Genus Research Articles

Using Recyclable Materials Does Not Necessarily Lead to Recyclable Products: A Statistical Entropy-Based Recyclability Assessment of Deli Packaging

The increasing attention to reduce plastic waste drives the design of products containing fewer plastics. Deli packaging is such a product, ranging from solely plastic packaging to relatively new paperboard-plastic composites. In this research, the main objective is to quantify the recyclability of different deli packaging types and evaluate the effectiveness of recycling instructions. Therefore, we combine statistical entropy calculations (for the compositional complexity) with energy calculations from generic sorting and separation processes (i.e., the energy required to separate the products into their chemical substances). Deli packaging samples have been collected, categorized, weighed, and dismantled. The results indicate that the use of paperboard may be slightly better than using solely plastics when one evaluates on a product-level basis. However, since the product types are likely to disturb each other’s waste streams, the analysis should be extended to the whole waste stream in order to fully gauge their impact. Recycling instructions for consumers were found to, in some cases, increase the complexity of monostreams (i.e., plastic and paperboard fractions after dismantling). Although this is evident, for the first time, we develop and apply simple quantitative metrics to describe innate recyclability. The methodology allows one to support design-for-recycling decisions for more complicated systems.

A Single Amino Acid Substitution in Elongation Factor G Can Confer Low-Level Gentamicin Resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

ABSTRACTThe continued emergence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates which are resistant to first-line antibiotics has reinvigorated interest in alternative therapies such as expanded use of gentamicin (Gen). We hypothesized that expanded use of Gen promotes emergence of gonococci with clinical resistance to this aminoglycoside. To understand how decreased susceptibility of gonococci to Gen might develop, we selected spontaneous low-level Gen-resistant (GenR) mutants (Gen MIC = 32 μg/mL) of the Gen-susceptible strain FA19. Consequently, we identified a novel missense mutation in fusA, which encodes elongation factor G (EF-G), causing an alanine (A) to valine (V) substitution at amino acid position 563 in domain IV of EF-G; the mutant allele was termed fusA2. Transformation analysis showed that fusA2 could increase the Gen MIC by 4-fold. While possession of fusA2 did not impair either in vitro gonococcal growth or protein synthesis, it did result in a fitness defect during experimental infection of the lower genital tract in female mice. Through bioinformatic analysis of whole-genome sequences of 10,634 international gonococcal clinical isolates, other fusA alleles were frequently detected, but genetic studies revealed that they could not decrease Gen susceptibility in a similar manner to fusA2. In contrast to these diverse international fusA alleles, the fusA2-encoded A563V substitution was detected in only a single gonococcal clinical isolate. We hypothesize that the rare occurrence of fusA2 in N. gonorrhoeae clinical isolates is likely due to a fitness cost during infection, but compensatory mutations which alleviate this fitness cost could emerge and promote GenR in global strains.

Formal Specification and Verification of Data Separation for Muen Separation Kernel

Introduction: Development of integrated mixed-criticality systems is becoming increasingly popular for application-specific systems, which needs separation mechanism for available onboard resources and the processors equipped with hardware virtualization. Hardware virtualization allow the partitions to physical resources, which include processor cores, memory, and I/O devices, among guest virtual machines (VMs). For building mixed criticality computing environment, traditional virtual machine systems are inappropriate because they use hypervisors to schedule separate VMs on physical processor cores. In this article, we discuss the design of an environment for mixed-criticality systems: The Muen an x86/64 separation kernel for high assurance. The Muen Separation Kernel is an Open Source microkernel which has no runtime errors at the source code level. The Muen separation kernel has been designed precisely to encounter the challenging requirements of high-assurance systems built on the Intel x86/64 platform. Muen is under active development, and none of the kernel properties of it has been verified yet. In this paper, we present a novel work of verifying one of the kernel properties formally. Method: The CTL used in NuSMV is a first-order modal along with data-depended processes and regular formulas. CTL is a branching-time logic, meaning that its model of time is a tree-like structure in which the future is not determined; there are different paths in the future, any one of which might be an actual path that is realized . This section shows the verification of all the requirements mentioned in section 3. In NuSMV tool the command used for verification of the formulas written in CTL is checkctlspec -p ”CTL-expression”. The nearest quantifier binds each occurrence of a variable in the scope of the bound variable, which has the same name and the same number of arguments. Result: Formal methods have been applied to various projects for specification and verification purpose. Some of them are the SCOMP , SeaView , LOCK,and Multinet Gateway projects. The TLS was written formally. Several mappings were done between the TLS and the SCOMP code: Informal English language to TLS, TLS to actual code , and TLS to pseudo-code. The authors present an ACL2 model for a generic separation kernel also known as GWV approach. Conclusion: We consider the formal verification of data separation property which is one of the crucial modules to achieve the separation functionality. The verification of the data separation manager is carried out on the design level using the NuSMV tool. Furthermore, we present the complete model of the data separation unit along with its code written in the NuSMV modelling language. Finally, we have converted the non-functional requirements into the formal logic, which then has verified the model formally.

