Navigated instrumentation and ligament tensioning device enhances initial gap acquisition during total knee arthroplasty procedure: A cadaveric study.

Purpose: Gap-balanced total knee arthroplasty (TKA) technique relies on initial ligament evaluation, particularly in patient-specific implantation using computer-assisted technologies. This cadaveric study aimed to compare the reproducibility and reliability of medial and lateral gap measurements between manual stress testing and dynamic ligament balancer.

Methods: Initial gap acquisitions were assessed from eight cadaveric knees (four specimens) during the same navigated TKA procedure by five differently skilled surgeons (three seniors and two juniors).

Substantial Insect Herbivory in a South African Savanna-Forest Mosaic: A Neglected Topic.

Insect herbivory plays a crucial role in shaping plant communities in many terrestrial ecosystems. However, in African savannas, insect herbivory has been relatively understudied compared to large mammalian herbivory. In this study, we examined the impact of insect herbivory, focusing on leaf chewers and miners, in a South African savanna-forest mosaic (including patches of forest, thicket and savanna) in Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park, South Africa.

A Sex-Specific Trade-Off Between Pesticide Resistance and Tolerance to Heat-Induced Sterility in .

Current pest management relies extensively on pesticide application worldwide, despite the frequent rise of pesticide resistance in crop pests. This is particularly worrisome because resistance is often not costly enough to be lost in populations after pesticide application, resulting in increased dependency on pesticide application. As climate warming increases, effort should be put into understanding how heat tolerance will affect the persistence of pesticide resistance in populations.

PRADOC: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess the Efficiency of PRADO-IC, a Nationwide Pragmatic Transition Care Management Plan for Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure in France.

Background: The PRADO-IC (Programme de Retour à Domicile après une Insuffisance Cardiaque) is a transition care program designed to improve the coordination of care between hospital and home that was generalized in France in 2014. The PRADO-IC consists of an administrative assistant who visits patients during hospitalization to schedule follow-up visits. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the PRADO-IC program based on the hypotheses provided by health authorities.

Taxonomic revision of the Southeast Asian brook barb genus Smith, 1931 (Teleostei, Cyprinidae) with description of a new species from Vietnam.

Molecular data from samples encompassing 22 nominal species of indicate that the species-level diversity in the genus has been vastly overestimated, likely due to inadequate taxon and geographic sampling and reliance on morphological characters that vary intra-specifically. The latter includes discrete mouth morphologies related to alternate feeding strategies (ecomorphs) within populations. One new species is described, Hoàng, Phạm & Trần, , and 17 synonyms of six valid species names of , , , , , , and , are recognised.

An updated infrageneric classification of the pantropical species-rich genus L. (Clusiaceae) and some insights into the systematics of New Caledonian species, based on molecular and morphological evidence.

L. is a pantropically distributed genus comprised of at least 250 species of shrubs and trees and has centers of diversity located in Africa/Madagascar, Australasia, and Southeast Asia. The genus is notable due to its extreme diversity of floral form, common presence in lowland tropical rainforests worldwide, and potential pharmacological value.

Herbivorous fish feeding dynamics and energy expenditure on a coral reef: Insights from stereo-video and AI-driven 3D tracking.

Unveiling the intricate relationships between animal movement ecology, feeding behavior, and internal energy budgeting is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem functioning, especially on coral reefs under significant anthropogenic stress. Here, herbivorous fishes play a vital role as mediators between algae growth and coral recruitment. Our research examines the feeding preferences, bite rates, inter-bite distances, and foraging energy expenditure of the Brown surgeonfish () and the Yellowtail tang () within the fish community on a Red Sea coral reef.

Small terrestrial mammals (Rodentia and Soricomorpha) along a gradient of forest anthropisation (reserves, managed forests, urban parks) in France.

Background: Understanding the relationships between wildlife biodiversity and zoonotic infectious diseases in a changing climate is a challenging issue that scientists must address to support further policy actions. We aim at tackling this challenge by focusing on small mammal-borne diseases in temperate forests and large urban green spaces. Small mammals are important reservoirs of zoonotic agents, with a high transmission potential for humans and domestic animals.

Mate choice in a promiscuous poison frog.

In many animal species, members of one sex, most often females, exhibit a strong preference for mating partners with particular traits or resources. However, when females sequentially mate with multiple partners, strategies underlying female choice are not very well understood. Particularly, little is known if under such sequential polyandry females mate truly randomly, or if they actively try to spread mating events across multiple partners.

Probabilistic early warning signals.

