Multilobular tumor of the zygomatic bone in a dog

Multilobular tumor of bone (MTB) (also known as Multilobular Osteochondrosarcoma) is an uncommon bone tumor frequently located on the skull of dogs, rarely on the ribs or pelvis. These neoplasms are slow growing, locally invasive, and have the potential to compress and invade the brain. A 10-year-old mixed breed dog was presented with a history of approximately 4 months of progressive growth of a left zygomatic mass. Radiographic investigation revealed a finely granular or stippled non homogeneous radiopaque mass involving the zygomatic arch. After surgery, grossly the neoplasm consisted of multiple, variably sized, grayish-white to yellow nodules separated by collagenous septa of different thickness. Histologically, the tumor was characterized by the presence of multiple lobules containing osteoid and cartilage, separated by a net of fibrous septae. This neoplastic pattern was consistent with a typical multilobular tumor of bone and based on clinical, radiographical, gross and light microscopic findings the definitive diagnosis was made. While reviewing veterinary literature only few cases of MTB were found in dogs

Analysis of very-high surface area 3D-printed media in a moving bed biofilm reactor for wastewater treatment

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) can efficiently treat wastewater by incorporating suspended biocarriers that provide attachment surfaces for active microorganisms. The performance of MBBRs for wastewater treatment is, among other factors, contingent upon the characteristics of the surface area of the biocarriers. Thus, novel biocarrier topology designs can potentially increase MBBR performance in a significant manner. The goal of this work is to assess the performance of 3-D-printed biofilter media biocarriers with varying surface area designs for use in nitrifying MBBRs for wastewater treatment. Mathematical models, rendering, and 3D printing were used to design and fabricate gyroid-shaped biocarriers with a high degree of complexity at three different levels of specific surface area (SSA), generally providing greater specific surface areas than currently available commercial designs. The biocarriers were inoculated with a nitrifying bacteria community, and tested in a series of batch reactors for ammonia conversion to nitrate, in three different experimental configurations: constant fill ratio, constant total surface area, and constant biocarrier media count. Results showed that large and medium SSA gyroid biocarriers delivered the best ammonia conversion performance of all designs, and significantly better than that of a standard commercial design. The percentage of ammonia nitrogen conversion at 8 hours for the best performing biocarrier design was: 99.33% (large SSA gyroid, constant fill ratio), 94.74% (medium SSA gyroid, constant total surface area), and 92.73% (large SSA gyroid, constant biocarrier media count). Additionally, it is shown that the ammonia conversion performance was correlated to the specific surface area of the biocarrier, with the greatest rates of ammonia conversion (99.33%) and nitrate production (2.7 mg/L) for manufactured gyroid biocarriers with a specific surface area greater than 1980.5 m2/m3. The results suggest that the performance of commercial MBBRs for wastewater treatment can be greatly improved by manipulation of media design through topology optimization

An associated partial skeleton of Jainosaurus cf. septentrionalis (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Chhota Simla, Central India

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86940/1/j.1475-4983.2011.01087.x.pd

The influence of marine algae on iodine speciation in the coastaocean

Funding Information: This work was supported in part by grant CHE-1664657 from the National Science Foundation to CJC and FCK, the TOTAL Foundation (Paris) and the UK Natural Environment Research Council grants (NE/D521522/1, NE/ J023094/1, Oceans 2025 / WP 4.5) to FCK. We are also grateful for funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). We thank Dr. M. L. Carter, SIO for help with collection of water samples at Scripps Pier, César O. Almeda-Jáuregui, CICESE for Ocean Data View plots and Dr. Avery Tatters, USC for the initial culture of Lingulodinium polyedra. A fellowship from the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg to CJC is also gratefully acknowledged.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Pollen ultrastructure in different vine cultivars with low productivity

The morphology of pollen grains of different vine cultivars has been examined by transmission and scanning electron microscopy to see if a correlation could be found between low productivity and the presence of acolporated pollen. Actually, it was found that in the examined cultivars with low productivity the pollen is round, deprived of furrows and germinative pores, and surrounded by a continuous layer of bacula and tegmen. However, high productivity is not always correlated with the presence of colporated pollen, as is the case with the flowers of the feathers of Picolit.Die Feinstruktur der Pollenkörner bei verschiedenen ertragsschwachen RebensortenUm einen möglichen Zusammenhang zwischen niedriger Ertragsleistung und dem Vorkommen acolporater, d. h. ungefurchter und porenloser Pollenkörner aufzudecken, wurde bei einer Reihe von Rebensorten mit Hilfe der Raster- und Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie die Morphologie der Pollenkörner untersucht. Es konnte tatsächlich festgestellt werden, daß die Pollenkörner der untersuchten ertragsschwachen Sorten kugelig, ohne Keimfurchen und ohne Keimporen sind und daß Bacula und Tegmen eine geschlossene Schicht bilden. Ein hoher Ertrag ist jedoch nicht immer mit colporaten und keimfähigen Pollenkörnern korreliert; eine solche Ausnahme bilden z. B. die Blüten an den Geiztrieben der Rebensorte Picolit

