the relationship between female oviposition preference and offspring performance is a key area of study on the evolution of host specificity. this study investigates host prefer-ence of the polyphagous hover fly syrphus ribesii (diptera: syrphidae) and compares it with some components of its offspring`s performance. females and offspring were tested on six naturally used aphid hosts (blackberry...

background: biting habit of mosquitoes plays an important role in the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. mosquitoes use a set of elaborate sensory modalities to find their preferred hosts by exploiting cues emanating from a nearby host. it has been suggested that the chemical profile of skin can provide further support for anthropophilic mosquito species to find their suitable hosts. this...

a two-year laboratory study on the biology (including self-fertilization) of bulinus truncatus, the intermediate host of schistosoma haematobium, s. bovis and paramphistomum microbotrium in iran, has revealed information on the longevity, reproduction, hatchability rate, hatching time during various months of the year, and growth and mortality rates of this snail. it was found that the reproduc...

sunflower (helinathus annuus) is a susceptible host to the holoparasite hemp broomrape (orobanche ramosa) in central parts of iran, causing yield loss due to severe infestations. a field study was conducted in 2006 to evaluate the efficacy of glyphosate for controlling the parasitic weed hemp broomrape in sunflower. glyphosate was applied once or twice at five rates ranging from 0.075 to 0.450 ...

toxoplasma encepfiautis (te) is rare in pediatric patients, but it is an emerging opportunistic infection in the increasing number of immunocompromised hosts. it should be considered in patients who present with fever and evolving cns symptoms. the outcome of these patients is always poor because of delay in diagnosis. we report one case of toxoplasma encephalitis in a child without hiv infecti...

this guide to the identification of iranian freshwater snails has been prepared with aim of helping individuals involved in field work, but who have had no specialized training in taxonomy to differentiate snail specimens which they collect to certain groups by means of simple identification key. the guide pays special attention to the principal snail groups which transmit human schistosomiasis...

piezodorus guildinii (hemiptera: pentatomidae) is an important soybean pest, and one of its main natural enemies is telenomus podisi (hymenoptera: platygastridae). rearing of the parasitoid is constrained by the hosts' egg quality, which deteriorates after few generations in laboratory, therefore, cold-stored host eggs utilization could be a useful tool for augmentative biological control. thus...

background opportunistic infections have become much more considerable in the last decades, especially in immunocompromised patients and due to the medical interventions. cryptosporidium is a pathogenic protozoan parasite causing diarrhea in children and some times acts as a life threatening opportunistic pathogen in the immunocompromised adults. objectives this study aimed to investigate the p...