Recovery planning is a key component of many threatened species conservation initiatives and can be a powerful awareness raising tool. One of the largest impediments to conservation efforts in the Pacific region however, is the lack of ecological data and its subsequent effects on the development of feasible and useful recovery plans for threatened species. Without these plans, the understaffed...

Four palm species, previously unknown hosts for Rhynchophorus palmarum L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), were killed by this invasive weevil in Balboa Park, San Diego County, California, USA. The 4 new species recorded as reproductive R. the first time are Brahea edulis, Jubaea chilensis, Phoenix reclinata, and Sabal bermudana (all Arecaceae). canariensis Chabaud (Arecaceae) is most highly attack...

Date palm (Phoenix dactyliferaL.) is the mainstay of oasis agriculture in the Saharan region. It is cultivated in a large part of the Mediterranean coastal area of the Sahara and in most isolated oases in the Algerian desert. We sampled 10 oases in Algeria to understand the structure of date palm diversity from the coastal area to a very isolated desert location. We used 18 microsatellite marke...

We investigated an outbreak of encephalitis in Tangail District, Bangladesh. We defined case-patients as persons from the outbreak area in whom fever developed with new onset of seizures or altered mental status from December 15, 2004, through January 31, 2005. Twelve persons met the definition; 11 (92%) died. Serum specimens were available from 3; 2 had immunoglobulin M antibodies against Nipa...

BACKGROUND Kiwi allergy is frequent and can be the result of sensitization to a number of allergens showing different physicochemical characteristics. Component-resolved diagnosis of kiwi allergy is still unavailable in routine clinical practice. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether component resolved-diagnosis of kiwi allergy can be, at least in part, carried out by a proper combination of routi...

A trophic network involving molds, invertebrates, and vertebrates, ancestrally adapted to the palm tree (Attalaea phalerata) microhabitat, maintains enzootic Trypanosoma cruzi infections in the Amazonian county Paço do Lumiar, state of Maranhão, Brazil. We assessed seropositivity for T. cruzi infections in the human population of the county, searched in palm trees for the triatomines that harbo...

Two novel ingredients were incorporated into spreadable liver pâtés to study their effect on physicochemical and sensory characteristics and their possible use in the meat industry. Fresh date (Phoenix dactylifera, cv. Confitera) co-products, as a paste (0, 2.5 and 7.5%), and annatto (Bixa orellana) extract (0 and 128 mg/kg), as a colourant, and their combinations were incorporated into liver p...

The cell walls of leaf base tissues of the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) contain lignins with the most complex compositions described to date. The lignin composition varies by tissue region and is derived from traditional monolignols (ML) along with an unprecedented range of ML conjugates: ML-acetate, ML-benzoate, ML-p-hydroxybenzoate, ML-vanillate, ML-p-coumarate, and ML-ferula...

BACKGROUND The invasive red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier), has become the major pest of palms in the Mediterranean Basin. Chemical control against this species is difficult because of its cryptic habits and is mainly based on the repeated application of large quantities of synthetic insecticides. The aim of this work has been to evaluate in the field the efficacy of imidaclop...

Delgadobius amazonensis Chani-Posse & Couturier, gen. et sp. nov., a new genus and species of the subtribe Philonthina (tribe Staphylinini) from Amazonia, is described and illustrated. The potential phylogenetic relationships of Delgadobius with other Neotropical genera of Philonthina are discussed. Distributional and bionomic data are also provided. Delgadobius amazonensis is reported in assoc...