The Jurassic trigoniid bivalves of Gebel Maghara, northern Sinai, Egypt are described and figured. They belong to 14 species, nine genera, and two families. The identified taxa occur in rocks ranging in age from the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) to the lower Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic). Five genera and one species are new: Magharitrigonia asymmetrica new genus new species; Cotswoldella aff. C. hemisphaerica (Lycett, 1853); Cornbrashella pullus (J. de C. Sowerby, 1826); Parorthotrigonia lepidomorpha (Abdallah and Fahmy, 1969); and Retetrigonia imbricata (J. de C. Sowerby, 1826). Five species, Trigonia reticulata Agassiz, 1840, T. cf. T. castor d'Orbigny, 1849, Promyophorella tuberculata (Agassiz, 1840), Orthotrigonia exortiva (Kitchin, 1903), and O. gracilis (Kitchin, 1903) are recorded from the Jurassic rocks of Gebel Maghara for the first time.

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This paper documents changes in infant mortality (IM) rates in São Paulo, Brazil, between 2003 and 2013 and examines the association among neighborhood characteristics and IM. We investigate the extent to which increased use of health care services and improvements in economic and social conditions are associated with reductions in IM. Using data from the Brazilian Census and the São Paulo Secretaria Municipal da Saúde/SMS, we conducted a longitudinal analysis of panel data in all 96 districts of São Paulo for every year between 2003 and 2013. Our regression model includes district level measures that reflect economic, health care and social determinants of IM. We find that investments in health care have contributed to lower IM rates in the city, but the direct effect of increased spending is most evident for people living in São Paulo's middle- and high-income neighborhoods. Improvements in social conditions were more strongly associated with IM declines than increases in the use of health care among São Paulo's low-income neighborhoods. To reduce health inequalities, policies should target benefits to lower-income neighborhoods. Subsequent research should document the consequences of recent changes in Brazil's economic capacity and commitment to public health spending for population health.

Background: Neurosurgical residents face a unique combination of challenges, including long duty hours, technically challenging cases, and uncertain employment prospects. We sought to assess the demographics, interests, career goals, self-rated happiness, and overall well-being of Canadian neurosurgery residents. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was developed and sent through the Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative to every resident enrolled in a Canadian neurosurgery program as of April 1, 2016. Results: We analyzed 76 completed surveys of 146 eligible residents (52% response rate). The median age was 29 years, with 76% of respondents being males. The most popular subspecialties of interest for fellowship were spine, oncology, and open vascular neurosurgery. The most frequent self-reported number of worked hours per week was the 80- to 89-hour range. The majority of respondents reported a high level of happiness as well as stress. Sense of accomplishment and fatigue were reported as average to high and overall quality of life was low for 19%, average for 49%, and high for 32%. Satisfaction with work-life balance was average for 44% of respondents and was the only tested domain in which significant dissatisfaction was identified (18%). Overall, respondents were highly satisfied with their choice of specialty, choice of program, surgical exposure, and work environment; however, intimidation was reported in 36% of respondents and depression by 17%. Conclusions: Despite a challenging residency and high workload, the majority of Canadian neurosurgery residents are happy and satisfied with their choice of specialty and program. However, work-life balance, employability, resident intimidation, and depression were identified as areas of active concern.

Although we do not know the cause of death of most fossil animals, mortality is often associated with ecological stress due to seasonality and other stochastic events (droughts, storms, volcanism) that may have caused shifts in feeding ecology preceding death. In these instances, dental microwear, which reflects feeding ecology in a narrow window of time, may provide a biased view of diet. Mesowear, another dental-wear proxy based on the morphology of worn cusps, requires macroscopic amounts of dental wear and reflects diet for a longer interval and may be less prone to bias from near-death ecological stress. We compared congruence between microwear and mesowear of North American, fossil rhinocerotid mass-death assemblages and collections of hunted modern rhinocerotids to test the hypothesis that fossil assemblages yield more incongruous microwear and mesowear data as a result of near-death ecological disturbances. In extant rhinos, both mesowear and microwear are associated with diet and height of the feeding environment. Mesowear and microwear in the modern rhinocerotid collections are statistically correlated, with strong relationships between average mesowear scores and labially distributed dental microwear. In contrast, a relationship between mesowear and microwear was not observed among the fossil rhinocerotid assemblages. Mesowear suggests that the fossil rhinos had low-abrasion diets, suggesting that they fed from clean, possibly tall vegetation. Some, but not all, mass-death assemblages produce microwear data with excessive scratches and/or pits compared with expectations based on mesowear results, suggesting that dental microwear was altered shortly before death in some but not all of the fossil assemblages. The dental-wear proxies available to paleoecologists provide a mosaic of dietary evidence reflecting diet over long (mesowear) and more abbreviated (microwear) periods of time that, together, provide a richer understanding of feeding ecology and its relationship to environment, seasonal change, and other ecological disturbances.

