Search

Greeks have a Sub-Saharan gene input according to HLA and other autosomic markers. Iberians, Canarians, and North Africans show a close genetic relatedness. This is concordant with a drying humid Sahara Desert, which may have occurred about 6,000 years BC, and the subsequent northwards emigration of Saharan people may have also happened in Pharaonic times. Present study confirms this African gene input in Greeks according to 12th HLA International Workshop data, which was studied some years before by us. This genetic input into Atlantic and Mediterranean Europe/Africa is also supported with Lineal Megalithic Scripts in Canary Islands (as well as in Iberia) together with simple Iberian semi-syllabary rock inscriptions both at Canary Islands and Ti-m Missaou (Algeria, Central southern Sahara). Lineal African/European scripts are found in some language scripts like Berber/Tuareg, Iberian, Runes, Etruscan, Bulgarian (Sitovo and Gradeshnitza, 6,000 years BP), Italian Old Scripts (Lepontic, Venetic, Raetic), Minoan Lineal A, and other Aegean scripts. The possibility that Megalithic Lineal Scripts have given rise to these languages lineal writing is feasible because admixture of languages rock scripts and Megalithic Lineal Scripts may be found. Thus, resistance of Canarian aborigines (Guanches) to Cartago, Rome and Arabs left a bulk of Canarian-Saharan information which is used to study both Saharan and Canarian Prehistory, and also Atlantic and Mediterranean beginning of European and other civilizations: this preserved prehistoric inheritance may be named the “Saharo-Canarian Circle” of prehistoric knowledge. Also, linguisticsepigraphy, physical anthropology ,archaeology and domesticated cattle shows a close North Africa-Iberia Mesolithic/Neolithic relationship and demonstrates that the demic diffusion model does not exist in Iberia. Also, Tassili Sahara paintings of domesticated cattle appear 1,000 years before that agricultural practices started at Middle East. Keywords: Greeks, Macedonians, Sahara, Africa, Iberia, HLA, Genetics, Spaniards, Portuguese, Berbers, Algerians, demic, diffusion, Canary Islands, Lanzarote, Malta, Cart-ruts, Quesera, Cheesboard, Iberian, language, Guanche, Usko-Mediterranean, Phoenicians

Kurds are living at Middle East region comprising several countries (38 million people) and also have emigrated to Asia, Europe and America. Kurds from Iran have been HLA typed in the present work from Saqqez and Baneh towns, Kordestan province, Iran. Origin of Kurds is considered autochthonous from Anatolia and surrounding mountains :they have been referred as "the mountain people" by classic Persian, Greek and Roman authors. Present day Turks are also autochthonous from Anatolia, but they were not recognized by classical authors as living in the mountains and they speak a language of Asian origin that was imposed to Anatolia by a "elite" invasion without a noticeable high Asian gene input. Most frequent class I and class II HLA alleles found in Iranian Kurds population are: HLA-A*24:02, A*02:01 and HLA-B*35:01, and HLA-DRB1*11:01, DRB1*03:02 and HLA-DQB1*03:01; also, most frequent HLA extended haplotypes from this Iran Kurdish sample are not shared with Iranians but with Mediterranean, Turkish and Caucasus people. This is confirmed by Neighbour-Joining and correspondence analysis studied together with the corresponding populations. Finally, our studies show that both Kurds and Turks are genetically original from Anatolian Peninsula and surrounding countries and that an apparent Asian genetic or Aryan invasion does not exist in the area.

