Reduction of vertebrate coprolite diversity associated with the end-Permian extinction event in Vyazniki region, European Russia

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.This study investigates the paleoecological significance of vertebrate coprolites collected from seven sections and three lithofacies of the uppermost Permian and lowermost Triassic succession from the Vyazniki site in the European part of Russia. The analyzed specimens (coprolites and possibly some cololites) were grouped into nine morphotypes (A-I). The coprolite morphotypes were characterized geochemically and compared to the record of other Permian and Triassic coprolites worldwide. Based on the stratigraphic position, shape, structure and composition, all morphotypes were linked to supposed producers. The phosphatic composition of most of the morphotypes and inclusions of arthropod remains, fish scales and bone fragments, suggest that they were produced by carnivores, but non-phosphatic, carbonate-rich, large and oval-shaped coprolites with impressions after plant remains have also been found. The extinction of terrestrial vertebrates around the Permian-Triassic boundary in Russia is interpreted to have occurred within a few thousands of years. Here, we show a pattern of coprolite morphotypes disappearing across this boundary that is consistent with a relatively sudden change in the vertebrate faunal composition across this interval

關於關西大學圖書館所藏的抄寫本《新刊監本增注司牧療馬安驥集》

《司牧安驥集》是醫馬書古典著作之一，唐代李石撰的．原書早就遺失，現在能目睹的只有明代增注本．關西大學圖書館所藏的《新刊監本增注司牧療馬安驥集》是抄寫明代弘治17年重刊的．現在《司牧安驥集》系列的版本稀有，明代弘治17年重刊本都有兩種，個個只流傳下一本：南京圖書館藏本與日本市立米澤圖書館藏本．關西大學圖書館所藏本屬於米澤圖書館藏本系列，而且有些部分反映了更早時期的版本，是極其重要的史料．以後通過詳細調查此件抄寫本，可能進行《司牧安驥集》之綜合系統研究而明確此件史料原貌與流傳情況．研究論

Microbiota and food residues including possible evidence of pre-mammalian hair in Upper Permian coprolites from Russia

© 2015 Lethaia Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons LtdCoprolites (fossil faeces) provide direct evidence on the diet of its producer and unique insights on ancient food webs and ecosystems. We describe the contents of seven coprolites, collected from the Late Permian Vyazniki site of the European part of Russia. Two coprolite morphotypes (A, B) contain remains of putative bacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, protists, invertebrate eggs, arthropod elements, undigested bone and tooth fragments, fish scales and elongated hair-like structures with hollow interiors. Content, size and shape of the coprolites together with the associated body fossil record suggest that the most probable scat-producers were carnivorous tetrapods; the bone-rich morphotype A reveals short food retention time and a fast metabolism and is therefore assigned to therapsid carnivores whereas morphotype B with rarer and degraded bones are assigned to archosauromorphs or other non-therapsid carnivores. The general coprolite matrix contains abundant micron-sized spheres and thin-walled vesicles which are interpreted as oxide and phosphatic pseudomorphs after microbial cells. From analyses of the undigested bones, we infer that they represent remains of actinopterygian fish, a therapsid and unrecognizable parts of amphibians and/or reptiles. Additionally, hair-like structures found in one coprolite specimen occur as diagenetically altered (oxide-replaced) structures and moulds (or partly as pseudomorphs) in a microcrystalline carbonate-fluoride-bearing calcium phosphate. This suggests that the latest Permian therapsids probably were equipped with hair-like integument or hairsuit. If true, this is by far the oldest evidence of this mammalian character in the stem group of mammals

The taxonomy and anatomy of rauisuchian archosaurs from the Late Triassic of Germany and Poland

The German Late Triassic archosaur Teratosaurus suevicus is a historically important taxon, being the first described rauisuchian. Unfortunately the holotype is a single element, a maxilla, which is poorly preserved and incomplete. We redescribe this maxilla and identify a single potential autapomorphy. The fragmentary type specimen complicates attempts to refer additional material to this taxon, and other unassociated archosaur and rauisuchian specimens from the Mittlerer Stubensandstein of Germany cannot be referred to T. suevicus with any degree of confidence. The stratigraphically older T. silesiacus, from the upper Carnian of Poland, is represented by a much more complete and better preserved specimen. Comparison of the maxillae of T. suevicus and T. silesiacus reveals that the two are distinct taxa, contra recent suggestions, but also that they do not share any synapomorphies or a unique combination of characters relative to Postosuchus kirkpatricki and other rauisuchians. Thus, the Polish material must be transferred to a new genus, Polonosuchus gen. nov. Both Polonosuchus and Teratosaurus are very similar to Postosuchus kirkpatricki, and the three taxa are likely closely related

Trackways Produced by Lungfish During Terrestrial Locomotion

Some primarily aquatic vertebrates make brief forays onto land, creating traces as they do. A lack of studies on aquatic trackmakers raises the possibility that such traces may be ignored or misidentified in the fossil record. Several terrestrial Actinopterygian and Sarcopterygian species have previously been proposed as possible models for ancestral tetrapod locomotion, despite extant fishes being quite distinct from Devonian fishes, both morphologically and phylogenetically. Although locomotion has been well-studied in some of these taxa, trackway production has not. We recorded terrestrial locomotion of a 35 cm African lungfish (Protopterus annectens; Dipnoi: Sarcopterygii) on compliant sediment. Terrestrial movement in the lungfish is accomplished by planting the head and then pivoting the trunk. Impressions are formed where the head impacts the substrate, while the body and fins produce few traces. The head leaves a series of alternating left-right impressions, where each impact can appear as two separate semi-circular impressions created by the upper and lower jaws, bearing some similarity to fossil traces interpreted as footprints. Further studies of trackways of extant terrestrial fishes are necessary to understand the behavioural repertoire that may be represented in the fossil track record