Background Currently, the literature lacks reliable data regarding operative case volumes at Canadian neurosurgery residency programs. Our objective was to provide a snapshot of the operative landscape in Canadian neurosurgical training using the trainee-led Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative. Methods: Anonymized administrative operative data were gathered from each neurosurgery residency program from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014. Procedures were broadly classified into cranial, spine, peripheral nerve, and miscellaneous procedures. A number of prespecified subspecialty procedures were recorded. We defined the resident case index as the ratio of the total number of operations to the total number of neurosurgery residents in that program. Resident number included both Canadian medical and international medical graduates, and included residents on the neurosurgery service, off-service, or on leave for research or other personal reasons. Results: Overall, there was an average of 1845 operative cases per neurosurgery residency program. The mean numbers of cranial, spine, peripheral nerve, and miscellaneous procedures were 725, 466, 48, and 193, respectively. The nationwide mean resident case indices for cranial, spine, peripheral nerve, and total procedures were 90, 58, 5, and 196, respectively. There was some variation in the resident case indices for specific subspecialty procedures, with some training programs not performing carotid endarterectomy or endoscopic transsphenoidal procedures. Conclusions: This study presents the breadth of neurosurgical training within Canadian neurosurgery residency programs. These results may help inform the implementation of neurosurgery training as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons residency training transitions to a competence-by-design curriculum.

Dental microwear analyses of ungulates and other large herbivores rely on correlations of diet and microwear among extant ungulates, primarily ruminants. Microwear is considered a ‘taxon-free’ method of paleodietary analysis. The properties of food are associated with causality of microwear, but the possibility that heritable properties of the consumer (tooth morphologies, masticatory dynamics, enamel mechanical properties, digestive physiologies) may introduce bias is not considered. Using an observer blind method of light microscopy, we examined the distribution of microwear features on the molars of eight species of ruminants and perissodactyls. Grazing and browsing ruminants had statistically different numbers of scratches forming discrete data clusters. Perissodactyls differ in the numbers of scratches and pits but without discrete browser and grazer clusters. Microwear features were distributed homogeneously across ruminant molars and strongly predictive of diet from the labial edge of the molar to the lingual edge. Microwear was heterogeneously distributed across perissodactyl molars with more pits on the labial edge and more scratches on the lingual edge. In perissodactyls, microwear sampled from the labial edge was strongly predictive of diet, while microwear sampled from other areas were not. Discriminant function analyses of microwear assigned individual molars to diets (browser and grazer) and clades (ruminant and perissodactyl) with similar success (70–73%) indicating that phylogeny and diet influence microwear equally. Rhino microwear was more sensitive to clade membership while other perissodactyl microwear was more sensitive to diet. Although it is not clear what heritable variables may phylogenetically bias dental microwear, extant ruminants may not be appropriate models for the microwear of other large herbivores.

We introduce defects into (1120) oriented highly N-doped 4H-SiC by surface scratching, bending and annealing in the brittle regime. Emerging defects at the sample surface are revealed by chemical etching of the deformed samples. The etch patterns are constituted of straight bulges and grooves exhibiting various topographical features. These etch figures correspond to the emergence of double stacking faults dragged by a pair of partial dislocations. In this paper, we discuss the links between the etch figure characteristics and the defect nature. Results obtained by optical and atomic force microscopy are completed by structural analysis of defects performed by transmission electron microscopy. Mobility of partial dislocations in 4H-SiC is discussed and correlated to their core composition and to the effect of the applied mechanical stress.