The femora of Drepanosauromorpha (Reptilia: Diapsida): Implications for the functional evolution of the thigh of Sauropsida.

The femora of diapsids have undergone morphological changes related to shifts in postural and locomotor modes, such as the transition from plesiomorphic amniote and diapsid taxa to the apomorphic conditions related to a more erect posture within Archosauriformes. One remarkable clade of Triassic diapsids is the chameleon-like Drepanosauromorpha. This group is known from numerous articulated but heavily compressed skeletons that have the potential to further inform early reptile femoral evolution.

Osteology, relationships and functional morphology of (Diapsida, Weigeltisauridae) based on a complete skeleton from the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany.

Background: Weigeltisauridae is a clade of small-bodied diapsids characterized by a horned cranial frill, slender trunk and limbs, and a patagium supported by elongated bony rods. Partial skeletons and fragments are definitively known only from upper Permian (Lopingian) rocks in England, Germany, Madagascar and Russia. Despite these discoveries, there have been few detailed descriptions of weigeltisaurid skeletons, and the homologies of many skeletal elements-especially the rods supporting the patagium-remain the subject of controversy.

Personal protective equipment.

The development of knowledge and skill in infection control has become an important priority for many areas of our healthcare system, including general practice.

Prosecutorial Response to Nonfatal Strangulation in Domestic Violence Cases.

Recent research has pointed to the need for systematic law enforcement training on domestic violence when nonfatal strangulation is involved to improve evidence-based prosecution of these potentially deadly assaults; however, virtually no research has examined the legal response to nonfatal strangulation since many states have made it a separate criminal felony. The current exploratory study examines filing, charging, and adjudication decisions of nonfatal strangulation cases over a 3-year period based on evidence documentation in law enforcement reports to explore how these cases are handled by the criminal justice system in Brevard County, Florida. Results support previous research showing the importance of training police officers and other personnel as insufficient evidence may be one possible factor limiting the prosecutors' ability to successfully prosecute domestic violence strangulation offenders to the highest extent available under the law.

Mandatory Reporting of Domestic Violence: What Do Abuse Survivors Think and What Variables Influence Those Opinions?

For decades, states have passed legislation to mandate reporting of criminal conduct and the abuse of vulnerable persons. Four types of mandatory reporting laws have been enacted, including laws that require reports of injuries associated with crime or due to use of certain weapons, abuse of children, abuse of vulnerable adults, and reporting of domestic violence. While studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mandatory reporting laws in domestic violence cases, methodological weaknesses in this body of literature make it difficult to make broad statements about whether mandatory reporting laws advance women's protection or actually place them at additional risk.

A tiny Triassic saurian from Connecticut and the early evolution of the diapsid feeding apparatus.

Following the Permo-Triassic Extinction, large-bodied diapsid reptiles-with a body length >1 m-rapidly expanded their ecological roles. This diversification is reflected in enormous disparity in the development of the rostrum and adductor chamber. However, it is unclear how marked the diversity of the feeding apparatus was in contemporary small-bodied diapsids.

The skull roof tracks the brain during the evolution and development of reptiles including birds.

Major transformations in brain size and proportions, such as the enlargement of the brain during the evolution of birds, are accompanied by profound modifications to the skull roof. However, the hypothesis of concerted evolution of shape between brain and skull roof over major phylogenetic transitions, and in particular of an ontogenetic relationship between specific regions of the brain and the skull roof, has never been formally tested. We performed 3D morphometric analyses to examine the deep history of brain and skull-roof morphology in Reptilia, focusing on changes during the well-documented transition from early reptiles through archosauromorphs, including nonavian dinosaurs, to birds.

A bird-like skull in a Triassic diapsid reptile increases heterogeneity of the morphological and phylogenetic radiation of Diapsida.

The Triassic Period saw the first appearance of numerous amniote lineages (e.g. Lepidosauria, Archosauria, Mammalia) that defined Mesozoic ecosystems following the end Permian Mass Extinction, as well as the first major morphological diversification of crown-group reptiles.

Identification of Nonfatal Strangulation by 911 Dispatchers: Suggestions for Advances Toward Evidence-Based Prosecution.

Research highlights the need for systematic law enforcement training on nonfatal strangulation in domestic violence situations to improve evidence-based prosecution of these violent felonies. However, most of this research focuses on the role of police officers in the safety response. Although often overlooked, this research examines the role of 911 dispatchers, who are many times the first person the victim calls for assistance.

Empirical and Bayesian approaches to fossil-only divergence times: A study across three reptile clades.

Estimating divergence times on phylogenies is critical in paleontological and neontological studies. Chronostratigraphically-constrained fossils are the only direct evidence of absolute timing of species divergence. Strict temporal calibration of fossil-only phylogenies provides minimum divergence estimates, and various methods have been proposed to estimate divergences beyond these minimum values.

Extreme Modification of the Tetrapod Forelimb in a Triassic Diapsid Reptile.

