Search

Competing Interests: All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Abstract: Since the 1800s, natural health products that contain hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) have been used in North America for the treatment of heart problems such as hypertension, angina, arrhythmia, and congestive heart failure. Traditionally, Native American tribes used hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) to treat gastrointestinal ailments and heart problems, and consumed the fruit as food. Hawthorn also has a long history of use in Europe and China for food, and in traditional medicine. Investigations of Crataegus spp. typically focus on the identification and quantification of flavonoids and anthocyanins, which have been shown to have pharmacological activity. The main flavonoids found in Crataegus spp. are hyperoside, vitexin, and additional glycosylated derivatives of these compounds. Reviewed herein are the botany, ethnobotany, and traditional use of hawthorn while focusing on the phytochemicals that have been reported in Crataegus species, and the variation in the described chemistry between individual species. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations in North America have diverged by exploiting host plants with varying fruiting phenologies in environments that differ markedly in temperature and humidity. As a result, four genetically and ecologically distinct R. pomonella populations that display partial reproductive isolation have evolved. Host shifting by Rhagoletis and similar evolutionary histories could have had cascading effects across trophic levels, influencing the diversity and distribution of associated parasitoid guilds. To establish the basis for a future understanding of the possible effect of divergence in R. pomonella populations on the parasitoids attacking these flies, we surveyed parasitoids from five different species of hawthorns distributed over 15 states in México and 2 states in the midwestern United States. Emerging parasitoids were identified, parasitism rates were calculated, and regional fly and parasitoid emergence schedules were determined. Parasitism rate, emergence schedules, Shannon-Weiner diversity indexes, and species accumulation curves were compared across three main geographical regions. Parasitism levels varied greatly among regions from an overall high of 27.2% in the United States to 5.5% in the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO) mountains of Mexico, to as low as 0.19% in the Eje Volcánico Trans Mexicano (EVTM). Shannon-Weiner diversity indexes showed that parasitoid species diversity was similar across the distribution range of R. pomonella in Mexico and the United States because of the fact that total parasitism was dominated by only two species, one of them recovered across the whole North American range of hawthorn infesting Rhagoletis. Nevertheless, eight parasitoids were found attacking R. pomonella in Mexico compared with only four collected in the United States. Only two diapausing parasitoid species were shared between the U.S. and Mexican R. pomonella populations: Utetes canaliculatus and Diachasmimorpha mellea. Interestingly, many subtropical parasitoid species, usually associated to flies in the subtropical genus Anastrepha, were recovered in the SMO in low numbers. The wide distribution of U. canaliculatus and D. mellea offers an ideal opportunity to test for a shared biogeography and co-evolution between fly and parasitoids. In this regard, one factor contributing to the success of U. canaliculatus seems to be the wasp's ability to modulate its eclosion time to track regional variation in hawthorn fruiting phenology and host (i.e., fly larvae) availability. Both R. pomonella and U. canaliculatus from southern sites emerged later than insects from northern populations, mirroring seasonal differences in hawthorn fruiting times across Mexico and the United States. These results suggest that molecular studies and crossing experiments could show, as they have for Rhagoletis, recent speciation events for parasitoid species of Nearctic origin that were found to be ecologically tracking environmentally driven divergence of their tephritid hosts.

This article summarises key presentations relevant to the pathophysiology, prevention or treatment of heart failure, from the Heart Failure Society of America annual meeting held in Toronto, Canada. Data from the EnoxiMone in intravenous inOTropE-dependent subjects (EMOTE) study suggest that the oral PDE-3 inhibitor enoximone may be effective for weaning severe heart failure patients from intravenous inotropic therapy. Hawthorn Extract Randomised Blinded Trial in CHF (HERB-CHF) failed to show a benefit of hawthorn extract added to conventional heart failure therapy. A genetic sub-group analysis of the Blocker Evaluation of Survival Trial (BEST) study showed that bucindolol reduced mortality and hospitalisations in patients who were homozygous for the Arg389 variant of the beta(1) adrenoceptor. In the Resynchronisation Hemodynamic Treatment for Heart Failure Management (RHYTHM-ICD) study, patients randomised to cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) showed an improvement in symptoms and functional capacity compared to the control group.