A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137±50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities

Genomic profile concordance between pancreatic cyst fluid and neoplastic tissue

BACKGROUND: DNA mutational analysis of pancreatic cystic fluid (CF) is a useful adjunct to the evaluation of pancreatic cysts. KRAS/GNAS or RAF/PTPRD/CTNNB1/RNF43 mutations are highly specific to precancerous or advanced neoplasia. Several studies recently demonstrated the ability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis to detect DNA mutations in pancreatic CF, but few studies have performed a systematic comparative analysis between pancreatic CF and neoplastic surgical tissue (NT). The value of CF-NGS analysis indicators for determining surgical resection necessitates evaluation. AIM: To confirm whether CF genomic profiles are a reliable malignancy predictor by comparing NGS mutational analyses of CF and NT. METHODS: Patients requiring surgery for high-risk pancreatic cysts were included in a multicenter prospective pilot study. DNA from CF (collected by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (known as EUS-FNA)) and NT (collected by surgery) were analyzed by NGS. The primary objective was to compare the mutation profiles of paired DNA samples. The secondary objective was to correlate the presence of specific mutations (KRAS/GNAS, RAF/ PTPRD/CTNNB1/RNF43/POLD1/TP53) with a final cancer diagnosis. Sensitivity and specificity were also evaluated. RESULTS: Between December 2016 and October 2017, 20 patients were included in this pilot study. Surgery was delayed for 3 patients. Concordant CF-NT genotypes were found in 15/17 paired DNA, with a higher proportion of mutated alleles in CF than in NT. NGS was possible for all pancreatic CF collected by EUS-FNA. In 2 cases, the presence of a KRAS/GNAS mutation was discordant between CF and NT. No mutations were found in 3 patients with NT or pancreatic cysts with high-grade dysplasia. The sensitivity and specificity of KRAS/GNAS mutations in CF to predict an appropriate indication for surgical resection were 0.78 and 0.62, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of RAF/PTPRD/CTNNB1 /RNF43/POLD1/TP53 mutations in CF were 0.55 and 1.0, respectively. CONCLUSION: Mutational analyses of CF and NT were highly concordant, confirming the value of NGS analysis of CF in the preoperative malignancy assessment. However, these results need to be confirmed on a larger scale