Honey bees switch mechanisms to drink deep nectar efficiently.

The feeding mechanisms of animals constrain the spectrum of resources that they can exploit profitably. For floral nectar eaters, both corolla depth and nectar properties have marked influence on foraging choices. We report the multiple strategies used by honey bees to efficiently extract nectar at the range of sugar concentrations and corolla depths they face in nature. Honey bees can collect nectar by dipping their hairy tongues or capillary loading when lapping it, or they can attach the tongue to the wall of long corollas and directly suck the nectar along the tongue sides. The honey bee feeding apparatus is unveiled as a multifunctional tool that can switch between lapping and sucking nectar according to the instantaneous ingesting efficiency, which is determined by the interplay of nectar-mouth distance and sugar concentration. These versatile feeding mechanisms allow honey bees to extract nectar efficiently from a wider range of floral resources than previously appreciated and endow them with remarkable adaptability to diverse foraging environments.

A Hitchhiker's Ride: The Honey Bee Louse Braula Coeca (Diptera: Braulidae) Selects its Host by Eavesdropping.

The bee louse Braula spp. had until recently a distribution coincident with its host the honey bee. The adult fly usually attaches to a worker honey bee and steals food from its mouth. However, not all worker bees carry Braula spp. and the mechanism used by Braula spp. to select hosts is not well understood. Using choice remounting bioassays and chemical analyses, we determined host selection and the cues used by B. coeca, a species associated with the African honey bee Apis mellifera scutellata. Braula coeca successfully remounted bees from which they were initially removed and preferred their mandibular gland pheromones (MDG) over those of bees not carrying them. The bee lice did not show any preference for the cuticular hydrocarbons of both types of workers. Chemical analyses of the MDG extracts, revealed quantitative differences between the two categories of workers, with workers carrying B. coeca having more of the queen substance (9-oxo-2(E)-decenoic acid) and worker substance (10-hydroxy-2(E)-decenoic). Braula coeca showed a dose response to the queen substance, indicating its ability to use host derived kairomones as cues that allowed it to benefit from trophallactic dominance by individuals that have a higher probability of being fed by other workers.

Effect of honey and povidone-iodine on acute laceration wound healing: a pilot randomised controlled trial study.

OBJECTIVE: Acute laceration wound (ALW) is one of the most common injuries in Indonesia with potential significant morbidities. In rural areas, povidone-iodine and honey are commonly used as wound dressings. This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of honey compared to paraffin gauze and the commonly used povidone-iodine in improving ALW healing time. METHOD: This study was a single-blind, pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) with three intervention groups (honey, povidone-iodine, and paraffin). The outcomes were wound healing time, slow healing, secondary healing, signs of infection, wound dehiscence, oedema, maceration, necrosis, exudate and cost. RESULTS: A total of 35 patients (male to female ratio: 4:1), with a mean age of 22.5 (range: 6-47) years, were included and randomised to treatment groups using predetermined randomisation according to wound location and wound dressing selection: honey group, n=12; povidone-iodine group, n=11; paraffin group, n=12 with one patient lost to follow-up. All groups achieved timely healing, with a mean healing time of 9.45±5.31 days and 11.09±5.14 days for the povidone-iodine and paraffin groups, respectively, and a median healing time of 10 (3-19) days for the honey group (p>0.05). More wounds in the honey group achieved healing in ≤10 days compared with the other groups. Both povidone-iodine and honey groups had fewer adverse events, with the latter having the lowest cost. CONCLUSION: In this study, honey was clinically effective in accelerating healing time with a lower cost compared to paraffin, and was comparable to povidone-iodine. Future RCTs with a larger sample size should be pursued to determine honey's role in ALW treatment.