ClassicalHLA(Human Leukocyte Antigen) is the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) in man. HLA genes and disease association has been studied at least since 1967 and no firm pathogenic mechanisms have been established yet.HLA-Gimmune modulation gene (and also-Eand-F) are starting the same arduous way: statistics and allele association are the trending subjects with the same few results obtained byHLAclassical genes, i.e., no pathogenesis may be discovered after many years of a great amount of researchers’ effort. Thus, we believe that it is necessary to follow different research methodologies: (1) to approach this problem, based on how evolution has worked maintaining together a cluster of immune-related genes (the MHC) in a relatively short chromosome area since amniotes to human at least, i.e., immune regulatory genes (MHC-G, -E and -F), adaptive immune classical class I and II genes, non-adaptive immune genes like (C2, C4 and Bf) (2); in addition to using new in vitro models which explain pathogenetics ofHLAand disease associations. In fact, this evolution may be quite reliably studied during about 40 million years by analyzing the evolution ofMHC-G, -E, -F, and their receptors (KIR—killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor, NKG2—natural killer group 2-, or TCR-T-cell receptor—among others) in the primate evolutionary lineage, where orthology of these molecules is apparently established, although cladistic studies show thatMHC-GandMHC-Bgenes are the ancestral class I genes, and that New World apesMHC-Gis paralogous and not orthologous to all other apes and manMHC-Ggenes. In the present review, we outline past and possible future research topics: co-evolution of adaptiveMHCclassical (class I and II), non-adaptive (i.e., complement) and modulation (i.e., non-classical class I) immune genes may imply that the study of full or part of MHC haplotypes involving several loci/alleles instead of single alleles is important for uncovering HLA and disease pathogenesis. It would mainly apply to starting research on HLA-G extended haplotypes and disease association and not only using single HLA-G genetic markers.

Funding: This work was supported by the University of Oxford Christopher Welch Scholarship (to J.A.K.); ASAB Undergraduate Project Scholarship (to J.A.K.); UKRI BBSRC scholarship grant number BB/M011224/1 (to J.W. and N.G.); The Queen’s College, University of Oxford (to A.L.F.); Junior Research Fellowship at St. John’s College, University of Oxford (to O.P.); Merton College, University of Oxford (to T.G.); Mary Griffiths Award (to T.G.); BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship grant numbers BB/G023913/1 and BB/ G023913/2 (to C.R.); and Jesus College, University of Oxford (to G.K.T.). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 682501) (to G.K.T.) Dynamic soaring harvests energy from a spatiotemporal wind gradient, allowing albatrosses to glide over vast distances. However, its use is challenging to demonstrate empirically and has yet to be confirmed in other seabirds. Here, we investigate how flap-gliding Manx shearwaters optimize their flight for dynamic soaring. We do so by deriving a new metric, the horizontal wind effectiveness, that quantifies how effectively flight harvests energy from a shear layer. We evaluate this metric empirically for fine-scale trajectories reconstructed from bird-borne video data using a simplified flight dynamics model. We find that the birds' undulations are phased with their horizontal turning to optimize energy harvesting. We also assess the opportunity for energy harvesting in long-range, GPS-logged foraging trajectories and find that Manx shearwaters optimize their flight to increase the opportunity for dynamic soaring during favorable wind conditions. Our results show how small-scale dynamic soaring affects large-scale Manx shearwater distribution at sea. Publisher PDF

TGF‐β1 is involved in tumour growth. Four TGFB1 SNPs and TGF‐β1 production by stimulated PBMC were determined in seventy‐eight gastric adenocarcinoma patients. In addition, TGF‐β1 levels were measured in the plasma of further thirty patients. rs1800471‐G/C genotype was prevalent in patients (20.7%) compared to controls (8.4%), as it also was the rs1800468 SNP‐G/A genotype in stage IV patients (20.7%) compared to stage I, II and III patients, combined (10.3%). Conversely, the T/T rs1800469 SNP‐T/T genotype was absent in the former group and present in 19.0% in the latter. Furthermore, the rs1800469‐C/rs1800470‐T (CT) haplotype was found in 15.0% of stage IV patients as compared to 3.0% of the remaining patients (3.0%) and also identifies patients with worse five‐year life expectancy (P = .03). TGF‐β1 synthesis by stimulated PBMCs was significantly lower in patients with the risk SNPs or haplotype, compared to the alternative genotype. Finally, TGF‐β1 plasma levels were lower in patients with worse life expectancy. Analysis of TGFB1 SNPs and measurement of plasma TGF‐β1 levels serves to identify patients at risk of developing a more aggressive disease.

