Integrative paleobotany: Affirming the role of fossils in modern plant biology - Introduction and dedication

If you are interested in plant evolution, try this quick exercise: take a phylogenetic tree of the plant kingdom, close your eyes, and point your finger randomly to a node of the phylogeny. Irrespective of the clade to which you are pointing, there is one thing you should know about it: the living representatives of that clade have evolved as a result of a long process in which failed attempts are the rule, and as a result, the diversity of extinct forms accumulated in the fossil record far exceeds that recorded in the extant flora. From this simple concept, Gar W. Rothwell made his career. Because of that, here is a second thing you should know about the plant clade to which you pointed at random: Gar has, more likely than not, contributed information about evolution in that clade at some point in his career. Gar was one of the principal contributors to the revival of paleobotany from a largely descriptive discipline to a vibrant field of investigation at the forefront of modern evolutionary sciences that contributes crucial insights into plant evolution, equal in importance to those provided by genetics and molecular biology. Because of this, the impact of Gar’s scientific contributions reaches far beyond the field of paleobotany, with important implications for wide areas of plant biology, including anatomy and morphology, development, systematics, phylogeny, and evolution. Gar earned a master’s degree in the laboratory of Thomas N. Taylor (University of Illinois at Chicago, 1966) studying Paleozoic seeds in the genus Conostoma (Rothwell and Eggert 1970; Rothwell 1971a). He subsequently earned his PhD degree in the laboratory of Wilson N. Stewart (University of Alberta, 1973), where he reconstructed the plants in the seed fern genus Callistophyton (Rothwell 1972b, 1975, 1980, 1981). His work was instrumental in ushering in studies of fossil plants as whole living organisms, looking at both structure and development. These early experiences launched Gar on a career in plant evolutionary biology that stretched over a half century, during which he occupied positions at the University of Alberta, University of London–Chelsea College, Ohio University, and Oregon State University. Throughout his career, Gar’s scholarly work and contributions have been recognized by numerous awards and honors: the Isabel Cookson Award, the Edgar T. Wherry Award, the Michael A. Cichan Award, the Merit Award of the Botanical Society of America, and honorary membership in the International Organization of Palaeobotany, where he served for 12 years as secretary-treasurer and president.Fil: Escapa, Ignacio Hernán. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tomescu, Alexandru M. F.. Humboldt State University. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Dunn, Michael T.. Cameron University. Department of Agriculture, Biology and Health Science; Estados UnidosFil: Stockey, Ruth A.. State University of Oregon; Estados Unido

A Perithecial Sordariomycete (Ascomycota, Diaporthales) from the Lower Cretaceous of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

A perithecial ascomycete, Spataporthe taylori gen. et sp. nov., represented by >70 sporocarps is preserved by cellular permineralization in marine carbonate concretions dated at the Valanginian-Hauterivian boundary (Early Cretaceous) from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The spheroid perithecia with lumina 330–470 µm wide and 220–320 µm high are densely distributed and entirely immersed in the tissues of a coniferous leaf. The perithecial wall consists of an outer layer of large pseudoparenchyma and an inner layer of thin filamentous nature. Perithecial necks are incompletely preserved due to taphonomic abrasion; they have a bell-shaped chamber at the base and a narrow channel, with longitudinally aligned hyphae above. The basal chamber of the neck is filled with a plug of pseudoparenchyma, which subsequently disintegrates to form a peripheral collar; periphyses are present on the basal chamber walls. A pseudoparenchymatous hymenium lines the bottom of perithecia. Asci are clavate, with thinly tapered bases, and small (30–47 µm long and 12–20 µm wide at tip), ornamented with minute papillae. They become detached from the hymenium to float freely in the perithecium. No unequivocal ascospores were found, although smaller units are present in some of the asci. The combination of immersed perithecia with complex wall structure and a well-defined hymenium, absence of paraphyses, and persistent, detachable inoperculate asci is consistent with order Diaporthales of class Sordariomycetes. The small clavate asci are comparable to those found in family Gnomoniaceae. Perithecioid ascomata are rare in the fossil record, and bona fide perithecia are known with certainty only from the Early Devonian Rhynie Chert and Cenozoic amber. Spataporthe taylori contributes a well-characterized Early Cretaceous occurrence, which is also the oldest to date, to the scarce fossil record of the Sordariomycetes and a second taxon to the fungal flora of the locality, which also includes a basidiomycete. As the oldest representative of the Diaporthales, Spataporthe provides a minimum age (136 Ma) for the order and a direct calibration point for studies of divergence times in the ascomycetes.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the University of Chicago Press and can be found at: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/index.html.Keywords: Gnomoniaceae, Ascomycota, Diaporthales, Cretaceous, Spataporthe, Sordariomycete

