The Anatomy of Asilisaurus kongwe, a Dinosauriform from the Lifua Member of the Manda Beds (~Middle Triassic) of Africa

The diagnosis of Dinosauria and interrelationships of the earliest dinosaurs relies on careful documentation of the anatomy of their closest relatives. These close relatives, or dinosaur “precursors,” are typically only documented by a handful of fossils from across Pangea and nearly all specimens are typically missing important regions (e.g., forelimbs, pelves, skulls) that appear to be important to help resolving the relationships of dinosaurs. Here, we fully describe the known skeletal elements of Asilisaurus kongwe, a dinosauriform from the Middle Triassic Manda Beds of the Ruhuhu Basin of Tanzania. The taxon is known from many disarticulated and partially articulated remains and, most importantly, from a spectacularly preserved associated skeleton of an individual containing much of the skull, pectoral and pelvic girdles, forelimb and hindlimb, and parts of the vertebral column including much of the tail. The unprecedented detail of the anatomy indicates that Asilisaurus kongwe had a unique skull that was short and had both a premaxillary and dentary edentulous margin, but retained a number of character states plesiomorphic for Archosauria, including a crocodylian-like ankle configuration and a rather short foot with well-developed metatarsals I and V. Additionally, character states present across the skeleton of Asilisaurus kongwe suggest it is more closely related to Silesaurus opolensis than to dinosaurs; thus suggesting high homoplasy and parallel trends within Silesauridae and within lineages of early dinosaurs. The anatomy of Asilisaurus kongwe and detailed description of early members of clades found outside Dinosauria are clearly needed to untangle the seemingly complex character evolution of the skeleton within avemetatarsalians.Fil: Nesbitt, Sterling J.. Virginia Polytechnic Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Langer, Max C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Ezcurra, Martin Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentin

A Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Ischigualasto Formation (Triassic, Carnian) and the Early Evolution of Sauropodomorpha

BACKGROUND: The earliest dinosaurs are from the early Late Triassic (Carnian) of South America. By the Carnian the main clades Saurischia and Ornithischia were already established, and the presence of the most primitive known sauropodomorph Saturnalia suggests also that Saurischia had already diverged into Theropoda and Sauropodomorpha. Knowledge of Carnian sauropodomorphs has been restricted to this single species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We describe a new small sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Ischigualsto Formation (Carnian) in northwest Argentina, Panphagia protos gen. et sp. nov., on the basis of a partial skeleton. The genus and species are characterized by an anteroposteriorly elongated fossa on the base of the anteroventral process of the nasal; wide lateral flange on the quadrate with a large foramen; deep groove on the lateral surface of the lower jaw surrounded by prominent dorsal and ventral ridges; bifurcated posteroventral process of the dentary; long retroarticular process transversally wider than the articular area for the quadrate; oval scars on the lateral surface of the posterior border of the centra of cervical vertebrae; distinct prominences on the neural arc of the anterior cervical vertebra; distal end of the scapular blade nearly three times wider than the neck; scapular blade with an expanded posterodistal corner; and medial lamina of brevis fossa twice as wide as the iliac spine. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We regard Panphagia as the most basal sauropodomorph, which shares the following apomorphies with Saturnalia and more derived sauropodomorphs: basally constricted crowns; lanceolate crowns; teeth of the anterior quarter of the dentary higher than the others; and short posterolateral flange of distal tibia. The presence of Panphagia at the base of the early Carnian Ischigualasto Formation suggests an earlier origin of Sauropodomorpha during the Middle Triassic

