Agricultural soil legacy influences multitrophic interactions between crops, their pathogens and pollinators.

Soil legacy influences plant interactions with antagonists and below-ground mutualists. Plant-antagonist interactions can jeopardize plant-pollinator interactions, while soil mutualists can enhance plant-pollinator interactions. This suggests that soil legacy, either directly or mediated through plant symbionts, affects pollinators. Despite the importance of pollinators to natural and managed ecosystems, information on how soil legacy affects plant-pollinator interactions is limited. We assessed effects of soil management legacy (organic versus conventional) on floral rewards and plant interactions with wild pollinators, herbivores, beneficial fungi and pathogens. We used an observational dataset and structural equation models to evaluate hypothesized relationships between soil and pollinators, then tested observed correlations in a manipulative experiment. Organic legacy increased mycorrhizal fungal colonization and improved resistance to powdery mildew, which promoted pollinator visitation. Further, soil legacy and powdery mildew independently and interactively impacted floral traits and floral reward nutrients, which are important to pollinators. Our results indicate that pollination could be an overlooked consequence of soil legacy and suggests opportunity to develop long-term soil management plans that benefit pollinators and pollination.

Personal ornaments from Hayonim and Manot caves (Israel) hint at symbolic ties between the Levantine and the European Aurignacian.

Situated at the crossroads of Africa and Eurasia, the Levant is a crucial region for understanding the origins and spread of Upper Paleolithic (UP) traditions associated with the spread of modern humans. Of the two local Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplexes, the Ahmarian and the Levantine Aurignacian, the latter appears to be unique in the endemic UP sequence, exhibiting greater similarity to the West European 'classic' Aurignacian than to the local preceding and proceeding UP entities. Previous publications have mostly focused on the similarities between the two lithic industries and less on studies conducted on Levantine Aurignacian bone tools and ornaments. Here, we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of ornaments on animal teeth from the Levantine Aurignacian layers at Manot and Hayonim caves (the Galilee, Israel). The selection of taxa, the choice of teeth, the mode of modification, and the use-wear analysis exhibit clear similarities with the European Aurignacian. This, with the technology of the osseous raw material exploitation, the presence of antler simple-base points, and some lithic typotechnological features, suggest a link between the symbolic spheres of the Levantine and the European Aurignacian cultural entities. Such similarity also supports some contribution of European Aurignacians groups to the local cultural entities, intermingling with the local material culture features.

Symbolic emblems of the Levantine Aurignacians as a regional entity identifier (Hayonim Cave, Lower Galilee, Israel).

The Levantine Aurignacian is a unique phenomenon in the local Upper Paleolithic sequence, showing greater similarity to the West European classic Aurignacian than to the local Levantine archaeological entities preceding and following it. Herewith we highlight another unique characteristic of this entity, namely, the presence of symbolic objects in the form of notched bones (mostly gazelle scapulae) from the Aurignacian levels of Hayonim Cave, Lower Galilee, Israel. Through both macroscopic and microscopic analyses of the items, we suggest that they are not mere cut marks but rather are intentional (decorative?) human-made markings. The significance of this evidence for symbolic behavior is discussed in its chrono-cultural and geographical contexts. Notched bones are among the oldest symbolic expressions of anatomically modern humans. However, unlike other Paleolithic sites where such findings were reported in single numbers, the number of these items recovered at Hayonim Cave is sufficient to assume they possibly served as an emblem of the Levantine Aurignacian.

Phenotypic and treatment outcome data on SUNCT and SUNA, including a randomised placebo-controlled trial.

Background Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with cranial autonomic symptoms (SUNA) are two rare headache syndromes classified broadly as Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias (TACs). Methods Here, 65 SUNCT (37 males) and 37 SUNA (18 males) patients were studied to describe their clinical manifestations and responses to treatment. Results Pain was almost always unilateral and side-locked. There were three types of attack: Single stabs, stab groups, and a saw-tooth pattern, with some patients experiencing a mixture of two types. As to cranial autonomic symptoms, SUNA patients mainly had lacrimation (41%) and ptosis (40%). Most cases of the two syndromes had attack triggers, and the most common triggers were touching, chewing, or eating for SUNCT, and chewing/eating and touching for SUNA. More than half of each group had a personal or family history of migraine that resulted in more likely photophobia, phonophobia and persistent pain between attacks. For short-term prevention, both syndromes were highly responsive to intravenous lidocaine by infusion; for long-term prevention, lamotrigine and topiramate were effective for SUNCT, and lamotrigine and gabapentin were efficacious in preventing SUNA attacks. A randomized placebo-controlled cross-over trial of topiramate in SUNCT using an N-of-1 design demonstrated it to be an effective treatment in line with clinical experience. Conclusions SUNCT and SUNA are rare primary headache disorders that are distinct and very often tractable to medical therapy.

