Fishes of the genus Pterois possess spines that provoke intense pain, which can last for weeks. Since the first toxicological description of their spine venom, a significant amount of research has been published regarding their biochemical characterization. This minireview presents research published from 1959 to 2024 on bioactive substances found in Pterois species. Pterois venom mainly contains peptides and proteins that display a range of biological activities, including anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, enzymatic, cardiovascular, procoagulant, neurological, neuromuscular, and nutraceutical effects. Although Pterois venom contains bioactive substances, the toxic side effects, such as hemolysis and nociception, of these venoms should be considered. Hence, further intense research is needed to establish the potential uses of Pterois venom for human health.

Pathological processes often change the mechanical properties of cells. Increased rigidity could be a marker of cellular malfunction. Erythrocytes are a type of cell that deforms to squeeze through tiny capillaries; changes in their rigidity can dramatically affect their functionality. Furthermore, differences in the homeostatic elasticity of the cell can be used as a tool for diagnosis and even for choosing the adequate treatment for some illnesses. More accurate types of equipment needed to study biomechanical phenomena at the single-cell level are very costly and thus out of reach for many laboratories around the world. This study presents a simple and low-cost technique to study the rigidity of red blood cells (RBCs) through the application of electric fields in a hand-made microfluidic chamber that uses a capacitor principle. As RBCs are deformed with the application of voltage, cells are observed under a light microscope. From mechanical force vs. deformation data, the elastic constant of the cells is determined. The results obtained with the capacitor-based method were compared with those obtained using optical tweezers, finding good agreement. In addition, P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes were tested with the electric field applicator. Our technique provides a simple means of testing the mechanical properties of individual cells.

Pathogen spillover from managed to wild pollinators represents an emerging threat to global pollinator diversity. However, surveillance of microbial pathogens in tropical wild bee communities remains severely limited. We investigated Nosema ceranae detection prevalence in the orchid bee Euglossa imperialis across seasons at 2 ecologically contrasting sites in the Panama Canal corridor: a protected tropical forest and a semi-urban landscape. Using species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, we detected N. ceranae DNA in gut tissues of this euglossine bee. Detection prevalence was significantly higher at the protected forest site (34/44; 77.3%) than at the semi-urban site (12/38; 31.6%), with no seasonal effect observed. A literature synthesis revealed that Nosema parasites have been reported across at least 9 hymenopteran families, with N. ceranae showing the broadest distribution of reported associations among named species, including detections in managed and wild bees as well as social wasps. This study provides the first molecular detection of N. ceranae in E. imperialis and indicates that N. ceranae DNA is detectable in wild pollinator communities at 2 ecologically contrasting sites in the Panama Canal corridor. The higher detection prevalence at the forest site suggests that local spatial or ecological context may be an important correlate of exposure in this system, a hypothesis that will require testing with additional replicated sites and environmental covariates. These findings highlight the need for expanded pathogen monitoring in Neotropical pollinator communities and underscore the importance of integrating ecological surveillance with molecular diagnostics to assess emerging pathogen risks in tropical ecosystems.

Chagas disease (CD), caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a neglected tropical illness affecting 6–8 million people in Latin America. Reaching scholarly consensus on the host response to T. cruzi infection remains a significant challenge, primarily due to substantial heterogeneity in outcomes driven by both the choice of animal model and the infecting parasite’s discrete typing unit (DTU). This variability complicates the evaluation and comparison of new therapeutic compounds against existing drugs, namely benznidazole and nifurtimox. This study provides a comprehensive, kinetic, multifaceted characterization of the acute infection using the highly virulent T. cruzi Y strain (TcII) in outbred Swiss mice. Here, crucial infection parameters are presented, including the optimal infective dose, the parasitemia dynamics, tissue damage markers, hematological profiles, cytokine production (Th1/Th2/Th17/Th22), and molecular parasite identification in target organs (heart, colon, esophagus, spleen, and liver) across the span of the infection. The novelty of this study lies in the kinetic integration of these parameters within a defined model; rather than presenting isolated data points, we demonstrate how the biochemical, physiological, and clinical signs and immunological responses, with the resulting organ involvement, evolve and interact over time. To complete the report, a necropsy evaluation was performed at the end of the acute, fatal infection, and it is presented here. This study fulfills a long-standing recommendation from diverse drug discovery groups for the creation of a definitive reference model to standardize preclinical testing for anti-Chagasic agents.