Aerodynamic performance of the feathered dinosaur Microraptor and the evolution of feathered flight

Understanding the aerodynamic performance of feathered, non-avialan dinosaurs is critical to reconstructing the evolution of bird flight. Here we show that the Early Cretaceous five-winged paravian Microraptor is most stable when gliding at high-lift coefficients (low lift/drag ratios). Wind tunnel experiments and flight simulations show that sustaining a high-lift coefficient at the expense of high drag would have been the most efficient strategy for Microraptor when gliding from, and between, low elevations. Analyses also demonstrate that anatomically plausible changes in wing configuration and leg position would have made little difference to aerodynamic performance. Significant to the evolution of flight, we show that Microraptor did not require a sophisticated, ‘modern’ wing morphology to undertake effective glides. This is congruent with the fossil record and also with the hypothesis that symmetric ‘flight’ feathers first evolved in dinosaurs for non-aerodynamic functions, later being adapted to form lifting surface

Genomic aberrations of the CACNA2D1 gene in three patients with epilepsy and intellectual disability

Voltage-gated calcium channels have an important role in neurotransmission. Aberrations affecting genes encoding the alpha subunit of these channels have been associated with epilepsy and neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism or schizophrenia. Here we report three patients with a genomic aberration affecting the CACNA2D1 gene encoding the alpha 2 delta subunit of these voltage-gated calcium channels. All three patients present with epilepsy and intellectual disability pinpointing the CACNA2D1 gene as an interesting candidate gene for these clinical features. Besides these characteristics, patient 2 also presents with obesity with hyperinsulinism, which is very likely to be caused by deletion of the CD36 gene