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Plant breeding is used to develop crops with host resistance to aphids, however, virulent biotypes often develop that overcome host resistance genes. We tested whether the symbionts, Arsenophonus (A) and Wolbachia (W), affect virulence and fecundity in soybean aphid biotypes Bt1 and Bt3 cultured on whole plants and detached leaves of three resistant, Rag1, Rag2 and Rag1  +  2, and one susceptible, W82, soybean genotypes. Whole plants and individual aphid experiments of A. glycines with and without Arsenophonus and Wolbachia did not show differences in overall fecundity. Differences were observed in peak fecundity, first day of deposition, and day of maximum nymph deposition of individual aphids on detached leaves. Bt3 had higher fecundity than Bt1 on detached leaves of all plant genotypes regardless of bacterial profile. Symbionts did not affect peak fecundity of Bt1 but increased it in Bt3 (A+W+) and all Bt3 strains began to deposit nymphs earlier than the Bt1 (A+W−). Arsenophonus in Bt1 delayed the first day of nymph deposition in comparison to aposymbiotic Bt1 except when reared on Rag1  +  2. For the Bt1 and Bt3 strains, symbionts did not result in a significant difference in the day they deposited the maximum number of nymphs nor was there a difference in survival or variability in number of nymphs deposited. Variability of number of aphids deposited was higher in aphids feeding on resistant plant genotypes. The impact of Arsenophonus on soybean aphid patterns of fecundity was dependent on the aphid biotype and plant genotype. Wolbachia alone had no detectable impact but may have contributed to the increased fecundity of Bt3 (A+W+). An individual based model, using data from the detached leaves experiment and with intraspecific competition removed, found patterns similar to those observed in the greenhouse and growth chamber experiments including a significant interaction between soybean genotype and aphid strain. Combining individual data with the individual based model of population growth isolated the impact of fecundity and host resistance from intraspecific competition and host health. Changes to patterns of fecundity, influenced by the composition and concentration of symbionts, may contribute to competitive interactions among aphid genotypes and influence selection on virulent aphid populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel hierarchical method for finding tracer clouds from weather satellite images is proposed. From the sequence of cloud images, different features such as mean, standard deviation, busyness, and entropy are extracted. Based on these features, clouds are segmented using the k-means clustering algorithm and considering the coldest cloud segment, potential regions for tracer clouds are identified. These regions are represented by a set of features. All such steps are repeated for images taken at three consecutive time instants. Then, simulated annealing is used to establish an association between cloud segments of successive image frames. In this way, several chains of associated cloud regions are found and are ranked using fuzzy reasoning. The method has been tested in several image sequences, and its results are validated by determining cloud motion vector from the associated chains of tracers. Index Terms--Association of regions, best tracer cloud, cloud motion vector (CMV), feature vector, tracer cloud.

Porphyrias are group of disorders caused by deficiency of the enzymes in heme synthetic pathway. Congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP) is an extremely rare disease with mutation in the gene that codes for uroporphyrinogen III synthase leading to accumulation of porphyrin in different tissues and marked cutaneous photosensitivity. Here, we describe a case of CEP with infancy onset blistering, photosensitivity, red colored urine and teeth along with scarring but without any feature of hemolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the case of an 11-year-old girl who presented with thickening and tightening of skin. The patient also had mild anemia and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. She was diagnosed with progressive systemic sclerosis, which is characterized by fibrosis of the dermis and visceral organs. She was treated with D-Penicillamine and metoclopramide.