Intracellular signaling in key pathways is induced by treatment with ultrasound and microbubbles in a leukemia cell line, but not in healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Treatment with ultrasound and microbubbles (sonoporation) to enhance therapeutic efficacy in cancer therapy is rapidly expanding, but there is still very little consensus as to why it works. Despite the original assumption that pore formation in the cell membrane is responsible for increased uptake of drugs, the molecular mechanisms behind this phenomenon are largely unknown. We treated cancer cells (MOLM-13) and healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with ultrasound at three acoustic intensities (74, 501, 2079 mW/cm2) ± microbubbles. We subsequently monitored the intracellular response of a number of key signaling pathways using flow cytometry or western blotting 5 min, 30 min and 2 h post-treatment. This was complemented by studies on uptake of a cell impermeable dye (calcein) and investigations of cell viability (cell count, Hoechst staining and colony forming assay). Ultrasound + microbubbles resulted in both early changes (p38 (Arcsinh ratio at high ultrasound + microbubbles: +0.5), ERK1/2 (+0.7), CREB (+1.3), STAT3 (+0.7) and AKT (+0.5)) and late changes (ribosomal protein S6 (Arcsinh ratio at low ultrasound: +0.6) and eIF2α in protein phosphorylation). Observed changes in protein phosphorylation corresponded to changes in sonoporation efficiency and in viability, predominantly in cancer cells. Sonoporation induced protein phosphorylation in healthy cells was pronounced (p38 (+0.03), ERK1/2 (−0.03), CREB (+0.0), STAT3 (−0.1) and AKT (+0.04) and S6 (+0.2)). This supports the hypothesis that sonoporation may enhance therapeutic efficacy of cancer treatment, without causing damage to healthy cells.publishedVersio

Bacterial Attachment to Polymeric Materials Correlates with Molecular Flexibility and Hydrophilicity

A new class of material resistant to bacterial attachment has been discovered that is formed from polyacrylates with hydrocarbon pendant groups. In this study, the relationship between the nature of the hydrocarbon moiety and resistance to bacteria is explored, comparing cyclic, aromatic, and linear chemical groups. A correlation is shown between bacterial attachment and a parameter derived from the partition coefficient and the number of rotatable bonds of the materials\u27 pendant groups. This correlation is applicable to 86% of the hydrocarbon pendant moieties surveyed, quantitatively supporting the previous qualitative observation that bacteria are repelled from poly(meth)acrylates containing a hydrophilic ester group when the pendant group is both rigid and hydrophobic. This insight will help inform and predict the further development of polymers resistant to bacterial attachment

Untangling the dinosaur family tree

For over a century, the standard classification scheme has split dinosaurs into two fundamental groups: ‘lizard-hipped’ saurischians (including meat-eating theropods and long-necked sauropodomorphs) and ‘bird-hipped’ ornithischians (including a variety of herbivorous species).In a recent paper, Baron et al. challenged this paradigm with a new phylogenetic analysis that places theropods and ornithischians together in a group called Ornithoscelida, to the exclusion of sauropodomorphs, and used their phylogeny to argue that dinosaurs may have originated in northern Pangaea, not in the southern part of the supercontinent, as has more commonly been considered. Here we evaluate and reanalyse the morphological dataset underpinning the proposal by Baron et al. and provide quantitative biogeographic analyses, which challenge the key results of their study by recovering a classical monophyletic Saurischia and a Gondwanan origin for dinosaurs. This shows that the Ornithoscelida hypothesis is not the final word, and that there is still great uncertainty around the basic structure of the dinosaur family tree.Fil: Langer, Max C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Ezcurra, Martin Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Rauhut, Oliver Walter Mischa. Ludwig Maximilians Universitat; AlemaniaFil: Benton, Michael J.. University of Bristol; Reino UnidoFil: Knoll, Fabien. University of Manchester; Reino UnidoFil: McPhee, Blair W.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Novas, Fernando Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Pol, Diego. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Brusatte, Stephen L.. University of Edinburgh; Reino Unid

Does hypoglycemia following a glucose challenge test identify a high risk pregnancy?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>An association between maternal hypoglycemia during pregnancy with fetal growth restriction and overall perinatal mortality has been reported. In a retrospective pilot study we found that hypoglycemia was linked with a greater number of special care/neonatal intensive care unit admissions and approached significance in the number of women who developed preeclampsia. That study was limited by its retrospective design, a narrow patient population and the inability to perform multivariate analysis because of the limitations in the data points collected. This study was undertaken to compare the perinatal outcome in pregnancies with hyoglycemia following a glucose challenge test (GCT) to pregnancies with a normal GCT.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Obstetric patients (not pre-gestational diabetics or gestational diabetes before 24 weeks were eligible. Women with a 1 hour glucose ≤ 88 mg/dL (4.8 m/mol) following a 50-gram oral GCT were matched with the next patient with a 1 hour glucose of 89–139 mg/dL. Pregnancy outcomes were evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over 22 months, 436 hypoglycemic patients and 434 normal subjects were identified. Hypoglycemia was increased in women < 25 (p = 0.003) and with pre-existing medical conditions (p < 0.001). Hypoglycemia was decreased if pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 30 (p = 0.008).</p> <p>Preeclampsia/eclampsia was more common in hypoglycemic women. (OR = 3.13, 95% CI 1.51 – 6.51, p = 0.002) but not other intrapartum and perinatal outcomes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Hypoglycemic patients are younger, have reduced pre-pregnancy weight, lower BMIs, and are more likely to develop preeclampsia than normoglycemic women.</p

