Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| effects of a neonicotinoid pesticide on thermoregulation of african honey bees (apis mellifera scutellata). | thiamethoxam is a widely used neonicotinoid pesticide that, as agonist of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, has been shown to elicit a variety of sublethal effects in honey bees. however, information concerning neonicotinoid effects on honey bee thermoregulation is lacking. thermoregulation is an essential ability for the honey bee that guarantees the success of foraging and many in-hive tasks, especially brood rearing. we tested the effects of acute exposure to thiamethoxam (0.2, 1, 2ng/be ... | 2016 | 27568395 |
| bee pollen as a bioindicator of environmental pesticide contamination. | honeybees and bee products are potential bioindicators of the presence of contaminants in the environment, enabling monitoring of large areas due to the long distances travelled by bees. this work evaluates the use of bee pollen as a bioindicator of environmental contamination by pesticides. a gc-ms/ms analytical method for multiresidue determination of 26 different pesticides in pollen was developed and validated in accordance with the recommendations of the european union sanco guide. environm ... | 2016 | 27567152 |
| anti-inflammatory activity of bee venom in bv2 microglial cells: mediation of myd88-dependent nf-κb signaling pathway. | bee venom has long been used as a traditional folk medicine in korea. it has been reportedly used for the treatment of arthritis, cancer, and inflammation. although its anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide- (lps-) stimulated inflammatory cells has been reported, the exact mechanism of its anti-inflammatory action has not been fully elucidated. therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of bee venom in bv2 microglial cells. we first investigate ... | 2016 | 27563334 |
| an evaluation of the honey bee (hymenoptera: apidae) safety profile of a new systemic insecticide, flupyradifurone, under field conditions in florida. | flupyradifurone (sivanto) is a novel systemic insecticide from the butenolide class developed by bayer. based on available data (usepa 2014), this insecticide appears to have a favorable safety profile for honey bee colonies. as a result, the label permits the product to be applied during prebloom and bloom in various crops, including citrus, except when mixed with azole fungicides during the blooming period. we placed 24 honey bee (apis mellifera l.) colonies adjacent to eight flowering buckwhe ... | 2016 | 27563069 |
| the influence of floral traits on specialization and modularity of plant-pollinator networks in a biodiversity hotspot in the peruvian andes. | modularity is a ubiquitous and important structural property of ecological networks which describes the relative strengths of sets of interacting species and gives insights into the dynamics of ecological communities. however, this has rarely been studied in species-rich, tropical plant-pollinator networks. working in a biodiversity hotspot in the peruvian andes we assessed the structure of quantitative plant-pollinator networks in nine valleys, quantifying modularity among networks, defining th ... | 2016 | 27562649 |
| sub-lethal effects of dietary neonicotinoid insecticide exposure on honey bee queen fecundity and colony development. | many factors can negatively affect honey bee (apis mellifera l.) health including the pervasive use of systemic neonicotinoid insecticides. through direct consumption of contaminated nectar and pollen from treated plants, neonicotinoids can affect foraging, learning, and memory in worker bees. less well studied are the potential effects of neonicotinoids on queen bees, which may be exposed indirectly through trophallaxis, or food-sharing. to assess effects on queen productivity, small colonies o ... | 2016 | 27562025 |
| a look into the cell: honey storage in honey bees, apis mellifera. | honey bees, apis species, obtain carbohydrates from nectar and honeydew. these resources are ripened into honey in wax cells that are capped for long-term storage. these stores are used to overcome dearth periods when foraging is not possible. despite the economic and ecological importance of honey, little is known about the processes of its production by workers. here, we monitored the usage of storage cells and the ripening process of honey in free-flying a. mellifera colonies. we provided the ... | 2016 | 27560969 |
| investigation of the inhibitory properties of some phenolic standards and bee products against human carbonic anhydrase i and ii. | polyphenols are important secondary products of plants with the potential to inhibit carbonic anhydrases. the aim of this study was to investigate the inhibition effects of various phenolic standards, honey, propolis, and pollen species on human carbonic anhydrase i and ii. the inhibition values (ic50) of the phenolics (gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, quercetin, catechin, tannic acid, and chrysin) ranged from 0.009 to 0.32 μg/ml, tannic acid emerging as the best inhibitor. the inhibition value ... | 2016 | 27559016 |
| sequence capture and phylogenetic utility of genomic ultraconserved elements obtained from pinned insect specimens. | obtaining sequence data from historical museum specimens has been a growing research interest, invigorated by next-generation sequencing methods that allow inputs of highly degraded dna. we applied a target enrichment and next-generation sequencing protocol to generate ultraconserved elements (uces) from 51 large carpenter bee specimens (genus xylocopa), representing 25 species with specimen ages ranging from 2-121 years. we measured the correlation between specimen age and dna yield (pre- and p ... | 2016 | 27556533 |
| migratory management and environmental conditions affect lifespan and oxidative stress in honey bees. | most pollination in large-scale agriculture is dependent on managed colonies of a single species, the honey bee apis mellifera. more than 1 million hives are transported to california each year just to pollinate the almonds, and bees are trucked across the country for various cropping systems. concerns have been raised about whether such "migratory management" causes bees undue stress; however to date there have been no longer-term studies rigorously addressing whether migratory management is de ... | 2016 | 27554200 |
| large-scale recombinant expression and purification of human tyrosinase suitable for structural studies. | human tyrosinase (tyr) is a glycoprotein that initiates the first two reactions in the melanin biosynthesis pathway. mutations in its encoding gene cause oculocutaneous albinism type i (oca1), the most severe form of albinism, which is a group of autosomal recessive disorders characterized by reduced or absent production of melanin in skin, hair and eyes. despite extensive structural and characterization studies of its homologues in lower eukaryotic organisms, the catalytic mechanism of human ty ... | 2016 | 27551823 |
