Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local European wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic contribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process.

The preparation of RBCs by using the PEN110 process achieved a significant viral reduction of two diverse viruses without causing adverse effects to the RBCs. The process appears to be a promising approach, thus justifying further study.

The results from the study demonstrate for the first time that a pathogen-reduction technology for RBCC can achieve a broad-spectrum virucidal effect against both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The broad spectrum of virucidal activity of INACTINE PEN110, and equivalent kinetics of virus inactivation in RBCC prepared using different commercially available RBC storage solutions, demonstrate the robustness of this pathogen-reduction process.

The Argonne set of coals cover the rank range from lignite to semi-anthracite; these samples have been studied by matrix-assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer equipped with a nitrogen laser at 337 nm, using sinapinic acid as matrix. The coal particle size was less than 5 microns. The characteristics of the MALDI-MS spectra of the set of coals were found to be rank-related; desorption from highrank coals was found to take place with greater relative ease than from low-rank coals. Two major features were found in all spectra: a homologous series of peaks in the 200-500 u mass range and an intense peak between lo00 and SOOOu, the particular shape of the peak depending on coal rank. A continuum of lower intensity peaks extending to very large molecular masses was found in all spectra, the upper limit of molecular masses increasing with coal rank at the same laser fluence. The effect of changes in laser power on spectra was investigated: upper mass limits were found to increase with power up to the detection limit of the instrument but low-mass parts of spectra were found to distort, possibly due to detector overloading. A maximum laser fluence value acceptable over the coal-rank range represented by these samples could therefore not be easily defined. None of the mass spectra showed evidence of the presence of either carbon clusters or fullerene formation, indicating that laser fluences did not reach intensities high enough to induce substantial secondary reactions. Comparing molecular mass distributions detected by MALDI of coal pyrolysis tars and directly from coals suggests the MALDI and pyrolytic mechanisms of volatile release to be structurally different; in particular, the preferential evaporation of lighter species which occurs during pyrolytic tar evolution (and during field-ionization mass spectroscopy) appears to evolve material with a more restricted range of molecular masses compared to laser desorption mechanisms.