Steve Mihok

• PhD
• Researcher at Retired (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission)

We have identified a new mammalian leukocyte from voles (Cricetidae, Microtus). This "azurocyte" is a large mononuclear cell with numerous cytoplasmic inclusions that stain purple with azure dyes. The cell resembles a young lymphocyte with numerous mitochondria, a prominent Golgi complex, and modest amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum. The inclu...

The population cycles of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were studied in southeastern Manitoba, Canada, from 1968 to 1978 on a 32-ha old field and in surrounding boreal forest. Vole density was monitored on mark-recapture live-trapping at 2- to 4-wk intervals throughout the year. This was supplemented by a 3-d spring and a 30-d summer snap-t...

The ultimate disposal of uranium (U) mine tailings containing long-lived radionuclides requires information on their solid form and potential for environmental transfer over time. Synchrotron X-ray micro-spectroscopy techniques (SXRMS) are useful for addressing this issue as these methods are able to simultaneously characterize the micro-scale dist...

A modified Nzi trap was tested at a residence and at a farm in eastern Ontario, Canada to better capture high-flying tabanids (Diptera) such as Chrysops Meigen. A new upper trap entrance was created to provide a higher and larger opening by reducing the front blue top shelf to half its height. To minimise escape of low-flying tabanids, a vertical i...

During the opening of diplomatic relations in the 1990s, South Africa gifted 20 southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) to Kenya. The species is not indigenous to Kenya, and management of the introduction was not clearly addressed in the legislation. Responsibility was left to the private sector and local authorities. Ten of the anima...

Durable materials for Nzi traps were tested in three applied settings based on promising formats that were tested first in Canada. Experiments were conducted at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States of America at the site of a major tabanid control programme and at two challenging tropical locations (Sudan and Philippines) where mechanical transmi...

This paper discusses the use of biomarkers within the environmental protection framework that has evolved since the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) was given a broad mandate for the protection of the environment under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act ( NSCA ) in 2000. Unique insights have been obtained through environmental assessments...

New materials in 85 configurations were tested relative to standard fabric Nzi traps to improve catches of tabanids based on artificial visual cues that mimic those used in nature for locating hosts or water. Colour‐fast synthetic fabrics and photo‐selective horticultural mesh were tested to facilitate insecticide impregnation and for improved dura...

Background This study focused on the savannah tsetse species Glossina swynnertoni and G. morsitans centralis, both efficient vectors of human and animal trypanosomiasis in, respectively, East and Central Africa. The aim was to develop long-lasting, practical and cost-effective visually attractive devices that induce the strongest landing responses...

Mean daily landing rates and catches of tsetse. Detransformed mean daily landing rates and catches (with transformed means ± standard errors in brackets, natural logarithms) of G. swynnertoni, G. m. centralis and G. pallidipes, respectively, on different visual targets and in pyramidal traps. (DOCX)

Landing rate distributions of three tsetse species. Landing rate distributions of G. swynnertoni, G. m. centralis and G. pallidipes according to sex and substrate colour on visual targets and the pyramidal trap. (DOCX)

Spectral reflectance measurements for materials used in traps and targets. TDV C180 is pure cotton dyed with a genuine Phthalogen Blue dyestuff from Dystar, Germany which precipitates as copper phthalocyanine in the fabric (Pigment Blue 15 or C.I. 74160). (TIF)

Mean daily landing rates and catches of G. m. centralis. Detransformed mean daily landing rates and catches (with transformed means ± standard errors in brackets, natural logarithms) of G. m. centralis on a blue-black visual target, a clear target made of adhesive film, and in different traps, with and without the POCA bait. (DOCX)

Adult Brachycera can affect dairy cattle through their feeding behaviour. The main families of veterinary importance are Tabanidae, Athericidae, Rhagionidae, Muscidae, Glossinidae and Hippoboscidae. Non-biting flies such as house flies and face flies ingest liquids from animal tissues using sponging mouthparts, whereas biting flies such as tabanids...

Aquatic environments downstream of uranium operations (mining/milling) in Northern Saskatchewan are exposed to a variety of chemical and physical disturbances. There is extensive regulatory documentation of monitoring and effects assessments for modern uranium operations, though little is available in the scientific literature. The reference condit...

