Ecological associations of autopodial osteology in Neotropical geckos

Coevolution of form and function inspires investigation of associations between morphological variation and the exploitation of specific ecological settings. Such relationships, based mostly on traits of external morphology, have been extensively described for vertebrates, and especially so for squamates. External features are, however, composed by both soft tissues and bones, and these likely play different biomechanical roles during locomotion, such as in the autopodia. Therefore, ecological trends identified on the basis of external morphological measurements may not be directly correlated with equivalent variation in osteology. Here, we investigate how refined parameters of autopodial osteology relate to ecology, by contrasting climbing and nonclimbing geckos. Our first step consisted of inferring how external and osteological morphometric traits coevolved in the group. Our results corroborate the hypothesis of coevolution between external and osteological elements in the autopodia of geckos, and provides evidence for associations between specific osteological traits and preferred locomotor habit. Specifically, nonclimbers exhibit longer ultimate and penultimate phalanges of Digit V in the manus and pes and also a longer fifth metatarsal in comparison with climbers, a pattern discussed here in the context of the differential demands made upon locomotion in specific ecological contexts. Our study highlights the relevance of osteological information for discussing the evolution of ecological associations of the tetrapod autopodium. J. Morphol. 278:290–299, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

刺激中缝背核压抑大鼠小脑浦肯野细胞对苔状和爬行纤维传入的反应

本文在麻醉并制动的大鼠上观察了中缝背核(DR)条件刺激对由苔状和爬行纤维传入引起的小脑浦肯野细胞(PC)诱发反应的影响。主要结果有:(1)刺激大脑皮层感觉运动区可以引起苔状和爬行纤维向对侧小脑皮层第Ⅵ和Ⅶ小叶的传入,因而在该小叶上记录到 PC 的诱发简单锋电位(SS)和复杂锋电位(CS)反应,潜伏期分别是8—25和12—30ms。(2)以不影响PC 自发 SS 和 CS 活动的阈下强度刺激 DR,可显著地压抑 PC 对于刺激感觉运动皮层引起的苔状和爬行纤维兴奋所产生的诱发 SS 和 CS 反应,这种压抑作用可持续数百毫秒。(3)DR条件刺激对 PC 的诱发 SS 和 CS 反应的压抑作用可以被静脉注射5-HT 受体阻断剂羟甲丙基甲基麦角酰胺所减弱或阻断。上述结果表明 DR 的5-HT 能纤维传入可以降低苔状和爬行纤维对 PC 的突触作用效力,抑或降低 PC 对突触传入的反应敏感性,提示中缝-小脑5-HT,能纤维传入系统参与了小脑某些重要的神经活动过程。     

一个人体运动的数学模型

本文采用L-E法和铰分解法研究了人体运动的数学模型问题,给出了一种人体运动的规范建模方法。该方法适用于多种拓扑结构形式的人体运动（如空翻、步行、滑行等）,所得方程具有适合于计算机程式求解的特点。     

Prevalence and upper limit of cardiac hypertrophy in professional cyclists

The term athlete's heart refers to an increased left ventricular mass. Few studies have assessed the prevalence and normal upper limit of cardiac hypertrophy in highly trained cyclists and this was the aim of this study. A group of 40 professional road cyclists [mean age 26 (SD 3) years] who had participated in European competitions for 3–10 years, were evaluated at the beginning of the 1992–93 season. Evaluation included a clinical history and physical examination, one and two-dimensional echocardiography, 12-lead resting electrocardiogram and a graded exercise test. Determination of the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was performed using Devereux's formula with correction for the body surface area. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured at rest and at peak exercise. Of the group 23 cyclists (58%) presented a LVMI greater than 130 g · m^–2, 21 cyclists presented a diastolic ventricular thickness equal to or greater than 13 mm, with a superior limit of 19 mm; 3 cyclists presented asymmetrical septum hypertrophy; and the relationship between posterior wall and left ventricular diastolic radius was equal to or greater than 0.45 in 14 cases (35%). Electrocardiographic abnormalities of ST-T segment were seen in only 1 subject. No correlation was found between the degree of ventricular hypertrophy and arterial blood pressure. We concluded that these professional cyclists showed a high prevalence of cardiac hypertrophy (58%). The distribution of this hypertrophy was concentric in 20/33 and asymmetric in 3/23 of the subjects with left ventricular hypertrophy. The electrocardiograms were normal in 98% of the subjects.     

Origin of bipedalism

Human and chimpanzee locomotor behaviors are described and compared using field patterns derived from measurements of the motions at the joints. Field patterns of human and ape bipedalism are so different that it is doubted whether the nonhuman type could ever have been a precursor of the human type. Chimpanzee quadrupedal vertical climbing and human bipedalism are, on the other hand, similar and a particular variety of this kind of climbing probably was the precursor of human bipedalism. Animals adapted to this variation would have had some brachiation-like morphological traits in their pectoral limbs and some hominid-like morphological traits in their pelvic limbs, traits anticipating the human condition. The australopithecines possessed these traits and must have been adapted to arboreal quadrupedal vertical climbing, having the capacity, at the same time, to perform facultative terrestrial bipedalism, moving on the ground in a manner visually identical to that of humans.     

