Knotweed (Fallopia spp.) is an herbaceous perennial from East Asia that was brought to Europe and North America and, despite control efforts, subsequently spread aggressively on both continents. Data are available on knotweed’s modes of sexual and asexual spread, historical spread, preferred habitat, and ploidy levels. Incomplete information is available on knotweed’s current global geographic distribution and genetic diversity. The chemical composition of knotweed leaves and rhizomes has been partially discovered as related to its ability to inhibit growth and germination of neighboring plant communities via phytochemicals. There is still critical information missing. There are currently no studies detailing knotweed male and female fertility. Specifically, information on pollen viability would be important for further understanding sexual reproduction as a vector of spread in knotweed. This information would help managers determine the potential magnitude of knotweed sexual reproduction and the continued spread of diverse hybrid swarms. The potential range of knotweed and its ability to spread into diverse habitats makes studies on knotweed seed and rhizome cold tolerance of utmost importance, yet to date no such studies have been conducted. There is also a lack of genetic information available on knotweed in the upper Midwest. Detailed genetic information, such as ploidy levels and levels of genetic diversity, would answer many questions about knotweed in Minnesota, including understanding its means of spread, what species are present in what densities, and current levels of hybridization. This literature review summarizes current literature on knotweed to better understand its invasiveness and to highlight necessary future research that would benefit and inform knotweed management in the upper Midwest.

Herbicide systems consisting of PRE, early POST, and late POST options arranged factorially were compared for control of sicklepod in narrow-row soybean with modified acetolactate synthase (ALS) (E.C.4.1.3.18). Other weeds present included common cocklebur and mixed infestations of entireleaf, ivyleaf, pitted, and tall morningglories. PRE options were alachlor or alachlor plus metribuzin plus chlorimuron. Early POST options included chlorimuron, chlorimuron plus thifensulfuron, and no herbicide applied 3 wk after planting. Late POST options were chlorimuron and no herbicide applied 5 wk after planting. POST herbicides were more effective than PRE herbicides on all weeds. Chlorimuron and chlorimuron plus thifensulfuron applied early POST were equally effective on these weeds and usually more effective than chlorimuron applied late POST. There was no advantage of two POST applications compared with a single early POST application. Greatest net returns were obtained in systems using only early POST herbicides. There was no economic advantage from using metribuzin plus chlorimuron PRE in systems that included an early POST herbicide.

Systems consisting of flumetsulam, metribuzin plus chlorimuron, or imazaquin applied PPI with trifluralin or PRE with metolachlor were compared with and without chlorimuron POST for control of sicklepod and entireleaf morningglory in narrow-row soybean at four locations. Control of sicklepod and entireleaf morningglory by soil-applied herbicides was generally inadequate. Control of sicklepod by flumetsulam exceeded control by metribuzin plus chlorimuron or imazaquin at one location. Entireleaf morningglory control by flumetsulam was similar to or less than control by metribuzin plus chlorimuron or imazaquin. Chlorimuron POST was a more important component of management systems for these weeds than was flumetsulam, metribuzin plus chlorimuron, or imazaquin PPI or PRE. Pooled over soil-applied herbicides, chlorimuron POST increased late-season control of sicklepod and entireleaf morningglory 25 to 61% and 22 to 54%, respectively; increased soybean yield 20 to 55%; decreased foreign matter contamination 5 to 13%; and increased net returns $34 to $185/ha. When used in conjunction with chlorimuron POST, flumetsulam, metribuzin plus chlorimuron, and imazaquin applied PPI with trifluralin or PRE with metolachlor increased late-season control of sicklepod and entireleaf morningglory only when control by trifluralin or metolachlor followed by chlorimuron POST was less than 66 and 77%, respectively.

