Evaluation of a mental health screening tool using cross-sectional surveys in a workplace setting.

OBJECTIVES: The Brief Health Check (BHC) is a health screener used by the Get Healthy at Work programme, which identifies workers with chronic disease risk and provides them with advice and referrals to support services. The BHC was revised to include mental health to provide a holistic approach to workplace health. This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and appropriateness of the revised BHC by comparing the results around psychological distress and future risk with previous research, and a participant feedback survey. METHOD: Data collection took place between October 2018 and May 2019. The study used data that were collected as part of programme delivery, as well as a participant feedback survey that was administered after the health check was completed. RESULTS: BHCs were completed by n=912 workers, out of which, n=238 completed the feedback survey. The mean Distress Questionnaire 5 score was 10.5, and 10% of participants met the threshold for 'high' future risk. The feedback survey revealed that the majority of participants found the mental health advice to be useful (76%), agreed with their mental health distress and risk ratings (92%-94%) and most intended on using the referred services (62%-68%). CONCLUSION: The findings around mental health risk were comparable to previous findings in employed samples. The inclusion of mental health assessments, advice and referral pathways into the BHC was found to be acceptable and the subsequent referrals were appropriate, indicating that this approach could be scaled up and implemented to help address worker's mental ill health.

Innovative ochre processing and tool use in China 40,000 years ago.

Homo sapiens was present in northern Asia by around 40,000 years ago, having replaced archaic populations across Eurasia after episodes of earlier population expansions and interbreeding1-4. Cultural adaptations of the last Neanderthals, the Denisovans and the incoming populations of H. sapiens into Asia remain unknown1,5-7. Here we describe Xiamabei, a well-preserved, approximately 40,000-year-old archaeological site in northern China, which includes the earliest known ochre-processing feature in east Asia, a distinctive miniaturized lithic assemblage with bladelet-like tools bearing traces of hafting, and a bone tool. The cultural assembly of traits at Xiamabei is unique for Eastern Asia and does not correspond with those found at other archaeological site assemblages inhabited by archaic populations or those generally associated with the expansion of H. sapiens, such as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic8-10. The record of northern Asia supports a process of technological innovations and cultural diversification emerging in a period of hominin hybridization and admixture2,3,6,11.

Evaluation of the Midwifery Student Evaluation of Practice (MidSTEP) tool using Rasch analysis.

PROBLEM: Quantitative feedback from students about their clinical learning experiences is used to inform program quality, but the extent to which tools are reliable, valid and refined receives less attention. AIM: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Midwifery Student Evaluation of Practice (MidSTEP) tool using Rasch analysis. METHODS: The Midwifery Student Evaluation of Practice tool was completed by Bachelor of Midwifery students (n = 901) attending seven universities in Australia and New Zealand. The tool consists of the Clinical Learning Environment Scale (16 items) and Impact of the Midwifery Preceptor Scale (10 items), each with two subscales. Rasch analysis was conducted on all subscales separately using the partial credit model of RUMM2030. Response format, item fit, dimensionality of the scale and its targeting were assessed. RESULTS: Rasch analysis confirmed the internal construct validity of the Clinical Learning Environment and Impact of the Midwifery Preceptor subscales, with no evidence of mis-fitting items, local dependency or multidimensionality. The 4-point response scale was found to be appropriate, and internal consistency reliability of each subscale was good. DISCUSSION: Results provide support for the reliability and validity of the Midwifery Student Evaluation of Practice tool. The four subscales can confidently be used in undergraduate midwifery clinical education. The use of Rasch analysis is consistent with growing awareness in health and education of the need to apply more advanced, sophisticated psychometric techniques to ensure measures are suitable for their intended use. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Midwifery students clinical learning experiences should be measured using robust tools. MidSTEP is reliable and valid.

The spread of agriculture in Iberia through Approximate Bayesian Computation and Neolithic projectile tools.

In the present article we use geometric microliths (a specific type of arrowhead) and Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) in order to evaluate possible origin points and expansion routes for the Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. In order to do so, we divide the Iberian Peninsula in four areas (Ebro river, Catalan shores, Xúquer river and Guadalquivir river) and we sample the geometric microliths existing in the sites with the oldest radiocarbon dates for each zone. On this data, we perform a partial Mantel test with three matrices: geographic distance matrix, cultural distance matrix and chronological distance matrix. After this is done, we simulate a series of partial Mantel tests where we alter the chronological matrix by using an expansion model with randomised origin points, and using the distribution of the observed partial Mantel test's results as a summary statistic within an Approximate Bayesian Computation-Sequential Monte-Carlo (ABC-SMC) algorithm framework. Our results point clearly to a Neolithic expansion route following the Northern Mediterranean, whilst the Southern Mediterranean route could also find support and should be further discussed. The most probable origin points focus on the Xúquer river area.

