New data on Amynodontidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from Eastern Europe: Phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic implications around the Eocene-Oligocene transition

Amynodontidae is a family of Rhinocerotoidea (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) known from the late Early Eocene to the latest Oligocene, in North America and Eurasia. European Amynodontidae are very rare, and all remains belong almost exclusively to a single post—Grande Coupure genus from the Oligocene, Cadurcotherium. The “Grande Coupure” defines an extinctions and dispersal-generated originations event in Europe that is nearly contemporaneous with the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Perissodactyls are one of the major groups affected by this event: Palaeotheriidae went almost extinct during this crisis, whereas Rhinocerotidae appeared for the first time in Europe. Study of fossiliferous Eastern-European localities from this age is crucial for the understanding of this crisis. We report here three new localities of Amynodontidae in Eastern Europe. Two of them are dated from the Eocene (Morlaca, Romania; Dorog, Hungary), whereas the other is either Late Eocene or Early Oligocene (Dobârca, Romania). The skull from this latter locality belongs unexpectedly to the same individual as a previously described mandible attributed to “Cadurcodon” zimborensis. As a result, this specimen can be allocated to its proper locality, Dobârca, and is assigned to a new genus, Sellamynodon gen. nov. It is characterised by an extraordinary growth of the nuchal crest, a unique character among amynodontids. Along with this remarkable material from Dobârca, two specimens from another Romanian locality, Morlaca, have been recently discovered and are dated from the Late Eocene. They belong, as well as new material from Dorog (Middle Eocene, Hungary), to the genus Amynodontopsis, also found in North America. The new Hungarian material represents the earliest occurrence of Amynodontidae in Europe. New phylogenetic hypotheses of Rhinocerotoidea are proposed, including the new material presented here, and show that Amynodontidae may be closer to the polyphyletic family ʽHyracodontidaeʼ than to Rhinocerotidae. Amynodontidae, with their deep preorbital fossa and extremely reduced premolars, display in fact a very derived condition, compared to rhinocerotids

NOTES ON THE ASSIGNMENT OF CONTRACT IN THE NEW ROMANIAN CIVIL CODE

Reduced to its basic functioning, the legal operation of assignment of contract implies a global transfer of the contractual position of one party, assignor, from a contract concluded with the ceded contractor, to a third party, assignee. If the legal operation as such does not seem to raise complications, it was an object of dispute in Romanian civil law even before the New Romanian Civil Code in force since 2011, considering the personal nature of the obligation relationship, especially with regard to the passive element of the obligation. Considering the debates around this topic in the legal doctrine of the Romanian Civil Code of 1864 and following certain arguments advanced in French civil law, the New Romanian Civil Code explicitly recognizes the assignment of contract as a distinct legal figure with specific effects in Articles 1315-1320. This article intends to analyse the legal regime of the assignment of contract, from the debates in the legal doctrine around this topic in both Romanian and other legal systems to the specific legal provisions which address the assignment of contract, starting with the notion of assignment of contract, the form of the assignment, the moment in which the assignment occurs, the effects the transfer has on the assignor, the legal exceptions which can be formulated by the ceded contractor and the warranty obligations of the assignor

NEGOTIATED, MIXED AND STANDARD FORM CONTRACTS. A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF CONTRACTS

If negotiation is considered the current manner in which contracts are concluded thereby making negotiated contracts the norm, non-negotiated terms included in contracts are an unavoidable part of everyday legal operations. Although the importance of this phenomenon in the private-law landscape has been recognized by the Romanian Civil Code through several provisions, those provisions do not address non-negotiated contracts as a whole but specific issues of non-negotiated contractual terms included in any type of contract. Firstly, with the support of the legal doctrine this article intends to examine those specific provisions of the Romanian Civil Code addressing both negotiation as a pre-contractual phase and non-negotiated contractual terms along with the particular provisions provided in the secondary legislation such as Law No. 193 of 6th of November 2000 regarding abusive terms in contracts concluded between professionals and consumers. Secondly, through this overview, the article proposes to identify the outlines of different types of contracts determined by the various degrees of non-negotiated terms in their design

The first known chamopsiid lizard (Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe (Csehbanya Formation; Hungary, Bakony Mts)

The Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Iharkut terrestrial vertebrate locality, in Hungary, has yielded several lacertilian taxa since its discovery in 2000. One of these is represented by a left mandible fragment and two dentary fragments. The characters observed on these remains support assignment to the family Chamopsiidae (Scincomorpha). Moreover, the remains belong to a new genus and species, Pelsochamops infrequens n. g. n. sp. Pelsochamops is the first known occurrence of chamopsiids outside North America and adds another scincomorphan lizard to the Iharkut fauna. It represents an additional evidence for dispersal routes between North America and Europe. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Quantitative proteomics and bioinformatic analysis provide new insight into the dynamic response of porcine intestine to Salmonella Typhimurium

The enteropathogen Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is the most commonly non-typhoideal serotype isolated in pig worldwide. Currently, one of the main sources of human infection is by consumption of pork meat. Therefore, prevention and control of salmonellosis in pigs is crucial for minimizing risks to public health. The aim of the present study was to use isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) to explore differences in the response to Salmonella in two segment of the porcine gut (ileum and colon) along a time course of 1, 2, and 6 days post infection (dpi) with S. Typhimurium. A total of 298 proteins were identified in the infected ileum samples of which, 112 displayed significant expression differences due to Salmonella infection. In colon, 184 proteins were detected in the infected samples of which 46 resulted differentially expressed with respect to the controls. The higher number of changes in protein expression was quantified in ileum at 2 dpi. Further biological interpretation of proteomics data using bioinformatics tools demonstrated that the expression changes in colon were found in proteins involved in cell death and survival, tissue morphology or molecular transport at the early stages and tissue regeneration at 6 dpi. In ileum, however, changes in protein expression were mainly related to immunological and infection diseases, inflammatory response or connective tissue disorders at 1 and 2 dpi. iTRAQ has proved to be a proteomic robust approach allowing us to identify ileum as the earliest response focus upon S. Typhimurium in the porcine gut. In addition, new functions involved in the response to bacteria such as eIF2 signaling, free radical scavengers or antimicrobial peptides (AMP) expression have been identified. Finally, the impairment at of the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids and lipid metabolism by means the under regulation of FABP6 protein and FXR/RXR and LXR/RXR signaling pathway in ileum has been established for the first time in pigs. Taken together, our results provide a better understanding of the porcine response to Salmonella infection and the molecular mechanisms underlying Salmonella-host interactions.This research was supported by the National R&D Program of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (AGL2011-28904 and AGL2014-54089-R).Peer reviewedPeer Reviewe

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The Three Mile Limit of the Territorial Se

Experimental induction of resistance to an acylurea insect growth regulator

A laboratory colony of a multi-insecticide susceptible strain of the housefly, Musca domestica was challenged with continuous larval selection pressure equivalent to the initial LC 60 level for 8 generations with the insect growth regulator WL 86303 (1-(3,5-dichloro-4)4-nitrophenoxy- phenyl)-3 -(2)chlorobenzoyl)- urea). A more than twofold increase in resistance was observed at the F8 generation. No cross-tolerance to the related compound, diflubenzuron (DIMILIN (R)) (1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3- (2,6-difluorobenzoyl)-urea) was observed after 8 generations. WL 86303 was significantly less toxic to houseflies than diflubenzuron. No significant difference was noted between the toxicity of WL 86303 to an unpressured wild housefly strain, and to the unselected multi-susceptible strain. A larval-rearing bioassay technique for measuring the toxicity levels of juvenile developmental disruptors is described

Konzeption und Realisierung einer interaktiven und Feedback-orientierten Webplattform für Stresspatienten

Stress is a normal biological reaction to stressors. Stress is more and more present in our lives. Exposure to high stress levels for a long period of time can have negative effects on emotional and physical health. It is important to control and reduce stress and anxiety. Technology can help to measure, track and reduce the stress level. At University Ulm there exists several applications where patients suffering from stress can track their stress levels. The goal of this project is to develop an interactive and feedback-oriented web platform for patients that participate in the stress tracking program. The web platform should offer to users the opportunity to visualize their recorded stress data. Statistic related with their own data and in comparison with other participants should be presented. This web platform could help patients to become more conscious of their stressors or stressful situations, manage and maybe reduce their stress levels