Insect repellents are important prophylactic tools for travelers and populations living in endemic areas of malaria, dengue, encephalitis, and other vector-borne diseases. DEET (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) is a 6-decade-old synthetic repellent, which is still considered the gold standard of mosquito repellents. Mosquitoes use their sense of smell to detect DEET, but there are currently two h...

A transparent coating that repels a wide variety of liquids, prevents staining, is capable of self-repair and is robust towards mechanical damage can have a broad technological impact, from solar cell coatings to self-cleaning optical devices. Here we employ colloidal templating to design transparent, nanoporous surface structures. A lubricant can be firmly locked into the structures and, owing...

This work demonstrates that deltamethrin in low doses produces an excito-repellency effect on triatomines, as already observed for mosquitoes. A wooden box covered with a cloth impregnated with deltamethrin at doses of 2.5 and 5mg ai/m2 was utilized for the experiment. The triatomine species studied were Triatoma infestans, Panstrongylus megistus, Rhodnius neglectus and Triatoma sordida. Adults...

J. Med. Entomol. 37(6): 919-923 (2000) ABSTRACT Repellent efficacy of N,N-diethyl-3-methyl-benzamide (deet), the piperidine, 1-[3cyclohexen-1-ylcarbonyl] -2-methylpiperidine (AI3-37220), and a 1:l ratio of deet + AI3-37220 were evaluated topically (0.25 mglcm’ applied in ethanol solution) on human volunteers against the mosquito Aed+z.s communis (DeGeer) and the black fly Simulium. venusturn Sa...

Bacteria can survive harsh conditions when growing in complex communities of cells known as biofilms. The matrix of the biofilm presents a scaffold where cells are attached to each other and to the surface. The biofilm matrix is also a protective barrier that confers tolerance against various antimicrobial agents. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, Kobayashi and Iwano (2012) show that the...

The contamination of soil with petroleum products is a major environmental problem. Petroleum products are common soil contaminants as a result of human activities, and they are causing substantial changes in the biological (particularly microbiological) processes, chemical composition, structure and physical properties of soil. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of soil ...

Two new field bioassay methods were developed to compare the repellent activity of BioUD(®) (containing 7.75% 2-undecanone), 98.1% DEET and 0.5% permethrin against natural populations of nymphal Amblyomma americanum (L.) (Acari: Ixodidae). In a cloth sheet assay, pieces of material measuring 41 × 58 cm, separately treated with one of the test materials or the appropriate solvent carrier, were p...

This study compared the behavioral avoidance responses of 4 mosquito malaria vectors, Anopheles minimus, Anopheles dirus, Anopheles maculatus form B, and Anopheles swadiwongporni, to deltamethrin, the primary insecticide used for indoor residual spraying for malaria vector control in Thailand. Six test populations. representing 4 laboratory colonies and 2 wild-caught populations, were observed ...