Gigantism

In 1886 Pierre Marie used the term "acromegaly" for the first time and gave a full description of the characteristic clinical picture. However several others had already given clear clinical descriptions before him and sometimes had given the disease other names. After 1886, it gradually became clear that pituitary enlargement (caused by a pituitary adenoma) was the cause and not the consequence of acromegaly, as initially thought. Pituitary adenomas could be found in the great majority of cases. It also became clear that acromegaly and gigantism were the same disease but occurring at different stages of life and not different diseases as initially thought. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century most information was derived from case descriptions and post-mortem examinations of patients with acromegaly or (famous) patients with gigantism. The stage was set for further research into the pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy of acromegaly and gigantism.

Exceptionally preserved fossils from the Palaeozoic era provide crucial insights into arthropod evolution, with recent discoveries bringing phylogeny and character homology into sharp focus. Integral to such studies are anomalocaridids, a clade of stem arthropods whose remarkable morphology illuminates early arthropod relationships and Cambrian ecology. Although recent work has focused on the anomalocaridid head, the nature of their trunk has been debated widely.Here we describe new anomalocaridid specimens from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota of Morocco, which not only show well-preserved head appendages providing key ecological data, but also elucidate the nature of anomalocaridid trunk flaps, resolving their homology with arthropod trunk limbs. The new material shows that each trunk segment bears a separate dorsal and ventral pair of flaps, with a series of setal blades attached at the base of the dorsal flaps. Comparisons with other stem lineage arthropods indicate that anomalocaridid ventral flaps are homologous with lobopodous walking limbs and the endopod of the euarthropod biramous limb, whereas the dorsal flaps and associated setal blades are homologous with the flaps of gilled lobopodians (for example, Kerygmachela kierkegaardi,  Pambdelurion whittingtoni) and exites of the ‘Cambrian biramous limb’. This evidence shows that anomalocaridids represent a stage before the fusion of exite and endopod into the ‘Cambrian biramous limb’, confirming their basal placement in the euarthropod stem, rather than in the arthropod crown or with cycloneuralian worms. Unlike other anomalocaridids, the Fezouata taxon combines head appendages convergently adapted for filter-feeding with an unprecedented body length exceeding 2m, indicating a new direction in the feeding ecology of the clade. The evolution of giant filter-feeding anomalocaridids may reflect the establishment of highly developed planktic ecosystems during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Sauropod (or, more correctly, eusauropod) dinosaurs are highly distinctive, not only in their overall body form, but also in respect to many details of their anatomy. In comparison with basal dinosaurs, typical sauropods are characterized by small skulls, elongate necks, massive bodies, and an obligatory quadrupedal stance with elongate forelimbs and straight limbs in general. Tracing the anatomical changes that led to this distinctive body plan through sauropodomorph evolution is problematic as a result of the incompleteness of many basal taxa and phylogenetic uncertainty at the base of the clade. The decrease in skull size in sauropodomorphs seems to be abrupt at the base of the clade, but it is even more pronounced toward sauropods. Major changes in the sauropod skull are a relative shortening and broadening of the snout and an enlargement and retraction of the nares. Although the ultimate causes for these evolutionary changes are certainly manifold, most if not all of them seem to be related to the ecological and biomechanical requirements of the transition from a carnivorous to an herbivorous lifestyle, in which the skull is
mainly used as a cropping device. A relatively elongate neck seems to be ancestral for sauropodomorphs, but the neck is further elongated on the lineage toward sauropods, especially by incorporation of two additional vertebrae at the base of Sauropoda. The relatively simple structure of the cervical vertebrae in basal sauropodomorphs might be a secondary reduction relative to basal saurischians as a result of changes in neck biomechanics in connection with the reduction of the size of the skull. Thus, the more complicated structure of sauropod cervicals probably reflects changing biomechanical requirements in connection with an elongation of the neck and
an increase in body size, as does the opisthocoelous structure of the cervical vertebral centra. Limb evolution in sauropodomorphs is dominated by adaptations toward increasing body size and thus graviportality, with the limbs getting straighter and the distal limb segments relatively shorter. Body size increase in sauropodomorphs seems to have been rapid but even-paced, with the ancestral body size of the clade being in the 0–10 kg category, and the ancestral body size for sauropods probably being in the 1,000–10,000 kg category.

