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•Geriatric assessments can aid in identifying patients with less physical resilience who are at increased risk of grade ≥3 adverse events.•Fixed-duration Ven-O improves HRQoL in patients with CLL with and without geriatric impairments.

We developed a technique, in vivo binding of immunoglobulins in the platelet immunofluorescence test (IVBI-PIFT), that detects immunoglobulins bound in vivo to transfused platelets. The visually scored results of this technique, however, are susceptible to interobserver variation. We describe a more objective method to generate results in IVBI-PIFT. We studied 201 samples in 120 patients with hematologic malignancies in the IVBI-PIFT. Histogram subtraction, i.e., fluorescence (anti–immunoglobulin G and fluorescein isothiocyanate) histogram before platelet transfusion subtracted from the histogram after platelet transfusion, was compared with visual scoring (pattern 1: no enhanced fluorescence before and after transfusion; pattern 2: enhanced fluorescence before and after platelet transfusion; pattern 3: enhanced fluorescence before transfusion; pattern 4: enhanced fluorescence after transfusion, interpreted as alloimmunization). After histogram subtraction, the number of remaining events (events post substraction, EPS) and the mean amount of fluorescence of these remaining events (mean channel post substraction, MCPS) were used and compared with the visual scoring and with platelet survival after transfusion. In 26 (13%) of the 201 samples studied in the IVBI-PIFT, fewer than three of five observers agreed on the visually scored pattern. In the 175 (87%) remaining samples, histogram subtraction showed a significant differentiation between pattern 4 and patterns 1 and 2 by using EPS, whereas patterns 4 and 3 were distinguished by using MCPS. The combination of EPS and MCPS differentiated best between pattern 4 and patterns 1, 2, and 3 (73% sensitivity, 96% specificity, 79% positive predictive value, and 95% negative predictive value). In contrast, the predictive value for platelet recovery after 1 and 16 h of pattern 4 from the visual scoring method and the results of histogram subtraction were poor. This objective method of histogram subtraction correlated well with the visual scoring method of IVBI-PIFT. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The one- and two-photon spectroscopic properties of four symmetrically substituted donor−acceptor−donor distyrylbenzenes with either di-n-butyl- or diphenylamino donor groups and cyano acceptor groups are reported. It has been found that the position of the substitution of the electron-withdrawing cyano groups on the central phenylene ring as compared to the vinylene bond strongly affects the observed properties. In particular, the molecules with cyano substitution on the α-carbon of the vinylene linkage are characterized by weak fluorescence, short fluorescence lifetimes, and two-photon cross sections (δ) that are comparable to analogous molecules with no acceptor groups. In contrast, the molecules with acceptor substitution on the central phenylene ring are strongly fluorescent and have δ values roughly twice those of the vinyl-substituted molecules. These results are discussed in terms of the larger deviation of the conjugated backbone from planarity and the smaller distance between the donors and acceptors when the cyano groups are substituted on the vinylene carbon rather than the central phenylene ring.

A new algorithm, the double-bordering algorithm, for the solution of linear systems of equations is derived, and its complexity is shown to be compatible with the complexity of Gaussian elimination, The application of the algorithm to the solution of block-tridiagonal systems is also described.

On each of 6 pairs of alfalfa clones, all flowers on 1 member and one third on the other were cross‐pollinated. With “one third”, 66.4% formed pods with an average weight of 12.7 mg., while with “all flowers”, 46.7% formed pods of 11.3 mg. average weight. Clones differed in percentage of cross‐pollinated flowers forming pods but behaved similarly at the high and low intensities. Both pod weight and pod set varied for different dates among clones but in no consistent trend. Heavier pods at low cross‐pollination intensity are attributed to heavier seeds and pod tissue rather than number of seeds per pod.

Two safflower lines, a thin‐hull and normal, were subjected to three treatments; caged without bees, caged with bees, and not caged with bees, at Tucson, Arizona. Cage and bee effects were determined on eight attributes and the daily foraging activity of honey bees on the two lines were observed. Cage treatments decreased yield, bushel weight, and hull percentage and increased oil percentage of the normal line. On the thin‐hull line cage effects were of a smaller magnitude but decreased yield, number of seeds per head and percentage of deformed seedlings and increased germination percentage. Effects of bee pollination on the normal line were non‐significant except for a slight decrease in hull percentage. Bee pollination in the thin‐hull line doubled yield, quadrupled the number of seeds per head, reduced weight per 100 seeds, and increased oil percentage. Honey bee activity differed on the two lines. Pollen collectors worked only the normal line whereas nectar collectors worked both lines equally.

The theoretical effect of isolation distance on genetic contamination in alfalfa seed was generated from an exponential equation. This model was used to study the effect of isolation distance, border removal, field size, and field shape on contamination. The method illustrates an approach to the genetic purity problem, but additional data are needed for accurate analysis of seed certification requirements for maintaining a satisfactory level of genetic purity.

