Resumen La eficacia de la mayoría de los insecticidas sintéticos contra Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) se ha visto comprometida debido al comportamiento alimentario críptico de éste insecto. Es por ello que existe una necesidad imperiosa de buscar otros enfoques de manejo efectivos y ecológicos para combatir esta plaga. Se evaluó la susceptibilidad del 2do y 4to estadio de la fase larvaria de C. partellus frente a Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Bt-k) (Berliner) y Metarhizium anisopliae (Mechnikov) en un entorno controlado. Se trató a las larvas con tratamientos individuales y combinados de una dosis única de B. thuringiensis (Bt: 0,75 µg/g) y tres concentraciones de conidios de M. anisopliae (1x104, 1x106 y 1x108 conidios/ml). La aplicación individual e integrada de ambos entomopatógenos afectó de manera significativa la mortalidad, la pupación, la emergencia de adultos, la micosis y la esporulación de estadios larvales de C. partellus. La máxima mortalidad se registró (2do: 94,63%) y (4to: 91,43%) cuando las larvas fueron sometidas a aplicaciones combinadas de M. anisopliae (1x108 conidios/ml) y B. thuringiensis (0,75 µg/g). El mismo tratamiento integrado también provocó una disminución significativa de la pupación (2do: 0,00% y 4to: 6,66%) y de la emergencia de adultos (2do: 0,00% y 4to: 0,00%) de C. partellus en comparación con el resto de los tratamientos experimentales. Además, se registró una tasa significativamente mayor de micosis y esporulación en ambas fases larvarias (2do: 88,52% y 143,96 conidios/ml) y (4to: 82,04% y 131,85 conidios/ml), cuando se expusieron a una concentración individual menor de M. anisopliae (1×104 conidios/ml). Los resultados actuales sugieren que la aplicación integrada de M. anisopliae y B. thuringiensis podría ser una táctica ecológica viable para el control de C. partellus.

Abstract Milk is a nutritious perishable product having a short shelf-life owing to the occurrence of spoilage bacteria in it. This has led to an increasing demand for ensuring safety through milk processing. Conventional techniques (such as heat treatment) increase shelf-life but damage the nutritional and sensory qualities of milk. Hence, there is a need to develop innovative, nonthermal processing techniques that increase the shelf-life while preserving its nutritional quality. This review focuses on the recent advances in assuring microbial safety of milk by using nonthermal techniques such as high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, ultraviolet irradiation and membrane microfiltration.

ABSTRACT This molecular epidemiological study was designed to determine the antimalarial drug resistance pattern, and the genetic diversity of malaria isolates collected from a war-altered Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), in Pakistan. Clinical isolates were collected from Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai and Kurram agencies of FATA region between May 2017 and May 2018, and they underwent DNA extraction and amplification. The investigation of gene polymorphisms in drug resistance genes (dhfr, dhps, crt, and mdr1) of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax was carried out by pyrosequencing and Sanger sequencing, respectively. Out of 679 PCR-confirmed malaria samples, 523 (77%) were P. vivax, 121 (18%) P. falciparum, and 35 (5%) had mixed-species infections. All P. falciparum isolates had pfdhfr double mutants (C59R+S108N), while pfdhfr/pfdhps triple mutants (C59R+S108N+A437G) were detected in 11.5% of the samples. About 97.4% of P. falciparum isolates contained pfcrt K76T mutation, while pfmdr1 N86Y and Y184F mutations were present in 18.2% and 10.2% of the samples. P. vivax pvdhfr S58R mutation was present in 24.9% of isolates and the S117N mutation in 36.2%, while no mutation in the pvdhps gene was found. Pvmdr1 F1076L mutation was found in nearly all samples, as it was observed in 98.9% of isolates. No significant anti-folate and chloroquine resistance was observed in P. vivax; however, mutations associated with antifolate-resistance were found, and the chloroquine-resistant gene has been observed in 100% of P. falciparum isolates. Chloroquine and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance were found to be high in P. falciparum and low in P. vivax. Chloroquine could still be used for P. vivax infection but need to be tested in vivo, whereas a replacement of the artemisinin combination therapy for P. falciparum appears to be justified.