The Hartshorne-Rao module of curves on rational normal scrolls

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Roberta Di Gennaro

2000-09-01

Full Text Available We study the Hartshorne-Rao module of curves lying on a rational normal scroll S_e of invariant e ≥ 0 in P^{e+3} .We calculate the Rao function, we characterize the aCM curves on S_e .Finally, we give an algorithm to check if a curve is aC M or not and, inthe second case, to calculate the Rao function.

NormaCurve: a SuperCurve-based method that simultaneously quantifies and normalizes reverse phase protein array data.

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Sylvie Troncale

Full Text Available MOTIVATION: Reverse phase protein array (RPPA is a powerful dot-blot technology that allows studying protein expression levels as well as post-translational modifications in a large number of samples simultaneously. Yet, correct interpretation of RPPA data has remained a major challenge for its broad-scale application and its translation into clinical research. Satisfying quantification tools are available to assess a relative protein expression level from a serial dilution curve. However, appropriate tools allowing the normalization of the data for external sources of variation are currently missing. RESULTS: Here we propose a new method, called NormaCurve, that allows simultaneous quantification and normalization of RPPA data. For this, we modified the quantification method SuperCurve in order to include normalization for (i background fluorescence, (ii variation in the total amount of spotted protein and (iii spatial bias on the arrays. Using a spike-in design with a purified protein, we test the capacity of different models to properly estimate normalized relative expression levels. The best performing model, NormaCurve, takes into account a negative control array without primary antibody, an array stained with a total protein stain and spatial covariates. We show that this normalization is reproducible and we discuss the number of serial dilutions and the number of replicates that are required to obtain robust data. We thus provide a ready-to-use method for reliable and reproducible normalization of RPPA data, which should facilitate the interpretation and the development of this promising technology. AVAILABILITY: The raw data, the scripts and the normacurve package are available at the following web site: http://microarrays.curie.fr.

Bt crops producing Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab and Cry1F do not harm the green lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris.

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Jun-Ce Tian

Full Text Available The biological control function provided by natural enemies is regarded as a protection goal that should not be harmed by the application of any new pest management tool. Plants producing Cry proteins from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt, have become a major tactic for controlling pest Lepidoptera on cotton and maize and risk assessment studies are needed to ensure they do not harm important natural enemies. However, using Cry protein susceptible hosts as prey often compromises such studies. To avoid this problem we utilized pest Lepidoptera, cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, that were resistant to Cry1Ac produced in Bt broccoli (T. ni, Cry1Ac/Cry2Ab produced in Bt cotton (T. ni, and Cry1F produced in Bt maize (S. frugiperda. Larvae of these species were fed Bt plants or non-Bt plants and then exposed to predaceous larvae of the green lacewing Chrysoperla rufilabris. Fitness parameters (larval survival, development time, fecundity and egg hatch of C. rufilabris were assessed over two generations. There were no differences in any of the fitness parameters regardless if C. rufilabris consumed prey (T. ni or S. frugiperda that had consumed Bt or non-Bt plants. Additional studies confirmed that the prey contained bioactive Cry proteins when they were consumed by the predator. These studies confirm that Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab and Cry1F do not pose a hazard to the important predator C. rufilabris. This study also demonstrates the power of using resistant hosts when assessing the risk of genetically modified plants on non-target organisms.

Why try (not to cry: Intra- and inter-personal motives for crying regulation

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Gwenda eSimons

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article discusses inter- and intra-personal motives for the regulation of crying, and presents illustrative findings from an online survey (N = 110 exploring why and how people regulate crying in their everyday lives. In line with current theorizing on emotion regulation and crying (e.g., Vingerhoets et al., 2000, we propose that emotional crying is regulated using both antecedent-focused techniques targeting the underlying emotion and response-focused techniques targeting the act of crying itself. Indeed, our survey respondents reported having used both antecedent- and response-focused strategies to either up-regulate or down-regulate their crying. Motives for crying regulation may be both inter- and intra-personal and may serve both immediate, pleasure motives and future, utility motives (Tamir, 2009. Our findings suggest that down-regulation attempts are often driven by inter-personal motives (e.g., protecting the well-being of others; impression management in addition to intra-personal motives such as maintaining subjective well-being, whereas up-regulation attempts are mostly driven by intra-personal motives. Further progress requires methodologies for manipulating or tracking regulation motives and strategies in real-time crying episodes.

Improved binary dragonfly optimization algorithm and wavelet packet based non-linear features for infant cry classification.

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Hariharan, M; Sindhu, R; Vijean, Vikneswaran; Yazid, Haniza; Nadarajaw, Thiyagar; Yaacob, Sazali; Polat, Kemal

2018-03-01

Infant cry signal carries several levels of information about the reason for crying (hunger, pain, sleepiness and discomfort) or the pathological status (asphyxia, deaf, jaundice, premature condition and autism, etc.) of an infant and therefore suited for early diagnosis. In this work, combination of wavelet packet based features and Improved Binary Dragonfly Optimization based feature selection method was proposed to classify the different types of infant cry signals. Cry signals from 2 different databases were utilized. First database contains 507 cry samples of normal (N), 340 cry samples of asphyxia (A), 879 cry samples of deaf (D), 350 cry samples of hungry (H) and 192 cry samples of pain (P). Second database contains 513 cry samples of jaundice (J), 531 samples of premature (Prem) and 45 samples of normal (N). Wavelet packet transform based energy and non-linear entropies (496 features), Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) based cepstral features (56 features), Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) were extracted (16 features). The combined feature set consists of 568 features. To overcome the curse of dimensionality issue, improved binary dragonfly optimization algorithm (IBDFO) was proposed to select the most salient attributes or features. Finally, Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) kernel classifier was used to classify the different types of infant cry signals using all the features and highly informative features as well. Several experiments of two-class and multi-class classification of cry signals were conducted. In binary or two-class experiments, maximum accuracy of 90.18% for H Vs P, 100% for A Vs N, 100% for D Vs N and 97.61% J Vs Prem was achieved using the features selected (only 204 features out of 568) by IBDFO. For the classification of multiple cry signals (multi-class problem), the selected features could differentiate between three classes (N, A & D) with the accuracy of 100% and seven classes with the accuracy of 97.62%. The experimental

Modelling growth curves of Nigerian indigenous normal feather ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was conducted to predict the growth curve parameters using Bayesian Gompertz and logistic models and also to compare the two growth function in describing the body weight changes across age in Nigerian indigenous normal feather chicken. Each chick was wing-tagged at day old and body weights were ...

Larval development of Spodoptera eridania and Spodoptera frugiperda fed on fresh ear of field corn expressing the Bt proteins (Cry1F and Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab2

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Orcial Ceolin Bortolotto

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate extent of larval period, larval survival (%, food consumption, and pupal biomass of Spodoptera eridania and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae fed on fresh ears of field corn expressing Bt proteins (Cry1F and Cry1F+Cry1A.105+Cry2Ab2. Larvae of Spodoptera spp. survived less than two days when they consumed Bt corncobs and showed 100% mortality. Spodoptera eridania reared on non-Bt corn cobs showed higher larval development (21.6 days than S. frugiperda (18.4 days and lower viability (56.4% and 80.2% for S. eridania and S. frugiperda , respectively. A higher amount of corn grains was consumed by S. eridania (5.4g than by S. frugiperda (3.9g. In summary, this study demonstrated that the toxins Cry1F and Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab2 expressed in fresh corn cobs contributed to protect ears of corn against S. frugiperda and the non-target pest S. eridania . However, itis important to monitor non-Bt cornfields because of the potential of both species to cause damage to ear sof corn.

Larval development of Spodoptera eridania (Cramer fed on leaves of Bt maize expressing Cry1F and Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab2 proteins and its non-Bt isoline

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Orcial Ceolin Bortolotto

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate, in controlled laboratory conditions (temperature of 25±2 °C, relative humidity of 60±10%, and 14/10 h L/D photoperiod, the larval development of Spodoptera eridania (Cramer, 1784 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae fed with leaves of Bt maize expressing Cry1F and Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab2 insecticide proteins and its non-Bt isoline. Maize leaves triggered 100% of mortality on S. eridania larvae independently of being Bt or non-Bt plants. However, it was observed that in overall Bt maize (expressing a single or pyramided protein slightly affects the larval development of S. eridania, even under reduced leaf consumption. Therefore, these results showed that Cry1F and Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab2 can affect the larval development of S. eridania, although it is not a target pest of this plant; however, more research is needed to better understand this evidence. Finally, this study confirms that non-Bt maize leaves are unsuitable food source to S. eridania larvae, suggesting that they are not a potential pest in maize fields.

Is crying a self-soothing behavior?

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Asmir eGračanin

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This contribution describes the current state-of-the-art of the scientific literature regarding the self-soothing effects of crying. Starting from the general hypothesis that crying is a self-soothing behavior, we consider different mechanisms through which these effects may appear. In the first section we briefly explain the main functions of human crying. Then we define self-soothing in terms of homeostatic processes of mood regulation and stress reduction and we underline the importance of distinguishing self-soothing effects of crying from social-soothing that it may elicit. We then provide a comprehensive review of the putative mood enhancing and relieving effects of crying and their variations stemming from characteristics of crying person, antecedents, manifestations, and social consequences of crying. We also discuss the possible methodological explanations for the seemingly discrepant findings regarding mood improvement and relief that may follow crying. We then provide theoretical and empirical support for our general hypothesis that crying is a self-soothing behavior by presenting and evaluating the possible physiological, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms that may play a mediating role in the relationship between crying and homeostatic regulation that includes mood improvement and relief. Starting from the idea that social-soothing and self-soothing mechanisms share the same physiological systems, we propose that biological processes act in parallel with learning and reappraisal processes that accompany crying, which results in homeostatic regulation. Given the parallels between self-soothing behaviors in humans and animals, we also propose that crying might self-soothe through a mechanism that shares key properties with rhythmical, stereotypic behaviors. We conclude that, in addition to the importance of socially mediated mechanisms for the mood enhancing effects of crying, there is converging evidence for the direct, self

Differential brain responses to cries of infants with autistic disorder and typical development: an fMRI study.

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Venuti, Paola; Caria, Andrea; Esposito, Gianluca; De Pisapia, Nicola; Bornstein, Marc H; de Falco, Simona

2012-01-01

This study used fMRI to measure brain activity during adult processing of cries of infants with autistic disorder (AD) compared to cries of typically developing (TD) infants. Using whole brain analysis, we found that cries of infants with AD compared to those of TD infants elicited enhanced activity in brain regions associated with verbal and prosodic processing, perhaps because altered acoustic patterns of AD cries render them especially difficult to interpret, and increased activity in brain regions associated with emotional processing, indicating that AD cries also elicit more negative feelings and may be perceived as more aversive and/or arousing. Perceived distress engendered by AD cries related to increased activation in brain regions associated with emotional processing. This study supports the hypothesis that cry is an early and meaningful anomaly displayed by children with AD. It could be that cries associated with AD alter parent-child interactions much earlier than the time that reliable AD diagnosis normally occurs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inheritance Patterns, Dominance and Cross-Resistance of Cry1Ab- and Cry1Ac-Selected Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée

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Tiantao Zhang

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Two colonies of Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée, artificially selected from a Bt-susceptible colony (ACB-BtS for resistance to Cry1Ab (ACB-AbR and Cry1Ac (ACB-AcR toxins, were used to analyze inheritance patterns of resistance to Cry1 toxins. ACB-AbR and ACB-AcR evolved significant levels of resistance, with resistance ratios (RR of 39-fold and 78.8-fold to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac, respectively. The susceptibility of ACB-AbR larvae to Cry1Ac and Cry1F toxins, which had not previously been exposed, were significantly reduced, being >113-fold and 48-fold, respectively. Similarly, susceptibility of ACB-AcR larvae to Cry1Ab and Cry1F were also significantly reduced (RR > nine-fold, RR > 18-fold, respectively, indicating cross-resistance among Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, and Cry1F toxins. However, ACB-AbR and ACB-AcR larvae were equally susceptible to Cry1Ie as were ACB-BtS larvae, indicating no cross-resistance between Cry1Ie and Cry1Ab or Cry1Ac toxins; this may provide considerable benefits in preventing or delaying the evolution of resistance in ACB to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins. Backcrossing studies indicated that resistance to Cry1Ab toxin was polygenic in ACB-AbR, but monogenic in ACB-AcR, whilst resistance to Cry1Ac toxin was primarily monogenic in both ACB-AbR and ACB-AcR, but polygenic as resistance increased.

Larval development of Spodoptera eridania and Spodoptera frugiperda fed on fresh ear of field corn expressing the Bt proteins (Cry1F and Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab2)

OpenAIRE

Bortolotto,Orcial Ceolin; Bueno,Adeney de Freitas; Queiroz,Ana Paula de; Silva,Gabriela Vieira

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate extent of larval period, larval survival (%), food consumption, and pupal biomass of Spodoptera eridania and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae ) fed on fresh ears of field corn expressing Bt proteins (Cry1F and Cry1F+Cry1A.105+Cry2Ab2). Larvae of Spodoptera spp. survived less than two days when they consumed Bt corncobs and showed 100% mortality. Spodoptera eridania reared on non-Bt corn cobs showed higher larval development (...

Baby-Crying Acceptance

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Martins, Tiago; de Magalhães, Sérgio Tenreiro

The baby's crying is his most important mean of communication. The crying monitoring performed by devices that have been developed doesn't ensure the complete safety of the child. It is necessary to join, to these technological resources, means of communicating the results to the responsible, which would involve the digital processing of information available from crying. The survey carried out, enabled to understand the level of adoption, in the continental territory of Portugal, of a technology that will be able to do such a digital processing. It was used the TAM as the theoretical referential. The statistical analysis showed that there is a good probability of acceptance of such a system.

Food safety assessment of Cry8Ka5 mutant protein using Cry1Ac as a control Bt protein.

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Farias, Davi Felipe; Viana, Martônio Ponte; Oliveira, Gustavo Ramos; Santos, Vanessa Olinto; Pinto, Clidia Eduarda Moreira; Viana, Daniel Araújo; Vasconcelos, Ilka Maria; Grossi-de-Sa, Maria Fátima; Carvalho, Ana Fontenele Urano

2015-07-01

Cry8Ka5 is a mutant protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that has been proposed for developing transgenic plants due to promising activity against coleopterans, like Anthonomus grandis (the major pest of Brazilian cotton culture). Thus, an early food safety assessment of Cry8Ka5 protein could provide valuable information to support its use as a harmless biotechnological tool. This study aimed to evaluate the food safety of Cry8Ka5 protein following the two-tiered approach, based on weights of evidence, proposed by ILSI. Cry1Ac protein was used as a control Bt protein. The history of safe use revealed no convincing hazard reports for Bt pesticides and three-domain Cry proteins. The bioinformatics analysis with the primary amino acids sequence of Cry8Ka5 showed no similarity to any known toxic, antinutritional or allergenic proteins. The mode of action of Cry proteins is well understood and their fine specificity is restricted to insects. Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins were rapidly degraded in simulated gastric fluid, but were resistant to simulated intestinal fluid and heat treatment. The LD50 for Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac was >5000 mg/kg body weight when administered by gavage in mice. Thus, no expected relevant risks are associated with the consumption of Cry8Ka5 protein. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Culture and crying : Prevalences and gender differences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemert, D.A. van; Vijver, F.J.R. van de; Vingerhoets, A.J.J.M.

2011-01-01

Results of a cross-cultural study of adult crying across 37 countries are presented. Analyses focused on country differences in recency of last crying episode and crying proneness and relationships with country characteristics. Three hypotheses on the nature of country differences in crying were

Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition.

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Joanna Dudek

Full Text Available The attention-grabbing quality of the infant cry is well recognized, but how the emotional valence of infant vocal signals affects adult cognition and cortical activity has heretofore been unknown. We examined the effects of two contrasting infant vocalizations (cries vs. laughs on adult performance on a Stroop task using a cross-modal distraction paradigm in which infant distractors were vocal and targets were visual. Infant vocalizations were presented before (Experiment 1 or during each Stroop trial (Experiment 2. To evaluate the influence of infant vocalizations on cognitive control, neural responses to the Stroop task were obtained by measuring electroencephalography (EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs in Experiment 1. Based on the previously demonstrated existence of negative arousal bias, we hypothesized that cry vocalizations would be more distracting and invoke greater conflict processing than laugh vocalizations. Similarly, we expected participants to have greater difficulty shifting attention from the vocal distractors to the target task after hearing cries vs. after hearing laughs. Behavioral results from both experiments showed a cry interference effect, in which task performance was slower with cry than with laugh distractors. Electrophysiology data further revealed that cries more than laughs reduced attention to the task (smaller P200 and increased conflict processing (larger N450, albeit differently for incongruent and congruent trials. Results from a correlation analysis showed that the amplitudes of P200 and N450 were inversely related, suggesting a reciprocal relationship between attention and conflict processing. The findings suggest that cognitive control processes contribute to an attention bias to infant signals, which is modulated in part by the valence of the infant vocalization and the demands of the cognitive task. The findings thus support the notion that infant cries elicit a negative arousal bias that is

Evaluation of Cytotoxicity, Genotoxicity and Hematotoxicity of the Recombinant Spore-Crystal Complexes Cry1Ia, Cry10Aa and Cry1Ba6 from Bacillus thuringiensis in Swiss Mice

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Ingrid de Souza Freire

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The insecticidal properties of Cry-endotoxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt have long been used as spore-crystals in commercial spray formulations for insect control. Recently, some Bt-endotoxin genes have been cloned in many different plants. Toxicological evaluations of three spore-crystal endotoxins, BtCry1Ia, BtCry10Aa and BtCry1Ba6 from B. thuringiensis, were carried out on mice to understand their adverse effects on hematological systems and on genetic material. These three spore-crystals have shown toxic activity to the boll weevil, which is one of the most aggressive pests of the cotton crop. Cry1Ia, Cry10Aa and Cry1Ba6 did not increase the micronucleus frequency in the peripheral erythrocytes of mice and did not cause changes in the frequency of polychromatic erythrocytes. However, some hematologic disburbances were observed, specifically related to Cry1Ia and Cry1Ba6, respectively, for the erythroid and lymphoid lineage. Thus, although the profile of such adverse side effects can be related to their high level of exposure, which is not commonly found in the environment, results showed that these Bt spore-crystals were not harmless to mice, indicating that each spore-crystal endotoxin presents a characteristic profile of toxicity and might be investigated individually.

40 CFR 180.1154 - CryIA(c) and CryIC derived delta-endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki encapsulated...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... expression plasmid and cloning vector genetic constructs. 180.1154 Section 180.1154 Protection of Environment... RESIDUES IN FOOD Exemptions From Tolerances § 180.1154 CryIA(c) and CryIC derived delta-endotoxins of... plasmid and cloning vector genetic constructs. CryIA(c) and CryIC derived delta-endotoxins of Bacillus...

Phonotrauma associated with crying.

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Murry, T; Rosen, C A

2000-12-01

Vocal fold hemorrhage often results in a sudden change in voice quality. Traumatic use of the voice (phonation or singing) is generally thought to be the cause of the vocal fold hemorrhage. The current report reviews three cases in which the traumatic event was crying. In one case, the patient's voice was only used for crying. All three patients were female and all were professional singers. The treatment of these individuals consisted of voice rest and subsequent phonomicrosurgery for lesions associated with the vocal fold hemorrhage. These case studies suggest that crying as a traumatic vocal behavior may result in vocal fold hemorrhage.

Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca, Two ETX/MTX2-Type Bacillus thuringiensis Insecticidal Proteins Active against Hemipteran Pests.

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Liu, Yonglei; Wang, Yinglong; Shu, Changlong; Lin, Kejian; Song, Fuping; Bravo, Alejandra; Soberón, Mario; Zhang, Jie

2018-02-01

Genetically modified crops that express insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins have become a primary approach for control of lepidopteran (moth) and coleopteran (beetle) pests that feed by chewing the plants. However, the sap-sucking insects (Hemiptera) are not particularly susceptible to Bt toxins. In this study, we describe two Cry toxins (Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca) from Bt strain 1012 that showed toxicity against two important hemipteran rice pests, Laodelphax striatellus and Sogatella furcifera Both of these proteins contain an ETX/MTX2 domain and share common sequence features with the β-pore-forming toxins. Coexpression of cry64Ba and cry64Ca genes in the acrystalliferous Bt strain HD73 - resulted in high insecticidal activity against both hemipteran pests. No toxicity was observed on other pests such as Ostrinia furnacalis , Plutella xylostella , or Colaphellus bowringi Also, no hemolytic activity or toxicity against cancer cells was detected. Binding assays showed specific binding of the Cry64Ba/Cry64Ca toxin complex to brush border membrane vesicles isolated from L. striatellus Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca are Bt Cry toxins highly effective against hemipteran pests and could provide a novel strategy for the environmentally friendly biological control of rice planthoppers in transgenic plants. IMPORTANCE In Asia, rice is an important staple food, whose production is threatened by rice planthoppers. To date, no effective Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein has been shown to have activity against rice planthoppers. We cloned two Bt toxin genes from Bt strain 1012 that showed toxicity against small brown planthoppers ( Laodelphax striatellus ) and white-backed planthoppers ( Sogatella furcifera ). To our knowledge, the proteins encoded by the cry64Ba and cry64Ca genes are the most efficient insecticidal Bt Cry proteins with activity against hemipteran insects reported so far. Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca showed no toxicity against some lepidopteran or coleopteran pests

Single amino acid insertions in extracellular loop 2 of Bombyx mori ABCC2 disrupt its receptor function for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac but not Cry1Aa toxins.

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Tanaka, Shiho; Miyamoto, Kazuhisa; Noda, Hiroaki; Endo, Haruka; Kikuta, Shingo; Sato, Ryoichi

2016-04-01

In a previous report, seven Cry1Ab-resistant strains were identified in the silkworm, Bombyx mori; these strains were shown to have a tyrosine insertion at position 234 in extracellular loop 2 of the ABC transporter C2 (BmABCC2). This insertion was confirmed to destroy the receptor function of BmABCC2 and confer the strains resistance against Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. However, these strains were susceptible to Cry1Aa. In this report, we examined the mechanisms of the loss of receptor function of the transporter by expressing mutations in Sf9 cells. After replacement of one or two of the five amino acid residues in loop 2 of the susceptible BmABCC2 gene [BmABCC2_S] with alanine, cells still showed susceptibility, retaining the receptor function. Five mutants with single amino acid insertions at position 234 in BmABCC2 were also generated, resulting in loop 2 having six amino acids, which corresponds to replacing the tyrosine insertion in the resistant BmABCC2 gene [BmABCC2_R(+(234)Y)] with another amino acid. All five mutants exhibited loss of function against Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. These results suggest that the amino acid sequence in loop 2 is less important than the loop size (five vs. six amino acids) or loop structure for Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac activity. Several domain-swapped mutant toxins were then generated among Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac, which are composed of three domains. Swapped mutants containing domain II of Cry1Ab or Cry1Ac did not kill Sf9 cells expressing BmABCC2_R(+(234)Y), suggesting that domain II of the Cry toxin is related to the interaction with the receptor function of BmABCC2. This also suggests that different reactions against Bt-toxins in some B. mori strains, that is, Cry1Ab resistance or Cry1Aa susceptibility, are attributable to structural differences in domain II of Cry1A toxins. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Crying in Middle Childhood: A Report on Gender Differences.

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Jellesma, Francine C; Vingerhoets, Ad J J M

2012-10-01

The aims of this study were (1) to confirm gender differences in crying in middle childhood and (2) to identify factors that may explain why girls cry more than boys in a Dutch sample (North Holland and Utrecht). We examined 186 children's (age: 9-13 years) self-reports on crying, catharsis, seeking support for feelings, and internalizing feelings. Girls reported a greater crying frequency and crying proneness, and more emotional and physical catharsis after crying. In addition, they more frequently sought support for feelings and more often experienced sadness and somatic complaints than boys. Seeking help for negative feelings and the experience of sadness and somatic complaints were positively associated with crying frequency and crying proneness. Emotional catharsis was positively linked to crying proneness. Support was found for the potential mediating role of sadness and somatic complaints with respect to the gender difference in crying frequency and for the potential mediating role of emotional catharsis and somatic complaints for crying proneness. This study demonstrates that gender differences in crying frequency already exist in middle childhood and the findings suggest a linkage between these gender differences in crying and psychosocial factors.

Crying and Depression Among Older Adults.

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Hastrup, Janice L.; And Others

1986-01-01

Self-reports of frequency of crying episodes are described for two nonclinical samples of younger and older adult men and women. Comparison of samples revealed no evidence for either a decreased or increased frequency of crying among the older sample. Crying episodes function as an adaptive coping response to and should not be automatically…

Cry-Bt identifier: a biological database for PCR detection of Cry genes present in transgenic plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Vinay Kumar; Ambwani, Sonu; Marla, Soma; Kumar, Anil

2009-10-23

We describe the development of a user friendly tool that would assist in the retrieval of information relating to Cry genes in transgenic crops. The tool also helps in detection of transformed Cry genes from Bacillus thuringiensis present in transgenic plants by providing suitable designed primers for PCR identification of these genes. The tool designed based on relational database model enables easy retrieval of information from the database with simple user queries. The tool also enables users to access related information about Cry genes present in various databases by interacting with different sources (nucleotide sequences, protein sequence, sequence comparison tools, published literature, conserved domains, evolutionary and structural data). http://insilicogenomics.in/Cry-btIdentifier/welcome.html.

Evolution of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins insecticidal activity.

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Bravo, Alejandra; Gómez, Isabel; Porta, Helena; García-Gómez, Blanca Ines; Rodriguez-Almazan, Claudia; Pardo, Liliana; Soberón, Mario

2013-01-01

Insecticidal Cry proteins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis are use worldwide in transgenic crops for efficient pest control. Among the family of Cry toxins, the three domain Cry family is the better characterized regarding their natural evolution leading to a large number of Cry proteins with similar structure, mode of action but different insect specificity. Also, this group is the better characterized regarding the study of their mode of action and the molecular basis of insect specificity. In this review we discuss how Cry toxins have evolved insect specificity in nature and analyse several cases of improvement of Cry toxin action by genetic engineering, some of these examples are currently used in transgenic crops. We believe that the success in the improvement of insecticidal activity by genetic evolution of Cry toxins will depend on the knowledge of the rate-limiting steps of Cry toxicity in different insect pests, the mapping of the specificity binding regions in the Cry toxins, as well as the improvement of mutagenesis strategies and selection procedures. © 2012 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology © 2012 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Crying, oral contraceptive use and the menstrual cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Romans, Sarah E; Clarkson, Rose F; Einstein, Gillian; Kreindler, David; Laredo, Sheila; Petrovic, Michele J; Stanley, James

2017-01-15

Crying, a complex neurobiological behavior with psychosocial and communication features, has been little studied in relationship to the menstrual cycle. In the Mood and Daily Life study (MiDL), a community sample of Canadian women aged 18-43 years, n=76, recorded crying proneness and crying frequency daily for six months along with menstrual cycle phase information. Crying proneness was most likely during the premenstruum, a little less likely during menses and least likely during the mid-cycle phase, with statistically significant differences although the magnitude of these differences were small. By contrast, actual crying did not differ between the three menstrual cycle phases. Oral contraceptive use did not alter the relationship between menstrual cycle phase and either crying variable. A wide range of menstrual cycle phase - crying proneness patterns were seen with visual inspection of the individual women's line graphs. timing of ovulation was not ascertained. Using a three phase menstrual cycle division precluded separate late follicular and early luteal data analysis. The sample size was inadequate for a robust statistical test of actual crying. reproductive aged women as a group report feeling more like crying premenstrually but may not actually cry more during this menstrual cycle phase. Individual patterns vary substantially. Oral contraceptive use did not affect these relationships. Suggestions for future research are included. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A 52-week safety study in cynomolgus macaques for genetically modified rice expressing Cry1Ab/1Ac protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Jie; Sun, Xing; Cheng, Jian-Hua; Shi, Yong-Jie; Wang, Xin-Zheng; Qin, Jun-Jie; Sang, Zhi-Hong; He, Kun; Xia, Qing

2016-09-01

A 52-week feeding study in cynomolgus macaques was carried out to evaluate the safety of Bt rice Huahui 1 (HH1), a transgenic rice line expressing Cry1Ab/1Ac protein. Monkeys were fed a diet with 20% or 60% HH1 rice, 20% or 60% parental rice (Minghui 63, MH63), normal diet, normal diet spiked with purified recombinant Cry1Ab/1Ac fusion protein or bovine serum albumin (BSA) respectively. During the feeding trail, clinical observations were conducted daily, and multiple parameters, including body weight, body temperature, electrocardiogram, hematology, blood biochemistry, serum metabolome and gut microbiome were examined at regular intervals. Upon sacrifice, the organs were weighted, and the macroscopic, microscopic and electron microscopic examinations were performed. The results show no adverse or toxic effects of Bt rice HH1 or Cry1Ab/1Ac fusion protein on monkeys. Therefore, the present 52-week primate feeding study suggests that the transgenic rice containing Cry 1Ab/1Ac is equivalent to its parental rice line MH63. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sex stereotypes influence adults' perception of babies' cries.

Science.gov (United States)

Reby, David; Levréro, Florence; Gustafsson, Erik; Mathevon, Nicolas

2016-04-14

Despite widespread evidence that gender stereotypes influence human parental behavior, their potential effects on adults' perception of babies' cries have been overlooked. In particular, whether adult listeners overgeneralize the sex dimorphism that characterizes the voice of adult speakers (men are lower-pitched than women) to their perception of babies' cries has not been investigated. We used playback experiments combining natural and re-synthesised cries of 3 month-old babies to investigate whether the interindividual variation in the fundamental frequency (pitch) of cries affected adult listeners' identification of the baby's sex, their perception the baby's femininity and masculinity, and whether these biases interacted with their perception of the level of discomfort expressed by the cry. We show that low-pitched cries are more likely to be attributed to boys and high-pitched cries to girls, despite the absence of sex differences in pitch. Moreover, low-pitched boys are perceived as more masculine and high-pitched girls are perceived as more feminine. Finally, adult men rate relatively low-pitched cries as expressing more discomfort when presented as belonging to boys than to girls. Such biases in caregivers' responses to babies' cries may have implications on children's immediate welfare and on the development of their gender identity.

Impact of transgenic soybean expressing Cry1Ac and Cry1F proteins on the non-target arthropod community associated with soybean in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Luiz H; Santos, Antonio C; Castro, Boris A; Storer, Nicholas P; Babcock, Jonathan M; Lepping, Miles D; Sa, Verissimo; Moscardini, Valéria F; Rule, Dwain M; Fernandes, Odair A

2018-01-01

Field-scale studies that examine the potential for adverse effects of Bt crop technology on non-target arthropods may supplement data from laboratory studies to support an environmental risk assessment. A three year field study was conducted in Brazil to evaluate potential for adverse effects of cultivating soybean event DAS-81419-2 that produces the Cry1Ac and Cry1F proteins. To do so, we examined the diversity and abundance of non-target arthropods (NTAs) in Bt soybean in comparison with its non-Bt near isoline, with and without conventional insecticide applications, in three Brazilian soybean producing regions. Non-target arthropod abundance was surveyed using Moericke traps (yellow pan) and pitfall trapping. Total abundance (N), richness (S), Shannon-Wiener (H'), Simpson's (D) and Pielou's evenness (J) values for arthropod samples were calculated for each treatment and sampling period (soybean growth stages). A faunistic analysis was used to select the most representative NTAs which were used to describe the NTA community structure associated with soybean, and to test for effects due to the treatments effects via application of the Principal Response Curve (PRC) method. Across all years and sites, a total of 254,054 individuals from 190 taxa were collected by Moericke traps, while 29,813 individuals from 100 taxa were collected using pitfall traps. Across sites and sampling dates, the abundance and diversity measurements of representative NTAs were not significantly affected by Bt soybean as compared with non-sprayed non-Bt soybean. Similarly, community analyses and repeated measures ANOVA, when applicable, indicated that neither Bt soybean nor insecticide sprays altered the structure of the NTA communities under study. These results support the conclusion that transgenic soybean event DAS-81419-2 producing Cry1Ac and Cry1F toxins does not adversely affect the NTA community associated with soybean.

Application of Pattern Recognition Techniques to the Classification of Full-Term and Preterm Infant Cry.

Science.gov (United States)

Orlandi, Silvia; Reyes Garcia, Carlos Alberto; Bandini, Andrea; Donzelli, Gianpaolo; Manfredi, Claudia

2016-11-01

Scientific and clinical advances in perinatology and neonatology have enhanced the chances of survival of preterm and very low weight neonates. Infant cry analysis is a suitable noninvasive complementary tool to assess the neurologic state of infants particularly important in the case of preterm neonates. This article aims at exploiting differences between full-term and preterm infant cry with robust automatic acoustical analysis and data mining techniques. Twenty-two acoustical parameters are estimated in more than 3000 cry units from cry recordings of 28 full-term and 10 preterm newborns. Feature extraction is performed through the BioVoice dedicated software tool, developed at the Biomedical Engineering Lab, University of Firenze, Italy. Classification and pattern recognition is based on genetic algorithms for the selection of the best attributes. Training is performed comparing four classifiers: Logistic Curve, Multilayer Perceptron, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest and three different testing options: full training set, 10-fold cross-validation, and 66% split. Results show that the best feature set is made up by 10 parameters capable to assess differences between preterm and full-term newborns with about 87% of accuracy. Best results are obtained with the Random Forest method (receiver operating characteristic area, 0.94). These 10 cry features might convey important additional information to assist the clinical specialist in the diagnosis and follow-up of possible delays or disorders in the neurologic development due to premature birth in this extremely vulnerable population of patients. The proposed approach is a first step toward an automatic infant cry recognition system for fast and proper identification of risk in preterm babies. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Child Abuse: The Crying Baby at Risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirkland, John

The author considers the relationship between uncontrollable infant crying and child abuse. An integrative scheme is offered from evidence of child abuse literature, experimentally induced infant crying effects, attribution theory, and learned helplessness. It is suggested that infant crying often has causes beyond caregiver control, such as birth…

Characterization of lepidopteran-specific cry1 and cry2 gene harbouring native Bacillus thuringiensis isolates toxic against Helicoverpa armigera

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Showkat Ahmad Lone

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt based biopesticides are feasible alternatives to chemical pesticides. Here, we present the distribution of lepidopteran-specific cry1 and cry2 genes in native B. thuringiensis. Forty four out of 86 colonies were found to harbour crystals by phase contrast microscopy exhibiting a Bt index of 0.51. PCR analysis resulted in the amplification of cry1 in 24 and cry2 in 14 isolates. Twelve of the isolates showed presence of both cry1 and cry2, while 18 isolates did not show presence of either of the genes. Toxicity screening using spore-crystal mixtures against 2nd instar larvae of Helicoverpa armigera revealed that the isolates (50% were either mildly toxic or not toxic (36.36%, and only 13.63% were toxic. The results are interesting, particularly so because the same isolates were previously reported to contain lepidopteran specific vip3A genes also, hence can complement the toxicity of the isolates harbouring vip3A genes.

Uptake and bioaccumulation of Cry toxins by an aphidophagous predator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paula, Débora P.; Andow, David A.

2016-01-01

Uptake of Cry toxins by insect natural enemies has rarely been considered and bioaccumulation has not yet been demonstrated. Uptake can be demonstrated by the continued presence of Cry toxin after exposure has stopped and gut contents eliminated. Bioaccumulation can be demonstrated by showing uptake and that the concentration of Cry toxin in the natural enemy exceeds that in its food. We exposed larvae of the aphidophagous predator, Harmonia axyridis, to Cry1Ac and Cry1F through uniform and constant tritrophic exposure via an aphid, Myzus persicae, and looked for toxin presence in the pupae. We repeated the experiment using only Cry1F and tested newly emerged adults. Both Cry toxins were detected in pupae, and Cry1F was detected in recently emerged, unfed adults. Cry1Ac was present 2.05 times and Cry1F 3.09 times higher in predator pupae than in the aphid prey. Uptake and bioaccumulation in the third trophic level might increase the persistence of Cry toxins in the food web and mediate new exposure routes to natural enemies. - Highlights: • Uptake and bioaccumulation of two Cry toxins by a larval coccinellid was tested. • Uptake was demonstrated by presence of the toxins in pupae and adults. • Bioaccumulation was shown by higher toxin concentration in pupae than prey. • Cry1Ac was present 2.05× and Cry1F 3.09× higher in predator pupae than prey. • This might increase persistence of Cry toxins in food webs with new exposure routes. - Immatures of the predaceous coccinellid Harmonia axyridis can uptake and bioaccumulate Cry toxins delivered via their aphid prey.

Analysis of normalized-characteristic curves and determination of the granulometric state of dissolved uranium dioxides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melichar, F.; Neumann, L.

1977-01-01

Methods are presented for the analysis of normalized-characteristic curves, which make it possible to determine the granulometric composition of a dissolved polydispersion - the cumulative mass distribution of particles - as a function of the relative particle size. If the size of the largest particle in the dissolved polydispersion is known, these methods allow the determination of the dependence of cumulative mass ratios of particles on their absolute sizes. In the inverse method of the geometrical model for determining the granulometric composition of a dissolved polydispersion, the polydispersion is represented by a finite number of monodispersions. An accurate analysis of normalized-characteristic equations leads to the Akselrud dissolution model. As against the other two methods, the latter allows the determination of the granulometric composition for an arbitrary number of particle sizes. The method of the granulometric atlas is a method for estimating the granulometric composition of a dissolved polydispersion and is based on comparison of a normalized-characteristic curve for an unknown granulometric composition with an atlas of normalized-characteristic curves for selected granulometric spectra of polydispersions. (author)

Assessment of potential adjuvanticity of Cry proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Saurabh S; Barnett, Brian; Doerrer, Nancy G; Glenn, Kevin; Herman, Rod A; Herouet-Guicheney, Corinne; Hunst, Penny; Kough, John; Ladics, Gregory S; McClain, Scott; Papineni, Sabitha; Poulsen, Lars K; Rascle, Jean-Baptiste; Tao, Ai-Lin; van Ree, Ronald; Ward, Jason; Bowman, Christal C

2016-08-01

Genetically modified (GM) crops have achieved success in the marketplace and their benefits extend beyond the overall increase in harvest yields to include lowered use of insecticides and decreased carbon dioxide emissions. The most widely grown GM crops contain gene/s for targeted insect protection, herbicide tolerance, or both. Plant expression of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal (Cry) insecticidal proteins have been the primary way to impart insect resistance in GM crops. Although deemed safe by regulatory agencies globally, previous studies have been the basis for discussions around the potential immuno-adjuvant effects of Cry proteins. These studies had limitations in study design. The studies used animal models with extremely high doses of Cry proteins, which when given using the ig route were co-administered with an adjuvant. Although the presumption exists that Cry proteins may have immunostimulatory activity and therefore an adjuvanticity risk, the evidence shows that Cry proteins are expressed at very low levels in GM crops and are unlikely to function as adjuvants. This conclusion is based on critical review of the published literature on the effects of immunomodulation by Cry proteins, the history of safe use of Cry proteins in foods, safety of the Bt donor organisms, and pre-market weight-of-evidence-based safety assessments for GM crops. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Coping with Crying in Babies and Toddlers

Science.gov (United States)

High, Pamela

2012-01-01

Pamela High, MS, MD, co-director of the Infant Behavior, Cry and Sleep Clinic at the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, discusses the phenomena of infant crying and the impact it has on families. In most cases, infant crying will peak and resolve in the early months, but infant irritability can increase the risk of maternal…

Toxicological, Biochemical, and Histopathological Analyses Demonstrating That Cry1C and Cry2A Are Not Toxic to Larvae of the Honeybee, Apis mellifera.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yuan-Yuan; Li, Yun-He; Huang, Zachary Y; Chen, Xiu-Ping; Romeis, Jörg; Dai, Ping-Li; Peng, Yu-Fa

2015-07-15

The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is commonly used as a test species for the regulatory risk assessment of insect-resistant genetically engineered (IRGE) plants. In the current study, a dietary exposure assay was developed, validated, and used to assess the potential toxicity of Cry1C and Cry2A proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to A. mellifera larvae; Cry1C and Cry2A are produced by different IRGE crops. The assay, which uses the soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) as a positive control and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a negative control, was used to measure the responses of A. mellifera larvae to high concentrations of Cry1C and Cry2A. Survival was reduced and development was delayed when larvae were fed SBTI (1 mg/g diet) but were unaffected when larvae were fed BSA (400 μg/g), Cry1C (50 μg/g), or Cry2A (400 μg/g). The enzymatic activities of A. mellifera larvae were not altered and their midgut brush border membranes (BBMs) were not damaged after being fed with diets containing BSA, Cry1C, or Cry2A; however, enzymatic activities were increased and BBMs were damaged when diets contained SBTI. The study confirms that Cry1C and Cry2A have no acute toxicity to A. mellifera larvae at concentrations >10 times higher than those detected in pollen from Bt plants.

Baby please stop crying: an experimental approach to infant crying, affect, and expected parenting self-efficacy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Cock, E.S.A.; Henrichs, J.; Rijk, C.H.A.M.; van Bakel, H.J.A.

2015-01-01

Objective: The present study examines the effect of infant crying on parental affect, state anxiety and parenting self-efficacy in an experimental setting. Background: Infant crying causes distress and feelings of incompetence in many parents. These frustrating parental feelings can lead to

On the possible ''normalization'' of experimental curves of 230Th vertical distribution in abyssal oceanic sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuznetsov, Yu.V.; Al'terman, Eh.I.; Lisitsyn, A.P.; AN SSSR, Moscow. Inst. Okeanologii)

1981-01-01

The possibilities of the method of normalization of experimental ionic curves in reference to dating of abyssal sediments and establishing their accumulation rapidities are studied. The method is based on using correlation between ionic curves extrema and variations of Fe, Mn, C org., and P contents in abyssal oceanic sediments. It has been found that the above method can be successfully applied for correction of 230 Th vertical distribution data obtained by low-background γ-spectrometry. The method leads to most reliable results in those cases when the vertical distribution curves in sediments of elements concentrators of 230 Th are symbasic between themselves. The normalization of experimental ionic curves in many cases gives the possibility to realize the sediment age stratification [ru

Microarray detection and qPCR screening of potential biomarkers of Folsomia candida (Collembola: Isotomidae) exposed to Bt proteins (Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan, Yiyang; Krogh, Paul Henning; Bai, Xue; Roelofs, Dick; Chen, Fajun; Zhu-Salzman, Keyan; Liang, Yuyong; Sun, Yucheng; Ge, Feng

2014-01-01

The impact of Bt proteins on non-target arthropods is less understood than their effects on target organisms where the mechanism of toxic action is known. Here, we report the effects of two Bt proteins, Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac, on gene expression in the non-target collembolan, Folsomia candida. A customized microarray was used to study gene expression in F. candida specimens that were exposed to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. All selected transcripts were subsequently confirmed by qPCR. Eleven transcripts were finally verified, and three of them were annotated. The responses of all eleven transcripts were tested in specimens for both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac at a series of concentrations. These transcripts were separated into two and three groups for Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac, respectively, depend on their expression levels. However, those eleven transcripts did not respond to the Bt proteins in Bt-rice residues. -- Highlights: • We examined the effects of Bt proteins on gene expression of Folsomia candida. • Eleven transcripts were up-regulated by Bt proteins (Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac). • Only three of the eleven transcripts were annotated. • The responses of 11 transcripts were tested on both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. • These transcripts did not respond to the Bt proteins in Bt-rice residues. -- Eleven potential molecular biomarkers of Folsomia candida to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac were screened by microarray and qPCR analysis

Crying and Mood Change : a Cross-Cultural Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Becht, M.C.; Vingerhoets, A.J.J.M.

2002-01-01

This study was designed to determine the influence of crying-related variables and country characteristics on mood change after crying. It was hypothesized that mood improvement would be positively associated to crying frequency, Individualism-Collectivism, and the extent of gender empowerment in a

CRY2 genetic variants associate with dysthymia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leena Kovanen

Full Text Available People with mood disorders often have disruptions in their circadian rhythms. Recent molecular genetics has linked circadian clock genes to mood disorders. Our objective was to study two core circadian clock genes, CRY1 and CRY2 as well as TTC1 that interacts with CRY2, in relation to depressive and anxiety disorders. Of these three genes, 48 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs whose selection was based on the linkage disequilibrium and potential functionality were genotyped in 5910 individuals from a nationwide population-based sample. The diagnoses of major depressive disorder, dysthymia and anxiety disorders were assessed with a structured interview (M-CIDI. In addition, the participants filled in self-report questionnaires on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Logistic and linear regression models were used to analyze the associations of the SNPs with the phenotypes. Four CRY2 genetic variants (rs10838524, rs7121611, rs7945565, rs1401419 associated significantly with dysthymia (false discovery rate q<0.05. This finding together with earlier CRY2 associations with winter depression and with bipolar type 1 disorder supports the view that CRY2 gene has a role in mood disorders.

Laughter, crying and sadness in ALS.

Science.gov (United States)

Thakore, Nimish J; Pioro, Erik P

2017-10-01

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is prevalent in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but there is limited information on its associations and course. Explore prevalence, associations, course and manifestations of PBA in outpatient cohort of patients with ALS and examine its relationship to depression. Self-reported measures of PBA and depression (Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), respectively) were obtained from consecutive patients with ALS using tablet devices in waiting rooms (Knowledge Program). PBA (CNS-LS ≥13) was seen in 209/735 patients (28.4%). PBA was associated with bulbar onset and dysfunction, upper motor neuron dysfunction, cognitive impairment, depression and lower quality of life. A multivariable model that included lower bulbar and gross motor subscores, female gender, younger age and shorter duration of disease predicted PBA with 74% accuracy. CNS-LS scores increased only slowly with time. Women with PBA reported more crying than men. Crying (but not laughter) correlated with depression, and crying was associated with poorer quality of life. Exploratory factor analysis of pooled questions of CNS-LS and PHQ-9 identified three underlying factors (laughter, crying and depression) loaded on appropriate questions of the respective instruments. This study identifies associations of PBA and additionally finds PBA (especially crying-predominant PBA) more prevalent in women with ALS. Although the two self-report instruments (CNS-LS and PHQ-9) discriminate well between PBA and depression, there is significant overlap between depression and crying in PBA. Studies of PBA should stratify for gender, examine crying and laughter as separate outcomes and adjust for depression. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Caregiving and early infant crying in a danish community.

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez, Marissa

2004-04-01

Maternal caregiving and fussing/crying in Danish infants at 3, 6, and 12 weeks were examined using self-report scales and 24-hour behavior diaries. Mothers reported practices commonly associated with responsive caregiving: frequent feeding, prompt response to infant cries, and considerable time holding the infant. Fuss/cry durations peaked in the first 2 months, were highest in evenings, and decreased approximately 50% by 12 weeks. Fussing was the majority behavior, and 9.2% of the infants fussed and cried more than 3 hours per day. In contrast with other Western studies, 24-hour fuss/cry durations were lower, and fussing accounted for up to 80% of total distress. Danish caregiving practices may partially explain the lower durations of infant distress and the lower ratio of cry to fuss. However, some infants fuss/cry a great deal despite sensitive care, which may reflect individual differences in infant maturation of behavior regulation.

Expression of Cry1Ab and Cry2Ab by a polycistronic transgene with a self-cleavage peptide in rice.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qichao Zhao

Full Text Available Insect resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crystal protein is a major threat to the long-term use of transgenic Bt crops. Gene stacking is a readily deployable strategy to delay the development of insect resistance while it may also broaden insecticidal spectrum. Here, we report the creation of transgenic rice expressing discrete Cry1Ab and Cry2Ab simultaneously from a single expression cassette using 2A self-cleaving peptides, which are autonomous elements from virus guiding the polycistronic viral gene expression in eukaryotes. The synthetic coding sequences of Cry1Ab and Cry2Ab, linked by the coding sequence of a 2A peptide from either foot and mouth disease virus or porcine teschovirus-1, regardless of order, were all expressed as discrete Cry1Ab and Cry2Ab at high levels in the transgenic rice. Insect bioassays demonstrated that the transgenic plants were highly resistant to lepidopteran pests. This study suggested that 2A peptide can be utilized to express multiple Bt genes at high levels in transgenic crops.

Response Cries.

Science.gov (United States)

Goffman, Erving

1978-01-01

Considers utterances that appear to violate the interdependence assumed by the interactionist view, entering the stream of behavior at peculiar and unnatural places, producing communicative effects but no dialogue. Self-talk, imprecations, and response cries are discussed. (EJS)

Preventing abusive head trauma resulting from a failure of normal interaction between infants and their caregivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Ronald G

2012-10-16

Head trauma from abuse, including shaken baby syndrome, is a devastating and potentially lethal form of infant physical abuse first recognized in the early 1970s. What has been less recognized is the role of the early increase in crying in otherwise normal infants in the first few months of life as a trigger for the abuse. In part, this is because infant crying, especially prolonged unsoothable crying, has been interpreted clinically as something wrong with the infant, the infant's caregiver, or the interactions between them. Here, we review an alternative developmental interpretation, namely, that the early increase in crying is a typical behavioral development in normal infants and usually does not reflect anything wrong or abnormal. We also review evidence indicating that this normal crying pattern is the most common trigger for abusive head trauma (AHT). Together, these findings point to a conceptualization of AHT as the consequence of a failure in an otherwise common, iterative, and developmentally normal infant-caregiver interaction. They also imply that there is a window of opportunity for prevention of AHT, and potentially other forms of infant abuse, through a public health primary universal prevention strategy aimed at changing knowledge and behaviors of caregivers and society in general concerning normal development of infants and the significance of early increased infant crying. If effective, there may be important implications for prevention of infant abuse nationally and internationally.

The distinct properties of natural and GM cry insecticidal proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Latham, Jonathan R; Love, Madeleine; Hilbeck, Angelika

2017-04-01

The Cry toxins are a family of crystal-forming proteins produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Their mode of action is thought to be to create pores that disrupt the gut epithelial membranes of juvenile insects. These pores allow pathogen entry into the hemocoel, thereby killing the insect. Genes encoding a spectrum of Cry toxins, including Cry mutants, Cry chimaeras and other Cry derivatives, are used commercially to enhance insect resistance in genetically modified (GM) crops. In most countries of the world, such GM crops are regulated and must be assessed for human and environmental safety. However, such risk assessments often do not test the GM crop or its tissues directly. Instead, assessments rely primarily on historical information from naturally occurring Cry proteins and on data collected on Cry proteins (called 'surrogates') purified from laboratory strains of bacteria engineered to express Cry protein. However, neither surrogates nor naturally occurring Cry proteins are identical to the proteins to which humans or other nontarget organisms are exposed by the production and consumption of GM plants. To-date there has been no systematic survey of these differences. This review fills this knowledge gap with respect to the most commonly grown GM Cry-containing crops approved for international use. Having described the specific differences between natural, surrogate and GM Cry proteins this review assesses these differences for their potential to undermine the reliability of risk assessments. Lastly, we make specific recommendations for improving risk assessments.

Doctors do cry.

Science.gov (United States)

Pruthi, Sonal; Goel, Ashish

2014-01-01

Physicians have tried to understand whether crying for a patient is a raw emotion that demonstrates their lack of control over themselves and the situation, or whether it is a sign of humanity and concern for one's fellow beings. Studies on medical students and doctors'narrations of times when they have shed tears over a patient's suffering or death have established beyond doubt that medical students and physicians are not immune to their patients'suffering and may cry when overwhelmed by stress and emotions. Even though humanity is the cornerstone of medicine, depersonalisation has somehow crept into the physician-patient relationship and crying is considered incompatible with the image of a good physician, who is supposed to be strong, confident and fully in charge. Thus, crying has been equated to weakness and at times, incompetence. This could be attributed to the fact that our medical curriculum has ingrained in us the belief that emotion clouds rationality and prevents us from being objective while making decisions regarding a patient's clinical progress. Our curriculum fails to teach us how to handle emotional situations, witness the dying process, communicate bad news, interact with the bereaved during the period of grief immediately following death, and reduce the professional stress involved in working with newly bereaved persons. Our training focuses on cure, amelioration of disease and the restoration of good health, with little emphasis on death, which is an absolute reality. It is crucial that medical educators take note of these lacunae in the curriculum. Physicians and teachers must recognise and accept the emotions that medical students experience in these situations, and teach them to offer their patients a sound blend of rationality and compassion with an attitude of humility.

Microarray detection and qPCR screening of potential biomarkers of Folsomia candida (Collembola: Isotomidae) exposed to Bt proteins (Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yuan, Yiyang; Krogh, Paul Henning; Bai, Xue

2014-01-01

The impact of Bt proteins on non-target arthropods is less understood than their effects on target organisms where the mechanism of toxic action is known. Here, we report the effects of two Bt proteins, Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac, on gene expression in the non-target collembolan, Folsomia candida....... A customized microarray was used to study gene expression in F. candida specimens that were exposed to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. All selected transcripts were subsequently confirmed by qPCR. Eleven transcripts were finally verified, and three of them were annotated. The responses of all eleven transcripts were...... tested in specimens for both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac at a series of concentrations. These transcripts were separated into two and three groups for Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac, respectively, depend on their expression levels. However, those eleven transcripts did not respond to the Bt proteins in Bt-rice residues....

Chloroplast localization of Cry1Ac and Cry2A protein- an alternative way of insect control in cotton

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adnan Muzaffar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Insects have developed resistance against Bt-transgenic plants. A multi-barrier defense system to weaken their resistance development is now necessary. One such approach is to use fusion protein genes to increase resistance in plants by introducing more Bt genes in combination. The locating the target protein at the point of insect attack will be more effective. It will not mean that the non-green parts of the plants are free of toxic proteins, but it will inflict more damage on the insects because they are at maximum activity in the green parts of plants. RESULTS: Successful cloning was achieved by the amplification of Cry2A, Cry1Ac, and a transit peptide. The appropriate polymerase chain reaction amplification and digested products confirmed that Cry1Ac and Cry2A were successfully cloned in the correct orientation. The appearance of a blue color in sections of infiltrated leaves after 72 hours confirmed the successful expression of the construct in the plant expression system. The overall transformation efficiency was calculated to be 0.7%. The amplification of Cry1Ac-Cry2A and Tp2 showed the successful integration of target genes into the genome of cotton plants. A maximum of 0.673 μg/g tissue of Cry1Ac and 0.568 μg/g tissue of Cry2A was observed in transgenic plants. We obtained 100% mortality in the target insect after 72 hours of feeding the 2nd instar larvae with transgenic plants. The appearance of a yellow color in transgenic cross sections, while absent in the control, through phase contrast microscopy indicated chloroplast localization of the target protein. CONCLUSION: Locating the target protein at the point of insect attack increases insect mortality when compared with that of other transgenic plants. The results of this study will also be of great value from a biosafety point of view.

Hyperactivity of the Arabidopsis cryptochrome (cry1) L407F mutant is caused by a structural alteration close to the cry1 ATP-binding site.

Science.gov (United States)

Orth, Christian; Niemann, Nils; Hennig, Lars; Essen, Lars-Oliver; Batschauer, Alfred

2017-08-04

Plant cryptochromes (cry) act as UV-A/blue light receptors. The prototype, Arabidopsis thaliana cry1, regulates several light responses during the life cycle, including de-etiolation, and is also involved in regulating flowering time. The cry1 photocycle is initiated by light absorption by its FAD chromophore, which is most likely fully oxidized (FAD ox ) in the dark state and photoreduced to the neutral flavin semiquinone (FADH°) in its lit state. Cryptochromes lack the DNA-repair activity of the closely related DNA photolyases, but they retain the ability to bind nucleotides such as ATP. The previously characterized L407F mutant allele of Arabidopsis cry1 is biologically hyperactive and seems to mimic the ATP-bound state of cry1, but the reason for this phenotypic change is unclear. Here, we show that cry1 L407F can still bind ATP, has less pronounced photoreduction and formation of FADH° than wild-type cry1, and has a dark reversion rate 1.7 times lower than that of the wild type. The hyperactivity of cry1 L407F is not related to a higher FADH° occupancy of the photoreceptor but is caused by a structural alteration close to the ATP-binding site. Moreover, we show that ATP binds to cry1 in both the dark and the lit states. This binding was not affected by cry1's C-terminal extension, which is important for signal transduction. Finally, we show that a recently discovered chemical inhibitor of cry1, 3-bromo-7-nitroindazole, competes for ATP binding and thereby diminishes FADH° formation, which demonstrates that both processes are important for cry1 function. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

A cry in the dark: depressed mothers show reduced neural activation to their own infant’s cry

Science.gov (United States)

Ablow, Jennifer C.

2012-01-01

This study investigated depression-related differences in primiparous mothers’ neural response to their own infant’s distress cues. Mothers diagnosed with major depressive disorder (n = 11) and comparison mothers with no diagnosable psychopathology (n = 11) were exposed to their own 18-months-old infant’s cry sound, as well as unfamiliar infant’s cry and control sound, during functional neuroimaging. Depressed mothers’ response to own infant cry greater than other sounds was compared to non-depressed mothers’ response in the whole brain [false discovery rate (FDR) corrected]. A continuous measure of self-reported depressive symptoms (CESD) was also tested as a predictor of maternal response. Non-depressed mothers activated to their own infant’s cry greater than control sound in a distributed network of para/limbic and prefrontal regions, whereas depressed mothers as a group failed to show activation. Non-depressed compared to depressed mothers showed significantly greater striatal (caudate, nucleus accumbens) and medial thalamic activation. Additionally, mothers with lower depressive symptoms activated more strongly in left orbitofrontal, dorsal anterior cingulate and medial superior frontal regions. Non-depressed compared to depressed mothers activated uniquely to own infant greater than other infant cry in occipital fusiform areas. Disturbance of these neural networks involved in emotional response and regulation may help to explain parenting deficits in depressed mothers. PMID:21208990

Cry, Baby, Cry: Expression of Distress As a Biomarker and Modulator in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Hiroi, Noboru; Scattoni, Maria Luisa

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is critical, because early intensive treatment greatly improves its prognosis. Methods: We review studies that examined vocalizations of infants with autism spectrum disorder and mouse models of autism spectrum disorder as a potential means to identify autism spectrum disorder before the symptomatic elements of autism spectrum disorder emerge. We further discuss clinical implications and future research priorities in the field. Results: Atypical early vocal calls (i.e., cry) may represent an early biomarker for autism spectrum disorder (or at least for a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder), and thus can assist with early detection. Moreover, cry is likely more than an early biomarker of autism spectrum disorder; it is also an early causative factor in the development of the disorder. Specifically, atypical crying, as recently suggested, might induce a “self-generated environmental factor” that in turn, influences the prognosis of the disorder. Because atypical crying in autism spectrum disorder is difficult to understand, it may have a negative impact on the quality of care by the caregiver (see graphical abstract). Conclusions: Evidence supports the hypothesis that atypical vocalization is an early, functionally integral component of autism spectrum disorder. PMID:28204487

Characterization of Asian Corn Borer Resistance to Bt Toxin Cry1Ie

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Yueqin Wang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available A strain of the Asian corn borer (ACB, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée, has evolved >800-fold resistance to Cry1Ie (ACB-IeR after 49 generations of selection. The inheritance pattern of resistance to Cry1Ie in ACB-IeR strain and its cross-resistance to other Bt toxins were determined through bioassay by exposing neonates from genetic-crosses to toxins incorporated into the diet. The response of progenies from reciprocal F1 crosses were similar (LC50s: 76.07 vs. 74.32 μg/g, which suggested the resistance was autosomal. The effective dominance (h decreased as concentration of Cry1Ie increased. h was nearly recessive or incompletely recessive on Cry1Ie maize leaf tissue (h = 0.02, but nearly dominant or incompletely dominant (h = 0.98 on Cry1Ie maize silk. Bioassay of the backcross suggested that the resistance was controlled by more than one locus. In addition, the resistant strain did not perform cross-resistance to Cry1Ab (0.8-fold, Cry1Ac (0.8-fold, Cry1F (0.9-fold, and Cry1Ah (1.0-fold. The present study not only offers the manifestation for resistance management, but also recommends that Cry1Ie will be an appropriate candidate for expression with Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1F, or Cry1Ah for the development of Bt maize.

Characterization of Asian Corn Borer Resistance to Bt Toxin Cry1Ie.

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Wang, Yueqin; Yang, Jing; Quan, Yudong; Wang, Zhenying; Cai, Wanzhi; He, Kanglai

2017-06-07

A strain of the Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée), has evolved >800-fold resistance to Cry1Ie (ACB-IeR) after 49 generations of selection. The inheritance pattern of resistance to Cry1Ie in ACB-IeR strain and its cross-resistance to other Bt toxins were determined through bioassay by exposing neonates from genetic-crosses to toxins incorporated into the diet. The response of progenies from reciprocal F₁ crosses were similar (LC 50 s: 76.07 vs. 74.32 μg/g), which suggested the resistance was autosomal. The effective dominance ( h ) decreased as concentration of Cry1Ie increased. h was nearly recessive or incompletely recessive on Cry1Ie maize leaf tissue ( h = 0.02), but nearly dominant or incompletely dominant ( h = 0.98) on Cry1Ie maize silk. Bioassay of the backcross suggested that the resistance was controlled by more than one locus. In addition, the resistant strain did not perform cross-resistance to Cry1Ab (0.8-fold), Cry1Ac (0.8-fold), Cry1F (0.9-fold), and Cry1Ah (1.0-fold). The present study not only offers the manifestation for resistance management, but also recommends that Cry1Ie will be an appropriate candidate for expression with Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1F, or Cry1Ah for the development of Bt maize.

Sex stereotypes influence adults' perception of babies' cries

OpenAIRE

Reby, David; Levréro, Florence; Gustafsson, Erik; Mathevon, Nicolas

2016-01-01

Background Despite widespread evidence that gender stereotypes influence human parental behavior, their potential effects on adults? perception of babies? cries have been overlooked. In particular, whether adult listeners overgeneralize the sex dimorphism that characterizes the voice of adult speakers (men are lower-pitched than women) to their perception of babies? cries has not been investigated. Methods We used playback experiments combining natural and re-synthesised cries of 3?month-old ...

