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PubMed2006

Steady improvement of infection control services in six community hospitals in Makkah following annual audits during Hajj for four consecutive years.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of annual review of the infection control practice in all Ministry of Health hospitals in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, during the Hajj period of four lunar Islamic years, 1423 to 1426 corresponding to 2003 to 2006. METHODS: Audit of infection control service was conducted annually over a 10-day period in six community hospitals with bed capacities ranging from 140 to 557 beds. Data were collected on standardized checklists on various infection control service items during surprise visits to the medical, pediatric, surgical, and critical care units, and the kitchens. Percentage scores were calculated for audited items. The results of the audit for hospitals were confidentially sent to them within four weeks after the end of Hajj. RESULTS: Deficiencies observed in the first audit included lack of infection control committees, infection control units, infection control educational activities, and surveillance system and shortage of staff. These deficiencies were resolved in the subsequent audits. The average (range) scores of hospitals in 11 infection control items increased from 43% (20-67%) in the first audit to 78% (61-93%) in the fourth audit. CONCLUSION: Regular hospital infection control audits lead to significant improvement of infection control practice. There is a need to build a rigorous infection control audit into hospitals' ongoing monitoring and reporting to the Ministry of Health and to provide these hospitals with feed back on such audits to continuously strengthen the safety standards for patients, visitors, and employees.

Hand Disinfection↗
PubMed2000

Laboratory evaluation of miticides to control Varroa jacobsoni (Acari: Varroidae), a honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) parasite.

A laboratory bioassay was developed to evaluate miticides to control Varroa jacobsoni (Oudemans), an important parasite of the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. Bees and mites were exposed to applications of essential oil constituents in petri dishes (60 by 20 mm). The registered mite control agents tau-fluvalinate (Apistan) and formic acid also were evaluated as positive controls. Treatments that caused high mite mortality (> 70%) at doses that produced low bee mortality (< 30%) were considered mite selective. The six most selective of the 22 treatments tested (clove oil, benzyl acetate, thymol, carvacrol, methyl salicylate, and Magic3) were further evaluated to estimate LD50 values and selectivity ratios (A. mellifera LD50/V. jacobsoni LD50) at 24, 43, and 67 h after exposure. Tau-fluvalinate was the most selective treatment, but thymol, clove oil, Magic3, and methyl salicylate demonstrated selectivity equal to or greater than formic acid. The effect of mode of application (complete exposure versus vapor only) on bee and mite mortality was assessed for thymol, clove oil, and Magic3 by using a 2-chambered dish design. Estimated V. jacobsoni LD50 values were significantly lower for complete exposure applications of thymol and Magic3, suggesting that both vapor and topical exposure influenced mite mortality, whereas estimated values for clove oil suggested that topical exposure had little or no influence on mite mortality. These results indicate that essential oil constituents alone may not be selective enough to control Varroa under all conditions, but could be a useful component of an integrated pest management approach to parasitic mite management in honey bee colonies.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Effect of maysin on wild-type, deltamethrin-resistant, and Bt-resistant Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Larvae of the Old World corn earworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), were fed diets containing lyophilized silks from maize genotypes expressing varying levels of maysin, a flavone glycoside known to be toxic to the New World corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea Boddie. Three different H. armigera colonies were tested: a wild-type colony (96-S), a colony selected for resistance to deltamethrin (Del-R), and a colony selected for resistance to the Cry1Ac protoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt-R). A colony of H. zea was also tested as a control. High-maysin silk diets significantly slowed the growth and arrested the development of larvae from all H. armigera colonies compared with low-maysin silk diets, maysin-lacking silk diets, and no-silk control diets. The effects on the H. armigera and H. zea colonies were similar across maysin levels, although H. zea is a larger insect than H. armigera and this overall size difference was observed. Among the H. armigera colonies, maysin effects were generally similar, although 7-d-old Del-R larvae were significantly smaller than 7-d-old Bt-R and 96-S larvae for one no-silk control and two maysin-containing silk treatments. The toxic effect of maysin on the Bt-R and Del-R colonies suggests that physiological mechanisms of H. armigera resistance to Cry1Ac and deltamethrin do not confer cross-resistance to maysin.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Biological control of vectors of human and tropical diseases. Present means and prospects (author's transl)].

Biological control is "direct or indirect use of natural enemies of the injurious species to increase its mortality" (W.H.O., 1963). The more and more frequent apparition of resistant insects populations, the fears as regards the environment, the increase cost of hydrocarbur products and also some technic and operational difficulties to stop transmission by the use of only insecticide pulvérisation, impose this process. Nevertheless, practic use of natural enemies of vectors is yet unusual in spite of important research. (Identification problems, dynamic of species, insufficiency of ethology knowledge particulary of the host specificity, difficulties of application on the vectors which are the most usually widely scattered). For control of insects of medical importance (mosquitoes, black flies, tse-tse flies) it has been used either pathogen agents such as virus bacteria, microsporida or parasit agents such as fungi, mermithid nematods or at last, predators, essentially larvivorus fish. Actually, no biological agent is able to take the place of chemical and physical "traditional" means. In case of mosquito control which is more advanced, the only biological mean which is operational is the use of larvivorus fish and specially Gambusia.

Africa↗
PubMed1991

The contribution of sandfly control to leishmaniasis control.