Background. Reduced TCRζ chain surface has been reported in T cells from patients with different inflammatory conditions and cancer. However, the causes of this diminished expression in cancer remain elusive. Methods. T cell-enriched populations of blood or tissue (tumoral and nontumoral) origin from 44 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and 33 healthy subjects were obtained. Samples were subjected to cytofluorimetry, Western blot analysis, TCRζ cDNA sequencing experiments, measurement of TCRζ mRNA levels, and caspase-3 activity assays. Results. Cytofluorimetry revealed a decreased TCRζ expression in T cells of patients, assessed either as percentage of cells expressing this chain (blood: control subjects 99.8 ± 0.1 % , patients 98.8 ± 1.1 % P < 0.001 ; tissue: control subjects 96.7 ± 0.9 % , patients tumoral tissue 67.9 ± 27.0 % , patients nontumoral tissue 82.8 ± 12.6 % , P = 0.019 ) or mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) value (blood: control subjects 102.2 ± 26.0 ; patients 58.0 ± 12.3 , P = 0.001 ; tissue: control subjects 99.4 ± 21.4 ; patients tumoral tissue 41.6 ± 21.4 ; patients nontumoral tissue 62.3 ± 16.6 , P = 0.001 ). Other chains pertaining to the TCR-CD3 complex (CD3ε) showed no significant differences (MFI values). Subsequent TCRζ cDNA sequencing experiments or measurements of TCRζ mRNA levels disclosed no differences between patients and control subjects. Evaluation of caspase-3 activity showed higher levels in T cell extracts of patients, and this activity could be decreased by 70% with the use of the inhibitor Ac-DEVD-FMK, although CD3ζ expression levels did not recover. Conclusions. These results further place the defect responsible for the low TCRζ expression in cancer at the posttranscriptional level and suggests contrary to what has been proposed in other pathologies that elevated caspase-3 activity is not the causative agent.

HLA-G immune modulatory genes and molecules are presently being studied by a widespread number of research groups. In the present study, we do not aim to be exhaustive since the number of manuscripts published every year is overwhelming. Instead, our aim is pointing out facts about HLA-G function, polymorphism and pathology that have been confirmed by several different researchers, together with exposing aspects that may have been overlooked or not sufficiently remarked in this productive field of study. On the other hand, we question whether performing mainly studies on HLA-G and disease associations is going to give a clear answer in the future, since 40 years of study of classical HLA molecules association with disease has still given no definite answer on this issue.

Objective Lymphopenia is a frequent clinical manifestation and risk factor for infections in SLE, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. We previously identified novel roles for the RNA-binding protein serine arginine-rich splicing factor 1 (SRSF1) in the control of genes involved in signalling and cytokine production in human T cells. SRSF1 is decreased in T cells from patients with SLE and associates with severe disease. Because SRSF1 controls the expression of apoptosis-related genes, we hypothesized that SRSF1 controls T cell homeostasis and, when reduced, leads to lymphopenia. Methods We evaluated SRSF1 expression in T cells from SLE patients by immunoblots and analysed its correlation with clinical parameters. T cell conditional Srsf1 knockout mice were used to evaluate lymphoid cells and apoptosis by flow cytometry. Quantitative PCR and immunoblots were used to assess Bcl-xL mRNA and protein expression. SRSF1 overexpression was performed by transient transfections by electroporation. Results We found that low SRSF1 levels correlated with lymphopenia in SLE patients. Selective deletion of Srsf1 in T cells in mice led to T cell lymphopenia, with increased apoptosis and decreased expression of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL. Lower SRSF1 expression correlated with low Bcl-xL levels in T cells and lower Bcl-xL levels associated with lymphopenia in SLE patients. Importantly, overexpression of SRSF1 rescued survival of T cells from patients with SLE. Conclusion Our studies uncovered a previously unrecognized role for SRSF1 in the control of T cell homeostasis and its reduced expression as a molecular defect that contributes to lymphopenia in systemic autoimmunity.

Dynamic soaring harvests energy from a spatiotemporal wind gradient, allowing albatrosses to glide over vast distances. However, its use is challenging to demonstrate empirically, and has yet to be confirmed in other seabirds. Here we investigate how flap-gliding Manx Shearwaters optimise their flight for dynamic soaring. We do so by deriving a new metric, the horizontal wind effectiveness, that quantifies how effectively flight harvests energy from a shear layer. We evaluate this metric empirically for fine-scale trajectories reconstructed from bird-borne video data using a simplified flight dynamics model. We find that the birds’ undulations are phased with their horizontal turning to optimise energy harvesting. We also assess the opportunity for energy harvesting in long-range, GPS-logged foraging trajectories, and find that Manx Shearwaters optimise their flight to increase the opportunity for dynamic soaring during favourable wind conditions. Our results show how small-scale dynamic soaring impacts large-scale Manx Shearwater distribution at sea.TeaserFlap-gliding shearwaters harvest wind energy by fine-scale trajectory optimization and this impacts their large-scale distribution at sea.

Georgia (or Sakartvelo in its own language) is a South Caucasus Mts. country with its easternmost part is enigmatically named Iberia, like the Iberian Peninsula, which may refer to rivers "Kura" and "Ebro" or their valleys respectively. Most of their inhabitants speak Georgian which is included within Dene-Caucasian group and Usko-Mediterranean subgroup of languages. The latter includes Basque, Berber, ancient Iberian-Tartessian, Etruscan, Hittite, Minoan Lineal A and others. In the present paper, HLA class II -DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles has been studied and extended haplotypes calculated. Most frequent haplotypes are also of Mediterranean origin (i. e.: (A*02-B*51)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, (A*02-B*51)-DRB1*13:01-DQB1*06:03, or (A*24-B*35)-DRB1*01:01-DQB1*05:01) and DA genetic distances show that closest world populations to Georgians are Mediterraneans. Georgians also show common extended haplotypes ((A*02-B*51)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, (A*02-B*13)-DRB1*07:01-DQB1*02:01 and (A*03-B*35)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01) with Svan people, a secluded population in North Georgia mountains. We can conclude that Georgians belong to a very old Mediterranean substratum according to both linguistics (Usko Mediterranean languages) and HLA genetics.

The presence of cells with regulatory functions in patients with cancer is one of the mechanisms whereby the immune system cannot confront tumor growth. We sought to determine the prevalence of immunoregulatory Tcell subpopulations, expressing the latency TGFβ-associated peptide (LAP), in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. T cells were enriched from blood or gastric tissue (tumoral, TT or tumor-free, TF) samples from 22 patients, 6 with early (EGC) and 16 with advanced gastric cancer (AGC). CD4, CD8, LAP, FoxP3 and IFN-γ were measured by cytometry. CD8 + LAP + cells were increased at tumoral sites, especially in early stages of the disease, as compared to tumor-free explants (EGC 5.28 % [4.67–6.64]*; AGC 2.90 % [1.37–4.44]; TF 3.14 % [2.33–4.16]; *p < 0.05 vs TF). Likewise, the LAP+/CD8 + LAP- ratio is increased in gastric samples from patients with early disease (EGC 0.38 [0.30–0.45]*, AGC 0.12 [0.07–0.14]; TF 0.12 [0.09–0.31]; *p < 0.05 vs AGC). Disease progression is accompanied by decreased LAP membrane expression and, probably, increased LAP secretion, therefore limiting the response to the tumor.

Significance Procellariiform seabirds homing from distant foraging locations present a natural situation in which the homing route can become obstructed by islands or peninsulas because birds will not travel long distances over land. By measuring initial orientation from Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks during homing, we found that the Manx shearwater fails to encode such obstacles while homing, implying a navigation system that encodes the direction of home rather than a learned route. Nonetheless, shearwaters timed their journeys home, implying that their navigational system provides them with information about both direction and distance home, providing evidence that for routine, yet long-distance navigation, seabirds probably ascertain homeward direction by comparing their current position and the location of home with 2 or more intersecting field gradients., While displacement experiments have been powerful for determining the sensory basis of homing navigation in birds, they have left unresolved important cognitive aspects of navigation such as what birds know about their location relative to home and the anticipated route. Here, we analyze the free-ranging Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks of a large sample (n = 707) of Manx shearwater, Puffinus puffinus, foraging trips to investigate, from a cognitive perspective, what a wild, pelagic seabird knows as it begins to home naturally. By exploiting a kind of natural experimental contrast (journeys with or without intervening obstacles) we first show that, at the start of homing, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the colony, shearwaters are well oriented in the homeward direction, but often fail to encode intervening barriers over which they will not fly (islands or peninsulas), constrained to flying farther as a result. Second, shearwaters time their homing journeys, leaving earlier in the day when they have farther to go, and this ability to judge distance home also apparently ignores intervening obstacles. Thus, at the start of homing, shearwaters appear to be making navigational decisions using both geographic direction and distance to the goal. Since we find no decrease in orientation accuracy with trip length, duration, or tortuosity, path integration mechanisms cannot account for these findings. Instead, our results imply that a navigational mechanism used to direct natural large-scale movements in wild pelagic seabirds has map-like properties and is probably based on large-scale gradients.

Recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the usage of ballistocardiography (BCG) and seismocardiography (SCG) to record myocardial function both in normal and pathological populations. Kinocardiography (KCG) combines these techniques by measuring 12 degrees-of-freedom of body motion produced by myocardial contraction and blood flow through the cardiac chambers and major vessels. The integral of kinetic energy (iK) obtained from the linear and rotational SCG/BCG signals, and automatically computed over the cardiac cycle, is used as a marker of cardiac mechanical function. The present work systematically evaluated the test&ndash, retest (TRT) reliability of KCG iK derived from BCG/SCG signals in the short term (&lt, 15 min) and long term (3&ndash, 6 h) on 60 healthy volunteers. Additionally, we investigated the difference of repeatability with different body positions. First, we found high short-term TRT reliability for KCG metrics derived from SCG and BCG recordings. Exceptions to this finding were limited to metrics computed in left lateral decubitus position where the TRT reliability was moderate-to-high. Second, we found low-to-moderate long-term TRT reliability for KCG metrics as expected and confirmed by blood pressure measurements. In summary, KCG parameters derived from BCG/SCG signals show high repeatability and should be further investigated to confirm their use for cardiac condition longitudinal monitoring.

Individuals exhibiting an intermediate alcohol drinking pattern in conjunction with signs of metabolic risk present clinical features of both alcohol‐associated and metabolic‐associated fatty liver diseases. However, such combination remains an unexplored area of great interest, given the increasing number of patients affected. In the present study, we aimed to develop a preclinical DUAL (alcohol‐associated liver disease plus metabolic‐associated fatty liver disease) model in mice. C57BL/6 mice received 10% vol/vol alcohol in sweetened drinking water in combination with a Western diet for 10, 23, and 52 weeks (DUAL model). Animals fed with DUAL diet elicited a significant increase in body mass index accompanied by a pronounced hypertrophy of adipocytes, hypercholesterolemia, and hyperglycemia. Significant liver damage was characterized by elevated plasma alanine aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase levels, extensive hepatomegaly, hepatocyte enlargement, ballooning, steatosis, hepatic cell death, and compensatory proliferation. Notably, DUAL animals developed lobular inflammation and advanced hepatic fibrosis. Sequentially, bridging cirrhotic changes were frequently observed after 12 months. Bulk RNA‐sequencing analysis indicated that dysregulated molecular pathways in DUAL mice were similar to those of patients with steatohepatitis. Conclusion: Our DUAL model is characterized by obesity, glucose intolerance, liver damage, prominent steatohepatitis and fibrosis, as well as inflammation and fibrosis in white adipose tissue. Altogether, the DUAL model mimics all histological, metabolic, and transcriptomic gene signatures of human advanced steatohepatitis, and therefore serves as a preclinical tool for the development of therapeutic targets., DUAL model perfectly mimics all histological, metabolic and transcriptomic gene signatures of human advanced steatohepatitis, and thus serve as a preclinical tool for the development of therapeutic targets.

Simple Summary Patients with gastric cancer may present variations in the copy number of the HER2 gene in their primary tumors. The techniques used to detect these variations and HER2 overexpression render false positive and negative results with high frequency, and robust methodologies are required to assess this amplification and confidently select patients who may benefit from HER2-specific monoclonal antibody-based therapies. We addressed this issue by molecular biology techniques using DNA samples from tumor or distal tissue of gastric cancer patients. The HER2 and a control (IFNG) gene were subjected to differential (diffPCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). A cut-off point above which patients can be deemed positive was set based on the HER2/IFNG ratio, achieved using DNA from 30 healthy donors. Both, diffPCR and qPCR, identified the presence of somatic HER2 amplifications in 25% of patients in DNA from tumoral tissue, but not distal, paired tissue samples. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence detected HER2 overexpression in tumor, but not distal, tissue of the patients previously identified as HER2+ by diffPCR and qPCR. Thus, the molecular biology-based techniques herein reported can identify patients with HER2 gene amplification and suitable for immune-based therapies. Abstract We have applied two PCR techniques, differential PCR (diffPCR) and qPCR for the identification of HER2 gene amplifications in genomic DNA of tumor and distal gastric samples from patients with gastric cancer. The diffPCR technique consists of the simultaneous amplification of the HER2 gene and a housekeeping gene by conventional PCR and the densitometric analysis of the bands obtained. We established a cut-off point based on the mean and standard deviation analyzing the DNA of 30 gastric tissues from patients undergoing non-cancer gastrectomy. diffPCR and qPCR yielded consistent results. HER2-overexpression was detected in 25% of patients and was further confirmed by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The approaches herein described may serve as complementary and reliable methods to assess HER2 amplification.

Non-invasive remote detection of cardiac and blood displacements is an important topic in cardiac telemedicine. Here we propose kino-cardiography (KCG), a non-invasive technique based on measurement of body vibrations produced by myocardial contraction and blood flow through the cardiac chambers and major vessels. KCG is based on ballistocardiography and measures 12 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) of body motion. We tested the hypothesis that KCG reliably assesses dobutamine-induced haemodynamic changes in healthy subjects. Using a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled crossover study design, dobutamine and placebo were infused to 34 volunteers (25 ± 2 years, BMI 22 ± 2 kg/m², 18 females). Baseline recordings were followed by 3 sessions of increasing doses of dobutamine (5, 10, 20 μg/kg.min) or saline solution. During each session, stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were determined by echocardiography and followed by a 90 s KCG recording. Measured linear accelerations and angular velocities were used to compute total Kinetic energy (iK) and power (Pmax). KCG sorted dobutamine infusion vs. placebo with 96.9% accuracy. Increases in SV and CO were correlated to iK (r = +0.71 and r = +0.8, respectively, p 0.0001). Kino-cardiography, with 12-DOF, allows detecting dobutamine-induced haemodynamic changes with a high accuracy and present a major improvement over single axis ballistocardiography or seismocardiography.

Background:HLA-G molecules are immunosuppressive and avoid fetal rejection by giving negative signals to maternal immune system from fetal trophoblast cell surface. HLA-G genes have been associated to different pathologies: Spontaneous abortions, autoimmunity, tumor progression, transplant rejection and infection. In addition, different World populations show remarkable different HLA-G allele frequencies in the allele that does not produce a full HLA-G molecule (HLA-G*05N); this allele is almost absent in studied Amerindians.Objectives:The aim is to study HLA-A.-B,-DRB1 and –G alleles and extended haplotypes in Amerindians for the first time. This may be useful to asses HLA-G epidemiology, association to disease and Preventive Medicine in Amerindians.Methods:HLA-A,-B and -DRB1 have been typed by using standard automatic protocols. HLA-G alleles have been detected by direct HLA-G exon 2, exon 3 and exon 4 DNA sequencing. Computer calculations have been done by specific standard methods.Results:HLA-A,-B,-DRB1 and –G extended haplotypes have been calculated in Amerindians for the first time. Also, their HLA-G frequencies have been compared with worldwide populations.Conclusion:Low frequencies of null HLA-G*01:05N allele are found in Amerindians. The extended haplotypes with this allele bear other typical Amerindian HLA-DRB1 alleles and its origin is discussed. HLA-G allele frequency profile is closer to that of Europeans than to that of Far East Asians. Our findings are useful to Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology associated to Fertility and HLA-G associated pathology and transplantation.

