Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago.

Wood artefacts rarely survive from the Early Stone Age since they require exceptional conditions for preservation; consequently, we have limited information about when and how hominins used this basic raw material1. We report here on the earliest evidence for structural use of wood in the archaeological record. Waterlogged deposits at the archaeological site of Kalambo Falls, Zambia, dated by luminescence to at least 476 ± 23 kyr ago (ka), preserved two interlocking logs joined transversely by an intentionally cut notch. This construction has no known parallels in the African or Eurasian Palaeolithic. The earliest known wood artefact is a fragment of polished plank from the Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel, more than 780 ka (refs. 2,3). Wooden tools for foraging and hunting appear 400 ka in Europe4-8, China9 and possibly Africa10. At Kalambo we also recovered four wood tools from 390 ka to 324 ka, including a wedge, digging stick, cut log and notched branch. The finds show an unexpected early diversity of forms and the capacity to shape tree trunks into large combined structures. These new data not only extend the age range of woodworking in Africa but expand our understanding of the technical cognition of early hominins11, forcing re-examination of the use of trees in the history of technology12,13.

Effects of alfentanil on the ventilatory response to sustained hypoxia.

BACKGROUND: The ventilatory response to acute hypoxia is biphasic, with an initial rapid increase followed by a slower decline. In humans, there is evidence that the magnitude of the decline in ventilation is proportional to the size of the initial increase. This study was done to define the role of exogenous opioids in the ventilatory decline seen with prolonged hypoxia. METHODS: Ten healthy persons were exposed to isocapnic hypoxia for 25 min, followed by 5 min of isocapnic normoxia and 5 min of isocapnic hypoxia. These conditions were repeated during a computer-controlled alfentanil infusion. RESULTS: Serum alfentanil levels were constant among the volunteers (38+/-12 ng/ml). Alfentanil decreased both the initial and second acute hypoxic responses (from 1.27+/-0.73 to 0.99+/-0.39 l x min(-1) x %(-1), P < 0.05; and from 0.99+/-0.70 to 0.41+/-0.29 l x min(-1) x %(-1), P < 0.05, respectively). The magnitude of the decrease in ventilation during the 25 min of hypoxia was not changed (10+/-3.3 l/min for control; 12.3+/-7.5 l/min for alfentanil). CONCLUSIONS: Alfentanil reduced the acute ventilatory response to hypoxia. The absolute value of hypoxic ventilatory decline was not increased, but a measure of residual hypoxic ventilatory decline (the ratio of ventilation between the second and first steps into hypoxia) was decreased, which supports the hypothesis that opioids potentiate centrally mediated ventilatory decline.

Estimation of jugular venous O2 saturation from cerebral oximetry or arterial O2 saturation during isocapnic hypoxia.

OBJECTIVE: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has the potential for providing valuable information about oxygen delivery to the brain. However, questions have been raised about the accuracy of these measurements. This study was undertaken to compare noninvasive cerebral saturation measurements to jugular venous saturation under conditions of hypoxia and hypercapnia. METHODS: Data was obtain on forty-two subjects. Cerebral oxygenation was measured with a Somanetics INVOS 4100-SSA placed on the forehead of the subjects. PETCO2 was controlled to approximately 2 and 7 mmHg above resting values and PETO2 was controlled to 80, 45, 60 and 41 mmHg consecutively for four of five minutes each. Internal jugular blood gas measurements were made via a retrograde catheter. RESULTS: Both the cerebral oximetry measured saturation (rSO2) and the jugular venous saturation (SjvO2) were significantly increased by increasing the PETCO2 at all levels of hypoxia. The increase in the rSO2 was less than the increase in SjvO2. The rSO2 had a bias of 5.2% and a precision of 10.7% compared to the measured SjvO2. DISCUSSION: Cerebral oxygen saturation measured by cerebral oximetry compares well to the measured SjvO2 in normal subjects, despite multiple physiological reasons for differences. The closer relationship of SjvO2 to rSO2 than SaO2 under the conditions of these experiments indicates that the measurement reflects primarily intracranial saturation. However, outcome studies under clinical conditions are needed to determine the clinical utility of cerebral oximetry.