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Morphological evolution of the vertebrate skull has been explored across a wide range of tetrapod clades using geometric morphometrics, but the application of these methods to teleost fishes, accounting for roughly half of all vertebrate species, has been limited. Here we present the results of a study investigating 3D morphological evolution of the neurocranium across 114 species of Pelagiaria, a diverse clade of open-ocean teleost fishes that includes tuna and mackerel. Despite showing high shape disparity overall, taxa from all families fall into three distinct morphological clusters. Convergence in shape within clusters is high, and phylogenetic signal in shape data is significant but low. Neurocranium shape is significantly correlated with body elongation and significantly but weakly correlated with size. Diet and habitat depth are weakly correlated with shape, and nonsignificant after accounting for phylogeny. Evolutionary integration in the neurocranium is high, suggesting that convergence in skull shape and the evolution of extreme morphologies are associated with the correlated evolution of neurocranial elements. These results suggest that shape evolution in the pelagiarian neurocranium reflects the extremes in elongation found in body shape but is constrained along relatively few axes of variation, resulting in repeated evolution toward a restricted range of morphologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2022 presidential election saw Emmanuel Macron win a widely-expected second term in a run-off against Marine Le Pen, confirming the demise of the pre-2017 party system. In the ensuing parliamentary elections, however, Macron's party lost its majority, and the divided opposition forces staged a partial recovery. Most notably, the 'republican front', which had hitherto limited the far-right Rassemblement National's access to elective office, crumbled. This article analyses the transformation and destabilization of France's party system through the lenses of France's electoral system, the evolution of socio-political cleavages, and the behaviour of key players before and during the election campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on the Succession Narrative has proliferated in recent decades, no comprehensive surveys of secondary literature have appeared since the mid-1990s. In this article, I survey the many disparate works of Succession Narrative scholarship that have been published since that time. I focus on recent conclusions about the boundaries, unity, date, intention, and theme of the traditionally delineated Succession Narrative (2 Samuel 9–20; 1 Kings 1–2). While the traditional theory of the text, as formulated by Leonhard Rost, dominated scholarship of the twentieth century, in the twenty-first, nothing approaching a consensus can be claimed for any aspect of the Succession Narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toothed whales (odontocetes) emit high-frequency underwater sounds (echolocate)—an extreme and unique innovation allowing them to sense their prey and environment. Their highly specialized mandible (lower jaw) allows high-frequency sounds to be transmitted back to the inner ear. Echolocation is evident in the earliest toothed whales, but little research has focused on the evolution of mandibular form regarding this unique adaptation. Here, we use a high-density, three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis of 100 living and extinct cetacean species spanning their ∼50-million-year evolutionary history. Our analyses demonstrate that most shape variation is found in the relative length of the jaw and the mandibular symphysis. The greatest morphological diversity was obtained during two periods of rapid evolution: the initial evolution of archaeocetes (stem whales) in the early to mid-Eocene as they adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, representing one of the most extreme adaptive transitions known, and later on in the mid-Oligocene odontocetes as they became increasingly specialized for a range of diets facilitated by increasingly refined echolocation. Low disparity in the posterior mandible suggests the shape of the acoustic window, which receives sound, has remained conservative since the advent of directional hearing in the aquatic archaeocetes, even as the earliest odontocetes began to receive sounds from echolocation. Diet, echolocation, feeding method, and dentition type strongly influence mandible shape. Unlike in the toothed whale cranium, we found no significant asymmetry in the mandible. We suggest that a combination of refined echolocation and associated dietary specializations have driven morphology and disparity in the toothed whale mandible. • Toothed whale jaw diversity was obtained during two key periods of rapid evolution • High evolutionary rates are seen in the increasingly aquatic archaeocetes • Highest evolutionary rates occur as the odontocetes diverge and specialize • Diet and echolocation have the strongest influence on mandible morphology Coombs et al. quantify morphology, disparity, and evolutionary rates in toothed whale mandibles. The greatest morphological diversity was obtained during the initial evolution of stem whales and later on in the mid-Oligocene odontocetes. Refined echolocation and associated dietary specializations have driven morphology in the toothed whale mandible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Who was responsible for the murder of Sennacherib? This question fascinated Assyriologists for most of the twentieth century, until a new interpretation of an obscure, fragmentary letter convinced many that a disenfranchised elder son of Sennacherib, Urad-Mullissu, had hatched the conspiracy. Since the (re)publication of this text in 1980 by Simo Parpola, near consensus has developed about these events. In this paper I reexamine the issue and revive the theory that Esarhaddon, Sennacherib's son and successor, may have been behind the assassination, rather than his elder brother. I do not question the coherence of Parpola's interpretation, but I suggest that the field may place undue confidence in a single broken, decontextualized letter. More importantly, the evidence implicating Esarhaddon is ample. I extend six arguments that point toward Esarhaddon's guilt, most of which are derived from Esarhaddon's own account of events in his famous Nineveh A inscription. I do not propose that we can establish Esarhaddon's guilt conclusively at this remove, but I conclude that the weight of this evidence equals, if not surpasses, that which points to a plot concocted by Urad-Mullissu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely expected to recapture France's presidency and win a parliamentary majority in the 2017 elections, France's mainstream Right instead suffered a crushing and divisive defeat. A major reason for this was contingent: the selection of a candidate who three months before polling day was placed under investigation for embezzling public funds. Other reasons were more structural, in particular the progressive dislocation of the bipolar multipartism which had characterised France's party system for over four decades and the resultant strategic divisions within the Right. Although broadly chronological, this analysis of the long electoral cycle of 2016-2017 assesses the respective importance of proximate and long-term factors in the Right's defeat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing the origin and function of unusual traits in fossil taxa provides a crucial tool in understanding macroevolutionary patterns over long periods of time. Ceratopsian dinosaurs are known for their exaggerated and often elaborate horns and frills, which vary considerably between species. Many explanations have been proposed for the origin and evolution of these 'ornamental' traits, from predator defence to socio-sexual dominance signalling and, more recently, species recognition. A key prediction of the species recognition hypothesis is that two or more species possessing divergent ornamental traits should have been at least partially sympatric. For the first time to our knowledge, we test this hypothesis in ceratopsians by conducting a comparison of the morphological characters of 46 species. A total of 350 ceratopsian cladistic characters were categorized as either 'internal', 'display' (i.e. ornamental) or 'non display'. Patterns of diversity of these characters were evaluated across 1035 unique species pairs. Display characters were found to diverge rapidly overall, but sympatric species were not found to differ significantly in their ornamental disparity from non-sympatric species, regardless of phylogenetic distance. The prediction of the species recognition hypothesis, and thus the idea that ornamentation evolved as a species recognition mechanism, has no statistical support among known ceratopsians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the publication of Hayim Tadmor's seminal 1983 essay, "Autobiographical Apology in the Royal Assyrian Literature," scholars have almost universally accepted that the imminent nomination of Ashurbanipal as crown prince provided the impetus for the composition of Esarhaddons apology (i 8-ii 11 of his Nineveh A inscription). In this article, I reassess this conclusion. I suggest instead that the defeat of the Assyrian army in Egypt in 674 BCE raised concerns about Esarhaddons legitimacy, concerns fueled by his assumption of his murdered fathers throne in dubious circumstances. Esarhaddon therefore commissioned the apology as one part of a greater propagandistic campaign to reinforce his legitimacy. I conclude by showing that although Tadmor's work is often cited to support connecting the apology's composition exclusively to Ashurbanipal's nomination, the eminent historian also considered the Egyptian debacle to have undermined Esarhaddons position on the throne, providing him with impetus to commission the Nineveh A inscription. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In winning the municipal elections of March 2014, France's mainstream opposition—the Centrists and the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP)—benefited not only from the unpopularity of the Left in power, but also from its own (partial) reconstruction. The Centrists had reorganised; the UMP had reaffirmed its right-wing programme and drawn strength from the opposition social movements launched in 2013. The European elections of 2014, however, demonstrated the limitations of this reconstruction. Their weak institutionalisation—the original sin of France's Right and centre-Right—left internal ideological differences and (above all) personal rivalries unchecked within both forces. These tensions were compounded, in the UMP, by a series of financial scandals. At their heart was former president Nicolas Sarkozy, still the activists' darling, ever more clearly a candidate for 2017, but also more hobbled by judicial investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Lines 3-4 in the Tel Dan, Israel Inscription, which is an Old Aramaic language inscription attributed to the King of Damascus, Syria Hazael. An overview Israel's relationship with Aram-Damascus, Syria in the 9th century B.C., including regard to the territorial boundary dispute between the countries over the land of Qedem in the Levant, is provided. The relationship to the Hebrew Bible and the Tel Dan Inscription is discussed.

This article has two components. The first is a theoretical discussion of genre, in which two distinct approaches are outlined. Literary genre theory, which has prevailed in biblical scholarship of the past century, is useful but has certain limitations since a literary genre is an historically situated category. Rhetorical genre theory, on the other hand, defines genre in a transhistorical way that allows one to employ it in situations where literary genre theory does not apply, such as when comparing texts from different cultures and time periods. The second part of the article illustrates the preceding through a response to J. Randall Short's recent monograph, The Surprising Election and Confirmation of King David. The article submits that Short employs an unsound understanding of genre, treating apologetic—a transhistorical phenomenon that appears in all human cultures in various forms—as a literary genre instead of a rhetorical genre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sarkozy presidency is shot through with paradox and contrast. Sarkozy was a well-elected president swiftly loathed by most voters; a ‘hyperpresident’ who probably weakened the office; a talented party leader who lost effective control of his party; a right-wing president who was readily compared with Tony Blair; and an ambitious reformer who promised a clean break with the indecision of his two predecessors, but whose record was more timid than his rhetoric. This article interprets Sarkozy's record in the context of the presidential office, the specific circumstances of his presidency and of the president's own personality, skills and shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Allied capture of Le Havre from its German garrison on 12 September 1944 was preceded by a week of air raids which, though militarily quite ineffective, destroyed most of the city and killed between 1500 and 2000 French civilians. This article assesses a range of explanations for the city's destruction, contrasts British and French perspectives on the raids, and shows that the trauma of September 1944 has continued to define local memory over six decades. The impact of British and American bombing on Allied civilians, it suggests, remains a relatively under-researched area in the study of the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on several books on Gaullism. 'Histoire du gaullisme,' by S. Berstein; 'Jacques Chirac et le gaullisme,' by A. Collovald; 'Le roman de la presidentielle,' by F. Haziza; 'Les gaullistes et l'argent,' by P. Madelin; 'Noir silence: Qui arretera la Francafrique?,' by F.-X. Verschave.

Endothelial E- and P-selectins mediate lymphocyte trafficking in inflammatory processes by interacting with lymphocyte selectin ligands. These are differentially expressed among different T cell subsets and function alone or in cooperation to mediate T cell adhesion. In this study, we characterize the expression and functionality of E-selectin ligands in Th type 17 lymphocytes (Th17 cells) and report that CD43 functions as a Th17 cell E-selectin ligand in vitro that mediates Th17 cell rolling on the vascular endothelium and recruitment in vivo. We demonstrate Th17 cells express CD44, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL)-1, and CD43. Few PSGL-1-/-CD43-/- Th17 cells accumulated on E-selectin under shear flow conditions compared with wild-type cells. CD43-/- Th17 cell accumulation on E-selectin was impaired as compared with wild-type and PSGL-1-/-, and similar to that observed for PSGL-1-/-CD43-/- Th17 cells, indicating that CD43 alone is a dominant ligand for E-selectin. Notably, this finding is Th17 cell subset specific because CD43 requires cooperation with PSGL-1 in Th1 cells for binding to E-selectin. In vivo, Th17 cell recruitment into the air pouch was reduced in CD43-/- mice in response to CCL20 or TNF-a, and intravital microscopy studies demonstrated that CD43-/- Th17 cells had impaired rolling on TNF-a-treated microvessels. Furthermore, CD43-/- mice were protected from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and had impaired recruitment of Th17 cells in the spinal cord. Our findings demonstrate that CD43 is a major E-selectin ligand in Th17 cells that functions independent of PSGL-1, and they suggest that CD43 may hold promise as a therapeutic target to modulate Th17 cell recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'positive allometry hypothesis' predicts that ornaments and weapons of sexual selection will scale steeply when among-individual variation in trait size is compared with variation in overall body size. Intuitive and striking, this idea has been explored in hundreds of contemporary animal species and sparked controversy in palaeobiology over the function of exaggerated structures in dinosaurs and other extinct lineages. Recently, however, challenges to this idea have raised questions regarding the validity of the hypothesis. We address this controversy in two ways. First, we suggest the positive allometry hypothesis be applied only to morphological traits that function as visual signals of individual body size. Second, because steep scaling slopes make traits better signals than other body parts, we propose that tests of the positive allometry hypothesis compare the steepness of the scaling relationships of focal, putative signal traits to those of other body parts in the same organism (rather than to an arbitrary slope of 1). We provide data for a suite of 29 extreme structures and show that steep scaling relationships are common when structures function as signals of relative body size, but not for comparably extreme structures that function in other contexts. We discuss these results in the context of animal signalling and sexual selection, and conclude that patterns of static scaling offer powerful insight into the evolution and function of disproportionately large, or extreme, animal structures. Finally, using data from a ceratopsid dinosaur and a pterosaur, we show that our revised test can be applied to fossil assemblages, making this an exciting and powerful method for gleaning insight into the function of structures in extinct taxa. Highlights • Sexually selected signals scale steeply compared to nonsignal structures. • Sexually selected signals are more variable in size than nonsignal structures. • Measures of static scaling and trait variation offer insight into trait function. • Steep scaling and high trait variation suggest signal function in extinct taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented about a study on the associations between creatine phosphokinase (CPK) elevations and daptomycin therapy.

The common inhalation anesthetic isoflurane has been shown to induce apoptosis, which then leads to accumulation of β-amyloid protein, the hallmark feature of Alzheimer disease neuropathogenesis. The underlying molecular mechanism of the isoflurane-induced apoptosis is largely unknown. We, therefore, set out to assess whether isoflurane can induce apoptosis by regulating Bcl-2 family proteins, enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and activating the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. We performed these studies in cultured cells, primary neurons, and mice. Here we show for the first time that treatment with 2% isoflurane for 6 h can increase pro-apoptotic factor Bax levels, decrease anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 levels, increase ROS accumulation, facilitate cytochrome c release from the mitochondria to the cytosol, induce activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and finally cause apoptosis as compared with the control condition. We have further found that isoflurane can increase the mRNA levels of Bax and reduce the mRNA levels of Bcl-2. The isoflurane-induced ROS accumulation can be attenuated by the intracellular calcium chelator BAPTA. Finally, the anesthetic desfiurane does not induce activation of mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. These results suggest that isoflurane may induce apoptosis through Bcl-2 family proteins- and ROS-associated mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. These findings, which have identified at least partially the molecular mechanism by which isoflurane induces apoptosis, will promote more studies aimed at studying the potential neurotoxic effects of anesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]