Children's planning of efficient tool use in a social context.

Efficient joint action requires that we anticipate situational demands both regarding our own and another person's perspective, and adapt our actions accordingly. Accordingly, when handing over a tool somebody else, it is advantageous to anticipate our future hand orientation (motor imagery), as well as the future orientation of the tool (mental rotation) relative to the other person, in order to make the transfer as smooth and efficient as possible. Furthermore, familiarity with specific tools might facilitate planning. We tested thirty-two 5.5- to 7-year-old children on a tool transfer task, asking if they consider another person's comfort when handing over different tools, and whether tool familiarity, motor imagery, and mental rotation are related to their grip choices. We compared the children's performance to that of an adult control group. Besides a rather low performance on the transfer task, we found differences in children's consideration of another person's comfort related to the specific tools they interacted with. Specifically, the unfamiliar tool (a bar) was transferred more efficiently than the familiar tools (hammer/brush). In addition, the results suggest a relation between children's consideration of another person's comfort and their mental rotation score, but no relation with their motor imagery score.

Multiple hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia over the past 400,000 years.

Pleistocene hominin dispersals out of, and back into, Africa necessarily involved traversing the diverse and often challenging environments of Southwest Asia1-4. Archaeological and palaeontological records from the Levantine woodland zone document major biological and cultural shifts, such as alternating occupations by Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. However, Late Quaternary cultural, biological and environmental records from the vast arid zone that constitutes most of Southwest Asia remain scarce, limiting regional-scale insights into changes in hominin demography and behaviour1,2,5. Here we report a series of dated palaeolake sequences, associated with stone tool assemblages and vertebrate fossils, from the Khall Amayshan 4 and Jubbah basins in the Nefud Desert. These findings, including the oldest dated hominin occupations in Arabia, reveal at least five hominin expansions into the Arabian interior, coinciding with brief 'green' windows of reduced aridity approximately 400, 300, 200, 130-75 and 55 thousand years ago. Each occupation phase is characterized by a distinct form of material culture, indicating colonization by diverse hominin groups, and a lack of long-term Southwest Asian population continuity. Within a general pattern of African and Eurasian hominin groups being separated by Pleistocene Saharo-Arabian aridity, our findings reveal the tempo and character of climatically modulated windows for dispersal and admixture.

Luminescence chronology for the Paleolithic site of Xinmiaozhuang Locality 1 (XMZ1) in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, and its paleoenvironmental and archaeological implications.

In contrast to the prevailing view that the Chinese Paleolithic has been dominated by the Mode 1 technology-with a slow and conservative development from the Early to the Late Pleistocene-recent discoveries indicate that the lithic technology might have developed into an 'advanced' phase in some parts of China, at least since the early Late Pleistocene. The Xinmiaozhuang Locality 1 (XMZ1), located on the southern edge of the Nihewan Basin in northern China, is one of the examples belonging to such an 'advanced' phase. Although the stone artifacts at this site still belong to the long-existing 'small-tool' industry (core-and-flake) in this basin, some 'advanced' traits, including discoidal cores, elongated flakes, and 'Mousterian-like' triangular points and scrapers, are present. We provide a dating of the XMZ1 using the multiple elevated temperatures (MET) post infrared (pIR) infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) procedure (MET-pIRIR) on both multigrained single aliquots and 'individual' grains of potassium-rich feldspars (K-feldspars). The consistency between the single-aliquot and single-grain K-feldspar equivalent dose results mutually confirmed the reliability of the obtained ages. Our chronology indicates that the cultural layer falls within the period of ca. 63-75 ka, corresponding to the early stage of the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. Based on the correlation of the cultural age to the environmental proxies of loess and stalagmites from China, we suggest that the site might have witnessed dramatic fluctuations of paleoclimate during the site formation. Additionally, based on the discoidal cores distribution, a potential corridor along the Xuefeng-Wu-Tainhang-Great Khingan Mountains for ancient humans migrating between South and North China is suggested. However, more archaeological and chronological studies are required to figure out the origin and the dispersal patterns of the discoidal core associated with lithic assemblage and the tool-makers in East Asia.

