scholarly journals Susceptibility of Drosophila suzukii larvae to the combined administration of the entomopathogens Bacillus thuringiensis and Steinernema carpocapsae

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maristella Mastore ◽  
Silvia Quadroni ◽  
Maurizio F. Brivio
Keyword(s):  
Bacillus Thuringiensis ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Steinernema Carpocapsae ◽  
Crop Damage ◽  
Drosophila Suzukii ◽  
Physiological Factors ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Combined Administration ◽  
Good Starting Point

AbstractNon-native pests are often responsible for serious crop damage. Since Drosophila suzukii has invaded North America and Europe, the global production of soft, thin-skinned fruits has suffered severe losses. The control of this dipteran by pesticides, although commonly used, is not recommended because of the negative impact on the environment and human health. A possible alternative is the use of bio-insecticides, including Bacillus thuringiensis and entomopathogenic nematodes, such as Steinernema carpocapsae. These biological control agents have a fair effectiveness when used individually on D. suzukii, but both have limits related to different environmental, methodological, and physiological factors. In this work, we tested various concentrations of B. thuringiensis and S. carpocapsae to evaluate their efficacy on D. suzukii larvae, when administered individually or in combination by using agar traps. In the combined trials, we added the nematodes after 16 h or concurrently to the bacteria, and assessed larvae lethality from 16 to 48 h. The assays demonstrated a higher efficacy of the combined administration, both time-shifted and concurrent; the obtained data also showed a relevant decrease of the time needed to kill the larvae. Particularly, the maximum mortality rate, corresponding to 79% already at 16 h, was observed with the highest concentrations (0.564 µg/mL of B. thuringiensis and 8 × 102 IJs of S. carpocapsae) in the concurrent trials. This study, conducted by laboratory tests under controlled conditions, is a good starting point to develop a further application step through field studies for the control of D. suzukii.

scholarly journals Discovery and Optimization of Selective Inhibitors of Meprin α (Part I)

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shurong Hou ◽  
Juan Diez ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
Christoph Becker-Pauly ◽  
Gregg B. Fields ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Activity ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Selective Inhibitors ◽  
Preclinical Development ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
Parallel Screening ◽  
Low Cytotoxicity

Meprin α and β are zinc-dependent proteinases implicated in multiple diseases including cancers, fibrosis, and Alzheimer’s. However, until recently, only a few inhibitors of either meprin were reported and no inhibitors are in preclinical development. Moreover, inhibitors of other metzincins developed in previous years are not effective in inhibiting meprins suggesting the need for de novo discovery effort. To address the paucity of tractable meprin inhibitors we developed ultrahigh-throughput assays and conducted parallel screening of >650,000 compounds against each meprin. As a result of this effort, we identified five selective meprin α hits belonging to three different chemotypes (triazole-hydroxyacetamides, sulfonamide-hydroxypropanamides, and phenoxy-hydroxyacetamides). These hits demonstrated a nanomolar to micromolar inhibitory activity against meprin α with low cytotoxicity and >30-fold selectivity against meprin β and other related metzincincs. These selective inhibitors of meprin α provide a good starting point for further optimization.

scholarly journals Advances on the Implementation of Circular Economy Techniques in Rural Areas in Colombia under a Sustainable Development Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3816
Author(s):  
Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri ◽  
Camilo-A. Vargas-Terranova ◽  
María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero ◽  
Paula-A. Bustos-Castro
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
Depressed Regions ◽  
First Time

For the first time in the scientific literature, this research shows an analysis of the implementation of circular economy techniques under sustainable development framework in six municipalities with a depressed economy in Colombia. The analysis is based on solid waste data production at a local scale, the valuation of the waste for subsequent recycling, and the identification and quantification of the variables associated with the treatment and final disposal of waste, in accordance with the Colombian regulatory framework. Waste generation data are obtained considering three different scenarios, in which a comparison between the simulated values and those established in the management plans are compared. Important differences have been identified between the waste management programs of each municipality, specifically regarding the components of waste collection, transportation and disposal, participation of environmental reclaimers, and potential use of materials. These differences are fundamentally associated with the different administrative processes considered for each individual municipality. This research is a good starting point for the development of waste management models based on circular economy techniques, through the subsequent implementation of an office tool in depressed regions such as those studied.

