Analyse des artefacts lithiques du site de Longgupo

Excavation has enabled recovery of 854 artifacts within 30 archaeological levels in the south sector and 11 in the north (chapter 3). These levels are quite probably contemporaneous, or even the same. The quantitative disparity in the number of strata between the two sectors is simply due to the fact that only the lower half of the northern zone was completely investigated. Similarly, the number of artifacts recovered by level varies according to the surface area excavated, although is some cases the density of material is significant despite the small area excavated, for example stratum C IV 5 which contains 174 lithic artifacts in 2 m². Before undertaking the technological analysis of the artifacts, given the preceding polemics provoked by the great age of this site and its implications for the spread of the first populations out of Africa, it was deemed important to carry out a plurifactorial analysis combining all of the data related to: the stratigraphy, taphonomic processes (post-depositional disturbance), analysis of natural processes that may have produced eoliths, experimentation and techno-functional analysis of the material. The stratigraphy shows clear interstratifications of fine and coarse fluviatile levels with often very clear particle size sorting of the coarse fraction. The archaeological material is typically found at the interface of these strata, either at the base of a clayey matrix, overlying a preceding coarse level, or in the superficial part of a sandy-clay deposit underlying coarse deposits. Post-depositional disturbance revealed during the new excavations in 2003–2006 cannot alone be the cause of eoliths. Excavation of a 6 m² zone in the modern river bed, located below the site, has demonstrated that the technological traits of eoliths recovered cannot in any way be confused with the technological traits of the artifacts recovered at the site itself. Similarly, viewed quantitatively, the 6 m² zone excavated in the river bed yielded around 20 eoliths while the 30 m² zone excavated at the site yielded 854 artifacts, one stratum alone yielding 184 artifacts in a 3 m² zone. During the experimental phase, adopting the same conditions of procuring raw material, from the same river bed, we very quickly realized the rarity of types of adequate volume that had been generally used at the site and the need to use certain operational processes to create such a form. In addition, the hardness and presence of several natural fracture planes in the Triassic limestone explain the choice of different operational processes and the very high number of knapping accidents, including those occurring during bipolar percussion. Although 90% of the raw material used was cobbles or broken blocks of local Triassic limestone, 10% of the tools were made on exogenous raw materials – siliceous or gravelly limestone, quartzitic sandstone, chert, volcanic rock – that are absent from the immediate environment of the site. These raw materials were brought to the site in the form of tools: worked cobbles, large retouched flakes, backed double-truncated flakes, a plaquette with a lateral bifacial edge, etc. The 854 artifacts have been classified into six object classes: worked cobbles with transversal edge (39%), worked cobbles with lateral edge (2%), unipolar flakes (27%), bipolar objects (half-blocks, half-cobbles including some flat “split” cobbles, “orange slices”, flakes and diverse fragments) (17%) and fragments resulting from knapping of blocks or cobbles (13%), hammerstone (2%). When the frequencies of these classes are calculated for each of the sectors, percentages are similar, indicating a high degree of homogeneity in the archaeological assemblages at the site. The situation is somewhat different when assemblages are compared within a single sector. Slight differences appear in the percentages of bipolar pieces and unipolar flakes. These differences seem to be random, like the frequency rate of knapping accidents in bipolar reduction, or economic, such as the choice of operational schemes to create worked cobbles based on the availability of suitable raw materials. The technological affinity between each of the archaeological assemblages tends to demonstrate great stability in technological knowledge through time. The class of worked cobbles is by far the most important and, apart from a few flakes produced intentionally, it appears to group all of the tools. To avoid placing these tools in a restrictive, semantically meaningless, class, we prefer the concept of matrix to the term worked cobble. A matrix is a structured arrangement of a series of technological traits, in a form as close as possible to that of the future tool. The matrix phase leads to the tool production phase, which may be unnecessary if the matrix phase includes fictionalization. In other words, the concept of matrix enables separating the phase of preparing a predetermined volume, such as a blade, Levallois