Recent studies indicate that yawning evolved as a brain cooling mechanism. Given that larger brains have greater thermolytic needs and brain temperature is determined in part by heat production from neuronal activity, it was hypothesized that animals with larger brains and more neurons would yawn longer to produce comparable cooling effects. To test this, we performed the largest study on yawning ever conducted, analyzing 1291 yawns from 101 species (55 mammals; 46 birds). Phylogenetically controlled analyses revealed robust positive correlations between yawn duration and (1) brain mass, (2) total neuron number, and (3) cortical/pallial neuron number in both mammals and birds, which cannot be attributed solely to allometric scaling rules. These relationships were similar across clades, though mammals exhibited considerably longer yawns than birds of comparable brain and body mass. These findings provide further evidence suggesting that yawning is a thermoregulatory adaptation that has been conserved across amniote evolution.

• MeSH
• Brain anatomy & histology   physiology   MeSH
• Neurons cytology   physiology   MeSH
• Birds anatomy & histology   physiology   MeSH
• Mammals anatomy & histology   physiology   MeSH
• Organ Size MeSH
• Yawning * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

The disproportionate evolutionary expansion of the human cerebral cortex with reinforcement of cholinergic innervations warranted a major rise in the functional and metabolic load of the conserved basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic system. Given that acetylcholine (ACh) regulates properties of the microtubule-associated protein (MAP) tau and promotes non-amyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP), growing neocortex predicts higher demands for ACh, while the emerging role of BF cholinergic projections in Aβ clearance infers greater exposure of source neurons and their innervation fields to amyloid pathology. The higher exposure of evolutionary most recent cortical areas to the amyloid pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with synaptic impairments and atrophy, therefore, might involve attenuated homeostatic effects of BF cholinergic projections, in addition to fall-outs of inherent processes of expanding association areas. This unifying model, thus, views amyloid pathology and loss of cholinergic cells as a quid pro quo of the allometric evolution of the human brain, which in combination with increase in life expectancy overwhelm the fine homeostatic balance and trigger the disease process.

• MeSH
• Alzheimer Disease metabolism   pathology   MeSH
• Default Mode Network metabolism   pathology   MeSH
• Phylogeny * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Cerebral Cortex metabolism   pathology   MeSH
• Cholinergic Neurons metabolism   pathology   MeSH
• Nerve Tissue Proteins metabolism   MeSH
• Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor metabolism   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Review MeSH

Winter provides many challenges for terrestrial arthropods, including low temperatures and decreased food availability. Most arthropods are dormant in the winter and resume activity when conditions are favorable, but a select few species remain active during winter. Winter activity is thought to provide a head start on spring growth and reproduction, but few studies have explicitly tested this idea or investigated tradeoffs associated with winter activity. Here, we detail biochemical changes in overwintering winter-active wolf spiders, Schizocosa stridulans, to test the hypothesis that winter activity promotes growth and energy balance. We also quantified levels of putative cryoprotectants throughout winter to test the prediction that winter activity is incompatible with biochemical adaptations for coping with extreme cold. Body mass of juveniles increased 3.5-fold across winter, providing empirical evidence that winter activity promotes growth and therefore advancement of spring reproduction. While spiders maintained protein content throughout most of the winter, lipid content decreased steadily, suggesting either a lack of available prey to maintain lipids, or more likely, an allometric shift in body composition as spiders grew larger. Carbohydrate content showed no clear seasonal trend but also tended to be higher at the beginning of the winter. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that winter activity is incompatible with cryoprotectant accumulation. However, we observed accumulation of glycerol, myo-inositol, and several other cryoprotectants, although levels were lower than those typically observed in overwintering arthropods. Together, our results indicate that winter-active wolf spiders grow during the winter, and while cryoprotectant accumulation was observed in the winter, the modest levels relative to other species could make them susceptible to extreme winter events.

• MeSH
• Energy Metabolism * MeSH
• Adaptation, Physiological MeSH
• Glycerol analysis   MeSH
• Body Mass Index MeSH
• Inositol analysis   MeSH
• Cryoprotective Agents analysis   MeSH
• Lipids analysis   MeSH
• Cold Temperature adverse effects   MeSH
• Spiders growth & development   metabolism   MeSH
• Predatory Behavior MeSH
• Proteins analysis   MeSH
• Seasons MeSH
• Reproduction MeSH
• Carbohydrates analysis   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH

Sex-specific mechanisms of the determination of insect body sizes are insufficiently understood. Here we use the common heath moth, Ematurga atomaria (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) to examine how larval growth trajectories differ between males and females. We monitored the development of 1379 larvae in controlled laboratory conditions. Sexually dimorphic development times during the first four instars were associated with sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in the beginning of the fifth (last) instar, when females were on average 15% heavier than males. Similarly, the duration of the last instar was about 13% longer in females. Further, we specifically focussed on the estimates of differential (instantaneous) growth rates of the larvae based on 24h mass increments of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th day in the beginning of the last instar. We calculated 'allometric' differential growth rates as the per-day increase in cube-root-transformed mass of the larvae. We found that allometric growth rates were slightly but significantly larger in females than in males. As this measure of growth rate (in contrast to the relative growth rate, based on the ratio of masses recorded at consecutive measurements) did not depend on body size, it allows an unambiguous separation of the effects of sex and size. We conclude that in accordance with an emerging general pattern, larger female body size in E. atomaria is achieved primarily by means of a longer growth period. Furthermore, our study shows that the differential growth rate can also be sexually dimorphic and contribute to SSD. This contribution, however, is lower than that of the development time by an order of magnitude. In addition to development periods and growth rates, other parameters of the non-linear growth curves of insect larvae also need to be considered in the context of SSD determination. In particular, weight loss prior to pupation was shown to be considerably larger in females than in males.

