Evolutionary Links Between Skull Shape and Body Size Suggest Allometric Forces and Selection at Work in a Generalist Group of Lizards.

The vertebrate skull is a complex structure, and studies of skull shape have yielded considerable insight into the evolutionary forces shaping specialized phenotypes in organisms as diverse as bats, frogs, and fossorial animals. Here, we used phylogenetic comparative analyses of CT scans of male skulls from 57 species of lizards to explore patterns of skull evolution in a group of generalist taxa. We found that most interspecific variation is in terms of skull elongation such that some species have long, narrow skulls, whereas others exhibit more compact and robust skulls.

Do Fellowship-educated Military Orthopaedic Oncologists Who Practice in Military Settings Treat a Sufficient Volume of Patients to Maintain Their Oncologic Expertise?

Background: Fellowship-trained orthopaedic oncologists in the US military provide routine clinical care and also must maintain readiness to provide combat casualty care. However, low oncologic procedure volume may hinder the ability of these surgeons to maintain relevant surgical expertise. Other low-volume specialties within the Military Health System (MHS) have established partnerships with neighboring civilian centers to increase procedure volume, but the need for similar partnerships for orthopaedic oncologists has not been examined.

Team Approach: Osseointegration Amputation Surgery.

» The purpose of this article was to review the multidisciplinary, team-based approach necessary for the optimal management of patients with limb loss undergoing osseointegration surgery.» In this study, we describe the interdisciplinary process of screening, counseling, and surgical and rehabilitation considerations with an emphasis on principles rather than specific implants or techniques.» Integrated perioperative management and long-term surveillance are crucial to ensure the best possible outcomes.

Technical Trick: Cryoneurolysis for Subacute Pain Mitigation in Patients With Limb Loss.

Pain after amputation is often managed by target muscle reinnervation (TMR) with the added benefit that TMR also provides improved myoelectric terminal device control. However, as TMR takes several months for the recipient muscles to reliably reinnervate, this technique does not address pain within the subacute postoperative period during which pain chronification, sensitization, and opioid dependence and misuse may occur. Cryoneurolysis, described herein, uses focused, extreme temperatures to essentially "freeze" the nerve, blocking nociception, and improving pain in treated nerves potentially reducing the chances of pain chronification, sensitization, and substance dependence or abuse.

Life Expectancy After Treatment of Metastatic Bone Disease: An International Trend Analysis.

Introduction: The decision to treat metastatic bone disease (MBD) surgically depends in part on patient life expectancy. We are unaware of an international analysis of how life expectancy among these patients has changed over time. Therefore, we asked (1) how has the life expectancy for patients treated for MBD changed over time, and (2) which, if any, of the common primary cancer types are associated with longer survival after treatment of MBD?

Methods: We reviewed data collected from 2000 to 2022 in an international MBD database, as well as data used for survival model validation.

Is the Lifetime Malignancy Risk in United States Military Personnel Sustaining Combat-related Trauma Increased Because of Radiation Exposure From Diagnostic Imaging?

Background: Patients with complex polytrauma in the military and civilian settings are often exposed to substantial diagnostic medical radiation because of serial imaging studies for injury diagnosis and subsequent management. This cumulative radiation exposure may increase the risk of subsequent malignancy. This is particularly true for combat-injured servicemembers who receive care at a variety of facilities worldwide.

The recombination landscapes of spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus).

Despite playing a critical role in evolutionary processes and outcomes, relatively little is known about rates of recombination in the vast majority of species, including squamate reptiles-the second largest order of extant vertebrates, many species of which serve as important model organisms in evolutionary and ecological studies. This paucity of data has resulted in limited resolution on questions related to the causes and consequences of rate variation between species and populations, the determinants of within-genome rate variation, as well as the general tempo of recombination rate evolution on this branch of the tree of life. In order to address these questions, it is thus necessary to begin broadening our phylogenetic sampling.

Information out of the blue: phenotypic correlates of abdominal color patches in Sceloporus lizards.

Colorful ornaments are important visual signals for animal communication that can provide critical information about the quality of the signaler. In this study, we focused on different color characteristics of the abdominal patches of males of six lizard species from the genus Sceloporus. We addressed three main objectives.

Occurrence data uncover patterns of allopatric divergence and interspecies interactions in the evolutionary history of lizards.

As shown from several long-term and time-intensive studies, closely related, sympatric species can impose strong selection on one another, leading to dramatic examples of phenotypic evolution. Here, we use occurrence data to identify clusters of sympatric lizard species and to test whether species tend to coexist with other species that differ in body size, as we would expect when there is competition between sympatric congeners. We found that species can be grouped into 16 unique bioregions.

Losing the trait without losing the signal: Evolutionary shifts in communicative colour signalling.

Colour signalling traits are often lost over evolutionary time, perhaps because they increase vulnerability to visual predators or lose relevance in terms of sexual selection. Here, we used spectrometric and phylogenetic comparative analyses to ask whether four independent losses of a sexually selected blue patch are spectrally similar, and whether these losses equate to a decrease in conspicuousness or to loss of a signal. We found that patches were lost in two distinct ways: either increasing reflectance primarily at very long or at very short wavelengths, and that species with additional colour elements (UV, green and pink) may be evolutionary intermediates.

Molecular phylogenetics and dating of the problematic New Guinea microhylid frogs (Amphibia: Anura) reveals elevated speciation rates and need for taxonomic reclassification.

Asterophryinae is a large monophyletic subfamily of Anurans containing over 300 species distributed across one of the world's most geologically active areas - New Guinea and its satellite islands, Australia and the Philippines. The tremendous ecological and morphological diversity of this clade, with apparent specializations for burrowing, terrestrial, semi-aquatic, and arboreal lifestyle, suggests an evolutionary process of adaptive radiation. Despite this spectacular diversity, this and many other questions of evolutionary processes have received little formal study because until now the phylogeny of this spececies-rich clade has remained uncertain.