| specialist pollinators deplete pollen in the spring ephemeral wildflower claytonia virginica. | pollinators that collect pollen - and specifically, pollen-specialist bees - are often considered to be the best pollinators of a (host) plant. although pollen collectors and pollen specialists often benefit host plants, especially in the pollen that they deliver (their pollination "effectiveness"), they can also exact substantial costs because they are motivated to collect as much pollen as possible, reducing the proportion of pollen removed that is subsequently delivered to stigmas (their poll ... | 2016 | 27551374 |
| drone exposure to the systemic insecticide fipronil indirectly impairs queen reproductive potential. | a species that requires sexual reproduction but cannot reproduce is doomed to extinction. the important increasing loss of species emphasizes the ecological significance of elucidating the effects of environmental stressors, such as pesticides, on reproduction. despite its special reproductive behavior, the honey bee was selected as a relevant and integrative environmental model because of its constant and diverse exposure to many stressors due to foraging activity. the widely used insecticide f ... | 2016 | 27549030 |
| granulomatous inflammation induced by bee sting. | 2016 | 27548296 | |
| modified artificial bee colony for the vehicle routing problems with time windows. | the natural behaviour of the honeybee has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years and several algorithms have been developed that mimic swarm behaviour to solve optimisation problems. this paper introduces an artificial bee colony (abc) algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows (vrptw). a modified abc algorithm is proposed to improve the solution quality of the original abc. the high exploration ability of the abc slows-down its convergence speed, which may due t ... | 2016 | 27547672 |
| flower diversity and bee reproduction in an arid ecosystem. | diverse flower communities are more stable in floral resource production along the flowering season, but the question about how the diversity and stability of resources affect pollinator reproduction remains open. high plant diversity could favor short foraging trips, which in turn would enhance bee fitness. in addition to plant diversity, greater temporal stability of floral resources in diverse communities could favor pollinator fitness because such communities are likely to occupy the phenolo ... | 2016 | 27547556 |
| questioning public perception, conservation policy, and recovery actions for honeybees in north america. | global pollinator declines have resulted in an increasing number of policies and actions to help bee populations. in north america, there is strong public engagement, but also growing controversies over how to address declines. this is fueled by complex scientific evidence across species, habitat types, geographic regions, as well as intense lobbying by ngos, beekeeping, agro-chemical and farming industries. policy and conservation initiatives often focus on the western honeybee, apis mellifera ... | 2016 | 27624856 |
| a new bee species that excavates sandstone nests. | humanity has long been fascinated by animals with apparently unfavorable lifestyles [1]. nesting habits are especially important because they can limit where organisms live, thereby driving population, community, and even ecosystem dynamics [2]. the question arises, then, why bees nest in active termite mounds [3] or on the rim of degassing volcanoes, seemingly preferring such hardship [4]. here, we present a new bee species that excavates sandstone nests, anthophora (anthophoroides) pueblo orr ... | 2016 | 27623257 |
| the protective effect of melittin on renal fibrosis in an animal model of unilateral ureteral obstruction. | renal fibrosis is the principal pathological process underlying the progression of chronic kidney disease that leads to end-stage renal disease. melittin is a major component of bee venom, and it has anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory properties in various cell types. thus, this study examined the therapeutic effects of melittin on the progression of renal fibrosis using the unilateral ureteral obstruction (uuo) model. in addition, the effects of melittin on inflammation and fibro ... | 2016 | 27618890 |
| fuzzy sets in dynamic adaptation of parameters of a bee colony optimization for controlling the trajectory of an autonomous mobile robot. | a hybrid approach composed by different types of fuzzy systems, such as the type-1 fuzzy logic system (t1fls), interval type-2 fuzzy logic system (it2fls) and generalized type-2 fuzzy logic system (gt2fls) for the dynamic adaptation of the alpha and beta parameters of a bee colony optimization (bco) algorithm is presented. the objective of the work is to focus on the bco technique to find the optimal distribution of the membership functions in the design of fuzzy controllers. we use bco specific ... | 2016 | 27618062 |
| taxonomic note on the oil-collecting bee centris dimidiata (olivier, 1789 (hymenoptera: apidae: centridini). | centris dimidiata (olivier) is currently considered an easily recognizable species widely distributed throughout the amazon basin, mainly in brazil. for much of its taxonomic history, c. atriventris mocsáry and c. furcata (fabricius) have been considered its junior subjective synonymies. such interpretation was apparently due to the lack of a detailed study of the type specimens, misinterpretation of the original descriptions, and inability to study the apparently lost type specimen of c. dimidi ... | 2016 | 27615988 |
| the bees (hymenoptera: apoidea) of the maltese islands. | this study presents the first checklist of the bees of the maltese islands and includes notes on the distribution of each species. a total of 95 species belonging to five bee families are recorded: andrenidae (17 species), apidae (34 species), colletidae (6 species), halictidae (15 species) and megachilidae (23 species). lasioglossum callizonium (pérez, 1896) is recorded for the first time from the maltese islands. records of three previously reported species are listed as dubious. the bee fauna ... | 2016 | 27615971 |
| bee (hymenoptera: apoidea) and hoverfly (diptera: syrphidae) pollinators in pannonian habitats of serbia, with a description of a new eumerus meigen species (syrphidae). | the diversity of bee (hymenoptera: apoidea) and hoverfly (diptera: syrphidae) pollinators from ten localities in vojvodina, serbia was surveyed. among different types of pannonian habitat (grasslands, heathland and scrub, woodland and forest habitats) all localities were categorised as forest and steppe. they were in protected areas, mostly undisturbed by human activity. censuses of pollinators took place from 30 march to 10 october, 2014. we recorded 218 pollinator species; 135 bee species (42 ... | 2016 | 27615823 |
| honey bee swarms aboard the usns comfort: recommendations for sting prevention, swarm removal, and medical readiness on military ships. | the article provides observations of multiple honey bee (apis mellifera) swarms aboard the usns comfort (tah-20) during the continuing promise 2015 mission. a brief overview of swarming biology is given along with control/removal recommendations to reduce sting exposures. the observations suggest that preventive medicine personnel should provide adequate risk communications about the potential occurrence of bee swarms aboard military ships, and medical department personnel should be prepared for ... | 2016 | 27613207 |