A new panel of “Latin” or Iberian-Guanche rock inscriptions has been found in Tenerife, a transcription and translation hypotheses have been put forward based on a methodology involving semantics and phonology of Basque and ancient Iberian language (used during the 1st millennium BC in Iberia and France). Both Iberian-Guanche (at Canary Is) and Iberian (at France and Iberia) rock scripts are sometimes found together with naviform lines. These incise lineal rock scripts have been found in all Canary Islands and it supports the existence of a prehistoric Guanche common culture before Punic/Roman influence could arrive to the Archipelago and postulated Guanche incapacity to navigate is doubtful. This common writing in Canary Islands together with the finding of big rock carved (“Quesera”/Cheeseboard, Lanzarote) and other ancient calendars (Telde, Gran Canaria), cart-ruts and possible pyramids could put Canarian prehistory back much earlier. Origin of these incise linear rock scripts could be found comparing them with European Runes, Iberian, Etruscan and other Old Italian writings (Raetian, Venetian, Lepontic) and also with Sitovo and Gradeshnitsa inscriptions (Bulgaria, dated at least 5,000 years BP). Similar African scripts have also been found in Tunisia. Whether Canarian Iberian-Guanche incise lineal script is origin of any or some of the above mentioned similar scripts or vice versa is open. Finally, population genetics is not a tool to draw absolute conclusions to define origin or population relatedness (i.e.: Canarians) , if it is not used in conjunction with other Anthropology branches , like Archaeology, Language, writing systems, paleoAnatomy and other Culture traits. Keywords : Rock Scripts, Inscriptions, Canary Islands, Iberian, Guanche, Lybic, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Quesera, Cheeseboard, Pyramids, Berber, Africa, Punic, Roman, Western Sahara, Tunissia, Sitovo, Gradeshnitsa, Runes, Iberian, Etruscan, Venetian, Lepontic, Raetic, Lybic, The Rock of the Dead, Calendar. Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, letreros, Roca del Muerto , Basque-Iberian, Vascoiberismo.

“Latin” rock scripts were discovered 30 years ago in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura Islands (Canary Islands). However, they are an incised linear writing which lacks Q, H, P and T frequent Latin letters and translation into Latin has not been possible. A transcription and a translation hypothesis was proposed long ago because scripts were almost identical to those of the Iberian semi-syllabary which was used in Iberia and France during first millennium BC; “Latin” scripts were named “IberianGuanche” and were mostly religious and funerary. This type of lineal incise writing is present in all seven Canary Islands and they may have been unnoticed because all other islands except Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are humid and covered by vegetation. This type of linear writings are, like Iberian, similar to Runes (Atlantic and Central Europe),Old Italian scripts (Raetian, Venetic, Lepontic, Etruscan) and Sitovo and Gradeshnistsa scripts (Bulgaria, 5th millennium BC). Language behind Iberian-Guanche scripts might be related to both Berber and Old Basque languages. People who wrote “Iberian-Guanche” inscriptions seem to be Canary Island inhabitants and not visitors. Genes (people) of present and past Canary Islanders are difficult only to assign to North Africa because gene flow between North Africa and Iberia existed in prehistoric times and it is difficult to distinguish Iberian and North African with Canarian gene profiles. Genetics by itself is not sufficient for relating people or specific for geography, this is firmly demonstrated for mitochondrial genes. Linguistics, Culture, and Archaeology are necessary to interpret population genetics data. Extant pyramids in North Africa, Western Sahara and possibly Tenerife, existence of prehistoric artifacts and rock calendars (“Quesera”/Cheeseborad lunisolar calendar at Lanzarote and others at Gran Canaria Island) and presence of Cart-Ruts on Lanzarote volcano tops, may indicate an older date for Canarian prehistory than that of Punic/Roman presence. Finally Canarian prehistoric findings have been long neglected and forgotten but a common IberianGuanche rock writing culture existed in Canary Islands. Keywords : Latin, Scripts, Canary Islands, Iberian, Guanche, Lybic, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Quesera, Cheeseboard, Pyramids, Berber, Africa, Punic, Roman, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Algeria, Canarian, Semi-Sillabary, Calendar, Raetian, Lepontic, Venetian, Etruscan, Basque, Cart-ruts, Sitovo, Gradeshnitsa, UskoMediterranean.

