Feces is an abundant, rich source of energy, utilized by a myriad of organisms, not least by members of the order Diptera, i.e., flies. How Drosophila melanogaster reacts to fecal matter remains unclear. Here, we examined oviposition behavior toward a range of fecal samples from mammals native to the putative Southeast African homeland of the fly. We show that D. melanogaster display a strong o...

There is a need for field-applicable markers to assess morbidity associated with intestinal schistosomiasis, especially in the context of preventive chemotherapy in young children. We investigated whether fecal occult blood (FOB) point-of-care tests could be used to assess intestinal pathology over a 12-month period in a cohort of 382 children (< 5 years of age). We found a strong association b...

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of bitter vetch. Experiment 1 was conducted to determine the metabolisable energy content of bitter vetch. Sixteen adult Leghorn roosters were used. Forty grams of bitter vetch were precision-fed individually to 12 roosters. In addition, 4 birds were not fed and served as a control treatment in the measurement of metabolic fecal...

Goat production is increasing in the United States due to high ethnic demand, but infection with gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) parasites is a major constraint to the industry. Increasing GIN resistance to chemical anthelmintics worldwide has led to the development of alternative control strategies, including use of forages containing condensed tannins (CT). An experiment was designed using in...

1. The dynamics of parasitic organisms depend critically upon the frequency distribution of parasite individuals per host. However, the processes giving rise to this frequency distribution have rarely been modelled and tested for organisms with complex host selection behaviour. 2. In this study Microrhopala vittata, a chrysomelid beetle, was used to investigate how oviposition behaviour, moveme...

BACKGROUND This study demonstrates the changes in six different pathophysiological parameters such as body weight, body temperature, fecal pellet count, blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, plasma corticosterone level and emergence of hemorrhagic peptic ulcer spots due to exposure to high environmental heat in three different age groups of freely moving rats. METHODS Each age group of rats...

The infectivity of Schistosoma bovis cercariae administered orally was evaluated in Sahelian goats. Compared to the percutaneous route, a single massive oral dose resulted in a worm burden and in fecal egg excretion reduced by one-half. Surprisingly, tissue egg counts were increased by more than 4-fold. Fecundity of individual female schistosomes was, therefore, markedly increased. When infecti...

Several faecal examination techniques have shown variable sensitivity in demonstrating Spirocerca lupi (S. lupi) eggs. The objective of this study was to determine which faecal examination technique, including a novel modified centrifugal flotation technique, was most sensitive to diagnose spirocercosis. Ten coproscopic examinations were performed on faeces collected from 33 dogs confirmed endo...

Despite widespread use of fecal pellet-group counts as an index of ungulate density, techniques used to convert pellet-group numbers to ungulate numbers rarely are based on counts of known individuals, seldom evaluated across spatial and temporal scales, and precision is infrequently quantified. Using DNA from fecal pellets to identify individual deer, we evaluated the relationship between pell...

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of using different levels of Red Pepper powder (RP) and Marigold flower powder (MF) on egg production, egg yolk color andsome blood metabolites in laying hens. Ninety, 103-weeks old laying hens were divided into 5 treatments groups of 6 birds in each cage with 3 replicates in a completely randomized design. The birds were fed a corn-soybean...