Frugivorous flies (diptera: Tephritidae and lonchaeidae) and native parasitoids (hymenoptera) associated with pouteria caimito (sapotaceae) in Brazil

This study presents new reports on frugivorous flies and their parasitoids associated with the fruits of Pouteria caimito Radlk. (Sapotaceae), a plant native to the Amazon region. In addition to the new reports, this study also presents the infestation and parasitism rates, for dipterous and hymenopteran parasitoids, respectively.

Prostituição e morte em Maggie: a girl of the streets: uma leitura feminista sobre a Slum fiction norte-americana de Stephen Crane

Pós-graduação em Letras - FCLAS

Molecular detection of the blood meal source of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a transmission area of American cutaneous leishmaniasis, Parana State, Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Assessing Sandhill Crane Roosting Habitat along the Platte River, Nebraska

Each spring approximately 500,000 sandhill cranes and some endangered whooping cranes use the Central Platte River Valley in Nebraska as a staging habitat during their migration north to breeding and nesting grounds in Canada, Alaska, and the Siberian Arctic. Over the last century changes in the flow of the river have altered the river channels and the distribution of roost sites. USGS researchers studied linkages between water flow, sediment supply, channel morphology, and preferred sites for crane roosting. These results are useful for estimating crane populations and for providing resource managers with techniques to understand crane habitats.

Essays on the history of Brazilian dipterology. III. Three remarkable notices from the 18th century, mainly related to myiasis-producing flies (Cochliomyia and Dermatobia)

Essays on the history of Brazilian dipterology. III. Three remarkable notices from the 18th century, mainly related to myiasis-producing flies (Cochliomyia and Dermatobia). This paper registers reports about dipterans made by three Portuguese who lived in Brazil during the 18th century. Luiz Gomes Ferreira, in his book "Erario mineral" ["Mineral revenue"], wrote curious passages related with myiasis-causing flies of the genus Cochliomyia. Jose Rodrigues de Mello registered, in Latin verses, the folklore for curing myiases caused by Cochliomyia hominivorax in cattle. Luiz dos Santos Vilhena, in the last of his twenty letters dealing with several aspects of life in Brazil, made reference to horseflies, human bot flies and mosquitos.

Motion-based wave estimation: Small-scale tests with a crane-barge model

This paper provides additional validation to the problem of estimating wave spectra based on the first-order motions of a moored vessel. Prior investigations conducted by the authors have attested that even a large-volume ship, such as an FPSO unit, could be adopted for on-board estimation of the wave field. The obvious limitation of the methodology concerns filtering of high-frequency wave components, for which the vessel has no significant response. As a result, the estimation range is directly dependent on the characteristics of the vessel response. In order to extend this analysis, further small-scale tests were performed with a model of a pipe-laying crane-barge. When compared to the FPSO case, the results attest that a broader range of typical sea states can be accurately estimated, including crossed-sea states with low peak periods. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mutations in the Mitochondrial Methionyl-tRNA Synthetase Cause a Neurodegenerative Phenotype in Flies and a Recessive Ataxia (ARSAL) in Humans

An increasing number of genes required for mitochondrial biogenesis, dynamics, or function have been found to be mutated in metabolic disorders and neurological diseases such as Leigh Syndrome. In a forward genetic screen to identify genes required for neuronal function and survival in Drosophila photoreceptor neurons, we have identified mutations in the mitochondrial methionyl-tRNA synthetase, Aats-met, the homologue of human MARS2. The fly mutants exhibit age-dependent degeneration of photoreceptors, shortened lifespan, and reduced cell proliferation in epithelial tissues. We further observed that these mutants display defects in oxidative phosphorylation, increased Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and an upregulated mitochondrial Unfolded Protein Response. With the aid of this knowledge, we identified MARS2 to be mutated in Autosomal Recessive Spastic Ataxia with Leukoencephalopathy (ARSAL) patients. We uncovered complex rearrangements in the MARS2 gene in all ARSAL patients. Analysis of patient cells revealed decreased levels of MARS2 protein and a reduced rate of mitochondrial protein synthesis. Patient cells also exhibited reduced Complex I activity, increased ROS, and a slower cell proliferation rate, similar to Drosophila Aats-met mutants.