Medycyna i Społeczeństwo. Materiały konferencyjne

Ze wstępu: "Z inicjatywy i pod patronatem Krakowskiej Szkoły Wyższej im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego w Krakowie odbyła się w styczniu 2003 r. konferencja naukowa lekarzy, farmaceutów, biochemików, filozofów, fizjopatologów, farmakologów i klinicystów, których rozważania skupiały się wokół obszernego tematu „MED YCYNAISPOŁECZEŃSTWO Spotkanie otworzył JM Rektor Prof. KSW dr hab. Zbigniew Maciąg. Rektor wyraził podziękowanie wykładowcom i wyraził głęboką nadzieję, że kolejny numer wydawnictwa Szkoły Acta Academiae Modrevianae, złożony z wybranych prac prezentowanych na konferencji, służył będzie społeczeństwu."(...

Buntsandstein in the Holy Cross Mountains: chronostratigraphy and lithostratigraphical correlation with the Thuringian Basin

The study was performed to attempt the lithostratigraphic correlation of the Buntsandstein in the margin of Holy Cross Mountains region with that of the Thuringian Basin, and simultaneously, to clarify its position in the chronostratigraphic scheme, basing on biostratigraphic data (microflora, conchostracans), and on the existence of regional discordances. The authors found strong analogies with other Buntsandstein sections of the Europe. On the other hand, because of the position of the studied area within the marginal part of the Central European Basin, Buntsandstein of the Holy Cross Mountains region is developed in different facies, more fluvial, instead of lacustrine ones. The common presence of Conchostraca representing the same species as in other parts of the Central European Basin (Thuringia), enables possible the correlation of the investigated area with the Thuringian Basin, and helps to locate stratigraphic gaps and discordances. The authors found that the lower boundary of the Buntsandstein and the boundary between the Lower and Middle Buntsandstein in the Polish study area are not equivalents of those in other areas. Also note worthy is the presence at the margin of the Holy Cross Mountains of youngest Permian terrigenous deposits not connected with the Zechstein salinar sedimentation, included to date to Zechstein or to Buntsandstein. The key for understanding the lithostratigraphic scheme of the Buntsandstein of Holy Cross Mountains region is an assumption, that the Zagnańsk Formation is mostly of fluvial, instead of lacustrine origin, consisting of equivalents of the whole Lower Buntsandstein, and that of the lower Volpriehausen Formation of the Middle Buntsandstein, with the Volpriehausen discordance present within. Authors also assume, that at least in this case, differences in the marginal part of the sedimentary basin, in comparison with its central part, depend on the presence of fluvial facies instead of lacustrine ones, and onthe presence of sedimentary gaps and discordances whose duration is progressively longer towards the basin margin enlarges in the direction to the basin margin

New finds of vertebrate footprints from the Lower Permian of Wambierzyce, Poland

New specimens of vertebrate footprints are reported from the Early Permian deposits in Poland. Footprints discovered in a well-known Early Permian Rotliegend tracksite at Wambierzyce (old German name Albendorf) represent ichnites of Hyloidichnus arnhardti Haubold, 1973

Mineralogical testing of femur heads and joint cartilage of patients with avascular necrosis (AVN)

Wykonano badania mineralogiczne, chemiczne i densytometryczne głów kości udowych oraz pokrywającej je chrząstki chorym z jałową martwicą, usuniętych w czasie wykonywania totalnej aloplastyki stawu biodrowego. Badania densytometryczne głów kości udowych wykonywane były chorym przed leczeniem operacyjnym, po ich usunięciu, oraz plastrom z tych głów o grubości 1,0 do 1,5 cm. Badaniom poddano głowy kości udowych 9 pacjentów w wieku 30-68 lat. Oprócz badań densytometrycznych wykonano badania przy pomocy mikroskopu cyfrowego, polaryzacyjnego i skaningowego, oraz przeprowadzono analizy chemiczne zarówno kości, jak i chrząstki stosując analizator do oznaczeń prowadzonych metodą EDS ( Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy). Wykonano także dyfraktometryczne analizy rentgenowskie chrząstek stawowych pobranych z tych głów. Badania wykazały, że w usuniętych głowach kości udowej występuje rozrzedzenie struktury kości gąbczastej zlokalizowane na szczycie głów i ich częściach bocznych . W chrząstce pokrywającej głowy występuje mineralizacja fosforanowa. Ma ona dwie postacie. przejawia się wyraźnym podwyższeniem zawartości Ca i P w chrząstce oraz, rzadziej obecnością mikro ziaren fosforanowych.Mineralogical, chemical and densitometry tests were conducted on femoral heads and cartilage acquired during total hip replacement in patients with avascular necrosis. Femoral heads densitometry was performed before and after the surgery, as well as on 1- to 1.5-centimeter slices of the femoral heads. Femoral heads from 9 patients between 30 and 68 years old were tested. In addition to densitometry, the sam les were analyzed using digital, polarizing and scanning microsco es, and chemical analysis of bone and cartilage was conducted using EDS (Electron Dispersive Spectrosco y). X-ray diffractometry of the joint cartilage acquired from the femoral heads was also performed. The tests have shown lower density of the s ongy bone on to and sides of the removed femoral heads. Femoral head cartilage shows phosphate mineralization. There are two forms of said mineralization: a distinct increase in Ca and P content in cartilage and, less frequently, presence of phos hate micrograins