Rediscovery and redescription of the rare, critically endangered snake Emmochliophis miops (Serpentes: Colubridae), with comments on its natural history, distribution, and phylogenetic relationships

Redescoberta e redescrição da rara e criticamente ameaçada serpente Emmochliophis miops (Serpentes: Colubridae), com comentários sobre história natural, distribuição e relações filogentéticas. A descrição de Emmochliophis miops baseia-se em apenas um espécime procedente das vertentes Andinas do noroeste do Equador, coletado em 1897. Representantes dessa espécie não haviam sido coletados até outubro de 2017, quando dois indivíduos foram encontrados na Cordilheira Ocidental da Colômbia; esta redescoberta consiste no primeiro registro dessa espécie no país. Neste estudo, examinamos o holótipo e os novos espécimes e propomos uma nova diagnose e descrição de E. miops. Apresentados dados importantes sobre a história natural e o estado de conservação da espécie, além de comentários sobre as relações sistemáticas de Diaphorolepis, Emmochliophis e Synophis.Rediscovery and redescription of the rare, critically endangered snake Emmochliophis miops (Serpentes: Colubridae), with comments on its natural history, distribution, and phylogenetic relationships. The description of Emmochliophis miops is based on a single specimen from the Andean slopes of northwest Ecuador collected in 1897. The species had not been collected again until October 2017, when two individuals were found on the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia; this rediscovery is the first record of this species in this country. Herein, the holotype and the new specimens are examined, and a new diagnosis and description of E. miops are provided. Important data about the natural history and conservation status of the species, and comments on the systematic relationships of Diaphorolepis, Emmochliophis and Synophis are presented.Redescubrimiento y redescripción de la serpiente rara y en peligro crítico Emmochliophis miops (Serpentes: Colubridae), con comentarios sobre su historia natural, distribución y relaciones filogenéticas. La descripción de Emmochliophis miops está basada en un solo espécimen de las laderas andinas del noroeste de Ecuador recolectado en 1897. La especie no se volvió a recolectar hasta octubre de 2017, cuando dos individuos fueron encontrados en la vertiente occidental de la Cordillera Occidental de Colombia; este redescubrimiento es el primer registro de esta especie en este país. En este estudio, el holotipo y los nuevos especímenes son examinados y se proporciona un nuevo diagnóstico y descripción de E. miops. Se presentan datos importantes sobre la historia natural y el estado de conservación de la especie, y comentarios sobre las relaciones sistemáticas de Diaphorolepis, Emmochliophis y Synophi

The Charlotte (TM) intra-vehicular robot

NASA has identified telerobotics and telescience as essential technologies to reduce the crew extra-vehicular activity (EVA) and intra-vehicular activity (IVA) workloads. Under this project, we are developing and flight testing a novel IVA robot to relieve the crew of tedious and routine tasks. Through ground telerobotic control of this robot, we will enable ground researchers to routinely interact with experiments in space. Our approach is to develop an IVA robot system incrementally by employing a series of flight tests with increasing complexity. This approach has the advantages of providing an early IVA capability that can assist the crew, demonstrate capabilities that ground researchers can be confident of in planning for future experiments, and allow incremental refinement of system capabilities and insertion of new technology. In parallel with this approach to flight testing, we seek to establish ground test beds, in which the requirements of payload experimenters can be further investigated. In 1993 we reviewed manifested SpaceHab experiments and defined IVA robot requirements to assist in their operation. We also examined previous IVA robot designs and assessed them against flight requirements. We rejected previous design concepts on the basis of threat to crew safety, operability, and maintainability. Based on this insight, we developed an entirely new concept for IVA robotics, the CHARLOTTE robot system. Ground based testing of a prototype version of the system has already proven its ability to perform most common tasks demanded of the crew, including operation of switches, buttons, knobs, dials, and performing video surveys of experiments and switch panels

The impact of prior physical conditioning in initial recruit training success: A systematic review

Aim: To determine whether recruits who underwent a physical conditioning program prior to initial tactical training had increased rates of success.Design: Systematic ReviewMethod: A systematic search, following the PRISMA protocol and registered in the Open Science Framework, was conducted to identify relevant studies. Keywords, derived from three themes (physical conditioning, tactical, and recruits), were employed in the search of database CINAHL, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, SportDiscus, and Web of Science. Studies were screened against inclusion/exclusion criteria with data extracted and analyzed. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools were used to assess methodological quality of included studies by two authors independently with a Kappa analysis to determine inter-rater agreement.Results: Of 14,411 identified articles, 13 studies informed the review. The mean quality of studies was considered ‘good’ with a Kappa of 0.81 between raters. Seven studies identified that an increase in physical fitness, through use of preconditioning programs, resulted in lower rates of injury. Three studies attributed increased basic training pass rates to physical conditioning programs. However, three studies failed to find a change in attrition rates following the programs.Conclusion: The volume of evidence suggests that programs aimed at increasing muscular conditioning and aerobic endurance prior to tactical training would result in fewer injuries and increased pass rates although reductions in absolute attrition may not change.Key Practice Points:• Recruits are less likely to be injured if they are fitter and / or have completed additional training prior to completing training for a tactical occupation