Exploring the fossil history of pleurocarpous mosses: Tricostaceae fam. nov. from the Cretaceous of Vancouver Island, Canada

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Mosses, very diverse in modern ecosystems, are currently underrepresented in the fossil record. For the pre-Cenozoic, fossil mosses are known almost exclusively from compression fossils, while anatomical preservation, which is much more taxonomically informative, is rare. The Lower Cretaceous of Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada) hosts a diverse anatomically preserved flora at Apple Bay. While the vascular plant component of the Apple Bay flora has received much attention, the numerous bryophytes identified at the locality have yet to be characterized. METHODS: Fossil moss gametophytes in more than 20 carbonate concretions collected from the Apple Bay locality on Vancouver Island were studied in serial sections prepared using the cellulose acetate peel technique. KEY RESULTS: We describe Tricosta plicata gen. et sp. nov., a pleurocarpous moss with much-branched gametophytes, tricostate plicate leaves, rhizoid-bearing bases, and delicate gametangia (antheridia and archegonia) borne on specialized branches. A new family of hypnanaean mosses, Tricostaceae fam. nov., is recognized based on the novel combination of characters of T. plicata. CONCLUSIONS: Tricosta plicata reveals pleurocarpous moss diversity unaccounted for in extant floras. This new moss adds the first bryophyte component to an already diverse assemblage of vascular plants described from the Early Cretaceous at Apple Bay and, as the oldest representative of the Hypnanae, provides a hard minimum age for the group (136 Ma).Keywords: pleurocarpous, Hypnanae, gametangia, moss, tricostate, Bryopsida, fossil, Cretaceous, bryophyt

Liver retransplantation as a therapeutic method in graft dysfunctions in the immediate postoperative period

Departament Chirurgie Generală, I.C. Fundeni, București, România, Al XIII-lea Congres al Asociației Chirurgilor „Nicolae Anestiadi” și al III-lea Congres al Societății de Endoscopie, Chirurgie miniminvazivă și Ultrasonografie ”V.M.Guțu” din Republica MoldovaCu toate că în ultimii ani au apărut progrese importante în domeniul hepatic, problema prevenirii apariției disfuncției și eșecului post-transplant nu a prezentat progrese semnificative. Intrucât disfuncția hepatică primară influențează dramatic evoluția grefei și a pacientului transplantat hepatic, prevenirea acestui fenomen devine obligatoriu. Creșterea penuriei de organe și a numărului persoanelor aflate pe lista de așteptare a dus la folosirea unor grefe ce depășesc criteriile normale de selecție pentru recoltare precum și transplantarea unor donatori considerați marginali. Aceste circumstanțe au adus în prim plan importanța diagnosticării și tratamentului disfuncției hepatice primare. Conceptul de disfuncție hepatică primară nu este clar definit. Există un spectru de evenimente ce definesc disfuncția hepatică postoperatorie precoce: non funcția primară (PNF), nonfuncția întârziată, funcția slabă/săracă inițială (initial poor function – IPF), non funcția inițială, insuficiența hepatică primară și disfuncția primară. Distincția între aceste entități ia în considerare gradul disfuncției hepatice, necesitatea retransplantării urgente, precum și apariția și durata acestor evenimente după transplantul hepatic.Although important progress has been made over the last few years, the problem of preventing dysfunction and post-transplant liver failure has not shown significant progress. Since primary liver dysfunction dramatically influences the progress of the graft and the liver transplant patient, prevention of this phenomenon becomes obligatory. The increase in organ shortage and the number of people on the waiting list led to the use of grafts that exceeded the normal selection criteria for harvesting as well as the transplantation of marginal donors. These circumstances have highlighted the importance of diagnosis and treatment of primary hepatic dysfunction. The concept of primary liver dysfunction is not clearly defined. There is a spectrum of events that defines early postoperative liver dysfunction: primary non-function (PNF), delayed dysfunction, initial poor function (IPF), primary hepatic failure, and primary dysfunction. The distinction between these entities takes into account the degree of hepatic dysfunction, the need for urgent retransplantation, and the occurrence and duration of these events after liver transplantation

International registry on the use of the CytoSorb® adsorber in ICU patients

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this clinical registry is to record the use of CytoSorb® adsorber device in critically ill patients under real-life conditions. METHODS: The registry records all relevant information in the course of product use, e. g., diagnosis, comorbidities, course of the condition, treatment, concomitant medication, clinical laboratory parameters, and outcome (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02312024). Primary endpoint is in-hospital mortality as compared to the mortality predicted by the APACHE II and SAPS II score, respectively. RESULTS: As of January 30, 2017, 130 centers from 22 countries were participating. Data available from the start of the registry on May 18, 2015 to November 24, 2016 (122 centers; 22 countries) were analyzed, of whom 20 centers from four countries provided data for a total of 198 patients (mean age 60.3 ± 15.1 years, 135 men [68.2%]). In all, 192 (97.0%) had 1 to 5 Cytosorb® adsorber applications. Sepsis was the most common indication for CytoSorb® treatment (135 patients). Mean APACHE II score in this group was 33.1 ± 8.4 [range 15-52] with a predicted risk of death of 78%, whereas the observed mortality was 65%. There were no significant decreases in the SOFA scores after treatment (17.2 ± 4.8 [3-24]). However interleukin-6 levels were markedly reduced after treatment (median 5000 pg/ml before and 289 pg/ml after treatment, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This third interim report demonstrates the feasibility of the registry with excellent data quality and completeness from 20 study centers. The results must be interpreted with caution, since the numbers are still small; however the disease severity is remarkably high and suggests that adsorber treatment might be used as an ultimate treatment in life-threatening situations. There were no device-associated side effects

EEG-Meta-Microstates: Towards a More Objective Use of Resting-State EEG Microstate Findings Across Studies

Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. Over the last decade, EEG resting-state microstate analysis has evolved from a niche existence to a widely used and well-accepted methodology. The rapidly increasing body of empirical findings started to yield overarching patterns of associations of biological and psychological states and traits with specific microstate classes. However, currently, this cross-referencing among apparently similar microstate classes of different studies is typically done by “eyeballing” of printed template maps by the individual authors, lacking a systematic procedure. To improve the reliability and validity of future findings, we present a tool to systematically collect the actual data of template maps from as many published studies as possible and present them in their entirety as a matrix of spatial similarity. The tool also allows importing novel template maps and systematically extracting the findings associated with specific microstate maps from ongoing or published studies. The tool also allows importing novel template maps and systematically extracting the findings associated with specific microstate maps in the literature. The analysis of 40 included sets of template maps indicated that: (i) there is a high degree of similarity of template maps across studies, (ii) similar template maps were associated with converging empirical findings, and (iii) representative meta-microstates can be extracted from the individual studies. We hope that this tool will be useful in coming to a more comprehensive, objective, and overarching representation of microstate findings.Open access funding provided by University of Bern

Antimicrobial de-escalation in the critically ill patient and assessment of clinical cure: the DIANA study

Purpose: The DIANA study aimed to evaluate how often antimicrobial de-escalation (ADE) of empirical treatment is performed in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to estimate the effect of ADE on clinical cure on day 7 following treatment initiation. Methods: Adult ICU patients receiving empirical antimicrobial therapy for bacterial infection were studied in a prospective observational study from October 2016 until May 2018. ADE was defined as (1) discontinuation of an antimicrobial in case of empirical combination therapy or (2) replacement of an antimicrobial with the intention to narrow the antimicrobial spectrum, within the first 3 days of therapy. Inverse probability (IP) weighting was used to account for time-varying confounding when estimating the effect of ADE on clinical cure. Results: Overall, 1495 patients from 152 ICUs in 28 countries were studied. Combination therapy was prescribed in 50%, and carbapenems were prescribed in 26% of patients. Empirical therapy underwent ADE, no change and change other than ADE within the first 3 days in 16%, 63% and 22%, respectively. Unadjusted mortality at day 28 was 15.8% in the ADE cohort and 19.4% in patients with no change [p = 0.27; RR 0.83 (95% CI 0.60\u20131.14)]. The IP-weighted relative risk estimate for clinical cure comparing ADE with no-ADE patients (no change or change other than ADE) was 1.37 (95% CI 1.14\u20131.64). Conclusion: ADE was infrequently applied in critically ill-infected patients. The observational effect estimate on clinical cure suggested no deleterious impact of ADE compared to no-ADE. However, residual confounding is likely

