The first dinosaur egg from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia

<p>The Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation in Western Siberia (Russia) has yielded various vertebrate fossils, including skeletal remains of dinosaurs. Here we report on a fragmentary theropod egg from the vertebrate locality Shestakovo 3 of the Ilek Formation in Kemerovo Province. We assign the specimen to the oogenus <i>Prismatoolithus</i> (oofamily Prismatoolithidae) as <i>Prismatoolithus ilekensis</i> oosp. nov., on the basis of the following unique combination of characters: ovoid-shaped egg; thin eggshell 300–330 μm thick; angustiprismatic morphotype; eggshell with three different layers; gradual transition between mammillary layer and prismatic layer; abrupt contact between prismatic layer and external layer; mammillary layer to prismatic layer to external layer thickness ratio is 1:3:0.6; prismatic layer with ill-defined squamatic texture; angusticanaliculate pore system; and smooth outer surface. Like other Early Creataceous <i>Prismatoolithus</i>, the egg of <i>Prismatoolithus ilekensis</i> oosp. nov. was laid by a small bodied theropod dinosaur (troodontid or primitive bird) and this taxonomic attribution is supported by results of our phylogenetic analysis. <i>Prismatoolithus ilekensis</i> oosp. nov. is the first Early Cretaceous ootaxon from Russia.</p> <p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:734EAD40-86C3-488B-A61E-B5FF7378BC0E</p

Wear patterns and dental functioning in an Early Cretaceous stegosaur from Yakutia, Eastern Russia.

Isolated stegosaurian teeth from the Early Cretaceous high-latitude (palaeolatitude estimate of N 62°- 66.5°) Teete locality in Yakutia (Eastern Siberia, Russia) are characterized by a labiolingually compressed, slightly asymmetrical and mesiodistally denticulated (9-14 denticles) crown, a pronounced ring-like cingulum, as well as a "complex network of secondary ridges". The 63 teeth (found during on-site excavation in 2012, 2017-2019 and screen-washing in 2017-2019) most likely belong to one species of a derived (stegosaurine) stegosaur. Most of the teeth exhibit a high degree of wear and up to three wear facets has been observed on a single tooth. The prevalence of worn teeth with up to three wear facets and the presence of different types of facets (including steeply inclined and groove-like) indicate the tooth-tooth contact and precise dental occlusion in the Teete stegosaur. The microwear pattern (mesiodistally or slightly obliquely oriented scratches; differently oriented straight and curved scratches on some wear facets) suggest a complex jaw mechanism with palinal jaw motion. Histological analysis revealed that the Teete stegosaur is characterized by relatively short tooth formation time (95 days) and the presence of a "wavy enamel pattern". Discoveries of a "wavy enamel pattern" in the Teete stegosaur, in a Middle Jurassic stegosaur from Western Siberia, and in the basal ceratopsian Psittacosaurus, suggest that this histological feature is common for different ornithischian clades, including ornithopods, marginocephalians, and thyreophorans. A juvenile tooth in the Teete sample indicates that stegosaurs were year-round residents and reproduced in high latitudes. The combination of high degree of tooth wear with formation of multiple wear facets, complex jaw motions, relatively short tooth formation time and possibly high tooth replacement rates is interpreted as a special adaptation for a life in high-latitude conditions or, alternatively, as a common stegosaurian adaptation making stegosaurs a successful group of herbivorous dinosaurs in the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous and enabeling them to live in both low- and high-latitude ecosystems

Optimization of adsorptive removal of α-toluic acid by CaO2 nanoparticles using response surface methodology

The present work addresses the optimization of process parameters for adsorptive removal of α-toluic acid by calcium peroxide (CaO2) nanoparticles using response surface methodology (RSM). CaO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical precipitation method and confirmed by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) analysis which shows the CaO2 nanoparticles size range of 5–15 nm. A series of batch adsorption experiments were performed using CaO2 nanoparticles to remove α-toluic acid from the aqueous solution. Further, an experimental based central composite design (CCD) was developed to study the interactive effect of CaO2 adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of α-toluic acid, and contact time on α-toluic acid removal efficiency (response) and optimization of the process. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the significance of the individual and the interactive effects of variables on the response. The model predicted response showed a good agreement with the experimental response, and the coefficient of determination, (R2) was 0.92. Among the variables, the interactive effect of adsorbent dosage and the initial α-toluic acid concentration was found to have more influence on the response than the contact time. Numerical optimization of process by RSM showed the optimal adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of α-toluic acid, and contact time as 0.03 g, 7.06 g/L, and 34 min respectively. The predicted removal efficiency was 99.50%. The experiments performed under these conditions showed α-toluic acid removal efficiency up to 98.05%, which confirmed the adequacy of the model prediction

Reduced Cancer Incidence in Huntington's Disease: Analysis in the Registry Study

Background: People with Huntington's disease (HD) have been observed to have lower rates of cancers. Objective: To investigate the relationship between age of onset of HD, CAG repeat length, and cancer diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from the European Huntington's disease network REGISTRY study for 6540 subjects. Population cancer incidence was ascertained from the GLOBOCAN database to obtain standardised incidence ratios of cancers in the REGISTRY subjects. Results: 173/6528 HD REGISTRY subjects had had a cancer diagnosis. The age-standardised incidence rate of all cancers in the REGISTRY HD population was 0.26 (CI 0.22-0.30). Individual cancers showed a lower age-standardised incidence rate compared with the control population with prostate and colorectal cancers showing the lowest rates. There was no effect of CAG length on the likelihood of cancer, but a cancer diagnosis within the last year was associated with a greatly increased rate of HD onset (Hazard Ratio 18.94, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Cancer is less common than expected in the HD population, confirming previous reports. However, this does not appear to be related to CAG length in HTT. A recent diagnosis of cancer increases the risk of HD onset at any age, likely due to increased investigation following a cancer diagnosis