Tracking behavioral persistence and innovations during the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe. Shift in occupations between 700 and 450 ka at la Noira site (Centre, France).

Some areas in Western Europe indicate hiatuses in human occupations, which cannot be systematically attributed to taphonomic factors and poor site preservation. The site of la Noira in the center of France records two occupation phases with a significant time gap. The older one is dated to around 700 ka (stratum a) with an Acheulean assemblage, among the earliest in Western Europe, and the upper phase of the sequence (stratum c) is dated to ca. 450 ka. Humans left the area at around 670 ka, at the beginning of the marine isotope stage (MIS) 16 glacial stage, when cold conditions became too severe. No sites between 650 and 450 ka have yet been discovered in the center region despite systematic surveys over the past three decades. The archaeological evidence indicates that populations returned to the area, at the end of MIS 12 or the beginning of the long interglacial MIS 11. Here, we use technological behaviors common to the two levels of la Noira-strata a and c to evaluate their differences. Compared to other key European sequences, this site can be used to address the evolution of the behavioral strategies in Europe between MIS 17 and 11. We formulate two hypotheses concerning the human settlement of this area: (1) local behavioral evolution over time of populations occasionally occupying the region when the climate was favorable or (2) dispersal and arrival of new populations from other areas. The results focus on (1) changes in land-use patterns with the extension of the territory used by hominins in the upper level, (2) the introduction of new core technologies, including some evidence of early Levallois debitage, and (3) more intensive shaping of bifaces and bifacial tools. Results attest that the la Noira archaeological assemblages record similar regional behavioral evolution as observed at a larger scale in Europe.

What kind of hominin first left Africa?

Recent discoveries of stone tools from Jordan (2.5 Ma) and China (2.1 Ma) document hominin presence in Asia at the beginning of the Pleistocene, well before the conventional Dmanisi datum at 1.8 Ma. Although no fossil hominins documenting this earliest Out of Africa phase have been found, on chronological grounds a pre-Homo erectus hominin must be considered the most likely maker of those artifacts. If so, this sheds new light on at least two disputed subjects in paleoanthropology, namely the remarkable variation among the five Dmanisi skulls, and the ancestry of Homo floresiensis.

Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria.

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe witnessed the replacement and partial absorption of local Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens populations of African origin1. However, this process probably varied across regions and its details remain largely unknown. In particular, the duration of chronological overlap between the two groups is much debated, as are the implications of this overlap for the nature of the biological and cultural interactions between Neanderthals and H. sapiens. Here we report the discovery and direct dating of human remains found in association with Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefacts2, from excavations at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Morphological analysis of a tooth and mitochondrial DNA from several hominin bone fragments, identified through proteomic screening, assign these finds to H. sapiens and link the expansion of Initial Upper Palaeolithic technologies with the spread of H. sapiens into the mid-latitudes of Eurasia before 45 thousand years ago3. The excavations yielded a wealth of bone artefacts, including pendants manufactured from cave bear teeth that are reminiscent of those later produced by the last Neanderthals of western Europe4-6. These finds are consistent with models based on the arrival of multiple waves of H. sapiens into Europe coming into contact with declining Neanderthal populations7,8.

Subspheroids in the lithic assemblage of Barranco León (Spain): Recognizing the late Oldowan in Europe.

The lithic assemblage of Barranco León (BL), attributed to the Oldowan techno-complex, contributes valuable information to reconstruct behavioral patterning of the first hominins to disperse into Western Europe. This archaic stone tool assemblage comprises two, very different groups of tools, made from distinct raw materials. On the one hand, a small-sized toolkit knapped from Jurassic flint, comprising intensively exploited cores and small-sized flakes and fragments and, on the other hand, a large-sized limestone toolkit that is mainly linked to percussive activities. In recent years, the limestone macro-tools have been the center of particular attention, leading to a re-evaluation of their role in the assemblage. Main results bring to light strict hominin selective processes, mainly concerning the quality of the limestone and the morphology of the cobbles, in relation to their use-patterning. In addition to the variety of traces of percussion identified on the limestone tools, recurrences have recently been documented in their positioning and in the morphology of the active surfaces. Coupled with experimental work, this data has contributed to formulating hypothesis about the range of uses for these tools, beyond stone knapping and butchery, for activities such as: wood-working or tendon and meat tenderizing. The abundance of hammerstones, as well as the presence of heavy-duty scrapers, are special features recognized for the limestone component of the Barranco León assemblage. This paper presents, for the first time, another characteristic of the assemblage: the presence of polyhedral and, especially, subspheroid morphologies, virtually unknown in the European context for this timeframe. We present an analysis of these tools, combining qualitative evaluation of the raw materials, diacritical study, 3D geometric morphometric analysis of facet angles and an evaluation of the type and position of percussive traces; opening up the discussion of the late Oldowan beyond the African context.

