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Baikal sculpins are a unique group of fishes, including both externally and internally fertilizing species. Sperm traits, such as morphology and motility, are predicted to undergo adaptive changes due to species fertilization modes. However, studies exploring such traits in Baikal sculpins are lacking. Here, we conducted a field study and investigated sperm traits of three sculpins with external fertilization (Cottocomephorus grewingkii, Leocottus kesslerii and Paracottus knerii) and one sculpin with internal fertilization (Comephorus dybowskii). Sperm head morphology was spherical in both types of fertilizing species; however, the head cross‐sectional area of the sperm of the internal fertilizer was smaller than that of external fertilizers. This result implies that sperm head morphology might be adapted to swim in a viscous ovarian fluid. The internal fertilizer, C. dybowskii, had longer and faster‐swimming sperms with longer motility duration than the external fertilizers, perhaps due to different sperm competition levels. Sperms of the internal fertilizer were only motile in isotonic solutions, whereas sperms of the external fertilizers were motile in lake waters, suggesting that sperm motilities are specialized according to their external/internal environments. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate sperm traits of Baikal sculpins, which may have evolved adaptively along with changing fertilization modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents case studies of two Japanese patients, a 58-year-old man and a 72-year-old man, who were diagnosed with thymoma-associated multi-organ autoimmunity (TAMA). The 58-year-old man was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and pure red cell aplasia associated with thymoma, both the patients were treated with oral prednisolone, and fatal side effects of the treatment for both the men.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of postoperative facial palsy in benign parotid tumors, as well as its risk factors, pathology, and clinical results., Study Design: Retrospective analysis., Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of data from patients whose initial operation for a benign parotid tumor had been performed in our department between 1999 and 2020., Results: We included 1,018 patients in this study. The most common tumor observed was pleomorphic adenoma (614 patients), followed by Warthin tumor (234 patients). Fine-needle aspiration cytology and frozen section biopsy were used to identify the tumor histopathology. The overall rate of postoperative facial nerve palsy was 19.5%; the rate was significantly higher in patients with large-diameter tumors or deep lobe tumors. Postoperative facial palsy improved within 24 months of surgery in all cases. There were no cases with permanent facial palsy., Conclusions: Postoperative facial nerve palsy developed regularly after surgery to remove benign parotid tumors despite preservation of the nerve. Palsy rate was high in patients with large tumors or deep lobe tumors. Despite the high risk of facial palsy in these patients and the benign nature of the tumor, we recommend surgery rather than follow-up observation, as the risk of postoperative facial palsy may increase as the tumor grows. It is important to provide an accurate explanation on the risks of postoperative complications to all patients to obtain appropriate informed consent for surgery., Level of Evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E2857-E2864, 2021., (© 2021 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

In the title compound, [Mo3(CH3COO)(C4H10O2PS2)3S4(C10H8N2)]·C4H10O, the complex mol-ecule has a trinuclear incomplete cuboidal structure which is coordinated by three kinds of ligands, namely, diethyl di-thio-phosphate, acetate and 4,4'-bipyridyl. If Mo-Mo bonds are ignored, each Mo atom can be considered as six-coordinated in a distorted octa-hedral geometry. The Mo-Mo distance of 2.6880 (5) Å for two the Mo atoms bridged by the acetate ligand is shorter than the other two Mo-Mo distances [2.7490 (5) and 2.7566 (5) Å]. One ethyl group is disordered between two conformations in a 0.65 (3):0.35 (3) ratio. In the crystal, weak C-H⋯O inter-actions link the trinuclear mol-ecules related by translation in [100] into chains. The crystal packing exhibits short inter-molecular S⋯S contacts of 3.1886 (13) Å. In other words, in this crystal packing, a supramolecular structure is constructed by the C-H⋯O and S⋯S interactions.

In the title compound, [Ni(3)(C(10)H(22)N(2)S(2))(2)](ClO(4))(2), the complex cation consists of a nickel(II) ion and two [Ni(C(10)H(22)N(2)S(2))] units with an N(2)S(2) tetra-dentate ligand, 3,3'-[1,2-ethane-diylbis(methyl-imino)]bis-(1-propane-thiol-ate). The central Ni(II) ion is located on a crystallographic inversion centre and is bound to the four S atoms of the two [Ni(C(10)H(22)N(2)S(2))] units to form a linear sulfur-bridged trimetallic moiety. The dihedral angle between the central NiS(4) plane and the terminal NiN(2)S(2) plane is 145.71 (5)°. In the [Ni(C(10)H(22)N(2)S(2))] unit, the two methyl groups on the chelating N atoms are cis to each other, and the two six-membered N,S-chelate rings adopt a chair conformation. The Ni-S bond lengths and the S-Ni-S bite angles in the central NiS(4) group are similar to those in the [Ni(C(10)H(22)N(2)S(2))] unit.

In the title compound, [RuCl(C(6)H(6))(C(15)H(17)NS)]PF(6), the cation adopts a three-legged piano-stool structure around the Ru(II) atom with an η(6)-benzene ligand, a chloride ligand and a 2-[2-(tert-butyl-sulfan-yl)phen-yl]pyridine (btppy) ligand. The btppy ligand acts as a N,S-bidentate ligand, forming a six-membered ring, which has an envelope conformation. The S-Ru-N bite angle is 86.76 (9)°, and the dihedral angle between the pyridine and benzene rings in btppy is 39.8 (2)°. The unit cell contains two pairs of racemic diastereomers with (S(Ru),S(S)) and (R(Ru),R(S)) configurations, in which the tert-butyl group on the coordin-ated S atom is distant from the η(6)-benzene ligand.

Transcranial electrical stimulation of the motor cortex was performed in 7 patients with human T-lymphotropic virus type-I associated myelopathy (HAM) and 15 normal subjects. The mean value of central motor conduction time (CCT) for the thenar and hypothenar muscles in patients with HAM was not different from that in normal subjects. In contrast, mean CCT value for the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles in patients with HAM was 8.54-10.34 ms longer than the value in normal subjects. These findings indicate that the lesion of pyramidal tract involvement in patients with HAM is mainly localized in the descending corticomotoneuron pathways at the thoracic spinal cord level. This technique could be used in a clinical study without untoward side effects, and may be valuable in detecting clinically silent lesions involving the pyramidal tract.