Human stem cell models: lessons for pancreatic development and disease

A comprehensive understanding of mechanisms that underlie the development and function of human cells requires human cell models. For the pancreatic lineage, protocols have been developed to differentiate human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into pancreatic endocrine and exocrine cells through intermediates resembling in vivo development. In recent years, this differentiation system has been employed to decipher mechanisms of pancreatic development, congenital defects of the pancreas, as well as genetic forms of diabetes and exocrine diseases. In this review, we summarize recent insights gained from studies of pancreatic hPSC models. We discuss how genome-scale analyses of the differentiation system have helped elucidate roles of chromatin state, transcription factors, and noncoding RNAs in pancreatic development and how the analysis of cells with disease-relevant mutations has provided insight into the molecular underpinnings of genetically determined diseases of the pancreas

The apparent exponential radiation of Phanerozoic land vertebrates reflects spatial sampling biases

There is no consensus about how terrestrial biodiversity was assembled through deep time, and in particular whether it has risen exponentially over the Phanerozoic. Using a database of 60,859 fossil occurrences, we show that the spatial extent of the worldwide terrestrial tetrapod fossil record itself expands exponentially through the Phanerozoic. Changes in spatial sampling explain up to 67% of the change in known fossil species counts and, because these changes are decoupled from variation in habitable land area that existed through time, this therefore represents a real and profound sampling bias that cannot be explained as redundancy. To address this bias, we estimate terrestrial tetrapod diversity for palaeogeographic regions of approximately equal size. We find that regional-scale diversity was constrained over timespans of tens to hundreds of millions of years, and similar patterns are recovered for major subgroups, such as dinosaurs, mammals, and squamates. Although Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction catalysed an abrupt two- to three-fold increase in regional diversity 66 million years ago, no further increases occurred, and recent levels of regional diversity do not exceed those of the Paleogene. These results parallel those recovered in analyses of local community-level richness. Taken together, our findings strongly contradict past studies that suggested unbounded diversity increases at local and regional scales over the last 100 million years

A temperate palaeodiversity peak in Mesozoic dinosaurs and evidence for Late Cretaceous geographical partitioning

Aim  Modern biodiversity peaks in the tropics and declines poleward, a pattern that is potentially driven by climate. Although this latitudinal biodiversity gradient (LBG) also characterizes the marine invertebrate fossil record, distributions of ancient terrestrial faunas are poorly understood. This study utilizes data on the dinosaur fossil record to examine spatial patterns in terrestrial biodiversity throughout the Mesozoic.\ud Location  We compiled data on fossil occurrences across the globe.\ud Methods  We compiled a comprehensive dataset of Mesozoic dinosaur genera (738), including birds. Following the utilization of sampling standardization techniques to mediate for the uneven sampling of the fossil record, we constructed latitudinal patterns of biodiversity from this dataset.\ud Results  The dominant group of Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates did not conform to the modern LBG. Instead, dinosaur diversity was highest at temperate palaeolatitudes throughout the 160 million year span of dinosaurian evolutionary history. Latitudinal diversity correlates strongly with the distribution of land area. Late Cretaceous sauropods and ornithischians exhibit disparate LBGs.\ud Main conclusions  The continuity of the palaeotemperate peak in dinosaur diversity indicates a diminished role for climate on the Mesozoic LBG; instead, dinosaur diversity may have been driven by the amount of land area among latitudinal belts. There is no evidence that the tropics acted as a cradle for dinosaur diversity. Geographical partitioning among major clades of herbivorous dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous may result from the advanced stages of continental fragmentation and/or differing responses to increasing latitudinal climatic zonation. Our results suggest that the modern-day LBG on land was only established 30 million years ago, following a significant post-Eocene recalibration, potentially related to increased seasonality

Some aspects of the iodine metabolism of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera (phaeophyceae)

We are grateful to the Total Foundation (Paris) and to the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011), both for their funding support to FCK. We thank Prof. Matt Edwards (SDSU department of Biology) and his students for help in collecting specimens and for the use of equipment.Peer reviewedPostprin