Regular dorsal dimples and damaged mites of Varroa destructor in some Iranian honey bees (Apis mellifera)

The frequency of damaged Varroadestructor Anderson and Trueman (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) found on the bottom board of hives of the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) has been used as an indicator of the degree of tolerance or resistance of honey bee colonies against mites. However, it is not clear that this measure is adequate. These injuries should be separated from regular dorsal dimples that have a developmental origin. To investigate damage to Varroa mites and regular dorsal dimples, 32 honey bee (A. mellifera) colonies were selected from four Iranian provinces: Isfahan, Markazi, Qazvin, and Tehran. These colonies were part of the National Honey bee Breeding Program that resulted in province-specific races. In April, Varroa mites were collected from heavily infested colonies and used to infest the 32 experimental colonies. In August, 20 of these colonies were selected (five colonies from each province). Adult bees from these colonies were placed in cages and after introducing mites, damaged mites were collected from each cage every day. The average percentage of injured mites ranged from 0.6 to 3.0% in four provinces. The results did not show any statistical differences between the colonies within provinces for injuries to mites, but there were some differences among province-specific lines. Two kinds of injuries to the mites were observed: injuries to legs and pedipalps, and injuries to other parts of the body. There were also some regular dorsal dimples on dorsal idiosoma of the mites that were placed in categories separate from mites damaged by bees. This type of classification helps identifying damage to mites and comparing them with developmental origin symptoms, and may provide criteria for selecting bees tolerant or resistant to this mite

<em>TESS</em> Cycle 2 observations of roAp stars with 2-min cadence data

\ua9 The Author(s) 2023.We present the results of a systematic search of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) 2-min cadence data for new rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars observed during the Cycle 2 phase of its mission. We find seven new roAp stars previously unreported as such and present the analysis of a further 25 roAp stars that are already known. Three of the new stars show multiperiodic pulsations, while all new members are rotationally variable stars, leading to almost 70 per cent (22) of the roAp stars presented being α2 CVn-type variable stars. We show that targeted observations of known chemically peculiar stars are likely to overlook many new roAp stars, and demonstrate that multiepoch observations are necessary to see pulsational behaviour changes. We find a lack of roAp stars close to the blue edge of the theoretical roAp instability strip, and reaffirm that mode instability is observed more frequently with precise, space-based observations. In addition to the Cycle 2 observations, we analyse TESS data for all-known roAp stars. This amounts to 18 further roAp stars observed by TESS. Finally, we list six known roAp stars that TESS is yet to observe. We deduce that the incidence of roAp stars amongst the Ap star population is just 5.5 per cent, raising fundamental questions about the conditions required to excite pulsations in Ap stars. This work, coupled with our previous work on roAp stars in Cycle 1 observations, presents the most comprehensive, homogeneous study of the roAp stars in the TESS nominal mission, with a collection of 112 confirmed roAp stars in total

Identification by Virtual Screening and In Vitro Testing of Human DOPA Decarboxylase Inhibitors

Dopa decarboxylase (DDC), a pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP) enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of dopamine and serotonin, is involved in Parkinson's disease (PD). PD is a neurodegenerative disease mainly due to a progressive loss of dopamine-producing cells in the midbrain. Co-administration of L-Dopa with peripheral DDC inhibitors (carbidopa or benserazide) is the most effective symptomatic treatment for PD. Although carbidopa and trihydroxybenzylhydrazine (the in vivo hydrolysis product of benserazide) are both powerful irreversible DDC inhibitors, they are not selective because they irreversibly bind to free PLP and PLP-enzymes, thus inducing diverse side effects. Therefore, the main goals of this study were (a) to use virtual screening to identify potential human DDC inhibitors and (b) to evaluate the reliability of our virtual-screening (VS) protocol by experimentally testing the “in vitro” activity of selected molecules. Starting from the crystal structure of the DDC-carbidopa complex, a new VS protocol, integrating pharmacophore searches and molecular docking, was developed. Analysis of 15 selected compounds, obtained by filtering the public ZINC database, yielded two molecules that bind to the active site of human DDC and behave as competitive inhibitors with Ki values ≥10 µM. By performing in silico similarity search on the latter compounds followed by a substructure search using the core of the most active compound we identified several competitive inhibitors of human DDC with Ki values in the low micromolar range, unable to bind free PLP, and predicted to not cross the blood-brain barrier. The most potent inhibitor with a Ki value of 500 nM represents a new lead compound, targeting human DDC, that may be the basis for lead optimization in the development of new DDC inhibitors. To our knowledge, a similar approach has not been reported yet in the field of DDC inhibitors discovery

In the Laboratory and during Free-Flight: Old Honey Bees Reveal Learning and Extinction Deficits that Mirror Mammalian Functional Decline