| severe hypotension, hypoxia, and subcutaneous erythema induced by indigo carmine administration during open prostatectomy. | indigo carmine (also known as 5,5'-indigodisulfonic acid sodium salt or indigotine) is a blue dye that is administered intravenously to examine the urinary tract and usually is biologically safe and inert. indigo carmine rarely may cause adverse reactions. we treated a 66-year-old man who had general anesthesia and radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer. he had a previous history of allergy to bee sting with nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. within 1 minute after injection of indigo ... | 2016 | 27610263 |
| hybrid pareto artificial bee colony algorithm for multi-objective single machine group scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times and learning effects. | group scheduling is significant for efficient and cost effective production system. however, there exist setup times between the groups, which require to decrease it by sequencing groups in an efficient way. current research is focused on a sequence dependent group scheduling problem with an aim to minimize the makespan in addition to minimize the total weighted tardiness simultaneously. in most of the production scheduling problems, the processing time of jobs is assumed as fixed. however, the ... | 2016 | 27652166 |
| bee fauna and floral abundance within lawn-dominated suburban yards in springfield, ma. | private yards comprise a significant component of urban lands, with managed lawns representing the dominant land cover. lawns blanket > 163,000 km(2) of the united states, and 50% of urban and suburban areas. when not treated with herbicides, lawns have the capacity to support a diversity of spontaneous (e.g., not planted) flowers, with the potential to provide nectar and pollen resources for pollinators such as native bees. in order to determine the extent to which suburban lawns support these ... | 2016 | 27651546 |
| ethnomedicinal uses of honeybee products in lithuania: the first analysis of archival sources. | lithuania has old ethnomedicine traditions, consisting of many recipes with herbal, animal, and mineral original ingredients. all these findings were mostly collected in lithuanian language, often in local community's dialects, and stored only in archives. we analyzed archival sources about honeybee and its products used for medicinal purposes dated from 1886 till 1992 in different parts of lithuania. we systematized and presented the most important information about bees and their products: ind ... | 2016 | 27642360 |
| diversity and resource use patterns of anthophile insects in cuatro ciénegas, coahuila, mexico. | bees and flies are the main pollinators responsible for the maintenance of plant diversity and crop production. studies of pollinator communities have focused on bees; however, community structures may vary among groups of pollinators. we describe and compare the diversity and resource use patterns of six apoidea and two diptera anthophile families in cuatro ciénegas in the northeast of mexico. we sampled insects in two distinct geographic units (valley and mountains) and two seasons (rainy and ... | 2016 | 27634784 |
| topochemistry, optical anisotropy and ft-ir microspectroscopy of the cocoon of lithurgus chrysurus (hymenoptera, megachilidae). | a previous study has not revealed the participation of a mucous component in the cocoon wall of the solitary bee, lithurgus chrysurus, differing from the cocoon structure reported for many other bee species. however, uncertainty remains, because only the median and rear zones of this cocoon type have thus far been analyzed. here, we studied the front zone of this cocoon, searching its components and their organization, to fill this knowledge gap. topochemical assays, polarization microscopy and ... | 2016 | 27632071 |
| variations in the availability of pollen resources affect honey bee health. | intensive agricultural systems often expose honey bees (apis mellifera l.) to large temporal variations in the availability (quantity, quality and diversity) of nutritional resources. such nutritional irregularity is expected to affect honey bee health. we therefore tested under laboratory conditions the effect of such variation in pollen availability on honey bee health (survival and nursing physiology-hypopharyngeal gland development and vitellogenin expression). we fed honey bees with differe ... | 2016 | 27631605 |
| a heterogeneous landscape does not guarantee high crop pollination. | the expansion of pollinator-dependent crops, especially in the developing world, together with reports of worldwide pollinator declines, raises concern of possible yield gaps. farmers directly reliant on pollination services for food supply often live in regions where our knowledge of pollination services is poor. in a manipulative experiment replicated at 23 sites across an ethiopian agricultural landscape, we found poor pollination services and severe pollen limitation in a common oil crop. wi ... | 2016 | 27629036 |
| operant conditioning in honey bees (apis mellifera l.): the cap pushing response. | the honey bee has been an important model organism for studying learning and memory. more recently, the honey bee has become a valuable model to understand perception and cognition. however, the techniques used to explore psychological phenomena in honey bees have been limited to only a few primary methodologies such as the proboscis extension reflex, sting extension reflex, and free flying target discrimination-tasks. methods to explore operant conditioning in bees and other invertebrates are n ... | 2016 | 27626797 |
| insect visitors and potential pollinators of orchis militaris (orchidaceae) in southern belgium. | as part of a research project on the food deception strategy in orchis militaris (l.), the objective of this study was to identify insect visitors and potential pollinators of this orchid species in belgium. in 2013, insects were collected over 2 d per site in five localities distributed in southern belgium (wallonia). a total of 104 insects belonging to 49 species were caught. dipterans were the most abundant visitors (50% of total specimens), followed by hymenopterans (32%). rhingia campestris ... | 2016 | 27694346 |
| traceability of satsuma mandarin (citrus unshiu marc.) honey through nectar/honey-sac/honey pathways of the headspace, volatiles, and semi-volatiles: chemical markers. | headspace solid-phase microextraction (hs-spme) and ultrasonic solvent extraction (use), followed by gc-ms/fid, were applied for monitoring the nectar (ne)/honey-sac (hos)/honey (ho) pathways of the headspace, volatiles, and semi-volatiles. the major ne (4 varieties of citrus unshiu) headspace compounds were linalool, α-terpineol, 1h-indole, methyl anthranilate, and phenylacetonitrile. corresponding extracts contained, among others, 1h-indole, methyl anthranilate, 1,3-dihydro-2h-indol-2-one and ... | 2016 | 27689986 |
