A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain.

Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya).

Maximizing efficiency in sedimentary ancient DNA analysis: a novel extract pooling approach.

In the last few decades, the field of ancient DNA has taken a new direction towards using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) for studying human and mammalian population dynamics as well as past ecosystems. However, the screening of numerous sediment samples from archaeological sites remains a time-consuming and costly endeavor, particularly when targeting hominin DNA. Here, we present a novel high-throughput method that facilitates the fast and efficient analysis of sediment samples by applying a pooled testing approach.

The role of objective sleep in implicit and explicit affect regulation: A comprehensive review.

Impairments in sleep and affect regulation are evident across a wide range of mental disorders. Understanding the sleep factors that relate to affect regulatory difficulties will inform mechanistic understanding and aid in treatment. Despite rising interest, some research challenges in this area include integrating across different clinical and non-clinical literatures investigating the role of sleep architecture (measured with polysomnography) and experimentally manipulated sleep, as well as integrating more explicit versus implicit affect regulation processes.

Beta spectral power during sleep is associated with impaired recall of extinguished fear.

The failure to retain memory for extinguished fear plays a major role in the maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with successful extinction recall necessary for symptom reduction. Disturbed sleep, a hallmark symptom of PTSD, impairs fear extinction recall. However, our understanding of the electrophysiological mechanisms underpinning sleep's role in extinction retention remains underdetermined.

The Impact of Sleep on Fear Extinction.

Sleep plays a crucial role in the consolidation of memories, including those for fear acquisition and extinction training. This chapter reviews findings from studies testing this relationship in laboratory, naturalistic, and clinical settings. While evidence is mixed, several studies in humans have linked fear and extinction recall/retention to both rapid eye-movement and slow wave sleep.

Natural products from reconstructed bacterial genomes of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.

Major advances over the past decade in the field of ancient DNA are providing access to past paleogenomic diversity, but the diverse functions and biosynthetic capabilities of this growing paleome remain largely elusive. We investigated the dental calculus of 12 Neanderthals and 52 anatomically modern humans ranging from 100,000 years ago to the present and reconstructed 459 bacterial metagenome-assembled genomes. We identified a biosynthetic gene cluster shared by seven Middle and Upper Paleolithic individuals that allows for the heterologous production of a class of previously unknown metabolites that we name "paleofurans.

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers.

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Utility of Wrist-Wearable Data for Assessing Pain, Sleep, and Anxiety Outcomes After Traumatic Stress Exposure.

Importance: Adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae after traumatic stress exposure are common and have higher incidence among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Pain, depression, avoidance of trauma reminders, reexperiencing trauma, anxiety, hyperarousal, sleep disruption, and nightmares have been reported. Wrist-wearable devices with accelerometers capable of assessing 24-hour rest-activity characteristics are prevalent and may have utility in measuring these outcomes.

HFpEF and Atrial Fibrillation: The Enigmatic Interplay of Dysmetabolism, Biomarkers, and Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction.

Background: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) has a complex pathophysiology that encompasses systemic proinflammatory state and dysregulated levels of cardiometabolic and oxidative stress biomarkers. The prevalence of both HFpEF and atrial fibrillation (AF) is continuously rising, especially in the elderly. The aim of our study was to explore if there were any differences in biomarker levels and vascular function in the elderly patients with HFpEF with and without AF and to assess interconnections between clinically relevant biomarkers and cardiac and vascular function.

Worse sleep, worsening post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Poor sleep quality associated with increases in PTSD symptoms amongst those experiencing high threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis with the potential to elicit and worsen psychiatric symptoms, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Identifying modifiable protective factors is critical for preventing and treating PTSD symptoms both during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined associations of self-reported sleep quality and anticipatory threat appraisals of the pandemic with PTSD symptoms 6 months later in a sample enriched for pre-pandemic trauma exposure and PTSD.

The relationship of fear-potentiated startle and polysomnography-measured sleep in trauma-exposed men and women with and without PTSD: testing REM sleep effects and exploring the roles of an integrative measure of sleep, PTSD symptoms, and biological sex.

