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While only distantly related to mammals, the anatomy of Permian gorgonopsians has shed light on the functional biology of non-mammalian synapsids and on the origins of iconic ‘mammal-like’ anatomical traits. However, little is known of gorgonopsian behaviour or physiology, which would aid in reconstructing the paleobiological context in which familiar mammalian features arose. Using multi-modal imaging, we report a discrete osseous lesion in the forelimb of a late Permian-aged gorgonopsian synapsid, recording reactive periosteal bone deposition and providing insights into the origins and diversity of skeletal healing responses in premammalian synapsids. We suggest that the localized lesion on the anterolateral (preaxial) shaft of the left radius represents acute periostitis and, conservatively, most likely developed as a subperiosteal haematoma with subsequent bone deposition and limited internal remodelling. The site records an inner zone of reactive cortical bone forming irregular to radial bony spicules and an outer, denser zone of slowed subperiosteal bone apposition, all of which likely occurred within a single growing season. In surveys of modern reptiles—crocodylians, varanids—such haematomas are rare compared to other documented osteopathologies. The extent and rapidity of the healing response is reminiscent of mammalian and dinosaurian bone pathologies, and may indicate differing behaviour or bone physiology compared to non-dinosaurian reptiles. This report adds to a growing list of putative disease entities recognized in early synapsids and broadens comparative baselines for pathologies and the evolution of bone response to disease in mammalian forebears. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vertebrate palaeophysiology’.

Whether diagrammatic or deeply detailed, most anatomical illustration adheres to established archetypes—identical views of similar dissections, exhibiting neither variability nor originality. These conventional views are replicated from one generation of anatomy textbooks, atlases, and now digital sources, with little modification or reference to original dissection. In this paper, I argue that more effective communication in the field of anatomy requires rethinking conventional anatomical images and avoiding over-reliance on anatomic terminology. The ubiquity and emphasis on the image in the emerging digital learning ecosystem challenges science educators to revisit their use of the conventional visuals. The tools of narrative creating engaging science communication can also be used in constructing better images. After brief review of the role of anatomical jargon and its discontents, I present several examples of “readable” images. These examples have been refined in the course of communicating detailed anatomy and movement for two decades to medical and other health professions students, as well as to character designers, modelers, riggers, and animators in the animation and gaming industries. That “reading an image” promotes understanding without jargon is both anecdotally self-evident and yet scientifically largely untested. Rather than subsisting on images of convenience, the intersection of narrative tools and anatomical imagery provides the opportunity to structure images with intentionality and ultimately evaluate their impact. Such key images and their stories will ultimately require testing to validate the extensive anecdotal evidence that visual stories promote learning.

The pulmonary autograft in the Ross procedure, where the aortic valve is replaced by the patient’s own pulmonary valve, is prone to failure due to dilatation. This is likely caused by tissue degradation and maladaptation, triggered by the higher experienced mechanical loads in aortic position. In order to further grasp the causes of dilatation, this study presents a model for tissue growth and remodeling of the pulmonary autograft, using the homogenized constrained mixture theory and equations for immuno- and mechano-mediated mass turnover. The model outcomes, compared to experimental data from an animal model of the pulmonary autograft in aortic position, show that inflammation likely plays an important role in the mass turnover of the tissue constituents and therefore in the autograft dilatation over time. We show a better match and prediction of long-term outcomes assuming immuno-mediated mass turnover, and show that there is no linear correlation between the stress-state of the material and mass production. Therefore, not only mechanobiological homeostatic adaption should be taken into account in the development of growth and remodeling models for arterial tissue in similar applications, but also inflammatory processes.

In the Ross procedure, a patient’s pulmonary valve is transplanted in the aortic position. Despite advantages of this surgery, reoperation is still needed in many cases due to excessive dilatation of the pulmonary autograft. To further understand the failure mechanisms, we propose a multiscale model predicting adaptive processes in the autograft at the cell and tissue scale. The cell-scale model consists of a network model, that includes important signaling pathways and relations between relevant transcription factors and their target genes. The resulting gene activity leads to changes in the mechanical properties of the tissue, modeled as a constrained mixture of collagen, elastin and smooth muscle. The multiscale model is calibrated with findings from experiments in which seven sheep underwent the Ross procedure. The model is then validated against a different set of sheep experiments, for which a qualitative agreement between model and experiment is found. Model outcomes at the cell scale, including the activity of genes and transcription factors, also match experimentally obtained transcriptomics data.

Dinosaur disease is an intriguing subject for the scholar and public alike, resulting from the combination of often bizarre deformity with already charismatic mega fauna. Throw in the “csi” thrill of solving an ancient cold case, and the result is a heady mix, but one which runs the risk of substituting headlines for scientific rigor. To paraphrase the famed fictional sleuth Sherlock Holmes, the scientific approach should be to define the plausible range of possibility while excluding the impossible and arguing against the improbable. While attempting to avoid pedantism, this approach to paleopathology will characterize the review contained in this

Paleopathological “diagnosis” is necessarily an approximate activity. Diagnosis is important to the clinician who is attempting accurately identify a disease. But paleopathologists are not attempting to “cure” fossils—instead, they are occupied with looking for clues to past life events, and a specific diagnosis applied with undue confidence potentially obscures more than it reveals. Rarely are bone lesions pathognomic-meaning that one identifiable type of lesion is caused by one and only one causative agent (Kelley and Eisenberg 1987; Salo et al. 1994). Moreover, strict diagnosis of disease in the past is necessarily committed to finding similarities to disease manifestations in

This thesis is about how prehistoric social distinctions are codified and represented in the Early Bronze Age cemetery at Mokrin, located in the northeastern section of former Yugoslavia. Attributes of mortuary differentiation have been suggested as one indicator of societal structure, and although priority is frequently accorded to vertical social distinctions, horizontal distinctions--age, gender and kinship--are a vital part of the pattern. In this study, the social interpretation of archaeological information is enhanced by biological data drawn from the occupants of the cemetery itself. The data consist of sex and age-at-death estimates, as well as demographic analysis, dietary assessment and palaeopathology. Demographic analysis of the skeletal remains reveals a total lack of individuals under one year of age. Based upon admittedly scarce evidence from settlement excavation, it is likely that these burials are to be found in house floors. After one year of age, a biologically-realistic mortality profile is represented by the cemetery population, lending support to the notion that postneonatal access to the cemetery is not systematically restricted by age or sex criteria. Comparison of adult sex estimation and grave orientation yields a very high correlation; that this \"gendering\" of adults was also extended to the children's graves was tested by the application of a population-specific discriminant function for dentally sexing subadults. Based upon grave orientation sex, a surplus of female children at Mokrin probably indicates a paucity of males in the corresponding age classes. Systematic infanticide, neglect of male neonates or an alternative funerary programme may be factors contributing to the bias. Further gender-based distinctions are encoded by grave goods. Indicators of biological quality of life demonstrate no significant difference between the sexes. Some grave goods are correlated with age-at-death and a few to specific lines of burials. The existence of the latter in the cemetery has been proposed to represent the burials of kin or residence group members, although biodistance analysis can neither refute nor support the hypothesis that the lines represent members of a lineal descent group. Difference in trace elemental values between burial lines may indicate residentially-based dietary differences. No evidence can be found in any of these analyses to support the depiction of status differences based upon grave wealth. For the people who created this cemetery, the principal axes of mortuary differentiation were horizontal social organising principles.