Baseline sensitivity of maize borers in India to the Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal proteins Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2.

Science.gov (United States)

Jalali, Sushil K; Yadavalli, Lalitha; Ojha, Rakshit; Kumar, Pradyumn; Sulaikhabeevi, Suby B; Sharma, Reema; Nair, Rupa; Kadanur, Ravi C; Kamath, Subray P; Komarlingam, Mohan S

2015-08-01

Among the major pests of maize in India are two stem borers, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and Sesamia inferens (Walker), and an earworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner). As a pest control strategy, transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize hybrids are undergoing regulatory trials in India. We have determined the sensitivity of the target lepidopterans to the insecticidal Bt proteins expressed in Bt maize, as this determines product efficacy and the resistance management strategy to be adopted. Maize hybrids with event MON89034 express two insecticidal Bt proteins, Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2. Sensitivity profiles of 53 populations of C. partellus, 21 populations of S. inferens and 21 populations of H. armigera, collected between 2008 and 2013 from maize-growing areas in India, to Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 proteins were generated through dose-response assays. Cry1A.105 protein was the most effective to neonates of C. partellus (mean MIC90 range 0.30-1.0 µg mL(-1) ) and H. armigera (mean MIC90 range 0.71-8.22 µg mL(-1) ), whereas Cry2Ab2 (mean MIC90 range 0.65-1.70 µg mL(-1) ) was the most effective to S. inferens. Populations of C. partellus, S. inferens and H. armigera were susceptible to the Bt proteins Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2. The Bt sensitivity data will serve as precommercialisation benchmarks for resistance monitoring purposes. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Nitrogen Rate Effects on Cry3Bb1 and Cry3Bb1 + Cry34/35Ab1 Expression in Transgenic Corn Roots, Resulting Root Injury, and Corn Rootworm Beetle Emergence.

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Leaf, T M; Ostlie, K R

2017-06-01

Nitrogen (N) application rates have been recommended historically for maximum economic yield of corn (Zea mays L.), but not for optimal expression or impacts of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner) Cry protein(s) on target insects. This study explored the need to adjust N rates to optimize expression of corn rootworm-active Bt (Bt-RW) protein(s) in a single and a pyramided trait hybrid and resulting impacts on beetle emergence and root injury, under field conditions. The experiment featured a factorial treatment arrangement in a split-plot randomized complete block design with six N rates as the main plots and three hybrids (MON88017 expressing Cry3Bb1, MON88017 x DAS-59122 expressing Cry3Bb1 + Cry34/35Ab1, and a non-Bt-RW hybrid) as the subplots. Corn roots were sampled at the beginning of, and after, peak larval feeding to determine Bt-expression levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Beetles were collected every 2-3 d during emergence using cut-plant emergence cages. Cry3Bb1 expression was significantly reduced when little or no N was applied. Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 expression was highly variable and unaffected by N rate. Beetle emergence increased with N rate in the non-Bt-RW hybrid while root injury declined. Provided Bt-RW hybrids had sufficient applied N, root injury was relatively low. Results indicate that N management could affect Bt-RW expression and success of insect resistance management plans provided N is applied at rates that enhance production of susceptible beetles emerging from the non-Bt-RW (refuge) hybrid, and achieve optimal expression and efficacy of Bt traits. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Uniform Orientation of Biotinylated Nanobody as an Affinity Binder for Detection of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1Ac Toxin

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Li, Min; Zhu, Min; Zhang, Cunzheng; Liu, Xianjin; Wan, Yakun

2014-01-01

Nanobodies are the smallest natural fragments with useful properties such as high affinity, distinct paratope and high stability, which make them an ideal tool for detecting target antigens. In this study, we generated and characterized nanobodies against the Cry1Ac toxin and applied them in a biotin-streptavidin based double antibodies (nanobodies) sandwich-ELISA (DAS-ELISA) assay. After immunizing a camel with soluble Cry1Ac toxin, a phage displayed library was constructed to generate Nbs against the Cry1Ac toxin. Through successive rounds of affinity bio-panning, four nanobodies with greatest diversity in CDR3 sequences were obtained. After affinity determination and conjugating to HRP, two nanobodies with high affinity which can recognize different epitopes of the same antigen (Cry1Ac) were selected as capture antibody (Nb61) and detection antibody (Nb44). The capture antibody (Nb61) was biotinylated in vivo for directional immobilization on wells coated with streptavidin matrix. Both results of specificity analysis and thermal stability determination add support for reliability of the following DAS-ELISA with a minimum detection limit of 0.005 μg·mL−1 and a working range 0.010–1.0 μg·mL−1. The linear curve displayed an acceptable correlation coefficient of 0.9976. These results indicated promising applications of nanobodies for detection of Cry1Ac toxin with biotin-streptavidin based DAS-ELISA system. PMID:25474492

Uniform Orientation of Biotinylated Nanobody as an Affinity Binder for Detection of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt Cry1Ac Toxin

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Min Li

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Nanobodies are the smallest natural fragments with useful properties such as high affinity, distinct paratope and high stability, which make them an ideal tool for detecting target antigens. In this study, we generated and characterized nanobodies against the Cry1Ac toxin and applied them in a biotin-streptavidin based double antibodies (nanobodies sandwich-ELISA (DAS-ELISA assay. After immunizing a camel with soluble Cry1Ac toxin, a phage displayed library was constructed to generate Nbs against the Cry1Ac toxin. Through successive rounds of affinity bio-panning, four nanobodies with greatest diversity in CDR3 sequences were obtained. After affinity determination and conjugating to HRP, two nanobodies with high affinity which can recognize different epitopes of the same antigen (Cry1Ac were selected as capture antibody (Nb61 and detection antibody (Nb44. The capture antibody (Nb61 was biotinylated in vivo for directional immobilization on wells coated with streptavidin matrix. Both results of specificity analysis and thermal stability determination add support for reliability of the following DAS-ELISA with a minimum detection limit of 0.005 μg·mL−1 and a working range 0.010–1.0 μg·mL−1. The linear curve displayed an acceptable correlation coefficient of 0.9976. These results indicated promising applications of nanobodies for detection of Cry1Ac toxin with biotin-streptavidin based DAS-ELISA system.

Crying Baby: What to Do When Your Newborn Cries

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... a crying baby — and renewing your ability to handle the tears. By Mayo Clinic Staff The dream: Your baby sleeps through the night after just a few weeks, gurgles happily while you run errands and fusses only when hunger strikes. The reality: Your baby's favorite playtime is after ...

The excessively crying infant : etiology and treatment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akhnikh, S.; Engelberts, A.C.; Sleuwen, B.E. van; Hoir, M.P. L’; Benninga, M.A.

2014-01-01

Excessive crying, often described as infantile colic, is the cause of 10% to 20% of all early pediatrician visits of infants aged 2 weeks to 3 months. Although usually benign and selflimiting, excessive crying is associated with parental exhaustion and stress. However, and underlying organic cause

Exposure to tobacco smoke and infant crying

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reijneveld, S.A.; Lanting, C.I.; Crone, M.R.; Wouwe, J.P. van

2005-01-01

Aim: To examine the association of excessive infant crying with maternal smoking during and after pregnancy, paternal smoking, and smoking by other people in the living environment of the infant. Methods: We collected data on infant crying and smoking in a Dutch national sample of 5845 infants aged

Exposure to tobacco smoke and infant crying

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reijneveld, SA; Lanting, Caren; Crone, MR; Van Wouwe, JP

Aim: To examine the association of excessive infant crying with maternal smoking during and after pregnancy, paternal smoking, and smoking by other people in the living environment of the infant. Methods: We collected data on infant crying and smoking in a Dutch national sample of 5845 infants aged

Crying in infancy

Science.gov (United States)

... your child. As long as caregivers are taking safety precautions and comforting the baby when necessary, you may be sure that your child is well cared for during your break. Call your provider immediately if your baby's crying ...

Excessive crying in infants with regulatory disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Maldonado-Duran, M; Sauceda-Garcia, J M

1996-01-01

The authors point out a correlation between regulatory disorders in infants and the problem of excessive crying. The literature describes other behavioral problems involving excessive crying in very young children, but with little emphasis on this association. The recognition and diagnosis of regulatory disorders in infants who cry excessively can help practitioners design appropriate treatment interventions. Understanding these conditions can also help parents tailor their caretaking style, so that they provide appropriate soothing and stimulation to their child. In so doing, they will be better able to develop and preserve a satisfactory parent-child relationship, as well as to maintain their own sense of competence and self-esteem as parents.

A comprehensive assessment of the effects of Bt cotton on Coleomegilla maculata demonstrates no detrimental effects by Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab.

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Yunhe Li

Full Text Available The ladybird beetle, Coleomegilla maculata (DeGeer, is a common and abundant predator in many cropping systems. Its larvae and adults are predaceous, feeding on aphids, thrips, lepidopteran larvae and plant tissues, such as pollen. Therefore, this species is exposed to insecticidal proteins expressed in insect-resistant, genetically engineered cotton expressing Cry proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt. A tritrophic bioassay was conduced to evaluate the potential impact of Cry2Ab- and Cry1Ac-expressing cotton on fitness parameters of C. maculata using Bt-susceptible and -resistant larvae of Trichoplusia ni as prey. Coleomegilla maculata survival, development time, adult weight and fecundity were not different when they were fed with resistant T. ni larvae reared on either Bt or control cotton. To ensure that C. maculata were not sensitive to the tested Cry toxins independent from the plant background and to add certainty to the hazard assessment, C. maculata larvae were fed artificial diet incorporated with Cry2Ab, Cry1Ac or both at >10 times higher concentrations than in cotton tissue. Artificial diet containing E-64 was included as a positive control. No differences were detected in any life-table parameters between Cry protein-containing diet treatments and the control diet. In contrast, larvae of C. maculata fed the E-64 could not develop to the pupal stage and the 7-d larval weight was significantly negatively affected. In both feeding assays, the stability and bioactivity of Cry proteins in the food sources were confirmed by ELISA and sensitive-insect bioassays. Our results show that C. maculata is not affected by Bt cotton and is not sensitive to Cry2Ab and Cry1Ac at concentrations exceeding the levels in Bt cotton, thus demonstrating that Bt cotton will pose a negligible risk to C. maculata. More importantly, this study demonstrates a comprehensive system for assessing the risk of genetically modified plants on non

Strategies of day care center educators in dealing crying babies

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Lígia Ebner Melchiori

2004-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to explore the views of day care center educators on how they act when babies cry, if they are able to identify the causes of crying and what are the subjection reasons that make them take action or not. Twenty-one caretakers were interviewed about each of the ninety babies, aged 4 to 24 months, under their care, using a semi-structured guide. The results show that overall the proportion of babies that do not cry significantly increases with age. However, crying for primary needs, in the view of the educators, tends to decrease as the average age increases, whilst crying for secondary needs tends to increase. Most of the time, the educators try to eliminate the needs that provoke crying, giving priority to the baby’s welfare. The article discusses the caretakers’ educative practices with data found in literature. Keywords: day care; educative practices; educators.

Crying in Context: Understanding Associations With Interpersonal Dependency and Social Support

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Katherine L. Fiori

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This study examines the associations among interpersonal dependency, social support, and crying proneness, since crying is a behavior that is particularly relevant to the affiliative interpersonal goals characterizing maladaptive forms of dependency (Keltner & Kring, 1998. Data were collected from 305 first-year university students (M age = 18 years. A series of hierarchical linear regressions, controlling for gender, commuting status, romantic relationship status, stress, loneliness, and depressive symptoms, partially supported our hypotheses. That is, we found that a measure of maladaptive dependency (destructive overdependence, or DO and crying proneness were positively correlated, and that DO moderated the associations between social support and crying proneness. Specifically, we found that social support and crying were more closely positively associated among individuals high on DO compared to individuals low on DO. Our findings imply that interpersonal dependency may be an important factor in understanding individual differences in crying, and in determining whether crying is a successful elicitor of social support.

Sympathy Crying: Insights from Infrared Thermal Imaging on a Female Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Paul; Terry, Samantha; Baker, Marc; Gallese, Vittorio; Reddy, Vasudevi

2016-01-01

Sympathy crying is an odd and complex mixture of physiological and emotional phenomena. Standard psychophysiological theories of emotion cannot attribute crying to a single subdivision of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and disagreement exists regarding the emotional origin of sympathy crying. The current experiment examines sympathy crying using functional thermal infrared imaging (FTII), a novel contactless measure of ANS activity. To induce crying female participants were given the choice to decide which film they wanted to cry to. Compared to baseline, temperature started increasing on the forehead, the peri-orbital region, the cheeks and the chin before crying and reached even higher temperatures during crying. The maxillary area showed the opposite pattern and a gradual temperature decrease was observed compared to baseline as a result of emotional sweating. The results suggest that tears of sympathy are part of a complex autonomic interaction between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems, with the latter preceding the former. The emotional origin of the phenomenon seems to derive from subjective internal factors that relate to one’s personal experiences and attributes with tears arising in the form of catharses or as part of shared sadness. PMID:27716801

Strategies of day care center educators in dealing crying babies

OpenAIRE

Lígia Ebner Melchiori; Zélia Maria Mendes Biasoli Alves

2004-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the views of day care center educators on how they act when babies cry, if they are able to identify the causes of crying and what are the subjection reasons that make them take action or not. Twenty-one caretakers were interviewed about each of the ninety babies, aged 4 to 24 months, under their care, using a semi-structured guide. The results show that overall the proportion of babies that do not cry significantly increases with age. However, crying f...

Identification of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1AbMod binding-proteins from Spodoptera frugiperda.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez de Castro, Diana L; García-Gómez, Blanca I; Gómez, Isabel; Bravo, Alejandra; Soberón, Mario

2017-12-01

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins are currently used for pest control in transgenic crops but evolution of resistance by the insect pests threatens the use of this technology. The Cry1AbMod toxin was engineered to lack the alpha helix-1 of the parental Cry1Ab toxin and was shown to counter resistance to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins in different insect species including the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda. In addition, Cry1AbMod showed enhanced toxicity to Cry1Ab-susceptible S. frugiperda populations. To gain insights into the mechanisms of this Cry1AbMod-enhanced toxicity, we isolated the Cry1AbMod toxin binding proteins from S. frugiperda brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV), which were identified by pull-down assay and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The LC-MS/MS results indicated that Cry1AbMod toxin could bind to four classes of aminopeptidase (N1, N3, N4 y N5) and actin, with the highest amino acid sequence coverage acquired for APN 1 and APN4. In addition to these proteins, we found other proteins not previously described as Cry toxin binding proteins. This is the first report that suggests the interaction between Cry1AbMod and APN in S. frugiperda. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stable integration and expression of a cry1Ia gene conferring resistance to fall armyworm and boll weevil in cotton plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Carliane Rc; Monnerat, Rose; Lima, Liziane M; Martins, Érica S; Melo Filho, Péricles A; Pinheiro, Morganna Pn; Santos, Roseane C

2016-08-01

Boll weevil is a serious pest of cotton crop. Effective control involves applications of chemical insecticides, increasing the cost of production and environmental pollution. The current genetically modified Bt crops have allowed great benefits to farmers but show activity limited to lepidopteran pests. This work reports on procedures adopted for integration and expression of a cry transgene conferring resistance to boll weevil and fall armyworm by using molecular tools. Four Brazilian cotton cultivars were microinjected with a minimal linear cassette generating 1248 putative lines. Complete gene integration was found in only one line (T0-34) containing one copy of cry1Ia detected by Southern blot. Protein was expressed in high concentration at 45 days after emergence (dae), decreasing by approximately 50% at 90 dae. Toxicity of the cry protein was demonstrated in feeding bioassays revealing 56.7% mortality to boll weevil fed buds and 88.1% mortality to fall armyworm fed leaves. A binding of cry1Ia antibody was found in the midgut of boll weevils fed on T0-34 buds in an immunodetection assay. The gene introduced into plants confers resistance to boll weevil and fall armyworm. Transmission of the transgene occurred normally to T1 progeny. All plants showed phenotypically normal growth, with fertile flowers and abundant seeds. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Baby Cry Detection in Domestic Environment using Deep Learning

OpenAIRE

Ijzerman, Hans

2017-01-01

Automatic detection of a baby cry in audio signals is an essential step in applications such as remote baby monitoring. It is also important for researchers, who study the relation between baby cry patterns and various health or developmental parameters. In this paper, we propose two machine-learning algorithms for automatic detection of baby cry in audio recordings. The first algorithm is a low-complexity logistic regression classifier, used as a reference. To train this classifier, we extra...

Excessive crying: behavioral and emotional regulation disorder in infancy

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Joon Sik Kim

2011-06-01

Full Text Available In the pediatric literature, excessive crying has been reported solely in association with 3-month colic and is described, if at all, as unexplained crying and fussing during the first 3 months of life. The bouts of crying are generally thought to be triggered by abdominal colic (over-inflation of the still immature gastrointestinal tract, and treatment is prescribed accordingly. According to this line of reasoning, excessive crying is harmless and resolves by the end of the third month without long-term consequences. However, there is evidence that it may cause tremendous distress in the mother&#8211;infant relationship, and can lead to disorders of behavioral and emotional regulation at the toddler stage (such as sleep and feeding disorders, chronic fussiness, excessive clinginess, and temper tantrums. Early treatment of excessive crying focuses on parent&#8211;infant communication, and parent-infant interaction in the context of soothing and settling the infant to sleep is a promising approach that may prevent later behavioral and emotional disorders in infancy.

PRKCDBP (CAVIN3) and CRY2 associate with major depressive disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovanen, Leena; Donner, Kati; Kaunisto, Mari; Partonen, Timo

2017-01-01

Dysfunctions in the intrinsic clocks are suggested in patients with depressive disorders. The cryptochrome circadian clocks 1 and 2 (CRY1 and CRY2) proteins modulate circadian rhythms in a cell and influence emotional reactions and mood in an individual. The protein kinase C delta binding protein (PRKCDBP, or CAVIN3), similar to the serum deprivation response protein (SDPR, or CAVIN2), reduces metabolic stability of the PER2-CRY2 transcription factor complex that plays a role in the circadian rhythm synchronization. Our aim was to study SDPR, PRKCDBP, CRY1 and CRY2 genetic variants in depressive disorders. The sample included 5910 Finnish individuals assessed with the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI) in year 2000. In year 2011, 3424 individuals were assessed again. After genotype quality control, there were 383 subjects with major depressive disorder, 166 with dysthymia, and 479 with depressive disorders (major depressive disorder, dysthymia or both), and 4154 healthy controls. A total of 48 single-nucleotide polymorphisms from SDPR, PRKCDBP, CRY1 and CRY2 genes were analyzed using logistic regression models controlling for age and gender. The earlier reported association of CRY2 variants with dysthymia was confirmed and extended to major depressive disorder (qdepressive disorders (q=0.02) and with major depressive disorder in specific (q=0.007) were found. The number of cases was moderate and coverage of PRKCDB was limited. CRY2 and PRKCDBP variants may be risk factors of major depressive disorder and provide information for diagnosis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KPNB1 mediates PER/CRY nuclear translocation and circadian clock function.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yool; Jang, A Reum; Francey, Lauren J; Sehgal, Amita; Hogenesch, John B

2015-08-29

Regulated nuclear translocation of the PER/CRY repressor complex is critical for negative feedback regulation of the circadian clock of mammals. However, the precise molecular mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we report that KPNB1, an importin β component of the ncRNA repressor of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NRON) ribonucleoprotein complex, mediates nuclear translocation and repressor function of the PER/CRY complex. RNAi depletion of KPNB1 traps the PER/CRY complex in the cytoplasm by blocking nuclear entry of PER proteins in human cells. KPNB1 interacts mainly with PER proteins and directs PER/CRY nuclear transport in a circadian fashion. Interestingly, KPNB1 regulates the PER/CRY nuclear entry and repressor function, independently of importin α, its classical partner. Moreover, inducible inhibition of the conserved Drosophila importin β in lateral neurons abolishes behavioral rhythms in flies. Collectively, these data show that KPNB1 is required for timely nuclear import of PER/CRY in the negative feedback regulation of the circadian clock.

Individual recognition of human infants on the basis of cries alone.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, J A; Gustafson, G E

1983-11-01

Human parents were asked to identify their infants on the basis of tape-recorded cries that they had not previously heard. The cries of twenty 30-day-old infants were recorded just prior to a feeding, then rerecorded onto a test tape containing cries from three other infants. Eighty percent of mothers were able to recognize their infants' cries, as were 45% of fathers. An additional 140 adults (non-parents) were tested in order to determine if the process of dubbing cries onto test tapes had left extraneous auditory cues to infants' identities and if the foil infants were equally discriminable. The results indicated that parents' recognition was not based on extraneous cues and that, overall, the foils were appropriate distractors in the parents' task. Thus, the majority of parents can recognize their 30-day-old infants on the sole basis of acoustic cues contained in the infants' cries. The acoustic features that underlie this recognition are now being investigated.

Cri du chat syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

... the ear Slow or incomplete development of motor skills Small head ( microcephaly ) Small jaw ( micrognathia ) Wide-set ... of children with this syndrome learn enough verbal skills to communicate. The cat-like cry becomes less ...

The Compositional Rule of Inference and Zadeh’s Extension Principle for Non-normal Fuzzy Sets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Broek, P.M.; Noppen, J.A.R.; Castillo, Oscar

2007-01-01

Defining the standard Boolean operations on fuzzy Booleans with the compositional rule of inference (CRI) or Zadeh's extension principle gives counter-intuitive results. We introduce and motivate a slight adaptation of the CRI, which only effects the results for non-normal fuzzy sets. It is shown

Excessive crying in infants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Halpern

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: Review the literature on excessive crying in young infants, also known as infantile colic, and its effects on family dynamics, its pathophysiology, and new treatment interventions. Data source: The literature review was carried out in the Medline, PsycINFO, LILACS, SciELO, and Cochrane Library databases, using the terms “excessive crying,” and “infantile colic,” as well technical books and technical reports on child development, selecting the most relevant articles on the subject, with emphasis on recent literature published in the last five years. Summary of the findings: Excessive crying is a common symptom in the first 3 months of life and leads to approximately 20% of pediatric consultations. Different prevalence rates of excessive crying have been reported, ranging from 14% to approximately 30% in infants up to 3 months of age. There is evidence linking excessive crying early in life with adaptive problems in the preschool period, as well as with early weaning, maternal anxiety and depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other behavioral problems. Several pathophysiological mechanisms can explain these symptoms, such as circadian rhythm alterations, central nervous system immaturity, and alterations in the intestinal microbiota. Several treatment alternatives have been described, including behavioral measures, manipulation techniques, use of medication, and acupuncture, with controversial results and effectiveness. Conclusion: Excessive crying in the early months is a prevalent symptom; the pediatrician's attention is necessary to understand and adequately manage the problem and offer support to exhausted parents. The prescription of drugs of questionable action and with potential side effects is not a recommended treatment, except in extreme situations. The effectiveness of dietary treatments and use of probiotics still require confirmation. There is incomplete evidence regarding alternative treatments

Agronomic performance, chromosomal stability and resistance to velvetbean caterpillar of transgenic soybean expressing cry1Ac gene Performance agronômica, estabilidade cromossômica e resistência à lagarta-da-soja em soja transgênica que expressa o gene cry1Ac

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Schenkel Homrich

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to analyze the agronomic performance and chromosomal stability of transgenic homozygous progenies of soybean [Glycine max (L. Merrill.], and to confirm the resistance of these plants against Anticarsia gemmatalis. Eleven progenies expressing cry1Ac, hpt and gusA genes were evaluated for agronomic characteristics in relation to the nontransformed parent IAS 5 cultivar. Cytogenetical analysis was carried out on transgenic and nontransgenic plants. Two out of the 11 transgenic progenies were also evaluated, in vitro and in vivo, for resistance to A. gemmatalis. Two negative controls were used in resistance bioassays: a transgenic homozygous line, containing only the gusA reporter gene, and nontransgenic 'IAS 5' plants. The presence of cry1Ac transgene affected neither the development nor the yield of plants. Cytogenetical analysis showed that transgenic plants presented normal karyotype. In detached-leaf bioassay, cry1Ac plants exhibited complete efficacy against A. gemmatalis, whereas negative controls were significantly damaged. Whole-plant feeding assay confirmed a very high protection of cry1Ac against velvetbean caterpillar, while nontransgenic 'IAS 5' plants and homozygous gusA line exhibited 56.5 and 71.5% defoliation, respectively. The presence of cry1Ac transgene doesn't affect the majority of agronomic traits (including yield of soybean and grants high protection against A. gemmatalis.O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a performance agronômica e a estabilidade cromossômica de progênies transgênicas homozigotas de soja [Glycine max (L. Merrill.], e confirmar a resistência dessas plantas a Anticarsia gemmatalis. Onze progênies com expressão dos genes cry1Ac, hpt e gusA foram avaliadas quanto às características agronômicas, em relação à cultivar parental IAS 5 não transformada. Análises citogenéticas foram realizadas em plantas transgênicas e não transgênicas. Duas das 11 prog

The New Transgenic cry1Ab/vip3H Rice Poses No Unexpected Ecological Risks to Arthropod Communities in Rice Agroecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zengbin; Dang, Cong; Han, Naishun; Shen, Zhicheng; Peng, Yufa; Stanley, David; Ye, Gongyin

2016-04-01

The ecological risks to nontarget organisms should be rigorously assessed before Bt crops are released. Here, the impacts of a new Cry1Ab/Vip3H rice line on arthropod communities in rice agroecosystems were evaluated across 3 yr. Arthropods collected via vacuum were sorted into five guilds. The abundance and proportion of each guild as well as community-level parameters were determined in Cry1Ab/Vip3H and control rice fields. Changes in arthropod species assemblage over sampling dates were investigated by principal response curves (PRCs). Cry1Ab/Vip3H rice did not exert significant impacts on the seasonal density and proportion of each guild, except parasitoids. Detritivore seasonal density, but not its relative abundance, was significantly affected by Cry1Ab/Vip3H rice. Four community indices (species richness S, Shannon-Wiener index H', Simpson index D, and evenness index J') were similar between rice types. PRCs revealed a slight community difference between rice types in the past two tested years, with rice types accounting for 1.0-3.5% of the variance among arthropod communities. However, sampling dates explain 32.1-67.6% for these community differences. Of the 46 taxa with higher species weights, 26.1% of the taxa were significantly different, including seven taxa with higher abundance and five with lower density in Cry1Ab/Vip3H rice fields. These differences may be attributed to change in abundance of prey or hosts but not to direct effects of Bt proteins. We infer that this new Cry1Ab/Vip3H rice line poses no unintended ecological risks to the arthropod community. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Transformation and evaluation of Cry1Ac+Cry2A and GTGene in Gossypium hirsutum L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agung Nugroho Puspito

2015-11-01

Full Text Available More than 50 countries around the globe cultivate cotton on a large scale. It is a major cash crop of Pakistan and is considered white gold because it is highly important to the economy of Pakistan. In addition to its importance, cotton cultivation faces several problems, such as insect pests, weeds, and viruses. In the past, insects have been controlled by insecticides, but this method caused a severe loss to the economy. However, conventional breeding methods have provided considerable breakthroughs in the improvement of cotton, but it also has several limitations. In comparison with conventional methods, biotechnology has the potential to create genetically modified plants that are environmentally safe and economically viable. In this study, a local cotton variety VH 289 was transformed with two Bt genes (Cry1Ac and Cry2A and a herbicide resistant gene (cp4 EPSPS using the Agrobacterium mediated transformation method. The constitutive CaMV 35S promoter was attached to the genes taken from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt and to an herbicide resistant gene during cloning, and this promoter was used for the expression of the genes in cotton plants. This construct was used to develop the Glyphosate Tolerance Gene (GTGene for herbicide tolerance and insecticidal gene (Cry1Ac and Cry2A for insect tolerance in the cotton variety VH 289. The transgenic cotton variety performed 85% better compared with the non-transgenic variety. The study results suggest that farmers should use the transgenic cotton variety for general cultivation to improve the production of cotton.

Investigation of the Cry4B-prohibitin interaction in Aedes aegypti cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuadkitkan, Atichat; Smith, Duncan R; Berry, Colin

2012-10-01

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces insecticidal toxins active against insects. Cry4B, one of the major insecticidal toxins produced by Bt subsp. israelensis, is highly toxic to mosquitoes in the genus Aedes: the major vectors of dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Previous work has shown that Cry4B binds to several mid-gut membrane proteins in Aedes aegypti larvae including prohibitin, a protein recently identified as a receptor that also mediates entry of dengue virus into Aedes cells. This study confirms the interaction between Cry4B and prohibitin by co-immunoprecipitation analysis and demonstrates colocalization of prohibitin and Cry4B by confocal microscopy. While activated Cry4B toxin showed high larvicidal activity, it was not cytotoxic to two Aedes cell lines, allowing determination of its effect on dengue virus infectivity in the absence of Cry4B-induced cell lysis. Pre-exposure of Aedes cells to Cry4B resulted in a significant reduction in the number of infected cells compared to untreated cells.

M-l Swaco opens industry's only dedicated CRI training centre

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robertson, John; Wilkinson, Tony; Minton, Reg

2005-07-01

Recognising the growing attraction of cuttings re-injection (CRI) as a viable drilling waste management option in the North Sea and other zero discharge environments, M-I Swaco has officially unveiled the industry's only dedicated CRI training center in Aberdeen. Located in Aliens Industrial Estate, the all-inclusive facility includes two training rooms, two project specific CRI training simulators, one CRI full-scale slurrification system, one Cleancut cuttings collection and transport system, a vacuum cuttings collection system and a 518 Centrifuge. The center, which can accommodate up to 12 students at one time, is fully equipped to deliver both theoretical and practical hands-on training in all aspects of the CRI process. Training at the center is competency-based and follows ISO 9001 and ISO 10015 requirements. The training centre is a natural extension of the newly established M-I Swaco CRI Assurance Program, or CAP the core of which is a geomechanics team organised to provide integrated CRI services that include engineering, monitoring and assurance capabilities for operators worldwide.

Phage-Mediated Immuno-PCR for Ultrasensitive Detection of Cry1Ac Protein Based on Nanobody.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuanyuan; Jiang, Dongjian; Lu, Xin; Wang, Wei; Xu, Yang; He, Qinghua

2016-10-11

The widespread use of Cry proteins in transgenic plants for insect control has raised concerns about the environment and food safety in the public. An effective detection method for introduced Cry proteins is of significance for environmental risk assessment and product quality control. This paper describes a novel phage mediated immuno-PCR (iPCR) for the ultrasensitive determination of Cry proteins based on nanobodies. Three nanobodies against Cry1Ac protein were obtained from a naı̈ve phage displayed nanobody library without animal immunization process and were applied to the iPCR assay for Cry1Ac. The phage-mediated iPCR for Cry1Ac based on nanobodies showed a dynamic range of 0.001-100 ng/mL and a limit detection of 0.1 pg/mL. Specific measurement of this established method was performed by testing cross-reativity of other Cry1Ac analogues, and the result showed negligible cross-reactivity with other test Cry proteins (Cry1Ab, Cry1F, Cry3B). Furthermore, the phage-mediated iPCR based on nanobody should be easily applicable to the detection of many other Cry proteins.

Familial factors responsible for persistent crying-induced asthma: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstein, A G

1987-10-01

Crying behavior of the asthmatic child may induce wheezing symptoms. This may be a clinical problem for families with asthmatic children who exhibit frequent and persistent crying behavior. This case report identifies behaviors by the child and parents that may be responsible for continual crying. Child factors include (1) "spoiled" personality, (2) poor self-image, (3) biologic sensitivity to foods, medication, and environmental allergens producing irritability. Parental factors include poor disciplinary practices secondary to (1) disrupted home life, (2) guilt, and (3) overprotective behavior. Identification of these factors may be helpful in establishing clinical management strategies to reduce crying-induced asthma.

Transgressors, victims, and cry babies: is basic moral judgment spared in autism?

Science.gov (United States)

Leslie, Alan M; Mallon, Ron; DiCorcia, Jennifer A

2006-01-01

Human social intelligence comprises a wide range of complex cognitive and affective processes that appear to be selectively impaired in autistic spectrum disorders. The study of these neuro-developmental disorders and the study of canonical social intelligence have advanced rapidly over the last twenty years by investigating the two together. Specifically, studies of autism have provided important insights into the nature of "theory of mind" abilities, their normal development and underlying neural systems. At the same time, the idea of impaired development of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying "theory of mind" has shed new light on the nature of autistic disorders. This general approach is not restricted to the study of impairments but extends to mapping areas of social intelligence that are spared in autism. Here we investigate basic moral judgment and find that it appears to be substantially intact in children with autism who are severely impaired in "theory of mind". At the same time, we extend studies of moral reasoning in normal development by way of a new control task, the "cry baby" task. Cry baby scenarios, in which the distress of the victim is "unreasonable" or "unjustified," do not elicit moral condemnation from normally developing preschoolers or from children with autism. Judgments of moral transgressions in which the victim displays distress are therefore not likely the result of a simple automatic reaction to distress and more likely involve moral reasoning. Mapping the cognitive comorbidity patterns of disordered development must encompass both impairments and sparings because both are needed to make sense of the neural and genetic levels.

Field-Evolved Mode 1 Resistance of the Fall Armyworm to Transgenic Cry1Fa-Expressing Corn Associated with Reduced Cry1Fa Toxin Binding and Midgut Alkaline Phosphatase Expression

Science.gov (United States)

Jakka, Siva R. K.; Gong, Liang; Hasler, James; Banerjee, Rahul; Sheets, Joel J.; Narva, Kenneth; Blanco, Carlos A.

2015-01-01

Insecticidal protein genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are expressed by transgenic Bt crops (Bt crops) for effective and environmentally safe pest control. The development of resistance to these insecticidal proteins is considered the most serious threat to the sustainability of Bt crops. Resistance in fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) populations from Puerto Rico to transgenic corn producing the Cry1Fa insecticidal protein resulted, for the first time in the United States, in practical resistance, and Bt corn was withdrawn from the local market. In this study, we used a field-collected Cry1Fa corn-resistant strain (456) of S. frugiperda to identify the mechanism responsible for field-evolved resistance. Binding assays detected reduced Cry1Fa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac but not Cry1Ca toxin binding to midgut brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) from the larvae of strain 456 compared to that from the larvae of a susceptible (Ben) strain. This binding phenotype is descriptive of the mode 1 type of resistance to Bt toxins. A comparison of the transcript levels for putative Cry1 toxin receptor genes identified a significant downregulation (>90%) of a membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase (ALP), which translated to reduced ALP protein levels and a 75% reduction in ALP activity in BBMV from 456 compared to that of Ben larvae. We cloned and heterologously expressed this ALP from susceptible S. frugiperda larvae and demonstrated that it specifically binds with Cry1Fa toxin. This study provides a thorough mechanistic description of field-evolved resistance to a transgenic Bt crop and supports an association between resistance and reduced Cry1Fa toxin binding and levels of a putative Cry1Fa toxin receptor, ALP, in the midguts of S. frugiperda larvae. PMID:26637593

Neonatal facial coding system scores and spectral characteristics of infant crying during newborn circumcision.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehr, Victoria Tutag; Zeskind, Philip Sanford; Ofenstein, John P; Cepeda, Eugene; Warrier, Indulekha; Aranda, J V

2007-06-01

To determine the relations between Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) scores and measures of infant crying during newborn circumcision. Video and audio recordings were made of infant facial activity and cry sounds, respectively, during the lysis phase of circumcisions of 44 healthy term males (analgesia before circumcision. NFCS scores were determined by blinded assistant from video recordings of facial activity. Measures of infant crying were determined via spectrum analysis of audio recordings by a blinded, independent researcher. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to examine relationship between NFCS scores and measures of crying. Principal component factor analysis detected dimensions underlying related measures of crying. Factor scores from a factor analysis were used in stepwise linear regression to predict NFCS scores. Higher NFCS scores correlated with lower peak fundamental frequency of crying (P<0.01) and with higher amplitudes of crying at peak fundamental frequency and dominant frequency and in overall cry sample (P<0.01). The factor analysis showed 3 significant orthogonal dimensions underlying measures of crying: Power and Velocity (amplitude and rapidity), Pitch of Crying (frequency characteristics), and Infant Arousal (turbulence and intensity) accounting for 42.3%, 17.8%, and 14.6% of variance, respectively. A regression analysis showed all 3 factor scores accounted for significant and separate portions of variance (P<0.001). The best predictor of NFCS score was Power and Velocity (P<0.002), followed by Infant Arousal (P<0.002), and Pitch of Crying (P<0.007). These data provide some of the first known evidence linking specific measures of infant crying with an independent, validated measure of pain.

40 CFR 174.505 - Bacillus thuringiensis modified Cry3A protein (mCry3A) in corn; exemption from the requirement of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Bacillus thuringiensis modified Cry3A protein (mCry3A) in corn; exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. 174.505 Section 174.505 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) PESTICIDE PROGRAMS PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR PLANT-INCORPORATED PROTECTANTS...

Intended Sensitive and Harsh Caregiving Responses to Infant Crying: The Role of Cry Pitch and Perceived Urgency in an Adult Twin Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Out, Dorothee; Pieper, Suzanne; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Zeskind, Philip Sanford; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.

2010-01-01

Objective: To examine the underlying mechanisms of adults' intended caregiving responses to cry sounds in a behavioral genetic design and to investigate the role of cry pitch and perceived urgency in sensitive and harsh caregiving responses. Methods: The sample consisted of 184 adult twin pairs (18-69 years), including males and females, parents…

Identificación de los Genes cry en Cepas Mexicanas de Bacillus thuringiensis con Potencial Insecticida Identificación de los Genes cry en Cepas Mexicanas de Bacillus thuringiensis con Potencial Insecticida

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. E. Ibarra

2012-02-01

Full Text Available En el presente estudio se determinó la morfología y la composición proteica de los cristales de las cepas LBIT-499 y LBIT-504 de B. thuringiensis, ambas nativas de Guanajuato, México. La primera mostró sólo cristales bipiramidales mientras que la segunda presentó cristales tanto bipiramidales como cúbicos. Estos cristales estuvieron compuestos de proteínas de aproximadamente 130 y 60 kDa, respectivamente. En ambas cepas, además de la LBIT-500 y LBIT-544, se detectó una gran variedad de genes cry1. En éstas últimas se encontraron los genes cry2A y cry2B, en la LBIT- 504 sólo el cry2B y en la LBIT-499 no se detectó ningún cry2. This report revealed the crystal morphology and protein composition of strains LBIT-499 and LBIT-504 of B. thuringiensis, native to Guanajuato, Mexico. LBIT-499 showed only bipyramidal crystals, while LBIT-504 showed both bipyramidal and cubical crystals. These crystals were composed by proteins of ca. 130 and 60 kDa, respectively. Both strains as well as LBIT-500 and LBIT-544, showed a great variety of cry1 genes, while cry2A and cry2B were identified in LBT-500 and LBIT-544, LBIT-504 showed only the cry2B gene, and no cry2 was detected in LBIT-499.

Normal and Abnormal Behavior in Early Childhood

OpenAIRE

Spinner, Miriam R.

1981-01-01

Evaluation of normal and abnormal behavior in the period to three years of age involves many variables. Parental attitudes, determined by many factors such as previous childrearing experience, the bonding process, parental psychological status and parental temperament, often influence the labeling of behavior as normal or abnormal. This article describes the forms of crying, sleep and wakefulness, and affective responses from infancy to three years of age.

Maternal anxiety disorders predict excessive infant crying: a prospective longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Petzoldt, Johanna; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich; Wittich, Julia; Einsle, Franziska; Höfler, Michael; Martini, Julia

2014-09-01

To prospectively examine relations between maternal DSM-IV-TR anxiety and depressive disorders and excessive infant crying. Based on the prospective longitudinal Maternal Anxiety in Relation to Infant Development Study, n=306 expectant mothers were enrolled during early pregnancy and repeatedly interviewed until 16 months post partum. Lifetime and prospective information on maternal anxiety and depressive disorders was assessed via standardised diagnostic interviews (Composite International Diagnostic Interview for Women). Excessive crying (crying for ≥3 h per day on ≥3 days per week for ≥3 weeks) was assessed via Baby-DIPS. During the first 16 months after delivery, n=286 mother-infant dyads were available and included in the analyses. Excessive crying was reported by n=29 mothers (10.1%). Infants of mothers with anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy were at higher risk for excessive crying than infants of mothers without any anxiety disorder prior to pregnancy (OR=2.54, 95% CI 1.11 to 5.78, p=0.027). Risk was even increased when considering additionally incident anxiety disorders until delivery (OR=3.02, 95% CI 1.25 to 7.32, p=0.014) and until 16 months post partum (OR=2.87, 95% CI 1.13 to 7.28, p=0.027). Associations remained stable when adjusting for sociodemographic and perinatal covariates. Maternal depressive disorders prior to pregnancy were not significantly associated with excessive crying in this sample. Maternal lifetime and incident anxiety disorders revealed to be a robust predictor for excessive crying. Thus, early identification and monitoring of women with anxiety disorders is important to identify mother-infant dyads at risk for excessive crying. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Atypical cry acoustics in 6-month-old infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheinkopf, Stephen J; Iverson, Jana M; Rinaldi, Melissa L; Lester, Barry M

2012-10-01

This study examined differences in acoustic characteristics of infant cries in a sample of babies at risk for autism and a low-risk comparison group. Cry samples derived from vocal recordings of 6-month-old infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 21) and low-risk infants (n = 18) were subjected to acoustic analyses using analysis software designed for this purpose. Cries were categorized as either pain-related or non-pain-related based on videotape coding. At-risk infants produced pain-related cries with higher and more variable fundamental frequency (F (0) ) than low-risk infants. At-risk infants later classified with ASD at 36 months had among the highest F (0) values for both types of cries and produced cries that were more poorly phonated than those of nonautistic infants, reflecting cries that were less likely to be produced in a voiced mode. These results provide preliminary evidence that disruptions in cry acoustics may be part of an atypical vocal signature of autism in early life. © 2012 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

CRY 1AB trangenic cowpea obtained by nodal electroporation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Electroporation-mediated genetic transformation was used to introduce Cry 1 Ab insecticidal gene into cowpea. Nodal buds were electroporated in planta with a plasmid carrying the Cry 1Ab and antibiotic resistance npt II genes driven by a 35S CaMV promoter. T1 seeds derived from electroporated branches were selected ...

Bacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxin Cry1 hybrid proteins with increased activity against the Colorado potato beetle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Naimov, S.; Weemen-Hendriks, M.; Dukiandjiev, S.; Maagd, de R.A.

2001-01-01

Cry1 delta-endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis are generally active against lepidopteran insects, but Cry1Ba and Cry1Ia have additional, though low, levels of activity against coleopterans such as the Colorado potato beetle. Here we report the construction of Cry1Ba/Cry1Ia hybrid toxins which have

National survey of Australian paediatricians' approach to infant crying.

Science.gov (United States)

Rimer, Romi; Hiscock, Harriet

2014-03-01

Persistent crying in infancy (i.e. crying that lasts for more than 3 h a day for more than 3 days per week for at least 3 weeks) is widespread. Although there is no gold standard approach to its management, guidelines exist with common management principles. This study aims to document how Australian general paediatricians (i) assess and manage persistent crying compared with published guidelines; (ii) screen for and manage associated post-natal depression; and (iii) rate their training in this area. Online survey were administered to all 394 members of the Australian Paediatric Research Network in November 2011 to February 2012. Members are predominantly general paediatricians. A total of 168 paediatricians (45%) responded. The majority (n = 96 (69%)) take one session to assess infant crying and at least two sessions to manage it (n = 106 (79%)). Specific approaches are not always evidence based (e.g. use of antacids/simethicone by 8%) and do not follow available guidelines. Most paediatricians routinely asked about maternal (n = 120 (88%)) but not paternal (n = 51 (33%)) mental health. Paediatricians typically received training around this issue before rather than after gaining formal paediatric qualifications (61% vs. 37%, respectively) and rate their training as satisfactory (67%). Despite this, only 39% feel very confident in managing infant crying. The lack of a gold standard approach to managing persistent infant crying has likely contributed to a lack of uniform care among Australian general paediatricians. Given that most paediatricians do not feel very confident in dealing with this problem, there is a scope for further training supported by evidence-based guidelines. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Chilo suppressalis and Sesamia inferens display different susceptibility responses to Cry1A insecticidal proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bo; Xu, Yangyang; Han, Cao; Han, Lanzhi; Hou, Maolin; Peng, Yufa

2015-10-01

Chilo suppressalis and Sesamia inferens are important lepidopteran rice pests that occur concurrently in rice-growing areas of China. The development of transgenic rice expressing Cry1A insecticidal proteins has provided a useful strategy for controlling these pests. This study evaluated the baseline susceptibilities of C. suppressalis and S. inferens to Cry1A, as well as their responses to selection with Cry1A. Wide geographic variation in susceptibility was observed across all field populations. Within a given population, the LC50 of both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac against S. inferens was drastically higher than that of C. suppressalis. Large LC50 differences (74.6-fold) were detected between the two species for Cry1Ab in the Poyang population, while small differences (3.6-fold) were detected for Cry1Ac in the Changsha population. The Cry1Ac LC50 of C. suppressalis and S. inferens increased 8.4- and 4.4-fold after 21 and eight selection generations respectively. Additionally, the estimated realised heritabilities (h(2) ) of Cry1Ac tolerance were 0.11 in C. suppressalis and 0.292 in S. inferens. S. inferens exhibited a significantly lower susceptibility and more rapidly evolved resistance to Cry1A compared with C. suppressalis. Therefore, S. inferens is more likely to evolve increased resistance, which threatens the sustainability of rice expressing Cry1A protein. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

40 CFR 174.506 - Bacillus thuringiensis Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 proteins in corn; exemption from the requirement of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Bacillus thuringiensis Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 proteins in corn; exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. 174.506 Section 174.506 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) PESTICIDE PROGRAMS PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR PLANT-INCORPORATED PROTECTANTS...

Preliminary evaluation of a primary care intervention for cry-fuss behaviours in the first 3-4 months of life ('The Possums Approach'): effects on cry-fuss behaviours and maternal mood.

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Pamela S; Miller, Yvette; Bucetti, Anne; Hill, Peter S; Creedy, Debra K

2015-01-01

Problem crying in the first few months of life is both common and complex, arising out of multiple interacting and co-evolving factors. Parents whose babies cry and fuss a lot receive conflicting advice as they seek help from multiple health providers and emergency departments, and may be admitted into tertiary residential services. Conflicting advice is costly, and arises out of discipline-specific interpretations of evidence. An integrated, interdisciplinary primary care intervention ('The Possums Approach') for cry-fuss problems in the first months of life was developed from available peer-reviewed evidence. This study reports on preliminary evaluation of delivery of the intervention. A total of 20 mothers who had crying babies under 16 weeks of age (average age 6.15 weeks) completed questionnaires, including the Crying Patterns Questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, before and 3-4 weeks after their first consultation with trained primary care practitioners. Preliminary evaluation is promising. The Crying Patterns Questionnaire showed a significant decrease in crying and fussing duration, by 1h in the evening (P=0.001) and 30 min at night (P=0.009). The median total amount of crying and fussing in a 24-h period was reduced from 6.12 to 3h. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale showed a significant improvement in depressive symptoms, with the median score decreasing from 11 to 6 (P=0.005). These findings are corroborated by an analysis of results for the subset of 16 participants whose babies were under 12 weeks of age (average age 4.71 weeks). These preliminary results demonstrate significantly decreased infant crying in the evening and during the night and improved maternal mood, validating an innovative interdisciplinary clinical intervention for cry-fuss problems in the first few months of life. This intervention, delivered by trained health professionals, has the potential to mitigate the costly problem of health professionals giving

Inheritance of Cry1F resistance, cross-resistance and frequency of resistant alleles in Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Vélez, A M; Spencer, T A; Alves, A P; Moellenbeck, D; Meagher, R L; Chirakkal, H; Siegfried, B D

2013-12-01

Transgenic maize, Zea maize L., expressing the Cry1F protein from Bacillus thuringiensis has been registered for Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) control since 2003. Unexpected damage to Cry1F maize was reported in 2006 in Puerto Rico and Cry1F resistance in S. frugiperda was documented. The inheritance of Cry1F resistance was characterized in a S. frugiperda resistant strain originating from Puerto Rico, which displayed >289-fold resistance to purified Cry1F. Concentration-response bioassays of reciprocal crosses of resistant and susceptible parental populations indicated that resistance is recessive and autosomal. Bioassays of the backcross of the F1 generation crossed with the resistant parental strain suggest that a single locus is responsible for resistance. In addition, cross-resistance to Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1Ba, Cry2Aa and Vip3Aa was assessed in the Cry1F-resistant strain. There was no significant cross-resistance to Cry1Aa, Cry1Ba and Cry2Aa, although only limited effects were observed in the susceptible strain. Vip3Aa was highly effective against susceptible and resistant insects indicating no cross-resistance with Cry1F. In contrast, low levels of cross-resistance were observed for both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. Because the resistance is recessive and conferred by a single locus, an F1 screening assay was used to measure the frequency of Cry1F-resistant alleles from populations of Florida and Texas in 2010 and 2011. A total frequency of resistant alleles of 0.13 and 0.02 was found for Florida and Texas populations, respectively, indicating resistant alleles could be found in US populations, although there have been no reports of reduced efficacy of Cry1F-expressing plants.

Evaluation of cytotoxic and antimicrobial effects of two Bt Cry proteins on a GMO safety perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Farias, Davi Felipe; Viana, Martônio Ponte; de Oliveira, Gustavo Ramos; Beneventi, Magda Aparecida; Soares, Bruno Marques; Pessoa, Claudia; Pessoa, Igor Parra; Silva, Luciano Paulino; Vasconcelos, Ilka Maria; de Sá, Maria Fátima Grossi; Carvalho, Ana Fontenele Urano

2014-01-01

Studies have contested the innocuousness of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry proteins to mammalian cells as well as to mammals microbiota. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic and antimicrobial effects of two Cry proteins, Cry8Ka5 (a novel mutant protein) and Cry1Ac (a widely distributed protein in GM crops). Evaluation of cyto- and genotoxicity in human lymphocytes was performed as well as hemolytic activity coupled with cellular membrane topography analysis in mammal erythrocytes. Effects of Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac upon Artemia sp. nauplii and upon bacteria and yeast growth were assessed. The toxins caused no significant effects on the viability (IC50 > 1,000 µg/mL) or to the cellular DNA integrity of lymphocytes (no effects at 1,000 µg/mL). The Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins did not cause severe damage to erythrocytes, neither with hemolysis (IC50 > 1,000 µg/mL) nor with alterations in the membrane. Likewise, the Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins presented high LC50 (755.11 and >1,000 µg/mL, resp.) on the brine shrimp lethality assay and showed no growth inhibition of the microorganisms tested (MIC > 1,000 µg/mL). This study contributed with valuable information on the effects of Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins on nontarget organisms, which reinforce their potential for safe biotechnological applications.

Contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound for prediction of prostate cancer aggressiveness: The role of normal peripheral zone time-intensity curves.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Hui; Zhu, Zheng-Qiu; Zhou, Zheng-Guo; Chen, Ling-Shan; Zhao, Ming; Zhang, Yang; Li, Hong-Bo; Yin, Li-Ping

2016-12-08

To assess the role of time-intensity curves (TICs) of the normal peripheral zone (PZ) in the identification of biopsy-proven prostate nodules using contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound (CETRUS). This study included 132 patients with 134 prostate PZ nodules. Arrival time (AT), peak intensity (PI), mean transit time (MTT), area under the curve (AUC), time from peak to one half (TPH), wash in slope (WIS) and time to peak (TTP) were analyzed using multivariate linear logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to assess whether combining nodule TICs with normal PZ TICs improved the prediction of prostate cancer (PCa) aggressiveness. The PI, AUC (p < 0.001 for both), MTT and TPH (p = 0.011 and 0.040 respectively) values of the malignant nodules were significantly higher than those of the benign nodules. Incorporating the PI and AUC values (both, p < 0.001) of the normal PZ TIC, but not the MTT and TPH values (p = 0.076 and 0.159 respectively), significantly improved the AUC for prediction of malignancy (PI: 0.784-0.923; AUC: 0.758-0.891) and assessment of cancer aggressiveness (p < 0.001). Thus, all these findings indicate that incorporating normal PZ TICs with nodule TICs in CETRUS readings can improve the diagnostic accuracy for PCa and cancer aggressiveness assessment.

Effect of gamma irradiation on nutritional components and Cry1Ab protein in the transgenic rice with a synthetic cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Dianxing; Ye Qingfu; Wang Zhonghua; Xia Yingwu

2004-01-01

The effects of gamma irradiation on the transgenic rice containing a synthetic cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis were investigated. There was almost no difference in the content of the major nutritional components, i.e. crude protein, crude lipid, eight essential amino acids and total ash between the irradiated grains and the non-irradiated transgenic rice. However, the amounts of Cry1Ab protein and apparent amylose in the irradiated transgenic rice were reduced significantly by the doses higher than 200 Gy. In vivo observation showed that Cry1Ab protein contents also decreased in the fresh leaf tissues of survival seedlings after irradiation with 200 Gy or higher doses and showed inhibition of seedling growth. The results indicate that gamma irradiation might improve the quality of transgenic rice due to removal of the toxic Cry1Ab protein

The interaction of two-spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch, with Cry protein production and predation by Amblyseius andersoni (Chant) in Cry1Ac/Cry2Ab cotton and Cry1F maize.

Science.gov (United States)

Crops producing insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), are an important tool for managing lepidopteran pests on cotton and maize. However, the effects of these Bt crops on non-target organisms, especially natural enemies that provide biological control s...

The effect of nitrogen rate on transgenic corn Cry3Bb1 protein expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Marquardt, Paul T; Krupke, Christian H; Camberato, James J; Johnson, William G

2014-05-01

Combining herbicide-resistant and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) traits in corn (Zea mays L.) hybrids may affect insect resistance management owing to volunteer corn. Some Bt toxins may be expressed at lower levels by nitrogen-deficient corn roots. Corn plants with sublethal levels of Bt expression could accelerate the evolution of Bt resistance in target insects. The present objective was to quantify the concentration of Bt (Cry3Bb1) in corn root tissue with varying tissue nitrogen concentrations. Expression of Cry3Bb1 toxin in root tissue was highly variable, but there were no differences in the overall concentration of Cry3Bb1 expressed between roots taken from Cry3Bb1-positive volunteer and hybrid corn plants. The nitrogen rate did affect Cry3Bb1 expression in the greenhouse, less nitrogen resulted in decreased Cry3Bb1 expression, yet this result was not documented in the field. A positive linear relationship of plant nitrogen status on Cry3Bb1 toxin expression was documented. Also, high variability in Cry3Bb1 expression is potentially problematic from an insect resistance management perspective. This variability could create a mosaic of toxin doses in the field, which does not fit into the high-dose refuge strategy and could alter predictions about the speed of evolution of resistance to Cry3Bb1 in western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Mice deficient in cryptochrome 1 (Cry1-/- exhibit resistance to obesity induced by a high fat diet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guy eGriebel

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Disruption of circadian clock enhances the risk of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Circadian clocks rely on a highly regulated network of transcriptional and translational loops that drive clock-controlled gene expression. Among these transcribed clock genes are cryptochrome (CRY family members, which comprise Cry1 and Cry2. While the metabolic effects of deletion of several core components of the clock gene machinery have been well characterized, those of selective inactivation of Cry1 or Cry2 genes have not been described. In this study we demonstrate that ablation of Cry1, but not Cry2, prevents high-fat diet (HFD-induced obesity in mice. Despite similar caloric intake, Cry1-/- mice on HFD gained markedly less weight (-18 % at the end of the 16-week experiment and displayed reduced fat accumulation compared to wild-type (WT littermates (-61 %, suggesting increased energy expenditure. Analysis of serum lipid and glucose profiles showed no difference between Cry1-/- and WT mice. Both Cry1-/- and Cry2-/- mice are indistinguishable from WT controls in body weight, fat and protein contents, and food consumption when they are allowed unlimited access to a standard rodent diet. We conclude that although CRY signaling may not be essential for the maintenance of energy homeostasis under steady-state nutritional conditions, Cry1 may play a role in readjusting energy balance under changing nutritional circumstances. These studies reinforce the important role of circadian clock genes in energy homeostasis and suggest that Cry1 is a plausible target for antiobesity therapy.

Mice deficient in cryptochrome 1 (cry1 (-/-)) exhibit resistance to obesity induced by a high-fat diet.

Science.gov (United States)

Griebel, Guy; Ravinet-Trillou, Christine; Beeské, Sandra; Avenet, Patrick; Pichat, Philippe

2014-01-01

Disruption of circadian clock enhances the risk of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Circadian clocks rely on a highly regulated network of transcriptional and translational loops that drive clock-controlled gene expression. Among these transcribed clock genes are cryptochrome (CRY) family members, which comprise Cry1 and Cry2. While the metabolic effects of deletion of several core components of the clock gene machinery have been well characterized, those of selective inactivation of Cry1 or Cry2 genes have not been described. In this study, we demonstrate that ablation of Cry1, but not Cry2, prevents high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in mice. Despite similar caloric intake, Cry1 (-/-) mice on HFD gained markedly less weight (-18%) at the end of the 16-week experiment and displayed reduced fat accumulation compared to wild-type (WT) littermates (-61%), suggesting increased energy expenditure. Analysis of serum lipid and glucose profiles showed no difference between Cry1 (-/-) and WT mice. Both Cry1 (-/-) and Cry2 (-/-) mice are indistinguishable from WT controls in body weight, fat and protein contents, and food consumption when they are allowed unlimited access to a standard rodent diet. We conclude that although CRY signaling may not be essential for the maintenance of energy homeostasis under steady-state nutritional conditions, Cry1 may play a role in readjusting energy balance under changing nutritional circumstances. These studies reinforce the important role of circadian clock genes in energy homeostasis and suggest that Cry1 is a plausible target for anti-obesity therapy.

On the variability of the salting-out curves of proteins of normal human plasma and serum

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steyn-Parvé, Elizabeth P.; Hout, A.J. van den

1953-01-01

Salting-out curves of proteins of normal human plasma reflect the influence of a number of other factors besides the protein composition: the manner of obtaining the blood, the nature of the anti-coagulant used, the non-protein components of the plasma. Diagrams of serum and plasma obtained from

Evaluation of Cytotoxic and Antimicrobial Effects of Two Bt Cry Proteins on a GMO Safety Perspective

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Davi Felipe Farias

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Studies have contested the innocuousness of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt Cry proteins to mammalian cells as well as to mammals microbiota. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic and antimicrobial effects of two Cry proteins, Cry8Ka5 (a novel mutant protein and Cry1Ac (a widely distributed protein in GM crops. Evaluation of cyto- and genotoxicity in human lymphocytes was performed as well as hemolytic activity coupled with cellular membrane topography analysis in mammal erythrocytes. Effects of Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac upon Artemia sp. nauplii and upon bacteria and yeast growth were assessed. The toxins caused no significant effects on the viability (IC50>1,000 µg/mL or to the cellular DNA integrity of lymphocytes (no effects at 1,000 µg/mL. The Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins did not cause severe damage to erythrocytes, neither with hemolysis (IC50>1,000 µg/mL nor with alterations in the membrane. Likewise, the Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins presented high LC50 (755.11 and >1,000 µg/mL, resp. on the brine shrimp lethality assay and showed no growth inhibition of the microorganisms tested (MIC>1,000 µg/mL. This study contributed with valuable information on the effects of Cry8Ka5 and Cry1Ac proteins on nontarget organisms, which reinforce their potential for safe biotechnological applications.

Field-Evolved Resistance in Corn Earworm to Cry Proteins Expressed by Transgenic Sweet Corn

Science.gov (United States)

Dively, Galen P.; Finkenbinder, Chad

2016-01-01

Background Transgenic corn engineered with genes expressing insecticidal toxins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) are now a major tool in insect pest management. With its widespread use, insect resistance is a major threat to the sustainability of the Bt transgenic technology. For all Bt corn expressing Cry toxins, the high dose requirement for resistance management is not achieved for corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), which is more tolerant to the Bt toxins. Methodology/Major Findings We present field monitoring data using Cry1Ab (1996–2016) and Cry1A.105+Cry2Ab2 (2010–2016) expressing sweet corn hybrids as in-field screens to measure changes in field efficacy and Cry toxin susceptibility to H. zea. Larvae successfully damaged an increasing proportion of ears, consumed more kernel area, and reached later developmental stages (4th - 6th instars) in both types of Bt hybrids (Cry1Ab—event Bt11, and Cry1A.105+Cry2Ab2—event MON89034) since their commercial introduction. Yearly patterns of H. zea population abundance were unrelated to reductions in control efficacy. There was no evidence of field efficacy or tissue toxicity differences among different Cry1Ab hybrids that could contribute to the decline in control efficacy. Supportive data from laboratory bioassays demonstrate significant differences in weight gain and fitness characteristics between the Maryland H. zea strain and a susceptible strain. In bioassays with Cry1Ab expressing green leaf tissue, Maryland H. zea strain gained more weight than the susceptible strain at all concentrations tested. Fitness of the Maryland H. zea strain was significantly lower than that of the susceptible strain as indicated by lower hatch rate, longer time to adult eclosion, lower pupal weight, and reduced survival to adulthood. Conclusions/Significance After ruling out possible contributing factors, the rapid change in field efficacy in recent years and decreased susceptibility of H. zea to Bt

CRY2 is associated with rapid cycling in bipolar disorder patients.

