Recently, many studies have been conducted on manual laterality in chimpanzees. Nevertheless, whether nonhuman primates exhibit population-level handedness remains a topic of considerable debate. One of the behaviors studied has been bimanual coordinated actions. Although recent studies have highlighted that captive chimpanzees show handedness at population level for these tasks, some authors have questioned the validity and consistency of these results. The first reason has been the humanization of the samples. The second one has been that the results refer to animals in American biomedical centers and the studies were conducted by the same team [WD Hopkins et al.]. This article aims to assess the laterality in bimanual coordination (tube task) activities in animals housed in an intermediate environment (Chimfunshi, Zambia). This has been conducted by replicating previous studies on similar samples (Mona Foundation, Spain), and then by extending the results to chimpanzees housed in intermediate settings. Individuals were evaluated through four experimental sessions (tests). Results indicated that 86% of the Chimfunshi sample was lateralized (48% RH, 38% LH). Furthermore, the sample showed population-level right-handedness in the mean handedness index, in Test 1, Test 2, and the first half of the study (Test 112). Rearing experience did not have an influence on handpreference. Taken together, the two sample (intermediate settings: Chimfunshi and Mona) results indicate a clear right-handedness. In conclusion, this replication and extension shows that (1) the Mona and Chimfunshi chimpanzees are right-handed in certain conditions, (2) the results are consistent with those obtained by Hopkins in captive settings, (3) the humanization of the samples does not affect manual laterality, (4) females are right-handed at population-level, but not males, and (5) these results reinforce the fact that the complexity of the task plays a dominant role in the expression of hand laterality among chimpanzees.

Social learning, as an information acquisition process, enables intergenerational transmission and the stabilisation of cultural forms, generating and sustaining behavioural traditions within human groups. Archaeologically, such social processes might become observable by identifying repetitions in the record that result from the execution of standardised actions. From a zooarchaeological perspective, the processing and consumption of carcasses may be used to identify these types of phenomena at the sites. To investigate this idea, several faunal assemblages from Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain, MIS 9-5e) and Gran Dolina TD10-1 (Burgos, Spain, MIS 9) were analysed. The data show that some butchery activities exhibit variability as a result of multiple conditioning factors and, therefore, the identification of cultural patterns through the resulting cut-marks presents additional difficulties. However, other activities, such as marrow removal by means of intentional breakage, seem to reflect standardised actions unrelated to the physical characteristics of the bones. The statistical tests we applied show no correlation between the less dense areas of the bones and the location of impacts. Comparison of our experimental series with the archaeological samples indicates a counter-intuitive selection of the preferred locus of impact, especially marked in the case of Bolomor IV. This fact supports the view that bone breakage was executed counter-intuitively and repetitively on specific sections because it may have been part of an acquired behavioural repertoire. These reiterations differ between levels and sites, suggesting the possible existence of cultural identities or behavioural predispositions dependant on groups. On this basis, the study of patterns could significantly contribute to the identification of occupational strategies and organisation of the hominids in a territory. In this study, we use faunal data in identifying the mechanics of intergenerational information transmission within Middle Pleistocene human communities and provide new ideas for the investigation of occupational dynamics from a zooarchaeological approach.

Three different methods were used to determine the in vitro activities of amphotericin B, ketoconazole, itraconazole, and flucytosine against 30 isolates of different genera of filamentous fungi. MICs were determined visually, with or without agitation, and spectrophotometrically by using a broth microdilution method. For amphotericin B, there was one end point reading criterion (the minimum concentration of antifungal that inhibited 100% of growth), but for azoles and flucytosine there were two (the minimum concentrations that inhibited 50 and 75% of fungal growth, respectively) after 48 and 72 h of incubation. All tests were performed in triplicate. An intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to evaluate the reproducibility of each of the methods and the correlation among them. The reproducibility of the three methods was very high (ICC of 0.808 to 0.992), particularly in the case of azoles and flucytosine. In general, the degree of reproducibility was highest for azoles and amphotericin B after 72 h of incubation and for flucytosine after 48 h of incubation. The degree of correlation among the three methods was very high (ICC of >0.98) with all of the antifungals under all the conditions tested. The end point reading criteria and the time of incubation affected neither the reproducibility of the methods nor their correlation, and their effect on MICs was statistically significant.The prevalence and severity of fungal infections in humans and the development of new antifungal agents have increased the interest in antifungal susceptibility testing of pathogenic and opportunistic fungi. Despite many efforts, there are still some methodological problems. One of the most important problems occurs in the susceptibility testing of imidazole derivatives and flucytosine because they partially inhibit fungal growth (1). Work on the development of standardized procedures for testing filamentous fungi has led to the recent publication by the National Committee on Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) of a proposed reference document (11). This standard considers the visual comparison of fungal growth in wells with growth in a control well as the conventional procedure for reading the MICs. However, it has been suggested that the spectrophotometric end point reading of MICs has the advantages of objectivity, rapidity, and even the elimination of "inoculum dependence" (6, 7). It has also been suggested that agitating the microtiter plates before reading the MICs in the broth microdilution method can help to improve the quality of the readings, at least when testing yeasts (2, 13). Espinel-Ingroff et al. (5) recently carried out an intraand interlaboratory study and suggested that MICs be evaluated colorimetrically, with Alamar blue as an indicator, after incubation times of 48 to 72 h and that the inoculum density be approximately 10 4 CFU/ml for a reference method for testing filamentous fungi. Here we compare spectrophotometric and visual methods with or without agitation for reading MICs by using a wide range o...