New genus Malagiella.

86 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps ; 26 cm.A new oonopid genus endemic to Madagascar, Malagiella, is proposed and its 10 constituent species newly described and illustrated: M. ambalavo ([male]), M. andringitra ([male, female]), M. fisheri ([m, f]), M. goodmani ([f]), M. nikina ([f]), M. ranavalona ([f]), M. ranomafana ([m, f]), M. toliara ([m, f]), M. valterova ([m, f]), and M. vohiparara ([m, f]). Malagiella is most similar to the Asian genus Camptoscaphiella in both somatic and genitalic features, but differs in some important characters. Unlike Camptoscaphiella, the Malagiella male has a palpal bulb completely fused with the tarsus and a sternum bearing stiff bristles; the female has a round copulatory opening and bifid 4th claws. The species may be recognized by the genitalia. Male palpi are fairly uniform, but differ in segment proportion and details of the embolus complex, which consists of a broad dorsal embolus connected to a laminar ventral prong. Female genitalia are more variable, especially in the curvature of the receptaculum, which spans the range from nearly straight to widely sinuous and occurs in mirror-image versions having opposite coiling. These torsional variants, with females having either left- or right-handed receptacula, probably occur in all species, although they are not evident in species with straight receptacula and (obviously) unknown in species represented by singleton female specimens. Malagiella species are very diverse somatically, ranging from dark, big, and large-eyed species to pale, small, and reduced-eyed ones. Our preliminary clustering uses mostly these somatic features, with some genitalic support, to identify three species groups: ranomafana, vohiparara, and toliara. Other genitalic characters that suggest different groupings are discussed

New genus Molotra

69 p. : ill. (some col.), col. map ; 26 cm.A new oonopid genus endemic to Madagascar, Molotra, is proposed and its six included species are newly described and illustrated: M. molotra, the type species, M. ninae, M. katarinae, M. suzannae, M. tsingy, and M. milloti. Molotra is defined on the basis of its unusual genitalia. The male has the palpal bulb terminating in broad, liplike lobes, unlike any previously described in Oonopidae. The female is equally unusual in lacking an apparent receptaculum, although the genitalia otherwise resemble those of silhouettelloid genera. The species of Molotra form three distinct groups based on somatic and genitalic characters. The M. molotra group includes four large, strongly spined species. The remaining two are morphologically distinct and known only from males. M. tsingy is a small species with unusual palpi that are complex, contorted, and with a resting position along the sternocoxal boundary, instead of an anterior sternal cavity. M. milloti is a very bristly species that differs somatically from other Molotra but has genitalia similar to the M. molotra group. Molotra is known only from Madagascar where the three species groups are strongly disjunct. The M. molotra group occurs in higher elevation forests (1000-1300 m) in northeastern Madagascar, M. tsingy is from low elevation karst (150 m) of the southwest, whereas M. milloti is from a coastal locality in the northwest

African Orsolobidae

14 p. : ill., map ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 14)."The first African representatives of the austral spider family Orsolobidae are described. Two new genera are established: Afrilobus, containing three new species (A. capensis and A. australis from the Cape Province of South Africa, and A. jocquei from Malawi), and Azanialobus, conatining one new species, A. lawrencei, from Transvaal, South Africa"--P. [1]

New genus Volborattella.

71 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 26 cm. "Species descriptions were generated with the aid of the oonopid PBI descriptive database"--Page 10.A new genus of goblin spider from Madagascar, Volborattella Saucedo and Ubick, is proposed and its five included species newly described and illustrated: V. teresae, the type species, V. guenevera, V. nasario, V. paulyi, and V. toliara. These species differ from other oonopids in several unusual characters, especially the variously modified setae: abdominal scutes having thick recumbent setae with large bases and conspicuous pits; the pedicel region with mats of plumose setae and associated cuticular projections; and anterior metatarsi with prolateral combs. The male palp of Volborattella appears to be unique in having a terminal projection (embolar superior prong, ESP) that forms an abrupt spiral and the female a receptaculum with an accessory duct (curved tube). Volborattella resemble members of the Gamasomorpha complex in lacking leg spines and having a flattened abdomen with complete scutes, but differ genitalically. The Volborattella female has a receptaculum that is wider than long (as opposed to longer than wide in the Gamasomorpha complex) and the male has the embolar region sharply bent (as opposed to evenly curved), which places the genus in the Pelicinus complex. The relationship of Volborattella to other pelicinoids is not resolved. Although the genus most closely resembles some Silhouettella Benoit, Noideattella Álvarez-Padilla et al. and Lionneta Benoit in various genitalic features, somatically it shares with Tolegnaro Álvarez-Padilla et al. and two undescribed Malagasy genera the gamasomorphoid body form and plumose setae. Volborattella females are unusual in having antisymmetrical internal genitalia, with the CTs occurring in either a left or right position, and that these differences in handedness (antisymmetry) are evenly distributed. The shape and size of the CT, as examined through light and scanning microscopy, suggest that it is a coupling pocket for the ESP; if so, Volborattella females are either righties or lefties in their palpal preference

