BACKGROUND Early transition from breastfeeding and non-nutritive sucking habits may be related to occlusofacial abnormalities as environmental factors. Previous studies have not taken into account the potential for interactions between feeding practice, non-nutritive sucking habits and occlusal traits. This study assessed the effects of breast-feeding duration, bottle-feeding duration and non-n...

Vertebrate blood is essential for the growth and the reproduction of haematophagous insects. Provided that hosts play the double role of food sources and predators, feeding on their blood exposes these insects to a high predation risk. Therefore, it is expected that host seeking occurs only when insects need to feed. In the present study, we analyse how the feeding status affects the response t...

BACKGROUND It is known that some blood-sucking insects have the ability to reach vessels under the host skin with their mouthparts to feed blood from inside them. However, the process by which they locate these vessels remains largely unknown. Less than 5% of the skin is occupied by blood vessels and thus, it is not likely that insects rely on a "random search strategy", since it would increase...

ophionyssus natricis is a purely blood sucking parasite of snakes and of worldwide distribution. infected snakes often exhibit lethargy, pruritus, crusting dermatitis,and behavioral changes. ophionyssus natricis can also attack humans, causing popular vesiculo-bullous eruption of the skin. a 29 years old man working in zoo,sari, mazandaran, iran, presented itchy papullar eruption of the skin. h...

In addition to providing nutrition and immunological protection, breast-feeding has positive effects on the development of the infant's oral cavity. The aim of the present study is to assess breast-feeding patterns and to analyze the influence of breast-feeding practices and maternal sociodemographic variables on the prevalence of non-nutritive sucking habits in a sample of Brazilian infants. T...

After a milk meal, bucket-fed calves show non-nutritive oral activities, including cross-sucking, and this can discourage producers from rearing them in groups. Sucking is known to induce a quiet state in humans and rats. We examined if nutritive sucking affects non-nutritive oral activities in calves, if it reduces arousal (assessed through behavior and cardiac activity), and if sucking a dry ...

OBJECTIVES Sucking problems in preterm infants can be specified by means of visual observation. The Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment Scale (NOMAS) is the visual observation method most commonly used to assess the non-nutritive sucking (NNS) and nutritive sucking (NS) skills of infants up to approximately 8 weeks postterm. During the first 2 min of a regular feeding the infant's sucking skill is a...

Avian trypanosomes are widespread parasites of birds, the transmission of which remains mostly unclear, with various blood-sucking insects mentioned as possible vectors. A search for vectors of trypanosomes of sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), buzzard (Buteo buteo), lesser-spotted eagle (Aquila pomarina) and kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) was performed in Czech and Slovak Republics. Black flies (Eusi...