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We report an archeomagnetic study from the Early Iron Age archeological site of Cerro de San Vicente (Salamanca, Spain). The studied materials were sampled from one roundhouse and its central fireplace, a surrounding burnt floor, and slags with a twofold objective. First, to archeomagnetically determine the last use of the central fireplace, because dating with other methods was imprecise. Second, to retrieve information about the Earth's magnetic field in Western Europe from a period when the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA) has been occasionally reported. This study includes mineralogical, archeomagnetic directional analyses, and multimethod archeointensity determinations. Paleomagnetic analyses of the central fireplace yield a mean direction: declination D = 15.1°, inclination I = 52.5°; k = 477.1, and α95 = 5.6°. Archeointensity determinations yield a mean anisotropy-corrected archeointensity of 72.4 ± 2.0 μT (74.7 ± 4.3 μT if a pTRM-check correction is applied) on the central fireplace and 48.2 ± 2.0 μT on slags. A full-vector archeomagnetic dating was performed with the SHA. DIF.4k geomagnetic field model which yielded an age interval of last use of the central fireplace between 644 and 575 BCE (654–575 BCE with the pTRM-check corrected data) at 95% confidence level. This date agrees with the archeological context. Results allows to place the high paleointensity obtained near the maximum observed in Iberia at this age, confirming the existence of this peak related to the LIAA in Western Europe where records of this feature are still scarce., Financial support for this work was obtained from Junta de Castilla y León (project BU235P18) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the PID2019-105796GB-I00 of the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI/10.13039/501100011033)

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the fourth cancer with the highest incidence and the second with the highest mortality rate, according to 2018 data. Adenocarcinoma is the fundamental form in which it occurs, occupying 90% of the cases. The drugs used to combat this disease are numerous and have narrow therapeutic ranges and strong adverse effects. Controlling plasma levels is essential to achieve optimal pharmacotherapy. Irinotecan and capecitabine have been the drugs analyzed in this work. These drugs are administered both in monotherapy and in combination, in schemes such as FOLFIRINOX or FOLFIRI for irinotecan and XELOX for capecitabine. Both drugs have an active metabolite responsible for the therapeutic action of the drug. These metabolites, in addition to the treatment effect, are responsible for a large part of the toxicities derived from the treatment, hence, their correct characterization is pharmacologically relevant. Hypothesis: The prevalence of colorectal cancer and the necessity to increase positive results in health generates the need to incorporate new tools, such as those included in the framework of artificial intelligence, which, together with other more classic ones such as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling, make it possible to facilitate optimal use of chemotherapy in routine care practice. Results: A compartmental pharmacokinetic model has been obtained for each of the drugs and their corresponding metabolites, making use of parametric and non-parametric methodologies. The precision indices of these models reach values of R2=0.964 for the case of irinotecan and R2=0.886 for capecitabine. Moreover, the capecitabine model has permitted to obtain optimal sampling times for this drug. On the other hand, models based on machine learning have been developed to predict irinotecan derived toxicities such as late diarrhea, leukopenia and neutropenia with success rates of 91, 76 and 75%, respectively. These models are based both on particular characteristics of each patient and on values of their pharmacokinetic parameters. Finally, the proposed models for irinotecan have been integrated in a software enabling their correct use in clinical practice. Conclusions: The kinetics of irinotecan and capecitabine and their corresponding metabolites have been correctly characterized, allowing an individualized adjustment of the concentrations over time of each of the patients. Moreover, in the case of irinotecan, the reconversion from the glucuronide metabolite to the active metabolite, due to enterohepatic reabsorption, has been characterized for the first time in the literature, which is a fundamental feature of this drug. The models based on artificial intelligence allow to correctly predict the possibility for a new patient to develop late diarrhea, leukopenia and neutropenia, by means of particular characteristics of that patient. A strong relationship between pharmacokinetic parameters and the studied toxicities for irinotecan has been demonstrated, for the areas under the plasma curves and the maximum concentrations of this drug are linked with the degree of toxicity. The developed software permits to apply the results obtained in this thesis in clinical practice.

Population genomic studies of ancient human remains have shown how modern-day European population structure has been shaped by a number of prehistoric migrations. The Neolithization of Europe has been associated with large-scale migrations from Anatolia, which was followed by migrations of herders from the Pontic steppe at the onset of the Bronze Age. Southwestern Europe was one of the last parts of the continent reached by these migrations, and modern-day populations from this region show intriguing similarities to the initial Neolithic migrants. Partly due to climatic conditions that are unfavorable for DNA preservation, regional studies on the Mediterranean remain challenging. Here, we present genome-wide sequence data from 13 individuals combined with stable isotope analysis from the north and south of Iberia covering a four-millennial temporal transect (7, 500–3, 500 BP). Early Iberian farmers and Early Central European farmers exhibit significant genetic differences, suggesting two independent fronts of the Neolithic expansion. The first Neolithic migrants that arrived in Iberia had low levels of genetic diversity, potentially reflecting a small number of individuals; this diversity gradually increased over time from mixing with local hunter-gatherers and potential population expansion. The impact of post-Neolithic migrations on Iberia was much smaller than for the rest of the continent, showing little external influence from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Paleodietary reconstruction shows that these populations have a remarkable degree of dietary homogeneity across space and time, suggesting a strong reliance on terrestrial food resources despite changing culture and genetic make-up.

