Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local European wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic contribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process

Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ~10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ~8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local Euro-pean wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic con-tribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process

States and International Criminal Justice: COST CA18228 Scoping Survey

As part of our Action, researchers were invited to respond to a series of prompts designed to measure the impact of international criminal justice on specific countries, and the engagement of those countries to international criminal justice institutions. The first set of results, covering 12 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe are published here. A further round of data collection is underway, and an updated version will be published by the end of the Action in April 2024. We invite researchers to make use of the data here, citing accordingly. You may donwload the full list of questions of the survey here: https://justice-360.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Cost-Survey-Instrument-V1-and-V2.pdf The data has been deposited in the University of Edinburgh DataShare repository at https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/7536. If you wish to complete the survey for a country not yet covered, we plan to release a further version by April 2024. Please contact Andy Aydın-Aitchison at the University of Edinburgh ([email protected]) for access to the online survey tool or any other questions or concerns regarding the survey

From therapy to daily life of a depressed adolescent: Crossing psychopathology and optimal functioning

First published online: 30 November 2017Recently, scientific literature has seen significant development and evaluation of several positive psychology interventions. However, there are still lacking studies that evaluate the efficacy of this type of interventions in clinically depressed adolescents. This paper aims to demonstrate the preliminary results of a new therapy implemented to a 14-year-old female adolescent diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder: the Optimal Functioning Therapy for Adolescent. This therapy seeks to promote adolescents’ optimal functioning by reducing depressive symptoms and increasing well-being. The innovation of this therapy lies in the integration of techniques from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Positive Psychology Interventions. The assessment of this therapy was made using retrospective and real-time or ecological measures (Experience Sampling Method – Csikszentmihalyi and Larson in Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 175, 526–536, 1987) in three moments: baseline; post-intervention; and 4-month follow-up. Retrospective results showed improvement in positive trait characteristics and elimination of depressive symptoms maintained until follow-up. Real-time results showed the benefits of the therapy on the participant’s daily life regarding external contexts (increased engagement and diversification of activities, places, and companies) and state characteristics (increase in positive mood and self-satisfaction, and a decrease in the negative mood), maintained until follow-up. The Optimal Functioning Therapy for Adolescents contributed to the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder and optimal functioning enhancement.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Erratum: Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

The authors note that the affiliation for Alexandros Triantafyllidis and Panoraia Alexandri should be listed as Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; and that the affiliation for Rose-Marie Arbogast should be listed as CNRS UMR 7044, Maison interuniversitaire des sciences de l'Homme, F-67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France. The corrected author and affiliation lines appear below. The online version has been corrected.</p