scholarly journals The Evolutionary Continuum of Functional Homodonty to Heterodonty in the Dentition of Halichoeres Wrasses

Author(s):  
Karly E Cohen ◽  
Hannah I Weller ◽  
Mark W Westneat ◽  
Adam P Summers

Synopsis Vertebrate dentitions are often collapsed into a few discrete categories, obscuring both potentially important functional differences between them and insight into their evolution. The terms homodonty and heterodonty typically conflate tooth morphology with tooth function, and require context-dependent subcategories to take on any specific meaning. Qualifiers like incipient, transient, or phylogenetic homodonty attempt to provide a more rigorous definition but instead highlight the difficulties in categorizing dentitions. To address these issues, we recently proposed a method for quantifying the function of dental batteries based on the estimated stress of each tooth (inferred using surface area) standardized for jaw out-lever (inferred using tooth position). This method reveals a homodonty–heterodonty functional continuum where small and large teeth work together to transmit forces to a prey item. Morphological homodonty or heterodonty refers to morphology, whereas functional homodonty or heterodonty refers to transmission of stress. In this study, we use Halichoeres wrasses to explore how a functional continuum can be used in phylogenetic analyses by generating two continuous metrics from the functional homodonty–heterodonty continuum. Here we show that functionally heterodont teeth have evolved at least 3 times in Halichoeres wrasses. There are more functionally heterodont teeth on upper jaws than on lower jaws, but functionally heterodont teeth on the lower jaws bear significantly more stress. These nuances, which have functional consequences, would be missed by binning entire dentitions into discrete categories. This analysis points out areas worth taking a closer look at from a mechanical and developmental point of view with respect to the distribution and type of heterodonty seen in different jaws and different areas of jaws. These data, on a small group of wrasses, suggest continuous dental variables can be a rich source of insight into the evolution of fish feeding mechanisms across a wider variety of species.

Author(s):  
А. Karam

In the article it is revealed the essence of interpretation of the phenomenon of «aesthetic competence» from the point of view of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, sociology, and cultural studies. Emphasis is placed on the interconnection of synonymous terms «readiness» and «preparedness»: «readiness» is a concept broader than competence and preparedness, which may be single, fragmented, that is, not to provide the full capacity to perform the functions of an activity. The essence of the outlined phenomenon is analyzed through its separate concepts, taking into account their relation: «aesthetic competence» with the concepts «competence», aesthetics «. Artistic and aesthetic competence is defined as a system of internal means of regulation of artistic and aesthetic actions, which includes artistic and aesthetic knowledge, social guidelines, skills and experience, aesthetic orientation, based on knowledge and sensory experience, free possession of artistic and aesthetic means and perception of artistic and aesthetic situation. The essence and features of aesthetic competence are revealed. The modern approaches to defining the concept of «aesthetic competence» are highlighted. The components of aesthetic competence are revealed. Specific features and factors influencing the development of aesthetic competence are highlighted. In conclusion, it is noted that the concept under study, aesthetic competence, should be differentiated into such varieties as aesthetic and artistic competence, while each of them, for a particular artistic profession, will at the same time have a general and specific meaning.


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 583
Author(s):  
Giulia Furfaro ◽  
Paolo Mariottini

Integrative taxonomy is an evolving field of multidisciplinary studies often utilised to elucidate phylogenetic reconstructions that were poorly understood in the past. The systematics of many taxa have been resolved by combining data from different research approaches, i.e., molecular, ecological, behavioural, morphological and chemical. Regarding molecular analysis, there is currently a search for new genetic markers that could be diagnostic at different taxonomic levels and that can be added to the canonical ones. In marine Heterobranchia, the most widely used mitochondrial markers, COI and 16S, are usually analysed by comparing the primary sequence. The 16S rRNA molecule can be folded into a 2D secondary structure that has been poorly exploited in the past study of heterobranchs, despite 2D molecular analyses being sources of possible diagnostic characters. Comparison of the results from the phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated (the nuclear H3 and the mitochondrial COI and 16S markers) dataset (including 30 species belonging to eight accepted genera) and from the 2D folding structure analyses of the 16S rRNA from the type species of the genera investigated demonstrated the diagnostic power of this RNA molecule to reveal the systematics of four genera belonging to the family Myrrhinidae (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia). The “molecular morphological” approach to the 16S rRNA revealed to be a powerful tool to delimit at both species and genus taxonomic levels and to be a useful way of recovering information that is usually lost in phylogenetic analyses. While the validity of the genera Godiva, Hermissenda and Phyllodesmium are confirmed, a new genus is necessary and introduced for Dondice banyulensis, Nemesis gen. nov. and the monospecific genus Nanuca is here synonymised with Dondice, with Nanuca sebastiani transferred into Dondice as Dondice sebastiani comb. nov.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 726
Author(s):  
Fulvia Ceccarelli ◽  
Venusia Covelli ◽  
Giulio Olivieri ◽  
Francesco Natalucci ◽  
Fabrizio Conti

