New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens

Fossil evidence points to an African origin of Homo sapiens from a group called either H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis. However, the exact place and time of emergence of H. sapiens remain obscure because the fossil record is scarce and the chronological age of many key specimens remains uncertain. In particular, it is unclear whether the present day ‘modern’ morphology rapidly emerged approximately 200 thousand years ago (ka) among earlier representatives of H. sapiens1 or evolved gradually over the last 400 thousand years2. Here we report newly discovered human fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and interpret the affinities of the hominins from this site with other archaic and recent human groups. We identified a mosaic of features including facial, mandibular and dental morphology that aligns the Jebel Irhoud material with early or recent anatomically modern humans and more primitive neurocranial and endocranial morphology. In combination with an age of 315?±?34 thousand years (as determined by thermoluminescence dating)3, this evidence makes Jebel Irhoud the oldest and richest African Middle Stone Age hominin site that documents early stages of the H. sapiens clade in which key features of modern morphology were established. Furthermore, it shows that the evolutionary processes behind the emergence of H. sapiens involved the whole African continent

Glucose-free bicarbonate hemodialysis is associated with asymptomatic hypoglycemia in non-diabetic patients

Background. The aim of this work was to study the serum glucose behavior in non-diabetic subjects treated by standard glucose-free bicarbonate hemodialysis (HD). Whilst it is known that symptomatic hypoglycemia is rare, it cannot be excluded that subclinical hypoglycemia might occur. Methods. We reviewed this issue in 22 chronic non-diabetic HD patients (mean age 68 (plus or minus) SD 8 years; m=14/f=8; average period on HD 7 (plus or minus) 5 years) treated by standard glucose-free bicarbonate HD. Eleven patients were classified as well- nourished (WN) and 11 as malnourished (MN) according to the subjective global assessment index (SGA, Nephrol Dial, Transplant 8:1094;1993). Each patient was studied twice, i.e on the same day (Monday or Tuesday) over two consecutive weeks. During the fist HD session a 200 kcal snack was provided (non-fasting dialysis, NFHD), while during the second dialysis only water was permitted (fasting HD, FHD). Results. Baseline serum glucose was similar between NFHD and FHD (85 (plus or minus) 14 mg/dL vs 87 (plus or minus) 16 mg/dL, p=ns). However, serum glucose dropped by 23 (plus or minus) 16 mg/dL during FHD and only by 8 (plus or minus) 10 mg/dL during NFHD (paired T-test p < 0.01). Blood pressure was not negatively affected by NFHD compared to FHD. Only one patient experienced discomfort immediately before the end of FHD. The drop in serum glucose was significantly associated with the baseline glucose level (r = 0.55, p < 0.01) but not with age, dialytic age, BMI and fasting insulin. During FHD, the drop in glucose levels was similar in WN and MN patients (26 (plus or minus) 18 mg/dL vs 20 (plus or minus) 13 mg/dL, p=ns). Conclusions. We conclude that during standard glucose-free HD in non-diabetic subjects, serum glucose levels decrease on average by 27%. This drop is not significantly associated with fasting insulin or nutritional status. We cannot exclude that repeated subclinical hypoglycemic episodes might have clinical implications; however, they are easily preventable by a 200 kcal snack

High-resolution imaging of the Pluto-Charon system with the faint object camera of the Hubble Space Telescope

Images of the Pluto-Charon system were obtained with the Faint Object Camera (FOC) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) after the refurbishment of the telescope. The images are of superb quality, allowing the determination of radii, fluxes, and albedos. Attempts were made to improve the resolution of the already diffraction limited images by image restoration. These yielded indications of surface albedo distributions qualitatively consistent with models derived from observations of Pluto-Charon mutual eclipses

Destini del sacro. Discorso religioso e semiotica della cultura

Il tema del sacro e del discorso religioso viene affrontanto attraverso diverse teorie, metodologie ed epistemologie. Il volume confronta e raccoglie studi biblici, sul discorso religioso, sulla semiotica del sacro, la sociologia dei consumi, la pittura sacra e contemporanea, la semiotica della fotografia, la semiotica del cinema e della televisione, l'etnosemiotica

The mutation spectrum of hyperphenylalaninaemia in the Republic of Ireland: the population history of the Irish revisited

Phenylketonuric and hyperphenylalaninaemic patients in the population of the Republic of Ireland were screened for mutations at the human phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) locus. A composite data set for the island of Ireland was generated by merging the findings of this study with extant data for Northern Ireland. Analysis of this data on the basis of the four historic provinces (Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster) revealed genetic diversity that is informative in terms of demographic forces that shaped the Irish population. R408W, the predominant Irish PAH mutation associated with haplotype 1.8, reached its highest relative frequency in the most westerly province, Connacht. This suggests that the gradient of R408W-1.8 observed across north-western Europe continues into Ireland and peaks in Connacht. Spatial autocorrelation analysis demonstrated that the gradient is consistent with a localised cline of R408W-1.8 likely to have been established by human migration. This and parallel allele frequency clines may represent the genetic traces of the Palaeolithic colonisation of Europe, a pattern not substantially altered in north-western Europe by subsequent Neolithic migrations. An analysis of mutant allele distributions in Ulster, Scotland and the rest of Ireland confirmed that Ulster has been a zone of considerable admixture between the Irish and Scottish populations, indicating a proportion of Scottish admixture in Ulster approaching 46%. Mutations primarily associated with Scandinavia accounted for 6.1% of mutations overall, illustrating the influence of Viking incursions on Irish population history