| bee venom ameliorates cognitive dysfunction caused by neuroinflammation in an animal model of vascular dementia. | vascular dementia (vad) is caused by the reduction of blood supply by vessel occlusion and is characterized by progressive cognitive decline. vad incidence has been growing due to the aging population, placing greater strain on social and economic resources. however, the pathological mechanisms underlying vad remain unclear. many studies have used the bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (bccao) animal model to investigate potential therapeutics for vad. in this study, we investigated wheth ... | 2016 | 27686075 |
| interspecific sensitivity of bees towards dimethoate and implications for environmental risk assessment. | wild and domesticated bee species are exposed to a variety of pesticides which may drive pollinator decline. due to wild bee sensitivity data shortage, it is unclear if the honey bee apis mellifera is a suitable surrogate species in the current eu risk assessment scheme. furthermore, the underlying causes for sensitivity differences in bees are not established. we assessed the acute toxicity (median lethal dose, ld50) of dimethoate towards multiple bee species, generated a species sensitivity di ... | 2016 | 27686060 |
| synergistic mortality between a neonicotinoid insecticide and an ergosterol-biosynthesis-inhibiting fungicide in three bee species. | neonicotinoid insecticides have been identified as an important factor contributing to bee diversity declines. nonetheless, uncertainties remain about their impact under field conditions. most studies have been conducted on apis mellifera and tested single compounds. however, in agricultural environments, bees are often exposed to multiple pesticides. we explore the synergistic mortality between a neonicotinoid (clothianidin) and an ergosterol-biosynthesis-inhibiting fungicide (propiconazole) in ... | 2016 | 27685544 |
| a push-pull protocol to reduce colonization of bird nest boxes by honey bees. | introduction of the invasive africanized honey bee (ahb) into the neotropics is a serious problem for many cavity nesting birds, specifically parrots. these bees select cavities that are suitable nest sites for birds, resulting in competition. the difficulty of removing bees and their defensive behavior makes a prevention protocol necessary. here, we describe a push-pull integrated pest management protocol to deter bees from inhabiting bird boxes by applying a bird safe insecticide, permethrin, ... | 2016 | 27685258 |
| preparation of single-cohort colonies and hormone treatment of worker honeybees to analyze physiology associated with role and/or endocrine system. | honeybee workers are engaged in various tasks related to maintaining colony activity. the tasks of the workers change according to their age (age-related division of labor). young workers are engaged in nursing the brood (nurse bees), while older workers are engaged in foraging for nectar and pollen (foragers). the physiology of the workers changes in association with this role shift. for example, the main function of the hypopharyngeal glands (hpgs) changes from the secretion of major royal jel ... | 2016 | 27684286 |
| high species richness of native pollinators in brazilian tomato crops. | pollinators provide an essential service to natural ecosystems and agriculture. in tomatoes flowers, anthers are poricidal, pollen may drop from their pore when flowers are shaken by the wind. however, bees that vibrate these anthers increase pollen load on the stigma and in fruit production. the present study aimed to identify the pollinator richness of tomato flowers and investigate their morphological and functional traits related to the plant-pollinator interaction in plantations of central ... | 2016 | 27683812 |
| association of environmental markers with childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus revealed by a long questionnaire on early life exposures and lifestyle in a case-control study. | the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes (t1d) incidence is rising in many countries, supposedly because of changing environmental factors, which are yet largely unknown. the purpose of the study was to unravel environmental markers associated with t1d. | 2016 | 27682602 |
| omalizumab: a useful tool for inducing tolerance to bee venom immunotherapy. | 2016 | 27679679 | |
| competitive males have higher quality sperm in a monogamous social bee. | reproductive success is determined by the interplay between mating and fertilization success. in social insect species with male-biased sex ratios and queen monogamy, males face particularly strong pre-copulatory sexual selection since they must compete with thousands of other males for a unique mating opportunity. ejaculate quality is also expected to be under selection, because queens are long-lived and store sperm for life, so males with higher quality ejaculates are expected to provide queen ... | 2016 | 27677838 |
| application of bee venom and its main constituent melittin for cancer treatment. | bee venom and its main constituent melittin (mel) have been extensively studied in the treatment of tumors. however, the non-specific cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity have hampered the clinical application. currently, a number of research groups have reported a series of optimization strategies, including gene therapy, recombinant immunotoxin incorporating mel or mel nanoparticles, targeting tumor cells to attenuate the cytotoxicity and improve its antitumor efficiency and therapeutic capabil ... | 2016 | 27677623 |
| dna barcoding as a useful tool in the systematic study of wild bees of the tribe augochlorini (hymenoptera: halictidae). | special care is needed in the delimitation and identification of halictid bee species, which are renowned for being morphologically monotonous. corynura spinola and halictillus moure (halictidae: augochlorini) contain species that are key elements in southern south american ecosystems. these bees are very difficult to identify due to close morphological similarity among species and high sexual dimorphism. we analyzed 170 barcode-compliant coi sequences from 19 species. dna barcodes were useful t ... | 2016 | 27673501 |
| dna methylation adjusts the specificity of memories depending on the learning context and promotes relearning in honeybees. | the activity of the epigenetic writers dna methyltransferases (dnmts) after olfactory reward conditioning is important for both stimulus-specific long-term memory (ltm) formation and extinction. it, however, remains unknown which components of memory formation dnmts regulate (e.g., associative vs. non-associative) and in what context (e.g., varying training conditions). here, we address these aspects in order to clarify the role of dnmt-mediated dna methylation in memory formation. we used a pha ... | 2016 | 27672359 |
| protective effects of intratracheally-administered bee venom phospholipase a2 on ovalbumin-induced allergic asthma in mice. | asthma is a common chronic disease characterized by bronchial inflammation, reversible airway obstruction, and airway hyperresponsiveness (ahr). current therapeutic options for the management of asthma include inhaled corticosteroids and β2 agonists, which elicit harmful side effects. in the present study, we examined the capacity of phospholipase a2 (pla2), one of the major components of bee venom (bv), to reduce airway inflammation and improve lung function in an experimental model of asthma. ... | 2016 | 27669297 |
