Earliest Prepared core technology in Eurasia from Nihewan (China): Implications for early human abilities and dispersals in East Asia.

Organized flaking techniques to obtain predetermined stone tools have been traced back to the early Acheulean (also known as mode 2) in Africa and are seen as indicative of the emergence of advanced technical abilities and in-depth planning skills among early humans. Here, we report one of the earliest known examples of prepared core technology in the archaeological record, at the Cenjiawan (CJW) site in the Nihewan basin of China, dated 1.1 Mya. The operational schemes reconstructed from the CJW refit sets, together with shaping patterns observed in the retouched tools, suggest that Nihewan basin toolmakers had the technical abilities of mode 2 hominins, and developed different survival strategies to adapt to local raw materials and environments. This finding predates the previously earliest known prepared core technology from Eurasia by 0.3 My, and the earliest known mode 2 sites in East Asia by a similar amount of time, thus suggesting that hominins with advanced technologies may have migrated into high latitude East Asia as early as 1.1 Mya.

Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation.

Middle to Late Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia has remained controversial regarding the extent of morphological continuity through archaic humans and to modern humans. Newly found ∼300,000-y-old human remains from Hualongdong (HLD), China, including a largely complete skull (HLD 6), share East Asian Middle Pleistocene (MPl) human traits of a low vault with a frontal keel (but no parietal sagittal keel or angular torus), a low and wide nasal aperture, a pronounced supraorbital torus (especially medially), a nonlevel nasal floor, and small or absent third molars. It lacks a malar incisure but has a large superior medial pterygoid tubercle. HLD 6 also exhibits a relatively flat superior face, a more vertical mandibular symphysis, a pronounced mental trigone, and simple occlusal morphology, foreshadowing modern human morphology. The HLD human fossils thus variably resemble other later MPl East Asian remains, but add to the overall variation in the sample. Their configurations, with those of other Middle and early Late Pleistocene East Asian remains, support archaic human regional continuity and provide a background to the subsequent archaic-to-modern human transition in the region.

The earliest unequivocally modern humans in southern China.

The hominin record from southern Asia for the early Late Pleistocene epoch is scarce. Well-dated and well-preserved fossils older than ∼45,000 years that can be unequivocally attributed to Homo sapiens are lacking. Here we present evidence from the newly excavated Fuyan Cave in Daoxian (southern China). This site has provided 47 human teeth dated to more than 80,000 years old, and with an inferred maximum age of 120,000 years. The morphological and metric assessment of this sample supports its unequivocal assignment to H. sapiens. The Daoxian sample is more derived than any other anatomically modern humans, resembling middle-to-late Late Pleistocene specimens and even contemporary humans. Our study shows that fully modern morphologies were present in southern China 30,000-70,000 years earlier than in the Levant and Europe. Our data fill a chronological and geographical gap that is relevant for understanding when H. sapiens first appeared in southern Asia. The Daoxian teeth also support the hypothesis that during the same period, southern China was inhabited by more derived populations than central and northern China. This evidence is important for the study of dispersal routes of modern humans. Finally, our results are relevant to exploring the reasons for the relatively late entry of H. sapiens into Europe. Some studies have investigated how the competition with H. sapiens may have caused Neanderthals' extinction (see ref. 8 and references therein). Notably, although fully modern humans were already present in southern China at least as early as ∼80,000 years ago, there is no evidence that they entered Europe before ∼45,000 years ago. This could indicate that H. neanderthalensis was indeed an additional ecological barrier for modern humans, who could only enter Europe when the demise of Neanderthals had already started.

Middle Pleistocene human femoral diaphyses from Hualongdong, Anhui Province, China.

OBJECTIVES: The paleontological description and comparative analysis using discrete morphology, morphometrics (linear and geometric) and cross-sectional geometry of three femoral diaphyseal sections from the Middle Pleistocene site of Hualongdong, China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The material consists of the original Hualongdong femoral fossils and available data on femoral diaphyses from Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic humans and Middle and earlier Upper Paleolithic modern humans. The methods include visual observation, diaphyseal diameters, cross-sectional parameters (transverse areas and second moments of area derived from micro-CT scans), and geometric morphometrics using semilandmark data. RESULTS: The Hualong 11 midshaft section is similar to other Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic humans in being transversely broad and lacking a pilaster despite a prominent linea aspera. It clusters principally with archaic human femora in all measured parameters. The Hualong 15 and 16 subtrochanteric pieces are similar to many Middle Pleistocene and early modern human femora in being transversely broad. In particular, Hualong 15 exhibits a prominent lateral (gluteal) buttress, similar to many Upper Paleolithic femora but also the Lazaret and Krapina archaic ones. In addition, Hualong 15 has a small third trochanter, a common Upper Paleolithic but rare earlier feature. DISCUSSION: The Hualong 11 femoral piece reinforces the general Middle Pleistocene pattern, especially for eastern Eurasia from which archaic human femora are rare. The subtrochanteric proportions of Hualong 15 and 16 reinforce the Early Pleistocene and (generally) Middle Pleistocene pattern of bone distributions, but their subperiosteal contours align them (along with those of the Lazaret and Krapina femora) with Upper Paleolithic ones. It is difficult to account for these proportions from the generally broad pelves of Pleistocene archaic humans.

Effects of Antiadhesion preparation on free fibrinogen and fibrin degrading products in abdominal exudates of rabbits postoperatively.

AIM: To observe effects of ACOL on fibrinogen (FIB), fibrin degrading products (FDP) and changes of FIB and FDP concentration in rabbits with intro-abdominal exudates during 7 d after major abdominal surgery. METHODS: Sixty New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups: ACOL group, the control group, DCT group and the normal group. After being modeled, except the normal group, the other 3 groups were treated with different ways for a week; the intro-abdominal exudates of rabbits in the 4 groups were drawn for FIB and FDP measurement once daily during 7 d after major abdominal surgery. RESULTS: FIB and FDP in the intro-abdominal exudates altered in a regular way and ACOL could change the concentration of FIB and FDP in the intra-abdominal exudates after major abdominal surgery. CONCLUSION: ACOL can prevent intestinal adhesion by reducing the concentration of FIB and raising that of FDP in the intro-abdominal exudates after major abdominal surgery.