UF professor finds pesticide for disease-carrying mosquitoes
A UF professor has found a pesticide that kills mosquito larvae.
The pesticide — which kills mosquitoes that could carry diseases such as the Zika virus and yellow fever — is called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, said Barry Alto, an assistant professor at UF’s Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory.
The Zika virus is spread by the same mosquitoes that transmit yellow fever. While there is no cure for Zika, the disease can be controlled through pesticides that kill mosquito larvae, he said.
Alto said he used the pesticide, Bti, to kill the mosquitoes in their larval stage. When the bacterium is released into ponds and other bodies of water where a mosquito larva is found, it produces a toxin that paralyzes the stomach of the larva, starving it to death.
Reducing the number of larvae reduces the number of mature, pathogen-carrying mosquitoes, he said.
The Bti was tested in a controlled laboratory experiment, Alto said. He tested varying doses of the pesticide with various concentrations of larvae against a control group. He said he hopes the pesticide keeps people safe in the future.
“The most effective way to prevent mosquito-borne viruses to people would be an effective vaccine, but in the absence, the next way would be to reduce the active mosquitoes,” Alto said. “If there are fewer around, then you are protecting yourself from the pathogens they transmit.”
- JW Glass
Study group developing free app for teens with asthma
A UF study group is currently in the process of developing a free program that could help teens manage their asthma.
David Fedele, the principal investigator for the study, said he is focusing on those aged 12 to 15 with asthma because they are expected to be more independent in managing the disease.
“Our first goal is to develop an app,” Fedele said.
The mobile app, Team Speak, will be available on any Internet-enabled device, not just smartphones, he said.
Once the app is designed, families volunteering for the study will be put in one of two groups for a randomized control trial, he said.
The active group will use the mobile program while the control group will learn to manage asthma without it, he said. There will be a 4-month period where the researchers will work with the families and study the results. After that, they will follow up with the participants for four months.
The group wanted to look at technology to help these teens with asthma because teens are constantly tied to their cellphones, he said.
Families who volunteer and are selected will be compensated, Fedele said. The research is funded with a $275,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health that the team received last January, he said.
Fedele said he hopes the app will help teens take the responsibility from their parents to manage their asthma.
- John Avery Guyton
Study finds assertive women are perceived well as leaders
A study by a UF assistant professor and Michigan State University professor found women benefit from being assertive at work.
Klodiana Lanaj, a UF professor of management, and John Hollenbeck, an MSU professor of management, completed their research to examine whether statements Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, said about women needing to be more assertive in the workplace were true, Hollenbeck said.
The study aimed to investigate the phenomenon of over-emergence in the workplace, he said. This idea states that in a group working toward a common goal, a leader will always emerge.
“Males tend to emerge as leaders even if they aren’t the most effective,” Hollenbeck said.
To do the research, the two chose 181 masters of business administration candidates who were split into 36 self-managed teams, with at least one woman on each team. Three surveys were given, measuring personality, effectiveness in completing activities and leadership.
The results showed women had a better chance of emerging as leaders than men, as long as their assertiveness was perceived as helping the group, he said. This conflicts with the popular notion that women who are outspoken are perceived negatively.
“I think this is a conversation changer about what we have to do to emerge as leaders,” Hollenbeck said.
- JW Glass
