To report the long-term results of the Intergroup Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 91-11 study evaluating the contribution of chemotherapy added to radiation therapy (RT) for larynx preservation.
...Patients with stage III or IV glottic or supraglottic squamous cell cancer were randomly assigned to induction cisplatin/fluorouracil (PF) followed by RT (control arm), concomitant cisplatin/RT, or RT alone. The composite end point of laryngectomy-free survival (LFS) was the primary end point.
Five hundred twenty patients were analyzed. Median follow-up for surviving patients is 10.8 years. Both chemotherapy regimens significantly improved LFS compared with RT alone (induction chemotherapy v RT alone: hazard ratio HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.95; P = .02; concomitant chemotherapy v RT alone: HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.98; P = .03). Overall survival did not differ significantly, although there was a possibility of worse outcome with concomitant relative to induction chemotherapy (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.61; P = .08). Concomitant cisplatin/RT significantly improved the larynx preservation rate over induction PF followed by RT (HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.89; P = .0050) and over RT alone (P < .001), whereas induction PF followed by RT was not better than treatment with RT alone (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.82; P = .35). No difference in late effects was detected, but deaths not attributed to larynx cancer or treatment were higher with concomitant chemotherapy (30.8% v 20.8% with induction chemotherapy and 16.9% with RT alone).
These 10-year results show that induction PF followed by RT and concomitant cisplatin/RT show similar efficacy for the composite end point of LFS. Locoregional control and larynx preservation were significantly improved with concomitant cisplatin/RT compared with the induction arm or RT alone. New strategies that improve organ preservation and function with less morbidity are needed.
To investigate long-term swallowing function in oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and to identify novel dose-limiting criteria predictive for ...dysphagia.
Thirty-one patients with Stage IV oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma enrolled on a Phase II trial were prospectively evaluated by modified barium swallow studies at baseline, and 6, 12, and 24 months post-IMRT treatment. Candidate dysphagia-associated organs at risk were retrospectively contoured into original treatment plans. Twenty-one (68%) cases were base of tongue and 10 (32%) were tonsil. Stage distribution was T1 (12 patients), T2 (10), T3 (4), T4 (2), and TX (3), and N2 (24), N3 (5), and NX (2). Median age was 52.8 years (range, 42-78 years). Thirteen patients (42%) received concurrent chemotherapy during IMRT. Thirteen (42%) were former smokers. Mean dose to glottic larynx for the cohort was limited to 18 Gy (range, 6-39 Gy) by matching IMRT to conventional low-neck fields.
Dose-volume constraints (V30 < 65% and V35 < 35% for anterior oral cavity and V55 < 80% and V65 < 30% for high superior pharyngeal constrictors) predictive for objective swallowing dysfunction were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses. Aspiration and feeding tube dependence were observed in only 1 patient at 24 months.
In the context of glottic laryngeal shielding, we describe candidate oral cavity and superior pharyngeal constrictor organs at risk and dose-volume constraints associated with preserved long-term swallowing function; these constraints are currently undergoing prospective validation. Strict protection of the glottic larynx via beam-split IMRT techniques promises to make chronic aspiration an uncommon outcome.
Flight behavior is an important component to understand in the context of pest management. However, because of their small size, little is known about the flight capacity of most stored-product ...insects, and when a flight has been assessed, it usually consists of a propensity for initiating flight. Despite a priori expectations of the importance of flight for moths, there are no data about the flight capacity and little on the flight behavior of the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). As a result, the objective of the current study was to (i) characterize the baseline flight capacity of E. kuehniella and (ii) determine how flight capacity is affected by the presence of kairomonal, pheromonal, or no stimuli. We found adult E. kuehniella flew a mean of 24-34 km in a 24-h period, and the distance flown per bout increased from 91 to 207 m in the presence of pheromones but decreased to 41 m when food was nearby compared to a negative control. The total number of flight bouts was 1.6-fold higher in the presence of pheromone compared to the negative control, but E. kuehniella flew significantly slower with pheromone and food cues present, suggesting they may be exhibiting an optimal foraging strategy. Our data on flight capacity results in qualitatively and quantitatively different conclusions about flight than those conclusions formed if only flight initiation is considered. Overall, this novel information is useful for understanding the spread within facilities and in the landscape (between facilities), as well as parameterizing ecological modeling.
