First large-scale study reveals important losses of managed honey bee and stingless bee colonies in Latin America.

Over the last quarter century, increasing honey bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeepers and 165 meliponiculturists participated in the 2-year survey (2016-2017 and 2017-2018). On average, 30.4% of honey bee colonies and 39.6% of stingless bee colonies were lost per year across the region. Summer losses were higher than winter losses in stingless bees (30.9% and 22.2%, respectively) but not in honey bees (18.8% and 20.6%, respectively). Colony loss increased with operation size during the summer in both honey bees and stingless bees and decreased with operation size during the winter in stingless bees. Furthermore, losses differed significantly between countries and across years for both beekeepers and meliponiculturists. Overall, winter losses of honey bee colonies in Latin America (20.6%) position this region between Europe (12.5%) and the United States (40.4%). These results highlight the magnitude of bee colony losses occurring in the region and suggest difficulties in maintaining overall colony health and economic survival for beekeepers and meliponiculturists.

Reflections on the impact and response to the Peruvian 2017 Coastal El Niño event: Looking to the past to prepare for the future.

Climate-related phenomena in Peru have been slowly but continuously changing in recent years beyond historical variability. These include sea surface temperature increases, irregular precipitation patterns and reduction of glacier-covered areas. In addition, climate scenarios show amplification in rainfall variability related to the warmer conditions associated with El Niño events. Extreme weather can affect human health, increase shocks and stresses to the health systems, and cause large economic losses. In this article, we study the characteristics of El Niño events in Peru, its health and economic impacts and we discuss government preparedness for this kind of event, identify gaps in response, and provide evidence to inform adequate planning for future events and mitigating impacts on highly vulnerable regions and populations. This is the first case study to review the impact of a Coastal El Niño event on Peru's economy, public health, and governance. The 2017 event was the third strongest El Niño event according to literature, in terms of precipitation and river flooding and caused important economic losses and health impacts. At a national level, these findings expose a need for careful consideration of the potential limitations of policies linked to disaster prevention and preparedness when dealing with El Niño events. El Niño-related policies should be based on local-level risk analysis and efficient preparedness measures in the face of emergencies.

The short neuropeptide F (sNPF) promotes the formation of appetitive visual memories in honey bees.

Motivation can critically influence learning and memory. Multiple neural mechanisms regulate motivational states, among which signalling via specific neuropeptides, such as NPY in vertebrates and NPF and its short variant sNPF in invertebrates, plays an essential role. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a privileged model for the study of appetitive learning and memory. Bees learn and memorize sensory cues associated with nectar reward while foraging, and their learning is affected by their feeding state. However, the neural underpinnings of their motivational states remain poorly known. Here we focused on the short neuropeptide F (sNPF) and studied if it modulates the acquisition and formation of colour memories. Artificially increasing sNPF levels in partially fed foragers with a reduced motivation to learn colours resulted in significant colour learning and memory above the levels exhibited by starved foragers. Our results thus identify sNPF as a critical component of motivational processes involved in foraging and in the cognitive processes associated with this activity in honey bees.

The short neuropeptide F regulates appetitive but not aversive responsiveness in a social insect.

The neuropeptide F (NPF) and its short version (sNPF) mediate food- and stress-related responses in solitary insects. In the honeybee, a social insect where food collection and defensive responses are socially regulated, only sNPF has an identified receptor. Here we increased artificially sNPF levels in honeybee foragers and studied the consequences of this manipulation in various forms of appetitive and aversive responsiveness. Increasing sNPF in partially fed bees turned them into the equivalent of starved animals, enhancing both their food consumption and responsiveness to appetitive gustatory and olfactory stimuli. Neural activity in the olfactory circuits of fed animals was reduced and could be rescued by sNPF treatment to the level of starved bees. In contrast, sNPF had no effect on responsiveness to nociceptive stimuli. Our results thus identify sNPF as a key modulator of hunger and food-related responses in bees, which are at the core of their foraging activities.

An Early Sensitive Period Induces Long-Lasting Plasticity in the Honeybee Nervous System.

