Hasil untuk "Human evolution"

Paulina Markowiak, K. Śliżewska

The human gastrointestinal tract is colonised by a complex ecosystem of microorganisms. Intestinal bacteria are not only commensal, but they also undergo a synbiotic co-evolution along with their host. Beneficial intestinal bacteria have numerous and important functions, e.g., they produce various nutrients for their host, prevent infections caused by intestinal pathogens, and modulate a normal immunological response. Therefore, modification of the intestinal microbiota in order to achieve, restore, and maintain favourable balance in the ecosystem, and the activity of microorganisms present in the gastrointestinal tract is necessary for the improved health condition of the host. The introduction of probiotics, prebiotics, or synbiotics into human diet is favourable for the intestinal microbiota. They may be consumed in the form of raw vegetables and fruit, fermented pickles, or dairy products. Another source may be pharmaceutical formulas and functional food. This paper provides a review of available information and summarises the current knowledge on the effects of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics on human health. The mechanism of beneficial action of those substances is discussed, and verified study results proving their efficacy in human nutrition are presented.

Z. Ye, Shuofeng Yuan, Kit-San Yuen et al.

Mutation and adaptation have driven the co-evolution of coronaviruses (CoVs) and their hosts, including human beings, for thousands of years. Before 2003, two human CoVs (HCoVs) were known to cause mild illness, such as common cold. The outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) have flipped the coin to reveal how devastating and life-threatening an HCoV infection could be. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in central China at the end of 2019 has thrusted CoVs into the spotlight again and surprised us with its high transmissibility but reduced pathogenicity compared to its sister SARS-CoV. HCoV infection is a zoonosis and understanding the zoonotic origins of HCoVs would serve us well. Most HCoVs originated from bats where they are non-pathogenic. The intermediate reservoir hosts of some HCoVs are also known. Identifying the animal hosts has direct implications in the prevention of human diseases. Investigating CoV-host interactions in animals might also derive important insight on CoV pathogenesis in humans. In this review, we present an overview of the existing knowledge about the seven HCoVs, with a focus on the history of their discovery as well as their zoonotic origins and interspecies transmission. Importantly, we compare and contrast the different HCoVs from a perspective of virus evolution and genome recombination. The current CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is discussed in this context. In addition, the requirements for successful host switches and the implications of virus evolution on disease severity are also highlighted.

Marc T. J. Johnson, J. Munshi-South

Suk Hyung Lee, Wenhuo Hu, J. Matulay et al.

Feng Zhang, W. Gu, M. Hurles et al.

J. Jimenez, M. Canagaratna, N. Donahue et al.

Framework for Change Organic aerosols make up 20 to 90% of the particulate mass of the troposphere and are important factors in both climate and human heath. However, their sources and removal pathways are very uncertain, and their atmospheric evolution is poorly characterized. Jimenez et al. (p. 1525; see the Perspective by Andreae) present an integrated framework of organic aerosol compositional evolution in the atmosphere, based on model results and field and laboratory data that simulate the dynamic aging behavior of organic aerosols. Particles become more oxidized, more hygroscopic, and less volatile with age, as they become oxygenated organic aerosols. These results should lead to better predictions of climate and air quality. Organic aerosols are not compositionally static, but they evolve dramatically within hours to days of their formation. Organic aerosol (OA) particles affect climate forcing and human health, but their sources and evolution remain poorly characterized. We present a unifying model framework describing the atmospheric evolution of OA that is constrained by high–time-resolution measurements of its composition, volatility, and oxidation state. OA and OA precursor gases evolve by becoming increasingly oxidized, less volatile, and more hygroscopic, leading to the formation of oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), with concentrations comparable to those of sulfate aerosol throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Our model framework captures the dynamic aging behavior observed in both the atmosphere and laboratory: It can serve as a basis for improving parameterizations in regional and global models.

B. Bogin

Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Background to the study of human growth 2. Basic principles of human growth 3. The evolution of human growth 4. Evolution of the human life cycle 5. Growth variation in living human populations 6. Environmental factors influencing growth 7. Genetic and endocrine regulation of human growth 8. A biocultural view of human growth Glossary References Index.

