Jay

Jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the "jays" and the "magpies" are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian magpie seems more closely related to the Eurasian jay than to the East Asian blue and green magpies, whereas the blue jay is not closely related to either.
Systematics and species.
Jays are not a monophyletic group. Anatomical and molecular evidence indicates they can be divided into an American and an Old World lineage (the latter including the ground jays and the piapiac), while the gray jays of the genus "Perisoreus" form a group of their own. The black magpie, formerly believed to be related to jays, is classified as a treepie. The crested jay ("Platylophus galericulatus") is traditionally placed here, but its placement remains unresolved; it does not seem to be a corvid at all.
In culture.
Slang.
The word "jay" has an archaic meaning in American slang meaning a person who chatters impertinently.
The term "jaywalking" was coined in 1915 to label persons crossing a busy street carelessly and becoming a traffic hazard. The term began to imply recklessness or impertinent behavior as the convention became established.
In January 2014, Canadian author Robert Joseph Greene embarked on a lobbying campaign among ornithologists in Europe and North America to get Merriam-Websters Dictionary to have a "Jabber of Jays" as an official term under bird groups.


Sphenomandibularis

The Sphenomandibularis is a muscle attaching to the sphenoid bone and the mandible. It is a muscle of mastication. Unlike most of the muscles of the human body, which had been categorized several centuries ago, Sphenomandibularis was discovered in the mid-1990s at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. The findings were published in 1996. Sphenomandibularis is considered by many sources to be a portion of the temporalis, rather than a distinct muscle.


Henrietta Hutton

Henrietta Hutton (née Cooke) (1939–1963) was a British ornithologist and a founding member of the Oxford University Women's Exploration Club. The Henrietta Hutton Research Grant was established in Henrietta's name in 1964 with a financial endowment of about £5,000, which has been administered by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) from 1964 to present. The grants are used to fund geographical fieldwork by undergraduate and postgraduate students. Originally awarded to female geographers from the University of Oxford, the awards are now open to male and female applicants from any UK Higher Education Institution. To date, over 130 students have received a Henrietta Hutton Research Grant to support overseas geographical fieldwork.
On 15 May 2014, an event was held at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), to celebrate 50 years of the Henrietta Hutton Research Grant and the contribution the awards have made to support female geographers. The grants were featured on BBC Radio 4 "Woman's Hour", broadcast 16 May 2014.


Ccdc78

Coiled-coil domain-containing 78 (CCDC78) is a protein in humans encoded by the CCDC78 gene. It has several aliases including C16orf25, FLJ34512, CNM4, and JFP10. It is located on the (-) strand on chromosome 16 (16p13.3). Its gene neighborhood includes NARFL (also on the minus strand), HAGHL, FAM173A, and METRN. The CCDC78 gene is 10,892 base pairs long, and the protein contains 438 amino acids. The protein weighs approximately 4.852 KDal. There are several isoforms, including one indicated with a unique congenital myopathy. Several expression profiles show it has ubiquitous expression at moderate levels. Although no paralogs exist several orthologs do.
Function.
The function of this gene is currently unknown. There is evidence that CCDC78 plays a role in skeletal muscle contraction. This is supported by structural similarities to other muscle proteins and by localization assays. CCDC78's predicted structure was similar to that of tropomyosin (see below). The gene product is found primarily in the perinuclear region, the sarcolemmal membrane, and in the reticular pattern of the sarcoplasm. However, localization assays predict it to also be found in the cytoplasm.
mRNA.
General Properties:
Transcript Variants:
There are 13 known alternative splicing patterns. These can be seen in the adjacent image. One of these is indicated in disease.
Protein.
General Properties:
Expression.
When looking at EST profiles in humans, CCDC78 seems to show ubiquitous expression at moderate levels.
Predicted post-translational modification:
Phosphorylation of several serine residues has been predicted by using tools at ExPasy.
Predicted secondary structure.
Secondary structure of CCDC78 was predicted using the protein secondary structure prediction tool PELE. As would be expected with a coiled-coil domain containing protein, there are several α-helices. The model was predicted to be 98% accurate to 65% of the protein. The predicted image can be seen below.
This predicted model is closely related to tropomyosin - a contractile protein.
Protein-protein interactions.
Only one protein has been found to interact with CCDC78. An analysis performed from IntAct showed an interaction between CCDC78 and dAK1_1 in Yersinia pestis.
Homology.
CCDC78 has no known paralogs in the human genome. However, it has several orthologs in other organisms. Orthologs can be found throughout the animal kingdom. CCDC78 is highly conserved in mammals. The coiled-coil domain is highly conserved throughout all orthologs, demonstrating the importance of these domains.
Clinical relevance.
A mutation in this gene has been shown to cause a unique congenital myopathy. This mutation is caused by alternative splicing - a 222 bp in-frame insertion. A group of researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed a family with a dominantly inherited congenital myopathy. After linkage analysis followed by whole-exome capture and next-generation sequencing, they found CCDC78 to be present in affected individuals and absent in >10,000 controls. They then successfully modeled this congenital myopathy in zebrafish. CCDC78 has also been associated with an immune response to Hepatitis B.


Snake skeleton

A snake skeleton consists primarily of the skull, vertebrae, and ribs, with only vestigial remnants of the limbs.
Skull.
The skull of a snake is a very complex structure, with numerous joints to allow the snake to swallow prey far larger than its head.
The typical snake skull has a solidly ossified braincase, with the separate frontal bones and the united parietal bones extending downward to the basisphenoid, which is large and extends forward into a rostrum extending to the ethmoidal region. The nose is less ossified, and the paired nasal bones are often attached only at their base. The occipital condyle is either trilobate and formed by the basioccipital and the exoccipitals, or a simple knob formed by the basioccipital; the supraoccipital is excluded from the foramen magnum. The basioccipital may bear a
curved ventral process or hypapophysis in the vipers.
The prefrontal bone is situated, on each side, between the frontal bone and the maxilla, and may or may not be in contact with the nasal bone.
The postfrontal bone, usually present, borders the orbit behind, rarely also above, and in the pythons a supraorbital bone is intercalated between it and the prefrontal bone.
The premaxillary bone is single and small, and as a rule connected with the maxillary only by ligament.
The paired vomer is narrow.
The palatine bone and pterygoid are long and parallel to the axis of the skull, the latter diverging behind and extending to the quadrate or to the articular extremity of the mandible; the pterygoid is connected with the maxillary by the ectopterygoid or transverse bone, which may be very long, and the maxillary often emits a process towards the palatine, the latter bone being usually produced inwards and upwards towards the anterior extremity of the basisphenoid.
The quadrate is usually large and elongate, and attached to the cranium through the supratemporal (often regarded as the squamosal).
In rare cases, ("Polemon") the transverse bone is forked, and articulates with two branches of the maxilla.
The quadrate and the maxillary and palatopterygoid arches are more or less movable to allow for the distension required by the passage of prey, often much exceeding the size of the mouth. For the same reason, the rami of the lower jaw, which consist of dentary, splenial, angular, and articular elements, with the addition of a coronoid in the boas and a few other small families, are connected at the symphysis by a very extensible elastic ligament.
The hyoid apparatus is reduced to a pair of cartilaginous filaments situated below the trachea, and united in front.
There are various modifications according to the genera. A large hole may be present between the frontal bones and the basisphenoid ("Psammophis", "Coelopeltis"); the maxillary may be much abbreviated and movable vertically, as in the Viperidae; the pterygoids may taper and converge posteriorly, without any connection with the quadrate, as in the Amblycephalidae; the supratemporal may be much reduced, and wedged in between the adjacent bones of the cranium; the quadrate may be short or extremely large; the prefrontals may join in a median suture in front of the frontals; the dentary may be freely movable, and detached from the articular posteriorly.
The deviation from the normal type is much greater still when we consider the degraded wormlike members of the families Typhlopidae and Glauconiidae, in which the skull is very compact and the maxillary much reduced. In the former this bone is loosely attached to the lower aspect of the cranium; in the latter it borders the mouth, and is suturally joined to the premaxillary and the prefrontal. In both the transverse bone and the supratemporal are absent, but the coronoid element is present in the mandible.
Snake dentition.
In most snakes, teeth are located on the dentary of the lower jaw, the maxilla, the palatine bone and the lateral pterygoid plate. The latter form an "inner row" of teeth that can move separately from the rest of the jaws and are used to help "walk" the jaws over prey. Several snake lineages have evolved venom which is typically delivered by specialized teeth called fangs located on the maxilla.
Most snakes can be placed into one of four groups, based on their teeth, which correlate strongly with venom and lineage.
Aglyph.
Aglyphous snakes ("lacking grooves") have no specialized teeth; each tooth is similar in shape and often size. When teeth vary in size, as in some bird eaters, they do not vary in shape. Most aglyphous snakes are non-venomous; some, like "Thamnophis", are considered mildly venomous. The feature is not a synapomorphy.
Opisthoglyph.
Opisthoglyphous ("rearward grooves") snakes possess venom injected by a pair of enlarged teeth at the back of the maxillae, which normally angle backward and are grooved to channel venom into the puncture. Since these fangs are not located at the front of the mouth, this arrangement is vernacularly called "rear-fanged". In order to envenomate prey, an opisthoglyphous snake must move the prey into the rear of its mouth and then penetrate it with its fangs, presenting difficulties with large prey although they can quickly move smaller prey into position. The opisthoglyphous dentition appears at least two times in the history of snakes. The venom of some opisthoglyphous snakes is strong enough to harm humans; notably, herpetologists Karl Schmidt and Robert Mertens were killed by a boomslang and a twig snake, respectively, after each underestimated the effects of the bite and failed to seek medical help. Opisthoglyphous snakes are found in the family Colubridae.
Proteroglyph.
Proteroglyphous snakes ("forward grooved") have shortened maxillae bearing few teeth except for a substantially enlarged fang pointing downwards and completely folded around the venom channel, forming a hollow needle. Because the fangs are only a fraction of an inch long in even the largest species these snakes must hang on, at least momentarily, as they inject their venom. Some spitting cobras have modified fang tips allowing them to spray venom at an attacker's eyes. This form of dentition is unique to elapids.
Solenoglyph.
Solenoglyphous snakes ("pipe grooved") have the most advanced venom delivery method of any snake. Each maxilla is reduced to a nub supporting a single hollow fang tooth. The fangs, which can be as long as half the length of the head, are folded against the roof of the mouth, pointing posteriorly. The skull has a series of interacting elements that ensure that the fangs rotate into biting position when the jaws open. Solenoglyphous snakes open their mouths almost 180 degrees, and the fangs swing into a position to allow them to penetrate deep into the prey. While solenoglyph venom is typically less toxic than that of proteroglyphs, this system allows them to deeply inject large quantities of venom. This form of dentition is unique to vipers.
Exceptions.
A few snakes do not conform to these categories. "Atractaspis" is solenoglyphous but the fangs swing out sideways, allowing it to strike without opening its mouth, perhaps allowing it to hunt in small tunnels. Scolecophidia (blind burrowing snakes) typically have few teeth, often only in the upper jaw or lower jaw.
Informal or popular terminology.
Common names for the various types of snake dentition originate largely from older literature, but still are encountered in informal publications. Aglyphous snakes are commonly called fangless; opisthoglyphous snakes rear-fanged or back-fanged; and both Proteroglyphous and Solenoglyphous snakes are referred to as front-fanged.
Taxonomic key of skull modifications.
Modifications of the skull in the European genera:
Vertebrae and ribs.
The vertebral column consists of an atlas (composed of two vertebrae) without ribs; numerous precaudal vertebrae, all of which, except the first or first three, bear long, movable, curved ribs with a small posterior tubercle at the base, the last of these ribs sometimes forked; two to ten so-called lumbar vertebrae without ribs, but with bifurcate transverse processes (lymphapophyses) enclosing the lymphatic vessels; and a number of ribless caudal vertebrae with simple transverse processes. When bifid, the ribs or transverse processes have the branches regularly superposed.
The centra have the usual ball and socket joint, with the nearly hemispherical or transversely elliptic condyle at the back (procoelous vertebrae), while the neural arch is provided with additional articular surfaces in the form of pre- and post-zygapophyses, broad, flattened, and overlapping, and of a pair of anterior wedge-shaped processes called zygosphene, fitting into a pair of corresponding concavities, zygantrum, just below the base of the neural spine. Thus the vertebrae of snakes articulate with each other by eight joints in addition to the cup-and-ball on the centrum, and interlock by parts reciprocally receiving and entering one another, like the mortise and tenon jointery. The precaudal vertebrae have a more or less high neural spine which, as a rare exception (Xenopholis), may be expanded and plate-like above, and short or moderately long transverse processes to which the ribs are attached by a single facet. The centra of the anterior vertebrae emit more or less developed descending processes, or haemapophyses, which are sometimes continued throughout, as in "Tropidonotus", "Vipera", and "Ancistrodon", among European genera.
In the caudal region, elongate transverse processes take the place of ribs, and the haemapophyses are paired, one on each side of the haemal canal. In the rattlesnakes the seven or eight last vertebrae are enlarged and fused into one.
Vestigial limbs.
No living snake shows any remains of the pectoral arch, but remains of the pelvis are found in:


