Recent Blog Posts

View Post: Futurity.org – Stopping Lyme disease with tick saliva
18 Nov 2009 by Helen Dodson-Yale  
The authors believe this new strategy of targeting the saliva—the “vector molecule” that a microbe requires to infect a host—may be applicable not just to Lyme disease but to other insect-borne pathogens that also cause human illness. “We believe that it is likely that many arthropod-borne infection agents of medical importance use vector proteins as they move to the mammalian host,” Fikrig explains. “If so, then this paradigm, described with the Lyme disease agent, ...
View Blog: Futurity.org - http://futurity.org/

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View Post: New vaccine offers chance for children in Africa, where 1 million ...
3 Nov 2009 by Jason Straziuso  
November 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Experts have suggested a novel strategy for developing 'next-generation' malaria vaccines that will help targeting the long-term goal of eliminating and eradicating the deadly mosquito-borne disease. .... AnthonyPrebor Uh, am I really going to have to look at arthropods at Lackawanna State Park for 3 hours today? Should have brought a coat, oops! BiologyQandA What type of symmetry do arthropods have? - Related page: http://ow.ly/15XR6Q ...
View Blog: Health News - http://blog.taragana.com/health/

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View Post: eScholarship: Climate change will exacerbate California's insect ...
2 Apr 2009 by John Trumble  
The arthropod pathogens such as fungi are cumulative effects of these changes on expected to vary (Stacey and Fellowes plants and insects in California's ag- 2002). Arthropod-borne human diseases ricultural and natural ecosystems are such as dengue ..... Examples of how increasing temperatures affect arthropod species and arthropod-related systems Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to: Increasing . . . Northward migration Migration up elevation gradients Insect ...
View Blog: eScholarship Repository - http://repositories.cdlib.org/

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View Post: On the trail of a vaccine for Lyme disease: Yale researchers ...
19 Nov 2009
... infect a host - may be applicable not just to Lyme disease but to other insect-borne pathogens that also cause human illness. "We believe that it is likely that many arthropod-borne infection agents of medical importance use vector ...
View Blog: Latest Medical News from Bio-Medicine.Org - http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Loma-Lind...

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View Post: Protein in ticks appear to be useful in guarding mice from Lyme ...
20 Nov 2009 by staff  
Fikrig explained, “We believe that it is likely that many arthropod-borne infection agents of medical importance use vector proteins as they move to the mammalian host. If so, then this paradigm, described with the Lyme disease agent, ... The authors are of the opinion that this new policy of aiming the saliva i.e. the 'vector molecule' that a microbe needs to contaminate a host could be appropriate not just to Lyme disease but to other insect-borne pathogens that may ...
View Blog: Health Jockey - http://www.healthjockey.com/2008/05/25/reiki-a-universal-healing-force/

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View Post: Spider Smuggler Nabbed in Rio
14 Nov 2009
Brazil may have prosecuted him under a law against importing exotic arthropods because they can cause infestation or even disease and parasites to native fauna; I'm sure there was some required paperwork he didn't have for that amount of spiders. ... (3) insects says: I based that figure on what the BBC reported – that he claimed to have purchased them for $5 each, and intended to sell them for $50 each. If he sold 900 spiders @ $50 each, that's $45000 in gross sales. ...
View Blog: About.com Insects - http://insects.about.com/b/

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View Post: ISPUB - Field Trial Tests On The Efficacy And Residual Effects Of ...
4 Nov 2009
Homestead arthropod pests constitute biting nuisance, noise and stinging annoyance contamination of human foods and drinks as well as transmission of public health diseases to man. Such diseases include malaria, typhus fever ... test was replicated twice at each occasion. At every test, the exposure of the mosquitoes to the wall surfaces lasted for 20 minutes. The insects were returned to the laboratory and watched for 24hr to determine the mortality rates after exposure. ...
View Blog: Internet Scientific Publications - http://www.ispub.com/

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View Post: Predicting Changes for Parasite and Vector Induced Animal Diseases
23 Oct 2009
Climate change may also influence insects that spread diseases. At the ARS Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory (ABADRL) in Laramie, Wyoming, scientists are investigating several vectored diseases, ... "Our research hasn't focused on climate trends, but we do know that elevated sea surface temperatures, such as those associated with El Niño cycles, are related to heavy rainfall and flooding, which are related to RVF outbreaks," Dr Linthicum says. ...
View Blog: TheBeefSite - Global Industry News Feeds - http://www.thebeefsite.com/

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View Post: Tick Saliva: New Target for Lyme Disease Vaccine
Scientific ...
19 Nov 2009 by SFL ORG. Educational News Network ...
View Blog: This could be an effective strategy to prevent Lyme disease, as well as malaria, dengue fever, and other diseases carried by arthropods such as ticks and mosquitoes, said senior author Erol Fikrig, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at ... Tick saliva contains a variety of unsavory ingredients that help the insect's five- or six-day blood meal proceed unnoticed by the host, and the presence of the pathogen actually changes the composition of the tick's saliva.

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View Post: Trebob's Lab: Has anyone witnessed evolution?
5 hours ago by Robert T  
This prediction led to the discovery in stoneflies of functional hemocyanin, used for oxygen transport in other arthropods but never before found in insects. Hagner-Holler, Silke et al. 2004. A respiratory hemocyanin from an insect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA ... h) Phylogenetic analysis is a standard part of epidemiology, since it allows the identification of disease reservoirs and sometimes the tracking of step-by-step transmission of disease. ...
View Blog: Trebob's Lab - http://trebobslab.blogspot.com/

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