Book review: Raiko Krauß: Ovčarovo-Gorata. Eine frühneolitische Siedlung in Nordostbulgarien

In the first half of the 1980s, lithic materials from the prehistoric settlement of Ovčarovo-Gorata in northern Bulgaria were studied by Vietnamese archaeologist Nguyen Van Binh. At that time, he was a doctoral student in the Department of Prehistory of the National Archaeological Institute and Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 1985, Nguyen Van Binh completed his doctoral thesis “Prehistoric flint artifact assemblages from the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene on the basis of materials from North East Bulgaria”, which presents the results of lithic assemblages processed from the site

Embolization of bronchial arteries in cases of life-threatening bleeding

Massive hemoptysis is a frightening and potentially life-threatening clinical event. Hemoptysis represents a sig­nificant clinical entity with high morbidity and potential mortality. Bronchial artery angiography with embolization has become a mainstay in the treatment of hemoptysis. Bronchial artery embolization offers a minimally invasive procedure for even the most compromised patient serving as first-line treatment for hemorrhage as well as providing a bridge to more definitive medical or surgical intervention focused upon the etiology of the hemorrhage

Un nouveau faciès lamellaire du début du Paléolithique supérieur dans les Balkans

Après Bacho Kiro et Temnata, la grotte de Kozarnika est la troisième grande séquence pléistocène récemment établie dans la région de l‘est des Balkans. La fouille, menée dans le cadre d’une coopération entre l’Académie bulgare des sciences – Institut d’Archéologie à Sofia et UMR 5199 du CNRS, PACEA - Université Bordeaux 1, a permis la découverte d’une séquence, datant du Paléolithique inférieur (non Acheuléen), Paléolithique moyen (Moustérien - Levallois) et du Paléolithique supérieur, daté entre 39 et 11 Ka BP (Guadelli et al. 2005). Le niveau VII, localisé à la base du Paléolithique supérieur, daté entre 39 et 36 Ka BP a livré une industrie lithique à débitage et outillage lamellaire, inédite à l’échelle régionale. Cet outillage est composé de pièces à dos et à retouche fine, abrupte, et semi-abrupte, parfois bilatérale directe appointant ou alterne. Dénommée “ Kozarnikien ” en attente d’études plus complètes, cette industrie présente des analogies dans la composante lamellaire tant avec l’Ahmarien ancien du Levant qu’avec certains ensembles de proto-Aurignacien au sud de l’Europe. En l’absence d’autres éléments caractéristiques de l’Aurignacien typique, cette industrie montre des tendances technologiques et typologiques dont on trouve la continuité dans les niveaux sus-jacents gravettiens de la séquence. Le Kozarnikien peut donc représenter une étape précoce de formation de technocomplexe lamellaire à pièces à dos. Le Kozarnikien suggère aussi qu’on ne peut plus soutenir le rôle exclusif de l’Aurignacien dans le passage du moustérien européen au Paléolithique supérieur. Il devient de plus en plus évident qu’au tout début de cette transformation, ont été engagées des traditions culturelles différentes et précédant l’Aurignacien.With Bacho Kiro and Temnata, Kozranika cave is the third major pleistocene sequence recently investigated in the Eastern Balkans. Excavations, conducted in collaboration of the Bulgarian Academy of sciences-National Institute of Archaeology at Sofia and the University of Bordeaux 1- Institute of Prehistory and Quaternary Geology –CNRS, PACEA, UMR 5199, revealed a sequence starting with non-Acheulean Lower Palaeolithic (LP), Levaloisian Moustérian Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and Upper Palaeolithic(UP) dated between 39 Ky BP and 11 Ky BP (Guadelli et al. 2005). Level VII, at the base of the UP (39-36 Ky BP) contains an assemblage locally unknown, characterized by a bladelet technology and tools made on bladelets: regular backed pieces and bladelets with thin, abrupt or semi-abrupt, often bilateral convergent or alternate retouch. Named temporarily “ Kozarnikian ” awaiting for further studies, this assemblage shows some analogies with the archaic Ahmarian from Levant and South-European Proto-Aurignacian as well. Given the lack of diagnostic artefacts of typical Aurignacian, this assemblage shows technological and typological tendencies observed in the overlaying Gravettian industries. The Kozarnikian might be considered as a possible precursor of technocomplexes with bladelet technology and backed pieces and thus,suggesting that the role of Aurignacian in transition between the European Mousterian and the UP is not unique nor exclusive. It becomes more and more obvious that, at the beginning of this transformation, preceding the Aurignacian, different cultural traditions where involved

