Dentition of a 48,XYY,+21 male

Summary Although the dentition of a 48,XYY,+21 male showed some typical features of Down's syndrome, metric analysis indicated a marked increase in tooth size particularly for early developing teeth. The extra Y chromosome can influence phenotypic expression, overcoming the superimposed effects of the additional 21 chromosome.     

Studies on the freshwater algae of the Sudan II. The distribution of the bacillariophyceae of Wadi Galol,Jebel Marra

The diatom flora of a district in Jebel Marra, Sudan, has been qualitatively analysed. The periphyton is related to the type of substratum with which the various diatoms associated. Certain diatoms were found to be restricted to one habitat, while others were common to more than one. All species recorded belong to the Pennales. Comparison with regions in the Southern and Northern hemisphere is made.     

New fish fossils from the Pliocene of Wadi Natrun, Egypt

New material from the Pliocene fish beds of Wadi Natrun, Egypt, is described, including a new species of Alestes (Characidae). A total of 15 freshwater and at least four marine genera are now known from the site. This fauna is reviewed with particular regard to the fossil history and zoogeographical relationships of its component taxa.     

Intentional cutmarks on an early mesolithic human calvaria from Margaux Cave (Dinant,Belgium)

Margaux Cave (Belgium) yielded a Pre‐Boreal Early Mesolithic burial covered by what resembled a burial mound. The hundreds of human bones excavated belonged to 7 to 10 adult females. Among these bones, the CR3 cranium presents numerous cutmarks on both zygomatic processes, on the frontal squama and along the two coronal sutures, as well as on the left part of the posterior cranium. The cutmarks on the zygomatic processes correspond to the removal of the mandible while those on the top of the forehead and the occipital may result from the removal of the scalp. Therefore, these cutmarks may be interpreted as part of a mortuary ritual. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Heliorestis convoluta sp. nov., a coiled, alkaliphilic heliobacterium from the Wadi El Natroun, Egypt

A morphologically distinct heliobacterium, strain HH, was isolated from Lake El Hamra, a soda lake in the Wadi El Natroun region of northwest Egypt. Strain HH consisted of ring-shaped cells that remained attached after cell division to yield coils of various lengths. Strain HH showed several of the physiological properties of known heliobacteria and grouped in the Heliorestis clade by virtue of its phylogeny and alkaliphily. The closest relative of strain HH was the filamentous alkaliphilic heliobacterium Heliorestis daurensis. However, genomic DNA:DNA hybridization results clearly indicated that strain HH was a distinct species of Heliorestis. Based on its unique phenotypic and genetic properties we describe strain HH here as a new species of the genus Heliorestis, H. convoluta sp. nov.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Norbert Pfennig on the occasion of his 80th birthday.     

Mycetoma in the Sudan: An Update from the Mycetoma Research Centre,University of Khartoum,Sudan

This communication reports on the Mycetoma Research Centre of the University of Khartoum, Sudan experience on 6,792 patients seen during the period 1991–2014.The patients were predominately young (64% under 30 years old) males (76%). The majority (68%) were from the Sudan mycetoma belt and 28% were students. Madurella mycetomatis eumycetoma was the most common type (70%). In 66% of the patients the duration of the disease was less than five years, and 81% gave a history of sinuses discharging mostly black grains (78%). History of trauma at the mycetoma site was reported in 20%. Local pain was reported in 27% of the patients, and only 12% had a family history of mycetoma. The study showed that 57% of the patients had previous surgical excisions and recurrence, and only 4% received previous medical treatment for mycetoma. Other concomitant medical diseases were reported in 4% of the patients. The foot (76%) and hand (8%) were the most commonly affected sites. Less frequently affected sites were the leg and knee (7%), thigh (2%), buttock (2%) and arm and forearm (1%). Rare sites included the chest wall, head and neck, back, abdominal wall, perineum, oral cavity, tongue and eye. Multiple sites mycetoma was recorded in 135 (2%) of cases. At presentation, 37% of patients had massive lesions, 79% had sinuses, 8% had local hyper-hydrosis at the mycetoma lesion, 11% had regional lymphadenopathy, while 6% had dilated tortuous veins proximal to the mycetoma lesions. The diagnosis of mycetoma was established by combined imaging techniques and cytological, histopathological, serological tests and grain culture. Patients with actinomycetoma received a combination of antimicrobial agents, while eumycetoma patients received antifungal agents combined with various surgical excisions. Surgical excisions in the form of wide local excision, debridement or amputation were done in 807 patients, and of them 248 patients (30.7%) had postoperative recurrence. Different types of amputations were done in 120 patients (1.7%).     