Cost-effectiveness of continuous glucose monitoring and intensive insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our objective was to determine the cost-effectiveness of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology with intensive insulin therapy compared to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in adults with type 1 diabetes in the United States.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A Markov cohort analysis was used to model the long-term disease progression of 12 different diabetes disease states, using a cycle length of 1 year with a 33-year time horizon. The analysis uses a societal perspective to model a population with a 20-year history of diabetes with mean age of 40. Costs are expressed in $US 2007, effectiveness in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Parameter estimates and their ranges were derived from the literature. Utility estimates were drawn from the EQ-5D catalogue. Probabilities were derived from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), and the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy. Costs and QALYs were discounted at 3$23,552, resulting in an ICER of approximately $45,033/QALY. For a willingness-to-pay (WTP) of$100,000/QALY, CGM with intensive insulin therapy was cost-effective in 70% of the Monte Carlo simulations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CGM with intensive insulin therapy appears to be cost-effective relative to SMBG and other societal health interventions.</p

Ancient mitogenomics clarifies radiation of extinct Mascarene giant tortoises (Cylindraspis spp.)

The five extinct giant tortoises of the genus Cylindraspis belong to the most iconic species of the enigmatic fauna of the Mascarene Islands that went largely extinct after the discovery of the islands. To resolve the phylogeny and biogeography of Cylindraspis, we analysed a data set of 45 mitogenomes that includes all lineages of extant tortoises and eight near-complete sequences of all Mascarene species extracted from historic and subfossil material. Cylindraspis is an ancient lineage that diverged as early as the late Eocene. Diversification of Cylindraspis commenced in the mid-Oligocene, long before the formation of the Mascarene Islands. This rejects any notion suggesting that the group either arrived from nearby or distant continents over the course of the last millions of years or had even been translocated to the islands by humans. Instead, Cylindraspis likely originated on now submerged islands of the Réunion Hotspot and utilized these to island hop to reach the Mascarenes. The final diversification took place both before and after the arrival on the Mascarenes. With Cylindraspis a deeply divergent clade of tortoises became extinct that evolved long before the dodo or the Rodrigues solitaire, two other charismatic species of the lost Mascarene fauna

Baryogenesis via lepton number violating scalar interactions

We study baryogenesis through lepton number violation in left-right symmetric models. In these models the lepton number and CP violating interactions of the triplet higgs scalars can give rise to lepton number asymmetry through non-equilibrium decays of the $SU(2)_L$ triplet higgs and the right handed neutrinos. This in turn generates baryon asymmetry during the electroweak anomalous processes.Comment: 14 pages, UTPT-93-1

A 10-year experience of infection following carotid endarterectomy with patch angioplasty

ObjectiveAlthough infection following carotid endarterectomy is rare, consequences of this seldom seen complication can be devastating. Polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and vein patches have all been used by many institutions for patch angioplasty, each with reported cases of infection following surgery. Our institution has preferentially used PTFE for the majority of cases, and here, we report our experience with postoperative infection following endarterectomy over the last decade.MethodsFrom January 2000 through July 2009, we treated infections following carotid endarterectomy in 25 patients.ResultsOf the 25 patients undergoing treatment for postoperative infection, 21 had PTFE patches placed during the initial surgery. The remaining four consisted of two polyester patches and two bovine pericardial patches. Twenty-three of the 25 initial endarterectomies were performed at our institution, and the other two were referrals. The majority of cases (56%) were due to gram-positive organisms, with only two cases being polymicrobial. The interval from the original surgery to clinical presentation ranged from 7 days to 85 months, with 20 patients (80%) presenting within 60 days of the first operation. Thirteen patients underwent incision and drainage with antibiotics, and 12 patients underwent definitive surgical treatment. Four received patch excision with vein patch angioplasty, four received patch excision with vein interposition, and four received sternocleidomastoid flaps. The 30-day stroke rate was 8%, and the freedom from recurrent infection was 100% at a mean follow-up of 32 months.ConclusionInfection following carotid endarterectomy occurs <1% of the time; however, the potential for morbidity is significant. Our results show that most infections following PTFE patch angioplasty occur in the early postoperative period (<60 days) and that simple drainage with antibiotics may be an adequate form of treatment in select cases