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1 The range of attraction of YATLOR pheromone traps was studied to gain information on the number of traps needed for mass trapping of males of two Agriotes species. 2 Male click beetles of the species Agriotes lineatus (L.) and Agriotes obscurus (L.) (25-30 individuals per release point) were marked and released at a distance of 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 60 m from a pheromone trap both along and opposite to the known prevailing wind direction. Traps were regularly inspected over approximately 1 month. The percentage of recaptured beetles was calculated and analyzed using analysis of variance. Maximum sampling ranges and effective sampling areas were calculated. 3 Averaged over all five trials and distances, approximately 40% of the released beetles (A. lineatus and A. obscurus) were recaptured. The percentage recapture of male adults was significantly affected by release distance, whereas no differences were found for species and release direction. 4 Males were recaptured from all release points and the percentage recapture decreased (in part significantly) with increasing distance from 76% (2 m) to 35% (15 m) and 9% (60 m), respectively. Most of the beetles were recaptured within the first 3 days after release, independent of the distance, except 60 m. The effective sampling area for A. lineatus was 1089 m 2 after 12 days and increased to 1735 m 2 after 30 days. Corresponding values for A. obscurus were considerably higher: 1518 m 2 for 12 days and 2633 m 2 for 30 days. 5 We conclude that the range of attraction of the pheromone traps for A. lineatus and A. obscurus is comparatively low, providing high percentage recapture only for release distances up to 10 m. Accordingly, any approach targeted on preventing mating by male mass trapping would require a dense network of pheromone traps.

The present study planned to assess the medicinally important plants in the lower Margalla Hills of Islamabad, Pakistan using scanning electron microscopy of their pollens. Both quantitative and qualitative characters of the pollens were analyzed. The shapes of the pollen were prolate, spheroidal, elliptical, and oblate. Exine sculpturing showed rugulate, scabrate, psilate gemmate, and reticulate ornamentation. The people residing in the rural areas are thought to depend, primarily, on medicinal plant resources for many health care needs. A sample of 140 respondents was selected and interviewed by using a stratified random sampling technique. Results showed that the local communities of lower Margalla Hills are highly dependent on plants to treat various ailments, for example, respiratory (28%), digestive (46%) nervous, circulatory and dermatological problems (6% each), and reproductive problems (8%). The continuous dependence of the local community on ethnomedicinally important plants has led to serious degradation of the natural forest of lower Margalla Hills. Priority-based conservation and sustainable use of these forest resources are necessary, and use of alternative resources will also help in the forest conservation.

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Background. Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped positive-strand RNA viruses which have club-like spikes at the surface with a unique replication process. Coronaviruses are categorized as major pathogenic viruses causing a variety of diseases in birds and mammals including humans (lethal respiratory dysfunctions). Nowadays, a new strain of coronaviruses is identified and named as SARS-CoV-2. Multiple cases of SARS-CoV-2 attacks are being reported all over the world. SARS-CoV-2 showed high death rate; however, no specific treatment is available against SARS-CoV-2. Methods. In the current study, immunoinformatics approaches were employed to predict the antigenic epitopes against SARS-CoV-2 for the development of the coronavirus vaccine. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte and B-cell epitopes were predicted for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus protein. Multiple sequence alignment of three genomes (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2) was used to conserved binding domain analysis. Results. The docking complexes of 4 CTL epitopes with antigenic sites were analyzed followed by binding affinity and binding interaction analyses of top-ranked predicted peptides with MHC-I HLA molecule. The molecular docking (Food and Drug Regulatory Authority library) was performed, and four compounds exhibiting least binding energy were identified. The designed epitopes lead to the molecular docking against MHC-I, and interactional analyses of the selected docked complexes were investigated. In conclusion, four CTL epitopes (GTDLEGNFY, TVNVLAWLY, GSVGFNIDY, and QTFSVLACY) and four FDA-scrutinized compounds exhibited potential targets as peptide vaccines and potential biomolecules against deadly SARS-CoV-2, respectively. A multiepitope vaccine was also designed from different epitopes of coronavirus proteins joined by linkers and led by an adjuvant. Conclusion. Our investigations predicted epitopes and the reported molecules that may have the potential to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These findings can be a step towards the development of a peptide-based vaccine or natural compound drug target against SARS-CoV-2.

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