John Henry Gurney Sr.

John Henry Gurney (4 July 1819 – 20 April 1890) was an English banker, amateur ornithologist, and Liberal Party politician of the Gurney family.
Life.
Gurney was the only son of Joseph John Gurney of Earlham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk. At the age of ten he was sent to a private tutor at Leytonstone near the Epping Forest, where he met Henry Doubleday, and commenced his first natural history collection. From there he moved to the Friends' School at Tottenham, and whilst there met William Yarrell. At the age of seventeen he joined the family's banking business in Norwich.
Gurney published a number of articles in "The Zoologist" on the birds of Norfolk. He also commenced a collection of birds of prey. In 1864 he published Part I. of his "Descriptive Catalogue" of this collection, and in 1872 he edited "The Birds of Damara Land" (Damaraland, South-West Africa) from the notes of his friend Charles John Andersson.
Between 1875 and 1882 he produced a series of notes in "The Ibis" on the first volume of the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum", and in 1884 brought out a "List of Diurnal Birds of Prey, with References and Annotations". The archives of Cambridge University Museum of Zoology contains five volumes of correspondence between Alfred Newton and Gurney, who was a founding member of the Norfolk Naturalists Trust.
For the last twenty years of his life he resided at the family's home at Northrepps, near Cromer.
His son, John Henry Gurney Jr., was also an ornithologist, and his great great grandson, Henry Richard Gurney of Heggatt Hall has continued the family tradition.
The southern African race of the black-necked grebe, "Podiceps nigricollis gurneyi", was named by South African zoologist and author Austin Roberts in 1919 in honour of the father and son.
John Henry Gurney Jr.'s daughter Agatha Gurney (1881–1937) married Sir Edward Ruggles-Brise, 1st Baronet. He was appointed a High Sheriff of Norfolk.
Political career.
He was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament (MP) for King's Lynn at a by-election in 1854, and was re-elected unopposed in 1857 and 1859. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 1865 general election.


Otidae

Otidae is a clade that includes the superorders Otidimorphae (bustards, turacos, and cuckoos) and Cypselomorphae (nightbirds, swifts, and hummingbirds). It was identified in 2014 by genome analysis. Before it was thought that Cypselomorphae was closely related to birds such as pigeons, flamingos, tropicbirds, and the kagu in the possibly polyphyletic taxon Metaves. They occupy a basal branch of the clade Passerea.


Rusty tinamou

The rusty tinamou or short-billed tinamou ("Crypturellus brevirostris") is a type of tinamou commonly found in swamp forest in tropical regions of South America.
Taxonomy.
The rusty tinamou is a monotypic species. All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.
Etymology.
"Crypturellus" is formed from three Latin or Greek words. "kruptos" meaning covered or hidden, "oura" meaning tail, and "ellus" meaning diminutive. Therefore, "Crypturellus" means small hidden tail.
Range and habitat.
It is found in tropical swamp forests and lowland forests, up to altitude. This species is native to northeastern and northwestern Brazil, French Guiana, and eastern Peru in South America.
Description.
The rusty tinamou is in length. Its upper parts are rufous boldly barred with black, its throat is white, its breast is bright rufous, its belly is white, and its flanks are barred black. Its crown is chestnut in color with legs that are yellowish-grey.
Behavior.
Like other tinamous, the rusty tinamou eats fruit off the ground or low-lying bushes. They also eat small amounts of invertebrates, flower buds, tender leaves, seeds, and roots. The male incubates the eggs which may come from as many as 4 different females, and then will raise them until they are ready to be on their own, usually 2–3 weeks. The nest is located on the ground in dense brush or between raised root buttresses.


Favositida

Favositida is an extinct suborder of prehistoric corals in the order Tabulata.


Peripatus juliformis

Peripatus juliformis is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatidae family. The type locality is in Saint Vincent Island. This species became the first velvet worm known to science when Guilding described it in 1826.


Priscaenigma

Priscaenigma is an extinct genus of snakefly of the Priscaenigmatidae family which was described by Whalley in 1985. The fossils were found on flatstones at Black Ven in Charmouth, Dorset at in a marine environment of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation. The fossils were collected by J. F. Jackson between 1961 and 1963. Its sister taxa is "Hondelagia". The genus contains one species, the extinct Priscaenigma obtusa, also described by Whalley in 1985. Its forewing is in length. Only a forewing was found when the species was discovered.


Casuariiformes

The Casuariiformes is an order of large flightless birds that has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of emu. They are divided into either a single family, Casuariidae, or more typically two, with the emu splitting off into its own family, Dromaiidae.
All four living members are native to Australia-New Guinea, but some possible extinct taxa occurred in other landmasses.
Systematics and evolution.
The emus form a distinct family, characterized by legs adapted for running. The total number of cassowary species described, based on minor differences in casque shape and color variations, formerly reached nine. Now, however, only three species are recognized, and most authorities only acknowledge few subspecies or none at all.
The fossil record of casuariforms is interesting, but not very extensive. Regarding fossil species of "Dromaius" and "Casuarius", see their genus pages. As with all ratites, there are several contested theories concerning their evolution and relationships.
Some Australian fossils initially believed to be from emus were recognized to represent a distinct genus, "Emuarius", which had a cassowary-like skull and femur and an emu-like lower leg and foot. In addition, the first fossils of mihirungs were initially believed to be from giant emus, but these birds were completely unrelated.
It has been suggested that the South American genus "Diogenornis" was a casuraiiform bird, instead of a member of the rheas, the current South American lineage of giant ground birds. If this were the case, not only would it extend the fossil range of this lineage to a wider region, but to a broader time span as well, since "Diogenornis" occurs in the late Paleocene and is among the earliest known ratites. In the late 19th century, a fossil casuariid ("Hypselornis") was named from India based on a single toe bone, however it was later shown to belong to a crocodilian.
An especially interesting question regarding this order is whether emus or cassowaries are the more primitive form, if either. Emus are generally assumed to retain more ancestral features, in part because of their more modest coloration, but this does not necessarily have to be the case. The casuariiform fossil record is ambiguous, and the present knowledge of their genome is insufficient for comprehensive analysis. Resolving the cladistic issues will require combination of all these approaches, with at least the additional consideration of plate tectonics.
Taxonomy.
Casuariiformes (Sclater, 1880) Forbes 1884


