Humoral immune response and delayed type hypersensitivity to influenza vaccine in patients with diabetes mellitus

The antibody response and delayed type hypersensitivity reaction to commercially available trivalent influenza vaccine in 159 patients with diabetes mellitus was compared with response and reaction in 28 healthy volunteers. A correction for prevaccination titres was made. No differences were found between diabetic patients and control subjects with respect to antibody response to the three vaccine strains as measured by the difference between geometric mean titres of post- and prevaccination sera. In Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients the incidence of non-responders to two vaccine components was significantly increased (p less than 0.05). The delayed type hypersensitivity reaction to influenza antigen was significantly decreased in patients with high concentrations of glycosylated haemoglobin (p less than 0.01). These findings suggest a role for impaired immune response in the increased influenza morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus. Implications for therapy and vaccination strategy are discussed

Osteological and Soft-Tissue Evidence for Pneumatization in the Cervical Column of the Ostrich (Struthio camelus) and Observations on the Vertebral Columns of Non-Volant, Semi-Volant and Semi-Aquatic Birds

© 2015 Apostolaki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [4.0], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

The role of miniaturization in the evolution of the mammalian jaw and middle ear

The evolution of the mammalian jaw is one of the most important innovations in vertebrate history, and underpins the exceptional radiation and diversification of mammals over the last 220 million years. In particular, the transformation of the mandible into a single tooth-bearing bone and the emergence of a novel jaw joint—while incorporating some of the ancestral jaw bones into the mammalian middle ear—is often cited as a classic example of the repurposing of morphological structures. Although it is remarkably well-documented in the fossil record, the evolution of the mammalian jaw still poses the paradox of how the bones of the ancestral jaw joint could function both as a joint hinge for powerful load-bearing mastication and as a mandibular middle ear that was delicate enough for hearing. Here we use digital reconstructions, computational modelling and biomechanical analyses to demonstrate that the miniaturization of the early mammalian jaw was the primary driver for the transformation of the jaw joint. We show that there is no evidence for a concurrent reduction in jaw-joint stress and increase in bite force in key non-mammaliaform taxa in the cynodont–mammaliaform transition, as previously thought. Although a shift in the recruitment of the jaw musculature occurred during the evolution of modern mammals, the optimization of mandibular function to increase bite force while reducing joint loads did not occur until after the emergence of the neomorphic mammalian jaw joint. This suggests that miniaturization provided a selective regime for the evolution of the mammalian jaw joint, followed by the integration of the postdentary bones into the mammalian middle ear

New Information on the Cranial Anatomy of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis and Its Implications for the Phylogeny of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria: Theropoda)

Allosauroidea has a contentious taxonomic and systematic history. Within this group of theropod dinosaurs, considerable debate has surrounded the phylogenetic position of the large-bodied allosauroid Acrocanthosaurus atokensis from the Lower Cretaceous Antlers Formation of North America. Several prior analyses recover Acrocanthosaurus atokensis as sister taxon to the smaller-bodied Allosaurus fragilis known from North America and Europe, and others nest Acrocanthosaurus atokensis within Carcharodontosauridae, a large-bodied group of allosauroids that attained a cosmopolitan distribution during the Early Cretaceous.Re-evaluation of a well-preserved skull of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis (NCSM 14345) provides new information regarding the palatal complex and inner surfaces of the skull and mandible. Previously inaccessible internal views and articular surfaces of nearly every element of the skull are described. Twenty-four new morphological characters are identified as variable in Allosauroidea, combined with 153 previously published characters, and evaluated for eighteen terminal taxa. Systematic analysis of this dataset recovers a single most parsimonious topology placing Acrocanthosaurus atokensis as a member of Allosauroidea, in agreement with several recent analyses that nest the taxon well within Carcharodontosauridae.A revised diagnosis of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis finds that the species is distinguished by four primary characters, including: presence of a knob on the lateral surangular shelf; enlarged posterior surangular foramen; supraoccipital protruding as a double-boss posterior to the nuchal crest; and pneumatic recess within the medial surface of the quadrate. Furthermore, the recovered phylogeny more closely agrees with the stratigraphic record than hypotheses that place Acrocanthosaurus atokensis as more closely related to Allosaurus fragilis. Fitch optimization of body size is also more consistent with the placement of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis within a clade of larger carcharodontosaurid taxa than with smaller-bodied taxa near the base of Allosauroidea. This placement of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis supports previous hypotheses of a global carcharodontosaurid radiation during the Early Cretaceous