First record of the family Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) in the Cretaceous of Gondwana (Wadi Milk Formation,northern Sudan)

The Cenomanian Wadi Milk Formation in Sudan yielded a rich continental vertebrate fauna. Apart from big theropod fragments, some disarticulated elements of a pes and a tooth indicate the presence of a dromaeosaurid theropod in the Late Cretaceous of Sudan. This is the first record of this theropod family from Gondwanian continents.     

Vegetation analysis of Wadi Al-Jufair,a hyper-arid region in Najd,Saudi Arabia

Wadi Al-Jufair, a tributary of Wadi Nisah, is one of the important wadis of Najd region (Saudi Arabia) sheltering a rich diversity of higher plants. The study area is extended into approximately 15 km² encompassing the commonest geomorphological features encountered in desert wadis. The wadi supports several rare plants, including Maerua crassifolia Forssk., a regionally endangered tree, and Acacia oerfota (Forssk.) Schweinf., a rare shrub with restricted distribution. The present study aims to analyze the vegetation of wadi Al-Jufair and propose its designation as an important plant reserve. The vegetation type is fundamentally of chamaephytic nature with some phanerophytes, and distinguished into associations where the dominant perennial species give the permanent character of plant cover in each habitat. Four vegetation groups were identified with the application of TWINSPAN, DCA and CCA programs and named after the characteristic species as follows: Lycium shawii; A. oerfota; Acacia raddiana–Rhazya stricta and Artemisia monosperma. These plant associations demonstrate significant variation in soil texture, moisture, organic matter, pH, EC, and minerals of Wadi Al-Jufair.     

Dentition and Jaw of Kokopellia juddi, a Primitive Marsupial or Near-Marsupial from the Medial Cretaceous of Utah

We add to the knowledge of the dentition and lower jaw of the primitive marsupial or near marsupial, Kokopellia juddi, based on newly collected materials from the medial Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) of central Utah. The dental formula, i4 c1 p3 m4, is primitive for (or with respect to) Marsupialia, as are a number of features of the dentary and dentition: presence of a labial mandibular foramen, ?an inflected angle, ?and a trace of the meckelian groove; lack of “staggering” of the lower incisor series; lack of “twinning” between entoconid and hypoconulid on lower molars; incompletely lingual position of lower molar paraconid; upper molar protocone relatively small and mesiodistally narrow; and conules placed about halfway between the protocone and the paracone–metacone. Other than the stylocone, cusps are lacking from the stylar shelf; we argue that this represents the primitive marsupial condition based on the economy of character change and the stratigraphic record of marsupials in the Cretaceous of North America. Recent discoveries of early marsupials, eutherians, and therians of metatherian–eutherian grade provide data indicating that some derived features of the dentary and dentition (e.g., loss of coronoid, meckelian groove, and labial mandibular foramen; acquisition of strong, “winged” conules, double rank postvallum/prevallid shearing, and stylar cusp D) probably arose independently, in some cases more than once, among the major groups of tribosphenic mammals. In turn, this suggests that a common ancestor for marsupials and placentals was more primitive than has generally been appreciated.     

Characterization of Microbial Mats from a Desert Wadi Ecosystem in the Sultanate of Oman