Study Objectives: Published research indicates that sleep is involved in emotional information processing. Using a fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and nap sleep protocol, we examined the relationship of emotional learning with REM sleep (REMS) in trauma-exposed participants. We also explored the roles of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, biological sex, and an integrative measure of polysomnography-measured (PSG) sleep in the learning-sleep relationship.

Diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea in a residential treatment program for veterans with substance use disorder and PTSD.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is often comorbid with both substance use disorders (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated. We present data on the feasibility and acceptability of objective OSA diagnosis procedures, findings on OSA prevalence, and the relationship between OSA and baseline SUD/PTSD symptoms among veterans in residential treatment for comorbid PTSD/SUD.

Methods: Participants were 47 veterans admitted to residential PTSD/SUD treatment.

Expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal in veterans with PTSD: Results from the mind your heart study.

Objective: This study examined whether expressive suppression (ES), a maladaptive regulation strategy, was more strongly associated with PTSD diagnosis and symptom clusters in veterans than cognitive reappraisal (CR), an adaptive regulation strategy.

Method: In a cohort study, 746 participants recruited from VHA facilities completed Clinician Administered PTSD Scale-IV, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Patient Health Questionnaire. Participants were categorized into groups: Current, Remitted/Lifetime, and Never PTSD.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in veterans with gulf war illness: Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Aims: To examine whether cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), delivered by telephone, improves sleep and non-sleep symptoms of Gulf War Illness (GWI).

Main Methods: Eighty-five Gulf War veterans (21 women, mean age: 54 years, range 46-72 years) who met the Kansas GWI case definition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) case definition for Chronic Multisymptom Illness (CMI), and research diagnostic criteria for insomnia disorder were randomly assigned to CBT-I or monitor-only wait list control. Eight weekly sessions of individual CBT-I were administered via telephone by Ph.

Reducing Barriers to Behavioral Treatments for Insomnia: A Qualitative Examination of Veterans' Perspectives of BBTI.

Although behavioral treatments are recommended for treating insomnia disorder, these treatments are not the most commonly provided treatments due to numerous barriers (e.g., treatment length, time limitations).

Brief behavioral treatment for insomnia improves psychosocial functioning in veterans: results from a randomized controlled trial.

Study Objectives: Our goal was to compare brief behavioral treatment for insomnia (BBTI) to a progressive muscle relaxation training (PMRT) control condition among veterans with insomnia, examining psychosocial functioning as a primary outcome and sleep-related outcomes, mood, cognition, and pain as secondary outcomes.

Methods: Veterans were randomly assigned to either BBTI or PMRT (N = 91; 24-74 years; M = 49 years). BBTI consisted of two in-person (60-min and 30-min sessions) and two telephone sessions (20-min each), and the PMRT control condition was matched to BBTI for session duration and type.

Examining sleep over time in a randomized control trial comparing two integrated PTSD and alcohol use disorder treatments.

Study Objectives: Insomnia is highly co-occurring with both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). This is concerning since insomnia contributes to worse substance abuse and PTSD, and a host of negative health consequences. No study has tracked how sleep indices and insomnia change related to integrated PTSD and AUD treatment using evidence-based exposure therapy.

Validation of sleep measurement in a multisensor consumer grade wearable device in healthy young adults.

Study Objectives: Our objective was to examine the ability of a consumer-grade wearable device (Basis B1) with accelerometer and heart rate technology to assess sleep patterns compared with polysomnography (PSG) and research-grade actigraphy in healthy adults.

Methods: Eighteen adults underwent consecutive nights of sleep monitoring using Basis B1, actigraphy, and PSG; 40 nights were used in analyses. Discrepancies in gross sleep parameters and epoch-by-epoch agreements in sleep/wake classification were assessed.

Adaptability, resilience and environmental buffering in European Refugia during the Late Pleistocene: Insights from La Riera Cave (Asturias, Cantabria, Spain).

The Upper Palaeolithic in Europe was a time of extensive climatic changes that impacted on the survival and distribution of human populations. During the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), southern European peninsulas were refugia for flora, fauna, and human groups. One of these refugia, the Cantabrian region (northern Atlantic Spain), was intensively occupied throughout the Upper Palaeolithic.