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Louise K Sjöholm

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Bipolar disorder patients often display abnormalities in circadian rhythm, and they are sensitive to irregular diurnal rhythms. CRY2 participates in the core clock that generates circadian rhythms. CRY2 mRNA expression in blood mononuclear cells was recently shown to display a marked diurnal variation and to respond to total sleep deprivation in healthy human volunteers. It was also shown that bipolar patients in a depressive state had lower CRY2 mRNA levels, nonresponsive to total sleep deprivation, compared to healthy controls, and that CRY2 gene variation was associated with winter depression in both Swedish and Finnish cohorts.Four CRY2 SNPs spanning from intron 2 to downstream 3'UTR were analyzed for association to bipolar disorder type 1 (n = 497, bipolar disorder type 2 (n = 60 and bipolar disorder with the feature rapid cycling (n = 155 versus blood donors (n = 1044 in Sweden. Also, the rapid cycling cases were compared with bipolar disorder cases without rapid cycling (n = 422. The haplotype GGAC was underrepresented among rapid cycling cases versus controls and versus bipolar disorder cases without rapid cycling (OR = 0.7, P = 0.006-0.02, whereas overrepresentation among rapid cycling cases was seen for AAAC (OR = 1.3-1.4, P = 0.03-0.04 and AGGA (OR = 1.5, P = 0.05. The risk and protective CRY2 haplotypes and their effect sizes were similar to those recently suggested to be associated with winter depression in Swedes.We propose that the circadian gene CRY2 is associated with rapid cycling in bipolar disorder. This is the first time a clock gene is implicated in rapid cycling, and one of few findings showing a molecular discrimination between rapid cycling and other forms of bipolar disorder.

Mothers' perception of excessive crying in infancy in south eastern ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We undertook this study to determine the prevalence of excessive crying in our area of practice and also determine associated factors. Method: This was a cross sectional, questionnaire based descriptive study on mothers' perception of their infants' crying. Subjects were mother/ infant pairs attending the well baby clinics at ...

Cloning of partial cry1Ac gene from an indigenous isolate of Bacillus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The discoveries of novel cry genes of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) with higher toxicity are important for the development of new products. The cry1 family genes are more toxic to the lepidopteran insects according to the previous reports. In the present study, nine indigenous isolates of Bt were used for screening of cry1 genes ...

Development and Application of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assays for Rapid Visual Detection of cry2Ab and cry3A Genes in Genetically-Modified Crops

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Feiwu Li

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The cry2Ab and cry3A genes are two of the most important insect-resistant exogenous genes and had been widely used in genetically-modified crops. To develop more effective alternatives for the quick identification of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs containing these genes, a rapid and visual loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP method to detect the cry2Ab and cry3A genes is described in this study. The LAMP assay can be finished within 60 min at an isothermal condition of 63 °C. The derived LAMP products can be obtained by a real-time turbidimeter via monitoring the white turbidity or directly observed by the naked eye through adding SYBR Green I dye. The specificity of the LAMP assay was determined by analyzing thirteen insect-resistant genetically-modified (GM crop events with different Bt genes. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the LAMP assay was evaluated by diluting the template genomic DNA. Results showed that the limit of detection of the established LAMP assays was approximately five copies of haploid genomic DNA, about five-fold greater than that of conventional PCR assays. All of the results indicated that this established rapid and visual LAMP assay was quick, accurate and cost effective, with high specificity and sensitivity. In addition, this method does not need specific expensive instruments or facilities, which can provide a simpler and quicker approach to detecting the cry2Ab and cry3A genes in GM crops, especially for on-site, large-scale test purposes in the field.

Development and application of loop-mediated isothermal amplification assays for rapid visual detection of cry2Ab and cry3A genes in genetically-modified crops.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Feiwu; Yan, Wei; Long, Likun; Qi, Xing; Li, Congcong; Zhang, Shihong

2014-08-27

The cry2Ab and cry3A genes are two of the most important insect-resistant exogenous genes and had been widely used in genetically-modified crops. To develop more effective alternatives for the quick identification of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) containing these genes, a rapid and visual loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method to detect the cry2Ab and cry3A genes is described in this study. The LAMP assay can be finished within 60 min at an isothermal condition of 63 °C. The derived LAMP products can be obtained by a real-time turbidimeter via monitoring the white turbidity or directly observed by the naked eye through adding SYBR Green I dye. The specificity of the LAMP assay was determined by analyzing thirteen insect-resistant genetically-modified (GM) crop events with different Bt genes. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the LAMP assay was evaluated by diluting the template genomic DNA. Results showed that the limit of detection of the established LAMP assays was approximately five copies of haploid genomic DNA, about five-fold greater than that of conventional PCR assays. All of the results indicated that this established rapid and visual LAMP assay was quick, accurate and cost effective, with high specificity and sensitivity. In addition, this method does not need specific expensive instruments or facilities, which can provide a simpler and quicker approach to detecting the cry2Ab and cry3A genes in GM crops, especially for on-site, large-scale test purposes in the field.

Consumption of Bt Rice Pollen Containing Cry1C or Cry2A Protein Poses a Low to Negligible Risk to the Silkworm Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombyxidae)

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yan; Liu, Yue; Cao, Fengqin; Chen, Xiuping; Cheng, Lisheng; Romeis, Jörg; Li, Yunhe; Peng, Yufa

2014-01-01

By consuming mulberry leaves covered with pollen from nearby genetically engineered, insect-resistant rice lines producing Cry proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), larvae of the domestic silkworm, Bombyx mori (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Bombyxidae), could be exposed to insecticidal proteins. Laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the potential effects of Cry1C- or Cry2A-producing transgenic rice (T1C-19, T2A-1) pollen on B. mori fitness. In a short-term assay, B. mori larvae were fed mulberry leaves covered with different densities of pollen from Bt rice lines or their corresponding near isoline (control) for the first 3 d and then were fed mulberry leaves without pollen. No effect was detected on any life table parameter, even at 1800 pollen grains/cm2 leaf, which is much higher than the mean natural density of rice pollen on leaves of mulberry trees near paddy fields. In a long-term assay, the larvae were fed Bt and control pollen in the same way but for their entire larval stage (approximately 27 d). Bt pollen densities ≥150 grains/cm2 leaf reduced 14-d larval weight, increased larval development time, and reduced adult eclosion rate. ELISA analyses showed that 72.6% of the Cry protein was still detected in the pollen grains excreted with the feces. The low exposure of silkworm larvae to Cry proteins when feeding Bt rice pollen may be the explanation for the relatively low toxicity detected in the current study. Although the results demonstrate that B. mori larvae are sensitive to Cry1C and Cry2A proteins, the exposure levels that harmed the larvae in the current study are far greater than natural exposure levels. We therefore conclude that consumption of Bt rice pollen will pose a low to negligible risk to B. mori. PMID:25014054

A Novel Tenebrio molitor Cadherin Is a Functional Receptor for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa Toxin*

Science.gov (United States)

Fabrick, Jeff; Oppert, Cris; Lorenzen, Marcé D.; Morris, Kaley; Oppert, Brenda; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis

2009-01-01

Cry toxins produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis are effective biological insecticides. Cadherin-like proteins have been reported as functional Cry1A toxin receptors in Lepidoptera. Here we present data that demonstrate that a coleopteran cadherin is a functional Cry3Aa toxin receptor. The Cry3Aa receptor cadherin was cloned from Tenebrio molitor larval midgut mRNA, and the predicted protein, TmCad1, has domain structure and a putative toxin binding region similar to those in lepidopteran cadherin B. thuringiensis receptors. A peptide containing the putative toxin binding region from TmCad1 bound specifically to Cry3Aa and promoted the formation of Cry3Aa toxin oligomers, proposed to be mediators of toxicity in lepidopterans. Injection of TmCad1-specific double-stranded RNA into T. molitor larvae resulted in knockdown of the TmCad1 transcript and conferred resistance to Cry3Aa toxicity. These data demonstrate the functional role of TmCad1 as a Cry3Aa receptor in T. molitor and reveal similarities between the mode of action of Cry toxins in Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. PMID:19416969

Construction and characterisation of near-isogenic Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) strains resistant to Cry1Ac toxin.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xun; Lei, Yanyuan; Yang, Yanjv; Baxter, Simon W; Li, Jianhong; Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Guo, Zhaojiang; Fu, Wei; Zhang, Youjun

2015-02-01

Resistance to insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins has arisen in multiple populations of the worldwide Brassica pest Plutella xylostella (L.). To help elucidate the mechanism of resistance to Bt Cry1Ac toxin in a population from Florida, two pairs of near-isogenic lines (NILs) were developed. NILs were generated using either backcross or recombinant inbred line methodologies and evaluated for near-isogenicity with inter-simple-sequence-repeat (ISSR) markers. Backcross line BC6F4 maintained a similar level of Cry1Ac resistance to parental strain DBM1Ac-R (>5000-fold) yet showed 98.24% genetic similarity to the susceptible parental strain DBM1Ac-S. Single-pair backcrosses between DBM1Ac-S and BC6F4 revealed that Cry1Ac resistance was controlled by one recessive autosomal locus. BC6F4 exhibited high levels of cross-resistance to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ah but not to Cry1Ca or Cry1Ie. Near-isogenic strains were constructed to provide a reliable biological system to investigate the mechanism of Cry1Ac resistance in P. xylostella. These data suggest that resistance to Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab and Cry1Ah is probably caused by the alteration of a common receptor not recognised by Cry1Ca or Cry1Ie. Understanding Bt toxin cross-resistance provides valuable information to consider when developing pest control strategies to delay resistance evolution. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Improving Cry8Ka toxin activity towards the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis).

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Gustavo R; Silva, Maria C M; Lucena, Wagner A; Nakasu, Erich Y T; Firmino, Alexandre A P; Beneventi, Magda A; Souza, Djair S L; Gomes, José E; de Souza, José D A; Rigden, Daniel J; Ramos, Hudson B; Soccol, Carlos R; Grossi-de-Sa, Maria F

2011-09-09

The cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is a serious insect-pest in the Americas, particularly in Brazil. The use of chemical or biological insect control is not effective against the cotton boll weevil because of its endophytic life style. Therefore, the use of biotechnological tools to produce insect-resistant transgenic plants represents an important strategy to reduce the damage to cotton plants caused by the boll weevil. The present study focuses on the identification of novel molecules that show improved toxicity against the cotton boll weevil. In vitro directed molecular evolution through DNA shuffling and phage display screening was applied to enhance the insecticidal activity of variants of the Cry8Ka1 protein of Bacillus thuringiensis. Bioassays carried out with A. grandis larvae revealed that the LC50 of the screened mutant Cry8Ka5 toxin was 3.15-fold higher than the wild-type Cry8Ka1 toxin. Homology modelling of Cry8Ka1 and the Cry8Ka5 mutant suggested that both proteins retained the typical three-domain Cry family structure. The mutated residues were located mostly in loops and appeared unlikely to interfere with molecular stability. The improved toxicity of the Cry8Ka5 mutant obtained in this study will allow the generation of a transgenic cotton event with improved potential to control A. grandis.

Improving Cry8Ka toxin activity towards the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gomes José E

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis is a serious insect-pest in the Americas, particularly in Brazil. The use of chemical or biological insect control is not effective against the cotton boll weevil because of its endophytic life style. Therefore, the use of biotechnological tools to produce insect-resistant transgenic plants represents an important strategy to reduce the damage to cotton plants caused by the boll weevil. The present study focuses on the identification of novel molecules that show improved toxicity against the cotton boll weevil. In vitro directed molecular evolution through DNA shuffling and phage display screening was applied to enhance the insecticidal activity of variants of the Cry8Ka1 protein of Bacillus thuringiensis. Results Bioassays carried out with A. grandis larvae revealed that the LC50 of the screened mutant Cry8Ka5 toxin was 3.15-fold higher than the wild-type Cry8Ka1 toxin. Homology modelling of Cry8Ka1 and the Cry8Ka5 mutant suggested that both proteins retained the typical three-domain Cry family structure. The mutated residues were located mostly in loops and appeared unlikely to interfere with molecular stability. Conclusions The improved toxicity of the Cry8Ka5 mutant obtained in this study will allow the generation of a transgenic cotton event with improved potential to control A. grandis.

Effects of insecticidal crystal proteins (Cry proteins) produced by genetically modified maize (Bt maize) on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Höss, Sebastian; Menzel, Ralph; Gessler, Frank; Nguyen, Hang T.; Jehle, Johannes A.; Traunspurger, Walter

2013-01-01

The genetically modified maize MON89034 × MON88017 expresses different crystal (Cry) proteins with pesticidal activity against the European corn borer (Cry1.105; Cry2Ab2) and the Western corn root worm (Cry3Bb1). Non-target organisms, such as soil nematodes, might be exposed to the Cry proteins that enter the soil in course of crop growing. Therefore, the risk of those proteins for nematodes was assessed by testing their toxic effects on Caenorhabditis elegans. All three insecticidal Cry proteins showed dose-dependent inhibitory effects on C. elegans reproduction (EC50: 0.12–0.38 μmol L −1 ), however, at concentrations that were far above the expected soil concentrations. Moreover, a reduced toxicity was observed when Cry proteins were added jointly. A C. elegans mutant strain deficient for receptors for the nematicidal Cry5B was also resistant against Cry1.105 and Cry2Ab2, suggesting that these Cry proteins bound to the same or similar receptors as nematicidal Cry proteins and thereby affect the reproduction of C. elegans. -- Highlights: •Insecticidal Cry proteins dose-dependently inhibited the reproduction of C. elegans. •Mixture toxicity was lower than expected from concentration-additive single effects. •Genes for MAPK-defense-pathway were up-regulated in presence of Cry protein mixture. •Knock-out strains deficient for Cry5B-receptors showed lower susceptibility to insecticidal Cry proteins. •Toxicity of insecticidal Cry-proteins on C. elegans occurred at concentrations far above expected field concentrations. -- Insecticidal Cry proteins expressed by genetically modified maize act on nematodes via a similar mode of action as nematicidal Cry proteins, however, at concentrations far above expected soil levels

The Cry in the Holy Quran and the Effect on the Human Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

al-Domi, Mohammad Mahmoud

2015-01-01

This study aims that cry is the ideal way to release the negative emotions distress, sorrow, and sadness. Which sometimes is also a way to express situations of joy and pleasure of humans. The Almighty Allah also said about cry in The Holy Quran. The prophet pbuh also cry for the expressions of reverence and fear of Allah in perhaps the sort of…

Cry3A δ-endotoxin gene mutagenized for enhanced toxicity

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3A gene was redesigned for high expression in Norwegian spruce and the sequence was slightly modified to allow for simple N- and C- terminal deletions and domain II loop 1 exchange for synthetic oligos. Modified Cry3A toxins from 13 variants of the synthetic gene were expressed in Escherichia ...

The Effect of Crying on Long-Term Memory in Infancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Fagen, Jeffrey W.; And Others

1985-01-01

Infants who cried in response to a reward shift evidenced no retention of the contingency 1 week later but did have excellent retention at one day. Reactivation treatment alleviated forgetting at three weeks. Results indicate that crying in response to violation of a reward-expectation habit functions as an amnesic agent to produce accelerated…

Crying - excessive (0-6 months)

Science.gov (United States)

... place the infant within sight. Place baby-safe toys where the child can see them. If crying is due to ... lot of gas? What other symptoms does the child have? Such as, difficulty ... infant's growth and development. Antibiotics may be prescribed if the baby has ...

Influences of Cry1Ac broccoli on larval survival and oviposition of diamondback moth.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Dengxia; Cui, Shusong; Yang, Limei; Fang, Zhiyuan; Liu, Yumei; Zhuang, Mu; Zhang, Yangyong

2015-01-01

Larval survival and oviposition behavior of three genotypes of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), (homozygous Cry1Ac-susceptibile, Cry1Ac-resistant, and their F1 hybrids), on transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) broccoli expressing different levels of Cry1Ac protein were evaluated in laboratory. These Bt broccoli lines were designated as relative low, medium, and high, respectively, according to the Cry1Ac content. Untransformed brocccoli plants were used as control. Larval survival of diamondback moth on non-Bt leaves was not significantly different among the three genotypes. The Cry1Ac-resistant larvae could survive on the low level of Bt broccoli plants, while Cry1Ac-susceptible and F1 larvae could not survive on them. The three genotypes of P. xylostella larvae could not survive on medium and high levels of Bt broccoli. In oviposition choice tests, there was no significant difference in the number of eggs laid by the three P. xylostella genotypes among different Bt broccoli plants. The development of Cry1Ac-susceptible and Cry1Ac-resistant P. xylostella on intact Bt plants was also tested in greenhouse. All susceptible P. xylostella larvae died on all Bt plants, while resistant larvae could survive on broccoli, which expresses low Cry1Ac protein under greenhouse conditions. The results of the greenhouse trials were similar to that of laboratory tests. This study indicated that high dose of Bt toxins in broccoli cultivars or germplasm lines is required for effective resistance management. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of America.

Persistence of detectable insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Cry) and toxicity after adsorption on contrasting soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung, T.P.; Truong, L.V.; Binh, N.D.; Frutos, R.; Quiquampoix, H.; Staunton, S.

2016-01-01

Insecticidal Cry, or Bt, proteins are produced by the soil-endemic bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis and some genetically modified crops. Their environmental fate depends on interactions with soil. Little is known about the toxicity of adsorbed proteins and the change in toxicity over time. We incubated Cry1Ac and Cry2A in contrasting soils subjected to different treatments to inhibit microbial activity. The toxin was chemically extracted and immunoassayed. Manduca sexta was the target insect for biotests. Extractable toxin decreased during incubation for up to four weeks. Toxicity of Cry1Ac was maintained in the adsorbed state, but lost after 2 weeks incubation at 25 °C. The decline in extractable protein and toxicity were much slower at 4 °C with no significant effect of soil sterilization. The major driving force for decline may be time-dependent fixation of adsorbed protein, leading to a decrease in the extraction yield in vitro, paralleled by decreasing solubilisation in the larval gut. - Graphical abstract: Biotest, presenting Cry-contaminated feed to Manduca sexta larvae in individual Perspex boxes. Display Omitted - Highlights: • Toxicity of Cry protein is initially conserved after adsorption on soil. • Toxicity and extractability decline with time, more rapidly at 25 °C than 4 °C. • Similar dynamics of Cry1AC and Cry2A on soil with varying texture and organic C. • Sterilization of soil does not change Cry dynamics or temperature effect in soil. • Cry decline is determined by progressive fixation on soil not microbial breakdown. - Toxicity was initially maintained after adsorption on soil and both extractable Cry and toxicity declined rapidly, more slowly at low temperature, due to different fixation dynamics. Toxicity of Cry protein is initially conserved after adsorption on soil.

Potential allergenicity research of Cry1C protein from genetically modified rice.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Sishuo; He, Xiaoyun; Xu, Wentao; Luo, Yunbo; Ran, Wenjun; Liang, Lixing; Dai, Yunqing; Huang, Kunlun

2012-07-01

With the development of genetically modified crops, there has been a growing interest in available approaches to assess the potential allergenicity of novel gene products. We were not sure whether Cry1C could induce allergy. We examined the protein with three other proteins to determine the potential allergenicity of Cry1C protein from genetically modified rice. Female Brown Norway (BN) rats received 0.1 mg peanut agglutinin (PNA), 1mg potato acid phosphatase (PAP), 1mg ovalbumin (OVA) or 5 mg purified Cry1C protein dissolved in 1 mL water by daily gavage for 42 days to test potential allergenicity. Ten days after the last gavage, rats were orally challenged with antigens, and physiologic and immunologic responses were studied. In contrast to sensitization with PNA, PAP and OVA Cry1C protein did not induce antigen-specific IgG2a in BN rats. Cytokine expression, serum IgE and histamine levels and the number of eosinophils and mast cells in the blood of Cry1C group rats were comparable to the control group rats, which were treated with water alone. As Cry1C did not show any allergenicity, we make the following conclusion that the protein could be safety used in rice or other plants. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mechanistic and single-dose in vivo therapeutic studies of Cry5B anthelmintic action against hookworms.

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Yan Hu

Full Text Available Hookworm infections are one of the most important parasitic infections of humans worldwide, considered by some second only to malaria in associated disease burden. Single-dose mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths, including hookworms, relies primarily on albendazole, which has variable efficacy. New and better hookworm therapies are urgently needed. Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein Cry5B has potential as a novel anthelmintic and has been extensively studied in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we ask whether single-dose Cry5B can provide therapy against a hookworm infection and whether C. elegans mechanism-of-action studies are relevant to hookworms.To test whether the C. elegans invertebrate-specific glycolipid receptor for Cry5B is relevant in hookworms, we fed Ancylostoma ceylanicum hookworm adults Cry5B with and without galactose, an inhibitor of Cry5B-C. elegans glycolipid interactions. As with C. elegans, galactose inhibits Cry5B toxicity in A. ceylanicum. Furthermore, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK, which controls one of the most important Cry5B signal transduction responses in C. elegans, is functionally operational in hookworms. A. ceylanicum hookworms treated with Cry5B up-regulate p38 MAPK and knock down of p38 MAPK activity in hookworms results in hypersensitivity of A. ceylanicum adults to Cry5B attack. Single-dose Cry5B is able to reduce by >90% A. ceylanicum hookworm burdens from infected hamsters, in the process eliminating hookworm egg shedding in feces and protecting infected hamsters from blood loss. Anthelmintic activity is increased about 3-fold, eliminating >97% of the parasites with a single 3 mg dose (∼30 mg/kg, by incorporating a simple formulation to help prevent digestion in the acidic stomach of the host mammal.These studies advance the development of Cry5B protein as a potent, safe single-dose anthelmintic for hookworm therapy and make available the information of how

[Exposure degree of important non-target arthropods to Cry2Aa in Bt rice fields].

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Zhang, Qing-Ling; Li, Yun-He; Hua, Hong-Xia; Yang, Chang-Ju; Wu, Hong-Jin; Peng, Yu-Fa

2013-06-01

Based on the principle of "risk = hazard x exposure", the selected representative nontarget organisms in the assessment of the potential effects of insect-resistant genetically modified (GM) crops on non-target arthropods in laboratory are generally the arthropod species highly exposed to the insecticidal proteins expressed by the GM crops in farmland ecosystem. In order to understand the exposure degree of the important arthropod species to Cry proteins in Bt rice fields, and to select the appropriate non-target arthropods in the risk assessment of insect-resistant GM crops, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted to measure the Cry2Aa protein concentration in the arthropods collected from the cry2Aa rice fields at different rice growth stages. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the Cry2Aa content protein concentration in different arthropod species. Some species did not contain Cry2Aa protein, while some species contained larger amounts of Cry2Aa protein. Relative to the arthropods colleted after rice anthesis, the arthropods colleted in rice anthesis contained relative higher concentrations of Cry2Aa protein, especially for the predacious arthropods. No Cry proteins were detected in parasitic arthropods. This study provided references for the laboratory assessment of the effects of GM rice on nontarget arthropods.

Construction of occluded recombinant baculoviruses containing the full-length cry1Ab and cry1Ac genes from Bacillus thuringiensis

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B.M. Ribeiro

1998-06-01

Full Text Available The administration of baculoviruses to insects for bioassay purposes is carried out, in most cases, by contamination of food surfaces with a known amount of occlusion bodies (OBs. Since per os infection is the natural route of infection, occluded recombinant viruses containing crystal protein genes (cry1Ab and cry1Ac from Bacillus thuringiensis were constructed for comparison with the baculovirus prototype Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcNPV. The transfer vector pAcUW2B was used for construction of occluded recombinant viruses. The transfer vector containing the crystal protein genes was cotransfected with linearized DNA from a non-occluded recombinant virus. The isolation of recombinant viruses was greatly facilitated by the reduction of background "wild type" virus and the increased proportion of recombinant viruses. Since the recombinant viruses containing full-length and truncated forms of the crystal protein genes did not seem to improve the pathogenicity of the recombinant viruses when compared with the wild type AcNPV, and in order to compare expression levels of the full-length crystal proteins produced by non-occluded and occluded recombinant viruses the full-length cry1Ab and cry1Ac genes were chosen for construction of occluded recombinant viruses. The recombinant viruses containing full-length and truncated forms of the crystal protein genes did not seem to improve its pathogenicity but the size of the larvae infected with the recombinant viruses was significantly smaller than that of larvae infected with the wild type virus.

Molecular cloning and functional analysis of a blue light receptor gene MdCRY2 from apple (Malus domestica).

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Li, Yuan-Yuan; Mao, Ke; Zhao, Cheng; Zhao, Xian-Yan; Zhang, Rui-Fen; Zhang, Hua-Lei; Shu, Huai-Rui; Hao, Yu-Jin

2013-04-01

MdCRY2 was isolated from apple fruit skin, and its function was analyzed in MdCRY2 transgenic Arabidopsis. The interaction between MdCRY2 and AtCOP1 was found by yeast two-hybrid and BiFC assays. Cryptochromes are blue/ultraviolet-A (UV-A) light receptors involved in regulating various aspects of plant growth and development. Investigations of the structure and functions of cryptochromes in plants have largely focused on Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), pea (Pisum sativum), and rice (Oryza sativa). However, no data on the function of CRY2 are available in woody plants. In this study, we isolated a cryptochrome gene, MdCRY2, from apple (Malus domestica). The deduced amino acid sequences of MdCRY2 contain the conserved N-terminal photolyase-related domain and the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) binding domain, as well as the C-terminal DQXVP-acidic-STAES (DAS) domain. Relationship analysis indicates that MdCRY2 shows the highest similarity to the strawberry FvCRY protein. The expression of MdCRY2 is induced by blue/UV-A light, which represents a 48-h circadian rhythm. To investigate the function of MdCRY2, we overexpressed the MdCRY2 gene in a cry2 mutant and wild type (WT) Arabidopsis, assessed the phenotypes of the resulting transgenic plants, and found that MdCRY2 functions to regulate hypocotyl elongation, root growth, flower initiation, and anthocyanin accumulation. Furthermore, we examined the interaction between MdCRY2 and AtCOP1 using a yeast two-hybrid assay and a bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay. These data provide functional evidence for a role of blue/UV-A light-induced MdCRY2 in controlling photomorphogenesis in apple.

Improved insecticidal toxicity by fusing Cry1Ac of Bacillus thuringiensis with Av3 of Anemonia viridis.

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Yan, Fu; Cheng, Xing; Ding, Xuezhi; Yao, Ting; Chen, Hanna; Li, Wenping; Hu, Shengbiao; Yu, Ziquan; Sun, Yunjun; Zhang, Youming; Xia, Liqiu

2014-05-01

Av3, a neurotoxin of Anemonia viridis, is toxic to crustaceans and cockroaches but inactive in mammals. In the present study, Av3 was expressed in Escherichia coli Origami B (DE3) and purified by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The purified Av3 was injected into the hemocoel of Helicoverpa armigera, rendering the worm paralyzed. Then, Av3 was expressed alone or fusion expressed with the Cry1Ac in acrystalliferous strain Cry(-)B of Bacillus thuringiensis. The shape of Cry1Ac was changed by fusion with Av3. The expressed fusion protein, Cry1AcAv3, formed irregular rhombus- or crescent-shaped crystalline inclusions, which is quite different from the shape of original Cry1Ac crystals. The toxicity of Cry1Ac was improved by fused expression. Compared with original Cry1Ac expressed in Cry(-)B, the oral toxicity of Cry1AcAv3 to H. armigera was elevated about 2.6-fold. No toxicity was detected when Av3 was expressed in Cry(-)B alone. The present study confirmed that marine toxins could be used in bio-control and implied that fused expression with other insecticidal proteins could be an efficient way for their application.

Manejo de lepidópteros-praga na cultura do milho com o evento Bt piramidado Cry1A.105 e Cry2Ab2

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José Magid Waquil

2013-12-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficácia do evento piramidado (MON 89034, que expressa as proteínas Cry1A.105 e Cry2Ab2, no controle dos principais lepidópteros-praga da cultura do milho no Brasil, Spodoptera frugiperda, Helicoverpa spp. e Diatraea saccharalis. Os ensaios foram conduzidos em quatro regiões do país, com o híbrido DKB 390, submetido a seis tratamentos: híbrido com o evento piramidado, híbrido com o evento que expressa apenas a proteína Cry1A(b (MON 810 e híbrido convencional (não Bt, todos com e sem manejo integrado de S. frugiperda. Para o evento piramidado, não foi necessário o controle químico em nenhum dos locais avaliados. Diferenças significativas foram observadas entre os tratamentos quanto aos danos e à presença de lagartas. Em geral, essas variáveis foram mais baixas no híbrido com o evento piramidado e mais altas no híbrido convencional, sem controle químico. Sob alta infestação, o controle químico reduziu os danos causados por S. frugiperda e D. saccharalis, tanto no evento que expressa apenas uma proteína, como no híbrido convencional. Com base nos danos causados pelos insetos, o evento piramidado Cry1A.105 e Cry2Ab2 é eficiente no controle dos principais lepidópteros-pragas do milho no Brasil.

Why lions roar like babies cry

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Titze, Ingo

2012-11-01

When an angry lion roars, the sounds it emits can terrify anyone within earshot. But, as Ingo Titze explains, the properties of a lion's roar have some surprising similarities with those of a crying baby.

Field-evolved resistance to Cry1Ab maize by Spodoptera frugiperda in Brazil.

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Omoto, Celso; Bernardi, Oderlei; Salmeron, Eloisa; Sorgatto, Rodrigo J; Dourado, Patrick M; Crivellari, Augusto; Carvalho, Renato A; Willse, Alan; Martinelli, Samuel; Head, Graham P

2016-09-01

The first Bt maize in Brazil was launched in 2008 and contained the MON 810 event, which expresses Cry1Ab protein. Although the Cry1Ab dose in MON 810 is not high against fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), MON 810 provided commercial levels of control. To support insect resistance management in Brazil, the baseline and ongoing susceptibility of FAW was examined using protein bioassays, and the level of control and life history parameters of FAW were evaluated on MON 810 maize. Baseline diet overlay assays with Cry1Ab (16 µg cm(-2) ) caused 76.3% mortality to field FAW populations sampled in 2009. Moderate mortality (48.8%) and significant growth inhibition (88.4%) were verified in leaf-disc bioassays. In greenhouse trials, MON 810 had significantly less damage than non-Bt maize. The surviving FAW larvae on MON 810 (22.4%) had a 5.5 day increase in life cycle time and a 24% reduction in population growth rate. Resistance monitoring (2010-2015) showed a significant reduction in Cry1Ab susceptibility of FAW over time. Additionally, a significant reduction in the field efficacy of MON 810 maize against FAW was observed in different regions from crop season 2009 to 2013. The decrease in susceptibility to Cry1Ab was expected, but the specific contributions to this resistance by MON 810 maize cannot be distinguished from cross-resistance to Cry1Ab caused by exposure to Cry1F maize. Technologies combining multiple novel insecticidal traits with no cross-resistance to the current Cry1 proteins and high activity against the same target pests should be pursued in Brazil and similar environments. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

The cultivation of Bt corn producing Cry1Ac toxins does not adversely affect non-target arthropods.

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Yanyan Guo

Full Text Available Transgenic corn producing Cry1Ac toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt provides effective control of Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée, and thus reduces insecticide applications. However, whether Bt corn exerts undesirable effects on non-target arthropods (NTAs is still controversial. We conducted a 2-yr study in Shangzhuang Agricultural Experiment Station to assess the potential impact of Bt corn on field population density, biodiversity, community composition and structure of NTAs. On each sampling date, the total abundance, Shannon's diversity index, Pielou's evenness index and Simpson's diversity index were not significantly affected by Bt corn as compared to non-Bt corn. The "sampling dates" had a significant effect on these indices, but no clear tendencies related to "Bt corn" or "sampling dates X corn variety" interaction were recorded. Principal response curve analysis of variance indicated that Bt corn did not alter the distribution of NTAs communities. Bray-Curtis dissimilarity and distance analysis showed that Cry1Ac toxin exposure did not increase community dissimilarities between Bt and non-Bt corn plots and that the evolution of non-target arthropod community was similar on the two corn varieties. The cultivation of Bt corn failed to show any detrimental evidence on the density of non-target herbivores, predators and parasitoids. The composition of herbivores, predators and parasitoids was identical in Bt and non-Bt corn plots. Taken together, results from the present work support that Bt corn producing Cry1Ac toxins does not adversely affect NTAs.

Analysis of Cry8Ka5-binding proteins from Anthonomus grandis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) midgut.

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Nakasu, Erich Y T; Firmino, Alexandre A P; Dias, Simoni C; Rocha, Thales L; Ramos, Hudson B; Oliveira, Gustavo R; Lucena, Wagner; Carlini, Célia R; Grossi-de-Sá, Maria Fátima

2010-07-01

Biotech crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins present a valuable approach for insect control. Cry8Ka5, which is highly toxic to the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis), was used as a model to study toxin-ligand interactions. Three Cry-binding proteins were detected after toxin overlay assays. Following de novo sequencing, a heat-shock cognate protein and a V-ATPase were identified, whilst a approximately 120 kDa protein remained unknown. Additional Cry8Ka5-binding proteins were visualized by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis ligand blots. (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Induction of rapid and selective cell necrosis in Drosophila using Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxin and its silkworm receptor.

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Obata, Fumiaki; Tanaka, Shiho; Kashio, Soshiro; Tsujimura, Hidenobu; Sato, Ryoichi; Miura, Masayuki

2015-07-08

Genetic ablation of target cells is a powerful tool to study the origins and functions of cells, tissue regeneration, or pathophysiology in a human disease model in vivo. Several methods for selective cell ablation by inducing apoptosis have been established, using exogenous toxins or endogenous proapoptotic genes. However, their application is limited to cells with intact apoptotic machinery. Herein, we established a method for inducing rapid and selective cell necrosis by the pore-forming bacterial toxin Cry1Aa, which is specifically active in cells expressing the Cry1Aa receptor (CryR) derived from the silkworm Bombyx mori. We demonstrated that overexpressing CryR in Drosophila melanogaster tissues induced rapid cell death of CryR-expressing cells only, in the presence of Cry1Aa toxin. Cry/CryR system was effective against both proliferating cells in imaginal discs and polyploid postmitotic cells in the fat body. Live imaging analysis of cell ablation revealed swelling and subsequent osmotic lysis of CryR-positive cells after 30 min of incubation with Cry1Aa toxin. Osmotic cell lysis was still triggered when apoptosis, JNK activation, or autophagy was inhibited, suggesting that Cry1Aa-induced necrotic cell death occurred independently of these cellular signaling pathways. Injection of Cry1Aa into the body cavity resulted in specific ablation of CryR-expressing cells, indicating the usefulness of this method for in vivo cell ablation. With Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis, we developed a novel method for genetic induction of cell necrosis. Our system provides a "proteinous drill" for killing target cells through physical injury of the cell membrane, which can potentially be used to ablate any cell type in any organisms, even those that are resistant to apoptosis or JNK-dependent programmed cell death.

Cloning of the cryptochrome-encoding PeCRY1 gene from Populus euphratica and functional analysis in Arabidopsis.

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Ke Mao

Full Text Available Cryptochromes are photolyase-like blue/UV-A light receptors that evolved from photolyases. In plants, cryptochromes regulate various aspects of plant growth and development. Despite of their involvement in the control of important plant traits, however, most studies on cryptochromes have focused on lower plants and herbaceous crops, and no data on cryptochrome function are available for forest trees. In this study, we isolated a cryptochrome gene, PeCRY1, from Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica, and analyzed its structure and function in detail. The deduced PeCRY1 amino acid sequence contained a conserved N-terminal photolyase-homologous region (PHR domain as well as a C-terminal DQXVP-acidic-STAES (DAS domain. Secondary and tertiary structure analysis showed that PeCRY1 shares high similarity with AtCRY1 from Arabidopsis thaliana. PeCRY1 expression was upregulated at the mRNA level by light. Using heterologous expression in Arabidopsis, we showed that PeCRY1 overexpression rescued the cry1 mutant phenotype. In addition, PeCRY1 overexpression inhibited hypocotyl elongation, promoted root growth, and enhanced anthocyanin accumulation in wild-type background seedlings grown under blue light. Furthermore, we examined the interaction between PeCRY1 and AtCOP1 using a bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFc assay. Our data provide evidence for the involvement of PeCRY1 in the control of photomorphogenesis in poplar.

Mental health and well-being in parents of excessively crying infants: Prospective evaluation of a support package.

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Powell, C; Bamber, D; Long, J; Garratt, R; Brown, J; Rudge, S; Morris, T; Bhupendra Jaicim, N; Plachcinski, R; Dyson, S; Boyle, E M; St James-Roberts, I

2018-04-17

During the first 4 months of age, approximately 20% of infants cry a lot without an apparent reason. Most research has targeted the crying, but the impact of the crying on parents, and subsequent outcomes, need to receive equal attention. This study reports the findings from a prospective evaluation of a package of materials designed to support the well-being and mental health of parents who judge their infant to be crying excessively. The resulting "Surviving Crying" package comprised a website, printed materials, and programme of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy-based support sessions delivered to parents by a qualified practitioner. It was designed to be suitable for United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS) use. Parents were referred to the study by 12 NHS Health Visitor/Community Public Health Nurse teams in one UK East Midlands NHS Trust. Fifty-two of 57 parents of excessively crying babies received the support package and completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 anxiety questionnaire, as well as other measures, before receiving the support package and afterwards. Significant reductions in depression and anxiety were found, with numbers of parents meeting clinical criteria for depression or anxiety halving between baseline and outcome. These improvements were not explained by reductions in infant crying. Reductions also occurred in the number of parents reporting the crying to be a large or severe problem (from 28 to 3 parents) or feeling very or extremely frustrated by the crying (from 31 to 1 parent). Other findings included increases in parents' confidence, knowledge of infant crying, and improvements in parents' sleep. The findings suggest that the Surviving Crying package may be effective in supporting the well-being and mental health of parents of excessively crying babies. Further, large-scale controlled trials of the package in NHS settings are warranted. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Achieving high CRI from warm to super white

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Bailey, Edward; Tormey, Ellen S.

2007-09-01

Light sources which produce a high color rendering index (CRI) have many applications in the lighting industry today. High color rendering accents the rich color which abounds in nature, interior design, theatrical costumes and props, clothing and fabric, jewelry, and machine vision applications. Multi-wavelength LED sources can pump phosphors at multiple stokes shift emission regimes and when combined with selected direct emission sources can allow for greater flexibility in the production of warm-white and cool white light of specialty interest. Unique solutions to R8 and R14 CRI >95 at 2850K, 4750K, 5250K, and 6750K presented.

Cry1F resistance in fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda: single gene versus pyramided Bt maize.

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Huang, Fangneng; Qureshi, Jawwad A; Meagher, Robert L; Reisig, Dominic D; Head, Graham P; Andow, David A; Ni, Xinzi; Kerns, David; Buntin, G David; Niu, Ying; Yang, Fei; Dangal, Vikash

2014-01-01

Evolution of insect resistance to transgenic crops containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes is a serious threat to the sustainability of this technology. However, field resistance related to the reduced efficacy of Bt maize has not been documented in any lepidopteran pest in the mainland U.S. after 18 years of intensive Bt maize planting. Here we report compelling evidence of field resistance in the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), to Cry1F maize (TC 3507) in the southeastern region of the U.S. An F2 screen showed a surprisingly high (0.293) Cry1F resistance allele frequency in a population collected in 2011 from non-Bt maize in south Florida. Field populations from non-Bt maize in 2012-2013 exhibited 18.8-fold to >85.4-fold resistance to purified Cry1F protein and those collected from unexpectedly damaged Bt maize plants at several locations in Florida and North Carolina had >85.4-fold resistance. In addition, reduced efficacy and control failure of Cry1F maize against natural populations of S. frugiperda were documented in field trials using Cry1F-based and pyramided Bt maize products in south Florida. The Cry1F-resistant S. frugiperda also showed a low level of cross-resistance to Cry1A.105 and related maize products, but not to Cry2Ab2 or Vip3A. The occurrence of Cry1F resistance in the U.S. mainland populations of S. frugiperda likely represents migration of insects from Puerto Rico, indicating the great challenges faced in achieving effective resistance management for long-distance migratory pests like S. frugiperda.

Susceptibility of The Asian Corn Borer, Ostrinia furnacalis, to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin CRY1AC

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Aye Kyawt Kyawt Ei

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The larval susceptibility of the Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenee (Lepidoptera: Crambidae, to a Bacillus thuringiensis protein (Cry1Ac was evaluated using insect feeding bioassays. The founding population of O. furnacalis was originally collected from the experimental station of UGM at Kalitirto and had been reared in the laboratory for three generations using an artificial diet “InsectaLf”. The tested instars were exposed on diets treated with a series of concentrations of Cry1Ac for one week. The LC50 values on the seventh day after treatment for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th instars were 7.79, 21.12, 113.66, and 123.17 ppm, respectively, showing that the higher the instars the lesser the susceptibility to Cry1Ac. When the neonates were exposed to sublethal concentrations of Cry1Ac (0.0583, 0.116, and 0.5830 ppm, growth and development of the surviving larvae were inhibited. The fecundity and viability of females produced from treated larvae decreased with increasing the concentrations. These findings indicate that Cry1Ac is toxic to larva of O. furnacalis and has chronic effects to larvae surviving from Cry1Ac ingestion.   Kepekaan larva penggerek batang jagung Asia, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenee (Lepidoptera: Crambidae, terhadap protein Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac diuji dengan metode celup pakan. Larva berasal dari pertanaman jagung di KP-4, UGM di Kalitirto dan telah dikembangbiakkan di laboratorium menggunakan pakan buatan (InsectaLF selama tiga generasi sebelum digunakan untuk pengujian. Larva O. furnacalis yang diuji dipaparkan pada pakan buatan yang telah dicelupkan pada seri konsentrasi Cry1Ac. Nilai LC50 pada hari ketujuh setelah perlakukan untuk instar 1, 2, 3, dan 4 berturut-turut adalah 0,79; 21,12; 113,66; dan 123,17 ppm. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa instar yang semakin tinggi tingkat kepekaannya terhadap Cry1Ac semakin menurun. Larva yang baru menetas dan diberi pakan yang telah dicelupkan pada konsentrasi sublethal Cry1Ac

Evidence of non-coincidence of normalized sigmoidal curves of two different structural properties for two-state protein folding/unfolding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahaman, Hamidur; Khan, Md. Khurshid Alam; Hassan, Md. Imtaiyaz; Islam, Asimul; Moosavi-Movahedi, Ali Akbar; Ahmad, Faizan

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Non-coincidence of normalized sigmoidal curves of two different structural properties is consistence with the two-state protein folding/unfolding. ► DSC measurements of denaturation show a two-state behavior of g-cyt-c at pH 6.0. ► Urea-induced denaturation of g-cyt-c is a variable two- state process at pH 6.0. ► GdmCl-induced denaturation of g-cyt-c is a fixed two- state process at pH 6.0. -- Abstract: In practice, the observation of non-coincidence of normalized sigmoidal transition curves measured by two different structural properties constitutes a proof of existence of thermodynamically stable intermediate(s) on the folding ↔ unfolding pathway of a protein. Here we give first experimental evidence that this non-coincidence is also observed for a two-state protein denaturation. Proof of this evidence comes from our studies of denaturation of goat cytochrome-c (g-cyt-c) at pH 6.0. These studies involve differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements in the absence of urea and measurements of urea-induced denaturation curves monitored by observing changes in absorbance at 405, 530, and 695 nm and circular dichroism (CD) at 222, 405, and 416 nm. DSC measurements showed that denaturation of the protein is a two-state process, for calorimetric and van’t Hoff enthalpy changes are, within experimental errors, identical. Normalization of urea-induced denaturation curves monitored by optical properties leads to noncoincident sigmoidal curves. Heat-induced transition of g-cyt-c in the presence of different urea concentrations was monitored by CD at 222 nm and absorption at 405 nm. It was observed that these two different structural probes gave not only identical values of T m (transition temperature), ΔH m (change in enthalpy at T m ) and ΔC p (constant-pressure heat capacity change), but these thermodynamic parameters in the absence of urea are also in agreement with those obtained from DSC measurements

Structural studies of {delta}-endotoxin Cry 1 C from Bacillus thuringiensis

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Guimaraes, B.G.; Garratt, R.C.; Oliva, G. [Sao Paulo Univ., Sao Carlos, SP (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica; Lemos, M.V.F. [UNESP, Jaboticabal, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Biologia Aplicada Agropecuaria; Arantes, O.M.N. [Universidade Estadual de Londrina, PR (Brazil). Dept. de Biologia Geral

1996-12-31

Full text. The {delta}-endotoxins are a family of crystal protein by a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. The study of these proteins has been of great interest due to their highly specific activity against insects of the orders Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera. Thus, the {delta}a-endotoxins have been used for more than two decades as biological insecticides to control agricultural pests and, more recently, insects vectors of some diseases. The knowledge of their three-dimensional structures is very important to understand their mechanism of action and their high specificity. To date, the structure of only three proteins of the {delta}-endotoxins family have been reported: Cry3A, a coleopteran-specific toxin (beetle toxin){sup 1}, Cry1Aa, a lepidopteran-specific toxin (butterfly toxin){sup 2} and CytB, a dipteran-specific toxin (mosquito toxin){sup 3} Our work is aimed at the determination of the crystallographic structure by X-ray diffraction of {delta}-endotoxin Cry1C, also toxic to insects of the Lepidoptera order but towards families other than those affected by Cry1Aa. A comparison between these structures may lead to important conclusions about the reasons for the specificity and would allow the planning of mutants with more efficient activity. The cry1C gene was cloned into an adequate vector and expressed in an acrystalliferous B. thuringiensis strain. After cell culture and sporulation the microcrystals of Cry1C were separated by ultra-centrifugation in sacharose. The protoxin inclusion bodies were activated by commercial trpsin and the protease-resistant core was purified by anion-exchange chromatography. Crystallization experiments are being conducted in order to obtain single crystals suitable for diffraction measurements. We intend to use the Protein Crystallograph Station of the LNLS to collect data as soon as it is available and we have suitable crystals. (author) 3 refs.

Structural studies of δ-endotoxin Cry 1 C from Bacillus thuringiensis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guimaraes, B.G.; Garratt, R.C.; Oliva, G.; Lemos, M.V.F.; Arantes, O.M.N.

1996-01-01

Full text. The δ-endotoxins are a family of crystal protein by a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. The study of these proteins has been of great interest due to their highly specific activity against insects of the orders Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera. Thus, the δa-endotoxins have been used for more than two decades as biological insecticides to control agricultural pests and, more recently, insects vectors of some diseases. The knowledge of their three-dimensional structures is very important to understand their mechanism of action and their high specificity. To date, the structure of only three proteins of the δ-endotoxins family have been reported: Cry3A, a coleopteran-specific toxin (beetle toxin) 1 , Cry1Aa, a lepidopteran-specific toxin (butterfly toxin) 2 and CytB, a dipteran-specific toxin (mosquito toxin) 3 Our work is aimed at the determination of the crystallographic structure by X-ray diffraction of δ-endotoxin Cry1C, also toxic to insects of the Lepidoptera order but towards families other than those affected by Cry1Aa. A comparison between these structures may lead to important conclusions about the reasons for the specificity and would allow the planning of mutants with more efficient activity. The cry1C gene was cloned into an adequate vector and expressed in an acrystalliferous B. thuringiensis strain. After cell culture and sporulation the microcrystals of Cry1C were separated by ultra-centrifugation in sacharose. The protoxin inclusion bodies were activated by commercial trpsin and the protease-resistant core was purified by anion-exchange chromatography. Crystallization experiments are being conducted in order to obtain single crystals suitable for diffraction measurements. We intend to use the Protein Crystallograph Station of the LNLS to collect data as soon as it is available and we have suitable crystals. (author)

Spectral optimization simulation of white light based on the photopic eye-sensitivity curve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dai, Qi; Hao, Luoxi; Lin, Yi; Cui, Zhe

2016-01-01

Spectral optimization simulation of white light is studied to boost maximum attainable luminous efficacy of radiation at high color-rendering index (CRI) and various color temperatures. The photopic eye-sensitivity curve V(λ) is utilized as the dominant portion of white light spectra. Emission spectra of a blue InGaN light-emitting diode (LED) and a red AlInGaP LED are added to the spectrum of V(λ) to match white color coordinates. It is demonstrated that at the condition of color temperature from 2500 K to 6500 K and CRI above 90, such white sources can achieve spectral efficacy of 330–390 lm/W, which is higher than the previously reported theoretical maximum values. We show that this eye-sensitivity-based approach also has advantages on component energy conversion efficiency compared with previously reported optimization solutions

Spectral optimization simulation of white light based on the photopic eye-sensitivity curve

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dai, Qi, E-mail: qidai@tongji.edu.cn [College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Institute for Advanced Study, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Key Laboratory of Ecology and Energy-saving Study of Dense Habitat (Tongji University), Ministry of Education, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Hao, Luoxi; Lin, Yi; Cui, Zhe [College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Key Laboratory of Ecology and Energy-saving Study of Dense Habitat (Tongji University), Ministry of Education, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China)

2016-02-07

Spectral optimization simulation of white light is studied to boost maximum attainable luminous efficacy of radiation at high color-rendering index (CRI) and various color temperatures. The photopic eye-sensitivity curve V(λ) is utilized as the dominant portion of white light spectra. Emission spectra of a blue InGaN light-emitting diode (LED) and a red AlInGaP LED are added to the spectrum of V(λ) to match white color coordinates. It is demonstrated that at the condition of color temperature from 2500 K to 6500 K and CRI above 90, such white sources can achieve spectral efficacy of 330–390 lm/W, which is higher than the previously reported theoretical maximum values. We show that this eye-sensitivity-based approach also has advantages on component energy conversion efficiency compared with previously reported optimization solutions.

Design of elliptic curve cryptoprocessors over GF(2^163 using the Gaussian normal basis

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Paulo Cesar Realpe

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the efficient hardware implementation of cryptoprocessors that carry out the scalar multiplication kP over finite field GF(2163 using two digit-level multipliers. The finite field arithmetic operations were implemented using Gaussian normal basis (GNB representation, and the scalar multiplication kP was implemented using Lopez-Dahab algorithm, 2-NAF halve-and-add algorithm and w-tNAF method for Koblitz curves. The processors were designed using VHDL description, synthesized on the Stratix-IV FPGA using Quartus II 12.0 and verified using SignalTAP II and Matlab. The simulation results show that the cryptoprocessors present a very good performance to carry out the scalar multiplication kP. In this case, the computation times of the multiplication kP using Lopez-Dahab, 2-NAF halve-and-add and 16-tNAF for Koblitz curves were 13.37 µs, 16.90 µs and 5.05 µs, respectively.

Frequency of Cry1F Non-Recessive Resistance Alleles in North Carolina Field Populations of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

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Li, Guoping; Reisig, Dominic; Miao, Jin; Gould, Fred; Huang, Fangneng; Feng, Hongqiang

2016-01-01

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a target species of transgenic corn (Zea mays L.) that expresses single and pyramided Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin. In 2014, S. frugiperda were collected from a light trap in North Carolina, and a total of 212 F1/F2 isofemale lines of S. frugiperda were screened for resistance to Bt and non-Bt corn. All of the 212 isolines were susceptible to corn tissue expressing Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab, Cry1F + Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab, and Cry1F + Cry1Ab + Vip3Aa20. Growth rate bioassays were performed to isolate non-recessive Bt resistance alleles. Seven individuals out of the 212 isofemale lines carried major non-recessive alleles conferring resistance to Cry1F. A pooled colony was created from the seven individuals. This colony was 151.21 times more resistant to Cry1F than a known-susceptible population and was also resistant to Cry1A.105, but was not resistant to Cry2Ab and Vip3Aa20. The results demonstrate that field populations of S. frugiperda collected from North Carolina are generally susceptible to Cry1F, but that some individuals carry resistant alleles. The data generated in this study can be used as baseline data for resistance monitoring.

Acoustic Features and Auditory Perceptions of the Cries of Newborns with Prenatal and Perinatal Complications.

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Zeskind, Philip Sanford; Lester, Barry M.

1978-01-01

Describes two experiments which examined the relation between neonatal cry features and obstetric histories. Experiment 1 showed differences in pitch and durational features between the cries of high- and low-complication newborns. Experiment 2 showed differences in the cry ratings of the two groups on dimensions such as aversive, sick, urgent,…

Acquisition of Cry1Ac protein by non-target arthropods in Bt soybean fields.

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Huilin Yu

Full Text Available Soybean tissue and arthropods were collected in Bt soybean fields in China at different times during the growing season to investigate the exposure of arthropods to the plant-produced Cry1Ac toxin and the transmission of the toxin within the food web. Samples from 52 arthropod species/taxa belonging to 42 families in 10 orders were analysed for their Cry1Ac content using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA. Among the 22 species/taxa for which three samples were analysed, toxin concentration was highest in the grasshopper Atractomorpha sinensis and represented about 50% of the concentration in soybean leaves. Other species/taxa did not contain detectable toxin or contained a concentration that was between 1 and 10% of that detected in leaves. These Cry1Ac-positive arthropods included a number of mesophyll-feeding Hemiptera, a cicadellid, a curculionid beetle and, among the predators, a thomisid spider and an unidentified predatory bug belonging to the Anthocoridae. Within an arthropod species/taxon, the Cry1Ac content sometimes varied between life stages (nymphs/larvae vs. adults and sampling dates (before, during, and after flowering. Our study is the first to provide information on Cry1Ac-expression levels in soybean plants and Cry1Ac concentrations in non-target arthropods in Chinese soybean fields. The data will be useful for assessing the risk of non-target arthropod exposure to Cry1Ac in soybean.

Acquisition of Cry1Ac Protein by Non-Target Arthropods in Bt Soybean Fields

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Yu, Huilin; Romeis, Jörg; Li, Yunhe; Li, Xiangju; Wu, Kongming

2014-01-01

Soybean tissue and arthropods were collected in Bt soybean fields in China at different times during the growing season to investigate the exposure of arthropods to the plant-produced Cry1Ac toxin and the transmission of the toxin within the food web. Samples from 52 arthropod species/taxa belonging to 42 families in 10 orders were analysed for their Cry1Ac content using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Among the 22 species/taxa for which three samples were analysed, toxin concentration was highest in the grasshopper Atractomorpha sinensis and represented about 50% of the concentration in soybean leaves. Other species/taxa did not contain detectable toxin or contained a concentration that was between 1 and 10% of that detected in leaves. These Cry1Ac-positive arthropods included a number of mesophyll-feeding Hemiptera, a cicadellid, a curculionid beetle and, among the predators, a thomisid spider and an unidentified predatory bug belonging to the Anthocoridae. Within an arthropod species/taxon, the Cry1Ac content sometimes varied between life stages (nymphs/larvae vs. adults) and sampling dates (before, during, and after flowering). Our study is the first to provide information on Cry1Ac-expression levels in soybean plants and Cry1Ac concentrations in non-target arthropods in Chinese soybean fields. The data will be useful for assessing the risk of non-target arthropod exposure to Cry1Ac in soybean. PMID:25110881

Socioeconomic disadvantages and neural sensitivity to infant cry: role of maternal distress.

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Kim, Pilyoung; Capistrano, Christian; Congleton, Christina

2016-10-01

Socioeconomic disadvantage such as poverty can increase distress levels, which may further make low-income mothers more vulnerable to difficulties in the transition to parenthood. However, little is known about the neurobiological processes by which poverty and maternal distress are associated with risks for adaptations to motherhood. Thus, the current study examined the associations between income and neural responses to infant cry sounds among first-time new mothers (N = 28) during the early postpartum period. Lower income was associated with reduced responses to infant cry in the medial prefrontal gyrus (involved in evaluating emotional values of stimuli), middle prefrontal gyrus (involved in affective regulation) and superior temporal gyrus (involved in sensory information processing). When examining the role of maternal distress, we found a mediating role of perceived stress, but not depressive symptoms, in the links between income and prefrontal responses to infant cry. Reduced neural responses to infant cry in the right middle frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus were further associated with less positive perceptions of parenting. The results demonstrate that perceived stress associated with socioeconomic disadvantages may contribute to reduced neural responses to infant cry, which is further associated with less positive perceptions of motherhood. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Differential protection of Cry1Fa toxin against Spodoptera frugiperda larval gut proteases by cadherin orthologs correlates with increased synergism.

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Rahman, Khalidur; Abdullah, Mohd Amir F; Ambati, Suresh; Taylor, Milton D; Adang, Michael J

2012-01-01

The Cry proteins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are the most widely used biopesticides effective against a range of crop pests and disease vectors. Like chemical pesticides, development of resistance is the primary threat to the long-term efficacy of Bt toxins. Recently discovered cadherin-based Bt Cry synergists showed the potential to augment resistance management by improving efficacy of Cry toxins. However, the mode of action of Bt Cry synergists is thus far unclear. Here we elucidate the mechanism of cadherin-based Cry toxin synergism utilizing two cadherin peptides, Spodoptera frugiperda Cad (SfCad) and Manduca sexta Cad (MsCad), which differentially enhance Cry1Fa toxicity to Spodoptera frugiperda neonates. We show that differential SfCad- and MsCad-mediated protection of Cry1Fa toxin in the Spodoptera frugiperda midgut correlates with differential Cry1Fa toxicity enhancement. Both peptides exhibited high affinity for Cry1Fa toxin and an increased rate of Cry1Fa-induced pore formation in S. frugiperda. However, only SfCad bound the S. frugiperda brush border membrane vesicle and more effectively prolonged the stability of Cry1Fa toxin in the gut, explaining higher Cry1Fa enhancement by this peptide. This study shows that cadherin fragments may enhance B. thuringiensis toxicity by at least two different mechanisms or a combination thereof: (i) protection of Cry toxin from protease degradation in the insect midgut and (ii) enhancement of pore-forming ability of Cry toxin.

Development of materials to support parents whose babies cry excessively: findings and health service implications.

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Long, Jaqui; Powell, Charlotte; Bamber, Deborah; Garratt, Rosemary; Brown, Jayne; Dyson, Sue; James-Roberts, Ian St

2018-01-10

Aim To develop evidence-based materials which provide information and support for parents who are concerned about their baby's excessive crying. As well as meeting these parents' needs, the aim was to develop a package of materials suitable for use by the UK National Health Service (NHS). Parents report that around 20% of infants in Western countries cry excessively without an apparent reason during the first four months of age. Traditionally, research has focused on the crying and its causes. However, evidence is growing that how parents evaluate and respond to the crying needs to receive equal attention. This focus encompasses parental resources, vulnerabilities, well-being and mental health. At present, the UK NHS lacks a set of routine provisions to support parents who are concerned about their baby's excessive crying. The rationales, methods and findings from a study developing materials for this purpose are reported. Following a literature review, 20 parents whose babies previously cried excessively took part in focus groups or interviews. They provided reports on their experiences and the supports they would have liked when their baby was crying excessively. In addition, they identified their preferred delivery methods and devices for accessing information and rated four example support packages identified by the literature review. Findings During the period their baby cried excessively, most parents visited a health service professional and most considered these direct contacts to have provided helpful information and support. Websites were similarly popular. Telephones and tablets were the preferred means of accessing online information. Groups to meet other parents were considered an important additional resource by all the parents. Three package elements - a Surviving Crying website, a printed version of the website and a programme of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy-based support sessions delivered to parents by a qualified practitioner, were developed for

An Arduino-Based Resonant Cradle Design with Infant Cries Recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Chun-Tang; Wang, Chia-Wei; Chiou, Juing-Shian; Wang, Chi-Jo

2015-08-03

This paper proposes a resonant electric cradle design with infant cries recognition, employing an Arduino UNO as the core processor. For most commercially available electric cradles, the drive motor is closely combined with the bearing on the top, resulting in a lot of energy consumption. In this proposal, a ball bearing design was adopted and the driving force is under the cradle to increase the distance from the object to fulcrum and torque. The sensors are designed to detect the oscillation state, and then the force is driven at the critical time to achieve the maximum output response while saving energy according to the principle of resonance. As for the driving forces, the winding power and motors are carefully placed under the cradle. The sensors, including the three-axis accelerometer and infrared sensor, are tested and applied under swinging amplitude control. In addition, infant cry recognition technology was incorporated in the design to further develop its functionality, which is a rare feature in this kind of hardware. The proposed nonlinear operator of fundamental frequency (f0) analysis is able to identify different types of infant cries. In conclusion, this paper proposes an energy-saving electric cradle with infant cries recognition and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

Intracellular and Extracellular Expression of Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal Protein Cry5B in Lactococcus lactis for Use as an Anthelminthic

Science.gov (United States)

Durmaz, Evelyn; Hu, Yan; Aroian, Raffi V.

2015-01-01

The Bacillus thuringiensis crystal (Cry) protein Cry5B (140 kDa) and a truncated version of the protein, tCry5B (79 kDa), are lethal to nematodes. Genes encoding the two proteins were separately cloned into a high-copy-number vector with a strong constitutive promoter (pTRK593) in Lactococcus lactis for potential oral delivery against parasitic nematode infections. Western blots using a Cry5B-specific antibody revealed that constitutively expressed Cry5B and tCry5B were present in both cells and supernatants. To increase production, cry5B was cloned into the high-copy-number plasmid pMSP3535H3, carrying a nisin-inducible promoter. Immunoblotting revealed that 3 h after nisin induction, intracellular Cry5B was strongly induced at 200 ng/ml nisin, without adversely affecting cell viability or cell membrane integrity. Both Cry5B genes were also cloned into plasmid pTRK1061, carrying a promoter and encoding a transcriptional activator that invoke low-level expression of prophage holin and lysin genes in Lactococcus lysogens, resulting in a leaky phenotype. Cry5B and tCry5B were actively expressed in the lysogenic strain L. lactis KP1 and released into cell supernatants without affecting culture growth. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays indicated that Cry5B, but not LDH, leaked from the bacteria. Lastly, using intracellular lysates from L. lactis cultures expressing both Cry5B and tCry5B, in vivo challenges of Caenorhabditis elegans worms demonstrated that the Cry proteins were biologically active. Taken together, these results indicate that active Cry5B proteins can be expressed intracellularly in and released extracellularly from L. lactis, showing potential for future use as an anthelminthic that could be delivered orally in a food-grade microbe. PMID:26682852

Construction and characterization of the interdomain chimeras using Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba from Bacillus thuringiensis and identification of a possible novel toxic chimera.

