A new parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) of the invasive bamboo aphids Takecallis spp. (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from Western Europe

A long-term survey of tritrophic (plant–aphid–parasitoid) associations in the urban ecosystems of Lleida (Catalonia) and Paris (France) resulted in the detection of associations of two bamboo aphids, Takecallis arundinariae (Essig) and Takecallis taiwanus (Takahashi), respectively, with a new aphid parasitoid species. Trioxys remaudierei Starý & Rakhshani sp. nov. is described and illustrated as a unique parasitoid of Takecallis aphids outside the area of their origin. The new species is easily distinguishable from its congeners in having the ventral prongs of the abdomen fused over two-thirds of their length, then bifurcated towards the tip. The only morphologically similar species is Trioxys betulae (Marshall), which exhibits a clearly different prong shape (and has a different host range, Symydobius Mordvilko and Clethrobius Mordvilko). The new species is compared with allied taxa associated with bamboo aphids. The occurrence of Takecallis taiwanus on bamboo is recorded in France for the first time.

www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:ED15BA16-E8A9-4CEA-BDA7-FBAB02FEB091     

Deciphering the BAR code of membrane modulators

The BAR domain is the eponymous domain of the “BAR-domain protein superfamily”, a large and diverse set of mostly multi-domain proteins that play eminent roles at the membrane cytoskeleton interface. BAR domain homodimers are the functional units that peripherally associate with lipid membranes and are involved in membrane sculpting activities. Differences in their intrinsic curvatures and lipid-binding properties account for a large variety in membrane modulating properties. Membrane activities of BAR domains are further modified and regulated by intramolecular or inter-subunit domains, by intermolecular protein interactions, and by posttranslational modifications. Rather than providing detailed cell biological information on single members of this superfamily, this review focuses on biochemical, biophysical, and structural aspects and on recent findings that paradigmatically promote our understanding of processes driven and modulated by BAR domains.     

On the Modelling and Forecasting of Multivariate Realized Volatility: Generalized Heterogeneous Autoregressive (GHAR) Model

Recent multivariate extensions of the popular heterogeneous autoregressive model (HAR) for realized volatility leave substantial information unmodelled in residuals. We propose to employ a system of seemingly unrelated regressions to model and forecast a realized covariance matrix to capture this information. We find that the newly proposed generalized heterogeneous autoregressive (GHAR) model outperforms competing approaches in terms of economic gains, providing better mean–variance trade‐off, while, in terms of statistical precision, GHAR is not substantially dominated by any other model. Our results provide a comprehensive comparison of the performance when realized covariance, subsampled realized covariance and multivariate realized kernel estimators are used. We study the contribution of the estimators across different sampling frequencies, and show that the multivariate realized kernel and subsampled realized covariance estimators deliver further gains compared to realized covariance estimated on a 5‐minute frequency. In order to show economic and statistical gains, a portfolio of various sizes is used. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Project Management Supports (Requisitely) Holistic: Socially Responsible Action in Business Systems

This article emphasizes the role of projects and project management in assuring socially responsible acting of contemporary business systems, presenting some practical applications in the field of tourism. With arising number of projects in business systems and their growing strategic importance, the role of project management has radically been changing for the last two decades. Managing organizations, as a central topic among seven crucial topics in ISO 26000 on social responsibility, is strongly associated with managing projects. Projects have important influence on the established as well as on establishing ongoing operations and are important tools in assuring business systems’ strategic development, by exposing interdependences and supporting the requisitely holistic approach. This article tries to fill the gap we detected in literature on social responsibility where projects and project management seem not to have a proper role. Four different links and interdependencies between project management and systems theory (which ISO 26000 reinforces) are exposed: (1) systemic treatment of project management, (2) systematical treatment of projects as holistic works, (3) systemic treatment of projects as parts of BSs’ strategies, (4) systemic treatment of projects throughout their entire life cycle.     

Aberrant O-glycosylation and anti-glycan antibodies in an autoimmune disease IgA nephropathy and breast adenocarcinoma

Glycosylation abnormalities have been observed in autoimmune diseases and cancer. Here, we compare mechanisms of aberrant O-glycosylation, i.e., formation of Tn and sialyl-Tn structures, on MUC1 in breast cancer, and on IgA1 in an autoimmune disease, IgA nephropathy. The pathways of aberrant O-glycosylation, although different for MUC1 and IgA1, include dysregulation in glycosyltransferase expression, stability, and/or intracellular localization. Moreover, these aberrant glycoproteins are recognized by antibodies, although with different consequences. In breast cancer, elevated levels of antibodies recognizing aberrant MUC1 are associated with better outcome, whereas in IgA nephropathy, the antibodies recognizing aberrant IgA1 are part of the pathogenetic process.     

Cross-sectional approach for clustering time varying data

Cluster analysis is to be performed on a three-mode data matrix of type: units, variables, time. A general model for calculating the distance between two units varying in time is proposed. One particular model is developed and used in an example concerned with clustering of 23 European countries according to the similarity of energy consumption in the years 1976–1982.Supported in part by the Research Council of Slovenia, Yugoslavia.     

Development of rhythmic melatonin synthesis in cultured pineal glands and pineal cells isolated from chick embryo

The chick pineal gland exhibits circadian rhythms in melatonin synthesis under in vivo and in vitro conditions. A daily rhythm of melatonin production was first detectable in pineal glands isolated from chick embryos at embryonic day 16 and incubated under a LD cycle. All pineal glands isolated from 17-day-old and older embryos were rhythmic while no gland isolated at embryonic day 14 and 15 exhibited a daily rhythm in melatonin synthesis. Melatonin production in static cultures of embryonic pineal cells was rhythmic over 48 h if the cells were kept under a LD cycle. When embryonic pineal cells were incubated in constant darkness the rhythm in melatonin production was damped within 48 h. These results suggest that chick pineal cells from embryonic day 16 onwards are photosensitive but that the endogenous component of the melatonin rhythm is not completely developed at that age. A soluble analogue of cAMP stimulated and norepinephrine inhibited melatonin synthesis in cultured embryonic pineal cells. These findings indicate that the stimulatory and inhibitory pathways controlling melatonin synthesis in the mature pineal gland are effective in pineal cells isolated from chick embryos at least 2 days before hatching.