Phtalogen blue painted plywood Nzi trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2004, Front View

Plywood Nzi trap of G. Sakolsky and B. Morris at horse pasture near Barnstable, Cape Cod; very high catch of Tabanus nigrovittatus, the greenhead tabanid of coastal areas

Phthalogen Blue painted plywood Nzi trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2005 with rigid acrylic back and flexible vinyl cone, side-back view to show substitutions

Blue and Black Plexiglass (acrylic) Nzi trap with white netting at home garden near Ottawa in 2006

Blue and Black Plexiglass (acrylic) Nzi trap with white netting at home garden near Ottawa in 2006, Front view

Phalogen Blue painted plywood Nzi trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2004

Skeleton of Nzi trap for flexible experiments with substituted materials, a frame can also be made for the cone or more typically netting can simply be suspended from a flexible pole at the back of the trap

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap at the AAFC Lethbridge Research Centre dairy barn in 1999, Stomoxys in collector

Phaltogen Blue Nzi Trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2004 Front View

Nzi trap of Sunbrella acrylic with white polyester netting made by Rincovitova, California at home garden near Ottawa

Phaltogen Blue Nzi Trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2004 Front View

Nzi trap of Sunbrella acrylic with white polyester netting made by Rincovitova, California at home garden near Ottawa, back view

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap at horse stable near Ottawa in 2007

Phthalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap set at Thisthlethwaite Wildlife Managementa Area in Louisiana during 1996 Biting Fly workshop with Lane Foil, good catch of tabanids

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap at Moon River stables near Lethbridge, Alberta in 1999, Stomoxys in collector

All Phifirtex vinyl mesh Nzi trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2004

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap at home garden near Ottawa in 2004

Nzi Trap collector with about 3,000 black flies set with octenol in farm field near Hay River, NWT

Unusually high catch of about 500 mosquitoes in Turquoise cotton Nzi trap at home garden in Hay River NWT in 2009, baited with octenol, related to obvious flush of mosquitoes that day

Turquoise cotton Nzi trap set at home garden next to the river at Hay River, NWT in 2009, many Hybomitra tabanids, side view

Blue-black target wrapped in Rentokill sticky film, tested in farm field near Hay River, NWT in 2009, showing East face with many Hybomitra tabanids; at end of day after removal of some flies for identification, test described in Med Vet Ent paper of Mihok & Lange 2012

Nzi trap with brown polyproplene netting substitution set near Goat pen near Hay River, NWT, catch is several weeks of very many tabanids and perhaps 100,000 black flies

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap at ICIPE field station near Nguruman, Kenya in 1997, polarizing filter with large catch of tsetse

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap at ICIPE field station near Nguruman, Kenya in 1997, polarizing filter with large catch of tsetse, back view

Phathalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap with very high catch of tsetse Glossina pallidipes and tabanids Atylotus agrestis set at Shompole near Nguruman field station of ICIPE in 1998, acetone, cow urine and octenol baited, photo credit Bob Copeland

Example of very high catch of Hybomitra tabanids in Nzi traps set at Hay River NWT farm field in 2009, looking up into the cone of the trap; considerble congestion in trap due to catches of up to perhaps 10,000 per day

Phthalogen blue cotton Nzi trap with very high catch of Hybomitra tabanids at Hay River NWT in 2009, top view

Turquoise cotton Nzi trap at Hay River farm field in 2009, very high catches of mainly Hybomitra tabanids, side view

Steve Mihok with Phthalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap at ICIPE field station near Nguruman, Kenya in 1997 with a catch of about 3,000 tsetse, catch not quite visible at back bottom of collection bag

Phathalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap with very high catch of tsetse Glossina pallidipes and tabanids Atylotus agrestis set at Shompole near Nguruman field station of ICIPE in 1998, acetone, cow urine and octenol baited, photo credit Bob Copeland

Phathalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap with very high catch of tsetse Glossina pallidipes and tabanids Atylotus agrestis set at Shompole near Nguruman field station of ICIPE in 1998, acetone, cow urine and octenol baited, photo credit Bob Copeland

Phathalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap with very high catch of tsetse Glossina pallidipes and tabanids Atylotus agrestis set at Shompole near Nguruman field station of ICIPE in 1998, acetone, cow urine and octenol baited, photo credit Bob Copeland

Phathalogen Blue cotton Nzi trap with very high catch of tsetse Glossina pallidipes and tabanids Atylotus agrestis set at Shompole near Nguruman field station of ICIPE in 1998, acetone, cow urine and octenol baited, photo credit Bob Copeland

Top Notch Blue polyester Nzi trap at swampy field on a farm near Ottawa in 2007, catch of several thousand tabanids

Environmental transfer models assume that organically-bound tritium (OBT) is formed directly from tissue-free water tritium (TFWT) in environmental compartments. Nevertheless, studies in the literature have shown that measured OBT/HTO ratios in environmental samples are variable and generally higher than expected. The importance of soil-to-leaf HTO...

A 30 second video clip to show the quality of the many longer videos available of tabanids at Nzi traps in the experiments conducted in the Northwest Territories at Hay River in July 2009

This paper reports the output of a consensus symposium organized by the International Union of Radioecology in November 2015. The symposium gathered an academically diverse group of 30 scientists to consider the still debated ecological impact of radiation on populations and ecosystems. Stimulated by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters' accidenta...