Radiofrequency ablation of unresectable primary and metastatic hepatic malignancies

Отворената хирургия е златен стандарт за лечение на хепатоцелуларен карцином (НСС) и чернодробни метастази от рак на дебелото черво. Днес чернодробната резекция е все още само лечебен вариант за пациенти с рак на черния дроб, с 5-годишната преживяемост между 25-60%, в сравнение с 0% 5-годишна преживяемост без никакви лечение. Само 5-15% от пациентите с НСС или с чернодробни метастази могат да бъдат подложени на чернодробна резекция поради различни противопоказания: голям брой тумори, тумори на труднодостъпни места, недостатъчен чернодробен обем за резекция.Open surgery is a gold standard for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer. Today, liver resection is still only a radically option for patients with liver cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of 25-60%, compared with 0% 5-year survival without any treatment. Only 5-15% of patients with HCC or liver metastases may undergo hepatic resection due to different contraindications: a large number of tumors, tumors in hard-to-reach places, insufficient hepatic volume for resection

Neurotoxicity of cancer agents

Невротоксичните ефекти на химиотерапията се появяват относително често и са причина за модификация на дозата на медикаментите - дозолимитираща токсичност. Рискът от развитие на невротоксичност се увеличава с повишаване на приложената доза и за разлика от миелотоксичността (основния ограничаващ фактор при повечето химиотерапевтични режими), която може да бъде преодоляна с растежни фактори или трансплантация на костен мозък, няма стандартно поведение, което да я ограничи.Противотуморните препарати водят до два типа токсичност - периферна невротоксичност, състояща се основно от периферна невропатия и централна невротоксичност, която включва от незначителни когнитивни увреждания и дефицити до енцефалопатия с деменция или дори кома.Не съществуват утвърдени алгоритми за поведения и профилактика на невротоксичността, причинена от противотуморните препарати. Поведението основно се свежда до редукция на дозата или отлагане във времето на приложението, особено при пациенти, които са с по-висок риск от развитие на невротоксични странични ефекти. На този етап не съществуват невропротективни агенти, които се препоръчват за стандартна употреба при развитие на невротоксичност.Neurotoxic side effects of chemotherapy occur frequently and are often a reason to limit the dose of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy dosing is often limited due to a frequently occurring side effect of the treatment - neurotoxic. The risk of neurotoxicity is increased by the possibility of higher dose usage, since bone marrow toxicity (the major limiting factor in most chemotherapeutic regimens) can be overcome with growth factors or bone marrow transplantation.Chemotherapy may cause both peripheral neurotoxicity, consisting mainly of a peripheral neuropathy, and central neurotoxicity, ranging from minor cognitive deficits to encephalopathy with dementia or even coma. Neurotoxicity caused by the chemotherapy can be of two types - peripheral, mainly consisting of peripheral neuropathy and central, from minor cognitive deficits through encephalopathy with dementia to even coma.Data management and neuroprotective agents are still in discussion and there are no current accepted guidelines yet. Management mainly consists of cumulative dose-reduction or lower dose-intensities, especially in patients who are at higher risk to develop neurotoxic side effects. None of the specific neuroprotective agents can be recommended in daily practice for standard use at the moment, and further studies are needed to confirm their beneficial effects

