Eobowenia gen. nov. from the early Cretaceous of Patagonia: indication for an early divergence of Bowenia?

Background: Even if they are considered the quintessential "living fossils", the fossil record of the extant genera of the Cycadales is quite poor, and only extends as far back as the Cenozoic. This lack of data represents a huge hindrance for the reconstruction of the recent history of this important group. Among extant genera, Bowenia (or cuticles resembling those of extant Bowenia) has been recorded in sediments from the Late Cretaceous and the Eocene of Australia, but its phylogenetic placement and the inference from molecular dating still imply a long ghost lineage for this genus.Results: We re-examine the fossil foliage Almargemia incrassata from the Lower Cretaceous Anfiteatro de Ticó Formation in Patagonia, Argentina, in the light of a comparative cuticular analysis of extant Zamiaceae. We identify important differences with the other member of the genus, viz. A. dentata, and bring to light some interesting characters shared exclusively between A. incrassata and extant Bowenia. We interpret our results to necessitate the erection of the new genus Eobowenia to accommodate the fossil leaf earlier assigned as Almargemia incrassata. We then perfom phylogenetic analyses, including the first combined morphological and molecular analysis of the Cycadales, that indicate that the newly erected genus could be related to extant Bowenia.Conclusion: Eobowenia incrassata could represent an important clue for the understanding of evolution and biogeography of the extant genus Bowenia, as the presence of Eobowenia in Patagonia is yet another piece of the biogeographic puzzle that links southern South America with Australasia

COVID-19 pandemic and capital markets: the role of government responses

This paper analyzes the moderation effect of government responses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, proxied by the daily growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths, on the capital market, i.e., the S&P 500 firm’s daily returns. Using the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, we monitor 16 daily indicators for government actions across the fields of containment and closure, economic support, and health for 180 countries in the period from January 1, 2020 to March 15, 2021. We find that government responses mitigate the negative stock market impact and that investors’ sentiment is sensitive to a firm’s country-specific revenue exposure to COVID-19. Our findings indicate that the mitigation effect is stronger for firms that are highly exposed to COVID-19 on the sales side. In more detail, containment and closure policies and economic support mitigate negative stock market impacts, while health system policies support further declines. For firms with high revenue exposure to COVID-19, the mitigation effect is stronger for government economic support and health system initiatives. Containment and closure policies do not mitigate stock price declines due to growing COVID-19 case numbers. Our results hold even after estimating the spread of the pandemic with an epidemiological standard model, namely, the susceptible-infectious-recovered model

Report on the Office of Treasurer of State for the year ended June 30, 2016.

Report on the Office of Treasurer of State for the year ended June 30, 2016

A reappraisal of Mississippian (Tournaisian and Visean) adpression floras from central and northwestern Europe

Mississippian plant fossils are generally rare, and in central and northwestern Europe especially Tournaisian to middle Visean fossil floras are restricted to isolated occurrences. While sphenophytes and lycophytes generally are represented by only a few widespread and long-ranging taxa such as Archaeocalamites radiatus, Sphenophyllum tenerrimum and several species of Lepidodendropsis and Lepidodendron, Visean floras in particular show a remarkably high diversity of fern-like foliage, including filiform types (Rhodea, Diplotmema), forms with bipartite fronds (Sphenopteridium, Diplopteridium, Spathulopteris, Archaeopteridium), others with monopodial, pinnate fronds (Anisopteris, Fryopsis) and still others characterized by several-times pinnate fronds (e.g., Adiantites, Triphyllopteris, Sphenopteris, Neuropteris). Most of these leaf types have been interpreted as belonging to early seed ferns, whereas true ferns seem to have been rare or lacking in impression/compression floras. In the upper Visean, two types of plant assemblages can be distinguished, i.e., the northern Kohlenkalk-type and the south-eastern Kulm-type assemblage. Although several compression/impression taxa have been revised in recent years to provide a more uniform classification, additional parameters such as different modes of preservation and imprecise information on stratigraphic age hamper detailed interregional comparisons of Mississippian floras.Pflanzenfossilien aus dem Mississippium sind generell selten. Floren aus dem Tournaisium bis Mittel-Viseum hat man in Zentral- und Nordwesteuropa nur in wenigen isolierten Lokalitäten gefunden. Diese Floren sind von Sphenophyten und Lycophyten (z.B. Archaeocalamites radiatus, Sphenophyllum tenerrimum sowie Taxa aus den Gattungen Lepidodendropsis und Lepidodendron) dominiert, welche alle eine weite geographische Verbreitung und lange geologische Reichweite aufweisen. Demgegenüber weisen die Floren des jüngeren Viseum eine bemerkenswerte Diversität an Pteridophyllen auf. Neben filiformen Wedeln (Rhodea, Diplotmema) kennt man aus diesen Floren unterschiedliche Typen einfach gegabelter (Sphenopteridium, Diplopteridium, Spathulopteris, Archaeopteridium) sowie einfach (Anisopteris, Fryopsis) und mehrfach gefiederter Wedel (e.g., Adiantites, Triphyllopteris, Sphenopteris, Neuropteris). Der überwiegende Teil dieser Wedel wird den frühen Samenfarnen zugeordnet; Nachweise von echten Farnen sind ausgesprochen selten. Im oberen Viseum können zwei unterschiedliche Pflanzenassoziationen unterschieden werden: eine nördliche Kohlenkalk-Assoziation und eine südöstliche Kulm-Assoziation. Obwohl mehrere Pflanzentaxa des Mississippiums in Europa in den vergangenen Jahren revidiert worden sind, bleiben doch überregionale Vergleiche sowie die Erstellung einer einheitlichen Klassifikation durch die z.T. großen Unterschiede in der Erhaltung der Fossilien aus den einzelnen Fundpunkten sowie durch Probleme bei der Bestimmung des exakten stratigraphischen Alters der jeweiligen Fundschichten schwierig

Erythropoietin Treatment Enhances Muscle Mitochondrial Capacity in Humans

Erythropoietin (Epo) treatment has been shown to induce mitochondrial biogenesis in cardiac muscle along with enhanced mitochondrial capacity in mice. We hypothesized that recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) treatment enhances skeletal muscle mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) capacity in humans. In six healthy volunteers rhEpo was administered by sub-cutaneous injection over 8 weeks with oral iron (100 mg) supplementation taken daily. Mitochondrial OXPHOS was quantified by high-resolution respirometry in saponin-permeabilized muscle fibers obtained from biopsies of the vastus lateralis before and after rhEpo treatment. OXPHOS was determined with the mitochondrial complex I substrates malate, glutamate, pyruvate, and complex II substrate succinate in the presence of saturating ADP concentrations, while maximal electron transport capacity (ETS) was assessed by addition of an uncoupler. rhEpo treatment increased OXPHOS (from 92 ± 5 to 113 ± 7 pmol·s−1·mg−1) and ETS (107 ± 4 to 143 ± 14 pmol·s−1·mg−1, p < 0.05), demonstrating that Epo treatment induces an upregulation of OXPHOS and ETS in human skeletal muscle