Detailed surface images of the Moon and Mars reveal hundreds of cave-like openings. These cave-like openings are theorized to be remnants of lava-tubes and their interior maybe in pristine conditions. These locations may have well preserved geological records of the Moon and Mars, including evidence of past water flow and habitability. Exploration of these caves using wheeled rovers remains a d...

With the developments in technology, lots of innovations were brought into the use of medical society. Suture material including barb technology (V-Lock) is one of them and it is important for doctors who have limited experience in laparoscopic intracorporeal knot tying. In this article; the advantages and disadvantages of this useful absorbable suture material and its utilization in laparoscop...

The freshwater isopod crustacean Asellus aquaticus has recently been developed as an emerging invertebrate cave model for studying evolutionary and developmental biology. Mostly morphological and genetic differences between cave and surface A. aquaticus populations have been described up to now, while scarce data are available on other aspects, including physiology. The purpose of this study wa...

A study of genetic diversity at microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b gene was carried out to assess genetic relationships among four Mexican cave (Pachon, Sabinos, Tinaja, Chica) and four surface populations of Astyanax fasciatus (Characidae) from northeast Mexico and the Yucatan. With the exception of Chica, the cave populations were all characterized by extremely...

Ancient DNA studies have revolutionized the study of extinct species and populations, providing insights on phylogeny, phylogeography, admixture and demographic history. However, inferences on behaviour and sociality have been far less frequent. Here, we investigate the complete mitochondrial genomes of extinct Late Pleistocene cave bears and middle Holocene brown bears that each inhabited mult...

Punctured extinct cave bear femora were misidentified in southeastern Europe (Hungary/Slovenia) as 'Palaeolithic bone flutes' and the 'oldest Neanderthal instruments'. These are not instruments, nor human made, but products of the most important cave bear scavengers of Europe, hyenas. Late Middle to Late Pleistocene (Mousterian to Gravettian) Ice Age spotted hyenas of Europe occupied mainly cav...

Cave cricket abundance is used as an indicator of integrity of cave ecosystems. One means of monitoring cave cricket abundance is counting crickets as they emerge from cave entrances for two hours after sunset. The influence of cloud cover, relative humidity, and surface temperature on counts is unknown and there might be few cave crickets that emerge during the first hour of the survey. Using ...

Poching Liu, Jennifer Barb, Kimberly Woodhouse, James G. Taylor VI, Peter J. Munson, and Nalini Raghavachari Genomics Core Facility, Genetics and Development Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Mathematical and Statistical Computing Laboratory, Center for Information Technology, and Pulmonary and Vascular Medicine Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Nation...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between antiepileptic drug (AED) utilization and patient age in a population of patients treated by primary health care physicians. Data were collected by using questionnaires completed by family physicians and paediatricians working in primary health care. Only patients with active epilepsy confirmed previously by neurologists or neurop...

To examine the role of development in the origin of evolutionary novelties, we investigated the developmental mechanisms involved in the formation of a complex morphological novelty-branched feathers. We demonstrate that the anterior-posterior expression polarity of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (Bmp2) in the primordia of feathers, avian scales, and alligator scales is c...