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Mol Ecol 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Biology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.

The repeated evolution of tetrodotoxin (TTX) resistance provides a model for testing hypotheses about the mechanisms of convergent evolution. This poison is broadly employed as a potent antipredator defense, blocking voltage-gated sodium channels (Na ) in muscles and nerves, paralyzing and sometimes killing predators. Resistance in taxa bearing this neurotoxin and a few predators appears to come from convergent replacements in specific Na residues that interact with TTX. Read More

Front Robot AI 2022 3;9:872007. Epub 2022 May 3.

Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States.

The locomotion of soft snake robots is dependent on frictional interactions with the environment. Frictional anisotropy is a morphological characteristic of snakeskin that allows snakes to engage selectively with surfaces and generate propulsive forces. The prototypical slithering gait of most snakes is lateral undulation, which requires a significant lateral resistance that is lacking in artificial skins of existing soft snake robots. Read More

Curr Zool 2022 Jun 11;68(3):295-303. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Granada University, Granada E-18071, Spain.

The invasive snake colonized the island of Ibiza (Balearic Islands) in 2003 as stowaways inside trunks of olive trees imported for gardening. It has quickly spread since 2010, posing a threat to the island's only remaining endemic vertebrate, the Ibiza wall lizard . We map the yearly expansion rate of the snake and estimate via transect surveys how severely it affects the distribution and abundance of the endemic lizard. Read More

J Proteomics 2022 May 16:104613. Epub 2022 May 16.

CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal. Electronic address:

Lataste's viper (Vipera latastei) is a venomous European viper endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, recognised as medically important by the World Health Organization. To date, no comprehensive characterisation of this species' venom has been reported. Here, we analysed the venoms of juvenile and adult specimens of V. Read More

Med Trop Sante Int 2021 Sep 29;1(3). Epub 2021 Jul 29.

Faculté de médecine et d'odontostomatologie, USTTB, Bamako, Mali.

Introduction: Snakebite envenomation can cause serious damage. Here, we report the case of a six-year-old male child bitten by a snake.

Clinical Description: The child presented a gingivorrhagia, abdominal pain, bloody vomiting and severe headache from a snakebite. Read More

R Soc Open Sci 2022 May 11;9(5):220218. Epub 2022 May 11.

Chiricahua Desert Museum, Rodeo, NM 88056, USA.

With the advent of powerful imaging instruments, the prenatal behaviour of vertebrates has been discovered to be far more complex than previously believed, especially concerning humans, other mammals and birds. Surprisingly, the fetal behaviour of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes and amphisbaenians), a group of over 11 000 extant species, are largely understudied. Using ultrasonography, 18 late-term pregnant copperhead snakes () from a single population were inspected for fecundity (number of fetuses). Read More

Sci Rep 2022 May 17;12(1):8232. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Human envenoming from the bite of the abundant hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale spp.) (HNPV) is a frequent occurrence with victims experiencing unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening consequences. Further, clinico-pathology, treatment and management measures in HNPV envenomed dogs are under recognized. Read More

Am Nat 2022 Jun 19;199(6):869-880. Epub 2022 Apr 19.

AbstractStudies of coevolution in the wild have largely focused on reciprocally specialized species pairs with striking and exaggerated phenotypes. Textbook examples include interactions between toxic newts and their garter snake predators, long-tongued flies and the flowers they pollinate, and weevils with elongated rostra used to bore through the defensive pericarp of their host plants. Although these studies have laid a foundation for understanding coevolution in the wild, they have also contributed to the widespread impression that coevolution is a rare and quirky sideshow to the day-to-day grind of ecology and evolution. Read More

Integr Comp Biol 2022 May 16. Epub 2022 May 16.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1105 N University Ave, 48109, Michigan, USA.

Efficient comparisons of biological color patterns are critical for understanding the mechanisms by which organisms evolve in ecosystems, including sexual selection, predator-prey interactions, and thermoregulation. However, limbless, elongate, or spiral-shaped organisms do not conform to the standard orientation and photographic techniques required for many automated analyses. Currently, large-scale color analysis of elongate animals requires time-consuming manual landmarking, which reduces their representation in coloration research despite their ecological importance. Read More

Toxicon X 2022 Jun 4;14:100125. Epub 2022 May 4.

Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.

Neutralization of lethality in mice model at the preclinical level has been established by the World Health Organization as the gold standard for the evaluation of antivenom efficacy. The assessment of the neutralization profiles of antivenoms helps to discern the efficacy or otherwise of these antivenoms at neutralizing the toxic effects induced by medically significant snake venoms. However, for many antivenoms, information on their preclinical efficacy remains limited. Read More

Commun Integr Biol 2022 10;15(1):115-120. Epub 2022 May 10.

International Center for Materials and Nanoarchitectronics (WPI-MANA), Research Center for Advanced Measurement and Characterization (RCAMC), Tsukuba, Japan.

In 1907, Lapicque proposed that an electric field passes through the neuronal membrane and transmits a signal. Subsequently, a "snake curve" or spike was used to depict the means by which a linear flat current undergoes a sudden Gaussian or Laplacian peak. This concept has been the accepted scenario for more than 115 years even appearing in textbooks on the subject. Read More

Front Vet Sci 2022 29;9:891672. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.

Ascarid nematodes are the most common and harmful nematodes parasites in animals. By analyzing genetic variation, this study explores the genetic and phylogenetic relationship among ascarids from 11 different hosts. This study collected ascarid samples from the feces of nine animal species in Changsha Ecological Zoo of Hunan Province and two animal kinds in the College of Veterinary Medicine of Hunan Agricultural University. Read More

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl 2022 Aug 22;18:101-111. Epub 2022 Apr 22.

Division of Science and Mathematics, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Idabel, OK, 74745, USA.

A new genus, n. gen., is proposed for the proteocephalid cestode (La Rue, 1911) n. Read More

ACS Omega 2022 May 25;7(18):15561-15569. Epub 2022 Apr 25.

Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen DK-2100, Denmark.

Many snake venom toxins cause local tissue damage in prey and victims, which constitutes an important pathology that is challenging to treat with existing antivenoms. One of the notorious toxins that causes such effects is myotoxin II present in the venom of the Central and Northern South American viper, . This Lys49 PLA homologue is devoid of enzymatic activity and causes myotoxicity by disrupting the cell membranes of muscle tissue. Read More

Front Pharmacol 2022 27;13:887513. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

Australian Venom Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.

Endeavour 2022 May 11:100813. Epub 2022 May 11.

Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Electronic address:

Am J Cardiol 2022 May 11. Epub 2022 May 11.

Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) is a deadly venomous snake that causes most snakebite deaths in Sri Lanka. It is widely distributed all over the country, and it commonly causes venom-induced consumption coagulopathy and neuroparalysis. Cardiotoxic manifestations after Russell's viper bites are rare. Read More

Animals (Basel) 2022 May 9;12(9). Epub 2022 May 9.

Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China.

Sparganosis, caused by the plerocercoid larvae of tapeworms, is a public health hazard worldwide. The prevalence and genetics of sparganum from snakes remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of sparganum infection in wild snakes in Hunan province and compared the prevalence of tapeworms in snakes worldwide. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2022 May 12;16(5):e0009867. Epub 2022 May 12.

MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.

Snakebite is the only WHO-listed, not infectious neglected tropical disease (NTD), although its eco-epidemiology is similar to that of zoonotic infections: envenoming occurs after a vertebrate host contacts a human. Accordingly, snakebite risk represents the interaction between snake and human factors, but their quantification has been limited by data availability. Models of infectious disease transmission are instrumental for the mitigation of NTDs and zoonoses. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 May 12;12(1):7905. Epub 2022 May 12.

Key Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Fishery Resource Application and Cultivation of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 51038, China.

Knowledge of sex determination has important implications in physiology, ecology and genetics, but the evolutionary mechanisms of sex determination systems in turtles have not been fully elucidated, due to a lack of reference genomes. Here, we generate a high-quality genome assembly of Asian yellow pond turtle (Mauremys mutica) using continuous long-read (PacBio platform), Illumina, and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) technologies. The M. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 May 12;12(1):7864. Epub 2022 May 12.

Engineering Department, Lancaster University Renewable Energy Group and Fluid Machinery Group, Lancaster, LA14YW, UK.

