Spiders have important ecological roles as generalist predators, are a significant source of food for many other species, and are bioindicators of environmental health. However, spiders are poorly studied. Given their importance, a comparison of spider survey methods used to determine differences in spider diversity and abundance is required to understand their limitations and biases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA group of Australian miturgines that are common in widespread areas of mostly dry landscapes are revised. Five new genera (Miturgopelma, Knotodo, Xistera, Miturgiella and Xeromiturga) and 48 new species are described. Three species presently included in three families are placed in these groups in the Miturgidae: Uliodon ferrugineus (L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe poorly known mygalomorph genus Thalerommata Ausserer, 1875 is redescribed and rediagnosed. Thalerommata gracilis Ausserer, 1875 (type species) and T. macella (Simon, 1903) are rediagnosed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtein synthesis is dysregulated in the majority of cancers and this process therefore provides a good therapeutic target. Many novel anti-cancer agents are directed to target the initiation stage of translation, however, translation elongation also holds great potential as a therapeutic target. The elongation factor eIF5A that assists the formation of peptidyl bonds during the elongation process is of considerable interest in this regard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChanging consumer food waste-related behaviours is critical to meeting global targets of halving food loss and waste. This paper presents a food waste reduction intervention trialled in five Australian schools and explores its influence on food provisioning practices, changed behaviours and food waste. Consisting of a mix of educational, skills-based, and whole-of-school-events, the intervention sought to reduce food waste by encouraging students to be more involved at home in choosing and/or preparing food to take to school.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the trapdoor spider genus Euoplos Rainbow & Pulleine (tribe Euoplini), it was discovered recently that two divergent lineages occur in sympatry in eastern Australia. This challenged the monogeneric classification of the tribe and, in combination with inadequate taxonomic descriptions of some species, precluded comprehensive taxonomic revision. To resolve these issues, we conducted a total-evidence cladistic analysis on a largely undescribed continental fauna-the first such analysis on a group of Australian Mygalomorphae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChanging the everyday food-related behaviours of consumers is a critical part of tackling the global food waste challenge. Comprehensive frameworks of household food waste and consumer behavior are needed to guide the development of targeted interventions and future research agendas. This study systematically reviews food waste and behaviour studies from developed nations to provide an overview of the current research field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpiders of the infraorder Mygalomorphae are fast becoming model organisms for the study of biogeography and speciation. However, these spiders can be difficult to study in the absence of fundamental life history information. In particular, their cryptic nature hinders comprehensive sampling, and linking males with conspecific females can be challenging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe scorpion family Bothriuridae occupies a subset of landmasses formerly constituting East and West temperate Gondwana, but its relationship to other scorpion families is in question. Whereas morphological data have strongly supported a sister group relationship of Bothriuridae and the superfamily Scorpionoidea, a recent phylogenomic analysis recovered a basal placement of bothriurids within Iurida, albeit sampling only a single exemplar. Here we reexamined the phylogenetic placement of the family Bothriuridae, sampling six bothriurid exemplars representing both East and West Gondwana, using transcriptomic data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is generally accepted that the concept of sustainability is not straightforward, but is subject to ongoing ambiguities, uncertainties and contestations. Yet literature on sustainability transitions has so far only engaged in limited ways with the resulting tough questions around what sustainability means, to whom and in which contexts. This paper makes a contribution to this debate by unpacking sustainability in India and Thailand in the context of solar photovoltaic and urban mobility experimentation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClosely related organisms with transoceanic distributions have long been the focus of historical biogeography, prompting the question of whether long-distance dispersal, or tectonic-driven vicariance shaped their current distribution. Regarding the Southern Hemisphere continents, this question deals with the break-up of the Gondwanan landmass, which has also affected global wind and oceanic current patterns since the Miocene. With the advent of phylogenetic node age estimation and parametric bioinformatic advances, researchers have been able to disentangle historical evolutionary processes of taxa with greater accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Corinnidae of the western Pacific are revised. The formerly sparassid genus Anchognatha Thorell, 1881, and the gnaphosid genus Battalus Karsch, 1878, are transferred to the Castianeirinae. The Corinninae include only the introduced Creugas gulosus Thorell, 1878 and Medmassa christae sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCollagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) injection is a nonoperative treatment of hand contractures from Dupuytren disease. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of CCH in several subgroups of patients with increased surgical risk.Data were pooled from 3 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn growing numbers, patients are using social media platforms as resources to obtain health information and report their experiences in the health care setting. More physicians are making use of these platforms as a means to reach prospective and existing patients, to share information with each other, and to educate the public. In this ever-expanding online dialogue, questions have arisen regarding appropriate conduct of the physician during these interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Orthop (Belle Mead NJ)
December 2011
In light of recent health care reform and the aging US Medicare population, it is becoming increasingly important for orthopedic surgeons to use effective and efficient strategies for hip fracture surgery. The Extended-Short Nail System (ES nail) is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved titanium nail which is locked at the same location as the locking hole of a short intramedullary (IM) nail. The ES nail takes advantage of an "extended-short" hybrid design combining the mechanical characteristics of a long IM nail with the surgical ease of use offered with a short IM nail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors report a case of nontraumatic, spontaneous dislocation of a polyethylene insert detected 1 year after total knee arthroplasty. The patient demonstrated initial improvement and returned to work 4 months postoperatively. At 6 months postoperatively, the patient developed pain and a clunking sensation with motion; however, he denied any traumatic precipitating events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTotal knee arthroplasty (TKA) continues to advance as innovative devices become available. #2 PDO Quill SRS (Angiotech, Reading, Pa) bidirectional barbed suture was used for 161 primary TKAs at our facility. We report on 3 separate cases of extensor mechanism repair failure after primary TKA in which a barbed suture was used for extensor mechanism closure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of antimicrobial-loaded delivery vehicles, most often as antibiotic beads, is common practice for the treatment of deep musculoskeletal infections. The elution of antibacterial drugs from various bone cements has been extensively studied. However, much less is known about the elution of other antimicrobials from these materials.
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