Identifying feeding interactions in the fossil record remains a key challenge for paleoecologists. We report the rare occurrence of a conical, perforative bite mark in a cervical vertebra of an azhdarchid pterosaur, which we identified as a juvenile individual of Cryodrakon boreas Hone, Habib, and Therrien, 2019 from the Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada. Based on comparative analysis of the dentition and ecomorphology of potential trace makers in the Dinosaur Park Formation, as well as the morphology of the trace, the most likely candidate is a crocodilian, although whether it was made as a result of scavenging or predatory behavior is unknown. Feeding interactions involving pterosaurs are rare globally, whereas crocodilian bite marks are not uncommon in Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems. Given the opportunistic feeding style and known range of food items for both extant and extinct crocodilians, pterosaurs can be counted as a rare, but not surprising, component of at least some Cretaceous crocodilian diets.

Incremental prediction of aggression from callous–unemotional (CU) traits is well established, but cross-cultural replication and studies of young children are needed. Little is understood about the contribution of CU traits in children who are already aggressive. We addressed these issues in prospective studies in the United Kingdom and Colombia. In a UK epidemiological cohort, CU traits and aggression were assessed at age 3.5 years, and aggression at 5.0 years by mothers (N = 687) and partners (N = 397). In a Colombian general population sample, CU traits were assessed at age 3.5 years and aggression at 3.5 and 5.0 years by mother report (N = 220). Analyses consistently showed prediction of age-5.0 aggression by age-3.5 CU traits controlling for age-3.5 aggression. Associations between age-3.5 CU traits and age-5.0 aggression were moderated by aggression at 3.5 years, with UK interaction terms, same informant, β = .07 p = .014 cross-informant, β = .14 p = .002, and in Colombia, β = .09 p = .128. The interactions arose from stronger associations between CU traits and later aggression in those already aggressive. Our findings with preschoolers replicated across culturally diverse settings imply a major role for CU traits in the maintenance and amplification of already established aggression, and cast doubt on their contribution to its origins.

Interactions between an oblique shock wave generated by a sharp fin placed on a cylindrical surface and the incoming boundary layer are investigated to unravel the mean features of the resulting shock/boundary layer interaction (SBLI) unit. This fin-on-cylinder SBLI unit has several unique features caused by the three-dimensional (3-D) relief offered by the cylindrical surface that noticeably alter the shock structure. Complementary experimental and computational studies are made to delineate both the surface and off-body flow features of the fin-on-cylinder SBLI unit and to obtain a detailed understanding of the mechanisms that dictate the mean flow and wall pressure features of the SBLI unit. Results show that the fin-on-cylinder SBLI exhibits substantial deviation from quasi-conical symmetry that is observed in planar fin SBLI. Furthermore, the separated flow growth rate appears to decrease with downstream distance and the separation size is consistently smaller than the planar fin SBLI with the same inflow and fin configurations. The causes for the observed diminution of the separated flow and its downstream growth rate were investigated in the light of changes caused by the cylinder curvature on the inviscid as well as separation shock. It was found that the inviscid shock gets progressively weakened in the region close to the triple point with downstream distance due to the 3-D relief effect from cylinder curvature. This weakening of the inviscid shock feeds into the separation shock, which is also independently impacted by the 3-D relief, to result in the observed modifications in the fin-on-cylinder SBLI unit.

Recent findings highlight that there are prenatal risks for affective disorders that are mediated by glucocorticoid mechanisms, and may be specific to females. There is also evidence of sex differences in prenatal programming mechanisms and developmental psychopathology, whereby effects are in opposite directions in males and females. As birth weight is a risk for affective disorders, we sought to investigate whether maternal prenatal cortisol may have sex-specific effects on fetal growth. Participants were 241 mothers selected from the Wirral Child Health and Development Study (WCHADS) cohort (n=1233) using a psychosocial risk stratifier, so that responses could be weighted back to the general population. Mothers provided saliva samples, which were assayed for cortisol, at home over 2 days at 32 weeks gestation (on waking, 30-min post-waking and during the evening). Measures of infant birth weight (corrected for gestational age) were taken from hospital records. General population estimates of associations between variables were obtained using inverse probability weights. Maternal log of the area under the curve cortisol predicted infant birth weight in a sex-dependent manner (interaction term P=0.029). There was a positive and statistically significant association between prenatal cortisol in males, and a negative association in females that was not statistically significant. A sex interaction in the same direction was evident when using the waking (P=0.015), and 30-min post-waking (P=0.013) cortisol, but not the evening measure. There was no interaction between prenatal cortisol and sex to predict gestational age. Our findings add to an emerging literature that suggests that there may be sex-specific mechanisms that underpin fetal programming.

