The review is devoted to the gut lectins/hemagglutinins of the following representatives of important disease vectors: ticks, kissing-bugs, mosquitoes, sandflies and tsetse flies. The paper surveys the recent knowledge on these carbohydrate binding factors with respect to their structural and functional properties, and their significance for pathogen/parasite transmission by the blood-sucking a...

INTRODUCTION This cross-sectional retrospective study was designed to assess the relationships among breastfeeding duration, nonnutritive sucking habits, convex facial profile, nonspaced dentition, and distoclusion in the deciduous dentition. MATERIALS AND METHODS A sample of 415 children (228 males, 187 females) aged 4 to 6 years from a mixed Indian population was clinically examined by two ...

The effect of enrichment and breed line on belly nosing in early-weaned pigs was investigated over two studies. In a preliminary study, 291 piglets were weaned at 7 days-of-age and observed over two consecutive days (pigs ranged from 17 to 30 days-of-age at time of observation). Piglets were fed a liquid milk replacer diet for either 7 or 14 days following weaning. Pen environment was enriched ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to characterize pica behavior in cats. METHODS Cat owners were recruited to participate in a questionnaire survey on pica behavior exhibited by their cats. Emphasis was put on the type of item ingested. Questions on early history and environment, as well as general health and gastrointestinal signs, were asked. Owners of healthy cats not showing pica were ...

The expanding genus Bartonella includes zoonotic and human-specific pathogens that can cause a wide range of clinical manifestations. A productive infection allowing bacterial transmission by blood-sucking arthropods is marked by an intraerythrocytic bacteremia that occurs exclusively in specific human or animal reservoir hosts. Incidental human infection by animaladapted bartonellae can cause ...

The saliva of blood sucking insects contains potent pharmacologically active components that assist them in counteracting the host hemostatic and inflammatory systems during blood feeding. In addition, sand fly salivary proteins affect host immunity and have the potential to be a vaccine against Leishmania infection. In the present study, the salivary gland transcripts of Lutzomyia ayacuchensis...

The expanding genus Bartonella includes zoonotic and human-specific pathogens that can cause a wide range of clinical manifestations. A productive infection allowing bacterial transmission by blood-sucking arthropods is marked by an intraerythrocytic bacteremia that occurs exclusively in specific human or animal reservoir hosts. Incidental human infection by animal-adapted bartonellae can cause...

Hematophagous leeches express a broad variety of secretory factors in their salivary glands; among them are hirudins, inhibitors blood coagulation, and decorsins/ornatins, platelet aggregation. Here, we describe the identification molecular functional characterization putative hirudins decorsins/ornatins two leech species American origin, Limnobdella mexicana Haementeria vizottoi. The represent...

BACKGROUND The development of oral motor control depends partially on motor and sensory experiences. AIM To analyze the relationship between the duration of breastfeeding, artificial feeding and sucking habits, and of these parameters with the orofacial motor performance. METHOD Participants of this study were one hundred and seventy-six children aged 6 to 12 years. All subjects were submit...