Honey bees live in groups of approximately 40,000 individuals and go through their reproductive cycle by the swarming process, during which the old queen leaves the nest with numerous workers and drones to form a new colony. In the spring time, many clues can be seen in the hive, which sometimes demonstrate the proximity to swarming, such as the presence of more or less mature queen cells. In spite of this the actual date and time of swarming cannot be predicted accurately, as we still need to better understand this important physiological event. Here we show that, by means of a simple transducer secured to the outside wall of a hive, a set of statistically independent instantaneous vibration signals of honey bees can be identified and monitored in time using a fully automated and non-invasive method. The amplitudes of the independent signals form a multi-dimensional time-varying vector which was logged continuously for eight months. We found that combined with specifically tailored weighting factors, this vector provides a signature highly specific to the swarming process and its build up in time, thereby shedding new light on it and allowing its prediction several days in advance. The output of our monitoring method could be used to provide other signatures highly specific to other physiological processes in honey bees, and applied to better understand health issues recently encountered by pollinators. 相似文献
The reliability of Arctic climate predictions is currently hampered by insufficient knowledge of natural climate variability in the past. A sediment core from Lake El'gygytgyn in northeastern (NE) Russia provides a continuous, high-resolution record from the Arctic, spanning the past 2.8 million years. This core reveals numerous "super interglacials" during the Quaternary; for marine benthic isotope stages (MIS) 11c and 31, maximum summer temperatures and annual precipitation values are ~4° to 5°C and ~300 millimeters higher than those of MIS 1 and 5e. Climate simulations show that these extreme warm conditions are difficult to explain with greenhouse gas and astronomical forcing alone, implying the importance of amplifying feedbacks and far field influences. The timing of Arctic warming relative to West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreats implies strong interhemispheric climate connectivity. 相似文献
Ultrafast spectroscopy was used to study vibrational energy transfer between vibrational reporter groups on different parts of a molecule in a liquid. When OH stretching vibrations of different alcohols were excited by mid-infrared laser pulses, vibrational energy was observed to move through intervening CH2 or CH groups, taking steps up and down in energy, ending up at terminal CH3 groups. For each additional CH2 group in the path between OH and CH3, the time for vibrational energy transfer increased by about 0.4 picosecond. 相似文献
Repeated use of neonicotinoid insecticides has resulted in the first reported cases of Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say)) resistance to imidacloprid. In the laboratory we determined susceptibility of the imidacloprid-resistant Colorado potato beetles from a population in Southern Maine to other insecticides currently registered for use on potato. This population was about 30-fold resistant to imidacloprid and could not be effectively controlled by its applications. Control mortality was significantly higher for the imidacloprid-resistant larvae than for the susceptible larvae, suggesting that fitness disadvantages may be associated with the resistance trait. Resistant larvae exhibited significantly less mortality than susceptible larvae when exposed to cyfluthrin, carbaryl, azinphosmethyl, and methamidophos. Their susceptibility to oxamyl was also somewhat reduced, although it did provide nearly 100% mortality at the highest concentration tested. Disulfoton was highly toxic to the resistant larvae. Oxamyl killed about 40% of the adults in greenhouse assays with potted potato plants, altered their feeding behavior (fewer adults up on plants), and reduced defoliation by more than 90%. Disulfoton was not lethal to adults, but significantly suppressed their feeding. In field trials with the resistant population, oxamyl and imidacloprid + spinosad provided the best beetle control. Novaluron had no detectable effect on beetle densities. There was little difference between the plots treated with imidacloprid or thiamethoxam and the untreated control. Our results suggest that insecticide rotation may be a valuable option for managing imidacloprid-resistant Colorado potato beetle populations. We also had a good consistency between the results of the Petri dish, greenhouse, and field experiments, indicating that screening under laboratory confinement may be useful when developing initial recommendations to potato growers in areas affected by resistance to neonicotinoids. 相似文献
Astaxanthin (ASTA) is a fat-soluble xanthophyll with powerful antioxidant functions. It is extracted from e.g. salmon, an important food source for certain human populations known to have a reduced risk of tumor development. It is possible that ASTA plays a role in cancer chemoprevention in such populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary ASTA on chemically induced mammary tumorigenesis using N-methyl-N-nitroso-urea (MNU) in immature Wistar rats.
