PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Lizard fossil provides missing link in debate over snake origins

2011-05-19
(Press-News.org) Until a recent discovery, theories about the origins and evolutionary relationships of snakes barely had a leg to stand on.

Genetic studies suggest that snakes are related to monitor lizards and iguanas, while their anatomy points to amphisbaenians ("worm lizards"), a group of burrowing lizards with snake-like bodies. The debate has been unresolved--until now. The recent discovery by researchers from the University of Toronto Mississauga and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany of a tiny, 47 million-year-old fossil of a lizard called Cryptolacerta hassiaca provides the first anatomical evidence that the body shapes of snakes and limbless lizards evolved independently.

"This fossil refutes the theory that snakes and other burrowing reptiles share a common ancestry and reveals that their body shapes evolved independently," says lead author Professor Johannes Müller of Humboldt-Universität, Berlin.

The fossil reveals that amphisbaenians are not closely related to snakes, but instead are related to lacertids, a group of limbed lizards from Europe, Africa and Asia. "This is the sort of study that shows the unique contributions of fossils in understanding evolutionary relationships," says Professor Robert Reisz from the University of Toronto Mississauga, the senior author of the study. "It is particularly exciting to see that tiny fossil skeletons can answer some really important questions in vertebrate evolution".

The German research team, led by Müller and American graduate student Christy Hipsley, used X-ray computed tomography to reveal the detailed anatomy of the lizard's skull and combined the anatomy of Cryptolacerta and other lizards with DNA from living lizards and snakes to analyze relationships. Their results showed that Cryptolacerta shared a thickened, reinforced skull with worm lizards and that both were most closely related to lacertids, while snakes were related to monitor lizards like the living Komodo dragons.

Even though snakes and amphisbaeans separately evolved their elongate, limbless bodies, the discovery of Cryptolacerta reveals the early stages in the evolution of burrowing in lizards. By comparing Cryptolactera to living lizards with known lifestyles, co-author and U of T Mississauga paleontologist Jason Head determined that the animal likely inhabited leaf-litter environments and was an opportunistic burrower.

"Cryptolacerta shows us the early ecology of one of the most unique and specialized lizard groups, and also reveals the sequence of anatomical adaptations leading to amphisbaenians and their burrowing lifestyle," says Head. "Based on this discovery, it appears worm-lizards evolved head first."

### The findings appear in the journal Nature.

*Images available upon request


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

National Jewish Health Conference highlights

2011-05-19
Genetic Variant Raises Risk of Fatal Pulmonary Fibrosis Max Seibold, PhD, will extend findings recently reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, which identified a common genetic variant associated with a 7 to 22 fold increased risk for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and familial interstitial pneumonia. The discovery not only identifies a major risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, but also points scientists in an entirely new direction for research into the causes and potential treatments for this difficult and deadly disease. Muc5b is the Predominant Mucin Expressed ...

What's the Difference Between Juvederm, Restylane and Elevess?

2011-05-19
With time, your facial skin begins to lose its structure and volume. The result is unpleasant wrinkles that can make you feel old and unattractive. There are three injectable gel forms of hyaluronic acid, a natural complex sugar found in all living cells that can help mask the effects of aging: Juvederm, Restylane and Elevess. The complex sugar in the hyaluronic acid gel is one of the major components of your skin. This gel makes wrinkle correction possible by retaining water much like a sponge. In fact, it can absorb more than 1,000 times its weight, helping to attract ...

End of life care for cancer patients differs in US and Canada

2011-05-19
In the United States, older patients with advanced lung cancer make much less use of hospital and emergency room services at the end of life than their counterparts in Ontario but use far more chemotherapy, according to a study published May 18th online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Government-financed health care covers elderly patients in both Canada and the U.S., but coverage at the end of life differs. In the U.S., Medicare covers hospice care for qualified patients. Ontario, the most populous Canadian province, has no hospice program comparable ...