CVD accounted for 27 % of all deaths in the UK in 2014, and was responsible for 1·7 million hospital admissions in 2013/2014. This condition becomes increasingly prevalent with age, affecting 34·1 and 29·8 % of males and females over 75 years of age respectively in 2011. The dysregulation of cholesterol metabolism with age, often observed as a rise in LDL-cholesterol, has been associated with the pathogenesis of CVD. To compound this problem, it is estimated by 2050, 22 % of the world's population will be over 60 years of age, in culmination with a growing resistance and intolerance to pre-existing cholesterol regulating drugs such as statins. Therefore, it is apparent research into additional therapies for hypercholesterolaemia and CVD prevention is a growing necessity. However, it is also imperative to recognise this complex biological system cannot be studied using a reductionist approach; rather its biological uniqueness necessitates a more integrated methodology, such as that offered by systems biology. In this review, we firstly discuss cholesterol metabolism and how it is affected by diet and the ageing process. Next, we describe therapeutic strategies for hypercholesterolaemia, and finally how the systems biology paradigm can be utilised to investigate how ageing interacts with complex systems such as cholesterol metabolism. We conclude by emphasising the need for nutritionists to work in parallel with the systems biology community, to develop novel approaches to studying cholesterol metabolism and its interaction with ageing.

The polarisation observations of the central region (containing the jet) of the galaxy M87 were obtained in May 1980, with the polarimeter (Visvanathan 1972) attached to the f/15 cassegrain focus of the AAT. The IPCS was used in direct mode to record the images of the field. Figure 1 shows a single, raw image of M87 in the light of B (the image shown is 90 arcsec square). The knots referred to in the text are marked. One complete observation consists of 12 images of the object field, corresponding to the 12 selected position angles of the polaroid filter, rotated from 0° to 330° in 30° increments. The Taurus software (Taylor and Atherton 1980) was used to increment the data to the relevant memory location. The data were stored on tape after a sufficient number of complete rotations of the polaroid were completed.

The current banking crisis has reminded us of how risks materialising in one part of the financial system can have a widespread impact, affecting other financial markets and institutions and the broader economy. This paper, prepared on behalf of the Actuarial Profession, examines how such events have an impact on the entire financial system and explores whether such disturbances may arise within the insurance and pensions sectors as well as within banking. The paper seeks to provide an overview of a number of banking and other financial crises which have occurred in the past, illustrated by four case studies. It discusses what constitutes a systemic event and what distinguishes it from a large aggregate system wide shock. Finally, it discusses how policy-makers can respond to the risk of such systemic financial failures.

The Adult Personality Functioning Assessment (APFA) provides ratings of interpersonal and social role performance in six domains over substantial periods of time. Ratings based on subject and informant accounts using the APFA were compared. There was good agreement for estimates of levels of dysfunction, and moderate agreement for type of dysfunction. An anticipated under-reporting of difficulties by subjects was not found. The extent of personality dysfunction was predictive of whether a close informant was available; however, closeness of informant was not consistently associated with subject–informant agreement.

Winter wheat cultivars Apollo, Hornet, Longbow and Norman were each sown at 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 seeds/m2 in a field experiment conducted in Northern Ireland over the 1989/90 crop year. No growth regulators were applied and the wheat received 178 kgN/ha top-dressing in the spring. Hourly rainfall, windspeed and wind direction data were recorded and lodging was visually assessed from the end of May to harvest. Lodging first occurred in the 1600 seed-rate plots as the ears were emerging in early June and then progressively increased in the 800, 400 and 200 plots during June, July and August. Lodging did not occur suddenly but took several hours, with the stems first lying at an angle before lodging completely. Stem buckling or breakage did not appear to be the principal form of structural failure. The longest strawed cultivar, Longbow, lodged most severely. The shorter-strawed Norman also lodged badly in contrast with Hornet which had a similar straw length. Apollo, which was taller than Norman and Hornet and produced more ears per square metre than the other cultivars, lodged least but tended to lean at c. 30° from the vertical. Lodging occurred during or within 24 h of periods of rainfall which, in many cases, coincided with windspeeds at crop height averaging > 25 km/h and occasionally > 50 km/h. Lodging also occurred following rainfall when the windspeed did not exceed 16 km/h. The grain yield was negatively correlated with the average lodging from ear emergence to harvest, there being a 1 t/ha decline in yield for each 10% increase in average area lodged. The 50 and 100 seed-rate plots yielded 10 t/ha and had little or no lodging. The decline in yield with increased lodging and seed rate was attributed to the effect of lodging rather than to seed rate and was associated with a fall in the number of grains/ear and 1000-grain weight from 56 and 53·5 g at the lowest seed rate to 15 and 42·7 g at the highest, respectively. A comparison of the plants from lodged and unlodged plots of the 1600 and 800 seed rates, and subsequently of the 800 and 400 seed rates, indicated that at the higher seed rate, lodged plots had less fresh weight per unit area, basal internodes with smaller diameters, fewer support roots per stem, and a lower root dry weight per stem.

