The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the late cretaceous of madagascar

A partial skeleton of a primitive bird, Rahona ostromi, gen. et sp. nov., has been discovered from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. This specimen, although exhibiting avian features such as a reversed hallux and ulnar papillae, retains characteristics that indicate a theropod ancestry, including a pubic foot and hyposphene-hypantra vertebral articulations. Rahona has a robust, hyperextendible second digit on the hind foot that terminates in a sicklelike claw, a unique characteristic of the theropod groups Troodontidae and Dromaeosauridae. A phylogenetic analysis places Rahona with Archaeopteryx, making Rahona one of the most primitive birds yet discovered.     

A long-snouted predatory dinosaur from africa and the evolution of spinosaurids

Fossils discovered in Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) rocks in the Tenere Desert of central Niger provide new information about spinosaurids, a peculiar group of piscivorous theropod dinosaurs. The remains, which represent a new genus and species, reveal the extreme elongation and transverse compression of the spinosaurid snout. The postcranial bones include blade-shaped vertebral spines that form a low sail over the hips. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the enlarged thumb claw and robust forelimb evolved during the Jurassic, before the elongated snout and other fish-eating adaptations in the skull. The close phylogenetic relationship between the new African spinosaurid and Baryonyx from Europe provides evidence of dispersal across the Tethys seaway during the Early Cretaceous.     

Unconditional quantum teleportation

Quantum teleportation of optical coherent states was demonstrated experimentally using squeezed-state entanglement. The quantum nature of the achieved teleportation was verified by the experimentally determined fidelity Fexp = 0.58 +/- 0.02, which describes the match between input and output states. A fidelity greater than 0.5 is not possible for coherent states without the use of entanglement. This is the first realization of unconditional quantum teleportation where every state entering the device is actually teleported.     

Thermodynamics of calcite growth: baseline for understanding biomineral formation

The complexity of biomineralized structures suggests the potential of organic constituents for controlling energetic factors during crystal synthesis. Atomic force microscopy was used to investigate the thermodynamic controls on carbonate growth and to measure the dependence of step speed on step length and the dependence of critical step length on supersaturation in precisely controlled solutions. These data were used to test the classic Gibbs-Thomson relationship and provided the step edge free energies and free energy barriers to one-dimension nucleation for calcite. Addition of aspartic acid, a common component in biomineralizing systems, dramatically affected growth morphology and altered the magnitude of the surface energy.     

Transmission from Seed to Seedling and Secondary Spread of Xanthomonas campestris pv. Campestris in Brassica Transplants: Effects of Dose and Watering Regime

The effects of inoculum load and watering regime on the transmission of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris from seed to seedlings of cauliflower were investigated. Seed, inoculated with different concentrations of bacteria, was sown in commercial module trays and subjected to four different watering regimes: high frequency overhead spray, low frequency overhead spray, high frequency capillary and low frequency capillary. Visible symptoms were recorded and leaf washings were carried out to detect the pathogen on symptomless plants. The effects of treatments on symptoms and on the proportion of contaminated but symptomless plants was similar. Initially, they were influenced only by the dose of bacteria with little difference between the watering regimes, but later the proportion of plants with symptoms was greater for plants subjected to overhead watering, due to spread and secondary infection. Generalised linear models were fitted to the data relating the proportion of symptomless contaminated plants or the proportion of plants with symptoms, p, to the mean dose of bacteria per seed, d, and the number of overhead waterings, noh. The equations were: p=1–exp(–0.014·d ^0.32·noh ^0.045) for symptomless contaminated/infected plants and p=1–exp(–0.0056·d ^0.44·noh ^0.014) for plants with symptoms. These models indicated that the one-hit probability for transmission of the pathogen (i.e. with/without visible symptoms) was 0.014 and for infection (i.e. with visible symptoms) was 0.0056.     

The characteristics of intestinal injury peripheral to strangulating obstruction lesions in the equine small intestine.

Recent studies suggest that horses requiring surgical correction of strangulating intestinal obstruction may develop post operative complications as a result of ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, the mucosal and serosal margins of resected small intestine from 9 horses with small intestinal strangulating lesions were examined for evidence of ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Severe mucosal injury and marked elevations in myeloperoxidase activity were detected at ileal resection margins (n = 4), whereas the mucosa from proximal jejunal (n = 9) and distal jejunal (n = 5) resection margins was normal. However, the serosa from jejunal resection margins had evidence of haemorrhage and oedema, and the proximal jejunal serosa had significantly increased numbers of neutrophils. Histological injury in ileal stumps is indicative of the inability fully to resect the ileum in horses with distal small intestinal strangulations. One of 4 horses subjected to ileal resection was subjected to euthanasia and found to have a necrotic ileal stump. Evidence of serosal injury and neutrophil infiltration in the proximal jejunal resection margins may predispose horses to post operative adhesions. Four of 8 horses discharged from the hospital suffered from recurrent colic in the post operative period.     

Effects of density and food ration on the growth rate, mortality and biomass return of abalone in slab tanks

We determined how varying stocking density and food ration can influence the growth, mortality and biomass return of abalone raised in slab tanks. The abalone used were 2- year-old hybrids of Haliotis laevigata and Haliotis rubra . The experimental design involved replicate tanks and three levels of each factor (normal practice and ±20% density or food ration). Although increasing density from that typically used in farm practices reduced the growth rate by roughly 6%, biomass return increased by 15.5%, over the 9-month period. Increasing feed ration by 20% boosted biomass by significantly increasing abalone growth during the first 3 months by 4%, but was less effective as the animals grew. Growth, mortality and food conversion ratios were optimized in tanks with a low density and a low feed ration, but economic gains were dominated by the increased biomass return from tanks with a higher stocking density. It is thought that reduced dissolved oxygen and differing access to food contributed to the patterns observed.