hercules

Beetles, despite their remarkable biodiversity and a long history of research, remain lacking in reference genomes annotated with structural variations in loci of adaptive significance. We sequenced and assembled high-quality chromosome-level genomes of four Hercules beetles which exhibit divergence in male horn size and shape and body colouration. The four Hercules beetle genomes were assembled to 11 pseudo-chromosomes, where the three genomes assembled using Nanopore data (Dynastes grantii, D. hyllus and D...

Background Surgical transverse abdominis plane (TAP) block has been studied in various surgeries. However, its role particularly in the form of continuous infusion in comparison to epidural infusion in open gynecological surgeries remains unknown. Hence, this study was taken up. Methodology Sixty patients were assigned to either of the two groups: continuous epidural (Group E) or continuous infusion in the surgical TAP (Group S). The primary outcomes were visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores and rescue analgesic requirements...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to pool multiple data sets to build a patient-centric, data-informed, natural history model (NHM) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) to estimate disease trajectory across patient lifetime under current standard of care in future economic evaluations. The study was conducted as part of Project HERCULES, a multi-stakeholder collaboration to develop tools to support health technology assessments of new treatments for DMD. METHODS: Health states were informed by a review of NHMs for DMD and input from clinicians, patients and caregivers, and defined using common outcomes in clinical trials and real-world practice...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children have lower levels of participation in recreational and sporting activities when compared to their peers. Participation has been defined based on the Family of Participation-Related Constructs (fPRC) which defines participation as including both attendance and involvement, with sense of self, preferences and activity competence related to a child's participation. Modified sports interventions such as Sports Stars can act on physical literacy and some of the fPRCs components...

Multi-state survival models are used to represent the natural history of a disease, forming the basis of a health technology assessment comparing a novel treatment to current practice. Constructing such models for rare diseases is problematic, since evidence sources are typically much sparser and more heterogeneous. This simulation study investigated different one-stage and two-stage approaches to meta-analyzing individual patient data (IPD) in a multi-state survival setting when the number and size of studies being meta-analyzed are small...

AIM: To explore the perceptions of parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) participating in a modified sports intervention, Sports Stars Brazil. METHOD: Parents of children with CP (n = 15, 6-12 years old, nine males, six females), classified in Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I and II, who participated in the Sports Stars Brazil intervention, were recruited for this descriptive qualitative study. Children received the 8-week (1 hour per week) modified sports intervention...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Although most cases of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) are in humans, there is scientific evidence to suggest that the virus can also infect dogs and cats. This study investigated the circulation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), canine coronavirus (CCV), and canine influenza virus (CIV) in domiciled and/or stray dogs from different locations in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 86 dogs living in homes, on the streets, or in shelters in the cities of Taiobeiras, Salinas, Araçuaí, and Almenara were randomly selected for this study...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) relies on simultaneous reflection of sunlight and radiation toward cold outer space. Current designs of PDRC coatings have demonstrated potential as eco-friendly alternatives to traditional electrical air conditioning (AC). While many features of PDRC have been individually optimized in different studies, for practical impact, it is essential for a system to demonstrate excellence in all essential aspects, like the materials that nature has created. We propose a bioinspired PDRC structure templated by bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels) that possesses excellent cooling, thinness, tunability, scalability, and mechanical robustness...

Pollen-pistil interactions establish interspecific/intergeneric pre-zygotic hybridization barriers in plants. The rejection of undesired pollen at the stigma is crucial to avoid outcrossing but can be overcome with the support of mentor pollen. The mechanisms underlying this hybridization barrier are largely unknown. Here, in Arabidopsis, we demonstrate that receptor-like kinases FERONIA/CURVY1/ANJEA/HERCULES RECEPTOR KINASE 1 and cell wall proteins LRX3/4/5 interact on papilla cell surfaces with autocrine stigmatic RALF1/22/23/33 peptide ligands (sRALFs) to establish a lock that blocks the penetration of undesired pollen tubes...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The evolution of complicated pediatric Crohn's disease (CD) in the era of anti-tumor necrosis factor (aTNF) therapy continues to be described. Because CD progresses from inflammatory to stricturing (B2) and penetrating (B3) disease behaviors in a subset of patients, we aimed to understand the risk of developing complicated disease behavior or undergoing surgery in relation to aTNF timing and body mass index z-score (BMIz) normalization. METHODS: Multicenter, 5-year longitudinal data from 1075 newly diagnosed CD patients were analyzed...

