Impaired humidity sensing reduces tick survival by preventing water homeostasis.

Off-host periods are critical for ticks, representing a period when environmental stress, particularly dehydration, can impact tick survival. To prevent dehydration, ticks must be able to detect and move into high humidity areas to allow for water vapor uptake. Ionotropic receptor 93a (Ir93a), which is highly expressed in the front forelegs (location of Haller s organ), increases expression following dehydration, suggesting a role in humidity detection.

Unveiling the dynamics of social engagement and subjective health in older adults: A gendered perspective.

Objectives: As populations age globally, understanding the dynamics that influence the well-being of older individuals become increasingly crucial. The research employs a comprehensive approach to unravel the multifaceted interplay between social engagements and subjective health perceptions of older Indians, with a special focus on gender differences.

Subjects And Methods: This study used data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) wave 1, 2017-18 with a total sample of 30,533 older adults aged 60 years and above.

Examining the factors contributing to a reduction in hardship financing among inpatient households in India.

In India, the rising double burden of diseases and the low fiscal capacity of the government forces people to resort to hardship financing. This study aimed to examine the factors contributing to the reduction in hardship financing among inpatient households in India. The study relies on two rounds of National Sample Surveys with a sample of 34,478 households from the 71st round (2014) and 56,681 households from the 75th round (2018).

Illnesses and hardship financing in India: an evaluation of inpatient and outpatient cases, 2014-18.

Background: Progress towards universal health coverage requires strengthening the country's health system. In developing countries, the increasing disease burden puts a lot of stress on scarce household finances. However, this burden is not the same for everyone.

Multivariate decomposition analysis of sex differences in functional difficulty among older adults based on Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, 2017-2018.

Objectives: This study investigates the gender disparities in difficulty in activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and explores its contributing factors among older adults in India.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted using country representative survey data.

Setting And Participants: The present study uses the data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, 2017-2018.

Metabolomic and transcriptomic responses of ticks during recovery from cold shock reveal mechanisms of survival.

Ticks are blood-feeding ectoparasites but spend most of their life off-host where they may have to tolerate low winter temperatures. Rapid cold hardening (RCH) is a process commonly used by arthropods, including ticks, to improve survival of acute low temperature exposure. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms in ticks associated with RCH, cold shock and recovery from these stresses.

Cold hardening improves larval tick questing under low temperatures at the expense of longevity.

Questing in ticks is essential for locating a host, and this behavioral response can occur at regionally specific low temperatures for most tick species. Little is known about the dynamics between tick questing behavior and temperature in ticks, specifically how this may impact other aspects of tick biology. Here, we examine whether cold hardening increases questing in three larval tick species (Ixodes uriae, Dermacentor variabilis, and Amblyomma americanum) at low temperatures and whether cold hardening impacts longevity.