Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andrea F. Vallejo-Vargas, Douglas Sheil, Asuncion Semper-Pascual, Lydia Beaudrot, Jorge A. Ahumada, Emmanuel Akampurira, Robert Bitariho, Santiago Espinosa, Vittoria Estienne, Patrick A. Jansen, Charles Kayijamahe, Emanuel H. Martin, Marcela Guimaraes Moreira Lima, Badru Mugerwa, Francesco Rovero, Julia Salvador, Fernanda Santos, Wilson Roberto Spironello, Eustrate Uzabaho, Richard Bischof
Summary: This study examines the diel activity patterns of tropical mammals in protected forests across different biogeographic regions. The findings suggest that the activity of herbivores and insectivores is constrained by thermoregulation, while the activity of carnivores is influenced by bottom-up processes and the activity of small omnivores and insectivores is regulated by top-down processes. Overall, diel activity in tropical mammal communities is shaped by similar processes and constraints, reflecting body mass and trophic guilds.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lior Greenspoon, Eyal Krieger, Ron Sender, Yuval Rosenberg, Yinon M. Bar-On, Uri Moran, Tomer Antman, Shai Meiri, Uri Roll, Elad Noor, Ron Milo
Summary: A total wet biomass of approximately 20 million tonnes was estimated for terrestrial wild mammals, with large herbivores contributing the most. The total biomass of wild marine mammals was estimated to be around 40 million tonnes, with baleen whales dominating.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
D. T. C. Cox, A. S. Gardner, K. J. Gaston
Summary: While most mammals are nocturnal, research shows that a significant proportion of species are more flexible in their activity patterns than previously believed, suggesting that they may have the ability to switch between different diel niches.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Eli Amson, Torsten M. Scheyer, Quentin Martinez, Achim H. Schwermann, Daisuke Koyabu, Kai He, Reinhard Ziegler
Summary: This study quantifies bone microanatomy through high-resolution X-ray tomography and focuses on the transitions of mammals to underground life. The research reveals that true moles have unique bone histology compared to other subterranean mammals. The highly fossorial moles acquired a remarkable microanatomy early in their history, evolving faster than gross morphology innovations in their forelimbs.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Samir Giri, Leonardo Ona, Silvio Waschina, Shraddha Shitut, Ghada Yousif, Christoph Kaleta, Christian Kost
Summary: The study reveals that metabolic dissimilarity between bacterial genotypes is a key factor determining the establishment of metabolic cross-feeding interactions in microbial communities. Results showed that a greater phylogenetic distance and metabolic network dissimilarity between donor and recipient were associated with better growth of auxotrophic recipients, indicating that interacting with metabolically dissimilar partners benefits recipient genotypes.
Article
Ecology
Christopher Stockey, Neil F. Adams, Thomas H. P. Harvey, Philip C. J. Donoghue, Mark A. Purnell
Summary: Understanding the relationship between form, function, and diet is crucial for studying the roles and adaptive responses of organisms in their ecosystem. However, analyzing this relationship in invertebrates has been difficult due to a lack of quantitative methods. This study tests the effectiveness of dental topographic metrics in quantifying form in invertebrate mandibles and assessing their relationship with diet. The results show that these metrics successfully capture the relationship between diet and dental tool morphology and can be used to predict dietary differences in orthopterans.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nico Bluethgen, Michael Staab
Summary: A new study has found that large mammals in an African savanna not only change the vegetation but also significantly impact the interaction networks between plants and pollinators. These findings have raised fundamental yet unresolved questions about the spatial dimensions of experiments, species interaction networks, and ecosystems.
