• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.79-82
• /
• 2012

Cat flea bite in humans results in extremely pruritic skin lesions. It has been reported to occur among those living in domiciliary accommodation. However, nosocomial infestation with cat flea has not been reported. We hereby report a case of nosocomial infestation of cat flea in a hospital facility. Identification of the parasite, its appropriate eradication, and adequate medical management of the patients resulted in a satisfactory outcome.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.145-149
• /
• 2010

Medically important arthropods, including fleas, play an important role in causing clinical disorders and disease in man and domestic animals. This study was conducted to determine the seasonal flea infestations for domestic dogs from different geographic regions of Iran. A total of 407 fleas, belonging to 5 different species, were recovered from 83 domestic dogs from 3 regions. There was a distinctive pattern of species distribution and infestations with the highest infestation rates observed in a temperate climate and higher rainfall. Additionally, fleas were observed over all seasons, except February and March, with the highest infestation rate observed in August (24.7%) and the lowest rate in January (1.7%). They also parasitize dogs with a different spectrum of species. The cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis (67.5%), exhibited the highest prevalence among all flea species found on dogs. Thus, climatic conditions and seasonal patterns impact on flea infestation and must be considered in developing control programs.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.425-432
• /
• 2007

The water flea has been used as a test organism of toxicity test for surface water. Toxicity test with water flea is categorized into two parts. One is acute toxicity test with observing immobility and mortality and the other is chronic toxicity test determined by survival and reproduction of water flea. Heartbeat measurement of water flea was designed as a short-term toxicity test in this study. Direct measurement of heartbeat under microscope by aid of video camera gives and early diagnosis of mortality in short time. Therefore, the effects of measuring illumination, measuring time, and non-feeding during the test on heartbeat of water flea was evaluated to establish a new test approach. Test organisms used in this study are Daphnia magna, a well standardizes toxicity test organism, and Simocephalus mixtus, a newly refined organism $IC_{50}$ values of these test organism by heartbeat measurement were compared and discussed. It was found that toxicity test by heartbeat measurement was a reproducible, easy and simple method accomplished in a few hours.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.203-209
• /
• 2012

We investigated the effect on dietary EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) source (EP) into formulated diets for growth of brackish flea, Diaphanosoma celebensis. The highest density and specific growth rate (SGR) of brackish fleas were observed on Tetraselmis suecica (TE) trial, but these of trial were not significantly differed with that of Chlorella (CH) + Crypthecodinium sp. (CR) + EP trial, contained EPA oil (P>0.05). Contrastively, CH trial showed the lowest SGR. And in the RNA/DNA ratio, 0.08 of TE trial was the highest ratio out of whole trials, but the trial not significantly differed with that of CH + CR + EP trial (P>0.05). But, the ratio of CH trial was the lowest ratio at 0.05 out of whole trials (P<0.05). Through out results, the EPA source for flea culture was showed a positive effect through their growth and SGR. Therefore, we suggested that a usage of the source with CH could replace T. suecica as good diet for culture of the brackish flea.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.78-86
• /
• 2023

Here, upon acute (96 h) and chronic (14 days) exposure, ingestion of polystyrene NPs (100 nm) and physiological, biochemical, and cholinergic modulations were analyzed in the water flea Moina macrocopa exposed to different concentrations (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 ㎍ l^-1). Exposed NPs were observed in the internal organs (e.g., digestive tract and foregut) of the water flea. Chronic exposure to the relatively high concentrations resulted in significant decreases in survival, body length, and the total number of molts, whereas reproduction parameter was not affected. Significant increase in oxidative stress biomarker (malondialdehyde) and decrease in the intracellular content of endogenous antioxidant (glutathione) and enzymatic activity of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione S-transferase) were detected in response to relatively high concentrations of NPs. Transcriptional expression of the hsp70 gene was increased in response to relatively high concentrations of NPs, whereas acetylcholinesterase activity was lowered by the same concentrations of NPs. Taken together, NPs exposure would be a significant modulator on physiological and biochemical metabolism of water flea.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.911-921
• /
• 2015

