The selective advantage of gynomonoecy, the sexual system wherein plants produce a mixture of female and bisexual flowers, is poorly understood. One hypothesis for the evolution of this system is that the absence of androecia from female flowers reduces herbivore damage to the gynoecia of these flowers. Here, we examined patterns of herbivore damage in 53 collections representing 25 species of asters and goldenrods from Massachusetts, USA. In these taxa flowers are crowded into compact capitula, with bisexual flowers occupying the centre and female flowers situated on the periphery. Damage to gynoecia of bisexual flowers was significantly greater than damage to gynoecia of female flowers overall, and in about half of the individual populations. We also compared damage to central and peripheral flowers in the heads of 16 collections of other Asteraceae that produce only bisexual flowers to see whether the location of flowers rather than their sex might determine the patterns of herbivory. In only one of these 16 collections did we find a significant difference in herbivory between flower positions. We conclude that herbivore damage is influenced by flower type in asters and goldenrods, a pattern consistent with a role for herbivory in the evolution and maintenance of gynomonoecy.
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an antimalarial drug in use since 1955, is still used with great success in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosis and other rheumatological diseases. HCQ is generally well tolerated and its side effect profile confers many advantages over many other immunosuppressive agents. However, HCQ is known to induce retinopathy. Unfortunately, HCQ-induced retinopathy can present insidiously with subtle color vision changes and paracentral scotoma, which makes early detection difficult. Moreover, cessation of HCQ does not typically result in resolution of the visual loss, and vision loss may actually continue to progress even after HCQ is stopped. Therefore, identifying those patients most at risk for development of retinopathy is of the utmost importance, and adequate screening of patients taking HCQ is recommended. A brief case presentation of a patient who has developed retinal toxicity from hydroxychloroquine is provided along with a discussion regarding the characteristic retinopathy and review of current screening recommendations.
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