Thiazopyr at 0.14, 0.28, and 0.42 kg ai/ha and pendimethalin at 1.1 kg ai/ha applied preemergence (PRE) were compared as components in weed management systems for no-till cotton. Mid- and late-season control of mixtures of large crabgrass, goosegrass, and fall panicum by thiazopyr at 0.28 kg/ha was 89 to 97% and 11 to 50%, respectively, compared with 11 to 38% midseason and 0 to 5% late-season control by pendimethalin. Thiazopyr at 0.42 kg/ha and pendimethalin controlled broadleaf signalgrass 44 and 0%, respectively, late in the season. Adding fluometuron PRE at 1.7 kg ai/ha had little to no effect on large crabgrass, goosegrass, and fall panicum control but increased broadleaf signalgrass control 47 to 79 percentage points compared with thiazopyr or pendimethalin alone. Late-season control of annual grasses by thiazopyr or pendimethalin plus fluometuron PRE followed by methazole plus MSMA early postemergence (POST)-directed and cyanazine plus MSMA late POST-directed was at least 95% at two locations and 80% at the third location. Common lambsquarters was controlled 54 and 95% in systems without and with fluometuron PRE, respectively. Acceptable control of ivyleaf, pitted, and tall morningglories at all locations and smooth pigweed at two of three locations was achieved only in systems with POST-directed herbicides. Adding POST-directed herbicides to systems with thiazopyr or pendimethalin plus fluometuron PRE increased cotton yield at two of three locations. Treatments had no effect on fiber quality.

The isopropylamine salt of glyphosate at 420, 560, and 840 g ae/ha applied alone or mixed with the sodium salt of bentazon at 840 g ai/ha, chlorimuron at 9 g ai/ha, the sodium salt of fomesafen at 350 g ai/ha, or the ammonium salt of imazethapyr at 70 g ae/ha was evaluated for control of large crabgrass and broadleaf signalgrass. Neither grass was controlled by bentazon, fomesafen, or chlorimuron. Imazethapyr controlled large crabgrass and broadleaf signalgrass 30 and 72%, respectively, 3 weeks after treatment (WAT). Glyphosate at all rates controlled both grasses 100%. Control 3 WAT was unaffected by mixing bentazon, chlorimuron, fomesafen, or imazethapyr with glyphosate. Broadleaf signalgrass control 1 WAT was reduced 4 to 15% by mixing bentazon with glyphosate.

The effect of bromoxynil on large crabgrass control by clethodim, sethoxydim, fluazifop-P, fluazifop-P plus fenoxaprop-P, and quizalofop-P was evaluated in 1996 and 1997 in bromoxynil-tolerant cotton and in fallow areas. Bromoxynil at 560 g ai/ha reduced large crabgrass control 4 weeks after treatment (WAT) when mixed with labeled rates of fluazifop-P, fluazifop-P plus fenoxaprop-P, or quizalofop-P. Control 9 WAT was reduced when bromoxynil was mixed with any of the graminicides. Antagonism with the mixtures was greatest with quizalofop-P, intermediate with fluazifop-P plus fenoxaprop-P and fluazifop-P, and least with clethodim and sethoxydim. Increasing the graminicide rate 50% in mixtures with bromoxynil alleviated antagonism only for clethodim. No antagonism was noted 9 WAT when bromoxynil was applied 3 d before or 3 d after application of clethodim or sethoxydim or when bromoxynil was applied 3 d after fluazifop-P plus fenoxaprop-P. Antagonism was observed when bromoxynil was applied 3 d before fluazifop-P plus fenoxaprop-P or when applied 3 d before or 3 d after fluazifop-P and quizalofop-P. Regardless of bromoxynil application, greatest yields were obtained from cotton treated with clethodim or sethoxydim. Bromoxynil applied 3 d before or 3 d after clethodim, sethoxydim, or fluazifop-P plus fenoxaprop-P did not reduce yield. Yield was reduced when bromoxynil was applied 3 d before or 3 d after application of fluazifop-P or quizalofop-P and when bromoxynil was mixed with any graminicide.

Electronic cigarettes, often referred to as e-cigarettes, have established a considerable market in North America over the last decade. In parallel to this trend, there has been a surge of e-cigarette battery explosions reported in the general media. Given the growing number of such events, acute care physicians should recognize the associated risks and injury patterns and initiate appropriate treatment. This report presents two cases of burn injuries from e-cigarette battery explosions requiring surgical management. The accompanying comprehensive literature review highlights the emerging importance of e-cigarettes as an aetiology of burn injury.

