An Evaluation of Landmark-Based Methods to Explore Tooth Score Morphology: A Case Study on Felids and Hyenids

Taphonomic studies aim to identify the modifying agents that intervene in bone assemblages found at archaeopaleontological sites. Carnivores may modify, accumulate, or scavenge skeletal parts inflicting tooth marks, including scores, on the cortical surface. Several works have studied tooth score morphology to discern which carnivore group modified the bone assemblages, achieving different results. In the present study, different methods based on the use of landmarks and semilandmarks have been tested to describe and analyze the score profile cross-sections of spotted and brown hyenas, leopards, and lions. According to our results, the already published seven-landmark method is useful in order to differentiate between carnivore species from different families (e.g., felids and hyenids). Meanwhile, felid species (e.g., leopards and lions) cannot be consistently distinguished using any of the methods tested here. In contrast, hyenid species can be morphologically differentiated. On the other hand, the use of semilandmarks does not generally improve morphological characterization and distinction, but low numbers of landmarks and the inclusion of the score’s deepest point might provide the best results when semi-automatic semilandmark models are preferred to avoid sampling biases.The grant IJC2020-043576-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR” has been awarded to M.C.A. The grant RYC2021-034813-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR has been awarded to M.Á.M.-G. During the development of the present work, J.A. was funded by the Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [ESPDOC21/05]. L.A.C. is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities by an FPI Predoctoral grant PRE2019-089411 associated with project RTI2018-099850-B-I0

Homínidos y hienas en el Calvero de la Higuera (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid) durante el Pleistoceno superior. Resultados preliminares.

Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis

[Purpose]: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality. [Methods]: Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015.Patients were stratified into three age groups:<65 years,65 to 80 years,and ≥ 80 years.The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was calculated to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the CCI to predict mortality risk. [Results]: A total of 3120 patients with IE (1327 < 65 years;1291 65-80 years;502 ≥ 80 years) were enrolled.Fever and heart failure were the most common presentations of IE, with no differences among age groups.Patients ≥80 years who underwent surgery were significantly lower compared with other age groups (14.3%,65 years; 20.5%,65-79 years; 31.3%,≥80 years). In-hospital mortality was lower in the <65-year group (20.3%,<65 years;30.1%,65-79 years;34.7%,≥80 years;p < 0.001) as well as 1-year mortality (3.2%, <65 years; 5.5%, 65-80 years;7.6%,≥80 years; p = 0.003).Independent predictors of mortality were age ≥ 80 years (hazard ratio [HR]:2.78;95% confidence interval [CI]:2.32–3.34), CCI ≥ 3 (HR:1.62; 95% CI:1.39–1.88),and non-performed surgery (HR:1.64;95% CI:11.16–1.58).When the three age groups were compared,the AUROC curve for CCI was significantly larger for patients aged <65 years(p < 0.001) for both in-hospital and 1-year mortality. [Conclusion]: There were no differences in the clinical presentation of IE between the groups. Age ≥ 80 years, high comorbidity (measured by CCI),and non-performance of surgery were independent predictors of mortality in patients with IE.CCI could help to identify those patients with IE and surgical indication who present a lower risk of in-hospital and 1-year mortality after surgery, especially in the <65-year group

BMI values ​​of pupils of second level elementary schools

More and more children are fascinated with idea of perfect slender figure today that brings them over a boundary of health troubles. The causes of this phenomenon are mainly seen in social and psychical factors, but biological causes, which have at least as same or stronger influence on subconscious perception of weight, are usually ignored. The important part of satisfied personality is not only weight but height of individuum as well. The ratio between these two parameters is determined by the Body Mass index (BMI) and in this thesis I will focused on why the values of BMI are essentially significant for adolescent. This submitted rigorous work thesis deals with values of BMI and factors that influence pupils in the age of 10 - 16 years. Identified values results from measurements of 681 pupils on 8 Prague's primary schools. The results of weight and height measuring were compared with findings of national anthropological research of the year 2001, let us say 1991. From the measurement that was made is clear that there was no increase of average body weight of boys in every categories under examination and as well no decrease of average body weight of girls in every categories under examination in comparison with CAV 2001. The thirteen-year-old boys are higher than the thirteen-year-old girls...

Differential predation by age and sex classes in blue wildebeest in Serengeti: study of a modern carnivore den in Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania).

Age and sex selection of prey is an aspect of predator ecology which has been extensively studied in both temperate and African ecosystems. This dimension, along with fecundity, survival rates of prey and mortality factors other than predation are important in laying down the population dynamics of prey and have important implications in the management of species. A carnivore den located in the short-grassland ecological unit of the Serengeti was studied. Sex- and age- class (using five age categories) of the wildebeest remains recovered were analyzed through horn morphology, biometrics of the bones and tooth wear patterns. We compared our results with previous studies from lion and hyaena kills through multivariate analyses. Seasonality of the accumulation was analyzed through tooth histology. PCA and CVA results show that age class selection by predators depends on season, habitat-type, and growth rate of the wildebeest population. Female-biased predation was found to contradict classical hypotheses based on territorial male behaviour. The lion and spotted hyaena showed strong selection on age classes, contrary to previous studies. Migratory wildebeest sex ratio is regulated through differential predation by seasons and female deaths in the wet season are a trade-off for population stability. These data are crucial for an effective management of the species and the new method created may be useful for different carnivore species and their prey

Pits size for the spotted hyena, lion, OCS, cheetah and leopard.

<p>Data for the spotted hyena and lion from ref 78. Data for the cheetah and leopard from [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0153797#pone.0153797.ref030" target="_blank">30</a>].</p

Taphotypes for lions (pink), spotted hyaena (red) (data from ref 81) and the OCS (green), according to CA.

<p>Notice the separation of the confidence interval between the felid and the hyenid samples and the overlap of both with the OCS sample, which is most closely associated with the confidence ellipse of the felid sample.</p

Random forest analysis for the skeletal part representation.

<p>Left, error rate for hyenas (Green), felids (Red) and combined oob error rate (black). Stabilization of error was achieved after 1500 decision tress. Right, gini index showing the most important variables for the most accurate classification. The most influential variables are shown on top. (data from ref 8, 51, for leopard dens and data from ref 60, 48, 71, for spotted hyaena dens). Key: cv: cervical vertebrae, tv: thoracic vertebrae, sk: skull, lv: lumbar vertebrae, ph: phalanges, cdv: caudal vertebrae, f: femur, rb: rib, c_t: carpal/tarsal, u: ulna, r: radio, h: humerus, cox: innominate, t: tibia, md: mandible, mt: metatarsal, mc: metacarpal, sc: scapula.</p

Variable factor map (right) and distribution of samples (left) in the two-component PCA solution analyzing complete long bones frequencies from Amboseli and Masai Mara spotted hyaena dens (data from ref 48) and OCS.

<p>Variable factor map (right) and distribution of samples (left) in the two-component PCA solution analyzing complete long bones frequencies from Amboseli and Masai Mara spotted hyaena dens (data from ref 48) and OCS.</p

Limb shaft circumference type for Syokimau spotted hyaena den (data from ref 60) and OCS.

<p>See definition of types in text.</p