flake or bifacial piece, from the tool production phase, consisting in creating the type of transformative edge intended, if necessary. The tool is thus an artifact of a specific form with an integrated edge and an operational scheme both specific to the function attributed to it and means of use associated with the form. Observed variability relates to: the size of the volume ranging from to 20, morphology, the form of the line formed by the edge which can in frontal view be curved, linear, sinuous or denticulated, and in transversal view curved, linear, sinuous or saw-toothed, and the length of the edge ranging from 1 to 10. Matrices with a simple bevel are distinguished from double bevels. In the framework of the technological analysis of production schemes to produce matrices with a simple bevel, a broad range of variability in production schemes can be observed, divided arbitrarily into two stages. The first stage consists in creating as closely as possibly the technological traits of the future matrix due to five general schemes. The first scheme (A) consists in selecting a cobble or block naturally possessing at least some of the technological traits needed. The missing traits are added by various preparations, including bipolar percussion 3 times out of 5. The second scheme (B) consists in knapping a flake from the block with some of the technological traits required for the matrix present on one of its surfaces. The third scheme (C) consists in the choice of a plaquette from which a bipolar shock creates the main traits of the matrix. The fourth scheme (D) consists in choosing a volume very similar to the intended matrix. The fifth and final scheme (E) consists in knapping a flake with technological traits very different from those intended. Depending on the distance between intention and realization, a second stage may be necessary. In general, this second stage perfects or creates the intended active edge, which is rarely obtained in the first stage. To produce a matrix with a double bevel, it is sometimes necessary to add an intermediate stage in order to prepare the second bevel. The first stage remains the same, with the use of the five operational schemes. By contrast, a clear difference exists in the percentages for the use of these schemes. For a matrix with a simple bevel, scheme A is dominant, followed by scheme D, while the situation is reversed for a matrix with a double bevel, where scheme D is dominant. Unipolar flakes, representing 27% of the assemblage, are produced in three different ways. The most important is flakes resulting from matrix production. The two others are flakes produced during different knapping schemes, some flakes in relation to the few cores present, other flakes in exogenous raw materials produced elsewhere and generally much larger. The other classes are dominated by bipolar products resulting essentially from knapping accidents. To summarize, these assemblages are characterized by: the search for tools differentiated by form and active edges; more than 90% of the tools made on two kinds of supports: a matrix with a simple bevel or a double bevel; matrices obtained using different operational schemes successively associating if necessary a knapping stage and a shaping stage. While the Triassic limestone is hard and thus imposes a strong constraint on knapping, the range of operational schemes appears to have been a “cultural” response diversified to this constraint and the presence of tools on exogenous raw materials. At the scale of China, comparison of this industry is impossible since it is the only site of this age and to contain so much material. The site of Majuangou, the only site of similar caliber, is younger by several hundred thousand years and is located several thousand kilometers to the north, making comparisons meaningless. We note only that most of the tool supports at Majuangou are knapped flakes. On an inter-continental scale, the comparison of sites of equal age is more promising. But lithic analyses are based on different methods, preventing comparison of similar data. However, if we make a simple summary of the data available, we can first say that in Africa, during these periods, different development technological stages were present and stages that are considered more evolved are manifestly less common using our approach. While these stages are more or less contemporaneous, which counters the idea of uniqueness, they would more surely be evidence of populations that were not in direct contact and had separate lines of development. In Asia, the Longgupo industry evidences a different technological option than that of contemporaneous populations in Africa. By contrast, when we take into account its developmental stage, we realize that this is an “evolved” stage in which the form of the support of the future tool is predominant. If we compare Africa and Asia in terms of stages, we are a priori at the same stage with different options being selected.     