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic contributes to the burden of living with different diseases, including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). We described, from a narrative point of view, the experiences and perspectives of Italian SLE adults during the COVID-19 emergency, by distinguishing the illness experience before and after the lockdown. Methods: Fifteen patients were invited to participate. Illness narratives were collected between 22 and 29 March 2020 using a written modality to capture patients’ perspectives before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. We performed a two-fold analysis of collected data by distinguishing three narrative types and a qualitative analysis of content to identify the relevant themes and sub-themes reported. Results: Eight narratives included in the final analysis (mean length 436.9 words) have been written by eight females (mean age 43.3 ± 9.9 years, mean disease duration 13.1 ± 7.4 years). Six patients provided a quest narrative, one a chaos and the remaining one a restitution narrative. By text content analysis, we identified specific themes, temporally distinct before and after the lockdown. Before COVID-19, all the patients referred to a good control of disease, however the unexpected arrival of the COVID-19 emergency broke a balance, and patients perceived the loss of health status control, with anxiety and stress. Conclusions: We provided unique insight into the experiences of people with SLE at the time of COVID-19, underlining the perspective of patients in relation to the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136078042110184
Author(s):  
Leja Markelj ◽  
Alisa Selan ◽  
Tjaša Dolinar ◽  
Matej Sande

The research comprehensively identifies the needs and problems of sex workers in Slovenia from the point of view of three groups of actors in a decriminalized setting. The objective of the rapid needs assessment was to identify the needs of sex workers as perceived by themselves. In order to gain a deeper insight into this topic, we analyzed the functioning of the organizations working with the population, and examined the perspective of the clients. The results of the study show that no aid programmes have been developed for sex workers, even though organizations from various fields often come in contact with this population. Sex workers express the need to be informed about various topics (health, the law, legal advice) and emphasize client relations as the primary issue. The findings indicate the need for the development of a specialized aid programmes to address the fields of advocacy, reducing social distress and providing psychosocial assistance.


1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (03) ◽  
pp. 234-244
Author(s):  
John D. Vitkauskas ◽  
John R. Peters

The Coast Guard NVIC 1–69 has provided guidelines for the design of automated systems so that human surveillance can be reduced without jeopardizing the vessel. An integral part of these guidelines is the preparation of a Test Procedure which periodically tests the vital safety systems to increase the probability that they will function properly when called on. However, the Test Procedure guidelines are general and subject to wide interpretation. This paper attempts to provide some insight into what needs to be periodically tested, why the testing is required, and what techniques are acceptable, at the same time stressing the need for efficient testing. Some examples are also provided of testing procedures that have been found to be efficient and sufficiently comprehensive.


Author(s):  
Marcel Buß

Abstract Immanuel Kant states that indirect arguments are not suitable for the purposes of transcendental philosophy. If he is correct, this affects contemporary versions of transcendental arguments which are often used as an indirect refutation of scepticism. I discuss two reasons for Kant’s rejection of indirect arguments. Firstly, Kant argues that we are prone to misapply the law of excluded middle in philosophical contexts. Secondly, Kant points out that indirect arguments lack some explanatory power. They can show that something is true but they do not provide insight into why something is true. Using mathematical proofs as examples, I show that this is because indirect arguments are non-constructive. From a Kantian point of view, transcendental arguments need to be constructive in some way. In the last part of the paper, I briefly examine a comment made by P. F. Strawson. In my view, this comment also points toward a connection between transcendental and constructive reasoning.


