Stereospondyl amphibians from the Elliot Formation of South Africa

This paper documents the first members of the Chigutisauridae (Amphibia, Stereospondyli) from southern Africa and the first post-Triassic stereospondyls from that region. The material, from the Lower and Upper Elliot Formation, was associated with a diverse fauna including early mammals and dinosaurs. Most temnospondyls known to have survived the Triassic are brachyopoids, with large members of the Chigutisauridae present in the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Gondwana, and smaller members of the Brachyopidae in the Jurassic of Eurasia.The Council's Research Committe, University of the Witwatersrand; National Science Foundation; Australian Research Council Grant No. A3960215

Barendskraal, a diverse amniote locality from the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone, Early Triassic of South Africa

Main articleA diverse amniote fauna has been recovered from Lower Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone exposures on the farm Barendskraal, near Middelburg in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The fauna includes the dicynodont therapsid Lystrosaurus sp., the therocephalian therapsids Tetracynodon darti, Moschorhinus kitchingi and Ericiolacerta parva, the archosauromorph reptiles Proterosuchus fergusi and Prolacerta broomi, and the procolophonoid reptiles Owenetta kitchingorum, Sauropareion anoplus and Saurodectes rogersorum. The locality is remarkable in that although it is fossil-rich, Lystrosaurus fossils do not appear to be as abundant as elsewhere in this assemblage zone, and the diversity of taxa at Barendskraal (at least nine species) is surpassed only by that of the famous HarrismithCommonage locality in the northeastern Free State province (at least 13 species). However, the fauna at Harrismith Commonage is typical of most other Lystrosaurus biozone localities in being dominated numerically by Lystrosaurus. Study of the tetrapod taxa from Barendskraal is providing new insights into procolophonoid phylogeny and survivorship across the Permo-Triassic boundary, as well as the stratigraphic ranges of various taxa in the Lower Triassic deposits of the Karoo Basin.National Geographic Society grant number 6929-00

The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Permian of Niger. IV. Nigerpeton ricqlesi (Temnospondyli: Cochleosauridae), and the Edopoid Colonization of Gondwana

We describe the edopoid temnospondyl Nigerpeton ricqlesi from the Upper Permian Moradi Formation of northern Niger on the basis of two partial skulls and tentatively associated postcranial material. This crocodile-like taxon displays several edopoid characters states such as a long prenarial region with enlarged premaxillae, elongated vomers, large, posteriorly tapering choanae, and a jugal that broadens anteriorly. Nigerpeton possesses a unique carnivorous dentition. It is autapomorphic in its possession of an extremely elongate snout bearing a maxillary bulge that accommodates three hypertrophied caniniform teeth, inner premaxillary tusks, and anterior paired fenestrae, which pierce the skull roof. In addition, both the maxilla and dentary tooth rows show the sporadic appearance of ‘doubled’ tooth positions. The lateral-line system is present at the adult stage, which suggests an aquatic habitat for this taxon. A phylogenetic analysis of Edopoidea and its relatives places Nigerpeton as the sister taxon to the Permo-Carboniferous genus Chenoprosopus from the U.S.A. As with other members of the Moradi tetrapod fauna, the discovery of Nigerpeton strengthens support for the hypothesis that West Africa hosted an endemic fauna at the close of the Paleozoic Era. Biogeographically, we propose that Late Carboniferous and Permian edopoids were geographically widespread and that they twice crossed the Central Pangean mountain chain (between Laurussia and Gondwana) during their evolution. This distribution was later fragmented with the onset of Late Permian climatic warming

Mandibles of mastodonsaurid temnospondyls from the Upper Permian-Lower Triassic of Uruguay

Partially preserved temnospondyl mandibles from the Late Permian–Early Triassic Buena Vista Formation of Uruguay are referred to the basal stereospondyl taxon Mastodonsauridae. These represent the earliest known members of this group for South America. In most cases, this assignment was based on the characteristic morphology of the postglenoid (= postarticular) area of the lower jaw together with the presence of a hamate process. Comparisons with basal masto−donsaurids indicate that the Uruguayan specimens are phenetically similar to Gondwanan and Laurasian Early Triassic taxa, such as Watsonisuchus, Wetlugasarus, and Parotosuchus. Nevertherless, they display some characters which have not previously been described in Mesozoic temnospondyls. The Permo−Triassic Uruguayan mastodonsaurids support a Gondwanan origin for the group, an event which probably occurred sometime during the latest Permian.Fil: Piñeiro, Graciela. Departamento de Evolución de Cuencas, Sección Bioestratigrafía y Paleo-ecología, Facultad de Ciencias,; UruguayFil: Marsicano, Claudia Alicia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Damiani, Ross. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart; Alemani