Sur un occipital néandertalien des Pradelles (Marillac-le-Franc, Charente) : étude morphométrique préliminaire

In 2001 and 2003, several occipital fragments of a single mature skull were unearthed on the site of les Pradelles (Marillac-le-Franc, Charente). The archaeological context of the deposit allowed us to provisionally assign the remains to the Neandertal taxon. A morphometric study of this piece was conducted in order to confirm its placement in this lineage. Some features observed on this specimen and commonly described among Neandertals (e.g. the presence of a suprainiac fossa) as well as dimensional data locate the les Pradelles occipital within the morphological variability of Neandertals.     

Le site de Longgupo dans son environnement géologique et géomorphologique

On a regional scale, Longgupo is found within a karstic landscape of fenglin-ouvala developed in the Triassic limestones of the Yangtze platform. After several seasons, it is now possible to define and propose a scenario for the formation of the site. During one of the intense karstification phases during the Cretaceous or early Tertiary, karstic conduits were created deep in the substratum. In concert with these deep flows and by karstic collapse, a cave was created. With the start of Himalayan uplift during the Oligocene and Miocene, the beginning of fluvial cutting was reflected by the partial erosion of the upper sandstone formations and the creation of the Miaoyu Valley. This action opened the cave, which would later be occupied by the hominid groups that interest us here. Probably at the end of the Tertiary, the cave, open at the bottom of the valley slope and facing upstream, began to be filled with alluvial deposits from the valley. The basal deposits (C III 10 of the current stratigraphic sequence, levels 20-13 of the first sequence) begin with black clays; at the Plio-Pleistocene transition, deposits become clearly alluvial, increasingly marked by reworking of surface and karstic clays and by systematically coarser contributions. During the deposition period of archaeological complexes III/III’ (previously levels 12-6), karstic collapse appears to have still been active. During the Lower Pleistocene sensu lato, the coarse nature of the deposits becomes accentuated. The material of complex II (previously levels 5-2) is a deposit that is clearly heterometric and coarse, composed at the end mainly of gravels, pebbles and more or less rounded blocks in a clayey matrix. At the conclusion of this new stage, the cave was entirely filled and, purely and simply, disappeared from the landscape. As the valley deepened during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, the Longgupo slope underwent profound changes, the last of the limestone blocks disappeared from the slope limit and the archaeological site was protected by the coarse breccias that carpeted the slope. The main cause for the sedimentation processes at the site of Longgupo is the hydrosystem of the Miaoyu he, although injections of karstic type sensu stricto cannot be excluded. All of the arguments effectively support alluvial deposition: pebbles, an alternation of coarse and clayey beds, systematic and repeated granulometric decrease. But the stratigraphic disposition was disturbed by deformations due to gravity and karstic origins; the alluvial sediments, rendered plastic by the high proportion of clayey beds, were deformed by gravity (deformation of beds, faults, slopes) following the direction of the slope and by karstic collapse along the two limestone walls north and south of the sites (in sub-parallel faults to the south and by circular aspiration to the north). To this is added a calcitic consolidation of the upper levels that made it difficult to excavate complex C II. The stratigraphic disposition of the archaeological levels at Longgupo is now well understood. It has thus been possible to collect samples for absolute dating, to be published soon.     

Données stratigraphiques, archéologiques et insertion chronologique de la séquence de Longgupo

The site of Longgupo is located north of the subtropical zone and is part of the domain of eastern fauna. The large number of mammal species identified at this site enables clarification of the broad pattern of paleoenvironmental change for the three assemblages from the first stratigraphic sequence (Huang W.-B. excavations). The different species have been classified in four biogeographic groups: subtropical (moderate monsoon), tropical forest (hot and humid climate), montane (cold climate) and prairie (cold and dry climate). Variation in the representation rate of each of these groups enables general reconstruction of the paleoenvironments for the three assemblages identified at Longgupo: a lower assemblage in a hot and humid climate with cold and dry episodes, an intermediate assemblage in a rather cold and dry climate in the lower part, becoming progressively warmer and humid toward the top of the sequence with a monsoon influence more marked than the present day, and an upper assemblage in a rather cold and dry climate. This biochronology and general paleoenvironmental reconstruction are clearly important, but as mentioned above, the stratum by stratum correspondence between the old and new stratigraphic sequences has been quite difficult because the position of material recovered during the early excavations was not recorded.     