Biff, the Michigan Wolverine

Biff, the Wolverine was a live wolverine who served as a team mascot at University of Michigan football games and was later kept in a small zoo at the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s. In the mid-1920s, before the acquisition of a live wolverine, the University of Michigan used a mounted and stuffed wolverine, also named "Biff", as the team mascot.
History.
In 1923, after seeing the University of Wisconsin football team carry live badgers at games, University of Michigan athletic director and football coach Fielding H. Yost decided to procure a wolverine. Despite writing letters to 68 trappers, Yost was reportedly unable to find a wolverine. The best he could do in 1924 was to obtain a mounted and stuffed wolverine from the Hudson's Bay Company. The stuffed wolverine was named “Biff” and was featured on the cover of a 1925 game program, along with team captain Robert J. Brown straining to hold Biff on a leash. The caption to the photograph read: “Capt. Bob Brown and Biff: The Wolverine Mascot of Michigan Athletic Teams Is Noted for Its Ferocity and Gameness in Battle, a Characteristic of Every Team that Wears the Maize and Blue.”
Then, in 1927, the Detroit Zoo acquired ten wolverines from Alaska. During the 1927 season, Yost struck a deal with the zoo to have two of the wolverines transported to Ann Arbor on football Saturdays. The two wolverines were nicknamed “Biff” and “Bennie” and were paraded around Michigan Stadium during football games. Biff and Bennie’s first appearance came on dedication day for Michigan Stadium in 1927.
The University of Michigan Athletic Department reports that Biff and Bennie “grew larger and more ferocious,” leading Yost to conclude, "It was obvious that the Michigan mascots had designs on the Michigan men toting them, and those designs were by no means friendly." Accordingly, the practice of bringing Biff and Bennie into the stadium ended after just one season. One of the Wolverines, Biff, was put in a cage at the University of Michigan Zoo. National Geographic reported that "Yost had not accounted for the rapid growth or the ferocity of the animals, and when his players were no longer willing to carry the wolverines around the stadium, one live mascot, 'Biff,' was turned over to the University of Michigan Zoo so that the students would be able to visit—and be inspired by—him." Though some sources report that Biff and Bennie were paraded in cages around Michigan Stadium for only one year, an article from the Bentley Historical Library states that the two live wolverine mascots were brought to the stadium for “a number of years.” The Bentley account also states that both Biff and Bennie lived for a time at a small zoo near the Natural History Museum, "but eventually became too vicious to remain on campus and were moved to the Detroit Zoo."


Cyclomedusa

Cyclomedusa is a circular fossil of the Ediacaran biota; it has a circular bump in the middle and as many as five circular growth ridges around it. Many specimens are small, but specimens in excess of 20 cm are known. The concentric disks are not necessarily circular, especially when adjacent individuals interfere with each other's growth. Many radial segment lines — somewhat pineapple-like — extend across the outer disks. A few specimens show what might be a stem extending from the center in some direction or other.
"Cyclomedusa" is widely distributed in Ediacaran strata, with a number of species described. It has also been found in sediments dating to the Mayanian (~). "Cyclomedusa" was originally thought to be a jellyfish but some specimens seem to be distorted to accommodate adjacent specimens on the substrate, apparently indicating a benthic (bottom-dwelling) creature. The markings do not match the musculature pattern of modern jellyfish. The fossils have been conjectured to represent a holdfast for some stalked form — possibly an octacorallian, or something else entirely. Alternatively, it was thought that the described species actually represent different modes of preservation for one organism or that several different organisms have been grouped together under one name as a form taxon.
It is now suggested that "Cyclomedusa" was a microbial colony; D. Grazhdankin reinterprets the concentric rings and radial structures as comparable to those seen in modern-day microbial colonies exposed to homogeneously distributed environmental conditions.
"Cyclomedusa" is known from Neoproterozoic beds in Ediacara (Australia), Finnmark (Norway), Charnwood Forest (England), Olenek (Russia), North China, Newfoundland, Northwest Canada, Podolia (Ukraine), the Ural Mountains (Russia), the White Sea (Russia), and Sonora (Mexico). It is regarded as a member of the Ediacaran biota— a group of somewhat obscure organisms that thrived just before most of the modern multicellular animal phyla appeared. "Cyclomedusa" has no known relatives.


