The study aimed to determine the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), measure the association between EBF and sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of lactating mothers, and determine challenges of EBF.

The study was cross-sectional and was conducted in four primary health care centres (PHCCs) at Alehsa region in Saudi Arabia (SA). Lactating mothers coming to vaccinate their babies (0-6 months) were recruited. Sample size totalled 372, where 93 were randomly selected from each centre. Sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of participants, breastfeeding (BF) status, and challenges of EBF were collected. Basic univariate descriptive statistics were conducted to explore the sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics, BF status and challenges of BF. Bivariate analyses were done to explore the association between the dependent and independent variables. Binary logistic regression models were then executed. A 2-tailed p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.

EBF rate was nears during and after pregnancy regarding BF technique or pumping breast milk in case of BF difficulties, improve mothers' confidence about the ability to breastfeed and enhance mothers' knowledge on the normal process of lactation. Secondly, it is the role of policymakers to ensure implementation of Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) guidelines in hospitals to meet the WHO's global target of infants being exclusively breastfed until six months of age.
Adequate knowledge, positive attitude, and proper practice of personal protective equipment by healthcare workers are necessary to get protection from COVID-19 infection. But this area is yet to be explored. https://www.selleckchem.com/ Hence, we aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) among healthcare workers, along with a survey of the possible determinants.

For this cross-sectional study, online and offline surveys were conducted among a sample of 393 healthcare workers from five different districts of Bangladesh. A validated self-administered questionnaire comprising five sections (socio-demography, work-related information, knowledge, attitude, and practice) was used for data collection. Multivariate stepwise forward logistic regression was applied to find significant factors associated with good attitude, and practice using SPSS version 25.

The average age of the 393 participants was 28.9±5.2 years with a male-female ratio of one. Of them, 99.5% (n=391) had good knowledge, 88.8% (n=349) had positive attitude and 51.7% (n=203) had good practice regarding PPE. Results revealed that being a physician and living at home were significantly associated with a positive attitude. While being a non-physician, having lower education, working in private hospitals, and using office transport were associated with good practice regarding PPE.

The findings demonstrated that the healthcare workers had an overall good knowledge and a positive attitude but a poor practice regarding PPE. This study also highlighted the factors influencing KAP towards PPE that must be addressed in future education, awareness, and counseling programs.
The findings demonstrated that the healthcare workers had an overall good knowledge and a positive attitude but a poor practice regarding PPE. This study also highlighted the factors influencing KAP towards PPE that must be addressed in future education, awareness, and counseling programs.
COVID-19 is a current health concern in the world. People applying the prevention methods of COVID-19 are vital determinants of curbing the spread of the coronavirus. This study aimed to assess the practices and associated factors of the COVID-19 preventive measures among Dire Dawa residents.

A community-based, cross-sectional mixed method was used. We conducted the study between June 15th and July 15th, 2020. The subjects of the study were selected by using systematic random sampling. We collected data through face-to-face and in-depth interviews. Both bivariate and multiple logistic regression were employed to determine the predictor variables with the practice of COVID-19 prevention measures. Thematic content analysis analyzed qualitative data.

The practice of COVID-19 preventive measures was 40.7% (95% CI 37-44.4%). Being female [AOR= 1.8; 95% CI 1.17-2.72], married [AOR=2.75; 95% CI 1.68-4.48], family income >10,000 Ethiopia birr [AOR=7.3; 95% CI 3.8-13.9], having history of a chronic disease [Atus, income, history of chronic disease, history of khat chewing, knowledge, and attitude about COVID-19 were associated factors with COVID-19 preventive practices. The communities were not practicing the COVID-19 prevention method because of poor knowledge and a negative attitude.
The Pressure Injury Primary Risk Assessment Scale for Home Care (PPRA-Home) was developed to predict pressure injury risk in geriatric individuals requiring long-term care in home settings. This study aimed to compare the convergent validity of the PPRA-Home to that of the two other standardized pressure injury prevention scales the Braden and Ohura-Hotta (OH) scales.

A multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted with 34 home-based geriatric support service providers located in five Japanese districts. The study included 69 participants (30 had a pressure injury and 39 did not) who were at classified at care levels of 1 through 5 under Japan's long-term care insurance system. Care managers served as assessors for the PPRA-Home, while physicians or certified expert nurses served as assessors for the Braden and OH scales. Convergent validity was investigated by examining correlation coefficients between total scores on the PPRA-Home and the other two scales. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to quantify each scale's accuracy for the two groups those with and without a pressure injury.

