Influence of three diets on development and oviposition of the predatory mite, Amblyseius herbicolus (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under laboratory conditions

The predatory phytoseiid mite, Amblyseius herbicolus Chant has been collected from mulberry trees infested with two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch and mulberry thrips, Pseudodendrothrips mori (Niwa) in Guilan province. Development and oviposition of this predatory mite was studied on two-spotted spider mite, mulberry thrips and date palm pollen as an alternative food in laboratory using the citrus excised leaf method in Petri dishes at 26 ± 1°C, 14L: 10D photoperiod and 70-80% RH. The results indicated that, mean duration of immature stages (day) of female predatory mite was the lowest on P. mori (4.86 ï± 0.19) and T. urticae (5.26 ï± 0.15) and the highest on date palm pollen (7.46 ï± 0.21). Fecundity (eggs/female) was the highest on P. mori (48.2 ï± 1.85) then on T. urticae (36.2 ï± 1.9) and the lowest on date palm pollen (19.13 ï± 1.72). Oviposition period (day) was the highest on P. mori (20.86 ï± 051) and T. urticae (20.33 ï± 1.19) and the lowest on date palm pollen (16.06 ï± .97). Lowest post-oviposition period (day) was on T. urticae (3.13 ï± 0.19) followed by date palm pollen (4.37 ï± 0.28) and then on P. mori (5.6 ï± 0.27). The mean generation time (day) of predatory mite was the longest on palm pollen (9.86 ï± 0.21), followed by mulberry thrips (7.13 ï± 0.21) and then two-spotted spider mite (6.86 ï± 0.16). Based on these results, A. herbicolus is a general predator. The date palm pollen may variously be used as an alternative food in absence of main food

Consensus-based guidelines for Video EEG monitoring in the pre-surgical evaluation of children with epilepsy in the UK

PURPOSE: Paediatric Epilepsy surgery in the UK has recently been centralised in order to improve expertise and quality of service available to children. Video EEG monitoring or telemetry is a highly specialised and a crucial component of the pre-surgical evaluation. Although many Epilepsy Monitoring Units work to certain standards, there is no national or international guideline for paediatric video telemetry. METHODS: Due to lack of evidence we used a modified Delphi process utilizing the clinical and academic expertise of the clinical neurophysiology sub-specialty group of Children’s Epilepsy Surgical Service (CESS) centres in England and Wales. This process consisted of the following stages I: Identification of the consensus working group, II: Identification of key areas for guidelines, III: Consensus practice points and IV: Final review. Statements that gained consensus (median score of either 4 or 5 using a five-point Likerttype scale) were included in the guideline. RESULTS: Two rounds of feedback and amendments were undertaken. The consensus guidelines includes the following topics: referral pathways, neurophysiological equipment standards, standards of recording techniques, with specific emphasis on safety of video EEG monitoring both with and without drug withdrawal, a protocol for testing patient’s behaviours, data storage and guidelines for writing factual reports and conclusions. All statements developed received a median score of 5 and were adopted by the group. CONCLUSIONS: Using a modified Delphi process we were able to develop universally-accepted video EEG guidelines for the UK CESS. Although these recommendations have been specifically developed for the pre-surgical evaluation of children with epilepsy, it is assumed that most components are transferable to any paediatric video EEG monitoring setting