Age and growth of Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis from Penghu Channel, Taiwan: significance of their age distribution based on fossils.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kang JC
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8052959 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundInternational seaports are hotspots for disease invasion and pathogens can persist in seaports even after ports are abandoned. Transmitted by fleas infected by Rickettsia typhi, murine typhus, a largely neglected and easily misdiagnosed disease, is known to occur primarily in large seaports. However, the significance of seaports in the occurrence of murine typhus has never been validated quantitatively.Methodology/principal findingsWe studied the spatial distribution of murine typhus, a notifiable disease, in Taiwan. We investigated whether risk of infection was correlated with distance to international seaports and a collection of environmental and socioeconomic factors, using a Bayesian negative binomial conditionally autoregressive model, followed with geographically weighted regression. Seaports that are currently in use and those that operated in the 19th century for trade with China, but were later abandoned due to siltation were analyzed. A total of 476 human cases of murine typhus were reported during 2000-2014 in the main island of Taiwan, with spatial clustering in districts in southwest and central-west Taiwan. A higher incidence rate (case/population) was associated with a smaller distance to currently in-use international seaports and lower rainfall and temperature, but was uncorrelated with distance to abandoned ports. Geographically weighted regression revealed a geographic heterogeneity in the importance of distance to in-use seaports near the four international seaports of Taiwan.Conclusions/significanceOur study suggests that murine typhus is associated with international seaports, especially for those with large trading volume. Thus, one of the costs of global trade in Taiwan might be elevated risks of murine typhus. Globalization has accelerated the spread of infectious diseases, but the burden of disease varies geographically, with regions surrounding major international seaports warranting particular surveillance.
| S-EPMC5354449 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Children with precocious puberty (PP) may have increased physiological and psychological problems. In this study, we aimed to explore the trend of parents seeking medical care for their children with precocious puberty. The Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset (NHIRD) was used to estimate the prevalence (2000-2013) and incidence (2002-2013) of PP (ICD-9 code: 259.1) among boys aged 0-11 years and girls aged 0-10 years. The proportions of PP management within 1 year from the date of first diagnosis were also compared between two periods (2002-2007 and 2008-2012). The trends of PP prevalence or incidence were determined by join-point regression. In 2000, 309 boys and 2706 girls had at least one visit for PP, the crude prevalence rates (per 10,000 persons) were 0.99 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI 0.87-1.14) and 13.56 (95% CI 13.01-14.13) in boys and girls, respectively. In 2013, the crude prevalence rates increased to 7.01 (95% CI 6.56-7.84) and 110.95 (95% CI 108.97-112.96) in boys and girls, respectively. A total of 2584 girls and 207 boys with incident PP cases were identified in 2002, and 7498 girls and 739 boys were identified in 2013. For girls, the incidence rates (per 10,000 person-years) were 16.17 (95% CI 15.55-16.80) and 70.23 (95% CI 68.65-71.83) in 2002 and 2013, respectively. For boys, the incidence rates were 1.09 (95% CI 0.95-1.24) and 5.72 (95% CI 5.32-6.15) in 2002 and 2013, respectively. The sex ratio (F:M) of the incidence of PP cases was 14.89 in 2002 and 12.28 in 2013. In this study, from 2000 to 2013, the frequency of visiting pediatric endocrinology outpatient clinics for precocious puberty increased in both genders. We advocate that it is important to pay increased attention to children's health, environmental hormones, and diet. Researchers should consider how to survey precocious puberty and offer parents more education to avoid the waste of medical resources or delays in seeking medical care.
| S-EPMC7559721 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The end-Permian mass extinction was followed by the formation of an enigmatic rock layer with a distinctive macroscopic spotted or dendroid fabric. This deposit has been interpreted as microbial reef rock, digitate dendrolite, digital thrombolite, dendritic thrombolite, or bacterial deposits. Agreement has been reached in considering them as microbialites, but not in their formation. This study has revealed that the spotted and dendroid microbialites were composed of numerous fossil casts formed by the planktic cyanobacterium, Microcystis, a coccoid genus that at the present-day commonly forms blooms in modern lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. The abundance of the fossils and the diagenesis they experienced has determined the macroscopic fabric: where they abundant, the rock appears as dendroid, otherwise, it appears as spotted. The ancient Microcystis bloom might produce toxin to kill other metazoans, and be responsible for the oceanic anoxia that has puzzled so many researchers for so many years.