scholarly journals Beaten ballots: political participation dynamics amidst police interventions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Toni Rodon ◽  
Marc Guinjoan
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Positive Spillover ◽  
Police Crackdown ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
Empirical Approaches

Abstract What is the effect of violence on political mobilization? Taking the repression-mobilization nexus debate as a starting point, we study the effects of police interventions on political participation, focusing on the Spanish police crackdown on Catalonia's independence referendum on 1 October 2017. We analyze the effect of police actions on turnout using detailed aggregate data, as well as a survey conducted a few days after the referendum. The two empirical approaches show that police interventions had both deterrent and inverse spatial spillover effects. Although police raids had a local negative impact on turnout, they induced positive spillover effects in the surrounding areas. Our findings also indicate heterogeneity in the spatial dynamics, with police actions encouraging people to go to vote in nearby areas, but also mobilizing residents in neighboring areas to participate, especially those individuals with fewer incentives to turn out to vote.

Industry-Sponsored Medical Education — In the Quest for Professional Integrity and Legal Certainty

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-319
Author(s):  
Benedikt Buchner
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
General Question ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
European Directive ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
Advertising Law ◽  
The Right

AbstractIndustry-sponsored medical education is a much disputed issue. So far, there has been no regulatory framework which provides clear and definite rules as to whether and under what circumstances the sponsorship of medical education is acceptable. State regulation does not exist, or confines itself to a very general principle. Professional regulation, even though applied frequently, is rather vague and indefinite, raising the general question as to whether self-regulation is the right approach at all. Certainly, self-regulation by industry cannot and should not replace other regulatory approaches. Ultimately, advertising law in general and the European Directive 2001/83/EC specifically, might be a good starting point in providing legal certainty and ensuring the independence of medical education. Swiss advertising law illustrates how the principles of the European Directive could be implemented clearly and unambiguously.

Automatic diagnosis of primary headaches by machine learning methods

Open Medicine ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartosz Krawczyk ◽  
Dragan Simić ◽  
Svetlana Simić ◽  
Michał Woźniak
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Primary Headache ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Common Disease ◽  
Primary Headaches ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Headache Diagnosis

AbstractPrimary headaches are common disease of the modern society and it has high negative impact on the productivity and the life quality of the affected person. Unfortunately, the precise diagnosis of the headache type is hard and usually imprecise, thus methods of headache diagnosis are still the focus of intense research. The paper introduces the problem of the primary headache diagnosis and presents its current taxonomy. The considered problem is simplified into the three class classification task which is solved using advanced machine learning techniques. Experiments, carried out on the large dataset collected by authors, confirmed that computer decision support systems can achieve high recognition accuracy and therefore be a useful tool in an everyday physician practice. This is the starting point for the future research on automation of the primary headache diagnosis.

scholarly journals Multiple Myeloma Inhibitory Activity of Plant Natural Products

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2678
Author(s):  
Karin Jöhrer ◽  
Serhat Sezai Ҫiҫek
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Myeloma ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Myeloma Cell ◽  
Myeloma Cell Line ◽  
Antiproliferative Effects ◽  
Plant Natural Products ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Human Myeloma Cell Line ◽  
Group A ◽  
Good Starting Point

A literature search on plant natural products with antimyeloma activity until the end of 2020 resulted in 92 compounds with effects on at least one human myeloma cell line. Compounds were divided in different compound classes and both their structure–activity-relationships as well as eventual correlations with the pathways described for Multiple Myeloma were discussed. Each of the major compound classes in this review (alkaloids, phenolics, terpenes) revealed interesting candidates, such as dioncophyllines, a group of naphtylisoquinoline alkaloids, which showed pronounced and selective induction of apoptosis when substituted in position 7 of the isoquinoline moiety. Interestingly, out of the phenolic compound class, two of the most noteworthy constituents belong to the relatively small subclass of xanthones, rendering this group a good starting point for possible further drug development. The class of terpenoids also provides noteworthy constituents, such as the highly oxygenated diterpenoid oridonin, which exhibited antiproliferative effects equal to those of bortezomib on RPMI8226 cells. Moreover, triterpenoids containing a lactone ring and/or quinone-like substructures, e.g., bruceantin, whitaferin A, withanolide F, celastrol, and pristimerin, displayed remarkable activity, with the latter two compounds acting as inhibitors of both NF-κB and proteasome chymotrypsin-like activity.

