The world's most venomous spider is a species complex: systematics of the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atracidae: Atrax robustus).

The Sydney funnel-web spider Atrax robustus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877 is an iconic Australian species and considered among the most dangerously venomous spiders for humans. Originally described in 1877 from a single specimen collected in "New Holland", this spider has a complex taxonomic history.

Seroprevalence patterns of viral hepatitis B, C, and E among internally displaced persons in Borno State, Nigeria.

Objectives: Following the outbreak of hepatitis E in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Borno State in 2017, we assessed hepatitis B, C, and E biomarkers (hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg], anti-HBC, anti-hepatitis E virus [HEV] immunoglobulin [Ig] G, and anti-HEV IgM) among IDPs in three camps in Borno State, Nigeria, to determine seroprevalence rates in these understudied populations.

Methods: A total of 454 IDPs, including pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, were randomly selected, and their demographic, clinical, and epidemiological data were collected. Blood samples were tested for HBsAg and anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) using rapid tests, anti-HEV IgM, and anti-HEV IgG using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Handy insights: Could online patient-reported outcome measures be used to assess hand injury rehabilitation?

This protocol explores the use of online patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to assess recovery following hand trauma surgery. Hand injuries significantly impact patients' functional abilities and quality of life, making PROMs crucial for tracking recovery and guiding rehabilitation. This study leverages online versions of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ) and Hand Injury Severity Score (HISS) to assess patient perceptions of their recovery over time.

First fossil species of family Hyidae (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) confirms 99 million years of ecological stasis in a Gondwanan lineage.

Burmese amber preserves a diverse assemblage of Cretaceous arachnids, and among pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones), ten species in five families have already been named. Here, we describe a new fossil species from Burmese amber in the pseudoscorpion family Hyidae, providing detailed measurements, photographs and 3D-models from synchrotron scanning. Based on morphology, the new fossil, sp.

Epstein-Barr Virus Lytic Transcripts Correlate with the Degree of Myocardial Inflammation in Heart Failure Patients.

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is frequently found in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) from patients with heart failure, but the detection of EBV-specific DNA has not been associated with progressive hemodynamic deterioration. In this paper, we investigate the use of targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect EBV transcripts and their correlation with myocardial inflammation in EBV-positive patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Forty-four HFrEF patients with positive EBV DNA detection and varying degrees of myocardial inflammation were selected.

A new pseudoscorpion genus (Garypinoidea: Garypinidae) from the Eocene supports extinction and range contraction in the European paleobiota.

During the Paleogene, the Holarctic experienced drastic climatic oscillations, including periods of extensive glaciation. These changes had a severe impact on both the flora and fauna causing widespread extinction and range shifts with some taxa retreating to refugia in the Mediterranean Basin. Here we provide evidence for this hypothesis using fossils from the pseudoscorpion family Garypinidae Daday, 1889 (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones).

MicroRNAs as novel biomarkers and potential therapeutic options for inflammatory cardiomyopathy.

Aims: Inflammation of the heart is a complex biological and pathophysiological response of the immune system to a variety of injuries leading to tissue damage and heart failure. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) emerge as pivotal players in the development of numerous diseases, suggesting their potential utility as biomarkers for inflammation and as viable candidates for therapeutic interventions. The primary aim of this investigation was to pinpoint and assess particular miRNAs in individuals afflicted by virus-negative inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy (DCMi).

Advancing Precision Medicine in Myocarditis: Current Status and Future Perspectives in Endomyocardial Biopsy-Based Diagnostics and Therapeutic Approaches.

The diagnosis and specific and causal treatment of myocarditis and inflammatory cardiomyopathy remain a major clinical challenge. Despite the rapid development of new imaging techniques, endomyocardial biopsies remain the gold standard for accurate diagnosis of inflammatory myocardial disease. With the introduction and continued development of immunohistochemical inflammation diagnostics in combination with viral nucleic acid testing, myocarditis diagnostics have improved significantly since their introduction.

Molecular characterisation of a rabbit Hepatitis E Virus strain detected in a chronically HEV-infected individual from Germany.

In immunocompromised individuals persisting viremia frequently leads to a chronic hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection. Zoonotic transmission of HEV from pigs and wild boar to humans is proven and sporadic infections with rabbit HEV (raHEV) have recently been reported. Here, the molecular characterisation of a raHEV strain isolated from an immunocompromised, chronically HEV-infected, heart-transplanted patient is described.

Molecular analyses of pseudoscorpions in a subterranean biodiversity hotspot reveal cryptic diversity and microendemism.

Nested within the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, the Dinaric Karst of the western Balkans is one of the world's most heterogeneous subterranean ecosystems and renowned for its highly diverse and mostly endemic fauna. The evolutionary processes leading to both endemism and diversity remain insufficiently understood, and large-scale analyses on taxa that are abundant in both subterranean and surface habitats remain infrequent. Here, we provide the first comprehensive molecular study on Croatian pseudoscorpions, a lineage of arachnids that is common and diverse in both habitats.

Insertions and deletions in the hypervariable region of the hepatitis E virus genome in individuals with acute and chronic infection.