Mast cell

A mast cell (also known as a mastocyte or a labrocyte) is a resident cell of connective tissue that contains many granules rich in histamine and heparin. Specifically, it is a type of granulocyte derived from the myeloid stem cell that is a part of the immune and neuroimmune systems. Mast cells were discovered by Paul Ehrlich in 1877. Although best known for their role in allergy and anaphylaxis, mast cells play an important protective role as well, being intimately involved in wound healing, angiogenesis, immune tolerance, defense against pathogens, and vascular permeability in brain tumours.
The mast cell is very similar in both appearance and function to the basophil, another type of white blood cell. Although mast cells were once thought to be tissue resident basophils, it has been shown that the two cells develop from different hematopoietic lineages and thus cannot be the same cells.
Structure.
Mast cells are very similar to basophil granulocytes (a class of white blood cells) in blood. Both are granulated cells that contain histamine and heparin, an anticoagulant. Their nuclei differ in that the basophil nucleus is lobated while the mast cell nucleus is round. The Fc region of immunoglobulin E (IgE) becomes bound to mast cells and basophils and when IgE's paratopes bind to an antigen, it causes the cells to release histamine and other inflammatory mediators. These similarities have led many to speculate that mast cells are basophils that have "homed in" on tissues. Furthermore, they share a common precursor in bone marrow expressing the CD34 molecule. Basophils leave the bone marrow already mature, whereas the mast cell circulates in an immature form, only maturing once in a tissue site. The site an immature mast cell settles in probably determines its precise characteristics. The first in vitro differentiation and growth of a pure population of mouse mast cells has been carried out using conditioned medium derived from concanavalin A-stimulated splenocytes. Later, it was discovered that T cell-derived interleukin 3 was the component present in the conditioned media that was required for mast cell differentiation and growth.
Mast cells in rodents are classically divided into two subtypes: connective tissue-type mast cells and mucosal mast cells. The activities of the latter are dependent on T-cells.
Mast cells are present in most tissues characteristically surrounding blood vessels and nerves, and are especially prominent near the boundaries between the outside world and the internal milieu, such as the skin, mucosa of the lungs, and digestive tract, as well as the mouth, conjunctiva, and nose.
Function.
Mast cells play a key role in the inflammatory process. When activated, a mast cell can either selectively release (piecemeal degranulation) or rapidly release (anaphylactic degranulation) "mediators", or compounds that induce inflammation, from storage granules into the local microenvironment. Mast cells can be stimulated to degranulate by allergens through cross-linking with immunoglobulin E receptors (e.g., FcεRI), physical injury through pattern recognition receptors for damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), microbial pathogens through pattern recognition receptors for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), and various compounds through their associated G-protein coupled receptors (e.g., morphine through opioid receptors) or ligand-gated ion channels. Complement proteins can activate membrane receptors on mast cells to exert various functions as well.
Mast cells express a high-affinity receptor (FcεRI) for the Fc region of IgE, the least-abundant member of the antibodies. This receptor is of such high affinity that binding of IgE molecules is in essence irreversible. As a result, mast cells are coated with IgE, which is produced by plasma cells (the antibody-producing cells of the immune system). IgE antibodies are typically specific to one particular antigen.
In allergic reactions, mast cells remain inactive until an allergen binds to IgE already coated upon the cell. Other membrane activation events can either prime mast cells for subsequent degranulation or act in synergy with FcεRI signal transduction. In general, allergens are proteins or polysaccharides. The allergen binds to the antigen-binding sites, which are situated on the variable regions of the IgE molecules bound to the mast cell surface. It appears that binding of two or more IgE molecules (cross-linking) is required to activate the mast cell. The clustering of the intracellular domains of the cell-bound Fc receptors, which are associated with the cross-linked IgE molecules, causes a complex sequence of reactions inside the mast cell that lead to its activation. Although this reaction is most well understood in terms of allergy, it appears to have evolved as a defense system against parasites and bacteria.
Mast cell mediators.
A unique, stimulus-specific set of mast cell mediators is released through degranulation following the activation of cell surface receptors on mast cells. Examples of mediators that are released into the extracellular environment during mast cell degranulation include:
Histamine dilates post-capillary venules, activates the endothelium, and increases blood vessel permeability. This leads to local edema (swelling), warmth, redness, and the attraction of other inflammatory cells to the site of release. It also depolarizes nerve endings (leading to itching or pain). Cutaneous signs of histamine release are the "flare and wheal"-reaction. The bump and redness immediately following a mosquito bite are a good example of this reaction, which occurs seconds after challenge of the mast cell by an allergen.
The other physiologic activities of mast cells are much less-understood. Several lines of evidence suggest that mast cells may have a fairly fundamental role in innate immunity: They are capable of elaborating a vast array of important cytokines and other inflammatory mediators such as TNFa; they express multiple "pattern recognition receptors" thought to be involved in recognizing broad classes of pathogens; and mice without mast cells seem to be much more susceptible to a variety of infections.
Mast cell granules carry a variety of bioactive chemicals. These granules have been found to be transferred to adjacent cells of the immune system and neurons in a process of transgranulation via mast cell pseudopodia.
In the nervous system.
Unlike other hematopoietic cells of the immune system, mast cells naturally occur in the human brain where they interact with the neuroimmune system. In the brain, mast cells are located in a number of structures that mediate visceral sensory (e.g., pain) or neuroendocrine functions or that are located along the blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier, including the pituitary stalk, pineal gland, thalamus, and hypothalamus, area postrema, choroid plexus, and in the dural layer of the meninges near meningeal nociceptors. Mast cells serve the same general functions in the body and central nervous system, such as effecting or regulating allergic responses, innate and adaptive immunity, autoimmunity, and inflammation. Across systems, mast cells serve as the main effector cell through which pathogens can affect the gut–brain axis.
In the gut.
In the gastrointestinal tract, mucosal mast cells are located in close proximity to sensory nerve fibres, which communicate bidirectionally. When these mast cells initially degranulate, they release mediators (e.g., histamine, tryptase, and serotonin) which activate, sensitize, and upregulate membrane expression of nociceptors (i.e., TRPV1) on visceral afferent neurons via their receptors (respectively, HRH1, HRH2, HRH3, PAR2, 5-HT3); in turn, neurogenic inflammation, visceral hypersensitivity, and intestinal dysmotility (i.e., impaired peristalsis) result. Neuronal activation induces neuropeptide (substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide) signaling to mast cells where they bind to their associated receptors and trigger degranulation of a distinct set of mediators (β-Hexosaminidase, cytokines, chemokines, PGD2, leukotrienes, and eoxins).
Physiology.
Structure of the high-affinity IgE receptor, FcεR1.
FcεR1 is a high affinity IgE-receptor that is expressed on the surface of the mast cell. FcεR1 is a tetramer made of one alpha (α) chain, one beta (β) chain, and two identical, disulfide-linked gamma (γ) chains. The binding site for the IgE is formed by the extracellular portion of the α chain that contains two domains that are similar to Ig. One transmembrane domain contains an aspartic acid residue, and one contains a short cytoplasmic tail. The β chain contains, a single immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif ITAM, in the cytoplasmic region. Each γ chain has one ITAM on the cytoplasmic region. The signaling cascade from the receptor is initiated when the ITAMs of the β and γ chains are phosphorylated by tyrosine. This signal is required for the activation of mast cells. Type 2 helper T cells,(Th2) and many other cell types lack the β chain, so signaling is mediated only by the γ chain. This is due to the α chain containing endoplasmic reticulum retention signals that causes the α-chains to remain degraded in the ER. The assembly of the α chain with the co-transfected β and γ chains mask the ER retention and allows the α β γ complex to be exported to the golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane in rats. In humans, only the γ complex is needed to counterbalance the α chain ER retention.
Allergen process.
Allergen-mediated FcεR1 cross-linking signals are very similar to the signaling event resulting in antigen binding to lymphocytes. The Lyn tyrosine kinase is associated with the cytoplasmic end of the FcεR1 β chain. The antigen cross-links the FcεR1 molecules, and Lyn tyrosine kinase phosphorylates the ITAMs in the FcεR1 β and γ chain in the cytoplasm. Upon the phosphorylation, the Syk tyrosine kinase gets recruited to the ITAMs located on the γ chains. This causes activation of the Syk tyrosine kinase, causing it to phosphorylate. Syk functions as a signal amplifying kinase activity due to the fact that it targets multiple proteins and causes their activation. This antigen stimulated phosphorylation causes the activation of other proteins in the FcεR1-mediated signaling cascade.
Degranulation and fusion.
An important adaptor protein activated by the Syk phosphorylation step is the linker for activation of T cells (LAT). LAT can be modified by phosphorylation to create novel binding sites. Phospholipase C gamma (PLCγ) becomes phosphorylated once bound to LAT, and is then used to catalyze phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate breakdown to yield inositol trisphosphate (IP3) and diacyglycerol (DAG). IP3 elevates calcium levels, and DAG activates protein kinase C (PKC). This is not the only way that PKC is made. The tyrosine kinase FYN phosphorylates Grb2-associated-binding protein 2 (Gab2), which binds to phosphoinositide 3-kinase, which activates PKC. PKC leads to the activation of myosin light-chain phosphorylation granule movements, which disassembles the actin–myosin complexes to allow granules to come into contact with the plasma membrane. The mast cell granule can now fuse with the plasma membrane. Soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive fusion attachment protein receptor SNARE complex mediates this process. Different SNARE proteins interact to form different complexes that catalyze fusion. Rab3 guanosine triphosphatases and Rab-associated kinases and phosphatases regulate granule membrane fusion in resting mast cells.
MRGPRX2 mast cell receptor.
Human mast-cell-specific G-protein-coupled receptor MRGPRX2 plays a key role in the recognition of pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and initiating an anti-bacterial response. MRGPRX2 is able to bind to competence stimulating peptide (CSP) 1 - a quorum sensing molecule (QSM) produced by Gram-positive bacteria. This leads to signal transduction to a G protein and activation of the mast cell. Mast cell activation induces the release of antibacterial mediators including ROS, TNF-α and PRGD2 which institute the recruitment of other immune cells to inhibit bacterial growth and biofilm formation.
The MRGPRX receptor is a possible therapeutic target and can be pharmacologically activated using a 48/80 agonist to control bacterial infection. It is also hypothesised that other QSMs and even Gram-negative bacterial signals can activate this receptor. This might particularly be the case during Bartonella chronic infections where it appears clearly in human symptomatology that these patients all have a mast cell activation syndrome due to the presence of a not yet defined quorum sensing molecule (basal histamine itself?). Those patients are prone to food intolerance driven by another less specific path than the IgE receptor path: certainly the MRGPRX2 route. These patients also show cyclical skin pathergy and dermographism, every time the bacteria quits its hidden intracellular location.
Clinical significance.
Parasitic infections.
Mast cells are activated in response to infection by pathogenic parasites, such as certain helminths and protozoa, through IgE signaling.
Mast cell activation disorders.
Mast cell activation disorders (MCAD) are a spectrum of immune disorders that are unrelated to pathogenic infection and involve similar symptoms that arise from secreted mast cell intermediates, but differ slightly in their pathophysiology, treatment approach, and distinguishing symptoms. The classification of mast cell activation disorders was laid out in 2010.
Allergic disease.
Allergies are mediated through IgE signaling which triggers mast cell degranulation.
Many forms of cutaneous and mucosal allergy are mediated in large part by mast cells; they play a central role in asthma, eczema, itch (from various causes), allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Antihistamine drugs act by blocking histamine action on nerve endings. Cromoglicate-based drugs (sodium cromoglicate, nedocromil) block a calcium channel essential for mast cell degranulation, stabilizing the cell and preventing release of histamine and related mediators. Leukotriene antagonists (such as montelukast and zafirlukast) block the action of leukotriene mediators and are being used increasingly in allergic diseases.
Calcium triggers the secretion of histamine from mast cells after previous exposure to sodium fluoride. The secretory process can be divided into a fluoride-activation step and a calcium-induced secretory step. It was observed that the fluoride-activation step is accompanied by an elevation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels within the cells. The attained high levels of cAMP persist during histamine release. It was further found that catecholamines do not markedly alter the fluoride-induced histamine release. It was also confirmed that the second, but not the first, step in sodium fluoride-induced histamine secretion is inhibited by theophylline. Vasodilation and increased permeability of capillaries are a result of both H1 and H2 receptor types.
Stimulation of histamine activates a histamine (H2)-sensitive adenylate cyclase of oxyntic cells, and there is a rapid increase in cellular [cAMP] that is involved in activation of H+ transport and other associated changes of oxyntic cells.
Anaphylaxis.
In anaphylaxis (a severe systemic reaction to allergens, such as nuts, bee stings, or drugs), the body-wide degranulation of mast cells leads to vasodilation and, if severe, symptoms of life-threatening shock.
Histamine is a vasodilatory substance released during anaphylaxis.
Autoimmunity.
Mast cells may be implicated in the pathology associated with autoimmune, inflammatory disorders of the joints. They have been shown to be involved in the recruitment of inflammatory cells to the joints (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis) and skin (e.g., bullous pemphigoid), and this activity is dependent on antibodies and complement components.
Mastocytosis and clonal disorders.
Mastocytosis is a rare clonal mast cell disorder involving the presence of too many mast cells ("mastocytes") and CD34+ mast cell precursors. Mutations in c-Kit are associated with mastocytosis.
Neoplastic disorders.
Mastocytomas, or mast cell tumors, can secrete excessive quantities of degranulation products. They are often seen in dogs and cats. Other neoplastic disorders associated with mast cells include mast cell sarcoma and mast cell leukemia.
Mast cell activation syndrome.
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) is an idiopathic immune disorder that involves recurrent and excessive mast cell degranulation and which produces symptoms that are similar to other mast cell activation disorders. The syndrome is diagnosed based upon four sets of criteria involving treatment response, symptoms, a differential diagnosis, and biomarkers of mast cell degranulation.
History.
Mast cells were first described by Paul Ehrlich in his 1878 doctoral thesis on the basis of their unique staining characteristics and large granules. These granules also led him to the incorrect belief that they existed to nourish the surrounding tissue, so he named them "Mastzellen" (, as of animals). They are now considered to be part of the immune system.
Research.
Autism.
Research into an immunological contribution to autism suggests that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children may present with "allergic-like" problems in the absence of elevated serum IgE and chronic urticaria, suggesting non-allergic mast cell activation in response to environmental and stress triggers. This mast cell activation could contribute to brain inflammation and neurodevelopmental problems.
Histological staining.
Toluidine blue: one of the most common stains for acid mucopolysaccharides and glycoaminoglycans, components of mast cells granules.
Bismarck brown: stains mast cell granules brown.
Surface markers: cell surface markers of mast cells were discussed in detail by Heneberg, claiming that mast cells may be inadvertently included in the stem or progenitor cell isolates, since part of them is positive for the CD34 antigen. The classical mast cell markers include the high-affinity IgE receptor, CD117 (c-Kit), and CD203c (for most of the mast cell populations). Expression of some molecules may change in course of the mast cell activation.


