Control de Rhipicephalus microplus (acari: ixodidae) mediante el uso del hongo entomopatógeno Metarhizium anisopliae (Hypocreales: clavicipitaceae). Revisión

Infestations with cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus constitute the most important ectoparasite problem in the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe, resulting in major economic losses in the production of beef, milk, and leathers, in addition of increasing the cost of control programs transmitting Babesia bovis, B. bigemina and Anaplasma marginale.Las infestaciones de la garrapata del ganado, Rhipicephalus microplus, producen el mayor problema global de ectoparásitos en ganado de regiones tropicales y subtropicales, provocan importantes pérdidas económicas en la producción de carne, leche y pieles, además incrementan los gastos derivados de los programas de control, y son capaces de transmitir Babesia bovis, B. bigemina y Anaplasma marginale

Use of the entomopathogenic fungi \u3ci\u3eMetarhizium anisopliae, Cordyceps bassiana\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eIsaria fumosorosea\u3c/i\u3e to control \u3ci\u3eDiaphorina citri\u3c/i\u3e (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in Persian lime under field conditions

The Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama is a destructive insect pest in citriculture, because it is an efficient vector of the proteobacteria ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (Las), ‘Ca. L. africanus’ (Laf) and ‘Ca. L. americanus’ (Lam). These bacteria cause the ‘huanglongbing’ disease or ‘greening’ or ‘yellow dragon’ disease. The disease kills the plant and reduces fruit production. This insect pest is susceptible to entomopathogenic fungi, and we report the use of different strains of Metarhizium anisopliae, Cordyceps bassiana and Isaria fumosorosea against the nymphs and adults of D. citri under field conditions. The fungi were applied four times using a concentration of 2 £ 1013 conidia/ha with a time interval of 15 days between applications. The percentage of control of Cb 108, Ma 65, Ma 14 and Ifr 4 was 60, 50, 40 and 35% in nymphs, and 50, 50, 42 and 22% in adults, respectively. Metarhizium anisopliae, C. bassiana and I. fumosorosea applied on Persian lime groves are more effective in reducing higher density of nymphs than adults of D. citri

Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Urban Mobility: Empirical Evidence from the City of Santander (Spain)

ABSTRACT: This article analyses the impact that the confinement measures or quarantine imposed in Spain on 15 March 2020 had on urban mobility in the northern city of Santander. Data have been collected from traffic counters, public transport ITS, and recordings from traffic control cameras and environmental sensors to make comparisons between journey flows and times before and during the confinement. This data has been used to re-estimate Origin-Destination trip matrices to obtain an initial diagnostic of how daily mobility has been reduced and how the modal distribution and journey purposes have changed. The impact on externalities such as NO2 emissions and traffic accidents have also been quantified. The analysis revealed an overall mobility fall of 76%, being less important in the case of the private car. Public transport users dropped by up to 93%, NO2 emissions were reduced by up to 60%, and traffic accidents were reduced by up to 67% in relative termsFunding: The infrastructure of the Tra_c and Dynamic Modeling Laboratory of the University of Cantabria has been partially funded by FEDER funds (Ref. No: UCAN10-4E-549). The image recognition methodology applied in this research has been developed thanks to financing from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad from the project referenced TRA2017-85853-C2-1-R

Impact of preemptive hospitalization on health outcomes at the temporary COVID-19 hospital in Mexico City: a prospective observational study.

