Queen control of egg fertilization in the honey bee

The study investigated the precision with which honey bee queens can control the fertilization of the eggs they lay. Because males and workers are reared in different-sized cells, the honey bee is one of the few Hymenoptera in which it is possible for the experimenter to know which type of egg a queen “intends” to lay. Eggs were collected from both worker and drone (male) cells from four honey bee colonies. Ploidy of the embryo was determined using polymorphic DNA microsatellites. All 169 eggs taken from worker cells were heterozygous at at least one microsatellite locus showing that the egg was fertilized. All 129 eggs taken from drone cells gave a single band at the B124 locus, strongly suggesting haploidy. These data show that honey bee queens have great, and quite possibly complete, ability to control the fertilization of the eggs they lay. Data from the literature suggest that in two species of parasitoid Hymenoptera (Copidosoma floridanum, Colpoclypeus florus) females have great, but not complete, ability to control fertilization. Received: 23 December 1997 / Accepted after revision: 17 May 1998     

Laser therapy for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS)

Monochorionic twins are subjected to specific complications which originate in either imbalance or abnormality of the single placenta serving two twins including twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. The diagnosis is well established in overt clinical forms with the association of polyuric polyhydramnios and oliguric oligohydramnios. The best treatment of cases presenting before 26 weeks of gestion is fetoscopic laser ablation of the intertwin anastomoses on the chorionic plate. Although subjected to subtle variations, the core technique follows robust guidelines which could help understanding and acquiring the required skills and experience to perform this procedure. However appropriate and tailored hands-on training and appropriate perinatal set-up are critical not only for surgical management but also for the follow-up and management of related complications. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An air quality forecasting system in Beijing - Application to the study of dust storm events in China in May 2008

An air pollution forecast system, ARIA Regional, was implemented in 2007-2008 at the Beijing Municipality Environmental Monitoring Center, providing daily forecast of main pollutant concentrations. The chemistry-transport model CHIMERE was coupled with the dust emission model MB95 for restituting dust storm events in springtime so as to improve forecast results. Dust storm events were sporadic but could be extremely intense and then control air quality indexes close to the source areas but also far in the Beijing area. A dust episode having occurred at the end of May 2008 was analyzed in this article, and its impact of particulate matter on the Chinese air pollution index (API) was evaluated. Following our estimation, about 23 Tg of dust were emitted from source areas in Mongolia and in the Inner Mongolia of China, transporting towards southeast. This episode of dust storm influenced a large part of North China and East China, and also South Korea. The model result was then evaluated using satellite observations and in situ data. The simulated daily concentrations of total suspended particulate at 6:00 UTC had a similar spatial pattern with respect to OMI satellite aerosol index. Temporal evolution of dust plume was evaluated by comparing dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) calculated from the simulations with AOD derived from MODIS satellite products. Finally, the comparison of reported Chinese API in Beijing with API calculated from the simulation including dust emissions had showed the significant improvement of the model results taking into account mineral dust correctly.     

Estimating the complexity of bird song by using capture-recapture approaches from community ecology

Repertoire size, the number of unique song or syllable types in the repertoire, is a widely used measure of song complexity in birds, but it is difficult to calculate this exactly in species with large repertoires. A new method of repertoire size estimation applies species richness estimation procedures from community ecology, but such capture-recapture approaches have not been much tested. Here, we establish standardized sampling schemes and estimation procedures using capture-recapture models for syllable repertoires from 18 bird species, and suggest how these may be used to tackle problems of repertoire estimation. Different models, with different assumptions regarding the heterogeneity of the use of syllable types, performed best for different species with different song organizations. For most species, models assuming heterogeneous probability of occurrence of syllables (so-called detection probability) were selected due to the presence of both rare and frequent syllables. Capture-recapture estimates of syllable repertoire size from our small sample did not differ significantly from previous estimates using larger samples of count data. However, the enumeration of syllables in 15 songs yielded significantly lower estimates than previous reports. Hence, heterogeneity in detection probability of syllables should be addressed when estimating repertoire size. This is neglected using simple enumeration procedures, but is taken into account when repertoire size is estimated by appropriate capture-recapture models adjusted for species-specific song organization characteristics. We suggest that such approaches, in combination with standardized sampling, should be applied in species with potentially large repertoire size. On the other hand, in species with small repertoire size and homogenous syllable usage, enumerations may be satisfactory. Although researchers often use repertoire size as a measure of song complexity, listeners to songs are unlikely to count entire repertoires and they may rely on other cues, such as syllable detection probability.Communicated by A. Cockburn