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Sun, Yunjun; Zhao, Qiang; Zheng, Dasheng; Ding, Xuezhi; Wang, Jingfang; Hu, Quanfang; Yuan, Zhiming; Park, Hyun-Woo; Xia, Liqiu

2014-01-01

Three structural domains of mosquitocidal Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba from Bacillus thuringiensis were exchanged to produce interdomain chimeras [BAA (11Ba/11Aa/11Aa), ABA (11Aa/11Ba/11Aa), AAB (11Aa/11Aa/11Ba), ABB (11Aa/11Ba/11Ba), BAB (11Ba/11Aa/11Ba), BBA (11Ba/11Ba/11Aa]. Chimeras BAB, BAA, BBA, and AAB formed inclusion bodies in the crystal-negative B. thuringiensis host and produced expected protein bands on SDS-PAGE gel. However, no inclusion body or target protein could be found for chimeras ABA and ABB. In bioassays using the fourth-instar larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti, AAB had ~50 % lethal concentrations of 4.8 and 2.2 μg ml(-1), respectively; however, the rest of chimeras were not toxic. This study thus helps to understand the domain-function relationships of the Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba toxins. The toxic chimera, AAB, might be a candidate for mosquito control as its amino acid sequence is different from the two parental toxins.

Binding site concentration explains the differential susceptibility of Chilo suppressalis and Sesamia inferens to Cry1A-producing rice.

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Han, Lanzhi; Han, Chao; Liu, Zewen; Chen, Fajun; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis; Hou, Maolin; Peng, Yufa

2014-08-01

Chilo suppressalis and Sesamia inferens are two important lepidopteran rice pests that occur concurrently during outbreaks in paddy fields in the main rice-growing areas of China. Previous and current field tests demonstrate that the transgenic rice line Huahui 1 (HH1) producing a Cry1Ab-Cry1Ac hybrid toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis reduces egg and larval densities of C. suppressalis but not of S. inferens. This differential susceptibility to HH1 rice correlates with the reduced susceptibility to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins in S. inferens larvae compared to C. suppressalis larvae. The goal of this study was to identify the mechanism responsible for this differential susceptibility. In saturation binding assays, both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins bound with high affinity and in a saturable manner to midgut brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) from C. suppressalis and S. inferens larvae. While binding affinities were similar, a dramatically lower concentration of Cry1A toxin binding sites was detected for S. inferens BBMV than for C. suppressalis BBMV. In contrast, no significant differences between species were detected for Cry1Ca toxin binding to BBMV. Ligand blotting detected BBMV proteins binding Cry1Ac or Cry1Ca toxins, some of them unique to C. suppressalis or S. inferens. These data support that reduced Cry1A binding site concentration is associated with a lower susceptibility to Cry1A toxins and HH1 rice in S. inferens larvae than in C. suppressalis larvae. Moreover, our data support Cry1Ca as a candidate for pyramiding efforts with Cry1A-producing rice to extend the activity range and durability of this technology against rice stem borers. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Low-loss, compact, and fabrication-tolerant Si-wire 90° waveguide bend using clothoid and normal curves for large scale photonic integrated circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujisawa, Takeshi; Makino, Shuntaro; Sato, Takanori; Saitoh, Kunimasa

2017-04-17

Ultimately low-loss 90° waveguide bend composed of clothoid and normal curves is proposed for dense optical interconnect photonic integrated circuits. By using clothoid curves at the input and output of 90° waveguide bend, straight and bent waveguides are smoothly connected without increasing the footprint. We found that there is an optimum ratio of clothoid curves in the bend and the bending loss can be significantly reduced compared with normal bend. 90% reduction of the bending loss for the bending radius of 4 μm is experimentally demonstrated with excellent agreement between theory and experiment. The performance is compared with the waveguide bend with offset, and the proposed bend is superior to the waveguide bend with offset in terms of fabrication tolerance.

Detection of the mosquitocidal toxin genes encoding Cry11 proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis using a novel PCR-RFLP method Detección de genes que codifican proteínas mosquitocidas Cry11 de Bacillus thuringiensis mediante un método de PCR-RFLP novedoso

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. H. Sauka

2010-02-01

Full Text Available A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP method for detection of cry11 genes from Bacillus thuringiensis was established. Based on the analysis of conserved regions of the cry11 genes, 2 oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify a 1459-bp fragment of the cry11Aa gene, and a 1471-bp of the cry11Ba and cry11Bb genes. The amplification products were digested with restriction endonuclease HinfI. Exotic B. thuringiensis strains and native isolates collected from soils, leaves and stored product dust of Argentina were analyzed to study the distribution of cry11 genes. The PCR-RFLP patterns revealed the detection of cry11 genes in 3 of 64 exotic strains and in 10 of 107 native B. thuringiensis isolates tested. Just the cry11Aa gene subclass was detected among these bacteria. Since the methodology was also developed to detect cry11Ba and cry11Bb genes, an experimental future confirmation will be required. Based on the results obtained, the PCR-RFLP method presented may be a valuable tool for specific detection of the mosquitocidal toxin genes encoding Cry11 proteins from B. thuringiensis.En el presente estudio se estableció una estrategia basada en la amplificación génica (PCR y el posterior análisis de restricción (RFLP para detectar todos los genes cry11 de Bacillus thuringiensis informados hasta ahora. De acuerdo con el análisis de las regiones conservadas en los genes cry11, se diseñaron dos cebadores para amplificar un fragmento de 1459 pb de los genes cry11Aa y un fragmento de 1471 pb de los genes cry11Ba y cry11Bb. Los productos de la amplificación fueron digeridos con la enzima de restricción HinfI. Se analizaron cepas exóticas de B. thuringiensis y aislamientos nativos de Argentina obtenidos a partir de muestras de suelos, hojas y polvillo de silos, para estudiar la distribución de los genes cry11. Los patrones de PCR-RFLP revelaron la presencia de genes cry11 en 3 de las 64 cepas ex

A Novel Tenebrio molitor Cadherin Is a Functional Receptor for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa Toxin*

OpenAIRE

Fabrick, Jeff; Oppert, Cris; Lorenzen, Marcé D.; Morris, Kaley; Oppert, Brenda; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis

2009-01-01

Cry toxins produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis are effective biological insecticides. Cadherin-like proteins have been reported as functional Cry1A toxin receptors in Lepidoptera. Here we present data that demonstrate that a coleopteran cadherin is a functional Cry3Aa toxin receptor. The Cry3Aa receptor cadherin was cloned from Tenebrio molitor larval midgut mRNA, and the predicted protein, TmCad1, has domain structure and a putative toxin binding region similar to those in lepid...

Performance and cross-crop resistance of Cry1F-maize selected Spodoptera frugiperda on transgenic Bt cotton: implications for resistance management.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fei; Kerns, David L; Brown, Sebe; Kurtz, Ryan; Dennehy, Tim; Braxton, Bo; Head, Graham; Huang, Fangneng

2016-06-15

Transgenic crops producing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins have become a primary tool in pest management. Due to the intensive use of Bt crops, resistance of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, to Cry1F maize has occurred in Puerto Rico, Brazil, and some areas of the southeastern U.S. The sustainability of Bt crops faces a great challenge because the Cry1F-maize resistant S. frugiperda may also infest other Bt crops in multiple cropping ecosystems. Here we examined the survival and plant injury of a S. frugiperda population selected with Cry1F maize on three single-gene and five pyramided Bt cotton products. Larvae of Cry1F-susceptible (SS), -heterozygous (RS), and -resistant (RR) genotypes of S. frugiperda were all susceptible to the pyramided cotton containing Cry1Ac/Cry2Ab, Cry1Ac/Cry1F/Vip3A, Cry1Ab/Cry2Ae, or Cry1Ab/Cry2Ae/Vip3A, and the single-gene Cry2Ae cotton. Pyramided cotton containing Cry1Ac/Cry1F was effective against SS and RS, but not for RR. These findings show that the Cry1F-maize selected S. frugiperda can cause cross-crop resistance to other Bt crops expressing similar insecticidal proteins. Resistance management and pest management programs that utilize diversify mortality factors must be implemented to ensure the sustainability of Bt crops. This is especially important in areas where resistance to single-gene Bt crops is already widespread.

Cry1Ab protein from Bt transgenic rice does not residue in rhizosphere soil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Haiyan; Ye Qingfu; Wang Wei; Wu Licheng; Wu Weixiang

2006-01-01

Expression of Cry1Ab protein in Bt transgenic rice (KMD) and its residue in the rhizosphere soil during the whole growth in field, as well as degradation of the protein from KMD straw in five soils under laboratory incubation were studied. The residue of Cry1Ab protein in KMD rhizosphere soil was undetectable (below the limit of 0.5 ng/g air-dried soil). The Cry1Ab protein contents in the shoot and root of KMD were 3.23-8.22 and 0.68-0.89 μg/g (fresh weight), respectively. The half-lives of the Cry1Ab protein in the soils amended with KMD straw (4%, w/w) ranged from 11.5 to 34.3 d. The residence time of the protein varied significantly in a Fluvio-marine yellow loamy soil amended with KMD straw at the rate of 3, 4 and 7%, with half-lives of 9.9, 13.8 and 18 d, respectively. In addition, an extraction method for Cry1Ab protein in soil was developed, with extraction efficiencies of 46.4-82.3%. - Cry1Ab protein was not detected in the rhizosphere soil of field-grown Bt transgenic rice

Evaluation of two cotton varieties CRSP1 and CRSP2 for genetic transformation efficiency, expression of transgenes Cry1Ac + Cry2A, GT gene and insect mortality

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Arfan Ali

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Expression of the transgene with a desirable character in crop plant is the ultimate goal of transgenic research. Transformation of two Bt genes namely Cry1Ac and Cry2A cloned as separate cassette under 35S promoter in pKHG4 plant expression vector was done by using shoot apex cut method of Agrobacterium. Molecular confirmation of putative transgenic cotton plants for Cry1Ac, Cry2A and GT gene was done through PCR and ELISA. Transformation efficiency of CRSP-1 and CRSP-2 was calculated to be 1.2 and 0.8% for Cry1Ac while 0.9 and 0.6% for Cry2A and 1.5 and 0.7% for GTG respectively. CRSP-1 was found to adopt natural environment (acclimatized earlier than CRSP-2 when exposed to sunlight for one month. Expression of Cry1Ac, Cry2A and GTG was found to be 1.2, 1 and 1.3 ng/μl respectively for CRSP-1 as compared to CRSP-2 where expression was recorded to be 0.9, 0.5 and 0.9 ng/μl respectively. FISH analysis of the transgenic CRSP-1 and CRSP-2 demonstrated the presence of one and two copy numbers respectively. Similarly, the response of CRSP-1 against Glyphosate @1900 ml/acre was far better with almost negligible necrotic spot and efficient growth after spray as compared to CRSP-2 where some plants were found to have necrosis and negative control where the complete decay of plant was observed after seven days of spray assay. Similarly, almost 100% mortality of 2nd instar larvae of Heliothis armigera was recorded after three days in CRSP-1 as compared CRSP-2 where insect mortality was found to be less than 90%. Quantitatively speaking non transgenic plants were found with 23–90% leaf damage by insect, while CRSP-1 was with less than 5% and CRSP-2 with 17%. Taken together CRSP1 was found to have better insect control and weedicide resistance along with its natural ability of genetic modification and can be employed by the valuable farmers for better insect control and simultaneously for better production.

Binding of Substrate Locks the Electrochemistry of CRY-DASH into DNA Repair.

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Gindt, Yvonne M; Messyasz, Adriana; Jumbo, Pamela I

2015-05-12

VcCry1, a member of the CRY-DASH family, may serve two diverse roles in vivo, including blue-light signaling and repair of UV-damaged DNA. We have discovered that the electrochemistry of the flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor of VcCry1 is locked to cycle only between the hydroquinone and neutral semiquinone states when UV-damaged DNA is present. Other potential substrates, including undamaged DNA and ATP, have no discernible effect on the electrochemistry, and the kinetics of the reduction is unaffected by damaged DNA. Binding of the damaged DNA substrate determines the role of the protein and prevents the presumed photochemistry required for blue-light signaling.

Crying Baby? How to Keep Your Cool

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... fatal. If you're having trouble managing your emotions or dealing with parenthood, seek help. Your baby's ... infant-and-toddler-health/in-depth/crying-baby/art-20046995 . Mayo Clinic Footer Legal Conditions and Terms ...

Possible Insecticidal Mechanisms Mediated by Immune-Response-Related Cry-Binding Proteins in the Midgut Juice of Plutella xylostella and Spodoptera exigua.

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Lu, Keyu; Gu, Yuqing; Liu, Xiaoping; Lin, Yi; Yu, Xiao-Qiang

2017-03-15

Cry toxins are insecticidal toxin proteins produced by a spore-forming Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Interactions between the Cry toxins and the receptors from midgut brush border membrane vesicles (BBMVs), such as cadherin, alkaline phosphatase, and aminopeptidase, are key steps for the specificity and insecticidal activity of Cry proteins. However, little is known about the midgut juice proteins that may interfere with Cry binding to the receptors. To validate the hypothesis that there exist Cry-binding proteins that can interfere with the insecticidal process of Cry toxins, we applied Cry1Ab1-coupled Sepharose beads to isolate Cry-binding proteins form midgut juice of Plutella xylostella and Spodoptera exigua. Trypsin-like serine proteases and Dorsal were found to be Cry1Ab1-binding proteins in the midgut juice of P. xylostella. Peroxidase-C (POX-C) was found to be the Cry1Ab1-binding protein in the midgut juice of S. exigua. We proposed possible insecticidal mechanisms of Cry1Ab1 mediated by the two immune-related proteins: Dorsal and POX-C. Our results suggested that there exist, in the midgut juice, Cry-binding proteins, which are different from BBMV-specific receptors.

Phage-Mediated Competitive Chemiluminescent Immunoassay for Detecting Cry1Ab Toxin by Using an Anti-Idiotypic Camel Nanobody.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Yulou; Li, Pan; Dong, Sa; Zhang, Xiaoshuai; Yang, Qianru; Wang, Yulong; Ge, Jing; Hammock, Bruce D; Zhang, Cunzheng; Liu, Xianjin

2018-01-31

Cry toxins have been widely used in genetically modified organisms for pest control, raising public concern regarding their effects on the natural environment and food safety. In this work, a phage-mediated competitive chemiluminescent immunoassay (c-CLIA) was developed for determination of Cry1Ab toxin using anti-idiotypic camel nanobodies. By extracting RNA from camels' peripheral blood lymphocytes, a naive phage-displayed nanobody library was established. Using anti-Cry1Ab toxin monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the library for anti-idiotypic antibody screening, four anti-idiotypic nanobodies were selected and confirmed to be specific for anti-Cry1Ab mAb binding. Thereafter, a c-CLIA was developed for detection of Cry1Ab toxin based on anti-idiotypic camel nanobodies and employed for sample testing. The results revealed a half-inhibition concentration of developed assay to be 42.68 ± 2.54 ng/mL, in the linear range of 10.49-307.1 ng/mL. The established method is highly specific for Cry1Ab recognition, with negligible cross-reactivity for other Cry toxins. For spiked cereal samples, the recoveries of Cry1Ab toxin ranged from 77.4% to 127%, with coefficient of variation of less than 9%. This study demonstrated that the competitive format based on phage-displayed anti-idiotypic nanobodies can provide an alternative strategy for Cry toxin detection.

Atypical Cry Acoustics in 6-Month-Old Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

OpenAIRE

Sheinkopf, Stephen J.; Iverson, Jana M.; Rinaldi, Melissa L.; Lester, Barry M.

2012-01-01

This study examined differences in acoustic characteristics of infant cries in a sample of babies at risk for autism and a low-risk comparison group. Cry samples derived from vocal recordings of 6-month-old infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 21) and low-risk infants (n = 18) were subjected to acoustic analyses using analysis software designed for this purpose. Cries were categorized as either pain-related or non-pain-related based on videotape coding. At-risk infants produ...

Feasibility of using fMRI to study mothers responding to infant cries.

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Lorberbaum, J P; Newman, J D; Dubno, J R; Horwitz, A R; Nahas, Z; Teneback, C C; Bloomer, C W; Bohning, D E; Vincent, D; Johnson, M R; Emmanuel, N; Brawman-Mintzer, O; Book, S W; Lydiard, R B; Ballenger, J C; George, M S

1999-01-01

While parenting is a universal human behavior, its neuroanatomic basis is currently unknown. Animal data suggest that the cingulate may play an important function in mammalian parenting behavior. For example, in rodents cingulate lesions impair maternal behavior. Here, in an attempt to understand the brain basis of human maternal behavior, we had mothers listen to recorded infant cries and white noise control sounds while they underwent functional MRI (fMRI) of the brain. We hypothesized that mothers would show significantly greater cingulate activity during the cries compared to the control sounds. Of 7 subjects scanned, 4 had fMRI data suitable for analysis. When fMRI data were averaged for these 4 subjects, the anterior cingulate and right medial prefrontal cortex were the only brain regions showing statistically increased activity with the cries compared to white noise control sounds (cluster analysis with one-tailed z-map threshold of P parent-infant bond and (2) examine whether markers of this bond, such as maternal brain response to infant crying, can predict maternal style (i.e., child neglect), offspring temperament, or offspring depression or anxiety.

Cross-resistance to purified Bt proteins, Bt corn and Bt cotton in a Cry2Ab2-corn resistant strain of Spodoptera frugiperda.

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Yang, Fei; Kerns, David L; Head, Graham P; Price, Paula; Huang, Fangneng

2017-12-01

Gene-pyramiding by combining two or more dissimilar Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins into a crop has been used to delay insect resistance. The durability of gene-pyramiding can be reduced by cross-resistance. Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a major target pest of the Cry2Ab2 protein used in pyramided Bt corn and cotton. Here, we provide the first experimental evaluation of cross-resistance in S. frugiperda selected with Cry2Ab2 corn to multiple Bt sources including purified Bt proteins, Bt corn and Bt cotton. Concentration - response bioassays showed that resistance ratios for Cry2Ab2-resistant (RR) relative to Cry2Ab2-susceptible (SS) S. frugiperda were -1.4 for Cry1F, 1.2 for Cry1A.105, >26.7 for Cry2Ab2, >10.0 for Cry2Ae and -1.1 for Vip3A. Larvae of Cry2Ab2-heterozygous (RS), SS and RR S. frugiperda were all susceptible to Bt corn and Bt cotton containing Cry1 (Cry1F or Cry1A.105) and/or Vip3A proteins. Pyramided Bt cotton containing Cry1Ac + Cry2Ab2 or Cry1Ab + Cry2Ae were also effective against SS and RS, but not RR. These findings suggest that Cry2Ab2-corn-selected S. frugiperda is not cross-resistant to Cry1F, Cry1A.105 or Vip3A protein, or corn and cotton plants containing these Bt proteins, but it can cause strong cross-resistance to Cry2Ae and Bt crops expressing similar Bt proteins. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Elucidation of the mechanisms of CryIIIA overproduction in a mutagenized strain of Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, L.F.; Mathewes, S.; O'Hara, P.; Peterson, A.; Gürtler, H.

1994-01-01

NB176 is a Bacillus thuringiensis mutant derived by λ-irradiation of NB125 Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis (Krieg). It exhibits two interesting phenotypes: (i) oligosporogeny and (ii) twofold to threefold overproduction of the CryIIIA protein. Southern profiles of the NB176 strain showed an additional copy(s) of the cryIIIA gene located on a 4 kb HindIII fragment, in addition to the expected cryIIIA gene on a 3 kb HindIII fragment. Each cryIIIA gene-bearing HindIII fragment was cloned from NB176. The restriction map of the 3 kb HindIII fragment was identical to that published by Donovan and coworkers. Sequencing of the 4 kb HindIII fragment showed no alterations in the promoter region of the cryIIIA gene but did show replacement of the region immediately following the cryIIIA open reading frame with a sequence encoding a transposase with 50% amino acid homology to that of Tn 1000. These findings suggest that the overproduction phenotype of NB176 results from extra copies of the cryIIIA gene produced from a transposition event(s) induced or stabilized by γ-irradiation. Integration of additional copies of the cryIIIA gene into the native 90MDa plasmid of the wild-type B. thuringiensis var. tenebrionis strain resulted in strains that made enormous crystals, many possessing greatly enhanced insecticidal activity

Binding site alteration is responsible for field-isolated resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry2A insecticidal proteins in two Helicoverpa species.

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Silvia Caccia

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Evolution of resistance by target pests is the main threat to the long-term efficacy of crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt insecticidal proteins. Cry2 proteins play a pivotal role in current Bt spray formulations and transgenic crops and they complement Cry1A proteins because of their different mode of action. Their presence is critical in the control of those lepidopteran species, such as Helicoverpa spp., which are not highly susceptible to Cry1A proteins. In Australia, a transgenic variety of cotton expressing Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab (Bollgard II comprises at least 80% of the total cotton area. Prior to the widespread adoption of Bollgard II, the frequency of alleles conferring resistance to Cry2Ab in field populations of Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa punctigera was significantly higher than anticipated. Colonies established from survivors of F(2 screens against Cry2Ab are highly resistant to this toxin, but susceptible to Cry1Ac. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Bioassays performed with surface-treated artificial diet on neonates of H. armigera and H. punctigera showed that Cry2Ab resistant insects were cross-resistant to Cry2Ae while susceptible to Cry1Ab. Binding analyses with (125I-labeled Cry2Ab were performed with brush border membrane vesicles from midguts of Cry2Ab susceptible and resistant insects. The results of the binding analyses correlated with bioassay data and demonstrated that resistant insects exhibited greatly reduced binding of Cry2Ab toxin to midgut receptors, whereas no change in (125I-labeled-Cry1Ac binding was detected. As previously demonstrated for H. armigera, Cry2Ab binding sites in H. punctigera were shown to be shared by Cry2Ae, which explains why an alteration of the shared binding site would lead to cross-resistance between the two Cry2A toxins. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first time that a mechanism of resistance to the Cry2 class of insecticidal proteins has been reported

Molecular studies of segmental aneusomy: FISHing for the atypical cry in del(5)(p15.3).

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Hodge, J C; Lawson-Yuen, A; Stoler, J M; Ligon, A H

2007-01-01

We report a newborn male with multiple congenital anomalies including growth retardation, hypotonia, dysmorphic facies, widely-spaced nipples, micropenis, cryptorchidism, optic nerve hypoplasia, heart disease, and a striking, high-pitched cry. Chromosome analysis revealed de novo partial trisomy 11q due to a der(5)t(5;11)(p15.3;q22). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed loss of the 5p telomere signal on the der(5) chromosome, indicating the infant has partial monosomy 5p in addition to partial trisomy 11q. Among cases involving trisomy 11q, an unusual cry has only been documented in the presence of a der(5)t(5p;11q). This apparent dependence of the abnormal cry on monosomy 5p suggested the same genetic mechanism that occurs in Cri du chat syndrome (CDCS) may be responsible for the atypical cry in der(5)t(5p;11q) individuals. Neither a commercial CDCS probe (LSI D5S23, D5S721) nor a series of BAC clones encompassing distal regions implicated in the CDCS-associated cat-cry were deleted in our patient. These results suggest a second cry-modifying locus maps telomeric to BAC RP11-94J21 in band 5p15.33. This locus may not only cause the abnormal cry in individuals with a der(5)t(5p;11q) but could also contribute to the phenotypic variability and discordant mapping studies observed for CDCS. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Near-Isogenic Cry1F-Resistant Strain of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to Investigate Fitness Cost Associated With Resistance in Brazil.

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Horikoshi, Renato J; Bernardi, Oderlei; Bernardi, Daniel; Okuma, Daniela M; Farias, Juliano R; Miraldo, Leonardo L; Amaral, Fernando S A; Omoto, Celso

2016-04-01

Field-evolved resistance to Cry1F maize in Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) populations in Brazil was reported in 2014. In this study, to investigate fitness costs, we constructed a near-isogenic S. frugiperda-resistant strain (R-Cry1F) using Cry1F-resistant and Cry1F-susceptible strains sharing a close genetic background. A near-isogenic R-Cry1F strain was obtained by eight repeated backcrossings, each followed by sib-mating and selection among resistant and susceptible strains. Fitness cost parameters were evaluated by comparing the biological performance of resistant, susceptible, and heterozygous strains on artificial diet. Fitness parameters monitored included development time and survival rates of egg, larval, pupal, and egg-to-adult periods; sex ratio; adult longevity; timing of preoviposition, oviposition, and postoviposition; fecundity; and fertility. A fertility life table was also calculated. The near-isogenic R-Cry1F strain showed lower survival rate of eggs (32%), when compared with Sus and reciprocal crosses (41 and 55%, respectively). The number of R-Cry1F insects that completed the life cycle was reduced to ∼25%, compared with the Sus strain with ∼32% reaching the adult stage. The mean generation time (T) of R-Cry1F strain was ∼2 d shorter than R-Cry1F♂×Sus♀ and Sus strains. The reproductive parameters of R-Cry1F strain were similar to the Sus strain. However, fewer females were produced by R-Cry1F strain than R-Cry1F♀×Sus♂ and more females than R-Cry1F♂×Sus♀. In summary, no relevant fitness costs are observed in a near-isogenic Cry1F-resistant strain of S. frugiperda, indicating stability of resistance to Cry1F protein in Brazilian populations of this species in the absence of selection pressure.

Excessive crying in infants

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Ricardo Halpern

2016-05-01

Conclusion: Excessive crying in the early months is a prevalent symptom; the pediatrician's attention is necessary to understand and adequately manage the problem and offer support to exhausted parents. The prescription of drugs of questionable action and with potential side effects is not a recommended treatment, except in extreme situations. The effectiveness of dietary treatments and use of probiotics still require confirmation. There is incomplete evidence regarding alternative treatments such as manipulation techniques, acupuncture, and use of the herbal supplements and behavioral interventions.

Binding specificity of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa for purified, native Bombyx mori aminopeptidase N and cadherin-like receptors

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Jenkins Jeremy L

2001-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To better understand the molecular interactions of Bt toxins with non-target insects, we have examined the real-time binding specificity and affinity of Cry1 toxins to native silkworm (Bombyx mori midgut receptors. Previous studies on B. mori receptors utilized brush border membrane vesicles or purifed receptors in blot-type assays. Results The Bombyx mori (silkworm aminopeptidase N (APN and cadherin-like receptors for Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal Cry1Aa toxin were purified and their real-time binding affinities for Cry toxins were examined by surface plasmon resonance. Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins did not bind to the immobilized native receptors, correlating with their low toxicities. Cry1Aa displayed moderate affinity for B. mori APN (75 nM, and unusually tight binding to the cadherin-like receptor (2.6 nM, which results from slow dissociation rates. The binding of a hybrid toxin (Aa/Aa/Ac was identical to Cry1Aa. Conclusions These results indicate domain II of Cry1Aa is essential for binding to native B. mori receptors and for toxicity. Moreover, the high-affinity binding of Cry1Aa to native cadherin-like receptor emphasizes the importance of this receptor class for Bt toxin research.

Binding specificity of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa for purified, native Bombyx mori aminopeptidase N and cadherin-like receptors

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Jeremy L; Dean, Donald H

2001-01-01

Background To better understand the molecular interactions of Bt toxins with non-target insects, we have examined the real-time binding specificity and affinity of Cry1 toxins to native silkworm (Bombyx mori) midgut receptors. Previous studies on B. mori receptors utilized brush border membrane vesicles or purifed receptors in blot-type assays. Results The Bombyx mori (silkworm) aminopeptidase N (APN) and cadherin-like receptors for Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal Cry1Aa toxin were purified and their real-time binding affinities for Cry toxins were examined by surface plasmon resonance. Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac toxins did not bind to the immobilized native receptors, correlating with their low toxicities. Cry1Aa displayed moderate affinity for B. mori APN (75 nM), and unusually tight binding to the cadherin-like receptor (2.6 nM), which results from slow dissociation rates. The binding of a hybrid toxin (Aa/Aa/Ac) was identical to Cry1Aa. Conclusions These results indicate domain II of Cry1Aa is essential for binding to native B. mori receptors and for toxicity. Moreover, the high-affinity binding of Cry1Aa to native cadherin-like receptor emphasizes the importance of this receptor class for Bt toxin research. PMID:11722800

Efficient genetic transformation of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) and generation of insect-resistant transgenic plants expressing the cry1Ac gene.

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Narendran, M; Deole, Satish G; Harkude, Satish; Shirale, Dattatray; Nanote, Asaram; Bihani, Pankaj; Parimi, Srinivas; Char, Bharat R; Zehr, Usha B

2013-08-01

Agrobacterium -mediated transformation system for okra using embryos was devised and the transgenic Bt plants showed resistance to the target pest, okra shoot, and fruit borer ( Earias vittella ). Okra is an important vegetable crop and progress in genetic improvement via genetic transformation has been impeded by its recalcitrant nature. In this paper, we describe a procedure using embryo explants for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and tissue culture-based plant regeneration for efficient genetic transformation of okra. Twenty-one transgenic okra lines expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis gene cry1Ac were generated from five transformation experiments. Molecular analysis (PCR and Southern) confirmed the presence of the transgene and double-antibody sandwich ELISA analysis revealed Cry1Ac protein expression in the transgenic plants. All 21 transgenic plants were phenotypically normal and fertile. T1 generation plants from these lines were used in segregation analysis of the transgene. Ten transgenic lines were selected randomly for Southern hybridization and the results confirmed the presence of transgene integration into the genome. Normal Mendelian inheritance (3:1) of cry1Ac gene was observed in 12 lines out of the 21 T0 lines. We selected 11 transgenic lines segregating in a 3:1 ratio for the presence of one transgene for insect bioassays using larvae of fruit and shoot borer (Earias vittella). Fruit from seven transgenic lines caused 100 % larval mortality. We demonstrate an efficient transformation system for okra which will accelerate the development of transgenic okra with novel agronomically useful traits.

In vitro effect of Bacillus thuringiensis strains and Cry proteins in phytopathogenic fungi of paddy rice-field Efeito in vitro de cepas e proteínas Cry de Bacillus thuringiensis em fungos fitopatogênicos da cultura do arroz irrigado

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Neiva Knaak

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac strains and proteins synthesized by Bacillus thuringiensis thuringiensis and B. thuringiensis kurstaki were assessed in the following phytopathogens: Rhizoctonia solani,Pyricularia grisea,Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani, which had their micelial growth decreased after incubation in the presence of the bacterial strains. As to Cry proteins, there were no inhibition halo development in the assessed concentrations.As cepas e proteínas Cry1Ab e Cry1Ac sintetizadas por Bacillus thuringiensis thuringiensis e B. thuringiensis kurstaki, foram avaliadas nos fitopatógenos: Rhizoctonia solani,Pyricularia grisea,Fusarium oxysporum e F. solani, os quais tiveram seu crescimento micelial reduzido após a incubação na presença das cepas bacterianas. Em relação às proteínas Cry, não houve formação de halo de inibição nas concentrações avaliadas.

Intranasal administration of oxytocin modulates behavioral and amygdala responses to infant crying in females with insecure attachment representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Riem, Madelon M E; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H

2016-01-01

The current study examined the effects of oxytocin administration on the response to infant crying in individuals with secure or insecure attachment representations as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview. We measured feelings of irritation and the use of excessive force as indicated by grip strength using a handgrip dynamometer during exposure to infant crying in 42 women without children who were administered intranasal oxytocin or a placebo. In addition, amygdala responses to infant crying and control sounds were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The effects of oxytocin on reactivity to crying were moderated by attachment security. Oxytocin decreased the use of excessive handgrip force and amygdala reactivity in response to crying in individuals with insecure attachment representations. Our findings indicate that insecure individuals, who show emotional, behavioral, and neural hyperreactivity to crying, benefit the most from intranasal oxytocin.

The missing link: Mothers’ neural response to infant cry related to infant attachment behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Laurent, Heidemarie K.; Ablow, Jennifer C.

2012-01-01

This study addresses a gap in the attachment literature by investigating maternal neural response to cry related to infant attachment classifications and behaviors. Twenty-two primiparous mothers and their 18-month old infants completed the Strange Situation Procedure (SS) to elicit attachment behaviors. During a separate functional MRI session, mothers were exposed to their own infant’s cry sound, as well as an unfamiliar infant’s cry and control sound. Maternal neural response to own infant cry related to both overall attachment security and specific infant behaviors. Mothers of less secure infants maintained greater activation to their cry in left parahippocampal and amygdala regions and the right posterior insula. consistent with a negative schematic response bias. Mothers of infants exhibiting more avoidant or contact maintaining behaviors during the SS showed diminished response across left prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar areas involved in attentional processing and cognitive control. Mothers of infants exhibiting more disorganized behavior showed reduced response in bilateral temporal and subcallosal areas relevant to social cognition and emotion regulation. No differences by attachment classification were found. Implications for attachment transmission models are discussed. PMID:22982277

The missing link: mothers' neural response to infant cry related to infant attachment behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Laurent, Heidemarie K; Ablow, Jennifer C

2012-12-01

This study addresses a gap in the attachment literature by investigating maternal neural response to cry related to infant attachment classifications and behaviors. Twenty-two primiparous mothers and their 18-month old infants completed the Strange Situation (SS) procedure to elicit attachment behaviors. During a separate functional MRI session, mothers were exposed to their own infant's cry sound, as well as an unfamiliar infant's cry and control sound. Maternal neural response to own infant cry related to both overall attachment security and specific infant behaviors. Mothers of less secure infants maintained greater activation to their cry in left parahippocampal and amygdala regions and the right posterior insula consistent with a negative schematic response bias. Mothers of infants exhibiting more avoidant or contact maintaining behaviors during the SS showed diminished response across left prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar areas involved in attentional processing and cognitive control. Mothers of infants exhibiting more disorganized behavior showed reduced response in bilateral temporal and subcallosal areas relevant to social cognition and emotion regulation. No differences by attachment classification were found. Implications for attachment transmission models are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Transgenic cry1Ca Rice on the Development of Xenopus laevis.

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Xiuping Chen

Full Text Available In fields of genetically modified, insect-resistant rice expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt proteins, frogs are exposed to Bt Cry proteins by consuming both target and non-target insects, and through their highly permeable skin. In the present study, we assessed the potential risk posed by transgenic cry1Ca rice (T1C-19 on the development of a frog species by adding purified Cry1Ca protein or T1C-19 rice straw into the rearing water of Xenopus laevis tadpoles, and by feeding X. laevis froglets diets containing rice grains of T1C-19 or its non-transformed counterpart MH63. Our results showed that there were no significant differences among groups receiving 100 μg L-1 or 10 μg L-1 Cry1Ca and the blank control in terms of time to completed metamorphosis, survival rate, body weight, body length, organ weight and liver enzyme activity after being exposed to the Cry1Ca (P > 0.05. Although some detection indices in the rice straw groups were significantly different from those of the blank control group (P < 0.05, there was no significant difference between the T1C-19 and MH63 rice straw groups. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the mortality rate, body weight, daily weight gain, liver and fat body weight of the froglets between the T1C-19 and MH63 dietary groups after 90 days, and there were no abnormal pathological changes in the stomach, intestines, livers, spleens and gonads. Thus, we conclude that the planting of transgenic cry1Ca rice will not adversely affect frog development.

Specificity and combinatorial effects of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins in the context of GMO environmental risk assessment

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Angelika eHilbeck

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Stacked GM crops expressing up to six Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis are today replacing the formerly grown single- transgene GM crop varieties. Stacking of multiple Cry toxins not only increase the environmental load of toxins but also raise the question on how possible interactions of the toxins can be assessed for risk assessment, which is mandatory for GM crops. However, no operational guidelines for a testing strategy or testing procedures exist. From the developers point of view, little data testing for combinatorial effects of Cry toxins is necessary as the range of affected organisms is focused on pest species and no evidence is claimed to exists pointing to combinatorial effects on nontarget organisms. We have examined this rationale critically using information reported in the scientific literature. To do so we address the hypothesis of narrow specificity of Cry toxins subdivided into three underlying different conceptual conditions i 'efficacy' in target pests as indicator for 'narrow specificity', ii lack of reported adverse effects of Cry toxins on nontarget organisms, and iii proposed modes of action of Cry toxins (or the lack thereof as mechanisms underlying the reported activity/efficacy/specificity of Cry toxins. Complementary to this information we evaluate reports about outcomes of combinatorial effect testing of Cry toxins in the scientific literature and relate those findings to the practice of the environmental risk assessment of Bt-corps in general and of stacked Bt-events in particular.

Construction of a biodynamic model for Cry protein production studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro-Mtz, Ana Karin; Pérez-Guevara, Fermín

2014-12-01

Mathematical models have been used from growth kinetic simulation to gen regulatory networks prediction for B. thuringiensis culture. However, this culture is a time dependent dynamic process where cells physiology suffers several changes depending on the changes in the cell environment. Therefore, through its culture, B. thuringiensis presents three phases related with the predominance of three major metabolic pathways: vegetative growth (Embded-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway), transition (γ-aminobutiric cycle) and sporulation (tricarboxylic acid cycle). There is not available a mathematical model that relates the different stages of cultivation with the metabolic pathway active on each one of them. Therefore, in the present study, and based on published data, a biodynamic model was generated to describe the dynamic of the three different phases based on their major metabolic pathways. The biodynamic model is used to study the interrelation between the different culture phases and their relationship with the Cry protein production. The model consists of three interconnected modules where each module represents one culture phase and its principal metabolic pathway. For model validation four new fermentations were done showing that the model constructed describes reasonably well the dynamic of the three phases. The main results of this model imply that poly-β-hydroxybutyrate is crucial for endospore and Cry protein production. According to the yields of dipicolinic acid and Cry from poly-β-hydroxybutyrate, calculated with the model, the endospore and Cry protein production are not just simultaneous and parallel processes they are also competitive processes.

Transcriptome profiling of the intoxication response of Tenebrio molitor larvae to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa protoxin.

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Oppert, Brenda; Dowd, Scot E; Bouffard, Pascal; Li, Lewyn; Conesa, Ana; Lorenzen, Marcé D; Toutges, Michelle; Marshall, Jeremy; Huestis, Diana L; Fabrick, Jeff; Oppert, Cris; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis

2012-01-01

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal (Cry) proteins are effective against a select number of insect pests, but improvements are needed to increase efficacy and decrease time to mortality for coleopteran pests. To gain insight into the Bt intoxication process in Coleoptera, we performed RNA-Seq on cDNA generated from the guts of Tenebrio molitor larvae that consumed either a control diet or a diet containing Cry3Aa protoxin. Approximately 134,090 and 124,287 sequence reads from the control and Cry3Aa-treated groups were assembled into 1,318 and 1,140 contigs, respectively. Enrichment analyses indicated that functions associated with mitochondrial respiration, signalling, maintenance of cell structure, membrane integrity, protein recycling/synthesis, and glycosyl hydrolases were significantly increased in Cry3Aa-treated larvae, whereas functions associated with many metabolic processes were reduced, especially glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and fatty acid synthesis. Microarray analysis was used to evaluate temporal changes in gene expression after 6, 12 or 24 h of Cry3Aa exposure. Overall, microarray analysis indicated that transcripts related to allergens, chitin-binding proteins, glycosyl hydrolases, and tubulins were induced, and those related to immunity and metabolism were repressed in Cry3Aa-intoxicated larvae. The 24 h microarray data validated most of the RNA-Seq data. Of the three intoxication intervals, larvae demonstrated more differential expression of transcripts after 12 h exposure to Cry3Aa. Gene expression examined by three different methods in control vs. Cry3Aa-treated larvae at the 24 h time point indicated that transcripts encoding proteins with chitin-binding domain 3 were the most differentially expressed in Cry3Aa-intoxicated larvae. Overall, the data suggest that T. molitor larvae mount a complex response to Cry3Aa during the initial 24 h of intoxication. Data from this study represent the largest genetic sequence dataset for T. molitor

Transcriptome profiling of the intoxication response of Tenebrio molitor larvae to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa protoxin.

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Brenda Oppert

Full Text Available Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crystal (Cry proteins are effective against a select number of insect pests, but improvements are needed to increase efficacy and decrease time to mortality for coleopteran pests. To gain insight into the Bt intoxication process in Coleoptera, we performed RNA-Seq on cDNA generated from the guts of Tenebrio molitor larvae that consumed either a control diet or a diet containing Cry3Aa protoxin. Approximately 134,090 and 124,287 sequence reads from the control and Cry3Aa-treated groups were assembled into 1,318 and 1,140 contigs, respectively. Enrichment analyses indicated that functions associated with mitochondrial respiration, signalling, maintenance of cell structure, membrane integrity, protein recycling/synthesis, and glycosyl hydrolases were significantly increased in Cry3Aa-treated larvae, whereas functions associated with many metabolic processes were reduced, especially glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and fatty acid synthesis. Microarray analysis was used to evaluate temporal changes in gene expression after 6, 12 or 24 h of Cry3Aa exposure. Overall, microarray analysis indicated that transcripts related to allergens, chitin-binding proteins, glycosyl hydrolases, and tubulins were induced, and those related to immunity and metabolism were repressed in Cry3Aa-intoxicated larvae. The 24 h microarray data validated most of the RNA-Seq data. Of the three intoxication intervals, larvae demonstrated more differential expression of transcripts after 12 h exposure to Cry3Aa. Gene expression examined by three different methods in control vs. Cry3Aa-treated larvae at the 24 h time point indicated that transcripts encoding proteins with chitin-binding domain 3 were the most differentially expressed in Cry3Aa-intoxicated larvae. Overall, the data suggest that T. molitor larvae mount a complex response to Cry3Aa during the initial 24 h of intoxication. Data from this study represent the largest genetic sequence

Assessment of potential adjuvanticity of Cry proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joshi, Saurabh S; Barnett, Brian; Doerrer, Nancy G

2016-01-01

protection, herbicide tolerance, or both. Plant expression of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal (Cry) insecticidal proteins have been the primary way to impart insect resistance in GM crops. Although deemed safe by regulatory agencies globally, previous studies have been the basis for discussions around...

Excessive infant crying: Definitions determine risk groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reijneveld, S.A.; Brugman, E.; Hirasing, R.A.

2002-01-01

We assessed risk groups for excessive infant crying using 10 published definitions, in 3179 children aged 1-6 months (response: 96.5%). Risk groups regarding parental employment, living area, lifestyle, and obstetric history varied by definition. This may explain the existence of conflicting

The effect of two different swinging methods upon colic and crying durations among the infants

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Gamze Yilmaz

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Context: Swinging "repetitive and rhythmic" movements are helpful because these provide a continuous stimulus. These methods are reported to be effective upon decreasing baby′s pains or cry. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors of the two different methods (rhythmic rocking of infants in the arm and rhythmic rocking infants on a blanket on crying duration and colic as well as the factors affecting duration of crying with colic. Materials and Methods: A pre-test post-test quasi experimental model was used. Subjects included 72 infants (1-3 months who had colic and their mothers. The infants were healthy and were delivered after full-term gestation. Results: It has been determined that as the duration of application increased (at the end of the second week, the crying duration of babies who were in each of the two groups decreased. Conclusion: It has been found that swinging ( rhythmic rocking the infants on a blanket and in arm, decreased the colic and crying duration of infants.

Field evolved resistance in Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae to Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cry1Ac in Pakistan.

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Anwaar H K Alvi

Full Text Available Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner is one of the most destructive pests of several field and vegetable crops, with indiscriminate use of insecticides contributing to multiple instances of resistance. In the present study we assessed whether H. armigera had developed resistance to Bt cotton and compared the results with several conventional insecticides. Furthermore, the genetics of resistance was also investigated to determine the inheritance to Cry1Ac resistance. To investigate the development of resistance to Bt cotton, and selected foliar insecticides, H. armigera populations were sampled in 2010 and 2011 in several cotton production regions in Pakistan. The resistance ratios (RR for Cry1Ac, chlorpyrifos, profenofos, cypermethrin, spinosad, indoxacarb, abamectin and deltamethrin were 580-fold, 320-, 1110-, 1950-, 200-, 380, 690, and 40-fold, respectively, compared with the laboratory susceptible (Lab-PK population. Selection of the field collected population with Cry1Ac in 2010 for five generations increased RR to 5440-fold. The selection also increased RR for deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos, profenofos, cypermethrin, spinosad, indoxacarb, abamectin to 125-folds, 650-, 2840-, 9830-, 370-, 3090-, 1330-fold. The estimated LC(50s for reciprocal crosses were 105 µg/ml (Cry1Ac-SEL female × Lab-PK male and 81 g µg/ml (Lab-PK female × Cry1Ac-SEL male suggesting that the resistance to Cry1Ac was autosomal; the degree of dominance (D(LC was 0.60 and 0.57 respectively. Mixing of enzyme inhibitors significantly decreased resistance to Cry1Ac suggesting that the resistance to Cry1Ac and other insecticides tested in the present study was primarily metabolic. Resistance to Cry1Ac was probably due to a single but unstable factor suggesting that crop rotation with non-Bt cotton or other crops could reduce the selection pressure for H. armigera and improve the sustainability of Bt cotton.

Proteomics-based identification of midgut proteins correlated with Cry1Ac resistance in Plutella xylostella (L.).

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Xia, Jixing; Guo, Zhaojiang; Yang, Zezhong; Zhu, Xun; Kang, Shi; Yang, Xin; Yang, Fengshan; Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Xu, Weijun; Zhang, Youjun

2016-09-01

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), is a worldwide pest of cruciferous crops and can rapidly develop resistance to many chemical insecticides. Although insecticidal crystal proteins (i.e., Cry and Cyt toxins) derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been useful alternatives to chemical insecticides for the control of P. xylostella, resistance to Bt in field populations of P. xylostella has already been reported. A better understanding of the resistance mechanisms to Bt should be valuable in delaying resistance development. In this study, the mechanisms underlying P. xylostella resistance to Bt Cry1Ac toxin were investigated using two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and ligand blotting for the first time. Comparative analyses of the constitutive expression of midgut proteins in Cry1Ac-susceptible and -resistant P. xylostella larvae revealed 31 differentially expressed proteins, 21 of which were identified by mass spectrometry. Of these identified proteins, the following fell into diverse eukaryotic orthologous group (KOG) subcategories may be involved in Cry1Ac resistance in P. xylostella: ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter subfamily G member 4 (ABCG4), trypsin, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), vacuolar H(+)-ATPase, actin, glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor attachment 1 protein (GAA1) and solute carrier family 30 member 1 (SLC30A1). Additionally, ligand blotting identified the following midgut proteins as Cry1Ac-binding proteins in Cry1Ac-susceptible P. xylostella larvae: ABC transporter subfamily C member 1 (ABCC1), solute carrier family 36 member 1 (SLC36A1), NADH dehydrogenase iron-sulfur protein 3 (NDUFS3), prohibitin and Rap1 GTPase-activating protein 1. Collectively, these proteomic results increase our understanding of the molecular resistance mechanisms to Bt Cry1Ac toxin in P. xylostella and also demonstrate that resistance to Bt Cry1Ac toxin is complex and multifaceted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All

Genetic Basis of Cry1F-Resistance in a Laboratory Selected Asian Corn Borer Strain and Its Cross-Resistance to Other Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins.

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Yueqin Wang

Full Text Available The Asian corn borer (ACB, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée (Lepidoptera: Crambidae, is the most destructive insect pest of corn in China. Susceptibility to the Cry1F toxin derived from Bacillus thuringiensis has been demonstrated for ACB, suggesting the potential for Cry1F inclusion as part of an insect pest management program. Insects can develop resistance to Cry toxins, which threatens the development and use of Bt formulations and Bt crops in the field. To determine possible resistance mechanisms to Cry1F, a Cry1F-resistant colony of ACB (ACB-FR that exhibited more than 1700-fold resistance was established through selection experiments after 49 generations of selection under laboratory conditions. The ACB-FR strain showed moderate cross-resistance to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac of 22.8- and 26.9-fold, respectively, marginally cross-resistance to Cry1Ah (3.7-fold, and no cross-resistance to Cry1Ie (0.6-fold. The bioassay responses of progeny from reciprocal F1 crosses to different Cry1 toxin concentrations indicated that the resistance trait to Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac and Cry1F has autosomal inheritance with no maternal effect or sex linked. The effective dominance (h of F1 offspring was calculated at different concentrations of Cry1F, showing that h decreased as concentration of Cry1F increased. Finally, the analysis of actual and expected mortality of the progeny from a backcross (F1 × resistant strain indicated that the inheritance of the resistance to Cry1F in ACB-FR was due to more than one locus. The present study provides an understanding of the genetic basis of Cry1F resistance in ACB-FR and also shows that pyramiding Cry1F with Cry1Ah or Cry1Ie could be used as a strategy to delay the development of ACB resistance to Bt proteins.

A familial Cri-du-Chat/5p deletion syndrome resulted from rare maternal complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs and/or possible chromosome 5p chromothripsis.

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Heng Gu

Full Text Available Cri-du-Chat syndrome (MIM 123450 is a chromosomal syndrome characterized by the characteristic features, including cat-like cry and chromosome 5p deletions. We report a family with five individuals showing chromosomal rearrangements involving 5p, resulting from rare maternal complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs, diagnosed post- and pre-natally by comprehensive molecular and cytogenetic analyses. Two probands, including a 4½-year-old brother and his 2½-year- old sister, showed no diagnostic cat cry during infancy, but presented with developmental delay, dysmorphic and autistic features. Both patients had an interstitial deletion del(5(p13.3p15.33 spanning ≈ 26.22 Mb. The phenotypically normal mother had de novo CCRs involving 11 breakpoints and three chromosomes: ins(11;5 (q23;p14.1p15.31,ins(21;5(q21;p13.3p14.1,ins(21;5(q21;p15.31p15.33,inv(7(p22q32dn. In addition to these two children, she had three first-trimester miscarriages, two terminations due to the identification of the 5p deletion and one delivery of a phenotypically normal daughter. The unaffected daughter had the maternal ins(11;5 identified prenatally and an identical maternal allele haplotype of 5p. Array CGH did not detect any copy number changes in the mother, and revealed three interstitial deletions within 5p15.33-p13.3, in the unaffected daughter, likely products of the maternal insertions ins(21;5. Chromothripsis has been recently reported as a mechanism drives germline CCRs in pediatric patients with congenital defects. We postulate that the unique CCRs in the phenotypically normal mother could resulted from chromosome 5p chromothripsis, that further resulted in the interstitial 5p deletions in the unaffected daughter. Further high resolution sequencing based analysis is needed to determine whether chromothripsis is also present as a germline structural variation in phenotypically normal individuals in this family.

DDB1-Mediated CRY1 Degradation Promotes FOXO1-Driven Gluconeogenesis in Liver.

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Tong, Xin; Zhang, Deqiang; Charney, Nicholas; Jin, Ethan; VanDommelen, Kyle; Stamper, Kenneth; Gupta, Neil; Saldate, Johnny; Yin, Lei

2017-10-01

Targeted protein degradation through ubiquitination is an important step in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Here, we present evidence that the DDB1-CUL4A ubiquitin E3 ligase functions as a novel metabolic regulator that promotes FOXO1-driven hepatic gluconeogenesis. In vivo, hepatocyte-specific Ddb1 deletion leads to impaired hepatic gluconeogenesis in the mouse liver but protects mice from high-fat diet-induced hyperglycemia. Lack of Ddb1 downregulates FOXO1 protein expression and impairs FOXO1-driven gluconeogenic response. Mechanistically, we discovered that DDB1 enhances FOXO1 protein stability via degrading the circadian protein cryptochrome 1 (CRY1), a known target of DDB1 E3 ligase. In the Cry1 depletion condition, insulin fails to reduce the nuclear FOXO1 abundance and suppress gluconeogenic gene expression. Chronic depletion of Cry1 in the mouse liver not only increases FOXO1 protein but also enhances hepatic gluconeogenesis. Thus, we have identified the DDB1-mediated CRY1 degradation as an important target of insulin action on glucose homeostasis. © 2017 by the American Diabetes Association.

Genetic engineering of cotton with a novel cry2AX1 gene to impart insect resistance against Helicoverpa armigera

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Karunamurthy Dhivya

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Embryogenic calli of cotton (Coker310 were cocultivated with the Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 harbouring the codon-optimised, chimeric cry2AX1 gene consisting of sequences from cry2Aa and cry2Ac genes isolated from Indian strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. Forty-eight putative transgenic plants were regenerated, and PCR analysis of these plants revealed the presence of the cry2AX1 gene in 40 plants. Southern blot hybridisation analysis of selected transgenic plants confirmed stable T-DNA integration in the genome of transformed plants. The level of Cry2AX1 protein expression in PCR positive plants ranged from 4.9 to 187.5 ng g-1 of fresh tissue. A transgenic cotton event, TP31, expressing the cry2AX1 gene showed insecticidal activity of 56.66 per cent mortality against Helicoverpa armigera in detached leaf disc bioassay. These results indicate that the chimeric cry2AX1 gene expressed in transgenic cotton has insecticidal activity against H. armigera.

Consumption of Bt Maize Pollen Containing Cry1Ie Does Not Negatively Affect Propylea japonica (Thunberg (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae

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Yonghui Li

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Propylea japonica (Thunberg (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae are prevalent predators and pollen feeders in East Asian maize fields. They are therefore indirectly (via prey and directly (via pollen exposed to Cry proteins within Bt-transgenic maize fields. The effects of Cry1Ie-producing transgenic maize pollen on the fitness of P. japonica was assessed using two dietary-exposure experiments in the laboratory. In the first experiment, survival, larval developmental time, adult fresh weight, and fecundity did not differ between ladybirds consuming Bt or non-Bt maize pollen. In the second experiment, none of the tested lethal and sublethal parameters of P. japonica were negatively affected when fed a rapeseed pollen-based diet containing Cry1Ie protein at 200 μg/g dry weight of diet. In contrast, the larval developmental time, adult fresh weight, and fecundity of P. japonica were significantly adversely affected when fed diet containing the positive control compound E-64. In both experiments, the bioactivity of the Cry1Ie protein in the food sources was confirmed by bioassays with a Cry1Ie-sensitive lepidopteran species. These results indicated that P. japonica are not affected by the consumption of Cry1Ie-expressing maize pollen and are not sensitive to the Cry1Ie protein, suggesting that the growing of Bt maize expressing Cry1Ie protein will pose a negligible risk to P. japonica.

Fundamental Frequency Variation of Neonatal Spontaneous Crying Predicts Language Acquisition in Preterm and Term Infants.

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Shinya, Yuta; Kawai, Masahiko; Niwa, Fusako; Imafuku, Masahiro; Myowa, Masako

2017-01-01

Spontaneous cries of infants exhibit rich melodic features (i.e., time variation of fundamental frequency [ F 0 ]) even during the neonatal period, and the development of these characteristics might provide an essential base for later expressive prosody in language. However, little is known about the melodic features of spontaneous cries in preterm infants, who have a higher risk of later language-related problems. Thus, the present study investigated how preterm birth influenced melodic features of spontaneous crying at term-equivalent age as well as how these melodic features related to language outcomes at 18 months of corrected age in preterm and term infants. At term, moderate-to-late preterm (MLP) infants showed spontaneous cries with significantly higher F 0 variation and melody complexity than term infants, while there were no significant differences between very preterm (VP) and term infants. Furthermore, larger F 0 variation within cry series at term was significantly related to better language and cognitive outcomes, particularly expressive language skills, at 18 months. On the other hand, no other melodic features at term predicted any developmental outcomes at 18 months. The present results suggest that the additional postnatal vocal experience of MLP preterm infants increased F 0 variation and the complexity of spontaneous cries at term. Additionally, the increases in F 0 variation may partly reflect the development of voluntary vocal control, which, in turn, contributes to expressive language in infancy.

The neonate cry after cesarean section and vaginal delivery during the first minutes of life.

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Branco, Anete; Behlau, Mara; Rehder, Maria Inês

2005-05-01

Although the option for vaginal delivery is most physiological, the achievement of cesarean section is very common in Brazil. The neonate cry represents the beginning of both processes, physiological adaptation and human vocal communication. The cry emission depends on the functioning of respiratory and laryngeal muscles, which are controlled by the nervous system. The acoustic analysis of neonate cry is useful in the assessment of healthy babies and can be used to characterize the signals of diseases through a previously multidisciplinary diagnosis, with immediate medical intervention. The present study compared the acoustic cry characteristics of 30 healthy newborn after a cesarean section and 30 healthy newborn after a vaginal delivery, of both genders, from the exact moment of birth until the first 5 min of life. Using the softwares VOXMETRIA and GRAM, it was possible to analyze the duration, frequency, intensity, occurrence, localization and inspiratory phonation, besides the type of spectrographic tracings. The acoustic cry characteristics of newborns after a C section and a vaginal delivery could evidence not only harmonic, expiratory, acute and strong emissions, but also emissions rich in sounds and varied in types of melody. The differences found can be related to the physiology of birth.

Evidence of field-evolved resistance of Spodoptera frugiperda to Bt corn expressing Cry1F in Brazil that is still sensitive to modified Bt toxins.

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Monnerat, Rose; Martins, Erica; Macedo, Cristina; Queiroz, Paulo; Praça, Lilian; Soares, Carlos Marcelo; Moreira, Helio; Grisi, Isabella; Silva, Joseane; Soberon, Mario; Bravo, Alejandra

2015-01-01

Brazil ranked second only to the United States in hectares planted to genetically modified crops in 2013. Recently corn producers in the Cerrado region reported that the control of Spodoptera frugiperda with Bt corn expressing Cry1Fa has decreased, forcing them to use chemicals to reduce the damage caused by this insect pest. A colony of S. frugiperda was established from individuals collected in 2013 from Cry1Fa corn plants (SfBt) in Brazil and shown to have at least more than ten-fold higher resistance levels compared with a susceptible colony (Sflab). Laboratory assays on corn leaves showed that in contrast to SfLab population, the SfBt larvae were able to survive by feeding on Cry1Fa corn leaves. The SfBt population was maintained without selection for eight generations and shown to maintain high levels of resistance to Cry1Fa toxin. SfBt showed higher cross-resistance to Cry1Aa than to Cry1Ab or Cry1Ac toxins. As previously reported, Cry1A toxins competed the binding of Cry1Fa to brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) from SfLab insects, explaining cross-resistance to Cry1A toxins. In contrast Cry2A toxins did not compete Cry1Fa binding to SfLab-BBMV and no cross-resistance to Cry2A was observed, although Cry2A toxins show low toxicity to S. frugiperda. Bioassays with Cry1AbMod and Cry1AcMod show that they are highly active against both the SfLab and the SfBt populations. The bioassay data reported here show that insects collected from Cry1Fa corn in the Cerrado region were resistant to Cry1Fa suggesting that resistance contributed to field failures of Cry1Fa corn to control S. frugiperda.

Recombinant Cry1Ia protein is highly toxic to cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).

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Martins, E S; Aguiar, R W D S; Martins, N F; Melatti, V M; Falcão, R; Gomes, A C M M; Ribeiro, B M; Monnerat, R G

2008-05-01

To evaluate the activity of cry1Ia gene against cotton pests, Spodoptera frugiperda and Anthonomus grandis. Had isolated and characterized a toxin gene from the Bacillus thuringiensis S1451 strain which have been previously shown to be toxic to S. frugiperda and A. grandis. The toxin gene (cry1Ia) was amplified by PCR, sequenced, and cloned into the genome of a baculovirus. The Cry1Ia protein was expressed in baculovirus infected insect cells, producing protein inclusions in infected cells. The Cry1Ia protein has used in bioassays against to S. frugiperda and A. grandis. Bioassays using the purified recombinant protein showed high toxicity to S. frugiperda and A. grandis larvae. Molecular modelling of the Cry1Ia protein translated from the DNA sequence obtained in this work, showed that this protein possibly posses a similar structure to the Cry3A protein. Ultrastructural analysis of midgut cells from A. grandis incubated with the Cry1Ia toxin, showed loss of microvilli integrity. The results indicate that the cry1Ia is a good candidate for the construction of transgenic plants resistant to these important cotton pests.

Longitudinal study of the fundamental frequency of hunger cries along the first 6 months of healthy babies.

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Baeck, Heidi Elisabeth; de Souza, Marcio Nogueira

2007-09-01

Potentially rich in information, the baby's cry has motivated several researches along the years. Although most of these studies have generated important knowledge about the baby's cry, they were focused on the neonatal period. The few longitudinal studies on changes in the acoustical features of the cry over the baby's growth have been done with a small sample and a large recording interval. Aiming to overcome such methodological limitations, this work investigated hunger cries using a more representative sample size (30 babies) and time resolution (biweekly intervals) from birth to 6 months of baby's age. The findings indicate that the fundamental frequency (f0) of the cry signals did vary more than previously reported in the literature. The results showed a widespread oscillatory behavior in f0 evolution along all the 6 months with an especially significant decrease from birth to the 15th day of life. The present results are not clinically applicable yet, but they pointed some novel aspects of the f0 mean values along the baby's growth. These findings and further longitudinal studies can help standardize age-related cry parameters, which are essential for medical and language development researches.

Toxicidade e capacidade de ligação de proteínas Cry1 a receptores intestinais de Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae

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Isis Sebastião

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a toxicidade e a capacidade de ligação das proteínas Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac e Cry1Ca, de Bacillus thuringiensis, a receptores intestinais de Helicoverpa armigera. Realizou-se análise de ligação das proteínas ativadas às vesículas de membrana da microvilosidade apical (VMMA do intestino médio deH. armigera, além de ensaios de competição heteróloga para avaliar sua capacidade de ligação. Cry1Ac destacou-se como a proteína mais tóxica, seguida por Cry1Ab e Cry1Aa. A proteína Cry1Ca não foi tóxica às lagartas e, portanto, não foi possível determinar os seus parâmetros de toxicidade CL50 e CL90. As proteínas Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab e Cry1Ac são capazes de se ligar a um mesmo receptor nas membranas intestinais, o que aumenta o risco do desenvolvimento de resistência cruzada. Portanto, a utilização conjunta dessas proteínas deve ser evitada.

