Study of trophic relationships between diaspididae family species -host plants -predators and parasitoids in Algeria

The use of parasitoids and predators in biocontrol contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture, respects environment and human health. In this context, we undertook the identification of natural Diaspididae enemies located on the Algerian territory. Results highlight three predatory families: Coccinellidae, Nitidulidae and Coniopterygidae families, the first represented by the most voracious species as Rhyzobius lophantae living on 19 Diaspines observed on 121 plants, from the northern, and two parasitoid families lived on 39 Diaspididae species affecting 125 plants and were represented by four genera and 23 species such as Aphytis and Encarcia (Aphelinidae) lived on 31 diaspididae species found on 125 host plants. The most voracious and polyphagous species identified are interesting for IPM.Keywords: Diaspididae, Predators, Parasitoids, Host-plant, Algeri

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference