http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. University of Florida researchers at work on a malaria elimination study in Africa have become the first to predict the spread of the disease using cell phone records. http://www.physorg.com/news180191317.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:09:16 EST news180191317 Shrink a human being down to the size of an insect, and you would no longer be able to sip lemonade from a straw. The forces that hold liquid together would simply be too great to overcome at that tiny scale. http://www.physorg.com/news179688348.html Biology Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:26:33 EST news179688348 Malaria parasites are able to disguise themselves to avoid the host's immune system, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust and published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news178819230.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:30:01 EST news178819230 A mathematical model has explained some of the remarkable features of mosquito hearing. In particular, the male can hear the faintest beats of the female's wings and yet is not deafened by loud noises. http://www.physorg.com/news177918117.html Other Sciences Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:42:41 EST news177918117 The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), the release of sexually sterile male insects to wipe out a pest population, is one suggested solution to the problem of malaria in Africa. A new supplement, published in BioMed Central's open access Malaria Journal, reviews the history of the technique, and features details about aspects of its application in the elimination of malaria. http://www.physorg.com/news177593468.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:33:24 EST news177593468 Research published this week in PLoS Medicine demonstrates associations between local rainfall and temperature and cases of dengue fever, which affects an estimated fifty million people per year worldwide. But the study finds little evidence that the El Niņo-Southern Oscillation - the climate cycle that occurs every three to four years as a result of the warming of the oceans in the eastern Pacific - has a significant impact on the incidence of dengue in Mexico, Puerto Rico or Thailand. http://www.physorg.com/news177579402.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:12:24 EST news177579402 In a novel approach at disseminating scientific research, the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI) will hold a web summit to release the latest breakthroughs in malaria research, including new approaches to boosting mosquito immunity to malaria, mapping mosquito migrations, and the promise of a rapid sputum test that could revolutionize the way malaria is tracked and tested for in rural areas, which are hotbeds for the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news177253313.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:20:01 EST news177253313 Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus and other life-threatening diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news175795826.html Chemistry Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:15:25 EST news175795826 Women who lived in villages sprayed with DDT to reduce malaria gave birth to 33 per cent more baby boys with urogenital birth defects (UGBD) between 2004 and 2006 than women in unsprayed villages, according to research published online by the UK-based urology journal BJUI. http://www.physorg.com/news175514081.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:55:43 EST news175514081 Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) have charted the extreme genetic differences that occur over time in the most dangerous malaria parasite in the world. While there is no approved vaccine for malaria, various experimental vaccines are in development. The CVD study suggests that developing a broadly protective vaccine for malaria may be challenging because the parasite's genetic makeup is so variable, constantly changing. http://www.physorg.com/news174749720.html Medicine & Health Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:43:14 EST news174749720 Biopesticides containing a fungus that is pathogenic to mosquitoes may be an effective means of reducing malaria transmission, particularly if used in combination with insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), according to a modelling study conducted by Dr. Penelope Hancock from Imperial College London. Results of the study show that incorporating this novel vector control technique into existing vector management programmes may substantially reduce malaria transmission rates and help manage insecticide resistance. Details are published October 2 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news173696676.html Biology Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:20:03 EST news173696676 Infecting mosquitoes with a bacterial parasite could help prevent the spread of lymphatic filariasis, one of the major neglected tropical diseases of the developing world, according to research published today in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news173627112.html Biology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:30:01 EST news173627112 In areas where malaria mosquitoes have become resistant to chemical pesticides, mosquito-killing fungi can be an effective tool. Fungal spores can effectively infect and kill malaria mosquitoes, even those that are resistant to pesticides. Moreover, the mosquitoes become more susceptible to the pesticides as the fungal infection increases. Researchers from Wageningen University and their colleagues from South Africa have published an article on this effect in the prestigious journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) of this week. http://www.physorg.com/news173007435.html Chemistry Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:38:05 EST news173007435 University of Hawaii at Manoa assistant researcher Durrell Kapan recently published a paper, 'Man Bites Mosquito: Understanding the Contribution of Human Movement to Vector-Borne Disease Dynamics,' in PLoS One. Published August 26, the paper highlights how daily commuting patterns in mega-cities may be a critically overlooked factor in understanding the resurgence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, infecting 50-100 million people annually. http://www.physorg.com/news172493243.html Medicine & Health Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:00:06 EST news172493243 The tiny male bat didn't expect to wind up in a biologist's hand when he set out in search of a nighttime snack along Box Canyon Creek. http://www.physorg.com/news172483467.html Biology Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:40:02 EST news172483467 Trials of a screen-based malaria prevention programme in 500 homes in The Gambia, Africa, have led to a 50 per cent reduction in malaria transmission and anaemia in children. A child dies from malaria in Africa every 30 seconds and infection can lead to an increased risk of anaemia, which can also prove fatal. Yet to date, screens have often been ignored in favour of using drugs and insecticides. http://www.physorg.com/news171189375.