Low tropical diversity during the adaptive radiation of early land plants.

The latitudinal biodiversity gradient, with tropical regions acting as 'evolutionary cradles', is a cornerstone of current biogeographical and ecological theory1. In the modern world floral biodiversity and biomass are overwhelmingly concentrated in the tropics, and it is often assumed that the tropics were evolutionary cradles throughout land plant evolutionary history. For example, the origination and diversification of angiosperms is believed to have taken place in the Cretaceous tropics2 and modern gymnosperms in the Permian tropics3. Here, we show that during the first major diversification of land plants, in the Late Silurian-Early Devonian, land plant biodiversity was much lower at the equator compared to medium-high southern latitudes. Throughout this crucial interval of plant evolution, tropical vegetation remained depauperate and of very low taxonomic biodiversity, although with similar morphological disparity to the more diverse higher latitude floras. Possible explanations for this low tropical floral biodiversity include palaeocontinental configuration or adverse palaeotropical environmental conditions. We discount the possibility that it was simply a fortuitous feature of the biogeographical spread of the earliest vascular land plants.National Geographi

Bedrock erosion surfaces record former East Antarctic Ice Sheet extent

East Antarctica hosts large subglacial basins into which the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) likely retreated during past warmer climates. However, the extent of retreat remains poorly constrained, making quantifying past and predicted future contributions to global sea level rise from these marine basins challenging. Geomorphological analysis and flexural modeling within the Wilkes Subglacial Basin is used to reconstruct the ice margin during warm intervals of the Oligocene–Miocene. Flat‐lying bedrock plateaus are indicative of an ice sheet margin positioned >400–500 km inland of the modern grounding zone for extended periods of the Oligocene–Miocene, equivalent to a 2 meter rise in global sea level. Our findings imply that if major EAIS retreat occurs in the future, isostatic rebound will enable the plateau surfaces to act as seeding points for extensive ice rises, thus limiting extensive ice margin retreat of the scale seen during the early EAIS

Translational studies in the complex role of neurotransmitter systems in anxiety and anxiety disorders

Discovery of innovative anxiolytics is severely hampering. Existing anxiolytics are developed decades ago and are still the therapeutics of choice. Moreover, lack of new drug targets forecasts a severe jeopardy in the future treatment of the huge population of CNS-diseased patients. We simply lack the knowledge on what is wrong in brains of anxious people (normal and diseased). Translational research, based on interacting clinical and preclinical research, is extremely urgent. In this endeavor, genetic and genomic approaches are part of the spectrum of contributing factors. We focus on three druggable targets: serotonin transporter, 5-HT1A, and GABAA receptors. It is still uncertain whether and how these targets are involved in normal and diseased anxiety processes. For serotonergic anxiolytics, the slow onset of action points to indirect effects leading to plasticity changes in brain systems leading to reduced anxiety. For GABAA benzodiazepine drugs, acute anxiolytic effects are found indicating primary mechanisms directly influencing anxiety processes. Close translational collaboration between fundamental academic and discovery research will lead to badly needed breakthroughs in the search for new anxiolytics.</p

Federalism in 3D: The Reimagination of Political Community in the European Union

In this paper, I consider the mixed virtue of the federal perspective in relation to certain key recent developments in the 3D (i.e. sub- -state, state, supranational) territorial politics of the EU. I argue that, on account of its statist legacy, the invocation of federalism considered either as a technique of government or as a direct expression of an affective relationship between people and supranational polity is of limited or even negative value in EU. Yet federalism, when drawing on its deeper historical roots and considered instead as a basis for imaginative reflection on the nature and proper trajectory of an unprecedented political configuration, fares rather better. Here, indeed, the federal imagination continues to provide a direct challenge to the sovereigntist perspective with its emphasis on the ultimate authority of either state or supranational levels, but does so with complex, unpredictable and as yet unresolved effects, given the still powerful drag of that sovereigntist perspective. In pursuing this point, I focus on a particularly topical and challenging part of the European federal puzzle. I concentrate on the third sub-state dimension of the EU’s 3D ‘federated’ structure, as evidenced in recent developments in Scotland and Catalonia in particular, and on how the development of the EU’s federal imaginative example should and can alter the spirit in which new sovereignty claims at this level are both made and received.No presente artigo, explanam-se as virtudes da perspetiva federal em relação a significativos e recentes desenvolvimentos na política territorial 3D da UE (ou seja, subestado, estado, supranacional). Defendo que, devido à sua herança estatista, a invocação do federalismo, considerada quer como uma técnica de governo ou como uma expressão direta de uma relação afetiva entre as pessoas e política supranacional, é limitada ou mesmo um valor negativo na UE. No entanto, o federalismo, uma vez exploradas as suas raízes históricas mais profundas e entendido como base de reflexão imaginativa sobre a natureza e trajetória de uma configuração política sem precedentes, afigura-se bastante melhor. Neste ponto, a imaginação federal continua a desafiar a perspetiva soberana com a sua ênfase na autoridade última dos níveis estaduais ou supranacionais, mas fá-lo com efeitos complexos, imprevisíveis e não definitivos, devido à forte atração que a perspetiva soberana ainda exerce. Relativamente a esta questão, focar-me-ei num tópico particular e numa parte desafiadora do puzzle federal europeu. Concentrar-me-ei na terceira dimensão subestadual da estrutura federal 3D da UE, tal como se tem vivenciado nos recentes desenvolvimentos na Escócia e na Catalunha, e sobre a forma como o desenvolvimento de exemplo federal imaginativo da UE deverá e poderá alterar o espírito em que as novas reivindicações de soberania realizadas e recebidas

Song of Siberia is calling me tonight, I long for Siberia [first line of chorus]

Performers: Charlie WellmanPiano, Voice and Chord

Acute Pain Is Associated With Chronic Opioid Use After Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Background and objectivesPain scores are routinely reported in clinical practice, and we wanted to examine whether this routinely measured, patient-reported variable provides prognostic information, especially with regard to chronic opioid use, after taking preoperative and perioperative variables into account in a preoperative opioid user population.MethodsIn 32,874 preoperative opioid users undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty at Veterans Affairs hospitals between 2010 and 2015, we compared preoperative and perioperative characteristics in patients reporting lower versus higher acute pain (scores ≤4/10 vs &gt;4/10 averaged over days 1-3). We calculated the propensity for lower acute pain based on all available data. After 1:1 propensity score matching, to identify similar patients differing only in acute pain, we contrasted rates of chronic significant opioid use (mean &gt;30 mg/d in morphine equivalents) beyond postoperative month 3, discharge prescriptions, and changes in postoperative versus preoperative dose categories. Sensitivity analysis examined associations with dose escalation.ResultsRates of chronic significant opioid use (21% overall) differed in patients with lower versus higher acute pain (36% vs 64% of the overall cohort). After propensity matching (total n = 20,926 patients) and adjusting for all significant factors, lower acute pain was associated with less chronic significant opioid use (rates 12% vs 16%), smaller discharge prescriptions (ie, supply &lt;30 days and daily oral morphine equivalent &lt;30 mg/d), and more reduction in dose, all P &lt; 0.001. In sensitivity analysis, dose escalation was 15% less likely with lower acute pain (odds ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-0.91).ConclusionsAcute pain predicts chronic opioid use. Prospective studies of efforts to reduce acute pain, in terms of long-term effects, are needed