Without doubt the single most important constraint on assessing the value of vector control in leishmaniasis control is the lack of well documented examples of intervention; information is usually anecdotal and therefore it is simply not possible to evaluate precisely the significance of sandfly control in disease control. Where the vector is peri-domestic, house spraying with residual insecticides has been employed, but this has usually been as a by-product of anti-malarial control (e.g. N.E.India). Increasing incidence of leishmaniasis following the cessation of mosquito control is cited as evidence of efficacy. However, habitat modification such as the destruction of mammal reservoirs and their burrows, has been effective in arid regions of the Middle East and Central Asia, and forest clearance in combination with insecticides in French Guiana. There have been several imaginative attempts at controlling sandflies by applying insecticides to non-domestic resting sites (eg. emergent trees in rain-forest; termite hills in Kenya and S. Ethiopia) but these have met with varying degrees of success. Fortunately there is little evidence of insecticide resistance. Therefore, there is still scope for exploring control methods based on either the systematic application of insecticides alone, the impregnation of nets or curtains, or even the use of insecticides or chemosterilants in conjunction with an attractant (eg. sugar or pheromones).

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Characterization of an alkaline protease associated with a granulosis virus of Plodia interpunctella.

An alkaline protease was found to be associated with the granulosis virus of the Indian meal moth. Plodia interpunctella. The protease was located within the protein matrix of the occluded virus and hydrolyzed the major constituent of this matrix, a 28,000-dalton protein (granulin), to a mixture of polypeptides ranging in molecular weight from 10,000 to 27,000. A rapid, sensitive assay for the protease was developed using radioactively labeled granulosis virus as substrate. With this assay, the proteolytic activity could be detected by measuring the release of acid-soluble peptides from the labeled virus. The protease had a pH optimum of 10.5 and a temperature optimum of 40 degrees C and was inhibited by diisopropyl phosphorofluoridate, phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and L-(1-tosylamido-2-phenyl) ethyl chloromethyl ketone. Purification of the protease from matrix protein was achieved by anion-exchange and gel permeation chromatography. The molecular weight of the isolated protease, determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and gel filtration, was approximately 14,000.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Inhibition effect of transgenic tobacco plants expressing snowdrop lectin on the population development of Myzus persicae.

The cDNAs of snowdrop lectin mature protein and its precursor protein, GNA12 and GNA34, were inserted downstream of a 35S promoter with a double enhancer and a "omega" fragment of TMV-RNA cDNA in the binary vector pBin438, or the phloem-specific CoYMV promoter in the vector pBcop1, respectively, resulting in the construction of four plant expression vectors pBGna12, pBGna34, pBCGna12, and pBCGna34. Leaf stripes of Nicotiana tabacum var. K326 were transformed with A. tumefaciens LBA4404 harboring the above expression vectors, respectively. PCR and Southern blot analysis showed that foreign GNA genes were inserted into the genome of transformed tobacco plants. Western blot analysis indicated that GNA could be expressed efficiently up to 0.08-0.15% of total soluble proteins in transgenic tobacco plants with pBGna34 or pBCGna34, while in those with pBGna12 and pBCGna12 GNA were hardly detected by immunoassay. The results from insect bioassay with a peach aphid (Myzus persicae) demonstrated that the transgenic plants of pBGna34 and pBCGna34 were aphid-resistant as shown by a 45-60% reduction in insect population density, with some individual transgenic lines being reduced by over 90%. In addition, it was evident that the 35S promoter with a double enhancer and CoYMV promoter had similar abilities to direct the GNA gene to express in transgenic tobacco plants, but because the CoYMV promoter drives the foreign gene in a phloem-specific expression manner, the transgenic plants of pBCGna34 showed higher aphid resistance.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Prey-mediated effects of transgenic canola on a beneficial, non-target, carabid beetle.

Transgenic plants producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) can control some major insect pests and reduce reliance on sprayed insecticides. However, large scale adoption of this technology has raised concerns about potential negative effects, including evolution of pest resistance to Bt toxins, transgene flow from Bt crops to other plants, and harm to non-target beneficial organisms. Furthermore, concern has also been expressed over the effects this technology may have on biodiversity in general. Ecologically relevant risk assessment is therefore required (Risk = Hazard x Exposure). Transgenic plants that produce Bt toxins to kill insect pests could harm beneficial predators. This might occur directly by transmission of toxin via prey, or indirectly by toxin-induced reduction in prey quality (Hazard). To test these hypotheses, we determined the effects of Bt-producing canola on a predatory ground beetle (Pterostichus madidus) fed larvae of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) that were either susceptible or resistant to the Bt toxin. Survival, weight gain, and adult reproductive fitness did not differ between beetles fed prey reared on Bt-producing plants and those fed prey from control plants. Furthermore, while Bt-resistant prey was shown to deliver high levels of toxin to the beetle when they were consumed, no significant impact upon the beetle was observed. Subsequent investigation showed that in choice tests (Exposure), starved and partially satiated female beetles avoided Bt-fed susceptible prey, but not Bt-fed resistant prey. However, in the rare cases when starved females initially selected Bt-fed susceptible prey, they rapidly rejected them after beginning to feed. This prey type was shown to provide sufficient nutrition to support reproduction in the bioassay suggesting that Bt-fed susceptible prey is acceptable in the absence of alternative prey, however adults possess a discrimination ability based on prey quality. These results suggest that the direct effects of Bt-producing canola on predator life history was minimal, and that predators' behavioural preferences may mitigate negative indirect effects of reduced quality of prey caused by consumption of Bt-producing plants. The results presented here therefore suggest that cultivation of Bt canola may lead to conservation of non-target predatory and scavenging organisms beneficial in pest control, such as carabids, and may therefore provide more sustainable agricultural systems than current practices. In addition, minimal impacts on beneficial carabids in agro-ecosystems suggest that Bt canola crops are likely to be compatible with integrated pest management (IPM) systems.

Animals↗