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Trans-generational immune priming (TGIP) describes the transfer of immune stimulation to the next generation. As stress and immunity are closely connected, we here address the question whether trans-generational effects on immunity and resistance can also be elicited by a nonpathogen stress treatment of parents. General stressors have been shown to induce immunity to pathogens within individuals. However, to our knowledge, it is as of yet unknown whether stress can also induce trans-generational effects on immunity and resistance. We exposed a parental generation (mothers, fathers, or both parents) of the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, a species where TGIP has been previously been demonstrated, to either a brief heat or cold shock and examined offspring survival after bacterial infection with the entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis. We also studied phenoloxidase activity, a key enzyme of the insect innate immune system that has previously been demonstrated to be up-regulated upon TGIP. We quantified parental fecundity and offspring developmental time to evaluate whether trans-generational priming might have costs. Offspring resistance was found to be significantly increased when both parents received a cold shock. Offspring phenoloxidase activity was also higher when mothers or both parents were cold-shocked. By contrast, parental heat shock reduced offspring phenoloxidase activity. Moreover, parental cold or heat shock delayed offspring development. In sum, we conclude that trans-generational priming for resistance could not only be elicited by pathogens or pathogen-derived components, but also by more general cues that are indicative of a stressful environment. The interaction between stress responses and the immune system might play an important role also for trans-generational effects.

We consider the approximation of Reissner-Mindlin plates with curved boundaries, using a p-version MITC finite element method. We describe in detail the formulation and implementation of the method, and emphasize the need for a Piola-type map in order to handle the curved geometry of the elements. The results of our numerical computations demonstrate the robustness of the method and suggest that it gives near exponential convergence when the error is measured in the energy norm. For the robust computation of quantities of engineering interest, such as the shear force, the proposed method yields very satisfactory results without the need for any additional post-processing. Comparisons are made with the standard finite element formulation, with and without post-processing. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 192 2 374 395 Cited By :4