Advances in the knowledge of quinoa pests

A wide range of quinoa pests are known throughout the world. The most serious of the Andean pests are Eurysacca melanocampta (Meyrick) and E. quinoae Povolny´ (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), found mainly in Peru and Bolivia, which cause considerable yield losses. Insects found elsewhere in the world are polyphagous pests constituting a wide range of potential pests if quinoa is implemented as a crop in those regions. Other major pests include a group of cutworms (Noctuidae). Apart from insects birds cause a major loss through foraging, damaging cotyledonous plants and inflorescences, with yield losses of up to 60%. Cultural practices and host plant resistances will be important components of integrated pest management (IPM). Biological control of the main pests is good; for example, up to 45% of Eurysacca melanocampta in the field are usually controlled by a range of parasitoid species as well as predators in the field. Future research should focus on the main pests in order to reveal basic information on interactions with the host plant. Population carryover from one growth season to another and the role of environmental factors on insect development and population size should also be studied

The swimming trace Undichna from the latest Devonian Hangenberg Sandstone equivalent of Morocco

Trace fossils occur in several strata of the Devonian and Carboniferous of the eastern Anti-Atlas, but they are still poorly documented. Here, we describe a fossil swimming trace from strata overlying the Hangenberg Black Shale (correlation largely based on lithostratigraphy; Postclymenia ammonoid genozone, ca. 370 Ma old). We discuss the systematic position of the tracemaker and its body size. This ichnofossil is important for three main reasons: (1) it is considered here to be the first record of Undichna from the Devonian of Gondwana, as far as we know; (2) it is the oldest record of vertebrate trace fossils from Africa; (3) it provides a unique window into the behaviour of Late Devonian fishes for which body-fossils cannot provide direct evidence. Further, we put this discovery into the macroecological context of the palaeoenvironment following the Late Devonian Hangenberg biodiversity crisis

First Occurrence of Tetrapod Footprints from Westphalian Strata of the Sidi Kassem Basin, Central Morocco

© 2014, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. The Sidi Kassem Basin is the only limnic basin of Westphalian age in Morocco. It is built up of 1,250 m of alluvio-fluvial to lacustrine deposits that have so far yielded plant fossils and invertebrate remains only. Recent exploration for fossil tetrapod footprints in floodplain-deposits of the basin revealed a moderately diverse vertebrate ichnofauna composed of tracks assigned to cf. Batrachichnus Woodworth, 1900; cf. Hylopus Dawson, 1882; Dimetropus Romer and Price, 1940; and Notalacerta Butts, 1891. The tracks can be referred to temnospondyl, anamniote reptiliomorph, non-therapsid synapsid (pelycosaur), and captorhinomorph trackmakers. The described ichnoassemblage is important in at least three aspects: (1) It suggests an Early to mid-Pennsylvanian age for the footprint-bearing strata of the study area. (2) It is the oldest association of tetrapod footprints from Africa. (3) It is the first evidence of the relatively rare ichnogenera cf. Hylopus and Notalacerta outside of North America and Europe. Judged from the variety of tetrapod tracks and previously collected floral remains, the Sidi Kassem Basin must have represented a well-established continental ecosystem during Pennsylvanian time. Further exploration for trace and body fossils of Palaeozoic vertebrates in this basin may be important for the reconstruction of early tetrapod evolution

Broad snouted cladoselachian with sensory specialization at the base of modern chondrichthyans

Throughout the Silurian and Devonian, cartilaginous fish successively evolved their specialized skeletal and dental characteristics, and increasingly refined their sensory systems. The Late Devonian shark taxon Maghriboselache mohamezanei gen. et sp. n. from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco is known from multiple specimens preserving most of its skeletal features, which in some instances are preserved in three dimensions. Key details of the dentition, jaws, and pectoral skeleton are shared with the iconic genus Cladoselache. Phylogenetic analyses place the family Cladoselachidae as the sister group of symmoriiforms and these groups as sister group of the holocephalans. Further phylogenetic results corroborate that the initial evolutionary radiation of crown chondrichthyans occurred within or before the Late Devonian. Remarkably, this new stem holocephalan is equipped with a wide snout and large laterally separated nasal capsules: the earliest known example of this condition in the chondrichthyan and (perhaps) gnathostome record. This suggests sensory specialization approaching that of extant broad-rostrum elasmobranchs and represents a significant addition to increasingly apparent ecomorphological diversity among early chondrichthyans

Middle to late Cambrian shallow marine trace fossils from the Imfout Syncline (Western Meseta, Morocco): Palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental significance in NW-Gondwana

© 2017 Elsevier LtdThe present research provides the first evidence of invertebrate activity assigned to the ichnogenus Selenichnites occurring together with moderately diverse ichnofossils from the middle to late Cambrian of the Moroccan Meseta. The invertebrate traces occur in sandstone strata of the El Hank Formation within the Imfout Syncline, in the northern part of the Rehamna Massif (Coastal Block, western Moroccan Meseta). Bedding surfaces from the top of the El Hank Formation near the Imfout Dam show diverse forms of current ripples and distincts crescentic ichnofossils in concave epirelief scattered on the surface. In this section, the traces provide evidence of the ethology of an organism inhabiting the relatively shallow waters of the area during this time. Selenichnites co-occurs with the ichnogenera Arenicolites, Diplocraterion, Lingulichnus, Monocraterion, Skolithos and unidentified burrows, and the ichnoassemblage is referred to the Skolithos ichnofacies. These traces can be referred to arthropods (e.g. polychaete worms and amphipod crustaceans), lingulid brachiopods, annelids and/or phoronids. The Imfout Selenichnites represents the first occurrence of this ichnogenus from the Cambrian of the Moroccan Meseta, and the second from the Cambrian deposits of Morocco. The potential tracemakers are still questionable, but were most likely xiphosurans, trilobites, euthycarcinoids or crustaceans. If so, the Imfout traces could be among the oldest pieces of evidence for the presence of horseshoe crabs during the Cambrian. The combination of sedimentological and ichnological data indicates that the El Hank Formation was deposited in a sublittoral soft ground environment next to a sandy shore. It was originally part of an early Palaeozoic shallow marine epicontinental platform in west-central Morocco. In addition to the equivalent Cambrian deposits from the Anti-Atlas, the El Hank Formation constituted a part of the northern Gondwana platform domain during the transgression coming from the Rheic Ocean onto the West African Craton margin