Transcriptome analyses based on genetic screens for Pax3 myogenic targets in the mouse embryo

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pax3 is a key upstream regulator of the onset of myogenesis, controlling progenitor cell survival and behaviour as well as entry into the myogenic programme. It functions in the dermomyotome of the somite from which skeletal muscle derives and in progenitor cell populations that migrate from the somite such as those of the limbs. Few Pax3 target genes have been identified. Identifying genes that lie genetically downstream of <it>Pax3 </it>is therefore an important endeavour in elucidating the myogenic gene regulatory network.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have undertaken a screen in the mouse embryo which employs a <it>Pax3^GFP</it>allele that permits isolation of Pax3 expressing cells by flow cytometry and a <it>Pax3^PAX3-FKHR</it>allele that encodes PAX3-FKHR in which the DNA binding domain of Pax3 is fused to the strong transcriptional activation domain of FKHR. This constitutes a gain of function allele that rescues the <it>Pax3 </it>mutant phenotype. Microarray comparisons were carried out between <it>Pax3^GFP/+</it>and <it>Pax3^{GFP/PAX3-FKHR}</it>preparations from the hypaxial dermomyotome of somites at E9.5 and forelimb buds at E10.5. A further transcriptome comparison between Pax3-GFP positive and negative cells identified sequences specific to myogenic progenitors in the forelimb buds. Potential Pax3 targets, based on changes in transcript levels on the gain of function genetic background, were validated by analysis on loss or partial loss of function <it>Pax3 </it>mutant backgrounds. Sequences that are up- or down-regulated in the presence of PAX3-FKHR are classified as somite only, somite and limb or limb only. The latter should not contain sequences from Pax3 positive neural crest cells which do not invade the limbs. Verification by whole mount <it>in situ </it>hybridisation distinguishes myogenic markers. Presentation of potential Pax3 target genes focuses on signalling pathways and on transcriptional regulation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Pax3 orchestrates many of the signalling pathways implicated in the activation or repression of myogenesis by regulating effectors and also, notably, inhibitors of these pathways. Important transcriptional regulators of myogenesis are candidate Pax3 targets. Myogenic determination genes, such as <it>Myf5 </it>are controlled positively, whereas the effect of <it>Pax3 </it>on genes encoding inhibitors of myogenesis provides a potential brake on differentiation. In the progenitor cell population, <it>Pax7 </it>and also <it>Hdac5 </it>which is a potential repressor of <it>Foxc2</it>, are subject to positive control by <it>Pax3</it>.</p

Ethnicity and Cutaneous Melanoma in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil: A Case-Control Study

Background: Over the last century the incidence of cutaneous melanoma has increased worldwide, a trend that has also been observed in Brazil. The identified risk factors for melanoma include the pattern of sun exposure, family history, and certain phenotypic features. In addition, the incidence of melanoma might be influenced by ethnicity. Like many countries, Brazil has high immigration rates and consequently a heterogenous population. However, Brazil is unique among such countries in that the ethnic heterogeneity of its population is primarily attributable to admixture. This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of European ethnicity to the risk of cutaneous melanoma in Brazil. Methodology/Principal Findings: We carried out a hospital-based case-control study in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. We evaluated 424 hospitalized patients (202 melanoma patients and 222 control patients) regarding phenotypic features, sun exposure, and number of grandparents born in Europe. Through multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found the following variables to be independently associated with melanoma: grandparents born in Europe-Spain (OR = 3.01, 95% CI: 1.03-8.77), Italy (OR = 3.47, 95% CI: 1.41-8.57), a Germanic/Slavic country (OR = 3.06, 95% CI: 1.05-8.93), or &gt;= 2 European countries (OR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.06-7.47); eye color-light brown (OR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.14-3.84) and green/blue (OR = 4.62; 95% CI 2.22-9.58); pigmented lesion removal (OR = 3.78; 95% CI: 2.21-6.49); no lifetime sunscreen use (OR = 3.08; 95% CI: 1.03-9.22); and lifetime severe sunburn (OR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.03-3.19). Conclusions: Our results indicate that European ancestry is a risk factor for cutaneous melanoma. Such risk appears to be related not only to skin type, eye color, and tanning capacity but also to others specific characteristics of European populations introduced in the New World by European immigrants.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo - FAPESP [06-52041-9, 5-56069-2]Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico - Brasil (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development - Brazil) - CNPq [478239/03-3]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico Brasil (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development Brazil) CNP