Le gisement acheuléen de plein air de La Garde (Loire). Remarques sur une série lithique acheuléenne entre Rhône et Loire

The lithic assemblage of La Garde offers the opportunity to observe a Final Acheulean series located in the Loire department (south-east France). The site was probably a multi-activity place asking large tools and flakes, according to the strategies used by humans. Three main categories of large bifacial tools mainly made of flint can be described, with a triangular or oval shape and with a transversal cutting edge. These tools are more bifacial-tools than bifaces through the kind of shaping and the retouches on the cutting edges. The Levallois flaking is associated to various other types of knapping. The site, located along a small valley, suggests a human circulating between the Saône-Rhône corridor and the interior basins of the Massif Central Mountains. The Rhodanian corridor yielded little evidence of Acheulean settlements while in the Centre of France, they are numerous. La Garde proves that systematic prospecting in this area will permit in future to complete the map of the Acheulean occupations in south-east France.     

Introduction à l’étude du site de Longgupo

The site of Longgupo, discovered in 1984, is located south of the crossing of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze, in the eastern part of Chongqing Province. Situated on the limestone slope of the Miaoyu Valley, three excavation campaigns have been carried out since 1985. The first two seasons took place from 1985–1988 and 1997–1998, directed by W.B. Huang and the last campaign from 2003–2006 by E. Boëda and Y.M. Hou. After the first two campaigns, the presence of several bones, with an estimated age of 1.9 My, notably including a mandible fragment attributed to a hominid² and the discovery of more than 20 lithic artifacts incited not only great interest in the scientific community, but controversy as well since these data contradicted diffusion models of the first hominids out of Africa. Paleoanthropological data often being privileged over other data, including lithic artifacts, the anthropic nature of the site was contested. Yet the few artifacts from the initial excavations irrefutably demonstrate their manufacture by humans, in particular those in exogenous stone. To definitively re-establish the authenticity of this site by applying the latest investigative methods, a new Franco-Chinese campaign was organized. The objective of the 2003–2006 field seasons focused on understanding and analysis of the archaeological data in their geomorphological and stratigraphic contexts.     

Intérêt du dosage de la thyroglobulinémie chez les sujets porteurs du goitre en zones de déficience iodée au Bénin

In the present study, we analyze the results of thyroid hormones and thyroglobulinemia of 162 patients with goiter living in the departments of Collines and Donga, known to be areas of iodine deficiency in Benin. These results are compared with those of 85 healthy subjects living in the same departments. This study is a cross-sectional analytical study carried out from 1st July 2009 to 30th June 2010. The population of patients consisted of seven males and 155 females. The average age was of 45.7 years. Most of the patients were suffering of simple goiter. Only six of them had thyroid nodules. The diagnosis of biological hyperthyroidism was positive for 20 patients; 16 of them had subclinical hypothyroidism and four clinical hyperthyroidism. One case of clinical hypothyroidism was found. All other 141 patients were biologically normal (euthyroidism). Seventeen of the patients (including six patients presenting a thyroid nodule) had a normal thyroglobulin rate. Hyperthyroglobulinemia was observed in all other 145 patients. These results suggest that patients with goiter in zone of iodine deficiency are biologically euthyroid with hyper-thyroglobulinemia. Thyroglobulin dosage is then recommended, especially when nodules are perceptible.     

