The demise of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki.

The largest ever primate and one of the largest of the southeast Asian megafauna, Gigantopithecus blacki1, persisted in China from about 2.0 million years until the late middle Pleistocene when it became extinct2-4. Its demise is enigmatic considering that it was one of the few Asian great apes to go extinct in the last 2.6 million years, whereas others, including orangutan, survived until the present5. The cause of the disappearance of G. blacki remains unresolved but could shed light on primate resilience and the fate of megafauna in this region6. Here we applied three multidisciplinary analyses-timing, past environments and behaviour-to 22 caves in southern China. We used 157 radiometric ages from six dating techniques to establish a timeline for the demise of G. blacki. We show that from 2.3 million years ago the environment was a mosaic of forests and grasses, providing ideal conditions for thriving G. blacki populations. However, just before and during the extinction window between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago there was enhanced environmental variability from increased seasonality, which caused changes in plant communities and an increase in open forest environments. Although its close relative Pongo weidenreichi managed to adapt its dietary preferences and behaviour to this variability, G. blacki showed signs of chronic stress and dwindling populations. Ultimately its struggle to adapt led to the extinction of the greatest primate to ever inhabit the Earth.

Last appearance of Homo erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000-108,000 years ago.

Homo erectus is the founding early hominin species of Island Southeast Asia, and reached Java (Indonesia) more than 1.5 million years ago1,2. Twelve H. erectus calvaria (skull caps) and two tibiae (lower leg bones) were discovered from a bone bed located about 20 m above the Solo River at Ngandong (Central Java) between 1931 and 19333,4, and are of the youngest, most-advanced form of H. erectus5-8. Despite the importance of the Ngandong fossils, the relationship between the fossils, terrace fill and ages have been heavily debated9-14. Here, to resolve the age of the Ngandong evidence, we use Bayesian modelling of 52 radiometric age estimates to establish-to our knowledge-the first robust chronology at regional, valley and local scales. We used uranium-series dating of speleothems to constrain regional landscape evolution; luminescence, 40argon/39argon (40Ar/39Ar) and uranium-series dating to constrain the sequence of terrace evolution; and applied uranium-series and uranium series-electron-spin resonance (US-ESR) dating to non-human fossils to directly date our re-excavation of Ngandong5,15. We show that at least by 500 thousand years ago (ka) the Solo River was diverted into the Kendeng Hills, and that it formed the Solo terrace sequence between 316 and 31 ka and the Ngandong terrace between about 140 and 92 ka. Non-human fossils recovered during the re-excavation of Ngandong date to between 109 and 106 ka (uranium-series minimum)16 and 134 and 118 ka (US-ESR), with modelled ages of 117 to 108 thousand years (kyr) for the H. erectus bone bed, which accumulated during flood conditions3,17. These results negate the extreme ages that have been proposed for the site and solidify Ngandong as the last known occurrence of this long-lived species.

Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art.

Humans seem to have an adaptive predisposition for inventing, telling and consuming stories1. Prehistoric cave art provides the most direct insight that we have into the earliest storytelling2-5, in the form of narrative compositions or 'scenes'2,5 that feature clear figurative depictions of sets of figures in spatial proximity to each other, and from which one can infer actions taking place among the figures5. The Upper Palaeolithic cave art of Europe hosts the oldest previously known images of humans and animals interacting in recognizable scenes2,5, and of therianthropes6,7-abstract beings that combine qualities of both people and animals, and which arguably communicated narrative fiction of some kind (folklore, religious myths, spiritual beliefs and so on). In this record of creative expression (spanning from about 40 thousand years ago (ka) until the beginning of the Holocene epoch at around 10 ka), scenes in cave art are generally rare and chronologically late (dating to about 21-14 ka)7, and clear representations of therianthropes are uncommon6-the oldest such image is a carved figurine from Germany of a human with a feline head (dated to about 40-39 ka)8. Here we describe an elaborate rock art panel from the limestone cave of Leang Bulu' Sipong 4 (Sulawesi, Indonesia) that portrays several figures that appear to represent therianthropes hunting wild pigs and dwarf bovids; this painting has been dated to at least 43.9 ka on the basis of uranium-series analysis of overlying speleothems. This hunting scene is-to our knowledge-currently the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world.

Fossil dermal denticles reveal the preexploitation baseline of a Caribbean coral reef shark community.

Preexploitation shark baselines and the history of human impact on coral reef-associated shark communities in the Caribbean are tpoorly understood. We recovered shark dermal denticles from mid-Holocene (∼7 ky ago) and modern reef sediments in Bocas del Toro, Caribbean Panama, to reconstruct an empirical shark baseline before major human impact and to quantify how much the modern shark community in the region had shifted from this historical reference point. We found that denticle accumulation rates, a proxy for shark abundance, declined by 71% since the mid-Holocene. All denticle morphotypes, which reflect shark community composition, experienced significant losses, but those morphotypes found on fast-swimming, pelagic sharks (e.g., families Carcharhinidae and Sphyrnidae) declined the most. An analysis of historical records suggested that the steepest decline in shark abundance occurred in the late 20th century, coinciding with the advent of a targeted shark fishery in Panama. Although the disproportionate loss of denticles characterizing pelagic sharks was consistent with overfishing, the large reduction in denticles characterizing demersal species with low commercial value (i.e., the nurse shark Ginglymostoma cirratum) indicated that other stressors could have exacerbated these declines. We demonstrate that the denticle record can reveal changes in shark communities over long ecological timescales, helping to contextualize contemporary abundances and inform shark management and ecology.

Revised stratigraphy and chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia.

Homo floresiensis, a primitive hominin species discovered in Late Pleistocene sediments at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia), has generated wide interest and scientific debate. A major reason this taxon is controversial is because the H. floresiensis-bearing deposits, which include associated stone artefacts and remains of other extinct endemic fauna, were dated to between about 95 and 12 thousand calendar years (kyr) ago. These ages suggested that H. floresiensis survived until long after modern humans reached Australia by ~50 kyr ago. Here we report new stratigraphic and chronological evidence from Liang Bua that does not support the ages inferred previously for the H. floresiensis holotype (LB1), ~18 thousand calibrated radiocarbon years before present (kyr cal. BP), or the time of last appearance of this species (about 17 or 13-11 kyr cal. BP). Instead, the skeletal remains of H. floresiensis and the deposits containing them are dated to between about 100 and 60 kyr ago, whereas stone artefacts attributable to this species range from about 190 to 50 kyr in age. Whether H. floresiensis survived after 50 kyr ago--potentially encountering modern humans on Flores or other hominins dispersing through southeast Asia, such as Denisovans--is an open question.

[Robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy helps improve postoperative urinary continence recovery in patients with prostate cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the recovery of urinary continence through postoperative rehabilitation training after robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RARP) versus that after traditional laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP). METHODS: This study included 64 cases of urinary incontinence after surgically treated for PCa from May 2017 to February 2021, 32 by RARP and the other 32 by LRP as the controls. All the patients received standard urinary continence rehabilitation training and routine nursing care postoperatively, followed by comparison of the rate and time of urinary incontinence recovery and the patients' scores on the quality of life (QOL) and satisfaction with treatment between the two groups. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in age, PSA level or pathological stage between the two groups of patients (P > 0.05). After standard urinary continence rehabilitation training, the patients in the RARP group, compared with those in the LRP control, showed a lower grade of urinary incontinence (χ2 = 6.483, P = 0.039), a shorter mean duration of urinary incontinence per day, an earlier recovery of urinary continence (χ2 = 4.73, P = 0.030 at 1－3 months; χ2 = 12.696, P < 0.001 at 4－6 months), a higher rate of overall recovery (χ2 = 13.396, P = 0.004), and higher scores on QOL and satisfaction with treatment. CONCLUSION: RARP can effectively improve the recovery from postoperative urinary incontinence in PCa patients.

[Hsa_circ_0005221 promotes prostate cancer progression through the miR-339-5p/STAT5a pathway].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the molecular mechanism of hsa_circ_0005221 regulating the progression of PCa through the miR-339-5p/STAT5a pathway. METHODS: Localizations of hsa_circ_0005221 and miR-339-5p in cells were detected by nuclear-cytoplasmic isolation. MiRNA-339-5p was selected as the target miRNA bound to hsa_circ_0005221 by RNA pull-down assay. The binding site of the luciferase reporter gene was predicted by software and the binding capability of miR-339-5p validated by luciferase assay. The expression of hsa_circ_0005221 in the prostatic epithelial and PCa cells was determined by qPCR. The hsa_circ_0005221-overexpressed plasmid and siRNA were transfected into the PCa cells for measurement of their proliferation, invasion and migration abilities and the levels of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) and apoptosis. After knockdown of hsa_circ_0005221 and transfection of miR-339-5p mimics and miR-339-5p inhibitor, the proliferation, invasion and migration abilities of the DU145 and LNCaP cells were detected, and so were the levels of the EMT signature protein, STAT5a and cell apoptosis. RESULTS: The expression of hsa_circ_0005221 was significantly higher in the PCa than in the prostatic epithelial cells. Nuclear-cytoplasmic isolation experiments showed that hsa_circ_0005221 and miR-339-5p were mainly located in the cytoplasm. The proliferation, invasion and migration abilities and EMT were decreased and the apoptosis increased in the DU145 and LNCaP cells with knockdown of hsa_circ_0005221, which was just the reverse in those with overexpressed hsa_circ_0005221. Among the top 5 miRNAs predicted by software, miR-339-5p, miR-17 and miR-520h were shown by pull-down assay to be bound to hsa_circ_0005221, with most obvious changes in miR-339-5p when hsa_circ_0005221 knocked down or overexpressed. Luciferase reporter gene assay showed the binding of hsa_circ_0005221 to miR-339-5p. Knockdown of hsa_circ_0005221 and transfection of miR-339-5p mimics into the DU145 and LNCaP cells significantly reduced the proliferation, invasion and migration abilities of the cells and the N-cad level, increased their apoptosis and E-cad level, and up-regulated the expression of STAT5a, while overexpression of hsa_circ_0005221 and transfection of miR-339-5p mimics induced just the opposite effects. CONCLUSIONS: Hsa_circ_0005221 enhances the progression of prostate cancer through the miR-339-5p/STAT5a pathway.