Thoracolumbar fascia

The thoracolumbar fascia (lumbodorsal fascia or thoracodorsal fascia) is a deep investing membrane throughout most of the posterior thorax and abdomen although it is a thin fibrous lamina in the thoracic region. Above, it is continuous with a similar investing layer on the back of the neck—the nuchal fascia.
It is formed of longitudinal and transverse fibers that bridge the aponeuroses of internal oblique and transversus, costal angles and iliac crest laterally, to the vertebral column and sacrum medially. In doing so, they cover the paravertebral muscles.
It is made up of three layers, anterior, middle, and posterior. The anterior and middle layers insert onto the transverse processes of the vertebral column while the posterior layer inserts onto the tips of the spinous processes, hence it is indirectly continuous with the interspinous ligaments.
The anterior layer is the thinnest and the posterior layer is the thickest. Two spaces are formed between these three layers of the fascia.


Neodasys

Neodasys is a genus of gastrotrichs in the class Chaetonotida. It is the only genus in the family Neodasyidae, which is the only family in the suborder Multitubulatina.


Bernardodon

Bernardodon was a small, Lower Cretaceous mammal from Portugal. It is part of the extinct order Multituberculata, living at the same time as the dinosaurs. Differs from Pinheirodon in having I3 wider and more robust; on P5 the cusps of BB row do not extend for the whole tooth length.


Madygenophlebiidae

Madygenophlebiidae is an extinct family of rock crawlers in the order Grylloblattodea. There are at least two genera and four described species in Madygenophlebiidae.
Genera.
These two genera belong to the family Madygenophlebiidae:


Cornelis Hazevoet

Cornelis Jan "Kees" Hazevoet (born 15 March 1948) is a Dutch ornithologist and former professional jazz musician. He played piano, clarinet, and sometimes trumpet during his musical career, during which he was among the leading figures in the introduction of free jazz to the Netherlands. He is now curator of birds at the University of Lisbon's natural history museum, and an expert on the birds and other fauna of Cape Verde.
Early life.
Hazevoet was born in Amsterdam. His family and especially his mother had an interest in music; his parents kept classic jazz records, and got him started playing piano at a young age. He also had an interest in nature and biology from an early age. As a teenager he grew more interested in jazz, started playing trumpet and then clarinet, and attended workshops run by Theo Loevendie. At the time, many of his inspirations were jazz drummers, including Art Blakey. He went to school with bassist Arjen Gorter, who would collaborate with him again after they became professionals. Hazevoet hoped to enter a conservatory, but failed to be admitted.
Musical career.
Hazevoet started playing jazz in 1963, and in 1965 began to play free jazz, due in particular to the influence of the American avant-garde jazz pioneer Albert Ayler. During the 1960s, he was among the most prominent of the musicians who introduced free jazz to the Netherlands. He was a member of one of bandleader Willem Breuker's first groups in 1966, and played on Breuker's debut album. Hazevoet began a career as a professional jazz musician, playing with among others the group For Adolphe Sax led by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. His collaboration with Han Bennink was one of his most important, beginning in 1967 and lasted until 1980. In 1970, he formed a quartet with Arjen Gorter, the saxophonist Kris Wanders, and the South African drummer Louis Moholo, and that year they released the album "Pleasure". Around 1975, this group expanded into a septet, including Evan Parker and Maarten van Regteren Altena. In 1976, he formed the new group "Haazz & Company", with Moholo, Bennink, Brötzmann, and Johnny Dyani, and released "Unlawful Noise".
In 1970, he became secretary of the Foundation Jazz in Nederland, a Dutch jazz organisation. In 1972, Hazevoet received the VPRO/Boy Edgar Award, considered the most prestigious jazz award in the Netherlands. He was also one of the founders of the Amsterdam jazz club Bimhuis in 1973.
While other pioneers of the Dutch free jazz scene have become well known in the Netherlands and abroad, including Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and Willem Breuker, Hazevoet had mostly been forgotten as a musician. This was largely because so few of his records were sold during his career. "Pleasure", for example, only had 250 copies issued. In 2004, this album and "Unlawful Noise" were reissued by Atavistic Records as part of its "Unheard Music Series", bringing it and Hazevoet himself back into attention. Writing on "All About Jazz" in 2004, Andrey Henkin said the album had acquired a reputation as a mythical record which one would be privileged to hear, and described it as a work that stood out from the other recordings of the period but that perhaps did not deserve its reputation. Henkin compared Hazevoet to the famous American saxophonist Marzette Watts, saying they both "came and went in jazz relatively quickly" and worked with other musicians who had much longer careers.
Hazevoet said in the 1970s that his inspiration came from "the unromantic character of nature", and he called the creation of music a "natural event". Reviewing "Pleasure" in 2005, Belgian music site "Kwadratuur" said his clarinet playing together with Wanders' saxophone provided a tranquil atmosphere and "explored the limits of harmonics", complementing the tension provided by the other musicians, and his own piano performance, which they described as "almost furious" and key to the wild improvisation of the quartet.
Scientific career.
In 1980, Hazevoet gave up his jazz career, because he was tiring of work as a professional musician and "had enough of the music scene" by the late 1970s. As he later told an interviewer, he "always had a kind of scientific mind and approach to music", and he started a career as a zoologist, studying birds and the fauna of the Atlantic in particular. He travelled to northern Africa during the early 1980s, with an interest in both the wildlife and the local music. In 1986, he first visited Cape Verde, an archipelago nation in the Atlantic, and a few years later began graduate studies at the University of Amsterdam, earning a PhD in 1996.
In 1998 he accepted a position at the University of Lisbon in Portugal and became curator of birds at the school's Natural History Museum. Most of his research has been evolutionary and biogeographical, on spatial diversification over geologic time. Hazevoet has become renowned as an expert on the birds of Cape Verde, and published "Birds of the Cape Verde Islands" in 1995, among a number of other books. He served as editor of the journal "Atlantic Seabirds" (later "Seabird"), published by the Seabird Group, a British ornithological organisation dedicated to the study of seabirds. In addition to ornithology, he is also active in cetology, and coauthored the review article "Whales and Dolphins of the Cape Verde Islands", published in "Contributions to Zoology" in 2000.
Personal life.
Hazevoet is married and has a daughter. He and his family live in Lisbon most of the year, and in São Vicente, Cape Verde for another part of the year. While he mostly has stopped playing music, he wrote a biography of saxophonist Don Byas (whom he knew during the 1960s) in 2010–2011.


Hadoram Shirihai

Hadoram Shirihai (born in Israel 1962) is an Israeli ornithologist and writer.
Biography.
Shirihai is the son of Batia and Eli Shirihai. His mother was a schoolteacher, his father was a zoologist in Israel. He grew up in Jerusalem where he became fascinated with birds when he was 13 and spent much time documenting shorebird behaviour, raptor breeding biology and participating in bird migration surveys. In the 1980s and 1990s, he lived in Eilat on Israel's Red Sea coast, where he founded the International Birdwatching Center, becoming its first director.
Scientific career.
Shirihai was behind the discovery of several new species in the Western Palearctic and Israel. He worked as an escort for birding trips into the southern Negev desert, showing many observers locally breeding Hume's tawny owl and Nubian nightjar among other little-watched species of the area. He has written a number of bird identification papers, mostly published in English in magazines such as "British Birds" and "Birding World". With David Christie, he co-wrote the "Macmillan Birder's Guide to European and Middle Eastern birds" among several other works.
Shirihai is a consummate birder, having added 50 previously undocumented new bird species to the List of birds of Israel, and 10 new species to the Western Palearctic list of birds.
In January 2015, a newly described owl species, "Strix hadorami", was named after Shirihai by Dr. Manuel Schweizer and colleagues.
Published works.
He is the author of "The Birds of Israel" and co-author of a definitive work on the genus "Sylvia". He serves as an editorial consultant to leading bird magazines in Europe such as "Dutch Birding" and "Birdwatch".
Hadoram's main sphere of interest was the complex geographical variation shown by birds breeding in and migrating through the Middle East. He extended his research to Europe, northeast Africa and Asia, publishing "The Photographic Handbook for Western Palearctic Birds" (Shirihai & Svensson) and "The Handbook for Geographical Variation of Palearctic Birds" (Roselaar & Shirihai).
In the mid-1990s, Shirihai turned his attention to oceanic birds and marine mammals, particularly those of the Southern Hemisphere. He published "The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife," and commenced a 10-year project to produce the "Photographic Handbook of Birds of the World".
Shirihai has visited almost every subantarctic island and the breeding grounds of all forms of albatrosses, with special interest in plumage variation and identification. In 2008, he confirmed the continuing existence of the mysterious Beck's petrel ("Pseudobulweria becki"), known until then from 2 specimens collected in the 1920s and a handful of tentative sight records.