Recent evidence for feathers in theropods has led to speculations that the largest tyrannosaurids, including Tyrannosaurus rex, were extensively feathered. We describe fossil integument from Tyrannosaurus and other tyrannosaurids (Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Gorgosaurus and Tarbosaurus), confirming that these large-bodied forms possessed scaly, reptilian-like skin. Body size evolution in tyrannosauroids reveals two independent occurrences of gigantism; specifically, the large sizes in Yutyrannus and tyrannosaurids were independently derived. These new findings demonstrate that extensive feather coverings observed in some early tyrannosauroids were lost by the Albian, basal to Tyrannosauridae. This loss is unrelated to palaeoclimate but possibly tied to the evolution of gigantism, although other mechanisms exist.

Ein Flügelfragment aus Seeablagerungen der Meisen heim-Formation des Unteren Rotliegend (Autunium) bei Obermoschel ist der erste Nachweis von Riesen-Urlibellen für das Permokarbon des Saar-Nahe-Beckens. Mit einer Flügelspannweite von mindestens 60 Zentimetern war das Tier in etwa so groß wie Meganeura monyi aus dem Stefanium von Commentry in Frankreich und ist das derzeit größte in Deutschland nachgewiesene Insekt. Als einen wahrscheinlichen Faktor, der den Riesenwuchs dieser Stammgruppenvertreter der heutigen Libellen erst möglich machte, diskutieren wir den hohen Sauerstoffgehalt der Atmosphäre im Oberkarbon bis Mittelperm. Die Paläoumwelt des Obermoschel-Sees war durch größere Seen und Flussläufe geprägt und bot den großen Meganeuriden die offenen Flächen, die sie als agile Flugjäger bevorzugten.
Abstract First record of giant griffenflies (Odonatoptera: Meganisoptera: Meganeuridae) in the Permocarboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin (Rhineland-Palatinate, SW-Germany)
A wing fragment from lake deposits of the Meisenheim Formation (Lower Rotliegend, Autunian) near Obermoschel is the first record of giant griffenflies for the Permo-Carboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin. With a reconstructed wing span of at least 60 centimetres the animal was comparable in size to the iconic Meganeura monyi from the Stephanian of Commentry/France and is currently the largest known insect from Germany. The increased partial pressure of oxygen in the Upper Carboniferous to mid-Permian is discussed as a possible factor controlling the maximum size of griffenflies. The palaeoenvironment of Lake Obermoschel was characterized by large lakes and fluvial systems that provided the open spaces preferred by meganeurids, which were probably agile hawker predators.

The herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were the largest terrestrial animals ever, surpassing the largest herbivorous mammals by an order of magnitude in body mass. Several evolutionary lineages among Sauropoda produced giants with body masses in excess of 50 metric tonnes by conservative estimates. With body mass increase driven by the selective advantages of large body size, animal lineages will increase in body size until they reach the limit determined by the interplay of bauplan, biology, and resource availability. There is no evidence, however, that resource availability and global physicochemical parameters were different enough in the Mesozoic to have led to sauropod gigantism.We review the biology of sauropod dinosaurs in detail and posit that sauropod gigantism was made possible by a specific combination of plesiomorphic characters (phylogenetic heritage) and evolutionary innovations at different levels which triggered a remarkable evolutionary cascade. Of these key innovations, the most important probably was the very long neck, the most conspicuous feature of the sauropod bauplan. Compared to other herbivores, the long neck allowed more efficient food uptake than in other large herbivores by covering a much larger feeding envelope and making food accessible that was out of the reach of other herbivores. Sauropods thus must have been able to take up more energy from their environment than other herbivores.The long neck, in turn, could only evolve because of the small head and the extensive pneumatization of the sauropod axial skeleton, lightening the neck. The small head was possible because food was ingested without mastication. Both mastication and a gastric mill would have limited food uptake rate. Scaling relationships between gastrointestinal tract size and basal metabolic rate (BMR) suggest that sauropods compensated for the lack of particle reduction with long retention times, even at high uptake rates.The extensive pneumatization of the axial skeleton resulted from the evolution of an avian-style respiratory system, presumably at the base of Saurischia. An avian-style respiratory system would also have lowered the cost of breathing, reduced specific gravity, and may have been important in removing excess body heat. Another crucial innovation inherited from basal dinosaurs was a high BMR. This is required for fueling the high growth rate necessary for a multi-tonne animal to survive to reproductive maturity.The retention of the plesiomorphic oviparous mode of reproduction appears to have been critical as well, allowing much faster population recovery than in megaherbivore mammals. Sauropods produced numerous but small offspring each season while land mammals show a negative correlation of reproductive output to body size. This permitted lower population densities in sauropods than in megaherbivore mammals but larger individuals.Our work on sauropod dinosaurs thus informs us about evolutionary limits to body size in other groups of herbivorous terrestrial tetrapods. Ectothermic reptiles are strongly limited by their low BMR, remaining small. Mammals are limited by their extensive mastication and their vivipary, while ornithsichian dinosaurs were only limited by their extensive mastication, having greater average body sizes than mammals.

