Search for Early Pancreatic Cancer Blood Biomarkers in Five European Prospective Population Biobanks Using Metabolomics

Most patients with pancreatic cancer present with advanced disease and die within the first year after diagnosis. Predictive biomarkers that signal the presence of pancreatic cancer in an early stage are desperately needed. We aimed to identify new and validate previously found plasma metabolomic biomarkers associated with early stages of pancreatic cancer. Prediagnostic blood samples from individuals who were to receive a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer between 1 month and 17 years after sampling (N = 356) and age-and sex-matched controls (N = 887) were collected from five large population cohorts (HUNT2, HUNT3, FINRISK, Estonian Biobank, Rotterdam Study). We applied proton nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics on the Nightingale platform. Logistic regression identified two interesting hits: glutamine (P = 0.011) and histidine (P = 0.012), with Westfall-Young family-wise error rate adjusted P values of 0.43 for both. Stratification in quintiles showed a 1.5-fold elevated risk for the lowest 20% of glutamine and a 2.2-fold increased risk for the lowest 20% of histidine. Stratification by time to diagnosis suggested glutamine to be involved in an earlier process (2 to 5 years before diagnosis), and histidine in a process closer to the actual onset (Peer reviewe

Search for Early Pancreatic Cancer Blood Biomarkers in Five European Prospective Population Biobanks Using Metabolomics

Most patients with pancreatic cancer present with advanced disease and die within the first year after diagnosis. Predictive biomarkers that signal the presence of pancreatic cancer in an early stage are desperately needed. We aimed to identify new and validate previously found plasma metabolomic biomarkers associated with early stages of pancreatic cancer. Prediagnostic blood samples from individuals who were to receive a diagnosis of pancreati

Late Pleistocene and early Holocene exploitation of estuarine communities in northwestern Australia

This contribution synthesizes archaeological studies of human economies from the Barrow–Montebello islands and uses the area's archaeological record to determine the effects of Late Pleistocene and early Holocene sea-level rise on regional coastlines. At the height of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Australia's north-western coast extended much further west than the present-day shoreline. During subsequent sea-level rise, the gently prograding continental shelf was inundated, and with it, nearly all archaeological evidence for coastal occupation. The Barrow and Montebello Islands are one of the few exceptions, as they corresponded to inland hinterland ranges during the LGM, with the coastline lying some 50 km to their west. Evidence from all late Pleistocene and Holocene occupation phases of the Barrow–Montebello Islands demonstrate that foragers continued to visit the coast and engage in the exploitation of both terrestrial and marine environments. During the late Pleistocene, when the shoreline was 10–15 km away, coastal exploitation is seen through the presence of transportable estuarine and rocky-shore gastropods. By the early Holocene, when sea-levels were within close proximity of the sites, there is a marked increase in marine fauna including reef fish, estuarine and reef shellfish, crustaceans and estuarine crocodile. Together, this suggests that the nearby muddy, procumbent coastlines were productive, as well as an important component of coastal and hinterland economies

Bones of Contention: reply to Walshe

A recent critique by Walshe of taphonomic analyses made at three key arid zone sites is addressed. We defend our position that the extreme reduction of bone elements in these sites during the Holocene is most likely the product of Aboriginal behaviours rather than natural processes. We argue that the Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus, is not implicated in the reduction of bone; indeed there is no convincing evidence that Devils were even present in the Western Desert. We make the case that the likely effects of dingo on these assemblages is not consistent with the observed patterns of bone breakage through time

Excavation at Lene Hara Cave establishes occupation in East Timor at least 35,000 years ago

Reinvestigations of the cave of Lene Hara in East Timor have yielded new dating evidence showing occupation from before 30,000 BP. These will further fuel the debates on early colonization of the region

Cultural versus natural explanations for lacunae in Aboriginal occupation deposits in northern Australia

Regional archaeologies in Europe, Africa and Australia have pointed to significant changes in human occupation patterns corresponding with periods of major climatic change. The construction of such regional sequences and models of changing demography an