Zygomatic process

The zygomatic processes are three processes (protrusions) from other bones of the skull which each articulate with the zygomatic bone. The three processes are:
The term "zygomatic" derives from the Greek "Ζυγόμα", "zygoma", meaning "yoke". The zygomatic process is occasionally referred to as the zygoma, but this term usually refers to the zygomatic bone or occasionally the zygomatic arch.
Zygomatic process of frontal bone.
The supraorbital margin of the frontal bone ends laterally in its zygomatic process, which is strong and prominent, and articulates with the zygomatic bone. The zygomatic process of the frontal bone extends from the frontal bone laterally and inferiorly.
Zygomatic process of maxilla.
The zygomatic process of the maxilla (malar process) is a rough triangular eminence, situated at the angle of separation of the anterior, zygomatic, and orbital surfaces.
Zygomatic process of temporal bone.
The zygomatic process of the temporal bone is a long, arched process projecting from the lower part of the squamous portion of the temporal bone. It articulates with the zygomatic bone.
This process is at first directed lateralward, its two surfaces looking upward and downward; it then appears as if twisted inward upon itself, and runs forward, its surfaces now looking medialward and lateralward.
The superior border is long, thin, and sharp, and serves for the attachment of the temporal fascia.
The inferior border, short, thick, and arched, has attached to it some fibers of the masseter.
The lateral surface is convex and subcutaneous. The medial surface is concave, and affords attachment to the masseter.
The anterior end is deeply serrated and articulates with the zygomatic bone. The posterior end is connected to the squama by two roots, the anterior and posterior roots:
Processes of the zygomatic bone.
The zygomatic bone itself has four processes, namely the frontosphenoidal, orbital, maxillary and temporal processes.
The "frontosphenoidal process" is thick and serrated. The cranial suture between the frontal and zygomatic bone is found here. On its orbital surface, just within the orbital margin and about 11 mm below the zygomaticofrontal suture is a tubercle of varying size and form, but present in 95 per cent of skulls (Whitnall 43). This tubercle is not seen in the picture.
The "orbital process" is a thick, strong plate, projecting backward and medialward from the orbital margin. It is the gloomy area beneath the lac(rimal) and ethmoidal bones in the image.
The "maxillary process" presents a rough, triangular surface which articulates with the maxilla. It is the area below "zygomatic" in the image.
The "temporal process", long, narrow, and serrated, articulates with the zygomatic process of the temporal. It is the process to the right of "zygomatic" in the image.


Chippewaella

Chippewaella patellitheca is a stem-gastropod mollusc from Furongian-aged strata of Late Cambrian Wisconsin. According to Peter J. Wagner, it is the most basal gastropod.
Morphology.
"C. patellitheca" is known from broad, low, cap-shaped or mound-shaped shells around 2 centimeters in diameter. The shell has a slight apex that points posteriorly, and is at the posterior end of a central dorsal ridge.


Oocyte maturation inhibitor

The oocyte maturation inhibitor (OMI) is an inhibitory factor created by follicular cells during a primary oocyte maturation. It is believed to be the reason why the oocyte remains for so long in the immature dictyate state of meiosis.


Sevenless

Sevenless ("sev") is a gene in "Drosophila melanogaster" that encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase protein essential to the development of R7 cells in the Drosophila embryonic eye. The drosophila ommatidium contains 8 distinct retinula or R cells, each of which has a different spectral sensitivity. The R7 photo receptor, located in each of several ommatidium in the fly's compound eye, is used to detect ultraviolet light. The R8 photo receptor contains an activator of the RTK (receptor tyrosine kinase) for on a precursor R7 cell, called the "bride of sevenless" (BOSS). The binding of BOSS to sevenless stimulates a complex series of reactions involving the RTK (sevenless), MAP kinases, Ras and many more molecules to differentiate that precursor R7 photo receptor to a fully functional R7 photo receptor that can see UV light. Much of this knowledge was gained by examining flies with a mutant sevenless which still produced a fully functional R7 photoreceptor when a dominant Ras was injected into the mutant R7 precursor.


Ballistospore

A ballistospore or ballistoconida is a spore that is discharged into the air from a living being, usually a species of fungus. With fungi, most types of basidiospores formed on basidia are discharged into the air from the tips of sterigmata. At least 30 thousand species of mushrooms, basidiomycete yeasts, and other fungal groups may discharge ballistospores, sometimes at initial accelerations exceeding 10 thousand times "g".


Jocelyn Crane

Jocelyn Crane (June 11, 1909 – December 16, 1998) was an American carcinologist, most famous for her research on the fiddler crab and her work with the New York Zoological Society’s (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) Department of Tropical Research.
She became a key figure and expert in ethology – concentrating on the behavior of tropical animals, jumping spiders, praying mantises, butterflies and most importantly, fiddler crabs. Her lifelong research on fiddler crabs—researching their morphology, systematics, biogeography and behavior—was published in her 1975 seminal work "Fiddler Crabs of the World".
Biography.
Crane was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She was educated at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, graduating with a zoology degree in 1930.
Career.
In 1930, she went straight from university to become a laboratory assistant on William Beebe’s staff for the Second Bermuda Oceanographic Expedition at the New York Zoological Society’s Department for Tropical Research, which was based at Nonsuch Island, Bermuda.
In 1932, she was promoted to Laboratory Associate at the Department for Tropical Research. Her early work focused on structure, distribution and viability of surviving organisms concerning more than a hundred deep-sea fish and invertebrates. In 1933, Crane was given the new job title of Technical Associate and from 1934 began to write her own articles about her research at the department – her first entitled “Deep-sea Creatures of Six Net Hauls” which was published in the NYZS's Bulletin.
Crane continued to produce valuable scientific work with the department and turned her attention to the study of copepods. In 1935, she was able to identify around 60 species of copepods, of which almost half had never before been recorded in Bermuda. New data was recorded on color during life, swimming methods, breeding habits, growth stages, relative numbers of different species and sexes, diurnal migrations, effects of storms and currents and general viability.
Her first scientific article came in 1936 during work in the West Indies. Published in Zoologica, it was titled “Notes on the Biology and Ecology of Giant Tuna, Thunnus thynnus Linnaeus, observed at Portland, Maine”.
In 1938, her attentions began to turn towards crabs, and she studied more than 200 species during the Eastern Pacific Zaca expedition that year. This interest continued in 1939, when she brought a catalog of 2,500 worldwide crab titles up to date and began papers on the life-histories and evolution of crabs. This was to become the main interest of her career, the result being her 1975 publication on fiddler crabs.
By 1942, Crane was working as a Research Zoologist, still with the Department of Tropical Research, who at this time were working in Venezuela. Crane was still studying crabs, in particular the genus Uca.
In 1944, Crane travelled again to Venezuela in order to find a place suitable for a new station of the Department of Tropical Research. She chose Rancho Grande, which was a large and unused building in the jungle at an altitude of 3,000 ft, 3 hours from Caracas. This was the department's base for 7 years until it moved to a new, permanent home at Simla, in the northern mountain range of Trinidad in 1951. Crane managed both the Venezuela and Trinidad stations for the department.
After Beebe's retirement in 1952, he remained as Director Emeritus, with Jocelyn Crane becoming the Assistant Director of the Department of Tropical Research.
Throughout her broadening administrative duties, Crane's scientific work never faltered, and in 1955, she was awarded a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation for worldwide crab studies. By 1961, her fiddler crab study was nearing its final stages, with 784 drawings already complete.
William Beebe died on June 4, 1962, and Crane was appointed as Director of the department, with the NYZS Annual Report that year noting that Crane had “accomplished much brilliant work advancing [the department’s] purposes”. She remained in this post until 1966 when she became administrator of the William Beebe Tropical Research Station. Additionally, from 1966 until her retirement in 1971, Crane was senior research zoologist with the Institute for Research on Animal Behavior – jointly operated by NYZS and Rockefeller University.
Jocelyn Crane retired from NYZS in 1971 but continued to have close associations with the Society by continuing to conduct research on fiddler crabs, and she published her seminal work Fiddler Crabs of the World in 1975.
At the time of her retirement, NYZS's impressive invertebrate collection of over 10,000 specimens was transferred to the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History. Crane retained the fiddler crab specimens until her book was published in 1975. These were later deposited with the United States National Museum (USNM), now the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
Travels.
Crane travelled extensively around the world, both for her scientific work and her own personal travels, often publishing accounts and articles connected to research undertaken during these trips. One impressive journey was her 1936 expedition to Iraq, where she undertook a 12,000 mile journey across Palestine and the Syrian desert to Baghdad. During her trip she studied the flora and fauna of Kurdistan.
Other endeavors and achievements.
Crane was awarded an honorary Master of Science degree by Smith College in 1947 to honor her “studies of animals in their natural environment”.
During her retirement, Crane returned to studying, earning a Ph.D. in Art History in 1991 from the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. At the time of her death she was working on a book, tentatively entitled “Talking Fingers”. The main focus of her research in the arts related to the use of communicative human hand gestures as represented in art.
Personal life.
In 1965, Crane married Donald R. Griffin, with whom she worked at the Institute for Research in Animal Behavior.
Death.
Crane died in Concord, Massachusetts on December 16, 1998. She was 89.


Vienna Highflyer

The Vienna Highflyer is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. Vienna Highflyers, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the rock pigeon ("Columba livia").


Periwound

The periwound (also peri-wound) or periwound skin, is tissue surrounding a wound. Periwound area is traditionally limited to 4 cm outside the wound’s edge but can extend beyond this limit if outward damage to the skin is present. Periwound assessment is an important step of wound assessment before wound treatment is prescribed.
Function and characteristics.
Healthy periwound is an immediate barrier surrounding the wound bed that can perform all the regular functions of skin – the body’s largest organ – such as absorption, excretion, protection, secretion, thermoregulation, pigment production, sensory perception and immunity. Healthy periwound maintains all the physical characteristics of skin: elasticity, surface integrity, color and texture. However, periwound can become compromised and negatively affect the healing progress of the wound.
Periwound issues.
Periwound issues affect the integrity and healthy functionality of the skin surrounding the wound and may include maceration, excoriation, dry (scaly) skin, eczema, callus (hyperkeratosis), infection, inflammation.
Signs and symptoms.
Patients suffering from periwound issues may experience burning, itching, tenderness, and pain. Visible and measurable signs include rash, erythema, discoloration, changes in skin texture and temperature.
Causes.
The most common cause of periwound issues is excessive moisture present in the area surrounding the wound. Exudate from heavily draining wounds causes irritation of the periwound that may lead to maceration, excoriation, and otherwise compromise skin integrity.
This type of damage is more common in chronic wounds due to exudate composition which differs from fluids produced in acute wounds or burns. Chronic wound exudate contains proteolytic enzymes and other components that degrade skin integrity and predispose it to inflammation. Moisture-associated skin damage can also be caused by bodily fluids or other contaminants that enter the periwound areas, for example, in patients suffering from urinary or fecal incontinence, or colostomy patients. Other causes include dryness of the skin due to ageing and skin or systemic disorders, allergic reactions to wound care products, damage that may result from poor application and removal technique of adhesive products used in wound treatment, as well as exposure to infection or extrinsic contaminants at the time of wound dressing changes.
Risk factors.
Among risk factors that may contribute to degrading the periwound skin performance are:
Treatment and prevention.
Treatment and prevention of periwound issues are becoming increasingly important as research continues to confirm the role of periwound in wound healing. The shared objective of treatment and prevention is maintenance and/or restoration of the integrity and healthy functionality of skin surrounding the wound.
Main treatment and prevention strategies include the following:
Systemic treatment may include medication appropriate for patient’s condition. Local treatment may include wound care products that protect periwound and help maintain its healthy functionality, for example, moisture barriers (ointments, salves and films), topical corticosteroids, antiseptics and antifungal agents, as well as moisture balancing dressings, such as self-adaptive wound dressing.


