Search Results (17)

Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by persistent widespread pain that severely impacts quality of life. Immersive virtual reality-based exercise (iVRE) is emerging as a therapeutic modality for chronic pain management. However, research on iVRE in FM patients has primarily focused on perceived pain intensity (PI), with limited exploration of underlying analgesic mechanisms. This study aims to explore the effects of iVRE on PI, considering risk of poor outcomes (RPO) stratification, and on mechanical pain sensitivity (MPS) in FM. A single-arm, uncontrolled, pre-post-test exploratory study was conducted in subjects with FM. The intervention included 2 weekly 15-min iVRE sessions for 6 weeks. PI (numeric rating scale [NRS]) and MPS (pressure pain thresholds [PPTs] at the upper trapezius, lumbar spine, and knee) were assessed at baseline, after the first session (to assess exercise-induced hypoalgesia), and postintervention. RPO was assessed using the Keele STarT MSK Tool. Eleven participants completed the study. No adverse effects were reported. Clinically important reductions were observed in PI (mean difference [MD]: −2.36, 95% CI: [−4.15, −0.58], d = 0.89; p < 0.05) with this effect being associated with baseline RPO. No observable changes were found in PPTs (all 95% CIs included 0, p > 0.05). In this sample, iVRE appears to reduce PI but not PPTs, suggesting the persistence of MPS and limitations in activating endogenous pain inhibitory mechanisms. Further randomized controlled trials with larger samples are needed to corroborate these results. Full article

A new species of the genus Herpetoreas is described from Yunnan Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve, Yingjiang County, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. The new species can be separated from its congeners by a combination of the following characteristics: tail length to total length being 0.29, dorsal scales being all strongly keeled, 165 ventrals, divided cloacal plate, 89 pairs of subcaudals, 24 maxillary teeth, last two maxillary teeth being distinctly enlarged, approximately 13 white speckles presenting on anterior lateral surface of body, pale pink anterior venter, pink posterior venter, and rose red ventral tail. The genetic divergence between the new species and other species of this genus ranged from 6.7% to 13.0% in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The new taxon represents the fifth species of the genus Herpetoreas in China and the first species of this genus in Yunnan Province. Full article

There has been substantial research on the factors that structure reef fish assemblages, but this has mostly focused on nearshore or continental reefs. This study examines patterns of abundance and species composition for two iconic groups of coral reef fishes, angelfishes (family Pomacanthidae) and butterflyfishes (family Chaetodontidae) at two isolated, oceanic reefs in the Indian Ocean: Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Six explanatory variables were investigated to determine whether large-scale physical factors are more important than fine-scale biotic factors in structuring reef fish communities on oceanic islands. For angelfishes, depth was the factor that most explained patterns in abundance (explaining 46.5% of the variation), species richness (44.8%) and composition (15.3%), with both abundance and species richness being greater at 20 m than at 5 m. Differences in species composition were greater between depths than between islands. For butterflyfishes, variation in abundance and species richness was best explained by the difference in aspect or exposure among sites, though abundance and composition also differed significantly between Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Large-scale variation in the structure of these reef fish assemblages could not be explained based on differences in habitat diversity, or coral and algal cover. This study indicates that large-scale physical factors (island location, exposure, depth) are more important than fine-scale biotic factors in structuring reef fish assemblages on oceanic islands. Full article

Short-range MEMS-based (Micro Electronical Mechanical System) LiDAR provides precise point cloud datasets for rock fragment surfaces. However, there is more vibrational noise in MEMS-based LiDAR signals, which cannot guarantee that the reconstructed point cloud data are not distorted with a high compression ratio. Many studies have illustrated that wavelet-based clustered compressive sensing can improve reconstruction precision. The k-means clustering algorithm can be conveniently employed to obtain clusters; however, estimating a meaningful k value (i.e., the number of clusters) is challenging. An excessive quantity of clusters is not necessary for dense point clouds, as this leads to elevated consumption of memory and CPU resources. For sparser point clouds, fewer clusters lead to more distortions, while excessive clusters lead to more voids in reconstructed point clouds. This study proposes a local clustering method to determine a number of clusters closer to the actual number based on GMM (Gaussian Mixture Model) observation distances and density peaks. Experimental results illustrate that the estimated number of clusters is closer to the actual number in four datasets from the KEEL public repository. In point cloud compression and recovery experiments, our proposed approach compresses and recovers the Bunny and Armadillo datasets in the Stanford 3D repository; the experimental results illustrate that our proposed approach improves reconstructed point clouds’ geometry and curvature similarity. Furthermore, the geometric similarity increases to 0.9 above in our complete rock fragment surface datasets after selecting a better wavelet basis for each dimension of MEMS-based LiDAR signals. In both experiments, the sparsity of signals was 0.8 and the sampling ratio was 0.4. Finally, a rock outcrop point cloud data experiment is utilized to verify that the proposed approach is applicable for large-scale research objects. All of our experiments illustrate that the proposed adaptive clustered compressive sensing approach can better reconstruct MEMS-based LiDAR point clouds with a lower sampling ratio. Full article

