuroprotective potency of anesthetics such as propofol compared to mild hypothermia remains undefined. Therefore, we determined whether propofol at two clinically relevant concentrations is as effective as mild hypothermia in preventing delayed neuron death in hippocampal slice cultures (HSC). Survival of neurons was assessed 2 and 3 days after 1 h oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) either at 37 degrees C (with or without 10 or 100 microM propofol) or at an average temperature of 35 degrees C during OGD (mild hypothermia).

Adaptive responses of vertebrate neurons to hypoxia.

The damage caused to mammalian neurons during ischaemic events in the brain (e.g. following a stroke), is an area of major interest to neuroscientists.

Molecular adaptations for survival during anoxia: lessons from lower vertebrates.

Anoxia-tolerant neurons from several species of animals may offer unparalleled opportunities to identify strategies that might be employed to enhance the hypoxia or ischemia tolerance of vulnerable neurons. In this review, the authors describe how the response of hypoxia-tolerant neurons to limited oxygen supply involves a suite of mechanisms that reduce energy expenditure in concert with decreased energy availability. This response avoids energy depletion, excitotoxic neuronal death, and apoptosis.

Comparison of the effects of cyclosporin a on the metabolism of perfused rat brain slices during normoxia and hypoxia.

The authors evaluated and compared the metabolic effects of cyclosporin A in the rat brain during normoxia and hypoxia/reperfusion. Ex vivo 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments based on perfused rat brain slices showed that under normoxic conditions, 500 microg/L cyclosporin A significantly reduced mitochondrial energy metabolism (nucleotide triphosphate, 83 +/- 9% of controls; phosphocreatine, 69 +/- 9%) by inhibition of the Krebs cycle (glutamate, 77 +/- 5%) and oxidative phosphorylation (NAD+, 65 +/- 14%) associated with an increased generation of reactive oxygen species (285 +/- 78% of control). However, the same cyclosporin A concentration (500 microg/L) was found to be the most efficient concentration to inhibit the hypoxia-induced mitochondrial release of Ca2+ in primary rat hippocampal cells with cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations not significantly different from normoxic controls.

Neuroprotection and intracellular Ca2+ modulation with fructose-1,6-bisphosphate during in vitro hypoxia-ischemia involves phospholipase C-dependent signaling.

The neuroprotectant fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) preserves cellular [ATP] and prevents catastrophic increases in [Ca2+]i during hypoxia. Because FBP does not enter neurons or glia, the mechanism of protection is not clear. In this study, we show that FBP's capacity to protect neurons and stabilize [Ca2+]i during hypoxia derives from signaling by a phospholipase-C-intracellular Ca2+-protein kinases pathway, rather than Ca2+ chelation or glutamate receptor inhibition.

A cluster of melioidosis cases from an endemic region is clonal and is linked to the water supply using molecular typing of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates.

Nine cases of melioidosis with four deaths occurred over a 28-month period in members of a small remote Aboriginal community in the top end of the Northern Territory of Australia. Typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei from six of the cases to be clonal and also identical to an isolate from the community water supply, but not to soil isolates. The clonality of the isolates found in this cluster contrasts with the marked genetic diversity of human and environmental isolates found in this region which is hyperendemic for B.

An altered repolarizing potassium current in rat cardiac myocytes after subtotal nephrectomy.

Renal failure in humans is associated with electrocardiographic changes including altered QT interval dispersion, which suggests that cardiac myocyte repolarization is abnormal and which appears to correlate with cardiac prognosis. In this study, cardiac myocyte repolarizing currents have been studied in isolated cells from rats 8 wk after subtotal nephrectomy (SNx), using sham-operated animals as controls. In addition, monophasic cardiac action potentials were recorded from the epicardial surface of the left ventricle (LV) apex, LV base, and the right ventricle of isolated perfused hearts paced at 320/min.