Connectivity graphs: a method for proving deadlock freedom based on separation logic

We introduce the notion of a connectivity graph —an abstract representation of the topology of concurrently interacting entities, which allows us to encapsulate generic principles of reasoning about deadlock freedom . Connectivity graphs are parametric in their vertices (representing entities like threads and channels) and their edges (representing references between entities) with labels (representing interaction protocols). We prove deadlock and memory leak freedom in the style of progress and preservation and use separation logic as a meta theoretic tool to treat connectivity graph edges and labels substructurally. To prove preservation locally, we distill generic separation logic rules for local graph transformations that preserve acyclicity of the connectivity graph. To prove global progress locally, we introduce a waiting induction principle for acyclic connectivity graphs. We mechanize our results in Coq, and instantiate our method with a higher-order binary session-typed language to obtain the first mechanized proof of deadlock and leak freedom.

Оценка микробного пейзажа и показателей цитопротекции толстого кишечника у больных с хроническими запорами

Актуальность. В статье рассматриваются вопросы хронических запоров. Показаны результаты собственных исследований, в которых определялось содержание короткоцепочечных жирных кислот (КЖК) в кале и состояние микробиоценоза у пациентов до и на фоне лечения препаратом Изиду. Материалы и методы. Под наблюдением находилось 10 больных в возрасте от 18 до 65 лет с хроническим запором, от которого они страдали около 10 лет. Пациенты принимали комплексное слабительное средство Изиду по 3 капсулы в сутки. С целью оценки содержания КЖК и микробного пейзажа больным (6 женщин, 4 мужчины) дважды — до приема препарата Изиду и через 2 недели после его приема — проведено исследование кала. Определение КЖК осуществляли методом хроматографического исследования с использованием аппаратно-программного комплекса для медицинских исследований на базе газового хроматографа «Хроматэк-Кристалл 5000». Результаты. Выявлено существенное повышение содержания в кале КЖК и снижение содержания лактобактерий до начала лечения. После лечения содержание уксусной кислоты достоверно снизилось в 3,9 раза до среднего значения (0,011 ± 0,005) мкл/мл (р < 0,05). Содержание масляной кислоты у 90 % пациентов было существенно повышено по сравнению с контролем и отмечалось на уровне 0,018–0,131 мкл/мл, среднее значение составляло (0,0499 ± 0,004) мкл/мл, что было достоверно выше контрольных показателей (р < 0,001). После лечения наблюдалось увеличение содержания масляной кислоты до (0,061 ± 0,003) мкл/мл (р < 0,05). После применения препарата Изиду у 60 % пациентов состав микрофлоры кишечника улучшался, существенно повысилось содержание микроорганизмов рода Lactobacillus (105 КОЕ/г фекалий), показатели содержания других микроорганизмов были в диапазоне контрольных значений. Выводы. Отмечено значительное повышение фракций КЖК в кале у больных с хроническими запорами в начале наблюдения. Лечение комплексным препаратом Изиду привело к достоверному увеличению содержания масляной кислоты в кале (р < 0,05), что имеет положительное прогностическое значение и свидетельствует об активизации защитных, детоксикационных и цитопротекторных эффектов.

