Seasonal monitoring for Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in California commercial raspberries.

Native to Southeast Asia, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) prefer to oviposit on ripe fruit and have become an important pest of California raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.) since their detection in Santa Cruz County, CA, in 2008. Preliminary management guidelines included D. suzukii monitoring recommendations, though there was little available information on seasonal occurrence and potential lures for use in raspberries. To address this issue, we trapped adult D. suzukii weekly for 2 yr (including both spring and fall harvests) in multiple raspberry varieties using apple cider vinegar and a yeast-sugar-water mixture as liquid lures, and measured fruit infestation when commercially ripe fruit were available. D. suzukii pressure as measured by larval infestation and adult trap captures was higher during the fall raspberry harvest season. The yeast lure captured significantly more D. suzukii during the fall harvest than the apple cider vinegar, and while both lures tended to capture more females than males, this varied by month of the year and was more pronounced for the yeast lure. Trap captures from each lure correlated well to one another, and often exhibited significant correlation to larval infestation. However, during all seasons and under both conventional and organic management, worrisome outliers were present (high larval infestation with low trap captures) that call into question the reliability of using the systems presented here as a basis for management decisions at this time.

The kinetics of crystallization of calcium oxalate trihydrate.

The crystal growth of calcium oxalate trihydrate has been studied in supersaturated solutions at 37C under conditions in which the activities of calcium and oxalate ions were maintained constant by the potentiostatically controlled addition of titrant solutions containing these ions. It has been possible to stabilize calcium oxalate trihydrate sufficiently without transformation to the monohydrate, to establish the kinetic behavior. The rate of growth is proportional to the square of the relative supersaturation suggesting a spiral dislocation growth mechanism. Moreover, calcium oxalate trihydrate grows considerably more rapidly than does the monohydrate. Polyphosphate ion inhibits calcium oxalate monohydrate to a much greater extent than trihydrate. In the latter case, the reduction in growth rate in the presence of this ion can be interpreted in terms of a Langmuir isotherm. The stabilization of calcium oxalate trihydrate in the presence of inhibitors by preventing the formation of the transformation product, calcium oxalate monohydrate, may be an important factor in the development of renal stones.

Objectifying psychiatric diagnosis and treatment with the dexamethasone suppression test.

The application of the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to the treatment of depressive illness is discussed from the perspectives of its use in diagnosis, the measurement of outcome, and the prediction of response to antidepressant medications. Patients with nonsuppressing depression occur in about one half of the endogenously depressed population and probably represent a norepinephrine-deficient subtype of the syndrome. There is clear evidence that a change in the DST from nonsuppression to suppression parallels recovery from a depressive illness, and this may be used as an objective measure of outcome. Early studies show promise that the DST can predict the antidepressant of choice, although there are some limitations of the DST in treatment choice.

The mineralization inhibitory potential of urines: a constant composition approach.

A constant composition potentiostatic method was used to investigate the crystallization kinetics of calcium oxalate monohydrate with high precision and reproducibility in the presence of whole (centrifuged) and dialyzed urines. The solution supersaturation is maintained constant by the potentiometrically controlled addition of lattice ion solutions. The method allows the calculation of urine inhibitory potentials to be made with a precision (5 per cent) hitherto unattainable, and avoids the complications resulting from large changes in supersaturation implicit in more conventional seeded crystallization experiments. A method of urine storage is described whereby the inhibitory potentials remain constant for up to 7 weeks of sample storage.

Epitaxial considerations in urinary stone formation. II. The oxalate-phosphate system.

We examined epitactic relationships between hydroxyapatite (HAP) and the hydrates of calcium oxalate from a crystallographic point of view. We also examined the growth of HAP on the calcium oxalate surfaces at a constant supersaturation, we maintained by the controlled addition of solutions containing the lattice ions of the precipitating phase. Calcium oxalate trihydrate was the only salt that induced HAP overgrowth. The latter phase, however, was found to be a suitable substrate for the growth of calcium oxalate monohydrate.

Calcium oxalate crystal growth. A new constant composition method for modelling urinary stone formation.

A new highly reproducible method is described for the study of calcium oxalate crystal growth. After well-characterized seed material is added to stable supersaturated solutions of calcium oxalate, calcium and oxalate ion concentrations are maintained constant by the simultaneous automatic addition of reagent solutions containing these ions, controlled by a specific ion calcium electrode probe. This method simulates in vivo conditions and the influence of potential inhibitors, including urines, can be conveniently studied in terms of a simple Langmuir adsorption isotherm. For comparison of different urine samples, only a single mineralization experiment is required.

Time, rate, and temperature factors in the onset of high-pressure convulsions.

An interrupted compression profile technique was used to develop data to separate the effects of time and pressure factors governing increase of high-pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS) convulsion threshold pressures (the compression rate effect) during different compression profiles. A single differential equation fits all data available to date for compression rate effect on convulsion thresholds of CD-1 mice (three distinct types of compression profile; mean compression rates 12-1,000 atm/h). The process leading to increase in HPNS convulsion pressure is initiated at the very beginning of compression, proceeds at increasingly rapid rates as higher pressures are attained, and approaches a limiting upper convulsion pressure. The convulsion threshold pressure in any given experiment is independent of the compression rate prevailing during the time immediately preceding onset of the seizure. The magnitude of the compression rate effect in the CD-1 mouse is independent of chamber temperature over a range of 27-36 degrees C, and rectal temperatures of 29.2-37.5 degrees C. The bearing of these results on the design of optimal compression schedules and on the analysis of the neurological mechanisms underlying the HPNS is discussed.