G. Miller

J. Tso, Xiao-hong Sun, T. Kao et al.

P. Nowell

R. Thornhill, S. Gangestad

T. Rai

By this definition, culture has proven to be widespread in the animal kingdom. The social transmission system of Norway rats was dissected in a classic series of papers by BG Galef (1988) and his colleagues. Andrew Whiten (Whiten, McGuigan, Marshall-Pescini, & Hopper, 2009), Michael Tomasello (Herrmann, Call, Hernandez-Lloreda, Hare, & Tomasello, 2007) and their colleagues have studied social transmission in apes and humans in a comparative framework. This work shows that chimpanzees are rather good social learners compared to other animals, but humans prove to be much better social learners than our nearest relatives. Human children are compulsive imitators. The quantity of information that humans can acquire by social transmission thus far outpaces that of any other species. Humans can thus build up complex cultural adaptations by cumulating successive innovations to eventually evolve structures and behaviors that rival organic adaptations in their sophistication and diversity. For example, beginning about 11,000 years ago, foraging peoples who harvested wild plants began to experiment with simple schemes for encouraging the plants they targeted (Richerson, Boyd, & Bettinger, 2001). Over the subsequent few thousand years, such experiments eventually resulted in the creation of a diverse set of artificial agroecosystems based upon domesticated plants and animals. Systems adapted to most climates and soils on earth evolved, ranging from root crop dominated systems in the poor soils of tropical rain forests to caribou herding near the Arctic Circle. In favored areas, agriculture led to dense settled populations, intricately adapted agricultural technology, and complex social systems. Humans are the only species we know that is highly specialized for social learning and cultural adaptations. These skills led to a cultural adaptive radiation that bears comparison with the rapid radiations hundreds of new species of fishes in large tropical lakes.

Nicolas Altemose, Glennis A. Logsdon, Andrey V. Bzikadze et al.

Existing human genome assemblies have almost entirely excluded highly repetitive sequences within and near centromeres, limiting our understanding of their sequence, evolution, and essential role in chromosome segregation. Here, we present an extensive study of newly assembled peri/centromeric sequences representing 6.2% (189.9 Mb) of the first complete, telomere-to-telomere human genome assembly (T2T-CHM13). We discovered novel patterns of peri/centromeric repeat organization, variation, and evolution at both large and small length scales. We also found that inner kinetochore proteins tend to overlap the most recently duplicated subregions within centromeres. Finally, we compared chromosome X centromeres across a diverse panel of individuals and uncovered structural, epigenetic, and sequence variation at single-base resolution across these regions. In total, this work provides an unprecedented atlas of human centromeres to guide future studies of their complex and critical functions as well as their unique evolutionary dynamics. One-sentence summary Deep characterization of fully assembled human centromeres reveals their architecture and fine-scale organization, variation, and evolution.

S. Gagneux

R. Bellah

Religion in Human Evolution is a work of extraordinary ambition--a wide-ranging, nuanced probing of our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living. It offers what is frequently seen as a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially but not exclusively cultural evolution. How did our early ancestors transcend the quotidian demands of everyday existence to embrace an alternative reality that called into question the very meaning of their daily struggle? Robert Bellah, one of the leading sociologists of our time, identifies a range of cultural capacities, such as communal dancing, storytelling, and theorizing, whose emergence made this religious development possible. Deploying the latest findings in biology, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology, he traces the expansion of these cultural capacities from the Paleolithic to the Axial Age (roughly, the first millennium BCE), when individuals and groups in the Old World challenged the norms and beliefs of class societies ruled by kings and aristocracies. These religious prophets and renouncers never succeeded in founding their alternative utopias, but they left a heritage of criticism that would not be quenched. Bellah's treatment of the four great civilizations of the Axial Age--in ancient Israel, Greece, China, and India--shows all existing religions, both prophetic and mystic, to be rooted in the evolutionary story he tells. Religion in Human Evolution answers the call for a critical history of religion grounded in the full range of human constraints and possibilities.

Bastian Fromm, Tyler E. Billipp, Liam E. Peck et al.

Gaojie Song, Lingling Cheng, Lingling Cheng et al.

The continuous evolution of coronaviruses poses persistent and severe threats to both human and animal health. While α- and β-coronaviruses mainly infect mammals, including humans, γ-coronaviruses predominantly infect poultry, causing substantial economic losses. Their rapid mutation rates and wide host tropism underscore the urgent demand for pan-coronavirus therapeutics. Here, we systematically investigated the antiviral potency and mechanism of action of PB28, a selective sigma-1 receptor antagonist, across α-, β-, and γ-coronaviruses. Molecular docking predicted a stable interaction between PB28 and the sigma-1 receptor. PB28 exhibits robust in vitro antiviral activity, effectively inhibiting the replication of β-coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2 and its Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants; HCoV-OC43), α-coronaviruses (PEDV and TGEV), and γ-coronaviruses (IBV). Broad-spectrum antiviral efficacy is further validated by viral titration assays. In vivo, PB28 administration in K18-hACE2 mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta and BALB/c mice infected with HCoV-OC43 led to significantly reduced viral loads, attenuated multi-organ pathology, and improved survival and body weight maintenance. In parallel, PB28 treatment in IBV-infected chicken embryos and neonatal chicks enhanced survival, supported embryogenesis, and alleviated tissue damage. Collectively, PB28 demonstrates cross-genus antiviral efficacy, likely mediated through modulation of the sigma-1 receptor. These findings highlight PB28 as a promising lead compound for the development of pan-coronavirus therapeutics.