Riverine species of tsetse are responsible for most human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) transmission and are also important vectors of animal trypanosomiasis. This study concerns the development of visual control devices for two such species, Glossina fuscipes fuscipes and Glossina tachinoides, at the eastern limits of their continental range. The...

Glossina palpalis palpalis (G. p. palpalis) is one of the principal vectors of sleeping sickness and nagana in Africa with a geographical range stretching from Liberia in West Africa to Angola in Central Africa. It inhabits tropical rain forest but has also adapted to urban settlements. We set out to standardize a long-lasting, practical and cost-e...

Here we set out to standardize long-lasting, visually-attractive devices for , a vector of both human and animal trypanosomiasis in open savannah in Tanzania and Kenya, and in neighbouring conservation areas used by pastoralists. The goal was to determine the most practical device/material that would induce the strongest landing response in for use...

Frameworks and methods for the radiological protection of non-human biota have been evolving rapidly at the International Commission on Radiological Protection and through various European initiatives. The International Atomic Energy Agency has incorporated a requirement for environmental protection in the latest revision of its Basic Safety Standa...

Here we describe field trials designed to standardize tools for the control of Glossina tachinoides, G. palpalis gambiensis and G.morsitans submorsitans in West Africa based on existing trap/target/bait technology. Blue and black biconical and monoconical traps and 1 m2 targets were made in either phthalogen blue cotton, phthalogen blue cotton/poly...

Baits for tabanids (Diptera: Tabanidae) were tested in the Northwest Territories (60 °N) and Ontario (45 °N) using Nzi traps. Tests targeted ammonia, phenols/cow urine and octenol. About 200 000 tabanids were captured in 15 experiments with a maximum capture of 4182 in one trap in 1 day. In the Northwest Territories, phenols, urine and octenol were...

Cow urine and the two phenols responsible for the attraction of biting flies to cow urine (4-methylphenol, 3-n-propylphenol) were compared with octenol (1-octen-3-ol) as baits for Tabanidae. Relative to an unbaited Nzi trap, catches of the horseflies Hybomitra lasiophthalma (Macquart), Tabanus similis Macquart and Tabanus quinquevittatus Wiedemann...

Alighting of horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) and non-biting muscids (Diptera: Muscidae) was studied at Khartoum, Sudan, using black cylindrical models mimicking a goat, calf and cow. Flies were intercepted by attaching electrocution grids or clear adhesive film to models. Alighting sites and defensive behaviour were also documented on hosts throug...

Experiments were conducted to adapt the cloth Nzi trap to a format suitable for fixed applications in biting fly sampling or control. Catches of tabanids [Tabanus L., Chrysops (Meigen), and Hybomitra Enderlein], and stable flies [Stomoxys calcitrans (L.)] in painted plywood traps were compared with those in standard phthalogen blue cloth traps, and...

Octenol (1-octen-3-ol), acetone, 4-methylphenol, 3-n-propylphenol, and other potential attractants (human urine, stable fly faeces), as well as guiacol, creosol (potential repellents), were tested as baits for biting flies in North America using standard phthalogen blue IF3GM cotton Nzi traps, or similar commercial polyester traps. Baits were teste...

Five novel homologous acetate derivatives of long-chain secondary alcohols and a related ketone were tested for their efficacy as contact mating stimulants for Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Full copulatory behaviour at a high percentage was found in tests with racemic 6-acetoxy-19-methylnonacosane at 2.5-20 microg using...

The performance of Nzi traps for tabanids (Tabanus similis Macquart, T. quinquevittatus Wiedemann, Chrysops aberrans Philip, C. univittatus Macquart, C. cincticornis Walker, Hybomitra lasiophthalma (Macquart)), stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans Linnaeus) (Diptera: Muscidae) and mosquitoes (Aedes) (Diptera: Culicidae) was investigated at various sit...

The Screening Level Concentration (SLC) approach was used to derive Lowest Effect Level (LEL) and Severe Effect Level (SEL) concentrations for nine metals (As, Cr, Cu, Pb, Mo, Ni, Se, U and V) and three radionuclides (226Ra, 210Pb, and 210Po) released to the aquatic environment during the mining and milling of uranium ore. This method was chosen be...

We tested the hypothesis that low doses of gamma radiation have beneficial, hormetic effects on the stress axis (the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis) of free-ranging meadow vole populations (Microtus pennsylvanicus). Voles were exposed to chronic gamma radiation from a 137Cs field irradiator. In isolated populations, voles received one o...

Free-ranging, wild meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were exposed to gamma radiation from a (137)Cs irradiator in a series of experiments conducted on six 1-ha meadows within a mixed deciduous forest in Manitoba, Canada. Over a period of 1-1.5 years in each of three experiments, vole populations were monitored with capture-mark-release techniq...