Combined Liposome-Gold Nanoparticles from Honey: The Catalytic Effect of Cassyopea® Gold on the Thermal Isomerization of a Resonance-Activated Azobenzene.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been synthesized directly inside liposomes using honey as a reducing agent. The obtained aggregates, named Cassyopea® Gold due to the method used for their preparation, show remarkable properties as reactors and carriers of the investigated AuNPs. A mean size of about 150 nm and negative surface charge of -46 mV were measured for Cassyopea® Gold through dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurements, respectively. The formation of the investigated gold nanoparticles into Cassyopea® liposomes was spectroscopically confirmed by the presence of their typical absorption band at 516 nm. The catalytic activity of the combined liposome-AuNP nanocomposites was tested via the thermal cis-trans isomerization of resonance-activated 4-methoxyazobenzene (MeO-AB). The kinetic rate constants (kobs) determined at 25 °C in the AuNP aqueous solution and in the Cassyopea® Gold samples were one thousand times higher than the values obtained when performing MeO-AB cis-trans conversion in the presence of pure Cassyopea®. The results reported herein are unprecedented and point to the high versatility of Cassyopea® as a reactor and carrier of metal nanoparticles in chemical, biological, and technological applications.

Revolutionizing non-conventional wound healing using honey by simultaneously targeting multiple molecular mechanisms.

Hospital-acquired infections and treatment-related wound complications constitute a tremendous burden for the health care system, particularly given the serious increase in multidrug resistant pathogens. Imagine that a large part of nosocomial infections can be prevented using a simple treatment. In this respect, honey is used mainly in topical cutaneous wound care because of its potent broad-spectrum antibacterial and wound healing activities. However, therapeutic use outside this scope has been limited. The current review provides an in-depth view of studies using honey outside the conventional wound care indications. Non-conventional routes of honey application include subcutaneous, intra-socket, abdominal, and oral administration in novel indications, such as post colon surgery, mucositis, and tooth extraction. Honey consistently demonstrates beneficial therapeutic activities in these novel applications, orchestrating antimicrobial and prophylactic activity, reducing inflammation and wound dehiscence, and inducing healing, epithelialization, and analgesic activity. Several molecular mechanisms are responsible for these beneficial clinical effects of honey during the course of wound healing. Pro-inflammatory effects of honey, such as induction of iNOS, IL-1ß, and COX-2, are mediated by TLR4 signaling. In contrast, honey's anti-inflammatory actions and flavonoids induce anti-inflammatory and antioxidant pathways by inducing NRF2 target genes, including HO-1 and PRDX1. The molecular and biochemical pathways activated by honey during the different phases of wound healing are also discussed in more detail in this review. Variation between different honey origins exists, and therefore standardized medical-grade honey may offer an optimized and safe treatment. Honey is a valuable alternative to conventional antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory therapies that can strongly reduce nosocomial infections.

Wound Healing Following Palatoplasty Using Either Honey or Warm Saline Mouth Bath for Postoperative Wound Care: A Randomized-Controlled Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the effect of honey or saline mouth bath for wound care on the rate of re-epithelisation of the lateral palatal defects and occurrence of early postoperative complications following palatoplasty. METHODOLOGY: This was a prospective randomized study on participants with non-syndromic cleft palate conducted at a tertiary health institution in Lagos, Nigeria. The test group received oral honey drops for post-operative care for an initial period of two weeks post-surgery, while the control group had regular oral toileting using a warm saline solution. The primary outcome was epithelisation of lateral palatal defect at 2- and 4-weeks post repair. Descriptive and comparative statistics were computed, and the p-value was set at <0.05. RESULTS: Fifty participants were recruited into the study, 24 in the Test group and 26 in the Control group. The frequency of occurrence of oronasal fistula in the Test group was 4.0% while in the Control group was 10.0%, however, this was not statistically significant. Complete epithelisation of the lateral palatal defect was clinically observed in 66.7% of the participants in the Test group at 2 weeks post-operation, while only 38.5% of participants in the Control group had clinically observed complete epithelisation at the same time point (ß = 1.70, p = .035, 95% CI 1.122-26.533). At four weeks, all wounds had epithelised irrespective of the study group. CONCLUSION: The application of honey appears to aid earlier epithelization of palatal surgical wounds following cleft palate repair and reduced the incidence of palatal fistula.

