Demodex agrarii sp. n., an extremely long-bodied inhabitant of cerumen and the sebaceous glands in the ears of the striped field mice, Apodemus agrarius, taken in Slovakia, is described as a new species from all developmental stages.
Demodex neomydis sp. n. from the Mediterranean water shrew, Neomys anomalus, is described as a new species in all developmental stages. This demodecid is classified as a member of the genus Demodex Owen, 1843, but shows several morphological characters described in Soricidex dimorphus Bukva, 1982 and which are absent or very infrequent in other known Demodex species, viz., in the adult stage, a pair of shelf-like lamellae on the dorsum of the podosoma, dorso-lateral extension of the podosoma over the basal part of the gnathosoma, multiple opisthosomal organ in the male, and podosomal position of the vulva in the female. Immature stages of D. neomydis have unusual inflated idiosoma and dorsad deflected gnathosoma. All developmental stages of D. neomydis were found in the lumen of the hair follicles on the host’s muzzle, causing no gross pathological response. On histological level, the main pathological change was distension of infested hair follicles by accumulations of up to a dozen mites, which appear to feed on the epithelial cells of the hair follicle walls.
Based on materials collected from wild populations of the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus in South Bohemia, Czech Republic, previously unknown male is described and female redescribed for Demodex ratti Hirst, 1917. All developmental stages are described for two new species, D. norvegicus sp. n. and D. ratticola sp. n. Also provided is a key to adults of four Demodex species presently known to parasitize Rattus norvegicus. Demodex ratti was recovered from the host’s back, eyelids, and external auditory meatus, D. norvegicus from the anal and genital areas, and D. ratticola from vicinity of the mouth and the tip of muzzle.
In this article the authors review the trends and differentials in mortality from self-inflicted injury and poisoning in the Czech Republic between the early 1970s and the present in terms of their socio-economic and demographic associations. They describe the sources of data on suicide and explore the possible extent of under-reporting of deaths from suicide, and they examine the differences in suicide incidence by age and sex. With the decline in mortality from suicide, the male/female ratio of suicide rates increased from about 2,6 in the early 1970s to around 4.0 in recent years. Suicide rates increase steadily with age, and this pattern did not noticeably change during the period reviewed, The age-specific suicide rates of older men and women declined more than the rates for younger people. As in other societies, married men and women have the lowest suicide rates; in contrast, divorce puts both men and women at the greatest risk of suicide. The authors attempt to investigate the social correlates of suicide by analysing the variation in suicide rates among districts in the Czech Republic and selected socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the district populations. Stepwise regression analysis is used to identify three independent variables that explain 50% of the variation in suicide rates among districts: the abortion ratio, the percentage of locally born population, and the percentage of adults with limited education.