Reconstruction of ancient microbial genomes from the human gut.

Loss of gut microbial diversity1-6 in industrial populations is associated with chronic diseases7, underscoring the importance of studying our ancestral gut microbiome. However, relatively little is known about the composition of pre-industrial gut microbiomes. Here we performed a large-scale de novo assembly of microbial genomes from palaeofaeces. From eight authenticated human palaeofaeces samples (1,000-2,000 years old) with well-preserved DNA from southwestern USA and Mexico, we reconstructed 498 medium- and high-quality microbial genomes. Among the 181 genomes with the strongest evidence of being ancient and of human gut origin, 39% represent previously undescribed species-level genome bins. Tip dating suggests an approximate diversification timeline for the key human symbiont Methanobrevibacter smithii. In comparison to 789 present-day human gut microbiome samples from eight countries, the palaeofaeces samples are more similar to non-industrialized than industrialized human gut microbiomes. Functional profiling of the palaeofaeces samples reveals a markedly lower abundance of antibiotic-resistance and mucin-degrading genes, as well as enrichment of mobile genetic elements relative to industrial gut microbiomes. This study facilitates the discovery and characterization of previously undescribed gut microorganisms from ancient microbiomes and the investigation of the evolutionary history of the human gut microbiota through genome reconstruction from palaeofaeces.

Elastic tape behavior of a bi-directional Kerr-lens mode-locked dual-comb ring laser.

We experimentally investigate a fixed point of a bi-directional dual-comb ring laser and the behavior of dual-comb signals in different spectral regions. We show that the results are quite different from those obtained with traditional dual-comb spectroscopy. We explain the difference using the elastic tape formalism that we apply to a bi-directional ring laser. We also discuss how the results can aid efforts to synchronize two bi-directional laser systems to enable rapid and high-resolution multidimensional coherent spectroscopy with a compact apparatus.

Comparison of coercive practices in worldwide mental healthcare: overcoming difficulties resulting from variations in monitoring strategies.

BACKGROUND: Coercive or restrictive practices such as compulsory admission, involuntary medication, seclusion and restraint impinge on individual autonomy. International consensus mandates reduction or elimination of restrictive practices in mental healthcare. To achieve this requires knowledge of the extent of these practices. AIMS: We determined rates of coercive practices and compared them across countries. METHOD: We identified nine country- or region-wide data-sets of rates and durations of restrictive practices in Australia, England, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, The Netherlands, the USA and Wales. We compared the data-sets with each other and with mental healthcare indicators in World Health Organization and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reports. RESULTS: The types and definitions of reported coercive practices varied considerably. Reported rates were highly variable, poorly reported and tracked using a diverse array of measures. However, we were able to combine duration measures to examine numbers of restrictive practices per year per 100 000 population for each country. The rates and durations of seclusion and restraint differed by factors of more than 100 between countries, with Japan showing a particularly high number of restraints. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend a common set of international measures, so that finer comparisons within and between countries can be made, and monitoring of trends to see whether alternatives to restraint are successful. These measurements should include information about the total numbers, durations and rates of coercive measures. We urge the World Health Organization to include these measures in their Mental Health Atlas.

Effect of communication skills training for residents and nurse practitioners on quality of communication with patients with serious illness: a randomized trial.