The environment in which postharvest crops are processed and stored is a dynamic ecosystem influenced not only by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, but also by biotic influences ...such as humans and insects. Abiotic influences such as variation in landscapes of warehouses, processing facilities, storage and shipping containers, and urban and agricultural settings can also drive changes in ecosystem processes for insects living in a postharvest system. Principles of community ecology can help to tease apart broad interactions among the environment including succession, interactions with conspecifics that lead to competition and niche partitioning, behavioral ecology variation, and physiology and developmental changes. Focusing on these concepts for integrated pest management (IPM) for stored product insect pests can help pest managers to better predict risk thresholds and develop targeted approaches for treatments. Typically, pest management decisions focus on single species without regards to the interactions with other species. Without consideration of the entire ecosystem, targeted treatments for one species can have both direct and indirect impacts on other species that may have equally detrimental effects on stored products. Current knowledge of stored product ecosystems lags behind what is known for field pest ecosystems, and hinders our ability to design effective control strategies for the whole system. Here, we present a review of work on stored product insect pests using a community ecology lens. We analyze how the current state of the knowledge regarding species interactions and variation and incorporating factors such as movement, species interactions, energy transfer models in succession, behavior, and effects of climate change in ecological modeling can be used to better develop and implement more effective postharvest IPM. Implementing these concepts will significantly improve management of these insects and can help reduce time and cost associated with managing and treating insect infestations.
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is an agricultural and urban pest that has become widely established as an invasive species of major concern in the USA and across Europe. This ...species forms large aggregations when entering diapause, and it is often these aggregations that are found by officials conducting inspections of internationally shipped freight. Identifying the presence of diapausing aggregations of H. halys using their emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be a potential means for detecting and intercepting them during international freight inspections. Headspace samples were collected from aggregations of diapausing H. halys using volatile collection traps (VCTs) and solid phase microextraction. The only compound detected in all samples was tridecane, with small amounts of (E)-2-decenal found in most samples. We also monitored the release of defensive odors, following mechanical agitation of diapausing and diapause-disrupted adult H. halys. Diapausing groups were significantly more likely to release defensive odors than diapause-disrupted groups. The predominant compounds consistently found from both groups were tridecane, (E)-2-decenal, and 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal, with a small abundance of dodecane. Our findings show that diapausing H. halys do release defensive compounds, and suggest that volatile sampling may be feasible to detect H. halys in freight.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Halyomorpha halys (Sta° l) is an invasive pest that attacks numerous crops. For growers to make informed management decisions against H. halys, an effective monitoring tool must be in place. We ...evaluated various trap designs baited with the two-component aggregation pheromone of H. halys and synergist and deployed in commercial apple orchards.We compared our current experimental standard trap, a black plywood pyramid trap 1.22 m in height deployed between border row apple trees with other trap designs for two growing seasons. These included a black lightweight coroplast pyramid trap of similar dimension, a smaller (29 cm) pyramid trap also ground deployed, a smaller limb-attached pyramid trap, a smaller pyramid trap hanging from a horizontal branch, and a semipyramid design known as the Rescue trap.We found that the coroplast pyramid was the most sensitive, capturing more adults than all other trap designs including our experimental standard. Smaller pyramid traps performed equally in adult captures to our experimental standard, though nymphal captures were statistically lower for the hanging traps. Experimental standard plywood and coroplast pyramid trap correlations were strong, suggesting that standard plywood pyramid traps could be replaced with lighter, cheaper coroplast pyramid traps. Strong correlations with small ground- and limb-deployed pyramid traps also suggest that these designs offer promise as well. Growers may be able to adopt alternative trap designs that are cheaper, lighter, and easier to deploy to monitor H. halys in orchards without a significant loss in sensitivity.