SUN: Short-Lasting Unilateral Neuralgiform Headache Attacks.

PREMISE: Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks (SUN) are part of the group of primary headaches called trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs). They are characterized by unilateral attacks of pain with associated ipsilateral cranial autonomic symptoms. PROBLEM: Recently the classification of these attacks has changed, to incorporate the different types of autonomic symptoms such as conjunctival injection and tearing (or lack thereof). Previously considered to be rare and rather refractory to treatment, there is an increasing awareness of this syndrome and the therapeutic possibilities. DISCUSSION: This article discusses the clinical aspects of the syndrome, pathophysiology, current, and future treatments.

Let it go: the flexible engagement and disengagement of monitoring processes in a non-focal prospective memory task.

Remembering to perform a delayed intention is referred to as prospective memory (PM). In two studies, participants performed an Eriksen flanker task with an embedded PM task (they had to remember to press F1 if a pre-specified cue appeared). In study 1, participants performed a flanker task with either a concurrent PM task or a delayed PM task (instructed to carry out the intention in a later different task). In the delayed PM condition, the PM cues appeared unexpectedly early and we examined whether attention would be captured by the PM cue even though they were not relevant. Results revealed ongoing task costs solely in the concurrent PM condition but no significant task costs in the delayed PM condition showing that attention was not captured by the PM cue when it appeared in an irrelevant context. In study 2, we compared a concurrent PM condition (exactly as in Study 1) to a PM forget condition in which participants were told at a certain point during the flanker task that they no longer had to perform the PM task. Analyses revealed that participants were able to switch off attending to PM cues when instructed to forget the PM task. Results from both studies demonstrate the flexibility of monitoring as evidenced by the presence versus absence of costs in the ongoing flanker task implying that selective attention, like a lens, can be adjusted to attend or ignore, depending on intention relevance.

Bifurcation and dynamics in a mathematical model of early atherosclerosis: How acute inflammation drives lesion development.

We present here a mathematical model describing the primary mechanisms that drive the early stages of atherosclerosis. This involves the interactions between modified low density lipoprotein (LDL), monocytes/macrophages, cytokines and foam cells. This model suggests that there is an initial inflammatory phase associated with atherosclerotic lesion development and a longer, quasi-static process of plaque development inside the arterial wall that follows the initial transient. We will show results that show how different LDL concentrations in the blood stream and different immune responses can affect the development of a plaque. Through numerical bifurcation analysis, we show the existence of a fold bifurcation when the flux of LDL from the blood is sufficiently high. By analysing the model presented in this paper, we gain a greater insight into this inflammatory response qualitatively and quantitatively.

Athero-protective effects of High Density Lipoproteins (HDL): An ODE model of the early stages of atherosclerosis.

We present an ODE model which we use to investigate how High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) reduce the inflammatory response in atherosclerosis. HDL causes atherosclerotic plaque stabilisation and regression, and is an important potential marker and prevention target for cardiovascular disease. HDL enables cholesterol efflux from the arterial wall, macrophage and foam cell emigration, and has other athero-protective effects. Our basic inflammatory model is augmented to include several different ways that HDL can act in early atherosclerosis. In each case, the action of HDL is represented via a parameter in the model. The long-term model behaviour is investigated through phase plane analysis and simulations. Our results indicate that only HDL-enabled cholesterol efflux can stabilise the internalised lipid content in the lesion so that it does not continue to grow, but this does not reduce macrophage numbers which is required to stabilise the lesion or prevent rupture. HDL-enabled macrophage emigration guarantees lesion stabilisation by maintaining stable macrophage content.

The use of carinated items in the Levantine Aurignacian-Insights from layer D, Hayonim Cave, W. Galilee, Israel.

A longstanding debate concerns the function of carinated elements in both, the Levantine, and European Aurignacian. The present study aims to contribute to this topic with the evaluation of the carinated assemblage from layer D in Hayonim Cave, Western Galilee, Israel, one of the type sites of the Levantine Aurignacian. An operational chain reconstruction with an attribute analysis is paired with a typological approach to the preparation and maintenance products based on artefacts defined as West European Aurignacian. The results of this study are investigated with multivariate statistics offering a methodological contribution. The data is subjected to a transformation into a distance matrix using the Gower distance and tested with the adonis-algorithm for significance. The results clearly indicate that the carinated items in Hayonim Cave did fully or partially function as cores. They are accompanied by diagnostic preparation- and- maintenance products known from the literature e.g. Thèmes bladelets. The statistical analysis indicates only a minor correlation with stratigraphy yet supports the techno-typological criteria applied for defining artefact categories (cores, debitage, tools), as well as the proposed differentiation of carinated 'core' types. The non-carinated cores in Hayonim Cave are characterised by a high variability in typology and reduction concepts. A curious similarity to the Levallois-concept is observed on some of the flake cores. It is therefore suggested that the frequent recycling of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts in the Levantine Aurignacian might have given the Aurignacian flint-knappers the opportunity to study the Levallois concept and apply an approximation of it in their own core reduction strategies. The notion that Palaeolithic flint-knappers actively observed former technological systems through the discarded artefacts directly opens up a new trajectory for the understanding of lithic reduction concept permanence. The conceptual diversification and variability in Hayonim Cave D indicate a highly dynamic period in the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic which increased the adaptive potential and promoted a rapid cultural change.