The PPRA-Home was found to be negatively correlated with the Braden scale (r=-0.79, p<0.05), and positively correlated with the OH scale (r=0.58, p<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) for the PPRA-Home, Braden scale, and OH scale were 0.737, 0.814, and 0.794, respectively. A PPRA-Home cutoff score of 4 had a sensitivity of 63.3% and specificity of 81.6%.

The AUC for the PPRA-Home as scored by care managers was similar to those of the Braden and OH scales as scored by physicians or expert nurses. More research on the PPRA-Home's content and predictive validity is required.
The AUC for the PPRA-Home as scored by care managers was similar to those of the Braden and OH scales as scored by physicians or expert nurses. More research on the PPRA-Home's content and predictive validity is required.

Thus, pMP19 plays a role in the virulence of M. plutonius; however, its impact on the virulence varies among strains with different genetic backgrounds. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is prevalent in Danish swine herds. In July 2019, PRRSV-1 was detected in a PRRSV negative boar station, and subsequently spread to more than 38 herds that had received semen from the boar station. Full genome sequencing revealed a sequence of 15.098 nucleotides. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the strain was a recombination between the Amervac strain (Unistrain PRRS vaccine; Hipra) and the 96V198 strain (Suvaxyn PRRS; Zoetis AH). The major parent was the 96V198 strain that spanned ORFs 1-2 and part of ORF 3 and the minor parent was the Amervac strain, which constituted the remaining part of the genome. The virus seems to be highly transmissible and has caused severe disease in infected herds despite a high level of genetic identity to the attenuated parent strains. The source of infection was presumable a neighboring farm situated 5.8 km from the boar station. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Fast, mass, and low-cost production of high-quality graphene, which is alluring, remains a great challenge, even though some approaches have shown potential for mass synthesis of graphene. Very recently a great breakthrough was made by Tour and co-workers (Nature 2020, 577, 647-651) in just a second, easily exfoliated and highly crystalline graphene was produced from abundant carbon-containing species by cost-effective flash Joule heating with a low energy input of 7.2 kJ per gram graphene. Such an ultrafast, economic, and scalable process for high-quality graphene production can be considered as a milestone in the graphene field and is highlighted in this article. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.BACKGROUND A standard approach to the recognition and management of major bleeding in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is lacking. METHODS Retrospective cohort study of ITP patients presenting to the ED with severe thrombocytopenia (platelet count less then 20x109 /L) and bleeding in 4 academic hospitals from 2008 to 2016. We defined a major ITP bleed as a bleed at a critical site or causing hemodynamic instability. RESULTS We identified 112 ITP patients (n=141 visits) who presented to the ED with platelets less then 20x109 /L and bleeding. Twenty-nine patients (26%) had 32 ED visits with major bleeds. Risk factors for major bleeds were older age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.06), male sex (OR 3.25, 95% CI 1.22-9.32), and more prior ITP therapies (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.10-1.87). Acute treatment of major bleeds required a median of 3 treatments (IQR 2-4), which included intravenous immune globulin (91% of visits), corticosteroids (78% of visits) and platelet transfusions (75% of visits). Three patients (10%) died, 9 (31%) developed recurrent bleeds, 1 (3%) developed arterial thrombosis and 1 (3%) had permanent neurological disability. Six patients presented with minor bleeding and subsequently developed a major bleed after a median of 2 days (IQR 1-3). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/cpi-1205.html All 6 patients had oral purpura and 4 of 6 had gross hematuria preceding the major bleed. CONCLUSIONS Major ITP bleeds are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Oral purpura and hematuria often preceded major bleeds. Further research is needed to refine the definition of a major ITP bleed and develop evidence-based treatment strategies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.There have been relatively few reports of foot ulcers in diabetes resulting from rat bite. The findings were derived from people attending a single specialist service in Dar es Salaam for diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2016. Details from people presenting for the first time with an ulcer judged to be caused by rat bite were compared with those with from other causes of foot ulcer. There were 426 first recorded foot ulcer episodes (in 179 people) judged to be caused by rat bite. The affected population was significantly younger (mean 55.9 vs 57.5 years, P = .037) and had a lower body mass index (26.5 vs 27.9, P = .008) than controls with other types of foot ulcer. They also presented significantly sooner (7.8 vs 18.2 days, P  less then  .001) and were more likely to heal (85.8 vs 5.5%, P  less then  .001), even though there was also a trend towards an increased risk of death (9.1% vs 5.3%, P = .032). Rat bite is an uncommon cause of DFU, but is not rare. Although the incidence of ulcer healing is higher than in a general foot ulcer population, the incidence of death is also higher. © 2020 Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.This study investigated the effect of type-I interferon (IFN) on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) of the bovine endometrial stromal cells (BES) and epithelial cells (BEE). The cells were separated and purified from the caruncles and cultured in DMEM/F-12 containing 10% fetal bovine serum. Spheroids were generated by using ascorbate. Zymograms of the supernatant showed that BEE predominantly expressed MMP-9, whereas MMP-2 was expressed in BES and homo-spheroids. While MMPs expression was not detected in hetero-spheroids. Real-time quantitative PCR revealed that type-I IFN and P4 suppressed the gene expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in hetero-spheroids, respectively. On the other hand, gelatin zymography analysis of the supernatant showed that type-I IFN strongly promote the clearance of MMPs. While zymograms of the MMPs stocked in the hetero-spheroids were significantly reduced by type-I IFN. Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride and leupeptin (both are serine proteinase inhibitors) significantly repressed the clearance of MMP-2 and MMP-9 induced by type-I IFN. Moreover, collagen fibers in hetero-spheroids significantly decreased after the treatment with type-I IFN. In conclusion, it was suggested that type-I IFN participate in the tissue remodeling by regulation the clearance of MMPs. © 2020 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Peficitinib pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics have been characterized mainly in Caucasian subjects. This study investigated the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety, and tolerability of peficitinib in healthy Japanese subjects compared with Caucasian subjects. METHODS In this single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, a cohort of healthy Japanese (n = 24) and Caucasian (n = 24) men received a single oral dose of peficitinib (20, 60, or 200 mg) or placebo. Another cohort of Japanese men (n = 24) received peficitinib (10, 30, or 100 mg) or placebo twice daily for 7 days. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters were assessed, and adverse events (AEs) monitored throughout. RESULTS Dose proportionality of maximum plasma drug concentration (Cmax) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve extrapolated to infinity (AUCinf) was demonstrated for both ethnicities. The geometric mean ratio for dose-normalized Cmax was 45.7-98.8% higher and AUCinf was 33.8-66.4% higher in Japanese versus Caucasian subjects. Mean peak inhibition of STAT5 phosphorylation was higher in Japanese than Caucasian subjects for a given peficitinib dose, but inhibition was comparable across ethnicities for a given plasma peficitinib concentration. In the multiple-dose study, plasma peficitinib concentrations were similar on day 1 and day 7. All AEs were mild, and none resulted in study discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS Peficitinib was well tolerated at doses up to 200 mg daily for 7 days in healthy Japanese subjects. Dose-proportional exposure was demonstrated across the single-dose range of 20-200 mg, with greater peficitinib exposure in Japanese compared with Caucasian subjects. The pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships were considered comparable between these populations. CLINICALTRIALS. GOV IDENTIFIER NCT01225224.BACKGROUND Chemotherapeutic drugs often contribute to the cognitive impairment observed in some individuals following chemotherapy treatment. Postchemotherapy cognitive impairment (PCCI) is referred to as a decline in a variety of neuropsychological measures after chemotherapy and has an acute onset. METHODS The goals of the present study are to compare the manifestation of longitudinal PCCI among 182 patients with four different types of cancer (breast, colorectal, prostate and thyroid cancer) before chemotherapy (T1), immediately after chemotherapy (T2) and 6 months later (T3). RESULTS Although no statistically significant differences were observed between the study groups in any of the cognitive domains before chemotherapy, patients with breast cancer showed significantly lower performance on all cognitive domains compared to other patients at the postchemotherapy timepoints. CONCLUSIONS Although cognitive difficulties are reported during and after chemotherapy for cancer, it seems that there are differences between different types of cancer. We conclude that it is particularly important to assess and manage these cognitive disorders. Management includes rehabilitation programs that can improve cognitive functions and contribute to changes in brain functions to facilitate this improvement.Although diabetes remains the number one cause of renal failure nationwide, spontaneous hypoglycemia in patients with CKD has also been described in the absence of exogenous insulin or any other diabetes treatment. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sodium-2-1h-indol-3-ylacetate.html Decreased renal gluconeogenesis and impaired renal insulin clearance are underlying mechanisms of hypoglycemia in individuals with ESRD. Diazoxide was originally approved as an anti-hypertensive medication, but also is known to bind ATP-sensitive K channels in the beta cells of the pancreas, ultimately leading to inhibition of insulin release. We detail six cases of ESRD-associated hypoglycemia which responded to treatment with diazoxide therapy.INTRODUCTION Portfolio-based assessments require that learners' competence development is adequately reflected in portfolio documentation. This study explored how students select and document performance data in their portfolios and how they perceive these data to be representative for their competence development. METHODS Students uploaded performance data in a competency-based portfolio. During one clerkship period, twelve students also recorded an audio diary in which they reflected on experiences and feedback that they perceived to be indicants of their competence development. Afterwards, these students were interviewed to explore the extent to which the performance documentation in the portfolio corresponded with what they considered illustrative evidence of their development. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS Portfolios provide an accurate but fragmented picture of student development. Portfolio documentation was influenced by tensions between learning and assessment, student beliefs about the goal of portfolios, student performance evaluation strategies, the learning environment and portfolio structure. DISCUSSION This study confirms the importance of taking student perceptions into account when implementing a competency-based portfolio. Students would benefit from coaching on how to select meaningful experiences and performance data for documentation in their portfolios. Flexibility in portfolio structure and requirements is essential to ensure optimal fit between students' experienced competence development and portfolio content.BACKGROUND Grape is an economically valuable fruit around the world. However, some cultivars are prone to fruit cracking during ripening, leading to severe losses. OBJECTIVE We aimed to find important metabolisms related to fruit cracking during ripening process. METHODS RNA-Sequence and analysis was applied to the pericarp of cracking-susceptible 'Xiang Fei' at 1 (W1), 2 (W2) and 3 weeks (W3) after veraison on Illumina HiSeq xten; RESULTS Compared with W1, the berry cracking rate increased significantly in W2 and W3. Through transcriptomic analysis, a total of 22,609 genes were expressed in the grape pericarp, among which 805 and 2758 genes were significantly differentially regulated in W1-vs.-W2 and W1-vs.-W3 comparison, respectively. Besides, 304 and 354 genes were up- and down-regulated in both comparisons. The significantly enriched GO terms of both W1-W2 and W1-W3 are related to cell wall and wax biosynthesis. And lipid metabolism, which are involved in the top 20 enriched KEGG pathways of both comparisons, was related to wax biosynthesis.

