Two of a Kind: Implications of Bilateral Directional Asymmetry on Pair Matching of Human Limb Bones.

The task of sorting and analyzing commingled remains can be daunting, depending on the degree of fragmentation, distribution, and contents of the assemblage. The Most Likely Number of Individuals (MLNI) calculation for quantifying the contents of human skeletal assemblages is dependent upon the ability to properly match bilateral elements into pairs. Anthropologists employ numerous methods to reassociate commingled remains into discrete individuals, but the guiding principle used to match sided elements is “general symmetry” (Adams and Konigsberg, 2008; Byrd, 2008). However, different skeletal elements and regions within those elements are variably responsive to a combination of environmental and genetic factors. The degree to which certain skeletal regions are susceptible to these factors corresponds to the amount of asymmetry that is likely to be seen within them. For instance, diaphyseal shaft dimensions, which are strongly influenced by mechanical loading, exhibit more asymmetry than the more genetically-constrained regions, articular surfaces and lengths (Auerbach and Ruff, 2006). Skeletal asymmetry has been widely studied in prehistoric and preindustrial populations, but remains minimally explored within modern populations. This study uses bilateral measurements from a modern sample of adult white males to test which long bone dimensions display the greatest directional asymmetry. Dimensions and skeletal regions that are more resistant to environmental influences, and therefore asymmetry, should be given preference when attempting to match elements. Results support earlier literature documenting the marked directional asymmetry within diaphyseal shaft dimensions, as well as limited plasticity within articular and peri-articular surface and length dimensions

Resilience in Parkinson’s disease: An empirical examination of age-related components of the construct

Although Parkinson’s disease (PD) is commonly characterized by motor symptoms and physical limitations, there is growing recognition of nonmotor and mood symptoms associated with the disease as well. There has been limited research exploring how individual coping might affect the relationships between PD symptoms and mental health outcomes. The resilience construct was originally developed within the child literature, and it is often used in conceptualizing how people have adaptive or positive outcomes when facing adversity. Current resilience measures may not adequately assess the construct within an older population, however, given the unique emotion regulation and coping skills seen in late life. This survey study of 139 community-dwelling adults with PD (M age = 64.25 years, SD = 10.12, range 34-89 years) investigated whether resilience moderated the relationship between PD-related factors (nonmotor symptoms, functional impairment, and disease symptom-related QOL) and mental health outcomes (depression, apathy, satisfaction with and adjustment-quality of life). Further analyses explored whether hypothesized age-related resilience components (optimism, goal-flexibility, and meaning-making ability), accounted for unique variance above and beyond a standard resilience measure (Resilience Scale for Adults). Results indicated that disease symptom-related QOL predicted depression and adjustment-related QOL, while functional impairment predicted apathy, life satisfaction, and adjustment related QOL. Participants overall reported moderate to high resilience; resilience was a significant predictor of all mental health/QOL outcome measures, and those with comparatively lower self-reported resilience had worse disease symptoms. Resilience did not moderate the relationship between disease symptoms and mental health/QOL. Meaning-making ability and goal-flexibility accounted for unique variance above and beyond the standard resilience measure for several outcome variables. Age was a significant moderator, such that the protective value of meaning-making ability and optimism on depression were greater for younger compared to older participants. This study highlighted the presence of moderate to high resilience in PD patients, however those with comparatively lower resilience had poorer outcomes. Other coping variables appear to be important contributors to mental health/QOL beyond a standard resilience measure. Patient age also affected several outcomes, emphasizing the importance of further integration of developmental literature into our understanding of resilience in chronic disease management

Multiple Pulse Line Narrowing: Approaches for Solid State NMR Imaging

The application of NMR imaging to problems in materials science, and in particular to nondestructive evaluation, has been hindered by a lack of appropriate NMR techniques to image rigid solids. NMR imaging of solids is made difficult by the typically broad NMR lines observed in the solid state. Molecular motion in liquids narrows the NMR line, making possible the high quality images obtained in medical imaging. The molecular motion present in some solids has been exploited to obtain NMR images materials such as elastomers [1,2]. Alternatively, the solid component of materials has been inferred from the absence of signals in NMR images of imbibed fluids. Here we discuss a class of NMR imaging methods which aim to reduce the apparent solid state linewidth to values approximating those in liquid samples

What measures relieve postherpetic neuralgia?

