Brown Recluse Spider Is Sometimes to Blame When Anemia Strikes

 (Feb. 28, 2010) — As spring approaches and people return to outdoor activities, caution should be taken in areas of the country that are home to Loxosceles reclusa, also called the brown recluse spider. A new study from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital found that when patients present with sudden anemia, but the cause is elusive, the brown recluse spider should be part of the differential diagnosis, at least in parts of the nation where the spider is regularly found.

In a recent issue of The Journal of Pediatrics, St. Jude hematologists reported on six previously healthy adolescents hospitalized for treatment of acute, symptomatic anemia. The illnesses were linked to red blood cell destruction known as hemolytic anemia that was eventually traced to brown recluse spider bites. All six patients fully recovered, but four needed blood transfusions and three spent time in the intensive care unit.

Only three of the six patients recalled recent spider bites, and Jenny McDade, D.O., an assistant member in the St. Jude Hematology department, said the other wounds were only found after head-to-toe skin checks. McDade, the study's lead author, said one bite was hidden by a bra strap and initially went unnoticed.

"The bite is often painless, and it is frequently missed," she said, which is one reason St. Jude investigators decided to review hospital records to gauge the scope of the problem.

Although most people bitten by brown recluse spiders do not seek medical attention, the researchers noted that the spiders' venom triggers a widespread reaction in about 30 percent of children. Although the exact mechanism is not completely understood, the most common systemic reaction is hemolytic anemia. Less commonly, kidney failure and clotting problems develop. Children seem to be more likely than adults to develop systemic complications, especially anemia. In rare cases, the researchers reported the bite has been linked to multi-organ failure and death.

Several times a year, St. Jude hematologists are consulted regarding patients who develop sudden, unexplained hemolytic anemia. This study focused on patients hospitalized for severe anemia who required hematology consultation during a one-year period at a general children's hospital near the St. Jude campus in Memphis, Tenn.

Determining the cause of acute anemia is important to ensure the appropriate treatment, McDade said. For example, steroids may be used to treat some types of anemia, but are unproven when the cause is a brown recluse bite. "In the United States, the standard of care for treatment of brown recluse bites is supportive care and treatment of the wound," she said.

McDade said most Americans should not worry about this spider, which carries a violin-shaped mark on its head and a preference for a quiet life lived in dry wood piles, under rocks or in corners of dark closets or attics. The spiders are found in parts of the Midwest and southern United States and are a regional problem. Although brown recluse bites are not a widespread cause of anemia, McDade said the diagnosis should be considered in patients with unexplained anemia who live in areas the spiders call home. Other St. Jude authors are Banu Aygun, M.D., and Russell Ware, M.D., Ph.D., St. Jude Hematology department chair and senior author.

The research was supported in by the National Cancer Institute and ALSAC.

 Go here to play with a spider

Key Largo gets some wood rats back

Seven Key Largo wood rats -- from a kinder, gentler rodent strain than the one humans abhor -- were released into their only known home.

This is one of seven Key Largo wood rats taken to Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. LOWRY PARK ZOO/TAMPA

Photo By CURTIS MORGAN
The seven pioneers spent the week preparing for their upcoming ordeal in North Key Largo, sampling berries and other local fare, redecorating homes with sticks, leaves and whatever else they got their little paws on, and generally getting used to life outside a cage at Disney World.

On Tuesday, scientists lifted protective enclosures to release captive-bred Key Largo wood rats into Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge -- the first test of a restocking experiment that might represent the last and best hope for an obscure rodent that ranks among Florida's rarest species.

So far, so good. Feral cats and Burmese pythons didn't immediately swallow any, and the lab rats -- products of a breeding program run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo and Disney's Animal Kingdom -- showed some of the skills and instincts they'll need to survive.

For one, they've lived up to another name they sometimes go by: pack rat. They've busily added to nests -- distinctive mounds cobbled with everything from sticks to dung to the random bottle cap -- that were vacated by other members of their vanishing population.

``They've piled so much stuff over the nests it's incredible,'' said Sandra Sneckenberger, a Wildlife Service biologist.

The Service started the breeding program in 2002 as a last-resort attempt to reverse the population decline in the rat's only known home, the tangled hardwood hammocks of the largest island in the Florida Keys chain. The estimated population has dwindled to no more than 300 -- down dramatically from about 6,500 before 1984, when the rat was added to the federal endangered species list.

Though they are rats, they are a different genus than the nasty, biting carriers of disease reviled by humans, said Christy Alligood, a research specialist at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The wood rat arises from a kinder, gentler rodent strain and wants nothing to do with homes or buildings. In nature and size, they're more akin to mice -- small at just four to nine inches, docile and shy.