Identification of the Midgut Microbiota of An. stephensi and An. maculipennis for Their Application as a Paratransgenic Tool against Malaria

The midgut microbiota associated with Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles maculipennis (Diptera: Culicidae) was investigated for development of a paratransgenesis-based approach to control malaria transmission in Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). Here, we present the results of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and biochemical-based approaches to identify the female adult and larvae mosquitoe microbiota of these two major malaria vectors, originated from South Eastern and North of Iran. Plating the mosquito midgut contents from lab-reared and field-collected Anopheles spp. was used for microbiota isolation. The Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial colonies were identified by Gram staining and specific mediums. Selected colonies were identified by differential biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. A number of 10 An. stephensi and 32 An. maculipennis adult mosquitoes and 15 An. stephensi and 7 An. maculipennis larvae were analyzed and 13 sequences of 16S rRNA gene bacterial species were retrieved, that were categorized in 3 classes and 8 families. The majority of the identified bacteria were belonged to the γ-proteobacteria class, including Pseudomonas sp. and Aeromonas sp. and the others were some closely related to those found in other vector mosquitoes, including Pantoea, Acinetobacter, Brevundimonas, Bacillus, Sphingomonas, Lysinibacillus and Rahnella. The 16S rRNA sequences in the current study aligned with the reference strains available in GenBank were used for construction of the phylogenetic tree that revealed the relatedness among the bacteria identified. The presented data strongly encourage further investigations, to verify the potential role of the detected bacteria for the malaria control in Iran and neighboring countries

Spondarthritis in the Triassic

Background: The evidence of several forms of arthritis has been well documented in the fossil record. However, for pre-Cenozoic vertebrates, especially regarding reptiles, this record is rather scarce. In this work we present a case report of spondarthritis found in a vertebral series that belonged to a carnivorous archosaurian reptile from the Lower Triassic (,245 million years old) of the South African Karoo. Methodology/Principal Findings: Neutron tomography confirmed macroscopic data, revealing the ossification of the entire intervertebral disc space (both annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus), which supports the diagnosis of spondarthritis. Conclusions/Significance: The presence of spondarthritis in the new specimen represents by far the earliest evidence of any form of arthritis in the fossil record. The present find is nearly 100 million years older than the previous oldest report of this pathology, based on a Late Jurassic dinosaur. Spondarthritis may have indirectly contributed to the death of the anima

CD34-related coexpression of MDR1 and BCRP indicates a clinically resistant phenotype in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) of older age

Clinical resistance to chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with the expression of the multidrug resistance (MDR) proteins P-glycoprotein, encoded by the MDR1/ABCB1 gene, multidrug resistant-related protein (MRP/ABCC1), the lung resistance-related protein (LRP), or major vault protein (MVP), and the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2). The clinical value of MDR1, MRP1, LRP/MVP, and BCRP messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was prospectively studied in 154 newly diagnosed AML patients ≥60 years who were treated in a multicenter, randomized phase 3 trial. Expression of MDR1 and BCRP showed a negative whereas MRP1 and LRP showed a positive correlation with high white blood cell count (respectively, p < 0.05, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). Higher BCRP mRNA was associated with secondary AML (p < 0.05). MDR1 and BCRP mRNA were highly significantly associated (p < 0.001), as were MRP1 and LRP mRNA (p < 0.001) expression. Univariate regression analyses revealed that CD34 expression, increasing MDR1 mRNA as well as MDR1/BCRP coexpression, were associated with a lower complete response (CR) rate and with worse event-free survival and overall survival. When adjusted for other prognostic actors, only CD34-related MDR1/BCRP coexpression remained significantly associated with a lower CR rate (p = 0.03), thereby identifying a clinically resistant subgroup of elderly AML patients