Multidirectional chromosome painting substantiates the occurrence of extensive genomic reshuffling within Accipitriformes.

BACKGROUND: Previous cross-species painting studies with probes from chicken (Gallus gallus) chromosomes 1-10 and a paint pool of nineteen microchromosomes have revealed that the drastic karyotypic reorganization in Accipitridae is due to extensive synteny disruptions and associations. However, the number of synteny association events and identities of microchromosomes involved in such synteny associations remain undefined, due to the lack of paint probes derived from individual chicken microchromosomes. Moreover, no genome-wide homology map between Accipitridae species and other avian species with atypical karyotype organization has been reported till now, and the karyotype evolution within Accipitriformes remains unclear. RESULTS: To delineate the synteny-conserved segments in Accipitridae, a set of painting probes for the griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus (2n = 66) was generated from flow-sorted chromosomes. Together with previous generated probes from the stone curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus (2n = 42), a Charadriiformes species with atypical karyotype organization, we conducted multidirectional chromosome painting, including reciprocal chromosome painting between B. oedicnemus and G. fulvus and cross-species chromosome painting between B. oedicnemus and two accipitrid species (the Himalayan griffon, G. himalayensis 2n = 66, and the common buzzard, Buteo buteo, 2n = 68). In doing so, genome-wide homology maps between B. oedicnemus and three Accipitridae species were established. From there, a cladistic analysis using chromosomal characters and mapping of chromosomal changes on a consensus molecular phylogeny were conducted in order to search for cytogenetic signatures for different lineages within Accipitriformes. CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed that the genomes of the diurnal birds of prey, especially the genomes of species in Accipitriformes excluding Cathartidae, have been extensively reshuffled when compared to other bird lineages. The chromosomal rearrangements involved include both fusions and fissions. Our chromosome painting data indicated that the Palearctic common buzzard (BBU) shared several common chromosomal rearrangements with some Old World vultures, and was found to be more closely related to other Accipitridae than to Neotropical buteonine raptors from the karyotypic perspective. Using both a chromosome-based cladistic analysis as well as by mapping of chromosomal differences onto a molecular-based phylogenetic tree, we revealed a number of potential cytogenetic signatures that support the clade of Pandionidae (PHA) + Accipitridae. In addition, our cladistic analysis using chromosomal characters appears to support the placement of osprey (PHA) in Accipitridae

Efficacy and safety of moxibustion for knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and purpose: Although several reviews have examined moxibustion for knee osteoarthritis (KOA), they have some methodological limitations. This systematic review aims to synthesize current evidence on various moxibustion interventions for KOA pain relief. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search across seven databases up to June 2024. The Cochrane risk of bias tool (ROB2) was used to assess the risk of bias, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criterion approach was employed to evaluate the certainty of evidence for primary outcomes. Primary outcomes included Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), stiffness, physical function, and total effective rate. Secondary outcomes encompassed adverse events (AEs) and treatment regimen of moxibustion for KOA. Meta-analysis was performed using STATA 17.0 and RevMan 5.4.1. Results: A total of 43 studies with 4008 participants were included in this review. Moxibustion significantly reduced WOMAC (−0.91, 95 % CI: −1.12, −0.70) and VAS scores (−0.95, 95 % CI: −1.18, −0.73). Electronic moxibustion was the most effective intervention. Treatment frequencies exceeding three times per week were more effective than fewer sessions. The total effective rate was 93.11 % for the moxibustion group versus 76.41 % for the controls. AEs were reported in sixteen studies, with one serious AE. Conclusion: Moxibustion is more effective for pain relief than other treatments and has a lower incidence of AEs. Further high-level evidence is warranted to validate these findings

Lycium species and variety recognition technology based on electrochemical sensing of leaf signals

