The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is now celebrated as one of the most important Gothic revival buildings of the nineteenth century. It is also a temple of science. Built ...between 1855 and 1860, the design of the museum building incorporated input from artists, scientists and cultural figures such as the writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath John Ruskin. The aim of the museum's founders was to teach science—and that the museum building itself should serve as a teaching tool. Geology played a key role in achieving this.
ZC4H2-associated rare disorder (ZARD) is caused by pathogenic variations in the ZC4H2 gene on the X chromosome. This gene codes for a zinc finger protein involved in neural development. ZARD is ...characterized by highly variable symptoms, potentially influenced by the sex of the individual.
The ZC4H2-Associated Rare Disorder Natural History Study is a prospective natural history study conducted among individuals with ZARD that consists of standardized interviews, developmental assessments, and neurological examinations conducted every six months for two years. In this article, we present data from baseline visits with 40 participants, the largest ZARD cohort studied thus far, focusing on genotype-phenotype correlations and sex differences. Fisher exact, maximum likelihood χ2, and Mann-Whitney tests were utilized.
Males tended to have maternally inherited ZC4H2 pathogenic variations, whereas females tended to have de novo variations (P < 0.001). Female participants were more likely to have contractures at birth (P < 0.01), arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (P < 0.001), spasticity on examination (P < 0.1), and lower limb muscle atrophy (P < 0.05). Male participants were more likely to have seizures (P < 0.1), intermittent pain (P < 0.01), severe vision impairment (P < 0.05), dysphagia for solids (P < 0.01), and generalized muscle atrophy (P < 0.05).
Our study suggests there is significant overlap in severity and range of symptoms between males and females, although several symptoms are more common in one sex than the other. Further analysis is needed to better understand how pathogenic variation type affects phenotype.
Japanese asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 arrived at C-type asteroid 162,173 Ryugu in June 2018. The laser altimeter (LIDAR) onboard Hayabusa2 measured its own transmitted laser and returned pulse ...intensities from a Ryugu surface until November 2019. Because the Ryugu surface is extremely rough, topography dominates over the material properties in the conventional derivation of normal albedo. Thus, we developed a method to retrieve the normal albedo from the rough surface of a C-type asteroid at a LIDAR laser wavelength of 1.064 mum. The albedo map covering an equatorial band between - 40° and + 20° in latitude was created with 3°-by-3° resolution using the intensity data obtained before the conjunction of the spacecraft with the Sun. The average of the normal albedo is 0.0405 Formula omitted 0.0027, whereas approximately half of the 3°-by-3° grids are between 0.04 and 0.045. The low and uniform normal albedo feature is common to other remote-sensing observations of Ryugu by visible and near-infrared cameras onboard Hayabusa2.
Pachycetus paulsonii, Pachycetus wardii, and Antaecetus aithai are middle Eocene archaeocete whales found in Europe, North America, and Africa, respectively. The three are placed in the new ...basilosaurid subfamily Pachycetinae. Antaecetus is a new genus known from Egypt and Morocco, and the only pachycetine known from a substantial postcranial skeleton. The skull of A. aithai described here resembles that of Saghacetus osiris in size, but lacks the narrowly constricted rostrum of Saghacetus. Antaecetus is smaller than Pachycetus and its teeth are more gracile. Upper premolars differ in having two rather than three accessory cusps flanking the principal cusp. Pachycetines differ from dorudontines in having elongated posterior thoracic and lumbar vertebrae like those of Basilosaurus, but differ from basilosaurines and from dorudontines in having conspicuously pachyosteosclerotic vertebrae with dense and thickly laminated cortical bone surrounding a cancellous core. Pachycetinae are also distinctive in having transverse processes on lumbar vertebrae nearly as long anteroposteriorly as the corresponding centrum. We infer from their pachyosteosclerotic vertebrae that pachycetines were probably sirenian-like slow swimmers living in shallow coastal seas and feeding on passing fish and mobile invertebrates.
PDF
![Derivation of 1.064 [mu]m n...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/1343-8832/small "Derivation of 1.064 [mu]m normal albedos on the C-type asteroid Ryugu from laser pulse intensity measurement of the Hayabusa2 LIDAR")
