Cat fleas' journey into the vacuum is a 'one-way trip'

... COLUMBUS , Ohio Homeowners dogged by household fleas need look no farther than the broom closet to ... Scientists have determined that vacuuming kills fleas in all stages of their lives, with an average of 96 percent success in adult fleas and 100 percent destruction of younger fleas. ...

Persistent pollutant may promote obesity

... affects sensitive receptors in the cells of animals, from water fleas to humans, at very low concentrationsa thousand times lower than ... and similar chemicals. Tributyltin impairs reproduction in water fleas through its effects on a receptor similar to the RXR. In addition, ...

Studies of small water fleas help ecologists understand population dynamics

... (Santa Barbara, Calif.) A study of populations of tiny water fleas is helping ecologists to understand population dynamics, which may lead to ... Calgary. McCauley was able to study the performance of individual water fleas within lab populations. Some of these were executing boom and bust cycles; ...

BioScience tip sheet, December 2008

... on high-value food crops. It is also found in fish and shellfish. Tributyl tin affects sensitive receptors in the cells of animals from water fleas to humans at concentrations of parts per billiona thousand times lower than pollutants that are known to interfere with sexual development of ...

Queen's University biologists find new environmental threat in North American lakes

... Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory (PEARL). "The good news is that we have found the 'miner's canary' in the form of these water fleas that track the decline in calcium levels. The bad news is that many lakes have already passed these critical thresholds." ...

Scientists discover 21st century plague

... nobilis , a flea that lives on bank voles, was shown to transmit different species of Bartonella bacteria. These pathogens have also been found in fleas that live on gerbils, cotton rats and brown rats. "We analysed bacteria found in Rattus norvegicus in Taiwan. The brown rat is also the most ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- July 16, 2008

... Scientists in Illinois and Pennsylvania are reporting development of a way to make the antifreeze protein that enables billions of Canadian snow fleas to survive frigid winter temperatures. Their laboratory-produced first-of-a-kind proteins could have practical uses in extending the storage life of ...

Scientists find how amber becomes death trap for watery creatures

... of millions of years? We dont have the answers to those questions until we look at the fossil record. Insects such as bees, spiders, tics and fleas that become embedded in amber have received a great deal of attention because they are so abundant, Dilcher said. Unfortunately, people have ...

New antifreeze protein found in fleas may allow longer storage of transplant organs

... A new antifreeze protein discovered in tiny snow fleas by Queen's University researchers may lengthen ... found that the potent protein produced by the fleas to protect themselves against freezing is capable ... hyperactive antifreeze protein produced by snow fleas is different from two other insect proteins ...

Plague proteome reveals proteins linked to infection

... designers in their quest to disrupt the microbe’s ability to infect. Y. pestis is the bacterium that caused the infamous Black Death plagues. fleas are vectors for the disease and can spread it to rodent and human hosts. This study mimicked environmental conditions of Y. pestis in flea and in ...

Plant-derived vaccines safeguard against deadly plague

... estimates 1,000 to 3,000 outbreaks still occur in the world every year as a result of people coming into close contact with rodents infected with fleas that harbor the bacteria. Particularly worrisome to human health is the pneumonic form of the disease, which can spread by an airborne route ...

Genome sequencing is for ecologists, too

... research in the human health sciences, with the goal of diagnosing the state of aquatic environments. Despite their common name, water fleas are not insects but crustaceans, like lobsters and crabs. Daphnia is the first crustacean genome to be sequenced. Information from its genome will ...

New Look at DNA Hints at Origin of UV Damage

... Aballay said that these types of conserved virulence factors may regulate innate immunity in a broad variety of hosts, including C. elegans, fleas and mammals. "The importance of our work is that it will permit us to use a model whose genetics can be easily manipulated as a viable alternative ...

Novel plague virulence factor identified

... Aballay said that these types of conserved virulence factors may regulate innate immunity in a broad variety of hosts, including C. elegans, fleas and mammals. "The importance of our work is that it will permit us to use a model whose genetics can be easily manipulated as a viable alternative ...