The impact of diabetes on the pathogenesis of sepsis

Diabetes is associated with an increased susceptibility to infection and sepsis. Conflicting data exist on whether the mortality of patients with sepsis is influenced by the presence of diabetes, fuelling the ongoing debate on the benefit of tight glucose regulation in patients with sepsis. The main reason for which diabetes predisposes to infection appears to be abnormalities of the host response, particularly in neutrophil chemotaxis, adhesion and intracellular killing, defects that have been attributed to the effect of hyperglycaemia. There is also evidence for defects in humoral immunity, and this may play a larger role than previously recognised. We review the literature on the immune response in diabetes and its potential contribution to the pathogenesis of sepsis. In addition, the effect of diabetes treatment on the immune response is discussed, with specific reference to insulin, metformin, sulphonylureas and thiazolidinediones

The endocranial anatomy of Therizinosauria and its implications for sensory and cognitive function

BACKGROUND: Therizinosauria is one of the most enigmatic and peculiar clades among theropod dinosaurs, exhibiting an unusual suite of characters, such as lanceolate teeth, a rostral rhamphotheca, long manual claws, and a wide, opisthopubic pelvis. This specialized anatomy has been associated with a shift in dietary preferences and an adaptation to herbivory. Despite a large number of discoveries in recent years, the fossil record for Therizinosauria is still relatively poor, and cranial remains are particularly rare. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Based on computed tomographic (CT) scanning of the nearly complete and articulated skull of Erlikosaurus andrewsi, as well as partial braincases of two other therizinosaurian taxa, the endocranial anatomy is reconstructed and described. The wider phylogenetic range of the described specimens permits the evaluation of sensory and cognitive capabilities of Therizinosauria in an evolutionary context. The endocranial anatomy reveals a mosaic of plesiomorphic and derived characters in therizinosaurians. The anatomy of the olfactory apparatus and the endosseous labyrinth suggests that olfaction, hearing, and equilibrium were well-developed in therizinosaurians and might have affected or benefited from an enlarged telencephalon. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This study presents the first appraisal of the evolution of endocranial anatomy and sensory adaptations in Therizinosauria. Despite their phylogenetically basal position among maniraptoran dinosaurs, therizinosaurians had developed the neural pathways for a well developed sensory repertoire. In particular olfaction and hearing may have played an important role in foraging, predator evasion, and/or social complexity

Cranial functional morphology of the pseudosuchian Effigia and implications for its ecological role in the Triassic

Pseudosuchians, archosaurian reptiles more closely related to crocodylians than to birds, exhibited high morphological diversity during the Triassic with numerous examples of morphological convergence described between Triassic pseudosuchians and post-Triassic dinosaurs. One example is the shuvosaurid Effigia okeeffeae which exhibits an “ostrich-like” bauplan comprising a gracile skeleton with edentulous jaws and large orbits, similar to ornithomimid dinosaurs and extant palaeognaths. This bauplan is regarded as an adaptation for herbivory, but this hypothesis assumes morphological convergence confers functional convergence, and has received little explicit testing. Here, we restore the skull morphology of Effigia, perform myological reconstructions, and apply finite element analysis to quantitatively investigate skull function. We also perform finite element analysis on the crania of the ornithomimid dinosaur Ornithomimus edmontonicus, the extant palaeognath Struthio camelus and the extant pseudosuchian Alligator mississippiensis to assess the degree of functional convergence with a taxon that exhibit “ostrich-like” bauplans and its closest extant relatives. We find that Effigia possesses a mosaic of mechanically strong and weak features, including a weak mandible that likely restricted feeding to the anterior portion of the jaws. We find limited functional convergence with Ornithomimus and Struthio and limited evidence of phylogenetic constraints with extant pseudosuchians. We infer that Effigia was a specialist herbivore that likely fed on softer plant material, a niche unique among the study taxa and potentially among contemporaneous Triassic herbivores. This study increases the known functional diversity of pseudosuchians and highlights that superficial morphological similarity between unrelated taxa does not always imply functional and ecological convergence