Lorenzo Viviani, Alba Liso, Laila Craighero

The rapid evolution of human–technology interaction necessitates continuous sensorimotor adaptation to new digital interfaces and tasks. Mobile typing, defined as text entry on smartphone touchscreens, offers a compelling example of this process, requiring users to adapt fine motor control and coordination to a constrained virtual environment. Aligned with the embodied cognition framework, understanding these digital sensorimotor experiences is crucial. A key theoretical question is whether these skills primarily involve adaptation of existing motor patterns or necessitate de novo learning, a distinction particularly relevant across generations with differing early sensorimotor experiences. This narrative review synthesizes current understanding of the sensorimotor aspects of smartphone engagement and typing skill evaluation methods. It examines touchscreen competence, skill acquisition, diverse strategies employed, and the influence of interface constraints on motor performance, while also detailing various sophisticated performance metrics and analyzing different data collection methodologies. Research highlights that analyzing typing behaviors and their underlying neural correlates increasingly serves as a potential source of behavioral biomarkers. However, while notable progress has been made, the field is still developing, requiring stronger methodological foundations and crucial standardization of metrics and protocols to fully capture and understand the dynamic sensorimotor processes involved in digital interactions. Nevertheless, mobile typing emerges as a compelling model for advancing our understanding of human sensorimotor learning and cognitive function, offering a rich, ecologically valid platform for investigating human-world interaction.

Sasmini

Humanitarian Intervention (HI) is the third pillar of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) framework, which frequently invokes the concept of humanity as the fundamental source of legitimacy. However, the absence of clear criteria defining the limit of humanity has led to a double standard in the implementation. Therefore, this study aims to examine two main legal issues, namely the broader legal implications of the principle of humanity in the international legal system and the standard threshold to legitimize the intervention within the RtoP framework. A doctrinal legal method was used with regulatory, conceptual, and case approaches. In addition, interpretative methods were used for legal argumentation. The results showed that the concept of humanity has historically played a crucial role in shaping international law. The evolution of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law, particularly within the context of international criminal law, is closely related to the concept of humanity. According to this concept, intervention may be justified to prevent and stop humanitarian crises within a specific state to protect the victims. However, only actions that exceed the limits of humanity, including extraordinary acts of cruelty and crimes under universal jurisdiction, can serve as the basis for HI legitimacy. Moreover, the threshold for invoking HI must also include a determination that the state is unwilling or unable to prevent or stop the ongoing atrocities.

Sergio Moreno, Mohamed Amine Doukani, Ana Hipólito et al.

During the last two decades, the Macaronesian archipelagos have been the focus of multiple studies targeting the abundant and diversified fossil record from late Neogene and Quaternary deposits. This record of past biota, ecosystems and climates is crucial for understanding the impact of glacial–interglacial cycles on Atlantic littoral marine organisms. Coupled with ongoing studies on the factors responsible for global climate change and associated sea-level variations, they contributed decisively towards the development of the modern marine island biogeography theory. Our current knowledge of the evolutionary and biogeographic history of the past and extant, shallow-water marine organisms from the Macaronesian geographic region relies on detailed analysis of many individual fossiliferous outcrops by means of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Here, we focus on the fossil record of a newly studied MIS 5e outcrop at Pedra-que-pica (PQP), on Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago, Portugal). This multidisciplinary work integrates geology, paleontology and biology, providing the first detailed description of the sedimentary facies and stratigraphic framework of the PQP MIS 5e sequence that, coupled with the documentation of the biodiversity and ecological composition of PQP molluscan assemblages, allows us to produce a paleoecological reconstruction and to compare PQP with other last interglacial outcrops from Santa Maria Island. Our results increase the number of the Azorean MIS 5e marine molluscs to 140 taxa (116 Gastropoda and 24 Bivalvia). <i>Ervilia castanea</i> (Montagu, 1803) is the most abundant bivalve, while <i>Bittium nanum</i> (Mayer, 1864) and <i>Melarhaphe neritoides</i> (Linnaeus, 1758) are the most abundant gastropod species. In addition, this work emphasizes the crucial importance of complementing quantitative collecting with qualitative surveys of the fossiliferous outcrops, because nearly 42% of the bivalve species and 28% of the gastropod taxa would be missed if only quantitative samples were used. Derivation of Hill numbers and rarefaction curves both indicate that the sampling effort should be increased at PQP. Thus, although Santa Maria Island is recognized by the scientific community as one of the best-studied islands regarding the last interglacial fossil record, this study emphasizes the need to continue with similar efforts in less known outcrops on the island.