Red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae; De Geer, 1778) is currently one of the most detrimental ectoparasites in laying birds across several countries. Symptoms of D. gallinae infestation include reduction in production, poor egg quality, increased mortality and also a compromise to welfare. Feeding on its host for only short periods of time, the red mite spends the vast proportion of its short life-cy...

BACKGROUND The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of environmental allergen exposure on allergic sensitization in infancy and early childhood. METHODS A cohort of 1314 newborns was recruited and followed up prospectively at the ages 12, 24, and 36 months. The levels of major mite (Der p 1 and Der f 1) and cat (Fel d 1) allergens were determined from domestic carpet dust sam...

This paper describes a current multi-disciplinary UK funded research project aimed at developing a hygrothermal model of house dust mite response to environmental conditions. The project involves the development of a transient hygrothermal bed model, which has been tested and validated by comparing its predictions with the environmental conditions measured in a bed in a test laboratory and in b...

Human rhinovirus is a key viral trigger for asthma exacerbations. To date, murine studies investigating rhinovirus-induced exacerbation of allergic airways disease have employed systemic sensitisation/intranasal challenge with ovalbumin. In this study, we combined human-rhinovirus infection with a clinically relevant mouse model of aero-allergen exposure using house-dust-mite in an attempt to m...

House dust mites have been shown to be important sources of indoor allergens associated with asthma and other allergic conditions. Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that affects millions of people worldwide, and numerous scientific studies have shown that the prevalence of asthma is increasing. The most common dust mite species around the world include Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp),...

In a study replicated across two states and two years, we tested the sublethal effects on honey bees of the miticides Apistan (tau fluvalinate) and Check Mite+ (coumaphos) and the wood preservative copper naphthenate applied at label rates in field conditions. A continuous covariate, a colony Varroa mite index, helped us disambiguate the effects of the chemicals on bees while adjusting for a pr...

Background House dust mite allergy is a frequent cause of asthma in children. Children with house dust mite allergy and asthma are especially sensitive to physical and chemical agents in the indoor air and as children spend a lot of time indoors, it seems reasonable to believe that improving the indoor environment will lead to an improvement in asthma disease. At present, there is no clear cons...

Oral mite anaphylaxis is a new syndrome characterized by severe allergic manifestations occurring in atopic patients shortly after the intake of foods made with mite-contaminated wheat flour. This clinical entity, observed more frequently in tropical/subtropical environments, is more often triggered by pancakes and for that reason it has been designated "pancake syndrome". Because cooked foods ...

Drought represents a major constraint on maize production worldwide. Understanding the genetic basis for natural variation in drought tolerance of maize may facilitate efforts to improve this trait in cultivated germplasm. Here, using a genome-wide association study, we show that a miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) inserted in the promoter of a NAC gene (ZmNAC111) is signifi...

Water mite (Krendowskia sp.) predation on zooplanktonic species from Lake Monte Alegre (São Paulo State, Brazil) was tested in laboratory experiments. One cladoceran, Daphnia gessneri, two copepods, Tropocyclops prasinus and Thermocyclops decipiens, and Chaoborus larvae III and IV were supplied as prey to adult mites. The cladoceran Ceriodaphnia cornuta was used in the experiment with mite nymp...