This report considers the scientific opportunities and problems for paleoclimatic research for three time intervals, 0-1000 yr, 0-30,000 yr, and 0-1 my. Each of these intervals is appropriate to understanding different parts of the climate problem. The most recent interval is one for which there exists the possibility of determining year-by-year changes in certain parts of the climatic system over a time span which overlaps the instrumental record. The interval 0 to 30,000 yr is one for which the response of many parts of the climate system during a major change in climate can be examined, and for which laC dating provides good chronological control. The interval 0 to 1.000,000 yr is one for which there is reasonably good chronological control. a well-developed global record of changes in the ocean, and the opportunity of investigating glacial-interglacial changes in global climate which appear to have a cyclic or quasi-cyclic component.

An experiment was conducted at six locations in North Carolina to compare weed-management treatments using glufosinate postemergence (POST) in glufosinate-resistant soybean, glyphosate POST in glyphosate-resistant soybean, and imazaquin plus SAN 582 preemergence (PRE) followed by chlorimuron POST in nontransgenic soybean. Prickly sida and sicklepod were controlled similarly and 84 to 100% by glufosinate and glyphosate. Glyphosate controlled broadleaf signalgrass, fall panicum, goosegrass, rhizomatous johnsongrass, common lambsquarters, and smooth pigweed at least 90%. Control of these weeds by glyphosate often was greater than control by glufosinate. Mixing fomesafen with glufosinate increased control of these species except johnsongrass. Glufosinate often was more effective than glyphosate on entireleaf and tall morningglories. Fomesafen mixed with glyphosate increased morningglory control but reduced smooth pigweed control. Glufosinate or glyphosate applied sequentially or early postemergence (EPOST) following imazaquin plus SAN 582 PRE often were more effective than glufosinate or glyphosate applied only EPOST. Only rhizomatous johnsongrass was controlled more effectively by glufosinate or glyphosate treatments than by imazaquin plus SAN 582 PRE followed by chlorimuron POST. Yields and net returns with soil-applied herbicides only were often lower than total POST herbicide treatments. Sequential POST herbicide applications or soil-applied herbicides followed by POST herbicides were usually more effective economically than single POST herbicide applications.

Glyphosate effectively controls most weeds in glyphosate-resistant soybean. However, it is sometimes only marginally effective on Ipomoea spp. A field experiment was conducted at five locations in North Carolina to determine the effects of mixing 2,4-DB with glyphosate on Ipomoea spp. control and on soybean injury and yield. The isopropylamine salt of glyphosate at 560, 840, and 1,120 g ai/ha controlled mixtures of tall morningglory, entireleaf morningglory, and red morningglory at least 96% at two locations. Mixing the dimethylamine salt of 2,4-DB at 35 g ae/ha with glyphosate did not increase control but reduced soybean yield 6%. At two other locations, 2,4-DB increased control of tall morningglory and a mixture of entireleaf morningglory and ivyleaf morningglory 13 to 22% when mixed with glyphosate at 560 g/ha, but not when mixed with glyphosate at 840 or 1,120 g/ha. Soybean yield was reduced 31% at one location and was unaffected at the other. At the fifth location, 2,4-DB increased control of tall morningglory 25, 11, and 7% when mixed with glyphosate at 560, 840, and 1,120 g/ha, respectively. Soybean yield was increased 15%. In separate field experiments, glyphosate at 560, 840, and 1,120 g/ha controlled large crabgrass at least 99%. Mixing 2,4-DB at 35 g/ha with glyphosate did not affect control. In the greenhouse, mixing 2,4-DB at 35, 70, 140, or 280 g/ha with glyphosate at 70 to 560 g/ha did not affect large crabgrass control by glyphosate.