The natricine snake genus Smithophis Giri, Gower, Das, Lalremsanga, Lalronunga, Captain, and Deepak, 2019, is represented by four species, three of which are distributed in northeast India and Bangladesh, and a single species in Yunnan and Myanmar. In the past, S. bicolor (Blyth, 1855) was said to be widespread across northeast India and Myanmar; however, recent studies have shown it to be a species complex. Here, we describe a new species of the complex from the Indian state of Mizoram that resembles S. bicolor. The new species differs in bearing a patterned dorsum, a darker venter, and moderately keeled sacral scales. Re-examination of types of S. arunachalensis Das, Deepak, Captain, Wade, and Gower, 2020, shows the presence of strongly keeled sacral keels in males, which is an important diagnostic character. A revised key to members of the genus is presented with notes on S. arunachalensis. Full article

This work shows the performance of LincoSim, a web-based virtual towing tank enabling automated and standardized calm water computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data sampling, extending previous published applications to the case of a high-speed hull. The calculations are performed for a 1:10 scale model of a 43 ft powerboat hull form in the Froude number range from 0.3 to 2.0. The counterpart physical model is the experimental fluid dynamics (EFD) campaign performed at the University of Naples Federico II, where the resistance, sinkage and trim data have been measured. The EFD/CFD data comparison is performed and shown with a discussion of the spotted differences. The average percentage differences between the EFD and CFD data for the whole speed range are 1.84, 6.87 and 6.94 for the resistance, dynamic trim, and sinkage, respectively. These results confirm the maturity of the standardized and automated CFD modeling for calm water hydrodynamic analysis included in LincoSim, even at very high Froude numbers. The wetted length of the keel and chine and the wetted surface are calculated from numerical data using the advanced post-processing. Finally, as a work in progress, we test a first comparison for the same hull of the EFD and CFD data, considering two seakeeping conditions for head waves at a given wavelength for two velocity conditions. Also, this kind of analysis confirms the tight correlation between the measured and computed outcomes. This synergic interplay of EFD and CFD can link the advantages of both methods to support hull design but also requires experiment planning and final data analysis to obtain physical parameters not easily measurable in laboratory, such as the wetted surface, wetted lengths, proper viscous contribution, and pressure distribution both in calm water and in waves. Full article

In this study, a new species of the genus Pseudocalotes is described from Yingjiang County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, based on four female specimens. It can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) interoculabials 3 or 4; (2) canthals 5–7; (3) cicrcumorbitals 8–11; (4) 1 scale between rostral and nasal; (5) interparietal 1; (6) superciliaries 4–6; (7) supralabials 6–7, the 1st in contact with the nasal; (8) infralabials 6–8; (9) transverse gular fold and antehumeral fold present; (10) 2–3 enlarged scales between eye and ear; (11) nuchal crest single, consists of 3–5 erected spines; (12) dorsal crest row single, discontinuous and low, located between two keeled, parallel and enlarged scale rows; (13) enlarged postrictals absent; (14) scales around midbody 53–62, dorsal body scales heterogenous in size and shape; (15) midventrals smaller than dorsals; (16) subdigital scales on the 4th finger 20–26, and on the 4th toe 24–29; (17) dorsal background coloration light taupe with four irregular brown patches along the middle of dorsal; (18) inner lips wathet, tongue aurantiacus, throat bluish black. The population from Yingjiang County was nested within a highly supported lineage, formed a sister taxon with P. kakhienensis (SH 97/UFB 100) and according to the p-distance, the new species differed from its congeners by 14.5% to 35.2% for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and 15.5% to 25.0% for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4). Full article

