The world of scientific discovery often remains far-fetched to ordinary people. Although the significance of engaging the public and making the science accessible has been increasingly recognised, few efforts have been made to investigate the popular stereotype of ‘crazy’ scientists, ambitious and sometimes nerdy. Whilst the media tend to focus on very few glamorous scientist celebrities, the m...

To study the putative transfer of antibiotic resistance from broiler breeders to human, hen’s eggs and theirday-old chicks were examined for the presence of bacteria. The most frequently isolated organisms indecreasing order were: Streptococcus spp., Bacillus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterobacterspp. and Escherichia coli followed by Citrobacter spp., Proteus spp. and Pseudomo...

This study was conducted  to evaluate the antifungal effects of garlic (Allium sativum) and wormwood (Artemisia sieberia) 80-85% purity ethanolic extracts on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) eggs incubation and larvae survival rate. The experimental group divided to three different doses of garlic (50,100,200 ppm), wormwood (25, 50, 100 ppm), green malachite (2 ppm) as positive control group...

The possibility that the surface of the egg of the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata contains a species-specific receptor for sperm has been investigated. The extent of fertilization of eggs of A. punctulata, which is proportional to the number of sperm, is unaffected by the presence of either eggs or membranes prepared from eggs of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. In marked contrast, membranes prepa...

A total of 2160 images of candled, incubated ostrich eggs were digitized to determine the percentage of egg volume occupied by the air cell at different stages of incubation. The air cell on average occupied 2.5% of the volume of fresh eggs. For eggs that hatched successfully, this volume increased to an average of 24.4% at 41 days of incubation, just prior to hatching. Air cell volume at 29 da...

The chaetognaths, or arrowworms, constitute a small and enigmatic phylum of marine invertebrates whose phylogenetic affinities have long been uncertain. A popular hypothesis is that the chaetognaths are the sister group of the major deuterostome phyla: chordates, hemichordates, and echinoderms. Here we attempt to determine the affinities of the chaetognaths by using molecular sequence data. We ...

This study describes the parasitic fauna of Oxydoras niger from the Coari Lake, tributary of the medium Solimões River, State of Amazonas, Brazil, and the relationship between the number of Monogenoidea and the condition factor. From a total of 27 examined fish, 70.3% were parasitised by at least one parasite species as follows: Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Protozoa), Chilodonella sp. (Protozo...

Most individuals in an infection of the acanthocephalan parasite Polymorphus minutus (Goeze, 1782) in domestic ducks are found in a region extending from 65% to 75% of the distance along the host's intestine (Crompton & Harrison, 1965). The exact location and mode of attachment of the parasites in this habitat has been described by Crompton, Shrimpton & Silver (1965). Acanthocephalans, like ces...

New records for helminth species recovered from elasmobranch fishes in Brazil are established. Digenean and acanthocephalan parasites of elasmobranch fishes are reported from the southern coast of Brazil: Otodistomum veliporum (Creplin, 1837) Stafford, 1904 (Digenea: Azygiidae) in the stomach and spiral valve of Dipturus trachydermus and in the spiral valve of Squatina sp. Cystacanths and juven...

One aspect of the continuation of our earlier work on the environment of the acanthocephalan parasite Polymorphus minutus in the intestine of domestic ducks (Crompton & Nesheim, 1970) made it necessary to devise a surgical method for preventing bile from entering the duck's intestine. In outline, the method was to ligate the bile ducts and to cannulate the gall-bladder so that all the bile synt...