IMPORTANCE: Communication about end-of-life care is a core clinical skill. Simulation-based training improves skill acquisition, but effects on patient-reported outcomes are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of a communication skills intervention for internal medicine and nurse practitioner trainees on patient- and family-reported outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized trial conducted with 391 internal medicine and 81 nurse practitioner trainees between 2007 and 2013 at the University of Washington and Medical University of South Carolina. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomized to an 8-session, simulation-based, communication skills intervention (N = 232) or usual education (N = 240). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcome was patient-reported quality of communication (QOC; mean rating of 17 items rated from 0-10, with 0 = poor and 10 = perfect). Secondary outcomes were patient-reported quality of end-of-life care (QEOLC; mean rating of 26 items rated from 0-10) and depressive symptoms (assessed using the 8-item Personal Health Questionnaire [PHQ-8]; range, 0-24, higher scores worse) and family-reported QOC and QEOLC. Analyses were clustered by trainee. RESULTS: There were 1866 patient ratings (44% response) and 936 family ratings (68% response). The intervention was not associated with significant changes in QOC or QEOLC. Mean values for postintervention patient QOC and QEOLC were 6.5 (95% CI, 6.2 to 6.8) and 8.3 (95% CI, 8.1 to 8.5) respectively, compared with 6.3 (95% CI, 6.2 to 6.5) and 8.3 (95% CI, 8.1 to 8.4) for control conditions. After adjustment, comparing intervention with control, there was no significant difference in the QOC score for patients (difference, 0.4 points [95% CI, -0.1 to 0.9]; P = .15) or families (difference, 0.1 [95% CI, -0.8 to 1.0]; P = .81). There was no significant difference in QEOLC score for patients (difference, 0.3 points [95% CI, -0.3 to 0.8]; P = .34) or families (difference, 0.1 [95% CI, -0.7 to 0.8]; P = .88). The intervention was associated with significantly increased depression scores among patients of postintervention trainees (mean score, 10.0 [95% CI, 9.1 to 10.8], compared with 8.8 [95% CI, 8.4 to 9.2]) for control conditions; adjusted model showed an intervention effect of 2.2 (95% CI, 0.6 to 3.8; P = .006). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among internal medicine and nurse practitioner trainees, simulation-based communication training compared with usual education did not improve quality of communication about end-of-life care or quality of end-of-life care but was associated with a small increase in patients' depressive symptoms. These findings raise questions about skills transfer from simulation training to actual patient care and the adequacy of communication skills assessment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00687349.

Predicting individual differences in response to sleep loss: application of current techniques.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue's negative impact on safety represents one of the top threats to military transportation. Biomathematical models have been developed to predict the response to fatigue; however, current models do not take into account stable individual differences in fatigue susceptibility. Readiness Screening Tools (RSTs) can capture individual differences in fatigue response, but cannot predict performance long-term. The objective of this study was to combine an existing biomathematical model of fatigue with existing RST-derived measures to determine current ability to predict individual differences in fatigue response. We hypothesized that the predictive ability of the biomathematical model could be significantly improved by incorporating cognitive and oculometric measures shown to be sensitive to individual differences in fatigue response. METHODS: Data on multiple cognitive and oculometric measures were collected at rested baseline and then every 3 h across 25 h of continual wakefulness. Results characterized actual fatigued performance at the group and individual levels. Actual performance was compared to predicted performance decrements over the same time period. The unique variance explained by each approach was then combined to determine if RST-derived individual difference measures added significant predictive power to the model. RESULTS: Addition of individual-difference sensitive RST measures to an existing fatigue model significantly increased the amount of variance in performance explained by the model from 13.8 to 35.7%. DISCUSSION: Simply leveraging RSTs' ability to capture individual differences in fatigue susceptibility can substantially improve biomathematical prediction of fatigued performance.

Orientation relationships, orientational variants and the embedding approach.

For phase transformations within polycrystalline materials, the connection between the crystal orientations of parent grains and those of child grains is usually expressed in terms of (theoretical or measured) orientation relationships. This paper introduces a new approach to various problems associated with orientation relationships: (i) estimation, (ii) whether or not a single orientation relationship fits the data adequately, (iii) whether or not a set of children comes from a common parent, and (iv) reconstruction of a parent or of grain boundaries. The approach is an extension to the crystallographic context of the well established embedding approach to directional statistics. It is inherently statistical, producing precise probabilistic statements. Explicit coordinate systems are not used and arbitrary thresholds are avoided.

A single dose of armodafinil significantly promotes vigilance 11 hours post-dose.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to test the ability of armodafinil to promote vigilance among air traffic control operators 8 to 11 hours post-dose. METHODS: Forty-eight U.S. Naval air traffic control students were assigned to one of two groups, 150 mg dose of armodafinil or placebo. At 8:00 a.m., participants were administered armodafinil or a placebo, after which they completed a standard work day. Participants returned at 3:45 p.m. to complete the 4-hour performance portion of the study, where they performed the psychomotor vigilance task. RESULTS: The analysis showed a significant difference in vigilance between the armodafinil group and placebo (p < 0.05). Psychomotor vigilance task data revealed that participants receiving a 150 mg dose of armodafinil experienced significantly fewer lapses of attention compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: These results justify additional investigation into the efficacy of armodafinil to promote sustained vigilance in military operational settings where fatigue-related performance decrements are especially problematic.