Étude préliminaire des industries archaïques de faciès Oldowayen du site de Hummal (El Kowm, Syrie centrale)

The spring site of Hummal is located in Central Syria, near the village of El Kowm between the Euphrates basin and the desert steppe stretching from Palmyra to Deir-ez-Zor. In 1966 the well was noted in a survey as Bir Onusi and a short preliminary study was carried out at the beginning of the 1980s. Since 1997, the Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science of the University of Basel has undertaken a complete interdisciplinary research program of this major site under the direction of J.M Le Tensorer, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and associated with the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria under the direction of S. Muhesen. The site of Hummal is a prominent mound at an artesian spring built out of the sediments, which piled up during the whole Quaternary. Tectonic faults in the bed rock enabled the underlying water in a karstic system to flow out into a dolina, which trapped lacustrine, limnic and aeolian sediments since the Oldest Pleistocene. The impressive stratigraphy – 20 m high – comprises 23 geological units preserving a great number of archaeological levels. It covers an extremely long period of time ranging from the Oldest Palaeolithic (Oldowan) to Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian) over more than a million years. This impressive Old and Middle Palaeolithic sequence comprises several layers of Oldowan-like assemblage (23-16), an Acheuleo-Tayacian complex (14-13), five layers of Yabrudian (12-8) at least four levels of Hummalian (7, 6c, 6b, 6a) and a thick sediment complex with 8 Mousterian layers, each of them liable to be subdivided into several sublayers. The lithic industry in the lowest levels of the Hummal sequence, associated with abundant remains of large mammals, can be characterized by non-modified, quite fresh flakes, with, once in a while, traces of use but never bearing intentional retouches. Theses flakes are found with pebble-tools: choppers, chopping-tools, polyhedrons, bolas and core-like artifacts. This assemblage is typical in a broad sense of archaic Palaeolithic whose debitage corresponds to mode 1. From a techno-typological point of view, this industry tallies quite well with the so-called Oldowan stage. It shows remarkable similarities with the oldest assemblages at Ubeidiya but, so far, with no occurrence of bifacial knapping. If the layers 17 and 18 of Hummal relate to this period dating back to 1.6 to 1.2 million years, these levels would be the oldest ones ever found in central Syria. However, as we have no absolute dating at our disposal so far, we will remain careful in assigning a chronological time span for these layers. For this area, from a stratigraphic point of view, the Oldowan levels of Hummal occur before the Acheulean and certainly before the Acheulean sequence of El Meirah (region of El Kowm) which is itself related to the period before Matuyama-Brunhes paleomagnetic reverse. Dating of the lowest sequence of Hummal is underway. If we take into account stratigraphic and techno-typological observations, we assume that the Oldowan-like levels of the site should be older than one million years at least. The sequence of Hummal is one of the largest in the Near-East. Therefore, it can be regarded as a key-site for world prehistory.     

Using haematological parameters to infer the health and nutritional status of an endangered black-necked swan population

Living organisms are continuously faced with several forms of environmental perturbation, one of the most important being human activity. In this scenario, the role of physiological studies on wildlife has proved to be important given that in vivo physiological variables reflect a great deal how sensitive animals are to acute environmental changes. We studied the haematological parameters in black-necked swans (Cygnus melanocoryphus) at the Ramsar site at the Carlos Anwandter Sanctuary, which were experiencing a drastic population decrease. Through seven months, body mass (body mass corrected by total length) was reduced 30%, which was followed by significant reductions of haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit and red blood cell count. Mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin concentration did not change with time, whereas there was a significant increase of the white blood cells and heterophile / lymphocyte ratio. Our results, together with the published evidence, suggests that the proximal factors associated with the mass mortality and emigration of the black - necked swan population at the "Carlos Anwandter Sanctuary" was a drastic nutritional deficiency, and the potentially toxic effects of iron pollution in the waters of the Ramsar site.     

