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Stenasodelphis russellae, a new genus and species of extinct dolphin in the odontocete family Pontoporiidae, is based on a partial cranium of Late Miocene age (Tortonian), circa 9 to 10 Ma, from the Little Cove Point Member of the St. Marys Formation, Maryland, USA. Pontoporiidae are amongst the smallest cetaceans, and this dolphin is one of the smallest reported pontoporiids, being probably less than 1.5 m long. It is also the second oldest named pontoporiid in the world. Stenasodelphis russellae shares with late Middle Miocene Brachydelphis mazeasi (eastern South Pacific) and the latest Miocene and Pliocene species of Parapontoporia (North Pacific) left-skew asymmetry of the cranial vertex. Thus, all of the earliest known Pontoporiidae have cranial asymmetry, in contrast to symmetrical crania in the Pliocene pontoporiids, Pontistes rectifrons and Pliopontos littoralis, and the Recent Franciscana, Pontoporia blainvillei. This suggests that cranial asymmetry may be the primitive character state among stem Pontoporiidae. Autapomorphies of Stenasodelphis russellae include small size, thick cranial bones, wide premaxillary sac fossae, a medial projection of each maxilla onto the lateral side of each nasal, and the highest part of the cranial vertex being formed by the nasals rather than the frontals.

Allopurinol is a urate-lowering therapy used to treat patients with gout. Previous studies have shown that allopurinol has positive effects on several cardiovascular parameters. The ALL-HEART study aimed to determine whether allopurinol therapy improves major cardiovascular outcomes in patients with ischaemic heart disease. ALL-HEART was a multicentre, prospective, randomised, open-label, blinded-endpoint trial done in 18 regional centres in England and Scotland, with patients recruited from 424 primary care practices. Eligible patients were aged 60 years or older, with ischaemic heart disease but no history of gout. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1), using a central web-based randomisation system accessed via a web-based application or an interactive voice response system, to receive oral allopurinol up-titrated to a dose of 600 mg daily (300 mg daily in participants with moderate renal impairment at baseline) or to continue usual care. The primary outcome was the composite cardiovascular endpoint of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. The hazard ratio (allopurinol vs usual care) in a Cox proportional hazards model was assessed for superiority in a modified intention-to-treat analysis (excluding randomly assigned patients later found to have met one of the exclusion criteria). The safety analysis population included all patients in the modified intention-to-treat usual care group and those who took at least one dose of randomised medication in the allopurinol group. This study is registered with the EU Clinical Trials Register, EudraCT 2013-003559-39, and ISRCTN, ISRCTN32017426. Between Feb 7, 2014, and Oct 2, 2017, 5937 participants were enrolled and then randomly assigned to receive allopurinol or usual care. After exclusion of 216 patients after randomisation, 5721 participants (mean age 72·0 years [SD 6·8], 4321 [75·5%] males, and 5676 [99·2%] white) were included in the modified intention-to-treat population, with 2853 in the allopurinol group and 2868 in the usual care group. Mean follow-up time in the study was 4·8 years (1·5). There was no evidence of a difference between the randomised treatment groups in the rates of the primary endpoint. 314 (11·0%) participants in the allopurinol group (2·47 events per 100 patient-years) and 325 (11·3%) in the usual care group (2·37 events per 100 patient-years) had a primary endpoint (hazard ratio [HR] 1·04 [95% CI 0·89–1·21], p=0·65). 288 (10·1%) participants in the allopurinol group and 303 (10·6%) participants in the usual care group died from any cause (HR 1·02 [95% CI 0·87–1·20], p=0·77). In this large, randomised clinical trial in patients aged 60 years or older with ischaemic heart disease but no history of gout, there was no difference in the primary outcome of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or cardiovascular death between participants randomised to allopurinol therapy and those randomised to usual care. UK National Institute for Health and Care Research.

On the basis of an assigned specimen (USNM 526604, from the Plum Point Member of the Calvert Formation, Early Miocene, Maryland, U.S.A.), Araeodelphis natatorKellogg, 1957, is referred to the Platanistidae. A phylogenetic analysis identifies A. natator as the most stemward member of the family. By contrast, the extant river dolphin, Platanista gangetica (Platanistidae), is one of the most specialized odontocetes. Araeodelphis natator exhibits the following unique combination of characters: overall skull length (condylobasal length) estimated at about 50 cm; rostrum twice the length of the facial region; rostrum wider than deep throughout its entire length; approximately 50 teeth in each quadrant of rostrum; mesorostral canal closed dorsally through anterior half of rostrum by apposition of contralateral premaxillae; cranium with elevated orbits directed anterolaterally; maxillary crest (supraorbital process of frontal and overlapping maxilla) modestly thickened laterally and elevated above midline of skull; non-pneumatized supraorbital eminences; lobe of the pterygoid airsac sinus occupying orbital surface of frontal; zygomatic process compressed transversely; no postglenoid process; and glenoid facet faces medially. Araeodelphis provides new data about the definition and phylogenetic relationships of platanistids with other platanistoids, confirming the sister-group relationship with the extinct squalodelphinids and the ancestral platanistid skull morphology preceding the platanistine-pomatodelphinine split.

