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From Prey to Pattern: Integrating Faunal and Behavioural Evidence of Neanderthal Subsistence at Fumane Cave (Unit A9), Northern Italy
Get PDFThis study presents a zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the previously unstudied component of the Mousterian faunal assemblage from Unit A9 at Grotta di Fumane (northeastern Italy), offering refined insights into Neanderthal subsistence behaviour during Marine Isotope Stage 3. Building on the previously published analysis of the principal portion of the assemblage, the new data reaffirm a subsistence strategy focused on selective transport and intensive on-site processing of high-utility carcass components. The ungulate assemblage—dominated by Cervus elaphus and Capreolus capreolus, with additional contributions from Rupicapra rupicapra and Capra ibex—is characterised by the dominance of hindlimb elements, moderate cranial representation, and a pronounced scarcity of axial remains. These patterns indicate that carcass reduction commenced at kill sites, where low-yield trunk segments were removed, while high-nutritional-value limb portions were preferentially transported to the cave for secondary processing. Taphonomic indicators, including abundant cut marks, percussion notches, and extensive bone fragmentation, demonstrate systematic defleshing, marrow extraction, and possible grease rendering within the cave, activities that were spatially associated with combustion features. Occasional cranial transport suggests targeted acquisition of high-fat tissues such as brains and tongue, behaviour consistent with cold-climate optimisation strategies documented in both ethnographic and experimental contexts. Collectively, the evidence indicates that Unit A9 served as a residential locus embedded within a logistically organised mobility system, where carcass processing, resource exploitation, and lithic activities were closely integrated. These findings reinforce the broader picture of late Neanderthals as adaptable and behaviourally sophisticated foragers capable of strategic planning and efficient exploitation of ungulate prey within the dynamic environments of northern Italy
Applying a seascape ecology approach enables biophysical and eco-cultural evaluation of marine protected areas
Get PDFContext: To properly determine the efficacy of marine protected areas (MPAs), a seascape perspective that integrates ecosystem elements at scales commensurate with the resources and their users is needed. Objectives: In 1983, the State of Hawaiʻi established the Pūpūkea Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD) on the North Shore of O‘ahu to conserve unique ecological resources and provide recreational opportunities. In 2002, the total marine area under protection was expanded by 0.7 km2 (545%), and restrictions on harvest were added through a community-driven process. We aimed to evaluate the biophysical and eco-cultural effects of this rezoning process using a seascape ecology approach. Methods: We applied a seascape ecology approach using landscape ecology theory to evaluate the new marine protected area design. The approach incorporated traditional ecological knowledge with in situ surveys and remote sensing, allowing us to examine unique biophysical conditions, specific ecological resources, and the eco-cultural and historical context of the Pūpūkea MLCD. Results: Examination of the cultural seascape of Pūpūkea illuminated numerous important species, heiau (places of worship), and wahi pana (storied places) that detailed the ways the local community was historically tied to ocean resources and the subsequent loss of those connections. The expansion and rezoning of the Pūpūkea MLCD resulted in an increase in habitat diversity, depth range, and structural complexity across the protected area seascape. Between 2003 and 2016, overall fish biomass increased by 60%, driven primarily by herbivorous species. Conversely, fish biomass outside the protected area remained low and relatively constant over this period. Conclusions: We found that multiple mo‘olelo (stories) speak to a historical coastal community highly interconnected with a sense of place, ocean rhythms, and fishing resources. The application of a seascape ecology approach and remote sensing technology allowed us to understand the eco-cultural context, quantify the biophysical context, evaluate broad-scale changes, and characterize the ability of this MLCD to protect and restore the area’s ecosystems. These results demonstrated that an adaptive, community-driven rezoning process produced an effective ecosystem-based protected area design that led to improvements in a number of fish assemblage metrics over time, which may allow for this community to reconnect with the cultural seascape and sense of place that once guided the stewardship of these marine resources
Multimodal LLMs for historical dataset construction from archival image scans: German patents (1877-1918)