Minimally invasive ablative techniques of liver tumors

Само 5-15% от пациентите с НСС или с чернодробни метастази могат да бъдат подложени на чернодробна резекция, поради различни противопоказания: голям брой тумори, тумори на трудно достъпни места, недостатъчен чернодробен обем за резекция. Вариантите за перкутанно лечение могат да бъдат: Химичната аблация: инжектиране на етанол или оцетна киселина; Термалната аблация: (а) криохирургични аблация (CSA/КХА): използване на течен азот, аргон, или NO2; (б) коагулационната: използване на радиочестотен ток (RFA/РФА); Микровълнова аблация (MWA/МВ); лазерна интерстициална термотерапия (ЛИТТ) или високоинтензивен фокусиран ултразвук (HIFU/ ВФУ); Необратима електропорация (IRE).Only 5-15% of patients with HCC or liver metastases may undergo hepatic resection due to different contraindications: a large number of tumors, tumors in hard-to-reach places, insufficient hepatic volume for resection. The options for percutaneous treatment can be: Chemical Ablation: Injection of Ethanol or Acetic Acid; Thermal ablation: (a) cryosurgical ablation (CSA): use of liquid nitrogen, argon, or NO2; (b) Coagulation: Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA); Microwave ablation (MWA); Laser Interstitial Thermotherapy (LITT) or High Intensive Focused Ultrasound (HIFU); Irreversible electroporation (IRE)

Subarctic climate for the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe

Acknowledgments The re-excavation of Bacho Kiro Cave was jointly conducted by the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia and the Department of Human Evolution at the MPI-EVA. We would like to thank the National Museum of Natural History (Sofia), the Archaeology Department at the New Bulgarian University (Sofia), the Regional Museum of History in Gabrovo, and the History Museum in Dryanovo for assistance on this project and the opportunity to study the Bacho Kiro Cave faunal material. We would like to thank M. Trost, S. Hesse, M. Kaniecki, and P. Dittmann (MPI-EVA) for technical assistance during stable isotope sample preparation. S. Steinbrenner is thanked for technical assistance with TC/EA-IRMS maintenance. Thanks are also due to H. Temming and U. Schwarz (MPI-EVA) for the production of microCT scans and replicas of the sample materials. We would also like to acknowledge the assistance of to D. Veres with taking OSL samples. Last but not least we would like to thank the handling editor, S. Ortman, as well as three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments that greatly improved this manuscript. Funding: The field work was financed by the Max Planck Society. The stable isotope work was funded by the Max Planck Society as part of S.P.’s doctoral project. S.P. was supported by the Max Planck Society and the University of Aberdeen. K.B. was supported by a Philip Leverhulme Prize from The Leverhulme Trust (PLP-2019-284). N.B.’s work was supported as part of a grant by the German Research Foundation (“PALÄODIET” Project 378496604). V.A. was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal (IF/01157/2015/CP1308/CT0002). Author contributions: The study was devised by S.P., K.B., S.P.M., J.-J.H., and T.T. Archaeological excavation was undertaken by N.S. and T.T. in collaboration with Z.R. and S.P.M. who all contributed contextual information. V.A. collected sedimentological data at the site and untertook micromorphological investigations that provided information on site formation for this study. Zooarchaeological and paleontological analyses were performed by G.M.S. and R.S. OSL dating was carried out by T.L. Radiocarbon dating and recalibration of radiocarbon dates were conducted by H.F. MC-ICPMS analysis was conducted by N.B. and S.P. Sampling, sample processing for oxygen and strontium stable isotope analysis, and TC/EA-IRMS analysis were carried out by S.P. Code and data analyses were written and conducted by S.P. N.-H.T. consulted on statistical analysis and coding. S.P. wrote the paper with input from all authors. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition

Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottés and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison (Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass (Equus) at Les Cottés and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages

Heat Equation to 3D Image Segmentation

This paper presents a new approach, capable of 3D image segmentation and objects' surface reconstruction. The main advantages of the method are: large capture range; quick segmentation of a 3D scene/image to regions; multiple 3D objects reconstruction. The method uses centripetal force and penalty function to segment the entire 3D scene/image to regions containing a single 3D object. Each region is inscribed in a convex, smooth closed surface, which defines a centripetal force. Then the surface is evolved by the geometric heat differential equation toward the force's direction. The penalty function is defined to stop evolvement of those surface patches, whose normal vectors encountered object's surface. On the base of the theoretical model Forward Difference Algorithm was developed and coded by Mathematica. Stability convergence condition, truncation error and calculation complexity of the algorithm are determined. The obtained results, advantages and disadvantages of the method are discussed at the end of this paper

Modélisation de la dynamique de population d une plante native (palmier babaçu) dans le cadre d'un projet de gestion durable au Brésil

