Millets, dogs, pigs and permanent settlement: productivity transitions in Neolithic northern China.

The transition to sedentary agricultural societies in northern China fuelled considerable demographic growth from 5000 to 2000 BC. In this article, we draw together archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological and bioarchaeological data and explore the relationship between several aspects of this transition, with an emphasis on the millet-farming productivity during the Yangshao period and how it facilitated changes in animal husbandry and consolidation of sedentism. We place the period of domestication (the evolution of non-shattering, initial grain size increase and panicle development) between 8300 and 4300 BC.

Culinary continuity in central Japan across the transition to agriculture.

Unlabelled: Rice and millet arrived in Western Japan from Korea around 3,000 years ago and spread eastwards across the archipelago in the next 700 years. However, the extent to which agriculture transformed traditional Jōmon hunter-gatherer-fisher communities is debated. Central Japan is a key area of study as remodelling of radiocarbon dates shows a slowdown in the dispersal rate of rice agriculture in this area.

Morphometric approaches to evolution and differentiation from archaeological sites: interpreting the archaeobotanical evidence from bronze age Haimenkou, Yunnan.

Unlabelled: Cannabis grains are frequently reported from archaeological sites in Asia, and hypothesized centers of origins are China and Central Asia. Chinese early cannabis remains are often interpreted as evidence of hemp fabric production, in line with early textual evidence describing ritualistic hemp cloth use and hemp cultivation as a grain crop. Modern measurements on cannabis varieties show distinct sizes between fibre or oil/fibre and psychoactive varieties, the former having larger seeds on average than the latter.

Switchable unidirectional waves on mono- and diatomic metamaterials.

We demonstrate switchable unidirectional propagation of slow waves of coupling within a metamaterial array of strongly coupled elements. We predict theoretically and verify experimentally that the direction of propagation of magnetoinductive waves for any chosen excitation pattern is dictated by the dispersion relations, with forward and backward waves propagating in opposite directions along a chain of meta-atoms. We further prove that the same fundamental phenomenon of direction selectivity due to the forward/backward wave nature is not limited to magnetoinductive waves: we predict analytically and verify numerically the same selective unidirectional signal propagation occurring in nanostructured metamaterial arrays with purely electric coupling.

Bayesian analyses of direct radiocarbon dates reveal geographic variations in the rate of rice farming dispersal in prehistoric Japan.

The adoption of rice farming during the first millennium BC was a turning point in Japanese prehistory, defining the subsequent cultural, linguistic, and genetic variation in the archipelago. Here, we use a suite of novel Bayesian techniques to estimate the regional rates of dispersal and arrival time of rice farming using radiocarbon dates on charred rice remains. Our results indicate substantial variations in the rate of dispersal of rice within the Japanese islands, hinting at the presence of a mixture of demic and cultural diffusion, geographic variations in the suitability of its cultivation, and the possible role of existing social networks in facilitating or hindering the adoption of the new subsistence economy.

Rates of Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in England and Wales: Impact of COURAGE and ORBITA Trials.

Background There are limited data about how COURAGE (Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation) and ORBITA (Objective Randomized Blinded Investigation With Optimal Medical Therapy of Angioplasty in Stable Angina) trials have impacted percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) practices at regional or national level. We evaluated temporal trends in elective PCI rates for stable angina and, specifically, examined the impact of the COURAGE and ORBITA trials on PCI practices in England and Wales. Methods and Results We used national PCI data comprising >1.

A novel cost framework reveals evidence for competitive selection in the evolution of complex traits during plant domestication.

Most models of selection incorporate some notion of environmental degradation where the majority of the population becomes less fit concerning a character resulting in pressure to adapt. Such models have been variously associated with an adaptation cost, the substitution load. Conversely, adaptative mutations that represent an improvement in fitness in the absence of environmental change have generally been assumed to be associated with negligible cost.

Emerging evidence of plant domestication as a landscape-level process.

The evidence from ancient crops over the past decade challenges some of our most basic assumptions about the process of domestication. The emergence of crops has been viewed as a technologically progressive process in which single or multiple localized populations adapt to human environments in response to cultivation. By contrast, new genetic and archaeological evidence reveals a slow process that involved large populations over wide areas with unexpectedly sustained cultural connections in deep time.

The Evolutionary History of Wild, Domesticated, and Feral Brassica oleracea (Brassicaceae).

Understanding the evolutionary history of crops, including identifying wild relatives, helps to provide insight for conservation and crop breeding efforts. Cultivated Brassica oleracea has intrigued researchers for centuries due to its wide diversity in forms, which include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and Brussels sprouts. Yet, the evolutionary history of this species remains understudied.

Effect of Location on Treatment and Outcomes of Cardiac Arrest Complicating Acute Myocardial Infarction in England & Wales.

We investigated the incidence, management, and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients according to cardiac arrest location. Patients admitted with a diagnosis of AMI between January 1, 2010 to March 31, 2017 from the Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP) were studied. We used logistic regression models to evaluate predictors of the clinical outcomes and treatment strategy.

Experimental evaluation of spectral efficiency from a circular array antenna producing a Laguerre-Gauss mode.