1968 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Langsley ◽  
Robert H. Fairbairn ◽  
Carol D. Deyoung

Like the individual, the family may be better understood from a developmental point of view. It has different tasks and problems at various stages of its existence. The family with adolescent children faces a change in composition (loss of children and the responsibility of helping these children become adults). This threat may produce a family crisis and individual members may react to the specific conflicts in a manner which depends on their previous problems. The family member who becomes a ‘patient’ may be the teenager or a parent. A family crisis therapy approach permits tension reduction within the group, improves functioning on the part of the ‘patient’ and permits the family to work out a more adaptive solution.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-185
Author(s):  
Julie Rodgers

Sophie Daull's Camille, mon envolée (2015) is an autobiographical depiction of the sudden and traumatic loss of an only daughter (Camille) due to an undetected fatal bacterial infection. It is recounted uniquely from the maternal point of view and directly addresses the daughter throughout. It concerns an incredibly recent bereavement as the writing of the text, the author tells us, commences just one week after the daughter's death. Camille, mon envolée is a markedly intimate and brutally honest account of a mother who is an active witness to and, one could argue, participant in her daughter's agonizing death scene. The text captures the sense of powerlessness that is experienced by the mother, the incomprehensibility of the loss, the self-blame, and, finally, the coming to terms with it and the learning to live on, not without guilt, however. It also offers insight into maternal motivation for writing such a text, ranging from a quest for understanding and an outlet for grief, to a desire to preserve the daughter's memory. Furthermore, through close examination of the physical, psychological and social impact of the death of a child on mother figure subjectivity, Camille mon envolée successfully traces out for the reader the very specific characteristics of maternal bereavement and its overwhelmingly embodied nature. Finally, the text represents an engagement on the part of the grieving mother with what has been termed 'scriptotherapy' in a bid to negotiate this trauma and find a means, not only of remembering the daughter, but also of surviving the tragedy. In this respect, Camille, mon envolée is a text of resistance, where the unthinkable is confronted and the untellable bravely told.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
G M Nava ◽  
M S Attene-Ramos ◽  
J K Ang ◽  
M Escorcia

To gain insight into the possible origins of the 2009 outbreak of new influenza A(H1N1), we performed two independent analyses of genetic evolution of the new influenza A(H1N1) virus. Firstly, protein homology analyses of more than 400 sequences revealed that this virus most likely evolved from recent swine viruses. Secondly, phylogenetic analyses of 5,214 protein sequences of influenza A(H1N1) viruses (avian, swine and human) circulating in North America for the last two decades (from 1989 to 2009) indicated that the new influenza A(H1N1) virus possesses a distinctive evolutionary trait (genetic distinctness). This appears to be a particular characteristic in pig-human interspecies transmission of influenza A. Thus these analyses contribute to the evidence of the role of pig populations as “mixing vessels” for influenza A(H1N1) viruses.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 741-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sjoerd J. van Deventer ◽  
Vera-Marie E. Dunlock ◽  
Annemiek B. van Spriel

To facilitate the myriad of different (signaling) processes that take place at the plasma membrane, cells depend on a high degree of membrane protein organization. Important mediators of this organization are tetraspanin proteins. Tetraspanins interact laterally among themselves and with partner proteins to control the spatial organization of membrane proteins in large networks called the tetraspanin web. The molecular interactions underlying the formation of the tetraspanin web were hitherto mainly described based on their resistance to different detergents, a classification which does not necessarily correlate with functionality in the living cell. To look at these interactions from a more physiological point of view, this review discusses tetraspanin interactions based on their function in the tetraspanin web: (1) intramolecular interactions supporting tetraspanin structure, (2) tetraspanin–tetraspanin interactions supporting web formation, (3) tetraspanin–partner interactions adding functional partners to the web and (4) cytosolic tetraspanin interactions regulating intracellular signaling. The recent publication of the first full-length tetraspanin crystal structure sheds new light on both the intra- and intermolecular tetraspanin interactions that shape the tetraspanin web. Furthermore, recent molecular dynamic modeling studies indicate that the binding strength between tetraspanins and between tetraspanins and their partners is the complex sum of both promiscuous and specific interactions. A deeper insight into this complex mixture of interactions is essential to our fundamental understanding of the tetraspanin web and its dynamics which constitute a basic building block of the cell surface.


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