"My Momma don tol me/When I was in knee pants": Why genetic arguments for Acheulean handaxes are more like singing the blues.

The Acheulean handaxe has always been considered a social phenomenon. Corbey et al.35 provide a major challenge to this argument, arguing quite rightly, that it has never been independently established that handaxe temporal depth is a product of intergenerational social learning. They take a number of assumptions integral to the social argument and suggest, using parsimony, that a genetic explanation is equally as plausible for each of them. Complex structures, in hierarchically nested routines of action, can be built in the natural world by organisms following predetermined genetic sequences of actions triggered by external circumstances. However, there are some important points that the genetic argument dismisses that demonstrate an unequivocal social origin for the Acheulean handaxe. This article identifies those points and restores them to the debate. Parsimony affirms a social basis for handaxes and does not require a theoretical genetic predisposition.

Thalamic Inputs to Posterior Parietal Cortical Areas Involved in Skilled Forelimb Movement and Tool Use in the Capuchin Monkey.

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is a central hub for the primate forebrain networks that control skilled manual behavior, including tool use. Here, we quantified and compared the sources of thalamic input to electrophysiologically-identified hand/forearm-related regions of several PPC areas, namely areas 5v, AIP, PFG, and PF, of the capuchin monkey (Sapajus sp). We found that these areas receive most of their thalamic connections from the Anterior Pulvinar (PuA), Lateral Posterior (LP) and Medial Pulvinar (PuM) nuclei. Each PPC area receives a specific combination of projections from these nuclei, and fewer additional projections from other nuclei. Moreover, retrograde labeling of the cells innervating different PPC areas revealed substantial intermingling of these cells within the thalamus. Differences in thalamic input may contribute to the different functional properties displayed by the PPC areas. Furthermore, the observed innervation of functionally-related PPC domains from partly intermingled thalamic cell populations accords with the notion that higher-order thalamic inputs may dynamically regulate functional connectivity between cortical areas.

Re-thinking the evolution of microblade technology in East Asia: Techno-functional understanding of the lithic assemblage from Shizitan 29 (Shanxi, China).

The lithic assemblage from Shizitan 29, a late Upper Paleolithic open-air site in Shanxi, China, provides evidence for the earliest, well-dated microblade production in East Asia, ca. 26/24 Ka cal BP. To pursue a behavioral rather than traditional typological understanding of this key adaptive technology, we apply a techno-functional approach that enables us to reconstruct the entire operational sequence in behavioral terms through the derivation of technical objectives. This methodology can serve as a model to be applied to other assemblages for greater understanding of the origins and spread of the broadly distributed eastern Asian Late Pleistocene microblade industries. Within the eight cultural layers at Shizitan 29, microblade production abruptly appears at the top of Layer 7 following earlier core-and-flake production, supporting hypotheses of microblade technology arising within adaptive strategies to worsening Late Glacial Maximum environments. Significantly, reconstruction of the operational sequence supports microblade technology being introduced into the North China Loess Plateau from regions further north. It also allows us to re-think microblades' relationship in behavioral terms with earlier limited examples of East Asian blade production and the evolution and spread of microblade technology, providing new insights into the adaptive relationships between subsequent microblade productions.

Late Middle Pleistocene Levallois stone-tool technology in southwest China.

Levallois approaches are one of the best known variants of prepared-core technologies, and are an important hallmark of stone technologies developed around 300,000 years ago in Africa and west Eurasia1,2. Existing archaeological evidence suggests that the stone technology of east Asian hominins lacked a Levallois component during the late Middle Pleistocene epoch and it is not until the Late Pleistocene (around 40,000-30,000 years ago) that this technology spread into east Asia in association with a dispersal of modern humans. Here we present evidence of Levallois technology from the lithic assemblage of the Guanyindong Cave site in southwest China, dated to approximately 170,000-80,000 years ago. To our knowledge, this is the earliest evidence of Levallois technology in east Asia. Our findings thus challenge the existing model of the origin and spread of Levallois technologies in east Asia and its links to a Late Pleistocene dispersal of modern humans.