The use of composite materials has seen widespread adoption in modern aerospace industry. This has been facilitated due to their favourable mechanical characteristics, namely, low weight and high stiffness and strength. For broader implementation of those materials though, the out-of-autoclave production processes have to be optimized, to allow for higher reliability of the parts produced as well as cost reduction and improved production speed. This optimization can be achieved by monitoring and controlling resin filling and curing cycles...

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of deaths globally. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a non-invasive approach for detecting heart diseases and reducing the risk of heart disease-related death. However, there are limited numbers of ECG samples and imbalance distribution for existing ECG databases. It is difficult to train practical and efficient neural networks. Based on the analysis and research of many existing ECG databases, this paper conduct an in-depth study on three fine-labeled ECG databases, to extract heartbeats, unify the sampling frequency, and propose a self-processing method of heartbeats, and finally form a unified ECG arrhythmia classification database, noted as Hercules-3...

OBJECTIVE: In this study, the long term durability of fenestrations after in situ fenestration (ISF) of five commercial thoracic aortic stent grafts were evaluated in an in vitro experiment after a simulated 10 year period. METHODS: Five different thoracic aortic stent grafts (Relay, Valiant, Hercules, TAG, and Ankura, with the diameter of 34 mm) received both needle and laser ISF in vitro. Viabahn (11 × 50 mm) was released in each fenestration as a bridging stent graft...

PURPOSE: To translate and investigate inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, content validity, and construct validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese Version of the Brachial Plexus Outcome Measure Scale (BPOM-Br). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The translation followed international guidelines. Inter-rater reliability was tested with 51 individuals with Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy (NBPP), aged between 4 to 16 years old. To determine concurrent construct validity, children were also assessed with the Mallet Scale...

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are transcription factors that regulate essential biological processes in response to cognate ligands. An important part of NR function involves ligand-induced conformational changes that recruit coregulator proteins to the activation function surface (AFS), ~15 Å away from the ligand binding pocket. Ligands must communicate with the AFS to recruit appropriate coregulators and elicit different transcriptional outcomes, but this communication is poorly understood. These studies illuminate allosteric communication networks underlying activation of liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1), a NR that regulates development, metabolism, cancer progression and intestinal inflammation...

It can be said that the specialty of neurosurgery in Iceland had its beginnings on November 30, 1971, with the arrival of a huge American C-130 Hercules aircraft. It was carrying a small package containing Scoville aneurysm clips. They were sent to the late Bjarni Hannesson (1938-2013), who had received his neurosurgical training in 1967-1971 at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (then known as Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and located in Hanover, New Hampshire). He used one to clip the right posterior communicating artery aneurysm of a 34-year-old fisherman, who recovered well...

This article reviews the analytical tool chest used for characterizing alkoxylates and their associated copolymer mixtures. Specific emphasis will be placed upon the use of mass spectrometry-based techniques as rapid characterization tools for optimizing reaction processes in an industrial R&D setting. An initial tutorial will cover the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation for detailed component analysis (e.g., polyol and isocyanate) of a model polyurethane-based foam...

Menopause is the period in which women cease to produce the hormone estrogen, which can trigger physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes. In this context, alternatives are needed that can reduce the effects provided by menopause, specifically in terms of cognitive and behavioral aspects. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an exercise protocol that has shown the potential to improve cognition by promoting an increase in antioxidant defenses and BDNF levels. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of HIIT on behavior and hippocampal neurochemistry in ovariectomized adult rats...