Though handling the seven was kept to a minimum to help acclimate them to the wild, biologists and breeding teams grew attached enough to name them, Sneckenberger said. ``They are very charismatic creatures.''

The first group of seven -- Tweak, Ralph, Roxy, Frieda, Rosie, Fern, and Garfunkle -- will be followed by seven others later this month. The rats, fitted with tiny radio collars, will be tracked for 60 days. If they survive, the hope is they'll breed.

It's not something they do all that frequently in the wild, which might partially account for the species' decline. Unlike prolific urban rats, wood rats breed only two to three times a year, producing about two ``pups'' each time, Alligood said. Otherwise, they tend to be solitary homebodies.

Getting them together in captivity proved one of the major challenges for the eight-year breeding program, she said. If they weren't in the mood, they might even attack each other. Researchers and technicians at the Animal Kingdom's Conservation Station learned to recognize the signs of a ``receptive'' wood rat, including a tell-tale, high-pitched raspy chirp.

Development, the most prevalent threat to wildlife in Florida, certainly played a role in reducing the rat's prime habitat, but its most recent rapid decline, starting around 1995, happened with much of its remaining habitat under state and federal protection.

The dire drop remains somewhat of a puzzle to scientists.

Tracking the lab rats also might help sort out threats, including diseases associated with a round-worm found in raccoon feces, as well as Key Largo's problematic population of feral cats and Burmese pythons.

Rat remains have been found in the guts ofat least two captured snakes.

Star Wars technology zaps mozzies in flight

Your reporter once had to explain to a toddler why it was vital that she take malaria pills on holiday. The child nodded sagely and asked whether she was supposed to throw the pills at the mosquitoes.

There was a very boring picture to this article, so I made my own with Boba Fett preparing to shoot a large mosquito...it fits better-hope you like. ~ JimBeucher

But it turns out that perhaps the idea wasn't so daft after all - no less a person than Microsoft exec-turned Intellectual Ventures CEO Nathan Myhrvold has been supporting a rather similar plan.

"Some of our inventors were involved in the Star Wars defence planning from the 1980s," he says. "For them, the idea of using lasers to shoot mosquitos was one of those ‘it’s so crazy it just might work!’ ideas."

The Photonic Fence proptotype was appreantly constructed almost entirely from components purchased second-hand on eBay - important for third-world countries that find missile defence systems a bit out of their budget.

LEDs beam infrared light at nearby posts, hitting strips of retroreflective material and bouncing back. A camera on each fence post monitors the reflected light for shadows cast by the mozzies.

When an invading insect is detected, software identifies it by training a nonlethal laser beam on the bug and using that illumination to estimate the insect’s size and also to measure how fast its wings are beating.

The company says it's built in safeguards to make sure the system doesn’t kill the cat. It says it can not only distinguish between mosquitoes, butterflies, and bumblebees, but can even determine whether a mosquito is male or female - no, not by looking at the dangly bits, females are bigger.

The fence can zap up to 100 mosquitoes a second, says Myhrvold, which should be plenty for the most pestilent swamp.

'Zen' Bats Hit Their Target by Not Aiming at It

(Feb. 5, 2010) — New research conducted at the University of Maryland's bat lab shows Egyptian fruit bats find a target by NOT aiming their guiding sonar directly at it. Instead, they alternately point the sound beam to either side of the target. The new findings by researchers from Maryland and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel suggest that this strategy optimizes the bats' ability to pinpoint the location of a target, but also makes it harder for them to detect a target in the first place.

Researchers have found that a type of fruit bat finds its target by NOT aiming their guiding sonar directly at it. Instead, it alternately point the sound beam to either side of the target.

"We think that this tradeoff between detecting a object and determining its location is fundamental to any process that involves tracking an object whether done by a bat, a dog or a human, and whether accomplished through hearing, smell or sight," said coauthor Cynthia Moss, a University of Maryland professor of psychology, who directs interdisciplinary bat echolocation research in the university's Auditory Neuroethology Lab, better known as the bat lab.

Moss, colleagues Nachum Ulanovsky and Yossi Yovel of the Weizmann Institute, and Ben Falk, a graduate student of Moss's in Maryland's Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, published their findings in the journal Science. Ulanovsky, the paper's corresponding author, was a Maryland postdoctoral student under Moss.