Design inspiration comes from the continuous stimulation of external information and the continuous accumulation of knowledge. In order to obtain an ideal design inspiration from nature, researchers have proposed a large number of biological information retrieval and knowledge acquisition methods. But how to purposefully acquire valuable biological knowledge in order to effectively stimulate design inspiration and produce the novel and feasible designs idea is still an urgent problem to be solved. Read More

Sci Adv 2022 May 11;8(19):eabn2415. Epub 2022 May 11.

School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.

Conspicuous social and sexual signals are predicted to experience pronounced character release when natural selection via predation is relaxed. However, we have few good examples of this phenomenon in the wild and none in species with dynamic color change. Here, we show that Jackson's chameleons inadvertently introduced from Kenya to Hawaii (Oahu), where there are no coevolved, native lizard predators, experienced pronounced character release of color signals. Read More

Bioinformation 2021 30;17(9):776-783. Epub 2021 Sep 30.

Department of Biochemical Engineering, IIT (BHU), UP State, Varanasi - 221005, India.

Snakebites are a problem due to the increasing number of deaths and permanent disabilities. There is currently a shortage of antidotes for snakebite. The existing antibody antidote, produced from horse/sheep plasma/sera is expensive, species-dependent, and causes fatal side effects. Read More

Int J Impot Res 2022 May 10;34(4):327-331. Epub 2022 May 10.

Department of Urology, Hospital La Zarzuela, Madrid, Spain.

Since ancient times, men have tried to change the size and shape of their genitals. Bites from insects or poisonous snakes and weights were among the first methods used for this purpose. In the first half of the 1900s, the scientific push regarding male genital aesthetic surgery began. Read More

Dokl Biochem Biophys 2022 Apr 10;503(1):98-103. Epub 2022 May 10.

Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.

To search for compounds with antiprotozoal activity, effects of snake venoms on the ciliates Tetrahymena pyriformis was studied. T. pyriformis from subkingdom of Protozoa, including the protozoal pathogens, was used as a model organism to select the venoms that are the most active against parasitic protozoans. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 May 10;12(1):7649. Epub 2022 May 10.

Inflammation Research Laboratory, Department of Studies and Research in Biochemistry, Mangalore University, Jnana Kaveri Post Graduate campus, Chikka Aluvara, Kodagu, 571232, India.

Human group IIA secreted phospholipase A2 (GIIA) is a key enzyme in inflammatory reactions, worsening the condition of several chronic inflammatory diseases. The natural inhibitors of GIIA potentially block the production of inflammatory mediators. In the present study, elemolic acid, a triterpenoid from Boswellia serrata inhibited the GIIA enzyme in a concentration-dependent manner with IC value of 5. Read More

BMJ Lead 2022 Mar 16;6(1):53-56. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Geriatric Medicine, Guy's and Saint Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, London, UK.

Background: Women comprise over three-quarters of the National Health Service workforce, yet remain underrepresented in senior medical grades, on managerial boards and in senior leadership roles. This is attributed to a wide range of internalised, interpersonal and structural factors.

Objective: To explore the experiences of aspiring clinical leaders working with senior female leader colleagues and the perceived impact of these interactions on professional development and future aspirations. Read More

Ground Water 2022 May 10. Epub 2022 May 10.

IDWR, 322 East Front Street, Boise, ID, 83702, USA.

The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA), Idaho's largest and most productive aquifer, has experienced substantial decline since the early 1950s due to changing climate conditions, increased demands, and evolving irrigation practices. To address this issue, the Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB) developed the ESPA Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP). The CAMP outlines methods and goals for the replenishment of the aquifer, including the development of a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) program. Read More

Endosc Ultrasound 2022 May 2. Epub 2022 May 2.

2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Medical College, Osaka, Japan.

Acta Paediatr 2022 May 9. Epub 2022 May 9.

Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere Center for Child, Adolescent and Maternal Health Research, Tampere University and University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.

Aim: This study investigated the incidence, clinical picture and treatment of paediatric adder bites in Finland´s Lake District.

Methods: Data were retrospectively collected on all children aged 0-15 years of age who were bitten by adders from 2006-2015 and treated at Tampere University Hospital. The severity was evaluated with the five-level Poisoning Severity Score. Read More