We describe a new species of the genus Pareas, based on three specimens collected from Guanyinshan Provincial Nature Reserve in Yuanyang County, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by one preocular, one postocular or postocular fused with subocular, loreal not bordering the orbit, one row enlarged vertebral scales, five rows keeled mid-dorsal scales at the middle of the body, 189–192 ventral scales and 72–89 subcaudal scales. The dorsal surfaces of the head and body are yellowish red or yellowish brown, and the belly and ventral surfaces of the head and tail are pinkish yellow or yellow with more or less small black spots. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA recovered the new species being the sister taxon to P. hamptoni sensu stricto. The genetic divergences between the new species and P. hamptoni sensu stricto were 4.2% in the Cyt b sequences and 5.0% in the ND4 sequences. In addition, based on specimens collected from Honghe and Wenshan prefectures, we confirmed that P. hamptoni sensu stricto is distributed in China. Full article

We described a new species of genus Pareas from Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Pareas baiseensis sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of (1) Yellowish-brown body colouration; (2) Frontal subhexagonal to diamond-shaped with its lateral sides converging posteriorly; (3) The anterior pair of chin shields is longer than it is broad; (4) Loreal not in contact with the eye, prefrontal in contact with the eye, two or three suboculars; (5) Rows of 15–15–15 dorsal scales, five rows of mid-dorsal scales keeled at the middle of the body, one vertebral scale row enlarged; (6) 187–191 ventrals, 89–97 subcaudals, all divided, cloacal plate single; (7) Two postocular stripes, the nuchal area forming a dark black four-pointed fork collar with the middle tines shorter than the outside tines. The genetic divergence (uncorrected p-distance) between the new species and other representatives of Pareas ranged from 13.9% to 24.4% for Cytochrome b (Cyt b) and 12.1% to 25.5% for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4). Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA gene data recovered the new species from being the sister taxon to (P. boulengeri + P. chinensis) from China. Full article

A new species of the genus Troglonectes is described based on specimens from a karst cave in Andong Town, Xincheng County, Liuzhou City, Guangxi, China. Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congener species by the following combination of characteristics: eye degenerated into a black spot; whole body covered by scales, except for the head, throat, and abdomen; incomplete lateral line; forked caudal fin; 8–10 gill rakers on the first gill arch; 13–14 branched caudal fin rays; 8–9 branched dorsal fin rays; 5–6 anal fin rays; 9–10 pectoral fin rays; upper adipose keel depth mostly 1/2 of the caudal peduncle depth; and caudal fin forked. Full article

A new species of Pareas Wagler, 1830 is described from Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetically, the new species is most closely related to Pareas kaduri Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, Patel and Mirza, 2020; however, the genetic divergence (uncorrected p-distance) of the cyt b gene between the new species and P. kaduri reached 9.4%. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from P. kaduri by the absence of preoculars, loreal bordering the orbit, the fusion of subocular and postocular, three rows enlarged vertebral scales, five rows keeled mid-dorsal scales at the middle of the body, having more subcaudals, and having a relatively longer tail. In addition, the new species can be distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of morphological characteristics. Our work brings the total number of recognized species of the genus Pareas to 29, of which 23 occur in China. Full article

A new species of Xenodermid snake, Achalinus dabieshanensis sp. nov., was described based on three specimens (two female and one male) collected from the Dabie Mountains of western Anhui Province. It can be distinguished from known congeners by a significant genetic divergence in the mitochondrial gene fragment COI (p-distance ≥ 9.4%) and the following combination of characteristics: (1) length of the suture between the internasals being distinctly shorter than between the prefrontals; (2) a single loreal; (3) dorsal scales strongly keeled, in 23 rows throughout the body; (4) two pairs of prefrontals; (5) six supralabials; (6) five infralabials; (7) temporals 2 + 2 + 3 (or 2 + 2 + 4); (8) 141–155 ventrals; (9) 45–55 subcaudals, unpaired; (10) anal entire; (11) weakly iridescent tinged, uniform, brown to black dorsum with vertebral scales and about three adjacent dorsal scales dark brown forming a longitudinal vertebral line from posterior margin of parietals to tail tip; (12) light brown venter, ventral shields wide, visible on both sides, light brown flanks, giving the appearance of a black subcaudal streak. The recognition of the new species increases the number of described Achalinus species to 22. Full article