Catumiri Guadanucci, 2004: new diagnosis, first description of the female of C. petropolium Guadanucci, 2004, and new records of the genus from Brazil and Uruguay (Theraphosidae: Ischnocolinae)

The ischnocoline genus CatumiriGuadanucci, 2004 comprises four species distributed in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The type species Catumiri petropoliumGuadanucci, 2004 is known only from the male. We here provide a new diagnosis for Catumiri, describe the female of C. petropolium, and report new records of this species from Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos, Reserva Biológica do Tinguá and Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We also expand the distribution of Catumiri parvum (Keyserling, 1878) to Parque Nacional de Aparados da Serra, Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Alegrete, Rosário do Sul, Santana do Livramento, Pinheiro Machado, Bagé, and Jaguarão, all from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and Cerro de Los Cuervos, Lavalleja, Uruguay.

Taxonomy of Micronectidae (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha) from Vietnam, with descriptions of 11 new species

The taxonomy of Micronectidae in Vietnam is reviewed. Based on our cumulative collections during 2001–2020, 11 new species of Micronecta Kirkaldy, 1897 are documented and described in this study: M. acuminata sp. nov., M. arcuata sp. nov., M. caperata sp. nov., M. clavata sp. nov., M. cultellata sp. nov., M. fulvopicta sp. nov., M. nieseri sp. nov., M. pingae sp. nov., M. sinuata sp. nov., M. undulata sp. nov., and M. vietnamica sp. nov. Nine species are recorded from Vietnam for the first time: M. decorata Lundblad, 1933, M. drepani Nieser, 2000, M. erythra Nieser, Chen & Yang, 2005, M. fugitans Breddin, 1905, M. johorensis Fernando, 1964, M. melanochroa Nieser, Chen & Yang, 2005, M. ornitheia Nieser, Chen & Yang, 2005, M. sahlbergi (Jakovlev, 1881), and M. tuwanoni Nieser, Chen, Leksawasdi, Thanyakam & Duangsupa, 2004. Thus, in this study, two genera and 37 species of Micronectidae are now reported from Vietnam: Synaptonecta Lundblad, 1933 with only one species, S. issa (Distant, 1910), and Micronecta with 36 species. A key to all species occurring in Vietnam, subgeneric diagnoses, and a key to all current subgenera of Micronecta are provided.

Reassessing overlooked information about the diagnosis of Brachycephalus atelopoide (Anura: Brachycephalidae), a neglected problem for the taxonomy of the genus

Reassessing overlooked information about the diagnosis of Brachycephalus atelopoide (Anura: Brachycephalidae), a neglected problem for the taxonomy of the genus

Flora of Singapore precursors, 23: Notes on Ochnaceae in Singapore

The native Ochnaceae of Singapore (five species from three genera) are listed with synonymy and typification. An epitype is designated for Euthemis elegantissima Wall. to fix the application of the name in the sense of Brackenridgea hookeri (Planch.) A.Gray. In addition, 17 lectotypes (including 13 at the second step) and three neotypes (two at the second step) are designated here

Molecular characterisation of some plant-parasitic nematodes (Nematoda: Tylenchida) from Belgium

Using morphological, morphometric and molecular analysis, eleven valid nematode species from nine genera: Amplimerlinius icarus, Criconema annuliferum, Criconemoides informis, Helicotylenchus varicaudatus, Hemicriconemoides pseudobrachyurus, Hemicycliophora thienemanni, Mesocriconema xenoplax, Paratylenchus bukowinensis, P. nanus, Rotylenchus montanus and R. robustus together with twelve unidentified species, were identified in samples collected from eighteen locations in Belgium. The unidentified species include six Paratylenchus species, one Helicotylenchus species, three criconematid species and two Rotylenchus species. A total of new partial 21 18S rRNA, 69 28S rRNA, 10 ITS rRNA and 51 COI mtDNA gene sequences were obtained and used for phylogenetic and sequence analysis. Short descriptions, morphometrics and light and scanning microscopic photos are presented for selected species. Based on the results of molecular analysis, Hemicriconemoides promissus syn. n. was proposed as a junior synonym of H. pseudobrachyurus.