Astronomer Bennett's team discovers new class of planets

2011-05-19
University of Notre Dame astronomer David Bennett is co-author of a new paper describing the discovery of a new class of planets — dark, isolated Jupiter-mass bodies floating alone in space, far from any host star. Bennett and the team of astronomers involved in the discovery believe that the planets were most likely ejected from developing planetary systems. The study is described in a paper appearing in the May 19th issue of the journal Nature. The discovery stems from an analysis of observations of the central bulge of the Milky Way galaxy taken in 2006 and 2007 by ...

Errors in protein structure sparked evolution of biological complexity

2011-05-19
Over four billion years of evolution, plants and animals grew far more complex than their single-celled ancestors. But a new comparison of proteins shared across species finds that complex organisms, including humans, have accumulated structural weaknesses that may have actually launched the long journey from microbe to man. The study, published in Nature, suggests that the random introduction of errors into proteins, rather than traditional natural selection, may have boosted the evolution of biological complexity. Flaws in the "packing" of proteins that make them more ...

Scared of the Dentist? Relax with Sedation Dentistry

2011-05-19
Does the mere thought of going to the dentist make you uneasy? Do you routinely put off important dental work because of an irrational fear about the entire process? You are not alone. While dental anxiety often stems from a bad experience, sometimes just the sound of dental equipment or the prospect of a certain procedure can set patients on edge, even if they have no bad memories to draw from. Dental anxiety is more common than you might think. To help patients relax and safely receive the dental treatment(s) they need, many dentists now offer sedation dentistry (also ...

New cell therapy to prevent organ rejection

2011-05-19
Researchers at King's College London have used cells found naturally in the body, to re-educate the immune system to prevent rejection of an organ transplant while remaining capable of fighting infections and cancer. Currently, patients must take immunosuppressant drugs to prevent a new organ from being rejected after transplantation. However, these drugs suppress the entire immune system, leaving the patient susceptible to infections and tumours. Scientists say this new approach using immune cells, called regulatory T cells (Tregs), from the body could eliminate ...

Yoga improves quality of life in women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy

Yoga improves quality of life in women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy
2011-05-19
HOUSTON — For women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy, yoga offers unique benefits beyond fighting fatigue, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. While simple stretching exercises improved fatigue, patients who participated in yoga that incorporated yogic breathing, postures, meditation and relaxation techniques into their treatment plan experienced improved physical functioning, better general health and lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels. They also were better able to find meaning in their cancer experience. ...

Accurate Mammograms With Breast Implants

2011-05-19
Breast implants may obstruct some mammogram imaging, but this does not mean breast implants render mammograms ineffective as a means of screening for breast cancer. Breast augmentation surgery remained the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in 2010, with 296,000 procedures performed last year alone, according the annual statistics report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. With that number continuing an upward trend over the past decade, more mammogram technicians and radiologists have experience conducting and reading the results of mammograms of women ...

Telling Your Children You Plan to Divorce

2011-05-19
If you and your spouse have decided to split, you know that there are many practical considerations that must be dealt with. You need to work out living arrangements, ensure that bills are paid on time and divvy up household expenses. If you are a parent, however, the most important thing you have to do is break the news of the divorce to your children in a way that is both informative and compassionate. Oftentimes, parents forget that they are not the only ones suffering; they either don't want to see that their decisions are hurting their children or they just get ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Small nuclear RNA base editing a safer alternative to CRISPR, UC San Diego researchers find

Can Hayabusa2 touchdown? New study reveals space mission’s target asteroid is tinier and faster than thought

Millisecond windows of time may be key to how we hear, study finds

Graz University of Technology opens up new avenues in lung cancer research with digital cell twin

Exoplanets are not water worlds

Study shows increasing ‘healthy competition’ between menu options nudges patients towards greener, lower-fat hospital food choices

New insights into melanoma plasticity uncover a critical role of iron metabolism

A graphene sandwich — deposited or transferred?

New light-powered motor fits inside a strand of hair

Oil rig study reveals vital role of tiny hoverflies

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researchers boost widespread use of dental varnish across pediatric network

iRECODE: A new computational method that brings clarity to single-cell analysis

New NUS-MOH study: Singapore’s healthcare sector carbon emissions 18% lower than expected, a milestone in the city-state’s net zero journey

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

[Press-News.org] Lizard fossil provides missing link in debate over snake origins