Modulation of the endocannabinoids N-Arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) on Executive Functions in Humans

Animal studies point to an implication of the endocannabinoid system on executive functions. In humans, several studies have suggested an association between acute or chronic use of exogenous cannabinoids (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and executive impairments. However, to date, no published reports establish the relationship between endocannabinoids, as biomarkers of the cannabinoid neurotransmission system, and executive functioning in humans. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between circulating levels of plasma endocannabinoids N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and executive functions (decision making, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility) in healthy subjects. One hundred and fifty seven subjects were included and assessed with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; Stroop Color and Word Test; and Iowa Gambling Task. All participants were female, aged between 18 and 60 years and spoke Spanish as their first language. Results showed a negative correlation between 2-AG and cognitive flexibility performance (r = −.37; p<.05). A positive correlation was found between AEA concentrations and both cognitive flexibility (r = .59; p<.05) and decision making performance (r = .23; P<.05). There was no significant correlation between either 2-AG (r = −.17) or AEA (r = −.08) concentrations and inhibition response. These results show, in humans, a relevant modulation of the endocannabinoid system on prefrontal-dependent cognitive functioning. The present study might have significant implications for the underlying executive alterations described in some psychiatric disorders currently associated with endocannabinoids deregulation (namely drug abuse/dependence, depression, obesity and eating disorders). Understanding the neurobiology of their dysexecutive profile might certainly contribute to the development of new treatments and pharmacological approaches

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Cooking plant foods in the northern Aegean: microbotanical evidence from Neolithic Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece)

Intensive archaeobotanical research in northern Greece and other circum-Mediterranean regions over the last two decades has demonstrated an extensive spectrum of domestic and wild plants consumed by Neolithic communities. However, macrobotanical remains are seldom associated with the artefact in which they were cooked, and therefore we know the list of ingredients but not what ingredients were cooked together or how were they cooked. By focusing on remains recovered from cooking vessels, this paper explores the culinary practices of the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement at Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece) through combined starch grain and phytolith analyses from charred food crusts adhering to the inner walls of 17 late Middle and early Late Neolithic vessels (ca. 5600-5000 cal. BC). The results show that the food represented by burnt remains included domestic wheat(s) and lentils, as well as weedy Setaria sp. and other wild plants. The presence of Setaria weeds suggests high soil fertility and disturbed growing conditions. These results further indicate that the inhabitants of different areas of the settlement had differential access to food resources (more vs. less valued food), which might be related to a) different types of meals being prepared in separated areas of the site, or b) different preferences or economic status of its inhabitants expressed through culinary practices. Further research at Stavroupoli and other contemporary sites will help to unravel the role of food in shaping social identity and human-environment interactions in the Neolithic northern Aegean

Cooking plant foods in the northern Aegean: microbotanical evidence from Neolithic Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece)

Intensive archaeobotanical research in northern Greece and other circum-Mediterranean regions over the last two decades has demonstrated an extensive spectrum of domestic and wild plants consumed by Neolithic communities. However, macrobotanical remains are seldom associated with the artefact in which they were cooked, and therefore we know the list of ingredients but not what ingredients were cooked together or how were they cooked. By focusing on remains recovered from cooking vessels, this paper explores the culinary practices of the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement at Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece) through combined starch grain and phytolith analyses from charred food crusts adhering to the inner walls of 17 late Middle and early Late Neolithic vessels (ca. 5600-5000 cal. BC). The results show that the food represented by burnt remains included domestic wheat(s) and lentils, as well as weedy Setaria sp. and other wild plants. The presence of Setaria weeds suggests high soil fertility and disturbed growing conditions. These results further indicate that the inhabitants of different areas of the settlement had differential access to food resources (more vs. less valued food), which might be related to a) different types of meals being prepared in separated areas of the site, or b) different preferences or economic status of its inhabitants expressed through culinary practices. Further research at Stavroupoli and other contemporary sites will help to unravel the role of food in shaping social identity and human-environment interactions in the Neolithic northern Aegean

Plant exploitation in Neolithic Sudan: A review in the light of new data from the cemeteries R12 and Ghaba

