Publications by authors named "Wickham J"

The Asian longhorned beetle, (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), is a serious pest of over 43 species of hardwood trees in North America, China and Europe. The development of an effective lure and trap for monitoring has been hindered by the fact that mate finding involves a rather complex series of behaviors and responses to several chemical (and visual), cues. Adults (female-biased) locate a tree via host kairomones.

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Pattern-focused environmental equity research has been underpinned by high-resolution remotely sensed data to uncover spatial relationships between environmental amenities (e.g., urban tree cover) and socio-economic status (SES).

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Objectives: To assess the safety and efficacy of an allogeneic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell preparation (MAG200) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis over 12 months.

Design: A single-centre, double-blind, ascending dose, randomised controlled trial. 40 participants with moderate knee osteoarthritis were randomised to receive a single intra-articular injection of MAG200 (dose cohorts:10, 20, 50, 100 ​× ​10 ​cells) or placebo.

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Thiacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, has become one of the major control agents for the pine sawyer beetle, Monochamus alternatus Hope, however, the mechanism of detoxification is unknown. We demonstrate that glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are involved in the rapid detoxification of thiacloprid in M. alternatus larvae.

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Background: Sensing dietary components in the gut is important to ensure an appropriate hormonal response and metabolic regulation after food intake. The fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea, is a major invasive pest in China and has led to significant economic losses and ecosystem disruption. The larvae's broad host range and voracious appetite for leaves make H.

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The landscape mosaic model quantifies and maps the spatial juxtaposition of different land uses. It provides a landscape perspective of anthropic threats posed by agriculture and urban development, and the spatial-temporal shifting of the landscape mosaic indicates landscapes where anthropic intensity has changed. We use the U.

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Background: Insects rely on sophisticated sensitive chemosensory systems to sense their complex chemical environment. This sensory process involves a combination of odorant receptors (ORs), gustatory receptors (GRs) and ionotropic receptors (IRs) in the chemosensory system. This study focused on the identification and characterization of these three types of chemosensory receptor genes in two closely related Phthorimaea pest species, Phthorimaea operculella (potato tuber moth) and Phthorimaea absoluta (tomato leaf miner).

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(1) Background: Understanding the relationship between community assembly and species coexistence is key to understanding ecosystem diversity. Despite the importance of wood-boring longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) in forests, factors affecting their population dynamics, species richness, and ecological interactions remain underexplored. (2) Methods: We surveyed cerambycid beetles and plants within five plots each across three transects in tropical rainforests and temperate forests of Yunnan, China, known for its rich biodiversity and varied elevation gradients.

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Objectives: To evaluate the effect of a coaching intervention compared with control on physical activity and falls rate at 12 months in community-dwelling people aged 60+ years.

Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Community-dwelling older people.

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Following infestation by phytophagous insects, changes in the composition and relative proportion of volatile components emitted by plants may be observed. Some phytophagous insects can accurately identify these compounds to locate suitable host plants. We investigated whether herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) generated by herbivory on Bunge (Sapindales: Aceraceae) might be semiochemicals for the host location of Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).

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Objectives: Structural or mucus hypersecretory pulmonary diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF), wherein viscous mucus accumulates and clearance functions are impaired, predispose people to lung infection by inhaled bacteria that form biofilm aggregates. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), primarily and are the growing cause of these lung infections and are extremely challenging to treat due to antibiotic recalcitrance. Better therapeutic approaches are urgently needed.

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Article Synopsis
  • Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious gastrointestinal condition in premature infants, often linked to imbalances in gut bacteria.
  • A novel delivery system for probiotics, specifically Limosilactobacillus reuteri mixed with dextranomer microspheres (Lr-DM-maltose), shows promise in reducing the incidence of NEC in a piglet model.
  • Treatment with Lr-DM-maltose significantly improved outcomes by decreasing both the occurrence of definite NEC and related deaths, while altering the gut microbiome favorably compared to untreated piglets.
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Since the discovery of the ash tree ( spp.) killer emerald ash borer (EAB; ) in the United States in 2002 and Moscow, Russia in 2003, substantial detection and management efforts have been applied to contain and monitor its spread and mitigate impacts. Despite these efforts, the pest continues to spread within North America.

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The advent of optogenetic tools has had a profound impact on modern neuroscience research, revolutionizing our understanding of the brain. These tools offer a remarkable ability to precisely manipulate specific groups of neurons with an unprecedented level of temporal precision, on the order of milliseconds. This breakthrough has significantly advanced our knowledge of various physiological and pathophysiological processes in the brain.