The diverse nematicidal properties and biocontrol efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry6A against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla.

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Yu, Ziquan; Xiong, Jing; Zhou, Qiaoni; Luo, Haiyan; Hu, Shengbiao; Xia, Liqiu; Sun, Ming; Li, Lin; Yu, Ziniu

2015-02-01

Cry6A toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis is a representative nematicidal crystal protein with a variety of nematicidal properties to free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Cry6A shares very low homology and different structure with Cry5B, another representative nematicidal crystal protein, and probably acts in a distinct pathway. All these strongly indicate that Cry6A toxin is likely a potent candidate for nematicide. The present study dealt with global investigation to determine the detrimental impacts of Cry6Aa2 toxin on Meloidogyne hapla, a root-knot nematode, and evaluated its biocontrol efficacy in pot experiment. Obtained results indicated that Cry6Aa2 toxin exhibits obvious toxicity to second-stage juvenile of M. hapla, and significantly inhibits egg hatch, motility, and penetration to host plant. Pot experiment suggested that soil drenching with spore-crystal mixture of Cry6Aa2 can clearly lighten the disease of root-knot nematode, including reduction of galling index and egg masses on host plant root, decreasing final population of nematode in soil. Moreover, application of Cry6Aa2 can obviously promote plant growth. These results demonstrated that Cry6Aa2 toxin is a promising nematicidal agent, and possesses great potential in plant-parasitic nematode management and construction of transgenic crop with constant resistance to nematode. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A toxin-binding alkaline phosphatase fragment synergizes Bt toxin Cry1Ac against susceptible and resistant Helicoverpa armigera.

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Wenbo Chen

Full Text Available Evolution of resistance by insects threatens the continued success of pest control using insecticidal crystal (Cry proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt in sprays and transgenic plants. In this study, laboratory selection with Cry1Ac yielded five strains of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, with resistance ratios at the median lethal concentration (LC50 of activated Cry1Ac ranging from 22 to 1700. Reduced activity and reduced transcription of an alkaline phosphatase protein that binds Cry1Ac was associated with resistance to Cry1Ac in the four most resistant strains. A Cry1Ac-binding fragment of alkaline phosphatase from H. armigera (HaALP1f was not toxic by itself, but it increased mortality caused by Cry1Ac in a susceptible strain and in all five resistant strains. Although synergism of Bt toxins against susceptible insects by toxin-binding fragments of cadherin and aminopeptidase N has been reported previously, the results here provide the first evidence of synergism of a Bt toxin by a toxin-binding fragment of alkaline phosphatase. The results here also provide the first evidence of synergism of a Bt toxin by any toxin-binding peptide against resistant insects.

CRiSP: An Instrument for Assessing Student Perceptions of Classroom Response Systems

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Richardson, Alice M.; Dunn, Peter K.; McDonald, Christine; Oprescu, Florin

2015-08-01

This paper describes the development and validation of an instrument for evaluating classroom response systems (CRS). While a number of studies evaluating CRS have been published to date, no standardised instrument exists as a means of evaluating the impact of using the CRS. This means that comparing the different systems, or evaluating the benefits of using the CRS in different ways or settings, is very difficult despite the number of published reports, as indicated by Kay and LeSage (2009). An instrument was developed, called the classroom response system perceptions (CRiSP) questionnaire, which allows the evaluation of varied CRS on three scales: the usability; the impact on student engagement; and the impact on student learning. The development of CRiSP was undertaken in three universities, using different CRS, and evaluated through focus groups, one-on-one interviews and a factor analysis of the survey responses. We found no evidence of difference on the scales according to gender or age groups. The final CRiSP questionnaire consists of 26 base questions, with additional optional questions available. This paper proposes that the CRiSP Questionnaire could, in its current state or with minor changes, be used to evaluate the impact on learning of other classroom technologies also.

DNA degradation in genetically modified rice with Cry1Ab by food processing methods: implications for the quantification of genetically modified organisms.

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Xing, Fuguo; Zhang, Wei; Selvaraj, Jonathan Nimal; Liu, Yang

2015-05-01

Food processing methods contribute to DNA degradation, thereby affecting genetically modified organism detection and quantification. This study evaluated the effect of food processing methods on the relative transgenic content of genetically modified rice with Cry1Ab. In steamed rice and rice noodles, the levels of Cry1Ab were ⩾ 100% and <83%, respectively. Frying and baking in rice crackers contributed to a reduction in Pubi and Cry1Ab, while microwaving caused a decrease in Pubi and an increase in Cry1Ab. The processing methods of sweet rice wine had the most severe degradation effects on Pubi and Cry1Ab. In steamed rice and rice noodles, Cry1Ab was the most stable, followed by SPS and Pubi. However, in rice crackers and sweet rice wine, SPS was the most stable, followed by Cry1Ab and Pubi. Therefore, Cry1Ab is a better representative of transgenic components than is Pubi because the levels of Cry1Ab were less affected compared to Pubi. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Insect Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin Cry2Ab Is Conferred by Mutations in an ABC Transporter Subfamily A Protein.

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Wee Tek Tay

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The use of conventional chemical insecticides and bacterial toxins to control lepidopteran pests of global agriculture has imposed significant selection pressure leading to the rapid evolution of insecticide resistance. Transgenic crops (e.g., cotton expressing the Bt Cry toxins are now used world wide to control these pests, including the highly polyphagous and invasive cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera. Since 2004, the Cry2Ab toxin has become widely used for controlling H. armigera, often used in combination with Cry1Ac to delay resistance evolution. Isolation of H. armigera and H. punctigera individuals heterozygous for Cry2Ab resistance in 2002 and 2004, respectively, allowed aspects of Cry2Ab resistance (level, fitness costs, genetic dominance, complementation tests to be characterised in both species. However, the gene identity and genetic changes conferring this resistance were unknown, as was the detailed Cry2Ab mode of action. No cross-resistance to Cry1Ac was observed in mutant lines. Biphasic linkage analysis of a Cry2Ab-resistant H. armigera family followed by exon-primed intron-crossing (EPIC marker mapping and candidate gene sequencing identified three independent resistance-associated INDEL mutations in an ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC transporter gene we named HaABCA2. A deletion mutation was also identified in the H. punctigera homolog from the resistant line. All mutations truncate the ABCA2 protein. Isolation of further Cry2Ab resistance alleles in the same gene from field H. armigera populations indicates unequal resistance allele frequencies and the potential for Bt resistance evolution. Identification of the gene involved in resistance as an ABC transporter of the A subfamily adds to the body of evidence on the crucial role this gene family plays in the mode of action of the Bt Cry toxins. The structural differences between the ABCA2, and that of the C subfamily required for Cry1Ac toxicity, indicate differences in the

Sex-specific automatic responses to infant cries: TMS reveals greater excitability in females than males in motor evoked potentials

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Irene eMessina

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Neuroimaging reveals that infant cries activate parts of the premotor cortical system. To validate this effect in a more direct way, we used event-related transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS. Here, we investigated the presence and the time course of modulation of motor cortex excitability in young adults who listened to infant cries. Specifically, we recorded motor evoked potentials (MEPs from the biceps brachii (BB and interosseus dorsalis primus (ID1 muscles as produced by TMS delivered from 0 to 250 ms from sound onset in six steps of 50 ms in 10 females and 10 males. We observed an excitatory modulation of MEPs at 100 ms from the onset of the infant cry specific to females and to the ID1 muscle. We regard this modulation as a response to natural cry sounds because it was delayed, attenuated to stimuli increasingly different from natural cry, and was absent in a separate group of females who listened to non-cry stimuli physically matched to natural infant cries. Furthermore, the 100-ms latency of this modulation is not compatible with a voluntary reaction to the stimulus but suggests an automatic, bottom-up audiomotor association. The brains of adult females appear to be tuned to respond to infant cries with automatic motor excitation. This effect may reflect the greater and longstanding burden on females in caregiving infants.

Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Phenomenology in Cornelia de Lange and Cri du Chat Syndromes

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Moss, Joanna F.; Oliver, Chris; Berg, Katy; Kaur, Gurmeash; Jephcott, Lesley; Cornish, Kim

2008-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder characteristics have not been evaluated in Cornelia de Lange and Cri du Chat syndromes using robust assessments. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and Social Communication Questionnaire were administered to 34 participants with Cornelia de Lange syndrome and a comparison group of 23 participants with Cri du Chat…

Baseline sensitivity of lepidopteran corn pests in India to Cry1Ab insecticidal protein of Bacillus thuringiensis.

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Jalali, Sushil K; Lalitha, Yadavalli; Kamath, Subray P; Mohan, Komarlingam S; Head, Graham P

2010-08-01

Genetically engineered corn (Bt corn) expressing Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner insecticidal protein Cry1Ab is a biotechnological option being considered for management of lepidopteran corn pests in India. As a resistance management practice it was essential to determine the sensitivity of multiple populations of the stalk borer Chilo partellus (Swinhoe), pink borer Sesamia inferens (Walker) and the cob borer Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) to Cry1Ab protein through bioassays. The insect populations were collected during growing seasons of Rabi 2005 (October 2005 to February 2006) and Kharif 2006 (May to September 2006). Multiple populations of the three lepidopteran corn pests were found to be susceptible to Cry1Ab. Median lethal concentrations (LC(50)) ranged between 0.008 and 0.068 microg Cry1Ab mL(-1) diet for 18 populations of C. partellus (across two seasons), between 0.12 and 1.99 microg mL(-1) for seven populations of H. armigera and between 0.46 and 0.56 microg mL(-1) for two populations of S. inferens. Dose-response concentrations for lethality and growth inhibition have been determined to mark baseline sensitivity of multiple populations of key lepidopteran corn pests in India to Cry1Ab protein. These benchmark values will be referenced while monitoring resistance to Cry1Ab should Bt corn hybrids expressing Cry1Ab be approved for commercial cultivation in India. Copyright (c) 2010 Society of Chemical Industry.

Distribution and Metabolism of Bt-Cry1Ac Toxin in Tissues and Organs of the Cotton Bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera

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Zhuoya Zhao

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Crystal (Cry proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt have been widely used in transgenic crops due to their toxicity against insect pests. However, the distribution and metabolism of these toxins in insect tissues and organs have remained obscure because the target insects do not ingest much toxin. In this study, several Cry1Ac-resistant strains of Helicoverpa armigera, fed artificial diets containing high doses of Cry1Ac toxin, were used to investigate the distribution and metabolism of Cry1Ac in their bodies. Cry1Ac was only detected in larvae, not in pupae or adults. Also, Cry1Ac passed through the midgut into other tissues, such as the hemolymph and fat body, but did not reach the larval integument. Metabolic tests revealed that Cry1Ac degraded most rapidly in the fat body, followed by the hemolymph, peritrophic membrane and its contents. The toxin was metabolized slowly in the midgut, but was degraded in all locations within 48 h. These findings will improve understanding of the functional mechanism of Bt toxins in target insects and the biotransfer and the bioaccumulation of Bt toxins in arthropod food webs in the Bt crop ecosystem.

Tears and Transformation: Feeling like crying as an indicator of insight or ‘aesthetic’ experience with art

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Matthew John Pelowski

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper explores a fundamental similarity between cognitive models for crying and conceptions of insight, enlightenment or, in the context of art, aesthetic experience. All of which center on a process of initial discrepancy, followed by schema change, and conclude in a personal adjustment or a transformation of one’s image of the self. Because tears are argued to mark one of the only physical indicators of this cognitive outcome, and because the process is particularly salient in examples with art, I argue that crying may provide an intriguing marker for empirical study of perceiving art. To explore this parallel, I offer a review of crying theory as well as of tearful cases with art, pointing out the key cognitive elements. I then introduce an expanded crying model, based upon our recent model of art experience which does consider insight and adjustment or application of the self. I also consider multiple emotional and evaluative factors, which may co-vary with crying response. This theoretical discussion is then applied in three exploratory, survey-based studies, conducted within U.K., Japan and U.S. museums, and including what is claimed to be the 20th century’s most tear-inducing abstract paintings. Results showed—with cross-cultural consistency—significant correlation between feeling like crying and a collection of responses posited to indicate a full progression to aesthetic experience. This also found correlation to positive assessment of artwork goodness, beauty, understanding of meaning, and to final reported self reflection and epiphany. I argue that, beyond the question of why we may cry, by considering implications of what tears may indicate for information processing, feeling like crying may be a compelling basis for identifying outcomes of perceptual (art experience.

Intranasal Coadministration of the Cry1Ac Protoxin with Amoebal Lysates Increases Protection against Naegleria fowleri Meningoencephalitis

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Rojas-Hernández, Saúl; Rodríguez-Monroy, Marco A.; López-Revilla, Rubén; Reséndiz-Albor, Aldo A.; Moreno-Fierros, Leticia

2004-01-01

Cry1Ac protoxin has potent mucosal and systemic adjuvant effects on antibody responses to proteins or polysaccharides. In this work, we examined whether Cry1Ac increased protective immunity against fatal Naegleria fowleri infection in mice, which resembles human primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Higher immunoglobulin G (IgG) than IgA anti-N. fowleri responses were elicited in the serum and tracheopulmonary fluids of mice immunized by the intranasal or intraperitoneal route with N. fowleri lysates either alone or with Cry1Ac or cholera toxin. Superior protection against a lethal challenge with 5 × 104 live N. fowleri trophozoites was achieved for immunization by the intranasal route. Intranasal immunization of N. fowleri lysates coadministered with Cry1Ac increased survival to 100%; interestingly, immunization with Cry1Ac alone conferred similar protection to that achieved with amoebal lysates alone (60%). When mice intranasally immunized with Cry1Ac plus lysates were challenged with amoebae, both IgG and IgA mucosal responses were rapidly increased, but only the increased IgG response persisted until day 60 in surviving mice. The brief rise in the level of specific mucosal IgA does not exclude the role that this isotype may play in the early defense against this parasite, since higher IgA responses were detected in nasal fluids of mice intranasally immunized with lysates plus either Cry1Ac or cholera toxin, which, indeed, were the treatments that provided the major protection levels. In contrast, serum antibody responses do not seem to be related to the protection level achieved. Both acquired and innate immune systems seem to play a role in host defense against N. fowleri infection, but further studies are required to elucidate the mechanisms involved in protective effects conferred by Cry1Ac, which may be a valuable tool to improve mucosal vaccines. PMID:15271892

Adsorption of Insecticidal Crystal Protein Cry11Aa onto Nano-Mg(OH)2: Effects on Bioactivity and Anti-Ultraviolet Ability.

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Pan, Xiaohong; Xu, Zhangyan; Li, Lan; Shao, Enshi; Chen, Saili; Huang, Tengzhou; Chen, Zhi; Rao, Wenhua; Huang, Tianpei; Zhang, Lingling; Wu, Songqing; Guan, Xiong

2017-11-01

The traditional Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) formulations for field applications are not resistant to harsh environmental conditions. Hence, the active ingredients of the Bt bioinsecticides could degrade quickly and has low anti-ultraviolet ability in the field, which significantly limits its practical application. In the present study, we developed an efficient and stable delivery system for Bt Cry11Aa toxins. We coated Cry11Aa proteins with Mg(OH) 2 nanoparticles (MHNPs), and then assessed the effects of MHNPs on bioactivity and anti-ultraviolet ability of the Cry11Aa proteins. Our results indicated that MHNPs, like "coating clothes", could effectively protect the Cry protein and enhance the insecticidal bioactivity after UV radiation (the degradation rate was decreased from 64.29% to 16.67%). In addtion, MHNPs could improve the proteolysis of Cry11Aa in the midgut and aggravate the damage of the Cry protein to the gut epithelial cells, leading to increased insecticidal activity against Culex quinquefasciatus. Our results revealed that MHNPs, as an excellent nanocarrier, could substantially improve the insecticidal bioactivity and anti-ultraviolet ability of Cry11Aa.

Case Report - Le syndrome de Cri du Chat : A propos d'une ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Le syndrome du Cri du Chat (Cri du Chat syndrome, CdCS) est une anomalie chromosomique résultant d'une délétion de taille variable de l'extrémité du bras court du chromosome 5 (5p), incluant une région critique située en p15.2. Il représente une des délétions chromosomiques les plus fréquentes, son incidence dans ...

CRY Drives Cyclic CK2-Mediated BMAL1 Phosphorylation to Control the Mammalian Circadian Clock.

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Teruya Tamaru

Full Text Available Intracellular circadian clocks, composed of clock genes that act in transcription-translation feedback loops, drive global rhythmic expression of the mammalian transcriptome and allow an organism to anticipate to the momentum of the day. Using a novel clock-perturbing peptide, we established a pivotal role for casein kinase (CK-2-mediated circadian BMAL1-Ser90 phosphorylation (BMAL1-P in regulating central and peripheral core clocks. Subsequent analysis of the underlying mechanism showed a novel role of CRY as a repressor for protein kinase. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments and real-time monitoring of protein-protein interactions revealed that CRY-mediated periodic binding of CK2β to BMAL1 inhibits BMAL1-Ser90 phosphorylation by CK2α. The FAD binding domain of CRY1, two C-terminal BMAL1 domains, and particularly BMAL1-Lys537 acetylation/deacetylation by CLOCK/SIRT1, were shown to be critical for CRY-mediated BMAL1-CK2β binding. Reciprocally, BMAL1-Ser90 phosphorylation is prerequisite for BMAL1-Lys537 acetylation. We propose a dual negative-feedback model in which a CRY-dependent CK2-driven posttranslational BMAL1-P-BMAL1 loop is an integral part of the core clock oscillator.

Development of a statistically-based lower bound fracture toughness curve (Ksub(IR) curve)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wullaert, R.A.; Server, W.L.; Oldfield, W.; Stahlkopf, K.E.

1977-01-01

A program of initiation fracture toughness measurements on fifty heats of nuclear pressure vessel production materials (including weldments) was used to develop a methodology for establishing a revised reference toughness curve. The new methodology was statistically developed and provides a predefined confidence limit (or tolerance limit) for fracture toughness based upon many heats of a particular type of material. Overall reference curves were developed for seven specific materials using large specimen static and dynamic fracture toughness results. The heat-to-heat variation was removed by normalizing both the fracture toughness and temperature data with the precracked Charpy tanh curve coefficients for each particular heat. The variance and distribution about the curve were determined, and lower bounds of predetermined statistical significance were drawn based upon a Pearson distribution in the lower shelf region (since the data were skewed to high values) and a t-distribution in the transition temperature region (since the data were normally distributed)

Confirmation of a predicted lack of IgE binding to Cry3Bb1 from genetically modified (GM) crops.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakajima, Osamu; Koyano, Satoru; Akiyama, Hiroshi; Sawada, Jun-Ichi; Teshima, Reiko

2010-04-01

Some GM crops including MON863 corn and stack varieties contain Cry3Bb1 protein. Cry3Bb1 is very important from the standpoint of assessing the safety of GM crops. In this study Cry3Bb1 was assessed from the standpoint of possible binding to IgE from allergy patients. First, an ELISA that was improved in our laboratory was used to test serum samples from 13 corn allergy patients in the United States with recombinant Cry3Bb1 expressed in Escherichia coli, and serum samples from 55 patients in Japan with various food allergies were also assayed. Two samples from the Japanese allergy patients were suspected of being positive, but Western blotting analysis with purified Cry3Bb1 indicated that the binding between IgE and Cry3Bb1 was nonspecific. Ultimately, no specific binding between IgE and recombinant Cry3Bb1 was detected. Next, all proteins extracted from MON863 corn and non-GM corn were probed with IgE antibodies in serum samples from the corn allergy patients by Western blotting, but the staining patterns of MON863 and non-GM corn were similar, meaning that unintended allergic reactions to MON863 are unlikely to occur. Our study provides additional information that confirms the predicted lack of IgE binding to Cry3Bb1 in people with existing food allergies. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Expression of the sigma35 and cry2AB genes involved in Bacillus thuringiensis virulence Expressão dos genes sigma35 e cry2AB envolvidos na virulência de Bacillus thuringiensis

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Ana Maria Guidelli-Thuler

2009-06-01

Full Text Available There are several genes involved in Bacillus thuringiensis sporulation. The regulation and expression of these genes results in an upregulation in Cry protein production, and this is responsible for the death of insect larvae infected by Bacillus thuringiensis. Gene expression was monitored in Bacillus thuringiensis during three developmental phases. DNA macroarrays were constructed for selected genes whose sequences are available in the GenBank database. These genes were hybridized to cDNA sequences from B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD-1. cDNA probes were synthesized by reverse transcription from B. thuringiensis RNA templates extracted during the exponential (log growth, stationary and sporulation phases, and labeled with 33PadCTP. Two genes were differentially expressed levels during the different developmental phases. One of these genes is related to sigma factor (sigma35, and the other is a cry gene (cry2Ab. There were differences between the differential levels of expression of various genes and among the expression detected for different combinations of the sigma factor and cry2Ab genes. The maximum difference in expression was observed for the gene encoding sigma35 factor in the log phase, which was also expressed at a high level during the sporulation phase. The cry2Ab gene was only expressed at a high level in the log phase, but at very low levels in the other phases when compared to the sigma35.Muitos genes estão envolvidos nos mecanismos de esporulação da bactéria Bacillus thuringiensis. A regulação e expressão desses genes resultam em uma produção massiva da proteína Cry, responsável pela morte das larvas de muitos insetos. Neste trabalho monitorou-se a expressão de genes de Bacillus thuringiensis, ao longo de três fases de seu desenvolvimento. Foram construídos macroarrays de DNA dos genes selecionados, cujas seqüências estão disponibilizadas no GenBank. Estes genes foram hibridizados com cDNAs obtidos de B

A note on families of fragility curves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaplan, S.; Bier, V.M.; Bley, D.C.

1989-01-01

In the quantitative assessment of seismic risk, uncertainty in the fragility of a structural component is usually expressed by putting forth a family of fragility curves, with probability serving as the parameter of the family. Commonly, a lognormal shape is used both for the individual curves and for the expression of uncertainty over the family. A so-called composite single curve can also be drawn and used for purposes of approximation. This composite curve is often regarded as equivalent to the mean curve of the family. The equality seems intuitively reasonable, but according to the authors has never been proven. The paper presented proves this equivalence hypothesis mathematically. Moreover, the authors show that this equivalence hypothesis between fragility curves is itself equivalent to an identity property of the standard normal probability curve. Thus, in the course of proving the fragility curve hypothesis, the authors have also proved a rather obscure, but interesting and perhaps previously unrecognized, property of the standard normal curve

Does Cry1Ab protein affect learning performances of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera, Apidae)?

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez-Romero, R; Desneux, N; Decourtye, A; Chaffiol, A; Pham-Delègue, M H

2008-06-01

Genetically modified Bt crops are increasingly used worldwide but side effects and especially sublethal effects on beneficial insects remain poorly studied. Honey bees are beneficial insects for natural and cultivated ecosystems through pollination. The goal of the present study was to assess potential effects of two concentrations of Cry1Ab protein (3 and 5000 ppb) on young adult honey bees. Following a complementary bioassay, our experiments evaluated effects of the Cry1Ab on three major life traits of young adult honey bees: (a) survival of honey bees during sub-chronic exposure to Cry1Ab, (b) feeding behaviour, and (c) learning performance at the time that honey bees become foragers. The latter effect was tested using the proboscis extension reflex (PER) procedure. The same effects were also tested using a chemical pesticide, imidacloprid, as positive reference. The tested concentrations of Cry1Ab protein did not cause lethal effects on honey bees. However, honey bee feeding behaviour was affected when exposed to the highest concentration of Cry1Ab protein, with honey bees taking longer to imbibe the contaminated syrup. Moreover, honey bees exposed to 5000 ppb of Cry1Ab had disturbed learning performances. Honey bees continued to respond to a conditioned odour even in the absence of a food reward. Our results show that transgenic crops expressing Cry1Ab protein at 5000 ppb may affect food consumption or learning processes and thereby may impact honey bee foraging efficiency. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of risks of transgenic Bt crops for honey bees.

A theoretical model of the tridimensional structure of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. medellin Cry 11Bb toxin deduced by homology modelling

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Gutierrez Pablo

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Cry11Bb is an insecticidal crystal protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. medellin during its stationary phase; this ¶-endotoxin is active against dipteran insects and has great potential for mosquito borne disease control. Here, we report the first theoretical model of the tridimensional structure of a Cry11 toxin. The tridimensional structure of the Cry11Bb toxin was obtained by homology modelling on the structures of the Cry1Aa and Cry3Aa toxins. In this work we give a brief description of our model and hypothesize the residues of the Cry11Bb toxin that could be important in receptor recognition and pore formation. This model will serve as a starting point for the design of mutagenesis experiments aimed to the improvement of toxicity, and to provide a new tool for the elucidation of the mechanism of action of these mosquitocidal proteins.

Segmentation of expiratory and inspiratory sounds in baby cry audio recordings using hidden Markov models.

Science.gov (United States)

Aucouturier, Jean-Julien; Nonaka, Yulri; Katahira, Kentaro; Okanoya, Kazuo

2011-11-01

The paper describes an application of machine learning techniques to identify expiratory and inspiration phases from the audio recording of human baby cries. Crying episodes were recorded from 14 infants, spanning four vocalization contexts in their first 12 months of age; recordings from three individuals were annotated manually to identify expiratory and inspiratory sounds and used as training examples to segment automatically the recordings of the other 11 individuals. The proposed algorithm uses a hidden Markov model architecture, in which state likelihoods are estimated either with Gaussian mixture models or by converting the classification decisions of a support vector machine. The algorithm yields up to 95% classification precision (86% average), and its ability generalizes over different babies, different ages, and vocalization contexts. The technique offers an opportunity to quantify expiration duration, count the crying rate, and other time-related characteristics of baby crying for screening, diagnosis, and research purposes over large populations of infants.

Bt rice expressing Cry2Aa does not harm Cyrtorhinus lividipennis, a main predator of the nontarget herbivore Nilapavarta lugens.

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Yu Han

Full Text Available T2A-1 is a newly developed transgenic rice that expresses a synthesized cry2Aa gene driven by the maize ubiquitin promoter. T2A-1 exhibits high resistance against lepidopteran pests of rice. The brown planthopper, Nilapavarta lugens (Stål, is a main nontarget sap-sucking insect pest of rice, and Cyrtorhinus lividipennis (Reuter is the major predator of the eggs and young nymphs of planthoppers. As C. lividipennis may expose to the Cry2Aa protein via N. lugens, it is therefore essential to assess the potential effects of transgenic cry2Aa rice on this predator. In the present study, three experiments were conducted to evaluate the ecological risk of transgenic cry2Aa rice to C. lividipennis: (1 a direct feeding experiment in which C. lividipennis was fed an artificial diet containing Cry2Aa at the dose of 10-time higher than that it may encounter in the realistic field condition; (2 a tritrophic experiment in which the Cry2Aa protein was delivered to C. lividipennis indirectly through prey eggs or nymphs; (3 a realistic field experiment in which the population dynamics of C. lividipennis were investigated using vacuum-suction. Both direct exposure to elevated doses of the Cry2Aa protein and prey-mediated exposure to realistic doses of the protein did not result in significant detrimental effects on the development, survival, female ratio and body weight of C. lividipennis. No significant differences in population density and population dynamics were observed between C. lividipennis in transgenic cry2Aa and nontransgenic rice fields. It may be concluded that transgenic cry2Aa rice had no detrimental effects on C. lividipennis. This study represents the first report of an assessment continuum for the effects of transgenic cry2Aa rice on C. lividipennis.

Investigations of immunogenic, allergenic and adjuvant properties of Cry1Ab protein after intragastric exposure in a food allergy model in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Andreassen, Monica; Bøhn, Thomas; Wikmark, Odd-Gunnar; Bodin, Johanna; Traavik, Terje; Løvik, Martinus; Nygaard, Unni Cecilie

2016-05-04

In genetically modified (GM) crops there is a risk that the inserted genes may introduce new allergens and/or adjuvants into the food and feed chain. The MON810 maize, expressing the insecticidal Cry1Ab toxin, is grown in many countries worldwide. In animal models, intranasal and intraperitoneal immunisations with the purified Cry1Ab proteins have induced immune responses, and feeding trials with Cry1Ab-containing feed have revealed some altered immune responses. Previous investigations have primarily measured antibody responses to the protein, while investigations of clinical food allergy symptoms, or allergy promotion (adjuvant effect) associated with the Cry1Ab protein are largely missing. We aimed to investigate immunogenic, allergenic and adjuvant properties of purified Cry1Ab toxin (trypCry1Ab, i.e., trypsin activated Cry1Ab) in a mouse model of food allergy. Female C3H/HeJ mice were immunized by intragastric gavage of 10 μg purified, trypsin activated Cry1Ab toxin (trypCry1Ab) alone or together with the food allergen lupin. Cholera toxin was added as a positive control for adjuvant effect to break oral tolerance. Clinical symptoms (anaphylaxis) as well as humoral and cellular responses were assessed. In contrast to results from previous airway investigations, we observed no indication of immunogenic properties of trypCry1Ab protein after repeated intragastric exposures to one dose, with or without CT as adjuvant. Moreover, the results indicated that trypCry1Ab given by the intragastric route was not able to promote allergic responses or anaphylactic reactions against the co-administered allergen lupin at the given dose. The study suggests no immunogenic, allergenic or adjuvant capacity of the given dose of trypCry1Ab protein after intragastric exposure of prime aged mice.

The Role of the Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Amygdala in Environmental Sensitivity to Infant Crying

Science.gov (United States)

Mutschler, Isabella; Ball, Tonio; Kirmse, Ursula; Wieckhorst, Birgit; Pluess, Michael; Klarhöfer, Markus; Meyer, Andrea H.; Wilhelm, Frank H.; Seifritz, Erich

2016-01-01

Newborns and infants communicate their needs and physiological states through crying and emotional facial expressions. Little is known about individual differences in responding to infant crying. Several theories suggest that people vary in their environmental sensitivity with some responding generally more and some generally less to environmental stimuli. Such differences in environmental sensitivity have been associated with personality traits, including neuroticism. This study investigated whether neuroticism impacts neuronal, physiological, and emotional responses to infant crying by investigating blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a large sample of healthy women (N = 102) with simultaneous skin conductance recordings. Participants were repeatedly exposed to a video clip that showed crying infants and emotional responses (valence, arousal, and irritation) were assessed after every video clip presentation. Increased BOLD signal during the perception of crying infants was found in brain regions that are associated with emotional responding, the amygdala and anterior insula. Significant BOLD signal decrements (i.e., habituation) were found in the fusiform gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, Broca’s homologue on the right hemisphere, (laterobasal) amygdala, and hippocampus. Individuals with high neuroticism showed stronger activation in the amygdala and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) when exposed to infant crying compared to individuals with low neuroticism. In contrast to our prediction we found no evidence that neuroticism impacts fMRI-based measures of habituation. Individuals with high neuroticism showed elevated skin conductance responses, experienced more irritation, and perceived infant crying as more unpleasant. The results support the hypothesis that individuals high in neuroticism are more emotionally responsive, experience more negative emotions, and

Effect of Stacked Insecticidal Cry Proteins from Maize Pollen on Nurse Bees (Apis mellifera carnica) and Their Gut Bacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Härtel, Stephan; Näther, Astrid; Dohrmann, Anja B.; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Tebbe, Christoph C.

2013-01-01

Honey bee pollination is a key ecosystem service to nature and agriculture. However, biosafety research on genetically modified crops rarely considers effects on nurse bees from intact colonies, even though they receive and primarily process the largest amount of pollen. The objective of this study was to analyze the response of nurse bees and their gut bacteria to pollen from Bt maize expressing three different insecticidal Cry proteins (Cry1A.105, Cry2Ab2, and Cry3Bb1). Naturally Cry proteins are produced by bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis). Colonies of Apis mellifera carnica were kept during anthesis in flight cages on field plots with the Bt maize, two different conventionally bred maize varieties, and without cages, 1-km outside of the experimental maize field to allow ad libitum foraging to mixed pollen sources. During their 10-days life span, the consumption of Bt maize pollen had no effect on their survival rate, body weight and rates of pollen digestion compared to the conventional maize varieties. As indicated by ELISA-quantification of Cry1A.105 and Cry3Bb1, more than 98% of the recombinant proteins were degraded. Bacterial population sizes in the gut were not affected by the genetic modification. Bt-maize, conventional varieties and mixed pollen sources selected for significantly different bacterial communities which were, however, composed of the same dominant members, including Proteobacteria in the midgut and Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium sp. in the hindgut. Surprisingly, Cry proteins from natural sources, most likely B. thuringiensis, were detected in bees with no exposure to Bt maize. The natural occurrence of Cry proteins and the lack of detectable effects on nurse bees and their gut bacteria give no indication for harmful effects of this Bt maize on nurse honey bees. PMID:23533634

Effect of stacked insecticidal Cry proteins from maize pollen on nurse bees (Apis mellifera carnica and their gut bacteria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harmen P Hendriksma

Full Text Available Honey bee pollination is a key ecosystem service to nature and agriculture. However, biosafety research on genetically modified crops rarely considers effects on nurse bees from intact colonies, even though they receive and primarily process the largest amount of pollen. The objective of this study was to analyze the response of nurse bees and their gut bacteria to pollen from Bt maize expressing three different insecticidal Cry proteins (Cry1A.105, Cry2Ab2, and Cry3Bb1. Naturally Cry proteins are produced by bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis. Colonies of Apis mellifera carnica were kept during anthesis in flight cages on field plots with the Bt maize, two different conventionally bred maize varieties, and without cages, 1-km outside of the experimental maize field to allow ad libitum foraging to mixed pollen sources. During their 10-days life span, the consumption of Bt maize pollen had no effect on their survival rate, body weight and rates of pollen digestion compared to the conventional maize varieties. As indicated by ELISA-quantification of Cry1A.105 and Cry3Bb1, more than 98% of the recombinant proteins were degraded. Bacterial population sizes in the gut were not affected by the genetic modification. Bt-maize, conventional varieties and mixed pollen sources selected for significantly different bacterial communities which were, however, composed of the same dominant members, including Proteobacteria in the midgut and Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium sp. in the hindgut. Surprisingly, Cry proteins from natural sources, most likely B. thuringiensis, were detected in bees with no exposure to Bt maize. The natural occurrence of Cry proteins and the lack of detectable effects on nurse bees and their gut bacteria give no indication for harmful effects of this Bt maize on nurse honey bees.

Effect of stacked insecticidal Cry proteins from maize pollen on nurse bees (Apis mellifera carnica) and their gut bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendriksma, Harmen P; Küting, Meike; Härtel, Stephan; Näther, Astrid; Dohrmann, Anja B; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Tebbe, Christoph C

2013-01-01

Honey bee pollination is a key ecosystem service to nature and agriculture. However, biosafety research on genetically modified crops rarely considers effects on nurse bees from intact colonies, even though they receive and primarily process the largest amount of pollen. The objective of this study was to analyze the response of nurse bees and their gut bacteria to pollen from Bt maize expressing three different insecticidal Cry proteins (Cry1A.105, Cry2Ab2, and Cry3Bb1). Naturally Cry proteins are produced by bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis). Colonies of Apis mellifera carnica were kept during anthesis in flight cages on field plots with the Bt maize, two different conventionally bred maize varieties, and without cages, 1-km outside of the experimental maize field to allow ad libitum foraging to mixed pollen sources. During their 10-days life span, the consumption of Bt maize pollen had no effect on their survival rate, body weight and rates of pollen digestion compared to the conventional maize varieties. As indicated by ELISA-quantification of Cry1A.105 and Cry3Bb1, more than 98% of the recombinant proteins were degraded. Bacterial population sizes in the gut were not affected by the genetic modification. Bt-maize, conventional varieties and mixed pollen sources selected for significantly different bacterial communities which were, however, composed of the same dominant members, including Proteobacteria in the midgut and Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium sp. in the hindgut. Surprisingly, Cry proteins from natural sources, most likely B. thuringiensis, were detected in bees with no exposure to Bt maize. The natural occurrence of Cry proteins and the lack of detectable effects on nurse bees and their gut bacteria give no indication for harmful effects of this Bt maize on nurse honey bees.

Increased long-flight activity triggered in beet armyworm by larval feeding on diet containing Cry1Ac protoxin.

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Xing Fu Jiang

Full Text Available Evaluating ecological safety and conducting pest risk analysis for transgenic crops are vitally important before their commercial planting. The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, a long-distance migratory insect pest, is not a direct target of transgenic Cry1Ac-expressing cotton in China, but nevertheless it has recently become an important pest. Migrants leaving their natal field arrive in other appropriate habitat far away in a short time, often followed by larval outbreaks. S. exigua has low susceptibility to Cry1Ac. However, our results from laboratory experiments identified (i sublethal effects of Cry1Ac protoxin on larval development rate, larval and pupal weight, and adult lifetime fecundity, and (ii increased long-flight behavior triggered by Cry1Ac which may contribute to larval outbreaks elsewhere. No significant differences in larval mortality, pupation rate, adult emergence rate, longevity, pre-oviposition period, or oviposition period were observed between controls and larvae fed on artificial diet incorporating a low concentration of Cry1Ac protoxin. The negative sublethal effects on some developmental and reproductive traits and lack of effect on others suggest they do not contribute to the observed severity of S. exigua outbreaks after feeding on Cry1Ac cotton. Interestingly, the percentage of long fliers increased significantly when larvae were reared on diet containing either of two low-dose treatments of Cry1Ac, suggesting a possible increased propensity to disperse long distances triggered by Cry1Ac. We hypothesize that negative effects on development and reproduction caused by Cry1Ac in the diet are offset by increased flight propensity triggered by the poor food conditions, thereby improving the chances of escaping adverse local conditions before oviposition. Increased long-flight propensity in turn may amplify the area damaged by outbreak populations. This phenomenon might be common in other migratory insect pests receiving

Cross-Resistance between Cry1 Proteins in Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) May Affect the Durability of Current Pyramided Bt Maize Hybrids in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardi, Daniel; Salmeron, Eloisa; Horikoshi, Renato Jun; Bernardi, Oderlei; Dourado, Patrick Marques; Carvalho, Renato Assis; Martinelli, Samuel; Head, Graham P; Omoto, Celso

2015-01-01

Genetically modified plants expressing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) offer valuable options for managing insect pests with considerable environmental and economic benefits. Despite the benefits provided by Bt crops, the continuous expression of these insecticidal proteins imposes strong selection for resistance in target pest populations. Bt maize (Zea mays) hybrids have been successful in controlling fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), the main maize pest in Brazil since 2008; however, field-evolved resistance to the protein Cry1F has recently been reported. Therefore it is important to assess the possibility of cross-resistance between Cry1F and other Cry proteins expressed in Bt maize hybrids. In this study, an F2 screen followed by subsequent selection on MON 89034 maize was used to select an S. frugiperda strain (RR) able to survive on the Bt maize event MON 89034, which expresses the Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 proteins. Field-collected insects from maize expressing the Cry1F protein (event TC1507) represented most of the positive (resistance allele-containing) (iso)families found. The RR strain showed high levels of resistance to Cry1F, which apparently also conferred high levels of cross resistance to Cry1A.105 and Cry1Ab, but had only low-level (10-fold) resistance to Cry2Ab2. Life history studies to investigate fitness costs associated with the resistance in RR strain revealed only small reductions in reproductive rate when compared to susceptible and heterozygous strains, but the RR strain produced 32.2% and 28.4% fewer females from each female relative to the SS and RS (pooled) strains, respectively. Consistent with the lack of significant resistance to Cry2Ab2, MON 89034 maize in combination with appropriate management practices continues to provide effective control of S. frugiperda in Brazil. Nevertheless, the occurrence of Cry1F resistance in S. frugiperda across Brazil, and the cross-resistance to Cry1Ab and Cry1A.105

Synergism and Antagonism between Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3A and Cry1 Proteins in Heliothis virescens, Diatraea saccharalis and Spodoptera frugiperda

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Lemes, Ana Rita Nunes; Davolos, Camila Chiaradia; Legori, Paula Cristina Brunini Crialesi; Fernandes, Odair Aparecido; Ferré, Juan; Lemos, Manoel Victor Franco; Desiderio, Janete Apparecida

2014-01-01

Second generation Bt crops (insect resistant crops carrying Bacillus thuringiensis genes) combine more than one gene that codes for insecticidal proteins in the same plant to provide better control of agricultural pests. Some of the new combinations involve co-expression of cry and vip genes. Because Cry and Vip proteins have different midgut targets and possibly different mechanisms of toxicity, it is important to evaluate possible synergistic or antagonistic interactions between these two classes of toxins. Three members of the Cry1 class of proteins and three from the Vip3A class were tested against Heliothis virescens for possible interactions. At the level of LC50, Cry1Ac was the most active protein, whereas the rest of proteins tested were similarly active. However, at the level of LC90, Cry1Aa and Cry1Ca were the least active proteins, and Cry1Ac and Vip3A proteins were not significantly different. Under the experimental conditions used in this study, we found an antagonistic effect of Cry1Ca with the three Vip3A proteins. The interaction between Cry1Ca and Vip3Aa was also tested on two other species of Lepidoptera. Whereas antagonism was observed in Spodoptera frugiperda, synergism was found in Diatraea saccharalis. In all cases, the interaction between Vip3A and Cry1 proteins was more evident at the LC90 level than at the LC50 level. The fact that the same combination of proteins may result in a synergistic or an antagonistic interaction may be an indication that there are different types of interactions within the host, depending on the insect species tested. PMID:25275646

Prenatal Maternal Reactivity to Infant Cries Predicts Postnatal Perceptions of Infant Temperament and Marriage Appraisal.

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Pedersen, Frank A.; And Others

1996-01-01

Examined cardiac response and ratings of subjective aversiveness to recordings of unfamiliar infant cries in 60 primiparous women at 32 weeks' gestation. Mothers who prenatally rated the crying recordings as more aversive postnatally described their infants as more fussy and unpredictable. Women who showed greater cardiac acceleration to the cries…

An ultrasensitive label-free electrochemiluminescent immunosensor for measuring Cry1Ab level and genetically modified crops content.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Hongfei; Wen, Luke; Wu, Yuhua; Fu, Zhifeng; Wu, Gang

2017-11-15

The development of genetically modified (GM) insect-resistant crops has aroused great public concern about the risks on the eco-environment resulting from a release of toxic Cry proteins (such as Cry1Ab) to the soil. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to measure the Cry proteins level and the GM crops content. Here, we have tested for the first time a method that uses novel carbon nanospheres (CNPs) label-free electrochemiluminescent (ECL) immunosensor for the ultrasensitive quantification of Cry1Ab and GM crops. In this work, novel CNPs were prepared from printer toner with a very facile approach, and linked with anti-Cry1Ab antibodies to modify a golden working electrode. The immunoreaction between Cry1Ab and its antibody formed an immunocomplex on the bioreceptor region of the sensor, which inhibited electron transfer between the electrode surface and the ECL substance, leading to a decrease of ECL response. Under the optimal conditions, the fabricated label-free ECL immunosensor determined Cry1Ab down to 3.0pgmL -1 within a linear range of 0.010-1.0ngmL -1 , showing significant improvement of sensitivity than that of most previous reports. Meanwhile, the proposed method was successfully applied for GM rice BT63 and GM maize MON810 detections down to 0.010% and 0.020%, respectively. Due to its outstanding advantages such as high sensitivity, ideal selectivity, simple fabrication, rapid detection, and low cost, the developed method can be considered as a powerful and pioneering tool for GM crops detection. Its use can also be extended to other toxin protein sensing in foods. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Characterization of field-evolved resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis-derived Cry1F δ-endotoxin in Spodoptera frugiperda populations from Argentina.

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Chandrasena, Desmi I; Signorini, Ana M; Abratti, Gustavo; Storer, Nicholas P; Olaciregui, Magdalena L; Alves, Analiza P; Pilcher, Clinton D

2018-03-01

Transgenic maize (Zea mays L.) event TC1507 (Herculex ® I insect protection), expressing Cry1F δ-endotoxin derived from Bacillus thuringiensis var. aizawai, was commercialized in 2003 in the Americas. Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) susceptibility to Cry1F was monitored annually across several regions in Argentina using diagnostic concentration bioassays. Reduced performance of TC1507 maize against S. frugiperda was reported in 2013. A resistant population was established in the laboratory and the dominance of Cry1F resistance was characterized. During 2012-2015, high-survivorship of several populations was observed in the resistance monitoring program. Reciprocal crosses of a Cry1F-resistant population with a Cry1F-susceptible population were evaluated to calculate effective dominance (D ML ) based on mortality levels observed at 100 µg/ml Cry1F. Two additional dominance levels (D LC and D EC ) were calculated using lethal (LC 50 ) or effective concentration (EC 50 ) derived from concentration-response bioassays. Estimates indicated that Cry1F resistance in S. frugiperda in Argentina was either highly recessive (D ML = 0.005) or incompletely recessive (D LC frugiperda Cry1F field-evolved resistance in Argentina. The resistance to Cry1F in S. frugiperda populations collected in Argentina, is autosomal and incompletely recessive similar to the resistance reported in Brazil. © 2017 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley © Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley © Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Establishment of a sensitive time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay for detection of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ie toxin based nanobody from a phage display library.

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Xu, Chongxin; Liu, Xiaoqin; Zhang, Cunzheng; Zhang, Xiao; Zhong, Jianfeng; Liu, Yuan; Hu, Xiaodan; Lin, Manman; Liu, Xianjin

2017-02-01

Cry1Ie toxin was an insect-resistant protein used in genetically modified crops (GMC). In this study, a large human VH gene nanobodies phage displayed library was employed to select anti-Cry1Ie toxin antibody by affinity panning. After 5 rounds of panning, total 12 positive monoclonal phage particles were obtained. One of the identified positive phage nanobody was expressed in E.coli BL21 and the purified protein was indicated as a molecular mass of approximately 20 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Then a sensitive indirect competitive time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (IC-TRFIA) was established for detection of Cry1Ie toxin by the purified protein. The working range of detection for Cry1Ie toxin standards in the IC-TRFIA were 0.08-6.44 ng mL -1 and the medium inhibition of control (IC 50 ) was 0.73 ng mL -1 . It showed a weak cross-reactivity with Cry1Ab toxin (at 5.6%), but did not recognize Cry1B, Cry1C, Cry1F, and Cry2A toxins (were <0.1%). The average recoveries of Cry1Ie toxin from respectively spiked in rice, corn and soil samples were in the range of 83.5%-96.6% and with a coefficient of variation (CV) among 2.0%-8.6%. These results showed the IC-TRFIA was promising for detection of Cry1Ie toxin in agricultural and environmental samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Maternal overreactive sympathetic nervous system responses to repeated infant crying predicts risk for impulsive harsh discipline of infants.

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Joosen, Katharina J; Mesman, Judi; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; van Ijzendoorn, Marinus H

2013-11-01

Physiological reactivity to repeated infant crying was examined as a predictor of risk for harsh discipline use with 12-month-olds in a longitudinal study with 48 low-income mother-infant dyads. Physiological reactivity was measured while mothers listened to three blocks of infant cry sounds in a standard cry paradigm when their infants were 3 months old. Signs of harsh discipline use were observed during two tasks during a home visit when the infants were 12 months old. Mothers showing signs of harsh discipline (n = 10) with their 12-month-olds were compared to mothers who did not (n = 38) on their sympathetic (skin conductance levels [SCL]) and parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) reactivity to the cry sounds. Results showed a significant interaction effect for sympathetic reactivity only. Mean SCL of harsh-risk mothers showed a significant different response pattern from baseline to crying and onward into the recovery, suggesting that mean SCL of mothers who showed signs of harsh discipline continued to rise across the repeated bouts of cry sounds while, after an initial increase, mean SCL level of the other mothers showed a steady decline. We suggest that harsh parenting is reflected in physiological overreactivity to negative infant signals and discuss our findings from a polyvagal perspective.

NanoCrySP technology for generation of drug nanocrystals: translational aspects and business potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Shete, Ganesh; Bansal, Arvind Kumar

2016-08-01

Drug nanocrystals have rapidly evolved into a mature drug delivery strategy in the last decade, with almost 16 products currently on the market. Several "top-down" technologies are available in the market for generation of nanocrystals. Despite several advantages, very few bottom-up technologies have been explored for commercial purpose. This short communication highlights a novel, bottom-up, spray drying based technology-NanoCrySP-to generate drug nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are generated in the presence of non-polymeric excipients that act as crystallization inducer for the drug. Excipients encourage crystallization of drug by plasticization, primary heterogeneous nucleation, and imparting physical barrier to crystal growth. Nanocrystals have shown significant improvement in dissolution and thereby oral bioavailability. NanoCrySP technology is protected through patents in India, the USA, and the European Union. NanoCrySP can be utilized for (i) pharmaceutical development of new chemical entities, (ii) differentiated products of existing molecules, and (iii) generic drug products. The aggregation of drug nanocrystals generated using NanoCrySP poses significant challenges in the nanocrystal-based product development. Addition of stabilizers either during spray drying or during dissolution has shown beneficial effects.

Environmental bias and elastic curves on surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guven, Jemal; María Valencia, Dulce; Vázquez-Montejo, Pablo

2014-01-01

The behavior of an elastic curve bound to a surface will reflect the geometry of its environment. This may occur in an obvious way: the curve may deform freely along directions tangent to the surface, but not along the surface normal. However, even if the energy itself is symmetric in the curve's geodesic and normal curvatures, which control these modes, very distinct roles are played by the two. If the elastic curve binds preferentially on one side, or is itself assembled on the surface, not only would one expect the bending moduli associated with the two modes to differ, binding along specific directions, reflected in spontaneous values of these curvatures, may be favored. The shape equations describing the equilibrium states of a surface curve described by an elastic energy accommodating environmental factors will be identified by adapting the method of Lagrange multipliers to the Darboux frame associated with the curve. The forces transmitted to the surface along the surface normal will be determined. Features associated with a number of different energies, both of physical relevance and of mathematical interest, are described. The conservation laws associated with trajectories on surface geometries exhibiting continuous symmetries are also examined. (paper)

Different Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin Cry1Ab on Midgut Cell Transmembrane Potential of Mythimna separata and Agrotis ipsilon Larvae

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Yingying Wang

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt Cry toxins from the Cry1A family demonstrate significantly different toxicities against members of the family Noctuidae for unknown reasons. In this study, membrane potential was measured and analyzed in freshly isolated midgut samples from Mythimna separata and Agrotis ipsilon larvae under oral administration and in vitro incubation with Bt toxin Cry1Ab to elucidate the mechanism of action for further control of these pests. Bioassay results showed that the larvae of M. separata achieved a LD50 of 258.84 ng/larva at 24 h after ingestion; M. separata larvae were at least eightfold more sensitive than A. ipsilon larvae to Cry1Ab. Force-feeding showed that the observed midgut apical-membrane potential (Vam of M. separata larvae was significantly depolarized from −82.9 ± 6.6 mV to −19.9 ± 7.2 mV at 8 h after ingestion of 1 μg activated Cry1Ab, whereas no obvious changes were detected in A. ipsilon larvae with dosage of 5 μg Cry1Ab. The activated Cry1Ab caused a distinct concentration-dependent depolarization of the apical membrane; Vam was reduced by 50% after 14.7 ± 0.2, 9.8 ± 0.4, and 7.6 ± 0.6 min of treatment with 1, 5, and 10 μg/mL Cry1Ab, respectively. Cry1Ab showed a minimal effect on A. ipsilon larvae even at 20 μg/mL, and Vam decreased by 26.3% ± 2.3% after 15 min. The concentrations of Cry1Ab displayed no significant effect on the basolateral side of the epithelium. The Vam of A. ipsilon (−33.19 ± 6.29 mV, n = 51 was only half that of M. separata (−80.94 ± 6.95 mV, n = 75. The different degrees of sensitivity to Cry1Ab were speculatively associated with various habits, as well as the diverse physiological or biochemical characteristics of the midgut cell membranes.

Baby Business: a randomised controlled trial of a universal parenting program that aims to prevent early infant sleep and cry problems and associated parental depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Fallon; Bayer, Jordana; Le, Ha N D; Mensah, Fiona; Cann, Warren; Hiscock, Harriet

2012-02-06

Infant crying and sleep problems (e.g. frequent night waking, difficulties settling to sleep) each affect up to 30% of infants and often co-exist. They are costly to manage and associated with adverse outcomes including postnatal depression symptoms, early weaning from breast milk, and later child behaviour problems. Preventing such problems could improve these adverse outcomes and reduce costs to families and the health care system. Anticipatory guidance-i.e. providing parents with information about normal infant sleep and cry patterns, ways to encourage self-settling in infants, and ways to develop feeding and settling routines before the onset of problems-could prevent such problems. This paper outlines the protocol for our study which aims to test an anticipatory guidance approach. 750 families from four Local Government Areas in Melbourne, Australia have been randomised to receive the Baby Business program (intervention group) or usual care (control group) offered by health services. The Baby Business program provides parents with information about infant sleep and crying via a DVD and booklet (mailed soon after birth), telephone consultation (at infant age 6-8 weeks) and parent group session (at infant age 12 weeks). All English speaking parents of healthy newborn infants born at > 32 weeks gestation and referred by their maternal and child health nurse at their first post partum home visit (day 7-10 postpartum), are eligible. The primary outcome is parent report of infant night time sleep as a problem at four months of age and secondary outcomes include parent report of infant daytime sleep or crying as a problem, mean duration of infant sleep and crying/24 hours, parental depression symptoms, parent sleep quality and quantity and health service use. Data will be collected at two weeks (baseline), four months and six months of age. An economic evaluation using a cost-consequences approach will, from a societal perspective, compare costs and health outcomes

Transgenic rice plants expressing synthetic cry2AX1 gene exhibits resistance to rice leaffolder (Cnaphalocrosis medinalis).

Science.gov (United States)

Manikandan, R; Balakrishnan, N; Sudhakar, D; Udayasuriyan, V

2016-06-01

Bacillus thuringiensis is a major source of insecticidal genes imparting insect resistance in transgenic plants. Level of expression of transgenes in transgenic plants is important to achieve desirable level of resistance against target insects. In order to achieve desirable level of expression, rice chloroplast transit peptide sequence was fused with synthetic cry2AX1 gene to target its protein in chloroplasts. Sixteen PCR positive lines of rice were generated by Agrobacterium mediated transformation using immature embryos. Southern blot hybridization analysis of T 0 transgenic plants confirmed the integration of cry2AX1 gene in two to five locations of rice genome and ELISA demonstrated its expression. Concentration of Cry2AX1 in transgenic rice events ranged 5.0-120 ng/g of fresh leaf tissue. Insect bioassay of T 0 transgenic rice plants against neonate larvae of rice leaffolder showed larval mortality ranging between 20 and 80 % in comparison to control plant. Stable inheritance and expression of cry2AX1 gene was demonstrated in T 1 progenies through Southern and ELISA. In T 1 progenies, the highest concentration of Cry2AX1 and mortality of rice leaffolder larvae were recorded as 150 ng/g of fresh leaf tissue and 80 %, respectively. The Cry2AX1 expression even at a very low concentration (120-150 ng/g) in transgenic rice plants was found effective against rice leaffolder larvae.

Comparison of the imaging performances for recently developed monolithic scintillators: CRY018 and CRY019 for dual isotope gamma ray imaging applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Polito, C.; Pani, R.; Trigila, C.; Cinti, M.N.; Fabbri, A.; Pellegrini, R.; Frantellizzi, V.; Vincentis, G. De; Pani, R.

2017-01-01

The growing interest for new scintillation crystals with outstanding imaging performances (i.e. resolution and efficiency) has suggested the study of recently discovered scintillators named CRY018 and CRY019 . The crystals under investigation are monolithic and have shown enhanced characteristics both for gamma ray spectrometry and for Nuclear Medicine imaging applications such as the dual isotope imaging. Moreover, the non-hygroscopic nature and the absence of afterglow make these scintillators even more attractive for the potential improvement in a wide range of applications. These scintillation crystals show a high energy resolution in the energy range involved in Nuclear Medicine, allowing the discrimination between very close energy values. Moreover, in order to prove their suitability of being powerful imaging systems, the imaging performances like the position linearity and the intrinsic spatial resolution have been evaluated obtaining satisfactory results thanks to the implementation of an optimized algorithm for the images reconstruction.

Comparison of the imaging performances for recently developed monolithic scintillators: CRY018 and CRY019 for dual isotope gamma ray imaging applications

Science.gov (United States)

Polito, C.; Pani, R.; Trigila, C.; Cinti, M. N.; Fabbri, A.; Frantellizzi, V.; De Vincentis, G.; Pellegrini, R.; Pani, R.

2017-01-01

The growing interest for new scintillation crystals with outstanding imaging performances (i.e. resolution and efficiency) has suggested the study of recently discovered scintillators named CRY018 and CRY019. The crystals under investigation are monolithic and have shown enhanced characteristics both for gamma ray spectrometry and for Nuclear Medicine imaging applications such as the dual isotope imaging. Moreover, the non-hygroscopic nature and the absence of afterglow make these scintillators even more attractive for the potential improvement in a wide range of applications. These scintillation crystals show a high energy resolution in the energy range involved in Nuclear Medicine, allowing the discrimination between very close energy values. Moreover, in order to prove their suitability of being powerful imaging systems, the imaging performances like the position linearity and the intrinsic spatial resolution have been evaluated obtaining satisfactory results thanks to the implementation of an optimized algorithm for the images reconstruction.

Induction of Manduca sexta Larvae Caspases Expression in Midgut Cells by Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab Toxin

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Helena Porta

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Bacillus thuringiensis produces crystal toxins known as Cry that are highly selective against important agricultural and human health-related insect pests. Cry proteins are pore-forming toxins that interact with specific receptors in the midgut cell membrane of susceptible larvae making pores that cause osmotic shock, leading finally to insect death. In the case of pore-forming toxins that are specific to mammalian cells, death responses at low doses may induce apoptosis or pyroptosis, depending on the cell type. The death mechanism induced by Cry toxins in insect midgut cells is poorly understood. Here, we analyze the caspases expression by RT-PCR analysis, showing that the initial response of Manduca sexta midgut cells after low dose of Cry1Ab toxin administration involves a fast and transient accumulation of caspase-1 mRNA, suggesting that pyroptosis was activated by Cry1Ab toxin as an initial response but was repressed later. In contrast, caspase-3 mRNA requires a longer period of time of toxin exposure to be activated but presents a sustained activation, suggesting that apoptosis may be a cell death mechanism induced also at low dose of toxin.

Food safety knowledge on the Bt mutant protein Cry8Ka5 employed in the development of coleopteran-resistant transgenic cotton plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Farias, Davi F; Peijnenburg, Ad A C M; Grossi-de-Sá, Maria F; Carvalho, Ana F U

2015-01-01

Insecticidal Cry proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been exploited in the development of genetically modified (GM) crops for pest control. However, several pests are still difficult to control such as the coleopteran boll weevil Anthonomus grandis. By applying in vitro molecular evolution to the cry8Ka1 gene sequence, variants were generated with improved activity against A. grandis. Among them, Cry8Ka5 mutant protein showed coleoptericidal activity 3-fold higher (LC50 2.83 μg/mL) than that of the original protein (Cry8Ka1). Cry8Ka5 has been used in breeding programs in order to obtain coleopteran-resistant cotton plants. Nevertheless, there is some concern in relation to the food safety of transgenic crops, especially to the heterologously expressed proteins. In this context, our research group has performed risk assessment studies on Cry8Ka5, using the tests recommended by Codex as well as tests that we proposed as alternative and/or complementary approaches. Our results on the risk analysis of Cry8Ka5 taken together with those of other Cry proteins, point out that there is a high degree of certainty on their food safety. It is reasonable to emphasize that most safety studies on Cry proteins have essentially used the Codex approach. However, other methodologies would potentially provide additional information such as studies on the effects of Cry proteins and derived peptides on the indigenous gastrointestinal microbiota and on intestinal epithelial cells of humans. Additionally, emerging technologies such as toxicogenomics potentially will offer sensitive alternatives for some current approaches or methods.

