Fauna and Ecology of Dipterous (Díptera, Muscidae) Livestock Biocenoses of Ukraine

The biology and ecology of parasitic insects are closely related to the life of people, and the leading role belongs to animal husbandry. It is difficult to overestimate the negative influence of parasitic dipterans on productive animals, especially during the season of their mass reproduction and distribution. The work aimed to study the species composition of Diptera in different livestock biocenoses in eastern and central Ukraine. Entomological nets and traps were used to capture zoophilic flies, the number of insects was determined using the fly index, and luminescent markers TAT 33 with a powder fraction of 30 microns. The collected insects were identified according to the existing modern identifiers. As a result of the studies, the presence of Musca domestica (Linnaeus, 1758) was determined in all livestock facilities for keeping animals and birds. The largest number of house flies was noted in the facilities for keeping sows with suckling pigs (312.0±35.3) and fattening animals (277.5±6.1). M. domestica, M. autumnalis, and S. calcitrans accounted for 75.57% of the entire complex of zoophilic flies. The species M. vitripennis, M. tempestiva, L. irritans, H. atripalpis also occupied an important place among the species that form the entomoparasitocenosis (18.91%). In pasture biotopes, two species of flies (Ortellia caesarion Meigen and Ortellia cornicina Fabr.) have been identified. They do not attack animals, but are mineralisers of cattle feces. Luminiferous marker L-1 basic green (TAT 33) fixes well on insects and lasts for 5 days. The density of the fly population in the pig houses is 36% higher than in the calf houses. The results obtained are the basis for the development of innovative, scientifically grounded schemes for control and the fight against parasitic insects at livestock enterprises

Chromatographic Analysis of Byproducts from a Non-Toxic Ammunition and a Marked Ammunition: An Assessment of Toxicity

One way to access the toxicity of a fired ammunition is by analyzing the byproducts generated by shooting. This work has analyzed compounds produced by firing non-toxic ammunition (NTA) by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). In addition to standard NTA, NTA containing luminescent markers were also analyzed. Luminescent markers have been shown to be an excellent tool in the identification of Gunshot Residues (GSR) produced from NTA. As these markers are designed to tag NTA, they must not produce toxic byproducts. In this work, we focused on identification of volatile products that can be inhaled by shooter when firing and can represents risk to their heath by acute and chronic exposition. For the NTA ammunition several toxic compounds, such as benzonitrile and naphthalene were found. They were related to de degradation of explosives, sensitizers, stabilizers, and other materials added to the gunpowder, indicating possible toxicity by shooters’ long exposure. Moreover, as some of the compounds found are classified as GSR indicators, the used methodology could be adapted for GSR identification. Besides the compounds identified in NTA samples, in marked samples, pyridine and benzene were identified. Pyridine was provided by dipicolinic acid and benzene was provided by trimesic or terephthalic acid, all used as binder in the structures of the markers. However, it can be concluded that the possible toxicity of the NTA is mainly not altered by the presence of the markers because of the small amount of marker added to ammunition and because only a small part of the marker is degraded, requiring an unreal number of shots to produce some acute effect.

Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Europium(III) Complexes as Luminescent Markers of Banknotes

In this work, three complexes were synthesized from the trivalent europium ion (EuIII), using the picrate anion (pic), and delta-valerolactam (DVL), epsilon-caprolactam (EPK), and oenantholactam (OEN). The synthesized complexes [Eu(pic)3∙(DVL)3], [Eu(pic)3∙(EPK)3], and [Eu(pic)3∙(OEN)3] were studied as luminescent markers for application as security elements in Brazilian banknotes. All complexes showed red color emission with absorption at 397 nm and emission at 614 nm. Qualitative luminescence tests were performed on R$10, R$20, R$50, and R$100 Brazilian banknotes. The complexes were applied on the surface of the banknotes and were exposed to different wavelengths of 254, 312, 365, and 320-400 nm. The chemical profiles of the complexes were identified on the banknotes employing the laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI (±) MS) technique. Generally, tests were promising, and can thus provide a simple, fast, and easy method to identify the authenticity of questioned documents, with an average cost of R$0.65 per mg.

Spectral-Time Multiplexing in FRET Complexes of AgInS2/ZnS Quantum Dot and Organic Dyes

Nowadays, multiplex analysis is very popular, since it allows to detect a large number of biomarkers simultaneously. Traditional multiplex analysis is usually based on changes of photoluminescence (PL) intensity and/or PL band spectral positions in the presence of analytes. Using PL lifetime as an additional parameter might increase the efficiency of multiplex methods. Quantum dots (QDs) can be used as luminescent markers for multiplex analysis. Ternary in-based QDs are a great alternative to the traditional Cd-based one. Ternary QDs possess all advantages of traditional QDs, including tunable photoluminescence in visible range. At the same time ternary QDs do not have Cd-toxicity, and moreover they possess long spectral dependent lifetimes. This allows the use of ternary QDs as a donor for time-resolved multiplex sensing based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). In the present work, we implemented FRET from AgInS2/ZnS ternary QDs to cyanine dyes absorbing in different spectral regions of QD luminescence with different lifetimes. As the result, FRET-induced luminescence of dyes differed not only in wavelengths but also in lifetimes of luminescence, which can be used for time-resolved multiplex analysis in biology and medicine.