Occurrence of Diadegma semiclausum,a parasitoid of diamondback moth in lowlands of Syria

The parasitoid, Diadegma semiclausum (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is one of the most effective parasitoids of diamondback moth (DBM) in the highlands (> 1600 m above sea level) of Asia. A Diadegma population from the lowland areas of Homs, Syria (about 203–487 m above sea level) was examined to determine if it differs at the species-level from the D. semiclausum and other Diadegma populations present in different countries using molecular diagnostic tools. Phylogenetic analysis based on the neighbor-joining method using the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences grouped the Homs (Syria) Diadegma population with D. semiclausum populations from other countries. The results suggest that D. semiclausum occurs in the lowland conditions in Homs (Syria), where the temperature is higher. The Homs (Syria) strain did not show any variations in the parasitism when the parasitized host (DBM) larvae were exposed to varying temperatures for 24 h. It could not survive when the parasitized DBM larvae were continuously reared at 35 °C; however it inflicted significantly higher parasitism when the parasitized DBM larvae were reared at day and night temperatures of 35 °C and 20 °C, respectively. Preliminary results indicate that the D. semiclausum strain from Homs (Syria) possesses some level of heat tolerance, which could be exploited for successful management of DBM in the tropical lowlands.     

Highly Efficient Synthesis of New 3,5-Substituted (Isoxazolines) and 2,3,5-Trisubstituted (Pyrazolines) Mediated by Chloramin-T and Their Evaluation of Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - Two short series of five membered heterocyclic 3,5-disubstituted–isoxazolines derivatives (Va–f) and 2,3,5-trisubstituted-pyrazolines...     

Synthesis and evaluation of antioxidant and antibacterial activities of new substituted bis(1,3,4-oxadiazoles), 3,5-bis(substituted) pyrazoles and isoxazoles

Two series of five membered heterocyclic bis(1,3,4-oxadiazole) derivatives 2(a-h) and 3,5-bis(substituted)pyrazoles, isoxazoles 3(a,b,d-i), 4(a-c) were synthesized via oxidative cyclization of some diaroylhydrazones using chloramine-T and cyclocondensation reaction with hydrazine hydrate and hydroxylamine hydrochloride, respectively. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for antioxidant and anti-microbial activities. Compounds 2(b), 3(b), and 4(a) showed higher antioxidant activity at 10 μg/ml while compounds 2(a), 3(a), 3(f), and 4(a) exhibited better anti-microbial activity at 100 μg/ml compared with standard vitamin C and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Structures of newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by elemental analysis and spectral IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR data.     

Reversing invasion in bistable systems

In this paper, we discuss a class of bistable reaction-diffusion systems used to model the competitive interaction of two species. The interactions are assumed to be of classic “Lotka–Volterra” type and we will consider a particular problem with relevance to applications in population dynamics: essentially, we study under what conditions the interplay of relative motility (diffusion) and competitive strength can cause waves of invasion to be halted and reversed. By establishing rigorous results concerning related degenerate and near-degenerate systems, we build a picture of the dependence of the wave speed on system parameters. Our results lead us to conjecture that this class of competition model has three “zones of response”. In the central zone, varying the motility can slow, halt and reverse invasion. However, in the two outer zones, the direction of invasion is independent of the relative motility and is entirely determined by the relative competitive strengths. Furthermore, we conjecture that for a large class of competition models of the type studied here, the wave speed is an increasing function of the relative motility.     

Serum AFP, hCG and CEA in the management of patients with testicular, ovarian and extragonadal germ cell tumors.

Serum levels of AFP, hCG and CEA were initially and serially measured in 59 patients with testicular germ cell tumors, and serially in 37 with ovarian and 3 with extragonadal germ cell tumors. Patients with seminoma/dysgerminoma or mature teratoma had normal serum AFP and sporadically slightly elevated hCG. Some patients with embryonal carcinoma, pure or with admixture of seminoma, had serum AFP elevated to maximum 100 U/ml, yet its use for monitoring therapy was limited. Patients with yolk sac tumors had elevated AFP and sometimes CEA levels, those with choriocarcinoma had elevated hCG, and those with compound tumors had one or more of the markers highly elevated. High AFP and/or hCG levels indicated the presence of the relevant tumor cells both in the primary and in residual tumor and/or metastases, also those missed in histological material, and thus were useful in restaging. Unfortunately, their absence in serum did not exclude the presence of marker-negative subpopulations of tumor cells. Changes in marker values paralleled the effects of treatment: the level increasing from any nadir heralded recurrence in patients in remission; elevated or increasing levels during therapy implied resistance to the therapy; decreasing levels indicated regression even though a return to the normal range did not mean eradication of all tumor cells.