BACKGROUND Worldwide particularly in developing countries, a large proportion of the population is at risk for tropical parasitic diseases. Several medicinal plants are still used traditionally against protozoal infections in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Thus the present study investigated the in vitro antiprotozoal activity of twenty-five plants collected from the Arabian Peninsula. METHODS Plant...

In many animal species, the propensity for aggression is linked to social context. In social insects, aggressive interactions between colonies are related to the assessment of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles. We investigated how, in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, an individual ant's task environment contributes to its hydrocarbon profile, and how task-specific differences in profi...

A new instrument for the recording of leaf movement rhythm is described. Coleus blumei x C. frederici, a short day plant, exhibits a circadian rhythm of leaf movement. The period length of the free running rhythm is shortest in continuous darkness and is increased with an increase in the light intensity. The amplitude of the rhythm tends to damp in continuous bright light.

Anti-mycobacterial bioactivity of non polar compounds from Coleus atropurpureus L. Benth was carried out. An cyclic ester terpenoid, 2’, 5’-dimethyl benzopelargonolactone has been isolated from the chloroform fraction from the leaves of Coleus atropurpureus L. Benth, and its structure was determined by spectroscopic evidences including FTIR and 2D NMR and compared to previous data. The in vitro...

The flowering response of Coleus frederici and Coleus blumei x C. frederici is dependent on the photoperiod; both plants have a critical day length of about 12 hr. The inductive phase, defined as the period when light signals inhibit floral development, started 10 hr after the onset of darkness under 4 and 8-hr photoperiods, and 8 hr after the onset of darkness under a 12-hr photoperiod. Howeve...

The influence of environmental variables (oceanographic and climatic) on the catch rates striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus) by artisanal fishery was investigated using different time series models (Dynamic Factorial Analyses; Min-Max Analyses Generalized Least Square models). Climatic oceanographic survey data were collected at areas Portuguese coast (Northwestern, Southwestern South-Algarv...