Phoronis embryolabi

Phoronis embryolabi is a species of marine horseshoe worm in the phylum Phoronida. It is found in the Vostok Bay, where it lives together with "Nihonotrypaea japonica", an Axiidea shrimp species, in its burrows.
A phylogenetic analysis in 2018 suggests that "Phoronis embryolabi" is most closely related to "Phoronis pallida".


Somali hedgehog

The Somali hedgehog ("Atelerix sclateri") is a species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae. It is endemic to Somalia. The Somali hedgehog is nocturnal.
Distribution.
The Somali hedgehog is native to areas on the outer borders of Somalia.
Habitat.
It is a savanna species that is believed to live mostly in grasslands and other open habitats.
Threats.
There is little known about this species, but from what is known there are believed to be no current threats to the hedgehog's habitat.


List of tautonyms

The following is a list of tautonyms: zoological names of species consisting of two identical words (the generic name and the specific name have the same spelling). Such names are allowed in zoology, but not in botany, where the two parts of the name of a species must differ (though differences as small as one letter are permitted, as in the jujube ("Ziziphus zizyphus")).


Red-tailed sportive lemur

The red-tailed sportive lemur ("Lepilemur ruficaudatus"), or red-tailed weasel lemur, is native to Madagascar like all lemurs. It is a nocturnal species feeding largely on leaves, though they also eat some fruit. Individuals weigh around , and there is little sexual dimorphism. In general they live in mated pairs, with a home range of about 10,000 square metres. Both members of the pair use the same home range, and there is little overlap between the home ranges of neighbouring pairs. Travel distances each night are between and 1 km (0.6 mi), making this a relatively inactive species. This species can be found in the Madagascar dry deciduous forests.
Red-tailed sportive lemurs travel in this pairs because it can be difficult for a male to produce roaming strategies and move farther away from the homeland. Therefore, they typically pair up with only one female for reproduction, hence their “partner.” Additionally, these Lemurs don't typically have a strong early warning system, making it difficult for them to warm others or send a signal. Instead, they have grown to develop strong escape mechanisms for them to flee danger. Many studies and experiments have been conducted to produce this information.


Pewee

The pewees are a genus, Contopus, of small to medium-sized insect-eating birds in the Tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae.
These birds are known as pewees, from the call of one of the more common members of this vocal group. They are generally charcoal-grey birds with wing bars that live in wooded areas.
The genus "Contopus" was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1855 with the eastern wood pewee as the type species. The name of the genus combines the Ancient Greek words "kontos" "pole" or "shaft" and "pous" "foot".
The genus contains 15 species:


Ascaltis pelliculata

Ascaltis pelliculata is a species of sea sponge in the family Leucascidae, first described as "Leucoselenia pelliculata" by Arthur Dendy in 1891. it is found in the coastal waters of Victoria.


Gosaukammerella

Gosaukammerella is a genus of strophomenid brachiopods, with one species Gosaukammerella eomesozoica. It was originally thought to be a problematic calcareous alga, and described under the name "Pycnoporidium eomesozoicum".


Peter Yates

Peter James Yates (24 July 1929 – 9 January 2011) was an English film director and producer. He was born in Aldershot, Hampshire.
Biography.
Early life.
The son of an army officer, he attended Charterhouse School as a boy, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked for some years as an actor, director and stage manager. He directed plays in London and New York. He also spent two years as racing manager for Stirling Moss and Peter Collins.
Early film industry jobs and assistant director.
In the 1950s he started in the film industry doing odd jobs such as dubbing foreign films and editing documentaries. He eventually became a leading assistant director.
He was an assistant director to Mark Robson on "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" (1958), Terence Young on "Serious Charge" (1959) with Cliff Richard, Terry Bishop on "Cover Girl Killer" (1959), Guy Hamilton on "A Touch of Larceny" (1960), Jack Cardiff on "Sons and Lovers" (1960), Tony Richardson on "The Entertainer" (1960) and "A Taste of Honey" (1961), J. Lee Thompson on "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) and José Quintero on "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" (1961).).
Through the influence of Richardson, he directed Albee's "The American Dream" and "The Death of Bessie Smith" at London's Royal Court Theatre.
Early features as director.
Yates' first feature as director was "Summer Holiday" (1963), a "lightweight" vehicle for Cliff Richard. It was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1963.
Yates had seen the original Royal Court production of N.F. Simpson's play "One Way Pendulum" and got the job of making the film version released in 1964. It was produced by Michael Deeley. The movie was not widely seen.
During the mid 1960s, Yates directed episodes of television, notably "The Saint" and "Danger Man".
Yates' third feature as director was the heist film "Robbery" (1967), a fictionalised version of the Great Train Robbery of 1963 starring Stanley Baker and produced by Deeley.
"Bullitt" and Hollywood.
"Robbery" was a critical success in the US and led to an offer to direct "Bullitt" (1968), of which Bruce Weber has written, "Mr. Yates’s reputation probably rests most securely on "Bullitt" (1968), his first American film – and indeed, on one particular scene, an extended car chase that instantly became a classic."
Yates later said, "In Hollywood back then, everyone knew a British director couldn't do action, so I think the studio had another motive in letting me come over. I think the reason they let McQueen bring me in was because if they let him have his way, they'd get him out of the studio – and out of their hair – for a while."
Yates moved to New York. "A filmmaker must go where the stories are," he said.
"Bullitt" was a huge success. Yates signed a contract with the Mirisch Company to make four films over seven years.
Yates followed "Bullitt" with a romantic comedy, "John and Mary" (1969) with Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow. "I like to change the kind of stories I do," said Yates. "If you're not careful, you get pigeonholed and sooner or later someone better will come along."
In 1970, Yates said he would make "Don Quixote" with Richard Burton but the project stalled. Instead he did a war film with Peter O'Toole produced by Deeley, "Murphy's War" (1971).
Yates did another heist film, "The Hot Rock" (1972), based on a novel by Donald Westlake starring Robert Redford from a William Goldman script. After this he was going to make "The Leatherstocking Saga" and Jonathan Schwartz's "Almost Home" but neither was made.
In 1972 he signed a four picture deal with Paramount which was to start with "Deadly Edge" from a Westlake novel.
Yates stayed with crime with "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" (1973) starring Robert Mitchum. He then did two comedies: "For Pete's Sake" (1974) with Barbra Streisand, and "Mother, Jugs & Speed" (1976); he produced the latter along with writer Tom Mankiewicz.
Yates had a big commercial success with the adventure film "The Deep" (1977), where Mankiewicz did some uncredited writing.
"Breaking Away".
Yates used his clout from "The Deep" to raise finance for "Breaking Away" (1979), written by Steve Tesich, whose play "The Passing Game", Yates had directed in New York. Yates produced and directed the film. "Breaking Away" was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Film for Yates. It led to a short-lived TV series that Yates also produced.
Yates and Tesich were reunited on the thriller "Eyewitness" (1981) starring William Hurt.
He tried fantasy with "Krull" (1983), but it was not a success at the box office.
"The Dresser".
Yates also produced and directed "The Dresser" (1983), an adaptation of the Ronald Harwood stage play. The film received seven BAFTA and five Oscar nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film and for Best Direction and the Academy Award for Best Film and for Best Director for Yates. "The Dresser" was also entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.
Along with "Eddie Coyle" and "Breaking Away", "The Dresser" was one of Yates' three favourite films.
"I'm ambitious in my own way," said Yates around this time. "I don't crave power. I really wouldn't want to trade places with anyone, not even Steven Spielberg. Look at what power can do to a gifted director like Robert Altman. It isn't necessarily healthy. I just want to make the movies that I want to make and, if by chance a few of them should turn out to be important or influential or successful, well, that would be an accident, wouldn't it?"
Following "The Dresser", Yates next four directorial efforts proved to be unsuccessful at the box office: "Eleni" (1985), written by Tesich; "Suspect" (1987), a thriller with Cher and Dennis Quaid; "The House on Carroll Street" (1988), which he also produced; and "An Innocent Man" (1989) with Tom Selleck.
Los Angeles.
In the early 1990s, after 18 years in New York, Yates moved to Los Angeles.
He made "Year of the Comet" (1992), which was a flop despite being based on a William Goldman script, and "Roommates" (1995). He was an executive producer on "Needful Things" (1992).
Yates went to Ireland to make "The Run of the Country" (1995) which he also produced.
Return to London.
In 1997 Yates returned to London. "The work was starting to close down," he admitted. "Firstly, you're supposed to be under 30, if possible. Secondly, I prefer to develop my own projects... There were a lot of teenage films around, which I wasn't right for and didn't feel connected to, and special-effects films of a kind I didn't know enough about. You have to be brought up in a computer-literate generation."
He made "Curtain Call" (1998) with Michael Caine then made a television film of the Cervantes novel in 2000, with John Lithgow as Don Quixote.
Yates' final film was "A Separate Peace" (2004)
Yates has two distinct styles: one used for his thriller, action and drama projects which frequently reflects on the principal character's state of alienation with a humanistic perspective and another expressive and sentimental style which focuses on the moral dilemmas of the characters, predominantly seen in his coming-of-age and other dramatic films.
"I think there's probably some truth in the theory that I prefer heroes who fight against adversity and make it through from being the underdog to winning," said Yates.
Death.
Yates died from heart failure in London on 9 January 2011. He was 81 years old.