The expansion of later Acheulean hominins into the Arabian Peninsula.

The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural-technological tradition in human evolutionary history. However, considerable gaps remain in understanding the chronology and geographical distribution of Acheulean hominins. We present the first chronometrically dated Acheulean site from the Arabian Peninsula, a vast and poorly known region that forms more than half of Southwest Asia. Results show that Acheulean hominin occupation expanded along hydrological networks into the heart of Arabia from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 until at least ~190 ka ̶ the youngest documented Acheulean in Southwest Asia. The site of Saffaqah features Acheulean technology, characterized by large flakes, handaxes and cleavers, similar to Acheulean assemblages in Africa. These findings reveal a climatically-mediated later Acheulean expansion into a poorly known region, amplifying the documented diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour across the Old World and elaborating the terminal archaic landscape encountered by our species as they dispersed out of Africa.

Neandertal fire-making technology inferred from microwear analysis.

Fire use appears to have been relatively common among Neandertals in the Middle Palaeolithic. However, the means by which Neandertals procured their fire-either through the collection of natural fire, or by producing it themselves using tools-is still a matter of debate. We present here the first direct artefactual evidence for regular, systematic fire production by Neandertals. From archaeological layers attributed to late Mousterian industries at multiple sites throughout France, primarily to the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA) technoculture (ca. 50,000 years BP), we identify using microwear analysis dozens of late Middle Palaeolithic bifacial tools that exhibit macroscopic and microscopic traces suggesting repeated percussion and/or forceful abrasion with a hard mineral material. Both the locations and nature of the polish and associated striations are comparable to those obtained experimentally by obliquely percussing fragments of pyrite (FeS2) against the flat/convex sides of a biface to make fire. The striations within these discrete use zones are always oriented roughly parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tool, allowing us to rule out taphonomic origins for these traces. We therefore suggest that the occasional use of bifaces as 'strike-a-lights' was a technocultural feature shared among the late Neandertals in France.

Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in India around 385-172 ka reframes Out of Africa models.

Luminescence dating at the stratified prehistoric site of Attirampakkam, India, has shown that processes signifying the end of the Acheulian culture and the emergence of a Middle Palaeolithic culture occurred at 385 ± 64 thousand years ago (ka), much earlier than conventionally presumed for South Asia. The Middle Palaeolithic continued at Attirampakkam until 172 ± 41 ka. Chronologies of Middle Palaeolithic technologies in regions distant from Africa and Europe are crucial for testing theories about the origins and early evolution of these cultures, and for understanding their association with modern humans or archaic hominins, their links with preceding Acheulian cultures and the spread of Levallois lithic technologies. The geographic location of India and its rich Middle Palaeolithic record are ideally suited to addressing these issues, but progress has been limited by the paucity of excavated sites and hominin fossils as well as by geochronological constraints. At Attirampakkam, the gradual disuse of bifaces, the predominance of small tools, the appearance of distinctive and diverse Levallois flake and point strategies, and the blade component all highlight a notable shift away from the preceding Acheulian large-flake technologies. These findings document a process of substantial behavioural change that occurred in India at 385 ± 64 ka and establish its contemporaneity with similar processes recorded in Africa and Europe. This suggests complex interactions between local developments and ongoing global transformations. Together, these observations call for a re-evaluation of models that restrict the origins of Indian Middle Palaeolithic culture to the incidence of modern human dispersals after approximately 125 ka.

First evidence of an extensive Acheulean large cutting tool accumulation in Europe from Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain).

We describe a European Acheulean site characterised by an extensive accumulation of large cutting tools (LCT). This type of Lower Paleolithic assemblage, with dense LCT accumulations, has only been found on the African continent and in the Near East until now. The identification of a site with large accumulations of LCTs favours the hypothesis of an African origin for the Acheulean of Southwest Europe. The lithic tool-bearing deposits date back to 293-205 thousand years ago. Our chronological findings confirm temporal overlap between sites with clear "African" Acheulean affinities and Early Middle Paleolithic sites found elsewhere in the region. These complex technological patterns could be consistent with the potential coexistence of different human species in south-western Europe during the Middle Pleistocene.