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www.theasianindependent.co.uk
TECH
1-10-2019 to 15-10-2019
19
Croc-like carnivores
terrorised dinosaurs 210
million years ago: Study
JOHANNESBURG-Giant,
predatory crocodile-like animals
that lived during the Triassic
period in southern Africa preyed
on early dinosaurs 210 million
years ago, scientists
say.
These predators,
known as "rauisuchians"
preyed on early
herbivore dinosaurs
and their mammal
relatives living at the
time, according to
Rick Tolchard from
the University of the
Witwatersrand in
South Africa.
"These ancient
fossils provide us
with evidence of how at least
two predator species hunted
these vegetarian dinosaurs 210
million-years-ago," Tolchard
said. "It is amazing to follow the
clues left behind in fossilised
teeth, jaws, limbs and other fossils
to help us tell the ancient
story of life in southern Africa,"
he said. The fossils, described in
the Journal of African Earth
Sciences, include teeth, pieces of
jaws, hind limbs and body
armour, all of which can be
described as parts of rauisuchians.
Rauisuchians are closely
related to crocodiles as we know
them today. They had a diversity
of body shapes and sizes during
the Triassic period, researchers
said. The specimens described in
the research include some of the
largest carnivorous members of
this group, that were possibly up
to 10 metres long, with huge
skulls full of serrated, curved
teeth. The study shows that the
rauisuchians were some of the
latest-surviving members of
their group, and that when they
were alive, they were
thriving close to the
Antarctic Circle—the
theoretical limit for
their physiology. "In
the Triassic period,
rauisuchians were
widespread and their
fossils are known from
all continents except
Antarctica," said
Tolchard. "They went
extinct about 200 million
years ago, paving
the way for dinosaurs
to become the dominant large
land animals," he said.
"Rick's study demonstrates
the value of re-examining old
specimens, and now we finally
know what was preying on all
those herbivorous dinosaurs,"
said Jonah Choiniere, Rick's
advisor and Professor at the Wits
Evolutionary Studies Institute.
AI-based method may
help improve Crohn’s
disease TREATMENT
New York, Researchers have
developed a new method that
may help improve understanding
and treatment of Crohn’s disease,
which causes inflammation
in digestive tract.
The study, published in the
journal Genome Medicine, used
artificial intelligence (AI) to
examine genetic signatures of
Crohn’s disease in 111 people.
The method can help in
revealing previously undiscovered
genes linked to the disease,
and in predicting whether thousand
others had the disease.
“Our method is not a clinical
diagnosis tool, but it generates
interesting observations that
need to be followed up,” said
senior author Yana Bromberg,
Associate Professor at Rutgers
University in the US.
“Further experimental work
could reveal the molecular reasons
behind some forms of
Crohn’s disease and, potentially,
lead to its better treatment,”
Bromberg said. Crohn’s disease
affects around 780,000 people in
the US. Chronic inflammation
may occur in any part of the gastrointestinal
tract, although
symptoms may occur elsewhere.
It can also cause joint pain and
skin problems, and children with
the disease may have growth
problems, according to the US
National Library of Medicine.
The research team evaluated
genetic variants in the 111 people,
including 64 with Crohn’s
disease, and used AI techniques
to pinpoint genes whose functions
changed more in Crohn’s
patients than in healthy people,
and vice versa.
While the model’s accuracy
might improve by including
more people, it could help reveal
the origin of Crohn’s disease and
improve early diagnosis, the
study said. “We can use the
knowledge gained from this
study to similarly model other
genetically-linked diseases,”
Bromberg said.