| lipid-specific t cells and the skin. | langerhans cells express constitutively high levels of cd1a, a member of the cd1 family of molecules which are known to present lipid antigens to t cells. whilst much human skin immunology research has focussed on the function of t cells which recognise peptides presented by hla molecules, in contrast few studies have addressed the role of cd1a and lipid antigens in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin disease. house dust mite and bee and wasp venom extracts were found to generate cd1a reactivi ... | 2016 | 27667311 |
| one-step purification of melittin derived from apis mellifera bee venom. | the concern of the use of melittin in honey bee venom due to its adverse reaction caused by allergens such as phospholipase a2 (pla₂) and hyaluronidase (hya) has been an obstacle towards its usage. we developed a novel single-step method for melittin purification and the removal of pla₂ and hya. this study explores the influence of ph, buffer compositions, salt concentration and types of cation-exchange chromatography resins on the recovery of melittin and the removal of both hya and pla₂. melit ... | 2016 | 27666985 |
| royal jelly: an ancient remedy with remarkable antibacterial properties. | royal jelly (rj), a honeybee hypopharyngeal gland secretion of young nurse and an exclusive nourishment for bee queen, has been used since ancient times for care and human health and it is still very important in traditional and folkloristic medicine, especially in asia within the apitherapy. recently, rj and its protein and lipid components have been subjected to several investigations on their antimicrobial activity due to extensive traditional uses and for a future application in medicine. an ... | 2016 | 27664731 |
| molecular dynamics of the honey bee toxin tertiapin binding to kir3.2. | tertiapin (tpn), a short peptide isolated from the venom of the honey bee, is a potent and selective blocker of the inward rectifier k(+) (kir) channel kir3.2. here we examine in atomic detail the binding mode of tpn to kir3.2 using molecular dynamics, and deduce the key residue in kir3.2 responsible for tpn selectivity. the binding of tpn to kir3.2 is stable when the side chain of either lys16 (tpn(k16)-kir3.2) or lys17 (tpn(k17)-kir3.2) of the toxin protrudes into the channel pore. however, th ... | 2016 | 27716538 |
| production of knockout mutants by crispr/cas9 in the european honeybee, apis mellifera l. | the european honeybee (apis mellifera l.) is used as a model organism in studies of the molecular and neural mechanisms underlying social behaviors and/or advanced brain functions. the entire honeybee genome has been sequenced, which has further advanced molecular biologic studies of the honeybee. functions of genes of interest, however, remain largely to be elucidated in the honeybee due to the lack of effective reverse genetic methods. moreover, genetically modified honeybees must be maintaine ... | 2016 | 27715425 |
| ingestion of bt rice pollen does not reduce the survival or hypopharyngeal gland development of apis mellifera adults. | because of its ecological and economic importance, the honey bee apis mellifera is commonly used to assess the environmental risk of insect-resistant, genetically modified plants. in the current laboratory study, feeding-exposure experiments were used to determine whether pollen from transgenic rice harms a. mellifera worker bee. in one experiment, the survival and mean acinus diameter of hypopharyngeal glands of adult bees were similar when bees were fed on pollen from bt rice lines or from a n ... | 2016 | 27714836 |
| beyond 16s rrna community profiling: intra-species diversity in the gut microbiota. | interactions with microbes affect many aspects of animal biology, including immune system development, nutrition and health. in vertebrates, the gut microbiota is dominated by a small subset of phyla, but the species composition within these phyla is typically not conserved. moreover, several recent studies have shown that bacterial species in the gut are composed of a multitude of strains, which frequently co-exist in their host, and may be host-specific. however, since the study of intra-speci ... | 2016 | 27708630 |
| bee happy. | 2016 | 27708091 | |
| effects of varroa destructor on temperature and humidity conditions and expression of energy metabolism genes in infested honeybee colonies. | varroa destructor mites pose an increasing global threat to the apicultural industry and agricultural ecology; however, the issue of whether certain environmental factors reflect the level of mite infection is far from resolved. here, a wireless sensor network (wsn) system was used to examine how v. destructor, which has vital impacts on honeybee (apis mellifera) health and survival, affects the temperature and humidity of honeybee hives in a field experiment. this approach may facilitate early ... | 2016 | 27706787 |
| management-related traffic as a stressor eliciting parental care in a roadside-nesting bird: the european bee-eater merops apiaster. | traffic is often acknowledged as a threat to biodiversity, but its effects have been mostly studied on roads subjected to high traffic intensity. the impact of lower traffic intensity such as those affecting protected areas is generally neglected, but conservation-oriented activities entailing motorized traffic could paradoxically transform suitable habitats into ecological traps. here we questioned whether roadside-nesting bee-eaters merops apiaster perceived low traffic intensity as a stressor ... | 2016 | 27706229 |
| is non-host pollen suitable for generalist bumblebees? | current evidence suggests that pollen is both chemically and structurally protected. despite increasing interest in studying bee-flower networks, the constraints for bee development related to pollen nutritional content, toxicity and digestibility as well as their role in the shaping of bee-flower interactions have been poorly studied. in this study we combined bioassays of the generalist bee bombus terrestris on pollen of cirsium, trifolium, salix, and cistus genera with an assessment of nutrit ... | 2016 | 27731933 |
| case of disseminated intravascular coagulation after honey bee sting. | 2016 | 27728595 | |
| a rare manifestation of bee sting. | 2016 | 27728582 | |
| hemiplegia following multiple bee sting. | 2016 | 27727866 | |
| importance of ecological factors and colony handling for optimizing health status of apiaries in mediterranean ecosystems. | we analyzed six apiaries in several natural environments with a mediterranean ecosystem in madrid, central spain, in order to understand how landscape and management characteristics may influence apiary health and bee production in the long term. we focused on five criteria (habitat quality, landscape heterogeneity, climate, management and health), as well as 30 subcriteria, and we used the analytic hierarchy process (ahp) to rank them according to relevance. habitat quality proved to have the h ... | 2016 | 27727312 |
| phylogeography of partamona rustica (hymenoptera, apidae), an endemic stingless bee from the neotropical dry forest diagonal. | the south america encompasses the highest levels of biodiversity found anywhere in the world and its rich biota is distributed among many different biogeographical regions. however, many regions of south america are still poorly studied, including its xeric environments, such as the threatened caatinga and cerrado phytogeographical domains. in particular, the effects of quaternary climatic events on the demography of endemic species from xeric habitats are poorly understood. the present study us ... | 2016 | 27723778 |
| ties between ageing plasticity and reproductive physiology in honey bees (apis mellifera) reveal a positive relation between fecundity and longevity as consequence of advanced social evolution. | honey bees (apis mellifera) are the best studied model of ageing among the social insects. as in other social insects, the reproductive queen far outlives her non-reproductive workers despite developing from the same genome in the same colony environment. thus, the different social roles of the two female castes are critical for the profound phenotypic plasticity. in several special cases, such as the reproductive workers of apis mellifera capensis, within-caste plasticity enables further studie ... | 2016 | 27720052 |
| abiotic and biotic factors affecting the replication and pathogenicity of bee viruses. | bees are important pollinators of plants in both agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. recent losses of both managed and wild bee species have negative impacts on crop production and ecosystem diversity. therefore, in order to mitigate bee losses, it is important to identify the factors most responsible. multiple factors including pathogens, agrochemical exposure, lack of quality forage, and reduced habitat affect bee health. pathogen prevalence is one factor that has been associated wit ... | 2016 | 27720045 |
| why do social insect queens live so long? approaches to unravel the sociality-aging puzzle. | social insects are characterized by an apparent reshaping of the fecundity/longevity trade-off with sociality. currently, we have only sketchy information about the potential underlying causes and mechanisms of aging and senescence which in addition are restricted to few model insect organisms (mainly the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster and the honey bee apis mellifera). how can we gain a more thorough understanding how sociality shapes senescence and the fecundity/longevity trade-off? by revi ... | 2016 | 27720043 |
| native bee diversity and pollen foraging specificity in cultivated highbush blueberry (ericaceae: vaccinium corymbosum) in rhode island. | we identified 41 species of native bees from a total of 1,083 specimens collected at cultivated highbush blueberry plantings throughout rhode island in 2014 and 2015. andrena spp., bombus spp., and xylocopa virginica (l.) were collected most often. bombus griseocollis (degeer), b. impatiens cresson, b. bimaculatus cresson, b. perplexus cresson, and andrena vicina smith collected the largest mean numbers of blueberry pollen tetrads. the largest mean percent blueberry pollen loads were carried by ... | 2016 | 27744311 |
| [mortal poisoning by bee stings in a child: study of a case observed in the regional hospital of maradi (niger)]. | we report a fatal case due to a massive attack by a swarm of bees in a nine-year-old child. the accident was fatal because of two aggravating factors: the cephalic location and the large number of stings (about 300). complications were coagulopathy, anemia, hemorrhage, coma, and oligoanuria. support was symptomatic at a facility second level. the outcome was fatal within 14 days. in view of the encountered difficulties, we recommend to build written protocols for the management of envenomation i ... | 2016 | 27738911 |
| improvement of neurological disorders in postmenopausal model rats by administration of royal jelly. | royal jelly (rj) from honeybees (apis mellifera) has estrogenic activity. estrogen deficiency after menopause leads to a high risk of memory impairment and depression as well as metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis. we here investigated the effect of rj on memory impairment and depression-like behaviors in ovariectomized (ovx) rats. | 2016 | 27736245 |
| methoprene does not affect juvenile hormone titers in honey bee (apis mellifera) workers. | methoprene, a juvenile hormone (jh) analog, is a widely used insecticide that also accelerates behavioral development in honey bees (apis mellifera). jh regulates the transition from nursing to foraging in adult worker bees, and treatment with jh or methoprene have both been shown to induce precocious foraging. to determine how methoprene changes honey bee behavior, we compared jh titers of methoprene-treated and untreated bees. behavioral observations confirmed that methoprene treatment signifi ... | 2016 | 27763722 |
| trpa1 channels in drosophila and honey bee ectoparasitic mites share heat sensitivity and temperature-related physiological functions. | the transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily a, member 1 (trpa1) is conserved between many arthropods, and in some has been shown to function as a chemosensor for noxious compounds. activation of arthropod trpa1 channels by temperature fluctuations has been tested in only a few insect species, and all of them were shown to be activated by heat. the recent identification of chemosensitive trpa1 channels from two honey bee ectoparasitic mite species (vdtrpa1 and tmtrpa1) have provide ... | 2016 | 27761115 |
| piecewise modelling and parameter estimation of repairable system failure rate. | lifetime failure data usually presents a bathtub-shaped failure rate, and random failure phase dominates its life cycle. relatively large errors always existed when single distribution model is used for analysis and modelling. therefore, a bathtub-shaped reliability model based on piecewise intensity function was proposed for repairable system. parameter estimation was studied by using maximum likelihood method in conjunction with two-stage weibull process interval estimation and artificial bee ... | 2016 | 27833830 |
| body size phenology in a regional bee fauna: a temporal extension of bergmann's rule. | bergmann's rule originally described a positive relationship between body size and latitude in warm-blooded animals. larger animals, with a smaller surface/volume ratio, are better enabled to conserve heat in cooler climates (thermoregulatory hypothesis). studies on endothermic vertebrates have provided support for bergmann's rule, whereas studies on ectotherms have yielded conflicting results. if the thermoregulatory hypothesis is correct, negative relationships between body size and temperatur ... | 2016 | 27758035 |
| beneficial microorganisms for honey bees: problems and progresses. | nowadays, honey bees are stressed by a number of biotic and abiotic factors which may compromise to some extent the pollination service and the hive productivity. the eu ban of antibiotics as therapeutic agents against bee pathogens has stimulated the search for natural alternatives. the increasing knowledge on the composition and functions of the bee gut microbiota and the link between a balanced gut microbiota and health status have encouraged the research on the use of gut microorganisms to i ... | 2016 | 27717968 |