Little is known about the introduction of domesticated crops in Sudan. Substantial early evidence of the cereals wheat and barley has, until recently, been mainly restricted to the post-Neolithic, third millennium BC pre-Kerma site on Sai Island, and prehistoric finds in general are scarce. Interestingly, an analysis of phytoliths from plant depositions within burials and phytoliths and starch from dental calculus from the Nubian Middle Neolithic cemetery R12 and the Early Neolithic cemetery of Ghaba in Central Sudan has recently set back the date of domesticated cereal introduction in Sudan and Egypt by 500 years to around 7000 years ago. This paper presents new plant identifications from R12 and Ghaba that confirm the earlier data and give new information on the use of plants in burial contexts, including indications of processing of panicoid grasses at Ghaba. In addition, the paper presents an overview of the archaeobotanical data from Mesolithic and Neolithic Sudan and provides information about grass exploitation of mid-Holocene Egyptian sites that enables further interpretation of the R12 and Ghaba data. The grave goods from R12 and Ghaba, supported by comparable finds from other sites, show that the commonly attested mid-Holocene cemeteries offer a valuable archive that can substantially improve the understanding of the importance of both wild and domesticated plants in Sudan at the time of Neolithisation. In addition, the unexpected early presence of the domesticated cereals wheat and barley in Nubia, supported by finds from later periods, raises the hypothesis that cereal cultivation was practiced in this region from at least the Middle Neolithic onwards

Plant exploitation in Neolithic Sudan: A review in the light of new data from the cemeteries R12 and Ghaba

Little is known about the introduction of domesticated crops in Sudan. Substantial early evidence of the cereals wheat and barley has, until recently, been mainly restricted to the post-Neolithic, third millennium BC pre-Kerma site on Sai Island, and prehistoric finds in general are scarce. Interestingly, an analysis of phytoliths from plant depositions within burials and phytoliths and starch from dental calculus from the Nubian Middle Neolithic cemetery R12 and the Early Neolithic cemetery of Ghaba in Central Sudan has recently set back the date of domesticated cereal introduction in Sudan and Egypt by 500 years to around 7000 years ago. This paper presents new plant identifications from R12 and Ghaba that confirm the earlier data and give new information on the use of plants in burial contexts, including indications of processing of panicoid grasses at Ghaba. In addition, the paper presents an overview of the archaeobotanical data from Mesolithic and Neolithic Sudan and provides information about grass exploitation of mid-Holocene Egyptian sites that enables further interpretation of the R12 and Ghaba data. The grave goods from R12 and Ghaba, supported by comparable finds from other sites, show that the commonly attested mid-Holocene cemeteries offer a valuable archive that can substantially improve the understanding of the importance of both wild and domesticated plants in Sudan at the time of Neolithisation. In addition, the unexpected early presence of the domesticated cereals wheat and barley in Nubia, supported by finds from later periods, raises the hypothesis that cereal cultivation was practiced in this region from at least the Middle Neolithic onwards

Investigating fuel and fireplaces with a combination of phytoliths and multi-element analysis; an ethnographic experiment

The identification of fuel-related practices in archaeological contexts is almost always associated with the identification of fire-related structures. Charcoal analysis is the standard method of identifying wood use in the past; however, in many circumstances wood was not the primary source of fuel. In arid and semi-arid environments alternative fuels such as dung, chaff and straw and, in general, plant processing by-products were predominant. The study of these types of fuel often necessitates the application of multi-proxy analyses, involving botanical micro-remains and geochemistry. This paper presents the results of an integrated analysis of phytoliths and chemical elements of samples collected in a modern ethnographic context, a domestic compound, in North Gujarat, India. Alternative fuels have been and are still very important in this area due to the scarcity of wood and the recent ban on cutting trees imposed by the government. Within the house studied, three fireplaces were present where different types of activities were performed selectively. The differential use of fuels in the three fireplaces is highlighted by the results of descriptive and multivariate statistics. However, the opposite geochemical signals that the fireplaces produced, when they should have been similar, would be difficult to interpret in an archaeological context where the practices that had produced such signals are unknown. The combination of phytoliths and geochemistry, coupled with the ethnographic information on the activity, can help us to construct better models to help interpret the archaeological record.This research was carried out within the framework of the projects MoMArq (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, HAR2014-55518-P) and NoGAP (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness HAR2010-16052 and CONSOLIDER INGENIO CSD2010-00034; the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport through the Program Ayudas para Proyectos Arqueologicos en el Exterior 2009–2010; and the EXCAVA 2009 program of the Generalitat de Catalunya). JJGG was supported by a JAE PreDOC Doctoral Scholarship (Spanish National Research Council and European Fund)