The Basicranial Anatomy of the Nimravidae (Mammalia: Carnivora): Character Analyses and Phylogenetic Inferences

The phylogenetic relationships of the Nimravidae (Oligocene through latest Miocene catlike carnivorans) are controversial: they have been placed either within the family Felidae, or as sister group to the Felidae, to the modern aeluroid Carnivora, or to the Caniformia. Adoption of cladistic analysis is not sufficient to resolve this controversy: all of the last three hypotheses of relationship have resulted from cladistic analyses. Competing hypotheses of phylogenetic relationship are here demonstrated to be primarily the result of disagreement about the identification and distribution of characters. Such disagreements reflect the need for a rigorous method of character analysis to enable explicit testing of character identifications and distributions–i.e. homologies–prior to a cladistic analysis. (In cladistic analysis, characters can be tested only weakly, by inclusion in a cladogram; refutation produces only ad hoc hypotheses, difficult to test). I present a method of character analysis that enables stronger tests of hypotheses of homology by using toplogical and developmental relationships, prior to simple cladistic analysis, and by using a parsimony criterion to choose among competing hypotheses of character identifications and distributions. Results are compared with examples of persistent errors arising from the uncritical, blind use of homological morphotypes (producing unquestioned identifications, never subsequently tested) and ancestral morphotypes (producing untested polarities). Several problems and inadequacies of cladistic analysis as presently formulated are described, most important of which is the method\u27s inability to distinguish between a true or correct multichotomy and an unresolved multichotomy . Detailed analysis of the basicranial anatomy of the Nimravidae demonstrates the value of the method of character analysis formulated here. These odd carnivorans are shown to have lacked any medial branch of the internal carotid artery or a fully ossified bulla, and to have possessed instead a lateral branch of the internal carotid (a promontory artery ), a peculiar, thick, partially ossified entotympanic, and a separate posterior petrobasilar foramen. Many aelurcid synapomorphies exclude the Nimravidae from that group, no synapomorphies place them as sister group to the aeluroids, evidence for any caniform relationship is sparse and contradictory, while overall parsimony places the Nimravidae as sister group to the rest of the Carnivora

The Iowa Homemaker vol.26, no.1

Keeping Up With Today, Joyce Edgar, page 2 Foods Graduate Supervises Hawaiian Canteen, Ann Koebel, page 3 First Introduction, Maryann Jones, page 4 Vicky Views Veishea, Charlene Stettler, page 6 She Cooks for the Clouds, Marlyn Cody, page 7 Look Toward Your Future, page 8 What’s New in Home Economics, Marjorie Clampitt, page 10 Pass the Rolls, Mary Ann Hakes, page 12 Modern Education Features Audio-Visual Aids, Nancy Baker, page 13 Hospital Kitchen Affords Experience, Maxine Burch, page 14 Across Alum Desks, Mary Neff, page 17 Roberts Hall Honors a Career of Service, Natalie Benda, page 18 Wardrobe Revivers for Spring, June Welch, page 19 Alums in the News, Goldie Rouse, page 2

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The Iowa Homemaker vol.26, no.1

Keeping Up With Today, Joyce Edgar, page 2 Foods Graduate Supervises Hawaiian Canteen, Ann Koebel, page 3 First Introduction, Maryann Jones, page 4 Vicky Views Veishea, Charlene Stettler, page 6 She Cooks for the Clouds, Marlyn Cody, page 7 Look Toward Your Future, page 8 What’s New in Home Economics, Marjorie Clampitt, page 10 Pass the Rolls, Mary Ann Hakes, page 12 Modern Education Features Audio-Visual Aids, Nancy Baker, page 13 Hospital Kitchen Affords Experience, Maxine Burch, page 14 Across Alum Desks, Mary Neff, page 17 Roberts Hall Honors a Career of Service, Natalie Benda, page 18 Wardrobe Revivers for Spring, June Welch, page 19 Alums in the News, Goldie Rouse, page 20</p

Single-nuclei characterization of pervasive transcriptional signatures across organs in response to COVID-19

BackgroundInfection by coronavirus SARS-CoV2 is a severe and often deadly disease that has implications for the respiratory system and multiple organs across the human body. While the effects in the lung have been extensively studied, less is known about the impact COVID-19 has across other organs.MethodsHere, we contribute a single-nuclei RNA-sequencing atlas comprising six human organs across 20 autopsies where we analyzed the transcriptional changes due to COVID-19 in multiple cell types. The integration of data from multiple organs enabled the identification of systemic transcriptional changes.ResultsComputational cross-organ analysis for endothelial cells and macrophages identified systemic transcriptional changes in these cell types in COVID-19 samples. In addition, analysis of gene modules showed enrichment of specific signaling pathways across multiple organs in COVID-19 autopsies.ConclusionsAltogether, the COVID Tissue Atlas enables the investigation of both cell type-specific and cross-organ transcriptional responses to COVID-19, providing insights into the molecular networks affected by the disease and highlighting novel potential targets for therapies and drug development.FundingThe Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, The Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies