Direct evidence of plant consumption in Neolithic Eastern Sudan from dental calculus analysis.

The Neolithic communities of Eastern Sudan combined intensive pastoralism with plant exploitation as their main subsistence strategies. However, to date, it remains unclear which plant species were part of the human diet during the Neolithic. This contribution presents direct data on plant consumption in Eastern Sudan from the Early to Late Neolithic, obtained through the analysis of microdebris inclusions in the dental calculus of 37 individuals, integrated by dentoalveolar pathology analysis of 78 individuals, from the sites UA53 (4th millennium BCE) and Mahal Teglinos (3rd-2nd millennium BCE), located in the Gash Delta/Kassala region. Dental calculus inclusions indicate a diverse intake of cereals, legumes, and tubers during the Middle Neolithic, thus supporting the hypothesis of high reliance on plant resources. Dentoalveolar pathologies, possibly related to the consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods, have also been recorded. For the Late Neolithic, consistent with the shift towards aridity that occurred in the Middle/Late Holocene, dental calculus exclusively indicates the exploitation of sorghum and tubers-species well adapted to arid conditions-showing how the Neolithic communities modified their subsistence in response to environmental changes. Evidence of plant processing techniques, such as cooking/heating, was also revealed from the dental calculus analysis.

Creating the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan.

Funerary landscapes are eminent results of the relationship between environments and superstructural human behavior, spanning over wide territories and growing over centuries. The comprehension of such cultural palimpsests needs substantial research efforts in the field of human ecology. The funerary landscape of the semi-arid region of Kassala (Eastern Sudan) represents a solid example. Therein, geoarchaeological surveys and the creation of a desk-based dataset of thousands of diachronic funerary monuments (from early tumuli up to modern Beja people islamic tombs) were achieved by means of fieldwork and remote sensing over an area of ∼4100 km2. The wealth of generated information was employed to decipher the spatial arrangement of sites and monuments using Point Pattern Analysis. The enormous number of monuments and their spatial distribution are here successfully explained using, for the first time in archaeology, the Neyman-Scott Cluster Process, hitherto designed for cosmology. Our study highlights the existence of a built funerary landscape with galaxy-like aggregations of monuments driven by multiple layers of societal behavior. We suggest that the distribution of monuments was controlled by a synthesis of opportunistic geological constraints and cultural superstructure, conditioned by the social memory of the Beja people who have inhabited the region for two thousand years and still cherish the ancient tombs as their own kin's.

Body Fat Distribution and Metabolic Changes in a Cohort of Adolescents Living With HIV Switched to an Antiretroviral Regimen Containing Dolutegravir.

Use of antiretrovirals is associated to body fat accumulation. We measured body composition in adolescents living with HIV switched to a dolutegravir-containing regimen. Trunk fat and trunk/body fat ratio markedly increased after 12 months. Total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased after 3 months. Increase in trunk fat may put at risk of future cardiovascular problems, despite improvement in the lipid profile.

On the Origins and Dissemination of Domesticated Sorghum and Pearl Millet across Africa and into India: a View from the Butana Group of the Far Eastern Sahel.

Four decades have passed since Harlan and Stemler (1976) proposed the eastern Sahelian zone as the most likely center of Sorghum bicolor domestication. Recently, new data on seed impressions on Butana Group pottery, from the fourth millennium BC in the southern Atbai region of the far eastern Sahelian Belt in Africa, show evidence for cultivation activities of sorghum displaying some domestication traits. Pennisetum glaucum may have been undergoing domestication shortly thereafter in the western Sahel, as finds of fully domesticated pearl millet are present in southeastern Mali by the second half of the third millennium BC, and present in eastern Sudan by the early second millennium BC. The dispersal of the latter to India took less than 1000 years according to present data. Here, we review the middle Holocene Sudanese archaeological data for the first time, to situate the origins and spread of these two native summer rainfall cereals in what is proposed to be their eastern Sahelian Sudan gateway to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean trade.

Quatre décennies se sont écoulées depuis que Harlan et Stemler ont proposé la zone sahélienne orientale comme le centre le plus probable de la domestication du sorgho bicolore. Récemment, de nouvelles données sur les impressions de semences sur les poteries du groupe Butana du IVe millénaire avant JC dans la région sud d'Atbai dans la ceinture sahélienne d'Afrique orientale montrent des preuves d'activités de culture du sorgho présentant certains traits de domestication. Pennisetum glaucum pourrait être en cours de domestication peu après dans l'ouest du Sahel, puisque le millet perlé entièrement domestiqué est. présent dans le sud-est du Mali vers la seconde moitié du troisième millénaire avant J.-C. et présent dans l'est du Soudan au début du deuxième millénaire avant notre ère. La dispersion de ce dernier en Inde a pris moins de mille ans selon les données actuelles. Nous examinons ici pour la première fois les données archéologiques soudanaises de l'Holocène moyen pour situer les origines et la propagation de ces deux céréales de pluie estivales indigènes dans ce qui est. proposé comme leur porte d'entrée soudanienne du Sahel oriental à la mer Rouge et à l'océan Indien.

