Attractants for Synanthropic Flies. 2. Response Patterns of House Flies to Attractive Baits on Poultry Ranches

A proteinaceous attractant, prepared by freeze-drying fermented whole egg solids, was found to attract Musca domestica L. and other synanthropic Diptera. In field experiments, a mixture of 2 g of the attractant and 2 g of dichlorvos sugar-bait increased fly collection two-fold on manure substrate in trays set on the ground and three-fold in suspended bait units over the sugar-toxicant bait alone. This increase was due primarily to the increased response of nulliparous and parous females in which vitellogenesis was about to occur. Attractancy of the bait declined sharply after 48 hours of field exposure. The location of bait stations significantly affected the number, sex ratio, and female age structure of the flies collected. Stations collecting the greatest number of flies were generally situated at the ends of the cage rows in sunlight-shade border areas. Fly collections from areas of greatest fly activity were characterized by a high proportion of hoth nulliparous and parous protein-searching females, and the sex ratio in these high-activity zones approached 1. East-west and north-south preferences of certain female age groups were manifested in the collection

Diabetes and kidney cancer: A direct or indirect association?

A positive association between diabetes and kidney cancer has been reported in several investigations, but it is unclear whether diabetes or its complications account for this association. Recent advances in estimating direct associations may be useful for elucidating the association between diabetes and kidney cancer. Therefore, we performed a case-control analysis to evaluate whether the direct association between diabetes and kidney cancer is the primary concern in this exposure-outcome relation. Discharge data (with International Classification of Diseases – 9 codes) from 2001 for hospitals throughout Florida were used to construct a case-control population of inpatients aged ≥45 years. Cases (n=1,909) were inpatients with malignant kidney cancer and controls (n=6,451) were inpatients with motor vehicle injuries. Diabetes status was ascertained for cases and controls. Covariates that required adjustment to estimate the total (age, gender, ethnicity, obesity, and smoking) and direct (age, gender, ethnicity, obesity, smoking, hypertension, and kidney disease) associations were identified in a directed acyclic graph. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted total and direct odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of kidney cancer for diabetics. The odds of kidney cancer were higher for inpatients with diabetes than inpatients without diabetes when estimating the total association (OR=1.27, 95%CI: 1.10, 1.47) but attenuated when estimating the direct association (OR=1.08, 95%CI: 0.93, 1.25). Our findings provide preliminary insight that the direct association between diabetes and kidney cancer may not be the primary concern in this exposure-outcome relation; indirect pathways (i.e. diabetic complications) may have greater influence on this relation. A similar analysis using longitudinal data with appropriately measured covariates may provide more definitive conclusions and could have implications for kidney cancer prevention among diabetics

Bait Units for Collection of House Flies

Lurtox™4 is a proteinaceous attractant for Musca domestica L. and other synanthropic Diptera (Mulla et al. 1973: Willson and Mulla 1973a) and is easily mixed with commercial poison sugar baits. The mixture of Lurtox and dichlorvos sugar bait (50:50 by wt) can be administered in measurable quantities into compact bait units where dead flies can be easily recovered for counting and for other studies. While developing Lurtox for control of Hippelates eye gnats, Mulla et al. (1973) found that moisture was essential for the emanation of the volatile attractants contained in the bait. Therefore, if the prevalent humidity level is not sufficient to activate the attractant, the bait unit designed for use with the bait mixture should include a moisture sourc

Border Alert System for Fishermen Using GPS System

The livelihood of fishermen is such that he crosses the country border unknowingly and poses threats to them by being killed or captured. The sea borders between countries are not easily identifiable which is the main reason behind this problem. ldquoBorder alert system for fisherman using GPSrdquo describes about a system which helps the fishermen by notifying the country border. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global system for mobile communication (GSM) are used for this purpose. Here GPS receiver is used to find the current location of the fishing boat. Using GPS, present latitude and longitude values are sent to microcontroller unit. Later the controller unit identifies the current location by comparing the present latitude and longitudinal values with the predefined value. After the comparison, border alert system aware the fishermen that they are about to reach the nautical border. The region is divided into normal zone and warning zone. When the boat is in normal area, the LCD displays normal zone. Thus they can make it clear that the boat is in normal area. In case if it moves further and reaches the warning zone, the LCD displays warning zone

Anti-Allergic Cromones Inhibit Histamine and Eicosanoid Release from Activated Human and Murine Mast Cells by Releasing Annexin A1

PMCID: PMC3601088This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Ecology: a prerequisite for malaria elimination and eradication

* Existing front-line vector control measures, such as insecticide-treated nets and residual sprays, cannot break the transmission cycle of Plasmodium falciparum in the most intensely endemic parts of Africa and the Pacific * The goal of malaria eradication will require urgent strategic investment into understanding the ecology and evolution of the mosquito vectors that transmit malaria * Priority areas will include understanding aspects of the mosquito life cycle beyond the blood feeding processes which directly mediate malaria transmission * Global commitment to malaria eradication necessitates a corresponding long-term commitment to vector ecolog