On the basis of an assigned specimen (USNM 526604, from the Plum Point Member of the Calvert Formation, Early Miocene, Maryland, U.S.A.), Araeodelphis natator Kellogg, 1957, is referred to the Platanistidae. A phylogenetic analysis identifies A. natator as the most stemward member of the family. By contrast, the extant river dolphin, Platanista gangetica (Platanistidae), is one of the most specialized odontocetes. Araeodelphis natator exhibits the following unique combination of characters: overall skull length (condylobasal length) estimated at about 50 cm; rostrum twice the length of the facial region; rostrum wider than deep throughout its entire length; approximately 50 teeth in each quadrant of rostrum; mesorostral canal closed dorsally through anterior half of rostrum by apposition of contralateral premaxillae; cranium with elevated orbits directed anterolaterally; maxillary crest (supraorbital process of frontal and overlapping maxilla) modestly thickened laterally and elevated above midline of skull; non-pneumatized supraorbital eminences; lobe of the pterygoid airsac sinus occupying orbital surface of frontal; zygomatic process compressed transversely; no postglenoid process; and glenoid facet faces medially. Araeodelphis provides new data about the definition and phylogenetic relationships of platanistids with other platanistoids, confirming the sister-group relationship with the extinct squalodelphinids and the ancestral platanistid skull morphology preceding the platanistine-pomatodelphinine split.

Stenasodelphis russellae, a new genus and species of extinct dolphin in the odontocete family Pontoporiidae, is based on a partial cranium of Late Miocene age (Tortonian), circa 9 to 10 Ma, from the Little Cove Point Member of the St. Marys Formation, Maryland, USA. Pontoporiidae are amongst the smallest cetaceans, and this dolphin is one of the smallest reported pontoporiids, being probably less than 1.5 m long. It is also the second oldest named pontoporiid in the world. Stenasodelphis russellae shares with late Middle Miocene Brachydelphis mazeasi (eastern South Pacific) and the latest Miocene and Pliocene species of Parapontoporia (North Pacific) left-skew asymmetry of the cranial vertex. Thus, all of the earliest known Pontoporiidae have cranial asymmetry, in contrast to symmetrical crania in the Pliocene pontoporiids, Pontistes rectifrons and Pliopontos littoralis, and the Recent Franciscana, Pontoporia blainvillei. This suggests that cranial asymmetry may be the primitive character state among stem Pontoporiidae. Autapomorphies of Stenasodelphis russellae include small size, thick cranial bones, wide premaxillary sac fossae, a medial projection of each maxilla onto the lateral side of each nasal, and the highest part of the cranial vertex being formed by the nasals rather than the frontals.

The Delphinidae is the most diverse living family of odontocete cetaceans and includes modern oceanic dolphins and their fossil relatives. In contrast, the world-wide fossil record of this family is sparse when compared to that of several other cetacean groups, and relatively few extinct delphinids have been formally named. Most of the known fossil Delphinidae are of Pliocene age, and most of these are from Europe. We describe a new genus and new species of extinct Delphinidae,Protoglobicephala mexicana, based on a cranium of Pliocene age, between approximately 2 and 3 million years old, from Isla San Jose in the Gulf of California, Baja California Sur, Mexico. This species shares with Recent species ofGlobicephalawide exposures of the premaxillae on the dorsal surface of the rostrum and rugose areas on the distal ends of the premaxillae. Like other Globicephalinae members, it is a relatively large animal and has a wide cranium, short and broad rostrum, and relatively few teeth that are of relatively large size. It also shares some similarities with the generalized delphinine delphinidTursiops. These similarities and the geochronologically relatively young occurrence of this new species reinforce previous notions that the present taxonomic diversity of the family Delphinidae is the result of rapid evolutionary diversification since Miocene time, or within approximately the past five million years. The ability of living species of Delphinidae in different genera, and in different nominal subfamilies, to mate and to produce viable hybrid offspring, offers additional support for the idea of rapid and recent evolutionary diversification of this family.

Los fósiles de cetáceos odontocetos del géneroKentriodonson delfinoideos pequeños en la familia extinta Kentriodontidae. Este género ha sido reportado previamente en la Formación Rosarito Beach del Mioceno Medio en el área de La Misión en Baja California, México; sin embargo, los especímenes no habían sido descritos sistemáticamente. La especie de este depósito ha sido llamada aqui comoKentriodon diusinus, nueva especie, y su descripción está basada en elementos craneales y poscraneales. La especie pertenece a la subfamilia Kentriodontidae, y es la primera especie descrita para México. Un análisis filogenético realizado con el software PAUP* (Phylogeneic Analysis Using Parsimony and other methods) muestra queK. diusinusestá relacionada más cercanamente conKentriodon obscurusde la Fauna Local de Sharktooth Hill, derivada de Round Mountain Silt, Kern County, central California, EUA que con otras especies asignadas al géneroKentriodon.