The effects of anabolic steroids on the quality of voice have been well documented; however, no study has established significant structural changes in the larynx as a direct result of anabolic steroid use. We report a unique case of a 47-year-old male smoker and professional body builder who presented with progressive stridor and hoarseness following abuse of anabolic steroids over a period of two years. Conservative management failed to resolve his symptoms and a planned tracheostomy was performed to secure his airway. Subsequently he was treated with multiple laser resections and eventually decannulated. No case of severe laryngitis in association with anabolic steroid usage has been reported previously in the literature.

We present a case report of a patient who developed a sinonasal myopericytoma treated by surgical excision through a lateral rhinotomy. Some aggressive features on pre-operative computed tomography scanning and the complexity of recent changes in the histological nomenclature for these tumours led to consideration of adjuvant therapy. The close histological relationship between myopericytoma, myofibromatosis, solitary myofibroma and infantile haemangiopericytoma is discussed. This group of lesions constitute a single morphological spectrum with differentiation towards perivascular myoid cells (pericytes). Currently myopericytoma is the most appropriate and accepted term embracing all these entities. A review of the literature has been reassuring in identifying these tumours as benign but with a reasonably high rate of local recurrence (17 per cent). The treatment of choice is surgical excision with further excisions for local recurrence.

Recent stellar spectral libraries have sought higher resolution and the accurate determination of specific optical spectral indeces as stellar population indicators. But the value of accurate flux comparisons over wide wavelength regions should still be emphasized, particularly as more and better spectro-photometric data for composite populations becomes available.

We present the second case of primary synchronous bilateral tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma reported in the English literature and evaluate the role of fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography scanning in the search for the occult primary tumour in a patient presenting with metastatic nodal disease in the head and neck.

The dielectric properties of goethite and, in particular, the changes during the topotactic conversion of goethite to hematite were studied from room temperature to about 800 °C in the frequency range of 400 to 3000 MHz using the cavity perturbation technique. The complex permittivity, that is, both the real and the imaginary or absorptive parts (έ and ἕ), were measured under various heating regimens. In addition, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed to characterize the transformation of goethite to hematite. The Debye relaxation formalism was applied to the processes occurring both during and after the main dehydroxylation reaction to calculate the relaxation times. The Arrhenius equation for thermally activated relaxation times was used to determine the activation energies. Both the real and the absorptive parts of the permittivity exhibited a significant peak during the main part of the goethite to hematite decomposition reaction. Above the transformation, there was another, less dramatic, thermally activated increase in the permittivity values. The increase in the permittivities during the goethite to hematite transformation was attributed to the formation of quasi-free migrating radicals, for example, hydroxyl ions, oxygen ions, or hydrogen atoms, during the dehydroxylation of goethite. The derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTGA) curve was found to be directly related to the transient values of the real and the imaginary permittivities. Higher heating rates resulted in an accelerated rate of dehydroxylation and therefore higher values of the transient permittivities. In the temperature range of 400 °C to 500 °C (i.e., just above the dehydroxylation peak), the real permittivity exhibited a varying frequency dependence, which suggested that changes were occurring in the newly formed, highly defected hematite structure, which is referred to as hydrohematite. During the reaction there were multiple relaxation processes and thus the Debye relationship could not be applied. However, at temperatures above about 500 °C, the structure stabilized, the Debye relationship was more closely followed, and the relaxation times could be determined as a function of temperature. The activation energy for the relaxation process above 500 °C was determined to be 0.47 kJ/mol.