Skin structure, coloration, and habitat utilization in typical and melanistic morphs of the grass snake (Natrix natrix).

Melanism is a polymorphic phenotype caused by the number and density of melanocyte cells producing melanin pigment in the skin and widely observed in snakes. The frequency of this coloration in populations is associated with its opposing fitness consequences and can be closely related to species-specific characteristics such as sex, reproduction, and nutrition, as well as environmental factors such as climate and geography. Although melanism is frequently seen in snakes, the skin structure of melanistic individuals has not been studied in detail.

Phlebotomus halepensis (Diptera: Psychodidae) Vectorial Capacity in Afyon and Nigde Province, Turkey.

Leishmaniasis is a one of the vector-borne diseases and has two clinical forms in Turkey: cutaneous and visceral. The aim of this study was to determine the sand fly fauna in Afyon and Nigde provinces where endemic foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Turkey. In Afyon, 2,259 sand flies were collected in 73 locations in August 2009 and August 2010, using CDC light traps.

Natural infection of Helix aspersa (Mollusca: Pulmonata) by Dicrocoeliidae (Digenea) larval stages in Izmir, Turkey.

In this study, the prevalence of larval stages of Dicrocoeliidae in the garden snail Helix aspersa Müller, 1774 commonly found in the vicinity of Izmir, Turkey was investigated and some of its histological and morphological features were determined. The molluscs were collected during the spring of 2005. As the result of the investigation, a land snail species, H.

Age-dependent variations in the venom proteins of Vipera xanthina (Gray, 1849) (Ophidia: Viperidae).

In this study, polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis and densitometry analysis methods were used to analyze venom extracts of Vipera xanthina specimens of different lengths (35, 47 and 88 cm) collected from the same locality. The electropherograms of the venom protein samples showed age-dependent qualitative and quantitative variations.

Clinical, physiological and serological observations of a human following a venomous bite by Macrovipera lebetina lebetina (Reptilia: Serpentes).

A researcher, a 40 year-old male, was bitten on his finger accidentally by a 75 cm long, adult male blunt-nosed viper, Macrovipera lebetina lebetina (Linnaeus) that had been collected from northern Cyprus during laboratory work in the Zoology Section, Biology Department of the Ege University Faculty of Science. The clinical signs, physiological and biochemical changes soon after the venomous bite by the blunt-nosed viper as well as the electrophoretic separation of plasma proteins of the patient have been presented here. Serious important symptoms (edema, hypotension shock, hemorrhage, tissue necrosis, and melanoderma) developed and major quantitative differences in the fractions of albumin, globulin and albumin/globulin ratios were detected.

A study on venom proteins of Iurus dufoureius asiaticus Birula, 1903 (Scorpiones: Iuridae).

The scorpion Iurus dufoureius asiaticus (Birula 1903) which is the largest scorpion in Europe and Turkey belongs to the family Iuridae and is endemic in Turkey. No data has been found about the venom components of I. d.

A novel amperometric biosensor based on artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) tissue homogenate immobilized in gelatin for hydrogen peroxide detection.

A biosensor for specific determination of hydrogen peroxide was developed by using homogenized artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) tissue in combination with a dissolved oxygen probe and applied in determination of hydrogen peroxide in milk samples. Artichoke tissue, which has catalase activity, was immobilized with gelatine by means of glutaraldehyde and fixed on a pretreated teflon membrane.