A new OH5 reconstruction with an assessment of its uncertainty

The OH5 cranium, holotype of Paranthropus boisei consists of two main portions that do not fit together: the extensively reconstructed face and a portion of the neurocranium. A physical reconstruction of the cranium was carried out by Tobias in 1967, who did not discuss problems related to deformation, although he noted a slight functional asymmetry. Nevertheless, the reconstructed cranium shows some anomalies, mainly due to the right skewed position of the upper calvariofacial fragment and uncertainty of the relative position of the neurocranium to the face, which hamper further quantitative analysis of OH5′s cranial geometry. Here, we present a complete virtual reconstruction of OH5, using three-dimensional (3D) digital data, geometric morphometric (GM) methods and computer-aided design (CAD) techniques. Starting from a CT scan of Tobias’s reconstruction, a semi-automatic segmentation method was used to remove Tobias’s plaster. The upper calvariofacial fragment was separated from the lower facial fragment and re-aligned using superposition of their independent midsagittal planes in a range of feasible positions. The missing parts of the right hemiface were reconstructed using non-uniform rational basis-spline (NURBS) surface and subsequently mirrored using the midsagittal plane to arrive at a symmetrical facial reconstruction. A symmetric neurocranium was obtained as the average of the original shape and its mirrored version. The alignment between the two symmetric shapes (face and neurocranium) used their independent midsagittal plane and a reference shape (KNM-ER 406) to highly reduce their degrees of freedom. From the series of alternative reconstructions, we selected the middle of this rather small feasible range. When reconstructed as a range in this way, the whole cranial form of this unique specimen can be further quantified by comparative coordinate-based methods such as GM or can be used for finite element modeling (FEM) explorations of hypotheses about the mechanics of early hominin feeding and diets.     

Femoral curvature in Neanderthals and modern humans: a 3D geometric morphometric analysis

Since their discovery, Neanderthals have been described as having a marked degree of anteroposterior curvature of the femoral shaft. Although initially believed to be pathological, subsequent discoveries of Neanderthal remains lead femoral curvature to be considered as a derived Neanderthal feature. A recent study on Neanderthals and middle and early Upper Palaeolithic modern humans found no differences in femoral curvature, but did not consider size-corrected curvature. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to use 3D morphometric landmark and semi-landmark analysis to quantify relative femoral curvature in Neanderthals, Upper Palaeolithic and recent modern humans, and to compare adult bone curvature as part of the overall femoral morphology among these populations.Comparisons among populations were made using geometric morphometrics (3D landmarks) and standard multivariate methods. Comparative material involved all available complete femora from Neanderthal and Upper Palaeolithic modern human, archaeological (Mesolithic, Neolithic, Medieval) and recent human populations representing a wide geographical and lifestyle range. There are significant differences in the anatomy of the femur between Neanderthals and modern humans. Neanderthals have more curved femora than modern humans. Early modern humans are most similar to recent modern humans in their anatomy. Femoral curvature is a good indicator of activity level and habitual loading of the lower limb, indicating higher activity levels in Neanderthals than modern humans. These differences contradict robusticity studies and the archaeological record, and would suggest that femoral morphology, and curvature in particular, in Neanderthals may not be explained by adult behavior alone and could be the result of genetic drift, natural selection or differences in behavior during ontogeny.     

Shape and size variation on the wing of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila mediopunctata</Emphasis>: influence of chromosome inversions and genotype-environment interaction

The second chromosome of Drosophila mediopunctata is highly polymorphic for inversions. Previous work reported a significant interaction between these inversions and collecting date on wing size, suggesting the presence of genotype-environment interaction. We performed experiments in the laboratory to test for the joint effects of temperature and chromosome inversions on size and shape of the wing in D. mediopunctata. Size was measured as the centroid size, and shape was analyzed using the generalized least squares Procrustes superimposition followed by discriminant analysis and canonical variates analysis of partial warps and uniform components scores. Our findings show that wing size and shape are influenced by temperature, sex, and karyotype. We also found evidence suggestive of an interaction between the effects of karyotype and temperature on wing shape, indicating the existence of genotype-environment interaction for this trait in D. mediopunctata. In addition, the association between wing size and chromosome inversions is in agreement with previous results indicating that these inversions might be accumulating alleles adapted to different temperatures. However, no significant interaction between temperature and karyotype for size was found--in spite of the significant presence of temperature-genotype (cross) interaction. We suggest that other ecological factors--such as larval crowding--or seasonal variation of genetic content within inversions may explain the previous results.     