Effect of N-terminal deletions on the activity of pokeweed antiviral protein expressed in E. coli

Pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP) from Phytolacca americana is a highly specific N-glycosidase removing adenine residues (A⁴³²⁴ in 28S rRNA and A²⁶⁶⁰ in 23S rRNA) from intact ribosomes of both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Due to the ribosome impairing activity the gene coding for mature PAP has not been expressed so far in bacteria whereas the full-length gene (coding for the mature 262 amino acids plus two signal peptides of 22 and 29 amino acids at both N- and C-termini, respectively) has been expressed in Escherichia coli. In order to determine: 1) the size of the N-terminal region of PAP which is required for toxicity to E. coli; and 2) the location of the putative enzymatic active site of PAP, 5′-terminal progressive deletion of the PAP full-length gene was carried out and the truncated forms of the gene were cloned in a vector containing a strong constitutive promoter and a consensus Shine-Dalgarno ribosome binding site. The ribosome inactivation or toxicity of the PAP is used as a phenotype characterized by the absence of E. coli colonies, while the mutation of PAP open reading frames in the small number of survived clones is used as an indicator of the toxicity to E. coli cells. Results showed that the native full-length PAP gene was highly expressed and was not toxic to E. coli cells although in vitro ribosome inactivating activity assay indicated it was active. However, all of the N-terminal truncated forms (removal of seven to 107 codons) of the PAP gene were toxic to E. coli cells and were mutated into either out of frame, early termination codon or inactive form of PAP (i.e., clone PAPΔ107). Deletion of more than 123 codons restored the correct gene sequence but resulted in the loss of the antiviral and ribosome inactivating activities and by the formation of a large number of clones. These results suggest that full-length PAP (with N- and C-terminal extensions) might be an inactive form of the enzyme in vivo presumably by inclusion body formation or other unknown mechanisms and is not toxic to E. coli cells. However, it is activated by at least seven codon deletions at the N-terminus. Deletions from seven through to 107 amino acids were lethal to the cells and only mutated forms (inactive) of the gene were obtained. But deletion of more than 123 amino acids resulted in the loss of enzymatic activity and made it possible to express the correct PAP gene in E. coli. Because deletion of Tyr94 and Va195, which are involved in the binding of the target adenine base, did not abolish the activity of PAP, it is concluded that the location previously proposed for PAP enzymatic active site should be reassessed.     

Spatiotemporal water dynamic modelling of Ramsar-listed lakes on the Victorian Volcanic Plains using Landsat,ICESat-2 and airborne LiDAR data

Spatiotemporal dynamic information on surface water area and level is a prerequisite for effective wetland conservation and management. However, such information is either unavailable or difficult to obtain. In this study, for the first time, we leverage Landsat imagery, ICESat-2 and airborne LiDAR data to develop time series of water body dynamics over the last 35 years (1987–2021) using machine learning method on a cloud computing platform for lakes identified as international importance in the Western District Lakes Ramsar site in Victoria, Australia. Our results reveal distinct seasonal (dry and wet) variation patterns and long-term changes in trends of lake water areas and levels in response to seasonal rainfall variations and regional climate changes for the periods of before, during and after the Millennium Drought when southeast Australia experienced unprecedented dry conditions. Lake water bodies have not recovered to the status of pre-Millennium Drought, and many permanent Ramsar-listed lakes in the region have become to ephemeral lakes due to climate change. The outcome of this study provides a baseline to help understand the historical and ongoing status of the Ramsar-listed lakes in a warming and drying climate in support of the development of strategic plan to implement international obligations for wetlands protection under the Ramsar Convention.     

Les derniers Homo heidelbergensis et leurs descendants les néandertaliens : datation des sites d’Orgnac 3, du Lazaret et de Zafarraya

This article presents the dating results recently obtained on three archaeological sites in Europe. At Orgnac 3 (Ardèche, France) from where the last Homo heidelbergensis fossils are associated with the first evidence of levallois technique, two speleothem formations from the 5b–6–7^th layers were U-Th dated with MC-ICPMS, giving an age range of 319–255 ka (2σ) (MIS 8–9), while the volcanic ash-bearing second layer was dated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, obtaining a preliminary date of 308.2 ± 6.8 ka (2σ). The combined ESR/U-Th dating of red deer enamel teeth from Lazaret cave (Alpes-Maritimes, France) attributed ages of 120–190 ka to the Acheulean and pre-Mousterian layers (MIS 6), which is in agreement with previous TIMS U-Th dates between 108 and 44 ka on calcite samples from the overlying TRA trench (MIS 5, 4, 3). At Zafarraya (Andalousie, Espagne), a number of ¹⁴C measurements on charcoal samples as well as combined ESR/U-Th dates on Capra and Equus dental enamels assigned the Mousterian artefacts and neandertalian fossils-bearing deposits an age interval between 42 and 34 ka (MIS 3).     

