Amphibian population declines in montane southern Mexico: resurveys of historical localities

Declines of amphibian populations have been well documented in the US, Canada, and Central America, but little is known regarding the status of amphibian populations in Mexico. In 2000, we surveyed 43 transects from 3 upland regions in Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico. We found 161 adult amphibians belonging to 39 species, representing only 19-48% of the anuran fauna known from these regions. We found one dead (Eleutherodactylus saltator) and one dying frog (Ptychohyla erythromma) from two different streams near Chilpancingo, Guerrero. Both frogs were infected with Batrachochytridium dendrobatidis, a pathogenic fungus involved in other declines of amphibian populations. We collected 368 tadpoles; 60 (19%) tadpoles from 9 different streams among the three regions were missing mouthparts, which is indicative of infection by chytrid fungus. We report additional data from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, that document declines, disease, and apparent extirpations from that region as well. Overall, we report 31 populations (representing 24 species) that appear to have been extirpated, including populations of as many as 11 endemic species that have been missing for 16-40 years and may be extinct.     

Tongue cooling: a new reward for thirsty rodents

Thirsty rodents will persistently lick a stream of dry air pumped through a standard drinking tube. This air-licking is attenuated by experimental manipulations which reduce the evaporative cooling of the tongue and mouth produced by the airstream. This suggests that such cooling is itself an effective reward for thirstry rodents. We tested this hypothesis by presenting thirsty rodents with a piece of cold, dry metal. Different species spent from 9 to 40 percent of their session time licking the cold metal. When deprived of water hamsters reared from birth without access to drinking water licked cold metal in preference to metal maintained at room or body temperature. This preference was approximately equal to that of littermates reared normally. We conclude that tongue cooling is a primary reward for thirsty rodents.     

Adiposity, education and weight loss effort are independently associated with energy reporting quality in the Ontario Food Survey

OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations of adiposity, dietary restraint and other personal characteristics with energy reporting quality. DESIGN/SUBJECTS: Secondary analysis of 230 women and 158 men from the 1997/98 Ontario Food Survey. METHODS: Energy reporting quality was estimated by ratios of energy intake (EI) to both basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total energy expenditure (TEE). Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine energy reporting quality between two dietary recalls and in relation to body mass index (BMI) with adjustment for potential confounders. Energy reporting quality was explored across categories of age, BMI, income, education, dieting status and food insecurity through analysis of variance (ANOVA). RESULTS: From the ANOVA, energy reporting quality was associated with BMI group, age category and weight loss for men and women, as well as with education among women (P 0.05). EI:BMR and EI:TEE on the first and second 24-hour recalls were positively related (P < 0.0001 for men and women). A higher proportion of variance in energy reporting quality was explained for women than for men (R2 = 0.19 and 0.14, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Studies of diet and adiposity are probably hindered to some extent by BMI-related variation in energy reporting quality. Methods to address this issue are urgently needed if population surveys will continue to serve as the primary source of dietary intake data.     

Toxicity and growth-suppression exerted by diafenthiuron in the sweetpotato whitefly,Bemisia tabaci

Diafenthiuron (CGA 106 ’630), a thiourea, was sprayed prior to a 48-h infestation by adult females of the sweetpotato whiteflyBemisia tabaci Gennadius, on cotton seedlings under greenhouse conditions; it subsequently suppressed strongly progeny formation of the whitefly, resulting in approximately 50% progeny formation relative to control at 5 mg a.i./l. When the different development stages were separately sprayed directly, the larval stage was the most susceptible, resulting in 50% and 90% mortality of 2nd instars at concentrations of 6.5 and 49.2 mg a.i./l, whereas the LC50 values of adults and pupae were 23 and 45 mg a.i./l, respectively. A mild (30–35%) reduction of egg hatch was obtained at a range of 5–125 mg a.i./l. Thus the potency of diafenthiuron against various stages was in the order larvae > adults > pupae > eggs. Diafenthiuron exhibited a low vapor phase toxicity and had no translaminar effect when tested on first instars ofB. tabaci. The high potency of diafenthiuron against whiteflies described herein, against aphids and mites, as stated in the literature, and against some lepidopterous pests, render this compound an important insect control agent for pests of cotton and other crops.     

Blood concentrations of acetaldehyde and ethanol in chronic alcoholics

Fifteen adult male alcoholic volunteers were studied before, during, and after a 10- to 15-day period of experimentally induced intoxication. Blood acetaldehyde concentrations ranged from 0.11 to 0.15 and from 0.04 to 0.08 milligrams per 100 milliliters when blood ethanol concentrations ranged from 1 to 400 milligrams per 100 milliliters after consumption of bourbon or grain ethanol, respectively. No dose or dose-time relationships were found between blood ethanol concentrations and blood acetaldehyde concentrations during any phase of this study.     

Thermodilution cardiac output determination in the guinea pig

Thermodilution cardiac output was compared with simultaneously determined aortic flow in 5 guinea pigs during thoracotomy. Total cardiac output was affected by volume expansion, adrenergic stimulation, and the volume of hemorrhage. For the equation y = mx, where y is aortic flow, x is thermodilution cardiac output, and m is the slope of the regression line, m = 0.88 +/- 0.02 (95% confidence interval). The SE of the regression was 27.8 ml/min. Thermodilution may have been overestimated because the aortic flow measurement did not take into account the coronary arterial blood flow, which is approximately 4% of total cardiac output in the guinea pig. Indicator loss (ie, temperature) also may be an important factor in the calculation of cardiac output, as determinations of thermodilution cardiac output were affected by sampling site in the guinea pig. Thermodilution appears to be a useful and reliable means of determining cardiac output in the guinea pig.     

Oscillator neurons in crustacean ganglia

The motor rhythm of ventilation in hermit crabs and lobsters appears to be controlled by a pair of neurons, one in each half of the subesophageal ganglion. Their membrane potentials oscillate and upon depolarization and hyperpolarization elicit spiking in two pools of motor neurons on each side, without spikes in the oscillator neurons themselves. The fact that higher order (command) interneurons can control the rate of the oscillator by means of a smoothly graded input lends support to the idea that oscillator neurons respond periodically to a constant ionic stimulus.