Population genetics of invading pests can be informative for understanding their ecology. In this study, we investigated population genetics of the invasive alfalfa weevil Hypera postica in Fukuoka ...Prefecture, Japan. We analyzed mitochondrial tRNAᴸᵉᵘ-COII, nuclear EF-1α gene fragments, and Wolbachia infection in relation to three leguminous host plants: Vicia angustifolia, Vicia villosa, and a new host Astragalus sinicus cultivated as a honey source and green manure crop. A parsimony network generated from mitochondrial gene sequences uncovered two major haplotypic groups, Western and Egyptian. In contrast to reported Wolbachia infection of the Western strain in the United States, none of our analyzed individuals were infected. The absence of Wolbachia may contribute to the stable coexistence of mitochondrial strains through inter-strain reproductive compatibility. Hypera postica genetic variants for the mitochondrial and nuclear genes were associated neither with host plant species nor with two geographic regions (Hisayama and Kama) within Fukuoka. Mitochondrial haplogroups were incongruent with nuclear genetic variants. Genetic diversity at the nuclear locus was the highest for the populations feeding on V. angustifolia. The nuclear data for A. sinicus-feeding populations indicated past sudden population growth and extended Bayesian skyline plot analysis based on the mitochondrial and nuclear data showed that the growth of A. sinicus-feeding population took place within the past 1000 years. These results suggest a shorter history of A. sinicus as a host plant compared with V. angustifolia and a recent rapid growth of H. postica population using the new host A. sinicus.
Purpose
Capecitabine and S-1 are orally administered fluorinated pyrimidines with high-level activity against metastatic breast cancer (MBC). This randomized, multicenter, phase II study compared the ...activities and safeties of the oral fluoropyrimidines, capecitabine and S-1, in breast cancer patients.
Methods
Patients with MBC were randomly assigned to receive capecitabine 825 g/m
2
twice daily on days 1–21 every 4 weeks or S-1 40–60 mg twice daily, according to body surface area, on days 1–28 every 6 weeks. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS).
Results
A total of 142 patients were enrolled and randomized to either capecitabine (
N
= 73) or S-1 (
N
= 69). Median PFS (progression-free survival) was 1.2 years for capecitabine and 1.3 years for S-1, with a hazard ratio (S-1/capecitabine) of 0.85 (95 % confidence interval CI 0.52–1.38) (
P
= 0.48 by log-rank). The confirmed objective response rates were 24.0 % for capecitabine and 23.1 % for S-1 (
P
= 0.938). The most common treatment-related adverse events were grade 1–2 in intensity. Thrombocytopenia (S-1: 9.2 %, capecitabine: 1.4 %;
P
= 0.040) and nausea (S-1: 26.2 %, capecitabine: 14.1 %;
P
= 0.079) were more frequent in the S-1 group, while hand-foot syndrome occurred more often in the capecitabine group (S-1: 10.8 %, capecitabine: 25.4 %;
P
= 0.029).
Conclusions
The results of the current study demonstrate that both S-1 and capecitabine are effective and well-tolerated treatments in patients with MBC, while their adverse events were different. They are both convenient, orally administered drugs, making them attractive agents for use in outpatient treatment.
Background/purpose
By performing experiments in air‐conditioned chamber, we previously demonstrated that the presence of water nanodroplets (mist) improved facial skin moisture levels without ...reducing water loss from the facial skin surface or inducing excessive humidity. Some previous studies have demonstrated that the epidermis is a less effective barrier to water in winter because the corneocytes that comprise facial skin become smaller in winter as skin turnover increases in cold environments. We hypothesized that it would be easier for mist to penetrate into the facial stratum corneum (SC) in winter than in summer. In the present study, we investigated the ability of mist to improve facial skin moisture levels in winter and summer.
Methods
We examined transepidermal water loss (TEWL) as an index of barrier function and skin conductance as an index of SC hydration at the forehead, lateral canthus, and cheeks in eight healthy Japanese females (mean ± SD: 45.5 ± 3.2 years) in the presence or absence of mist in February–March and July.
Results
In the absence of mist, skin conductance at the forehead and lateral canthus was significantly higher in summer than in winter, but these seasonal differences were diminished in the presence of mist. In the presence of mist, skin conductance was increased in winter and decreased in summer at the lateral canthus; however, these changes were not significant. Thus, our findings suggest that mist penetrates into the SC and improves skin moisture levels in winter.
Conclusion
We demonstrated that it is easier for mist to penetrate into the SC at the lateral canthus during winter than in summer. Thus, mist is expected to improve facial moisture levels in winter by penetrating into and remaining in the SC. Hence, mist could be used to help prevent facial skin from becoming dry in air‐conditioned rooms during winter.
The process of loss or gain of parasites during invasion of new lands is not well understood. The alfalfa weevil Hypera postica is an invasive pest of various leguminous crops and consists of three ...major mitochondrial haplotypes, ‘Western’, ‘Egyptian’ and ‘Eastern’. The Western strain is infected with the endosymbiotic proteobacteria Wolbachia, that cause unidirectional complete reproductive incompatibility, in its native (Europe) and an introduced (the United States) ranges. However, our preliminary screening of a few introduced populations in Northern Kyushu, southwestern Japan, failed to detect Wolbachia from the Western strain. A larger-scale and historical assessment of Wolbachia infection may allow to estimate when and how the bacteria were lost, and current geographical distribution of infection among host haplotypes. In this study, we aim to assess the Wolbachia-infection status of H. postica populations throughout Northern Kyushu, where H. postica invasion to Japan was first found. A total of 228 individuals from seven regions in Northern Kyushu collected in different time periods from 1982 to 2015 and 14 individuals from Europe were subjected to PCR diagnostics for Wolbachia. Wolbachia from the Western strain was not detected, irrespective of the time periods and geographic areas in Northern Kyushu. We found ‘Egyptian’-strain H. postica collected most recently from an island off Kyushu harboured a supergroup-B Wolbachia variant. This variant was genetically different from the European Wolbachia variant infecting Western-strain H. postica. The infection was new to the Egyptian haplotype and was estimated to have taken place independently of the loss in the Western strain.