Get PDFWeleverage multimodal large language models (LLMs) to construct a dataset of 306,070 German patents (1877–1918) from 9,562 archival image scans using our LLM-based pipeline powered by Gemini-2.5-Pro and Gemini-2.5-Flash-Lite. Our benchmarking exercise provides tentative evidence that multimodal LLMs can create higher quality datasets than our research assistants, while also being more than 795 times faster and 205 times cheaper in constructing the patent dataset from our image corpus. About 20 to 50 patent entries are embedded on each page, arranged in a double-column format and printed in Gothic and Roman fonts. The font and layout complexity of our primary source material suggests to us that multimodal LLMs are a paradigm shift in how datasets are constructed in economic history. We open-source our benchmarking and patent datasets as well as our LLM-based data pipeline, which can be easily adapted to other image corpora using LLM-assisted coding tools, lowering the barriers for less technical researchers. Finally, we explain the economics of deploying LLMs for historical dataset construction and conclude by speculating on the potential implications for the field of economic history
The Effectiveness of Digital Therapeutics Intervention in Oral Anticoagulation Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Get PDFObjectiveTo summarize the key intervention characteristics and evaluate the effectiveness and safety of digital therapeutics (DTx) in patients receiving oral anticoagulation, with effectiveness evaluated using time in therapeutic range (TTR), thromboembolic events, and mortality, and safety evaluated based on bleeding events.Patients and methodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from inception to June 20, 2025, and identified 10 randomized controlled trials involving 7237 patients. The criteria required studies to assess software-based DTx supporting anticoagulation management and report effectiveness or safety outcomes. Study quality was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework, and random-effects models were applied.ResultsDigital therapeutics interventions were associated with a lower incidence of major bleeding than usual care: no clear differences in TTR, thromboembolic events, or mortality. Evidence quality ranged from very low to high. Secondary analyses showed more international normalized ratio testing with DTx; rehospitalization rates did not differ significantly between the groups. Sensitivity analysis changed TTR effect after excluding a study with enhanced control, but other outcomes remained unchanged.ConclusionDigital therapeutics interventions for anticoagulation management improve safety outcomes, particularly reducing major bleeding, and with greater monitoring intensity. Larger, long-term trials are needed to confirm the clinical benefits and evaluate cost-effectiveness.Trial registrationPROSPERO Identifier: CRD420251107441
Pre‐exposure prophylaxis use in blood donors in England
Get PDFBackground and Objectives: The For the Assessment of Individualized Risk (FAIR) framework, introduced by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in 2021, aims to reduce stigma and improve equity in blood donor selection, particularly for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). While pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective at preventing sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus, its declared use excludes individuals from blood donation. This study examined PrEP use among male blood donors with current or past syphilis in England to evaluate guideline compliance and implications for blood safety. Materials and Methods: Residual plasma samples from syphilis‐positive male blood donors collected in 2023 were tested for PrEP. These data were combined with two previous studies of syphilis‐positive donors conducted between July 2018 and June 2024, incorporating demographics and reported PrEP use. Results: The rate of syphilis‐positive blood donations increased from 4.09 to 10.32 per 100,000 donations between 2018 and 2024 (p = 0.048, Mann–Kendall trend test) with a rising proportion of past syphilis cases attributed to GBMSM (18%–37%; p = 0.004, Fisher's test, p = 0.001 Mann–Kendall test); 7.1% of syphilis‐positive blood samples from male blood donors tested positive for PrEP in 2023, indicating frequent non‐compliance with donation guidelines. Conclusion: Persistent PrEP use among syphilis‐positive donors since 2018 suggests gaps in donor education regarding eligibility. Targeted public health interventions, particularly for younger GBMSM, are needed to strengthen sexual health education, PrEP messaging and awareness of donation criteria. Further research into other infections associated with high‐risk sexual behaviour is warranted
Knowledge, attitudes, preventive practices, and associated factors of cutaneous leishmaniasis among adults of Kandahar city, Afghanistan
Get PDFKandahar city is highly endemic for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Afghanistan, caused mostly by Leishmania tropica. The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, prevention practices, and their associated factors to inform control policy. This community-based cross-sectional analytical study included 2,044 adults from three randomly selected districts of Kandahar city (March–August 2024). Data were analysed by descriptive statistics, Chi-squared, and multivariate logistic regression. P-value 40 years (AOR 4.0, 95% CI 2.9–5.4) and belonging to a middle- or high-income family (AOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2–2.2), and (iii) poor preventive practices towards CL were aged > 40 years (AOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3–1.9), being illiterate (AOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.7), and in a family size of 40 years