Declining track and field performance trends in recent years in the Austrian best results 1897-2019

Objectives:Plateauing of world records in sports has been suggested to reflect the limits of human physiology. Possible explanations include reduced doping or declining popularity that may even lead to a decrease in human performance. Such a decrease, however, has not yet been observed. We hypothesized that rather than a performance plateau, performance has recently declined.Methods:Fifteen athletic disciplines of the Austrian annual rankings were analyzed by regression statistics and the average best performance of the last 20 years compared to earlier periods.Results:The best performances occurred between 1980–1999 and were on average 2.56% (men) and 1.67% (women) better than between 2000–2019. This attenuation was significant in men in 200 m, 800 m, 1500 m, 10 km, long jump, javelin throw (p<0.05), high jump, pole vault, discus throw, shot put and hammer throw (p<0.001); and in women in 400 m, long jump, discus throw (p<0.05) and high jump (p<0.001). The greatest performance declines were observed in the men’s shot put (9.11%) and hammer throw (11.44%).Conclusions:The Austrian track and field annual best results show a performance decline following a peak, instead of a plateau. Future studies should address the causes and whether this also applies to other sports and countries.     

A large-scale inventory of liana diversity in tropical forests of South Eastern Ghats,India

Among the plant life-forms, lianas, the wood climbers still remain less studied than trees. The forests of Eastern Ghats of India are also relatively under studied compared with the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. We conducted a large-scale, landscape-level investigation of liana diversity in six hill complexes of the South Eastern Ghats, which covers 4297 km². We divided the study area into 6.25 km × 6.25 km grids and within each grid a 0.5 ha (5 m × 1000 m) transect was established and all lianas ≥1.5 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) were inventoried in 110 transects totalling a 55-ha area. Liana diversity totalled 143 species in 83 genera and 37 families in the 55 ha sampled. Of these 20 species (28.6%) were endemic to peninsular India and 7 (10%) species belonged to the rare and endangered category. Liana species richness ranged from 8–35 species and density 95–544 individuals per transect. A total of 32 033 liana individuals were enumerated in the 55 ha and the mean abundance was 291 individuals per transect. Across sites, liana abundance varied significantly, but not species richness and basal area. Asclepiadaceae (13 species, 9%) and Apocynaceae (11 species, 8%) constituted the most diverse liana families, followed by Papilionaceae, Vitaceae (10 each, 7%), Convolvulaceae, Mimosaceae, Oleaceae (8 each, 6%), Capparaceae, Rhamnaceae (7 each, 5%) and Menispermaceae (5 species, 3%). In liana stem size distribution, the lowest diameter class (1.5–3 cm dbh) accounted for greatest species richness (137 species, 96%), abundance (27 358 individuals, 85%) and basal area (13.5 m², 36%). The stem twiners were the predominant climber type in terms of species richness (61 species, 42.65%), whereas the armed scramblers were abundant due to stem density (21 571 individuals, 67.34%). The dispersal modes of lianas, assessed by fruit types, revealed zoochory as the prevalent mode (85 species, 59%) indicating the faunal dependence of lianas in the Eastern Ghats landscape. Liana diversity of the Eastern Ghats was compared with inventories made across the tropics. With these baseline data generated on lianas, the importance of biodiversity conservation of the already fragmented South Eastern Ghats region is underlined and potential areas of further research on liana ecology are suggested.     

Arab football in Israel as an 'integrative enclave'

Over the last two decades, football (soccer) has become a major institution within the popular culture of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. The centrality of football has given different identity agents opportunities to impose different meanings on the sport, depending on the agents' definitions of collective identity. This article utilizes ethnographic observation in the football stadium and coverage by Arab and Hebrew sports media to illustrate and analyse this battle over meaning. The Hebrew sports media, the Arab sports press, and the Arab audience are three different agents that attach divergent meanings to the notable presence of Arab players in the Israeli football leagues. The article argues that the overlapping interests of the Hebrew sports media on the one hand and the Arab football fans, players, and bureaucrats on the other lead to the construction of the football sphere as an integrative enclave in the general Israeli public sphere. The article considers the relevance of Gramsci's theory of hegemony to explain the production of the integrative meaning of football, and it suggests integrating this explanation with other recent theories regarding the tensions between different discourses of citizenship.     

A Biomimetic Climbing Robot Based on the Gecko

1 Introduction The locomotion, sensing, navigation, and adapta- tion capabilities in animals have long inspired humans to emulate them in robots. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential of climbing robots for both ter- restrial and extra-terrestrial explorations. Robots similar to their biological counterparts require extensive sys- tems for power, locomotion, and actuation, with com- putation, sensing, and autonomy. From animal research and current technologies, the possibili…