Fitness costs and stability of Cry1Fa resistance in Brazilian populations of Spodoptera frugiperda.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos-Amaya, Oscar F; Tavares, Clébson S; Rodrigues, João Victor C; Campos, Silverio O; Guedes, Raul Narciso C; Alves, Analiza P; Pereira, Eliseu José G

2017-01-01

The presence of fitness costs of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticidal proteins in insect populations may delay or even reverse the local selection of insect resistance to Bt transgenic crops, and deserves rigorous investigation. Here we assessed the fitness costs associated with Cry1Fa resistance in two strains of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), derived from field collections in different Brazilian regions and further selected in the laboratory for high levels of resistance to Cry1Fa using leaves of TC1507 corn. Fitness components were compared using paired resistant and susceptible strains with similar genetic backgrounds and F 1 generations from reciprocal crosses, all of them reared on non-transgenic corn leaves. No apparent life history costs in the larval stage were observed in the Bt-resistant strains. Moreover, the resistance remained stable for seven generations in the absence of selection, with no decrease in the proportion of resistant individuals. Larval respiration rates were also similar between resistant and susceptible homozygotes, and heterozygotes displayed respiration rates and demographic performance equal or superior to those of susceptible homozygotes. In combination, these results indicate the lack of strong fitness costs associated with resistance to Cry1Fa in the fall armyworm strains studied. These findings suggest that Cry1Fa resistance in S. frugiperda populations is unlikely to be counterselected in Cry1Fa-free environments. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Presence and significance of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry proteins associated with the Andean weevil Premnotrypes vorax (Coleoptera: Curculionidae

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SilvioAlejandro López-Pazos

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The Andean weevil Premnotrypes vorax represents an important cause of damage to Colombian potato crops. Due to the impact of this plague on the economy of the country, we searched for new alternatives for its biological control, based on the entomopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis. A total of 300 B. thuringiensis strains obtained from potato plantations infested with P. vorax were analyzed through crystal morphology, SDS-PAGE, PCR and bioassays. We used site- directed mutagenesis to modify the Cry3Aa protein. Most of the B. thuringiensis isolates had a bipyramidal crystal morphology. SDS-PAGE analyses had seven strains groups with σ-endotoxins from 35 to 135 kDa. The genes cry 2 and cry 1 were significantly more frequent in the P. vorax habitat (PCR analyses. Three mutant toxins, 1 (D354E, 2 (R345A, ∆Y350, ∆Y351, and 3 (Q482A, S484A, R485A, were analyzed to assess their activity against P. vorax larvae. Toxicity was low, or absent, against P. vorax for isolates, wild type cry 3Aa and cry 3Aa mutants. The genetic characterization of the collection provides opportunities for the selection of strains to be tested in bioassays against other insect pests of agricultural importance, and for designing Cry proteins with improved insecticidal toxicity. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57 (4: 1235-1243. Epub 2009 December 01.El gorgojo andino Premnotrypes vorax es una causa importante de daño en los cultivos colombianos de este tubérculo. Debido al impacto que esta plaga tiene sobre la economía del país, nos interesamos en buscar alternativas nuevas para el control biológico de P. vorax, basadas en la bacteria entomopatógena Bacillus thuringiensis. Se recolectaron un total de 300 cepas de B. thuringiensis a partir de plantaciones de papa infestadas con P. vorax, las cuales fueron analizadas por medio de la morfología del cristal, SDS-PAGE, PCR y ensayos biológicos. La mayoría de los aislamientos de B. thuringiensis presentaron cristales

Monitoring resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis in the field by performing bioassays with each Cry toxin separately

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Guillaume Tetreau

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti is increasingly used worldwide for mosquito control and is the only larvicide used in the French Rhône-Alpes region since decades. The artificial selection of mosquitoes with field-persistent Bti collected in breeding sites from this region led to a moderate level of resistance to Bti, but to relatively high levels of resistance to individual Bti Cry toxins. Based on this observation, we developed a bioassay procedure using each Bti Cry toxin separately to detect cryptic Bti-resistance evolving in field mosquito populations. Although no resistance to Bti was detected in none of the three mosquito species tested (Aedes rusticus, Aedes sticticus and Aedes vexans, an increased tolerance to Cry4Aa (3.5-fold and Cry11Aa toxins (8-fold was found in one Ae. sticticus population compared to other populations of the same species, suggesting that resistance to Bti may be arising in this population. This study confirms previous works showing a lack of Bti resistance in field mosquito populations treated for decades with this bioinsecticide. It also provides a first panorama of their susceptibility status to individual Bti Cry toxins. In combination with bioassays with Bti, bioassays with separate Cry toxins allow a more sensitive monitoring of Bti-resistance in the field.

Identification of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa toxin domain II loop 1 as the binding site of Tenebrio molitor cadherin repeat CR12.

Science.gov (United States)

Zúñiga-Navarrete, Fernando; Gómez, Isabel; Peña, Guadalupe; Amaro, Itzel; Ortíz, Ernesto; Becerril, Baltazar; Ibarra, Jorge E; Bravo, Alejandra; Soberón, Mario

2015-04-01

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins exert their toxic effect by specific recognition of larval midgut proteins leading to oligomerization of the toxin, membrane insertion and pore formation. The exposed domain II loop regions of Cry toxins have been shown to be involved in receptor binding. Insect cadherins have shown to be functionally involved in toxin binding facilitating toxin oligomerization. Here, we isolated a VHH (VHHA5) antibody by phage display that binds Cry3Aa loop 1 and competed with the binding of Cry3Aa to Tenebrio molitor brush border membranes. VHHA5 also competed with the binding of Cry3Aa to a cadherin fragment (CR12) that was previously shown to be involved in binding and toxicity of Cry3Aa, indicating that Cry3Aa binds CR12 through domain II loop 1. Moreover, we show that a loop 1 mutant, previously characterized to have increased toxicity to T. molitor, displayed a correlative enhanced binding affinity to T. molitor CR12 and to VHHA5. These results show that Cry3Aa domain II loop 1 is a binding site of CR12 T. molitor cadherin. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Study of the allergenic potential of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin following intra-gastric administration in a murine model of food-allergy.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos-Vigil, Karla I; Ilhuicatzi-Alvarado, Damaris; García-Hernández, Ana L; Herrera-García, Juan S; Moreno-Fierros, Leticia

2018-06-07

Cry1Ac toxin, from Bacillus thuringiensis, is widely used as a biopesticide and expressed in genetically modified (GM) plants used for human and animal consumption. Since Cry1Ac is also immunogenic and able to activate macrophages, it is crucial to thoroughly evaluate the immunological effects elicited after intra-gastric administration. The allergenic potential of purified Cry1Ac was assessed and compared with that induced in a murine model of food-allergy to ovalbumin (OVA), in which animals are sensitized with the adjuvant Cholera toxin (CT). Mice were weekly intragastrically administered with: i) vehicle phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), ii) OVA, iii) OVA plus CT iv) Cry1Ac or v) OVA plus Cry1Ac. Seven weeks after, mice were intragastrically challenged and allergic reactions along with diverse allergy related immunological parameters were evaluated at systemic and intestinal level. The groups immunized with, Cry1Ac, OVA/Cry1Ac or OVA/CT developed moderate allergic reactions, induced significant IgE response and increased frequencies of intestinal granulocytes, IgE+ eosinophils and IgE+ lymphocytes. These same groups also showed colonic lymphoid hyperplasia, notably in humans, this has been associated with food allergy and intestinal inflammation. Although the adjuvant and allergenic potential of CT were higher than the effects of Cry1Ac, the results show that applied intra-gastrically at 50 μg doses, Cry1Ac is immunogenic, moderately allergenic and able to provoke intestinal lymphoid hyperplasia. Moreover, Cry1Ac is also able to induce anaphylaxis, since when mice were intragastrically sensitized with increasing doses of Cry1Ac, with every dose tested, a significant drop in rectal temperature was recorded after intravenous challenge. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The midgut cadherin-like gene is not associated with resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cry1Ac in Plutella xylostella (L.).

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Guo, Zhaojiang; Kang, Shi; Zhu, Xun; Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Zhang, Youjun

2015-03-01

The Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces Cry toxins that have been used to control important agricultural pests. Evolution of resistance in target pests threatens the effectiveness of these toxins when used either in sprayed biopesticides or in Bt transgenic crops. Although alterations of the midgut cadherin-like receptor can lead to Bt Cry toxin resistance in many insects, whether the cadherin gene is involved in Cry1Ac resistance of Plutella xylostella (L.) remains unclear. Here, we present experimental evidence that resistance to Cry1Ac or Bt var. kurstaki (Btk) in P. xylostella is not due to alterations of the cadherin gene. The bona fide P. xylostella cadherin cDNA sequence was cloned and analyzed, and comparisons of the cadherin cDNA sequence among susceptible and resistant P. xylostella strains confirmed that Cry1Ac resistance was independent of mutations in this gene. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) indicated that cadherin transcript levels did not significantly differ among susceptible and resistant P. xylostella strains. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated suppression of cadherin gene expression did not affect larval susceptibility to Cry1Ac toxin. Furthermore, genetic linkage assays using four cadherin gDNA allelic biomarkers confirmed that the cadherin gene is not linked to resistance against Cry1Ac in P. xylostella. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that Cry1Ac resistance of P. xylostella is independent of the cadherin gene. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structure and distribution of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry4Ba toxin in lipid membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puntheeranurak, Theeraporn; Stroh, Cordula; Zhu Rong; Angsuthanasombat, Chanan; Hinterdorfer, Peter

2005-01-01

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry δ-endotoxins cause death of susceptible insect larvae by forming lytic pores in the midgut epithelial cell membranes. The 65 kDa trypsin activated Cry4Ba toxin was previously shown to be capable of permeabilizing liposomes and forming ionic channels in receptor-free planar lipid bilayers. Here, magnetic ACmode (MACmode) atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the lateral distribution and the native molecular structure of the Cry4Ba toxin in the membrane. Liposome fusion and the Langmuir-Blodgett technique were employed for supported lipid bilayer preparations. The toxin preferentially inserted in a self-assembled structure, rather than as a single monomeric molecule. In addition, the spontaneous insertion into receptor-free lipid bilayers lead to formation of characteristic pore-like structures with four-fold symmetry, suggesting that tetramers are the preferred oligomerization state of this toxin

[Neurology of laughter and humour: pathological laughing and crying].

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Arias, Manuel

2011-10-01

Laughter, which is usually a healthy biological phenomenon, may be also a symptom of several severe brain pathologies. To review the neurobiological bases of laughter and humour, as well as those of pathological laughing and crying syndrome. At the mesencephalic-pontine junction there is a central coordinator of the nuclei that innervate the muscles involved in laughter (facial expression, respiratory and phonatory). This centre receives connections from three systems: inhibitory (pre-motor and motor cortex), excitatory (temporal cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus) and modulator (cerebellum). Humour is a complex phenomenon with a range of components: the perception of the unexpected incongruence (occipitotemporal area, prefrontal cortex), emotional (reward circuit) and volitional (temporal and frontal cortex). Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies do not reveal a markedly prominent role of the right frontal lobe in processing humour, as had been suggested in the classical studies. The causes of pathological laughing and crying syndrome can be classified in two groups: altered behaviour with unmotivated happiness (Angelman syndrome, schizophrenia, manias, dementia) and interference with the inhibitory/excitatory mechanisms (gelastic epilepsy, fou rire prodromique in strokes, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Parkinson-plus, traumatic injuries, tumours). Serotonin and noradrenalin reuptake inhibitors, levodopa, lamotrigine and the association of dextromethorphan/quinidine can be effective in certain cases of pathological laughing and crying. As human neurobiological phenomena, laughter and humour also belong to the field of clinical neurology; their processing is affected in a number of different diseases and, in certain cases, effective treatment can be established.

Spatio Temporal Expression Pattern of an Insecticidal Gene (cry2A in Transgenic Cotton Lines

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Allah BAKHSH

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The production of transgenic plants with stable, high-level transgene expression is important for the success of crop improvement programs based on genetic engineering. The present study was conducted to evaluate genomic integration and spatio temporal expression of an insecticidal gene (cry2A in pre-existing transgenic lines of cotton. Genomic integration of cry2A was evaluated using various molecular approaches. The expression levels of cry2A were determined at vegetative and reproductive stages of cotton at regular intervals. These lines showed a stable integration of insecticidal gene in advance lines of transgenic cotton whereas gene expression was found variable with at various growth stages as well as in different plant parts throughout the season. The leaves of transgenic cotton were found to have maximum expression of cry2A gene followed by squares, bolls, anthers and petals. The protein level in fruiting part was less as compared to other parts showing inconsistency in gene expression. It was concluded that for culturing of transgenic crops, strategies should be developed to ensure the foreign genes expression efficient, consistent and in a predictable manner.

Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopic characterisation of the circadian blue-light photoreceptor cryptochrome from Drosophila melanogaster (dCry)

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Shirdel, J.; Zirak, P.; Penzkofer, A.; Breitkreuz, H.; Wolf, E.

2008-09-01

The absorption and fluorescence behaviour of the circadian blue-light photoreceptor cryptochrome from Drosophila melanogaster (dCry) in a pH 8 aqueous buffer solution is studied. The flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor of dCry is identified to be present in its oxidized form (FAD ox), and the 5,10-methenyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF) cofactor is found to be hydrolyzed and oxidized to 10-formyldihydrofolate (10-FDHF). The absorption and the fluorescence behaviour of dCry is investigated in the dark-adapted (receptor) state, the light-adapted (signalling) state, and under long-time violet light exposure. Photo-excitation of FAD ox in dCry causes a reductive electron transfer to the formation of anionic FAD semiquinone (FAD rad - ), and photo-excitation of the generated FAD rad - causes an oxidative electron transfer to the back formation of FAD ox. In light adapted dCry a photo-induced equilibrium between FAD ox and FAD rad - exists. The photo-cycle dynamics of signalling state formation and recovery is discussed. Quantum yields of photo-induced signalling state formation of about 0.2 and of photo-induced back-conversion of about 0.2 are determined. A recovery of FAD rad - to FAD ox in the dark with a time constant of 1.6 min at room temperature is found.

pH-controlled Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac protoxin loading and release from polyelectrolyte microcapsules.

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Wenhui Yang

Full Text Available Crystal proteins synthesized by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt have been used as biopesticides because of their toxicity to the insect larval hosts. To protect the proteins from environmental stress to extend their activity, we have developed a new microcapsule formulation. Poly (acrylic acid (PAH and poly (styrene sulfonate (PSS were fabricated through layer-by-layer self-assembly based on a CaCO(3 core. Cry1Ac protoxins were loaded into microcapsules through layer-by-layer self-assembly at low pH, and the encapsulated product was stored in water at 4°C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM was used to observe the morphology of the capsules. To confirm the successful encapsulation, the loading results were observed with a confocal laser scattering microscope (CLSM, using fluorescein-labeled Cry1Ac protoxin (FITC-Cry1Ac. The protoxins were released from the capsule under the alkaline condition corresponding to the midgut of certain insects, a condition which seldom exists elsewhere in the environment. The following bioassay experiment demonstrated that the microcapsules with Cry1Ac protoxins displayed approximately equivalent insecticidal activity to the Asian corn borer compared with free Cry1Ac protoxins, and empty capsules proved to have no effect on insects. Further result also indicated that the formulation could keep stable under the condition of heat and desiccation. These results suggest that this formulation provides a promising methodology that protects protoxins from the environment and releases them specifically in the target insects' midgut, which has shown potential as biopesticide in the field.

Transgenic cotton coexpressing Vip3A and Cry1Ac has a broad insecticidal spectrum against lepidopteran pests.

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Chen, Wen-Bo; Lu, Guo-Qing; Cheng, Hong-Mei; Liu, Chen-Xi; Xiao, Yu-Tao; Xu, Chao; Shen, Zhi-Cheng; Wu, Kong-Ming

2017-10-01

Although farmers in China have grown transgenic Bt-Cry1Ac cotton to resist the major pest Helicoverpa armigera since 1997 with great success, many secondary lepidopteran pests that are tolerant to Cry1Ac are now reported to cause considerable economic damage. Vip3AcAa, a chimeric protein with the N-terminal part of Vip3Ac and the C-terminal part of Vip3Aa, has a broad insecticidal spectrum against lepidopteran pests and has no cross resistance to Cry1Ac. In the present study, we tested insecticidal activities of Vip3AcAa against Spodoptera litura, Spodoptera exigua, and Agrotis ipsilon, which are relatively tolerant to Cry1Ac proteins. The bioassay results showed that insecticidal activities of Vip3AcAa against these three pests are superior to Cry1Ac, and after an activation pretreatment, Vip3AcAa retained insecticidal activity against S. litura, S. exigua and A. ipsilon that was similar to the unprocessed protein. The putative receptor for this chimeric protein in the brush border membrane vesicle (BBMV) in the three pests was also identified using biotinylated Vip3AcAa toxin. To broaden Bt cotton activity against a wider spectrum of pests, we introduced the vip3AcAa and cry1Ac genes into cotton. Larval mortality rates for S. litura, A. ipsilon and S. exigua that had fed on this new cotton increased significantly compared with larvae fed on non-Bt cotton and Bt-Cry1Ac cotton in a laboratory experiment. These results suggested that the Vip3AcAa protein is an excellent option for a "pyramid" strategy for integrated pest management in China. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

CRI, 4-Processor VAX-11/780 Simulation of CRAY Multitasking System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Werner, N.E.; Van Matre, S.W.

1988-01-01

1 - Description of program or function: CRI is a subroutine library and set of utilities which allow the use of a four-processor shared memory DEC VAX11/780-4 computer for parallel processing in a manner compatible with the present use of Cray Research, Inc.'s (CRI's) multitasking primitives on Cray computers. Included in the library are subroutines to perform resource initialization, task functions, lock operations, event signals, file sharing, and work queueing synchronization. 2 - Method of solution: A task consists of code and data that can be scheduled for execution on a CPU. Locks are the facility for monitoring critical regions of code. Events allow signaling between tasks; they have two states: cleared and posted. Posting an event allows all other tasks waiting on that event to resume execution. The CRI utilities consist of command procedures for creating the files needed to use the shared memory; for compiling and liking a multitasking program; for starting the logical processors on the physical processors after the time specified by submitting the job(s) to the selected generic batch queue and, optionally, interactively relinquishing control to the multiprocessor debugger; and for removing jobs from the batch queue and, optionally, un-mapping specified global sections from shared memory. CRIDEBUG utility does not work properly in this release

Fuzzy Relational Compression Applied on Feature Vectors for Infant Cry Recognition

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Reyes-Galaviz, Orion Fausto; Reyes-García, Carlos Alberto

Data compression is always advisable when it comes to handling and processing information quickly and efficiently. There are two main problems that need to be solved when it comes to handling data; store information in smaller spaces and processes it in the shortest possible time. When it comes to infant cry analysis (ICA), there is always the need to construct large sound repositories from crying babies. Samples that have to be analyzed and be used to train and test pattern recognition algorithms; making this a time consuming task when working with uncompressed feature vectors. In this work, we show a simple, but efficient, method that uses Fuzzy Relational Product (FRP) to compresses the information inside a feature vector, building with this a compressed matrix that will help us recognize two kinds of pathologies in infants; Asphyxia and Deafness. We describe the sound analysis, which consists on the extraction of Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients that generate vectors which will later be compressed by using FRP. There is also a description of the infant cry database used in this work, along with the training and testing of a Time Delay Neural Network with the compressed features, which shows a performance of 96.44% with our proposed feature vector compression.

Modification of Cry4Aa toward Improved Toxin Processing in the Gut of the Pea Aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum.

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Michael A Rausch

Full Text Available Aphids are sap-sucking insects (order: Hemiptera that cause extensive damage to a wide range of agricultural crops. Our goal was to optimize a naturally occurring insecticidal crystalline (Cry toxins produced by the soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis for use against the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. On the basis that activation of the Cry4Aa toxin is a rate-limiting factor contributing to the relatively low aphicidal activity of this toxin, we introduced cathepsin L and cathepsin B cleavage sites into Cry4Aa for rapid activation in the aphid gut environment. Incubation of modified Cry4Aa and aphid proteases in vitro demonstrated enhanced processing of the toxin into the active form for some of the modified constructs relative to non-modified Cry4Aa. Aphids fed artificial diet with toxin at a final concentration of 125 μg/ml showed enhanced mortality after two days for one of the four modified constructs. Although only modest toxin improvement was achieved by use of this strategy, such specific toxin modifications designed to overcome factors that limit aphid toxicity could be applied toward managing aphid populations via transgenic plant resistance.

Transgenic cotton expressing Cry10Aa toxin confers high resistance to the cotton boll weevil.

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Ribeiro, Thuanne Pires; Arraes, Fabricio Barbosa Monteiro; Lourenço-Tessutti, Isabela Tristan; Silva, Marilia Santos; Lisei-de-Sá, Maria Eugênia; Lucena, Wagner Alexandre; Macedo, Leonardo Lima Pepino; Lima, Janaina Nascimento; Santos Amorim, Regina Maria; Artico, Sinara; Alves-Ferreira, Márcio; Mattar Silva, Maria Cristina; Grossi-de-Sa, Maria Fatima

2017-08-01

Genetically modified (GM) cotton plants that effectively control cotton boll weevil (CBW), which is the most destructive cotton insect pest in South America, are reported here for the first time. This work presents the successful development of a new GM cotton with high resistance to CBW conferred by Cry10Aa toxin, a protein encoded by entomopathogenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene. The plant transformation vector harbouring cry10Aa gene driven by the cotton ubiquitination-related promoter uceA1.7 was introduced into a Brazilian cotton cultivar by biolistic transformation. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays revealed high transcription levels of cry10Aa in both T 0 GM cotton leaf and flower bud tissues. Southern blot and qPCR-based 2 -ΔΔCt analyses revealed that T 0 GM plants had either one or two transgene copies. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of Cry10Aa protein expression showed variable protein expression levels in both flower buds and leaves tissues of T 0 GM cotton plants, ranging from approximately 3.0 to 14.0 μg g -1 fresh tissue. CBW susceptibility bioassays, performed by feeding adults and larvae with T 0 GM cotton leaves and flower buds, respectively, demonstrated a significant entomotoxic effect and a high level of CBW mortality (up to 100%). Molecular analysis revealed that transgene stability and entomotoxic effect to CBW were maintained in T 1 generation as the Cry10Aa toxin expression levels remained high in both tissues, ranging from 4.05 to 19.57 μg g -1 fresh tissue, and the CBW mortality rate remained around 100%. In conclusion, these Cry10Aa GM cotton plants represent a great advance in the control of the devastating CBW insect pest and can substantially impact cotton agribusiness. © 2017 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Identification and Characterization of Hyphantria cunea Aminopeptidase N as a Binding Protein of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab35 Toxin

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Yakun Zhang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury is a major invasive pest in China. Aminopeptidase N (APN isoforms in lepidopteran larvae midguts are known for their involvement in the mode of action of insecticidal crystal (Cry proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis. In the present work, we identified a putative Cry1Ab toxin-binding protein, an APN isoform designated HcAPN3, in the midgut of H. cunea by ligand blot and mass spectrometry. HcAPN3 was highly expressed throughout all larval developmental stages and was abundant in the midgut and hindgut tissues. HcAPN3 was down-regulated at 6 h, then was up-regulated significantly at 12 h and 24 h after Cry1Ab toxin treatment. We expressed HcAPN3 in insect cells and detected its interaction with Cry1Ab toxin by ligand blot assays. Furthermore, RNA interference (RNAi against HcAPN3 using oral delivery and injection of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA resulted in a 61–66% decrease in transcript level. Down-regulating of the expression of HcAPN3 was closely associated with reduced susceptibility of H. cunea to Cry1Ab. In addition, the HcAPN3E fragment peptide expressed in Escherichia coli enhanced Cry1Ab toxicity against H. cunea larvae. This work represents the first evidence to suggest that an APN in H. cunea is a putative binding protein involved in Cry1Ab susceptibility.

Le silence, ce cri qui résonne dans l’écriture de Viviane Forrester

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Amelia Peral Crespo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The Holocaust Literature is tied to Silence from its beginning as the writing to silence. Write about the Holocaust and relate the experiences lived in first person or transmit them to the coming generations means leaving the silence which, for years, was the ideal refuge. This research focuses on the literary production of Viviane Forrester. The different expressions of silence that characterize her writings are analyzed. Silence is the cry that underlies in the most profound of the human being that return from the concentration camps, as Lazarus from the dead. It is a silence that grows to a cry because Forrester’s writing, almost in parallel to the fragmentary writing of Blanchot, an-nounces livre à venir, expressing the cry in silence without the ending of the word

Maternal anxiety versus depressive disorders: specific relations to infants' crying, feeding and sleeping problems.

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Petzoldt, J; Wittchen, H-U; Einsle, F; Martini, J

2016-03-01

Maternal depression has been associated with excessive infant crying, feeding and sleeping problems, but the specificity of maternal depression, as compared with maternal anxiety remains unclear and manifest disorders prior to pregnancy have been widely neglected. In this prospective longitudinal study, the specific associations of maternal anxiety and depressive disorders prior to, during and after pregnancy and infants' crying, feeding and sleeping problems were investigated in the context of maternal parity. In the Maternal Anxiety in Relation to Infant Development (MARI) Study, n = 306 primiparous and multiparous women were repeatedly interviewed from early pregnancy until 16 months post partum with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview for Women (CIDI-V) to assess DSM-IV anxiety and depressive disorders. Information on excessive infant crying, feeding and sleeping problems was obtained from n = 286 mothers during postpartum period via questionnaire and interview (Baby-DIPS). Findings from this study revealed syndrome-specific risk constellations for maternal anxiety and depressive disorders as early as prior to pregnancy: Excessive infant crying (10.1%) was specifically associated with maternal anxiety disorders, especially in infants of younger and lower educated first-time mothers. Feeding problems (36.4%) were predicted by maternal anxiety (and comorbid depressive) disorders in primiparous mothers and infants with lower birth weight. Infant sleeping problems (12.2%) were related to maternal depressive (and comorbid anxiety) disorders irrespective of maternal parity. Primiparous mothers with anxiety disorders may be more prone to anxious misinterpretations of crying and feeding situations leading to an escalation of mother-infant interactions. The relation between maternal depressive and infant sleeping problems may be better explained by a transmission of unsettled maternal sleep to the fetus during pregnancy or a lack of daily

Increased frequency of pink bollworm resistance to Bt toxin Cry1Ac in China.

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Peng Wan

Full Text Available Transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt kill some key insect pests, but evolution of resistance by pests can reduce their efficacy. The main approach for delaying pest adaptation to Bt crops uses non-Bt host plants as "refuges" to increase survival of susceptible pests. To delay evolution of pest resistance to transgenic cotton producing Bt toxin Cry1Ac, the United States and some other countries have required refuges of non-Bt cotton, while farmers in China have relied on "natural" refuges of non-Bt host plants other than cotton. The "natural" refuge strategy focuses on cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera, the primary target of Bt cotton in China that attacks many crops, but it does not apply to another major pest, pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella, which feeds almost entirely on cotton in China. Here we report data showing field-evolved resistance to Cry1Ac by pink bollworm in the Yangtze River Valley of China. Laboratory bioassay data from 51 field-derived strains show that the susceptibility to Cry1Ac was significantly lower during 2008 to 2010 than 2005 to 2007. The percentage of field populations yielding one or more survivors at a diagnostic concentration of Cry1Ac increased from 0% in 2005-2007 to 56% in 2008-2010. However, the median survival at the diagnostic concentration was only 1.6% from 2008 to 2010 and failure of Bt cotton to control pink bollworm has not been reported in China. The early detection of resistance reported here may promote proactive countermeasures, such as a switch to transgenic cotton producing toxins distinct from Cry1A toxins, increased planting of non-Bt cotton, and integration of other management tactics together with Bt cotton.

Geographical and Temporal Variability in Susceptibility to Cry1F Toxin From Bacillus thuringiensis in Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Populations in Brazil.

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Farias, Juliano R; Horikoshi, Renato J; Santos, Antonio C; Omoto, Celso

2014-12-01

The genetically modified maize TC1507 event with the cry1F gene (Cry1F maize) has been used to control Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Brazil since the 2009-2010 cropping season. As part of the insect resistance management program, we conducted studies to determine the baseline susceptibility to Cry1F before the widespread planting of Cry1F maize. Subsequently, we evaluated the geographical and temporal variability of susceptibility to this toxin in populations of S. frugiperda collected from major maize-growing regions in Brazil. The baseline susceptibility to Cry1F was determined using a diet-overlay bioassay for a susceptible reference population and four field populations of S. frugiperda. We then monitored the susceptibility to Cry1F in 43 populations of S. frugiperda sampled in nine States of Brazil between 2011 and 2013. In the baseline study, the MIC50 (the concentration that inhibits molting to second instars in 50% of individuals) ranged from 3.59 to 72.47 ng Cry1F toxin per centimeter square. Based on the upper limit of the MIC99 value of the joint analysis from the baseline susceptibility data, the concentrations of 200 and 2,000 ng of Cry1F toxin per centimeter square were defined as diagnostic concentrations for potentially resistant individuals, and these were used to monitor the susceptibility of S. frugiperda to Cry1F. Survival at 2,000 ng Cry1F toxin per centimeter square increased significantly throughout the cropping seasons in S. frugiperda populations from São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Paraná. The highest survival (>50%) was reached in populations collected from Bahia, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Paraná during the 2012-2013 cropping season. Therefore, a significant decrease in susceptibility to Cry1F was detected in S. frugiperda throughout cropping seasons, especially in regions with intensive maize production in Brazil

Atlas of stress-strain curves

CERN Document Server

2002-01-01

The Atlas of Stress-Strain Curves, Second Edition is substantially bigger in page dimensions, number of pages, and total number of curves than the previous edition. It contains over 1,400 curves, almost three times as many as in the 1987 edition. The curves are normalized in appearance to aid making comparisons among materials. All diagrams include metric (SI) units, and many also include U.S. customary units. All curves are captioned in a consistent format with valuable information including (as available) standard designation, the primary source of the curve, mechanical properties (including hardening exponent and strength coefficient), condition of sample, strain rate, test temperature, and alloy composition. Curve types include monotonic and cyclic stress-strain, isochronous stress-strain, and tangent modulus. Curves are logically arranged and indexed for fast retrieval of information. The book also includes an introduction that provides background information on methods of stress-strain determination, on...

Frequency of Cry1F resistance alleles in Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Farias, Juliano R; Andow, David A; Horikoshi, Renato J; Bernardi, Daniel; Ribeiro, Rebeca da S; Nascimento, Antonio Rb do; Santos, Antonio C Dos; Omoto, Celso

2016-12-01

The frequency of resistance alleles is a major factor influencing the rate of resistance evolution. Here, we adapted the F 2 screen procedure for Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) with a discriminating concentration assay, and extended associated statistical methods to estimate the frequency of resistance to Cry1F protein in S. frugiperda in Brazil when resistance was not rare. We show that F 2 screen is efficient even when the resistance frequency is 0.250. It was possible to screen 517 isoparental lines from 12 populations sampled in five states of Brazil during the first half of 2012. Western Bahia had the highest allele frequency of Cry1F resistance, 0.192, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) between 0.163 and 0.220. All other states had a similar and lower frequency varying from 0.042 in Paraná to 0.080 in Mato Grosso do Sul. The high frequency in western Bahia may be related to year-round availability of maize, the high population density of S. frugiperda, the lack of refuges and the high adoption rate of Cry1F maize. Cry1F resistance alleles were not rare and occurred at frequencies that have already compromised the useful life of TC1507 maize in western Bahia. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Baby Business: a randomised controlled trial of a universal parenting program that aims to prevent early infant sleep and cry problems and associated parental depression

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Cook Fallon

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Infant crying and sleep problems (e.g. frequent night waking, difficulties settling to sleep each affect up to 30% of infants and often co-exist. They are costly to manage and associated with adverse outcomes including postnatal depression symptoms, early weaning from breast milk, and later child behaviour problems. Preventing such problems could improve these adverse outcomes and reduce costs to families and the health care system. Anticipatory guidance-i.e. providing parents with information about normal infant sleep and cry patterns, ways to encourage self-settling in infants, and ways to develop feeding and settling routines before the onset of problems-could prevent such problems. This paper outlines the protocol for our study which aims to test an anticipatory guidance approach. Methods/Design 750 families from four Local Government Areas in Melbourne, Australia have been randomised to receive the Baby Business program (intervention group or usual care (control group offered by health services. The Baby Business program provides parents with information about infant sleep and crying via a DVD and booklet (mailed soon after birth, telephone consultation (at infant age 6-8 weeks and parent group session (at infant age 12 weeks. All English speaking parents of healthy newborn infants born at > 32 weeks gestation and referred by their maternal and child health nurse at their first post partum home visit (day 7-10 postpartum, are eligible. The primary outcome is parent report of infant night time sleep as a problem at four months of age and secondary outcomes include parent report of infant daytime sleep or crying as a problem, mean duration of infant sleep and crying/24 hours, parental depression symptoms, parent sleep quality and quantity and health service use. Data will be collected at two weeks (baseline, four months and six months of age. An economic evaluation using a cost-consequences approach will, from a societal

Recombinant Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD73 strain that synthesizes Cry1Ac and chimeric ChiA74∆sp chitinase inclusions.

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González-Ponce, Karen S; Casados-Vázquez, Luz E; Salcedo-Hernández, Rubén; Bideshi, Dennis K; Del Rincón-Castro, María C; Barboza-Corona, José E

2017-05-01

In this study, the endochitinase chiA74 gene lacking its secretion signal peptide sequence (chiA74∆sp) was fused in frame with the sequence coding for the C-terminal crystallization domain and transcription terminator of cry1Ac. The chimeric gene was expressed under the strong pcytA-p/STAB-SD promoter system in an acrystalliferous Cry - B strain of Bacillus thuringiensis and B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD73. We showed that the chimeric ChiA74∆sp produced amorphous inclusions in both Cry - B and HD73. In addition to the amorphous inclusions putatively composed of the chimera, bipyramidal Cry1Ac crystals, smaller than the wild-type crystal, were observed in recombinant HD73, and chitinase activity was remarkably higher (75-fold) in this strain when compared with parental HD73. Moreover, we observed that lyophilized samples of a mixture containing Cry1Ac, amorphous inclusions, and spores maintained chitinase activity. Amorphous inclusions could not be separated from Cry1Ac crystals by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Interestingly, the chitinase activity of purified Cry1Ac/amorphous inclusions was 51-fold higher compared to purified Cry1Ac inclusions of parental HD73, indicating that the increased enzymatic activity was due primarily to the presence of the atypical amorphous component. The possibility that the chimera is occluded with the Cry1Ac crystal, thereby contributing to the increased endochitinolytic activity, cannot be excluded. Finally, bioassays against larvae of Spodoptera frugiperda with spore/crystals of HD73 or spore-crystal ChiA74∆sp chimeric inclusions of recombinant HD73 strain showed LC 50 s of 396.86 and 290.25 ng/cm 2 , respectively. Our study suggests a possible practical application of the chimera in formulations of B. thuringiensis-based lepidopteran larvicides.

Field evidence for the exposure of ground beetles to Cry1Ab from transgenic corn.

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Zwahlen, Claudia; Andow, David A

2005-01-01

Non-target organisms associated with the soil might be adversely affected by exposure to the CrylAb protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in transgenic corn (Zea mays L.). To check for such exposure, we used ELISA to test for Cry1Ab in ground beetles collected live from fields with Bt corn residues and Bt corn (Bt/Bt), Bt corn residues and non-Bt crops (Bt/non-Bt), or non-Bt corn residues and non-Bt crops (non-Bt/non-Bt). In fields with Bt corn residues (Bt/Bt and Bt/non-Bt), Cry1Ab was present in all seven species of ground beetles examined (Agonum placidum, Bembidion rupicola, Clivina impressefrons, Cyclotrachelus iowensis, Harpalus pensylvanicus, Poecilus chalcites, and Poecilus lucublandus). For the two most abundant species, P. chalcites and P. lucublandus, the proportion of beetles with Cry1Ab was significantly higher in Bt/Bt fields (0.50-1.0) and Bt/non-Bt fields (0.41-0.50) than in non-Bt/non-Bt fields (0.0). This is the first field evidence that some ground beetle species are exposed to Cry1Ab. The implications of exposure on the performance of these non-target organisms are unclear.

An overview of the safety and biological effects of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins in mammals.

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Rubio-Infante, Néstor; Moreno-Fierros, Leticia

2016-05-01

Crystal proteins (Cry) produced during the growth and sporulation phases of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacterium are known as delta endotoxins. These toxins are being used worldwide as bioinsecticides to control pests in agriculture, and some Cry toxins are used against mosquitoes to control vector transmission. This review summarizes the relevant information currently available regarding the biosafety and biological effects that Bt and its insecticidal Cry proteins elicit in mammals. This work was performed because of concerns regarding the possible health impact of Cry toxins on vertebrates, particularly because Bt toxins might be associated with immune-activating or allergic responses. The controversial data published to date are discussed in this review considering earlier toxicological studies of B. thuringiensis, spores, toxins and Bt crops. We discussed the experimental studies performed in humans, mice, rats and sheep as well as in diverse mammalian cell lines. Although the term 'toxic' is not appropriate for defining the effects these toxins have on mammals, they cannot be considered innocuous, as they have some physiological effects that may become pathological; thus, trials that are more comprehensive are necessary to determine their effects on mammals because knowledge in this field remains limited. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Larvicidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis Cry11Aa toxin against Haemonchus contortus.

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DE Lara, Ana Paula DE Souza Stori; Lorenzon, Lucas Bigolin; Vianna, Ana Muñoz; Santos, Francisco Denis Souza; Pinto, Luciano Silva; Aires Berne, Maria Elisabeth; Leite, Fábio Pereira Leivas

2016-10-01

Effective control of gastrointestinal parasites is necessary in sheep production. The development of anthelmintics resistance is causing the available chemically based anthelmintics to become less effective. Biological control strategies present an alternative to this problem. In the current study, we tested the larvicidal effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis Cry11Aa toxin against Haemonchus contortus larvae. Bacterial suspensions [2 × 108 colony-forming units (CFU) g-1 of the feces] of B. thuringiensis var. israelensis and recombinant Escherichia coli expressing Cry11Aa toxin were added to naturally H. contortus egg-contaminated feces. The larvae were quantified, and significant reductions of 62 and 81% (P var. israelensis and recombinant E. coli expressing Cry11Aa toxin were then orally administered to lambs naturally infected with H. contortus. Twelve hours after administration, feces were collected and submitted to coprocultures. Significant larvae reductions (P var. israelensis is a promising new class of biological anthelmintics for treating sheep against H. contortus.

Modeling error distributions of growth curve models through Bayesian methods.

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Zhang, Zhiyong

2016-06-01

Growth curve models are widely used in social and behavioral sciences. However, typical growth curve models often assume that the errors are normally distributed although non-normal data may be even more common than normal data. In order to avoid possible statistical inference problems in blindly assuming normality, a general Bayesian framework is proposed to flexibly model normal and non-normal data through the explicit specification of the error distributions. A simulation study shows when the distribution of the error is correctly specified, one can avoid the loss in the efficiency of standard error estimates. A real example on the analysis of mathematical ability growth data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 is used to show the application of the proposed methods. Instructions and code on how to conduct growth curve analysis with both normal and non-normal error distributions using the the MCMC procedure of SAS are provided.

Behavioural sleep treatments and night time crying in infants: challenging the status quo.

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Blunden, Sarah L; Thompson, Kirrilly R; Dawson, Drew

2011-10-01

In Australia, as in many Westernised industrialised nations, the majority of families encourage infants to sleep alone or 'solo' from an early age. Sleeping solo can increase night time crying, which in turn disrupts sleep for both parent and infant. Night time waking and crying are frequently culturally constructed as behavioural sleep 'problems'. The pursuit of solo sleeping is thus achieved through 'behavioural sleep treatments' that teach an infant to sleep alone. Some behavioural extinction treatments necessitate a parent leaving an infant to cry for extended periods unattended, a practice reportedly difficult for parents. Despite parent's anxieties, and the potential (though little studied) stress to the infant, the pursuit of those behavioural sleep treatments are advocated by many psychologists and clinicians as acceptable and necessary interventions. This paper questions this necessity and critically reviews and debates these methods from biological, anthropological and cultural perspectives. Specifically, it considers Foucaultian, Leidloffian, attachment and behavioural perspectives. The central debate in this paper is if and why an infant's nocturnal cries should be ignored. It challenges the aetiology and acceptance of the status quo in the hope of revisiting the underlying belief that these methods are necessary. In doing so, the paper theorises the ways in which current sleep training techniques do or do not satisfy the needs of infants and their parents and questions the extent to which they can be reconciled. The paper posits an agenda for further research in the area that may facilitate the reconciliation of the needs of parents and those of their infants. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection by real-time PCR and pyrosequencing of the cry1Ab and cry1Ac genes introduced in genetically modified (GM) constructs.

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Debode, Frederic; Janssen, Eric; Bragard, Claude; Berben, Gilbert

2017-08-01

The presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and feed is mainly detected by the use of targets focusing on promoters and terminators. As some genes are frequently used in genetically modified (GM) construction, they also constitute excellent screening elements and their use is increasing. In this paper we propose a new target for the detection of cry1Ab and cry1Ac genes by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and pyrosequencing. The specificity, sensitivity and robustness of the real-time PCR method were tested following the recommendations of international guidelines and the method met the expected performance criteria. This paper also shows how the robustness testing was assessed. This new cry1Ab/Ac method can provide a positive signal with a larger number of GM events than do the other existing methods using double dye-probes. The method permits the analysis of results with less ambiguity than the SYBRGreen method recommended by the European Reference Laboratory (EURL) GM Food and Feed (GMFF). A pyrosequencing method was also developed to gain additional information thanks to the sequence of the amplicon. This method of sequencing-by-synthesis can determine the sequence between the primers used for PCR. Pyrosequencing showed that the sequences internal to the primers present differences following the GM events considered and three different sequences were observed. The sensitivity of the pyrosequencing was tested on reference flours with a low percentage GM content and different copy numbers. Improvements in the pyrosequencing protocol provided correct sequences with 50 copies of the target. Below this copy number, the quality of the sequence was more random.

Street Cries and the urban refrain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kreutzfeldt, Jacob

2012-01-01

Rasmussen have investigated Danish street cries as respectably a musical and a spatial phenomenon. Such studies – from each their perspectives – can be said to explore the aesthetics of urban environments, since street calls are specifically developed and heard in the context of the city. Investigating...... the different methods employed in the two studies and presenting Deleuze and Guattaris theory about the refrain as a framework for further studies in the field, this article seeks to outline a fertile area of study for sound studies: the investigation of everyday refrains and the environmental relations...

Physiological Reactivity to Infant Crying and Observed Maternal Sensitivity

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Joosen, Katharina J.; Mesman, Judi; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Pieper, Suzanne; Zeskind, Philip S.; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.

2013-01-01

Relations between maternal sensitivity and physiological reactivity to infant crying were examined using measures of heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in 49 mothers of second-born infants. Using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale, an independent assessment of maternal sensitivity was made during maternal free play and bathing of…

The Cry Toxin Operon of Clostridium bifermentans subsp. malaysia Is Highly Toxic to Aedes Larval Mosquitoes

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Qureshi, Nadia; Chawla, Swati; Likitvivatanavong, Supaporn; Lee, Han Lim

2014-01-01

The management and control of mosquito vectors of human disease currently rely primarily on chemical insecticides. However, larvicidal treatments can be effective, and if based on biological insecticides, they can also ameliorate the risk posed to human health by chemical insecticides. The aerobic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis and Lysinibacillus sphaericus have been used for vector control for a number of decades. But a more cost-effective use would be an anaerobic bacterium because of the ease with which these can be cultured. More recently, the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium bifermentans subsp. malaysia has been reported to have high mosquitocidal activity, and a number of proteins were identified as potentially mosquitocidal. However, the cloned proteins showed no mosquitocidal activity. We show here that four toxins encoded by the Cry operon, Cry16A, Cry17A, Cbm17.1, and Cbm17.2, are all required for toxicity, and these toxins collectively show remarkable selectivity for Aedes rather than Anopheles mosquitoes, even though C. bifermentans subsp. malaysia is more toxic to Anopheles. Hence, toxins that target Anopheles are different from those expressed by the Cry operon. PMID:25002432

Incipient resistance of Helicoverpa punctigera to the Cry2Ab Bt toxin in Bollgard II cotton.

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Sharon Downes

Full Text Available Combinations of dissimilar insecticidal proteins ("pyramids" within transgenic plants are predicted to delay the evolution of pest resistance for significantly longer than crops expressing a single transgene. Field-evolved resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt transgenic crops has been reported for first generation, single-toxin varieties and the Cry1 class of proteins. Our five year data set shows a significant exponential increase in the frequency of alleles conferring Cry2Ab resistance in Australian field populations of Helicoverpa punctigera since the adoption of a second generation, two-toxin Bt cotton expressing this insecticidal protein. Furthermore, the frequency of cry2Ab resistance alleles in populations from cropping areas is 8-fold higher than that found for populations from non-cropping regions. This report of field evolved resistance to a protein in a dual-toxin Bt-crop has precisely fulfilled the intended function of monitoring for resistance; namely, to provide an early warning of increases in frequencies that may lead to potential failures of the transgenic technology. Furthermore, it demonstrates that pyramids are not 'bullet proof' and that rapid evolution to Bt toxins in the Cry2 class is possible.

Sodium Solute Symporter and Cadherin Proteins Act as Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Ba Toxin Functional Receptors in Tribolium castaneum*

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Contreras, Estefanía; Schoppmeier, Michael; Real, M. Dolores; Rausell, Carolina

2013-01-01

Understanding how Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins interact with proteins in the midgut of susceptible coleopteran insects is crucial to fully explain the molecular bases of Bt specificity and insecticidal action. In this work, aminopeptidase N (TcAPN-I), E-cadherin (TcCad1), and sodium solute symporter (TcSSS) have been identified by ligand blot as putative Cry3Ba toxin-binding proteins in Tribolium castaneum (Tc) larvae. RNA interference knockdown of TcCad1 or TcSSS proteins resulted in decreased susceptibility to Cry3Ba toxin, demonstrating the Cry toxin receptor functionality for these proteins. In contrast, TcAPN-I silencing had no effect on Cry3Ba larval toxicity, suggesting that this protein is not relevant in the Cry3Ba toxin mode of action in Tc. Remarkable features of TcSSS protein were the presence of cadherin repeats in its amino acid sequence and that a TcSSS peptide fragment containing a sequence homologous to a binding epitope found in Manduca sexta and Tenebrio molitor Bt cadherin functional receptors enhanced Cry3Ba toxicity. This is the first time that the involvement of a sodium solute symporter protein as a Bt functional receptor has been demonstrated. The role of this novel receptor in Bt toxicity against coleopteran insects together with the lack of receptor functionality of aminopeptidase N proteins might account for some of the differences in toxin specificity between Lepidoptera and Coleoptera insect orders. PMID:23645668

Reduced levels of membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase are common to lepidopteran strains resistant to Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis.

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Juan Luis Jurat-Fuentes

Full Text Available Development of insect resistance is one of the main concerns with the use of transgenic crops expressing Cry toxins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Identification of biomarkers would assist in the development of sensitive DNA-based methods to monitor evolution of resistance to Bt toxins in natural populations. We report on the proteomic and genomic detection of reduced levels of midgut membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase (mALP as a common feature in strains of Cry-resistant Heliothis virescens, Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera frugiperda when compared to susceptible larvae. Reduced levels of H. virescens mALP protein (HvmALP were detected by two dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE analysis in Cry-resistant compared to susceptible larvae, further supported by alkaline phosphatase activity assays and Western blotting. Through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR we demonstrate that the reduction in HvmALP protein levels in resistant larvae are the result of reduced transcript amounts. Similar reductions in ALP activity and mALP transcript levels were also detected for a Cry1Ac-resistant strain of H. armigera and field-derived strains of S. frugiperda resistant to Cry1Fa. Considering the unique resistance and cross-resistance phenotypes of the insect strains used in this work, our data suggest that reduced mALP expression should be targeted for development of effective biomarkers for resistance to Cry toxins in lepidopteran pests.

Susceptibility of Anthonomus grandis (cotton boll weevil) and Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm) to a cry1ia-type toxin from a Brazilian Bacillus thuringiensis strain.

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Grossi-de-Sa, Maria Fatima; Quezado de Magalhaes, Mariana; Silva, Marilia Santos; Silva, Shirley Margareth Buffon; Dias, Simoni Campos; Nakasu, Erich Yukio Tempel; Brunetta, Patricia Sanglard Felipe; Oliveira, Gustavo Ramos; Neto, Osmundo Brilhante de Oliveira; Sampaio de Oliveira, Raquel; Soares, Luis Henrique Barros; Ayub, Marco Antonio Zachia; Siqueira, Herbert Alvaro Abreu; Figueira, Edson L Z

2007-09-30

Different isolates of the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produce multiple crystal (Cry) proteins toxic to a variety of insects, nematodes and protozoans. These insecticidal Cry toxins are known to be active against specific insect orders, being harmless to mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Due to these characteristics, genes encoding several Cry toxins have been engineered in order to be expressed by a variety of crop plants to control insectpests. The cotton boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis, and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, are the major economically devastating pests of cotton crop in Brazil, causing severe losses, mainly due to their endophytic habit, which results in damages to the cotton boll and floral bud structures. A cry1Ia-type gene, designated cry1Ia12, was isolated and cloned from the Bt S811 strain. Nucleotide sequencing of the cry1Ia12 gene revealed an open reading frame of 2160 bp, encoding a protein of 719 amino acid residues in length, with a predicted molecular mass of 81 kDa. The amino acid sequence of Cry1Ia12 is 99% identical to the known Cry1Ia proteins and differs from them only in one or two amino acid residues positioned along the three domains involved in the insecticidal activity of the toxin. The recombinant Cry1Ia12 protein, corresponding to the cry1Ia12 gene expressed in Escherichia coli cells, showed moderate toxicity towards first instar larvae of both cotton boll weevil and fall armyworm. The highest concentration of the recombinant Cry1Ia12 tested to achieve the maximum toxicities against cotton boll weevil larvae and fall armyworm larvae were 230 microg/mL and 5 microg/mL, respectively. The herein demonstrated insecticidal activity of the recombinant Cry1Ia12 toxin against cotton boll weevil and fall armyworm larvae opens promising perspectives for the genetic engineering of cotton crop resistant to both these devastating pests in Brazil.

Psychological Well-Being in Parents of Children with Angelman, Cornelia de Lange and Cri du Chat Syndromes

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Griffith, G. M.; Hastings, R. P.; Oliver, C.; Howlin, P.; Moss, J.; Petty, J.; Tunnicliffe, P.

2011-01-01

Background: The current study focuses on mothers and fathers of children with three rare genetic syndromes that are relatively unexplored in terms of family experience: Angelman syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome and Cri du Chat syndrome. Method: Parents of children with Angelman syndrome (n = 15), Cornelia de Lange syndrome (n = 16) and Cri du…

Cry-wolf signals emerging from coevolutionary feedbacks in a tritrophic system

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Yamauchi, Atsushi; van Baalen, Minus; Kobayashi, Yutaka; Takabayashi, Junji; Shiojiri, Kaori; Sabelis, Maurice W.

2015-01-01

For a communication system to be stable, senders should convey honest information. Providing dishonest information, however, can be advantageous to senders, which imposes a constraint on the evolution of communication systems. Beyond single populations and bitrophic systems, one may ask whether stable communication systems can evolve in multitrophic systems. Consider cross-species signalling where herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) attract predators to reduce the damage from arthropod herbivores. Such plant signals may be honest and help predators to identify profitable prey/plant types via HIPV composition and to assess prey density via the amount of HIPVs. There could be selection for dishonest signals that attract predators for protection from possible future herbivory. Recently, we described a case in which plants release a fixed, high amount of HIPVs independent of herbivore load, adopting what we labelled a ‘cry-wolf’ strategy. To understand when such signals evolve, we model coevolutionary interactions between plants, herbivores and predators, and show that both ‘honest’ and ‘cry-wolf’ types can emerge, depending on the assumed plant–herbivore encounter rates and herbivore population density. It is suggested that the ‘cry-wolf’ strategy may have evolved to reduce the risk of heavy damage in the future. Our model suggests that eco-evolutionary feedback loops involving a third species may have important consequences for the stability of this outcome. PMID:26538597

PxAPN5 serves as a functional receptor of Cry2Ab in Plutella xylostella (L.) and its binding domain analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Zhi-Zhen; Xu, Lian; Liu, Bo; Zhang, Jing; Chen, Zheng; Chen, Qing-Xi; Zhu, Yu-Jing

2017-12-01

Lepidopteran midgut aminopeptidases N (APNs) are widely studied for their potential roles as one of the receptors for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal toxins. In the present study, a loss of function analyses by RNAi (RNA interference) silencing of the Plutella xylostella APN5 (PxAPN5), a binding protein of Bt crystal toxin Cry2Ab, were performed. The knocking down of PxAPN5 in P. xylostella larvae greatly reduced their susceptibility to Cry2Ab and led to a decrease of Cry2Ab binding to P. xylostella midgut. Four truncated fragments of PxAPN5 were further constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli (E.coli) to find the binding region of PxAPN5 to Cry2Ab. The ligand blot result indicated that D1 domain (residues 1-262) and D3 domain (residues 510-620) of PxAPN5 could specially bind to Cry2Ab. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

No impact of transgenic cry1C rice on the rove beetle Paederus fuscipes, a generalist predator of brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens

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Meng, Jiarong; Mabubu, Juma Ibrahim; Han, Yu; He, Yueping; Zhao, Jing; Hua, Hongxia; Feng, Yanni; Wu, Gang

2016-07-01

T1C-19 is newly developed transgenic rice active against lepidopteran pests, and expresses a synthesized cry1C gene driven by the maize ubiquitin promoter. The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, is a major non-target pest of rice, and the rove beetle (Paederus fuscipes) is a generalist predator of N. lugens nymphs. As P. fuscipes may be exposed to the Cry1C protein through preying on N. lugens, it is essential to assess the potential effects of transgenic cry1C rice on this predator. In this study, two experiments (a direct feeding experiment and a tritrophic experiment) were conducted to evaluate the ecological risk of cry1C rice to P. fuscipes. No significant negative effects were observed in the development, survival, female ratio and body weight of P. fuscipes in both treatments of direct exposure to elevated doses of Cry1C protein and prey-mediated exposure to realistic doses of the protein. This indicated that cry1C rice had no detrimental effects on P. fuscipes. This work represents the first study of an assessment continuum for the effects of transgenic cry1C rice on P. fuscipes. Use of the rove beetle as an indicator species to assess potential effects of genetically modified crops on non-target arthropods is feasible.

Power curve report - with turbulence intensity normalization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gómez Arranz, Paula; Wagner, Rozenn; Vesth, Allan

, additional shear and turbulence intensitity filters are applied on the measured data. Secondly, the method for normalization to a given reference turbulence intensity level (as described in Annex M of the draft of IEC 61400-12-1 Ed.2 [3]) is applied. The measurements have been performed using DTU...

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry5B protein is highly efficacious as a single-dose therapy against an intestinal roundworm infection in mice.

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Yan Hu

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Intestinal parasitic nematode diseases are one of the great diseases of our time. Intestinal roundworm parasites, including hookworms, whipworms, and Ascaris, infect well over 1 billion people and cause significant morbidity, especially in children and pregnant women. To date, there is only one drug, albendazole, with adequate efficacy against these parasites to be used in mass drug administration, although tribendimidine may emerge as a second. Given the hundreds of millions of people to be treated, the threat of parasite resistance, and the inadequacy of current treatments, new anthelmintics are urgently needed. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crystal (Cry proteins are the most common used biologically produced insecticides in the world and are considered non-toxic to vertebrates.Here we study the ability of a nematicidal Cry protein, Cry5B, to effect a cure in mice of a chronic roundworm infection caused by the natural intestinal parasite, Heligmosomoides bakeri (formerly polygyrus. We show that Cry5B produced from either of two Bt strains can act as an anthelmintic in vivo when administered as a single dose, achieving a approximately 98% reduction in parasite egg production and approximately 70% reduction in worm burdens when delivered per os at approximately 700 nmoles/kg (90-100 mg/kg. Furthermore, our data, combined with the findings of others, suggest that the relative efficacy of Cry5B is either comparable or superior to current anthelmintics. We also demonstrate that Cry5B is likely to be degraded quite rapidly in the stomach, suggesting that the actual dose reaching the parasites is very small.This study indicates that Bt Cry proteins such as Cry5B have excellent anthelmintic properties in vivo and that proper formulation of the protein is likely to reveal a superior anthelmintic.

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa protoxin intoxication of Tenebrio molitor induces widespread changes in the expression of serine peptidase transcripts.

Science.gov (United States)

Oppert, Brenda; Martynov, Alexander G; Elpidina, Elena N

2012-09-01

The yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, is a pest of stored grain products and is sensitive to the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry3Aa toxin. As digestive peptidases are a determining factor in Cry toxicity and resistance, we evaluated the expression of peptidase transcripts in the midgut of T. molitor larvae fed either a control or Cry3Aa protoxin diet for 24 h (RNA-Seq), or in larvae exposed to the protoxin for 6, 12, or 24 h (microarrays). Cysteine peptidase transcripts (9) were similar to cathepsins B, L, and K, and their expression did not vary more than 2.5-fold in control and Cry3Aa-treated larvae. Serine peptidase transcripts (48) included trypsin, chymotrypsin and chymotrypsin-like, elastase 1-like, and unclassified serine peptidases, as well as homologs lacking functional amino acids. Highly expressed trypsin and chymotrypsin transcripts were severely repressed, and most serine peptidase transcripts were expressed 2- to 15-fold lower in Cry3Aa-treated larvae. Many serine peptidase and homolog transcripts were found only in control larvae. However, expression of a few serine peptidase transcripts was increased or found only in Cry3Aa-treated larvae. Therefore, Bt intoxication significantly impacted the expression of serine peptidases, potentially important in protoxin processing, while the insect maintained the production of critical digestive cysteine peptidases. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Interação de proteínas Cry1 e Vip3A de Bacillus thuringiensis para controle de lepidópteros-praga

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Paula Cristina Brunini Crialesi-Legori

2014-02-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a suscetibilidade das lagartas Anticarsia gemmatalis (Lepidoptera: Erebidae e Chrysodeixis includens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae às proteínas Cry1 e Vip3A, bem como determinar se há a interação entre essas proteínas no controle das duas espécies. Bioensaios com as proteínas isoladas e em combinações foram realizados, e as concentrações letais CL50 e CL90 foram estimadas para cada condição. As proteínas Cry1Aa, Cry1Ac e Vip3Af foram as mais efetivas no controle de A. gemmatalis, enquanto Cry1Ac, Vip3Aa e Vip3Af foram mais efetivas no de C. includens. As proteínas Cry1Ac e Cry1Ca causaram maior inibição do desenvolvimento das larvas sobreviventes à CL50, em ambas as espécies. Combinações entre Vip3A e Cry1 apresentam efeito sinérgico no controle das espécies e a combinação Vip3Aa+Cry1Ea destaca-se no controle de A. gemmatalis e C. includens. Essas proteínas combinadas são promissoras na construção de plantas piramidadas, para o controle simultâneo das pragas.

Mannheim Partner D-Curves in the Euclidean 3-space

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Mustafa Kazaz

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we consider the idea of Mannheim partner curves for curves lying on surfaces. By considering the Darboux frames of surface curves, we define Mannheim partner D-curves and give the characterizations for these curves. We also find the relations between geodesic curvatures, normal curvatures and geodesic torsions of these associated curves. Furthermore, we show that definition and characterizations of Mannheim partner D-curves include those of Mannheim partner curves in some special cases.

[Recognition of onomatopoeias and animal cries during focalized lesions of the cerebral cortex (author's transl)].

Science.gov (United States)

Assal, G; Aubert, C

1979-01-01

The recognition of animal cries and their onomatopoeias was compared during the course of right or left unilateral cortical lesions. A double dissociation is noted; in left-sided affections there is a more severe deficiency to onomatopoeia than to cries, whereas in right-sided lesions the quality of the performances is reversed. These results suggest that the right hemisphere is dominant in the auditive recognition of familiar sounds, and supply information as to the linguistic value of onomatopoeias.

Association of PER2 and CRY1 Polymorphisms with the Morningness-Eveningness in Korean Adults

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Jung Hie Lee

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Background and Objective Individuals have a unique circadian preference, which is based on differences in endogenous rhythm and environmental factors. There has been no study on the relationship between the morningness-eveningness (ME preference and the polymorphisms of PER2 and CRY1 genes, which may play an essential role in the modulation of circadian rhythm. Our present study aims to examine the difference in the polymorphisms of PER2-2221A/G and CRY1-2790T/G, which are related to a greater cancer risk, according to the ME preference. Methods The Korean version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire was administered and buccal DNA samples were obtained from 425 Korean adults aged 18 years or older. We excluded subjects who were being treated for sleep disorders or those with shift work. 47 morning type (MT (age: 44.57 ± 12.33, M:F = 14:33 subjects, 59 neither type (NT (age: 35.20 ± 9.53, M:F = 20:39 subjects and 51 evening type (ET (age: 28.80 ± 8.03, M:F = 14:37 subjects were finally included in the present study. The above candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed by DNA sequencing or a SNaPshot assay. Results For the PER2-2221A/G and CRY1-2790T/G, there were no significant differences in the genotype distribution, allele frequency, or proportion of G allele positive subjects between the MT and ET groups. There was no significant difference in the mean scores of the MEQ-K, KESS, or PSQI between G allele positive and negative subjects for either PER2-A2221A/G or CRY1-2790T/G. Conclusions Our study did not support the association of the ME preference with the PER2-2221 A/G and CRY1-2790T/G in Korean adults.

In vivo binding of the Cry11Bb toxin of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. medellin to the midgut of mosquito larvae (Diptera: Culicidae

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Ruiz Lina María

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. medellin produces numerous proteins among which 94 kDa known as Cry11Bb, has mosquitocidal activity. The mode of action of the Cry11 proteins has been described as similar to those of the Cry1 toxins, nevertheless, the mechanism of action is still not clear. In this study we investigated the in vivo binding of the Cry11Bb toxin to the midgut of the insect species Anopheles albimanus, Aedes aegypti, and Culex quinquefasciatus by immunohistochemical analysis. Spodoptera frugiperda was included as negative control. The Cry11Bb protein was detected on the apical microvilli of the midgut epithelial cells, mostly on the posterior midgut and gastric caeca of the three mosquito species. Additionally, the toxin was detected in the Malpighian tubules of An. albimanus, Ae. aegypti, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and in the basal membrane of the epithelial cells of Ae. aegypti midgut. No toxin accumulation was observed in the peritrophic membrane of any of the mosquito species studied. These results confirm that the primary site of action of the Cry11 toxins is the apical membrane of the midgut epithelial cells of mosquito larvae.

A Tenebrio molitor GPI-anchored alkaline phosphatase is involved in binding of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa to brush border membrane vesicles.

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Zúñiga-Navarrete, Fernando; Gómez, Isabel; Peña, Guadalupe; Bravo, Alejandra; Soberón, Mario

2013-03-01

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins recognizes their target cells in part by the binding to glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol (GPI) anchored proteins such as aminopeptidase-N (APN) or alkaline phosphatases (ALP). Treatment of Tenebrio molitor brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) with phospholipase C that cleaves out GPI-anchored proteins from the membranes, showed that GPI-anchored proteins are involved in binding of Cry3Aa toxin to BBMV. A 68 kDa GPI-anchored ALP was shown to bind Cry3Aa by toxin overlay assays. The 68 kDa GPI-anchored ALP was preferentially expressed in early instar larvae in comparison to late instar larvae. Our work shows for the first time that GPI-anchored ALP is important for Cry3Aa binding to T. molitor BBMV suggesting that the mode of action of Cry toxins is conserved in different insect orders. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Expression of Cry1Ac toxin-binding region in Plutella xyllostella cadherin-like receptor and studying their interaction mode by molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis.