The effect of early experiences on the brain during a sensitive period exerts a long-lasting influence on the mature individual. Despite behavioral and neural plasticity caused by early experiences having been reported in the honeybee Apis mellifera, the presence of a sensitive period in which associative experiences lead to pronounced modifications in the adult nervous system is still unclear. Laboratory-reared bees were fed with scented food within specific temporal windows and were assessed for memory retention, in the regulation of gene expression related to the synaptic formation and in the olfactory perception of their antennae at 17 days of age. Bees were able to retain a food-odor association acquired 5-8 days after emergence, but not before, and showed better retention than those exposed to an odor at 9-12 days. In the brain, the odor-rewarded experiences that occurred at 5-8 days of age boosted the expression levels of the cell adhesion proteins neurexin 1 (Nrx1) and neuroligin 2 (Nlg2) involved in synaptic strength. At the antennae, the experiences increased the electrical response to a novel odor but not to the one experienced. Therefore, a sensitive period that induces long-lasting behavioral, functional and structural changes is found in adult honeybees.

Effects of postpartum uterine curettage in the recovery from Preeclampsia/Eclampsia. A randomized, controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if postpartum uterine curettage improved the clinical and laboratory parameters in patients with preeclampsia or eclampsia. METHODS: A total of 442 patients with preeclampsia/eclampsia were randomized to postpartum curettage (223) or no procedure (219). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were recorded and analyzed at hours 6, 12, 24 and 48. Also, several laboratory values and diuresis were evaluated. RESULTS: No statistical differences were found between groups (curettage vs. no procedure) in regards to systolic [155.74(15.43) vs. 156.81(15.58)] and/or diastolic blood pressure [101.51(11.44) vs. 101.70(11.20)] before and after the allocated procedure, starting at hour 6 [SBP: 134.19(13.11) vs. 136.65(15.36); DBP: 87.20(9.42) vs. 88.57(10.98)] and up to 48 h after delivery [SBP: 126.59(15.54) vs. 128.21(13.85); DBP: 81.86(9.92) vs. 81.67(11.33)]. No statistical differences between groups were found in the rate of recovery of laboratory values, as well as in the need for additional antihypertensive medications in the postpartum period. These results applied to patients with severe preeclampsia (210 patients in both arms) and eclampsia (13 vs. 9). There were no cases of postpartum eclampsia or acute renal failure after delivery in any of the groups. CONCLUSION: To perform a postpartum uterine curettage does not present an advantage in the patient with preeclampsia/eclampsia. The procedure dos not improve clinical or laboratory values.

Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees.

The question of why animals sometimes ingest noxious substances is crucial to understand unknown determinants of feeding behaviour. Research on risk-prone feeding behaviour has largely focused on energy budgets as animals with low energy budgets tend to ingest more aversive substances. A less explored possibility is that risk-prone feeding arises from the absence of alternative feeding options, irrespectively of energy budgets. Here we contrasted these two hypotheses in late-fall and winter honey bees. We determined the toxicity of various feeding treatments and showed that when bees can choose between sucrose solution and a mixture of this sucrose solution and a noxious/unpalatable substance, they prefer the pure sucrose solution and reject the mixtures, irrespective of their energy budget. Yet, when bees were presented with a single feeding option and their escape possibilities were reduced, they consumed unexpectedly some of the previously rejected mixtures, independently of their energy budget. These findings are interpreted as a case of feeding helplessness, in which bees behave as if it were utterly helpless to avoid the potentially noxious food and consume it. They suggest that depriving bees of variable natural food sources may have the undesired consequence of increasing their acceptance of food that would be otherwise rejected.

Hydralazine vs labetalol for the treatment of severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. A randomized, controlled trial.

Hydralazine and labetalol for intravenous use are equally effective in the management of hypertensive crisis in pregnant patients (24weeks or more) with severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, showing a similar frequency of adverse effects in both groups.

Use of primary cultures of Kenyon cells from bumblebee brains to assess pesticide side effects.