Effects of glucosamine sulfate on the use of rescue non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in knee osteoarthritis: Results from the Pharmaco-Epidemiology of GonArthroSis (PEGASus) study

AbstractBackground and objectiveThe use of Symptomatic Slow-Acting Drugs in Osteoarthritis (SYSADOAs) may be expected to decrease the use of concomitant medications for rescue analgesia, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The Pharmaco-Epidemiology of GonArthroSis (PEGASus) study was designed to assess this possibility.MethodsPEGASus was a cohort study of continuous recruitment of patients with “dynamic” exposure to the investigated SYSADOA (crystalline glucosamine sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride, chondroitin sulfate, diacerein, and avocado–soybean unsaponifiables, all at approved dosages). Investigators were rheumatologists or general practitioners randomly selected from French telephone lists. Patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis (OA) were recruited when consulting an investigator for a symptom flare and were prescribed, or not, one of the SYSADOAs as per clinical judgment. Follow-up visits were as per routine medical practice in the 12 months following enrollment, with telephone interviews after 1 month and at 4-month intervals thereafter up to 24 months. Use of NSAIDs was recorded, as well as the dynamism of treatment exposure consisting of continuing the prescribed SYSADOA, switching, discontinuation or initiation of a SYSADOA. Patient exposure was expressed in 2-month time units, with any NSAID use as Yes/No binary outcome during each unit. Odds ratios [OR and 95% confidence interval (CI)] of NSAID use were calculated for periods of exposure to each SYSADOA, by multivariate logistic regression for an 80% power and 95% confidence to see a decrease of at least 15%.ResultsThis report consists of the full data pertaining to crystalline glucosamine sulfate, while results of other SYSADOAs were summarized as available from the French Health Authority (HAS) website (www.has-sante.fr). Of 6451 patients in the PEGASus cohort, 315 patients received crystalline glucosamine sulfate, they were exposed for 481 2-month time units and had an incident use of NSAIDs of 18.7%. In the control cohort (9237 time units) NSAID incident use was 23.8%. Crystalline glucosamine sulfate significantly decreased the risk of NSAID consumption by up to 36% (OR = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.45–0.92) in the primary analysis foreseen by the protocol; OR was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.54–1.01), i.e. at the very limit of significance, in a sensitivity analysis accounting for an extension of the study and of the control cohort. None of the other SYSADOAs showed any hint of a decrease in the use of NSAIDs.ConclusionCrystalline glucosamine sulfate was the only SYSADOA that decreased the use of NSAIDs in this pharmaco-epidemiology study in patients with knee OA

New discoveries of archosaur and other tetrapod footprints from the Timezgadiouine Formation (Irohalene Member, Upper Triassic) of the Argana Basin, western High Atlas, Morocco - Ichnotaxonomic implications

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.New discoveries of tetrapod footprints from the Irohalene Member (T5, Upper Triassic, Carnian) of the Timezgadiouine Formation near Irohalene (Argana Basin, Morocco) are assigned to Parachirotherium isp., Atreipus-Grallator isp. (Dinosauromorpha), Brachychirotherium isp. (crocodylian-stem archosaurs), Apatopus lineatus (phytosaurs) and Rhynchosauroides (lepidosauromorphs/archosauromorphs). Parachirotherium is present on the surfaces with different tetradactyl-pentadactyl extramorphological variations, similar to the preservation mode observed at the type locality of the ichnogenus in the Middle Triassic of the European Germanic Basin. Described specimens permit a re-evaluation of footprints described earlier from the Irohalene locality that are synonymized here with Parachirotherium and Atreipus-Grallator. The presence of Brachychirotherium is the second record in North Africa and Morocco. The assemblage is similar in composition to other T5 localities and to some ichnofaunas in North America and central Europe. Biostratigraphically, the occurrence of Brachychirotherium indicates the respective biochron that can be cross-correlated with the Carnian-Rhaetian interval

First occurrence of the Ichnogenus Selenichnites from the Middle Jurassic Strata of the Skoura Syncline (Middle Atlas, Morocco); Palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental context

© 2015 Académie des sciences.Mesozoic strata of North Africa yield the first occurrence of the ichnogenus Selenichnites. The trace fossils occur on the top surface of a sandy carbonate deposit in the axis of a Middle Atlas syncline (Skoura Syncline, NE Morocco). The ichnofossil-bearing horizon belongs to the Late Bajocian-Early Bathonian Ich Timellaline/Bou Akrabene Formation. The trace fossils are crescent-shaped and the best preserved exhibits a posterior central axial impression (possible telson tail impression). They are interpreted as feeding burrows (fodinichnia) or hiding depressions of Xiphosurids or Limulids (horseshoe crabs) on a sandy carbonate substrate beneath a veneer of muddy deposits. The sedimentological character suggests a relatively protected shallow water subtidal palaeoenvironment preceding the Bathonian regression of the Atlas domain. This discovery provides the first evidence of xiphosurans or xiphosuran-like organisms inhabiting the southern shores of the Tethys in the Middle Jurassic