Phyto-thermotherapy is a treatment consisting in immersing oneself in baths of self-heating alpine grass, to benefit of the heat and rich aromatic components released by the process. The aim of this study was to characterize the bacterial and fungal diversity of three phyto-thermal baths (PTB) performed in three different months, and to compare the data with the profile of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the process. All the data collected showed that PTBs were structured in two stages the first three days were characterised by an exponential rise of the temperature, a fast bacterial development, higher microbial diversity and higher concentrations of plant aliphatic hydrocarbons. The second stage was characterised by a stable high temperature, shrinkage of the microbial diversity with a predominance of few bacterial and fungi species and higher concentrations of volatiles of microbial origin. Erwinia was the dominant microbial species during the first stage and probably responsible of the self-heating process. In conclusion, PTBs has shown both similarities with common self-heating processes and important peculiarities such as the absence of pathogenic bacteria and the dominance of plant terpenoids with health characteristics among the VOCs confirming the evidence of beneficial effects in particular in the first three days.In long-term individual-based field studies, several parameters need to be assessed repeatedly to fully understand the potential fitness effects on individuals. Often studies only evaluate capture stress that appears in the immediate weeks or breeding season and even long-term studies fail to evaluate the long-term effects of their capture procedures. We investigated effects of long-term repeated capture and handling of individuals in a large semi-aquatic rodent using more than 20 years of monitoring data from a beaver population in Norway. To investigate the effects, we corrected for ecological factors and analysed the importance of total capture and handling events, years of monitoring and deployment of telemetry devices on measures related to body condition, reproduction and survival of individual beavers. Body mass of dominant individuals decreased considerably with number of capture events (107 g per capture), but we found no statistically clear short or long-term effects of capture and handling on survival or other body condition indices. Annual litter size decreased with increasing number of captures among older individuals. Number of captures furthermore negatively affected reproduction in the beginning of the monitoring, but the effect decreased over the years, indicating habituation to repeated capture and handling. By assessing potential impacts on several fitness-related parameters at multiple times, we can secure the welfare of wild animal populations when planning and executing future conservation studies as well as ensure ecologically reliable research data.The best known thermoelectric material for near room temperature heat-to-electricity conversion is bismuth telluride. Amongst the possible fabrication techniques, electrodeposition has attracted attention due to its simplicity and low cost. However, the measurement of the thermoelectric properties of electrodeposited films is challenging because of the conducting seed layer underneath the film. Here, we develop a method to directly measure the thermoelectric properties of electrodeposited bismuth telluride thin films, grown on indium tin oxide. Using this technique, the temperature dependent thermoelectric properties (Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity) of electrodeposited thin films have been measured down to 100 K. A parallel resistor model is employed to discern the signal of the film from the signal of the seed layer and the data are carefully analysed and contextualized with literature. Our analysis demonstrates that the thermoelectric properties of electrodeposited films can be accurately evaluated without inflicting any damage to the films.Detection of chemical cues via chemosensory receptor proteins are essential for most animals, and underlies critical behaviors, including location and discrimination of food resources, identification of sexual partners and avoidance of predators. The current knowledge of how chemical cues are detected is based primarily on data acquired from studies on insects, while our understanding of the molecular basis for chemoreception in acari, mites in particular, remains limited. The poultry red mite (PRM), Dermanyssus gallinae, is one of the most important blood-feeding ectoparasites of poultry. PRM are active at night which suck the birds' blood during periods of darkness and hide themselves in all kinds of gaps and cracks during the daytime. The diversity in habitat usage, as well as the demonstrated host finding and avoidance behaviors suggest that PRM relies on their sense of smell to orchestrate complex behavioral decisions. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/cbl0137-cbl-0137.html Comparative transcriptome analyses revealed the presence of candidate variant ionotropic receptors, odorant binding proteins, niemann-pick proteins type C2 and sensory neuron membrane proteins. Some of these proteins were highly and differentially expressed in the forelegs of PRM. Rhodopsin-like G protein-coupled receptors were also identified, while insect-specific odorant receptors and odorant co-receptors were not detected. Furthermore, using scanning electron microscopy, the tarsomeres of all leg pairs were shown to be equipped with sensilla chaetica with or without tip pores, while wall-pored olfactory sensilla chaetica were restricted to the distal-most tarsomeres of the forelegs. This study is the first to describe the presence of chemosensory genes in any Dermanyssidae family. Our findings make a significant step forward in understanding the chemosensory abilities of D. gallinae.The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of concurrent diagnoses of asthma/COPD and examine its full spectrum of comorbid disorders in Germany. We used nationwide outpatient claims data comprising diagnoses of all statutory health insurees (40+ years) in 2017 (N = 40,477,745). The ICD-10 codes J44 (COPD) and J45 (asthma) were used to identify patients. The odds of 1,060 comorbid disorders were examined in a case-control study design. Of all insurees, 4,632,295 (11%) were diagnosed with either asthma or COPD. Of them, 43% had asthma only, 44% COPD only and 13% both diseases. The prevalence of concurrent asthma/COPD was 1.5% with a slightly higher estimate among females than males (1.6% vs. 1.4%) and constant increase by age in both sexes. Comorbid disorders were very common among these patients. 31 disorders were associated with a strong effect size (odds ratio > 10), including other respiratory diseases, but also bacterial (e.g., mycobacteria, including tuberculosis) and fungal infections (e.g., sporotrichosis and aspergillosis).