• MeSH
• Time Factors MeSH
• Weight Loss MeSH
• Larva growth & development   MeSH
• Moths growth & development   MeSH
• Sex Characteristics * MeSH
• Body Size * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Green algae of the genus Halimeda have modular siphonous thalli composed of multiple repeated segments. Morphological variation among the segments has been related to various environmental factors, which often jointly affect their size and shape. The segments are bilaterally symmetric, which means that their shape variation can be decomposed into the symmetric and asymmetric components. Asymmetric variation might reflect both environmental heterogeneity and developmental instability of morphogenetic processes during the development of segments. In the present study, we examined if segment shape in H. tuna is related to their size and if an allometric relationship can also be found with respect to their asymmetry. Relative contributions of directional and fluctuating asymmetry to the segment shape variation within individual plants were investigated at two close localities in the northern Adriatic Sea. A series of equidistant semilandmarks were set along the outline of the segments, and analyzed by geometric morphometrics using two parallel methods to optimize their final position. Symmetric variation was strongly constrained by allometry, which also explained differences between populations. Smaller segments were significantly more asymmetric, but the difference in asymmetry between populations could not be explained solely by this allometric relationship. These differences between populations might have been caused by variation in local environmental factors. We conclude that members of the genus Halimeda represent an intriguing model system for studies of morphometric symmetry and asymmetry of sessile marine organisms, including effects of allometric relationships and infraspecific variation in relation to environmental factors of the benthic coastal habitats.

• MeSH
• Biological Evolution MeSH
• Models, Biological MeSH
• Chlorophyta anatomy & histology   physiology   MeSH
• Ecosystem MeSH
• Morphogenesis physiology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Isoxazolines are oral insecticidal drugs currently licensed for ectoparasite control in companion animals. Here we propose their use in humans for the reduction of vector-borne disease incidence. Fluralaner and afoxolaner rapidly killed Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex mosquitoes and Phlebotomus sand flies after feeding on a drug-supplemented blood meal, with IC50 values ranging from 33 to 575 nM, and were fully active against strains with preexisting resistance to common insecticides. Based on allometric scaling of preclinical pharmacokinetics data, we predict that a single human median dose of 260 mg (IQR, 177-407 mg) for afoxolaner, or 410 mg (IQR, 278-648 mg) for fluralaner, could provide an insecticidal effect lasting 50-90 days against mosquitoes and Phlebotomus sand flies. Computational modeling showed that seasonal mass drug administration of such a single dose to a fraction of a regional population would dramatically reduce clinical cases of Zika and malaria in endemic settings. Isoxazolines therefore represent a promising new component of drug-based vector control.

• MeSH
• Culicidae growth & development   MeSH
• Insecticides pharmacology   MeSH
• Mosquito Vectors growth & development   MeSH
• Communicable Disease Control methods   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Mosquito Control methods   MeSH
• Psychodidae growth & development   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Background and Aims: Below-ground carbohydrate storage is considered an adaptation of plants aimed at regeneration after disturbance. A theoretical model by Iwasa and Kubo was empirically tested which predicted (1) that storage of carbohydrates scales allometrically with leaf biomass and (2) when the disturbance regime is relaxed, the ratio of storage to leaf biomass increases, as carbohydrates are not depleted by disturbance. Methods: These ideas were tested on nine herbaceous species from a temperate meadow and the disturbance regime was manipulated to create recently abandoned and mown plots. Just before mowing in June and at the end of the season in October, plants with below-ground organs were sampled. The material was used to assess the pool of total non-structural carbohydrates and leaf biomass. Key Results: In half of the cases, a mostly isometric relationship between below-ground carbohydrate storage and leaf biomass in meadow plants was found. The ratio of below-ground carbohydrate storage to leaf biomass did not change when the disturbance regime was less intensive than that for which the plants were adapted. Conclusions: These findings (isometric scaling relationship between below-ground carbohydrate storage and leaf biomass; no effect of a relaxed disturbance regime) imply that storage in herbs is probably governed by factors other than just the disturbance regime applied once in a growing season.

• MeSH
• Biomass * MeSH
• Ecosystem * MeSH
• Plant Leaves physiology   MeSH
• Magnoliopsida physiology   MeSH
• Carbohydrate Metabolism * MeSH
• Grassland MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH

Dealing with the increasing number of long-term missing children and juveniles requires more precise and objective age progression techniques for the prediction of their current appearance. Our contribution includes detailed and real facial growth information used for modelling age progression during adolescence. This study was based on an evaluation of the overall 180 three-dimensional (3D) facial scans of Czech children (23 boys, 22 girls), which were longitudinally studied from 12 to 15 years of age and thus revealed the real growth-related changes. The boys underwent more marked changes compared with the girls, especially in the regions of the eyebrow ridges, nose and chin. Using modern geometric morphometric methods, together with their applications, we modelled the ageing and allometric trajectories for both sexes and simulated the age-progressed effects on facial scans. The facial parts that are important for facial recognition (eyes, nose, mouth and chin) all deviated less than 0.75mm, whereas the areas with the largest deviations were situated on the marginal parts of the face. The mean error between the predicted and real facial morphology obtained by modelling the children from 12 to 15 years of age was 1.92mm in girls and 1.86mm in boys. This study is beneficial for forensic artists as it reduces the subjectivity of age progression methods.

• MeSH
• Principal Component Analysis MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Longitudinal Studies MeSH
• Maxillofacial Development * MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Multivariate Analysis MeSH
• Computer Simulation * MeSH
• Sex Characteristics MeSH
• Forensic Anthropology MeSH
• Imaging, Three-Dimensional * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH