Phenology and Dispersal of the Wheat Stem Sawfly (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) Into Winter Wheat Fields in Nebraska.

Historically, the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton was a pest in spring wheat-growing regions of the northern Great Plains. However, in the 1980s, it was found infesting winter wheat fields in Montana. Infestations were first detected in western Nebraska in the 1990s, and have since spread throughout the Nebraska Panhandle. Larval damage occurs from stem-mining, but stem girdling that results in lodged stems that are not harvested results in the greatest yield losses. The biology and phenology of the wheat stem sawfly are well described in the northern portion of its range, but they are lacking in Colorado, southeast Wyoming, and Nebraska. In this study, the phenology and dispersal of the wheat stem sawfly in Nebraska winter wheat fields is described using sweep net and larval sampling. During this 2-yr study, adult activity began on May 23 and ended on June 21. Adult sex ratios were 2.32 males per female in 2014 and 0.46 males per female in 2015. Both sexes demonstrated an edge effect within the wheat fields, with greater densities near the field edge. The edge effect was stronger for male wheat stem sawfly than females. Wheat stem sawfly larval density also had an edge effect, regardless of the density of female wheat stem sawfly present. This information will be useful for developing management plans for the wheat stem sawfly in Nebraska and neighboring regions.

Spatial Spectral Band Selection for Enhanced Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Classification Applications.

Despite the numerous band selection (BS) algorithms reported in the field, most if not all have exhibited maximal accuracy when more spectral bands are utilized for classification. This apparently disagrees with the theoretical model of the 'curse of dimensionality' phenomenon, without apparent explanations. If it were true, then BS would be deemed as an academic piece of research without real benefits to practical applications. This paper presents a spatial spectral mutual information (SSMI) BS scheme that utilizes a spatial feature extraction technique as a preprocessing step, followed by the clustering of the mutual information (MI) of spectral bands for enhancing the efficiency of the BS. Through the SSMI BS scheme, a sharp 'bell'-shaped accuracy-dimensionality characteristic that peaks at about 20 bands has been observed for the very first time. The performance of the proposed SSMI BS scheme has been validated through 6 hyperspectral imaging (HSI) datasets (Indian Pines, Botswana, Barrax, Pavia University, Salinas, and Kennedy Space Center (KSC)), and its classification accuracy is shown to be approximately 10% better than seven state-of-the-art BS schemes (Saliency, HyperBS, SLN, OCF, FDPC, ISSC, and Convolution Neural Network (CNN)). The present result confirms that the high efficiency of the BS scheme is essentially important to observe and validate the Hughes' phenomenon in the analysis of HSI data. Experiments also show that the classification accuracy can be affected by as much as approximately 10% when a single 'crucial' band is included or missed out for classification.

Facebook Powered Measurement and Evaluation for Iron Folic Acid Health Intervention in India.

As the media landscape changes and billions of people around the world turn to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms for information and social interactions, the need to develop effective methods of leveraging social media for social behavior change communication (SBCC) becomes increasingly important. Yet, in order for the public health sector to embrace social media for SBCC, we must have methods for measuring the impact of social media-based SBCC. In this letter, we share a new approach for measurement and evaluation of social media-based SBCC campaigns. The approach was developed as part of an iron-folic acid health intervention targeting young women in two states in northern India; Uttar Pradesh and Maydar Pradesh.

Structure and Dynamics of a Site-Specific Labeled Fc Fragment with Altered Effector Functions.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a class of biotherapeutic drugs designed as targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer. Among the challenges in generating an effective ADC is the choice of an effective conjugation site on the IgG. One common method to prepare site-specific ADCs is to engineer solvent-accessible cysteine residues into antibodies. Here, we used X-ray diffraction and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectroscopy to analyze the structure and dynamics of such a construct where a cysteine has been inserted after Ser 239 (Fc-239i) in the antibody heavy chain sequence. The crystal structure of this Fc-C239i variant at 0.23 nm resolution shows that the inserted cysteine structurally replaces Ser 239 and that this causes a domino-like backward shift of the local polypeptide, pushing Pro 238 out into the hinge. Proline is unable to substitute conformationally for the wild-type glycine at this position, providing a structural reason for the previously observed abolition of both FcγR binding and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Energy estimates for the both the FcγR interface (7 kcal/mol) and for the differential conformation of proline (20 kcal/mol) are consistent with the observed disruption of FcγR binding, providing a quantifiable case where strain at a single residue appears to disrupt a key biological function. Conversely, the structure of Fc-C239i is relatively unchanged at the intersection of the CH2 and CH3 domains; the site known to be involved in binding of the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), and an alignment of the Fc-C239i structure with an Fc structure in a ternary Fc:FcRn:HSA (human serum albumin) complex implies that these favorable contacts would be maintained. Hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectroscopy (HDX-MS) data further suggest a significant increase in conformational mobility for the Fc-C239i protein relative to Fc that is evident even far from the insertion site but still largely confined to the CH2 domain. Together, the findings provide a detailed structural and dynamic basis for previously observed changes in ADC functional binding to FcγR, which may guide further development of ADC designs.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum: an important differential in acute chest pain.

A 38-year-old man presented with pleuritic chest pain that was present on waking and localised to the left costal margin with no radiation. He was otherwise asymptomatic and denied preceding trauma, heavy lifting, coughing or recent vomiting. Observations and examination were unremarkable; however, a chest radiograph showed a pneumomediastinum. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is a rare condition that tends to follow a benign clinical course. A CT of the chest is generally only indicated if the chest X-ray fails to show an SPM in patients for whom there is a high index of clinical suspicion. A contrast-enhanced swallow study is only indicated if there is suspicion of an oesophageal tear or rupture. Evidence suggests that patients with SPM can be managed conservatively and observed for 24 h.

Pneumomediastinum secondary to mephedrone inhalation.

A 23-year-old man presented to the emergency department with severe, central, pleuritic chest pain. The pain was present on waking and exacerbated by movement. On examination, supraclavicular and anterior chest wall surgical emphysema was noted, otherwise examination and initial observations were normal. A chest x-ray and subsequent chest CT demonstrated a pneumomediastium with significant subcutaneous emphysema. There was no history of vomiting or chest trauma, but the patient had inhaled mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug, 36 h prior. Pneumomediastinum is an uncommon complication of inhalational drug use.