Utilization of cytologic material for FCM and IHC is feasible, and extremely helpful in achieving diagnostic accuracy.
Cytopathology is highly proficient in recognizing SPNLM in CLL patients. Utilization of cytologic material for FCM and IHC is feasible, and extremely helpful in achieving diagnostic accuracy.
The accurate diagnosis of musculoskeletal neoplasms is difficult but a pattern-based approach combined with ancillary testing has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy. The pattern-based approach is particularly appropriate for myxoid lesions.

The authors reviewed their personal experience of over 3 decades of diagnosing myxoid neoplasms of musculoskeletal lesions.

The authors found that myxoid lesions can be accurately classified based on cell type, nuclear atypia, presence of blood vessel fragments, as well as the results of immunohistochemical and molecular testing.

Musculoskeletal lesions with a prominence of myxoid or chondroid material in the background can be accurately diagnosed using pattern analysis and ancillary testing.
Musculoskeletal lesions with a prominence of myxoid or chondroid material in the background can be accurately diagnosed using pattern analysis and ancillary testing.Identification of the rate-limiting step in a metabolic pathway is an important challenge in metabolic engineering for enhancing pathway flow. Although specific enzyme activities (Vmax) provide valuable clues for the identification, it is time-consuming and difficult to measure multiple enzymes in the pathway because different assay protocols are required for each enzyme. In the present study, we propose a method to simultaneously determine the Vmax values of multiple enzymes using a kinetic model with a time course of the intermediate concentrations through an in vitro experiment. To demonstrate this method, nine glycolysis reactions for converting glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) to pyruvate in Escherichia coli were considered. In a reaction mixture containing G6P and cofactors, glycolysis was initiated by adding a crude cell extract obtained from stationary phase cells. The Vmax values were optimized to minimize the difference between the measured and simulated time-courses using a kinetic model. Metabolic control analysis using the kinetic model with the estimated Vmax values revealed that fructose bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) was the rate-limiting step in the upper part of glycolysis. The addition of FBA in the reaction mixture successfully increased the glycolytic flux in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo, the specific glucose consumption rate of an FBA overexpression strain was 1.4 times higher than that of the control strain during the stationary phase. These results confirmed that FBA was the rate-limiting step in glycolysis under the stationary phase. This approach provides Vmax values of multiple enzymes in a pathway for metabolic control analysis with a kinetic model.It is now 30 years since Japanese investigators first described Takotsubo Syndrome (TTS) as a disorder occurring mainly in ageing women, ascribing it to the impact of multivessel coronary artery spasm. During the intervening period, it has become clear that TTS involves relatively transient vascular injury, followed by prolonged myocardial inflammatory and eventually fibrotic changes. Hence symptomatic recovery is generally slow, currently an under-recognised issue. It appears that TTS is induced by aberrant post-β2-adrenoceptor signalling in the setting of "surge" release of catecholamines. Resultant activation of nitric oxide synthases and increased inflammatory vascular permeation lead to prolonged myocardial infiltration with macrophages and associated oedema formation. Initially, the diagnosis of TTS was made via exclusion of relevant coronary artery stenoses, plus the presence of regional left ventricular hypokinesis. However, detection of extensive myocardial oedema on cardiac MRI imaging offers a specific basis for diagnosis. No adequate methods are yet available for definitive diagnosis of TTS at hospital presentation. Other major challenges remaining in this area include understanding of the recently demonstrated association between TTS and antecedent cancer, the development of effective treatments to reduce risk of short-term (generally due to shock) and long-term mortality, and also to accelerate symptomatic recovery.
The experience in the operating room is considered as a crucial element affecting medical students' satisfaction with workplace-based training in surgery. We developed the "Students' Perception of the Operating Room Educational Environment Measure" (SPOREEM) and applied the approach of Item Response Theory to improve accuracy of its measurement.

