عارف صالح زاده

Today, scorpion stings are one of Iran's most significant health and medical problems. Regarding the favorable weather conditions, Shush created a suitable environment for scorpions. Given the importance of this question, a study was conducted on the species composition, temporal distribution, and degree of dependence of scorpion species on the environment regarding soil texture and moisture level in Shush in 2019.

In this fundamentally applied research, scorpion samples were collected in designated areas using an active search method during the day and night. The samples were identified under a stereomicroscope using valid keys.

The species Mesobuthus eupeus (61/6%), Androctonus crassicauda (5.3%), Hottentotta saulcyi (1.2%), Compsobuthus matthiesseni (11.1%), Razianus zarudny (0.62%), Hemiscorpius leptorus (18.3%), and Scorpio maurus (1.9%) belonging to the families Buthidae, Scorpionidae, and Hemiscorpiidae have been identified. Mesobuthus eupeus, Hemiscorpius leptorus, and Compsobuthus Matthiessen prefer loamy, silty, sandy loam soils. Androctonus crassicauda species prefer the silty loamy, loam, and sandy loam soils.

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that due to the temporal distribution of scorpion abundance, which gradually peaks from April to September, actions to control the scorpions and prevent their stings should be carried out as a function of their mass over the months, along with the characteristics of their habitats.

The medical importance of the German cockroach in urban areas is increasing. Today, researchers are working to find environmentally friendly insecticides. In this study, laboratory toxicity of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oils was evaluated against German cockroaches.

The plant essential oils were obtained through hydro-distillation using a clevenger type apparatus. Then, filter papers were dipped in prepared 1.8, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, 62.5 and 75 µg/m2 concentrations of mentioned essential oils and placed in the environment of male cockroaches to determine and compare their toxicity.

The results of regression probit analysis on cockroach mortality data after 24 hours showed that in both lavender and rosemary essential oils, the mortality rates of cockroaches increased with increasing essential oil concentrations. The insecticidal effect of lavender essential oil (LD50: 32.54 µg/m2) higher than rosemary essential oil (LD50: 35.97 µg/m2) that lavender essential oil exerted its insecticidal effect in a lower dose than rosemary essential oil.

Considering that the LDs50 of lavender and rosemary essential oils are much lower than current doses of chemical insecticides and due to the fact that the emergence of the phenomenon of resistance, It seems that the essential oils of plants such as lavender and rosemary can be good alternatives to chemical insecticides in the pest control program in the future.

Insects as the largest category of arthropods include numerous groups and families that the most important of them belong to order Diptera, family Culicidae. Because of feeding on the human's blood, a number of species of this family have been known as responsible for the transmission of pathogens for many diseases such as malaria, filariasis, encephalitis, yellow fever and dengue fever in the world. Given that no research has been conducted to determine the fauna of existing mosquitoes in the city of Poldokhtar, Lorestan Province, the present study aimed to exactly determine the mosquitoe's fauna in this city to perform appropriate prevention measures.
In this faunistic and cross-sectional descriptive study, four urban areas and four rural areas in four geographic directions in the city of Poldokhtar were determined. In each urban area, two places and in each designated rural area, four places including two human places and two animal places were selected. From the early of April 2015 to the early of January 2016, larvae, pupae and adult mosquitoes of the Culicidae family were collected. Sampling methods for larvae, pupae and mature were ladling, night catch, total and hand catch with an aspirator. Characteristics including the name of the collector, date of collection, code related to habitat, habitat status (permanent or temporary), type of vegetation cover, type of substrate, and the situation of sunlight were recorded in the related form. The samples were identified by resources and valid identification keys. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 19.
Totally, 5392 mosquito adults of the Culicidae family including 1818 mosquito adults and 3574 larvae in designated areas in the city as well as four rural areas were collected. The three genera Anopheles (21.9%), Culex (64.6%), and Culiseta (13.5%) were diagnosed. Also, from three genera, 12 species were identified as follows: Culex theiler, Cx. mimeticus, Cx. perexiguus, Cx. hortensis, Cx. pipiens, Cx. sitiens, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Culiseta langiareolata, Anopheles superpictus An. stephensi, An. turkhudi and An. dthali.Culex pipiens (19.9.5%) and Culex theileri (19.5%) were the most abundant species, respectively.
The results of this study indicate the presence of various species of mosquitoes throughout the city of Poldokhtar. Also, the results can lay the groundwork for doing more comprehensive and special studies particularly regarding the possible role of different species of mosquitoes in human and animal health in the future.

Introduction & Iran is among the countries with a variety of scorpion species، particu-larly dangerous ones. Death due to scorpion sting occurs in all parts of the country. Mortality from scorpion sting depends on various factors such as scorpion species، age of the stung per-son، stung body site and geographical area. Considering the fact that so far no research on the fauna and epidemiological aspect of scorpion stings has been done in Hamadan city، we con-ducted this research. This is a cross sectional- descriptive study. To determine the scorpion fauna of the region using a random cluster sampling in specified locations from May to Sep-tember in 2013 and was attempting we caught scorpions and put them in containers of alcohol (70%) and identified them based on Iran scorpions´ key. In order to investigate cases of scor-pion stings، we referred to the health center of Hamadan province and using questionnaires، we collected data related to the patients during 2010-2013. The data were analyzed by SPSS software. A total of 98 collected scorpion species named Mesobuthus eupeus، Androctonus crassicauda، Odontobuthus doriae and Razianus zarudnyi (Family: Buthidae)، were identified. Mesobuthus eupeus species with 89. 7% of the samples collected had the highest frequency. Totally، 797 cases of scorpion sting were documented in the Health Center of Hamadan Prov-ince، including 498 (62. 5%) male and 299 (37. 5%) females. The results of this study showed that most cases of scorpion stings in the age group of 25 to 34 years، in 2011 in July and in the rural areas were 29. 6%، 33. 1%، 28. 9%، 64. 4%، respectively. The most stung organs were hands، with 48. 2%. All patients (100%) during the study were treated. Due to the low-risk species of scorpions in the region and lack of mortality reports in the past few years، it is recommended to revise administering anti-scorpion serum in the health centers. Adequate training and awareness related to scorpions and prevention is the first step in reducing scorpion sting.

German cockroach or Blattella germanica is a common pest in residential buildings, which not only disseminates various microorganisms but it is one of the most important causes of allergies in infested areas. The goal of this study was to determine the susceptibility of German cockroaches of Tehran to some pesticides.

Blattella germanica collected from residential areas were exposed to different concentrations of Coopex, Ficam, Diazinon and Fenitrothion using contact method in 2003. Probit analysis was performed for estimation of KT50 and KT90. The statistical Package of GLIM 4 was used for data analysis.

The results of this study showed that the KT50 of 2.5% Actellic, 0.5% Ficam, 5% Diazinon, 1% Fenitrothion, 0.5% Fenitroithion and 0.25% Fenitrothion were 88, 129, 61, 54, 71 and 146 min respectively. Also the times required for KT90 estimated to be 218, 415, 94, 143, 185 and 284 min accordingly.

This results indicated that the susceptibility of German cockroaches of Tehran to Coopex, Ficam and Actelic was relatively low, so to find more suitable chemicals and to combat probable resistance, further experiments with different chemicals and even different control measures should be considered.