Testing against umbrella or tree orderings for binomial proportions with an adaptation of an insect resistance case.

Alternative hypotheses for order restrictions, such as umbrella or inverse umbrella (a.k.a tree) orderings, have been studied extensively in the literature, although less so when the studied response for each individual is the presence or absence of the event of interest. Two families of test statistics for solving the problem of testing against an umbrella or a tree ordering when the responses are binomial proportions are studied in this work and their asymptotic distributions are derived. A simulation study is conducted to compare the empirical power of some members of the derived families of test statistics with competing approaches. The methodology developed here was driven by an applied problem arising in stored products research where despite universal mortality in the case of doses of 1000 ppm of the insecticide phosphine, unexpected survival was noted at higher doses.

Adrenal, thyroid and gonadal axes are affected at high altitude.

Humans cannot live at very high altitude for reasons, which are not completely understood. Since these reasons are not restricted to cardiorespiratory changes alone, changes in the endocrine system might also be involved. Therefore, hormonal changes during prolonged hypobaric hypoxia were comprehensively assessed to determine effects of altitude and hypoxia on stress, thyroid and gonadal hypothalamus-pituitary hormone axes. Twenty-one male and 19 female participants were examined repetitively during a high-altitude expedition. Cortisol, prolactin, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), fT4 and fT3 and in males follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and total testosterone were analysed as well as parameters of hypoxemia, such as SaO2 and paO2 at 550 m (baseline) (n = 40), during ascent at 4844 m (n = 38), 6022 m (n = 31) and 7050 m (n = 13), at 4844 m (n = 29) after acclimatization and after the expedition (n = 38). Correlation analysis of hormone concentrations with oxygen parameters and with altitude revealed statistical association in most cases only with altitude. Adrenal, thyroid and gonadal axes were affected by increasing altitude. Adrenal axis and prolactin were first supressed at 4844 m and then activated with increasing altitude; thyroid and gonadal axes were directly activated or suppressed respectively with increasing altitude. Acclimatisation at 4844 m led to normalization of adrenal and gonadal but not of thyroid axes. In conclusion, acclimatization partly leads to a normalization of the adrenal, thyroid and gonadal axes at around 5000 m. However, at higher altitude, endocrine dysregulation is pronounced and might contribute to the physical degradation found at high altitude.

Diapause termination of Rhagoletis cerasi pupae is regulated by local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity: escape in time through bet-hedging strategies.

Persistence and thriving of univoltine, herbivore insect species of the temperate zone rely on obligate diapause response that ensures winter survival and synchronization with host phenology. We used a stenophagous fruit fly (Rhagoletis cerasi) with obligate pupae diapause to determine genetic and environmental effects on diapause intensity of geographically isolated populations with habitat heterogeneity. Pupae from two Greek and one German populations with various gene flow rates were exposed at five constant chilling temperatures (0-12 °C) for different durations and then incubated at a high temperature until all adults have emerged. Pupae diapause intensity differs among Greek and German populations, suggesting an adaptive response to habitat heterogeneity (mostly differences in phenology patterns of local host cultivars). Moderately warm winter temperatures, such as 8 °C, promote diapause termination in all three populations. Insufficient chilling (short duration or warmer temperatures) regulates the expression of prolonged dormancy. Interestingly, extended chilling (longer than required for terminating diapause) 'return' pupae to another (facultative) cycle of dormancy enabling adults to emerge during the next appropriate 'window of time'; a strategy first time reported for univoltine insects. Consequently, diapause duration of R. cerasi is determined both by i) the adaptive response to local climatic conditions (annual dormancy) and ii) the plastic responses to interannual climatic variability resulting in two types of long life cycles within populations, prolonged and facultative dormancy as response to insufficient chilling and extended exposure to chilling, respectively. Long life cycles are expressed as a part of dormancy bet-hedging strategies of R. cerasi populations.

The MoCA: well-suited screen for cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the diagnostic accuracy of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) when screening externally validated cognition in Parkinson disease (PD), by comparison with a PD-focused test (Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson disease-Cognition [SCOPA-COG]) and the standardized Mini-Mental State Examination (S-MMSE) as benchmarks. METHODS: A convenience sample of 114 patients with idiopathic PD and 47 healthy controls was examined in a movement disorders center. The 21 patients with dementia (PD-D) were diagnosed using Movement Disorders Society criteria, externally validated by detailed independent functional and neuropsychological tests. The 21 patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) scored 1.5 SD or more below normative data in at least 2 measures in 1 of 4 cognitive domains. Other patients had normal cognition (PD-N). RESULTS: Primary outcomes using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses showed that all 3 mental status tests produced excellent discrimination of PD-D from patients without dementia (area under the curve [AUC], 87%-91%) and PD-MCI from PD-N patients (AUC, 78%-90%), but the MoCA was generally better suited across both assessments. The optimal MoCA screening cutoffs were <21/30 for PD-D (sensitivity 81%; specificity 95%; negative predictive value [NPV] 92%) and <26/30 for PD-MCI (sensitivity 90%; specificity 75%; NPV 95%). Further support that the MoCA is at least equivalent to the SCOPA-COG, and superior to the S-MMSE, came from the simultaneous classification of the 3 PD patient groups (volumes under a 3-dimensional ROC surface, chance = 17%: MoCA 79%, confidence interval [CI] 70%-89%; SCOPA-COG 74%, CI 62%-86%; MMSE-Sevens item 56%, CI 44%-68%; MMSE-World item 62%, CI 50%-73%). CONCLUSIONS: The MoCA is a suitably accurate, brief test when screening all levels of cognition in PD.