Cyrtospirifer verneuili

Cyrtospirifer verneuili, also called "Spirifer verneuili", is an extinct species of brachiopods. The fossils are present in the Upper Devonian.
In Cornwall they have the vernacular name Delabole Butterfly, from the appearance of flattened forms in the slates at Delabole.


Louis-Charles Malassez

Louis-Charles Malassez (21 September 1842 – 22 December 1909) was a French anatomist and histologist born in Nevers, department of Nièvre.
He studied medicine in Paris, where he worked as an "interne" from 1867. He served with the 5th Ambulance Corps during the Franco-Prussian War, afterwards returning to Paris, where he worked with distinguished physicians that included Claude Bernard, Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Potain. In 1875, he attained the chair of anatomy at Collège de France, and in 1894, became a member of the "Académie de Médecine".
He conducted histological research of the blood, and is credited for design of the hemocytometer, a device used to quantitatively measure blood cells. In the field of dentistry, he described residual cells of the epithelial root sheath in the periodontal ligament. These remaining cells are referred to as epithelial cell rests of Malassez (ERM).
A genus of fungi called "Malassezia" bears his name. The species in the genus include: "Malassezia furfur", "Malassezia ovalis", "Malassezia pachydermatis", "Malassezia sympodialis" and "Malassezia orbiculare". "Malassezia furfur" is a lipophilic species that forms on human skin and can cause seborrheic dermatitis and tinea versicolor, "Malassezia pachydermatis" is a species that is associated with otitis externa in dogs.


Petrosal branch of middle meningeal artery

The petrosal branch of middle meningeal artery enters the hiatus for greater petrosal nerve, supplies the facial nerve and anastomoses with the stylomastoid branch of the posterior auricular artery.


Mammalian reproduction

Most mammals are viviparous, giving birth to live young. However, the five species of monotreme, the platypuses and the echidnas, lay eggs. The monotremes have a sex determination system different from that of most other mammals. In particular, the sex chromosomes of a platypus are more like those of a chicken than those of a therian mammal.
The mammary glands of mammals are specialized to produce milk, a liquid used by newborns as their primary source of nutrition. The monotremes branched early from other mammals and do not have the teats seen in most mammals, but they do have mammary glands. The young lick the milk from a mammary patch on the mother's belly.
Viviparous mammals are in the subclass Theria; those living today are in the Marsupialia and Placentalia infraclasses. A marsupial has a short gestation period, typically shorter than its estrous cycle, and gives birth to an underdeveloped (altricial) newborn that then undergoes further development; in many species, this takes place within a pouch-like sac, the marsupium, located in the front of the mother's abdomen. Some placentals, e.g. guinea pig, give birth to fully developed (precocial) young, usually after long gestation periods, while some others, e.g. mouse, give birth to underdeveloped young.
Maturity and reproductive age.
Sexual maturity and thus the earliest age at which mammals can reproduce varies dramatically across species. Members of the rodent family Cricetidae can reach sexual maturity in 1–2 months, e.g. the Norway lemming ("Lemmus lemmus") in 39 days. Many dogs (family Canidae) and bovids (Bovidae) take about a year to reach maturity while primates (including humans) and dolphins (Delphinidae) require more than 10 years. Some whales take even longer, with the longest duration being recorded for the Bowhead whale ("Balaena mysticetus"), which reaches maturity at an age of only about 23 years.
Reproductive system.
Placental mammals.
Male placental mammals.
The mammalian male reproductive system contains two main divisions, the penis and the testicles, the latter of which is where sperm are produced. In humans, both of these organs are outside the abdominal cavity, but they can be primarily housed within the abdomen in other animals. For instance, a dog's penis is covered by a penile sheath except when mating. Having the testicles outside the abdomen best facilitates temperature regulation of the sperm, which require specific temperatures to survive. The external location may also cause a reduction in the heat-induced contribution to the spontaneous mutation rate in male germinal tissue. Sperm are the smaller of the two gametes and are generally very short-lived, requiring males to produce them continuously from the time of sexual maturity until death. The produced sperm are stored in the epididymis until ejaculation. The sperm cells are motile and they swim using tail-like flagella to propel themselves towards the ovum. The sperm follows temperature gradients (thermotaxis) and chemical gradients (chemotaxis) to locate the ovum.
The mammalian female reproductive system likewise contains two main divisions: the vagina and uterus, which act as the receptacle for the sperm, and the ovaries, which produce the female's ova. All of these parts are always internal. The vagina is attached to the uterus through the cervix, while the uterus is attached to the ovaries via the Fallopian tubes. At certain intervals, the ovaries release an ovum, which passes through the fallopian tube into the uterus.
If, in this transit, it meets with sperm, the egg selects sperm with which to merge; this is termed fertilization. The fertilization usually occurs in the oviducts, but can happen in the uterus itself. The zygote then implants itself in the wall of the uterus, where it begins the processes of embryogenesis and morphogenesis. When developed enough to survive outside the womb, the cervix dilates and contractions of the uterus propel the fetus through the birth canal, which is the vagina.
The ova, which are the female sex cells, are much larger than the sperm and are normally formed within the ovaries of the fetus before its birth. They are mostly fixed in location within the ovary until their transit to the uterus, and contain nutrients for the later zygote and embryo. Over a regular interval, in response to hormonal signals, a process of oogenesis matures one ovum which is released and sent down the Fallopian tube. If not fertilized, this egg is released through menstruation in humans and other great apes, and reabsorbed in other mammals in the estrus cycle.
Gestation.
Gestation, called "pregnancy" in humans, is the period of time during which the fetus develops, dividing via mitosis inside the female. During this time, the fetus receives all of its nutrition and oxygenated blood from the female, filtered through the placenta, which is attached to the fetus' abdomen via an umbilical cord. This drain of nutrients can be quite taxing on the female, who is required to ingest slightly higher levels of calories. In addition, certain vitamins and other nutrients are required in greater quantities than normal, often creating abnormal eating habits. The length of gestation, called the gestation period, varies greatly from species to species; it is 40 weeks in humans, 56–60 in giraffes and 16 days in hamsters.
Birth.
Once the fetus is sufficiently developing, chemical signals start the process of birth, which begins with contractions of the uterus and the dilation of the cervix. The fetus then descends to the cervix, where it is pushed out into the vagina, and eventually out of the female. The newborn, which is called an infant in humans, should typically begin respiration on its own shortly after birth. Not long after, the placenta is passed as well.
Monotremes.
Monotremes, only five species of which exist, all from Australia and New Guinea, are mammals that lay eggs. They have one opening for excretion and reproduction called the cloaca. They hold the eggs internally for several weeks, providing nutrients, and then lay them and cover them like birds. Like marsupial "joeys", monotreme "puggles" are larval and fetus-like, as like them they cannot expand their torso due to the presence of epipubic bones, forcing them to produce undeveloped young.
Marsupials.
Marsupials' reproductive systems differ markedly from those of placental mammals, though it is probably the plesiomorphic condition found in viviparous mammals, including non-placental eutherians. During embryonic development, a choriovitelline placenta forms in all marsupials. In bandicoots, an additional chorioallantoic placenta forms, although it lacks the chorionic villi found in eutherian placentas.
Gametogenesis.
Animals, including mammals, produce gametes (sperm and egg) through meiosis in gonads (testicles in males and ovaries in females). Sperm are produced by the process of spermatogenesis and eggs are produced by oogenesis. These processes are outlined in the article gametogenesis. During gametogenesis in mammals many genes encoding proteins that take part in DNA repair mechanisms show enhanced or specialized expression These mechanisms include meiotic homologous recombinational repair and mismatch repair.


Roman Kenk

Roman Kenk (November 25, 1898 – October 2, 1988) was a Slovenian zoologist.
Life.
Roman Kenk received his PhD degree in zoology at the University of Graz, Austria, in 1921, and worked at the University of Ljubljana.
From 1931–1932, and again in the summer of 1933, Kenk stayed at the University of Virginia, USA, where he met Ada Antonio Blanco, who had come from Puerto Rico. They married in 1933 and returned to Ljubljana, where they stayed for 5 years and then moved to Puerto Rico. Four years later, in 1942, Kenk became a naturalized American citizen.
From 1948 to 1965, Kenk was employed at the Library of Congress. Later, he became a Research Associate at the Department of Invertebrate Zoology of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., where he worked until his death in 1988.
Kenk's life was dedicated to the study of freshwater planarians, especially from Europe and the United States.
Taxa named in his honor.
Several taxa were named after Roman Kenk, such as the freshwater planarian genera "Kenkia" and "Romankenkius".


Acosmia

Acosmia is a genus of Chengjiang biota priapulid (marine worm) in the family Acosmiidae. It is represented by a single rare species, Acosmia maotiania.


Euavialae

Euavialae (meaning "true winged birds") is a group of theropods which includes all avialan species more closely related to modern birds than to the basal, long-tailed birds "Archaeopteryx" and "Jeholornis".
Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Lefèvre "et al.", 2014: