'Skin bones' helped large dinosaurs survive, new study says

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Bones contained entirely within the skin of some of the largest dinosaurs on Earth might have stored vital minerals to help the massive creatures survive and bear their young in tough times, according to new research by a team including a University of Guelph scientist.

Guelph biomedical scientist Matthew Vickaryous co-authored a paper published today in Nature Communications about two sauropod dinosaurs ? an adult and a juvenile ? from Madagascar.

The study suggests that these long-necked plant-eaters used hollow "skin bones" called osteoderms to store minerals needed to maintain their huge skeletons and to lay large egg clutches. Sediments around the fossils show that the dinosaurs' environment was highly seasonal and semi-arid, with periodic droughts causing massive die-offs.

"Our findings suggest that osteoderms provided an internal source of calcium and phosphorus when environmental and physiological conditions were stressful," he said. As a researcher in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College, Vickaryous studies how skeletons develop, regenerate and evolve.

He worked with paleontologist Kristina Curry Rogers and geologist Raymond Rogers at Macalaster College in Minnesota, and paleontologist Michael D'Emic, now at Georgia Southern University on the study. Vickaryous helped to interpret the results of CT scans and fossilized tissue cores taken from the dinosaurs.

Shaped like footballs sliced lengthwise and about the size of a gym bag in the adult, these bones are the largest osteoderms ever identified. The adult specimen's bone was hollow, likely caused by extensive bone remodelling, said Vickaryous.

Osteoderms were common among armoured dinosaurs. Stegosaurs had bony back plates and tail spikes, and ankylosaurs sported heavily armoured bodies and bony tail clubs. Today these "skin bones" appear in such animals as alligators and armadillos.

Such bones were rare among sauropod dinosaurs and have appeared only in titanosaurs. These massive plant-eaters included the largest-ever land animals. "This is the only group of lon-necked sauropods with osteoderms," he said.

Other studies have shown that female titanosaurs laid dozens of volleyball-sized eggs. Modern crocodiles and alligators also lay clutches of dozens of eggs and are known to reabsorb minerals from their osteoderms.

The researchers found the new osteoderms along with two skeletons of the titanosaur Rapetosaurus. Unlike the hollow adult specimen, the juvenile specimen was solid and showed little evidence of remodelling. That suggests that osteoderms became more important mineral stores as the animals grew, Vickaryous said.

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University of Guelph: http://www.uoguelph.ca

Thanks to University of Guelph for this article.

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Senate backs military custody of terror suspects (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate moved methodically Thursday to complete a massive defense bill that would deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention.

The Senate rejected an effort by Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein to limit a military custody requirement for suspects to those captured outside the United States. The vote was 55-45. Feinstein, D-Calif., said her goal was to ensure "the military won't be roaming our streets looking for suspected terrorists."

The issue divided Democrats with nine senators, many facing re-election next year, breaking with the leadership and administration to vote against the amendment. Republicans held firm, with only Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Mike Lee of Utah backing Feinstein's effort.

Overall, the deficit-driven bill would authorize $662 billion for military personnel, weapons systems, national security programs in the Energy Department and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Reflecting a period of austerity and a winding down of decade-old conflicts, the bill is $27 billion less than what President Barack Obama requested and $43 billion less than what Congress gave the Pentagon this year.

The Senate pushed to finish the bill by day's end. Its version must be reconciled with a House-passed measure in the final weeks of the congressional session.

In an escalating fight with the White House, the bill would ramp up the role of the military in handling terror suspects. The bill's language challenges citizens' rights under the Constitution, tests the boundaries of executive and legislative branch authority and sets up a showdown with the Democratic commander in chief.

It reflects the politically charged dispute over whether to treat suspected terrorists as prisoners of war or criminals. The administration insists that the military, law enforcement and intelligence agents need flexibility in prosecuting the war on terror after they've succeeded in killing al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki.

In its veto threat, the White House said it cannot accept any legislation that "challenges or constrains the president's authorities to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the nation." Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller have opposed the provisions.

Republicans counter that their efforts are necessary to respond to an evolving, post-Sept. 11 threat, and that Obama has failed to produce a consistent policy on handling terror suspects.

The bill would require military custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates and involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States. American citizens would be exempt. The bill does allow the executive branch to waive the authority based on national security and hold a suspect in civilian custody.

The legislation also would give the government the authority to have the military hold an individual suspected of terrorism indefinitely, without a trial. That provision had no exception for a U.S. citizen.

Feinstein offered another amendment, one that would prohibit the indefinite detention of a U.S. citizen without charges or trial. She has said the last time the government held U.S. citizens indefinitely was when Japanese-Americans were interned in camps during World War II.

Kirk has called the provision unconstitutional, violating the Fourth Amendment and the right of individuals to be secure in their homes from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Countered Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.: "We need the authority to hold those individuals in military custody so we aren't reading them Miranda rights."

Earlier this week, the Senate resoundingly rejected an effort to strip the detainee provisions from the defense bill and instead hold hearings on the issue.

The Senate was expected to overwhelmingly approve crippling sanctions on Iran as fears about Tehran developing a nuclear weapon outweighed concerns about driving up oil prices that would hit economically strapped Americans at the gas pump.

Last week, the administration announced a new set of penalties against Iran, including identifying for the first time Iran's entire banking sector as a "primary money laundering concern." This requires increased monitoring by U.S. banks to ensure that they and their foreign affiliates avoid dealing with Iranian financial institutions.

But lawmakers pressed ahead with even tougher penalties despite reservations by the administration.

Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Kirk offered an amendment that would target foreign financial institutions that do business with the Central Bank of Iran, barring them from opening or maintaining correspondent operations in the United States. It would apply to foreign central banks only for transactions that involve the sale or purchase of petroleum or petroleum products.

The sanctions on petroleum would only apply if the president determines there is a sufficient alternative supply and if the country with jurisdiction over the financial institution has not significantly reduced its purchases of Iranian oil.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, David Cohen, a senior Treasury Department official, and Wendy Sherman, an undersecretary of state, warned that the amendment could force up oil prices ? a financial boon for Iran.

"There is absolutely a risk that in fact the price of oil would go up, which would mean that Iran would in fact have more money to fuel its nuclear ambitions, not less," Sherman said. "And our real objective here is to cut off the economic means that Iran has for its nuclear program."

Cohen said the amendment would tell foreign banks and companies "that if they continue to process oil transactions with the Central Bank of Iran their access to the United States can be terminated."

"It is a very, very powerful threat," Cohen warned. "It is a threat for the commercial banks to end their ability to transact in the dollar and their ability really to function as major international financial institutions," and one that could push allies away from contributing to a coordinated effort against Iran.

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/terrorism/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_defense

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Is the U.S. headed for another debt downgrade? (The Week)

New York ? Fitch Ratings warns that it will strip the federal government of its AAA rating unless Congress tackles its nagging deficit problem

The cloud over the federal government's credit rating grew darker this week, as the Fitch agency warned that it would downgrade America's coveted AAA rating unless Congress comes up with a "credible plan" to shrink its ballooning budget deficits. Fitch revised its outlook on the federal government's creditworthiness from "stable" to "negative" after a congressional super committee failed to meet its goal of reducing the spending gap by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Another of the big three ratings agencies, Standard & Poor's, already downgraded Treasury bonds this summer, rattling financial markets. Is the nation headed for another painful downgrade?

Quite possibly:?Fitch is looking for what it calls a "credible medium-term deficit reduction plan" by 2013,?says Mark Gongloff at?The Wall Street Journal. That's no small task considering the gridlock in Washington, and I'd put the chances of another downgrade at about 50-50. "Congratulations again, Super Congress."
"Fitch affirms U.S. as AAA, but cuts outlook to negative"

Probably not. Next to Europe, we look great: The U.S. has no reason to fear another downgrade, says Michael Aneiro at Barron's. Yes, we're swamped in debt, but so is everyone else. And "with the euro taking daily steps toward implosion thanks to sovereign debt perils in a variety of euro-zone countries, investors continue to deem U.S. Treasury bonds the safest investments around."
"Fitch affirms U.S. AAA rating but outlook now negative"

But soon, U.S. bonds might look as risky as Europe's: It's true that the "monetary Armageddon" in Greece and Italy makes Treasury bills look good by comparison, says Alex Klein at New York. But how long will that last? In Europe, "safe havens are dropping like flies," with investors starting to turn up their noses at French debt, and even German bonds, long "the safest bet in Europe." If we're not careful, U.S. debt could be "the next 'used-to-be-riskless' asset in a very risky financial world."
"Fitch threatens to downgrade U.S. credit rating"

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politicsopinion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111130/cm_theweek/221927

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Report: Herbicide atrazine spurs reproductive problems in many creatures

Monday, November 28, 2011

An international team of researchers has reviewed the evidence linking exposure to atrazine ? an herbicide widely used in the U.S. and more than 60 other nations ? to reproductive problems in animals. The team found consistent patterns of reproductive dysfunction in amphibians, fish, reptiles and mammals exposed to the chemical.

Atrazine is the second-most widely used herbicide in the U.S. More than 75 million pounds of it are applied to corn and other crops, and it is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of groundwater, surface water and rain in the U.S.

The new review, compiled by 22 scientists studying atrazine in North and South America, Europe and Japan, appears in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The researchers looked at studies linking atrazine exposure to abnormal androgen (male hormone) levels in fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals and studies that found a common association between exposure to the herbicide and the "feminization" of male gonads in many animals.

The most robust findings are in amphibians, said Val Beasley, a University of Illinois emeritus professor of comparative biosciences and co-author of the review. At least 10 studies found that exposure to atrazine feminizes male frogs, sometimes to the point of sex reversal, he said.

Beasley's lab was one of the first to find that male frogs exposed to atrazine in the wild were more likely to have both male and female gonadal tissue than frogs living in an atrazine-free environment. And in a 2010 study, Tyrone Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley and lead author of the review, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that atrazine exposure in frogs was associated with "genetic males becoming females and functioning as females," Beasley said.

"And this is not at extremely high concentrations," he said. "These are at concentrations that are found in the environment."

The new review describes the disruptions of hormone function and sexual development reported in studies of mammals, frogs, fish, reptiles and human cells exposed to the herbicide. The studies found that atrazine exposure can change the expression of genes involved in hormone signaling, interfere with metamorphosis, inhibit key enzymes that control estrogen and androgen production, skew the sex ratio of wild and laboratory animals (toward female) and otherwise disrupt the normal reproductive development and functioning of males and females.

"One of the things that became clear in writing this paper is that atrazine works through a number of different mechanisms," Hayes said. "It's been shown that it increases production of (the stress hormone) cortisol. It's been shown that it inhibits key enzymes in steroid hormone production while increasing others. It's been shown that it somehow prevents androgen from binding to its receptor."

The review also consolidates the evidence that atrazine undermines immune function in a variety of animals, in part by increasing cortisol.

"Cortisol is a nonspecific response to chronic stress," Beasley said. "But guess what? Wildlife in many of today's habitats are stressed a great deal of the time. They're stressed because they're crowded into little remnant habitats. They're stressed because there's not enough oxygen in the water because there are not enough plants in the water (another consequence of herbicide use). They're stressed because of other contaminants in the water. And the long-term release of cortisol causes them to be immuno-suppressed."

There also are studies that show no effects ? or different effects ? in animals exposed to atrazine, Beasley said. "But the studies are not all the same. There are different species, different times of exposure, different stages of development and different strains within a species." All in all, he said, the evidence that atrazine harms animals, particularly amphibians and other creatures that encounter it in the water, is compelling.

"I hope this will stimulate policymakers to look at the totality of the data and ask very broad questions," Hayes said. "Do we want this stuff in our environment? Do we want ? knowing what we know ? our children to drink this stuff? I would think the answer would be no."

###

Paper: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076011000665

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu

Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 36 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115499/Report__Herbicide_atrazine_spurs_reproductive_problems_in_many_creatures

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Courtney Stodden Strolls Around Los Angeles, Scars Young Child for Life

Courtney Stodden has made quite the impression on celebrity gossip followers since she arrived - cleavage out, God blessed - in our lives this May, soon after the 17-year old blow-up doll married 51-year old actor Doug Hutchison.

The aspiring singer and soon-to-be reality star has provided endless, mostly harmless entertainment... until this weekend.

Young wife and middle-aged husband went for a stroll around The Grove in Los Angeles a couple days ago, searing an image in at least one onlooker's mind that can never be undone. Just look at the expression on the following toddler's face (bottom, left) after Courtney passes him by. The poor child may never regain his innocence...

Also of hilarious note? The expression on the woman's face behind Stodden and Hutchison. It turns from amusement to abject horror. Trust us, random Los Angeles resident. We can relate.

[Photos: Pacific Coast News]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/courtney-stodden-strolls-around-los-angeles-scars-young-child-fo/

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Video: End of the Road for Cain?

Robert Costa, National Review political reporter has the latest details on Herman Cain telling senior staffers, it's time for "reassessment", and will Newt Gingrich gain if Cain drops out of the race, with James Pethokoukis, American Enterprise Institu...

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45485295/

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Gingrich gave push to clients, not just ideas (San Jose Mercury News)

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