Epilachna vigintioctopunctata is an important pest that causes considerable economic losses to many crops including egg-plants. The crude aqueous extracts of leaves from three indigenous plants namely Ricinus communis, Calotropis procera and Datura metel were used against this beetle aiming at its control under laboratory conditions. Larvicidal bioassays of the extracts showed the following ord...

The acute toxicity of ammonia on Thulinius ruffoi (Bertolani, 1981), a eutardigrade isolated from a small waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in Poland, was estimated. Our results show that no active individuals survived a 24 h exposure to solutions equal to or higher than 125 mg/L of total ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N + NH4 (+)-N), which, under the conditions in our experiment, was equivalent to 1.1...

BACKGROUND Protecting the environment from chemical hazards of synthetic insecticides along with offering of new breeding areas for vectors by urbanization indicate the trial of natural insecticides. METHODS The acetone extracts of Anethum graveolens, Ocimum basilicum and Thymus vulgaris were tested for their insecticidal effect on Culex pipiens adults and larvae in different concentrations d...

The aim of this study was to select different genotypes of Lippia sidoides with the highest activity against larvae and engorged females of the tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. The germplasms studied were LSID006, LSID102, LSID103 and LSID104. The LSID104 genotype, that presented carvacrol as a major constituent, was the germplasm with the worst larvicide effect (LC50 2.99 mg/mL). The ...

A standard reference material (SRM 1049) has been developed for the University of Pittsburgh smoke toxicity method. SRM 1049 is a nylon 6/6 and has the molecular structure of [-NH(CH2)6NHCO(CH2)4CO-] n . This SRM is for calibrating the apparatus and providing confidence that the method is being conducted in a correct manner and that the equipment is functioning properly. The certified figure of...

The crude methanolic extract of Averrhoa bilimbi Linn. (Oxalidiaceae) fruits and its different fractions have been investigated for the evaluation of in vitro cytotoxic potential. The dried and powder fruits were extracted with methanol at room temperature and the concentrated methanolic extract was fractionated by the modified Kupchan partitioning method to provide pet-ether, carbon tetrachlor...

Using twenty chemicals commercially available or provided by NCI, we demonstrated the feasibility of using zebrafish embryos to study toxicity response by assessing Median Lethal Concentration (LC50), developmental teratogenicity, and specific liver and kidney toxicity. For the twenty compounds used to study LC50 and liver and kidney toxicity in zebrafish embryos, we found good correlation with...

This study investigated the developmental toxicity of a plant growth regulator (a type of pesticide) using the frog embryo teratogenesis assay-Xenopus (FETAX). Xenopus laevis embryos were exposed to 11 different concentrations of gibberellic acid (GA3), from stage 8 to 11, for 96 h under static renewal test conditions. The median lethal concentration (LC50), malformation (EC50), non-observed ad...