Skilled attendance at birth is widely recognized as a single most effective strategy for reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and this is being used as an indicator to measure progress toward the fifth Millennium Development Goal of improving maternal health (MDG 5). However around half of the deliveries in the developing world are not attended by skilled professionals. The situation is worse in some regions such as South Asia where only less than one-third of deliveries are attended by skilled professionals. Safe motherhood still remains a distant dream for many around the world especially in developing countries leading to most of the maternal deaths in poor countries suggesting that most of these can be attributed to low level of supply and utilization of skilled maternal health services. Research studies have documented a range of social economic and geographic factors that act as barriers to low use of skilled maternity care during childbirth around the world. As far as India is concerned maternal education economic status of household caste and religion; availability of and accessibility to a health facility presence of a lady medical doctor availability of drugs; community attributes and programme-related factors play a critical role in the utilization of facility-based maternity care. Though costs - both direct and indirect-have also been shown to be an important barrier to womens use of facility-based maternity care there are a limited number of studies that have explored the issue in detail at regional level unlike at national level. India has avoided significant maternal and neonatal deaths in j:he last two decades. The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has declined from 398 (per 100 000 live births) in 1997-98 to 212 in 2007-09 and the neonatal mortality has declined from 45 (per 1000 live births) to 34 during the same period. Despite this recent achievement India still is one of the countries having high MMR in the world accounting for 19 percent of maternal deaths worldwide. Findings of a study report on MDGs progress in Bangladesh suggest that utilization of maternal health care is less in rural and poorest household as compared to their counterpart. Unlike developed countries in India more than 70 percent of the health care expenditure is paid by individuals and the government bears only 20 percent the rest is from businesses and external flows. In many situations health care expenditure which also includes maternal and neonatal care is catastrophic; this in tum can push the households into poverty. Especially rural households the less educated slum dwellers and poor households because these households in India are more likely to finance health care through borrowing and sale of assets than well off population groups. The District Level Household Survey DLHS4 has pointed out that at the public health facilities on an average a household has to spend INR 3130 for each delivery and it is INR 3000 in rural areas of Karnataka. Hence in this background using information from a baseline survey the present article aims to examine household expenses incurred for availing maternal healthcare services by rural women in North Kamataka.

During the Middle Paleolithic period, carnivores and hominids periodically occupied the same areas at different times and each predator generated significant palimpsests, rendering difficult their archaeological interpretation. Teixoneres Cave, a carnivore den site, located in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, demonstrates that it is possible to overcome these problems by using a careful strategy in selecting samples for radiocarbon dating, in order to produce an accurate chronology of the site in question and certainly attest the human occupation.

We thank the PhD financial support for IDF, given by the University of Oviedo-Banco Santander, Government of the Principality of Asturias and the FPU grant of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. This is a contribution of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Project MISTERIOS (CGL2013-48601-C2-2-R), the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Project TOPO-IBERIA (CSD2006-00041), and the ESF TopoEurope Project PYRTEC (SV-PA-10-03-IP2-PYRTEC). We thank Heather Stoll and the staff of the stable isotope laboratories of the Universities of Oviedo and Barcelona and ETH-Zurich for their support. We want to give special thanks to Stefano Bernasconi for interesting discussions and laboratory assistance. Yves Lagabrielle and Serge Fourcade are thanked for their very useful and constructive reviews

Presentamos los datos antracológicos de los niveles de ocupación de la Cueva de El Conde fechados entre 40-32 Ka. BP, procedentes del área de excavación denominada “Plataforma”. Pinus sylvestris, Sorbus aria, Betula, aparecen como principales táxones arbóreos. El estrato arbustivo presenta una gran variabilidad florística procedente tanto de substratos calcáreos: Arbutus, Rhamnus, Crataegus, Prunus como silíceos: Erica, Leguminosae (Ulex, Cytisus). La configuración topográfica de este territorio así como la variabilidad de substrato entre áreas geográficamente próximas, explicaría la proximidad de estas comunidades vegetales con afinidades ecológicas diversas. Asimismo la posición de la cueva a media ladera habría facilitado el aprovechamiento alternativo de todas ellas en lo referente a la gestión del combustible por parte de los grupos humanos que habitaron estacionalmente dicho yacimiento.