Core-shell magnetic porous organic polymer for magnetic solid-phase extraction of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in honey samples followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

By monomer-mediated in-situ growth synthesis strategy, with hydroquinone and 1,3,5-tris(4-aminophenyl)benzene as monomers, a core-shell magnetic porous organic polymer was synthesized through a simple azo reaction. Based on this, a magnetic solid-phase extraction-high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection method was proposed for the analysis of fluoroquinolones in a honey sample. With ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, lomefloxacin, and difloxacin as target analytes, factors affecting the extraction efficiency had been optimized. The LODs were 1.5-5.4 ng/L (corresponding to 0.23-0.81 µg/kg in honey). The linear range was 0.005-20 µg/L for difloxacin, 0.01-20 µg/L for ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and lomefloxacin, and 0.02-20 µg/L for enrofloxacin. The enrichment factor was 84.4-91.7-fold with a high extraction efficiency of 84.4-91.7%. The method was assessed by the analysis of target fluoroquinolones in honey samples, and the recoveries for the spiked samples were 79.3-95.8%. The results indicated that the established magnetic solid-phase extraction-high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection method is efficient for the analysis of trace fluoroquinolones in honey.

Evaluation of green silicone surfactant-based vortex assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for sample preparation of organophosphorus pesticide residues in honey and fruit sample.

A vortex-assisted surfactant enhanced emulsification liquid-liquid microextraction based on non-ionic silicone surfactant was successfully developed for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides in food samples coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A new type of non-ionic silicone surfactant composed of polysiloxane chains was employed as a green emulsifier to facilitate the emulsification of extraction solvent into the sample matrix, thereby intensifying the mass transfer of target analytes into the organic phase. The variables that affect the extraction were systematically optimized: 80 µl of hexane and 0.5% (v/v) of silicone surfactant were used as extraction solvent and surfactant respectively, the solution was mixed well under vortex agitation for 1 min with the addition of 4% (w/v) sodium sulfate. Under optimum conditions, the linearity of the method was obtained in the range of 0.1-200 µg/kg with a good coefficient of determination varying from 0.9986 to 0.9996. The limit of detection and the limit of quantitation were between 0.008-0.1 and 0.02-0.3 µg/kg, respectively. Application of the proposed method to real samples gave satisfactory recovery values (80%-118%) for the target analytes. The suggested approach has also proven to be convenient, expeditious, and environmentally benign.

In-situ sorbent formation for the extraction of pesticides from honey.

An organic polymer was re-precipitated in solution to use as an adsorbent in dispersive solid-phase extraction of some pesticides from honey samples prior to their determination by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. In this approach, different deep eutectic solvents were prepared using lysine and their ability in elution of the analytes from the adsorbent surface was tested. A diluted honey solution was transferred into a glass test tube and then a solution of polystyrene dissolved in dimethylformamide was injected into the solution. By doing this, polystyrene is re-precipitated in the solution and dispersed in whole parts of it as many tiny particles. Then the mixture was centrifuged and the adsorbed analytes on the particles were eluted using a proper hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent. The central composite design approach was used for the optimization of effective parameters. The limits of detection and quantification were in the ranges of 0.06-0.20 and 0.22-0.69 ng/g, respectively. The calibration curves obtained by matrix-matched standard solutions were linear in the range of 0.69-500 ng/g with a coefficient of determinations ≥0.9962. The method provided high extraction recoveries (70-99%) and enrichment factors (140-198), and an acceptable precision (relative standard deviations ≤7.1%).

Uranium Determination in Waters, Wine and Honey by Solid Phase Extraction with New Ion Imprinted Polymer.

An analytical method for uranium determination in waters, wine and honey was developed based on solid phase extraction (SPE) with new ion imprinted polymer. The sorbent was synthesized using 4-(2-Pyridylazo)resorcinol (PAR) as a ligand via dispersion polymerization and characterized by SEM for morphology and shape of polymer particles and nitrogen adsorption-desorption studies for their surface area and total pore volume. The kinetic experiments performed showed that the rate limiting step is the complexation between U(VI) ions and chelating ligand PAR incorporated in the polymer matrix. Investigations by Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherm models showed that sorption process occurs as a surface monolayer on homogeneous sites. The high extraction efficiency of synthesized sorbent toward U(VI) allows its application for SPE determination of U(VI) in wine and honey without preliminary sample digestion using ICP-OES as measurement method. The recoveries achieved varied: (i) between 88 to 95% for surface and ground waters, (ii) between 90-96% for 5% aqueous solution of honey, (iii) between 86-93% for different types of wine. The validity and versatility of proposed analytical methods were confirmed by parallel measurement of U in water samples using Alpha spectrometry and U analysis in wine and honey after sample digestion and ICP-MS measurement. The analytical procedure proposed for U determination in surface waters is characterized with low limits of detection/quantification and good reproducibility ensuring its application for routine control in national monitoring of surface waters. The application of proposed method for honey and wine samples analysis provides data for U content in traditional Bulgarian products.

