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The genus Oryctopterus Karny, 1937 (Orthoptera, Stenopelmatidae, Oryctopinae) is reported from India for the first time and two new species, Ot. varuna sp. nov. and Ot. yeshwanthi sp. nov. are described. Male and female external genitalia of Ot. varuna sp. nov. and female genitalia of Ot. yeshwanthi sp. nov. are figured and described. Notes on seasonality, food habits and behavior of Ot. varuna sp. nov. are provided.
Invasive alien American bullfrog populations are commonly identified as a pernicious influence on the survival of native species due to their adaptability, proliferation and consequent ecological impacts through competition and predation. However, it has been difficult to determine conclusively their destructive influence due to the fragmentary and geographically dispersed nature of the historical database. An expanding meta-population of invasive American bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana (= Lithobates catesbeianus), became established on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada in the mid- to late 1980s. An on-going bullfrog control program begun in 2006 offered a unique opportunity to examine the stomach contents removed from 5,075 adult and juvenile bullfrogs collected from 60 sites throughout the active season (April to October). Of 15 classes of organisms identified in the diet, insects were numerically dominant, particularly social wasps and odonates (damselflies and dragonflies). Seasonality and site-specific habitat characteristics influenced prey occurrence and abundance. Native vertebrates in the diet included fish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, turtles, birds, and mammals, including some of conservation concern. Certain predators of bullfrog tadpoles and juveniles are commonly preyed upon by adult bullfrogs, thereby suppressing their effectiveness as biological checks to bullfrog population growth. Prey species with antipredator defences, such as wasps and sticklebacks, were sometimes eaten in abundance. Many prey species have some type of anti-predator defence, such as wasp stingers or stickleback spines, but there was no indication of conditioned avoidance to any of these. Results from this study reinforce the conclusion that, as an invasive alien, the American bullfrog is an opportunistic and seemingly unspecialized predator that has a uniquely large and complex ecological footprint both above and below the water surface.
The arboreal click beetle fauna (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in a lowland tropical rainforest in southern Venezuela was observed and collected by means of a tower crane for a full year. The evaluation of the elaterid assemblage is part of a general survey of Coleoptera associated with several canopy trees. The Elateridae represented the tenth most species-rich beetle family in the canopy of the crane plot and was therefore selected for a detailed analysis of host-use patterns. In total, 20 species of Elateridae with 402 adult individuals were sampled, including seven singletons. Species were either flower visiting (Aeolus Eschscholtz and Cosmesus Candèze) or fed mainly on extrafloral nectaries (Chalcolepidius Eschscholtz, Crepidius Candèze, Lacon Castelnau, Lissomus Dalman, and Semiotus Eschscholtz). The most abundant species was Aeolus sp. 1 (N = 306) feeding on flowers of nine different host-tree species. This species was found often in high abundances during the entire flowering period of a single tree species with highest abundances coinciding with the maximum of open flowers. Aeolus sp. 1 was recorded almost every month of the year moving usually from one flowering tree species to another comprising possibly the entire local population. This species showed preferences between different tree species and occurred there only at night. Tree species that supported the most species-rich elaterid assemblages were Ruizterania trichanthera (Spruce ex Warm.) Marc.-Berti (Vochysiaceae) (N = 8) and Goupia glabra Aubl. (Goupiaceae) (N = 6). Only one elaterid species with at least two collected individuals was found restricted to one tree species.
Das Wirtswahlverhalten von Blattläusen wird neben primären Nahrungskomponenten auch durch sekundäre Pflanzeninhaltsstoffe gesteuert (Klingauf & al. 1978; Singh 1980; Powell & al. 1999; Campo & al. 2003). Häufig entziehen sich diese jedoch einer gezielten Untersuchung ihrer Wirkung auf die Aphiden, da sie als Substanzgemisch vorliegen. Beziehungen zwischen Substanzkonzentration und Verhaltensmustern aus Electrical Penetration Graphs (EPG) sind nur mit mäßigem Erfolg über statistische Verfahren darzustellen. Eine Versuchsanordnung zur gezielten Prüfung verhaltensbeeinflussender Substanzen mittels EPG wäre in diesem Falle hilfreich. Ein geeignetes einfaches Testsystem müsste mindestens folgende Komponenten beinhalten: – eine von den Aphiden akzeptierte Oberfläche, welche die Kutikula / Epidermis eines natürlichen Systems nachbildet – diese Oberfläche sollte evtl. durch den Versuchsansteller manipulierbar sein – eine dem Parenchym entsprechende Schicht, in welche die Testsubstanzen einzubringen wären – eine flüssige Phase, die dem Phloem entspricht und ebenfalls in ihrer Zusammensetzung variiert werden kann.
