Dataset Information

Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidron (Asturias, Spain): evidence from instrumental striations with ontogenetic inferences.

ABSTRACT: The developed cognitive capabilities for Homo sapiens seems to be the result of a specialized and lateralized brain, and as a result of this, humans display the highest degree of manual specialization or handedness among the primates. Studies regarding its emergence and distribution within the genus Homo show that handedness is present very early. The mode in which it was articulated and spread across the different species during the course of human evolution could provide information about our own cognitive capacities. Here we report the manual laterality attributed to eleven 49,000 old Neandertal individuals from El Sidrón cave (Spain), through the study of instrumental or cultural striations on the anterior dentition. Our results show a predominant pattern addressed to right-handers. These results fit within the modern human handedness distribution pattern and provide indirect evidence for behavior and brain lateralization on Neandertals. They support the early establishment of handedness in our genus. Moreover, the individual identified as Juvenile 1 (6-8 years old at death), displays the same striation pattern as the adult Neandertals from the sample, and thereby the ontogenic development of manual laterality in that Neandertal population seems to be similar to that of living modern humans.

SUBMITTER: Estalrrich A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3646041 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain): evidence from instrumental striations with ontogenetic inferences.

Estalrrich Almudena A Rosas Antonio A

PloS one 20130506 5

The developed cognitive capabilities for Homo sapiens seems to be the result of a specialized and lateralized brain, and as a result of this, humans display the highest degree of manual specialization or handedness among the primates. Studies regarding its emergence and distribution within the genus Homo show that handedness is present very early. The mode in which it was articulated and spread across the different species during the course of human evolution could provide information about our ...[more]

PMID: 23671635

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Project description:BackgroundThe aim is to investigate the factors that might be associated with the presence of induced abortion (IA) in women prostitutes in Asturias (Spain).Methodology/principal findingsCross-sectional descriptive study by self-completion questionnaire of 212 women prostitutes who attended the three Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics in Asturias, between January-December 2003. The questionnaire was designed to investigate the women's perceived knowledge (what they claimed to know), their real knowledge (what they really knew), the use of contraceptive methods and socio-demographic variables. Multivariate analysis was carried out. 92% of the participants were immigrants. 76% were practising at brothel. 37.6% (95%CI:30.7-44.4%) reported to have undergone at least one IA during their life. According to the logistic regression the "presence of IA" was directly associated with the variables "number of pregnancies" (OR:65.82;95%IC:7.73-560.14) and "years of practising prostitution" (OR:1.13;95%CI:0.99-1.29); and inversely associated with "children" (0 = no children;1 = one or more children; OR:0.005;95%CI:0.000-0.057), "women's age" (OR:0.89;95%CI:0.82-0.97) and "real contraceptive knowledge" (OR:0.50; 95%CI:0.34-0.75). Married women were more likely to have undergone an IA (OR:2.74;95%IC:1.05-7.13). No association with "perceived contraceptive knowledge" was found.Conclusions/significanceThe characteristics more closely linked to the reproductive history of the women (such as "pregnancies", "children"), together with the "real contraceptive knowledge" and the "time practising prostitution" explain the presence of IA better than factors more closely linked to the conditions in which the women practise prostitution ("place of activity", "other activities compatible with prostitution", "use of safe method in commercial relation"). It is possible that IA is being used as a birth control method, hypothesis suggested by the inverse association observed between the variable "children" and the "presence of IA". Therefore, the promotion of the use of safe contraceptive methods should be a high-priority. If the real contraceptive knowledge was measured correctly, all strategies to increase it would be justified because it was inversely associated with the presence of IA.

Project description:BACKGROUND: The prevalence of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in Spain is heterogeneous and varies according to geographical origin of studied families. The contribution of these mutations to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer has not been previously investigated in Asturian populations (Northern Spain). METHODS: In the present work, 256 unrelated high-risk probands with breast and/or ovarian cancer from families living in Asturias were analyzed for the presence of a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation from October 2007 to May 2012. The entire coding sequences and each intron/exon boundaries of BRCA1/2 genes were screened both by direct sequencing and Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA). RESULTS: A total of 59 families (23%) were found to carry a pathogenic germ line mutation, 39 in BRCA1 and 20 in BRCA2. Twenty nine additional families (12%) carried an unknown significance variant. We detected 28 distinct pathogenic mutations (16 in BRCA1 and 12 in BRCA2), of which 3 mutations in BRCA1 (c.1674delA, c.1965C>A and c.2900_2901dupCT) and 5 in BRCA2 (c.262_263delCT, c.2095C>T, c.3263dupC, c.4030_4035delinsC, c.8042_8043delCA) had not been previously described.The novel mutations c.2900_2901dupCT in BRCA1 and c.4030_4035delinsC in BRCA2 occurred in 8 and 6 families respectively and clustered in two separated small geographically isolated areas suggesting a founder effect. These 2 mutations, together with the Galician BRCA1 mutation c.211A>G (9 families), and the common BRCA1 mutation c.3331_3334delCAAG (6 families), account for approximately 50% of all affected families. By contrast, very frequent mutations in other Spanish series such as the BRCA1 Ashkenazi founder mutation c.68_69delAG, was found in only one family. CONCLUSIONS: In this study we report the BRCA1 and BRCA2 spectrum of mutations and their geographical distribution in Asturias, which largely differ from other areas of Spain. Our findings may help design a first step recurrent mutation panel for screening high-risk breast and/or ovarian cancer families from this specific area.

Dataset Information

Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidron (Asturias, Spain): evidence from instrumental striations with ontogenetic inferences.

Publications

Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain): evidence from instrumental striations with ontogenetic inferences.

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