Blurring the distinctions between insect pests of animals and plants

The Royal Entomological Society International Symposium on Insects and Disease was held at the University of Aberdeen on 10-12 September 2001. The symposium was run alongside the society's Annual Meeting (the first time this meeting has been held outside England) in association with the International Union of Forest Research Organisations and the Entomological Society of The Netherlands. The symposium was divided into three sessions: The Insect-Host-Disease Interface; Ecology, Epidemiology and Modelling, and Insect Control in the New Millennium.     

Embryos of therizinosauroid theropods from the Upper Cretaceous of China: diagnosis and analysis of ossification patterns

Exceptionally complete, in ovo dinosaur embryos from the Upper Cretaceous of China are analysed. Ossification patterns of these embryos suggest that they died during the final third of their development. The therizinosauroid identity of the embryos follows from: (1) an edentulous premaxilla with a sharp downturned edge; (2) dentary with a lateral shelf; (3) teeth with fan-shaped crowns, with a few marginal cusps; (4) humerus with a massive deltopectoral crest extending proximally, with a pointed proximomedial tuberosity; (5) ilium with an expanded and hooked preacetabular process; (6) strongly curved hypertrophied manual unguals tapering to sharp points. These embryos are closest to two Chinese therizinosauroids, Neimongosaurus yangi Zhang et al . 2001 and Erliansaurus bellamanus Xu et al . 2002 . An elongated narial opening, reduced basipterygoid process, low cervical neural spines, a transversely narrow pubic apron, and a pubic foot expanded anteriorly are found in these embryos and are synapomorphies uniting the Therizinosauroidea and the Oviraptorosauria. Fusion of cervical and caudal neural arches and centra, complete ossification of thoracic ribs and ilium, possible co-ossification of tibia and fibula, fused pubes, complete meta- and acropodial elements, together with small portions of unossified epiphyses of long bones suggest an advanced precociality of these embryos.     

Development of sheep preimplantation embryos in media supplemented with glucose and acetate

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of supplemental glucose (G; 1.5 mM) and/or acetate (A; 0.5 mM) on the development of early sheep embryos to blastocysts when cultured in vitro in glucose-free synthetic oviductal fluid (SOF) + sheep serum or bovine serum albumin (BSA). In Experiment 1, 2- to 4-cell, 8- to 16-cell and >16-cell embryos were cultured in SOF, SOF+G, SOF+A or SOF+G+A. All media were supplemented with 10% sheep serum. In addition, embryos were cultured in either microdrops under polysiloxane oil or in multiwell dishes. Overall, development to the blastocyst stage was 3%, 30% and 68% for 2- to 4-cell, 8- to 16-cell and >16-cell stages, respectively, suggesting that an 8-cell developmental block existed under our culture conditions. Glucose supplementation had little effect on embryo development, and no overall effect was observed from the addition of acetate. In Experiment 2, 8- to 16-cell embryos were cultured in SOF or SOF+G, both supplemented with BSA. Development to the blastocyst stage was 25% and 18%, respectively. The results show that the presence of glucose or acetate did little to enhance embryonic development in our incubation systems. Further work is required to evaluate fully the energy requirements for development of the early sheep embryo.     

Evaluating cost-effectiveness of diagnostic equipment: the brain scanner case.

An approach to evaluating the cost-effectiveness of high-technology diagnostic equipment has been devised, using the introduction of computerised axial tomography (CAT) as a model. With the advent of CAT scanning, angiography and air encephalography have a reduced, though important, role in investigating intracranial disease, and the efficient use of conventional equipment requires the centralisation of neuroradiological services, which would result in major cash savings. In contrast, the pattern of demand for CAT scanning, in addition to the acknowledged clinical efficiency of the scanner and its unique role in the head-injured patient, ephasies the need for improved access to scanners. In the interest of the patients the pattern of service must change.     

Solid-state structures and thermal properties of inclusion complexes of the organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion with permethylated cyclodextrins

The X-ray crystal structures and thermal stabilities of the inclusion complexes formed between the organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion [O,O-dimethyl O-(3-methyl-4-nitrophenyl) phosphorothioate] and the host compounds TRIMEA and TRIMEB (permethylated α- and β-cyclodextrins, respectively) are reported. In the complex (TRIMEA)₂·fenitrothion 1, the guest phosphate ester group is disordered and the molecule is fully encapsulated within a novel TRIMEA dimer in which the secondary rims of the two host molecules are in close contact. In contrast, the complex TRIMEB·fenitrothion 2 is monomeric and the guest molecule is statistically disordered over two positions, with the phosphate group inserted in the host cavity in both cases. Thermal analysis indicated gradual and partial loss of the guest in 1 during heating between 130 °C and the melting point of the complex (∼200 °C), whereas complex 2 displayed significant mass loss only after fusion of the complex at 161 °C.