Experiments were conducted during 1999, 2002, and 2003 to evaluate sicklepod control by 2,4-DB applied alone or in mixture with selected fungicides and insecticides registered for use in peanut. The fungicides boscalid, chlorothalonil, fluazinam, propiconazole plus trifloxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, or tebuconazole and the insecticides acephate, carbaryl, esfenvalerate, fenpropathrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, methomyl, or indoxacarb applied in mixtures with 2,4-DB did not reduce sicklepod control by 2,4-DB compared with 2,4-DB alone. The fungicide azoxystrobin reduced control in some but not all experiments. Sicklepod control was highest when 2,4-DB was applied before flowering regardless of fungicide treatment. Seed production and germination were reduced when 2,4-DB was applied 81 to 85 d after emergence when sicklepod was flowering. Applying 2,4-DB before flowering and at pod set and pod fill did not affect seed production.

Geographic range and taxonomic duration are known to be positively correlated in a number of biologic groups; this is usually attributed to the influence of range upon duration rather than the other way about. Here we analyze two distinct components of this correlation within species and genera of marine invertebrates and microfossils by partitioning the total duration into two parts: the time it takes a taxon to attain its maximum geographic range, and the time a taxon persists after attaining its peak range. We find that the longer it takes a taxon to attain its maximum geographic range, the wider is that range. We also find that the broader the maximum range, the greater is the duration after this maximum is attained. These two correlations are equally strong on average. There is thus a reciprocal relationship between duration and geographic range, and there is no compelling evidence that range generally determines duration more or less than duration determines range.

We analyze relationships among a range of ecological and biological traits—geographic range size, body size, life mode, larval type, and feeding type—in order to identify those traits that are associated significantly with species duration in New Zealand Cenozoic marine molluscs, during a time of background extinction. Using log-linear modeling, we find that bivalves have only a small number of simple, two-way associations between the studied traits and duration. In contrast, gastropods display more complex interactions involving three-way associations between traits, a pattern that suggests greater macroecological complexity of gastropods. This is not an artifact caused by the larger number of gastropods than bivalves in our data set. We used stratified randomized resampling of families to test for associations between traits that might result from shared inheritance rather than ecological trait interactions; we found no evidence of phylogenetic effects in any associations examined. The relationships revealed by our study should serve to constrain the range of possible biological mechanisms that underlie these relationships. As previously observed, two-way associations are present between large geographic range and increased duration, and between large geographic range and large body size, in both bivalves and gastropods. In gastropods, planktotrophic larval type is associated with large range size through a three-way interaction that also involves duration; there is no direct association of larval type and geographic range. Gastropods also display two-way associations between duration and life mode, and duration and feeding type. We note that in gastropods, an infaunal life mode is associated with large range size, whereas in bivalves infaunality is associated with reduced range size.

In recent years several authors have questioned the reality of a widely accepted and apparently large increase in marine biodiversity through the Cenozoic. Here we use collection-level occurrence data from the rich and uniquely well documented New Zealand (NZ) shelfal marine mollusc fauna to test this question at a regional scale. Because the NZ data were generated by a small number of workers and have been databased over many decades, we have been able to either avoid or quantify many of the biases inherent in analyses of past biodiversity. In particular, our major conclusions are robust to several potential taphonomic and systematic biases and methodological uncertainties, namely non-uniform loss of aragonitic faunas, biostratigraphic range errors, taxonomic errors, choice of time bins, choice of analytical protocols, and taxonomic rank of analysis.

The number of taxa sampled increases through the Cenozoic. Once diversity estimates are standardized for sampling biases, however, we see no evidence for an increase in marine mollusc diversity in the NZ region through the middle and late Cenozoic. Instead, diversity has been approximately constant for much of the past 40 Myr and, at the species and genus levels, has declined over the past ~5 Myr. Assuming that the result for NZ shelfal molluscs is representative of other taxonomic groups and other temperate faunal provinces, then this suggests that the postulated global increase in diversity is either an artifact of sampling bias or analytical methods, resulted from increasing provinciality, or was driven by large increases in diversity in tropical regions. We see no evidence for a species-area effect on diversity. Likewise, we are unable to demonstrate a relationship between marine temperature and diversity, although this question should be re-examined once refined shallow marine temperature estimates become available.