| S-EPMC3898040 | biostudies-other
Project description:Longshia-dong Cave, a limestone cave located in the Kenting area within the Kenting National Park of southern Taiwan, yields numerous terrestrial mammalian fossils. Many of them were not reported in historical literature and are neither present in Taiwan. For instance, no historical literature mentioned leopards inhabited in Taiwan, and thus their existence remained unknown. This study describes three fossil leopard (Panthera pardus) teeth uncovered from Longshia-dong Cave. Two isolated lower premolars and one lower molar, respectively p3, p4 and m1, were discovered in a very small area (11 × 6 cm) and show a series of progressive increase in size. Thus, the three teeth should have been belonging to the same individual from the subfamily of Pantherinae. Traditional linear measurements and two-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis for the occlusal surface outlines were conducted on the fossil teeth and extant pantherines inhabited in Asia such as clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa), leopards (Panthera pardus), and tigers (Panthera tigiris). Results show that the fossil teeth are similar both in size and morphology to the teeth of extant leopards, suggesting the assignment of the fossil teeth to leopards. This study, for the first time, reported the presence of leopards in the Late Pleistocene of Taiwan. In addition, the smaller size of the fossil teeth in comparison with Chinese fossil leopards is putatively attributed to insular dwarfism or individual size variability, yet more studies are required.
| S-EPMC8388558 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The estimation of diversification rates is one of the most vividly debated topics in modern systematics, with considerable controversy surrounding the power of phylogenetic and fossil-based approaches in estimating extinction. Van Valen's seminal work from 1973 proposed the "Law of constant extinction," which states that the probability of extinction of taxa is not dependent on their age. This assumption of age-independent extinction has prevailed for decades with its assessment based on survivorship curves, which, however, do not directly account for the incompleteness of the fossil record, and have rarely been applied at the species level. Here, we present a Bayesian framework to estimate extinction rates from the fossil record accounting for age-dependent extinction (ADE). Our approach, unlike previous implementations, explicitly models unobserved species and accounts for the effects of fossil preservation on the observed longevity of sampled lineages. We assess the performance and robustness of our method through extensive simulations and apply it to a fossil data set of terrestrial Carnivora spanning the past 40 myr. We find strong evidence of ADE, as we detect the extinction rate to be highest in young species and declining with increasing species age. For comparison, we apply a recently developed analogous ADE model to a dated phylogeny of extant Carnivora. Although the phylogeny-based analysis also infers ADE, it indicates that the extinction rate, instead, increases with increasing taxon age. The estimated mean species longevity also differs substantially, with the fossil-based analyses estimating 2.0 myr, in contrast to 9.8 myr derived from the phylogeny-based inference. Scrutinizing these discrepancies, we find that both fossil and phylogeny-based ADE models are prone to high error rates when speciation and extinction rates increase or decrease through time. However, analyses of simulated and empirical data show that fossil-based inferences are more robust. This study shows that an accurate estimation of ADE from incomplete fossil data is possible when the effects of preservation are jointly modeled, thus allowing for a reassessment of Van Valen's model as a general rule in macroevolution.
| S-EPMC5920349 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Most available studies focusing on the association between neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and dementia have conflicting results. This study aimed to investigate the association between previously diagnosed AMD and dementia using a population-based dataset in Taiwan.Data for this case-control study were retrospectively collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. We identified 13,402 subjects who had a diagnosis of dementia as cases, and 40,206 subjects without dementia as controls. A conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association of dementia with previously diagnosed neovascular AMD.We found that of the study sample of 53,608 subjects, 1.01% had previously diagnosed neovascular AMD, 1.35% and 0.90% for cases and the controls, respectively (p<0.001). The conditional logistic regression analysis suggested that the odds ratio of prior neovascular AMD for cases was 1.37 (95% confidence interval: 1.14~1.65) compared to the controls after adjusting for subjects' age, monthly income, geographic location, urbanization level, and hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, ischemic heart disease, and whether or not a subjects underwent cataract surgery prior to index date than controls.Dementia subjects were associated with a higher proportion of prior neovascular AMD than were the controls.
| S-EPMC4352026 | biostudies-other
Project description:Species identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is challenging due to the increasing number of identified NTM species and the lack of standardized testing strategies. The objectives of this study were to investigate the distribution of NTM species recovered from respiratory specimens by multigene sequence-based typing and to evaluate the clinical significance of identified species. Two hundred thirty-two consecutive clinical NTM isolates were subjected to sequencing of multiple genes, including hsp65, rpoB, and 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence. In addition, clinical data from all patients whose specimens had NTM isolates were analyzed to examine clinical virulence and treatment history. Eighteen strains from 227 isolates from 169 patients were successfully identified at the species level by multigene sequence-based typing. Mycobacterium avium complex and M. abscessus complex made up the majority of isolated NTM (88%; 199/227), followed by M. fortuitum complex (4%; 10/227). The pathogenic potential of NTM differs enormously by species, and M. avium complex and M. abscessus complex revealed especially high levels of virulence compared with findings for other NTM species. The results from our work support M. avium complex and M. abscessus complex being the most common NTM species with highly pathogenic potential isolated from clinical respiratory specimens and could be a good resource for molecular epidemiology of NTM species in South Korea.
