The early detection of pandemic influenza strains is a key factor for clinicians in treatment decisions and infection control practices. The aims of this study were to determine the analytical sensitivity and clinical performance of the commercially available influenza rapid tests in Taiwan. Four rapid tests for influenza virus (BinaxNow test, QuickVue test, TRU test, and Formosa Rapid test) we...

A total of 22 specimens of whiting Merlangius merlangus (L.) (Teleostei, Gadidae) from the northern Øresund, Denmark were examined for Myxosporea. Zschokkella hildae Auerbach, 1910 (Myxidiidae), Gadimyxa sp. (Parvicapsulidae) and a species of Bipteria occurred in the renal tubules of 9%, 18% and 68% whiting, respectively. Immature spores of the Bipteria species are very similar to spores of Myx...

Unisexual–bisexual mating complexes are found when an all female sperm-dependent (gynogenetic or hybridogenetic) species relies on heterospecific males for reproduction. Mistakes in species recognition or discrimination on the part of the males are fundamental for the persistence of unisexual–bisexual mating systems, but should be selected against because mating with heterospecific females does...

Many freshwater and marine algal species are described as having cosmopolitan distributions. Whether these widely distributed morphologically similar algae also share a similar gene pool remains often unclear. In the context of island biogeography theory, stronger spatial isolation deemed typical of freshwater lakes should restrict gene flow and lead to higher genetic differentiation among lake...

Two new species of Encarsia flavoscutellum-group, E. baoshana Li & Geng, sp. n. and E. longchuana Li & Geng, sp. n. are described from China, and photomicrographs are provided to illustrate morphological characters of the new species. A key to all six described species of the E. flavoscutellum-group is given.

THE FLORAS of Formosa and the Philippines are, in spite of the ir geographic proximity , distinctive in their general nature. The tw<? regions wereseparated by the Formosan rift (the Bashi Channel), probably in the early Tertiary, long' before their connections with other respective neighboring areas were severed. Thus the bulk of the Formosan flora was derived from China or from other floras t...