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Hu, Xiaodan; Zhang, Xiao; Zhong, Jianfeng; Liu, Yuan; Zhang, Cunzheng; Xie, Yajing; Lin, Manman; Xu, Chongxin; Lu, Lina; Zhu, Qing; Liu, Xianjin

2018-05-01

Cadherin-like protein has been identified as the primary Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry toxin receptor in Lepidoptera pests and plays a key role in Cry toxin insecticidal. In this study, we successfully expressed the putative Cry1Ac toxin-binding region (CR7-CR11) of Plutella xylostella cadherin-like in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The expressed CR7-CR11 fragment showed binding ability to Cry1Ac toxin under denaturing (Ligand blot) and non-denaturing (ELISA) conditions. The three-dimensional structure of CR7-CR11 was constructed by homology modeling. Molecular docking results of CR7-CR11 and Cry1Ac showed that domain II and domain III of Cry1Ac were taking part in binding to CR7-CR11, while CR7-CR8 was the region of CR7-CR11 in interacting with Cry1Ac. The interaction of toxin-receptor complex was found to arise from hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interaction. Through the computer-aided alanine mutation scanning, amino acid residues of Cry1Ac (Met341, Asn442 and Ser486) and CR7-CR11 (Asp32, Arg101 and Arg127) were predicted as the hot spot residues involved in the interaction of the toxin-receptor complex. At last, we verified the importance role of these key amino acid residues by binding assay. These results will lay a foundation for further elucidating the insecticidal mechanism of Cry toxin and enhancing Cry toxin insecticidal activity by molecular modification. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development and validation of an integrated DNA walking strategy to detect GMO expressing cry genes.

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Fraiture, Marie-Alice; Vandamme, Julie; Herman, Philippe; Roosens, Nancy H C

2018-06-27

Recently, an integrated DNA walking strategy has been proposed to prove the presence of GMO via the characterisation of sequences of interest, including their transgene flanking regions and the unnatural associations of elements in their transgenic cassettes. To this end, the p35S, tNOS and t35S pCAMBIA elements have been selected as key targets, allowing the coverage of most of GMO, EU authorized or not. In the present study, a bidirectional DNA walking method anchored on the CryAb/c genes is proposed with the aim to cover additional GMO and additional sequences of interest. The performance of the proposed bidirectional DNA walking method anchored on the CryAb/c genes has been evaluated in a first time for its feasibility using several GM events possessing these CryAb/c genes. Afterwards, its sensitivity has been investigated through low concentrations of targets (as low as 20 HGE). In addition, to illustrate its applicability, the entire workflow has been tested on a sample mimicking food/feed matrices analysed in GMO routine analysis. Given the successful assessment of its performance, the present bidirectional DNA walking method anchored on the CryAb/c genes can easily be implemented in GMO routine analysis by the enforcement laboratories and allows completing the entire DNA walking strategy in targeting an additional transgenic element frequently found in GMO.

The Cry of the Child and its Relationship to Hearing Loss in Parental Guardians and Health Care Providers.

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Calderon, Lindsay E; Carney, Logan D; Kavanagh, Kevin T

2016-01-01

In this study the authors investigate the sound pressure levels produced by crying children and discuss the possible adverse effects that direct exposure may impose on a tending guardian or healthcare professional. Sound intensity levels from various pediatric patients (N = 26) were measured under two segregate conditions, one imitating the exposure of an examining physician and the other resembling that of parental guardians. Interestingly, all of the recorded sound levels fell between 99-120 dB(A) of sound pressure; children presenting the greatest risk for intense cries with potentially harmful sound intensities were between the ages of 9 months and 6 years. The authors found that elevated noise levels produced from crying children can cause acute discomfort and mild pain to those exposed. In addition, there is a theoretical risk that chronic exposure to these intense sound pressures may result in noise-induced hearing loss in a parental guardian or an examining physician. Parents of young children may be more likely to succumb to impulsive reactions in attempting to arrest the crying, which could be a precipitating factor for child abuse, responding to physical stress as much as emotional stress. Social workers and medical personnel should consider suggesting the use of ear plugs by parental guardians of frequently crying children as a modality for the prevention of child abuse.

Compositional development of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus microbiota is linked with crying and fussing in early infancy.

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Anna Pärtty

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to establish whether there is an interconnection between the compositional development of the gut microbiota and the amount of fussing and crying in early infancy. METHODS: Behavioral patterns of 89 infants during the 7(th and 12(th week of life were recorded in parental diaries. Total distress was defined as the sum of daily amounts of crying and fussing. Infants' gut microbiota profiles were investigated by several molecular assays during the first six months of life. RESULTS: The median (range duration of total distress among the infants was 106 (0-478 minutes a day during the 7(th and 58 (0-448 minutes a day during the 12(th week. The proportion of Bifidobacterium counts to total bacterial counts was inversely associated with the amount of crying and fussing during the first 3 months of life (p = 0.03, although the number of Bifidobacterium breve was positively associated with total distress (p = 0.02. The frequency of Lactobacillus spp. at the age of 3 weeks was inversely associated with total infant distress during the 7(th week of life (p = 0.02. CONCLUSIONS: Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus appear to protect against crying and fussing. Identification of specific strains with optimal protective properties would benefit at-risk infants.

Stress and emotional problems during pregnancy and excessive infant crying

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Wal, Marcel F.; van Eijsden, Manon; Bonsel, Gouke J.

2007-01-01

OBJECTIVE: There is evidence that stress and emotional problems during pregnancy are related to adverse health outcomes of the child at birth and in later life. The aim of this study was to determine the association between stress and emotional problems during pregnancy and excessive infant crying.

Sequence and expression of two cry8 genes from Bacillus thuringiensis INTA Fr7-4, a native strain from Argentina.

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Navas, Laura E; Berretta, Marcelo F; Pérez, Melisa P; Amadio, Ariel F; Ortiz, Elio M; Sauka, Diego H; Benintende, Graciela B; Zandomeni, Rubén O

2014-01-01

We found and characterized two cry8 genes from the Bacillus thuringiensis strain INTA Fr7-4 isolated in Argentina. These genes, cry8Kb3 and cry8Pa3, are located in a tandem array within a 13,200-bp DNA segment sequenced from a preparation of total DNA. They encode 1,169- and 1,176-amino-acid proteins, respectively. Both genes were cloned with their promoter sequences and the proteins were expressed separately in an acrystalliferous strain of B. thuringiensis leading to the formation of ovoid crystals in the recombinant strains. The toxicity against larvae of Anthonomus grandis Bh. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) of a spore-crystal suspension from the recombinant strain containing cry8Pa3 was similar to that of the parent strain INTA Fr7-4. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A Circadian Clock Gene, Cry, Affects Heart Morphogenesis and Function in Drosophila as Revealed by Optical Coherence Microscopy.

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Aneesh Alex

Full Text Available Circadian rhythms are endogenous, entrainable oscillations of physical, mental and behavioural processes in response to local environmental cues such as daylight, which are present in the living beings, including humans. Circadian rhythms have been related to cardiovascular function and pathology. However, the role that circadian clock genes play in heart development and function in a whole animal in vivo are poorly understood. The Drosophila cryptochrome (dCry is a circadian clock gene that encodes a major component of the circadian clock negative feedback loop. Compared to the embryonic stage, the relative expression levels of dCry showed a significant increase (>100-fold in Drosophila during the pupa and adult stages. In this study, we utilized an ultrahigh resolution optical coherence microscopy (OCM system to perform non-invasive and longitudinal analysis of functional and morphological changes in the Drosophila heart throughout its post-embryonic lifecycle for the first time. The Drosophila heart exhibited major morphological and functional alterations during its development. Notably, heart rate (HR and cardiac activity period (CAP of Drosophila showed significant variations during the pupa stage, when heart remodeling took place. From the M-mode (2D + time OCM images, cardiac structural and functional parameters of Drosophila at different developmental stages were quantitatively determined. In order to study the functional role of dCry on Drosophila heart development, we silenced dCry by RNAi in the Drosophila heart and mesoderm, and quantitatively measured heart morphology and function in those flies throughout its development. Silencing of dCry resulted in slower HR, reduced CAP, smaller heart chamber size, pupal lethality and disrupted posterior segmentation that was related to increased expression of a posterior compartment protein, wingless. Collectively, our studies provided novel evidence that the circadian clock gene, dCry, plays

A Circadian Clock Gene, Cry, Affects Heart Morphogenesis and Function in Drosophila as Revealed by Optical Coherence Microscopy

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Zeng, Xianxu; Tate, Rebecca E.; McKee, Mary L.; Capen, Diane E.; Zhang, Zhan; Tanzi, Rudolph E.; Zhou, Chao

2015-01-01

Circadian rhythms are endogenous, entrainable oscillations of physical, mental and behavioural processes in response to local environmental cues such as daylight, which are present in the living beings, including humans. Circadian rhythms have been related to cardiovascular function and pathology. However, the role that circadian clock genes play in heart development and function in a whole animal in vivo are poorly understood. The Drosophila cryptochrome (dCry) is a circadian clock gene that encodes a major component of the circadian clock negative feedback loop. Compared to the embryonic stage, the relative expression levels of dCry showed a significant increase (>100-fold) in Drosophila during the pupa and adult stages. In this study, we utilized an ultrahigh resolution optical coherence microscopy (OCM) system to perform non-invasive and longitudinal analysis of functional and morphological changes in the Drosophila heart throughout its post-embryonic lifecycle for the first time. The Drosophila heart exhibited major morphological and functional alterations during its development. Notably, heart rate (HR) and cardiac activity period (CAP) of Drosophila showed significant variations during the pupa stage, when heart remodeling took place. From the M-mode (2D + time) OCM images, cardiac structural and functional parameters of Drosophila at different developmental stages were quantitatively determined. In order to study the functional role of dCry on Drosophila heart development, we silenced dCry by RNAi in the Drosophila heart and mesoderm, and quantitatively measured heart morphology and function in those flies throughout its development. Silencing of dCry resulted in slower HR, reduced CAP, smaller heart chamber size, pupal lethality and disrupted posterior segmentation that was related to increased expression of a posterior compartment protein, wingless. Collectively, our studies provided novel evidence that the circadian clock gene, dCry, plays an essential

Comparison and validation of methods to quantify Cry1Ab toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis for standardization of insect bioassays.

Science.gov (United States)

Crespo, André L B; Spencer, Terence A; Nekl, Emily; Pusztai-Carey, Marianne; Moar, William J; Siegfried, Blair D

2008-01-01

Standardization of toxin preparations derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) used in laboratory bioassays is critical for accurately assessing possible changes in the susceptibility of field populations of target pests. Different methods were evaluated to quantify Cry1Ab, the toxin expressed by 80% of the commercially available transgenic maize that targets the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner). We compared three methods of quantification on three different toxin preparations from independent sources: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and densitometry (SDS-PAGE/densitometry), and the Bradford assay for total protein. The results were compared to those obtained by immunoblot analysis and with the results of toxin bioassays against susceptible laboratory colonies of O. nubilalis. The Bradford method resulted in statistically higher estimates than either ELISA or SDS-PAGE/densitometry but also provided the lowest coefficients of variation (CVs) for estimates of the Cry1Ab concentration (from 2.4 to 5.4%). The CV of estimates obtained by ELISA ranged from 12.8 to 26.5%, whereas the CV of estimates obtained by SDS-PAGE/densitometry ranged from 0.2 to 15.4%. We standardized toxin concentration by using SDS-PAGE/densitometry, which is the only method specific for the 65-kDa Cry1Ab protein and is not confounded by impurities detected by ELISA and Bradford assay for total protein. Bioassays with standardized Cry1Ab preparations based on SDS-PAGE/densitometry showed no significant differences in LC(50) values, although there were significant differences in growth inhibition for two of the three Cry1Ab preparations. However, the variation in larval weight caused by toxin source was only 4% of the total variation, and we conclude that standardization of Cry1Ab production and quantification by SDS-PAGE/densitometry may improve data consistency in monitoring efforts to identify changes in

Validação da curva normal de peso fetal estimado pela ultra-sonografia para o diagnóstico do peso neonatal Validity of the normal fetal weight curve estimated by ultrasound for diagnosis of neonatal weight

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José Guilherme Cecatti

2003-02-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: avaliar a concordância entre o peso fetal estimado (PFE por ultra-sonografia e o neonatal, o desempenho da curva normal de PFE por idade gestacional no diagnóstico de desvios do peso fetal/neonatal e fatores associados. MÉTODOS: participaram do estudo 186 grávidas atendidas de novembro de 1998 a janeiro de 2000, com avaliação ultra-sonográfica até 3 dias antes do parto, determinação do PFE e do índice de líquido amniótico e parto na instituição. O PFE foi calculado e classificado de acordo com a curva de valores normais de PFE em: pequeno para a idade gestacional (PIG, adequado para a idade gestacional (AIG e grande para a idade gestacional (GIG. A mesma classificação foi feita para o peso neonatal. A variabilidade das medidas e o grau de correlação linear entre o PFE e o peso neonatal foram calculados, bem como a sensibilidade, especificidade e valores preditivos para o uso da curva de valores normais de PFE para o diagnóstico dos desvios do peso neonatal. RESULTADOS: diferença entre o PFE e o peso neonatal variou entre -540 e +594 g, com média de +47,1 g, e as duas medidas apresentaram um coeficiente de correlação linear de 0,94. A curva normal de PFE teve sensibilidade de 100% e especificidade de 90,5% em detectar PIG ao nascimento, e de 94,4 e 92,8%, respectivamente, em detectar GIG, porém os valores preditivos positivos foram baixos para ambos. CONCLUSÕES: a estimativa ultra-sonográfica do peso fetal foi concordante com o peso neonatal, superestimando-o em apenas cerca de 47 g e a curva do PFE teve bom desempenho no rastreamento diagnóstico de recém-nascidos PIG e GIG.PURPOSE: tocompare the ultrasound estimation of fetal weight (EFW with neonatal weight and to evaluate the performance of the normal EFW curve according to gestational age for the diagnosis of fetal/neonatal weight deviation and associated factors. METHODS: one hundred and eighty-six pregnant women who delivered at the institution from

Potential factors impacting season-long expression of Cry1Ac in 13 commercial varieties of Bollgard® cotton

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John J. Adamczyk, Jr.

2001-11-01

Full Text Available Thirteen commercial varieties of transgenic Cry1Ac Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt cotton were examined across two sites in 2000 for potential factors that impact endotoxin expression. In all cases, two varieties (NuCOTN 33B and DP 458B/RR, Delta and Pineland Co., Scott, MS expressed more Cry1Ac than the other 11 varieties in various plant structures. These two varieties share the same parental background (DP 5415. Furthermore, when the next generation of plants were tested in the greenhouse, the same varietal patterns were exhibited. These data strongly suggest that factors such as parental background had a stronger impact on the expression of Cry1Ac than the environment.

Supply-cost curves for geographically distributed renewable-energy resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Izquierdo, Salvador; Dopazo, Cesar; Fueyo, Norberto

2010-01-01

The supply-cost curves of renewable-energy sources are an essential tool to synthesize and analyze large-scale energy-policy scenarios, both in the short and long terms. Here, we suggest and test a parametrization of such curves that allows their representation for modeling purposes with a minimal set of information. In essence, an economic potential is defined based on the mode of the marginal supply-cost curves; and, using this definition, a normalized log-normal distribution function is used to model these curves. The feasibility of this proposal is assessed with data from a GIS-based analysis of solar, wind and biomass technologies in Spain. The best agreement is achieved for solar energy.

in silico identification of cross affinity towards Cry1Ac pesticidal protein with receptor enzyme in Bos taurus and sequence, structure analysis of crystal proteins for stability.

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Ebenezer, King Solomon; Nachimuthu, Ramesh; Thiagarajan, Prabha; Velu, Rajesh Kannan

2013-01-01

Any novel protein introduced into the GM crops need to be evaluated for cross affinity on living organisms. Many researchers are currently focusing on the impact of Bacillus thuringiensis cotton on soil and microbial diversity by field experiments. In spite of this, in silico approach might be helpful to elucidate the impact of cry genes. The crystal a protein which was produced by Bt at the time of sporulation has been used as a biological pesticide to target the insectivorous pests like Cry1Ac for Helicoverpa armigera and Cry2Ab for Spodoptera sp. and Heliothis sp. Here, we present the comprehensive in silico analysis of Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab proteins with available in silico tools, databases and docking servers. Molecular docking of Cry1Ac with procarboxypeptidase from Helicoverpa armigera and Cry1Ac with Leucine aminopeptidase from Bos taurus has showed the 125(th) amino acid position to be the preference site of Cry1Ac protein. The structures were compared with each other and it showed 5% of similarity. The cross affinity of this toxin that have confirmed the earlier reports of ill effects of Bt cotton consumed by cattle.

Aquatic degradation of Cry1Ab protein and decomposition dynamics of transgenic corn leaves under controlled conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Böttger, Rita; Schaller, Jörg; Lintow, Sven; Gert Dudel, E

2015-03-01

The increasing cultivation of genetically modified corn plants (Zea mays) during the last decades is suggested as a potential risk to the environment. One of these genetically modified variety expressed the insecticidal Cry1Ab protein originating from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), resulting in resistance against Ostrinia nubilalis, the European corn borer. Transgenic litter material is extensively studied regarding the decomposition in soils. However, only a few field studies analyzed the fate of the Cry1Ab protein and the impact of green and senescent leaf litter from corn on the decomposition rate and related ecosystem functions in aquatic environments. Consequently, a microbial litter decomposition experiment was conducted under controlled semi-natural conditions in batch culture using two maize varieties: one variety with Cry1Ab and another one with the appertaining Iso-line as control treatment. The results showed no significant differences between the treatment with Cry1Ab and the Iso-line regarding loss of total mass in dry weight of 43% for Iso-line and 45% for Bt-corn litter, lignin content increased to 137.5% (Iso-line) and 115.7% (Bt-corn), and phenol loss decreased by 53.6% (Iso-line), 62.2% (Bt-corn) during three weeks of the experiment. At the end of the experiment Cry1Ab protein was still detected with 6% of the initial concentration. A slightly but significant lower cellulose content was found for the Cry1Ab treatment compared to the Iso-line litter at the end of the experiment. The significant higher total protein (25%) and nitrogen (25%) content in Bt corn, most likely due to the additionally expression of the transgenic protein, may increase the microbial cellulose degradation and decrease microbial lignin degradation. In conclusion a relevant year by year input of protein and therefore nitrogen rich Bt corn litter into aquatic environments may affect the balanced nutrient turnover in aquatic ecosystems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights

77 FR 6471 - Bacillus thuringiensis Cry2Ae Protein in Cotton; Exemption from the Requirement of a Tolerance

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-08

... rather provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be affected by this action. Other types... degradation by acid and proteases (Ref. 4). The Cry2Ae protein was rapidly digested (within 30 seconds) in SGF... shown to be rapidly digested in vitro. As previously stated, when Cry2Ae protein is used as a PIP in...

False alerts in air traffic control conflict alerting system: is there a "cry wolf" effect?

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Wickens, Christopher D; Rice, Stephen; Keller, David; Hutchins, Shaun; Hughes, Jamie; Clayton, Krisstal

2009-08-01

The aim is to establish the extent to which the high false-alarm rate of air traffic control midair conflict alerts is responsible for a "cry wolf' effect-where true alerts are not responded to and all alerts are delayed in their response. Some aircraft collisions have been partly attributed to the cry wolf effect, and in other domains (health care and systems monitoring), there is a causal connection between false-alarm rate and cry wolf behavior. We hypothesized that a corresponding relationship exists in air traffic control (ATC). Aircraft track and alert system behavior data surrounding 495 conflict alerts were analyzed to identify true and false alerts, trajectory type, and controller behavior. Forty-five percent of the alerts were false, ranging from 0.28 to 0.58. Although centers with more false alerts contributed to more nonresponses, there was no evidence that these were nonresponses to true alerts or that response times were delayed in those centers. Instead, controllers showed desirable anticipatory behavior by issuing trajectory changes prior to the alert. Those trajectory pairs whose conflicts were more difficult to visualize induced more reliance on, and less compliance with, the alerting system. The high false-alarm rate does not appear to induce cry wolf behavior in the context of en route ATC conflict alerts. There is no need to substantially modify conflict alert algorithms, but the conflict alert system may be modified to address difficult-to-visualize conflicts.

Synthetic Polymer Affinity Ligand for Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt) Cry1Ab/Ac Protein: The Use of Biomimicry Based on the Bt Protein-Insect Receptor Binding Mechanism.

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Liu, Mingming; Huang, Rong; Weisman, Adam; Yu, Xiaoyang; Lee, Shih-Hui; Chen, Yalu; Huang, Chao; Hu, Senhua; Chen, Xiuhua; Tan, Wenfeng; Liu, Fan; Chen, Hao; Shea, Kenneth J

2018-05-24

We report a novel strategy for creating abiotic Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt) protein affinity ligands by biomimicry of the recognition process that takes place between Bt Cry1Ab/Ac proteins and insect receptor cadherin-like Bt-R 1 proteins. Guided by this strategy, a library of synthetic polymer nanoparticles (NPs) was prepared and screened for binding to three epitopes 280 FRGSAQGIEGS 290 , 368 RRPFNIGINNQQ 379 and 436 FRSGFSNSSVSIIR 449 located in loop α8, loop 2 and loop 3 of domain II of Bt Cry1Ab/Ac proteins. A negatively charged and hydrophilic nanoparticle (NP12) was found to have high affinity to one of the epitopes, 368 RRPFNIGINNQQ 379 . This same NP also had specific binding ability to both Bt Cry1Ab and Bt Cry1Ac, proteins that share the same epitope, but very low affinity to Bt Cry2A, Bt Cry1C and Bt Cry1F closely related proteins that lack epitope homology. To locate possible NP- Bt Cry1Ab/Ac interaction sites, NP12 was used as a competitive inhibitor to block the binding of 865 NITIHITDTNNK 876 , a specific recognition site in insect receptor Bt-R 1 , to 368 RRPFNIGINNQQ 379 . The inhibition by NP12 reached as high as 84%, indicating that NP12 binds to Bt Cry1Ab/Ac proteins mainly via 368 RRPFNIGINNQQ 379 . This epitope region was then utilized as a "target" or "bait" for the separation and concentration of Bt Cry1Ac protein from the extract of transgenic Bt cotton leaves by NP12. This strategy, based on the antigen-receptor recognition mechanism, can be extended to other biotoxins and pathogen proteins when designing biomimic alternatives to natural protein affinity ligands.

Regeneration of multiple shoots from transgenic potato events facilitates the recovery of phenotypically normal lines: assessing a cry9Aa2 gene conferring insect resistance

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Jacobs Jeanne ME

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The recovery of high performing transgenic lines in clonal crops is limited by the occurrence of somaclonal variation during the tissue culture phase of transformation. This is usually circumvented by developing large populations of transgenic lines, each derived from the first shoot to regenerate from each transformation event. This study investigates a new strategy of assessing multiple shoots independently regenerated from different transformed cell colonies of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.. Results A modified cry9Aa2 gene, under the transcriptional control of the CaMV 35S promoter, was transformed into four potato cultivars using Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer using a nptII gene conferring kanamycin resistance as a selectable marker gene. Following gene transfer, 291 transgenic lines were grown in greenhouse experiments to assess somaclonal variation and resistance to potato tuber moth (PTM, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller. Independently regenerated lines were recovered from many transformed cell colonies and Southern analysis confirmed whether they were derived from the same transformed cell. Multiple lines regenerated from the same transformed cell exhibited a similar response to PTM, but frequently exhibited a markedly different spectrum of somaclonal variation. Conclusions A new strategy for the genetic improvement of clonal crops involves the regeneration and evaluation of multiple shoots from each transformation event to facilitate the recovery of phenotypically normal transgenic lines. Most importantly, regenerated lines exhibiting the phenotypic appearance most similar to the parental cultivar are not necessarily derived from the first shoot regenerated from a transformed cell colony, but can frequently be a later regeneration event.

Down-regulation of a novel ABC transporter gene (Pxwhite) is associated with Cry1Ac resistance in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.).

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Guo, Zhaojiang; Kang, Shi; Zhu, Xun; Xia, Jixing; Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Zhang, Youjun

2015-04-01

Biopesticides or transgenic crops based on Cry toxins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) effectively control agricultural insect pests. The sustainable use of Bt biopesticides and Bt crops is threatened, however, by the development of Cry resistance in the target pests. The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), is the first pest that developed resistance to a Bt biopesticide in the field, and a recent study has shown that the resistance of P. xylostella to Cry1Ac is caused by a mutation in an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene (ABCC2). In this study, we report that down-regulation of a novel ABC transporter gene from ABCG subfamily (Pxwhite) is associated with Cry1Ac resistance in P. xylostella. The full-length cDNA sequence of Pxwhite was cloned and analyzed. Spatial-temporal expression detection revealed that Pxwhite was expressed in all tissues and developmental stages, and highest expressed in Malpighian tubule tissue and in egg stage. Sequence variation analysis of Pxwhite indicated the absence of constant non-synonymous mutations between susceptible and resistant strains, whereas midgut transcript analysis showed that Pxwhite was remarkably reduced in all resistant strains and further reduced when larvae of the moderately resistant SZ-R strain were subjected to selection with Cry1Ac toxin. Furthermore, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated suppression of Pxwhite gene expression significantly reduced larval susceptibility to Cry1Ac toxin, and genetic linkage analysis confirmed that down-regulation of Pxwhite gene is tightly linked to Cry1Ac resistance in P. xylostella. To our knowledge, this is the first report indicating that Pxwhite gene is involved in Cry1Ac resistance in P. xylostella. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of TRiMiCri for the evaluation of risk based microbiological criteria for Campylobacter on broiler meat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seliwiorstow, Tomasz; Uyttendaele, Mieke; De Zutter, Lieven

2016-01-01

A potential solution for the reduction of consumer exposure to Campylobacter is establishing a microbiological criterion (MC) for Campylobacter on broiler meat. In the present study the freely available software tool TRiMiCri was applied to evaluate risk-based microbiological criteria by two appr...... of microbiological criteria for Campylobacter in the EU is discussed. TRiMiCri provides user friendly software to evaluate the available data and can help risk managers in establishing risk based microbiological criteria for Campylobacter in broiler meat.......A potential solution for the reduction of consumer exposure to Campylobacter is establishing a microbiological criterion (MC) for Campylobacter on broiler meat. In the present study the freely available software tool TRiMiCri was applied to evaluate risk-based microbiological criteria by two...

Effectiveness of Educational Materials Designed to Change Knowledge and Behavior about Crying and Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Replication of a Randomized Controlled Trial in Japan

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Fujiwara, Takeo; Yamada, Fujiko; Okuyama, Makiko; Kamimaki, Isamu; Shikoro, Nobuaki; Barr, Ronald G.

2012-01-01

Objectives: Infant crying is particularly frustrating to caregivers in the first few months of life and the most common trigger for shaking and abuse. The effectiveness of the "Period of PURPLE Crying" prevention materials (DVD and booklet) designed to increase knowledge and change behaviors related to crying and the dangers of shaking…

Cry1F resistance among lepidopteran pests: a model for improved resistance management?

Science.gov (United States)

Vélez, Ana M; Vellichirammal, Neetha Nanoth; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis; Siegfried, Blair D

2016-06-01

The Cry1Fa protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is known for its potential to control lepidopteran pests, especially through transgenic expression in maize and cotton. The maize event TC1507 expressing the cry1Fa toxin gene became commercially available in the United States in 2003 for the management of key lepidopteran pests including the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. A high-dose/refuge strategy has been widely adopted to delay evolution of resistance to event TC1507 and other transgenic Bt crops. Efficacy of this strategy depends on the crops expressing a high dose of the Bt toxin to targeted pests and adjacent refuges of non-Bt host plants serving as a source of abundant susceptible insects. While this strategy has proved effective in delaying O. nubilalis resistance, field-evolved resistance to event TC1507 has been reported in S. frugiperda populations in Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the southeastern United States. This paper examines available information on resistance to Cry1Fa in O. nubilalis and S. frugiperda and discusses how this information identifies opportunities to refine resistance management recommendations for Bt maize. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of the cryptochrome CryB from Rhodobacter sphaeroides on global gene expression in the dark or blue light or in the presence of singlet oxygen.

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Sebastian Frühwirth

Full Text Available Several regulators are controlling the formation of the photosynthetic apparatus in the facultatively photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Among the proteins affecting photosynthesis gene expression is the blue light photoreceptor cryptochrome CryB. This study addresses the effect of CryB on global gene expression. The data reveal that CryB does not only influence photosynthesis gene expression but also genes for the non-photosynthetic energy metabolism like citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. In addition several genes involved in RNA processing and in transcriptional regulation are affected by a cryB deletion. Although CryB was shown to undergo a photocycle it does not only affect gene expression in response to blue light illumination but also in response to singlet oxygen stress conditions. While there is a large overlap in these responses, some CryB-dependent effects are specific for blue-light or photooxidative stress. In addition to protein-coding genes some genes for sRNAs show CryB-dependent expression. These findings give new insight into the function of bacterial cryptochromes and demonstrate for the first time a function in the oxidative stress response.

Psychometric properties of the Children’s Revised Impact of Events Scale (CRIES with Bangladeshi children and adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farah Deeba

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Identification of possible cases suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD is important, especially in developing countries where traumatic events are typically prevalent. The Children’s Revised Impact of Events Scale is a reliable and valid measure that has two brief versions (13 items and 8 items to assess reactions to traumatic events among young people. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of both versions of the CRIES in a sample of 1,342 children and adolescents aged 9–17 years (M = 12.3 years, SD = 2.12 recruited from six districts of Bangladesh. A sub-group of 120 children from four schools was re-tested on the measures within 3.5 weeks. Confirmatory factor analysis supported factor structures similar to those found in other studies for both versions of the CRIES. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis showed gender and age-group differences within the sample, supporting established age and gender differences in prevalence of PTSD symptoms. Analyses also indicated moderate to excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability and clear discriminant and convergent validity. These data support use of both the CRIES-13 and CRIES-8 to provide quick and psychometrically sound assessment of symptoms of PTSD among children and adolescents from Bangla-speaking communities.

Pretreatment with Cry1Ac Protoxin Modulates the Immune Response, and Increases the Survival of Plasmodium-Infected CBA/Ca Mice

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Martha Legorreta-Herrera

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Malaria is a major global health problem that kills 1-2 million people each year. Despite exhaustive research, naturally acquired immunity is poorly understood. Cry1A proteins are potent immunogens with adjuvant properties and are able to induce strong cellular and humoral responses. In fact, it has been shown that administration of Cry1Ac protoxin alone or with amoebic lysates induces protection against the lethal infection caused by the protozoa Naegleria fowleri. In this work, we studied whether Cry1Ac is able to activate the innate immune response to induce protection against Plasmodium berghei ANKA (lethal and P. chabaudi AS (nonlethal parasites in CBA/Ca mice. Treatment with Cry1Ac induced protection against both Plasmodium species in terms of reduced parasitaemia, longer survival time, modulation of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and increased levels of specific antibodies against Plasmodium. Understanding how to boost innate immunity to Plasmodium infection should lead to immunologically based intervention strategies.

Bombyx mori ABC transporter C2 structures responsible for the receptor function of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa toxin.

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Tanaka, Shiho; Endo, Haruka; Adegawa, Satomi; Iizuka, Ami; Imamura, Kazuhiro; Kikuta, Shingo; Sato, Ryoichi

2017-12-01

Because Bombyx mori ABC transporter C2 (BmABCC2) has 1000-fold higher potential than B. mori cadherin-like protein as a receptor for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa toxin (Tanaka et al., 2013), the gate-opening ability of the latent pore under six extracellular loops (ECLs) of BmABCC2 was expected to be the reason for its higher potential (Heckel, 2012). In this study, cell swelling assays in Sf9 cells showed that BmABCC2 mutants lacking substrate-excreting activity retained receptor activity, indicating that the gate-opening activity of BmABCC2 is not responsible for Cry1Aa toxicity. The analysis of 29 BmABCC2 mutants demonstrated that 770 DYWL 773 of ECL 4 comprise a putative binding site to Cry1Aa. This suggests that specific toxicity of Cry1Aa toxin to a restricted range of lepidopteran insects is dependent on conservation and variation in the amino acid residues around 770 DYWL 773 of ECL 4 in the ABCC2. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pediatrician's knowledge on the management of the infant who cries excessively in the first months of life

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Ana Carolina C. Marcon; Mário César Vieira; Mauro Batista de Morais

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the attitude, the practice and the knowledge of pediatricians regarding the management of the infant who cries excessively in the first months of life.METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional study that enrolled pediatricians (n=132) randomly interviewed at a Pediatric meeting in Brazil, in August 2012. The data were collected by a self-administered standardized form after reading the hypothetical case of an infant who cried excessively.RESULTS: The majority of the particip...

LSSP-PCR para la identificación de polimorfismos en el gen cry1B en cepas nativas de Bacillus thuringiensis

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Martha Ilce Orozco Mera

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Título en ingles: LSSP-PCR to identify polymorphisms in the gene cry1B of Bacillus thuringiensis native strain Resumen: Se estandarizó la técnica LSSP-PCR (reacción en cadena de la polimerasa con un único oligonucleótido en condiciones de baja astringencia, para identificar polimorfismos del gen cry1B en aislamientos nativos de Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt. Se evaluaron 164 aislamientos nativos colombianos identificándose el gen cry1Ba en 11 de estos aislamientos. Los 11 fragmentos amplificados, junto con el de la cepa de referencia Bt subsp. aizawai HD137, se analizaron por LSSP-PCR y los patrones electroforéticos obtenidos se compararon cualitativamente. Con los productos amplificados mediante el oligonucleótido directo se construyó un dendrograma utilizando UPGMA que  mostró tres agrupamientos con similitud de 83, 79 y 68%. La agrupación con 68% de similaridad correspondió al aislamiento nativo BtGC120 que presentó el patrón de bandas más variable. Con el oligonucleótido reverso el aislamiento BtGC120 mostró una menor variabilidad (43%. La secuencia nucleotidica obtenida de este fragmento de 806 pares de bases mostró una identidad de 93% con la secuencia de los genes cry1Bc1 de Bt morrisoni y cry1Bb1 de la cepa BT-EG5847. Se predijo del marco de lectura +3 una proteína de 268 residuos aminoácidicos, con 88% de identidad con la proteína Cry1Bc. Esta  secuencia reveló dos dominios, una endotoxina N implicada en la formación del poro y otra endotoxina M relacionada en el reconocimiento del receptor. La evaluación biológica del aislamiento BtGC120 sobre larvas de primer instar del insecto plaga Spodoptera frugiperda, mostró una CL50 de 1,896 ng de proteína total por cm2. Este estudio muestra que la LSSP-PCR es una técnica que permite identificar de una manera específica variaciones en las secuencias de los genes cry de Bt, con potencialidad de encontrar nuevos genes con novedosas actividades biológicas. Abstract

Cry the Beloved Country. A Sound Filmstrip Program. Study Guide.

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Peters, John; Peters, Frances

Based on the novel and motion picture "Cry, the Beloved Country," this filmstrip program is a re-creation of the story of a black minister and a white farmer in South Africa whose lives are bound together in mutual tragedy. The three filmstrips examine the people, problems, laws, and institutions of South Africa and expose the evils of…

Midgut GPI-anchored proteins with alkaline phosphatase activity from the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) are putative receptors for the Cry1B protein of Bacillus thuringiensis.

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Martins, Erica Soares; Monnerat, Rose Gomes; Queiroz, Paulo Roberto; Dumas, Vinicius Fiuza; Braz, Shélida Vasconcelos; de Souza Aguiar, Raimundo Wagner; Gomes, Ana Cristina Menezes Mendes; Sánchez, Jorge; Bravo, Alejandra; Ribeiro, Bergmann Morais

2010-02-01

Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are used for insect control. They interact with specific receptors located on the host cell surface and are activated by host proteases following receptor binding resulting in midgut epithelial cells lysis. In this work we had cloned, sequenced and expressed a cry1Ba toxin gene from the B thuringiensis S601 strain which was previously shown to be toxic to Anthonomus grandis, a cotton pest. The Cry1Ba6 protein expressed in an acrystaliferous B. thuringiensis strain was toxic to A. grandis in bioassays. The binding of Cry1Ba6 toxin to proteins located in the midgut brush border membrane of A. grandis was analyzed and we found that Cry1Ba6 binds to two proteins (62 and 65kDa) that showed alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. This work is the first report that shows the localization of Cry toxin receptors in the midgut cells of A. grandis. 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Bt rice harbouring cry genes controlled by a constitutive or wound-inducible promoter: protection and transgene expression under Mediterranean field conditions.

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Breitler, Jean Christophe; Vassal, Jean Michel; del Mar Catala, Maria; Meynard, Donaldo; Marfà, Victoria; Melé, Enric; Royer, Monique; Murillo, Isabel; San Segundo, Blanca; Guiderdoni, Emmanuel; Messeguer, Joaquima

2004-09-01

Seven homozygous transgenic lines of two European commercial cultivars of rice (Ariete (A) and Senia (S)), harbouring the cry1B or cry1Aa Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) delta-endotoxin genes, were field evaluated for protection from striped stem borer (SSB) (Chilo suppressalis) damage during the 2001 and 2002 summer crop seasons in the Delta de l'Ebre region, Spain. The plant codon-optimized toxin gene was placed under the control of the promoter of either the constitutive ubi1 gene or the wound-inducible mpi gene from maize. Stable, high-level, insecticidal protein accumulation was observed throughout root, leaf and seed tissues of field-grown plants harbouring the cry1B (lines A64.1, A33.1, A3.4 and S98.9) or cry1Aa (lines S05.1 and A19.14) genes under the control of the ubi1 promoter. Conversely, no toxin was detected in unwounded vegetative tissues of the A9.1 line harbouring the cry1B gene controlled by the mpi promoter, indicating that natural environmental stresses did not trigger the activity of the wound-inducible promoter. However, the toxin accumulated at 0.2% total soluble proteins in A9.1 sheath tissue exhibiting brown lesions resulting from SSB damage. The agronomical traits and performance of the transgenic lines were generally comparable with parental controls, except in the two lines accumulating Cry1Aa, which exhibited a high frequency of plants non-true to type. Natural infestation was assisted with manual infestations of L2/L3 SSB larvae in border control plants surrounding the experimental plots, which served as a reservoir for the second-cycle SSB population. The observation of damage (brown lesions and dead hearts) during the crop season and dissection of plants at harvest stage revealed a range of protection amongst the transgenic lines, which was highly consistent with the level of toxin accumulation and with previous experience in greenhouse assays. Lines A3.4 and S05.1 were found to exhibit stable and full protection against SSB attacks

Growth curves for Laron syndrome.

OpenAIRE

Laron, Z; Lilos, P; Klinger, B

1993-01-01

Growth curves for children with Laron syndrome were constructed on the basis of repeated measurements made throughout infancy, childhood, and puberty in 24 (10 boys, 14 girls) of the 41 patients with this syndrome investigated in our clinic. Growth retardation was already noted at birth, the birth length ranging from 42 to 46 cm in the 12/20 available measurements. The postnatal growth curves deviated sharply from the normal from infancy on. Both sexes showed no clear pubertal spurt. Girls co...

Toxicity assessment of modified Cry1Ac1 proteins and genetically ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Owner

2015-06-10

Jun 10, 2015 ... Key words: Modified Cry1Ac1, food safety assessment, toxicity, insect- resistant rice Agb0101. INTRODUCTION. Genetically modified (GM) crops are becoming an increasingly important feature of the agricultural land- scapes. In 2013, approximately 175 million hectares of. GM crops were planted by 18 ...

Screening for single-chain variable fragment antibodies against multiple Cry1 toxins from an immunized mouse phage display antibody library.

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Dong, Sa; Bo, Zongyi; Zhang, Cunzheng; Feng, Jianguo; Liu, Xianjin

2018-04-01

Single-chain variable fragment (scFv) is a kind of antibody that possess only one chain of the complete antibody while maintaining the antigen-specific binding abilities and can be expressed in prokaryotic system. In this study, scFvs against Cry1 toxins were screened out from an immunized mouse phage displayed antibody library, which was successfully constructed with capacity of 6.25 × 10 7  CFU/mL. Using the mixed and alternative antigen coating strategy and after four rounds of affinity screening, seven positive phage-scFvs against Cry1 toxins were selected and characterized. Among them, clone scFv-3H9 (MG214869) showing relative stable and high binding abilities to six Cry1 toxins was selected for expression and purification. SDS-PAGE indicated that the scFv-3H9 fragments approximately 27 kDa were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli HB2151 strain. The purified scFv-3H9 was used to establish the double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method (DAS-ELISA) for detecting six Cry1 toxins, of which the lowest detectable limits (LOD) and the lowest quantitative limits (LOQ) were 3.14-11.07 and 8.22-39.44 ng mL -1 , respectively, with the correlation coefficient higher than 0.997. The average recoveries of Cry1 toxins from spiked rice leaf samples were ranged from 84 to 95%, with coefficient of variation (CV) less than 8.2%, showing good accuracy for the multi-residue determination of six Cry1 toxins in agricultural samples. This research suggested that the constructed phage display antibody library based on the animal which was immunized with the mixture of several antigens under the same category can be used for the quick and effective screening of generic antibodies.

Influence of transgenic rice expressing a fused Cry1Ab/1Ac protein on frogs in paddy fields.

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Wang, Jia-Mei; Chen, Xiu-Ping; Liang, Yu-Yong; Zhu, Hao-Jun; Ding, Jia-Tong; Peng, Yu-Fa

2014-11-01

As genetic engineering in plants is increasingly used to control agricultural pests, it is important to determine whether such transgenic plants adversely affect non-target organisms within and around cultivated fields. The cry1Ab/1Ac fusion gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has insecticidal activity and has been introduced into rice line Minghui 63 (MH63). We evaluated the effect of transgenic cry1Ab/1Ac rice (Huahui 1, HH1) on paddy frogs by comparing HH1 and MH63 rice paddies with and without pesticide treatment. The density of tadpoles in rice fields was surveyed at regular intervals, and Cry1Ab/1Ac protein levels were determined in tissues of tadpoles and froglets collected from the paddy fields. In addition, Rana nigromaculata froglets were raised in purse nets placed within these experimental plots. The survival, body weight, feeding habits, and histological characteristics of the digestive tract of these froglets were analyzed. We found that the tadpole density was significantly decreased immediately after pesticide application, and the weight of R. nigromaculata froglets of pesticide groups was significantly reduced compared with no pesticide treatment, but we found no differences between Bt and non-Bt rice groups. Moreover, no Cry1Ab/1Ac protein was detected in tissue samples collected from 192 tadpoles and froglets representing all four experimental groups. In addition, R. nigromaculata froglets raised in purse seines fed primarily on stem borer and non-target insects, and showed no obvious abnormality in the microstructure of their digestive tracts. Based on these results, we conclude that cultivation of transgenic cry1Ab/1Ac rice does not adversely affect paddy frogs.

Dominance of Cry1F resistance in Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on TC1507 Bt maize in Brazil.

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Farias, Juliano R; Andow, David A; Horikoshi, Renato J; Sorgatto, Rodrigo J; dos Santos, Antonio C; Omoto, Celso

2016-05-01

Dominance of resistance has been one of the major parameters affecting the rate of evolution of resistance to Bt crops. High dose is the capacity of Bt crops to kill heterozygous insects and has been an essential component of the most successful strategy to manage resistance to these crops. Experiments were conducted to evaluate directly and indirectly whether the TC1507 event is high dose to Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith). About 8% of heterozygote neonate larvae were able to survive, complete larval development and emerge as normal adults on TC1507 leaves, while susceptible larvae could not survive for 5 days. The estimated dominance of resistance was 0.15 ± 0.09 and significantly higher than zero; therefore, the resistance to Cry1F expressed in TC1507 was not completely recessive. A 25-fold dilution of TC1507 maize leaf tissue in an artificial diet was able to cause a maximum mortality of only 37%, with growth inhibition of 82% at 7 days after larval infestation. Resistance to Cry1F in TC1507 maize is incompletely recessive in S. frugiperda. TC1507 maize is not high dose for S. frugiperda. Additional or alternative resistance management strategies, such as the replacement of single-trait Bt maize with pyramided Bt maize, which produces multiple proteins targeting the same insect pests, should be implemented wherever this technology is in use and S. frugiperda is the major pest. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

The Influence of Cognitive Load on Empathy and Intention in Response to Infant Crying.

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Hiraoka, Daiki; Nomura, Michio

2016-06-16

Many studies have explored risk factors for child maltreatment, but little research has focused on situational risk factors such as cognitive load, which involves within-individual fluctuation. The current study sought to determine whether cognitive load led to within-individual changes in intention in response to infant crying. The study also sought to ascertain whether state empathy, empathic concern (EC), and personal distress mediated or moderated this relationship. Sixty-six participants completed a memory task (remembering meaningless, two- or eight-letter, English alphabet string), during which they were required to keep these letters in mind while hearing infant crying (or a tone). Subsequently, participants rated questions concerning state empathy and intention in response to the crying (i.e., intentions involving caregiving, neglect, or physical abuse). Results showed that cognitive load reduced caregiving intention and increased intention to perpetrate neglect. In addition, EC mediated the relationship between cognitive load and intention to provide care or perpetrate neglect. Moreover, cognitive load interacted with state empathy to predict intention to provide care or perpetrate neglect. These findings highlighted the importance of focusing on situational cognitive risk factors for child maltreatment and elucidated the role of state empathy as a mediator or moderator in child maltreatment research.

Susceptibility of field populations of the fall armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from Florida and Puerto Rico to purified Cry1F protein and corn leaf tissue containing single and pyramided Bt genes

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Larval survival of Cry1F-susceptible (FL), -resistant (PR and Cry1F-RR), and -heterozygous (FL x PR and Cry1F-RS) populations of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) to purified Cry1F protein and corn leaf tissue of seven Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn hybrids and five non-Bt corn...

Crying without a cause and being easily upset in two-year-olds: heritability and predictive power of behavioral problems.

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Groen-Blokhuis, Maria M; Middeldorp, Christel M; M van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E; Boomsma, Dorret I

2011-10-01

In order to estimate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on 'crying without a cause' and 'being easily upset' in 2-year-old children, a large twin study was carried out. Prospective data were available for ~18,000 2-year-old twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register. A bivariate genetic analysis was performed using structural equation modeling in the Mx software package. The influence of maternal personality characteristics and demographic and lifestyle factors was tested to identify specific risk factors that may underlie the shared environment of twins. Furthermore, it was tested whether crying without a cause and being easily upset were predictive of later internalizing, externalizing and attention problems. Crying without a cause yielded a heritability estimate of 60% in boys and girls. For easily upset, the heritability was estimated at 43% in boys and 31% in girls. The variance explained by shared environment varied between 35% and 63%. The correlation between crying without a cause and easily upset (r = .36) was explained both by genetic and shared environmental factors. Birth cohort, gestational age, socioeconomic status, parental age, parental smoking behavior and alcohol use during pregnancy did not explain the shared environmental component. Neuroticism of the mother explained a small proportion of the additive genetic, but not of the shared environmental effects for easily upset. Crying without a cause and being easily upset at age 2 were predictive of internalizing, externalizing and attention problems at age 7, with effect sizes of .28-.42. A large influence of shared environmental factors on crying without a cause and easily upset was detected. Although these effects could be specific to these items, we could not explain them by personality characteristics of the mother or by demographic and lifestyle factors, and we recognize that these effects may reflect other maternal characteristics. A substantial influence of genetic factors

New tool for spreading proteins to the environment: Cry1Ab toxin immobilized to bioplastics.

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Moldes, Cristina; Farinós, Gema P; de Eugenio, Laura I; García, Pedro; García, José L; Ortego, Félix; Hernández-Crespo, Pedro; Castañera, Pedro; Prieto, María A

2006-08-01

A new tool to provide an environmentally friendly way to deliver active proteins to the environment has been developed, based on the use of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA, bioplastic) granules. To illustrate this novel approach, a derived Cry1Ab insect-specific toxin protein was in vivo immobilized into PHA granules through the polypeptide tag BioF. The new toxin, named Fk-Bt1, was shown to be active against Sesamia nonagrioides (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). The dose-mortality responses of the new toxin granule formulation (PFk-Bt1) and purified Cry1Ab have been compared, demonstrating the effectiveness of PFk-Bt1 and suggesting a common mode of action.

Identification of Cha o 3 homolog Cry j 4 from Cryptomeria japonica (Japanese cedar) pollen: Limitation of the present Japanese cedar-specific ASIT.

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Osada, Toshihiro; Tanaka, Yuki; Yamada, Akira; Sasaki, Eiji; Utsugi, Teruhiro

2018-03-07

About one-third of the Japanese population suffers from Japanese cedar pollinosis, which is frequently accompanied by Japanese cypress pollinosis. Recently, a novel major Japanese cypress pollen allergen, Cha o 3, was discovered. However, whether a Cha o 3 homolog is present in Japanese cedar pollen remains to be determined. Western blot analysis was performed using Cha o 3-specific antiserum. In addition, cloning of the gene encoding Cry j 4 was conducted using total cDNA from the male flower of Japanese cedar trees. Allergen potency and cross-reactivity were investigated using a T-cell proliferation assay, basophil activation test, and ImmunoCAP inhibition assay. A low amount of Cha o 3 homolog protein was detected in Japanese cedar pollen extract. The deduced amino acid sequence of Cry j 4 showed 84% identity to that of Cha o 3. Cross-reactivity between Cry j 4 and Cha o 3 was observed at the T cell and IgE levels. Cry j 4 was discovered as a counterpart allergen of Cha o 3 in Japanese cedar pollen, with a relationship similar to that between Cry j 1-Cha o 1 and Cry j 2-Cha o 2. Our findings also suggest that allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) using Japanese cedar pollen extract does not induce adequate immune tolerance to Cha o 3 due to the low amount of Cry j 4 in Japanese cedar pollen. Therefore, ASIT using Cha o 3 or cypress pollen extract coupled with Japanese cedar pollen extract is required in order to optimally control allergy symptoms during Japanese cypress pollen season. Copyright © 2018 Japanese Society of Allergology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

51Cr - erythrocyte survival curves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paiva Costa, J. de.

1982-07-01

Sixteen patients were studied, being fifteen patients in hemolytic state, and a normal individual as a witness. The aim was to obtain better techniques for the analysis of the erythrocytes, survival curves, according to the recommendations of the International Committee of Hematology. It was used the radiochromatic method as a tracer. Previously a revisional study of the International Literature was made in its aspects inherent to the work in execution, rendering possible to establish comparisons and clarify phonomena observed in cur investigation. Several parameters were considered in this study, hindering both the exponential and the linear curves. The analysis of the survival curves of the erythrocytes in the studied group, revealed that the elution factor did not present a homogeneous answer quantitatively to all, though, the result of the analysis of these curves have been established, through listed programs in the electronic calculator. (Author) [pt

Cry1A(b)16 toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis: Theoretical refinement of three-dimensional structure and prediction of peptides as molecular markers for detection of genetically modified organisms.

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Plácido, Alexandra; Coelho, Andreia; Abreu Nascimento, Lucas; Gomes Vasconcelos, Andreanne; Fátima Barroso, Maria; Ramos-Jesus, Joilson; Costa, Vladimir; das Chagas Alves Lima, Francisco; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Martins Ramos, Ricardo; Marani, Mariela M; Roberto de Souza de Almeida Leite, José

2017-07-01

Transgenic maize produced by the insertion of the Cry transgene into its genome became the second most cultivated crop worldwide. Cry gene from Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki expresses protein derivatives of crystalline endotoxins which confer insect resistance onto the maize crop. Mandatory labeling of processed food containing or made by genetically modified organisms is in force in many countries, so, it is very urgent to develop fast and practical methods for GMO identification, for example, biosensors. In the absence of an available empirical structure of Cry1A(b)16 protein, a theoretical model was effectively generated, in this work, by homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations based on two available homologous protein structures. Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to refine the selected model, and an analysis of its global structure was performed. The refined models of Cry1A(b)16 showed a standard fold and structural characteristics similar to those seen in Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1A(a) insecticidal toxin and Bacillus thuringiensis serovar kurstaki Cry1A(c) toxin. After in silico analysis of Cry1A(b)16, two immunoreactive candidate peptides were selected and specific polyclonal antibodies were produced resulting in antibody-peptide interaction. Biosensing devices are expected to be developed for detection of the Cry1A(b) protein as a marker of transgenic maize in food. Proteins 2017; 85:1248-1257. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Use of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria as a vector to express the cry3A gene from Bacillus thuringiensis

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Salles Joana Falcão

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this study was to evaluate the potential of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria as a vector to express a cry gene from Bacillus thuringiensis, envisaging the control of pests that attack sugarcane plants. The endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacteria Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus strain BR11281 and Herbaspirillum seropedicae strain BR11335 were used as models. The cry3A gene was transferred by conjugation using a suicide plasmid and the recombinant strains were selected by their ability to fix nitrogen in semi-solid N-free medium. The presence of the cry gene was detected by Southern-blot using an internal fragment of 1.0 kb as a probe. The production of delta-endotoxin by the recombinant H. seropedicae strain was detected by dot blot while for G. diazotrophicus the Western-blot technique was used. In both cases, a specific antibody raised against the B. thuringiensis toxin was applied. The delta-endotoxin production showed by the G. diazotrophicus recombinant strain was dependent on the nitrogen fixing conditions since the cry3A gene was fused to a nif promoter. In the case of H. seropedicae the delta-endotoxin expression was not affected by the promoter (rhi used. These results suggest that endophytic diazotrophic bacteria can be used as vectors to express entomopathogenic genes envisaging control of sugarcane pests.

Comparative analysis of the genetic basis of Cry1F resistance in two strains of Spodoptera frugiperda originated from Puerto Rico and Florida.

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Camargo, Ana M; Castañera, Pedro; Farinós, Gema P; Huang, Fangneng

2017-06-01

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), is a major target pest of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize and cotton in America. Since the commercialization of Cry1F maize (event TC1507) in 2003, resistance to Cry1F maize in field populations of S. frugiperda has occurred in Puerto Rico, Brazil and the southeast region of the United States. In this paper, we conducted a comparative analysis of the inheritance of two Cry1F-resistant colonies of S. frugiperda originated from Puerto Rico (PR) and Florida (FL), respectively. The objective of the analysis was to determine if the genetic basis of the resistance was similar in the two different originated colonies. To accomplish the objective, besides PR, FL, and a known Cry1F-susceptible colony, 14 additional colonies were developed by reciprocal crosses among the three parents, F 1 by F 1 crosses, backcrosses, and intercolony-crosses between PR and FL. Larval mortalities of the 17 colonies were assayed on both Cry1F maize leaf tissue and Cry1F-treated diet at the concentrations of 3.16, 10.00, and 31.60µg/g. Resistance to Cry1F in both PR and FL was autosomal and recessive or incompletely recessive. Segregations in F 2 and backcrossed generations associated with FL fitted the Mendelian monogenic model well, while with PR the segregations did not follow the single gene model in some bioassays. Further analyses with the intercolony complementation tests showed a similar level of resistance in the F 1 progeny as their parents FL and PR. Together with the data, it was likely that a single (or a few tightly-linked) gene was involved in FL; PR shared the same locus of the major resistance gene as FL, but the resistance in PR might also be associated with additional minor factors. Information generated from this study should be useful in understanding the origin of Cry1F resistance in the U.S. mainland and developing effective strategies for Bt resistance management in S. frugiperda. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc

Susceptibility and aversion of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to Cry1F Bt maize and considerations for insect resistance management.

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Binning, Rachel R; Coats, Joel; Kong, Xiaoxiao; Hellmich, Richard L

2014-02-01

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize was developed primarily for North American pests such as European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner)). However, most Bt maize products are also cultivated outside of North America, where the primary pests may be different and may have lower susceptibility to Bt toxins. Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda JE Smith) is an important pest and primary target of Bt maize in Central and South America. S. frugiperda susceptibility to Cry1F (expressed in event TC1507) is an example of a pest-by-toxin interaction that does not meet the high-dose definition. In this study, the behavioral and toxic response of S. frugiperda to Cry1F maize was investigated by measuring the percentage of time naive third instars spent feeding during a 3-min exposure. S. frugiperda also were exposed as third instars to Cry1F maize for 14 d to measure weight gain and survival. S. frugiperda demonstrated an initial, postingestive aversive response to Cry1F maize, and few larvae survived the 14 d exposure. The role of susceptibility and avoidance are discussed in the context of global IRM refuge strategy development for Bt products.

Expression of hybrid fusion protein (Cry1Ac::ASAL) in transgenic rice plants imparts resistance against multiple insect pests.

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Boddupally, Dayakar; Tamirisa, Srinath; Gundra, Sivakrishna Rao; Vudem, Dashavantha Reddy; Khareedu, Venkateswara Rao

2018-05-31

To evolve rice varieties resistant to different groups of insect pests a fusion gene, comprising DI and DII domains of Bt Cry1Ac and carbohydrate binding domain of garlic lectin (ASAL), was constructed. Transgenic rice lines were generated and evaluated to assess the efficacy of Cry1Ac::ASAL fusion protein against three major pests, viz., yellow stem borer (YSB), leaf folder (LF) and brown planthopper (BPH). Molecular analyses of transgenic plants revealed stable integration and expression of the fusion gene. In planta insect bioassays on transgenics disclosed enhanced levels of resistance compared to the control plants. High insect mortality of YSB, LF and BPH was observed on transgenics compared to that of control plants. Furthermore, honeydew assays revealed significant decreases in the feeding ability of BPH on transgenic plants as compared to the controls. Ligand blot analysis, using BPH insects fed on cry1Ac::asal transgenic rice plants, revealed a modified receptor protein-binding pattern owing to its ability to bind to additional receptors in insects. The overall results authenticate that Cry1Ac::ASAL protein is endowed with remarkable entomotoxic effects against major lepidopteran and hemipteran insects. As such, the fusion gene appears promising and can be introduced into various other crops to control multiple insect pests.

Manual therapy for unsettled, distressed and excessively crying infants: a systematic review and meta-analyses.

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Carnes, Dawn; Plunkett, Austin; Ellwood, Julie; Miles, Clare

2018-01-24

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analyses to assess the effect of manual therapy interventions for healthy but unsettled, distressed and excessively crying infants and to provide information to help clinicians and parents inform decisions about care. We reviewed published peer-reviewed primary research articles in the last 26 years from nine databases (Medline Ovid, Embase, Web of Science, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, Osteopathic Medicine Digital Repository , Cochrane (all databases), Index of Chiropractic Literature, Open Access Theses and Dissertations and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature). Our inclusion criteria were: manual therapy (by regulated or registered professionals) of unsettled, distressed and excessively crying infants who were otherwise healthy and treated in a primary care setting. Outcomes of interest were: crying, feeding, sleep, parent-child relations, parent experience/satisfaction and parent-reported global change. Nineteen studies were selected for full review: seven randomised controlled trials, seven case series, three cohort studies, one service evaluation study and one qualitative study.We found moderate strength evidence for the effectiveness of manual therapy on: reduction in crying time (favourable: -1.27 hours per day (95% CI -2.19 to -0.36)), sleep (inconclusive), parent-child relations (inconclusive) and global improvement (no effect). The risk of reported adverse events was low: seven non-serious events per 1000 infants exposed to manual therapy (n=1308) and 110 per 1000 in those not exposed. Some small benefits were found, but whether these are meaningful to parents remains unclear as does the mechanisms of action. Manual therapy appears relatively safe. CRD42016037353. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Why i cried over thomas Hardy's - jude the obscure Why i cried over thomas Hardy's - jude the obscure

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Hildrun Heinrichs

2008-04-01

Full Text Available 1. INTRODUCTION "Why did I cry over Jude the Obscure" seems rather a difficult question to discuss in public. But isn't it amazing, how authors manipulate their readers? How we are at their mercy to feel delighted or distressed? If this is so, we ought to ask ourselves how they do it, what their devices are. So my problem really is: what elements are there in the narrative of Jude the Obscure, that provoke a sentiment of agonizing awe, which reaches its climax under the impression of Sue's decision to chastise herself and go back to Phillotson? A second question follows: why the reader accepts such a decision, i.e. how it fits the reality and characters created in this novel. I shall therefore analyse Jude the Obscure under the following aspects: arepresentation of reality bpresentation of plot c characterization of Sue Bridehead 1. INTRODUCTION "Why did I cry over Jude the Obscure" seems rather a difficult question to discuss in public. But isn't it amazing, how authors manipulate their readers? How we are at their mercy to feel delighted or distressed? If this is so, we ought to ask ourselves how they do it, what their devices are. So my problem really is: what elements are there in the narrative of Jude the Obscure, that provoke a sentiment of agonizing awe, which reaches its climax under the impression of Sue's decision to chastise herself and go back to Phillotson? A second question follows: why the reader accepts such a decision, i.e. how it fits the reality and characters created in this novel. I shall therefore analyse Jude the Obscure under the following aspects: arepresentation of reality bpresentation of plot c characterization of Sue Bridehead

[Gastro-oesophageal reflux in infants].

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de Jong, Trudy; Kamphuis, Mascha; Kivit-Schwengle, Lilly

2014-01-01

A more prominent role for the youth healthcare physician: Youth Healthcare physicians reflect on the Dutch Paediatric Association (NVK) guideline entitled 'Gastro-oesophageal reflux (disease) in children aged 0-18 years'. This guideline states that medicinal treatment is given to these children too often. Dutch Youth Healthcare physicians see a large number of children with gastro-oesophageal reflux, with or without additional symptoms. The most common symptoms (crying and diminished weight gain) might be present even in the absence of reflux. Parents should be given advice and support when they are worried about reflux, crying or low weight gain. A lower weight gain curve on the growth chart is normal in breastfed children, and crying might be due to factors such as lack of routine or stimulus reduction. Overfeeding might also be the cause. Parents should be supported and followed up, with or without treatment, as necessary. Youth Healthcare professionals could perform this task.

