Chemical hives

Figure Bl.2.6. Schematic representation of a Michelson interferometer. From Griffiths P R and de Flaseth J A 1986 Fourier transfonn infrared spectroscopy Chemical Analysis ed P J Hiving and J D Winefordner (New York Wiley). Reprinted by pemiission of Jolm Wiley and Sons Inc.

Our family is so informed that I don t have to worry about chemicals in our house. And we eat right and take a lot of vitamins, so even if sometimes I do run into perfume or something, it won t bother me now as much as it would have maybe two years ago. I don t think about it too much, but I m cautious. I m alert every day, and that pretty much keeps me well. But occasionally I get a wake-up call. Sometimes I get rashes or hives, or I ll get an instant sore throat when I m exposed to certain hair products and that kind of thing. I get a migraine about once a month, which jolts me back to the reality that I have to deal with this. Or, if I don t want to ask my friends to not wear perfume, and I just ignore it, I get sick. But I don t dwell on it. 

Because people with MCS react to chemicals at levels that ordinarily do not affect others, chemical sensitivity is sometimes referred to as chemical allergy, although the mechanism is not the same as in the more traditional allergies. A person with MCS may react to animals, pollen, dust and mold with symptoms that are the same or different from those of traditional allergies. People with MCS may also have common allergy symptoms such as itchy eyes, nasal congestion, sinusitis, asthma, hives and other rashes that result from exposures to chemicals or typical allergens. 

The U.S. Center for Disease Control conducted a door-to-door survey of some 300 homes asking about effects and examined physicians records. The survey "did not produce any evidence of toxic illness or severe health effects." However, the survey did show a slight increased incidence of headaches and skin rashes, but the conclusion was that it was "unlikely they were chemically caused." One man found to have heavy metal poisoning worked in a foundry and one of the children of the woman making the original complaint was found to have hives. 

B. Breyer and H. H. Bauer, Alternating Current Polarography and Tensammetry, Chemical Analysis Series, P. J. Hiving and 1. M. Kolthoff, eds., Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1963. D. E. Smith in Electroanalytical Chemistry, A. J. Bard, ed., Vol. 1, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1966, p. 1. 

Propolis. Bee bread hive dross. A resinous substance found in beehives. Collected by bees from buds, tsoln of caffeic acid from propolis Cizmarik. Matel, Expert-entia 26, 713 (1970). Antimicrobial constituents of propolis J. Metzner et al, Phormazie 30, 799 (1975) E. M. Schneide-wind et al. ibid. 803. Review on the origin, chemical constituents and therapeutic activity M. H. Haydak, State of Iowa. Repts. State Apiarist 1953, p 74-87 M. Vanhaelen, R.Vanhaelen -Fastre, J. Pharm. Beige 34, 253 (1979). 

Fall The bees are past swarming by this time, and the beekeeper can begin to relax and harvest the honey. Once you have removed the honey store and effectively taken away the bees winter food store, feed them with sugar syrup. It s also important to protect your hive from the Varroa mite, which carries a virus remove the supers and suspend two medicated plastic strips in the brood frame. The strips contain chemicals that are slowly released into the hive and kill the mites. Remove the strips after six weeks if you do detect an infection, treatment is possible, so seek professional advice. 

Hively, R.L. etal. 1966. Isolation of trans-A -tetrahydrocannabmol from marijua-Journal of the American Chemical So-ciety 88 1832—1833. 

It is well known that animals communicate by releasing chemicals that others of the same species receive and "understand." For example, ants use chemicals to signal news about food supplies and danger from predators, and honeybees "recognize" other bees from the same hive by their chemical signals. Now scientists at Yale University have shown that tadpoles send chemical signals to one another. 

The loss of one quarter of all managed honey bee colonies since 1990 signals one of the most severe declines US agriculture has ever experienced in such a short period. There are fewer bee hives in the US today than at any time in the past 50 years [12]. This demise has been brought about by the spread of diseases and parasitic mites, invasion of Africanized honey bees [12], climatic fluctuations, industrialization, and exposure to pesticides and other chemicals. Xenobiotics can either poison the bees... 

The Bee Alert project developed by Bromenshenk et al. [17, 18] clearly illustrates the above concept. This system uses domestic honey bees, hives equipped with sensors, chemical analysis, and computer facilities for the early detection of the presence of contaminants in the environment [18]. 

A typical hive atmosphere chromatogram from our TD/GC/MS technique is shown in Figure 2.2. Identified compounds have been systematized into four categories, each with a summary table. Table 2.2 lists compounds reported as honey bee semiochemicals. Semiochemicals are produced in glands that secrete to the exterior of the insect, and include pheromones, which are chemicals used to communication between individuals of the same species. Table 2.3 consists of compounds associated with hive stores. Table 2.4 presents compounds emanating from materials and components from which beehives are assembled. Table 2.5 documents compounds arising from non-bee sources. Within each category, compounds have been listed in formula order. Table 2.6 contains selected levels for hazardous air pollutants that have been collected from hives in our studies in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay, USA. 

The most visible bee-foraged material from the standpoint of hive air samples was propohs. A wide variety of hydrocarbons and their partially oxidized breakdown product components were collected in our chemical sorbent beds. These correlated closely with lists of compounds reported in propolis [16, 17, 101] for North America and Europe. Many more compounds appear in propolis from tropical forests [16] that were not examined in this study. Many of these are large waxy esters and would not be seen by our TD/GC/MS method. We expect that specific compounds and their relative amounts will show considerable variation dependent upon... 

During the early stages of our bee biomonitoring project, we chemically profiled each component that was used in the construction of our instrumented hive condos (Table 2.4). Unpainted pine boards were rich in terpene peaks. In fact, using artificial neural networks, we were often able to identify from which hive a sample came, based heavily on their individual terpene fingerprints [112, 113]. Vinyl screens gave rise to several ethers. Polyethylene parts released various aromatic and aliphatic derivatives. The application of white paint to the exterior surfaces of hive boxes added some organic acids, alcohols, and additional hydrocarbons to the hive environment. 

The honey bees keep their territory constantly under control thus any contaminants present therein are intercepted and carried into the hive, where they will become available for chemical analysis. It also follows that bees can quickly perceive any trends or changes occurring within the environments they inhabit and disclose them with equal promptness. The honey bee may therefore be considered a biological indicator. 

On the basis of these findings, therefore, it can be deduced that the critical threshold of mortality in a station comprising two hives is 300-350 dead bees per week. However, in some cases it may also be useful to analyze bee specimens that do not reach the critical threshold of mortality as they can provide evidence of active principles harmless for bees but dangerous for the environment. In addition, whenever the number of dead bees collected from the two hives in a station differs significantly, it is advisable to perform a separate palynological and chemical analysis on the two samples so that the crops treated may be more precisely identified. 

Propolis (registration number chemical abstracts service - CAS 9009-62-5) is a sticky colored material, which honeybees collect from different plants exudates and modify in its hypopharyngeal glands, being used in the hive to fill gaps and to protect against invaders as insects and microorganisms. Raw propolis usually contains 50% resin and balsam, 30% wax. 

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