Révision taphonomique et techno-typologique des deux ensembles attribués au Châtelperronien de la Roche-à-Pierrot à Saint-Césaire

The Chatelperronian from la Roche-à-Pierrot in Saint-Césaire is characterized by its strong “Mousterian component”. It was discovered in a layer named Ejop, which had originally been sub-divided in two parts (Ejop SUP and Ejop INF). Up to now, the industry coming from these two sub-layers had been analyzed together without discriminating lithics discovered within the upper part from the ones discovered within the lower part. Here we present the results of our taphonomical and techno-typological analysis of the lithic industry attributed to each of the two sub-layers, including the artifacts discovered in 1993, in order to test if the strong “Mousterian component” of Ejop is shared by Ejop SUP as well as by Ejop INF. We show that the raw materials used at the site originate mostly from the local environment in both sub-layers, and that they are from a relatively low quality. Despite the small number of artifacts coming from Ejop INF, they are characteristics from a technological and typological point of view of the Mousterian, and not of the Chatelperronian. In contrast, the analyses of Ejop SUP cores show that method (volumetric blade production) and technic (marginal percussion) used are characteristic of the Chatelperronian. In Ejop SUP, scrapers still count for about half of the retouched stone-tools. Morphology and debitage technique for retouched stone-tools vary depending on the stone-tool type (end-scrapers and Chatelperron backed pieces are usually made out of blades removed with marginal percussion). Yet, it is not possible to separate within Ejop SUP two components, one Mousterian and the other one specific of the Chatelperronian, according to edge and surface damages of retouched stone-tools. We show that that Saint-Césaire Ejop layer contains two different sub-layer, a Mousterian one Ejop INF, and a Chatelperronian one, Ejop SUP. In the current state of knowledge on the site, it is not possible to decide whether the high proportion of scrapers in Ejop SUP is a testimony of retention of ancient method of production (if not ancient way of using stone-tools as hypothesized by Guilbaud et al.) or of post-depositional integration of Mousterian objects within a Chatelperronian context.     

Fixations extra-osseuses du Tc MDP dans le cas d’un cancer du sein métastatique à l’os

Aim

To report and discuss an unusual visceral uptake on bone scan in a case of breast cancer with bone metastases.

Patient and methods

A 40-year-old woman, with untreated bilateral breast cancer was referred to our department for a bone scan.

Results

The bone scan evidenced multiple metastases over the axial skeleton. Uncommonly, visceral uptake was noted associating diffuse bilateral lung uptake and intense myocardium, stomach and kidneys uptakes. Serum calcium level was high: 4.08 mmol/L (normal: 2.38–2.70 mmol/L).

Conclusion

The incidental observation of metastasic calcifications on bone scan is often related to severe hypercalcemia. Such pattern should alert the physician on the existence and the severity of calcium metabolism disturbances that had not been suggested before.     

Irathérapie génique anticancéreuse utilisant le NIS : une approche très prometteuse

The symporter Na/iodine (NIS) is a recently discovered membrane protein, recognized to be at the origin of accumulation of iodine in the thyroid, salivary glands, stomach and mammary glands during lactation. If its intrinsic property served as the basis for nuclear imaging and radiotherapy metabolic of differentiated thyroid cancers and their metastases, the cloning of its gene provides a powerful strategy for cytoreductive gene therapy, based on the targeted transfer of this last one in all types of cancer cells. Its expression gives the ability to these cells to accumulate iodine. The aim is to benefit from the advantages of radioiodine therapy (efficiency, reduced side effects) and to optimize the management of thyroid cancer. This approach offers an attractive therapeutic alternative for non-thyroidal cancers, especially in the context of a multimodal approach. Techniques and equipments necessary for the first clinical trials are already existing in the departments of nuclear medicine. The perspectives of clinical application, however, require a better knowledge of the regulation of expression and functionality of NIS. After a review of the biology of NIS, our work aims to recount the results of different tests that have demonstrated the benefits of this approach, its limitations and prospects for its improvement.     

