Loss in seed yield and therefore decrease in plant fitness due to simultaneous attacks by multiple herbivores is not necessarily additive, as demonstrated in evolutionary studies on wild plants. However, it is not clear how this transfers to crop plants that grow in very different conditions compared to wild plants. Nevertheless, loss in crop seed yield caused by any single pest is most often studied in isolation although crop plants are attacked by many pests that can cause substantial yield losses. This is especially important for crops able to compensate and even overcompensate for the damage. We investigated the interactive impacts on crop yield of four insect pests attacking different plant parts at different times during the cropping season. In 15 oilseed rape fields in Sweden, we estimated the damage caused by seed and stem weevils, pollen beetles, and pod midges. Pest pressure varied drastically among fields with very low correlation among pests, allowing us to explore interactive impacts on yield from attacks by multiple species. The plant damage caused by each pest species individually had, as expected, either no, or a negative impact on seed yield and the strongest negative effect was caused by pollen beetles. However, seed yield increased when plant damage caused by both seed and stem weevils was high, presumably due to the joint plant compensatory reaction to insect attack leading to overcompensation. Hence, attacks by several pests can change the impact on yield of individual pest species. Economic thresholds based on single species, on which pest management decisions currently rely, may therefore result in economically suboptimal choices being made and unnecessary excessive use of insecticides.

Food security is a critical issue for many lowincome countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Appropriately identifying and utilising local resources can provide sustainable solutions to food security problems. Insects, which are traditionally consumed in many regions of the world, represent one such resource. Insects can be nutritionally rich and therefore could be used to address issues of malnutrition. A first step towards utilising insects as a resource is identifying which ones are traditionally consumed. We present data collected between 2005 and 2012 on insects eaten by communities across Benin, West Africa. A combination of literature research, field collections, community focus groups and targeted interviews were employed. Data on four ethnic groups is presented: the Anii, Fon, Nagot and Waama. Twenty-nine arthropods species are eaten across Benin. The predominant orders are Orthoptera (48 %) and Coleoptera (41 %). New families of edible arthropods in West Africa include: Bradyporidae (Orthoptera), Coreidae (Hemiptera), Dytiscidae (Coleoptera), Ixodidae (Acari). Insect collection is an ancestral tradition in all the described communities: however, there are considerable differences in preferences and collection methods among ethnic groups. Currently there is little valorisation of insects as a food product in Benin, in contrast to neighbouring countries. In light of considerable malnutrition in Benin among young children, promoting this tradition and implementing small scale captive rearing of selected species could improve food security.

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Sorafenib has been established as the standard of care for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) since 2007 on the basis of two landmark trials (SHARP and Asia-Pacific). Ten years have passed since then and, despite much research in the field, still no validated real-life prognostic markers are available for HCC patients treated with this drug. Therefore, going through 10 years of research into sorafenib of several Italian Cancer Centers, we conducted a field-practice study aimed at identifying baseline clinical factors that could be significantly associated with overall survival (OS). <b><i>Method:</i></b> Univariate/multivariate analyses were conducted to retrospectively identify the impact of baseline characteristics on the OS of 398 advanced HCC patients treated with sorafenib. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Based on univariate analysis, α-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin, AST, bilirubin, Child-Pugh, ECOG, systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade, and portal vein thrombosis were significantly associated with shorter OS. Following adjustment for clinical covariates positive in univariate analysis, the multivariate analysis including AFP, age, etiology, albumin, aspartate transaminase (AST), bilirubin, Child-Pugh, LDH, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, ECOG, ALBI grade, portal vein thrombosis, SII, and BCLC stage identified increase in LDH, age &#x3e;70 years, no viral etiologies, ECOG &#x3e;0, albumin &#x3c;35, ALBI grade 2, and AST &#x3e;40 as prognostic factors for poorer OS based on the 5% significance level. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Our study highlights that baseline hepatic function, patient-centered variables, and etiology have prognostic value. These findings might have implications in terms of therapeutic decision-making and patient counseling.

Since 2007 Sorafenib has represented the only approved drug for first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Lenvatinib, an orally active inhibitor of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGFR 1-3, FGFR 1-4, PDGFRa, RET and KIT), showed preclinical and clinical activity in the treatment of solid tumors, including HCC. Areas covered: In this review, we summarize the current therapeutic paradigm for the systemic treatment of advanced HCC, focusing on Lenvatinib pre-clinical and clinical development. Keywords 'Lenvatinib', ' Target therapy', 'REFLECT trial', 'Hepatocellular carcinoma', 'HCC', 'Sorafenib' were used for literature search on PubMed. Expert commentary: In Phase-III multicentric REFLECT trial Lenvatinib demonstrated a non-inferior overall survival (OS) compared to Sorafenib in the first-line treatment of advanced HCC, with a manageable toxicity profile, becoming a valid alternative option in the therapeutic repertoire of this disease. Nevertheless, the potential role of Lenvatinib in real-life clinical practice has still to be defined, especially in the light of the positive results that have been achieved with other new therapeutic agents (e.g. immunotherapy).

1. The subsidy hypothesis states that communities receiving nutrient subsidies will demonstrate top-down trophic cascades where predators indirectly increase plant biomass. This has been both confirmed and refuted, which might depend on whether the subsidy has mainly targeted the plant or the detrital food web compartment, and on the subsidy quality. This is particularly poorly understood for terrestrial communities such as heavily subsidized agroecosystems.2. Using cages covering 4 m 2 of ground in a long-term agricultural fertilization experiment, we tested whether subsidies targeting the detrital soil mesofauna compartment with organic fertilizers, or the plants with mineral fertilizer, impacted the direction and strength of trophic cascades in an arthropod-plant food web. We expected top-down controls of generalist arthropod predators (spiders, ground and rove beetles) on aphid densities to be stronger in organically fertilized plots due to enhanced alternative prey availability in the soil. Bottom-up control from barley quality on aphids was anticipated to be stronger in the mineral treatments.We examined how the quality (decomposability) of the organic subsidy governed the cascades by comparing treatments with labile (manure) and recalcitrant (hay) organic matter. Top-down forces dominated in food websreceiving organic subsidies, while bottom-up forces dominated under mineral fertilization. A high-quality, easily degradable organic subsidy propagated faster through the food chain, leading to a top-down trophic cascade with generalist predators having a positive effect on plant biomass in the labile but not in the recalcitrant organic treatment. 4. Synthesis and applications. Management of agricultural soils that bolster the soil mesofauna, for example adding organic fertilizers, has potential to increase topdown biological control by naturally occurring generalist arthropod predators. Our research demonstrates how barley biomass can be enhanced in manure treatment in the presence of arthropod predators to a level comparable to that of mineral fertilizer. K E Y W O R D S biological pest control, bottom-up, crop yield, fertilization, multichannel feeding, soil, topdown, trophic interactions | 1983 Journal of Applied Ecology RIGGI et al.