For this research, Ulanovsky and Yossi trained fruit bats to land on a spherical target while relying exclusively on their sonar. Trained in Israel, the bats were then brought to Maryland to be studied in Moss's specialized lab. High speed infrared cameras recorded the bats movement in flight while the shape and direction of their sonar beam patterns was measured with a sensitive arrangement of 20 microphones positioned around the large room. These bats emit paired clicking sounds and the researchers found that the sonar beam created by each click alternated to the left and right of a target. This alternating pattern effectively directed the inside edge, or maximum slope, of each sonar beam onto the target. As a result, any change in the relative position of the target to the bat reflected that large sonar edge back at the bat, delivering the largest possible change in echo intensity.

However, as the researchers note, there is a cost to this approach: less sound is reflected back to the bat from the object than if the sound beam were aimed more directly toward the object. Thus the fruit bat's strategy of using the steepest edge of a sonar beam (which intuitively follows a mathematical optimization formula) sacrifices a little target-detection for pinpoint accuracy in tracking.

Detecting vs. Tracking

By changing the conditions of their experiments in the bat lab the researchers were able to show that the fruit bats will sometimes change their echolocation strategy based on the situation. To do this, a reflecting board was positioned behind the target, creating "noise" echoes that competed with those from the target, potentially making detection of the target more difficult. In trials under these conditions, some bats altered their sound beam directional strategy. These bats started off with the wide side to side pointing that maximizes determining location, but once they got closer, switched to point the beams from both clicks almost directly at the target.
Moss, who has been researching bat echolocation for 20 years, notes that even among different bat species there are different approaches to tracking objects. Much of the research she and her students have conducted in the bat lab has looked at big brown bats, which are common in the United States. Big brown bars generate sound with their vocal cords and aim the resulting sound beam directly at their targets, an approach that maximizes their ability to detect the mosquitoes and other small, fast moving insects that serve as food.

"The difference in sonar beam directing strategies between the Egyptian Fruit bats and Big Brown bats may be related to the differences between their sound production mechanisms (tongue clicks vs. vocalizations), echo processing systems, behavioral requirements in nature, or other species differences," said Moss, a former director of the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, who also holds an appointment in the university's Institute for Systems Research.
The researchers suggest other animals reflect similar approaches to the detection versus tracking tradeoff. Their paper gives the example of a hound dog following an odor trail using a similar localization approach to that used by the tongue clicking Egyptian fruit bats.

"People without sight use echolocation, in some cases also generating sound by tongue clicking," said Moss. One such person, she noted, is Daniel Kish, Executive Director of World Access for the Blind. Totally blind from birth, Kish uses tongue clicking for sonar that allows him to "see" his enviroment at a very high level, even allowing him to safely ride a bike in a city street. Kish is "the first totally blind, national certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist," according to the website for World Access for the Blind. Check out this YouTube video about Kish and his work educating others to use echolocation.

"There are no measurements of the directionality of the sound beams used by blind echolocators like Kish," Moss said. "But looking at head movements in echo locating blind individuals, it seems that some may show a similar strategy [to that of fruit bats]."

A new high-tech suction device could allow humans to walk on walls like Spider-Man or create adhesive devices that could be turned on and off with the flick of a switch.

The contraption, inspired by a beetle that can hold on to a leaf with a force 100 times its weight, uses the surface tension of water to make an adhesive bond, but it does so with a creative twist. It could be used to create sticky shoes or gloves, researchers said today.

The device consists of a flat top plate riddled with tiny holes, each just a few hundred microns (a millionth of a meter) wide. A bottom plate holds water. In between is a porous layer. A 9-volt battery powers an electric field that forces water to squeeze through the tiny holes in the top layer.

The surface tension of the exposed droplets makes the device grip another surface — much the way two pieces of wet glass stick together. Turn the electricity off, and the bond breaks.

"In our every day experience, these forces are relatively weak," explained Paul Steen, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Cornell University. "But if you make a lot of them and can control them, like the beetle does, you can get strong adhesion forces."

More work is needed to create a version of the device that would hold a human to the side of a building, however. One prototype has 1,000 holes and can hold about 30 grams, or roughly 70 paperclips. But tests showed that with more and smaller holes, a 1-inch square device could hold 15 pounds.

Another possible use would be covering the droplets with thin membranes, making the device exert outward pressure.

"You can think about making a credit card-sized device that you can put in a rock fissure or a door, and break it open with very little voltage," Steen said. "It's a fun thing to think about."

The device is detailed online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Science Foundation.

8 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Grasshoppers - Thailand


Thai Lady: "It's crunchy."

Director: "Like potato chips."

Thai Lady: "Yeah. Kind of."

Director: "$15 bucks and you got a whole meal here."
 
Enough said!
 

 

7 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Giant Waterbug - Thailand


This poor guy had no idea what he was in for. Is he crying? There's no crying in bug-eating!