Visual localization in 3D maps: comparing point cloud, mesh, and NeRF representations
Get PDFRecent advances in mapping techniques have enabled the creation of highly accurate dense 3D maps during robotic missions, such as point clouds, meshes, or NeRF-based representations. These developments present new opportunities for reusing these maps for localization. However, there remains a lack of a unified approach that can operate seamlessly across different map representations. This paper presents and evaluates a global visual localization system capable of localizing a single camera image across various 3D map representations built using both visual and lidar sensing. Our system generates a database by synthesizing novel views of the scene, creating RGB and depth image pairs. Leveraging the precise 3D geometric map, our method automatically defines rendering poses, reducing the number of database images while preserving retrieval performance. To bridge the domain gap between real query camera images and synthetic database images, our approach utilizes learning-based descriptors and feature detectors. We evaluate the system’s performance through extensive real-world experiments conducted in both indoor and outdoor settings, assessing the effectiveness of each map representation and demonstrating its advantages over traditional structure-from-motion (SfM) localization approaches. The results show that all three map representations can achieve consistent localization success rates of 55% and higher across various environments. NeRF synthesized images show superior performance, localizing query images at an average success rate of 72%. Furthermore, we demonstrate an advantage over SfM-based approaches that our synthesized database enables localization in the reverse travel direction which is unseen during the mapping process. Our system, operating in real-time on a mobile laptop equipped with a GPU, achieves a processing rate of 1 Hz
The adaptor protein TASL is required for age-related B cell emergence and lupus-like disease development in mice
Get PDFThe autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with genetic variants in the X-linked gene CXORF21, which encodes the protein TASL. TASL acts as an adaptor in the IRF5 pathway and is necessary for the phosphorylation of IRF5 in response to TLR7 or TLR9 stimulation. Here, we investigate the role of TASL in the humoral immune response, and in the development of lupus in the B6.MRLlpr murine model of SLE. We find that while TASL is dispensable for their development, it is required for the full activation of B cells via TLR9 stimulation, and consequent interferon signaling and inflammatory cytokine expression. Additionally, TASL is crucial for the emergence of age-associated B cells (ABCs), a B cell population derived from the extrafollicular response that increases with age and is expanded in autoimmune disease, and the production of IgG2c antibodies. We also find that deletion of TASL prevents the onset of autoimmunity in the genetically-determined B6.MRLlpr model of lupus
Safe learning in humans and machines
Get PDFIntelligent agents, biological or artificial, face a fundamental dilemma: how to learn safely from experience when learning inevitably involves making mistakes. This requires the ability to explore environments with caution during learning (i.e., safe exploration) and to infer deviations from homeostatic grace, such as injury in animals or faults in robots, to reorganise behaviour appropriately (i.e., self-preservation). This work first explores safe exploration through strategies that combine multiple value functions. A critical safety-efficiency trade-off is identified, arising from the conflict between instrumental control, which learns the consequences of actions, and learned defensive reflexes such as Pavlovian biases to withdraw from aversive stimuli. It is hypothesised that this trade-off can be resolved by gating Pavlovian avoidance based on outcome uncertainty, and a basic test is provided in a human approach–withdrawal virtual reality experiment. Noting the suboptimality underlying Pavlovian misbehaviour, the thesis subsequently proposes a mechanism by which the dopaminergic system could optimally compose multiple values to support efficient, safe, and stable learning. Shifting focus from external threats to bodily integrity, the thesis next addresses the problem of self-preservation, with particular emphasis on the computational representation of injury. Post-injury homeostasis is modelled as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), explaining counterintuitive behaviours such as investigating an injury despite immediate pain. This framework is used to mathematically formalise an information-restriction model of pain chronification, providing a quantitative complement to the Fear-Avoidance model. These concepts are then extended to machines: robots performing stereotypical movements can employ self-supervised learning and local learning rules to build internal models of expected sensorimotor experience, enabling fault detection and adaptive responses to unexpected deviations. Together, this work advances the understanding of safe learning, a challenge shared by humans and machines, with implications for understanding post-injury transitions to chronic pain and the development of neuro-inspired safe AI