Spider Venom Could Yield Eco-Friendly Insecticides
Biochemist Glenn King is searching for an alternative to chemical pesticides. King's research on insect-specific neurotoxins focuses on one the world's most efficient insect predators -- spiders. The Blue Mountains funnel-web spider (Hadronyche versuta) -- a large Australian spider with a bite that is deadly to humans and insects -- is an ideal source of venom for King's research. The spider "coo...Use of Insecticides Linked to Lasting Neurological Problems for Farmers
New research shows that farmers who used agricultural insecticides experienced increased neurological symptoms, even when they were no longer using the products. Data from 18,782 North Carolina and Iowa farmers linked use of insecticides, including organophosphates and organochlorines, to reports of reoccurring headaches, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, hand tremors, numbness and other neur...Novel compounds show promise as safer, more potent insecticides
Research teams at Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd., Bayer CropScience and DuPont have developed two new classes of broad-spectrum insecticides that show promise as a safer and more effective way to fight pest insects that damage food crops. The insecticides, which represent the first synthetic compounds designed to activate a novel insecticide target called the ryanodine receptor, may also help tackle the...Secret of worm's poison pill box protein could produce new natural insecticide
Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered how a protein from a bacterium acts like a cunningly designed poison pill box that could now be used as a basis of a new range of natural insecticides. It had been known that nematode worms can infect and kill insect pests with the help of a bacterium which they harbour inside their intestine. The bacterium uses a protein (XptA1)...Identification of Insecticides and Herbicides by LC/MS/MS Using the API 2000 LC/MS/MS System
Health and food safety organizations worldwide are p...Leukaemia May Be Triggered By Insecticides
A research conducted by French doctors has revealed that those children who are exposed to head lice shampoos and insecticides run a higher chance of contracting childhood leukaemia. The Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal //has published this report. The study has cautioned against exposing children to mosquito repellents also. The France based Inserm had conducted the st...Health of Mothers and Children Show Improvement after Use of Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets
The ill-effects of mosquito bites on the health of people living in Africa is well known, and a recent study into this, has shown the positive impact on health// of women and children, including expectant mothers, when they chose to sleep under the insecticide-treated nets. Infact expectant mothers are more likely to deliver healthy babies, if adequate protection against mosquito bites is enabled...Clothes Treated with Insecticide Reduces the Risk of Malarial Infection
Wearing clothes treated with the common insecticide permethrin can reduce the chances of malarial infection by 70 percent, says a new study.// The conclusion was arrived at after Elizabeth Kimani of the African Population and Health Research Center in Nairobi and other researchers studied Somalian refugees living in camps in Kenya. The average household size in Kenya is 4....Insecticide and Repellent Combo Effective in Eliminating Malarial Mosquitoes
Researchers have revealed that combining a non-pyrethroid insecticide, propoxur, and a repellent, N,N-diethyl toluamide may prove to be an effective insecticide-repellent synergy against mosquitoes responsible for malaria transmission to humans. A combination of the two had proved to be much more effective than the straightforward addition of their respective properties. Mosquito n...Insecticide-treated Bed Nets to Combat Malaria in Older Children and Adults
Researchers have found that sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets might protect older children and adults from malaria. Most human-to-mosquito transmission originates from adults and children over five years of age, who constitute the bulk of the population and are more attractive to mosquitoes. Current international guidelines recommend providing subsidised bed...