En el mundo ficcional rabelaisiano, universo dominado por la abundancia, las dimensiones y cantidades colosales, el cuerpo humano no puede menos que alcanzar su afirmación hiperbólica más completa: el gigantismo. El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar las indicaciones que, sin concernir directamente la descripción del cuerpo de los gigantes, llevan al lector a inferir el aspecto colosal de tales personajes.

Endocrine disorders during growth and development that occur due to the secretion of excessive growth hormones are very rare in archaeological and modern populations. The human skeletal remains analyzed in this paper belong to an unusually tall woman, approximately 35-40 years of age, buried at the Đurine ćelije site (15th-17th century) in Serbia, who may have suffered from overgrowth syndrome. Individuals with this condition have an unusually tall stature and accompanying pathological changes related to organ systems and joint diseases. The aim of this paper is to show how the aforementioned disorder affected the health status of an individual (grave No. 7a) and the performance of daily activities, but also the attitude of the community towards deformities in the life of that same person and after death. Differential diagnosis was performed since other diseases tend to lead to similar health problems. During the analysis, changes in growth were noticed, and her stature was determined to be 186.42 cm. Compared to the documented stature of the medieval population from this period, the skeletal remains show a significant deviation from the average, especially when it comes to female individuals. Other pathological changes observed in this woman are osteoarthritis, spondyloarthropathy, and periosteal new bone formation.

This report suggests the association of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome by describing two unrelated males with this malformation. One male was the maternal half-nephew of our previously reported 8-year-old boy with this syndrome.Review of the skeletal roentgenograms of these 2 affected males, and those of the previously reported 8-year-old, documents flare of the iliac wings, narrow sacroiliac notches, and the presence of two carpal ossification centers as a newborn (“advanced bone age”).We also report the follow-up of the 8-year-old boy, now 16 years old, who continues to have significant overgrowth and speech, dental, developmental, and adjustment problems. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

El propósito del artículo es revisar la historia vital y sobre todo la historia post mórtem del “gigante” español con mayor proyección mediática de todos los tiempos: Agustín Luengo Capilla (1849-1875), conocido como “El Gigante Extremeño”. Estudiamos las circunstancias que le vinculan con el famoso doctor Pedro González Velasco y la consecuencia última de esa relación: que su cuerpo pase a formar parte del Museo Antropológico fundado por el médico segoviano en 1875, actual sede del Museo Nacional de Antropología en Madrid. Seguidamente, analizamos el proceso de formación de la leyenda creada en torno a Luengo y Velasco y cuestionamos la orientación y parte del argumento de un proyecto que pretende “poner en valor” la figura del gigante, pues lo hace dando por buenos los contenidos de esa leyenda y las invenciones de una novela histórica que, en realidad, presentan una imagen espuria del personaje biografiado.

The aim of this paper is to revise the life history and especially the post mortem history of a “giant” who had and still has the greatest media coverage of the Spanish giants of all times: Agustín Luengo Capilla (1849-1875), known as “The Giant from Extremadura”. The famous Spanish surgeon Pedro González Velasco met him in Madrid, and the result derived from that relationship was really peculiar: Luengo’s remains became part of the Anthropological Museum founded by Velasco in 1875, currently National Museum of Anthropology. We analyze the legend created around Luengo (and Velasco) and we question the direction and part of the contents of a project that aims “to promote” the knowledge of his life. Our criticism is based on the fact that the project validates thelegend and the inventions of a recently published novel about the giant, and on the fact that both narratives just offer a spurious image of him.

We reported on thirteen children affected with malformative syndromes associated with mental retardation. MRI examination showed in all of them different types of anomalies; agenesis of corpus callosum, ventricular dilatation and cerebral matter alterations were the most frequent findings. The authors give a brief description of the clinical reports and of the anomalies observed with MRI; they conclude that MRI seems to be a valuable tool especially for the study of the alterations of the cerebral matter and their correlation with mental retardation.