Vitellogenin expression in the ovaries of adult honeybee workers provides insights into the evolution of reproductive and social traits.

Social insects are notable for having two female castes that exhibit extreme differences in their reproductive capacity. The molecular basis of these differences is largely unknown. Vitellogenin (Vg) is a powerful antioxidant and insulin-signalling regulator used in oocyte development. Here we investigate how Royal Jelly (the major food of honeybee queens) and queen mandibular pheromone (a major regulator of worker fertility), affect the longevity and reproductive status of honey bee workers, the expression of Vg, its receptor VgR and associated regulatory proteins. We find that Vg is expressed in the ovaries of workers and that workers fed a queen diet of Royal Jelly have increased Vg expression in the ovaries. Surprisingly, we find that expression of Vg is not associated with ovary activation in workers, suggesting that this gene has potentially acquired non-reproductive functions. Therefore, Vg expression in the ovaries of honeybee workers provides further support for the Ovarian Ground Plan Hypothesis, which argues that genes implicated in the regulation of reproduction have been co-opted to regulate behavioural differences between queens and workers.

A new method of extracting polyphenols from honey using a biosorbent compared to the commercial resin amberlite XAD2.

A new extraction method of polyphenols from honey using a biodegradable resin was developed and compared with the common commercial resin amberlite XAD2. For this purpose, three honey samples of Algerian origin were selected for the different physicochemical and biochemical parameters study. After extraction of the target compounds by both resins, the polyphenol content was determined, the antioxidant activity was tested, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses were performed for identification and quantification. The results showed that physicochemical and biochemical parameters meet the norms of the International Honey Commission, and the H1 sample seemed to be of high quality. The optimal conditions of extraction by biodegradable resin were a pH of 3, an adsorption dose of 40 g/L, a contact time of 50 min, an extraction temperature of 60°C, and no stirring. The regeneration and reuse number of both resins was three cycles. The polyphenol contents demonstrated a higher extraction efficiency of biosorbent than of XAD2, especially in H1. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses allowed for the identification and quantification of 15 compounds in the different honey samples extracted using both resins and the most abundant compound was 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid. In addition, the biosorbent extracts showed stronger antioxidant activities than the XAD2 extracts.

Comparison of topical honey and povidone iodine-based dressings for wound healing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: In this review and meta-analysis, we analyse the evidence to compare the efficacy of honey and povidone iodine-based dressings on the outcome of wound healing. METHOD: A systematic literature search was performed using PRISMA guidelines in academic databases including MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase and CENTRAL. A meta-analysis was carried out to assess the effect of honey and povidone iodine-based dressings on mean healing duration, mean hospital stay duration and visual analogue scale (VAS) score of pain. RESULTS: From the search, 12 manuscripts with a total of 1236 participants (mean age: 40.7±11.7 years) were included. The honey-based dressings demonstrated a medium-to-large effect in reduction of mean healing duration (Hedge's g: -0.81), length of hospital stay (-3.1) and VAS score (-1.2) as compared with the povidone iodine-based dressings. We present evidence (level 1b) in favour of using honey for improvement of wound recovery as compared with povidone iodine. CONCLUSION: This review and meta-analysis demonstrate beneficial effects of honey-based dressings over povidone iodine-based dressings for wound recovery.

Effectiveness of Pre-administered Natural Sweet-tasting Solution for Decreasing Pain Associated with Dental Injections in Children: A Split-mouth Randomized Controlled Trial.

AIM: This study aimed to discern if a prior intake of a natural sweet remedy (honey) impacted pain perception during intraoral injections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred healthy children who needed the same treatment bilaterally in either arch which required local anesthetic administration (infiltration in maxillary arch and inferior alveolar nerve block in mandibular arch) were recruited. The patients' demographic details were recorded. Local anesthesia was administered after taking 5 mL of honey solution on the test side and 5 mL of sterile water on the control side. Subjective pain perception during injection was measured using Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale and objective pain by sound, eye, body movement (SEM) rating scale. The parametric data were analyzed using a paired Student's t-test (p <0.05). Level of consensus between the two scales was assessed using Pearson's correlation. RESULTS: The test side yielded lower mean Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (3.72 ± 1.80) and SEM (4.12 ± 1.04) scores than the control side (6.00 ± 2.06 and 5.00 ± 1.45 respectively). This was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The administering of a natural sweet solution such as honey before dental injections in children tends to reduce the discomfort and pain associated with the procedure. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Pain management is of utmost importance in dentistry, especially among children. The consumption of natural foods such as honey helps in decreasing injection pain perception, making the child cooperative, and thereby allowing the dentist to provide the best dental care.

