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How drain flies manage to almost never get washed away.

ABSTRACT: Drain flies, Pshycoda spp. (Order Diptera, Family Psychodidae), commonly reside in our homes, annoying us in our bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms. They like to stay near drains where they lay their eggs and feed on microorganisms and liquid carbohydrates found in the slime that builds up over time. Though they generally behave very sedately, they react quite quickly when threatened with water. A squirt from the sink induces them to fly away, seemingly unaffected, and flushing the toilet with flies inside does not necessarily whisk them down. We find that drain flies' remarkable ability to evade such potentially lethal threats does not stem primarily from an evolved behavioral response, but rather from a unique hair covering with a hierarchical roughness. This covering, that has never been previously explored, imparts superhydrophobicity against large droplets and pools and antiwetting properties against micron-sized droplets and condensation. We examine how this hair covering equips them to take advantage of the relevant fluid dynamics and flee water threats in domestic and natural environments including: millimetric-sized droplets, mist, waves, and pools of water. Our findings elucidate drain flies' astounding ability to cope with a wide range of water threats and almost never get washed down the drain.

SUBMITTER: Speirs NB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7575561 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Currently, many surgeons place a prophylactic drain in the abdominal or pelvic cavity after colorectal anastomosis as a conventional treatment. However, some trials have demonstrated that this procedure may not be beneficial to the patients. OBJECTIVE:To determine whether prophylactic placement of a drain in colorectal anastomosis can reduce postoperative complications. METHODS:We systematically searched all the electronic databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared routine use of drainage to non-drainage regimes after colorectal anastomosis, using the terms "colorectal" or "colon/colonic" or "rectum/rectal" and "anastomo*" and "drain or drainage." Reference lists of relevant articles, conference proceedings, and ongoing trial databases were also screened. Primary outcome measures were clinical and radiological anastomotic leakage. Secondary outcome measures included mortality, wound infection, re-operation, and respiratory complications. We assessed the eligible studies for risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Two authors independently extracted data. RESULTS:Eleven RCTs were included (1803 patients in total, 939 patients in the drain group and 864 patients in the no drain group). Meta-analysis showed that there was no statistically significant differences between the drain group and the no drain group in (1) overall anastomotic leakage (relative risk (RR)?=?1.14, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.80-1.62, P?=?0.47), (2) clinical anastomotic leakage (RR?=?1.39, 95 % CI 0.80-2.39, P?=?0.24), (3) radiologic anastomotic leakage (RR?=?0.92, 95 % CI 0.56-1.51, P?=?0.74), (4) mortality (RR?=?0.94, 95 % CI 0.57-1.55, P?=?0.81), (5) wound infection (RR?=?1.19, 95 % CI 0.84-1.69, P?=?0.34), (6) re-operation (RR?=?1.18, 95 % CI 0.75-1.85, P?=?0.47), and (7) respiratory complications (RR?=?0.82, 95 % CI 0.55-1.23, P?=?0.34). CONCLUSIONS:Routine use of prophylactic drainage in colorectal anastomosis does not benefit in decreasing postoperative complications.

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How drain flies manage to almost never get washed away.

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