Shell we cook it? An experimental approach to the microarchaeological record of shellfish roasting

In this paper, we investigate the microarchaeological traces and archaeological visibility of shellfish cooking activities through a series of experimental procedures with direct roasting using wood-fueled fires and controlled heating in a muffle furnace. An interdisciplinary geoarchacological approach, combining micromorphology, FTIR (in transmission and ATR collection modes), TGA and XRD, was used to establish a baseline on the mineralogical transformation of heated shells from aragonite to calcite and diagnostic sedimentary traces produced by roasting fire features. Our experimental design focused on three main types of roasting procedures: the construction of shallow depressions with heated rocks (pebble cuvette experiments), placing shellfish on top of hot embers and ashes (fire below experiment), and by kindling short-lived fires on top of shellfish (fire above experiments). Our results suggest that similar shellfish roasting procedures will largely create microstratigraphic signatures of anthropogenically reworked combusted material spatially "disconnected" from the actual combustion locus. The construction of shallow earth ovens might entail an increased archaeological visibility, and some diagnostic signatures of in situ hearths can be obtained by fire below roasting activities. We also show that macroscopic visual modifications and mineralogical characterization of discarded shellfish might be indicative of specific cooking activities versus secondary burning.Max Planck Societyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A clinical investigation of malingering and psychopathy in hospitalised insanity acquitees

This study compares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) scores, DSM-Ill-R diagnoses, and select behavioral indices between hospitalized insanity acquittees (N = 18) and hospitalized insanity acquittees who successfully malingered (N = 18). The malingerers were significantly more likely to have a history of murder or rape, carry a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder or sexual sadism, and produce greater PCL-R factor 1, factor 2, and total scores than insanity acquittees who did not malinger. The malingerers were also significantly more likely to be verbally or physically assaultive, require specialized treatment plans to control their aggression, have sexual relations with female staff, deal drugs, and be considered an escape risk within the forensic hospital. These findings are discussed within the context of insanity statutes and the relevance of malingering, psychopathy, and treatability to future policy concerning the disposition of insanity acquittees

Behavioral, Ecological, and Evolutionary Aspects of Meat-Eating by Sumatran Orangutans (Pongo abelii)

Meat-eating is an important aspect of human evolution, but how meat became a substantial component of the human diet is still poorly understood. Meat-eating in our closest relatives, the great apes, may provide insight into the emergence of this trait, but most existing data are for chimpanzees. We report 3 rare cases of meat-eating of slow lorises, Nycticebus coucang, by 1 Sumatran orangutan mother–infant dyad in Ketambe, Indonesia, to examine how orangutans find slow lorises and share meat. We combine these 3 cases with 2 previous ones to test the hypothesis that slow loris captures by orangutans are seasonal and dependent on fruit availability. We also provide the first (to our knowledge) quantitative data and high-definition video recordings of meat chewing rates by great apes, which we use to estimate the minimum time necessary for a female Australopithecus africanus to reach its daily energy requirements when feeding partially on raw meat. Captures seemed to be opportunistic but orangutans may have used olfactory cues to detect the prey. The mother often rejected meat sharing requests and only the infant initiated meat sharing. Slow loris captures occurred only during low ripe fruit availability, suggesting that meat may represent a filler fallback food for orangutans. Orangutans ate meat more than twice as slowly as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), suggesting that group living may function as a meat intake accelerator in hominoids. Using orangutan data as a model, time spent chewing per day would not require an excessive amount of time for our social ancestors (australopithecines and hominids), as long as meat represented no more than a quarter of their diet

Possible Brucellosis in an Early Hominin Skeleton from Sterkfontein, South Africa

We report on the paleopathological analysis of the partial skeleton of the late Pliocene hominin species Australopithecus africanus Stw 431 from Sterkfontein, South Africa. A previous study noted the presence of lesions on vertebral bodies diagnosed as spondylosis deformans due to trauma. Instead, we suggest that these lesions are pathological changes due to the initial phases of an infectious disease, brucellosis. The macroscopic, microscopic and radiological appearance of the lytic lesions of the lumbar vertebrae is consistent with brucellosis. The hypothesis of brucellosis (most often associated with the consumption of animal proteins) in a 2.4 to 2.8 million year old hominid has a host of important implications for human evolution. The consumption of meat has been regarded an important factor in supporting, directing or altering human evolution. Perhaps the earliest (up to 2.5 million years ago) paleontological evidence for meat eating consists of cut marks on animal remains and stone tools that could have made these marks. Now with the hypothesis of brucellosis in A. africanus, we may have evidence of occasional meat eating directly linked to a fossil hominin

A Novel Peptide Enhances Therapeutic Efficacy of Liposomal Anti-Cancer Drugs in Mice Models of Human Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The lack of tumor specificity remains a major drawback for effective chemotherapies and results in dose-limiting toxicities. However, a ligand-mediated drug delivery system should be able to render chemotherapy more specific to tumor cells and less toxic to normal tissues. In this study, we isolated a novel peptide ligand from a phage-displayed peptide library that bound to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. The targeting phage bound to several NSCLC cell lines but not to normal cells. Both the targeting phage and the synthetic peptide recognized the surgical specimens of NSCLC with a positive rate of 75% (27 of 36 specimens). In severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice bearing NSCLC xenografts, the targeting phage specifically bound to tumor masses. The tumor homing ability of the targeting phage was inhibited by the cognate synthetic peptide, but not by a control or a WTY-mutated peptide. When the targeting peptide was coupled to liposomes carrying doxorubicin or vinorelbine, the therapeutic index of the chemotherapeutic agents and the survival rates of mice with human lung cancer xenografts markedly increased. Furthermore, the targeting liposomes increased drug accumulation in tumor tissues by 5.7-fold compared with free drugs and enhanced cancer cell apoptosis resulting from a higher concentration of bioavailable doxorubicin. The current study suggests that this tumor-specific peptide may be used to create chemotherapies specifically targeting tumor cells in the treatment of NSCLC and to design targeted gene transfer vectors or it may be used one in the diagnosis of this malignancy