| melittin ameliorates cvb3-induced myocarditis via activation of the hdac2-mediated gsk-3β/nrf2/are signaling pathway. | viral myocarditis (vmc) is characterized as an inflammatory process of the myocardium and can be fatal in infants and children. melittin is a major polypeptide in honey bee venom that has been traditionally used against inflammation. however, its effect on vmc and the underlying molecular mechanism has not been reported. in this study, balb/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with cvb3 to build a vmc model and treated with melittin. the results showed that melittin increased the mice's body w ... | 2016 | 27693786 |
| adult pollen diet essential for egg maturation by a solitary osmia bee. | reproduction is a nutritionally costly activity for many insects, as their eggs are rich in lipids and proteins. that cost seems especially acute for non-social bees, which for their size, lay enormous eggs. all adult female bees visit flowers, most of them to collect pollen and nectar, or sometimes oils, to feed their progeny. for adult bees, the need for pollen feeding has only been detailed for the honey bee, apis mellifera. to experimentally test for the reproductive value of adult pollen fe ... | 2016 | 27659135 |
| inter-individual variation in nutrient balancing in the honeybee (apis mellifera). | the geometric framework approach in nutritional ecology postulates that animals attempt to balance the consumption of different nutrients rather than simply maximizing energetic gain. the intake target with respect to each nutrient maximizes fitness in a specific dimension and any difference between individuals in intake target therefore represents alternative behavioral and fitness maximization strategies. nutritional interactions are a central component of all social groups and any inter-indiv ... | 2016 | 27614177 |
| is the late hypersensitivity reaction in nephritic syndrome following multiple bee stings dosedependent? | 2016 | 26825226 | |
| season and landscape composition affect pollen foraging distances and habitat use of honey bees. | honey bees (apis mellifera l.) show a large variation in foraging distances and use a broad range of plant species as pollen resources, even in regions with intensive agriculture. however, it is unknown how increasing areas of mass-flowering crops like oilseed rape (brassica napus; osr) or a decrease of seminatural habitats (snh) change the temporal and spatial availability of pollen resources for honey bee colonies, and thus foraging distances and frequency in different habitat types. we studie ... | 2016 | 27755712 |
| metabolomic profiling of the effects of melittin on cisplatin resistant and cisplatin sensitive ovarian cancer cells using mass spectrometry and biolog microarray technology. | in the present study, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (lc-ms) was employed to characterise the metabolic profiles of two human ovarian cancer cell lines a2780 (cisplatin-sensitive) and a2780cr (cisplatin-resistant) in response to their exposure to melittin, a cytotoxic peptide from bee venom. in addition, the metabolomics data were supported by application of biolog microarray technology to examine the utilisation of carbon sources by the two cell lines. data extraction with mzmine 2.14 ... | 2016 | 27754384 |
| variations in lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury concentrations during honeybee wax processing using casting technology. | beeswax foundations are a necessary material in intensive modern beekeeping. heavy metals can accumulate in these foundations for decades, as it is a common beekeeping practice to recycle wax. beeswax samples were analysed using gfaas for as, cd, pb, and hg concentrations during the production of beeswax foundations using casting technology with a prolonged cooling and sedimentation phase. significant differences were determined in the concentrations of as, cd, pb (p<0.01, all), and hg (p<0.05) ... | 2016 | 27749267 |
| acute extensive anterior st elevation myocardial infarction following bee sting: a rare report of kounis syndrome in lad territory. | herein we report a case of extensive anterior myocardial infarction (mi) after bee sting, in 57-year-old man who had no known risk factors for coronary artery disease (cad). | 2016 | 27747172 |
| the circuitry of olfactory projection neurons in the brain of the honeybee, apis mellifera. | in the honeybee brain, two prominent tracts - the medial and the lateral antennal lobe tract - project from the primary olfactory center, the antennal lobes (als), to the central brain, the mushroom bodies (mbs), and the protocerebral lobe (pl). intracellularly stained uniglomerular projection neurons were reconstructed, registered to the 3d honeybee standard brain atlas, and then used to derive the spatial properties and quantitative morphology of the neurons of both tracts. we evaluated putati ... | 2016 | 27746723 |
| effects of emollient containing bee venom on atopic dermatitis: a double-blinded, randomized, base-controlled, multicenter study of 136 patients. | atopic dermatitis (ad) is a common, complex disease that follows a chronic relapsing course and significantly affects the quality of life of patients. skin barrier dysfunction and inflammatory processes induce and aggravate this skin condition. proper use of an emollient for hydration is a keystone of ad treatment. bee venom is known to have anti-inflammatory effects and has been widely used in traditional medicine to treat various inflammatory disorders. | 2016 | 27746639 |
| differential gene expression underlying ovarian phenotype determination in honey bee, apis mellifera l., caste development. | adult honey bee queens and workers drastically differ in ovary size. this adult ovary phenotype difference becomes established during the final larval instar, when massive programmed cell death leads to the degeneration of 95-99% of the ovariole anlagen in workers. the higher juvenile hormone (jh) levels in queen larvae protect the ovaries against such degeneration. to gain insights into the molecular architecture underlying this divergence critical for adult caste fate and worker sterility, we ... | 2016 | 27720811 |
| cape suppresses migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells via activation of non-canonical wnt signaling. | prostate cancer (pca) was the fifth most common cancer overall in the world. more than 80% of patients died from pca developed bone metastases. caffeic acid phenethyl ester (cape) is a main bioactive component of honeybee hive propolis. transwell and wound healing assays demonstrated that cape treatment suppressed the migration and invasion of pc-3 and du-145 pca cells. gelatin zymography and western blotting indicated that cape treatment reduced the abundance and activity of mmp-9 and mmp-2. an ... | 2016 | 27191743 |
| preliminary investigation of mineral content of pollen collected from different serbian maize hybrids - is there any potential nutritional value? | bee pollen has already proved to be a good supplement rich in iron and zinc. studies on the application of flower pollen in the food industry and medicine have begun. bearing in mind the prevalence of maize as a crop culture, its pollen will be easily available. the mineral composition of pollen of seven serbian maize hybrids was analyzed in order to establish its nutritional value and the benefits of its implementation in the human diet using the inductively coupled plasma method. | 2016 | 27778338 |