Seduced by System: Edmund Burke's Aesthetic Embrace of Adam Smith's Philosophy

No abstract available

Acupuncture and chiropractic care for chronic pain in an integrated health plan: a mixed methods study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Substantial recent research examines the efficacy of many types of complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies. However, outcomes associated with the "real-world" use of CAM has been largely overlooked, despite calls for CAM therapies to be studied in the manner in which they are practiced. Americans seek CAM treatments far more often for chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) than for any other condition. Among CAM treatments for CMP, acupuncture and chiropractic (A/C) care are among those with the highest acceptance by physician groups and the best evidence to support their use. Further, recent alarming increases in delivery of opioid treatment and surgical interventions for chronic pain--despite their high costs, potential adverse effects, and modest efficacy--suggests the need to evaluate real world outcomes associated with promising non-pharmacological/non-surgical CAM treatments for CMP, which are often well accepted by patients and increasingly used in the community.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This multi-phase, mixed methods study will: (1) conduct a retrospective study using information from electronic medical records (EMRs) of a large HMO to identify unique clusters of patients with CMP (e.g., those with differing demographics, histories of pain condition, use of allopathic and CAM health services, and comorbidity profiles) that may be associated with different propensities for A/C utilization and/or differential outcomes associated with such care; (2) use qualitative interviews to explore allopathic providers' recommendations for A/C and patients' decisions to pursue and retain CAM care; and (3) prospectively evaluate health services/costs and broader clinical and functional outcomes associated with the receipt of A/C relative to carefully matched comparison participants receiving traditional CMP services. Sensitivity analyses will compare methods relying solely on EMR-derived data versus analyses supplementing EMR data with conventionally collected patient and clinician data.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Successful completion of these aggregate aims will provide an evaluation of outcomes associated with the real-world use of A/C services. The trio of retrospective, qualitative, and prospective study will also provide a clearer understanding of the decision-making processes behind the use of A/C for CMP and a transportable methodology that can be applied to other health care settings, CAM treatments, and clinical populations.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01345409">NCT01345409</a></p

Identification of additional risk loci for stroke and small vessel disease: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies

BACKGROUND: Genetic determinants of stroke, the leading neurological cause of death and disability, are poorly understood and have seldom been explored in the general population. Our aim was to identify additional loci for stroke by doing a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies. METHODS: For the discovery sample, we did a genome-wide analysis of common genetic variants associated with incident stroke risk in 18 population-based cohorts comprising 84 961 participants, of whom 4348 had stroke. Stroke diagnosis was ascertained and validated by the study investigators. Mean age at stroke ranged from 45·8 years to 76·4 years, and data collection in the studies took place between 1948 and 2013. We did validation analyses for variants yielding a significant association (at p<5 × 10(-6)) with all-stroke, ischaemic stroke, cardioembolic ischaemic stroke, or non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke in the largest available cross-sectional studies (70 804 participants, of whom 19 816 had stroke). Summary-level results of discovery and follow-up stages were combined using inverse-variance weighted fixed-effects meta-analysis, and in-silico lookups were done in stroke subtypes. For genome-wide significant findings (at p<5 × 10(-8)), we explored associations with additional cerebrovascular phenotypes and did functional experiments using conditional (inducible) deletion of the probable causal gene in mice. We also studied the expression of orthologs of this probable causal gene and its effects on cerebral vasculature in zebrafish mutants. FINDINGS: We replicated seven of eight known loci associated with risk for ischaemic stroke, and identified a novel locus at chromosome 6p25 (rs12204590, near FOXF2) associated with risk of all-stroke (odds ratio [OR] 1·08, 95% CI 1·05-1·12, p=1·48 × 10(-8); minor allele frequency 21%). The rs12204590 stroke risk allele was also associated with increased MRI-defined burden of white matter hyperintensity-a marker of cerebral small vessel disease-in stroke-free adults (n=21 079; p=0·0025). Consistently, young patients (aged 2-32 years) with segmental deletions of FOXF2 showed an extensive burden of white matter hyperintensity. Deletion of Foxf2 in adult mice resulted in cerebral infarction, reactive gliosis, and microhaemorrhage. The orthologs of FOXF2 in zebrafish (foxf2b and foxf2a) are expressed in brain pericytes and mutant foxf2b(-/-) cerebral vessels show decreased smooth muscle cell and pericyte coverage. INTERPRETATION: We identified common variants near FOXF2 that are associated with increased stroke susceptibility. Epidemiological and experimental data suggest that FOXF2 mediates this association, potentially via differentiation defects of cerebral vascular mural cells. Further expression studies in appropriate human tissues, and further functional experiments with long follow-up periods are needed to fully understand the underlying mechanisms

Novel genetic loci underlying human intracranial volume identified through genome-wide association

Intracranial volume reflects the maximally attained brain size during development, and remains stable with loss of tissue in late life. It is highly heritable, but the underlying genes remain largely undetermined. In a genome-wide association study of 32,438 adults, we discovered five novel loci for intracranial volume and confirmed two known signals. Four of the loci are also associated with adult human stature, but these remained associated with intracranial volume after adjusting for height. We found a high genetic correlation with child head circumference (ρgenetic=0.748), which indicated a similar genetic background and allowed for the identification of four additional loci through meta-analysis (Ncombined = 37,345). Variants for intracranial volume were also related to childhood and adult cognitive function, Parkinson’s disease, and enriched near genes involved in growth pathways including PI3K–AKT signaling. These findings identify biological underpinnings of intracranial volume and provide genetic support for theories on brain reserve and brain overgrowth