Monarchs in decline: a collateral landscape-level effect of modern agriculture.

We review the postulated threatening processes that may have affected the decline in the eastern population of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in North America. Although there are likely multiple contributing factors, such as climate and resource-related effects on breeding, migrating, and overwintering populations, the key landscape-level change appears to be associated with the widespread use of genetically modified herbicide resistant crops that have rapidly come to dominate the extensive core summer breeding range.

A preliminary study of locognosia in people affected by leprosy.

Locognosia is the ability to localize a sensory stimulus on the body's surface and can be tested by graded filaments (Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments). This point localization of sensation (locognosia) wastested by SW filaments over four quadrants of the pulp of the fingers in ulnar/median and ulnar paralysis in 38 new patients affected by leprosy. The results were compared with standard testing of sensation at selected sites by Semmes Weinstein monofilament.

Effect of influenza vaccination on oxidative stress products in breath.

Viral infections cause increased oxidative stress, so a breath test for oxidative stress biomarkers (alkanes and alkane derivatives) might provide a new tool for early diagnosis. We studied 33 normal healthy human subjects receiving scheduled treatment with live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV). Each subject was his or her own control, since they were studied on day 0 prior to vaccination, and then on days 2, 7 and 14 following vaccination.