INTRODUCTION: In response to the evolution of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the admission protocol for the temporary COVID-19 hospital in Mexico City has been updated to hospitalize patients preemptively with an oxygen saturation (SpO2) of >90%. METHODS: This prospective, observational, single-center study compared the progression and outcomes of patients who were preemptively hospitalized versus those who were hospitalized based on an SpO2 ⩽90%. We recorded patient demographics, clinical characteristics, COVID-19 symptoms, and oxygen requirement at admission. We calculated the risk of disease progression and the benefit of preemptive hospitalization, stratified by CALL Score: age, lymphocyte count, and lactate dehydrogenase (<8 and ⩾8) at admission. RESULTS: Preemptive hospitalization significantly reduced the requirement for oxygen therapy (odds ratio 0.45, 95% confidence interval 0.31-0.66), admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) (0.37, 0.23-0.60), requirement for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) (0.40, 0.25-0.64), and mortality (0.22, 0.10-0.50). Stratification by CALL score at admission showed that the benefit of preemptive hospitalization remained significant for patients requiring oxygen therapy (0.51, 0.31-0.83), admission to the ICU (0.48, 0.27-0.86), and IMV (0.51, 0.28-0.92). Mortality risk remained significantly reduced (0.19, 0.07-0.48). CONCLUSION: Preemptive hospitalization reduced the rate of disease progression and may be beneficial for improving COVID-19 patient outcomes

Survey of entomopathogenic nematodes from the families Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae (Nematoda: Rhabditida) in Colima, México

A survey of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) belonging to the families Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae was conducted in three municipalities on the Pacific coast of the State of Colima, Me´xico, to determine their occurrence and recovery frequency and predominant plant species in cultivated and non-cultivated habitats. Nineteen soil samples were collected: seven from non-cultivated habitats and 12 from habitats or areas cultivated mostly with fruit and grain crops and grasses. Of the 19 soil samples, 14 were positive for EPNs; the total prevalence was 73.7%. From the 14 positive soil samples, 12 steinernematid isolates (85.7%) and two heterorhabditid isolates (14.3%) were recovered. Irrespective of the locations, EPNs from the genus Steinernema were recovered from the three municipalities; EPNs from the genera Steinernema and Heterorhabditis were recovered from Armerı´a and Ixtlahuaca´n. Only steinernematid isolates were recovered from non-cultivated habitats. Most of the isolates were recovered from cultivated habitats, and our results suggest that there is a higher prevalence of EPNs in cultivated soils

\u3ci\u3eSTEINERNEMA DIAPREPESI\u3c/i\u3e (NEMATODA: STEINERNEMATIDAE): ITS OCCURRENCE IN WESTERN MEXICO AND SUSCEPTIBILITY OF ENGORDED CATTLE TICKS \u3ci\u3eBOOPHILUS MICROPLUS\u3c/i\u3e (ACARI: IXODIDAE)

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) belong to the families Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae. They infect a wide range of insect hosts and are used to control numerous species of soil borne insect pests (Grewal 2002). We identified EPN genera based on the color of cadavers of the wax moth, Galleria mellonella L., in which Heterorhabditis and Steinernema, produce red and tan colors, respectively, according to Woodring & Kaya (1988). We obtained an isolate of an EPN from sandy loam soil with the Galleria technique (Bedding & Akhurst, 1975) from grasslands in the Campus Tecomán of the Universidad de Colima, and we designated it as JMO94. In 2008, the morphometry and molecular characterization of JMO94 was conducted at the University of Florida Gainesville, Department of Entomology and Nematology under the supervision of Dr. K. B. Nguyen, and our JMO94 isolate was identified as Steinernema diaprepesi by morphological, morphometrical, and molecular results. Our strain is now labeled as S. diaprepesi Colimense strain, and represents a new record of occurrence of S. diaprepesi outside of the United States. DNA extraction, PCR amplification, sequencing, multiple alignments and other processes were conducted by methodology reported by Nguyen et al. (2001, 2004, 2006). PCR amplification was conducted by methodology reported by Nguyen et al. (2004) with the following exceptions: for ITS regions, the 2 internal primers for ITS regions suggested by Nguyen et al. (2001): KN58 = 5’-GTATGTTTGGTTGAAGGTC- 3’ and KNRV = 5’-CACGCTCATACAACTGCTC- 3’, were used; and for region D2/D3 regions, the primers D2F, 5’-CCTTAGTAACGGCGAGTGAAA- 3’ (forward) and 536, 5’-CAGCTATCCTGAGGAAAC- 3’ (reverse), were used as external primers to amplify the D2/D3 regions; primers 502, 5’-CAAGTACCGTGAGGGAAAGTTGC- 3’ (forward) and 503, 5’-CCTTGGTCCGTGTTTCAAGACG- 3’ (reverse), were used as internal primers for sequencing. Molecular phylogenetic relationships were obtained by maximum parsimony (MP) with PAUP, 4.0b8 (Swofford 2002). For phylogenetic analysis of the ITS regions, Steinernema intermedium was treated as the outgroup taxon for resolving relationships among the rest of Steinernema species (Nguyen et al. 2001). For D2/D3 regions, Panagrellus redivivus was used as the outgroup taxon (Stock et al. 2001). Branch support was estimated by bootstrap analysis (1000 replicates) based on the same parameters as the original search

