Insights into the Role of Natural Products in the Control of the Honey Bee Gut Parasite (Nosema spp.).

The honey bee is an important economic insect due to its role in pollinating many agricultural plants. Unfortunately, bees are susceptible to many pathogens, including pests, parasites, bacteria, and viruses, most of which exert a destructive impact on thousands of colonies. The occurrence of resistance to the therapeutic substances used against these organisms is rising, and the residue from these chemicals may accumulate in honey bee products, subsequently affecting the human health. There is current advice to avoid the use of antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, and other drugs in bees, and therefore, it is necessary to develop alternative strategies for the treatment of bee diseases. In this context, the impact of nosema diseases (nosemosis) on bee health and the negative insults of existing drugs are discussed. Moreover, attempts to combat nosema through the use of alternative compounds, including essential oils, plant extracts, and microbes in vitro and in vivo, are documented.

Bee Pollen: Clinical Trials and Patent Applications.

Bee pollen is a natural cocktail of floral nectar, flower pollen, enzymes, and salivary secretions produced by honeybees. Bee pollen is one of the bee products most enriched in proteins, polysaccharides, polyphenols, lipids, minerals, and vitamins. It has a significant health and medicinal impact and provides protection against many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, infectious, and cardiovascular. Bee pollen is commonly promoted as a cost-effective functional food. In particular, bee pollen has been applied in clinical trials for allergies and prostate illnesses, with a few investigations on cancer and skin problems. However, it is involved in several patents and health recipes to combat chronic health problems. This review aimed to highlight the clinical trials and patents involving bee pollen for different cases and to present the role of bee pollen as a supplementary food and a potential product in cosmetic applications.

Bee Stressors from an Immunological Perspective and Strategies to Improve Bee Health.

Honeybees are the most prevalent insect pollinator species; they pollinate a wide range of crops. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), which is caused by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors, incurs high economic/ecological loss. Despite extensive research to identify and study the various ecological stressors such as microbial infections, exposure to pesticides, loss of habitat, and improper beekeeping practices that are claimed to cause these declines, the deep understanding of the observed losses of these important insects is still missing. Honeybees have an innate immune system, which includes physical barriers and cellular and humeral responses to defend against pathogens and parasites. Exposure to various stressors may affect this system and the health of individual bees and colonies. This review summarizes and discusses the composition of the honeybee immune system and the consequences of exposure to stressors, individually or in combinations, on honeybee immune competence. In addition, we discuss the relationship between bee nutrition and immunity. Nutrition and phytochemicals were highlighted as the factors with a high impact on honeybee immunity.

Cosmetic Applications of Bee Venom.

Bee venom (BV) is a typical toxin secreted by stingers of honeybee workers. BV and BV therapy have long been attractive to different cultures, with extensive studies during recent decades. Nowadays, BV is applied to combat several skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, acne vulgaris, alopecia, vitiligo, and psoriasis. BV is used extensively in topical preparations as cosmetics and used as dressing for wound healing, as well as in facemasks. Nevertheless, the safety of BV as a therapeutic choice has always been a concern due to the immune system reaction in some people due to BV use. The documented unfavorable impact is explained by the fact that the skin reactions to BV might expand to excessive immunological responses, including anaphylaxis, that typically resolve over numerous days. This review aims to address bee venom therapeutic uses in skin cosmetics.

Nesting behaviour and foraging characteristics of Andrena cineraria (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae).

The current studies were carried out in the three experimental locations of Kashmir valley during 2013 to 2016. The species Andrena cineraria formed the dense nest aggregations in plan grounds, barren lands and hilly areas near the fruit orchards and other landscapes with clay loam soil type. The species start flying and foraging in the orchards from April till July. The nests were allodalous, 29-36 cm in depth, with cells located obliquely around the main barrow. The nests were dense with a maximum density of 11.09 nests/m2 observed in landscapes of Budgam. The barrow diameters were found varying with depth from main entrance. The maximum barrow diameter recorded was 2.05 mm. At certain depth, the female constructs the first cell and the upper nest burrow is vertical and lower is oblique. The nest entrance is generally hidden under the tumulus. In the depth of average 30.48 cm, each cell directly opens to main burrow either alternately or unilaterally. The cell number, diameter, and length varied with depth. Foraging behaviour of A. cineraria on various fruit crops and other shrubs and social forestry trees were determined and the abundance, visitation rate, total visits and time spend per flower were found significant, especially on fruit crops. The significance of the studies is important for the melittologists, as it will help in the conservation of bee fauna. The study is also important in using this species for pollination purpose and would also help to detect and understand the possible pre-adaptation of species in temperate region of Kashmir valley.

Neonicotinoid insecticides in pollen, honey and adult bees in colonies of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) in Egypt.

Honeybee losses have been attributed to multiple stressors and factors including the neonicotinoid insecticides (NIs). Much of the study of hive contamination has been focused upon temperate regions such as Europe, Canada and the United States. This study looks for the first time at honey, pollen and bees collected from across the Nile Delta in Egypt in both the spring and summer planting season of 2013. There is limited information upon the frequency of use of NIs in Egypt but the ratio of positive identification and concentrations of NIs are comparable to other regions. Metabolites of NIs were also monitored but given the low detection frequency, no link between matrices was possible in the study. Using a simple hazard assessment based upon published LD50 values for individual neonicotinoids upon the foraging and brood workers it was found that there was a potential risk to brood workers if the lowest reported LD50 was compared to the sum of the maximum NI concentrations. For non-lethal exposure there was significant risk at the worst case to brood bees but actual exposure effects are dependant upon the genetics and conditions of the Egyptian honeybee subspecies that remain to be determined.