The babassu palm tree (Attalea speciosa Mart. ex Spreng.) is an endemic species of the amazonian forests. The deforestation highlights henceforth this palm tree in the anthropogenic open areas (pastures and cultivated fields). The babassu is one of the "extractive" resources in Brazil: gathering activity followed by marketing of non-timber products. This activity involves people among the most disadvantaged in the country thus the importance to better manage its sustainability in a context of conflict. It is clear that knowledge of sustainable functioning of the species within these manmade environments is sorely lacking: its life cycle is not well known and its population dynamics unstudied.This PhD work is pioneer and is a part of an Open Science interdisciplinary project of the Agropolis foundation. The objective is twofold it is to generate a model of population dynamics of the babassu palm tree validated by in situ analysis and capitalizing knowledge from various scientific communities (biologists, ecologists, mathematicians, computer scientists and economists from France and Brazil). In the long-term the model should support the recommendations for the sustainable management of the species.Our approach explicit within different models the shared knowledge about the species and the potential mathematical models as well as the societal context. This has allowed us to provide an observation model compliant with the recommendations ofOBOE (Ontology on a semantic scientific observations) for the development of data acquisition protocol. The acquisition was made in situ by the French-Brazilian partnership between 2013 and 2016 in the community of Benfica (Pará, Brazil). The perpetuation of the data was made after conception, within a spatial database taking into account the socio-economic aspect.Finally, we proposed a random matrix model having as input aggregated variables based on the biological stages of the species. The probabilities of the between stages transition matrix are modeled using a hierarchical Dirichlet-Multinomial model. The integration of prior information was formulated through a Bayesian approach. The estimation and model validation were performed with Bayesian criteria.Simulations based on the estimated parameters represent a first outline of the study of the species behavior.Le palmier babaçu (Attalea speciosa Mart. ex Spreng.) est une plante native de la forêt amazonienne. La déforestation a pour impact qu'il apparaît dans des milieux ouverts désormais anthropisés (pâturages, et champs cultivés). Le babaçu fait partie des ressources " extractivistes " du Brésil : activité de cueillette suivie de commercialisation de produits non ligneux. Cette activité concerne des personnes parmi les plus démunies du pays d'où l'importance de gérer au mieux sa durabilité dans un contexte conflictuel. Force est de constater que les connaissances du fonctionnement durable de l'espèce au sein de ces milieux anthropisés font cruellement défaut: son cycle de vie est peu connu et sa dynamique de population non étudiée.Le travail de thèse est donc pionnier et s'inscrit au sein d'un projet interdisciplinaire Open Science de la fondation Agropolis. L'objectif est double : il consiste à produire un modèle de la dynamique de population du babaçu validé par une analyse in situ et à capitaliser les connaissances issues de divers milieux scientifiques (biologistes, écologues, mathématiciens, informaticiens et économistes français et brésiliens). Le modèle, à plus long terme, doit étayer les recommandations relatives à la gestion durable de l'espèce.L'approche retenue a consisté à expliciter au sein de divers modèles, les connaissances partagées sur l'espèce et les modèles mathématiques potentiels ainsi que sur le contexte sociétal. Ceci nous a permis de proposer un modèle d'observation conforme aux préconisations d'OBOE (Ontologie relative a la sémantique des observations scientifiques) permettant la mise en place du protocole d'acquisition des données. L'acquisition in situ a été réalisée par le partenariat franco-brésilien entre 2013 et 2016 au sein du territoire de la communauté de Benfica (Pará, Brésil). La pérennisation des données s'est faite après conception, au sein d'une base de données spatiales prenant en compte l'aspect socio-économique.Enfin, nous proposons un modèle matriciel aléatoire ayant pour entrée des variables agrégées au niveau des stades biologiques de l'espèce. Les probabilités de la matrice de transition entre les stades sont modélisées selon un modèle hiérarchique Dirichlet-Multinomial. L'intégration des informations a priori a été formalisée grâce à une approche bayésienne. L'estimation et la validation du modèle ont été effectuées avec des critères bayésiens.Des simulations basées sur les paramètres estimés constituent une première ébauche d'étude du comportement de l'espèce