Joanh Eats a Waterbug in Thailand - For more funny videos, click here

6 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Deep Fried Tarantula - Cambodia


"Eat your heart out." Looks kinda chewy if you ask me.


Eating a Spider - The funniest home videos are here

5 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Giant Mangrove Worms - Philippines


Giant worms pulled from trees... and I mean GIANT. Could you eat the whole thing?


Madventures Philippines - Mad Cook Meets Magrove Worms - Click here for more amazing videos

4 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Scorpions - China


"Kinda like eating an eyebrow," he says. This guy eats four of them!


Scorpions for Dinner in Beijing - Click here for funny video clips

3 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Large Crunchy Cockroaches - Thailand


These guys went looking for the "Bug Carts" in Bangkok. I'm not sure that'd be my first stop.


Eating Bugs In Bangkok - Funny bloopers are a click away

2 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

Fresh Weevil Grubs - Amazon Jungle


Bear Grylls stars in this "Man vs Fresh Weevil Grub" clip. Oops, sorry for the squishy bits. Hope you didn't get squirted.


Man Vs Wild Bear Grylls - Bugs - Click here for more free videos

1 of 8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

There's nothing better than having new and exciting experiences while traveling the globe. But, are you gutsy enough to try eating delectable delicacies such as grasshoppers, cockroaches, and gigantic worms? Me neither ... but these eight people are.

Giant Chinese Cockroach - Thailand

This cockroach is so big, I'm surprised they didn't sell it by the pound.


Gross Grub: Eating a Giant Chinese Cockroach in Thailand - More amazing videos are a click away

Club soda: Fine for cocktails and stain removal, not for killing ants

State entomologists have been trying to stomp the club-soda-kills-fire-ants myth for years, and they say they're having about as much success as, well, using club soda on fire ants.

“This information has been floating around on the Internet since 2007, but seemed to regain momentum starting in December of last year,” said Wizzie Brown, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service integrated pest management program specialist in Travis County.

The pitch in the widely circulated e-mail is that club soda, a popular kitchen-cabinet stain remover, is an “environmentally friendly” way to kill a fire ant mound. All it takes is two cups and the ants are gone, the theory being that carbon dioxide from the club soda displaces oxygen and suffocates the bugs.

“What it doesn't say is that the treatment is ineffective, unless you happen to drown a few fire ants in the process,” said Brown, who has tested club soda among other fire ant home remedies.

“Long story short, it didn't work,” she said. “Observations and statistics from the trial showed no evidence of any type of control as a result. Pouring club soda onto a fire ant mound did not lead to the ants dying a horrendous death; it did, however, produce lots of impressive bubbling action.”

"Knowing the pest control industry like I do..If club soda really worked, a new pest product would be created and marketed as something like "Ant-Away CS" (Club Soda). It would be in all of the major hardware type stores and have an expensive price tag. By the way, grits do not work either!  ~  Jim

FDA finds roaches too numerous to count at airline caterer's kitchen

Maybe it's a good thing that most airline flights no longer include meals? The FDA found live and dead roaches as well as listeria bacteria during a recent inspection of the LSG Sky Chefs airline food preparation facility by the Denver airport. The company was warned by the federal agency that they could be barred from providing food to airlines in Denver if they didn't quickly correct the situation.

LSG is owned by German airline Lufthansa and has 43 airline catering kitchen around the United States, including one at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. The company provides in-flight meals to 300 airlines worldwide including Delta, American, US Airways, Icelandair and United at MSP. Continental is only major U.S. to still provide meals to all passengers on select meal-time flights. LSG is not contracted to provide meals to Continental's passengers. LSG, in addition to providing first and business class meals, prepares meals that are sold in-flight by cabin attendants.

The general manager and executive chef in Denver were fired and LSG has taken the findings very seriously. The FDA letter to LSG noted that inspectors found live and dead roaches "too numerous to count" in several kitchen locations. They also reported that at least 40 live insects were found in the silverware station. To make matters even worse, the FDA inspectors found kitchen staff handling food with their bare hands and dirty gloves.

LSG's spokesperson said they haven't received any reports of ill airline passengers but are taking very aggressive action to ensure that they pass the follow-up FDA inspection this coming week.

In recent months there have been other reports of dirty kitchen facilities at airline terminals as well. The best suggestions? Eat at home before you head to the airport, bring food with you that you know comes from a clean environment or eat after you arrive at your destination. Considering that airport food is over-priced and not very good, avoidance may just be the best course to follow.

Be prepared for the next low budget cinematic block buster, "Roaches On The Plane" ~ Jim