Desert wadis are widespread in the Arabian Peninsula and play a vital role in the ecology of the region; nevertheless, these ecosystems are among the least studied. Various types of microbial mats are predominant in wadis, but information on their bacterial diversity and spatial distribution is very scarce. We investigated bacterial diversity, pigments and lipid composition of ten mats located at the down-, mid- and upstream of a desert wadi in Oman. Direct microscopy revealed the existence of different unicellular and filamentous cyanobacteria, with the dominance of the heterocystous genera Calothrix and Scytonema. The majority of MiSeq 16S rRNA sequences (44-76%) were affiliated to Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria. While Alphaproteobacteria was the most dominant proteobacterial class (10 to 48% of total sequences), Gamma- and Deltaproteobacteria were subdominant. Cluster analysis showed that the mats’ bacterial communities at the different locations along the wadi were different and shared less than 60% of their operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Chlorophyll a and scytonemin were the most predominant pigments in all mats. Different saturated, branched and mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids were detected in all mats, with C₁₆ and C₁₈ compounds as most dominant. The detected pigments and fatty acids indicate a major role of cyanobacteria in the wadi mats and the adaptation of microorganisms therein to the harsh wadi environment. Detection of diadinoxanthin and fucoxanthin confirmed the presence of diatoms. We conclude that microbial mats are important elements in wadi ecosystems and exist in a great variety of structure and community composition.     

Dentition and histology in titanosaurian dinosaur embryos from Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia,Argentina

Abstract: Exceptionally preserved sauropod embryos from the Late Cretaceous Anacleto Formation in Auca Mahuevo (Neuquén Province, Argentina) have provided fundamental information on titanosaurian ontogeny. This paper describes the dental composition, disposition and microstructure of the specimens. Embryonic teeth show size disparity, with lengths that vary from 1 to 3 mm and diameters ranging from 0.15 to 0.26 mm, with the most frequent length values between 2.5 and 3 mm. Apparently, a typical ‘pencil‐like’ tooth morphology and a dental formula of Pm 4, M 7–8/D10? remained constant during titanosaurian ontogeny, whereas the arrangement of teeth in the skull shows notable ontogenetic changes. Absence of wear facets on teeth suggests a lack of prenatal chewing movements. The enamel proportion is significantly higher in embryos than in mature titanosaurs, which suggests that this relationship varies during ontogeny. Embryonic bony tissue is composed of highly vascularized, cellular woven bone. The absence of osteonal tissue, the high degree of vascularization, the presence of numerous osteocytes and poor development of periosteal bone reveals that the Auca Mahuevo titanosaurs would have had a high early growth rate and that they were buried at a relatively advanced embryonic stage.     

Dentition Anomalies in Nesophontidae (Lipotyphla,Mammalia) from the Pleistocene of Cuba

Doklady Biological Sciences - The study of the remains of Nesophontes micrus Allen, 1917 and N. major Arredondo, 1970 from El Abrón Cave (Republic of Cuba, Pinar del Río...     

Checklist of Wadi Hassan flora,Northeastern Badia,Jordan

In this study, we survey the plant diversity of Wadi Hassan, which is located in the Northeastern Badia of Jordan, about 120 km east of Amman. All plant species were collected and herbarium specimens have been prepared, identified and deposited at the University of Jordan herbarium(Department of Biology,Faculty of Science). The final plant checklist includes 206 species belonging to 138 genera and 35 families.The most diverse families are Compositae(20.5%), Cruciferae(10.2%), Leguminosae(8.3%) and Boraginaceae(6.8%), followed by Caryophyllaceae and Gramineae(5.4%). These six families represent 60% of the total families recognized in the study area, while nine families each are represented by only one species. Most plants recorded are annual plants(61%), some plants are hemicryptophtes(18%) and camaephytes(15%), while the least frequent life form class was the phanerophyte shrub and perennial(0.5%). Chorological characteristics of the recorded flora show that Saharo-Arabian Region elements, IranoTuranian elements and Mediterranean elements constitute(58%) of the total flora. This research shows that even small portion of the Jordan Badia such as the Wadi Hassan plant community has high species diversity. Thus, we recommended further of the unexplored Wadi plants communities of the Jordan Badia.     

A holocene pollen diagram from El Atrun,northern Sudan

Palynological investigations on a 3.36 m core from El Atrun, Nubia, show vegetation development and climatic change during a period from approximately 9800 to 7000 uncal B.P. From a dry period with a steppe-like vegetation at about 9800-9500 B.P. (zone A), a change to a period with a more favourable climate and a tree covered savanna-like vegetation can be observed in zone B (about 9500-8900 B.P.). In zone C (8900-8400 B.P.), a climatic setback is indicated, with spreading of steppe vegetation and an increase in swamp vegetation as a result of a low lake level. For zone D (about 8400-7000 B.P.), renewed spreading of wooded savanna is inferred.