Cervidae antlers exploited to manufacture prehistoric tools and hunting implements as a reliable source of ancient DNA.

Antler is one of the primary animal raw materials exploited for technical purposes by the hunter-gatherer groups of the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic (UP) all over the ecological range of deers, and beyond. It was exhaustively employed to produce one of the most critical tools for the survival of the UP societies: hunting weapons. However, antler implements can be made from diverse deer taxa, with different ecological requirements and ethological behaviours. Identifying the antler's origin at a taxonomic level is thus essential in improving our knowledge of humans' functional, practical and symbolic choices, as well as the human-animal interface during Prehistoric times. Nevertheless, palaeogenetics analyses have focused mainly on bone and teeth, with genetic studies of antler generally focused on modern deer conservation. Here we present the results of the first whole mitochondrial genome ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis by means of in-solution hybridisation capture of antlers from pre-Holocene archaeological contexts. We analysed a set of 50 Palaeolithic and Neolithic (c. 34-8ka) antler and osseous objects from South-Western Europe, Central Europe, South-Western Asia and the Caucasus. We successfully obtained aDNA, allowing us to identify the exploited taxa and demonstrate the archaeological relevance of those finds. Moreover, as most of the antlers were sampled using a minimally-invasive method, further analyses (morphometric, technical, genetic, radiometric and more) remain possible on these objects.

Religiosity, Mental Health and Substance Use among Black and Hispanic Adults during the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between personal religiosity, mental health, and substance use outcomes among Black and Hispanic adults during the first six months of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City (NYC). Phone interviews were conducted with 441 adults to obtain information on all variables. Participants self-reported race/ethnicity as Black/African American (n = 108) or Hispanic (n = 333). Logistic regression were used to examine associations between religiosity, mental health, and substance use. There was a significant inverse association of religiosity and substance use. Religious people had a lower prevalence of drinking alcohol (49.0%) compared to non-religious people (67.1%). Religious people also had substantially lower prevalence of cannabis or other drug use (9.1%) in comparison to non-religious people (31%). After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and household income, the association of religiosity with alcohol use and with cannabis/other drug use remained statistically significant. Despite restricted access to in-person religious activities and congregational supports, the findings suggest that religiosity itself may be helpful from a public health perspective, independent of serving as a conduit for other social services.

The specificity of prospective memory costs.

A current issue in the field of prospective memory (i.e., memory for intentions) is the extent to which intentions interfere with ongoing activities. A question of interest is whether this interference is specific to stimuli that are relevant to the intention or whether interference is more general in its influence. Participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT) with an embedded prospective memory (PM) task in which they had to remember to press a computer key if a pre-specified target appeared (e.g., GIRL). Results demonstrated a consistent pattern of results. Increased reaction time costs were observed on trials where there was a match between PM targets and non-target ongoing stimuli. That is, when a prospective memory target was a word, then reaction time costs were observed on non-target word LDT trials and there were no costs on non-target nonword trials. Similarly, if a PM target was a nonword (e.g., UEBL) then costs were observed on non-target nonword LDT trials relative to non-target word trials. Evidence from three experiments suggests that task interference is specific to the type of stimulus (word or nonword) that is relevant to the intention. We refer to this finding as a Stimulus Specific Interference Effect (SSIE).

Kaizer Hill (Modi'in), a pre-pottery neolithic a quarry site - the terraced slopes.