Natural Distribution Of Hymenopteran Parasitoids Of \u3ci\u3eSpodoptera Frugiperda\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Larvae In Mexico

Se llevó a cabo un inventario de parasitoides de larvas del gusano cogollero, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (FAW) colectadas principalmente de maizales en estado de verticilio en seis estados mexicanos durante Agosto y Septiembre de 2000. Trece géneros de parasitoides himenópteros fueron recuperados, representando a tres familias, Braconidae: Aleoides, Chelonus, Cotesia, Glyptapanteles, Homolobus, y Meteorus); Ichneumonidae: Campoletis, Eiphosoma, Ophion, y Pristomerus; y Eulophidae: Aprostocetus, Euplectrus, y Horismenus. De un total de 5591 larvas colectadas, 772 produjeron parasitoides, para una tasa de parasitismo de 13.8%. La tasa de parasitismo más alta para una colecta simple fué de 42.2%, representando a tres especies de parasitoides in Michoacán. La especie más ampliamente distribuida fué Chelonus insularis Cresson, presentándose en 45.3% de las localidades inventariadas. Pristomerus spinator (F.), y Meteorus laphygmae (Viereck), mostraron las tasa más altas de parasitismo para una colecta simple con 22.2% y 22.1%, en Sinaloa, y Michoacán, respectivamente. Los resultados apoyan la hipótesis de que la distribución natural y las tasas de parasitismo pueden estar relacionadas a lo diverso de los hábitat con la cercanía de más bosques, huertas y pastizales a los maizales

Virulence of Mexican isolates of entomopathogenic fungi (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) upon \u3ci\u3eRhipicephalus = Boophilus microplus\u3c/i\u3e (Acari: Ixodidae) larvae and the efficacy of conidia formulations to reduce larval tick density under field conditions

The first objective was laboratory evaluation of the virulence of 53 Mexican isolates of fungi against larvae of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. Thirty-three isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae (Metschnickoff) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) and 20 isolates of Isaria (Paecilomyces) fumosorosea (fumosoroseus) (Wize) (Eurotiales: Trichomaceae) were tested on 7-day-old larvae under laboratory conditions. Larvae were immersed in a suspension containing 108 conidia/mL and the CL50 values were estimated. Then, field tests were conducted to determine the efficacy of formulations of the isolate with the highest virulence. M. anisopliae (Ma 14 isolate) was formulated with four carriers: Tween, Celite, wheat bran, and Citroline (mineral oil) and applied on pasture beds of Cynodon plectostachyus (L.), at a dose of 2×109 CFU/m2. In the first trial, M. anisopliae was applied on plots naturally infested with larvae; in the second trial, tick populations in the experimental plots were eliminated and then re-infested with 20,000 7-day-old larvae. In the laboratory, all M. anisopliae isolates infected larvae with a mortality range between 2 and 100%; also, 13 of 20 I. fumosorosea isolates caused mortality rates between 7 and 94%. In the first field trial, 14 days post-application, conidial formulations in Celite and wheat bran caused 67.8 and 94.2% population reduction, respectively. In the second trial, the Tween formulation caused the highest larval reduction, reaching up to 61% (28 days post-application). Wheat bran formulation caused 58.3% larval reduction (21 days post-application) and was one of the most effective. The carriers and emulsifiers have a large impact on the effectiveness of conidial formulations