Wood volatiles as attractants of the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae).

Confused flour beetles are serious pests of stored grain products, and therefore, it is important to efficiently monitor and control their populations. Aggregation pheromones are commercially used for monitoring this beetle but their efficacy has been questioned and they may be inadequate for practical use. Food attractants as well as pheromones are commonly used for monitoring stored-product insects. However, food attractants may not be effective in the case of food handling facilities, which are already filled with food odours. The ancestors of flour beetles may have been associated with dead or decomposing woody vegetation, so we investigated the attractiveness of several wood odours to beetles using a pitfall olfactometer. The beetles were strongly attracted to all wood odours tested: Castanea crenata, Magnolia obovata, Paulownia tomentosa, Prunus jamasakura, and Zelkova serrata. The attractiveness of these wood odours was also stronger than that of the odours of the usual food of these beetles. Supercritical CO2 extracts of these species of wood were also attractive to the beetles. The Z. serrata extract was the most attractive among these extracts, and was further analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. One major compound, (-)-mellein, was detected in the extract. Synthetic (±)-mellein attracted the beetles.

Sex attractant pheromone from the rice stalk stink bug, Tibraca limbativentris Stal.

The male-produced sex pheromone from the Brazilian rice stalk stink bug Tibraca limbativentris is reported. Olfactometer bioassays with sexually mature males and females showed that males attracted females, which suggests that males release a sex pheromone. Males were not attracted to either sex, nor were females attractive to conspecific females. Attraction of the females to males was highest at night. The headspace volatiles collected from male and female bugs were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry. Two male-specific compounds were identified as isomers of 1'S-zingiberenol, whereas a series of defensive compounds were identified in extracts from both sexes. Zingiberenol has three chiral centers, and the nonselective syntheses used produced two groups of isomers, zingiberenol I containing four isomers, namely (1RS,4RS,1'R)-4-(1',5'-dimethylhex-4'-enyl)-1-methylcyclohex-2-en-1-ol, and zingiberenol II containing the other four isomers, namely (1RS,4RS,1'S)-4-(1',5'-dimethylhex-4'-enyl)-1-methylcyclohex-2-en-1-ol. Both groups of stereoisomers were more attractive than hexane controls. The absolute configuration of the insect-produced pheromonal components remains to be elucidated, but the 1'S stereochemistry was established for at least one of the isomers.

Successful resection of prostatic rhabdomyosarcoma by the posterior sagittal approach combined with preoperative chemotherapy.

The authors used a posterior sagittal approach to successfully remove a huge prostatic rhabdomyosarcoma from a 3-year-old boy after he had received intensive chemotherapy. This procedure enables safe removal of the prostatic rhabdomyosarcoma under direct vision and with minimal damage to other pelvic organs.

A rare case of Salmonella soft-tissue abscess.

A healthy 6-year-old boy had complained of fever and chest pain for 3 days. On admission, he had a mass on the sternum, 3.7 x 2.5 cm in size. Abnormal laboratory findings included a white blood cell count of 12,900/microl, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), 74 mm/h, and C-reactive protein (CRP), 9.7 mg/dl. Ultrasound examination of the chest revealed a hypoechoic lesion on the sternum that was 30 x 15 mm in size. Chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed no bone fracture or bone erosion. The patient received cefpirome, given intravenously at 60 mg/kg per day for 10 days. Incision and drainage was performed on the seventh day in the hospital, and we collected 0.5 ml of pus. Salmonella enteritidis was detected from the drainage. However, the patient had no gastrointestinal symptoms. He was discharged on the fourteenth hospital day, as he was asymptomatic. Results of all physical and laboratory examinations including blood and stool cultures and ultrasound examinations, were within the normal limits upon discharge.