Imbibition in Disordered Media

The physics of liquids in porous media gives rise to many interesting phenomena, including imbibition where a viscous fluid displaces a less viscous one. Here we discuss the theoretical and experimental progress made in recent years in this field. The emphasis is on an interfacial description, akin to the focus of a statistical physics approach. Coarse-grained equations of motion have been recently presented in the literature. These contain terms that take into account the pertinent features of imbibition: non-locality and the quenched noise that arises from the random environment, fluctuations of the fluid flow and capillary forces. The theoretical progress has highlighted the presence of intrinsic length-scales that invalidate scale invariance often assumed to be present in kinetic roughening processes such as that of a two-phase boundary in liquid penetration. Another important fact is that the macroscopic fluid flow, the kinetic roughening properties, and the effective noise in the problem are all coupled. Many possible deviations from simple scaling behaviour exist, and we outline the experimental evidence. Finally, prospects for further work, both theoretical and experimental, are discussed.Comment: Review article, to appear in Advances in Physics, 53 pages LaTe

Application de la méthode des transformateurs saturés à la mesure et régulation du champ magnétique d'un spectromètre β à double focalisation π √2 avec noyau de fer

On décrit un nouveau magnétomètre pour mesurer les champs magnétiques constants ou lentement variables dans l'intervalle de variation entre 10 -4 et 3 x 102 Oe. La précision relative est supérieure à 2,5 X 10-5 entre 7 et 300 Oe. Le champ magnétique d'un spectromètre β à double focalisation π √2 du type Siegbahn-Svartholm est stabilisé par un servomécanisme. On utilise comme signal d'erreur la différence entre une tension proportionnelle au champ d'induction magnétique et une tension de référence

A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina

BACKGROUND: Argentinean basal sauropodomorphs are known by several specimens from different basins; Ischigualasto, El Tranquilo, and Mogna. The Argentinean record is diverse and includes some of the most primitive known sauropodomorphs such as Panphagia and Chromogisaurus, as well as more derived forms, including several massospondylids. Until now, the Massospondylidae were the group of basal sauropodomorphs most widely spread around Pangea with a record in almost all continents, mostly from the southern hemisphere, including the only record from Antarctica. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: We describe here a new basal sauropodomorph, Leyesaurus marayensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Quebrada del Barro Formation, an Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic unit that crops out in northwestern Argentina. The new taxon is represented by a partial articulated skeleton that includes the skull, vertebral column, scapular and pelvic girdles, and hindlimb. Leyesaurus is diagnosed by a set of unique features, such as a sharply acute angle (50 degrees) formed by the ascending process of the maxilla and the alveolar margin, a straight ascending process of the maxilla with a longitudinal ridge on its lateral surface, noticeably bulging labial side of the maxillary teeth, greatly elongated cervical vertebrae, and proximal articular surface of metatarsal III that is shelf-like and medially deflected. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Leyesaurus as a basal sauropodomorph, sister taxon of Adeopapposaurus within the Massospondylidae. Moreover, the results suggest that massospondylids achieved a higher diversity than previously thought. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our phylogenetic results differ with respect to previous analyses by rejecting the massospondylid affinities of some taxa from the northern hemisphere (e.g., Seitaad, Sarahsaurus). As a result, the new taxon Leyesaurus, coupled with other recent discoveries, suggests that the diversity of massospondylids in the southern hemisphere was higher than in other regions of Pangea. Finally, the close affinities of Leyesaurus with the Lower Jurassic Massospondylus suggest a younger age for the Quebrada del Barro Formation than previously postulated