U-Th dating reveals regional-scale decline of branching Acropora corals on the Great Barrier Reef over the past century.

Hard coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is on a trajectory of decline. However, little is known about past coral mortality before the advent of long-term monitoring (circa 1980s). Using paleoecological analysis and high-precision uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating, we reveal an extensive loss of branching Acropora corals and changes in coral community structure in the Palm Islands region of the central GBR over the past century. In 2008, dead coral assemblages were dominated by large, branching Acropora and living coral assemblages by genera typically found in turbid inshore environments. The timing of Acropora mortality was found to be occasionally synchronous among reefs and frequently linked to discrete disturbance events, occurring in the 1920s to 1960s and again in the 1980s to 1990s. Surveys conducted in 2014 revealed low Acropora cover (<5%) across all sites, with very little evidence of change for up to 60 y at some sites. Collectively, our results suggest a loss of resilience of this formerly dominant key framework builder at a regional scale, with recovery severely lagging behind predictions. Our study implies that the management of these reefs may be predicated on a shifted baseline.

Early human symbolic behavior in the Late Pleistocene of Wallacea.

Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands separating the continental regions of Southeast Asia and Australia, has yielded sparse evidence for the symbolic culture of early modern humans. Here we report evidence for symbolic activity 30,000-22,000 y ago at Leang Bulu Bettue, a cave and rock-shelter site on the Wallacean island of Sulawesi. We describe hitherto undocumented practices of personal ornamentation and portable art, alongside evidence for pigment processing and use in deposits that are the same age as dated rock art in the surrounding karst region. Previously, assemblages of multiple and diverse types of Pleistocene "symbolic" artifacts were entirely unknown from this region. The Leang Bulu Bettue assemblage provides insight into the complexity and diversification of modern human culture during a key period in the global dispersal of our species. It also shows that early inhabitants of Sulawesi fashioned ornaments from body parts of endemic animals, suggesting modern humans integrated exotic faunas and other novel resources into their symbolic world as they colonized the biogeographically unique regions southeast of continental Eurasia.

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia.

The Cook Islands are considered the "gateway" for human colonization of East Polynesia, the final chapter of Oceanic settlement and the last major region occupied on Earth. Indeed, East Polynesia witnessed the culmination of the greatest maritime migration in human history. Perennial debates have critiqued whether Oceanic settlement was purposeful or accidental, the timing and pathways of colonization, and the nature and extent of postcolonization voyaging-essential for small founding groups securing a lifeline between parent and daughter communities. Centering on the well-dated Tangatatau rockshelter, Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands, we charted the temporal duration and geographic spread of exotic stone adze materials-essential woodworking tools found throughout Polynesia- imported for more than 300 y beginning in the early AD 1300s. Using a technique requiring only 200 mg of sample for the geochemical analysis of trace elements and isotopes of fine-grained basalt adzes, we assigned all artifacts to an island or archipelago of origin. Adze material was identified from the chiefly complex on the Austral Islands, from the major adze quarry complex on Tutuila (Samoa), and from the Marquesas Islands more than 2,400 km distant. This interaction is the only dated example of down-the-line exchange in central East Polynesia where intermediate groups transferred commodities attesting to the interconnectedness and complexity of social relations fostered during postsettlement voyaging. For the Cook Islands, this exchange may have lasted into the 1600s, at least a century later than other East Polynesian archipelagos, suggesting that interarchipelago interaction contributed to the later development of social hierarchies.