Le site des Vachons : étude de la partie gravettienne de la collection de l’IPH

This article firstly summarizes the process of study of an old collection, which had not been considered since the excavations at the site Les Vachons, started before 1914 and completed around 1939. The studied collection of J. Coiffard, both excavator and inventor of this site, includes four-fifths of the artefacts because, in 1940, he donated approximately one fifth to the Eyzies Museum. For his part, J. Bouyssonie who participated in the excavations for 3 years gave the major part of his own collection to the Archaeological Society of Charentes Angouleme where its condition makes it difficult to analyze. Despite these restrictions, based on statistical comparisons with counts many other sites, I came to the conclusion that the top three layers of Les Vachons are a confirmation of the Gravettian model, developed by B. Bosselin and F. Djindjian through their factor analysis. This model seems much better suited to the stratigraphy of Les Vachons, than all assumptions made by previous analysts in their attempt to bring the industries from the three layers in what remains from the Peyrony model.     

Étude de faisabilité du ganglion sentinelle dans le cancer de la prostate par cœlioscopie : premiers résultats

Objectives

The standard lymphadenectomy is currently a challenge in the management of prostate cancer. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the performance of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) by laparoscopy in patients with localized prostate cancer, candidates for local treatment.

Patients and methods

Patients were injected transrectal ultrasound-guided with 0.3 mL/100MBq 99^mTc-Sulfur rhenium colloid in each prostatic lobe, the day before surgery. Lymphoscintigraphy was performed after 2 hours. The detection was realized intraoperatively with a laparoscopic probe (Gamma Sup Clerad^®) followed by extensive dissection. Counts of SLN were performed in vivo and confirmed ex vivo. The histological analysis was performed by HPS staining and followed by immunochemistry if SLN was free.

Results

Seventy patients with carcinoma of the prostate at intermediate or high risk of lymph node metastases (D’Amico), PSA median 9.5 ng/mL [6–130], were included in the study. The lymphoscintigraphic detection rate was 94.2% (66/70) and intraoperative of 97.0% (68/70). Fourteen patients had lymph node metastases, six only in SLN. The false negative rate was 2/14 (14.0%). The internal iliac region is the first metastatic site (40.9%). Limited or standard lymph node dissection would have ignored respectively 72.7% and 59.0% of lymph node metastases.

Conclusion

The laparoscopy is adapted to a broad identification of SLN and targeted dissection of these lymph nodes significantly limits the risk of surgical extended dissection while maintaining the accuracy of the information.     

Assessing the value of wetlands to waterbirds: exploring a population-based index at flyway and regional levels

Traditionally, species richness, species diversity, total count, biomass, energy consumption and the Ramsar ‘1% threshold’ have been used to assess the importance of wetlands for waterbirds. Designation of wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites) based on waterbirds has focused on those species meeting the Ramsar 1% population threshold levels. These levels prioritise a subset of species as being important, with little or no consideration to the contributions of the remaining species’ populations. In this paper, we evaluate and further describe a quantitative method to assess wetland avifaunal importance. Termed the Waterbird Conservation Value (WCV), this index sums the ratio of each species’ abundance to its published 1% threshold across all species to give an overall measure of the ‘value’ of the waterbirds at a wetland. Large values indicate that large proportions of the total populations of waterbird species are present at the wetland. Indices can be evaluated at site and species levels. The WCV is a more nuanced approach, sensitive to actual species’ abundance rather than counts of ‘1% threshold’ species and considers all species in the assessment. The outputs of the WCV index are demonstrated and discussed using a case study from three regions within the East Atlantic flyway.