BACKGROUND The objectives of our research were to search for Leishmania species in rodents in Fars province, south of Iran, and to compare molecular with conventional methods for detecting these parasites. METHODS Rodents were captured using live traps and screened for Leishmania species using molecular and conventional methods, including the taking of smears from each ear. Nested PCR was emp...

BACKGROUND Majority of parasitic infections in rodents have zoonotic importance. This study aimed to determine the frequency and intensity of intestinal protozoa infections of rodents including Meriones persicus, Mus musculus and, Cricetulus migratorius. METHODS This survey was conducted in Meshkin Shahr district in northwestern Iran from Mar. to Dec. of 2014. Intestinal samples of 204 rodent...

BACKGROUND A molecular survey was conducted to investigate the presence of pathogenic Borrelia persica species causing the tick borne relapsing fever (TBRF) in Takistan district Qazvin Province, western Iran. METHODS A number of 1021 soft ticks were collected from 31 villages including previously reported infected and none-infected TBRF cases and individually examined for the presence of B. p...

Scorpion stings and snake bites are major health hazards that lead to suffering of victims and high mortality. Thousands of injuries associated with such stings and bites of venomous animals occur every year worldwide. In North Africa, more than 100,000 scorpion stings and snake bites are reported annually. An appropriate determination of the 50% lethal doses (LD₅₀) of scorpion and snake venoms...

The effects of water temperature and ammonia concentration on swimming capacity of brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis, Mitchill, 1814) were determined by measuring gait transition speed (U(gt), cms(-1)), maximum burst speed (U(max), cms(-1)), tail-beat amplitude (a, cm), tail-beat frequency (f, Hz), maximum acceleration of bursts (A(max), cms(-2)), number of bursts, distance of bursts (cm) and ...

Diel activity patterns are often fixed within species such that most animals can be classified as diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal, and have sensory abilities that reflect when they are active. However, many snake species appear capable of switching between diurnal and nocturnal activity. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that some species are constrained in their activity by the sensory cues ...