Do Ginger Extract, Natural Honey and Bitter Chocolate Remineralize Enamel Surface as Fluoride Toothpastes? An In-Vitro Study.

BACKGROUND: In recent literatures, much attention has been given to natural products for their health benefits. AIMS: In this study, the objective was to measure the efficacy of the ginger-honey-chocolate mixture as the remineralization effect has been shown in the literature previously and to evaluate the individual contributions of this mixture; ginger, natural honey, bitter chocolate separately on remineralization of initial enamel caries lesion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All specimens were divided into eight groups as: Ginger (Arifoglu®, Turkey) in powder form, (n = 8); Ginger-Honey-Chocolate (n = 8); Natural honey (Balparmak Plateau Blossom Honey®, Turkey) (n = 9); Bitter chocolate (Nestlé®, Switzerland) (n = 8); MI Paste (GC, Japan) (n = 8); Paradontax (Sensodyne, Glaxosmithklein, USA) (n = 9); Pronamel (Sensodyne, Glaxosmithklein, USA) (n = 9); Control (n = 9) groups. Samples were carried out five pH cycles along 7 days at 37°C for each group. During pH cycling, blocks were put in a demineralization (6 h) and a remineralization solution (18 h). The treatment consisted of 1 min. interaction of enamel surfaces with agent/deionized slurries (1:3 w/w) on a daily basis. The surface microhardness (SMH) was determined before and after pH cycling with a Digital Micro-Vickers Hardness Tester (Wilson Wolpert; Europe BV, 401 MVD, Netherlands). Mineral changes were determined by using FluoreCam® and recovery values were calculated as SMHR% and FΔ%, respectively. RESULTS: All groups showed an enhanced remineralization. There was no significant difference in terms of FΔ% (F = 1.223, P = 0.304) and SMHR% (F = 0.709, P = 0.664) between all groups. CONCLUSION: The herbals (ginger, honey, and bitter chocolate) examined in this study gave promising results with a high remineralization potential.

Temporal model of fluid-feeding mechanisms in a long proboscid orchid bee compared to the short proboscid honey bee.

Bees (Apidae) are flower-visiting insects that possess highly efficient mouthparts for the ingestion of nectar and other sucrose fluids. Their mouthparts are composed of mandibles and a tube-like proboscis. The proboscis forms a food canal, which encompasses a protrusible and hairy tongue to load and imbibe nectar, representing a fluid-feeding technique with a low Reynolds number. The western honey bee, Apis mellifera ligustica, can rhythmically erect the tongue microtrichia to regulate the glossal shape, achieving a tradeoff between nectar intake rate and viscous drag. Neotropical orchid bees (Euglossa imperialis) possess a proboscis longer than the body and combines this lapping-sucking mode of fluid-feeding with suction feeding. This additional technique of nectar uptake may have different biophysics. In order to reveal the effect of special structures of mouthparts in terms of feeding efficiency, we build a temporal model for orchid bees considering fluid transport in multi-states including active suction, tongue protraction and viscous dipping. Our model indicates that the dipping technique employed by honey bees can contribute to more than seven times the volumetric and energetic intake rate at a certain nectar concentration compared with the combined mode used by orchid bees. The high capability of the honey bee's proboscis to ingest nectar may inspire micropumps for transporting viscous liquid with higher efficiency.

Preparation of magnetic attapulgite/polypyrrole nanocomposites for magnetic effervescence-assisted dispersive solid-phase extraction of pyrethroids from honey samples.

