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Aims.Anxiety is debilitating and associated with numerous mental and physical comorbidities. There is a need to identify and investigate low-risk prevention and treatment strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between different volumes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (PA) and anxiety symptoms and status among older adults in Ireland.Methods.Participants (n= 4175; 56.8% female) aged ⩾50 years completed the International PA Questionnaire (IPAQ) at baseline, and the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at baseline and follow-up (2009–2013). Participants were classified according to meeting World Health Organisation PA guidelines, and divided into IPAQ categories. Respondents without anxiety at baseline (n= 3165) were included in prospective analyses. Data were analysed in 2017.Results.Anxiety symptoms were significantly higher among females than males (p< 0.001). Models were adjusted for age, sex, waist circumference, social class, smoking status and pain. In cross-sectional analyses, meeting PA guidelines was associated with 9.3% (OR = 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.78–1.06) lower odds of anxiety. Compared with the inactive group, the minimally- and very-active groups were associated with 8.4% (OR = 0.92, 0.76–1.10) and 18.8% (OR = 0.81, 0.67–0.98) lower odds of anxiety, respectively. In prospective analyses, meeting guidelines was associated with 6.3% (OR = 0.94, 0.63–1.40) reduced odds of anxiety. Compared with the inactive group, the minimally and very-active groups were associated with 43.5% (OR = 1.44, 0.89–2.32) increased, and 4.3% (OR = 0.96, 0.56–1.63) reduced odds of anxiety. The presence of pain, included in models as a covariate, was associated with a 108.7% (OR = 2.09, 1.80–2.42) increase in odds of prevalent anxiety, and a 109.7% (OR = 2.10, 1.41–3.11) increase in odds of incident anxiety.Conclusion.High volumes of PA are cross-sectionally associated with lower anxiety symptoms and status, with a potential dose–response apparent. However, significant associations were not observed in prospective analyses. The low absolute number of incident anxiety cases (n= 109) potentially influenced these findings. Further, as older adults may tend to experience and/or report more somatic anxiety symptoms, and the HADS focuses primarily on cognitive symptoms, it is plausible that the HADS was not an optimal measure of anxiety symptoms in the current population.

Summary We describe a technique using normal and diabetic (dbdb) mice to establish primary pancreatic cultures that spread and assume a characteristic epithelial morphology. These cultures contain 4 to 7% beta cells, secrete insulin in response to stimuli for 10 to 14 d, contain few fibroblasts, and have a cell viability that is greater than 95%. The cells attach firmly to glass cover slips and are ideal for the study of insulin secretory granules or contractile proteins using indirect immunofluorescence.

Axonemal dyneins are molecular motors that drive the beating of cilia and flagella. We report here the identification and partial cloning of seven unique axonemal dynein heavy chains from rat tracheal epithelial (RTE) cells. Combinations of axonemal-specific and degenerate primers to conserved regions around the catalytic site of dynein heavy chains were used to obtain cDNA fragments of rat dynein heavy chains. Southern analysis indicates that these are single copy genes, with one possible exception, and Northern analysis of RNA from RTE cells shows a transcript of approximately 15 kb for each gene. Expression of these genes was restricted to tissues containing axonemes (trachea, testis, and brain). A time course analysis during ciliated cell differentiation of RTE cells in culture demonstrated that the expression of axonemal dynein heavy chains correlated with the development of ciliated cells, while cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain expression remained constant. In addition, factors that regulate the development of ciliated cells in culture regulated the expression of axonemal dynein heavy chains in a parallel fashion. These are the first mammalian dynein heavy chain genes shown to be expressed specifically in axonemal tissues. Identification of the mechanisms that regulate the cell-specific expression of these axonemal dynein heavy chains will further our understanding of the process of ciliated cell differentiation.

At harvest, female moths of the navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker), did not oviposit on almonds of the ‘Nonpareil’ cultivar that had been knocked to the ground. Oviposition continued on nuts still remaining in trees and ranged as high as 60 to 80 eggs per 100 almonds. In one 3-week test, damage to nuts remaining in trees increased from 9.2 to 18.6%, whereas damage to grounded nuts essentially did not increase. Seventy to 90% of the larvae and pupae in grounded nuts receiving direct sunlight were killed by excessive heat. In addition, other larvae exited these heated almonds and were killed on the hot soil surface. This mortality was in contrast to that for larvae and pupae, either in nuts still on trees (no more than 3% mortality) or in nuts on the ground which were continually shaded. Nut, air, and ground temperatures recorded in one test are reported. These results demonstrate that navel orangeworm oviposition is halted and that further nutmeat damage can be restrained significantly when the crop is knocked to the ground.

Two well replicated field experiments on the effects of mite infestation were conducted in almond orchards in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California. The orchards were previously protected with acaricides from infestation by Tetranyshus spp. and citrus red mite, Panonychus citri (McGregor). The severe mite infestations which develop on almond in this area are not related to use of insecticides, replicated comparisons were made in both experiments by comparing growth and productivity of protected and unprotected trees. High mite populations that developed in summer did not adversely affect almond tree growth and productivity during the year in which the infestations occured. However, in the year following infestation, yields of unprotected trees were an ave 13% lower (P=0.05) in an orchard then in its 6th yr and 19% less (P=0.05) in an orchard then in its 4th yr, as compared with yields of trees protected with an acaricide. Similarly, in the year following infestation, length of terminals on unprotected trees was reduced 11% in the orchard in its 6th yr (not significant) and 48% (P=0.01) in the orchard in its 4th yr. Trunk growth of unprotected trees was reduced an avg 19% (P=0.05) in the year following mite attack, the 6th season of growth in the orchard.