Computational analysis of electrical stimulation to promote tissue healing for hernia repair at varying mesh placement planes.

Development of a tear in the abdominal wall allowing for protrusion of intra-abdominal contents is known as a hernia. This can cause pain, discomfort, and may need surgical repair. Hernias can affect people of any age or demographic.

Cretaceous chloranthoids: early prominence, extinct diversity and missing links.

Background: The Chloranthaceae comprise four extant genera (Hedyosmum, Ascarina, Chloranthus and Sarcandra), all with simple flowers. Molecular phylogenetics indicates that the Chloranthaceae diverged very early in angiosperm evolution, although how they are related to eudicots, magnoliids, monocots and Ceratophyllum is uncertain. Fossil pollen similar to that of Ascarina and Hedyosmum has long been recognized in the Early Cretaceous, but over the last four decades evidence of extinct Chloranthaceae based on other types of fossils has expanded dramatically and contributes significantly to understanding the evolution of the family.

A preliminary viability study of an electrically active hernia mesh on mouse fibroblasts.

Hernias occur when part of an organ, typically the intestines, protrudes through a disruption of the fascia in the abdominal wall, leading to patient pain, discomfort, and surgical intervention. Over one million hernia repair surgeries occur annually in the USA, but globally, hernia surgeries can exceed 20 million. Standard practice includes hernia repair mesh to help hold the compromised tissue together, depending on where the fascial disruption is located and the patient's condition.

Module walking using an SH3-like cell-wall-binding domain leads to a new GH184 family of muramidases.

Muramidases (also known as lysozymes) hydrolyse the peptidoglycan component of the bacterial cell wall and are found in many glycoside hydrolase (GH) families. Similar to other glycoside hydrolases, muramidases sometimes have noncatalytic domains that facilitate their interaction with the substrate. Here, the identification, characterization and X-ray structure of a novel fungal GH24 muramidase from Trichophaea saccata is first described, in which an SH3-like cell-wall-binding domain (CWBD) was identified by structure comparison in addition to its catalytic domain.