Using Lewis acidity differences in chelating ligands to control molecular structure and supramolecular assembly of Cu(II) complexes

The electronic effects of the fluorine atoms in hfacac (hexafluoroacetylacetonato) compared with acac (acetylacetonato) in Cu(II) complexes are used to control the molecular and supramolecular structure of Cu(II) compounds. While bis(acac)Cu(II) (acac = acetylacetonato) is known to be able to have a fifth-position coordination, bis(hfacac)Cu(II), (hfacac = hexafluoroacetylacetonato) may have two extra ligands. This, together with the reliable “supramolecular reagent” isonicotinamide, as the additional ligand, are used to go from a zero-dimension structure, with Cu-acac, to an extended supramolecular two-dimension network, with Cu-hfacac. The molecular and crystal structure of bis(acetylacetonato-O,O′)-(isonicotinamide-N) copper(II), 1, and bis(hexafluoroacetylacetonato-O,O′)-trans-bis(isonicotinamide-N) copper(II), 2, are reported.     

基于几何形态测量学的磷酸三(1,3-二氯-2-丙基)酯对鲢仔鱼形态影响研究

为了解磷酸三(1,3-二氯-2-丙基)酯(TDCIPP)对鲢仔鱼生长抑制性在外部形态上的表现性状,研究基于几何形态测量学方法对0.05、0.5、5和50μg/L共4个浓度组与对照组进行组间形态性状差异比较分析。利用PLYMPLUS系统获取鲢仔鱼样本图像信息并测量体长,利用万分电子天平称量体重,使用TPS系列软件提取坐标点数据,并通过Morpho J软件完成主成分分析、典型变量分析及结果可视化。除0.05μg/L浓度组外,其他浓度组鲢仔鱼的体长、体重均显著低于对照组,表明TDCIPP对鲢仔鱼的生长发育具有抑制效应。主成分分析和典型变量分析结果显示,第一主成分(PC1)和第二主成分(PC2)共占总体变量的62.15%(分别为47.64%和14.51%);第一典型变量(CV1)和第二典型变量(CV2)共占总体变量的79.48%(分别为54.55%和24.93%),满足用于鲢仔鱼形态分析的要求。网格轮廓分析结果显示,各浓度组鲢仔鱼平均形态均与对照组间存在显著差异(P<0.05),并且主要表现为头部、躯干纵轴和尾部发育迟缓。     

国产重组酵母乙型肝炎疫苗接种小学生的3年免疫效果观察

本文报告对２５８ 名小学生应用０、１、６ 月程序,接种２ 批国产酵母疫苗（５ μｇ／０．５ ｍ ｌ）,１ 批Ａｍ ｇｅｎ 酵母疫苗（１０ μｇ／ｍ ｌ）,１ 批Ｍ ＳＤ 酵母疫苗（５ μｇ／０．５ ｍ ｌ）的小学生免后３ 年（（Ｔ３６）效果观察。结果表明,Ｔ３６ 时抗体 ＧＭＴ（几何平均滴度）,Ａｍ ｇｅｎ 疫苗组（１４５．７５）显著高于 ２ 批国产疫苗（９２．１１、８３．５２）和Ｍ．Ｓ．Ｄ 苗组（７４．６２）,抗体ＧＭＴ 峰值显著低于Ａｍ ｇｅｎ 和Ｍ ．Ｓ．Ｄ 苗的２ 批国产酵母疫苗,与Ｍ．Ｓ．Ｄ 苗抗体ＧＭＴ 水平无显著差异（Ｐ＞ ０．０５）。抗体阳转率间各疫苗组均无显著差异（９３．１０％ ～７４．１４％ ）。本次随访结果表明,采用０,１,６ 免疫程序,国产酵母疫苗免后３ 年的抗体阳转率和抗体ＧＭＴ水平不低于进口同类酵母疫苗的水平。