Psychometric analysis determined the factorial structure. Using Item Response Theory, item thresholds were calculated on response option levels. Sum scores in the factors were then computed using calibrated unit weights.

One hundred medical students from the University Medical Center in Goettingen, Germany, enrolled in a one-week surgery rotation completed the SPOREEM.

The final 19-item questionnaire resulted in 3 factors "Learning support and inclusion" (1), "Workplace atmosphere" (2), and "Experience of emotional stress" (3). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Vorinostat-saha.html Item calibration resulted in refinement of sum scores in the factors. Male students significantly rated factor 1 more positively. Factor 2 was perceived to a similar degree in all 3 surgical disciplines involved. Factor 3 was rated lower by those students planning a surgical field of postgraduate training.

We developed a valid, reliable, and feasible tool to assess the overall educational climate of undergraduate training in the OR. Calibration of items refined the measurement.
We developed a valid, reliable, and feasible tool to assess the overall educational climate of undergraduate training in the OR. Calibration of items refined the measurement.There have been vociferous calls for 'tree-centered' vegetation models to refine predictions of forest carbon (C) cycling. Unfortunately, our global survey at flux-tower sites indicates insufficient empirical data support for this much-needed model development. We urge for a new generation of studies across large environmental gradients that strategically pair long-term ecosystem monitoring with manipulative experiments on mature trees. For this, we outline a versatile experimental framework to build cross-scale data archives of C uptake and allocation to structural, non-structural, and respiratory sinks. Community-wide efforts and discussions are needed to implement this framework, especially in hitherto underrepresented tropical forests. Global coordination and realistic priorities for data collection will thereby be key to achieve and maintain adequate empirical support for tree-centered vegetation modeling.