Article
Geography, Physical
Gregory P. Wilson Mantilla, Paul R. Renne, Bandana Samant, Dhananjay M. Mohabey, Anup Dhobale, Andrew J. Tholt, Thomas S. Tobin, Mike Widdowson, S. Anantharaman, Dilip Chandra Dassarma, Jeffrey A. Wilson Mantilla
Summary: In this study, two new Cretaceous mammal species are described from the Naskal locality in India, and the age of the Naskal and nearby Rangapur localities is refined using geochronology, magnetostratigraphy, and chemostratigraphy. These sites are confidently restricted to a <100 kyr interval spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The findings of this study have implications for Deccan chemostratigraphy, Deccan volcanism, the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction, Indian mammalian faunal evolution, and the timing of the origin of placental mammals.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jaron Adkins, Edd Hammill, Umarfarooq A. Abdulwahab, John P. Draper, J. Marshall Wolf, Catherine M. McClure, Adrian A. Gonzalez Ortiz, Emily A. Chavez, Trisha B. Atwood
Summary: Using random forest models, we identified the drivers of terrestrial mammal species richness within different trophic groups. Precipitation seasonality was the most important predictor of richness for all trophic groups. Basal-level resource availability, as represented by gross primary production, influenced the relative contribution of each trophic group to total species richness.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Thomas W. Plummer, James S. Oliver, Emma M. Finestone, Peter W. Ditchfield, Laura C. Bishop, Scott A. Blumenthal, Cristina Lemorini, Isabella Caricola, Shara E. Bailey, Andy I. R. Herries, Jennifer A. Parkinson, Elizabeth Whitfield, Fritz Hertel, Rahab N. Kinyanjui, Thomas H. Vincent, Youjuan Li, Julien Louys, Stephen R. Frost, David R. Braun, Jonathan S. Reeves, Emily D. G. Early, Blasto Onyango, Raquel Lamela-Lopez, Frances L. Forrest, Huaiyu He, Timothy P. Lane, Marine Frouin, Sebastien Nomade, Evan P. Wilson, Simion K. Bartilol, Nelson Kiprono Rotich, Richard Potts
Summary: The discovery of Oldowan tool sites in Nyayanga, Kenya, dating back to 3.032 to 2.581 million years ago, expands the known distribution of the earliest Oldowan by over 1300 kilometers. The tools were used to process diverse foods, including megafauna, and were associated with the presence of Paranthropus.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Geraldo de Brito Freire Jr, Danilo Bandini Ribeiro, Andreia de Carvalho Santos, Thayane Silva, Joao Paulo Dias, Hanna Pamela Rodrigues, Ivone Rezende Diniz
Summary: The research found that nymphalids in gallery forests have higher diversity compared to savannahs. The composition of plant species and butterfly assemblages in gallery forests is more heterogeneous, supporting the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis.
INSECT CONSERVATION AND DIVERSITY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Daron Duke, Eric Wohlgemuth, Karen R. Adams, Angela Armstrong-Ingram, Sarah K. Rice, D. Craig Young
Summary: The discovery of tobacco seeds in a Pleistocene fire hearth suggests early human use of tobacco in North America started around 12,300 years ago, 9,000 years earlier than previously documented. This finding has significant implications for understanding ancient human use of psychoactive substances and the cultural impact of tobacco.
NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
(2022)
Article
Biology
Kyle M. Shanebeck, Anne A. Besson, Clement Lagrue, Stephanie J. Green
Summary: Parasites can have sub-lethal effects on their hosts, affecting their ability to adapt to the environment and maintain homeostasis. This study synthesizes numerous studies on helminth parasites in mammals and finds consistently strong negative effects of infection on host energetic condition across taxonomic groups. The study also highlights the importance of study design, sampling protocol, and host-parasite life history in determining the magnitude of health effects.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Juan Pablo Reyes-Puig, Carolina Reyes-Puig, Jessica Pacheco-Esquivel, Santiago Recalde, Fausto Recalde, Darwin Recalde, Jordy Salazar, Eduardo Pena, Silvia Paredes, Marina Robalino, Fernanda Flores, Vladimir Paredes, Edelina Sailema, Gorky Rios-Alvear
Summary: Habitat disturbance has negative impacts on biodiversity and landscape structure, affecting dispersal movements and ecological processes. This study investigated mammal diversity in the Ecuadorian Tropical Andes and highlighted the importance of private conservation areas for supporting mammal species in the upper basin of the Pastaza River. The study also raised concerns about the presence of domestic dogs in wild habitats as a result of human disturbance.
BIODIVERSITY DATA JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Helio Secco, Luis Felipe Farina, Vitor Oliveira da Costa, Wallace Beiroz, Marcello Guerreiro, Pablo Rodrigues Goncalves
Summary: A critical step in designing wildlife mitigating measures is the identification of roadkill hotspots, which should consider the recurrent and spatially restricted aggregations of species with diverse ecological and functional characteristics. This study used a functional group approach to map roadkill hotspots for mammalian species along a major road in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, and found that the roadkill index varied idiosyncratically for each functional group throughout the months. Additionally, several hotspots were shared by multiple functional groups, emphasizing their importance to the regional mammal fauna.
