Prognostic implications of vitamin D deficiency in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a highly prevalent disease, imposing high mortality rates worldwide, and it is closely related to cardiovascular events. Vitamin D deficiency is very prevalent in patients with CKD from the earliest stages of the disease, and it has been associated with higher mortality. In order to assess the prognostic implications of vitamin D deficiency in CKD, we undertook a literature review, searching different databases in October 2018 for publications related to vitamin D in patients with CKD and hypovitaminosis D, and not on dialysis. The main cause of death in these patients is cardiovascular disease. Vitamin D is one of the first parameters that CKD changes and has an important prognostic role in this entity. Deficient levels in blood are associated with increased cardiovascular risk and survival impacts, independently of cardiovascular disease. Treatment with paricalcitol appears to reduce this risk. However, the evidence analyzed is insufficient to establish an association between vitamin D levels and the progression of kidney disease.&nbsp

Iberian Paleoflora and Paleovegetation. Vol. III: Holocene

International audienc

Early farming economy in Mediterranean France: fruit and seed remains from the Early to Late Neolithic levels of the site of Taï (ca 5300–3500 cal bc)

International audienceThis article presents the archaeobotanical study of Taï, a Neolithic settlement located in Languedoc, southern France. In the western Mediterranean, the Neolithization process occurred during the 6th millennium BC and is supposed to have induced a fundamental change in the subsistence economy, with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. Unfortunately, the Neolithic farming economy is still poorly known in southern France, mostly from old archaeobotanical studies. At Taï, soil flotation of 127 samples provided the largest dataset available for the Early Neolithic in southern France, which testifies to the changes occurring in cultivated plants and in the subsistence economy during the Neolithic. Sampling also allowed comparisons between the archaeobotanical record inside the cave and from the outside settlement. Naked barley and naked wheat were the most cultivated plants throughout the Neolithic sequence. The contribution of emmer and the probable use of opium poppy during the Early Neolithic should also be highlighted. This encourages us to reconsider the role of glume wheats during the early stages of agriculture in the area. Einkorn was more common in the Late Neolithic, in agreement with results from other sites in the region. Chaff remains were always underrepresented. Remains of weeds and wild fruits were very abundant in the Early Neolithic samples from the cave. Wild plants were probably brought to the site for the tending of domestic animals or by the animals themselves (dung, fodder and/or litter). Livestock was most probably occasionally kept at the site

Bone Accumulation by Leopards in the Late Pleistocene in the Moncayo Massif (Zaragoza, NE Spain)

Eating habits of Panthera pardus are well known. When there are caves in its territory, prey accumulates inside them. This helps to prevent its kill from being stolen by other predators like hyenas. Although the leopard is an accumulator of bones in caves, few studies have been conducted on existing lairs. There are, however, examples of fossil vertebrate sites whose main collecting agent is the leopard. During the Late Pleistocene, the leopard was a common carnivore in European faunal associations. Here we present a new locality of Quaternary mammals with a scarce human presence, the cave of Los Rincones (province of Zaragoza, Spain); we show the leopard to be the main accumulator of the bones in the cave, while there are no interactions between humans and leopards. For this purpose, a taphonomic analysis is performed on different bone-layers of the cave