Search results for "Gigantism"

Generalising Theories Explaining the Different Modes of SME Development and the Associated Growth Trajectories

2010

Previous research has identified two forms of “abnormal” growth – styled as business dwarfism and gigantism - which can both lead to missed opportunities for owners/entrepreneurs and local economies, and even to business crisis and collapse. It has also shown that stunted and inflated growth phenomena, rather than being characterised by completely different rules and rationales, are closely related and that certain fundamental structures and processes underpin both those forms of ab-normal company growth behaviour. This paper reports an examination of a further SME phenomenon – what we have chosen to call "micro-giants". These are companies that would be categorised as rela-tively small fir…

A Physiological Approach to Analysing SME Growth Patterns and to Understanding the Distinctions and Similarities between Normal and Abnormal Growth

2010

Building on earlier work on abnormal SME growth trajectories, this paper investigates to what extent the analysis can be extended to the study of an unusual but “normal” growth pattern. The detailed case histories of two firms which might be called micro-giants are presented. These are companies that would be categorised as small firms but are actually competing, and competing successfully, in non-niche markets with much larger firms, or even multinational giants. The resource based view and modelling approaches developed in the earlier non-normal growth situations is then applied to these cases. It is argued that by viewing the management of strategic assets as part of the normal business …

Regional endothermy as a trigger for gigantism in some extinct macropredatory sharks

2017

Otodontids include some of the largest macropredatory sharks that ever lived, the most extreme case being Otodus (Megaselachus) megalodon. The reasons underlying their gigantism, distribution patterns and extinction have been classically linked with climatic factors and the evolution, radiation and migrations of cetaceans during the Paleogene. However, most of these previous proposals are based on the idea of otodontids as ectothermic sharks regardless of the ecological, energetic and body size constraints that this implies. Interestingly, a few recent studies have suggested the possible existence of endothermy in these sharks thus opening the door to a series of new interpretations. Accord…

Gigantes ecónomicos, enanos políticos

1999

Complete biochemical control and pituitary adenoma disappearance in a child with gigantism: Efficacy of octreotide therapy

2011

Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: the evolution of gigantism

2010

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 ha…

Trackways of Arthropleura from the Late Pennsylvanian of Graissessac (Hérault, southern France)

2019

International audience; The Late Pennsylvanian deposits of the Graissessac Basin (southern France) are well known for their abundant and diversified plant remains. Here we report on seven trackways of giant millipede-like arthropods recently discovered from two surfaces. These traces are ascribed to Diplichnites cuithensis. The trackways are up to 200 cm long, up to 36 cm wide, straight to curved and consist of two parallel rows of numerous and elongated appendage imprints that are oriented perpendicular to the midline. Although body fossils of giant millipede-like arthropods remain unknown in sediments from this basin, the morphology and size of the trace fossils indicate that the trails w…

2016

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, 1,000 Greater Belfast (both in NI) and 2,094 Republic of Ireland (ROI) volunteers and in 116 NI or ROI 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 n…

Evidence of endothermy in the extinct macropredatory osteichthyan Xiphactinus audax (Teleostei, Ichthyodectiformes)

2020

Xiphactinus audax is the largest macropredatory osteichthyan ever known (Everhart et al., 2010). Some of the largest specimens exceed 5 m in total length, although the discovery of a few large, isolated teeth suggests that this teleost could reach even larger body sizes (Vavrek et al., 2016, and references therein). Fossil remains of this species have only been reported from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, across the Western Interior Basin (Schwimmer et al., 1997; Vavrek et al., 2016). The discovery of several virtually complete individuals in this area has provided valuable information about the anatomy, the dimensions, and the ecology of this species (Cope, 1872; Bardack, 1965). Xi…

Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome: multiple molecular mechanisms

2006

Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a congenital overgrowth condition with an increased risk of developing embryonic tumours, such as Wilms' tumour. The cardinal features are abdominal wall defects, macroglossia and gigantism. BWS is generally sporadic; only 10–15% of cases are familial. A variety of molecular aberrations have been associated with BWS. The only mutations within a gene are loss-of-function mutations in the CDKN1C gene, which codes for an imprinted cell-cycle regulator. CDKN1C mutations appear to be particularly associated with umbilical abnormalities, but not with increased predisposition to Wilms' tumour. In the remaining BWS subgroups, a disturbance of the tight epigeneti…