Gas exchange characteristics are reported for both members of the sorghum-Striga host-parasite association. Both Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth and Striga asiatica (L.) Kuntze had transpiration rates considerably in excess of those of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, cv CSH1). Stomatal conductance in both Striga spp. showed little response to periods of darkness and moderate water stress....

Quorum sensing, the monitoring of population density by bacteria, is used to coordinately control gene expression and therefore particular behaviors under conditions of high cell density. Such group behaviors provide advantages to organisms under certain conditions, such as during pathogenic colonization when virulence traits are induced by a group of bacteria. In the accompanying paper, Lupp a...

Gall wasps, or cynipids, form the second largest radiation of galling insects with more than 1300 described species. According to current views, the first cynipids were phytophagous and developed in herb stems of the Asteraceae without modifying plant growth or development. The first galls were supposedly multichambered stem swellings, and subsequent trends involved increase in gall complexity ...

BACKGROUND Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is the primary treatment for male infertility. However for this procedure, with the exception of visual morphological selection, there is no standardization for sperm selection. Recently, the hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) has been proposed to potentially select sperm with intact membranes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of...

The association between the ectoparasitic mite, Erythraeus Latreille (Acari: Prostigmata: Parasitengona) and psyllid Russelliana adunca Burckhardt (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) is reported for first time. Larval erythraeid mites are not common on psyllids, therefore this report adds a new host widens distribution of mite in South America.

The behavioral manipulation hypothesis predicts that parasites can change host behavior in a way that benefits the parasites and not the host (extensively reviewed in [1–9]). In other words, the hypothesis predicts that genes of a parasite can produce an "extended" phenotype that manifests beyond a parasite's soma [10]. Protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (henceforth toxoplasma) is an often-ci...

Zinc is an active element in the body and behaves as a co-factor for many enzymes, so aim of this study was to investigate association between intestinal parasites serum zinc level children Iraq, effect parasitie infections on nutrition, growth, physiology host still poorly understood.

Few studies have been conducted on the causative factors associated with the development of cancer. Infection by high risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been implicated as causative agents in a variety of cancers. HPV is capable of evading immune system and establishing persistent infections. Prolonged infection and lesion maintenance are associated with higher risk of neoplastic progressi...

  Background and Objective: The outcome of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be influenced by host factors like Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA). We have investigated HLA-A and DRB1 alleles in patients with persistent hepatitis B infection compared to subjects who had spontaneously recovered from HBV infection. To complete the findings of this study we performed another survey in certain HLA ...