Methods
Thirty-six 37 days old juvenile female Wistar rats were at random allocated to 4 groups of which Groups 1 and 2 received a single dose of 55 mg MNU/kg body weight. The effects of ASTA was evaluated by giving rats of Groups 2 and 4 a dose of 50 mg ASTA/kg/day for the entire duration of the study. Group 3 rats received feed added alimentary oil.Necropsy and histopathological examinations were carried out on each rat 14 months after the administration of MNU. Haematological values and antioxidative status were determined. Oxidative stress was evaluated by monitoring superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities in hepatic tissue. Lipid peroxidation and carbonylation of proteins was determined in protein extracts from the liver.
Results
Tumor development occurred only in rats of Groups 1 and 2, i.e. MNU exposed animals. Frequency of tumor development in general and average number of tumors per animal were insignificant between these two groups. Mammary gland tumors developed in equal frequencies in Group 1 and 2 rats, respectively. Although only rather few tumors were found in the mammary glands, a substantial number of other tumors were found in Group 1 and 2 rats, but at equal rates.Biochemical analyses showed significant higher levels of GPx, malondialdehyde and dinitrophenylhydrazine in Group 1 rats that for rats in all other groups thus indicating protective effects of ASTA on MNU induced hepatic oxidative stress.
Conclusions
Supplementation with ASTA did not reduce tumorigenesis induced by MNU in Wistar rats. However, supplementation with ASTA seemed to have anti-inflammatory effects. 相似文献
A rapid and sensitive automated method for glucose monitoring that might be employed during wine fermentation and processing was developed. A flow injection (FI) system coupled with an automated dilutor and the "redox-versatile" modified electrode were used to directly measure glucose in wine. To avoid interferences during wine analysis, different formulations of enzymatically modified carbon paste electrodes (CPE) were used and evaluated in oxidation and reduction mode. The best selectivity and sensitivity for glucose monitoring in real samples was obtained in cathodic mode at a fixed potential of 0 V versus Ag/AgCl using a CPE modified with glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase, and ferrocene as redox mediator. A total linear range of 0.02-50 g/L glucose was covered using this automated system and allowed the measurement of glucose in dry, medium, and sweet white or red wines without any sample pretreatment. The results showed a good correlation with the standard method, and the proposed method is very rapid, simple, and reliable and does not need skilled operators. 相似文献
Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) is a mammalian homolog of the yeast Sir2 deacetylase. Mice deficient for SIRT6 exhibit genome instability. Here, we show that in mammalian cells subjected to oxidative stress SIRT6 is recruited to the sites of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and stimulates DSB repair, through both nonhomologous end joining and homologous recombination. Our results indicate that SIRT6 physically associates with poly[adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribose] polymerase 1 (PARP1) and mono-ADP-ribosylates PARP1 on lysine residue 521, thereby stimulating PARP1 poly-ADP-ribosylase activity and enhancing DSB repair under oxidative stress. 相似文献
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of global flame retardants whose residues have markedly increased in fish and human tissues during the last decade. They belong to persistent and toxic contaminants which need more attention and toxicological study as their degradation in the environment is not well understood. This study characterizes 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) bioconcentration, elimination and biotransformation in juvenile turbot Psetta maxima, in order to evaluate the risk of its bioaccumulation in the marine environment. During this study, juvenile turbot were exposed to environmentally relevant BDE-47 concentrations from 0.001 to 1 μg/L for 16 days via aqueous exposure. This study found that juvenile turbot bioconcentrated and biotransformed BDE-47. There was no difference in standard length or weight between control and exposed fish. Uptake and elimination of BDE-47 by the turbot during exposure were examined in controlled laboratory experiments. Bioconcentration of BDE-47 was similar in fish from all treatment groups. Bioconcentration was rapid and increased with exposure time, since the bioconcentration factor (BCF) was higher. However, elimination was slower in comparison and low elimination was detected after 10 days in clean water. BDE-47 concentration in water influences the BCF. Half-life ranged between 37 and 108 days and theoretical times t90 could range from 120 to 358 days. The present study demonstrates a stepwise debromination of BDE-47 to BDE-28.