The previously identified female sex pheromone of cocoa pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella, was re-evaluated for its attractive activity in different field conditions. It was found that lures containing 100-mug of synthetic sex pheromone blend, (E,Z,Z)- and (E,E,Z)-4,6,10-hexadecatrienyl acetates, and the corresponding alcohols in a ratio of 40:60:4:6 in a polyethylene vial attracted male C. cramerella moths in Sabah and peninsular Malaysia and in Sumatra and Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggesting that the same pheromone strain existed in a wide stretch of the Indo-Malayan archipelago. Of the three kinds of trap designs tested, the Delta traps were more effective than Pherocon V scale traps. Male captures were not significantly different among traps baited with 100-, 300-, or 1,000-mug doses of sex pheromone. A release rate study of pheromone formulation conducted in the laboratory showed that volatile active ingredients were desorbed from polyethylene vials following first-order kinetics, which indicates a satisfactory "half-life time" of a 100-mug loading is approximately 6 wk under laboratory conditions. A satisfactory attractiveness of the lure with a 100-mug loading was approximately 1-2 mo in the fields.
Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth most aggressive malignancy and its treatment remains a challenge due to the lack of biomarkers that can facilitate early detection. EC is identified in two major histological forms namely - Adenocarcinoma (EAC) and Squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), each showing differences in the incidence among populations that are geographically separated. Hence the detection of potential drug target and biomarkers demands a population-centric understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of EC. To provide an adequate impetus to the biomarker discovery for ESCC, which is the most prevalent esophageal cancer worldwide, here we have developed ESCC ATLAS, a manually curated database that integrates genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic ESCC-related genes from the published literature. It consists of 3475 genes associated to molecular signatures such as, altered transcription (2600), altered translation (560), contain copy number variation/structural variations (233), SNPs (102), altered DNA methylation (82), Histone modifications (16) and miRNA based regulation (261). We provide a user-friendly web interface ( http://www.esccatlas.org , freely accessible for academic, non-profit users) that facilitates the exploration and the analysis of genes among different populations. We anticipate it to be a valuable resource for the population specific investigation and biomarker discovery for ESCC.