A modular soft actuator with snakeskin-inspired scales that generates an anisotropic friction force is designed and evaluated in this study. The actuator makes it possible to fabricate soft robots that can move on various surfaces in the natural environment. For existing modulus soft robots, additional connectors and several independent pneumatic pumps are required. However, we designed precise connection and snake-scale structures integrated with a single pneumatic modular actuator unit. The precise structure was printed using a DLP 3D printer. The movement characteristics of the soft robot changed according to the angle of the scale structure, and the movement distance increased as the number of modular soft actuator units increased. Soft robots that can move in operating environments such as flat land, tubes, inclined paths, and water have been realized. Furthermore, soft robots with modularization strategies can easily add modular units. We demonstrate the ability to deliver objects 2.5 times heavier than the full weight of the soft robot by adding tong-like structure to the soft robot. The development of a soft robot inspired by snakeskin suggests an easy approach to soft robots that enables various tasks even in environments where existing robots have limited activity. Full article

Three species of the genus Synura from China are described here. Morphological observations and molecular phylogenetic analyses were conducted for three specimens collected at different locations in China. The described morphological features included cell size, scale size, spines, keels, and struts. Molecular analyses based on multiple genetic markers (SSU and LSU rDNA and internal transcribed spacer rDNA) were used to determine the phylogenetic positions of the three Synura species. Morphologically, specimen GZ201017 collected in Guizhou Province was characterized by a well-developed keel and lanceolate scales; specimen SX210304 collected in Shanxi Province was characterized by a less-developed keel and poor silicification; and specimen GD201126 collected in Guangdong Province was characterized mainly by spines with blunt ends or two small teeth on the tips. The morphotypes GZ201017, SX210304, and GD201126 corresponded to the original descriptions of Synura petersenii, S. glabra, and S. longitubularis, respectively. This discovery laid a foundation for the molecular phylogeny of the genus Synura and an enhanced understanding of Synura diversity and distribution in China. Full article

Understanding the temporal variability of atmospheric methane (CH₄) and its potential drivers can advance the progress toward mitigating changes to the climate. To comprehend interannual variability and spatial characteristics of anomalous CH₄ mole fractions and its drivers, we used integrated data from different platforms such as in situ measurements and satellites (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT)) retrievals. A pronounced change of annual growth rate was detected at Anmyeondo (AMY), Republic of Korea, ranging from −16.8 to 31.3 ppb yr⁻¹ as captured in situ through 2015–2020 and 3.9 to 16.4 ppb yr⁻¹ detected by GOSAT through 2014–2019, respectively. High growth rates were discerned in 2016 (31.3 ppb yr⁻¹ and 13.4 ppb yr⁻¹ from in situ and GOSAT, respectively) and 2019 (27.4 ppb yr⁻¹ and 16.4 ppb yr⁻¹ from in situ and GOSAT, respectively). The high growth in 2016 was essentially explained by the strong El Niño event in 2015–2016, whereas the large growth rate in 2019 was not related to ENSO. We suggest that the growth rate that appeared in 2019 was related to soil temperature according to the Noah Land Surface Model. The stable isotopic composition of ¹³C/¹²C in CH₄ (δ¹³-CH₄) collected by flask-air sampling at AMY during 2014–2019 supported the soil methane hypothesis. The intercept of the Keeling plot for summer and autumn were found to be −53.3‰ and −52.9‰, respectively, which suggested isotopic signature of biogenic emissions. The isotopic values in 2019 exhibited the strongest depletion compared to other periods, which suggests even a stronger biogenic signal. Such changes in the biogenic signal were affected by the variations of soil temperature and soil moisture. We looked more closely at the variability of XCH₄ and the relationship with soil properties. The result indicated a spatial distribution of interannual variability, as well as the captured elevated anomaly over the southwest of the domain in autumn 2019, up to 70 ppb, which was largely explained by the combined effect of soil temperature and soil moisture changes, indicating a pixel-wise correlation of XCH₄ anomaly with those parameters in the range of 0.5–0.8 with a statistical significance (p < 0.05). This implies that the soil-associated drivers are able to exert a large-scale influence on the regional distribution of CH₄ in Korea. Full article