Bumblebees are important pollinators in natural and agricultural ecosystems. The latter results in the frequent exposure of bumblebees to pesticides. We report here on a new bioassay that uses primary cultures of neurons derived from adult bumblebee workers to evaluate possible side-effects of the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid. Mushroom bodies (MBs) from the brains of bumblebee workers were dissected and dissociated to produce cultures of Kenyon cells (KCs). Cultured KCs typically extend branched, dendrite-like processes called neurites, with substantial growth evident 24-48 h after culture initiation. Exposure of cultured KCs obtained from newly eclosed adult workers to 2.5 parts per billion (ppb) imidacloprid, an environmentally relevant concentration of pesticide, did not have a detectable effect on neurite outgrowth. By contrast, in cultures prepared from newly eclosed adult bumblebees, inhibitory effects of imidacloprid were evident when the medium contained 25 ppb imidacloprid, and no growth was observed at 2,500 ppb. The KCs of older workers (13-day-old nurses and foragers) appeared to be more sensitive to imidacloprid than newly eclosed adults, as strong effects on KCs obtained from older nurses and foragers were also evident at 2.5 ppb imidacloprid. In conclusion, primary cultures using KCs of bumblebee worker brains offer a tool to assess sublethal effects of neurotoxic pesticides in vitro. Such studies also have the potential to contribute to the understanding of mechanisms of plasticity in the adult bumblebee brain.

Insect nuclear receptors.

The nuclear receptors (NRs) of metazoans are an ancient family of transcription factors defined by conserved DNA- and ligand-binding domains (DBDs and LBDs, respectively). The Drosophila melanogaster genome project revealed 18 canonical NRs (with DBDs and LBDs both present) and 3 receptors with the DBD only. Annotation of subsequently sequenced insect genomes revealed only minor deviations from this pattern. A renewed focus on functional analysis of the isoforms of insect NRs is therefore required to understand the diverse roles of these transcription factors in embryogenesis, metamorphosis, reproduction, and homeostasis. One insect NR, ecdysone receptor (EcR), functions as a receptor for the ecdysteroid molting hormones of insects. Researchers have developed nonsteroidal ecdysteroid agonists for EcR that disrupt molting and can be used as safe pesticides. An exciting new technology allows EcR to be used in chimeric, ligand-inducible gene-switch systems with applications in pest management and medicine.

A candidate pheromone receptor and two odorant receptors of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta.

In this study, we cloned and characterized three Manduca sexta odorant receptors (ORs). One receptor is a putative pheromone receptor expressed exclusively in a cell associated with male-specific type-I trichoid sensilla. We describe the results of real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments that show MsextaOR1 is expressed only in male antennae. In situ hybridization labels a single cell associated with type-1 trichoid sensilla, which houses two neurons that have been previously determined to respond to the major components of the pheromone blend. The second receptor, MsextaOR2, was discovered using degenerate primers designed to conserved motifs of a unique group ORs that share as much as 88% identity. Comparison of RT-PCR, qRT-PCR, and in situ hybridization results with those of ORs in the Drosophila melanogaster Or83b subfamily shows a strong sequence and expression pattern similarity. The third receptor, MsextaOR3, was found by 5'-end sequencing of a normalized and subtracted cDNA library from male M. sexta antennae. RT-PCR and qRT-PCR show that this receptor is expressed only in male and female antennae. These are the first ORs, including a putative pheromone receptor, to be described from M. sexta.

Coordinated responses to developmental hormones in the Kenyon cells of the adult worker honey bee brain (Apis mellifera L.).

The brains of experienced forager honey bees exhibit predictable changes in structure, including significant growth of the neuropil of the mushroom bodies. In vertebrates, members of the superfamily of nuclear receptors function as key regulators of neuronal structure. The adult insect brain expresses many members of the nuclear receptor superfamily, suggesting that insect neurons are also likely important targets of developmental hormones. The actions of developmental hormones (the ecdysteroids and the juvenile hormones) in insects have been primarily explored in the contexts of metamorphosis and vitellogenesis. The cascade of gene expression activated by 20-hydroxyecdysone and modulated by juvenile hormone is strikingly conserved in these different physiological contexts. We used quantitative RT-PCR to measure, in the mushroom bodies of the adult worker honey bee brain, relative mRNA abundances of key members of the nuclear receptor superfamily (EcR, USP, E75, Ftz-f1, and Hr3) that participate in the metamorphosis/vitellogenesis cascade. We measured responses to endogenous peaks of hormones experienced early in adult life and to exogenous hormones. Our studies demonstrate that a population of adult insect neurons is responsive to endocrine signals through the use of conserved portions of the canonical ecdysteroid transcriptional cascade previously defined for metamorphosis and vitellogenesis.