Motor neurons controlling fluid ingestion in Drosophila.

Rhythmic motor behaviors such as feeding are driven by neural networks that can be modulated by external stimuli and internal states. In Drosophila, ingestion is accomplished by a pump that draws fluid into the esophagus. Here we examine how pumping is regulated and characterize motor neurons innervating the pump. Frequency of pumping is not affected by sucrose concentration or hunger but is altered by fluid viscosity. Inactivating motor neurons disrupts pumping and ingestion, whereas activating them elicits arrhythmic pumping. These motor neurons respond to taste stimuli and show prolonged activity to palatable substances. This work describes an important component of the neural circuit for feeding in Drosophila and is a step toward understanding the rhythmic activity producing ingestion.

Discovery of genes implicated in placode formation.

The peripheral nervous system of the head is derived from cranial ectodermal placodes and neural crest cells. Placodes arise from thickenings in the cranial ectoderm that invaginate or ingress to form sensory ganglia and the paired sense organs. We have combined embryological techniques with array technology to identify genes that are expressed as a consequence of placode induction. As a secondary screen, we used whole mount in situ hybridization to determine the expression of candidate genes in various placodal domains. The results reveal 52 genes that are found in one or more placodes, including the olfactory, trigeminal, and otic placodes. Expression of some of these genes is retained in placodal derivatives. Furthermore, several genes are common to both neural crest and ectodermal placodes. This study presents the first array of candidate genes implicated in placode development, providing numerous new molecular markers for various stages of placode formation. Importantly, the results uncover previously unknown commonalities in genes expressed by multiple placodes and shared properties between placodes and other migratory cells, like neural crest cells.

Precisión en la adhesión de brackets utilizando una variante de técnica indirecta: presentación de un caso / Accuracy of brackets bonding using a variation of the indirect technique: report of a case

El propósito de este trabajo fue evaluar si es posible abtener mayor precisión en la adhesión de brackets. Nuestra experiencia en la resolución de este caso, si bien fue maramente de laboratorio y clínica, fue suficiente para comprobar que se trata de un procedimiento a través del cual se pueden posicionar los brackets de un modo más exacto, lo que evita reposicionamientos posteriores y resulta más confortable para el paciente por acortar los tiempos clínicos. En síntesis: mayor precisión en la colocación de brackets, menor tiempo de sillón, menos cantidad de instrumental en el sillón, mayor productividad y menor estrés para el profesional

Precisión en la adhesión de brackets utilizando una variante de técnica indirecta; presentación de un caso / Precision in the orthodontics brackets placement and bonding using one variant of indirect-technique

El propósito de este trabajo fue evaluar si es posible obtener mayor precisión en la adhesión de brackets. Nuestra experiencia en la resolución de este caso, si bien fue meramente de laboratorio y clínica, fue suficiente para comprobar que se trata de un procedimiento a través del cual se pueden posicionar los brackets de un modo más exacto, lo que evita reposicionamientos posteriores y resulta más confortable para el paciente por acortar los tiempos clínicos. En síntesis: Mayor precisión en la colocación de brackets. Menor tiempo de sillón. Menor cantidad de instrumental en el sillón. Mayor productividad. Menor estrés para el profesional(AU)

Precisión en la adhesión de brackets utilizando una variante de técnica indirecta; presentación de un caso / Precision in the orthodontics brackets placement and bonding using one variant of indirect-technique

El propósito de este trabajo fue evaluar si es posible obtener mayor precisión en la adhesión de brackets. Nuestra experiencia en la resolución de este caso, si bien fue meramente de laboratorio y clínica, fue suficiente para comprobar que se trata de un procedimiento a través del cual se pueden posicionar los brackets de un modo más exacto, lo que evita reposicionamientos posteriores y resulta más confortable para el paciente por acortar los tiempos clínicos. En síntesis: Mayor precisión en la colocación de brackets. Menor tiempo de sillón. Menor cantidad de instrumental en el sillón. Mayor productividad. Menor estrés para el profesional