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Quentin T. Monfroy, Martin Kundrat, Jingmai K. O'Connor, You Hai-Lu, Federica Marone, Marco Stampanoni, Benadik Smajda
Summary: Through analysis and description of the osteohistological features of Gansus yumenensis, a non-ornithurine Euornithes from China, we found that it is the fourth extinct Euornithes to exhibit uninterrupted bone deposition in all bone samples, providing further support for multiple origins of this feature outside of the bird crown group. This study is important for exploring the evolution and development of bone tissue in fossil birds.
Article
Optics
Nazanin Samadi, Joan Vila-Comamala, Xianbo Shi, Umut T. Sanli, Christian David, Marco Stampanoni, Anne Bonnin
Summary: In a full-field transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) setup, a refractive axicon is used as an X-ray beam shaper to match the ring-shaped aperture of the condenser. The axicon designs were explored analytically and with numerical simulations, and were produced by two-photon polymerization 3D printing on thin silicon nitride membrane substrates. The first characterization of the axicon was carried out at the TOMCAT beamline of the Swiss Light Source (Switzerland).
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Chris Tijani Barker, Darren Naish, Jacob Trend, Lysanne Veerle Michels, Lawrence Witmer, Ryan Ridgley, Katy Rankin, Claire E. Clarkin, Philipp Schneider, Neil J. Gostling
Summary: The digital reconstruction of neurocranial endocasts provides insight into the brain structure and ecological attributes of fossil taxa. This study focuses on the braincase endocasts of Baryonyx walkeri and Ceratosuchops inferodios from the Lower Cretaceous of England. The findings suggest that baryonychines had similar neurosensory capabilities to other non-maniraptoriform theropods and did not require substantial modifications in brain and sensory systems during the transition to semi-aquatic generalists.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Zhitian Shi, Konstantins Jefimovs, Marco Stampanoni, Lucia Romano
Summary: This paper introduces a method for realizing protruding sharp silicon nanopillar arrays by using displacement Talbot lithography combined with metal-assisted chemical etching in the gas phase. This combination allows for reliable and low-cost fabrication of large-scale ordered nanopillar arrays. Incorporating controlled uniformity of feature size, spatial frequency doubling, and high resolution of Talbot lithography, this proposed method provides an easy-to-scale-up processing for producing silicon pillar arrays for valuable applications in both micro and nano scales.
MATERIALS SCIENCE IN SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING
(2023)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Hannes A. A. Loebner, Daniel Frauchiger, Silvan Mueller, Gian Guyer, Paul-Henry Mackeprang, Marco F. M. Stampanoni, Michael K. K. Fix, Peter Manser, Jenny Bertholet
Summary: This study aimed to experimentally assess the technical feasibility and quantify the mechanical and dosimetric accuracy of respiratory gating during Dynamic Trajectory Radiotherapy (DTRT) delivery. The results showed that gating can be successfully applied during DTRT delivery on a TrueBeam system, and it substantially improved the dosimetric performance.
Article
Optics
Stefano Van Gogh, Michal Rawlik, Alexandre Pereira, Simon Spindler, Subhadip Mukherjee, Marie-Christine Zdora, Martin Stauber, Rima Alaifari, Zsuzsanna Varga, Marco Stampanoni
Summary: X-ray grating interferometry CT (GI-CT) is an emerging imaging modality that provides three complementary contrasts - absorption, phase, and dark-field, increasing the diagnostic content of clinical breast CT. However, reconstructing the three image channels under clinically compatible conditions is challenging due to severe ill-conditioning of the tomographic reconstruction problem. In this study, a novel reconstruction algorithm was proposed to automatically fuse the absorption and phase channels, improving the performance of GI-CT compared to conventional CT at a clinical dose.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Simon Spindler, Dominik Etter, Michal Rawlik, Maxim Polikarpov, Lucia Romano, Zhitian Shi, Konstantins Jefimovs, Zhentian Wang, Marco Stampanoni
Summary: Respiratory diseases are a common cause of death, and early detection is crucial. X-ray dark-field radiography (XDFR) shows promise for imaging lungs with unresolved micro-structures. In this study, porcine lungs and PMMA microspheres of various sizes were imaged using Talbot-Lau XDFR. The results indicate that the dark-field extinction coefficient of porcine lungs is similar to that of densely-packed PMMA spheres with a diameter of 200 μm, which corresponds to the mean alveolar structure size. The critical parameter for avoiding signal saturation in clinical lung dark-field imaging is identified as the autocorrelation length.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Zichuan Qin, Chun-Chi Liao, Michael J. Benton, Emily J. Rayfield