Attachment and physiological reactivity to infant crying in young adulthood: dissociation between experiential and physiological arousal in insecure adoptees.

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Schoenmaker, Christie; Huffmeijer, Renske; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; van den Dries, Linda; Linting, Mariëlle; van der Voort, Anja; Juffer, Femmie

2015-02-01

The associations between attachment representations of adopted young adults and their experiential and physiological arousal to infant crying were examined. Attachment representations were assessed with the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA), and the young adults listened to infant cries, during which ratings of cry perception were collected and physiological reactivity was measured. Secure adoptees showed a well-integrated response to infant distress: heart-rate increases and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) withdrawal were coupled with heightened perception of urgency in these individuals. In insecure adoptees RSA withdrawal was absent, and a combination of lowered perceived urgency and heightened sympathetic arousal was found, reflecting a deactivating style of emotional reactivity. Overall, our findings support the idea that internal working models of attachment explain individual differences in the way attachment-related information is processed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Growth curves for Laron syndrome.

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Laron, Z; Lilos, P; Klinger, B

1993-01-01

Growth curves for children with Laron syndrome were constructed on the basis of repeated measurements made throughout infancy, childhood, and puberty in 24 (10 boys, 14 girls) of the 41 patients with this syndrome investigated in our clinic. Growth retardation was already noted at birth, the birth length ranging from 42 to 46 cm in the 12/20 available measurements. The postnatal growth curves deviated sharply from the normal from infancy on. Both sexes showed no clear pubertal spurt. Girls completed their growth between the age of 16-19 years to a final mean (SD) height of 119 (8.5) cm whereas the boys continued growing beyond the age of 20 years, achieving a final height of 124 (8.5) cm. At all ages the upper to lower body segment ratio was more than 2 SD above the normal mean. These growth curves constitute a model not only for primary, hereditary insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) deficiency (Laron syndrome) but also for untreated secondary IGF-I deficiencies such as growth hormone gene deletion and idiopathic congenital isolated growth hormone deficiency. They should also be useful in the follow up of children with Laron syndrome treated with biosynthetic recombinant IGF-I. PMID:8333769

IDENTIFIKASI MISKONSEPSI MAHASISWA PGMI PADA KONSEP HUKUM NEWTON MENGGUNAKAN CERTAINTY OF RESPONSE INDEX (CRI

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Izza Auliyatul Muna

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The extent to whichstudent difficulties in understanding the basic concepts of physics has been a majorissue for teachers and practitioners in the field of physics teaching. The symptom of misconceptionoften interferes with the learning process, especially for students when they are required to accommodatethe knowledge. The way how to identify the occurrence of misconception among students as well as to distinguish it with having no idea of   the concept is by occupying the method of Certainty of Response Index (CRI. It is widely asserted that misconception may become the scourge in the teaching of physics and other sciences, because its existence is believed to inhibit the process of assimilation of new knowledge among students. Misconceptionis supposed to be formed in childhood brain in interaction with the surrounding nature. The problem thatmight arise when thetreatment made is thatit is difficult to distinguish whether the students are experiencing misconceptions or just having absent concept. This is because the way to treat students who have misconception will be very different from that of treating students who do not know the concept. Hence, CRI is developed to identify the occurrence of misconception as well as to distinguish it from having absent concept. Generally, CRI can be interpreted as a measure of the level of respondents’ confidence/ assurance in answering the questions provided.

Cultural Appropriation in Games : A Comparative Study Between Far Cry 3 (2012), Overwatch (2016) and Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

OpenAIRE

Svensson, Tova

2017-01-01

This thesis is a comparative study between Far Cry 3 (2012), Overwatch (2016) and Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) to determine how game developers appropriate minority cultures in character design. The character designs are compared to the cultures of origin to determine whether they have been appropriated and to what extent. Far Cry 3 appropriates Maori and Samoan cultures, Horizon Zero Dawn appropriates native American cultures, and Overwatch appropriates both Maori and native American cultures. A...

Hypothalamic expression and moonlight-independent changes of Cry3 and Per4 implicate their roles in lunar clock oscillators of the lunar-responsive Goldlined spinefoot.

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Riko Toda

Full Text Available Lunar cycle-associated physiology has been found in a wide variety of organisms. Studies suggest the presence of a circalunar clock in some animals, but the location of the lunar clock is unclear. We previously found lunar-associated expression of transcripts for Cryptochrome3 gene (SgCry3 in the brain of a lunar phase-responsive fish, the Goldlined spinefoot (Siganus guttatus. Then we proposed a photoperiodic model for the lunar phase response, in which SgCry3 might function as a phase-specific light response gene and/or an oscillatory factor in unidentified circalunar clock. In this study, we have developed an anti-SgCRY3 antibody to identify SgCRY3-immunoreactive cells in the brain. We found immunoreactions in the subependymal cells located in the mediobasal region of the diencephalon, a crucial site for photoperiodic seasonal responses in birds. For further assessment of the lunar-responding mechanism and the circalunar clock, we investigated mRNA levels of Cry3 as well as those of the other clock(-related genes, Period (Per2 and Per4, in S. guttatus reared under nocturnal moonlight interruption or natural conditions. Not only SgCry3 but SgPer4 mRNA levels showed lunar phase-dependent variations in the diencephalon without depending on light condition during the night. These results suggest that the expressions of SgCry3 and SgPer4 are not directly regulated by moonlight stimulation but endogenously mediated in the brain, and implicate that circadian clock(-related genes may be involved in the circalunar clock locating within the mediobasal region of the diencephalon.

Hypothalamic expression and moonlight-independent changes of Cry3 and Per4 implicate their roles in lunar clock oscillators of the lunar-responsive Goldlined spinefoot.

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Toda, Riko; Okano, Keiko; Takeuchi, Yuki; Yamauchi, Chihiro; Fukushiro, Masato; Takemura, Akihiro; Okano, Toshiyuki

2014-01-01

Lunar cycle-associated physiology has been found in a wide variety of organisms. Studies suggest the presence of a circalunar clock in some animals, but the location of the lunar clock is unclear. We previously found lunar-associated expression of transcripts for Cryptochrome3 gene (SgCry3) in the brain of a lunar phase-responsive fish, the Goldlined spinefoot (Siganus guttatus). Then we proposed a photoperiodic model for the lunar phase response, in which SgCry3 might function as a phase-specific light response gene and/or an oscillatory factor in unidentified circalunar clock. In this study, we have developed an anti-SgCRY3 antibody to identify SgCRY3-immunoreactive cells in the brain. We found immunoreactions in the subependymal cells located in the mediobasal region of the diencephalon, a crucial site for photoperiodic seasonal responses in birds. For further assessment of the lunar-responding mechanism and the circalunar clock, we investigated mRNA levels of Cry3 as well as those of the other clock(-related) genes, Period (Per2 and Per4), in S. guttatus reared under nocturnal moonlight interruption or natural conditions. Not only SgCry3 but SgPer4 mRNA levels showed lunar phase-dependent variations in the diencephalon without depending on light condition during the night. These results suggest that the expressions of SgCry3 and SgPer4 are not directly regulated by moonlight stimulation but endogenously mediated in the brain, and implicate that circadian clock(-related) genes may be involved in the circalunar clock locating within the mediobasal region of the diencephalon.

Impact of an educational intervention on caregivers' beliefs about infant crying and knowledge of shaken baby syndrome.

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Bechtel, Kirsten; Le, Kim; Martin, Kimberly D; Shah, Niyati; Leventhal, John M; Colson, Eve

2011-01-01

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is the leading cause of traumatic infant death. We examined whether the message about not shaking an infant should be included in the newborn anticipatory guidance provided by pediatric residents. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of an educational intervention (Take 5 Safety Plan for Crying) delivered by pediatric residents at newborn hospital discharge on beliefs about infant crying and knowledge of SBS among caregivers of young infants being treated in an urban primary care center. Structured interviews were done in one convenience sample of caregivers before (historical control group) and in a second set of different caregivers after (intervention group) an educational intervention was implemented at hospital discharge. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted associations between the intervention and caregivers' beliefs/knowledge. One hundred ten caregivers were in the historical control group and 112 in the intervention group. The intervention group had more mothers and the infants were younger. Controlling for these differences, intervention group caregivers were more likely to state they would take a break if frustrated with infant crying (OR 3.10, 95% CI, 1.62-5.93), were more likely to state frustration caused infant shaking (OR 2.21, 95% CI, 1.20-4.20), and to state their knowledge of SBS was from hospital staff (OR 3.39, 95% CI, 1.61-4.20). This targeted postpartum intervention incorporated into newborn anticipatory guidance can influence caregivers' beliefs about infant crying and knowledge of SBS. Copyright © 2011 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Safety assessment of lepidopteran insect-protected transgenic rice with cry2A* gene.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Shiying; Huang, Kunlun; Xu, Wentao; Luo, Yunbo; He, Xiaoyun

2016-04-01

Numerous genetically modified (GM) crops expressing proteins for insect resistance have been commercialized following extensive testing demonstrating that the foods obtained from them are as safe as that obtained from their corresponding non-GM varieties. In this paper, we report the outcome of safety studies conducted on a newly developed insect-resistant GM rice expressing the cry2A* gene by a subchronic oral toxicity study on rats. GM rice and non-GM rice were incorporated into the diet at levels of 30, 50, and 70% (w/w), No treatment-related adverse or toxic effects were observed based on an examination of the daily clinical signs, body weight, food consumption, hematology, serum biochemistry, and organ weight or based on gross and histopathological examination. These results demonstrate that the GM rice with cry2A* gene is as safe for food as conventional non-GM rice.

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ia10 and Vip3Aa protein interactions and their toxicity in Spodoptera spp. (Lepidoptera).

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Bergamasco, V B; Mendes, D R P; Fernandes, O A; Desidério, J A; Lemos, M V F

2013-02-01

The polyphagous pests belonging to the genus Spodoptera are considered to be among the most important causes of damage and are widely distributed throughout the Americas'. Due to the extensive use of genetically modified plants containing Bacillus thuringiensis genes that code for insecticidal proteins, resistant insects may arise. To prevent the development of resistance, pyramided plants, which express multiple insecticidal proteins that act through distinct mode of actions, can be used. This study analyzed the mechanisms of action for the proteins Cry1Ia10 and Vip3Aa on neonatal Spodoptera frugiperda, Spodoptera albula, Spodoptera eridania and Spodoptera cosmioides larvae. The interactions of these toxins with receptors on the intestinal epithelial membrane were also analyzed by binding biotinylated toxins to brush border membrane vesicles (BBMVs) from the intestines of these insects. A putative receptor of approximately 65 kDa was found by ligand blotting in all of these species. In vitro competition assays using biotinylated proteins have indicated that Vip3Aa and Cry1Ia10 do not compete for the same receptor for S. frugiperda, S. albula and S. cosmioides and that Vip3Aa was more efficient than Cry1Ia10 when tested individually, by bioassays. A synergistic effect of the toxins in S. frugiperda, S. albula and S. cosmioides was observed when they were combined. However, in S. eridania, Cry1Ia10 and Vip3Aa might compete for the same receptor and through bioassays Cry1Ia10 was more efficient than Vip3Aa and showed an antagonistic effect when the proteins were combined. These results suggest that using these genes to develop pyramided plants may not prove effective in preventing the development of resistance in S. eridiana. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Transformation and expression of specific insecticide gene Bt cry3A in resident endogenetic bacteria isolated from Apriona germari (Hope) larvae intestines].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhongkang, Wang; Wei, He; Guoxiong, Peng; Yuxian, Xia; Qiang, Li; Youping, Yin

2008-09-01

Transforming the specific insecticidal gene Bt cry3A into the dominant resident endogenetic bacteria in intestines of Apriona germari (Hope) larvae to construct transgenic bacteria that can colonize and express the insecticidal gene Bt cry3A perfectly in intestines of Apriona germari (Hope) larvae. We isolated and identified the dominant resident endogenetic bacteria by traditional methods and molecular method based of 16S rDNA analysis. Two Escherichia coli--Bacillus thuringiensis shuttle plasmid pHT305a and pHT7911 which contained specific insecticidal gene Bt cry3A were transformed into two resident endogenetic bacteria Brevibacillus brevis Ag12 and Bacillus thuringiensis Ag13 isolated from A. germari larvae intestines respectively by electro-transformation. Eighteen species of bacteria have isolated and identified from Apriona germari larvae intestines and two of them (Brevibacillus brevis Ag12 and Bacillus thuringiensis Ag13) were selected as starting bacteria to recieve the Bt cry3A. The 4 transgenic engineering strains Ag12-7911, Ag12-305a, Ag13-7911 and Ag13-305a were obtained successfully and validated by testing the plasmid stability in recombinants, transformants vegetal properties, crystal poisonous protein observation, expressional protein SDS-PAGE. The Bt cry3A gene had been transformed into Brevibacillus brevis and Bacillus thuringiensis. Both bioassay and examination of the engineering strains in intestines after feeding them to larvae showed that all these transformant strains (Brevibacillus brevis Ag12-305a, Bacillus thurigiensis Ag13-305a, Brevibacillus brevis Ag12-7911 and Bacillus thurigiensis Ag13-7911) could colonize and express 65 kDa protoxin in intestines of A. germari larvae and had insecticidal activity. We obtained four transgenic bacteria that can colonize and express the target insecticide gene Bt cry3A in A. germari larvae. They may be developed as a new insecticide.

Diagnosing gastro-oesophageal reflux disease or lactose intolerance in babies who cry a lot in the first few months overlooks feeding problems.

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Douglas, Pamela Sylvia

2013-04-01

This paper explores two areas in which the translation of research into practice may be improved in the management of cry-fuss behaviours in the first few months of life. Firstly, babies who cry excessively are often prescribed proton pump inhibitors, despite evidence that gastro-oesophageal reflux disease is very rarely a cause. The inaccuracy of commonly used explanatory mechanisms, the side-effects of acid-suppressive medications, and the failure to identify treatable problems, including feeding difficulty when the diagnosis of 'reflux' is applied, are discussed. Secondly, crying breastfed babies are still prescribed lactase or lactose-free formula, despite evidence that the problem of functional lactose overload is one of breastfeeding management. The mechanisms and management of functional lactose overload are discussed. These two problems of research translation need to be addressed because failure to identify and manage other causes of cry-fuss problems, including feeding difficulty, may have adverse outcomes for a small but significant minority of families. © 2013 The Author. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Downregulation and Mutation of a Cadherin Gene Associated with Cry1Ac Resistance in the Asian Corn Borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée

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Tingting Jin

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Development of resistance in target pests is a major threat to long-term use of transgenic crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt Cry toxins. To manage and/or delay the evolution of resistance in target insects through the implementation of effective strategies, it is essential to understand the basis of resistance. One of the most important mechanisms of insect resistance to Bt crops is the alteration of the interactions between Cry toxins and their receptors in the midgut. A Cry1Ac-selected strain of Asian corn borer (ACB, Ostrinia furnacalis, a key pest of maize in China, evolved three mutant alleles of a cadherin-like protein (OfCAD (MPR-r1, MPR-r2 and MPR-r3, which mapped within the toxin-binding region (TBR. Each of the three mutant alleles possessed two or three amino acid substitutions in this region, especially Thr1457→Ser. In highly resistant larvae (ACB-Ac200, MPR-r2 had a 26-amino acid residue deletion in the TBR, which resulted in reduced binding of Cry1Ac compared to the MPR from the susceptible strain, suggesting that the number of amino acid deletions influences the level of resistance. Furthermore, downregulation of OfCAD gene (ofcad transcription was observed in the Cry1Ac resistant strain, ACB-Ac24, suggesting that Cry1Ac resistance in ACB is associated with the downregulation of the transcript levels of the cadherin-like protein gene. The OfCAD identified from ACB exhibited a high degree of similarity to other members of the cadherin super-family in lepidopteran species.

Normalization of flow-mediated dilation to shear stress area under the curve eliminates the impact of variable hyperemic stimulus.

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Padilla, Jaume; Johnson, Blair D; Newcomer, Sean C; Wilhite, Daniel P; Mickleborough, Timothy D; Fly, Alyce D; Mather, Kieren J; Wallace, Janet P

2008-09-04

Normalization of brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) to individual shear stress area under the curve (peak FMD:SSAUC ratio) has recently been proposed as an approach to control for the large inter-subject variability in reactive hyperemia-induced shear stress; however, the adoption of this approach among researchers has been slow. The present study was designed to further examine the efficacy of FMD normalization to shear stress in reducing measurement variability. Five different magnitudes of reactive hyperemia-induced shear stress were applied to 20 healthy, physically active young adults (25.3 +/- 0. 6 yrs; 10 men, 10 women) by manipulating forearm cuff occlusion duration: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 min, in a randomized order. A venous blood draw was performed for determination of baseline whole blood viscosity and hematocrit. The magnitude of occlusion-induced forearm ischemia was quantified by dual-wavelength near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS). Brachial artery diameters and velocities were obtained via high-resolution ultrasound. The SSAUC was individually calculated for the duration of time-to-peak dilation. One-way repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated distinct magnitudes of occlusion-induced ischemia (volume and peak), hyperemic shear stress, and peak FMD responses (all p index of endothelial function.

Characterization of Baculovirus Insecticides Expressing Tailored Bacillus thuringiensis CryIA(b) Crystal Proteins

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martens, John W M; Knoester, Marga; Weijts, Franci; Groffen, Sander J A; Hu, Zhihong; Bosch, Dirk; Vlak, Just M.

1995-01-01

Full-length, truncated, and mature forms of the CryIA(b) insecticidal crystal protein gene of Bacillus thuringiensis were engineered into the p10 locus of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV). A signal sequence of Heliothis virescens juvenile hormone esterase was introduced at

Normalization of flow-mediated dilation to shear stress area under the curve eliminates the impact of variable hyperemic stimulus

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Mickleborough Timothy D

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Normalization of brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD to individual shear stress area under the curve (peak FMD:SSAUC ratio has recently been proposed as an approach to control for the large inter-subject variability in reactive hyperemia-induced shear stress; however, the adoption of this approach among researchers has been slow. The present study was designed to further examine the efficacy of FMD normalization to shear stress in reducing measurement variability. Methods Five different magnitudes of reactive hyperemia-induced shear stress were applied to 20 healthy, physically active young adults (25.3 ± 0. 6 yrs; 10 men, 10 women by manipulating forearm cuff occlusion duration: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 min, in a randomized order. A venous blood draw was performed for determination of baseline whole blood viscosity and hematocrit. The magnitude of occlusion-induced forearm ischemia was quantified by dual-wavelength near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS. Brachial artery diameters and velocities were obtained via high-resolution ultrasound. The SSAUC was individually calculated for the duration of time-to-peak dilation. Results One-way repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated distinct magnitudes of occlusion-induced ischemia (volume and peak, hyperemic shear stress, and peak FMD responses (all p AUC (p = 0.785. Conclusion Our data confirm that normalization of FMD to SSAUC eliminates the influences of variable shear stress and solidifies the utility of FMD:SSAUC ratio as an index of endothelial function.

Binding Site Concentration Explains the Differential Susceptibility of Chilo suppressalis and Sesamia inferens to Cry1A-Producing Rice

OpenAIRE

Han, Lanzhi; Han, Chao; Liu, Zewen; Chen, Fajun; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis; Hou, Maolin; Peng, Yufa

2014-01-01

Chilo suppressalis and Sesamia inferens are two important lepidopteran rice pests that occur concurrently during outbreaks in paddy fields in the main rice-growing areas of China. Previous and current field tests demonstrate that the transgenic rice line Huahui 1 (HH1) producing a Cry1Ab-Cry1Ac hybrid toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis reduces egg and larval densities of C. suppressalis but not of S. inferens. This differential susceptibility to HH1 rice correlates with the reduc...

Production of the {sup 14}C-labeled insecticidal protein Cry1Ab for soil metabolic studies using a recombinant Escherichia coli in small-scale batch fermentations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valldor, Petra; Miethling-Graff, Rona; Dockhorn, Susanne; Martens, Rainer; Tebbe, Christoph C. [Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Braunschweig (Germany). Thuenen Institute (vTI) for Biodiversity

2012-10-15

Insecticidal Cry proteins naturally produced by Bacillus thuringiensis are a major recombinant trait expressed by genetically modified crops. They are released into the soil during and after cropping. The objective of this study was to produce {sup 14}C-labeled Cry1Ab proteins for soil metabolic studies in scope of their environmental risk assessment. Cry1Ab was synthesized as a protoxin by Escherichia coli HB101 pMP in 200-mL liquid batch culture fermentations and purified from inclusion bodies after trypsin digestion. For cultivation, U-{sup 14}C-glycerol was the main carbon source. Inclusion bodies were smaller and Cry1Ab yield was lower when the initial amount of total organic carbon in the cultivation broth was below 6.4 mg C L{sup -1}. Concentrations of 12.6 g {sup 14}C-labeled glycerol L{sup -1} (1 % v/v) resulted in the production of 17.1 mg {sup 14}C-Cry1Ab L{sup -1} cultivation medium. {sup 14}C mass balances showed that approx. 50 % of the label was lost by respiration and 20 % remained in the growth media, while the residual activity was associated with biomass. Depending on the production batch, 0.01 to 0.05 % of the total {sup 14}C originated from Cry1Ab. In the presence of 2.04 MBq {sup 14}C-labeled carbon sources, a specific activity of up to 268 Bq mg{sup -1} {sup 14}C-Cry1Ab was obtained. A more than threefold higher specific activity was achieved with 4.63 MBq and an extended cultivation period of 144 h. This study demonstrates that {sup 14}C-labeled Cry1Ab can be obtained from batch fermentations with E. coli in the presence of a simple {sup 14}C-labeled carbon source. It also provides a general strategy to produce {sup 14}C-labeled proteins useful for soil metabolic studies. (orig.)

An ABC transporter mutation is correlated with insect resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin.

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Linda J Gahan

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Transgenic crops producing insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt are commercially successful in reducing pest damage, yet knowledge of resistance mechanisms that threaten their sustainability is incomplete. Insect resistance to the pore-forming Cry1Ac toxin is correlated with the loss of high-affinity, irreversible binding to the mid-gut membrane, but the genetic factors responsible for this change have been elusive. Mutations in a 12-cadherin-domain protein confer some Cry1Ac resistance but do not block this toxin binding in in vitro assays. We sought to identify mutations in other genes that might be responsible for the loss of binding. We employed a map-based cloning approach using a series of backcrosses with 1,060 progeny to identify a resistance gene in the cotton pest Heliothis virescens that segregated independently from the cadherin mutation. We found an inactivating mutation of the ABC transporter ABCC2 that is genetically linked to Cry1Ac resistance and is correlated with loss of Cry1Ac binding to membrane vesicles. ABC proteins are integral membrane proteins with many functions, including export of toxic molecules from the cell, but have not been implicated in the mode of action of Bt toxins before. The reduction in toxin binding due to the inactivating mutation suggests that ABCC2 is involved in membrane integration of the toxin pore. Our findings suggest that ABC proteins may play a key role in the mode of action of Bt toxins and that ABC protein mutations can confer high levels of resistance that could threaten the continued utilization of Bt-expressing crops. However, such mutations may impose a physiological cost on resistant insects, by reducing export of other toxins such as plant secondary compounds from the cell. This weakness could be exploited to manage this mechanism of Bt resistance in the field.

An ABC transporter mutation is correlated with insect resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin.

Science.gov (United States)

Gahan, Linda J; Pauchet, Yannick; Vogel, Heiko; Heckel, David G

2010-12-16

Transgenic crops producing insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are commercially successful in reducing pest damage, yet knowledge of resistance mechanisms that threaten their sustainability is incomplete. Insect resistance to the pore-forming Cry1Ac toxin is correlated with the loss of high-affinity, irreversible binding to the mid-gut membrane, but the genetic factors responsible for this change have been elusive. Mutations in a 12-cadherin-domain protein confer some Cry1Ac resistance but do not block this toxin binding in in vitro assays. We sought to identify mutations in other genes that might be responsible for the loss of binding. We employed a map-based cloning approach using a series of backcrosses with 1,060 progeny to identify a resistance gene in the cotton pest Heliothis virescens that segregated independently from the cadherin mutation. We found an inactivating mutation of the ABC transporter ABCC2 that is genetically linked to Cry1Ac resistance and is correlated with loss of Cry1Ac binding to membrane vesicles. ABC proteins are integral membrane proteins with many functions, including export of toxic molecules from the cell, but have not been implicated in the mode of action of Bt toxins before. The reduction in toxin binding due to the inactivating mutation suggests that ABCC2 is involved in membrane integration of the toxin pore. Our findings suggest that ABC proteins may play a key role in the mode of action of Bt toxins and that ABC protein mutations can confer high levels of resistance that could threaten the continued utilization of Bt-expressing crops. However, such mutations may impose a physiological cost on resistant insects, by reducing export of other toxins such as plant secondary compounds from the cell. This weakness could be exploited to manage this mechanism of Bt resistance in the field.

The Effect of Swaddling on Pain, Vital Signs, and Crying Duration during Heel Lance in Newborns.

Science.gov (United States)

Erkut, Zeynep; Yildiz, Suzan

2017-10-01

To determine the effect of swaddling on pain, vital signs, and crying duration during heel lance in the newborn. This was a randomized controlled study of 74 (control: 37, experiment: 37) newborns born between December 2013 and February 2014 at the Ministry of Health Bagcılar Training and Research Hospital. An information form, observation form, and Neonatal Infant Pain Scale were used as data collection tools. Data from the pain scores, peak heart rates, oxygen saturation, total crying time, and duration of the procedure were collected using a video camera. Newborns in the control group underwent routine heel lance, whereas newborns in the experimental group underwent routine heel lance while being swaddled by the researcher. The newborns' pain scores, peak heart rates, oxygen saturation values, and crying durations were evaluated using video recordings made before, during, and 1, 2, and 3 minutes after the procedure. Pain was assessed by a nurse and the researcher. No statistically significant difference was found in the characteristics of the two groups (p > .05). The mean pain scores of swaddled newborns during and after the procedure were lower than the nonswaddled newborns (p  .05). Although there was no significant difference in oxygen saturation values before and during the procedure (p > .05), oxygen saturation values of swaddled newborns were higher afterward (p < .05). For this study sample, swaddling was an effective nonpharmacologic method to help reduce pain and crying in an effort to soothe newborns. Although pharmacologic pain management is the gold standard, swaddling can be recommended as a complementary therapy for newborns during painful procedures. Swaddling is a quick and simple nonpharmacologic method that can be used by nurses to help reduce heel stick pain in newborns. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Maternal neural responses to infant cries and faces: relationships with substance use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole eLandi

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Substance abuse in pregnant and recently postpartum women is a major public health concern because of effects on the infant and on the ability of the adult to care for the infant. In addition to the negative health effects of teratogenic substances on fetal development, substance use can contribute to difficulties associated with the social and behavioral aspects of parenting. Neural circuits associated with parenting behavior overlap with circuits involved in addiction (e.g., frontal, striatal and limbic systems and thus may be co-opted for the craving/reward cycle associated with substance use and abuse and be less available for parenting. The current study investigates the degree to which neural circuits associated with parenting are disrupted in mothers who are substance-using. Specifically, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural response to emotional infant cues (faces and cries in substance-using compared to non-using mothers. In response to both faces (of varying emotional valence and cries (of varying distress levels, substance-using mothers evidenced reduced neural activation in regions that have been previously implicated in reward and motivation as well as regions involved in cognitive control. Specifically, in response to faces, substance users showed reduced activation in prefrontal regions, including the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, as well as visual processing (occipital lobes and limbic regions (parahippocampus and amygdala. Similarly, in response to infant cries substance-using mothers showed reduced activation relative to non-using mothers in prefrontal regions, auditory sensory processing regions, insula and limbic regions (parahippocampus and amygdala. These findings suggest that infant stimuli may be less salient for substance-using mothers, and such reduced saliency may impair developing infant-caregiver attachment and the ability of mothers to respond appropriately to their

Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis CRY1A(c) d-endotoxin on growth ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The recent introduction of Bt maize and Bt cotton transgenic crops into Africa has raised concerns on their potential short and long-term ecological effects on the environment. The effects of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1A(c) d-endotoxin on the growth, nodulation and productivity of two leguminous plants grown in clay soil ...

Dream-Enacting Behaviors in a Normal Population

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Tore; Svob, Connie; Kuiken, Don

2009-01-01

Study Objectives: Determine the prevalence and gender distributions of behaviors enacted during dreaming (“dream-enacting [DE] behaviors”) in a normal population; the independence of such behaviors from other parasomnias; and the influence of different question wordings, socially desirable responding and personality on prevalence. Design: 3-group questionnaire study Setting: University classrooms Participants: Three undergraduate samples (Ns = 443, 201, 496; mean ages = 19.9 ± 3.2 y; 20.1 ± 3.4 y; 19.1 ± 1.6 y) Interventions: N/A Measurements and Results: Subjects completed questionnaires about DE behaviors and Social Desirability. Study 1 employed a nonspecific question about the behaviors, Study 2 employed the same question with examples, and Study 3 employed 7 questions describing specific behavior subtypes (speaking, crying, smiling/laughing, fear, anger, movement, sexual arousal). Somnambulism, somniloquy, nightmares, dream recall, alexithymia, and absorption were also assessed. Factor analyses were conducted to determine relationships among DE behaviors and their independence from other parasomnias. Prevalence increased with increasing question specificity (35.9%, 76.7%, and 98.2% for the 3 samples). No gender difference obtained for the nonspecific question, but robust differences occurred for more specific questions. Females reported more speaking, crying, fear and smiling/laughing than did males; males reported more sexual arousal. When controlling other parasomnias and dream recall frequency, these differences persisted. Factor solutions revealed that DE behaviors were independent of other parasomnias and of dream recall frequency, except for an association between dream-talking and somniloquy. Sexual arousal was related only to age. Behaviors were independent of alexithymia but moderately related to absorption. Conclusions: Dream-enacting behaviors are prevalent in healthy subjects and sensitive to question wording but not social desirability

Social and psychological consequences of not crying : Possible associations with psychopathology and therapeutic relevance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hesdorffer, D.C.; Vingerhoets, A.J.J.M.; Trimble, M.R.

2017-01-01

Emotional crying is hypothesized to serve intra- and interpersonal functions. Intrapersonal functions are assumed to facilitate the capacity to recover from emotional distress, thus promoting well-being. Interpersonal functions are postulated to have a major impact on social functioning. We

Comparison of NCHS, CDC, and WHO curves in children with cardiovascular risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Grasiela Junges de; Barbiero, Sandra Mari; Cesa, Claudia Ciceri; Pellanda, Lucia Campos

2013-01-01

The study aimed to compare the prevalence of overweight and obesity according to three growth curves, created by the World Health Organization (WHO/2006), by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS/1977), and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/2000) in children with cardiovascular risk factors. Data from 118 children and adolescents, aged between 2 and 19 years, treated between the years 2001 to 2009 at the Pediatric Preventive Cardiology Outpatient Clinic of the Instituto de Cardiologia de Porto Alegre were evaluated. The variables analyzed were: weight, height, age, and gender. Variables were classified according to the following criteria: weight/age, height/age, and body mass index (BMI). The cutoff points used were obtained from the three growth curves: WHO/2006, NCHS/1977, and CDC/2000. Regarding the criterion weight/age by the NCHS curve, 18% of the children were classified as having normal weight, and 82% had excess weight; by the CDC curve, 28% had normal and 72% had excess weight; by the WHO curve, 16.0% had normal weight and 84% had excess weight. According to the BMI, 0.8% of the population was underweight. According to the CDC and WHO curves, 7.6% and 6.8% had normal weight; 26.3% and 11.9% were overweight; and 65.3% and 80.5% were obese, respectively. Regarding the height/age criterion, there was no significant difference between the references and, on average, 98.3% of the population showed adequate height for age. The new WHO curves are more sensitive to identify obesity in a population at risk, which has important implications for preventive and therapeutic management. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Behaviour, Physiology and Experience of Pathological Laughing and Crying in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

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Olney, Nicholas T.; Goodkind, Madeleine S.; Lomen-Hoerth, Catherine; Whalen, Patrick K.; Williamson, Craig A.; Holley, Deborah E.; Verstaen, Alice; Brown, Laurel M.; Miller, Bruce L.; Kornak, John; Levenson, Robert W.; Rosen, Howard J.

2011-01-01

Pathological laughing and crying is a disorder of emotional expression seen in a number of neurological diseases. The aetiology is poorly understood, but clinical descriptions suggest a disorder of emotion regulation. The goals of this study were: (i) to characterize the subjective, behavioural and physiological emotional reactions that occur…

An index formula for the self-linking number of a space curve

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røgen, Peter

2008-01-01

Given an embedded closed space curve with non-vanishing curvature, its self-linking number is defined as the linking number between the original curve and a curve pushed slightly off in the direction of its principal normals. We present an index formula for the self-linking number in terms of the...

Expression of a Chimeric Gene Encoding Insecticidal Crystal Protein Cry1Aabc of Bacillus thuringiensis in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Confers Resistance to Gram Pod Borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner.).

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Alok; Datta, Subhojit; Thakur, Shallu; Shukla, Alok; Ansari, Jamal; Sujayanand, G K; Chaturvedi, Sushil K; Kumar, P A; Singh, N P

2017-01-01

Domain swapping and generation of chimeric insecticidal crystal protein is an emerging area of insect pest management. The lepidopteran insect pest, gram pod borer ( Helicoverpa armigera H.) wreaks havoc to chickpea crop affecting production. Lepidopteran insects were reported to be controlled by Bt ( cryI ) genes. We designed a plant codon optimized chimeric Bt gene ( cry1Aabc ) using three domains from three different cry1A genes (domains I, II, and III from cry1Aa , cry1Ab , and cry1Ac , respectively) and expressed it under the control of a constitutive promoter in chickpea ( cv . DCP92-3) to assess its effect on gram pod borer. A total of six transgenic chickpea shoots were established by grafting into mature fertile plants. The in vitro regenerated (organogenetic) shoots were selected based on antibiotic kanamycin monosulfate (100 mg/L) with transformation efficiency of 0.076%. Three transgenic events were extensively studied based on gene expression pattern and insect mortality across generations. Protein expression in pod walls, immature seeds and leaves (pre- and post-flowering) were estimated and expression in pre-flowering stage was found higher than that of post-flowering. Analysis for the stable integration, expression and insect mortality (detached leaf and whole plant bioassay) led to identification of efficacious transgenic chickpea lines. The chimeric cry1Aabc expressed in chickpea is effective against gram pod borer and generated events can be utilized in transgenic breeding program.

Expression of a Chimeric Gene Encoding Insecticidal Crystal Protein Cry1Aabc of Bacillus thuringiensis in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. Confers Resistance to Gram Pod Borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner.

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Alok Das

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Domain swapping and generation of chimeric insecticidal crystal protein is an emerging area of insect pest management. The lepidopteran insect pest, gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera H. wreaks havoc to chickpea crop affecting production. Lepidopteran insects were reported to be controlled by Bt (cryI genes. We designed a plant codon optimized chimeric Bt gene (cry1Aabc using three domains from three different cry1A genes (domains I, II, and III from cry1Aa, cry1Ab, and cry1Ac, respectively and expressed it under the control of a constitutive promoter in chickpea (cv. DCP92-3 to assess its effect on gram pod borer. A total of six transgenic chickpea shoots were established by grafting into mature fertile plants. The in vitro regenerated (organogenetic shoots were selected based on antibiotic kanamycin monosulfate (100 mg/L with transformation efficiency of 0.076%. Three transgenic events were extensively studied based on gene expression pattern and insect mortality across generations. Protein expression in pod walls, immature seeds and leaves (pre- and post-flowering were estimated and expression in pre-flowering stage was found higher than that of post-flowering. Analysis for the stable integration, expression and insect mortality (detached leaf and whole plant bioassay led to identification of efficacious transgenic chickpea lines. The chimeric cry1Aabc expressed in chickpea is effective against gram pod borer and generated events can be utilized in transgenic breeding program.

Intraguild competition and enhanced survival of western bean cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on transgenic Cry1Ab (MON810) Bacillus thuringiensis corn.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorhout, David L; Rice, Marlin E

2010-02-01

The effect of genetically modified corn (event MON810, YieldGard Corn Borer) expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis sp. kurstaki (Berliner) (Bt) endotoxin, Cry1Ab, on the survival of western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith), larvae was examined during intraguild competition studies with either European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), or corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), larvae. Competition scenarios were constructed by using either a laboratory or field competition arena containing one of five different diets and one of 13 different larval size-by-species scenarios. The survival of western bean cutworms competing with corn earworms in the laboratory arenas on either a meridic diet or isoline corn silk diet was significantly lower (P corn earworm on a Cry1Ab-MON810 corn silk diet was significant higher (P corn borers generally did not alter the outcomes observed in the western bean cutworm and corn earworm only two-way competitions. These data suggest that Cry1Ab-MON810 corn may confer a competitive advantage to western bean cutworm larvae during intraguild competition, particularly from corn earworms, and that western bean cutworms become equal competitors only when they are of equal or larger size and the diet is Cry1Ab-MON810 corn.

ACL graft can replicate the normal ligament's tension curve

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arnold, MP; Verdonschot, N; van Kampen, A

2005-01-01

The anatomical femoral insertion of the normal anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) lies on the deep portion of the lateral wall of the intercondylar fossa. Following the deep bone-cartilage border, it stretches from 11 o'clock high in the notch all the way down to its lowest border at 8 o'clock. The

EVALUATION OF ALL BABIES CRY, A SECOND GENERATION UNIVERSAL ABUSIVE HEAD TRAUMA PREVENTION PROGRAM.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrill, Allison C; McElaney, Lisa; Peixotto, Betsy; VanVleet, Marcia; Sege, Robert

2015-04-01

Child maltreatment results in significant individual, family, and societal costs. This study assessed the efficacy of All Babies Cry (ABC) , a media-based infant maltreatment prevention program, using a mixed-method, quasi-experimental staged evaluation design. ABC's messaging, designed and tested through a series of focus groups, provides strategies for reducing parental stress and soothing infants. Participants ( n = 423) were first-time parents, 70% fathers, recruited at two hospitals. The first 211 were controls; the next 212 received ABC. Participants were interviewed 3 times: at baseline in hospital, and by telephone 5 weeks ( n = 359; 85%) and 17 weeks ( n = 326; 77%) later. Researchers measured parents' perceptions, intentions, and use of strategies to calm crying and manage caregiver stress. Outcomes were based on the Strengthening Families Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The intervention was well received, appears effective in improving mediators of behavior, and may change parental behavior.

Recognition of a Baby's Emotional Cry towards Robotics Baby Caregiver

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Shota Yamamoto

2013-02-01

Full Text Available We developed a method for pattern recognition of baby's emotions (discomfortable, hungry, or sleepy expressed in the baby's cries. A 32-dimensional fast Fourier transform is performed for sound form clips, detected by our reported method and used as training data. The power of the sound form judged as a silent region is subtracted from each power of the frequency element. The power of each frequency element after the subtraction is treated as one of the elements of the feature vector. We perform principal component analysis (PCA for the feature vectors of the training data. The emotion of the baby is recognized by the nearest neighbor criterion applied to the feature vector obtained from the test data of sound form clips after projecting the feature vector on the PCA space from the training data. Then, the emotion with the highest frequency among the recognition results for a sound form clip is judged as the emotion expressed by the baby's cry. We successfully applied the proposed method to pattern recognition of baby's emotions. The present investigation concerns the first stage of the development of a robotics baby caregiver that has the ability to detect baby's emotions. In this first stage, we have developed a method for detecting baby's emotions. We expect that the proposed method could be used in robots that can help take care of babies.

Recognition of a Baby's Emotional Cry Towards Robotics Baby Caregiver

OpenAIRE

Yamamoto, Shota; Yoshitomi, Yasunari; Tabuse, Masayoshi; Kushida, Kou; Asada, Taro

2013-01-01

We developed a method for pattern recognition of baby's emotions (discomfortable, hungry, or sleepy) expressed in the baby's cries. A 32-dimensional fast Fourier transform is performed for sound form clips, detected by our reported method and used as training data. The power of the sound form judged as a silent region is subtracted from each power of the frequency element. The power of each frequency element after the subtraction is treated as one of the elements of the feature vector. We per...

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ca-resistant Spodoptera exigua lacks expression of one of four Aminopeptidase N genes

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Moar William J

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis bind to receptors on midgut epithelial cells of susceptible insect larvae. Aminopeptidases N (APNs from several insect species have been shown to be putative receptors for these toxins. Here we report the cloning and expression analysis of four APN cDNAs from Spodoptera exigua. Results Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH was used to construct cDNA libraries of genes that are up-and down-regulated in the midgut of last instar larvae of beet armyworm, S. exigua exposed to B. thuringiensis Cry1Ca toxin. Among the clones from the SSH libraries, cDNA fragments coding for two different APNs were obtained (APN2 and APN4. A similar procedure was employed to compare mRNA differences between susceptible and Cry1Ca resistant S. exigua. Among the clones from this last comparison, cDNA fragments belonging to a third APN (APN1 were detected. Using sequences obtained from the three APN cDNA fragments and degenerate primers for a fourth APN (APN3, the full length sequences of four S. exigua APN cDNAs were obtained. Northern blot analysis of expression of the four APNs showed complete absence of APN1 expression in the resistant insects, while the other three APNs showed similar expression levels in the resistant and susceptible insects. Conclusion We have cloned and characterized four different midgut APN cDNAs from S. exigua. Expression analysis revealed the lack of expression of one of these APNs in the larvae of a Cry1Ca-resistant colony. Combined with previous evidence that shows the importance of APN in the mode of action of B. thuringiensis toxins, these results suggest that the lack of APN1 expression plays a role in the resistance to Cry1Ca in this S. exigua colony.

MAPK Signaling Pathway Alters Expression of Midgut ALP and ABCC Genes and Causes Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac Toxin in Diamondback Moth

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Zhu, Xun; Baxter, Simon W.; Zhou, Xuguo; Jurat-Fuentes, Juan Luis; Zhang, Youjun

2015-01-01

Insecticidal crystal toxins derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are widely used as biopesticide sprays or expressed in transgenic crops to control insect pests. However, large-scale use of Bt has led to field-evolved resistance in several lepidopteran pests. Resistance to Bt Cry1Ac toxin in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), was previously mapped to a multigenic resistance locus (BtR-1). Here, we assembled the 3.15 Mb BtR-1 locus and found high-level resistance to Cry1Ac and Bt biopesticide in four independent P. xylostella strains were all associated with differential expression of a midgut membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase (ALP) outside this locus and a suite of ATP-binding cassette transporter subfamily C (ABCC) genes inside this locus. The interplay between these resistance genes is controlled by a previously uncharacterized trans-regulatory mechanism via the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Molecular, biochemical, and functional analyses have established ALP as a functional Cry1Ac receptor. Phenotypic association experiments revealed that the recessive Cry1Ac resistance was tightly linked to down-regulation of ALP, ABCC2 and ABCC3, whereas it was not linked to up-regulation of ABCC1. Silencing of ABCC2 and ABCC3 in susceptible larvae reduced their susceptibility to Cry1Ac but did not affect the expression of ALP, whereas suppression of MAP4K4, a constitutively transcriptionally-activated MAPK upstream gene within the BtR-1 locus, led to a transient recovery of gene expression thereby restoring the susceptibility in resistant larvae. These results highlight a crucial role for ALP and ABCC genes in field-evolved resistance to Cry1Ac and reveal a novel trans-regulatory signaling mechanism responsible for modulating the expression of these pivotal genes in P. xylostella. PMID:25875245

MAPK signaling pathway alters expression of midgut ALP and ABCC genes and causes resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin in diamondback moth.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaojiang Guo

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Insecticidal crystal toxins derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt are widely used as biopesticide sprays or expressed in transgenic crops to control insect pests. However, large-scale use of Bt has led to field-evolved resistance in several lepidopteran pests. Resistance to Bt Cry1Ac toxin in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L., was previously mapped to a multigenic resistance locus (BtR-1. Here, we assembled the 3.15 Mb BtR-1 locus and found high-level resistance to Cry1Ac and Bt biopesticide in four independent P. xylostella strains were all associated with differential expression of a midgut membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase (ALP outside this locus and a suite of ATP-binding cassette transporter subfamily C (ABCC genes inside this locus. The interplay between these resistance genes is controlled by a previously uncharacterized trans-regulatory mechanism via the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK signaling pathway. Molecular, biochemical, and functional analyses have established ALP as a functional Cry1Ac receptor. Phenotypic association experiments revealed that the recessive Cry1Ac resistance was tightly linked to down-regulation of ALP, ABCC2 and ABCC3, whereas it was not linked to up-regulation of ABCC1. Silencing of ABCC2 and ABCC3 in susceptible larvae reduced their susceptibility to Cry1Ac but did not affect the expression of ALP, whereas suppression of MAP4K4, a constitutively transcriptionally-activated MAPK upstream gene within the BtR-1 locus, led to a transient recovery of gene expression thereby restoring the susceptibility in resistant larvae. These results highlight a crucial role for ALP and ABCC genes in field-evolved resistance to Cry1Ac and reveal a novel trans-regulatory signaling mechanism responsible for modulating the expression of these pivotal genes in P. xylostella.

Incontinência do choro e infarto protuberancial unilateral Incontinence of crying and unilateral pontine infarct

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Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza

1995-09-01

Full Text Available O presente estudo trata do caso de um paciente que apresentou incontinência do choro e hemiplegia direita por infarto ventroprotuberancial paramediano detectado pela RNM. O caráter circunscrito da lesão foi endossado pela normalidade dos potenciais evocados sômato-sensitivos e auditivos de curta-latência. Os episódios de choro desapareceram poucos dias depois do início do tratamento com doses baixas de imipramina. Discutimos o choro e riso patológicos como forma de incontinência da mímica resultante de desconexão límbico-motora, enfatizando a impropriedade de incluí-los na síndrome pseudobulbar, uma vez que dependem de correlatos anatômicos e funcionais distintos.A 64-year-old man presented with pathologic crying and right hemiplegia due to a unilateral pontine infarct from probable branch disease of the basilar artery. The circumscribed nature of the lesion was supported by MRI and short-latency evoked potentials. The weeping spells ceased after a few days of imipramine in low doses. Pathologic laughing and crying can be viewed as a limbic-motor disconnection syndrome, in which the faciovocal motor system is released from forebrain afferents carrying information of emotional content. The inclusion of pathologic laughing and crying in the syndrome pseudobulbar palsy is inaccurate and misleading, since each is related to distinct functional and anatomic systems intrinsic to the human brainstem.

An Intramolecular Salt Bridge in Bacillus thuringiensis Cry4Ba Toxin Is Involved in the Stability of Helix α-3, Which Is Needed for Oligomerization and Insecticidal Activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pacheco, Sabino; Gómez, Isabel; Sánchez, Jorge; García-Gómez, Blanca-Ines; Soberón, Mario; Bravo, Alejandra

2017-10-15

Bacillus thuringiensis three-domain Cry toxins kill insects by forming pores in the apical membrane of larval midgut cells. Oligomerization of the toxin is an important step for pore formation. Domain I helix α-3 participates in toxin oligomerization. Here we identify an intramolecular salt bridge within helix α-3 of Cry4Ba (D111-K115) that is conserved in many members of the family of three-domain Cry toxins. Single point mutations such as D111K or K115D resulted in proteins severely affected in toxicity. These mutants were also altered in oligomerization, and the mutant K115D was more sensitive to protease digestion. The double point mutant with reversed charges, D111K-K115D, recovered both oligomerization and toxicity, suggesting that this salt bridge is highly important for conservation of the structure of helix α-3 and necessary to promote the correct oligomerization of the toxin. IMPORTANCE Domain I has been shown to be involved in oligomerization through helix α-3 in different Cry toxins, and mutations affecting oligomerization also elicit changes in toxicity. The three-dimensional structure of the Cry4Ba toxin reveals an intramolecular salt bridge in helix α-3 of domain I. Mutations that disrupt this salt bridge resulted in changes in Cry4Ba oligomerization and toxicity, while a double point reciprocal mutation that restored the salt bridge resulted in recovery of toxin oligomerization and toxicity. These data highlight the role of oligomer formation as a key step in Cry4Ba toxicity. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

In Silico Modeling and Functional Interpretations of Cry1Ab15 Toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis BtB-Hm-16

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Sudhanshu Kashyap

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The theoretical homology based structural model of Cry1Ab15 δ-endotoxin produced by Bacillus thuringiensis BtB-Hm-16 was predicted using the Cry1Aa template (resolution 2.25 Å. The Cry1Ab15 resembles the template structure by sharing a common three-domain extending conformation structure responsible for pore-forming and specificity determination. The novel structural differences found are the presence of β0 and α3, and the absence of α7b, β1a, α10a, α10b, β12, and α11a while α9 is located spatially downstream. Validation by SUPERPOSE and with the use of PROCHECK program showed folding of 98% of modeled residues in a favourable and stable orientation with a total energy Z-score of −6.56; the constructed model has an RMSD of only 1.15 Å. These increments of 3D structure information will be helpful in the design of domain swapping experiments aimed at improving toxicity and will help in elucidating the common mechanism of toxin action.

Fatores de virulência de Bacillus thuringiensis: o que existe além das proteínas Cry

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Gislayne Vilas-Bôas

2012-03-01

Virulence Factors of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner: Something Beyond of Cry Proteins? Abstract. The Cry proteins produced by the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner are widely known due to its high toxicity against a variety of insects. The mode of action of these proteins is specific and becomes B. thuringiensis-based products the most used in biological control programs of insect pests in agriculture and of important human disease vectors. However, while the Cry proteins are the best-known insect-specific virulence factor, strains of B. thuringiensis show also a wide range of other virulence factors, which allow the bacteria to achieve the hemolymph and colonize efficiently the insect host. Among these factors, we highlight the Vip proteins, Cyt, enterotoxins, hemolysins, phospholipases, proteases and enzymes of degradation, in addition to the recently described parasporin. This review explores the action of these virulence factors, as well as, the characterization and control of expression of their genes. Additionally, we discuss aspects related to the ecological niche of the bacteria with emphasis on the characteristics involved in the biosafety of the use of B. thuringiensis-based products for biological control of target insects.

Aberrant rhythmic expression of cryptochrome2 regulates the radiosensitivity of rat gliomas.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Wang; Caiyan, Li; Ling, Zhu; Jiayun, Zhao

2017-09-29

In this study, we investigated the role of the clock regulatory protein cryptochrome 2 (Cry2) in determining the radiosensitivity of C6 glioma cells in a rat model. We observed that Cry2 mRNA and protein levels showed aberrant rhythmic periodicity of 8 h in glioma tissues, compared to 24 h in normal brain tissue. Cry2 mRNA and protein levels did not respond to irradiation in normal tissues, but both were increased at the ZT4 (low Cry2) and ZT8 (high Cry2) time points in gliomas. Immunohistochemical staining of PCNA and TUNEL assays demonstrated that high Cry2 expression in glioma tissues was associated with increased cell proliferation and decreased apoptosis. Western blot analysis showed that glioma cell fate was independent of p53, but was probably dependent on p73, which was more highly expressed at ZT4 (low Cry2) than at ZT8 (high Cry2). Levels of both p53 and p73 were unaffected by irradiation in normal brain tissues. These findings suggest aberrant rhythmic expression of Cry2 influence on radiosensitivity in rat gliomas.

Lack of fitness costs and inheritance of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin in a near-isogenic strain of Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xun; Yang, Yanjv; Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Guo, Zhaojiang; Kang, Shi; Xia, Jixing; Zhang, Youjun

2016-02-01

Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) formulations in insects may be associated with fitness costs. A lack of costs enables resistance alleles to persist, which may contribute to the rapid development and spread of resistance in populations. To assess the fitness costs associated with Bt Cry1Ac resistance in Plutella xylostella, life tables were constructed for a near-isogenic resistant strain (NIL-R) and a susceptible strain in this study. No fitness costs associated with Cry1Ac resistance in NIL-R were detected, based on the duration of egg and larval stages, the survival of eggs and larvae, adult longevity, fecundity, net reproductive rate, gross reproduction rate, finite rate of increase and mean generation time. Based on log dose-probit lines, resistance in NIL-R is incompletely recessive and results from a single, autosomal, recessive locus; the degree of dominance was estimated to be -0.74 and -0.71 for F1 (resistant ♀ × susceptible ♂) and F1 ' (susceptible ♀ × resistant ♂) progeny respectively. Assessment of near-isogenic Cry1Ac-resistant and Cry1Ac-susceptible strains of P. xylostella indicated that resistance is not accompanied with fitness costs, and that resistance is incompletely recessive. These findings should be useful in managing the development of Bt Cry1Ac resistance. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Fasting plasma glucose and serum uric acid levels in a general Chinese population with normal glucose tolerance: A U-shaped curve.

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Yunyang Wang

Full Text Available Although several epidemiological studies assessed the relationship between fasting plasma glucose (FPG and serum uric acid (SUA levels, the results were inconsistent. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate this relationship in Chinese individuals with normal glucose tolerance.A total of 5,726 women and 5,457 men with normal glucose tolerance were enrolled in the study. All subjects underwent a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. Generalized additive models and two-piecewise linear regression models were applied to assess the relationship.A U-shaped relationship between FPG and SUA was observed. After adjusting for potential confounders, the inflection points of FPG levels in the curves were 4.6 mmol/L in women and 4.7 mmol/L in men respectively. SUA levels decreased with increasing fasting plasma glucose concentrations before the inflection points (regression coefficient [β] = -36.4, P < 0.001 for women; β = -33.5, P < 0.001 for men, then SUA levels increased (β = 17.8, P < 0.001 for women; β = 13.9, P < 0.001 for men. Additionally, serum insulin levels were positively associated with FPG and SUA (P < 0.05.A U-shaped relationship between FPG and SUA levels existed in Chinese individuals with normal glucose tolerance. The association is partly mediated through serum insulin levels.

Impact of Cry3Bb1-expressing Bt maize on adults of the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Meissle, Michael; Hellmich, Richard L; Romeis, Jörg

2011-07-01

Genetically engineered maize producing insecticidal Cry3Bb1 protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is protected from root damage by corn rootworm larvae. An examination was made to establish whether western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) adults are affected by Cry3Bb1-expressing maize (MON88017) when feeding on above-ground tissue. In laboratory bioassays, adult D. v. virgifera were fed for 7 weeks with silk, leaves or pollen from Bt maize or the corresponding near-isoline. Male, but not female, survival was reduced in the Bt-leaf treatment compared with the control. Female weight was lower when fed Bt maize, and egg production was reduced in the Bt-silk treatment. ELISA measurements demonstrated that beetles feeding on silk were exposed to higher Cry3Bb1 concentrations than beetles collected from Bt-maize fields in the United States. In contrast to silk and pollen, feeding on leaves resulted in high mortality and low fecundity. Females feeding on pollen produced more eggs than on silk. C:N ratios indicated that silk does not provide enough nitrogen for optimal egg production. Direct effects of Cry3Bb1 on adult beetles could explain the observed effects, but varietal differences between Bt and control maize are also possible. The impact of Bt maize on adult populations, however, is likely to be limited. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

Preferential protection of domains ii and iii of bacillus thuringiensis cry1aa toxin by brush border membrane vesicles

OpenAIRE

Hussain, Syed-Rehan A.; Flórez, Álvaro M.; Dean, Donald H.; Alzate, Óscar

2011-01-01

Título español: Protección preferencial de los dominios II y III de la toxina Cry1Aa de Bacillus thuringiensis en Vesículas de Membrana de Borde de Cepillo Abstract The surface exposed Leucine 371 on loop 2 of domain II, in Cry1Aa toxin, was mutated to Lysine to generate the trypsin-sensitive mutant, L371K. Upon trypsin digestion L371K is cleaved into approximately 37 and 26 kDa fragments. These are separable on SDS-PAGE, but remain as a single molecule of 65 kDa upon purification by ...

Preferential Protection of Domains II and III of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa Toxin by Brush Border Membrane Vesicles

OpenAIRE

Syed-Rehan A. Hussain; Álvaro M. Flórez; Donald H. Dean; Óscar Alzate

2011-01-01

Título español: Protección preferencial de los dominios II y III de la toxina Cry1Aa de Bacillus thuringiensis en Vesículas de Membrana de Borde de Cepillo Abstract The surface exposed Leucine 371 on loop 2 of domain II, in Cry1Aa toxin, was mutated to Lysine to generate the trypsin-sensitive mutant, L371K. Upon trypsin digestion L371K is cleaved into approximately 37 and 26 kDa fragments. These are separable on SDS-PAGE, but remain as a single molecule of 65 kDa upon purification by ...

Unique Aspects of Cryptochrome in Chronobiology and Metabolism, Pancreatic β-Cell Dysfunction, and Regeneration: Research into Cysteine414-Alanine Mutant CRY1

OpenAIRE

Satoshi Okano

2016-01-01

Cryptochrome proteins (CRYs), which can bind noncovalently to cofactor (chromophore) flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), occur widely among organisms. CRYs play indispensable roles in the generation of circadian rhythm in mammals. Transgenic mice (Tg mice), ubiquitously expressing mouse CRY1 having a mutation in which cysteine414 (the zinc-binding site of CRY1) being replaced with alanine, display unique phenotypes in their circadian rhythms. Moreover, male Tg mice exhibit symptoms of diabetes...

Efectividad de las salidas frontal y lateral para la prueba de pista 300 metros CRI, patinaje de velocidad sobre ruedas

OpenAIRE

Bohórquez-Páez, Daniel A. A; Pinzón-Castro, Luis A; Obando-Bastidas, Jorge A

2014-01-01

Se analizó y evaluó biomecánicamente, desde el plano sagital izquierdo, la Salida Frontal (SF) y la Salida Lateral (SL) en pruebas de velocidad de pista Contra el Reloj Individual (CRI), de once (11) Patinadores de Velocidad Sobre Ruedas (VSR), empleando el Software SIMI°Twinner Pro y el software SPSS (versión 19); lo que permitió determinar que la SF es la más efectiva que la SL para el desarrollo de las pruebas CRI en el patinaje de VSR. We analyzed and evaluated biomechanically, from th...

Effects of water management practices on residue decomposition and degradation of Cry1Ac protein from crop-wild Bt rice hybrids and parental lines during winter fallow season.

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Xiao, Manqiu; Dong, Shanshan; Li, Zhaolei; Tang, Xu; Chen, Yi; Yang, Shengmao; Wu, Chunyan; Ouyang, Dongxin; Fang, Changming; Song, Zhiping

2015-12-01

Rice is the staple diet of over half of the world's population and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) rice expressing insecticidal Cry proteins is ready for deployment. An assessment of the potential impact of Bt rice on the soil ecosystem under varied field management practices is urgently required. We used litter bags to assess the residue (leaves, stems and roots) decomposition dynamics of two transgenic rice lines (Kefeng6 and Kefeng8) containing stacked genes from Bt and sck (a modified CpTI gene encoding a cowpea trypsin inhibitor) (Bt/CpTI), a non-transgenic rice near-isoline (Minghui86), wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) and crop-wild Bt rice hybrid under contrasting conditions (drainage or continuous flooding) in the field. No significant difference was detected in the remaining mass, total C and total N among cultivars under aerobic conditions, whereas significant differences in the remaining mass and total C were detected between Kefeng6 and Kefeng8 and Minghui86 under the flooded condition. A higher decomposition rate constant (km) was measured under the flooded condition compared with the aerobic condition for leaf residues, whereas the reverse was observed for root residues. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which was used to monitor the changes in the Cry1Ac protein in Bt rice residues, indicated that (1) the degradation of the Cry1Ac protein under both conditions best fit first-order kinetics, and the predicted DT50 (50% degradation time) of the Cry1Ac protein ranged from 3.6 to 32.5 days; (2) the Cry1Ac protein in the residue degraded relatively faster under aerobic conditions; and (3) by the end of the study (~154 days), the protein was present at a low concentration in the remaining residues under both conditions. The degradation rate constant was negatively correlated with the initial carbon content and positively correlated with the initial Cry1Ac protein concentration, but it was only correlated with the mass decomposition rate constants under

The Effect of Kangaroo Mother Care on Fuss and Crying Time in Colicky Infants

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Zahra Akbarian Rad

2015-03-01

Full Text Available AbstractBackground: Infantile colic is a common complaint in the first few weeks of life. On the other hand, because of its unknown etiology, there is not a specific therapy for this complaint, but various therapeutic options for reducing pain and restlessness of these infants are recommended. Skin to skin contact by Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC increases in pain threshold and it seems to be a suitable method for the care of these infants. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of KMC on infantile colic.Methods: This case- control study was performed between March 2012 and March 2013. Subjects were 55 infants with exclusive breast fed infant, aged 15-60 days with excessive fuss and crying, referred to Infant and Child Clinic in Ayatollah Rohani Hospital in Babol, north of Iran. Babies whose weights were less than 2500 Grams and with inheritance and clinical diseases excluded from the study. Infants were subjected to KMC at least 2 hours a day. Standard questionnaire and Barr Scale were filled by interview. Data was analyzed by SPSS v.11.5 and T-test, a P- value less than 0.05 considered being significant.Results:The fuss and crying time before the KMC was 2.21±1.54 hours per day and decreased to 1.16±1.3 hours per day after the implementation of KMC. (p=0.001Conclusions:Kangaroo mother care at home can be used as a simple and safe method for decreasing of cry and fussiness in colicky infants. Keywords: Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC, fussiness, Colicky Infants, colic

The Effect of Kangaroo Mother Care on Fuss and Crying Time in Colicky Infants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Akbarian Rad