As a member of the Japan Medical Association Junior Doctors Network (JMA-JDN), I had the honor of participating in the World Medical Association (WMA) Council Session and JDN meeting held in Oslo, Norway, from April 16 through 18, 2015. I am grateful for the opportunity to report on these meetings. The WMA is an organization of 111 national medical associations (NMAs) representing physicians th...

A study of the mealybug genus Planococcus Ferris, 1950 (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Pseudococcidae) known from China is presented and 12 species are recognised. Of these, camelliae Zhang, sp. nov. described as new to science based on morphology adult female, P. bambusifolii (Takahashi, 1951) recorded for first time. Molecular analyses mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) a key in...

A simple molecular tool was developed and tested to identify seven mealybug species found in North American vineyards: Pseudococcus maritimus Ehrhorn, Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret), Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni-Tozzeti), Pseudococcus calceolariae (Maskell), Planococcus ficus (Signoret), Planococcus citri (Risso), and Ferrisia gilli Gullan. The developed multiplex PCR is based on the mit...

To compensate for stress imposed by salinity, biofilm formation and exopolysaccharide production are significant strategies of salt tolerant bacteria to assist metabolism. We hypothesized that two previously isolated salt-tolerant strains Halomonas variabilis (HT1) and Planococcus rifietoensis (RT4) have an ability to improve plant growth, These strains can form biofilm and accumulate exopolysa...

Present study was conducted to determine the bacteria and their multi-drug resistance pattern of Velpuri and water of Velpuri shop of different areas of Dhaka city. A total of 74 bacteria were isolated of which 26 isolates were subjected for further study. Eleven and 15 isolates from 26, were found Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively. Three isolates of Gram-positive bacteria ...

Naproxen is a one of the most popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) entering the environment as a result of high consumption. For this reason, there is an emerging need to recognize mechanisms of its degradation and enzymes engaged in this process. Planococcus sp. S5 is a gram positive strain able to degrade naproxen in monosubstrate culture (27%). However, naproxen is not a su...

To understand ecological factors mediating the spread of insect-borne plant pathogens, vector species for these pathogens need to be identified. Grapevine leafroll disease is caused by a complex of phylogenetically related closteroviruses, some of which are transmitted by insect vectors; however, the specificities of these complex virus-vector interactions are poorly understood thus far. Throug...

The vine mealybug (VM), Planococcus ficus (Signoret), is an Afrotropical species, whose worldwide populations probably originated from the Mediterranean basin. It was introduced to the Americas during the second half of the 20th century (Ben-Dov 1994; Gill 1994). Until the early 1980s, this pest was frequently misidentified as the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), as both Planoccocus ...

The effect of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures at the microwave (MW) frequency of 18 GHz, on four cocci, Planococcus maritimus KMM 3738, Staphylococcus aureus CIP 65.8(T), S. aureus ATCC 25923 and S. epidermidis ATCC 14990(T), was investigated. We demonstrate that exposing the bacteria to an EMF induced permeability in the bacterial membranes of all strains studied, as confirmed directly b...