Background And Aims: Hepatitis E virus is a major cause of acute hepatitis worldwide and can progress to chronicity in immunocompromised individuals. Various virus-host recombination events have been reported in the hypervariable region of the hepatitis E virus genome, but the patterns of assembly and selection remain unclear.

Methods: To gain further insight into viral evolution, we assessed the presence of low abundance variants in 16 samples from individuals with acute or chronic infection using a targeted next-generation sequencing approach.

Rainforest conversion to rubber and oil palm reduces abundance, biomass and diversity of canopy spiders.

Rainforest canopies, home to one of the most complex and diverse terrestrial arthropod communities, are threatened by conversion of rainforest into agricultural production systems. However, little is known about how predatory arthropod communities respond to such conversion. To address this, we compared canopy spider (Araneae) communities from lowland rainforest with those from three agricultural systems in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, i.

Intramyocardial Inflammation after COVID-19 Vaccination: An Endomyocardial Biopsy-Proven Case Series.

Myocarditis in response to COVID-19 vaccination has been reported since early 2021. In particular, young male individuals have been identified to exhibit an increased risk of myocardial inflammation following the administration of mRNA-based vaccines. Even though the first epidemiological analyses and numerous case reports investigated potential relationships, endomyocardial biopsy (EMB)-proven cases are limited.

Evolutionary morphology of coxal musculature in Pseudoscorpiones (Arachnida).

Pseudoscorpions are an ancient and globally distributed lineage of arachnids with more than 4000 species. Despite being present in virtually all terrestrial habitats, their morphology and anatomy has rarely been studied to date, which hampers homology statements both within and between other arachnid orders. All pseudoscorpions share a morphological peculiarity, the fixation of the coxae of all the walking legs.

Biogeographical and diversification analyses of Indian pseudoscorpions reveal the Western Ghats as museums of ancient biodiversity.

The tropical forests of the Western Ghats (WG) of India are considered 'refugia' harbouring highly diverse and endemic taxa but these refugia are under immense anthropogenic pressure. Most phylogenetic studies have explained diversity patterns across the WG using vertebrates, however, the processes impacting the highly endemic invertebrate fauna are still poorly understood. Here we investigate the evolutionary history of an ancient and widespread arachnid lineage (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae: Tyrannochthoniini) in the WG through a variety of biogeographical and diversification analyses, including sequence data from three markers for 45 terminals from the WG and 22 from Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Australasia and the Neotropics.

Advanced sequencing approaches detected insertions of viral and human origin in the viral genome of chronic hepatitis E virus patients.

The awareness of hepatitis E virus (HEV) increased significantly in the last decade due to its unexpectedly high prevalence in high-income countries. There, infections with HEV-genotype 3 (HEV-3) are predominant which can progress to chronicity in immunocompromised individuals. Persistent infection and antiviral therapy can select HEV-3 variants; however, the spectrum and occurrence of HEV-3 variants is underreported.

Can detection and prediction models for Alzheimer's Disease be applied to Prodromal Parkinson's Disease using explainable artificial intelligence? A brief report on Digital Neuro Signatures.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the fastest growing neurodegeneration and has a prediagnostic phase with a lot of challenges to identify clinical and laboratory biomarkers for those in the earliest stages or those 'at risk'. Despite the current research effort, further progress in this field hinges on the more effective application of digital biomarker and artificial intelligence applications at the prediagnostic stages of PD. It is of the highest importance to stratify such prediagnostic subjects that seem to have the most neuroprotective benefit from drugs.

From the lowlands to the highlands of Ecuador, a study of the genus Masteria (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Dipluridae) with description of seven new species.

Dipluridae represent a small Mygalomorphae family of South American origin, the family includes two subfamilies Diplurinae and Masteriinae although the placement of the latter in Dipluridae is still under debate. The family has a predominantly South American distribution although the genus Masteria L. Koch, 1873 presents an interesting distribution with representatives found in Fiji, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Guinea and Australia.

A phenomenological three-parameter model for predicting the extent of outpatient palliative care.

Whether a patient receives general or specialized outpatient palliative cancer care rarely follows clear criteria, leading to undertreatment or overtreatment. Detailed scores exist to predict prognosis, but not treatment requirements, leaving caregivers to follow their intuition. As a phenomenological indicator incorporating possibly important subjective information, intuition may in fact be a helpful tool.

An annotated type catalogue of the centipedes (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) held in the Zoological Museum Hamburg.

Centipedes (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) are carnivorous arthropods that live in leaf litter and soil habitats on all continents except Antarctica. Roughly 3,300 species have been described to date but the taxonomy is still progressing and requires a thorough documentation of type material and type deposits. In this paper we provide an annotated catalogue of the centipede type collection at the Zoological Museum (ZMH) in Hamburg.

Twenty years, eight legs, one concept: describing spider biodiversity in Zootaxa (Arachnida: Araneae).

Zootaxa published more than a thousand papers on Araneae from 2002 to the present, including descriptions of 3,833 new spider species and 177 new genera. Here we summarise the key contributions of Zootaxa to our current knowledge of global spider diversity. We provide a historical account of the researchers that have actively participated as editors, and recognize the more than 1,000 reviewers without whom none of this would have been possible.