Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa

Consuming the milk of other species is a unique adaptation of Homo sapiens, with implications for health, birth spacing and evolution. Key questions nonetheless remain regarding the origins of dairying and its relationship to the genetically-determined ability to drink milk into adulthood through lactase persistence (LP). As a major centre of LP diversity, Africa is of significant interest to the evolution of dairying. Here we report proteomic evidence for milk consumption in ancient Africa. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) we identify dairy proteins in human dental calculus from northeastern Africa, directly demonstrating milk consumption at least six millennia ago. Our findings indicate that pastoralist groups were drinking milk as soon as herding spread into eastern Africa, at a time when the genetic adaptation for milk digestion was absent or rare. Our study links LP status in specific ancient individuals with direct evidence for their consumption of dairy products

Hepatocyte growth factor regulates human trophoblast motility and invasion: a role for nitric oxide

1. The expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is essential for normal placental development although its function is unknown. In this study we examined the effect of HGF on trophoblast cell motility and invasion of fibrin gels and investigated the possible role of nitric oxide (NO) in this process. 2. The human extravillous trophoblast cell line SGHPL-4 express both the constitutive and inducible isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). 3. HGF significantly stimulates cell motility in monolayer culture, the invasion of fibrin gels and the production of guanosine 3′:5′-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic GMP). 4. Invasion, motility and cyclic GMP production were inhibited by N(g)-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA). 5. Cell motility was also significantly inhibited by the inducible NOS specific inhibitor 1400 W. 6. Neither 8 Br-cyclic GMP nor the NO donor spermine-NO had any significant effect on basal trophoblast cell motility. 7. The data presented in this study demonstrate a direct effect of trophoblast-derived NO synthesis on trophoblast cell function and support the idea that HGF is involved in the regulation of trophoblast invasion through mechanisms that involve the production of NO. However neither exogenous NO nor activation of cyclic GMP-dependent pathways alone are sufficient to stimulate trophoblast cell motility

Hadean age for a post-magma-ocean zircon confirmed by atom-probe tomography

The only physical evidence from the earliest phases of Earth’s evolution comes from zircons, ancient mineral grains that can be dated using the U–Th–Pb geochronometer1. Oxygen isotope ratios from such zircons have been used to infer when the hydrosphere and conditions habitable to life were established2, 3. Chemical homogenization of Earth’s crust and the existence of a magma ocean have not been dated directly, but must have occurred earlier4. However, the accuracy of the U–Pb zircon ages can plausibly be biased by poorly understood processes of intracrystalline Pb mobility5, 6, 7. Here we use atom-probe tomography8 to identify and map individual atoms in the oldest concordant grain from Earth, a 4.4-Gyr-old Hadean zircon with a high-temperature overgrowth that formed about 1 Gyr after the mineral’s core. Isolated nanoclusters, measuring about 10 nm and spaced 10–50 nm apart, are enriched in incompatible elements including radiogenic Pb with unusually high 207Pb/206Pb ratios. We demonstrate that the length scales of these clusters make U–Pb age biasing impossible, and that they formed during the later reheating event. Our tomography data thereby confirm that any mixing event of the silicate Earth must have occurred before 4.4 Gyr ago, consistent with magma ocean formation by an early moon-forming impact4 about 4.5 Gyr ago

EU Delivery and Practice: Democracy Assistance, Aid and Trade Before and After the Uprisings

This chapter provides a bridge between the critical policy analysis offered in the first half of the book and the analysis of public opinion survey data in the second half. Comparing before and after the Uprisings, it does three things. First, it examines the changing political context within which the EU is delivering the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the Southern Mediterranean (SM). Secondly, it considers how the mechanisms and tools of delivery changed in practice after the Uprisings, specifically considering the EU\u2019s claims to innovative changes. Thirdly, it examines the EU\u2019s practices in delivering democracy and \u2018money, markets and mobility\u2019. It concludes by arguing that there is little evidence of innovative changes of the EU practices in delivering the ENP in the SM after the Uprisings, that it has continued to support authoritarian regimes and that there is little evidence that the people of Southern Mediterranean Countries (SMCs) are benefitting from the ENP

Virtual reality and augmeneted reality for managing symptoms

As technology advances, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have been applied more and more widely. VR and AR are applied in the various healthcare facets including medical education and training, surgical simulation, neurological rehabilitation, psychotherapy, and telemedicine. Many research studies have provided the evidence that VR and AR can be effective interventions on the management of many disease and treatment-induced symptoms. VR and AR can offer to users a safe environment within which to experience different interventions. These interventions include the rehabilitation of discharged patients at the home setting, the support of hospitalized patients during different procedures, and also the management of treatment-induced adverse events of patients with cancer to name a few. These technologies are promising tools for the monitoring of treatments that influence the psychological and physiological functions of the patients. The aim of this chapter is to describe VR and AR and their efficacy on symptoms management which many patients experience