Stable isotope evidence of human diet in Mediterranean context during the Last Glacial Maximum.

The Final Gravettian in Europe overlapped with the cold and dry climatic event of Heinrich 2 (ca. 27-23.5 kyr cal BP), which caused the contraction of human distribution over refuge regions in the southern peninsulas of Europe.

Author Correction: Heavy reliance on plants for Romanian cave bears evidenced by amino acid nitrogen isotope analysis.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Heavy reliance on plants for Romanian cave bears evidenced by amino acid nitrogen isotope analysis.

Heavy reliance on plants is rare in Carnivora and mostly limited to relatively small species in subtropical settings. The feeding behaviors of extinct cave bears living during Pleistocene cold periods at middle latitudes have been intensely studied using various approaches including isotopic analyses of fossil collagen. In contrast to cave bears from all other regions in Europe, some individuals from Romania show exceptionally high δN values that might be indicative of meat consumption.

A protocol for using attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for pre-screening ancient bone collagen prior to radiocarbon dating.

Rationale: Pre-screening of bone collagen quality is important to reduce the cost for analyses such as radiocarbon ( C) dating with accelerator mass spectrometry in archaeological studies. We developed a pre-screening protocol based on attenuated total reflection (ATR) Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for assessing the chemical composition and mineralogy of ancient bone samples.

Methods: ATR-FTIR measurements were performed on bulk bones of diverse origin and age before collagen extraction.

Stable isotopes reveal patterns of diet and mobility in the last Neandertals and first modern humans in Europe.

Correlating cultural, technological and ecological aspects of both Upper Pleistocene modern humans (UPMHs) and Neandertals provides a useful approach for achieving robust predictions about what makes us human. Here we present ecological information for a period of special relevance in human evolution, the time of replacement of Neandertals by modern humans during the Late Pleistocene in Europe. Using the stable isotopic approach, we shed light on aspects of diet and mobility of the late Neandertals and UPMHs from the cave sites of the Troisième caverne of Goyet and Spy in Belgium.

Changes in the Pharmacokinetics of Phenytoin in Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Ulcerative Colitis in Mice.

We previously demonstrated that the expression levels of drug-metabolizing enzymes, cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, in the liver are significantly decreased in a murine model of ulcerative colitis (UC). In this study, we investigated changes in the pharmacokinetics of phenytoin, a CYP2C substrate drug, in the presence of UC. Colitis was induced by feeding male mice 3.

A High Burden of Asymptomatic Gastrointestinal Infections in Traditional Communities in Papua New Guinea.

Stool samples were collected from 148 healthy adults living a traditional subsistence lifestyle in Papua New Guinea and screened for enteric pathogens using real-time RT-PCR/PCR assays. Enteric pathogens were detected in a high proportion (41%) of individuals. Clear differences were observed in the detection of pathogens between highland and lowland communities.

Variation in vegetative morphology tracks the complex genetic diversification of the mycoheterotrophic species Pyrola japonica sensu lato.

Premise Of The Study: Although the evolution of full mycoheterotrophy has attracted many plant researchers, molecular phylogenetic studies that focus on the transition from partial to full mycoheterotrophy are limited to a few taxa. Pyrola japonica sensu lato is an ideal model for examining the evolution of mycoheterotrophy, owing to its variable leaf size, which suggests that the species comprises several transitional stages.

Methods: To elucidate the molecular and morphological changes that occur during the evolutionary transition between partial and full mycoheterotrophy in P.

Ecological niche of Neanderthals from Spy Cave revealed by nitrogen isotopes of individual amino acids in collagen.

This study provides a refined view on the diet and ecological niche of Neanderthals. The traditional view is that Neanderthals obtained most of their dietary protein from terrestrial animals, especially from large herbivores that roamed the open landscapes. Evidence based on the conventional carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of bulk collagen has supported this view, although recent findings based on plant remains in the tooth calculus, microwear analyses, and small game and marine animal remains from archaeological sites have raised some questions regarding this assumption.

Association between sex inequality in animal protein intake and economic development in the Papua New Guinea highlands: The carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of scalp hair and fingernail.

Objectives: People in the Papua New Guinea Highlands consume sweet potatoes as their dietary staple; consumption of animal protein is limited. In such societies with marginal protein intake, the intra-household allocation of animal protein in terms of sex or age is of importance. The objective of this study was to investigate how the allocation pattern of protein-rich foods by sex and age is associated with economic development in the Papua New Guinea Highlands.

Association of protein intakes and variation of diet-scalp hair nitrogen isotopic discrimination factor in Papua New Guinea highlanders.

Objectives: We present new nitrogen isotopic discrimination factor between diets and scalp hairs (Δ(15) NHair-Diet : δ(15) NHair - δ(15) NDiet ) for indigenous residents in three communities in the Papua New Guinea Highlands who consumed various amounts and qualities of protein. The Δ(15) N is important for precise evaluation of the dietary habits of human populations; in both contemporary and traditional lifestyles. Several hypotheses have been proposed regarding factors that affect Δ(15) N values, based largely on observations from animal feeding experiments.

Characterization of the gut microbiota of Papua New Guineans using reverse transcription quantitative PCR.

There has been considerable interest in composition of gut microbiota in recent years, leading to a better understanding of the role the gut microbiota plays in health and disease. Most studies have been limited in their geographical and socioeconomic diversity to high-income settings, and have been conducted using small sample sizes. To date, few analyses have been conducted in low-income settings, where a better understanding of the gut microbiome could lead to the greatest return in terms of health benefits.

Quantitative evaluation of marine protein contribution in ancient diets based on nitrogen isotope ratios of individual amino acids in bone collagen: an investigation at the Kitakogane Jomon site.

Nitrogen stable isotopes analysis of individual bone collagen amino acids was applied to archeological samples as a new tool for assessing the composition of ancient human diets and calibrating radiocarbon dates. We used this technique to investigate human and faunal samples from the Kitakogane shell midden in Hokkaido, Japan (5,300-6,000 cal BP). Using compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of individual amino acids, we aimed to estimate i) the quantitative contribution of marine and terrestrial protein to the human diet, and ii) the mean trophic level (TL) from which dietary protein was derived from marine ecosystems.