An ecocultural model predicts Neanderthal extinction through competition with modern humans

Archaeologists argue that the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans was driven by interspecific competition due to a difference in culture level. To assess the cogency of this argument, we construct and analyze an interspecific cultural competition model based on the Lotka−Volterra model, which is widely used in ecology, but which incorporates the culture level of a species as a variable interacting with population size. We investigate the conditions under which a difference in culture level between cognitively equivalent species, or alternatively a difference in underlying learning ability, may produce competitive exclusion of a comparatively (although not absolutely) large local Neanderthal population by an initially smaller modern human population. We find, in particular, that this competitive exclusion is more likely to occur when population growth occurs on a shorter timescale than cultural change, or when the competition coefficients of the Lotka−Volterra model depend on the difference in the culture levels of the interacting species.Neanderthals are a human species (or subspecies) that went extinct, after making a small contribution to the modern human genome (1, 2). Hypotheses for the Neanderthal extinction and their replacement by modern humans, in particular as recorded in Europe, can be classified into those emphasizing competition with modern humans and those arguing that interspecific competition was of minor relevance. Among the latter are the climate change (3) and epidemic/endemic (4) hypotheses. However, an ecocultural niche modeling study has shown that Neanderthals and modern humans exploited similar niches in Europe (5), which, together with a recent reassessment of European Paleolithic chronology showing significant spatiotemporal overlap of the two species (6), suggests a major role for interspecific competition in the demise of the Neanderthals.Replacement of one species (or population) by another is ultimately a matter of numbers. One competing species survives while the other is reduced to, or approaches, zero in size. In the classical Lotka−Volterra model of interspecific competition, this process is called competitive exclusion (7). If Neanderthals were indeed outcompeted by modern humans, the question arises: Wherein lay the advantage to the latter species? Many suggestions have been made, including better tools (8), better clothing (9, 10), and better economic organization (11). These hypotheses share the premise that modern humans were culturally more advanced than the coeval Neanderthals.The purpose of our paper is threefold. First, we extend the Lotka−Volterra-type model of interspecific competition by incorporating the “culture level” of a species as a variable that interacts with population size (12, 13). Here, culture level may be interpreted as the number of cultural traits, toolkit size, toolkit sophistication, etc. Although, as noted above, many anthropological and archaeological discussions invoke interspecific cultural competition, there is, to the best of our knowledge, no mathematical theory of this ecocultural process. A mechanistic resource competition model is difficult to justify at present, because there is a limited understanding of “what the species are competing for… [or] how they compete” (14). Second, we use our interspecific cultural competition model to explore, analytically and numerically, the possibility that a difference in culture level, or in underlying learning ability, may produce competitive exclusion of a comparatively (although not absolutely) large regional (Neanderthal) population by an initially smaller (modern human) one. Third, we assume the competition coefficients of the Lotka−Volterra model to depend explicitly on the difference in the culture levels of the interacting species (rather than to be constants) and ask how this modification affects the invasion and subsequent dynamics.Dependence of the culture/technology level of a human population on its size has been the focus of many theoretical (15–21) as well as psychological (22–24), archaeological (25, 26), and ethnological (27–30) studies. However, the coupled dynamics of population size and culture level, where both quantities are treated as variables, has received less theoretical attention (12, 13, 31, 32).Taking refs. 12 and 13 as the point of departure, we extend previous treatments by introducing two such populations in direct competition with each other in the Lotka−Volterra framework. The two populations are described in terms of their size, N_i (≥0), their culture level z_i (≥0), i (=1, 2), and parameters to be defined below. We ask whether a population can be replaced by an initially smaller one, which has an advantage in culture level or in learning ability. This ecological perspective on the competition between “size−culture profiles” may inform ongoing debate on the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans.     

Comprehensive genetic characterization of rectal cancer in a large cohort of Japanese patients: differences according to tumor location

Journal of Gastroenterology - In clinical practice, rectal cancer (RC) is classified according to tumor location. However, RC’s genetic characteristics according to tumor location remain...     

Expression of p57/Kip2 protein in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

INTRODUCTION: Evaluation of the biologic character of carcinomas requires understanding of cell cycle regulators. AIMS: To investigate p57 expression in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma and cyst adenoma. METHODOLOGY: We examined the expression of p57(Kip2), a member of the Cip/Kip family, in 45 pancreatic adenocarcinomas, 7 cystadenomas, and 7 chronic pancreatitis cases. RESULTS: The p57 labeling index (LI) in duct epithelia in chronic pancreatitis averaged 32.8+/-8.3 and was significantly higher than in normal duct epithelia (18.8+/-6.6; p = 0.0011). For the carcinoma, the LI averaged 46.0+/-20.9, which was significantly higher than that for normal duct epithelia (p < 0.0001) and cystadenoma (16.0 11.2; p = 0.0007). However, it was significantly reduced in cases with stage IV disease (p = 0.0351), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.0003), larger size (p = 0.0094), capsular invasion (p = 0.0462), lymphatic invasion (p = 0.0351), and cell proliferating activity (p = 0.0002). In multivariate analysis, p57 LI in pancreatic adenocarcinoma was independently linked to high proliferating activity (p = 0.0230). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that p57 plays a role in the hyperplastic change of the ducts in chronic pancreatitis and that pS7 overexpression contributes to the downregulation of cell proliferation, and its decreased expression contributes to the progression of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.     

Detection of BCL2-IGH rearrangement on paraffin-embedded tissue sections obtained from a small submucosal tumor of the rectum in a patient with recurrent follicular lymphoma

A 59-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of recurrent follicular lymphorna (FL). Colonoscopic examination revealed a rectal submucosal tumor (SMT) without any erosions and ulcers. In this patient, it was difficult to distinguish non-Hodgkin‘s lymphoma (NHL) invasion from other disorders of the colon including carcinoid tumor merely based on endoscopic findings. Histopathologic and immunohistochemical studies on biopsy specimens showed an infiltration of atypical lymphocytes that were positive for CD20 and BCL2 but negative for UCHL-1. Fluorescence in situ hybridization on paraffin-embedded tissue sections (T-FISH) identified a translocation of BCL2 with IGHgene.Based on these findings, the tumor was defined as an invasion of FL. T-FISH method is useful for the detection of a monoclonality of atypical lymphocytes in an SMT of the gastrointestinal tract, and particularly for the detection of chromosomal translocations specific to lymphoma subtypes.