COVID-19, Business, and Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 433-449
Author(s):  
Surya Deva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Full Range ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
International Human

Abstract COVID-19 has affected the full range of human rights, though some rights holders have experienced a disproportionate impact. This has triggered debate about the respective obligations and responsibilities of states and business enterprises under international human rights law. Against this backdrop, this article examines critically whether the “protect, respect and remedy” framework operationalised by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is “fit for the purpose” to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. I argue that while the UNGPs’ framework provides a good starting point, it is inadequate to bring transformative changes to overcome deep-rooted socio-economic problems exposed by this pandemic. Realising human rights fully would not only require harnessing the potential of states’ tripartite obligations, but also move beyond limiting the responsibility of businesses to respect human rights.

Water Depollution Control : A Gateway to Reaction Monitoring and Analytical Chemistry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Tiano ◽  
Max Roose
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Chemistry ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Environmental Chemistry ◽  
Organic Pollutant ◽  
Internal Standard ◽  
Experimental Session ◽  
Reaction Monitoring ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
Magnetite Particles

<div>We present here an experimental session for undergraduate students, based on the reaction monitoring of the degradation of an organic pollutant (para-nitrophenol) by a Fenton-like reaction, catalysed by magnetite particles. <br></div><div>During the session, students realized a follow-up of the reaction by Gas Chromatography with an internal standard, and by UV-Visible spectrophotometry. <br></div>This session was a good starting point to numerous discussions about analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry.

Drawing to Tell Versus Drawing to Intrigue?

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Renner
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Visual Anthropology ◽  
Indigenous Culture ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Blackwater Fever ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New Hebrides ◽  
The University ◽  
Intention To Continue

The article “Drawing It Out” by Haidy Geismar (2014) in Visual Anthropology Review (Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 97–113) focused on the use of images in early anthropology. The drawings by Arthur Bernard Deacon (1903–1927), which he made during his field studies in Vanuatu, New Hebrides from 1926 until his sudden death caused by blackwater fever in 1927, are the starting point of Geismar’s inquiry. The author discusses Deacon’s drawings and infers the potential of drawing as a methodology for anthropology. Deacon was a young PhD candidate who was sent to Vanuatu from the University of Cambridge. It was his intention to continue the studies of the indigenous culture of the New Hebrides at the time, which had been started by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. In contrast to his expectations, Deacon found a culture in the process of decay. The subject of his study, the indigenous culture, had been threatened by diseases and cultural influences that settlers, missionaries, and traders imported with them since they landed in the middle of the nineteenth century. Deacon described the impossibility of protecting the indigenous culture and critically reflected on his role as an anthropologist (Geismar 2014, p. 102).

Stereoscopic Visualization in Endoscopic Surgery: Problems, Benefits, and Potentials

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cletus von Pichler ◽  
Klaus Radermacher ◽  
Wieland Boeckmann ◽  
Günter Rau ◽  
Gerhard Jakse
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Endoscopic Surgery ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
3D Video ◽  
Video Endoscopy ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Video Systems ◽  
Visualization Systems ◽  
Stereoscopic Visualization

In recent years the application of 3D video endoscopic systems in clinical routine, especially in the field of endoscopic surgery, has increased steadily. The number of 3D video endoscopic systems used in the operating theatre today is obviously lower than the number of established traditional 2D video endoscopic systems. The hesitant application of the new technology can be mainly explained by the lack of evaluation of its influence on the surgical procedure and on patient benefit as well as by the need for specific economic analysis. The starting point for our investigations was to analyze the influence of 3D video endoscopy on endoscopically guided manipulations in general. In order to achieve quantitative statements we performed laboratory experiments using human factors analyzing methods. In the next step we performed clinical field studies of the application of 3D video endoscopic systems for a side-by-side comparison of 2D and 3D systems. These studies showed that the use of 3D video endoscopy has an improving influence on endoscopically guided surgical manipulations as well as on the intraoperative procedures. We also found that spatial visual perception of stereoscopic images of 3D video systems may cause problems for some users. For the validation of stereoscopic visualization systems we additionally studied the influence of isolated technical, optical, and physiological parameters on visual perception as well as on transposition into visually guided manipulations. Detailed results of these investigations concerning the influence of 3D video endoscopy on binocular perception are presented.

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