Choosing your insect repellent key facts on DEET, picaridin, and natural choices A Petri dish containing several mosquito samples. Mosquitoes traps are stationed at several sites across Kalamazoo County for vector sampling throughout the summer months. (WWMT) With summer in full swing across West Michigan, odds are you've already battled what's sometimes called the state bird: mosquitoes. With Jamestown Canyon Virus detected in a mosquito earlier this month in Kalamazoo County, health officials encouraged residents to protect themselves against mosquito-borne illness. Wearing insect repellant usually tops the list of precautionary actions you can take for preventing mosquito bites. With many different products to choose from, it's important to know which key ingredients are considered safe and effective.

Pharmaceutical giants explore new paths as innovation, restructuring reshape industry Exploring new development paths have become key for global pharmaceutical companies, as technological innovation and market restructuring are reshaping the global pharmaceutical industry, said the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products. Asia's largest pharmaceutical event CPHI China 2025, a specialized exhibition on pharmaceutical ingredients, will be held in Shanghai from June 24 to 26. In the meantime, PMEC China 2025, a major pharmaceutical machinery event in Asia, will be held simultaneously at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.

Is DEET Really Your Best Choice? We Explored Your Options for Insect Repellent. From picaridin to herbal solutions, there's a wide variety of non-DEET repellents on the market. But which work, and which are just snake oil? No one wants to spend long evenings huddled in a tent hiding from mosquitoes. But choose the wrong insect repellent, and this sad scenario could be in your future. After all, mosquitoes, ticks, and other biting insects aren’t just annoying—they can be dangerous, spreading diseases like Zika, West Nile, Alpha-gal Syndrome, and Lyme. Fortunately, the EPA has registered and approved a number of active ingredients in insect repellents that are both safe and effective when used correctly. We spoke with Andrew Li, a research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture about which repellents are most effective and why you might want to reach for something different on your next excursion.

Going big with δ-cyclodextrin The first scaled-up synthesis of this 9-sugar ring could expand its applications Chemists have a sweet spot for cyclodextrin (CD) rings, cyclic molecules made of glucose sugars linked together like dancers in a Henri Matisse painting. Cyclodextrins have found use as drug delivery agents that encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients, as air fresheners that soak up stinky compounds, and as water purification systems that capture and destroy pollutants. Each year, chemical makers churn out thousands of metric tons of the most common ones: six-, seven-, and eight-sugar rings, known as α-, β-, and γ-CD, respectively.

Vector-borne diseases are found at almost every travel destination. Because few vaccines are available to protect travelers, the best way to prevent vector-borne diseases is to avoid being bitten by ticks and insects, including mosquitoes, fleas, chiggers, and flies, that transmit pathogens that cause disease. Travel medicine specialists should advise travelers to use repellents and take other precautions to prevent bites.

EXPLAINER | How do mosquito repellants work? To ward off mosquitoes, there are a wide variety of repellants, with the most tried-and-true products based on a substance called DEET. DEET acts as a contact-based repellent and conveys a chemical message to mosquitoes to leave. Citronella products are also used to keep mosquitoes away, but testing shows these products are far less effective than DEET. It's summertime, and for many of us that means plenty of time outside - and, unfortunately, mosquitoes. The combination of the increase in temperature and plenty of water is ideal for these blood- sucking insects to make their presence felt.