Apple Pollination: Demand Depends on Variety and Supply Depends on Pollinator Identity.

Insect pollination underpins apple production but the extent to which different pollinator guilds supply this service, particularly across different apple varieties, is unknown. Such information is essential if appropriate orchard management practices are to be targeted and proportional to the potential benefits pollinator species may provide. Here we use a novel combination of pollinator effectiveness assays (floral visit effectiveness), orchard field surveys (flower visitation rate) and pollinator dependence manipulations (pollinator exclusion experiments) to quantify the supply of pollination services provided by four different pollinator guilds to the production of four commercial varieties of apple. We show that not all pollinators are equally effective at pollinating apples, with hoverflies being less effective than solitary bees and bumblebees, and the relative abundance of different pollinator guilds visiting apple flowers of different varieties varies significantly. Based on this, the taxa specific economic benefits to UK apple production have been established. The contribution of insect pollinators to the economic output in all varieties was estimated to be £92.1M across the UK, with contributions varying widely across taxa: solitary bees (£51.4M), honeybees (£21.4M), bumblebees (£18.6M) and hoverflies (£0.7M). This research highlights the differences in the economic benefits of four insect pollinator guilds to four major apple varieties in the UK. This information is essential to underpin appropriate investment in pollination services management and provides a model that can be used in other entomolophilous crops to improve our understanding of crop pollination ecology.

Development of a clinical model for ex vivo expansion of multiple populations of effector cells for adoptive cellular therapy.

BACKGROUND: We have previously demonstrated a laboratory model for expanding autologous mononuclear cells into populations of effector killer cells. The goal of the current experiments was to develop a good manufacturing practice (GMP) method for expanding clinical-grade activated effector cells that mediate tumor cell killing through various mechanisms that could be infused into patients following high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant. METHODS: Mobilized mononuclear cells (MNC) from myeloma patients were placed in culture with serum-free AIM V media, interleukin-2 (1000 IU/mL) and OKT-3 (500 ng/mL) at 37 degrees C and 5% CO2. After 7 days of expansion, the cells were analyzed for cell concentration, viability, phenotype and cytotoxicity directed against human myeloma cell lines. Expansion was compared using culture bags and flasks. Cryopreserved expanded cells were also analyzed. RESULTS: This clinical model of ex vivo expansion yielded polyclonal populations of cytotoxic lymphocytes, including CD3+ CD4+ T cells, CD3+ CD8+ T cells, CD8+ CD56+ T cells and CD56+ natural killer cells. Compared with flasks, culture bags provided a 2-3-fold effector cell expansion with minimal risk of contamination. The optimal cell concentration at the time of expansion was 2.5-3.5 x 10(6) peripheral blood MNC/mL. Viability and cytotoxicity were maintained if the expanded cells were cryopreserved and then thawed for use. DISCUSSION: The results demonstrate a reproducible and reliable GMP procedure that is currently being employed in a clinical trial. These expanded cells, and their various pathways of tumor cell killing, may circumvent tumor escape mechanisms and improve outcomes.

Hemorrhage from recanalized umbilical vein in a patient with cirrhosis.

The formation of portosystemic collaterals occurs frequently in portal hypertension; however, the finding of a patent or recanalized umbilical vein has more often been incidental, with only six cases of recanalized umbilical veins or patent paraumbilical veins demonstrated with clinical significance This is only the second documented case of an umbilical vein with external hemorrhage significant enough to cause hemodynamic instability. It raises important questions with regard to prognostic indices for rebleeding at the umbilicus as well as at other, more common, portosystemic collateral sites.

Age differences in verbal mediation: a structural and functional analysis.

Five experiments were conducted to investigate potential structural and functional differences in verbal mediators given by young and elderly adults to CVC material. Experiment 1 found no significant differences in the complexity and flexibility of mediator formation by the two age groups. Experiment 2 replicated these findings using a different sample and task, and different materials. Additionally, this study also indicated a significant rank order correlation for the particular types of mediators used. Experiment 3 indicated that under some situations young subjects may be able to discriminate young from old mediators while Experiment 4 showed that younger subjects had no preference for which mediator would be most helpful to them in a learning task. Experiment 5 found that, in a paired associate learning task, young subjects learned faster the mediators given by other young subjects. The data were discussed in terms of current methodolical practices and in terms of localizing age-related memory deficits in structure or process variables.