Vitellogenin, juvenile hormone, insulin signaling, and queen honey bee longevity.

In most animals, longevity is achieved at the expense of fertility, but queen honey bees do not show this tradeoff. Queens are both long-lived and fertile, whereas workers, derived from the same genome, are both relatively short-lived and normally sterile. It has been suggested, on the basis of results from workers, that vitellogenin (Vg), best known as a yolk protein synthesized in the abdominal fat body, acts as an antioxidant to promote longevity in queen bees. We explored this hypothesis, as well as related roles of insulin-IGF-1 signaling and juvenile hormone. Vg was expressed in thorax and head fat body cells in an age-dependent manner, with old queens showing much higher expression than workers. In contrast, Vg expression in worker head was much lower. Queens also were more resistant to oxidative stress than workers. These results support the hypothesis that caste-specific differences in Vg expression are involved in queen longevity. Consistent with predictions from Drosophila, old queens had lower head expression of insulin-like peptide and its putative receptors than did old workers. Juvenile hormone affected the expression of Vg and insulin-IGF-1 signaling genes in opposite directions. These results suggest that conserved and species-specific mechanisms interact to regulate queen bee longevity without sacrificing fecundity.

Nuclear receptors of the honey bee: annotation and expression in the adult brain.

The Drosophila genome encodes 18 canonical nuclear receptors. All of the Drosophila nuclear receptors are here shown to be present in the genome of the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Given that the time since divergence of the Drosophila and Apis lineages is measured in hundreds of millions of years, the identification of matched orthologous nuclear receptors in the two genomes reveals the fundamental set of nuclear receptors required to 'make' an endopterygote insect. The single novelty is the presence in the A. mellifera genome of a third insect gene similar to vertebrate photoreceptor-specific nuclear receptor (PNR). Phylogenetic analysis indicates that this novel gene, which we have named AmPNR-like, is a new member of the NR2 subfamily not found in the Drosophila or human genomes. This gene is expressed in the developing compound eye of the honey bee. Like their vertebrate counterparts, arthropod nuclear receptors play key roles in embryonic and postembryonic development. Studies in Drosophila have focused primarily on the role of these transcription factors in embryogenesis and metamorphosis. Examination of an expressed sequence tag library developed from the adult bee brain and analysis of transcript expression in brain using in situ hybridization and quantitative RT-PCR revealed that several members of the nuclear receptor family (AmSVP, AmUSP, AmERR, AmHr46, AmFtz-F1, and AmHnf-4) are expressed in the brain of the adult bee. Further analysis of the expression of AmUSP and AmSVP in the mushroom bodies, the major insect brain centre for learning and memory, revealed changes in transcript abundance and, in the case of AmUSP, changes in transcript localization, during the development of foraging behaviour in the adult. Study of the honey bee therefore provides a model for understanding nuclear receptor function in the adult brain.

Pteropsin: a vertebrate-like non-visual opsin expressed in the honey bee brain.

Insects have excellent color vision based on the expression of different opsins in specific sets of photoreceptive cells. Opsins are members of the rhodopsin superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors, and are transmembrane proteins found coupled to light-sensitive chromophores in animal photoreceptors. Diversification of opsins during animal evolution provided the basis for the development of wavelength-specific behavior and color vision, but with the exception of the recently discovered non-visual melanopsins, vertebrate and invertebrate opsins have generally been viewed as representing distinct lineages. We report a novel lineage of insect opsins, designated pteropsins. On the basis of sequence analysis and intron location, pteropsins are more closely related to vertebrate visual opsins than to invertebrate opsins. Of note is that the pteropsins are missing entirely from the genome of drosophilid flies. In situ hybridization studies of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, revealed that pteropsin is expressed in the brain of this species and not in either the simple or compound eyes. It was also possible, on the basis of in situ hybridization studies, to assign different long wavelength opsins to the compound eyes (AmLop1) and ocelli (AmLop2). Insect pteropsin might be orthologous to a ciliary opsin recently described from the annelid Platynereis, and therefore represents the presence of this vertebrate-like light-detecting system in insects.