Variations in the topography of the infraorbital canal/groove complex: a proposal for classification and its potential usefulness in orbital floor surgery

Background: The aim of the study was to precisely describe and classify the infraorbital canal/groove (IOC/G) complex in dry human skulls and to evaluate the presence of asymmetry in the IOC/G complex.Materials and methods: Seventy orbits of 35 human skulls were investigated.The following distances were measured: the distance between the posterior and anterior margin of the infraorbital groove (S-C); the posterior margin of the infraorbital canal and the infraorbital foramen (C-IOF); and the total length of the infraorbital canal-groove complex (S-C-IOF). The symmetry of the contralateral measurements was analysed.Results: Three types of the IOC/G complex were distinguished: types I, II, III, whose respective incidences were 11.4%, 68.6%, 20.0%. The mean length of the infraorbital groove plus canal complex on the right and left with standard deviation were 27.78 ± 3.69 mm and 28.06 ± 3.37 mm, respectively.Conclusions: The results presented in this study may be particularly helpful for surgery in patients with blow-out fractures and different endoscopic and reconstructive procedures in the region of the inferior orbital wall. The type III IOC/G complex, according to our classification, seems the most likely to be exposed to trauma during surgical manipulations.

Infraorbital groove localisation for the endoscopic decompression of the orbit in Graves’ disease

Background: The aim of our study was to determine the localisation of the inferior margin of the optic canal in relation to the infraorbital canal/groove complex (IOC/G complex) and zygomaticoorbitale (ZO) as the potential useful landmarks for reducing dangerous complications following surgical and invasive procedures. Materials and methods: Sixty-four orbits of thirty-two human skulls were investigated. The distances between: the inferior margin of the optic canal and the posterior margin of the infraorbital groove measured at its medial border (OC-S); the inferior margin of the optic canal and the posterior margin of the roof of the infraorbital canal (OC-C); the inferior margin of the optic canal and the zygomaticoorbitale (OC-ZO) — were measured. The left/ /right symmetry ratio and the asymmetry index were counted. The symmetry between the contralateral measurements was analysed and statistical analysis was performed. Results: On the right side the mean distance from the inferior margin of the optic canal to: the posterior margin of the infraorbital groove measured at its medial border; to the posterior margin of the roof of the infraorbital canal; and to the zygomaticoorbitale were: 23.41 ± 3.10 mm; 34.44 ± 5.30 mm; and 47.53 ± 4.13 mm, respectively. On the left side the mean distance from the inferior margin of the optic canal to: the posterior margin of the infraorbital groove measured at its medial border; to the posterior margin of the roof of the infraorbital canal; to the zygomaticoorbitale were 23.69 ± 2.80 mm; 36.75 ± 5.10 mm; 46.84 ± 3.24 mm, respectively. Conclusions: The presented measurements may be particularly helpful for endoscopic decompression in patients with the thyroid ophthalmopathy to avoid the complications

Analyses of least cost paths for determining effects of habitat types on landscape permeability: wolves in Poland

Determining ecological corridors is crucial for conservation efforts in fragmented habitats. Commonly employed least cost path (LCP) analysis relies on the underlying cost matrix. By using Ecological Niche Factor Analysis, we minimized the problems connected with subjective cost assessment or the use of presence/absence data. We used data on the wolf presence/absence in Poland to identify LCPs connecting patches of suitable wolf habitat, factors that influence patch occupancy, and compare LCPs between different genetic subpopulations. We found that a lower proportion of cities and roads surrounds the most densely populated patches. Least cost paths between areas where little dispersal takes place (i.e., leading to unpopulated patches or between different genetic subpopulations) ran through a higher proportion of roads and human settlements. They also crossed larger maximal distances over deforested areas. We propose that, apart from supplying the basis for direct conservation efforts, LCPs can be used to determine what factors might facilitate or hinder dispersal by comparing different subsets of LCPs. The methods employed can be widely applicable to gain more in-depth information on potential dispersal barriers for large carnivores

Phase Separation and Charge-Ordered Phases of the d = 3 Falicov-Kimball Model at T>0: Temperature-Density-Chemical Potential Global Phase Diagram from Renormalization-Group Theory

The global phase diagram of the spinless Falicov-Kimball model in d = 3 spatial dimensions is obtained by renormalization-group theory. This global phase diagram exhibits five distinct phases. Four of these phases are charge-ordered (CO) phases, in which the system forms two sublattices with different electron densities. The CO phases occur at and near half filling of the conduction electrons for the entire range of localized electron densities. The phase boundaries are second order, except for the intermediate and large interaction regimes, where a first-order phase boundary occurs in the central region of the phase diagram, resulting in phase coexistence at and near half filling of both localized and conduction electrons. These two-phase or three-phase coexistence regions are between different charge-ordered phases, between charge-ordered and disordered phases, and between dense and dilute disordered phases. The second-order phase boundaries terminate on the first-order phase transitions via critical endpoints and double critical endpoints. The first-order phase boundary is delimited by critical points. The cross-sections of the global phase diagram with respect to the chemical potentials and densities of the localized and conduction electrons, at all representative interactions strengths, hopping strengths, and temperatures, are calculated and exhibit ten distinct topologies.Comment: Calculated density phase diagrams. Added discussions and references. 14 pages, 9 figures, 4 table

Cyclic voles and shrews and non-cyclic mice in a marginal grassland within European temperate forest