The research of the Kaizer Hill site (the Hilltop and its Terraces), recognized as a Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) quarry site, involved studies of the rock damage associated with the quarrying activities as well as of the recovered material remains, mostly chipped stone artifacts. We present here the results of our on-site explorations (excavations, surveys and surface-collections), focusing on the findings deriving from the Terraces. Diverse rock damage patterns were identified and described, portraying systematic rock mass-exploitation through quarrying fronts, natural rock joints and fissures enlargement, drilling and chiseling. There are multiple indications that the local bedrock (Bi'na Formation, Turonian) comprising flint and limestone was quarried under a systematic quality evaluation, leaving residual flint unsuitable for exploitation. Of interest to note that nearly all of the flint artifacts excavated and collected on the Terraces were made on raw material transported from the Hilltop (Mishash Formation, Campanian), knapped in-situ, on the quarried rock surfaces of the slopes. The flint tools bear witness to intensive use involving mainly boring and drilling. The dominant tool type is the flint axe for which a variety of waste products related to its production were found in-situ, enabling the reconstruction of axe reduction sequence. Similar axes and waste products were found in many PPN sites indicating that there was a common, widely-used scheme of making flint axes during the PPN. Interestingly, besides the flint waste, there were also limestone waste products typical of the last shaping and thinning stages of axe production, indicating that limestone axes were shaped technologically similar to the flint ones, contrary to what has been assumed before. Rare findings, such as obsidian pieces, originating from much further a-field indicate ties with other PPN communities, near and/or far. Overall, this study provides unique and novel insights on Levantine PPN lifeways.

A 12,000-year-old Shaman burial from the southern Levant (Israel).

The Natufians of the southern Levant (15,000-11,500 cal BP) underwent pronounced socioeconomic changes associated with the onset of sedentism and the shift from a foraging to farming lifestyle. Excavations at the 12,000-year-old Natufian cave site, Hilazon Tachtit (Israel), have revealed a grave that provides a rare opportunity to investigate the ideological shifts that must have accompanied these socioeconomic changes. The grave was constructed and specifically arranged for a petite, elderly, and disabled woman, who was accompanied by exceptional grave offerings. The grave goods comprised 50 complete tortoise shells and select body-parts of a wild boar, an eagle, a cow, a leopard, and two martens, as well as a complete human foot. The interment rituals and the method used to construct and seal the grave suggest that this is the burial of a shaman, one of the earliest known from the archaeological record. Several attributes of this burial later become central in the spiritual arena of human cultures worldwide.

New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia).

The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence's characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere.

Genome-scale sequencing and analysis of human, wolf, and bison DNA from 25,000-year-old sediment.

Cave sediments have been shown to preserve ancient DNA but so far have not yielded the genome-scale information of skeletal remains. We retrieved and analyzed human and mammalian nuclear and mitochondrial environmental "shotgun" genomes from a single 25,000-year-old Upper Paleolithic sediment sample from Satsurblia cave, western Georgia:first, a human environmental genome with substantial basal Eurasian ancestry, which was an ancestral component of the majority of post-Ice Age people in the Near East, North Africa, and parts of Europe; second, a wolf environmental genome that is basal to extant Eurasian wolves and dogs and represents a previously unknown, likely extinct, Caucasian lineage; and third, a European bison environmental genome that is basal to present-day populations, suggesting that population structure has been substantially reshaped since the Last Glacial Maximum. Our results provide new insights into the Late Pleistocene genetic histories of these three species and demonstrate that direct shotgun sequencing of sediment DNA, without target enrichment methods, can yield genome-wide data informative of ancestry and phylogenetic relationships.

Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias: paroxysmal hemicrania, SUNCT/SUNA, and hemicrania continua.

The trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) are a group of primary headache disorders that include cluster headache (CH), paroxysmal hemicrania (PH), and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing/cranial autonomic features (SUNCT/SUNA). Hemicrania continua (HC) is often included with this group, although the second edition of The International Classification of Headache Disorders did not link the entities. Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias are generally characterized by relatively short-lasting attacks of severe pain and lateralized associated features including the pain, cranial autonomic symptoms, and where present, migrainous symptoms, such as photophobia. Paroxysmal hemicrania has intermediate duration and intermediate attack frequency. Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing has the shortest attack duration and the highest attack frequency. Hemicrania continua has a continuous pain with exacerbations that can include cranial autonomic symptoms as part of the phenotype. The syndromes share much in their pathophysiology and investigation paths; however, their treatment is distinct, so that the accurate differentiation is important for optimal management.

Long-term repetition priming of briefly identified objects.

The authors provide evidence that long-term memory encoding can occur for briefly viewed objects in a rapid serial visual presentation list, contrary to claims that the brief presentation and quick succession of objects prevent encoding by disrupting a memory consolidation process that requires hundreds of milliseconds of uninterrupted processing. Subjects performed a search task in which each item was presented for only 75 ms. Nontargets from the search task generated priming on 2 subsequent indirect memory tests: a search task and a task requiring identification of visually masked objects. Additional experiments revealed that information encoded into memory for these nontargets included perceptual and conceptual components, and that these results were not due to subjects maintaining items in working memory during list presentation. These results are consistent with recent neurophysiological evidence showing that stimulus processing can occur at later stages in the cognitive system even when a subsequent new stimulus is presented that initiates processing at earlier stages.