BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence for the role of basophils in the pathogenesis of atopic diseases such as bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis and atopic rhinitis. Recently, it has been reported that basophils derived from healthy donors produce the immunoregulatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 after cross-linking of cell surface IgE. In addition to well-known inflammatory media...

The ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, has become the largest threat to apiculture and honey bee health world-wide. Since it was introduced to the new host species, the European honey bee (Apis mellifera), it has been responsible for the near complete eradication of wild and feral honey bee populations in Europe and North America. Currently, the apicultural industry depends heavily on chemi...

BACKGROUND Mite-allergic patients with allergic disease should benefit from avoiding mite allergens. Many physicians, however, are yet to be convinced that allergen avoidance can make a significant contribution to asthma management in these patients. Many allergen-avoidance regimes include multiple measures of allergen reduction, but as mite exposure in the home is most likely to be greatest in...

Duration of developmental stages in animals evolves under contrasting selection pressures of age-specific mortality and growth requirements. When relative importance of these effects varies across environments, evolution of developmental periods is expected to be slow. In birds, maternal effects on egg-laying order and offspring growth, two proximate determinants of nestling period, should enab...

According to classic niche theory, species can coexist in heterogeneous environments by reducing interspecific competition via niche partitioning, e.g. trophic or spatial partitioning. However, support for the role of competition on niche partitioning remains controversial. Here, we tested for spatial and trophic partitioning in feather mites, a diverse and abundant group of arthropods. We focu...

Mite infestations are widely recognized as reducing the growth of affected warm-season turfgrasses. This observation is, however, a qualitative assessment, albeit based on extensive field observations over past >60 yr, and level reduced has never previously been quantified. In three replicated pot experiments, dry matter production hybrid bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. × Cynodon tran...

Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus is the European dust mite and a major source of human allergens. Here, we present the first draft genome sequence of the mite, as well as the ab initio gene prediction and functional analyses that will facilitate comparative genomic analyses with other mite species.

The wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella Keifer, is an eriophyid pest of wheat, although its primary economic impact on wheat is due to the transmission of Wheat streak mosaic (WSMV), Wheat mosaic (also known as High Plains virus), and Triticum mosaic (TriMV) viruses. These viruses cause significant annual losses in winter wheat production throughout the western Great Plains. Temperature and humi...

We describe a new class of translinear circuits that accurately embody product-of-power-law relationships in the current signal domain. We call such circuits multiple-input translinear element (MITE) networks. A MITE is a circuit element, which we defined recently, that produces an output current that is exponential in a weighted sum of its input voltages. We describe intuitively the basic oper...