We evaluated two herbal plants, basil (Ocimum basilicum) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), for their potential as repellent plants in the management of striped flea beetle (Phyllotreta striolata), in organic production of chinese cabbage. It was confirmed that striped flea beetle avoided these two herbal plants in olfactometer experiment. We conducted field experiment in which the suppressive effect of the two selected herbal plants and cruciferous crops preferred by striped flea beetle were evaluated through cultivating as inter crops and border crops, respectively. In inter-cropping experiment, unlike in vitro test, the density of striped flea beetle was low in basil- or mustard-intercropping cultivation plot, but high in lemon balm-intercropping cultivation plot. In border cropping experiment, the density of striped flea beetle on chinese cabbage in lemon balm or basil cultivation plot were approximately zero. As a result of this study, we think that border cropping of lemon balm or basil can be used to reduce preventively striped flea beetle of chinese cabbage under organic farming system.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.136-142
• /
• 2013

In nature, many small insects are using jumping as a survival strategy. Among them, fleas jump in a unique method. They use an elastomer, 'Resilin', an extensor muscle and a trigger muscle. By contracting the extensor muscle, the elastic energy, that makes a flea to jump, is stored in the resilin. After storing energy, the trigger muscle begins contracting and pulling the extensor muscle. When the extensor muscle crosses the rotational joint, direction of torque generated from the extensor muscle reverses, 'torque reversal mechanism'. Simultaneously, the elastic energy stored in the resilin releases rapidly and is converted into the kinetic energy. It makes a flea to jump 150 times its body length. In this paper, miniaturized jumping robot using flea-inspired catapult mechanism is presented. This mechanism is based on the 4-bar linkage and the reversal joint and is actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) coiled springs describing the flea's muscle. The robot prototype is fabricated by SCM process using glass fiber prepregs and a sheet of polyimide film. The prototype is 20mm link length, 34mm width and 2.0g weight and can jump 103cm.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.92-96
• /
• 2006

Hardware for monitoring the water quality using water fleas is developed. Water flea is a frequently used biological sensor for monitoring the water quality. Water fleas quickly respond to the incoming toxic water by changing their activity when they are exposed. By measuring the activity of water fleas, the incoming toxic water is instantly detected. So far the measurement of activity of water fleas has been done with a system equipped with both a light source of LED and a light detector of photo transistor. Water flea itself is, however, sensitive to light resulting in incorrect response and the system has two inconvenient separate parts of the light source and the detector. This paper suggests a system using a CCD camera instead of a light source and a detector. The suggested system processes the image data from the CCD camera in real time without any delay. The developed system becomes a part of the remote water monitoring embedded system.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.30-37
• /
• 2007

Hardware for monitoring the water quality is developed using water fleas. Water flea is a frequently used biological sensor for monitoring the water quality. Water fleas quickly respond to the incoming toxic water by changing their activity when they are exposed. By measuring the activity of water fleas, the incoming toxic water is instantly detected in real time. So far the measurement of activity of water fleas has been done with a system equipped with a light source of LED and a light detector of photo transistor. Water flea itself is, however, sensitive to light resulting in incorrect response and the system has two inconvenient separate parts of the light source and the detector. This paper suggests a system using a CCD camera instead of a light source and a detector. The suggested system processes the image data from the CCD camera in real time without any delay. The developed system becomes a part of the remote water monitoring embedded system.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.131-138
• /
• 2010

This study determined the optimum microalgae species and concentration for the brackish water flea, Diaphanosoma celebensis, in individual and community cultures by feeding it several different diets. Six single trials (Tetraselmis suecica, Isochrysis galbana, marine Chlorella ellipsoidea, freshwater Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus sp., Selenastrum sp.) were conducted at 10 psu and $30^{\circ}C$. The community and individual cultures of the water flea were performed in 1-L beakers and 3-mL vessels (12-well culture plates), respectively. In the community cultures, the maximum density and specific growth rate were highest for water fleas fed T. suecica, reaching 60.0 individuals (ind.)/mL and 0.40, respectively. In the individual cultures, the most offspring and greatest life span of females were 56.9 ind. and 24.3 days, respectively, in the T. suecica trial. By contrast, diets of Scenedesmus sp. and Selenastrum sp. resulted in poor growth rates. In the T. suecica experiments examining a range of 10 to $200\times10^3$ cells/indl. the specific growth rate of the water flea tended to increase with the amount of supplement, while the life span decreased. The maximum density and number of offspring of females was highest at 53.5 ind./mL and 38.8 ind. respectively, at 40,000 cells/ind. These results suggest that the best microalgae species for the mass culture of D. celebensis is T. suecica and the optimum concentration is 40,000 cells per individual.