Boethella jatai sp. nov. is described from a savanna area in the southeast of Brazil. The genus is redescribed to include the new species and an identification key for world species is provided.The Rio Doce State Park ("PERD") is the largest Atlantic Forest remnant in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, with predominantly semi-deciduous forests. The longhorned beetles of the Cerambycinae subfamily (Coleoptera Cerambycidae) are distributed worldwide, developing on healthy, stressed or recently dead trees. Faunistic surveys are necessary to understand about the Minas Gerais' cerambycid fauna due to a lack of research, especially in the eastern region of the state. A list of species of the subfamily Cerambycinae (Coleoptera Cerambycidae), collected in the PERD during the rainy season (September 2013- February 2014), is presented. The beetles were collected using a light trap and through their emergence from Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan (Fabaceae) logs. A total of 663 individuals of 33 species, 30 genera, and 15 tribes of the Cerambycinae subfamily were collected. The species Malacopterus tenellus (Fabricius, 1801) was registered for the first time in Minas Gerais State, while A. colubrina is a new host plant for 14 Cerambycinae species. The geographical distribution, number of host plants and materials examined are presented for each species collected. This is the first list of Cerambycidae species from the Rio Doce State Park.Two species of the upogebiida mud shrimp genus Gebiacantha Ngoc-Ho, 1989, currently represented by 19 described species, are reported from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The first, G. acanthochela (Sakai, 1967), is redescribed in detail based on two female specimens from Amami Islands the second discovered since the original description, enabling better assessment of its diagnostic characters. The second, G. fortispinata n. sp., is described on the basis of a single female holotype from Okinawa Island. It appears closest to G. multispinosa Ngoc-Ho, 1994, known with certainty only from New Caledonia, but the proportionally narrower telson with a more deeply notched posterior margin and the distally unarmed pereopod 3 merus distinguish the new species from G. multispinosa. Three species of Gebiacantha, including G. sagamiensis Komai, 2017, are now known from Japanese waters.The enigmatic snake genus Micrelaps has uncertain phylogenetic affinities. The type species of the genus, Micrelaps muelleri, inhabits the Southern Levant. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/cpi-0610.html Snakes inhabiting the Jordan River Valley just south of the Sea of Galilee have been described as a new species, Micrelaps tchernovi, based on their distinct colour patterns, despite M. muelleri being well known to be variable in colour-pattern traits. Here we use morphological and molecular data to examine the taxonomic status and phylogenetic affinity of Levantine Micrelaps. We show that all scalation, colour, and pattern-related traits are extremely variable across the range of these snakes. Some morphological features show clinal variation related to temperature and precipitation, and snakes with a 'tchernovi' morph are merely at one end of a continuum of morphological variation. Both 'classical muelleri' and 'tchernovi' morphs occur in syntopy in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere in Israel. Against this background of high morphological variation, neutral genetic markers show almost no differentiation between snakes, no genetic structure is evident across populations, and no differences are to be found between the two putative species. We conclude that Levantine Micrelaps belongs to a single, morphologically variable, and genetically uniform species, Micrelaps muelleri, of which M. tchernovi is a junior synonym.Twenty-one new species of the genus Meleonoma Meyrick are described M. acutata sp. nov., M. annulignatha sp. nov., M. artivalva sp. nov., M. basiprocessa sp. nov., M. bicornea sp. nov., M. bidigitata sp. nov., M. circinans sp. nov., M. compacta sp. nov., M. cuneata sp. nov., M. forcipata sp. nov., M. ledongensis sp. nov., M. longihamata sp. nov., M. mecobursoides sp. nov., M. microdonta sp. nov., M. papillisetosa sp. nov., M. parallela sp. nov., M. recticostata sp. nov., M. segregnatha sp. nov., M. sinuicosta sp. nov., M. taiwanensis sp. nov. and M. taeniophylla sp. nov. The male of M. flavilineata Kitajima et Sakamaki, 2019 is described for the first time. Images of both adults and genitalia are provided. All species are divided into two species-groups, and a key to each group as well as a map showing the distribution of each group in China are given.The Neotropical stolidosomatine genus Pseudosympycnus Robinson (Diptera Dolichopodidae) is reviewed and contains 12 species, including six new species that herein are described and illustrated P. araza sp. nov. (Peru, department of Cusco), P. bickeli sp. nov. (Brazilian States of Pará and Roraima), P. latitibia sp. nov. (Brazilian States of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), P. maroaga sp. nov (Brazilian State of Amazonas), P. robinsoni sp. nov. (Brazilian State of Acre), and P. sehnali sp. nov. (Brazilian State of Amazonas). All species are diagnosed, male and female terminalia of the genus are illustrated for the first time, high-resolution images of relevant characters are presented and an identification key to males is provided.Pogonostoma (Pogonostoma) ondravybirali sp. nov. from southwestern Madagascar is described as new to science. The new species is placed to a large P. (Pogonostoma) elegans species-group (sensu Moravec 2007) along with seven other mutually similar species which are recognized within this species-group as a species-complex of P. (P.) alluaudi W. Horn, 1898. An elaborated redescription of the most similar P. (P.) atrorotundatum W. Horn, 1934 is given. A revised key to the P. (P.) elegans species-group is presented in order to supplement the key in the monograph of the genus Pogonostoma Klug, 1835 by Moravec (2007). First description of male characters of P. (Pogonostoma) densisculptum Moravec, 2003 (belonging to P. (P.) gibbosum species-group sensu Moravec 2007) and first description of female characters of P. (Microstenocera) fabiocassolai Moravec, 2003 (of the P. (M.) minimum species-group sensu Moravec 2007) are introduced. Type and other specimens of the presented species are illustrated in colour photographs of their habitus, diagnostic characters and variability (including two diagnostic characters of P.