Tricyclic antidepressants, gabapentin, and pregabalin effectively reduce pain (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, at least 2 good-quality randomized controlled trials [RCTs] and/or meta-analyses). Opioids have demonstrated pain relief in 3 RCTs (SOR: A, consistent RCTs). Capsaicin and the lidocaine 5% patch relieve pain and decrease allodynia (SOR: B, recommendations from meta-analyses and lower-quality RCTs)

Social ecology of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis)

vi, 60 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.A population's social system influences its mating patterns, the spatial and temporal distribution of individuals, their dispersal, and consequently the distribution of alleles, thereby affecting its evolutionary trajectory. There are also important implications for species management and conservation if degradation of social relationships due to anthropogenic environmental alteration result in negative fitness consequences. The objectives of this thesis were to (1) examine whether associations among female northern long-eared bats ( Myotis septentrionalis ) at maternity roosts were random or social in nature and; (2) examine variation in tree and forest features selected by individuals as maternity roosts. Maternity roosts were comprised of non-randomly assorting social groups with some individuals remaining associated for the entire roosting season. Roost tree selection by bats varied with reproductive periods. During the lactation period bats selected roosts high in tall trees in areas with a low tree density and low canopy cover relative to pre- and post-lactation periods

Surface Cracks Record Long-Term Seismic Segmentation of the Andean Margin

Understanding the long-term patterns of great earthquake rupture along a subduction zone provides a framework for assessing modern seismic hazard. However, evidence that can be used to infer the size and location of past earthquakes is typically erased by erosion after a few thousand years. Meter-scale cracks that cut the surface of coastal areas in northern Chile and southern Peru preserve a record of earthquakes spanning several hundred thousand years owing to the hyperarid climate of the region. These cracks have been observed to form during and/or shortly after strong subduction earthquakes, are preserved for long time periods throughout the Atacama Desert, demonstrate evidence for multiple episodes of reactivation, and show changes in orientation over spatial scales similar to the size of earthquake segments. Our observations and models show that crack orientations are consistent with dynamic and static stress fields generated by recent earthquakes. While localized structural and topographic processes influence some cracks, the strong preferred orientation over large regions indicates that cracks are primarily formed by plate boundary–scale stresses, namely repeated earthquakes. We invert the crack-based strain data for slip along the well-known Iquique seismic gap segment of the margin and find consistency with gravity anomaly–based inferences of long-term earthquake slip patterns, as well as the magnitude and location of the November 2007 Tocopilla earthquake. We suggest that the meter-scale cracks can be used to map characteristic earthquake rupture segments that persist over many seismic cycles, which encourages future study of cracks and other small-scale structures to better constrain the persistence of asperities in other arid, tectonically active regions

Alignment-to-orientation conversion and nuclear quadrupole resonance

The role of alignment-to-orientation conversion (AOC) in nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) is discussed. AOC is shown to be the mechanism responsible for the appearance of macroscopic orientation in a sample originally lacking any global polarization. Parallels are drawn between NQR and AOC in atomic physics.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, v2: reorganized, Appendix adde

Social and spatial effects on genetic variation between foraging flocks in a wild bird population

Social interactions are rarely random. In some instances, animals exhibit homophily or heterophily, the tendency to interact with similar or dissimilar conspecifics, respectively. Genetic homophily and heterophily influence the evolutionary dynamics of populations, because they potentially affect sexual and social selection. Here, we investigate the link between social interactions and allele frequencies in foraging flocks of great tits (Parus major ) over three consecutive years. We constructed co‐occurrence networks which explicitly described the splitting and merging of 85,602 flocks through time (fission–fusion dynamics), at 60 feeding sites. Of the 1,711 birds in those flocks, we genotyped 962 individuals at 4,701 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP s). By combining genomewide genotyping with repeated field observations of the same individuals, we were able to investigate links between social structure and allele frequencies at a much finer scale than was previously possible. We explicitly accounted for potential spatial effects underlying genetic structure at the population level. We modelled social structure and spatial configuration of great tit fission–fusion dynamics with eigenvector maps. Variance partitioning revealed that allele frequencies were strongly affected by group fidelity (explaining 27%–45% of variance) as individuals tended to maintain associations with the same conspecifics. These conspecifics were genetically more dissimilar than expected, shown by genomewide heterophily for pure social (i.e., space‐independent) grouping preferences. Genomewide homophily was linked to spatial configuration, indicating spatial segregation of genotypes. We did not find evidence for homophily or heterophily for putative socially relevant candidate genes or any other SNP markers. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of distinguishing social and spatial processes in determining population structure

Wherever I may roam: social viscosity and kin affiliation in a wild population despite natal dispersal

Dispersal affects the social contexts individuals experience by redistributing individuals in space, and the nature of social interactions can have important fitness consequences. During the vagrancy stage of natal dispersal, after an individual has left its natal site and before it has settled to breed, social affiliations might be predicted by opportunities to associate (e.g., distance in space and time between natal points of origin) or kin preferences. We investigated the social structure of a population of juvenile great tits (Parus major) and asked whether social affiliations during vagrancy were predicted by 1) the distance between natal nest-boxes, 2) synchrony in fledge dates, and 3) accounting for spatial and temporal predictors, whether siblings tended to stay together. We show that association strength was affected predominantly by spatial proximity at fledging and, to a lesser extent, temporal proximity in birth dates. Independently of spatial and temporal effects, sibling pairs associated more often than expected by chance. Our results suggest that the structure of the winter population is shaped primarily by limits to dispersal through incomplete population mixing. In addition, our results reveal kin structure, and hence the scope for fitness-related interactions between particular classes of kin. Both spatial-mediated and socially mediated population structuring can have implications for our understanding of the evolution of sociality