The skeletons of 2 famous acromegalic giants: Charles Byrne (1761-1783) and Henri Cot = Joseph Dusorc (1883-1912) and the embalmed body of the famous acromegalic giant Édouard Beaupré (1881-1904) all ended up in the medical collections of museums despite the fact that these patients had never donated or even refused to donate their corpses, nor had their relatives given permission. The corpse of the acromegalic giant John Aasen (1890-1938) was voluntarily donated to a physician annex collector of trivia from acromegalic giants. The autopsy on the acromegalic giant John Turner (1874-1911) was performed during his funeral ceremony without the relatives being informed. Only recently, the acromegalic giant Alexander Sizonenko (1959-2012) was made a financial offer during his life in exchange for his body after his death. The case-histories of these 6 patients and also the circumstances that led to the (in-) voluntary donation of their bodies are reviewed.

Familial acromegaly/gigantism occurring in the absence of multi- ple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN-1) or the Carney complex has been reported in 18 families since the biochemical diagnosis of GH excess became available, and the genetic defect is unknown. In the present study we examined 2 unrelated families with isolated acro- megaly/gigantism. In family A, 3 of 4 siblings were

X-linked acro-gigantism (X-LAG) is a new syndrome of pituitary gigantism, caused by microduplications on chromosome Xq26.3, encompassing the gene GPR101, which is highly upregulated in pituitary tumors. We conducted this study to explore the clinical, radiological and hormonal phenotype and responses to therapy in patients with X-LAG syndrome. The study included 18 patients (13 sporadic) with X-LAG and a microduplication in chromosome Xq26.3. All sporadic cases had unique duplications and the inheritance pattern in 2 families was dominant with all Xq26.3 duplication carriers being affected. Patients began to grow rapidly as early as 2-3 months of age (median 12 months). At diagnosis (median delay 27 months), patients had a median height and weight SDS score of >+3.9 SDS. Apart from the increased overall body size, the children had acromegalic symptoms including acral enlargement and facial coarsening. More than a third of cases had increased appetite. Patients had marked hypersec...

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein (AIP) founder mutation R304* (or p.R304*; NM_003977.3:c.910C>T, p.Arg304Ter) identified in Northern Ireland (NI) predisposes to acromegaly/gigantism; its population health impact remains unexplored. We measured R304* carrier frequency in 936 Mid Ulster, 1000 Greater Belfast (both in NI) and 2094 Republic of Ireland (ROI) volunteers and in 116 acromegaly/gigantism patients. Carrier frequencies were 0.0064 in Mid Ulster (95%CI = 0.0027-0.013; P = 0.0005 vs. ROI), 0.001 in Greater Belfast (0.00011-0.0047) and zero in ROI (0-0.0014). R304* prevalence was elevated in acromegaly/gigantism patients in NI (11/87, 12.6%, P < 0.05), but not in ROI (2/29, 6.8%) vs. non-Irish patients (0-2.41%). Haploblock conservation supported a common ancestor for all the 18 identified Irish pedigrees (81 carriers, 30 affected). Time to most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) was 2550 (1275-5000) years. tMRCA-based simulations predicted 432 (90-5175) curren...

Entre les années 1970 et 1980, les écologistes ont identifié les principes théoriques qui auraient pu guider la gestion des villes et des territoires, et être mis en pratique dans des expériences micro-territoriales, germes d'autres mondes possibles. Mais une idéologie dominante couronne Megalopolis comme la seule forme possible de vie ensemble.

Background:
Thermal limits may arise through a mismatch between oxygen supply and demand in a range of animal taxa. Whilst this oxygen limitation hypothesis is supported by data from a range of marine fish and invertebrates, its generality remains contentious. In particular, it is unclear whether oxygen limitation determines thermal extremes in tracheated arthropods, where oxygen limitation may be unlikely due to the efficiency and plasticity of tracheal systems in supplying oxygen directly to metabolically active tissues. Although terrestrial taxa with open tracheal systems may not be prone to oxygen limitation, species may be affected during other life-history stages, particularly if these rely on diffusion into closed tracheal systems. Furthermore, a central role for oxygen limitation in insects is envisaged within a parallel line of research
focussing on insect gigantism in the late Palaeozoic.

Methodology/Principal Findings:
Here we examine thermal maxima in the aquatic life stages of an insect at normoxia, hypoxia (14 kPa) and hyperoxia (36 kPa). We demonstrate that upper thermal limits do indeed respond to external oxygen supply in the aquatic life stages of the stonefly Dinocras cephalotes, suggesting that the critical thermal limits of such aquatic larvae are set by oxygen limitation. This could result from impeded oxygen delivery, or limited oxygen regulatory capacity, both of which have implications for our understanding of the limits to insect body size and how these are influenced by atmospheric oxygen levels.