Summary: This study investigates the functions and formation process of the hand claws of early-branching maniraptoran dinosaurs using finite element analysis and functional-space analysis. The results show distinct functional divergence among the hand claws, with early-branching ones being used for digging and late-branching ones for display. The study also confirms that most therizinosaurians were herbivores.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Gian Guyer, Silvan Mueller, Yanick Wyss, Jenny Bertholet, Remo Schmid, Marco F. M. Stampanoni, Peter Manser, Michael K. Fix
Summary: This study develops a freely available collision prediction tool using Blender software, which accurately predicts possible collisions between the gantry, table, and patient in non-coplanar radiotherapy treatment. The tool is validated and found to have a high true positive rate and true negative rate. It allows for the calculation of collision-free zones and checking of treatment plans, providing visualizations of gantry and table movement.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED CLINICAL MEDICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Violette Deleeuw, Eric Carlson, Marjolijn Renard, Keith D. Zientek, Phillip A. Wilmarth, Ashok P. Reddy, Elise C. Manalo, Sara F. Tufa, Douglas R. Keene, Margie Olbinado, Marco Stampanoni, Sachiko Kanki, Hiromi Yanagisawa, Laura Muino Mosquera, Patrick Sips, Julie De Backer, Lynn Y. Sakai
Summary: This study investigates the role of TGF-beta signaling in different types of thoracic aortic diseases using mouse models and proteomics. The results suggest that reduced TGF-beta signaling is associated with microdissection, whereas increased TGF-beta signaling is associated with aneurysm and rupture.
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Hannes A. Loebner, Silvan Mueller, Werner Volken, Philipp Wallimann, Daniel M. Aebersold, Marco F. M. Stampanoni, Michael K. Fix, Peter Manser
Summary: This study comprehensively investigates the impact of gantry-table rotation gradient on the plan quality in dynamic trajectory radiotherapy (DTRT). It is found that increasing the gradient improves dosimetric plan quality but also prolongs delivery time.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Leanne A. A. Melbourne, Juliet Brodie, Emily J. J. Rayfield, Danna Titelboim, Oliver T. T. Lord, Daniela N. N. Schmidt
Summary: Coralline algae form complex habitats and are biodiversity hotspots. Climate change may decrease their structural integrity, particularly for southern species. Cellular and mineral properties vary greatly within species, between sites, and over time, with smaller temporal differences compared to spatial differences. Future anthropogenic climate change may result in a loss of habitat complexity in the south and expansion of weaker southern species into northern sites.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Optics
Caori Organista, Matias Kagias, Ruizhi Tang, Zhitian Shi, Konstantins Jefimovs, Matthieu N. Boone, Marco Stampanoni
Summary: Dual-phase X-ray grating interferometry (DP-XGI) is an imaging technique that can capture sub-micro scale structural information over millimeter-sized areas. By utilizing the scattering signal, structures below the intrinsic spatial resolution of the imaging system can be revealed. This study presents an optimization protocol for DP-XGI based on a simulation framework, using the mean visibility of fringes as a figure of merit.
Article
Surgery
Ivo Planinc, Ivana Ilic, Hector Dejea, Patricia Garcia-Canadilla, Hrvoje Gasparovic, Hrvoje Jurin, Davor Milicic, Bosko Skoric, Marco Stampanoni, Bart Bijnens, Anne Bonnin, Maja Cikes
Summary: Endomyocardial biopsies are the gold standard for monitoring graft rejection following heart transplantation. This study demonstrated the feasibility and agreement of using synchrotron propagation-based X-ray phase contrast imaging to assess acute cellular rejection, compared to classical histopathology. X-ray phase contrast imaging allows thorough analysis of myocardial samples without tissue preparation and enables identification of rejection.
TRANSPLANT INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Davis Laundon, Neil J. Gostling, Bram G. Sengers, Pascale Chavatte-Palmer, Rohan M. Lewis
Summary: The placenta, which mediates exchange between the mother and the fetus, exhibits radical structural diversity. Traditionally, placental structures have been categorized qualitatively, but this may not accurately assess their relative efficiency. To quantitatively determine the evolutionary questions behind the enormous structural diversity, it is necessary to consider the placenta as a three-dimensional biological structure integrated across scales.