| the proportion of impervious surfaces at the landscape scale structures wild bee assemblages in a densely populated region. | given the predicted expansion of cities throughout the world, understanding the effect of urbanization on bee fauna is a major issue for the conservation of bees. the aim of this study was to understand how urbanization affects wild bee assemblages along a gradient of impervious surfaces and to determine the influence of landscape composition and floral resource availability on these assemblages. we chose 12 sites with a proportion of impervious surfaces (soil covered by parking, roads, and buil ... | 2016 | 27777733 |
| honeybees learn landscape features during exploratory orientation flights. | exploration is an elementary and fundamental form of learning about the structure of the world [1-3]. little is known about what exactly is learned when an animal seeks to become familiar with the environment. navigating animals explore the environment for safe return to an important place (e.g., a nest site) and to travel between places [4]. flying central-place foragers like honeybees (apis mellifera) extend their exploration into distances from which the features of the nest cannot be directl ... | 2016 | 27693138 |
| microglomerular synaptic complexes in the sky-compass network of the honeybee connect parallel pathways from the anterior optic tubercle to the central complex. | while the ability of honeybees to navigate relying on sky-compass information has been investigated in a large number of behavioral studies, the underlying neuronal system has so far received less attention. the sky-compass pathway has recently been described from its input region, the dorsal rim area (dra) of the compound eye, to the anterior optic tubercle (aotu). the aim of this study is to reveal the connection from the aotu to the central complex (cx). for this purpose, we investigated the ... | 2016 | 27774056 |
| evaluating a filtering and recirculating system to reduce dust drift in simulated sowing of dressed seed and abraded dust particle characteristics. | the pneumatic precision drills used in maize sowing can release dust owing to abrasion of dressed seed; the drift of dust containing insecticide active ingredients is harmful to honey bees. therefore, we developed a device for drills that uses partial recirculation and filtration of the air by means of an antipollen and an electrostatic filter. | 2016 | 27607021 |
| diet-related gut bacterial dysbiosis correlates with impaired development, increased mortality and nosema disease in the honeybee (apis mellifera). | dysbiosis, defined as unhealthy shifts in bacterial community composition, can lower the colonization resistance of the gut to intrinsic pathogens. here, we determined the effect of diet age and type on the health and bacterial community composition of the honeybee (apis mellifera). we fed newly emerged bees fresh or aged diets, and then recorded host development and bacterial community composition from four distinct regions of the hosts' digestive tract. feeding fresh pollen or fresh substitute ... | 2016 | 27717118 |
| contextual organismality: beyond pattern to process in the emergence of organisms. | biologists have taken the concept of organism largely for granted. however, advances in the study of chimerism, symbiosis, bacterial-eukaryote associations, and microbial behavior have prompted a redefinition of organisms as biological entities exhibiting low conflict and high cooperation among their parts. this expanded view identifies organisms in evolutionary time. however, the ecological processes, mechanisms, and traits that drive the formation of organisms remain poorly understood. recogni ... | 2016 | 27704542 |
| beekeeping practices and geographic distance, not land use, drive gene flow across tropical bees. | across the globe, wild bees are threatened by ongoing natural habitat loss, risking the maintenance of plant biodiversity and agricultural production. despite the ecological and economic importance of wild bees and the fact that several species are now managed for pollination services worldwide, little is known about how land use and beekeeping practices jointly influence gene flow. using stingless bees as a model system, containing wild and managed species that are presumed to be particularly s ... | 2016 | 27662098 |
| molecular diagnosis and immunotherapy. | to describe recent insights into how molecular diagnosis can improve indication and selection of suitable allergens for specific immunotherapy and increase the safety of this therapy. | 2016 | 27685663 |
| identifying bacterial predictors of honey bee health. | non-targeted approaches are useful tools to identify new or emerging issues in bee health. here, we utilise next generation sequencing to highlight bacteria associated with healthy and unhealthy honey bee colonies, and then use targeted methods to screen a wider pool of colonies with known health status. our results provide the first evidence that bacteria from the genus arsenophonus are associated with poor health in honey bee colonies. we also discovered lactobacillus and leuconostoc spp. were ... | 2016 | 27818181 |
| chrysin promotes attenuation of depressive-like behavior and hippocampal dysfunction resulting from olfactory bulbectomy in mice. | chrysin is a natural flavonoid which is found in bee propolis, honey and various plants, and antidepressant-like effect of chrysin in chronically stressed mice was previously demonstrated by our group. in this work, we investigated the action of chrysin treatment (5 or 20 mg/kg) for 14 days in the depressant-like behavior and in the hippocampal dysfunction induced by olfactory bulbectomy (ob), an animal model of agitated depression. results demonstrated that ob occasioned a depressant-like behav ... | 2016 | 27818124 |
| fine scale population genetic structure of varroa destructor, an ectoparasitic mite of the honey bee (apis mellifera). | varroa destructor is an obligate ectoparasitic mite and the most important biotic threat currently facing honey bees (apis mellifera). we used neutral microsatellites to analyze previously unreported fine scale population structure of v. destructor, a species characterized by extreme lack of genetic diversity owing to multiple bottleneck events, haplodiploidy, and primarily brother-sister matings. our results surprisingly indicate that detectable hierarchical genetic variation exists between api ... | 2016 | 27812229 |
| distance between honey bee apis mellifera colonies regulates populations of varroa destructor at a landscape scale. | inter-colony distance of apis mellifera significantly affects colony numbers of the parasitic mite varroa destructor. we set up 15 apiaries, each consisting of two colonies. each apiary pair was assigned an inter-colony distance of 0, 10, or 100 m. colonies were rendered nearly mite-free, then one colony in each pair was seeded with 300 female mites (mite-donor colony), while the other remained uninoculated (mite-recipient colony). after four months of monitoring, a whole model analysis showed t ... | 2016 | 27812228 |