The gene transformer-2 of Anastrepha fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) and its evolution in insects

Abstract Background In the tephritids Ceratitis, Bactrocera and Anastrepha, the gene transformer provides the memory device for sex determination via its auto-regulation; only in females is functional Tra protein produced. To date, the isolation and characterisation of the gene transformer-2 in the tephritids has only been undertaken in Ceratitis, and it has been shown that its function is required for the female-specific splicing of doublesex and transformer pre-mRNA. It therefore participates in transformer auto-regulatory function. In this work, the characterisation of this gene in eleven tephritid species belonging to the less extensively analysed genus Anastrepha was undertaken in order to throw light on the evolution of transformer-2. Results The gene transformer-2 produces a protein of 249 amino acids in both sexes, which shows the features of the SR protein family. No significant partially spliced mRNA isoform specific to the male germ line was detected, unlike in Drosophila. It is transcribed in both sexes during development and in adult life, in both the soma and germ line. The injection of Anastrepha transformer-2 dsRNA into Anastrepha embryos caused a change in the splicing pattern of the endogenous transformer and doublesex pre-mRNA of XX females from the female to the male mode. Consequently, these XX females were transformed into pseudomales. The comparison of the eleven Anastrepha Transformer-2 proteins among themselves, and with the Transformer-2 proteins of other insects, suggests the existence of negative selection acting at the protein level to maintain Transformer-2 structural features. Conclusions These results indicate that transformer-2 is required for sex determination in Anastrepha through its participation in the female-specific splicing of transformer and doublesex pre-mRNAs. It is therefore needed for the auto-regulation of the gene transformer. Thus, the transformer/transfomer-2 > doublesex elements at the bottom of the cascade, and their relationships, probably represent the ancestral state (which still exists in the Tephritidae, Calliphoridae and Muscidae lineages) of the extant cascade found in the Drosophilidae lineage (in which tra is just another component of the sex determination gene cascade regulated by Sex-lethal). In the phylogenetic lineage that gave rise to the drosophilids, evolution co-opted for Sex-lethal, modified it, and converted it into the key gene controlling sex determination.

Essays on the history of brazilian dipterology: III. Three remarkable notices from the 18th century, mainly related to myiasis-producing flies (Cochliomyia and Dermatobia)

This paper registers reports about dipterans made by three Portuguese who lived in Brazil during the 18th century. Luiz Gomes Ferreira, in his book "Erário mineral" ["Mineral revenue"], wrote curious passages related with myiasis-causing flies of the genus Cochliomyia. José Rodrigues de Mello registered, in Latin verses, the folklore for curing myiases caused by Cochliomyia hominivorax in cattle. Luiz dos Santos Vilhena, in the last of his twenty letters dealing with several aspects of life in Brazil, made reference to horseflies, human bot flies and mosquitos.

The host marking pheromone application on the management of fruit flies - a review

The aim of this work was to review the role of the host marking pheromone (HMP) and its application in integrated management programs for the fruit flies. Initially the oviposition behavior of tephritids has been analyzed with emphasis on Ceratitis capitata. The deposition of HMP, which consists in the last stage of the oviposition behavior has been characterized and discussed about evolutive aspects and the biological meaning of the tephritidae communication through the HMP. Finally, the perspectives on the use of HMP in the integrated management of fruit flies have been discussed.

Kalman Filter approaches on crane swing

The purpose of this study is to explore a Kalman Filter approach to estimating swing of crane-suspended loads. Measuring real-time swing is needed to implement swing damping control strategies where crane joints are used to remove energy from a swinging load. The typical solution to measuring swing uses an inertial sensor attached to the hook block. Measured hook block twist is used to resolve the other two sensed body rates into tangential and radial swing. Uncertainty in the twist measurement leads to inaccurate tangential and radial swing calculations and ineffective swing damping. A typical mitigation approach is to bandpass the inertial sensor readings to remove low frequency drift and high frequency noise. The center frequency of the bandpass filter is usually designed to track the load length and the pass band width set to trade off performance with damping loop gain. The Kalman Filter approach developed here allows all swing motions (radial, tangential and twist) to be measured without the use of a bandpass filter. This provides an alternate solution for swing damping control implementation. After developing a Kalman Filter solution for a two-dimensional swing scenario, the three-dimensional system is considered where simplifying assumptions, suggested by the two-dimensional study, are exploited. One of the interesting aspects of the three-dimensional study is the hook block twist model. Unlike the mass-independence of a pendulum's natural frequency, the twist natural frequency depends both on the pendulum length and the load’s mass distribution. The linear Kalman Filter is applied to experimental data demonstrating the ability to extract the individual swing components for complex motions. It should be noted that the three-dimensional simplifying assumptions preclude the ability to measure two "secondary" hook block rotations. The ability to segregate these motions from the primary swing degrees of freedom was illustrated in the two-dimensional study and could be included into the three-dimensional solution if they were found to be important for a particular application.

Interactions between trypanosomes and tsetse flies

African trypanosomes are insect-borne parasites that cause sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in domesticated animals. Successful transmission is the outcome of crosstalk between the trypanosome and its insect vector, the tsetse fly. This enables the parasite to undergo successive rounds of differentiation, proliferation and migration, culminating in the infection of a new mammalian host. Several stage- and species-specific parasite surface molecules have been identified and there are new insights into their regulation in the fly. Tsetse flies are often refractory to infection with trypanosomes. While many environmental and physiological factors are known to influence infection, our detailed understanding of tsetse-trypanosome relationships is still in its infancy. Recent studies have identified a number of tsetse genes that show altered expression patterns in response to microbial infections, some of which have also been implicated in modulating trypanosome transmission.