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Introduction: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a complex inflammatory disorder of the human intestine that most often occurs in premature newborns. Animal models of NEC typically use mice or rats; however, pigs have emerged as a viable alternative given their similar size, intestinal development, and physiology compared to humans. While most piglet NEC models initially administer total parenteral nutrition prior to enteral feeds, here we describe an enteral-feed only piglet model of NEC that recapitulates the microbiome abnormalities present in neonates that develop NEC and introduce a novel multifactorial definitive NEC (D-NEC) scoring system to assess disease severity.

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Gene therapy with AAV vectors carrying genes for neuropeptide Y and its receptor Y2 has been shown to inhibit seizures in multiple animal models of epilepsy. It is however unknown how the AAV serotype or the sequence order of these two transgenes in the expression cassette affects the actual parenchymal gene expression levels and the seizure-suppressant efficacy. To address these questions, we compared three viral vector serotypes (AAV1, AAV2 and AAV8) and two transgene sequence orders (NPY-IRES-Y2 and Y2-IRES-NPY) in a rat model of acutely induced seizures.

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A mark-release-recapture experiment was conducted to evaluate the orientation of spotted lanternfly (SLF) White (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) nymphs when released equidistant between two trees. The experiment was repeated weekly for eight weeks in a heavily infested area with mature tree-of-heaven (Mill.) Swingle (Sapindales: Simaroubaceae) planted in rows as ornamental street trees in Beijing, China.

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Continued alteration of the nitrogen cycle exposes receiving waters to elevated nitrogen concentrations and forces drinking water treatment services to plan for such increases in the future. We developed four 2011-2050 land cover change scenarios and modeled the impact of projected land cover change on influent water quality to support long-term planning for the Minneapolis Water Treatment Distribution Service (MWTDS) using Soil Water and Assessment Tool. Projected land cover changes based on relatively unconstrained economic growth led to substantial increases in total nitrogen (TN) loads and modest increases in total phosphorus (TP) loads in spring.

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Organoids are emerging in vitro models of human physiology. Neural models require the evaluation of functional activity of single cells and networks, which is commonly measured by microelectrode arrays. The characteristics of organoids clash with existing in vitro or in vivo microelectrode arrays.

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Background: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have an increased risk of developing epilepsy. Both ASD and epilepsy have been associated with increased levels of immune factors in the blood, including the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6). Mice lacking the synapsin 2 gene (Syn2 KO) exhibit ASD-like behavior and develop epileptic seizures.

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The National Land Cover Database (NLCD), a product suite produced through the MultiResolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium, is an operational land cover monitoring program. Starting from a base year of 2001, NLCD releases a land cover database every 2-3-years. The recent release of NLCD2019 extends the database to 18 years.

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Droughts that are hotter, more frequent, and last longer; pest outbreaks that are more extensive and more common; and fires that are more frequent, more extensive, and perhaps more severe have raised concern that forests in the western United States may not return once disturbed by one or more of these agents. Numerous field-based studies have been undertaken to better understand forest response to these changing disturbance regimes. Meta-analyses of these studies provide broad guidelines on the biotic and abiotic factors that hinder forest recovery, but study-to-study differences in methods and objectives do not support estimation of the total extent of potentially impaired forest succession.

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During epileptic seizures, neuronal network activity is hyper synchronized whereby GABAergic parvalbumin-interneurons may have a key role. Previous studies have mostly utilized 4-aminopyridine to induce epileptiform discharges in brain slices from healthy animals. However, it is not clear if the seizure-triggering ability of parvalbumin-interneurons also holds true without the use of external convulsive agents.

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Background: The entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana is a popular fungus used to control the Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus Hope, the key vector of pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) that is the causal agent of pine wilt disease, resulting in devastating losses of pines in China and Portugal. However, recent studies have demonstrated that some insect-associated bacteria might decrease fungal toxicity and further undermine its biological control efficacy against M. alternatus.

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Aim: To evaluate safety and efficacy of low dose autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) for treatment of disc degeneration resulting in low back pain (LBP).

Methods: Nine participants with chronic LBP originating from single-level lumbar disc disease underwent intradiscal injection of 10 million ADMSCs with optional repetition after 6 months.

Results: No unexpected or serious adverse events were recorded.

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