A supermatrix analysis of genomic, morphological, and paleontological data from crown Cetacea

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cetacea (dolphins, porpoises, and whales) is a clade of aquatic species that includes the most massive, deepest diving, and largest brained mammals. Understanding the temporal pattern of diversification in the group as well as the evolution of cetacean anatomy and behavior requires a robust and well-resolved phylogenetic hypothesis. Although a large body of molecular data has accumulated over the past 20 years, DNA sequences of cetaceans have not been directly integrated with the rich, cetacean fossil record to reconcile discrepancies among molecular and morphological characters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We combined new nuclear DNA sequences, including segments of six genes (~2800 basepairs) from the functionally extinct Yangtze River dolphin, with an expanded morphological matrix and published genomic data. Diverse analyses of these data resolved the relationships of 74 taxa that represent all extant families and 11 extinct families of Cetacea. The resulting supermatrix (61,155 characters) and its sub-partitions were analyzed using parsimony methods. Bayesian and maximum likelihood (ML) searches were conducted on the molecular partition, and a molecular scaffold obtained from these searches was used to constrain a parsimony search of the morphological partition. Based on analysis of the supermatrix and model-based analyses of the molecular partition, we found overwhelming support for 15 extant clades. When extinct taxa are included, we recovered trees that are significantly correlated with the fossil record. These trees were used to reconstruct the timing of cetacean diversification and the evolution of characters shared by "river dolphins," a non-monophyletic set of species according to all of our phylogenetic analyses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The parsimony analysis of the supermatrix and the analysis of morphology constrained to fit the ML/Bayesian molecular tree yielded broadly congruent phylogenetic hypotheses. In trees from both analyses, all Oligocene taxa included in our study fell outside crown Mysticeti and crown Odontoceti, suggesting that these two clades radiated in the late Oligocene or later, contra some recent molecular clock studies. Our trees also imply that many character states shared by river dolphins evolved in their oceanic ancestors, contradicting the hypothesis that these characters are convergent adaptations to fluvial habitats.</p

Dietary mineral supplies in Malawi: spatial and socioeconomic assessment

Background Dietary mineral deficiencies are widespread globally causing a large disease burden. However, estimates of deficiency prevalence are often only available at national scales or for small population sub-groups with limited relevance for policy makers. Methods This study combines food supply data from the Third Integrated Household Survey of Malawi with locally-generated food crop composition data to derive estimates of dietary mineral supplies and prevalence of inadequate intakes in Malawi. Results We estimate that >50 % of households in Malawi are at risk of energy, calcium (Ca), selenium (Se) and/or zinc (Zn) deficiencies due to inadequate dietary supplies, but supplies of iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mg) are adequate for >80 % of households. Adequacy of iodine (I) is contingent on the use of iodised salt with 80 % of rural households living on low-pH soils had inadequate dietary Se supplies compared to 55 % on calcareous soils; concurrent inadequate supplies of Ca, Se and Zn were observed in >80 % of the poorest rural households living in areas with non-calcareous soils. Prevalence of inadequate dietary supplies was greater in rural than urban households for all nutrients except Fe. Interventions to address dietary mineral deficiencies were assessed. For example, an agronomic biofortification strategy could reduce the prevalence of inadequate dietary Se supplies from 82 to 14 % of households living in areas with low-pH soils, including from 95 to 21 % for the poorest subset of those households. If currently-used fertiliser alone were enriched with Se then the prevalence of inadequate supplies would fall from 82 to 57 % with a cost per alleviated case of dietary Se deficiency of ~ US$ 0.36 year−1. Conclusions Household surveys can provide useful insights into the prevalence and underlying causes of dietary mineral deficiencies, allowing disaggregation by spatial and socioeconomic criteria. Furthermore, impacts of potential interventions can be modelled

Fossil proxies of near-shore sea surface temperatures and seasonality from the late Neogene Antarctic shelf

We evaluate the available palaeontological and geochemical proxy data from bivalves, bryozoans, silicoflagellates, diatoms and cetaceans for sea surface temperature (SST) regimes around the nearshore Antarctic coast during the late Neogene. These fossils can be found in a number of shallow marine sedimentary settings from three regions of the Antarctic continent, the northern Antarctic Peninsula, the Prydz Bay region and the western Ross Sea. Many of the proxies suggest maximum spring–summer SSTs that are warmer than present by up to 5 °C, which would result in reduced seasonal sea ice. The evidence suggests that the summers on the Antarctic shelf during the late Neogene experienced most of the warming, while winter SSTs were little changed from present. Feedbacks from changes in summer sea ice covermay have driven much of the lateNeogene ocean warming seen in stratigraphic records. Synthesized late Neogene and earliest Quaternary Antarctic shelf proxy data are compared to the multi-model SST estimates of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) Experiment 2. Despite the fragmentary geographical and temporal context for the SST data, comparisons between the SSTwarming in each of the three regions represented in the marine palaeontological record of theAntarctic shelf and the PlioMIP climate simulations show a good concordance

Atendimentos de emergência por acidentes na Rede de Vigilância de Violências e Acidentes: Brasil, 2006 Unintentional injuries at the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System: Brazil, 2006

Em 2006, o Ministério da Saúde implantou a Rede de Serviços Sentinelas de Vigilância de Violências e Acidentes (Rede VIVA) a fim de descrever os atendimentos de emergência por violências e acidentes, principalmente as lesões de menor gravidade que não implicam mortes ou internações. Neste artigo, descrevem-se as características dos atendimentos de emergência por acidentes realizados nesses serviços. Estudo descritivo, de corte transversal, realizado em 35 municípios com os maiores coeficientes de morbimortalidade por causas externas. Os dados foram coletados durante trinta dias consecutivos em plantões alternados de doze horas. Registraram-se 41.677 atendimentos por acidentes, com predomínio de homens (64,8%), pessoas de 20 a 29 anos de idade (22,9%) e com baixa escolaridade (56,8%). As quedas (40,2%) foram a principal causa, seguidas dos acidentes de transporte (26,6%). Os locais de ocorrência mais frequentes foram via pública (36,2%) e residência (33,7%). As partes do corpo mais atingidas foram membros superiores (38,1%), membros inferiores (37,6%) e cabeça/face (25,7%). A vigilância sentinela de violências e acidentes permite coletar dados em tempo hábil sobre eventos menos graves, cujo conhecimento é fundamental para o planejamento de medidas preventivas.<br>In 2006, the Brazilian Ministry of Health established the Injury Surveillance System Network in Sentinel Services (Rede VIVA) to describe data on injuries victims treated at emergency departments (ED), especially minor injuries which do not cause deaths and hospitalization. This study describes the characteristics of unintentional injuries victims treated in these EDs by means of a transversal descriptive study with data coming from EDs located in 35 municipalities with the highest injury rates. The data were collected during 30 consecutive days in an alternated 12-hour shift. There were a total of 41,677 patients with unintentional injuries, mainly among males (64.8%), people aged 20 to 29 years (23.0%) and low level of education (45.8%). Falls were the main cause (40.1% overall), followed by transport related injuries (26.6% overall). The more frequent place of occurrence were public streets (36.3% overall) and residences (33.6% overall). The body parts most affected were upper members (42.7%), lower members (42.0%) and head/face (29.2%). The injury surveillance in sentinel services allows collecting timeless data about minor cases which is essential for planning and implementing preventive measures