Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae are the two main microsporidian parasites causing nosematosis in the honey bee Apis mellifera. The aim of the present study is to investigate the presence of Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae in the area of Bulgaria. The 16S (SSU) rDNA gene region was chosen for analysis. A duplex PCR assay was performed on 108 honey bee samples from three different parts of the coun...

Honeybees are threatened by various pathogens and parasites. More than 18 viruses have been described in honeybees and many of them have been detected in China and Argentina. In China, both Apis cerana and Apis mellifera are raised. In Argentina, beekeepers raise different ecotypes of A. mellifera: European honeybees (in both temperate and subtropical regions) and Africanised honeybees (in subt...

Propolis samples from different geographic origins were investigated for their antibacterial (against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli), antifungal (against Candida albicans) and antiviral (against Avian influenza virus) activities. All samples were active against the fungal and Gram-positive bacterial test strains, and most showed antiviral activity. The activities of all samples wer...

American foulbrood (AFB) is one of the most destructive diseases of the honey bee. This infectious disease causes a great economic loss in beekeeping industry worldwide. This severe brood infection is caused by the spore forming bacterium, Paenibacillus larvae subspecies larvae White (formerly: Bacillus larvae subsp. larvae). AFB was not detected in Egypt till about two years, however the disea...

Background: The American foulbrood disease (AFB), caused by Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae, is one of the main plagues affecting honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies, and it has a high negative impact on beekeepers worldwide. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to describe the evidence of Paenibacillus larvae larvae contamination of honey bee colonies, in the East Azerbaijan Province...

This study was part of a large-scale monitoring project to assess the possible effects of Elado® (10 g clothianidin & 2 g β-cyfluthrin/kg seed)-dressed oilseed rape seeds on different pollinators in Northern Germany. Firstly, residues of clothianidin and its active metabolites thiazolylnitroguanidine and thiazolylmethylurea were measured in nectar and pollen from Elado®-dressed (test site, T) a...

In this study we analysed mineral composition of bee pollen of different plant origin collected across Serbia using inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectrometry. The most abundant elements were potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The samples were also exceptionally rich in iron and zinc, which are very important as nutrients. Judging by our findings, mineral composition of bee poll...

In Italy a nation-wide monitoring network was established in 2009 in response to significant honey bee colony mortality reported during 2008. The network comprised of approximately 100 apiaries located across Italy. Colonies were sampled four times per year, in order to assess the health status and to collect samples for pathogen, chemical and pollen analyses. The prevalence of Nosema ceranae r...

argyrophilic staining of nucleolar organizer regions (agnor) has been considered to be useful in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of different cutaneous tumors. in order to evaluate the role of the agnor technique in discriminating aggressive from non-aggressive basal cell carcinoma (bcc), paraffin-embedded histologic sections from 30 cases of aggressive bcc (bcc2) and 30 cases of non-ag...

The established amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) protocol was simplified and optimized for honey bee DNA (Apis mellifera L.). Compared to the original method, the following simplifications were made: (i) the digestion of DNA and ligation of the adapters are performed in one reaction vs. two, (ii) one restriction enzyme is used vs. two and (iii) amplification is accomplished in one ...