Optically active Δ²-thiazolines 4 were previously reported to react with acyl Meldrum's acid derivatives 5 under acidic conditions (HCl (g) in benzene) to stereoselectively give 6-acylpenams 1. Recently we have discovered that the structure elucidation of these compounds was incorrect. Thus, we report new data showing that instead of acyl β-lactams, the optically active isomers 3R,9R-1,3-oxazinones 3a−g are obtained stereoselectively in 38−93% yields.

Introduction: The increase of left auricular volume (LAV) is a robust cardiovascular event predictor. Despite that echochardiography is more often used, cardiac MRI is considered more accurate. Our objetives are to validate "fast" LAV measures by MRI vs the considered gold standard (GS) and to compare Echo and MRI in a wide spectrum of patients. Methods: In a non-selected popullation with MRI study previously realized, we measured LAV by biplane method (BPMR) and by area-length in 4 chamber view (ALMR) and compared them with biplane (BPe) and discs method (MDDe) in 4 chamber view in echo. To validate MRI measurements, we measured LAV in short axis slices (Simpson Method, SM) in a group of patients and considered it the GS. Results: 186 patients were included (mean age 51 ± 17 age; 123 male; 14 in AF) with clinical indication of cardiac MRI (Philips 1,5 T). In 24 patients SM was calculated. 29% of cardiac MRI were considered normal. Mean underlying pathologies were myocardiopathy (27%), Ischemic myocardiopathy (17%), myopericarditis (10%), prior to AF ablation (4%), valvular disease (6%) and miscellaneous (7%). Excellent correlation was obtained between "fast" MRI measurements and SM in MRI (SM vs BPMR interclass correlation coefficient ICC=0.965 and SM vs ALMR, ICC=0.958; P<0.05) with low interobserver variability (ICC=0.983 for SM; ICC=0.949 for BPMR; ICC=0.931 for ALMR). "Fast" measurements by MRI showed stadistical correlation between them (CCI=0.910) (Figure). Correlation between Echo and MRI measures was only moderate. (BPRM vs BPe CCI=0,469 mean difference -30 ml; ALMR vs MDDe ICC=0,456 mean difference -24 mL). Conclusions: ‘fast’ LAV measures by MRI are comparable with the MRI GS and also between them. Echo values seem to underestimate compared to MRI, so its use may not be suitable.

Africanized honey bees are moving rapidly into new areas in northern South America where they could well cause problems for the public and for beekeepers. In March 1978 we visited French Guiana, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico to discuss the problems associated with the africanized bees with government officials and beekeepers. The purpose of our discussions was to communicate many of the things we have learned as a result of our research over the last 3½ yr and to provide recommendations on how government and beekeepers might proceed to minimize problems that might be caused by these bees. It was also our intent to learn what steps the respective governments had taken or would take to prepare for the arrival of the bees. In the course of these discussions we learned about the beekeeping industry in each country and about the support provided to the industry by their governments. We also developed a better appreciation of the geographic scale of the spread of africanized bees and of the problems faced by each government in protecting the public and providing advice or assistance to their beekeepers.

Honey bee pollinating activities are worth 143 times more than the value of honey and beeswax they produce (18.9 billion vs. 140 million). Fruits and nuts, seeds and fiber, commodities from seeds requiring bee pollination and a portion of com· modities indirectly dependent on bee pollination are listed with their values, obtained from the USDA(1981).

Twenty-five pure pollens plus several blends of pollen were fed as sole protein sources to honey bees, Apis mellifera L., and resultant survival of bees on these diets was measured. Average increase in mean life span of bees on a pollen diet versus sugar water controls was 19.5 d, with a range from 3.9 d less than the controls for Ambrosia to 40.6 d longer, for a five-pollen blend. Actual consumption of test pollen diets also varied dramatically among test pollens, with a mean consumption of 16.5 mg pollen per bee for the first 10 d and a range of 1.9—29.0 mg per bee. Pollens that induced decreased life span included Ambrosia, Uromyces (a rust spore), Typha, and Kallstroemia; those that induced little increase in life span included Haplopappus, Baccharis, and Taraxacum; and those that induced the greatest increase in life span included Ephedra, Prosopis, Rubus, Populus, and two blends of pollen. Increased life span was not correlated with pollen grain size, grain spininess, or dispersal vector (biotic versus abiotic) and was weakly correlated with season of floral bloom (pollen produced in spring was better than that produced in fall). Pollen from the family Compositae was poorer than average pollen. Major factors affecting life span were amount of pollen consumed, protein concentration in the pollen, and, especially, total amount of pollen protein consumed. By combining information relating to consumption levels and protein intake, reasons why a pollen caused the observed life span could be determined. Reasons included presence or absence of attractants and phagostimulants/deterrents, presence of toxic compounds, and a poor nutrient balance or level.

Pollen samples contaminated with 5% carbaryl dust at levels of 100 ppm and 10 ppm were found to kill 49 and 7 times as many honey bees, Apis mellifera L., respectively, as uncontaminated pollen when bees foraged on the samples in flight cages. More than 10 weeks after preparation, the contaminated pollens were still toxic to bees that foraged on them, or to bees fed the pollen inside their colonies or in laboratory cages. The pollen originally receiving 100 ppm carbaryl retained considerably more toxicity than that which had received 10 ppm. Bee bread made from pollen containing 100 ppm also was toxic to bees when fed in laboratory cages.