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:36:41 EST news171189375 Seems like every week a species from somewhere else shows up in a new area and takes over, wreaking havoc. The latest hotspot: the Galapagos, where non-native mosquitoes are arriving via aircraft and tour boats. http://www.physorg.com/news170964606.html Biology Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:10:01 EST news170964606 It's a late summer afternoon and you're out on the patio having a glass of wine with friends. As the sun begins to set, you start to think about what's for dinner. http://www.physorg.com/news170684646.html Biology Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:26:20 EST news170684646 (PhysOrg.com) -- Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside working on fruit flies in the lab have discovered a novel class of compounds that could pave the way for developing inexpensive and safe mosquito repellents for combating West Nile virus and other deadly tropical diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news170512000.html Biology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:28:02 EST news170512000 To control mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, researchers need to look at the behavior of people, not just the insect that transmits the disease, according to new research by Steven Stoddard of the University of California, Davis, and intercollegiate colleagues. The study, published July 21 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, exhibits work by an international, multidisciplinary team of vector biologists, sociologists and virologists studying dengue in Iquitos, Peru. http://www.physorg.com/news167380740.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:20:02 EST news167380740 (PhysOrg.com) -- It's about mosquitoes killing mosquitoes. http://www.physorg.com/news166376447.html Biology Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:10:09 EST news166376447 (PhysOrg.com) -- In one of the most field-intensive efforts to explore the connection between malaria and tropical deforestation, a team led by Jonathan Patz, a specialist in the link between environment and health at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has established a strong correlation between the extent of forest destruction and the incidence of the Amazon's most dangerous malaria vector, the mosquito Anopheles darlingi. http://www.physorg.com/news165243302.html Medicine & Health Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:55:21 EST news165243302 (AP) -- Think your job's tedious? Try beheading 100 mosquitoes an hour. Gently, no smushing allowed. Malaria parasites lurk in these mosquitoes' salivary glands, and a small company on the outskirts of the nation's capital needs them unharmed for a dramatic test - attempting the first live vaccine to fight malaria. http://www.physorg.com/news163698349.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:46:10 EST news163698349 In a drama played out across the southeastern U.S. in containers as small as a coffee cup, native and invasive mosquito larvae compete for resources and try to avoid getting eaten. One of the invasive mosquitoes, the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), can carry dengue fever, a viral disease that sickens 50 to 100 million people a year in the tropics, so this seemingly inconsequential struggle has implications for human health. http://www.physorg.com/news163332110.html Biology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:02:19 EST news163332110 The Galapagos giant tortoise and other iconic wildlife are facing a new threat from disease, as some of the islands' mosquitoes develop a taste for reptile blood. http://www.physorg.com/news163096290.html Biology Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:32:07 EST news163096290 Sick people often lose their sense of smell and their appetite. If this happened to mosquitoes, they would not be able to feed on humans and spread malaria. A team of Penn State entomologists is looking for an insect disease that will infect mosquitoes and impair their sense of smell. http://www.physorg.com/news160921411.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:24:06 EST news160921411 A new study published online on May 7th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, has found the source of silkworms' attraction to mulberry leaves, their primary food source. A jasmine-scented chemical emitted in small quantities by the leaves triggers a single, highly tuned olfactory receptor in the silkworms' antennae, they show. http://www.physorg.com/news160921154.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:20:44 EST news160921154 (AP) -- The ProVector Bt may not look too much like a real flower, but the artificial device sports bright, finely tuned colors and sweet nectar that can lure and kill mosquitoes that potentially carry diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news160842732.html Technology Wed, 06 May 2009 15:32:45 EST news160842732 'Drought-proofing' Australia's urban regions by installing large domestic water tanks may enable the dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti to regain its foothold across the country and expand its range of possible infections, according to a new study published May 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news160724215.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 May 2009 06:37:32 EST news160724215 Dengue fever is a terrible viral disease blighting many of the world's tropical regions. Carried by mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, 40% of the world's population is believed to be at risk from the infection. What is more, previous exposure to other strains of the fever does not confer protection. In fact, subsequent infections are significantly worse, and can result in fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever. http://www.physorg.com/news160383165.html Biology Fri, 01 May 2009 07:53:39 EST news160383165