In this work, a novel extraction technique based on the effervescence-assisted dispersion and magnetic recovery of attapulgite/polypyrrole sorbents was developed for determining the concentrations of five pyrethroids in honey samples. The magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by a one-pot method. Several experimental parameters that affected the extraction efficiency, including the dispersion conditions, pH, ionic strength, and desorption conditions, were investigated. Under optimal conditions, the calibration curves for the five pyrethroids in honey samples exhibited good linearity, with r2 values ranging from 0.9979 to 0.9990. The limits of detection varied between 0.21 and 0.34 µg/L. Satisfactory recoveries of 81.42-106.73% with intra- and interday relative standard deviations of less than 6.94 and 10.89%, respectively, were obtained. Moreover, the sorbents exhibited acceptable batch-to-batch repeatability in the range of 5.06-15.01%, and each sorbent could be reused for up to four extraction cycles without a significant loss in the extraction recovery.

Evaluating the Effect of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Queen Reproductive State on Pheromone-Mediated Interactions with Male Drone Bees.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens produce pheromones responsible for mediating both male mating behavior and many critical facets of worker social organization within their colony. These pheromones are dynamic multi-component blends, allowing the communication of detailed information. Indeed, variation in the queen's mating and reproductive state is associated with significant changes in her pheromone profiles, and these different pheromone profiles elicit different behavioral and physiological responses in female workers. Here we evaluate behavioral responses of male drones to the chemical blends produced by two exocrine glands in queens, and determine if the blends and responses are altered by the queen's mating and reproductive state. We find that drone attraction to the chemical blends of mandibular glands produced by mated, laying queens versus virgin queens is reduced, suggesting that the queens produce a reliable signal of their mating receptivity. Interestingly, while the chemical blends of mating, laying queens and virgins queens largely overlap, mated, laying queens produce a greater number of chemicals and greater quantities of certain chemicals than virgin queens, suggesting that these chemicals may serve to inhibit behavioral responses of drones to mated, laying queens. Thus, our results highlight the importance of considering chemical cues and signals that serve to both stimulate and inhibit behavioral responses during social interactions in animals.

Novel nano-composite hydrogels with honey effective against multi-resistant clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Novel alginate hydrogels with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and honey components were produced with the aim to target multidrug-resistant bacterial strains causing nosocomial wound infections. AgNP synthesis was optimized in highly concentrated honey solutions so that a 5-month stable, colloid solution with 50% of honey and ~ 8 nm AgNPs at neutral pH was obtained. The colloid solution was further used to produce nano-composite Ag/alginate hydrogels in different forms (microbeads, microfibers and discs) that retained all AgNPs and high fractions of honey components (40-60%) as determined by the phenol-sulfuric acid and Folin-Ciocalteu methods. The hydrogels were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy while the antibacterial activity was investigated against a broad spectrum of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including 13 multi-resistant clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, one clinical strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and one clinical strain of Staphylococcus aureus. At the total released silver concentration of ~ 9 µg/ml, the hydrogels exhibited strong bactericidal activity against standard and most of the investigated multi-resistant hospital strains with the exemption of 3 clinical strains of A. baumannii in which antibacterial effects were absent. These results reveal the need for further in-depth studies of bacterial resistance mechanisms and, in the same time, potentials of the novel Ag/alginate hydrogels with honey components to combat wound infections and enhance healing as non-sticky, antibacterial, and bioactive dressings.

Deformed Wing Virus Infection in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.).

Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a single-stranded RNA virus of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) transmitted by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Although DWV represents a major threat to honey bee health worldwide, the pathological basis of DWV infection is not well documented. The objective of this study was to investigate clinicopathological and histological aspects of natural DWV infection in honey bee workers. Emergence of worker honey bees was observed in 5 colonies that were clinically affected with DWV and the newly emerged bees were collected for histopathology. DWV-affected bees were 2 times slower to emerge and had 30% higher mortality compared to clinically normal bees. Hypopharyngeal glands in bees with DWV were hypoplastic, with fewer intracytoplasmic secretory vesicles; cells affected by apoptosis were observed more frequently. Mandibular glands were hypoplastic and were lined by cuboidal epithelium in severely affected bees compared to tall columnar epithelium in nonaffected bees. The DWV load was on average 1.7 × 106 times higher (P < .001) in the severely affected workers compared to aged-matched sister honey bee workers that were not affected by deformed wing disease based on gross examination. Thus, DWV infection is associated with prolonged emergence, increased mortality during emergence, and hypoplasia of hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands in newly emerged worker honey bees in addition to previously reported deformed wing abnormalities.