Conclusions/Significance:
These findings extend the generality of the hypothesis of oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance, suggest that oxygen constraints on body size may be stronger in aquatic environments, and that oxygen toxicity may have actively selected for gigantism in the aquatic stages of Carboniferous arthropods.

Based on the fossil record, we explore the macroevolutionary relationship between species richness and gigantism in cowries (Cypraeidae), the best-studied family of gastropods, with a global diversity distribution that parallels that of tropical corals, mangroves and seagrasses. We introduce Vicetia bizzottoi sp. nov. based on a Priabonian fossil found in northeastern Italy, the largest documented cowrie found so far and the youngest of a lineage of Eocene Gisortiinae species. The Gisortiinae stratigraphic record in western Europe indicates that species selection favoured large size and armouring of the shell. Palaeoecology and per-stage species richness suggest that gigantism occurred in peripheral habitats with respect to diversity hotspots, where smaller species were favoured. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary was marked by a turnover and the Chattian global warming favoured small-sized species of derived clades. Species selection leading to gigantism is further documented in Miocene lineages of Zoila and Umbilia, in the southern hemisphere, two extant genera distributed at the periphery of modern diversity hotspots, suggesting that the negative relationship between size and diversity is a recurring pattern in the evolutionary history of cowries. This palaeontological evidence is projected onto the existing hypotheses that explain analogous biogeographic patterns in various other taxa. Likewise, body size-species richness negative relationship was possibly driven in cowries by physiological, ecological and life history constraints.

Giant gastropods are among the largest mollusks in the fossil record, but their potential as paleoseasonality archives has received little attention. Here, we combine stable isotope and trace element analyses with microscopic observations and growth modeling on shells of two species of the gastropod genus Campanile: the extinct Campanile giganteum from Lutetian (~45 Ma) deposits in the Paris Basin (France), the longest gastropod known from the fossil record, and its modern relative Campanile symbolicum from southwestern Australia. The C. giganteum shells contain original aragonite and have pristine nacre in their apertures. We show that these gastropods attained growth rates exceeding 600 mm/year along their helix, depositing over 300 cm 3 aragonite per year. High growth rates and excellent preservation make C. giganteum excellent archives for reconstructing environmental change at high (potentially daily) temporal resolution, while providing enough material for methods such as clumped isotope analysis. Growth models show that Campanile gastropods grew nearly year-round, albeit slower in winter. Stable oxygen isotope ratios in modern C. symbolicum faithfully record a seasonal variability of 18-25°C in sea surface temperature, only failing to record the coolest winter temperatures (down to~16°C). Similarly, C. giganteum specimens likely record a nearly complete seasonal temperature range. Assuming constant sea water isotope composition, their oxygen isotope seasonality of up to 2.5‰ would translate to a Lutetian temperature range of 21-32°C in the Paris Basin. We hypothesize that these high and seasonally variable temperatures formed the breeding ground for the Lutetian shallow marine biodiversity hotspot in the Paris Basin.

[first published in "Open monument : research into ephemeral, commemorative architecture and modernist patrimony ; [on the occasion of the Exhibition Open Monument at Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Bethanien Berlin, 4th May to 16th June 2013] / ed. by Bauer Stephane and Marta Jecu."]
The article deals with an unlikely unlikely alliance of time forging enthusiasts that group together as fossil manufacturers of all sorts: artists interested in future paleontology, poetic technology fans, animatronics workers and designers in dinosaur parks, inventors of lost civilizations, and archaeologists of theme parks and lost movie sets.

X-linked acrogigantism (X-LAG) syndrome is a newly-described form of inheritable pituitary gigantism that begins in early childhood and is usually associated with markedly elevated growth hormone (GH) and prolactin secretion by mixed pituitary adenomas/hyperplasia. Microduplications on chromosome Xq26.3 including the GPR101 gene cause X-LAG syndrome. In individual cases random GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) levels have been elevated. We performed a series of hormonal profiles in a young female sporadic X-LAG syndrome patient and subsequently undertook in vitro studies of primary pituitary tumor culture following neurosurgical resection. The patient demonstrated consistently elevated circulating GHRH levels throughout preoperative testing, which was accompanied by marked GH and prolactin hypersecretion; GH demonstrated a paradoxical increase following TRH administration. In vitro, the pituitary cells showed baseline GH and prolactin release that was further stimulated by GHRH administra...