Loss of brain function is one of the most negative and feared aspects of aging. Studies of invertebrates have taught us much about the physiology of aging and how this progression may be slowed. Yet, how aging affects complex brain functions, e.g., the ability to acquire new memory when previous experience is no longer valid, is an almost exclusive question of studies in humans and mammalian models. In these systems, age related cognitive disorders are assessed through composite paradigms that test different performance tasks in the same individual. Such studies could demonstrate that afflicted individuals show the loss of several and often-diverse memory faculties, and that performance usually varies more between aged individuals, as compared to conspecifics from younger groups. No comparable composite surveying approaches are established yet for invertebrate models in aging research. Here we test whether an insect can share patterns of decline similar to those that are commonly observed during mammalian brain aging. Using honey bees, we combine restrained learning with free-flight assays. We demonstrate that reduced olfactory learning performance correlates with a reduced ability to extinguish the spatial memory of an abandoned nest location (spatial memory extinction). Adding to this, we show that learning performance is more variable in old honey bees. Taken together, our findings point to generic features of brain aging and provide the prerequisites to model individual aspects of learning dysfunction with insect models

Evaluation of Carcass Quality for Coliforms, Salmonella and Psychrophiles on Evisceration and Chiller lines in Yazd Province Industrial Poultry Slaughterhouses

Introduction: Even if a small number of poultry carcasses contaminate with pathogenic food bacteria, the chance of spreading the infection in the chillers of poultry slaughterhouse, resulting in contamination of other carcasses also have been observed. In this study, Coliform bacteria, Salmonella and the Psychrophiles in the two different poultry slaughterhouse of Yazd province have been investigated. Methods: Sampling from each line (slaughter and chiller) in two stages (before and after removal from the line) three times (the beginning, middle and the end of the slaughtering) was carried out. Five Chicken carcasses were randomly selected, numbered and sampled both before entering the line and after exiting the line while rinsed using peptone Water. A total of 120 samples were sent to the laboratory for culturing and microbial counting. Results: Significant differences were detected between chiller and slaughter line. The population of coliforms in the slaughter line was significantly more than the chillers (p<0.01). In the case of salmonella the only difference was in the amount of bacteria between two slaughterhouse being significantly lower in slaughter house two (P <0.05). Conclusion: The results showed no significant differences among different treatments in respect to psychrophile bacteria. In general, it can be said that secondary contamination in the slaughter line along with gradual increase in temperature of the chiller can increase bacterial load of both coliforms and salmonella but it will not affect the amount of psychrophile bacteria. Due to some differences between the studied slaughterhouses, microbial load of coliform and salmonella can be acheived by improving the management and installation of appropriate aquipments in the evisceration line

Factors influencing health self-management in adherence to care and treatment among the recipients of liver transplantation

Malihe Sadat Moayed,1 Abbas Ebadi,2 Masoud Khodaveisi,3 Mohssen Nassiri Toosi,4 Ali Reza Soltanian,5 Mahnaz Khatiban6 1Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran; 2Nursing Education, Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Life Style Institute, Faculty of Nursing, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Chronic Diseases (Home Care) Research Center, Community Health Nursing Department, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran; 4Internal Medicine, Hepatologist, Liver Transplantation Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 5Modeling of Noncommunicable Diseases Research Center, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran; 6Mother and Child Care Research Center, Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran Introduction: Liver transplantation is the global treatment of end-stage liver diseases. Since the patients&rsquo; survival rate has been improved, the patient may experience reductions in physical, cognitive, and psychosocial functions after liver transplantation influencing their adherence to care and treatment. The transplant survival is complex and patients&rsquo; adherence to care and treatment should be considered when health care providers make decisions regarding treatment. This qualitative study aimed to explore factors influencing health self-management in adherence to care and treatment among the recipients of care and treatment.Methods: In this study, 23 interview sessions were carried out with a total 18 patients, 2 family members and 3 transplantation team members from May to November 2017. The patients were selected using the purposive method from both genders, with a various age range and initial diseases leading to liver transplantation, and time passed from liver transplantation. A semi-structured interview guide was developed based on literature review and pilot interviews. The participants were asked to describe their experiences of self-management behaviors in adherence to treatment and care. The data were analyzed using a conventional content analysis method and managing via the MAXQDA-10 software.Results: Two themes were developed during data analysis as &ldquo;self-regulation&rdquo; and &ldquo;self-care&rdquo;. &ldquo;Self-regulation&rdquo; consisted of &ldquo;intentionally changing&rdquo;, &ldquo;positively thinking&rdquo;, &ldquo;information seeking&rdquo;, &ldquo;problem-solving&rdquo;, &ldquo;past knowledge transferring&rdquo;, and &ldquo;self-controlling&rdquo;. &ldquo;Self-care&rdquo; had three sub-themes &ldquo;shift to independence&rdquo;, &ldquo;vigilance&rdquo;, and &ldquo;self-care support&rdquo;.Conclusion: The participants perceived the health self-management in adherence to care as a set of factors related to &ldquo;self-regulation&rdquo; and &ldquo;self-care&rdquo; behaviors. &ldquo;Self-regulation&rdquo; is required to create a balance in life. Also, &ldquo;self-care&rdquo; efforts can help with maintaining and improving patients&rsquo; health. Keywords: liver transplantation, qualitative research, self-management, self-care, self-regulation, adherence, recipient, compliance, treatmen