Allele-Specific Virulence Attenuation of the Pseudomonas syringae HopZ1a Type III Effector via the Arabidopsis ZAR1 Resistance Protein

Plant resistance (R) proteins provide a robust surveillance system to defend against potential pathogens. Despite their importance in plant innate immunity, relatively few of the ∼170 R proteins in Arabidopsis have well-characterized resistance specificity. In order to identify the R protein responsible for recognition of the Pseudomonas syringae type III secreted effector (T3SE) HopZ1a, we assembled an Arabidopsis R gene T–DNA Insertion Collection (ARTIC) from publicly available Arabidopsis thaliana insertion lines and screened it for plants lacking HopZ1a-induced immunity. This reverse genetic screen revealed that the Arabidopsis R protein HOPZ-ACTIVATED RESISTANCE 1 (ZAR1; At3g50950) is required for recognition of HopZ1a in Arabidopsis. ZAR1 belongs to the coiled-coil (CC) class of nucleotide binding site and leucine-rich repeat (NBS–LRR) containing R proteins; however, the ZAR1 CC domain phylogenetically clusters in a clade distinct from other related Arabidopsis R proteins. ZAR1–mediated immunity is independent of several genes required by other R protein signaling pathways, including NDR1 and RAR1, suggesting that ZAR1 possesses distinct signaling requirements. The closely-related T3SE protein, HopZ1b, is still recognized by zar1 Arabidopsis plants indicating that Arabidopsis has evolved at least two independent R proteins to recognize the HopZ T3SE family. Also, in Arabidopsis zar1 plants HopZ1a promotes P. syringae growth indicative of an ancestral virulence function for this T3SE prior to the evolution of recognition by the host resistance protein ZAR1. Our results demonstrate that the Arabidopsis resistance protein ZAR1 confers allele-specific recognition and virulence attenuation of the Pseudomonas syringae T3SE protein HopZ1a

Evolution of Stress-Regulated Gene Expression in Duplicate Genes of Arabidopsis thaliana

Due to the selection pressure imposed by highly variable environmental conditions, stress sensing and regulatory response mechanisms in plants are expected to evolve rapidly. One potential source of innovation in plant stress response mechanisms is gene duplication. In this study, we examined the evolution of stress-regulated gene expression among duplicated genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Key to this analysis was reconstructing the putative ancestral stress regulation pattern. By comparing the expression patterns of duplicated genes with the patterns of their ancestors, duplicated genes likely lost and gained stress responses at a rapid rate initially, but the rate is close to zero when the synonymous substitution rate (a proxy for time) is >∼0.8. When considering duplicated gene pairs, we found that partitioning of putative ancestral stress responses occurred more frequently compared to cases of parallel retention and loss. Furthermore, the pattern of stress response partitioning was extremely asymmetric. An analysis of putative cis-acting DNA regulatory elements in the promoters of the duplicated stress-regulated genes indicated that the asymmetric partitioning of ancestral stress responses are likely due, at least in part, to differential loss of DNA regulatory elements; the duplicated genes losing most of their stress responses were those that had lost more of the putative cis-acting elements. Finally, duplicate genes that lost most or all of the ancestral responses are more likely to have gained responses to other stresses. Therefore, the retention of duplicates that inherit few or no functions seems to be coupled to neofunctionalization. Taken together, our findings provide new insight into the patterns of evolutionary changes in gene stress responses after duplication and lay the foundation for testing the adaptive significance of stress regulatory changes under highly variable biotic and abiotic environments

Neanderthal Use of Fish, Mammals, Birds, Starchy Plants and Wood 125-250,000 Years Ago

Neanderthals are most often portrayed as big game hunters who derived the vast majority of their diet from large terrestrial herbivores while birds, fish and plants are seen as relatively unimportant or beyond the capabilities of Neanderthals. Although evidence for exploitation of other resources (small mammals, birds, fish, shellfish, and plants) has been found at certain Neanderthal sites, these are typically dismissed as unusual exceptions. The general view suggests that Neanderthal diet may broaden with time, but that this only occurs sometime after 50,000 years ago. We present evidence, in the form of lithic residue and use-wear analyses, for an example of a broad-based subsistence for Neanderthals at the site of Payre, Ardèche, France (beginning of MIS 5/end of MIS 6 to beginning of MIS 7/end of MIS 8; approximately 125–250,000 years ago). In addition to large terrestrial herbivores, Neanderthals at Payre also exploited starchy plants, birds, and fish. These results demonstrate a varied subsistence already in place with early Neanderthals and suggest that our ideas of Neanderthal subsistence are biased by our dependence on the zooarchaeological record and a deep-seated intellectual emphasis on big game hunting

Loss of susceptibility as a novel breeding strategy for durable and broad-spectrum resistance

Recent studies on plant immunity have suggested that a pathogen should suppress induced plant defense in order to infect a plant species, which otherwise would have been a nonhost to the pathogen. For this purpose, pathogens exploit effector molecules to interfere with different layers of plant defense responses. In this review, we summarize the latest findings on plant factors that are activated by pathogen effectors to suppress plant immunity. By looking from a different point of view into host and nonhost resistance, we propose a novel breeding strategy: disabling plant disease susceptibility genes (S-genes) to achieve durable and broad-spectrum resistance