| S-EPMC3993509 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThe associations of maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy with offspring growth patterns and body fat and insulin levels at school age were examined.MethodsIn a population-based birth cohort among 7,857 mothers and their children, maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy was assessed by questionnaires. Growth characteristics were measured from birth onward. At 6 years, body fat and insulin levels were measured.ResultsCompared to children whose mothers consumed <2 units of caffeine per day during pregnancy (1 unit of caffeine is equivalent to 1 cup of coffee (90 mg caffeine)), those whose mothers consumed ≥6 units of caffeine per day tended to have a lower weight at birth, higher weight gain from birth to 6 years, and higher body mass index from 6 months to 6 years. Both children whose mothers consumed 4-5.9 and ≥6 units of caffeine per day during pregnancy tended to have a higher childhood body mass index and total body fat mass. Only children whose mothers consumed ≥6 units of caffeine per day had a higher android/gynoid fat mass ratio.ConclusionsThese results suggest that high levels of maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy are associated with adverse offspring growth patterns and childhood body fat distribution.
| S-EPMC5427173 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundOral cancer leads to a considerable use of health care resources. Wide resection of the tumor and reconstruction with a pedicle flap/ free flap is widely used. This study was conducted to investigate if young age at the time of diagnosis of oral cancer requiring this treatment confers a worse prognosis.MethodsA total of 2339 patients who underwent resections for oral cancer from 2004 to 2005 were identified from The Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Survival analysis, Cox proportional regression model, propensity scores, and sensitivity test were used to evaluate the association between 5-year survival rates and age.ResultsIn the Cox proportional regression model, the older age group (>65 years) had the worst survival rate (hazard ratio [HR], 1.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45-2.22; P<0.001). When analyzed using the propensity scores, the adjusted 5-year survival rates were also poorer for oral cancer patients with older age (>65 years), compared to those with younger age (<45 years) (P<0.001). In sensitivity test, the adjusted hazard ratio remained no statistically elevated in the younger age group (<45 years).ConclusionsFor those oral cancer patients who underwent wide excision and reconstruction, young age did not confer a worse prognosis using a Cox proportional regression model, propensity scores or sensitivity test. Young oral cancer patients may be treated using general guidelines and do not require more aggressive treatment.
| S-EPMC3784390 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The buckwheat family Polygonaceae is a diverse group of plants and is a good model for investigating biogeography, breeding systems, coevolution with symbionts such as ants and fungi, functional trait evolution, hybridization, invasiveness, morphological plasticity, pollen morphology and wood anatomy. The main goal of this study was to obtain age estimates for Polygonaceae by calibrating a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, using a relaxed molecular clock with fossil data. Based on the age estimates, we also develop hypotheses about the historical biogeography of the Southern Hemisphere group Muehlenbeckia. We are interested in addressing whether vicariance or dispersal could account for the diversification of Muehlenbeckia, which has a "Gondwanan" distribution. Eighty-one species of Polygonaceae were analysed with MrBayes to infer species relationships. One nuclear (nrITS) and three chloroplast markers (the trnL-trnF spacer region, matK and ndhF genes) were used. The molecular data were also analysed with Beast to estimate divergence times. Seven calibration points including fossil pollen and a leaf fossil of Muehlenbeckia were used to infer node ages. Results of the Beast analyses indicate an age of 110.9 (exponential/lognormal priors)/118.7 (uniform priors) million years (Myr) with an uncertainty interval of (90.7-125.0) Myr for the stem age of Polygonaceae. This age is older than previously thought (Maastrichtian, approximately 65.5-70.6 Myr). The estimated divergence time for Muehlenbeckia is 41.0/41.6 (39.6-47.8) Myr and its crown clade is 20.5/22.3 (14.2-33.5) Myr old. Because the breakup of Gondwana occurred from 95-30 Myr ago, diversification of Muehlenbeckia is best explained by oceanic long-distance and maybe stepping-stone dispersal rather than vicariance. This study is the first to give age estimates for clades of Polygonaceae and functions as a jumping-off point for future studies on the historical biogeography of the family.
| S-EPMC3621405 | biostudies-literature