Meta-analysis shows that environmental DNA outperforms traditional surveys, but warrants better reporting standards.

Decades of environmental DNA (eDNA) method application, spanning a wide variety of taxa and habitats, has advanced our understanding of eDNA and underlined its value as a tool for conservation practitioners. The general consensus is that eDNA methods are more accurate and cost-effective than traditional survey methods. However, they are formally approved for just a few species globally (e.g., Bighead Carp, Silver Carp, Great Crested Newt). We conducted a meta-analysis of studies that directly compare eDNA with traditional surveys to evaluate the assertion that eDNA methods are consistently "better."Environmental DNA publications for multiple species or single macro-organism detection were identified using the Web of Science, by searching "eDNA" and "environmental DNA" across papers published between 1970 and 2020. The methods used, focal taxa, habitats surveyed, and quantitative and categorical results were collated and analyzed to determine whether and under what circumstances eDNA outperforms traditional surveys.Results show that eDNA methods are cheaper, more sensitive, and detect more species than traditional methods. This is, however, taxa-dependent, with amphibians having the highest potential for detection by eDNA survey. Perhaps most strikingly, of the 535 papers reviewed just 49 quantified the probability of detection for both eDNA and traditional survey methods and studies were three times more likely to give qualitative statements of performance. Synthesis and applications: The results of this meta-analysis demonstrate that where there is a direct comparison, eDNA surveys of macro-organisms are more accurate and efficient than traditional surveys. This conclusion, however, is based on just a fraction of available eDNA papers as most do not offer this granularity. We recommend that conclusions are substantiated with comparable and quantitative data. Where a direct comparison has not been made, we caution against the use of qualitative statements about relative performance. This consistency and rigor will simplify how the eDNA research community tracks methods-based advances and will also provide greater clarity for conservation practitioners. To this end suggest reporting standards for eDNA studies.

Real-Time Culture-Independent Microbial Profiling Onboard the International Space Station Using Nanopore Sequencing.

For the past two decades, microbial monitoring of the International Space Station (ISS) has relied on culture-dependent methods that require return to Earth for analysis. This has a number of limitations, with the most significant being bias towards the detection of culturable organisms and the inherent delay between sample collection and ground-based analysis. In recent years, portable and easy-to-use molecular-based tools, such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies' MinION™ sequencer and miniPCR bio's miniPCR™ thermal cycler, have been validated onboard the ISS. Here, we report on the development, validation, and implementation of a swab-to-sequencer method that provides a culture-independent solution to real-time microbial profiling onboard the ISS. Method development focused on analysis of swabs collected in a low-biomass environment with limited facility resources and stringent controls on allowed processes and reagents. ISS-optimized procedures included enzymatic DNA extraction from a swab tip, bead-based purifications, altered buffers, and the use of miniPCR and the MinION. Validation was conducted through extensive ground-based assessments comparing current standard culture-dependent and newly developed culture-independent methods. Similar microbial distributions were observed between the two methods; however, as expected, the culture-independent data revealed microbial profiles with greater diversity. Protocol optimization and verification was established during NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) analog missions 21 and 22, respectively. Unique microbial profiles obtained from analog testing validated the swab-to-sequencer method in an extreme environment. Finally, four independent swab-to-sequencer experiments were conducted onboard the ISS by two crewmembers. Microorganisms identified from ISS swabs were consistent with historical culture-based data, and primarily consisted of commonly observed human-associated microbes. This simplified method has been streamlined for high ease-of-use for a non-trained crew to complete in an extreme environment, thereby enabling environmental and human health diagnostics in real-time as future missions take us beyond low-Earth orbit.

Capture-recapture estimation using finite mixtures of arbitrary dimension.

Reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) methods are used to fit Bayesian capture-recapture models incorporating heterogeneity in individuals and samples. Heterogeneity in capture probabilities comes from finite mixtures and/or fixed sample effects allowing for interactions. Estimation by RJMCMC allows automatic model selection and/or model averaging. Priors on the parameters stabilize the estimates and produce realistic credible intervals for population size for overparameterized models, in contrast to likelihood-based methods. To demonstrate the approach we analyze the standard Snowshoe hare and Cottontail rabbit data sets from ecology, a reliability testing data set.

Model-based goodness-of-fit tests for the ordered stereotype model.

This paper presents two new model-based goodness-of-fit tests for the ordered stereotype model applied to an ordinal response variable. The proposed tests are based on the Lipsitz test, which partitions the subjects into G groups following the popular Hosmer-Lemeshow test for binary data. The tests construct an alternative model where group effects are added into the null model. If the model fits the data well then the null model is correct, and there should be no group effects. One of the main advantages of the ordered stereotype model is that it allows us to determine a new uneven spacing of the ordinal response categories, dictated by the data. The two proposed tests use this new adjusted spacing. One test uses the form of the original ordered stereotype model, and the other uses an ordinary linear model. We demonstrate the performance of both tests under a variety of scenarios. Finally, the results of the application in three examples are presented.

Outer Radial Glia-like Cancer Stem Cells Contribute to Heterogeneity of Glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is a devastating form of brain cancer. To identify aspects of tumor heterogeneity that may illuminate drivers of tumor invasion, we created a glioblastoma tumor cell atlas with single-cell transcriptomics of cancer cells mapped onto a reference framework of the developing and adult human brain. We find that multiple GSC subtypes exist within a single tumor. Within these GSCs, we identify an invasive cell population similar to outer radial glia (oRG), a fetal cell type that expands the stem cell niche in normal human cortex. Using live time-lapse imaging of primary resected tumors, we discover that tumor-derived oRG-like cells undergo characteristic mitotic somal translocation behavior previously only observed in human development, suggesting a reactivation of developmental programs. In addition, we show that PTPRZ1 mediates both mitotic somal translocation and glioblastoma tumor invasion. These data suggest that the presence of heterogeneous GSCs may underlie glioblastoma's rapid progression and invasion.

Lexicon creation to promote faculty development in medical communication.

OBJECTIVE: Most medical educators have little or no training in teaching and assessing medical communication, and they are not consistent in what they teach. The authors set out to reach consensus in our educational community on a lexicon of communication terms for use in teaching physician-patient communication skills to second-year medical students. METHODS: An interdisciplinary medical school physician-patient communication committee assembled 23 important terms and agreed on definitions for each term. Thirty core preclinical faculty representing nine medical specialties reviewed the lexicon. Faculty were surveyed about lexicon definitions, barriers to use, and methods of using during educational encounters. RESULTS: All preclinical faculty members agreed on 19 out of 23 definitions and most respondents agreed on the definitions of the remaining four terms. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they used the terms during their teaching encounters. CONCLUSION: Implementing a process to create a shared language around physician-patient communication may help unify and enhance faculty educational efforts. We were able to establish that medical educators can agree on the content of a medical communication lexicon for use with students. The use of defined and consistently used terms in multiple venues may reduce ambiguity, standardize teaching, enhance recognition of communication skills, and promote effective reinforcement and remediation by faculty. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Evidence suggests that most medical educators have little or no training in teaching and assessing medical communication and that they are not consistent in what they teach. Asking a community of faculty to share responsibility for creating a communication lexicon may be an efficient and effective way to educate faculty and unify their educational effort.

Complement receptor-associated CD163+/CD18+/CD11c+/CD206-/CD209- expression profile in chronic histiocytic intervillositis of the placenta.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic histiocytic intervillositis of unknown etiology (CIUE) is a non-infectious, most probably immunologic placenta lesion. CIUE is associated with recurrent miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction and stillbirth. Among the pathologic-anatomic defined placental lesions this entity displays the highest risk of recurrence in following pregnancies (about 67-100%). The histiocytic cells accumulate in the placental blood space but do not infiltrate into the villi or decidua. Sparsely known is the expression profile of these intervillous cells regarding histiocytic markers. METHODS: We analysed 5-22 markers by immunohistochemistry in a total of 41 placenta samples and evaluated decidual, villous and intervillous histiocytic cells. RESULTS: In CIUE, intervillous CD163+ histiocytes over-express CD11c/CD18 and down-regulate CD206/CD209, while CD163+ decidual and Hofbauer cells show low CD11c/CD18 and higher CD206/CD209 protein expressions. DISCUSSION: CD163 expression indicates a M2-like polarisation. CD11c and CD18 form the complement receptor 4 which could be related to a complement mediated trigger for aberrant cell accumulation in CIUE.

Estimating the prevalence of schizophrenia among New Zealand Maori: a capture-recapture approach.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to estimate the 12 month prevalence of schizophrenia in the Maori population of New Zealand. METHOD: Mental health data from two national sources were obtained for the period 2000-2003. A simple count of unique individuals with schizophrenia was used to estimate contact prevalence and a four-list capture-recapture procedure to estimate population prevalence. RESULTS: Contact prevalence was significantly lower than the estimated population prevalence for both groups. The estimated 12 month prevalence of schizophrenia for Maori (0.97%) was significantly higher than for non-Maori (0.32%), even after adjustment for age, case under-ascertainment, and socioeconomic deprivation. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of schizophrenia among Maori appears to be elevated, although limitations in diagnostic reliability and recording of ethnicity must be considered. This adds further evidence of worldwide variation in the prevalence of schizophrenia. Capture-recapture provides a reliable cost-effective alternative to epidemiological surveys for estimating the prevalence of low-prevalence disorders such as schizophrenia.

Creating functional groups of marine fish from categorical traits.

BACKGROUND: Functional groups serve two important functions in ecology: they allow for simplification of ecosystem models and can aid in understanding diversity. Despite their important applications, there has not been a universally accepted method of how to define them. A common approach is to cluster species on a set of traits, validated through visual confirmation of resulting groups based primarily on expert opinion. The goal of this research is to determine a suitable procedure for creating and evaluating functional groups that arise from clustering nominal traits. METHODS: To do so, we produced a species by trait matrix of 22 traits from 116 fish species from Tasman Bay and Golden Bay, New Zealand. Data collected from photographs and published literature were predominantly nominal, and a small number of continuous traits were discretized. Some data were missing, so the benefit of imputing data was assessed using four approaches on data with known missing values. Hierarchical clustering is utilised to search for underlying data structure in the data that may represent functional groups. Within this clustering paradigm there are a number of distance matrices and linkage methods available, several combinations of which we test. The resulting clusters are evaluated using internal metrics developed specifically for nominal clustering. This revealed the choice of number of clusters, distance matrix and linkage method greatly affected the overall within- and between- cluster variability. We visualise the clustering in two dimensions and the stability of clusters is assessed through bootstrapping. RESULTS: Missing data imputation showed up to 90% accuracy using polytomous imputation, so was used to impute the real missing data. A division of the species information into three functional groups was the most separated, compact and stable result. Increasing the number of clusters increased the inconsistency of group membership, and selection of the appropriate distance matrix and linkage method improved the fit. DISCUSSION: We show that the commonly used methodologies used for the creation of functional groups are fraught with subjectivity, ultimately causing significant variation in the composition of resulting groups. Depending on the research goal dictates the appropriate strategy for selecting number of groups, distance matrix and clustering algorithm combination.

Behavior and season affect crayfish detection and density inference using environmental DNA.

Although the presence/absence of aquatic invertebrates using environmental DNA (eDNA) has been established for several species, inferring population densities has remained problematic. The invasive American signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana), is the leading cause of decline in the UK's only native crayfish species, Austropotamobius pallipes (Lereboullet). Methods to detect species at low abundances offer the opportunity for the early detection, and potential eradication, of P. leniusculus before population densities reach threatening levels in areas occupied by A. pallipes. Using a factorial experimental design with aquaria, we investigated the impacts of biomass, sex ratio, and fighting behavior on the amount of eDNA released by P. leniusculus, with the aim to infer density per aquarium depending on treatments. The amount of target eDNA in water samples from each aquarium was measured using the quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction. We show that the presence of eggs significantly increases the concentration of crayfish eDNA per unit of mass, and that there is a significant relationship between eDNA concentration and biomass when females are egg-bearing. However, the relationship between crayfish biomass and eDNA concentration is lost in aquaria without ovigerous females. Female-specific tanks had significantly higher eDNA concentrations than male-specific tanks, and the prevention of fighting did not impact the amount of eDNA in the water. These results indicate that detection and estimate of crayfish abundance using eDNA may be more effective while females are ovigerous. This information should guide further research for an accurate estimation of crayfish biomass in the field depending on the season. Our results indicate that detection and quantification of egg-laying aquatic invertebrate species using eDNA could be most successful during periods when eggs are developing in the water. We recommend that practitioners consider the reproductive cycle of target species when attempting to study or detect aquatic species using eDNA in the field.