Multi-Level Characterization of Microbial Consortia Involved in the Biodeterioration of Wooden and Stone Romanian Heritage Churches

The 17th to 19th century wooden and stone churches are an iconic symbol of Romanian national heritage. The present study investigates by qualitative and quantitative methods the microbial communities from the biodeteriorated surfaces of wooden and stone monument churches included in the cultural heritage list of local or national importance. From a total of twelve monuments, samples were taken with cotton sterile swabs, inoculated on specific culture and identified by classical, automated and molecular methods. A total of 133 strains belonging to Ascomycota phylum were identified and confirmed at species level from the wooden churches, amongst which, Penicillium spp. strains (mostly P. corylophylum, P. chrysogenum) were the most frequent, followed by Alternaria alternata and species of Trichoderma, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Mucor, and Fusarium genera. From the stone churches a total of 100 strains belonging to Aspergillus, Alternaria, Mucor, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Fusarium and Rhizopus genera were isolated. A total of 55 bacterial strains were isolated and identified as Bacillus, Artrobacter and Pseudomonas species. The microbial load of the samples ranged between 2.18x107 and 3x105 CFU/mL. A very small number of fungal strains (6/77) isolated from wooden churches (mostly A. alternata, followed by P. corylophilum and one Cladosporium spp. strain) and from stone churches (5/55) (mostly A. alternata, followed by A. versicolor, A. nidulans strain) were involved in biofilm formation. The results of this study can help to improve understanding of the microbial deterioration of Romanian heritage churches and allow more reliable decontamination, conservation and preservation tools to be defined.

The water mite genus Neumania Lebert, 1879 in Australia (Acari: Hydrachnidia)

A new Neumania species is described from Australia, i.e., N. australica n. sp. Neumania queenslandica K.O. Viets, 1977 is synonymized with N. gila K.O. Viets, 1975. Previous records of N. falcipes Koenike, 1906 from Australia should be assigned to N. gila. New records are given of the genus from all over Australia.

Correction: Pollen morphology and variability of Polish native species from genus Salix L.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243993.].

A case of disjunct montane linyphiid species (Araneae) in the Palaeotropics, with notes on synonymy and the description of a new species

The genus EnguterothrixDenis, 1962 contains two very closely related species on different continents: E. crinipesDenis, 1962, known from the mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and E. simpulum (Tanasevitch, 2014) comb. nov. (transferred from ApophygoneTanasevitch, 2014), which is widespread in the mountains of northern Thailand. Enguterothrix fuscipalpisDenis, 1962 is removed from the genus and preliminarily placed in MicrargusDahl, 1886. A new species, Oedothorax paralegrandi sp. nov., is described from the Indian Himalayas; it shows close relations to the Afrotropical O. legrandiJocque, 1985 from the Comoros. The following new synonyms are proposed: ApophygoneTanasevitch, 2014 syn. nov. of EnguterothrixDenis, 1962; Enguterothrix tenuipalpisHolm, 1968 syn. nov. of Enguterothrix crinipesDenis, 1962; Nasoonaria circinataZhao & Li, 2014 syn. nov. of Nasoonaria magnaTanasevitch, 2014; Theoa bidentataZhao & Li, 2014 syn. nov. of Theoa elegansTanasevitch, 2014.

Two new genera of Telegeusidae (Coleoptera) from Mexico

Stenodrilus gen. nov., Stenodrilus rodolfoi sp. nov., Platydrilus gen. nov., and Platydrilus magaliae sp. nov. from Chiapas, Mexico, are described and illustrated. A key for identification of the genera of Telegeusidae is presented.

DNA barcoding of selected alpine beetles with focus on Curculionoidea (Coleoptera)

Selected beetles, mainly weevils, from the Alpine Arc were barcoded. From 187 samples of 106 assigned species of the families Curculionidae (152 samples, mainly Entiminae, Cyclominae and Hyperinae), Carabidae (18), Apionidae (6), Chrysomelidae and Staphylinidae (each 1 sample), sequences from the COI (subunit 1 of the cytochrome oxydase gene) were obtained, with a success of more than 86% (162 samples). In the cases of Otiorhynchus pupillatus Gyllenhal, 1834, O. nodosus (O. F. Muller, 1764), O. meridionalis Gyllenhal, 1834, Dichotrachelus koziorowicziDesbrochers des Loges, 1873, D. augusti F. Solari, 1946 and D. maculosus Fairmaire, 1869 more diversity was hidden than foreseen in the beginning, suggesting partly cryptic (not yet described) species. One name is thus resurrected from junior synonymy (O. civisStierlin, 1861stat. rev. from synonymy with O. meridionalis). In another case with strictly parthenogenetically reproducing populations of O. pupillatus and O. nodosus in the Swiss Alps, several lineages from hypothetical postglacial immigration events, or alternatively complexes of species in statu nascendi might explain the results observed. Moreover, some morphologically debated species-pairs/triples confirmed to be problematic too, even with our COI sequence data [Hypera nigrirostris (Fabricius, 1775) – ononidis (Chevrolat, 1863) – melarynchus (Olivier, 1807)]. On the other hand, in some cases the lspecies' identity, based on the monophyly of the investigated populations, could be confirmed [Anthonomus rubi (Herbst, 1795), Polydrusus chaerodrysius Gredler, 1866, P. paradoxus Stierlin, 1859]. In the hyperdiverse genus Otiorhynchus Germar, 1822, some preliminary insights into the systematics at the subgenus-level could be made, suggesting that many changes of the present morphologically based systematic structure will be necessary.