Ecological communities and other complex systems can undergo abrupt and long-lasting reorganization, a regime shift, when deterministic or stochastic factors bring them to the vicinity of a tipping point between alternative states. Such changes can be large and often arise unexpectedly. However, theoretical and experimental analyses have shown that changes in correlation structure, variance, and other standard indicators of biomass, abundance, or other descriptive variables are often observed prior to a state shift, providing early warnings of an anticipated transition.

Quality of life in patients with pulmonary embolism treated with edoxaban versus warfarin.

Background: Long-term sequelae of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) include decreased quality of life (QoL). Evidence suggests that adequacy of initial anticoagulant treatment in the acute phase of venous thrombosis has a key impact on late postthrombotic complications. We hypothesize that patients with acute PE treated with edoxaban for acute PE experience have improved QoL compared to those treated with warfarin.

nosoi: A stochastic agent-based transmission chain simulation framework in r.

The transmission process of an infectious agent creates a connected chain of hosts linked by transmission events, known as a transmission chain. Reconstructing transmission chains remains a challenging endeavour, except in rare cases characterized by intense surveillance and epidemiological inquiry. Inference frameworks attempt to estimate or approximate these transmission chains but the accuracy and validity of such methods generally lack formal assessment on datasets for which the actual transmission chain was observed.

Psychological and Behavioural Responses to Coronavirus Disease 2019: The Role of Personality.

This study examined the associations between personality traits and psychological and behavioural responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Personality was assessed in January/February 2020 when the public was not aware of the spread of coronavirus in the USA. Participants were reassessed in late March 2020 with four sets of questions about the pandemic: concerns, precautions, preparatory behaviours, and duration estimates.

When, why and how tumour clonal diversity predicts survival.

The utility of intratumour heterogeneity as a prognostic biomarker is the subject of ongoing clinical investigation. However, the relationship between this marker and its clinical impact is mediated by an evolutionary process that is not well understood. Here, we employ a spatial computational model of tumour evolution to assess when, why and how intratumour heterogeneity can be used to forecast tumour growth rate and progression-free survival.

Clinical and biomarker trajectories in sporadic Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study.

Introduction: Amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition was identified to precede tau pathology and neurodegeneration in familial Alzheimer's disease (AD). But the divergence between sporadic and familial AD limits the extension of these findings to sporadic AD.

Methods: Longitudinal changes of biomarkers among different stages were assessed using linear mixed-effects models.

Subjective cognitive and non-cognitive complaints and brain MRI biomarkers in the MEMENTO cohort.

Introduction: Subjective cognitive complaints may be a signature of preclinical stage Alzheimer's disease. However, the link between subjective cognitive and non-cognitive complaints and brain alterations remains unclear.

Methods: The relationship between cognitive and non-cognitive complaints and brain biomarkers, measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging, was investigated in 2056 participants of the MEMENTO cohort of outpatients, who were dementia-free at baseline.

A pilot clinical phase II trial MemSID: Acute and durable changes of red blood cells of sickle cell disease patients on memantine treatment.

An increase in abundance and activity of N-methyl D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) was previously reported for red blood cells (RBCs) of sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. Increased Ca uptake through the receptor supported dehydration and RBC damage. In a pilot phase IIa-b clinical trial MemSID, memantine, a blocker of NMDAR, was used for treatment of four patients for 12 months.

Central nervous system lymphatic unit, immunity, and epilepsy: Is there a link?

The recent definition of a network of lymphatic vessels in the meninges surrounding the brain and the spinal cord has advanced our knowledge on the functional anatomy of fluid movement within the central nervous system (CNS). Meningeal lymphatic vessels along dural sinuses and main nerves contribute to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage, integrating the cerebrovascular and periventricular routes, and forming a circuit that we here define as the CNS-lymphatic unit. The latter unit is important for parenchymal waste clearance, brain homeostasis, and the regulation of immune or inflammatory processes within the brain.

Insights into the processes that drive the evolution of drug resistance in .

At present, the successful transmission of drug-resistant , including multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains, in human populations, threatens tuberculosis control worldwide. Differently from many other bacteria, drug resistance is acquired mainly through mutations in specific drug resistance-associated genes. The panel of mutations is highly diverse, but depends on the affected gene and genetic background.

Timing malaria transmission with mosquito fluctuations.

Temporal variations in the activity of arthropod vectors can dramatically affect the epidemiology and evolution of vector-borne pathogens. Here, we explore the "Hawking hypothesis", which states that these pathogens may evolve the ability to time investment in transmission to match the activity of their vectors. First, we use a theoretical model to identify the conditions promoting the evolution of time-varying transmission strategies in pathogens.