We present the four-dimensional volumetric electromagnetic field measurements (, , and frequency) of the complex radiated field produced by an 8-element circular antenna array. The array is designed to produce a Laguerre-Gauss (LG) mode = +1 over the frequency range of 9-10 GHz. We evaluate our findings in terms of far-field LG mode purity and spectral efficiency in terms of the quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation scheme that can be supported.

New findings on the significance of Jebel Moya in the eastern Sahel.

This paper presents new excavation data and new radiometric dates for Jebel Moya, south-central Sudan. These data suggest revisions to previous chronological understandings of the site. New excavations, initiated in 2017, show a longer, more continuous occupation of the site than has been previously recognised.

A 3,000-year-old Egyptian emmer wheat genome reveals dispersal and domestication history.

Tetraploid emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccon) is a progenitor of the world's most widely grown crop, hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), as well as the direct ancestor of tetraploid durum wheat (T. turgidum subsp.

The utility of endotracheal aspirate bacteriology in identifying mechanically ventilated patients at risk for ventilator associated pneumonia: a single-center prospective observational study.

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a well-known, life-threatening disease that persists despite preventative measures and approved antibiotic therapies. This prospective observational study investigated bacterial airway colonization, and whether its detection and quantification in the endotracheal aspirate (ETA) is useful for identifying mechanically ventilated ICU patients who are at risk of developing VAP.

Methods: 240 patients admitted to 3 ICUs at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (Burlington, MA) between June 2014 and June 2015 and mechanically ventilated for > 2 days were included.

Sedentism and plant cultivation in northeast China emerged during affluent conditions.

The reasons and processes that led hunter-gatherers to transition into a sedentary and agricultural way of life are a fundamental unresolved question of human history. Here we present results of excavations of two single-occupation early Neolithic sites (dated to 7.9 and 7.

Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Single-Ascending-Dose Study of the Penetration of a Monoclonal Antibody Combination (ASN100) Targeting Cytotoxins in the Lung Epithelial Lining Fluid of Healthy Volunteers.

ASN100 is a novel antibody combination of two fully human IgG1(κ) monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), ASN-1 and ASN-2, which neutralize six cytotoxins, alpha-hemolysin (Hla) and five bicomponent leukocidins. We assessed the safety, tolerability, and serum and lung pharmacokinetics of ASN100 in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled single-dose-escalation first-in-human study. Fifty-two healthy volunteers were enrolled and randomized to receive either ASN-1, ASN-2, a combination of both MAbs (ASN100), or a corresponding placebo.

Between domestication and civilization: the role of agriculture and arboriculture in the emergence of the first urban societies.

The transition to urbanism has long focused on annual staple crops (cereals and legumes), perhaps at the expense of understanding other changes within agricultural practices that occurred between the end of the initial domestication period and urbanisation. This paper examines the domestication and role of fruit tree crops within urbanisation in both Western Asia and China, using a combination of evidence for morphological change and a database that documents both the earliest occurrence of tree fruit crops and their spread beyond their wild range. In Western Asia the domestication of perennial fruit crops likely occurs between 6500 bc and 3500 bc, although it accompanies a shift in location from that of the earliest domestications within the Fertile Crescent to Mesopotamia, where the earliest urban societies arose.

A domestication history of dynamic adaptation and genomic deterioration in Sorghum.

The evolution of domesticated cereals was a complex interaction of shifting selection pressures and repeated episodes of introgression. Genomes of archaeological crops have the potential to reveal these dynamics without being obscured by recent breeding or introgression. We report a temporal series of archaeogenomes of the crop sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) from a single locality in Egyptian Nubia.

Development of a Multispectral Albedometer and Deployment on an Unmanned Aircraft for Evaluating Satellite Retrieved Surface Reflectance over Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

Bright surfaces across the western U.S. lead to uncertainties in satellite derived aerosol optical depth () where is typically overestimated.

Evolving the Anthropocene: linking multi-level selection with long-term social-ecological change.

To what degree is cultural multi-level selection responsible for the rise of environmentally transformative human behaviors? And vice versa? From the clearing of vegetation using fire to the emergence of agriculture and beyond, human societies have increasingly sustained themselves through practices that enhance environmental productivity through ecosystem engineering. At the same time, human societies have increased in scale and complexity from mobile bands of hunter-gatherers to telecoupled world systems. We propose that these long-term changes are coupled through positive feedbacks among social and environmental changes, coevolved primarily through selection acting at the group level and above, and that this can be tested by combining archeological evidence with mechanistic experiments using an agent-based virtual laboratory (ABVL) approach.

Mineralization of gellan gum hydrogels with calcium and magnesium carbonates by alternate soaking in solutions of calcium/magnesium and carbonate ion solutions.

Mineralization of hydrogels is desirable prior to applications in bone regeneration. CaCO is a widely used bone regeneration material, and Mg, when used as a component of calcium phosphate biomaterials, has promoted bone-forming cell adhesion and proliferation and bone regeneration. In this study, gellan gum hydrogels were mineralized with carbonates containing different amounts of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) by alternate soaking in, firstly, a calcium and/or magnesium ion solution and, secondly, a carbonate ion solution.