Hyperdynamic Valve: A Rare Case of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of rare genetic disorders of collagen characterized by skin hyperextensibility, joint hypermobility and tissue fragility. The authors describe a rare case of a 52-year-old woman that presented to the clinic with chronic joint pain and talipes equinovarum since childhood. Large eyes, sunken cheeks, thin nose and lobeless ears were noticed on clinical examination. Beighton joint hypermotility criteria were met with a positive Walker and Steinberg sign, elbow extension superior to 10° and knee extension in genu recurvatum more than 10°. An aortic diastolic grade III/VI heart murmur was heard. The complementary study was unremarkable. Moderate aortic insufficiency was found on transthoracic echocardiogram. Genetic testing confirmed positivity for COL1A2, a gene that encodes pro-alpha2 chain type of collagen, which causes cardiac-valvular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Authors intend to warn to collagen-related syndromes, since severe complications are associated with a reduced life expectancy for individuals with this condition. J Med Cases. 2021;12(7):284-287 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3692

The Pselaphodes (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) of Nepal

The genus PselaphodesWestwood, 1870 is poorly known from the Himalayas, and represented in Nepal by a single species. In this paper 15 new Nepalese species are described: P. ampliatus sp. nov., P. bagmatius sp. nov., P. bilobatus sp. nov., P. corniger sp. nov., P. coxatus sp. nov., P. khandbarius sp. nov., P. loebli sp. nov., P. procerus sp. nov., P. psomus sp. nov., P. robustus sp. nov., P. rotundatus sp. nov., P. sagephorus sp. nov., P. smetanai sp. nov., P. symmetricus sp. nov., and P. tmesisternus sp. nov. Main characters distinguishing species include secondary sexual characters of males and morphological differences in the aedeagi. New collecting records for P. unicornisBekchiev & Hlavac, 2013 in Nepal are given. Pselaphodes spinosusChampion, 1925, previously known from northern India and southwestern China, is newly recorded from Nepal.

Erratum to: A new living species of degu, genus Octodon (Hystricomorpha: Octodontidae)

Erratum to: A new living species of degu, genus <i>Octodon</i> (Hystricomorpha: Octodontidae)

Monkeying around Anthropocene: Patterns of human-nonhuman primates’ interactions in Brazil

In Anthropocene, approximately 70% of all terrestrial ecosystems are highly modified by human activities and more than a half of all primate’s species in the world are endangered. Here we present results of a systematic review on published articles with an Ethnoprimatology approach, aiming to assess the nationwide pattern and quality of proximity/interaction between human-nonhuman primates in Brazil, a country vulnerable to high deforestation rates while having the highest primate biodiversity in the world. The first article was published 29 years ago and add up to only 36 published articles until present time. Most studies were conducted in Atlantic forest, but higher number and diversity of interactions was described for Amazon. Sapajus, being a generalist and semi-terrestrial primate, was the most cited genus and had the greatest diversity of interactions, including garbage foraging and crop-raiding. Alouatta, the second most cite one, had more symbolic/mystic relationships. Some specialized or forest-specific primates are scarcely mentioned. Studies carried out in both rural and urban environment are almost equal in number but showed differences in types of interactions they describe: garbage foraging, crop-raiding by primates and food offering by humans happening in more urbanized areas and symbolic/mystic relationships and beliefs around nonhuman primates described in rural/indigenous settlements. We urge future studies to describe interactions and proximity carefully specifying the context where they occur. It is relevant to maintain the growing curve of Ethnoprimatological studies in Brazil as a way to aggregate information about different populations of species and help to base conservation strategies of co-existence.