Data collected by means of marked honey bees did not support the hypothesis that the dispersion of foragers is more uniform in a direction away from a neighboring apiary than it is approaching the same apiary. Bloom attractiveness was a stronger factor in determining the distribution of the marked bees than was the competition from the other apiary.

As early as 1947 members of the Legume Seed Research Laboratory at Logan, Utah, observed that most honey bees, Apis mellifera L., working in alfalfa fields had a small accumulation of alfalfa pollen in the proboscis fossa, or underside of the neck region (Grout 1949). In 1950 G. E. Bohart observed that in Alberta, Canada, where tripping by nectar collectors is rarely seen, all 18 bees he collected from an alfalfa field had alfalfa pollen in the proboscis fossa. Vansell (1955) also observed fossal pollen in California. In 1952 some observations were initiated to determine the importance of these deposits of pollen.

In pollination tests investigators often find it necessary to maintain colonies of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., in flight cages for a considerable time. Such colonies almost invariably dwindle because they cannot sustain normal brood rearing. However, we have sometimes observed (unpublished data) an increase in brood rearing when pollen supplements or pollen substitutes are fed, when the original population is not much depleted. An upswing in brood rearing occasionally occurs after an initial period of adjustment or transition. Consequently, it is advisable to maintain the original adult population as long as possible. To do this the colonies should consist of young bees or the life of the bees in the cages should be prolonged.

An experiment was conducted in northern Utah with colonies of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) mass-marked for identification in the field. Cordovan strains were used for one group and colonies in the second group were tagged with radioactive phosphorus. The first group, placed in the center of a large field of alfalfa in bloom, oriented mostly to the field on which they were placed, and retained their dispersion pattern over a 2-week period. The second group, placed in the same location a week later, distributed its foragers in much the same way as the first group but showed a tendency to orient farther afield.

Experiments were conducted in northern Utah to compare the dispersion patterns of young foragers and experienced field honey bees (Apis mellifear L.) from unaltered colonies when moved into a new area where alfalfa bloom was widespread. The exdetrimental colonies were mass marked by introducing queens from a recessive mutant strain in which parts of the body normally black were cordovan brown. Few marked bees from newly transferred colonies were recovered more than 350 yards from their hives during the 1-week observation period. This fact applied to both the young and the experienced foragers. The number of marked bees recovered at one sampling station 1 ¼ miles from the apiary was comparable to the number collected adjacent to the apiary.

Experiments conducted in northern Utah indicated that the distribution of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) on an alfalfa field is modified by various influences besides distance from the colonies. Because of these other factors, generalizations concerning the effect of distance from colonies on the distribution of foraging honey bees cannot be made on the basis of experiments herein reported. A slight negative relationship between bee populations and distance from colonies in alfalfa fields was found in some of the experiments reported. In two fields where the distance was less than 600 feet, horizontal stratification of the field population was found only in the one with an average population of over two bees per square yard. The other field had less than one bee per square yard and no significant changes in population were observed up to 550 feet from the apiary. In another location bee populations decreased beyond 3,000 feet, but other variable factors on the field made it impossible to attribute these decreases solely to increasing distance from the apiary.

Fruit set and marketability of cantaloups (Cucumis melo L., var. reticulatus Naud.) in Yuma, Arizona, were correlated with visits by honey bees, Apis mellifera L., up to 13–14/flower. The concept that the stigma is receptive for only a few minutes is proposed. One honey bee for each 10 perfect (hermaphroditic) flowers in the field should ensure visitation during the period of receptivity.

Mean flight activity from overwintered Apis mellifera L. colonies was usually greater and the quantity of pollen trapped was well in excess of that from disposable pollination units (DPU's). However, comparisons between individual units indicated that DPU's exhibit more uniform flight activity than colonies. Data pertinent to the effect of this atypical domiciliary crowding and colony makeup on longevity, development, and certain behaviorial adaptations of the bees are included.

Numerous scientific investigators have shown that the protein in different kinds of pollens varies widely in quality, quantity, and food value for honey bees, Apis mellifera L. (Todd and Bretherick 1942; Lundén 1956; Standifer 1966, 1967). However, apiculturists and other entomologists engaged in studies of insect nutrition frequently disregard these findings and incorporate pollens of unknown source and chemical composition (see references cited in Standifer et al. 1960, Standifer 1967) into experimental diets. The present investigation was made at the Honey Bee Pollination Investigations Laboratory at Tucson, Ariz., to determine the effect of equal amounts of 2 chemically different pollens and of a pollen substitute diet on the growth of nurse honey bees as indicated by the morphological development of the hypopharyngeal glands.

Presents letters to the editor appeared in the January 1962 issue of the "Saturday Evening Post." Speaking Out: Baseball Isn't Our National Sport," which talks about the popularity of baseball; "My Life on the Blacklist," which focuses on communism; "Response to the December 1961 cover of the magazine.