Cyclic population dynamics of small mammals are not restricted to the boreal and arctic zones of Eurasia and North America, but long-term data series from lower latitudes are still less common. We demonstrated here the presence of periodic oscillations in small mammal populations in eastern Poland using 22-year (1986–2007) trapping data from marginal meadow and river valley grasslands located in the extensive temperate woodland of Białowieża Primeval Forest. The two most common species inhabiting meadows and river valleys, root vole Microtus oeconomus and common shrew Sorex araneus, exhibited synchronous periodic changes, characterised by a 3-year time lag as indicated by an autocorrelation function. Moreover, the cycles of these two species were synchronous within both habitats. Population dynamics of the striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius was not cyclic. However, this species regularly reached maximum density 1 year before the synchronized peak of root voles and common shrews, which may suggest the existence of interspecific competition. Dynamics of all three species was dominated by direct density-dependent process, whereas delayed density dependent feedback was significant only in the root vole and common shrew. Climatic factors acting in winter and spring (affecting mainly survival and initial reproduction rates) were more important than those acting in summer and autumn and affected significantly only the common shrew. High temperatures in winter and spring had positive effects on autumn-to-autumn changes in abundance of this species, whereas deep snow in combination with high rainfall in spring negatively affected population increase rates in common shrew

The effects of sex, age, season and habitat on diet of the red fox Vulpes vulpes in northeastern Poland

The diet of the red fox Vulpes vulpes was investigated in five regions of northeastern Poland by stomach content analysis of 224 foxes collected from hunters. The red fox is expected to show the opportunistic feeding habits. Our study showed that foxes preyed mainly on wild prey, with strong domination of Microtus rodents, regardless of sex, age, month and habitat. Voles Microtus spp. were found in 73% of stomachs and constituted 47% of food volume consumed. Other food items were ungulate carrion (27% of volume), other mammals (11%), birds (9%), and plant material (4%). Sex- and age-specific differences in dietary diversity were found. Adult males and juvenile foxes had larger food niche breadths than adult females and their diets highly overlapped. Proportion of Microtus voles increased from autumn to late winter. Significant habitat differences between studied regions were found. There was a tendency among foxes to decrease consumption of voles with increasing percentage of forest cover. Based on our findings, red foxes in northeastern Poland can be recognized as a generalist predators, consuming easily accessible and abundant prey. However, high percentage of voles consumed regardless of age, sex, month, or habitats may indicate red fox specialization in preying on Microtus rodents

Are We Capturing Faunal Intactness? A Comparison of Intact Forest Landscapes and the “Last of the Wild in Each Ecoregion”

Efforts to designate priority areas for conservation have had a long history, with most modern initiatives focused on either designating areas important for biodiversity or those least impacted by direct human disturbance. Ecologically intact ecosystems are becoming increasingly limited on the planet, making their identification and conservation an important priority. Intact forest landscapes (IFL) are defined as forests that are mainly free of significant anthropogenic degradation and at least 500 km2 in size. Here we define a new metric, the Last of the Wild in each Ecoregion (LWE), as a preliminary scoping of the most intact parts of each ecoregion. IFL and LWE are approaches among a broad family of techniques to mapping ecological integrity at the global scale. Although both implicitly include species integrity as a dimension of intactness, this is inferred rather than directly measured. We assessed whether IFL or LWE areas were better at capturing species where they are most abundant using species distribution data for a set of forest species for which range-wide data were available and human activity limits the range. We found that IFL and LWE methods identified areas where species we assessed are either absent or at too low an abundance to be ecologically functional. As such many IFL/LWE polygons did not have intact fauna. We also show that 54.7% of the terrestrial realm (excluding Antarctica) has at least one species recorded as extinct and that two thirds of IFL/LWE areas overlap with areas where species have gone extinct in the past 500 years. The results show that even within the most remote areas, serious faunal loss has taken place at many localities so direct species survey work is also needed to confirm faunal intactness

Persistence in diving American mink

Background American mink forage on land and in water, with aquatic prey often constituting a large proportion of their diet. Their long, thin body shape and relatively poor insulation make them vulnerable to heat loss, particularly in water, yet some individuals dive over 100 times a day. At the level of individual dives, previous research found no difference in dive depth or duration, or the total number of dives per day between seasons, but mink did appear to make more dives per active hour in winter than in summer. There was also no difference in the depth or duration of individual dives between the sexes, but there was some evidence that females made more dives per day than males. However, because individual mink dives tend to be extremely short in duration, persistence (quantified as the number of consecutive dives performed) may be a more appropriate metric with which to compare diving behaviour under different scenarios. Results Mink performed up to 28 consecutive dives, and dived continually for up to 36 min. Periods of more loosely aggregated diving (termed ‘aquatic activity sessions’) comprised up to 80 dives, carried out over up to 162.8 min. Contrary to our predictions, persistence was inversely proportional to body weight, with small animals more persistent than large ones, and (for females, but not for males) increased with decreasing temperature. For both sexes, persistence was greater during the day than during the night. Conclusions The observed body weight effect may point to inter-sexual niche partitioning, since in mink the smallest animals are females and the largest are males. The results may equally point to individual specialism’s, since persistence was also highly variable among individuals. Given the energetic costs involved, the extreme persistence of some animals observed in winter suggests that the costs of occasional prolonged activity in cold water are outweighed by the energetic gains. Analysing dive persistence can provide information on an animal’s physical capabilities for performing multiple dives and may reveal how such behaviour is affected by different conditions. Further development of monitoring and biologging methodology to allow quantification of hunting success, and thus the rewards obtained under alternative scenarios, would be insightful