There has been a dearth of research elucidating the behavioral effect of microbially-produced volatile organic compounds on insects in postharvest agriculture. Demonstrating attraction to MVOC’s by ...stored product insects would provide an additional source of unique behaviorally-relevant stimuli to protect postharvest commodities at food facilities. Here, we assessed the behavioral response of a primary (
Rhyzopertha dominica
) and secondary (
Tribolium castaneum
) grain pest to bouquets of volatiles produced by whole wheat that were untempered, or tempered to 12%, 15%, or 19% grain moisture and incubated for 9, 18, or 27 days. We hypothesized that MVOC’s may be more important for the secondary feeder because they signal that otherwise unusable, intact grains have become susceptible by weakening of the bran. However, contrary to our expectations, we found that the primary feeder,
R. dominica
, but not
T. castaneum
was attracted to MVOC’s in a wind tunnel experiment, and in a release-recapture assay using commercial traps baited with grain treatments. Increasing grain moisture resulted in elevated grain damage detected by near-infrared spectroscopy and resulted in small but significant differences in the blend of volatiles emitted by treatments detected by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). In sequencing the microbial community on the grain, we found a diversity of fungi, suggesting that an assemblage was responsible for emissions. We conclude that
R. dominica
is attracted to a broader suite of MVOC’s than
T. castaneum
, and that our work highlights the importance of understanding insect-microbe interactions in the postharvest agricultural supply chain.
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•The native natural enemy community of Halyomorpha halys in the US is not well-documented.•We systematically categorized damage to and main predators of H. halys egg masses.•Egg ...damage consisted of complete or incomplete chewing, and stylet or punctured sucking.•The main predators were Tettigoniidae, Carabidae, Gryllidae, and to a lesser extent, Salticidae.
The native generalist predator community of Halyomorpha halys, an invasive species in the United States and Europe, has not been well defined to date. The aims of the current study were to determine whether generalist predators that are commonly found in mid-Atlantic orchards and vegetable crops are capable of feeding on H. halys eggs and, if so, to systematically characterize the appearance of feeding damage in order to link it to sentinel egg mass surveys. Over 25 field-collected and commercially available arthropod predator taxa, including adults and immatures, were evaluated as potential predators of H. halys eggs in laboratory trials, and a photographic library of egg mass damage was developed. In addition, over 400 sentinel egg masses were deployed in tree fruit and vegetable crops, and direct observations were made of predator taxa in situ. We found that the most frequent and efficient predators of H. halys eggs were katydids and ground beetles, and to a lesser extent earwigs, jumping spiders, and crickets. Egg damage for each taxon studied was ascribed to one of four egg damage syndromes: complete chewing, incomplete chewing, stylet sucking, and punctured sucking. The first two are caused by predators with chewing mouthparts and are differentiated by the presence of irregular chorion debris left behind in the case of incomplete chewing compared with nothing left behind or an entire segment of the egg mass completely removed for complete chewing. The latter two are caused by predators with piercing/sucking mouthparts or chelicerae and are separable by the presence of a feeding sheath for stylet sucking compared to a simple hole or slit in otherwise hollowed eggs for punctured sucking via chelicerae. Complete and incomplete chewing were the two feeding syndromes most frequently documented in the field and with the greatest number of eggs consumed per egg mass. Taxa evaluated in laboratory trials were reliably found in tree fruit and vegetable crops. Overall, our work contributes to the identification of key egg mass predators of H. halys in specialty crop agroecosytems.
Agricultural crop productivity relies on the application of chemical pesticides to reduce pest and pathogen damage. However, chemical pesticides also pose a range of ecological, environmental and ...economic penalties. This includes the development of pesticide resistance by insect pests and pathogens, rendering pesticides less effective. Alternative sustainable crop protection tools should therefore be considered. Semiochemicals are signalling molecules produced by organisms, including plants, microbes, and animals, which cause behavioural or developmental changes in receiving organisms. Manipulating semiochemicals could provide a more sustainable approach to the management of insect pests and pathogens across crops. Here, we review the role of semiochemicals in the interaction between plants, insects and microbes, including examples of how they have been applied to agricultural systems. We highlight future research priorities to be considered for semiochemicals to be credible alternatives to the application of chemical pesticides.
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