Annual Glyphosate Treatments Alter Growth of Unaffected Bentgrass (Agrostis) Weeds and Plant Community Composition

Herbicide resistance is becoming more common in weed ecotypes and crop species including turfgrasses, but current gaps in knowledge limit predictive ecological risk assessments and risk management plans. This project examined the effect of annual glyphosate applications on the vegetative growth and reproductive potential of two weedy bentgrasses, creeping bentgrass (CB) and redtop (RT), where the glyphosate resistance (GR) trait was mimicked by covering the bentgrass plants during glyphosate application. Five field plots were studied in habitats commonly inhabited by weedy bentgrasses including an agricultural hayfield, natural meadow, and wasteland. Results showed that annual glyphosate treatment improved bentgrass survivorship, vegetative growth, and reproductive potential compared with bentgrass in unsprayed subplots. In the second year of growth, RT plants had an 86-fold increase in flower number in glyphosate-treated subplots versus controls, while CB plants had a 20-fold increase. At the end of the three year study, plant community composition had changed in glyphosate-treated subplots in hayfield and meadow plots compared to controls. Soils in subplots receiving glyphosate had higher nitrate concentrations than controls. This is the first study to mimic the GR trait in bentgrass plants with the goal of quantifying bentgrass response to glyphosate selection pressure and understanding the impacts on surrounding plant communities.     

Efficacy of cyhalothrin and lambdacyhalothrin against Boophilus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae).

A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of cyhalothrin and lambdacyhalothrin as a whole-body spray and lambdacyhalothrin as a pour-on application on cattle infested with Boophilus microplus (Canestrini). A laboratory bioassay was also done with both spray formulations. Cattle were infested with all parasitic life stages of B. microplus, then treated with 0.007 or 0.01% (AI) concentrations of cyhalothrin as a spray; 0.005, 0.007, or 0.01% (AI) concentrations of lambdacyhalothrin as a spray, or 1% (AI) lambdacyhalothrin as a pour-on. As determined by calculations of the index of reproduction (IR), the 0.007 and 0.01% (AI) cyhalothrin provided 92.4 and 97.3% control, respectively; the 0.005, 0.007, and 0.01% (AI) lambdacyhalothrin provided 92.4, 98.2 (average of two treatments) and 99.3% control, respectively; and the lambdacyhalothrin pour-on treatment provided < 50% control. Bioassay results indicated lambdacyhalothrin to be twice as effective as cyhalothrin against B. microplus.     

A new species of Maladera from Jordan (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericini)

A new Maladera species is described from Jordan: M. schnitteri sp. n. A key to the species of the subgenus Eusericula is given, and the habitus and genitalia are illustrated.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D41D75B5-D700-4C2B-9058-04D14006C810     

Early Life Factors and Inter-Country Heterogeneity in BMI Growth Trajectories of European Children: The IDEFICS Study

Background

Starting from birth, this explorative study aimed to investigate between-country differences in body mass index (BMI) trajectories and whether early life factors explain these differences.

Methods

The sample included 7,644 children from seven European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden) participating in the multi-centre IDEFICS study. Information on early life factors and in total 53,409 repeated measurements of height and weight from 0 to <12 years of age were collected during the baseline (2007/2008) and follow-up examination (2009/2010) supplemented by records of routine child health visits. Country-specific BMI growth curves were estimated using fractional polynomial mixed effects models. Several covariates focussing on early life factors were added to the models to investigate their role in the between-countries differences.

Results

Large between-country differences were observed with Italian children showing significantly higher mean BMI values at all ages ≥ 3 years compared to the other countries. For instance, at age 11 years mean BMI values in Italian boys and girls were 22.3 [21.9;22.8; 99% confidence interval] and 22.0 [21.5;22.4], respectively, compared to a range of 18.4 [18.1;18.8] to 20.3 [19.8;20.7] in boys and 18.2 [17.8;18.6] to 20.3 [19.8;20.7] in girls in the other countries. After adjustment for early life factors, differences between country-specific BMI curves became smaller. Maternal BMI was the factor being most strongly associated with BMI growth (p<0.01 in all countries) with associations increasing during childhood. Gestational weight gain (GWG) was weakly associated with BMI at birth in all countries. In some countries, positive associations between BMI growth and children not being breastfed, mothers’ smoking during pregnancy and low educational level of parents were found.

Conclusion

Early life factors seem to explain only some of the inter-country variation in growth. Maternal BMI showed the strongest association with children’s BMI growth.     

Determination of clofibrate in biological fluids by thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography

A specific and sensitive method is described for the detection of clofibrate in biological fluids. The drug is separated from associated fatty acids by thin-layer chromatography and the methyl ester is quantified by gas-liquid chromatography. Recovery is excellent, and any small losses are corrected with an internal recovery standard. Although more time-consuming than other available techniques, the method offers advantages for accurate studies of clofibrate metabolism.     

The interaction of cholesterol absorption and cholesterol synthesis in man

The total miscible pool of cholesterol in the body is determined largely by the interaction of cholesterol absorption and synthesis. In the present study we have examined the net effects of this interplay in one normal and five hypercholesteremic subjects when various amounts of cholesterol were made available for absorption. Feeding large amounts of cholesterol to the normocholesteremic patient caused an expansion of body pools by as much as 20 g before the amount of cholesterol re-excreted as fecal neutral steroids each day came into balance with the cholesterol absorbed from the diet. There was no detectable decrease in total body synthesis of cholesterol nor any increase in conversion of cholesterol into bile acids. However, feedback control of cholesterol synthesis was demonstrable when large quantities of plant sterols were fed: in the hypercholesteremic patients thus studied, the absorption of both endogenous and exogenous cholesterol was then greatly reduced, and a compensatory increase in synthesis occurred. Thus, the plant sterol experiments, but not the cholesterol feeding experiment, demonstrated that feedback control by dietary cholesterol does occur in man. That feedback control by dietary cholesterol is relatively unimportant in man seems to be due to the fact that in the metabolic "steady state" the absorption mechanism is essentially saturated by the large amounts of endogenous cholesterol available for reabsorption. These findings demonstrate that there are important differences between man and various laboratory animals in regard to the interaction of absorption and synthesis as factors controlling the size of tissue pools of cholesterol.