The tetrapod forelimb is one of the most versatile structures in vertebrate evolution, having been co-opted for an enormous array of functions. However, the structural relationships between the bones of the forelimb have remained largely unchanged throughout the 375 million year history of Tetrapoda, with a radius and ulna made up of elongate, paralleling shafts contacting a series of shorter carpal bones. These features are consistent across nearly all known tetrapods, suggesting that the morphospace encompassed by these taxa is limited by some sort of constraint(s).

How to Make a Bird Skull: Major Transitions in the Evolution of the Avian Cranium, Paedomorphosis, and the Beak as a Surrogate Hand.

The avian skull is distinctive in its construction and in its function. Much of bird anatomical variety is expressed in the beak; but the beak itself, largely formed of the premaxillary bone, is set upon a shortened face and a bulbous, enlarged braincase. Here, we use original anatomical observations and reconstructions to describe the overall form of the avian skull in a larger context and to provide a general account of the evolutionary transformation from the early dinosaur skull-the skull of an archosaurian macropredator-to that of modern birds.

Nonfatal Strangulation as Part of Domestic Violence: A Review of Research.

This article reviews recent scholarship around the issue of nonfatal strangulation in cases of domestic violence. In the mid-1990s, the San Diego City Attorney's Office began a systematic study of attempted strangulation among 300 domestic violence cases, becoming one of the first systematic research studies to specifically examine the prevalence of attempted strangulation as a form of injury associated with ongoing domestic violence. Prior to this time, most of the research into strangulation was conducted postmortem, and little was known about the injuries and signs of attempted strangulation among surviving victims.

The monophyly of Susisuchidae (Crocodyliformes) and its phylogenetic placement in Neosuchia.

Eusuchian crocodyliforms, which include all living crocodylians, have historically been characterized by two anatomical specializations: a ball-in-socket vertebral joint and an extensive secondary hard palate with a pterygoid-bound internal choana. The Early Cretaceous neosuchian clade Susisuchidae is typically regarded as phylogenetically near Eusuchia. The putative susisuchid Isisfordia duncani was initially described as a transitional form exhibiting incipient versions of these eusuchian traits.

Fingolimod attenuates splenocyte-induced demyelination in cerebellar slice cultures.

The family of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors (S1PRs) is G-protein-coupled, comprised of subtypes S1PR1-S1PR5 and activated by the endogenous ligand S1P. The phosphorylated version of Fingolimod (pFTY720), an oral therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), induces S1PR1 internalisation in T cells, subsequent insensitivity to S1P gradients and sequestering of these cells within lymphoid organs, thus limiting immune response. S1PRs are also expressed in neuronal and glial cells where pFTY720 is suggested to directly protect against lysolecithin-induced deficits in myelination state in organotypic cerebellar slices.

Ketamine sedation during air medical retrieval of an agitated patient.

Air medical retrieval of acutely agitated patients is challenging in terms of safety for all parties involved. We describe a case in which the largest recorded dose of ketamine sedation in air medical history allowed the successful transport of an acutely agitated patient from a remote community.

Pathway specific modulation of S1P1 receptor signalling in rat and human astrocytes.

Background And Purpose: The sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor subtype 1 (S1P1R) is modulated by phosphorylated FTY720 (pFTY720), which causes S1P1R internalization preventing lymphocyte migration thus limiting autoimmune response. Studies indicate that internalized S1P1Rs continue to signal, maintaining an inhibition of cAMP, thus raising question whether the effects of pFTY720 are due to transient initial agonism, functional antagonism and/or continued signalling. To further investigate this, the current study first determined if continued S1P1R activation is pathway specific.

Criminal offending among respondents to protective orders: crime types and patterns that predict victim risk.

Research has shown that respondents to protective orders have robust criminal histories and that criminal offending behavior often follows issuance of a protective order. Nonetheless, the specific nature of the association between protective orders and criminal offending remains unclear. This study uses two classes of statistical models to more clearly delineate that relationship.

The denial of emergency protection: factors associated with court decision making.

Despite the importance of civil orders of protection as a legal resource for victims of intimate partner violence, research is limited in this area, and most studies focus on the process following a court's initial issuance of an emergency order. The purpose of this study is to address a major gap in the literature by examining cases where victims of intimate partner violence are denied access to temporary orders of protection. The study sample included a review of 2,205 petitions that had been denied by a Kentucky court during the 2003 fiscal year.

Fear of acquaintance versus stranger rape as a "master status": towards refinement of the "shadow of sexual assault".

Using a sample of 1010 women from a southeastern state university, we explore whether associations between fear of sexual assault and other crime-specific fears vary based on presumed victim-offender relationship. More specifically, we assess the extent to which fear of stranger- and acquaintance-perpetrated sexual assaults differ in the extent to which they are correlated with fear of other crime victimizations. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that both fear of stranger-perpetrated sexual assault and fear of acquaintance-perpetrated sexual assault were positively associated with nearly all other crime-specific fears under examination.