It is well known that lifestyle changes can alter several physiological functions in the human body. For exercise and diet, these effects are used sensibly in basic therapies, as in cardiovascular diseases. However, the physiological changes induced by exercise and a modified diet also have the capacity to influence the efficacy and toxicity of several drugs, mainly by affecting different pharmacokinetic mechanisms. This pharmacological plasticity is not clinically relevant in all cases but might play an important role in altering the effects of very common drugs, particularly drugs with a narrow therapeutic window. Therefore, with this review, we provide insights into possible food–drug and exercise–drug interactions to sharpen awareness of the potential occurrence of such effects.
Background: Diet and physical activity (PA) have a major impact on physical and mental health. However, there is a lack of effective strategies for sustaining these health-protective behaviors. A shift to a microtemporal, within-person approach is needed to capture dynamic processes underlying eating behavior and PA, as they change rapidly across minutes or hours and differ among individuals. However, a tool that captures these microtemporal, within-person processes in daily life is currently not present.
Objective: The APPetite-mobile-app is developed for the ecological momentary assessment of microtemporal, within-person processes of complex dietary intake, objectively recorded PA, and related factors. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and usability of the APPetite-mobile-app and the validity of the incorporated APPetite-food record.
Methods: The APPetite-mobile-app captures dietary intake event-contingently through a food record, captures PA continuously through accelerometers, and captures related factors (eg, stress) signal-contingently through 8 prompts per day. Empirical data on feasibility (n=157), usability (n=84), and validity (n=44) were collected within the Eat2beNICE-APPetite-study. Feasibility and usability were examined in healthy participants and psychiatric patients. The relative validity of the APPetite-food record was assessed with a subgroup of healthy participants by using a counterbalanced crossover design. The reference method was a 24-hour recall. In addition, the energy intake was compared with the total energy expenditure estimated from accelerometry.
Results: Good feasibility, with compliance rates above 80% for prompts and the accelerometer, as well as reasonable average response and recording durations (prompt: 2.04 min; food record per day: 17.66 min) and latencies (prompts: 3.16 min; food record: 58.35 min) were found. Usability was rated as moderate, with a score of 61.9 of 100 on the System Usability Scale. The evaluation of validity identified large differences in energy and macronutrient intake between the two methods at the group and individual levels. The APPetite-food record captured higher dietary intakes, indicating a lower level of underreporting, compared with the 24-hour recall. Energy intake was assessed fairly accurately by the APPetite-food record at the group level on 2 of 3 days when compared with total energy expenditure. The comparison with mean total energy expenditure (2417.8 kcal, SD 410) showed that the 24-hour recall (1909.2 kcal, SD 478.8) underestimated habitual energy intake to a larger degree than the APPetite-food record (2146.4 kcal, SD 574.5).
Conclusions: The APPetite-mobile-app is a promising tool for capturing microtemporal, within-person processes of diet, PA, and related factors in real time or near real time and is, to the best of our knowledge, the first of its kind. First evidence supports the good feasibility and moderate usability of the APPetite-mobile-app and the validity of the APPetite-food record. Future findings in this context will build the foundation for the development of personalized lifestyle modification interventions, such as just-in-time adaptive interventions.
Background: The ERGO2 (Ernaehrungsumstellung bei Patienten mit Rezidiv eines Glioblastoms) MR-spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) subtrial investigated metabolism in patients randomized to calorically restricted ketogenic diet/intermittent fasting (crKD-IF) versus standard diet (SD) in addition to re-irradiation (RT) for recurrent malignant glioma. Intracerebral concentrations of ketone bodies (KB), intracellular pH (pHi), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were non-invasively determined. Methods: 50 patients were randomized (1:1): Group A keeping a crKD-IF for nine days, and Group B a SD. RT was performed on day 4-8. Twenty-three patients received an extended MRSI-protocol (1H decoupled 31P MRSI with 3D chemical shift imaging (CSI) and 2D 1H point-resolved spectroscopy (PRESS)) at a 3T scanner at baseline and on day 6. Voxels were selected from the area of recurrent tumor and contralateral hemisphere. Spectra were analyzed with LCModel, adding simulated signals of 3-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB), acetone (Acn) and acetoacetate (AcAc) to the standard basis set. Results: Acn was the only reliably MRSI-detectable KB within tumor tissue and/or normal appearing white matter (NAWM). It was detected in 4/11 patients in Group A and in 0/8 patients in Group B. MRSI results showed no significant depletion of ATP in tumor tissue of patients at day 6 during crKD-IF, even though there were a significant difference in ketone serum levels between Group A and B at day 6 and a decline in fasting glucose in Group A from baseline to day 6. The tumor specific alkaline pHi was maintained. Conclusions: Our metabolic findings suggest that tumor cells maintain energy homeostasis even with reduced serum glucose levels and may generate additional ATP through other sources.r sources.