Accurate analysis of insect brain structures in digital confocal microscopic images is valuable and important to biology research needs. The first step is to segment meaningful structures from images. Active contour model, known as snakes, is widely used for segmentation of medical images. A new class of active contour model called gradient vector flow snake has been introduced in 1998 to overc...

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)  is an important fiber crop in Iran, cultivated on 150000-200000 ha of land.  In Iran the estimated loss due to the insect pest is more than 30%. Traditionally, pests are controlled by 10-12 times spraying per growing season of environmentally harmful chemical insecticides (e.g. endosulfan and/or methosystox). In order to produce transgenic cotton resistance to in...

The insect-transmissible strain GII-3 of Spiroplasma citri contains plasmids pSci1-6, five of which (pSci1-5) encode adhesin-like proteins and one (pSci6) encodes protein P32, which has been associated with insect transmissibility. In contrast, S. citri strains ASP-1 and 44, which cannot be transmitted via injection into the leafhopper vector Circulifer haematoceps, lack these proteins and also...

background: west nile virus (wnv) is a vector-borneagent that is maintained within a bird-mosquito cycle. in humansand equids, infection by this agent is usually asymptomatic, orcharacterized by a mild febrile illness. however, fatal meningoencephalitisor encephalitis may occur. objectives:the aim ofthis study was to evaluate the prevalence of wnvinfection andcorrelation of this organism with h...