The Neolithic Transition in the Baltic Was Not Driven by Admixture with Early European Farmers

The Neolithic transition was a dynamic time in European prehistory of cultural, social, and technological change. Although this period has been well explored in central Europe using ancient nuclear DNA, its genetic impact on northern and eastern parts of this continent has not been as extensively studied. To broaden our understanding of the Neolithic transition across Europe, we analyzed eight ancient genomes: six samples (four to ~1- to 4-fold coverage) from a 3,500 year temporal transect (~8,300–4,800 calibrated years before present) through the Baltic region dating from the Mesolithic to the Late Neolithic and two samples spanning the Mesolithic-Neolithic boundary from the Dnieper Rapids region of Ukraine. We find evidence that some hunter-gatherer ancestry persisted across the Neolithic transition in both regions. However, we also find signals consistent with influxes of non-local people, most likely from northern Eurasia and the Pontic Steppe. During the Late Neolithic, this Steppe-related impact coincides with the proposed emergence of Indo-European languages in the Baltic region. These influences are distinct from the early farmer admixture that transformed the genetic landscape of central Europe, suggesting that changes associated with the Neolithic package in the Baltic were not driven by the same Anatolian-sourced genetic exchange.This research was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (ERC-2010-StG 263441) and Irish Research Council Advanced Research Project Grant to R.P. (ERC-2010-StG 263441). D.G.B. and A.M. were also supported by the ERC (295729-CodeX and 647787- LocalAdaptation respectively). P.R.N. was supported by a FP7MC Career Integration Grant (NEMO-ADAP, no. 322261)

Knowledge translation within a population health study: how do you do it?

BACKGROUND Despite the considerable and growing body of knowledge translation (KT) literature, there are few methodologies sufficiently detailed to guide an integrated KT research approach for a population health study. This paper argues for a clearly articulated collaborative KT approach to be embedded within the research design from the outset. DISCUSSION Population health studies are complex in their own right, and strategies to engage the local community in adopting new interventions are often fraught with considerable challenges. In order to maximise the impact of population health research, more explicit KT strategies need to be developed from the outset. We present four propositions, arising from our work in developing a KT framework for a population health study. These cover the need for an explicit theory-informed conceptual framework; formalizing collaborative approaches within the design; making explicit the roles of both the stakeholders and the researchers; and clarifying what counts as evidence. From our deliberations on these propositions, our own co-creating (co-KT) Framework emerged in which KT is defined as both a theoretical and practical framework for actioning the intent of researchers and communities to co-create, refine, implement and evaluate the impact of new knowledge that is sensitive to the context (values, norms and tacit knowledge) where it is generated and used. The co-KT Framework has five steps. These include initial contact and framing the issue; refining and testing knowledge; interpreting, contextualising and adapting knowledge to the local context; implementing and evaluating; and finally, the embedding and translating of new knowledge into practice. SUMMARY Although descriptions of how to incorporate KT into research designs are increasing, current theoretical and operational frameworks do not generally span a holistic process from knowledge co-creation to knowledge application and implementation within one project. Population health studies may have greater health impact when KT is incorporated early and explicitly into the research design. This, we argue, will require that particular attention be paid to collaborative approaches, stakeholder identification and engagement, the nature and sources of evidence used, and the role of the research team working with the local study community.Alison Kitson, Kathryn Powell, Elizabeth Hoon, Jonathan Newbury, Anne Wilson, Justin Beilb

Volcanological and tectonic control of stratigraphy and structure in the western Deccan Traps

Many of the world's flood basalt provinces form elevated plateaux at the margins of continents, although in most cases their present large elevation is not the result of mountain building processes. Several explanations have recently been put forward to explain such occurrences of epeirogeny. The Deccan Trap basalt province forms one such elevated plateau, and results are presented here showing how the epeirogenic uplift in this region, combined with crustal subsidence probably associated with the rifting of the Indian continental margin, has affected the structure of the basalt sequence. Trace element analytical data are used for samples from numerous vertical sections through the Deccan Traps lava series along and around the Western Ghats ridge in India. The results reinforce the previously defined stratigraphy of the Mahabaleshwar area, and extend it over a region covering some 36 000 km2, reaching as far south as Belgaum and the Trap/basement contact. These results show that the lava pile is not flat lying, but forms a very low amplitude anticlinal fold structure plunging southwards by up to 0.3 ° over most of the area, although in the south there is evidence of a reversal of this plunge. The fold is interpreted as being the result of two tilting processes: (1) westward tilting near the coast, due to the foundering of the passive continental margin, and (2) epeirogenic uplift along the whole west coast of India producing the observed topography and the peninsula-wide drainage patterns, and also the easterly component of dip. Variations in the magnitude of the latter effect along the western continental margin may also be important in generating the plunge of the fold, although the possibility of some component of depositional dip may also be important. This latter possibility can be modelled using a simple computer program. The results of this modelling show that a migrating linear volcanic edifice fits the observations best