: In recent years, there have been numerousreports of species of invasive predatory flatworms(Geoplanidae) across several islands of the Caribbean.Terrestrial planarians and their cocoons are believed tobe dispersed to new territories mainly through planttrades; the worms/cocoons may be accidentallytransmitted in the soil of potted plants or within thefoliage. The exotic terrestrial flatworm, Bipaliumkewense, was first reported in Jamaica in 1897 [1]. Later,the suspected sightings of Platydemus manokwari andBipalium vagum [2] were documented, in 2019 and 2020,respectively. Terrestrial flatworms were collected as partof a wider study of the epidemiology and transmission ofzoonotic parasite, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, inJamaica.
Brookhaven National Laboratory delivers discovery science and transformative technology to power and secure the nation’s future. Primarily supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science, Brookhaven Lab is a multidisciplinary laboratory with seven Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, 37 R&D 100 Awards, and more than 70 years of pioneering research. The laboratory is open to users from all countries and areas of STEM. The workshop will give an introduction to the capabilities of the laboratory, how to access facilities and collaboration tips for working with BNL scientists.
Benzylideneanilines, the condensation products of benzaldehyde and aniline derivatives, have enjoyed significant success as optical metal ion sensors due to their ability to form stable metal complexes which exhibit distinct spectral features compared to the unbound compound. However, their use in aqueous media is limited by the hydrolytic susceptibility of the C=N moiety. Hence, an in-depth investigation into the hydrolytic degradation mechanism of a series of 2-aminophenol derived Nbenzylideneanilines was conducted wherein molecular modelling techniques were applied to elucidate the “step-by-step” transformation mechanism of these compounds from a fundamental perspective.
The goal of harnessing our biodiversity to bring health and wealth to the people living in the Caribbean Region got a boost recently courtesy of a 2016 IUCN project entitled ‘Advancing the Nagoya Protocol in Countries of the Caribbean Region’ that had five components. This project was commissioned by eight governments (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago) with GEF funding, had UNEP as its Implementing Agency and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the Executing Agency.
Vector-borne diseases have since the 17th century been the leading cause of death by disease more than any other causes combined, even preventing development in the tropics (Gubler 1998). Of all insect vectors, Aedes aegypti proves to be the deadliest as it is the primary vector of the four most notorious vector-borne diseases – chikungunya (chik-V), Zika (Zik-V), dengue fever and yellow fever viruses. Control of the spread of Aedesborne diseases is primarily reliant on the control of the vector responsible for their spread. Traditionally, vector control relied on environmental hygiene and the elimination of breeding sites (Gubler 1998), shifting only in the 1980s to the use of synthetic chemicals in the form of carbamate, organochloride, organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides (Norris, et al. 2015). However, the evolution of Aedes aegypti resistance to synthetic chemicals have made control of the spread of the vector and its diseases increasingly difficult. This led to the exploration of innovative and alternative methods in the control of Aedes aegypti.
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