Identification of plant species and variety has important application value in the process of agricultural production. In this work, we try to use electrochemical fingerprinting technology to collect the electrochemical behavior of electrochemically active substances in plant leaf tissues. Twenty Lycium species and varieties were specifically selected to investigate the recognition ability of electrochemical fingerprinting. Two different extraction solvents and electrolytes were used to create different collection environments. The results show that different Lycium spp. can exhibit different electrochemical fingerprints. Different species of the same species exhibit relatively similar electrochemical fingerprints. After the second derivative processing, the electrochemical fingerprint of plants can be used for classification and recognition by different machine learning models. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), k-nearest neighbor, (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) were used to establish recognition model of Lycium spp. The results show that SGB has the best identification accuracy for electrochemical fingerprint after second derivative treatment

A Novel Bioinspired PVDF Micro/Nano Hair Receptor for a Robot Sensing System

This paper describes the concept and design of a novel artificial hair receptor for the sensing system of micro intelligent robots such as a cricket-like jumping mini robot. The concept is inspired from the natural hair receptor of animals, also called cilium or filiform hair by different research groups, which is usually used as a vibration receptor or a flow detector by insects, mammals and fishes. The suspended fiber model is firstly built and the influence of scaling down is analyzed theoretically. The design of this artificial hair receptor is based on aligned suspended PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) fibers, manufactures with a novel method called thermo-direct drawing technique, and aligned suspended submicron diameter fibers are thus successfully fabricated on a flexible Kapton. In the post process step, some key problems such as separated electrodes deposition along with the fiber drawing direction and poling of micro/nano fibers to impart them with good piezoeffective activity have been presented. The preliminary validation experiments show that the artificial hair receptor has a reliable response with good sensibility to external pressure variation and, medium flow as well as its prospects in the application on sensing system of mini/micro bio-robots

Confrontation with fear of falling among hospitalized older patients

Abstract Background Fear of falling (FOF), regarded as one of the major long-term detrimental outcomes, is a common psychological issue that should not be neglected in elderly people with previous falling experience. This study intends to explore the confrontation of FOF among the elderly patients hospitalized due to falls. Methods Semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 21 elderly patients hospitalized in trauma surgery department wards due to falls, ranging in age from 61 to 83 years old (average 70.67 years)in the Orthopaedics Department of the hospital. Later, thematic analysis was performed to analyse the data obtained from the patient interviews. Results The results of this study proved that three types of coping strategies were developed by hospitalized older adults: primary confrontation, in terms of explaining the reason of falls by attributing it to inevitable Consequence of Ageing as well as accidental Events; secondary confrontation of fear including self-consolation, downstairs comparison and distraction from fear, as well as confronting and reflecting fear; and tertiary confrontation of the consequences of falling such as active rehabilitation, food therapy, seeking emotional support, use of assistive devices and environment modification. Conclusion The study highlighted the importance of taking preventive measure to avoid FOF. Moreover, a variety of cognitive coping strategies could be explored with hospitalized older adults to deal with the emotion of fear. The potential consequences of FOF can be dealt with by provide trainings in physical exercises and lectures containing nutrition information,etc.</jats:p

Analysis of 5 MW Blade Two-Way Fluid-Structure Interaction Characteristics

Abstract A CFD-CSD coupled method was employed to establish an aeroelastic model of the NREL 5 MW wind turbine. The two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation was carried out for this aeroelastic model. The response curves of blade tip flapwise, edgewise, and torsional deformation under normal operating conditions was obtained. The results show that the blade deformation shows a trend of increasing and then decreasing from the cut-in wind speed to the cut-out wind speed with the rise in wind speed. The maximum deformation appears in the vicinity of rated working conditions. Furthermore, the difference in aerodynamic performance between two-way FSI and one-way FSI has been studied to reveal the influence of the aeroelastic effect on performance. The two-way FSI that considers the blade deformation causes significant periodic fluctuations in the torque and thrust curves, with a maximum deviation of 3.75% in the average torque at 20 m/s. Therefore, the two-way FSI that introduces the aeroelastic effect can predict the aerodynamic performance more accurately.</jats:p