Non-invasive remote detection of cardiac and blood displacements is an important topic in cardiac telemedicine. Here we propose kino-cardiography (KCG), a non-invasive technique based on measurement of body vibrations produced by myocardial contraction and blood flow through the cardiac chambers and major vessels. KCG is based on ballistocardiography and measures 12 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) of body motion. We tested the hypothesis that KCG reliably assesses dobutamine-induced haemodynamic changes in healthy subjects. Using a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled crossover study design, dobutamine and placebo were infused to 34 volunteers (25 ± 2 years, BMI 22 ± 2 kg/m², 18 females). Baseline recordings were followed by 3 sessions of increasing doses of dobutamine (5, 10, 20 μg/kg.min) or saline solution. During each session, stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were determined by echocardiography and followed by a 90 s KCG recording. Measured linear accelerations and angular velocities were used to compute total Kinetic energy (iK) and power (Pmax). KCG sorted dobutamine infusion vs. placebo with 96.9% accuracy. Increases in SV and CO were correlated to iK (r = +0.71 and r = +0.8, respectively, p, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This article presents the principles upon which a new nonanthropomorphic biped exoskeleton was designed, whose legs are based on an eight-bar mechanism. The main function of the exoskeleton is to assist people who have difficulty walking. Every leg is based on the planar Peaucellier–Lipkin mechanism, which is a one degree of freedom linkage. To be used as a robotic leg, the Peaucellier–Lipkin mechanism was modified by including two more degrees of freedom, as well as by the addition of a mechanical system based on toothed pulleys and timing belts that provides balance and stability to the user. The use of the Peaucellier–Lipkin mechanism, its transformation from one to three degrees of freedom, and the incorporation of the stability system are the main innovations and contributions of this novel nonanthropomorphic exoskeleton. Its mobility and performance are also presented herein, through forward and inverse kinematics, together with its application in carrying out the translation movement of the robotic foot along paths with the imposition of motion laws based on polynomial functions of time.

Atlantic Europe populations were analyzed with HLA genes in order to establish their relationship among themselves and with other populations. Standard genetic and statistical software analyses were used. Celtic populations (British Isles and French Bretons) have genetically been found close together: Irish, Welsh, Orkney Islanders (Scottish), French Bretons, Galicians, Spanish Basques, Portuguese, cluster together in DA genetic distances, correspondence analysis and Neighbour Joining dendrograms. Genetics have been shown by itself not suffice to determine populations migration/relatedness. Aristotle and Herodotus placed Celts in Iberia and R1b chromosome Y marker is high in Iberia and all Celtic European populations above mentioned (probably stemming from Iberian Ice refugee after Last Glaciation) and Ancient Celt language (Gaelic) is being translated from Iberian-Tartesian language: these suggest that Celts and Iberians, so named by Classic authors, constitute the same population. On the other hand, a) R1b gene analysis of Canary Islands ancient inhabitants (Guanches), b) abundant Iberian scripts are also found in Canary Islands, c) a established North Africa/Iberia ancient gene flow, and d) no evidence of demic diffusion from eastern to western Mediterranean according to human ancient skeleton studies is noticed in Mesolithic/Neolithic transition: these facts suggest that ancient Canary Islanders may be included within the Iberian/Celtic population. Our conclusions are that: 1) Celts are concentrated in Atlantic Europe, 2) Iberians and Celts mentioned by classic authors most probably refer to the same population living in Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal); in addition, North African Berbers and ancient Canary Islanders also belong to this group 3) Postulated farmers demic diffusion in a East to West Mediterranean direction never existed. Keywords: Celts, Iberians, Picts, Scottish, Orkney Islands, Irish, British (English), French Bretons, Welsh, Basques, Galicians, Canary Islands, Mediterranean demic diffusion, Gaelic language

America First Inhabitants population (Amerindians, Na Dene and Eskimos) underwent a drastic population reduction and gene exchange after Europeans and Africans arrival after 1492 AD. Barranquilla population may be a good model to study present day population admixture in South America. HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 DNA typing has been performed in 188 unrelated individuals originated in the area and speak Spanish language; they showed apparent European/African and mixed characters. HLA genetic European/African features were found and only 1.85% Amerindian one. This contrasts with neighboring Cuban population where 10% HLA Amerindian characters appear.