Teaching inpatient communication skills to medical students: an innovative strategy.

At the University of Washington, a group of medical educators defined a set of communication skills, or "benchmarks," that are expected of second-year medical students conducting history and physical examinations on hospitalized patients. In order to teach the skills listed in the communication benchmarks, an educational strategy was devised that included training sessions for 30 medical teachers and the development of an innovative videotape tool used to train the teachers and their students. The benchmarks were designed in 2003 for the developmental level of the students and were based on key communication concepts and essential elements of medical communication. A set of five short videotaped scenarios was developed that illustrated various segments of a student history and physical examination. Each scenario consisted of an "OK" version of communication and a "better" version of the same scenario. The video scenarios were used in teaching sessions to help students identify effective communication techniques and to stimulate discussion about the communication benchmarks. After the training sessions, teachers and students were surveyed to assess the effectiveness of the educational methods. The majority of students felt that the educational design stimulated discussion and improved their understanding of communication skills. Faculty found the educational design useful and 95% felt that the curriculum and videotape contributed to their own education. The development of communication benchmarks illustrated with short videotaped scenarios contrasting "OK" with "better" communication skills is a useful technique that is transferable to other institutions.

Service and its association with matching into a primary care residency.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is a shortfall in the primary care workforce, and an effort is needed in learning more about what motivates students to work as generalists. There is enthusiasm about service as a potential motivator. The objective is to determine whether there is an association between high participation in service and selection of a primary care residency. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort analysis. The service award was used to delineate two groups, recipients and non-recipients, with the recipients considered high service participators. This was associated with residency match data using test of proportions to examine relationships between service and selection of a primary care residency and other secondary factors. RESULTS: Of award recipients, 57.3% matched in primary care, compared to 52.8%, though this did not reach statistical significance. Service was linked with induction into Alpha Omega Alpha honor society (23.3% versus 14.6%) and induction into the Gold Humanism Honor Society (22.6%. versus 10.4%), with statistical significance. CONCLUSION: This was an unsuccessful attempt to find a link between service and a primary care career choice, though there is a trend in the direction. The association with induction into the humanism honor society suggests that service is linked with development and/or retention of positively viewed qualities in medical students.

(R)-Desmolactone is a sex pheromone or sex attractant for the endangered valley elderberry longhorn beetle Desmocerus californicus dimorphus and several congeners (Cerambycidae: Lepturinae).

We report here that (4R,9Z)-hexadec-9-en-4-olide [(R)-desmolactone] is a sex attractant or sex pheromone for multiple species and subspecies in the cerambycid genus Desmocerus. This compound was previously identified as a female-produced sex attractant pheromone of Desmocerus californicus californicus. Headspace volatiles from female Desmocerus aureipennis aureipennis contained (R)-desmolactone, and the antennae of adult males of two species responded strongly to synthetic (R)-desmolactone in coupled gas chromatography-electroantennogram analyses. In field bioassays in California, Oregon, and British Columbia, traps baited with synthetic (R)-desmolactone captured males of several Desmocerus species and subspecies. Only male beetles were captured, indicating that this compound acts as a sex-specific attractant, rather than as a signal for aggregation. In targeted field bioassays, males of the US federally threatened subspecies Desmocerus californicus dimorphus responded to the synthetic attractant in a dose dependent manner. Our results represent the first example of a "generic" sex pheromone used by multiple species in the subfamily Lepturinae, and demonstrate that pheromone-baited traps may be a sensitive and efficient method of monitoring the threatened species Desmocerus californicus dimorphus, commonly known as the valley elderberry longhorn beetle.