Plant volatiles and priority effects interactively determined initial community assembly of arthropods on multiple willow species.

Plant traits, which are often species specific, can serve as environmental filtering for community assembly on plants. At the same time, the species identity of the initially colonizing arthropods would vary between plant individuals, which would subsequently influence colonizing arthropods and community development in the later stages. However, it remains unclear whether interindividual divergence due to priority effects is equally important as plant trait-specific environmental filtering in the initial stages.

Non-destructive collection and metabarcoding of arthropod environmental DNA remained on a terrestrial plant.

Reliable survey of arthropods is a crucial for their conservation, community ecology, and pest control on terrestrial plants. However, efficient and comprehensive surveys are hindered by challenges in collecting arthropods and identifying especially small species. To address this issue, we developed a non-destructive environmental DNA (eDNA) collection method termed "plant flow collection" to apply eDNA metabarcoding to terrestrial arthropods.

Effects of Prohydrojasmon on the Number of Infesting Herbivores and Biomass of Field-Grown Japanese Radish Plants.

Prohydrojasmon (PDJ), an analog of jasmonic acid (JA), was found to induce direct and indirect defenses against herbivores in non-infested plants. To test whether PDJ can be used for pest control in crop production, we conducted experiments in pesticide-free Japanese radish fields from October 4 to December 12 in 2015. Twenty-four Japanese radish plants in three plots were treated with a 100 times-diluted commercial formulation (5%) of PDJ (treated plants), and 24 plants in three different plots were treated with water (control plants) until November 29 every week.

Synchronous Occurrences of the Diamondback Moth (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) and its Parasitoid Wasp Cotesia vestalis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Greenhouses in a Satoyama Area.

We characterized the correlation between the occurrences of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), larvae and their dominant native parasitoid wasp, Cotesia vestalis (Haliday), in commercial greenhouses in a satoyama area, called Miyama, in Kyoto, Japan. In the three greenhouses used in this study, cruciferous 'mizuna' (Brassica rapa var.

Parasitoid wasps' exposure to host-infested plant volatiles affects their olfactory cognition of host-infested plants.

Using Cotesia vestalis, a parasitoid wasp of diamondback moth larvae and three crucifer plant species (cabbage, komatsuna, and Japanese radish), we examined the effects of exposure to host-infested plant volatiles from one plant species on a newly emerged wasp's subsequent olfactory cognition of host-infested plant volatiles from the same or different plant species. The preference of C. vestalis between infested and uninfested plant volatiles was tested in a choice chamber.

Egg laying of cabbage white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) on Arabidopsis thaliana affects subsequent performance of the larvae.

Plant resistance to the feeding by herbivorous insects has recently been found to be positively or negatively influenced by prior egg deposition. Here we show how crucial it is to conduct experiments on plant responses to herbivory under conditions that simulate natural insect behaviour. We used a well-studied plant--herbivore system, Arabidopsis thaliana and the cabbage white butterfly Pieris brassicae, testing the effects of naturally laid eggs (rather than egg extracts) and allowing larvae to feed gregariously as they do naturally (rather than placing single larvae on plants).

An apparent trade-off between direct and signal-based induced indirect defence against herbivores in willow trees.

Signal-based induced indirect defence refers to herbivore-induced production of plant volatiles that attract carnivorous natural enemies of herbivores. Relationships between direct and indirect defence strategies were studied using tritrophic systems consisting of six sympatric willow species, willow leaf beetles (Plagiodera versicolora), and their natural predators, ladybeetles (Aiolocaria hexaspilota). Relative preferences of ladybeetles for prey-infested willow plant volatiles, indicating levels of signal-based induced indirect defence, were positively correlated with the vulnerability of willow species to leaf beetles, assigned as relative levels of direct defence.

Can insect egg deposition 'warn' a plant of future feeding damage by herbivorous larvae?

Plant anti-herbivore defence is inducible by both insect feeding and egg deposition. However, little is known about the ability of insect eggs to induce defences directed not against the eggs themselves, but against larvae that subsequently hatch from the eggs. We studied how oviposition (OP) by the sawfly Diprion pini on Pinus sylvestris foliage affects the plant's defensive potential against sawfly larvae.

Specialist leaf beetle larvae use volatiles from willow leaves infested by conspecifics for reaggregation in a tree.

Young, gregariously living larvae of the willow leaf beetles Plagiodera versicolora are known to exhibit characteristic aggregation-dispersion-reaggregation behavior and local fidelity to a host tree. In this study, we investigated whether plant volatiles induced by feeding P. versicolora larvae were involved in the reaggregation behavior.

Beneficial effect of myocardial angiogenesis on cardiac remodeling process by amlodipine and MCI-154.

The present study examined the effect of long-term treatment with amlodipine and MCI-154 (a Ca2+ sensitizer) on progressive cardiac dysfunction and microvasculature in the dilated cardiomyopathic (DCM) hamster heart. After treatment of DCM hamsters (Bio 53.58) with amlodipine or MCI-154 for 15 wk from the age of 5 wk, amlodipine and MCI-154 were found to cause an increase in left ventricular percent fractional shortening and decreases in left ventricular diastolic dimension and isovolumic relaxation time in echocardiograms (P < 0.

[Genetic polymorphisms as risk factors for coronary artery disease].

The acute myocardial infarction is a multi factor disease, and various risk factors participate in its occurrence and progression. Recently, many investigators have paid their attention to the genetic polymorphisms as new risk factors for coronary artery disease. These include the polymorphisms or mutations of the gene which relates to hypertension, diabetes, the platelet function, the property of the blood vessel, the blood coagulation fibrinogenolysis system, and serum lipids.

Angiotensin II type 1 receptor gene polymorphisms in patients with cardiac hypertrophy.

Chronic mechanical stress of the heart secondary to arterial hypertension is a primary cause of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays an important role in the cardiovascular system, regulating the expression of cardiac hypertrophy, in part, independent of the effects of systemic hypertension. A major component of RAS is angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), which is upregulated in pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy as well as heart failure.

Angiotensinogen gene polymorphism in Japanese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

To examine the contribution of the renin-angiotensin system to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), we studied 96 patients with HCM (mean age 50 years, 55% male), 105 of their unaffected siblings and offspring, and 160 healthy subjects without known hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) who were frequency matched to cases by age and sex. Patients were divided into familial or sporadic HCM (FHCM or SHCM) groups with or without affected members of their family. The region of interest in the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene, the missense mutation with methione-to-threonine amino acid substitution at codon 235 in angiotensinogen (M235T), was amplified by polymerase chain reaction with the use of allele-specific oligonucleotide primers flanking the polymorphic region of the AGT gene to amplify template deoxyribonucleic acid prepared from peripheral leukocytes.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene polymorphism in Japanese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

To examine the contribution of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), we determined the ACE insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in 80 patients with HCM and 88 of their unaffected siblings and children. Patients were divided into familial or solitary HCM (FHCM or SHCM) groups with or without affected family members. Genotypes were identified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with oligonucleotide primers flanking the polymorphic region in intron 16 of the ACE gene to amplify template DNA prepared from peripheral leukocytes.

[A case of long-standing isolated traumatic tricuspid regurgitation with remarkably dilated right cardiac chambers and pancytopenia].

We report a rare case of tricuspid regurgitation due to nonpenetrating chest trauma 33 years previously. A 79-year-old man suffered a blunt trauma due to a piece of wood at work in 1958. He suffered multiple rib fractures on the right side and was admitted.