Dating agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean using luminescence : recent progress and challenges

Funding: This paper derives from the TerraSAgE project (Terraces as Sustainable Agricultural Environments) which is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number: AH/T000104/1].Agricultural terraces provide farmers in hilly landscapes with effective ways to increase the area available for crops. They mitigate the risks of soil erosion and promote crop productivity by slowing surface water runoff and retaining moisture. As in other parts of the world, terraces have been constructed and used in the Mediterranean for millennia. The availability of terraced agriculture had important socio-economic, ecological, and environmental implications for past societies. However, the chronology of construction, use, and abandonment of terraces in different regions remains uncertain. A more robust set of chronological data will allow better assessment of whether terrace agriculture was a resilient strategy in the face of past economic or ecological instability and, in turn, inform how terraces could be used to address future agricultural and environmental challenges. In this paper, we review the application of luminescence dating to terrace sediments, the key challenges involved, and the currently published data which include over 250 luminescence ages. We also discuss the use of a multidisciplinary approach involving other geoarchaeological tools (e.g., use of GIS analyses, field-based luminescence readers, and micromorphology) to enhance the ways that past terrace systems can be understood. Terrace systems are inextricably linked to sustainable land use across the Mediterranean. Luminescence dating methods, therefore, have a crucial role to play in understanding the complexities of past and future landscape change.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Challenges and Promise of Targeting MirRNA in Rheumatic Diseases: A Computational Approach to Identify MiRNA Association With Cell Types, Cytokines, and Disease Mechanisms

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that alter the expression of target genes at the post-transcriptional level, influencing diverse outcomes in metabolism, cell differentiation, proliferation, cell survival, and cell death. Dysregulated miRNA expression is implicated in various rheumatic conditions, including ankylosing spondylitis (AS), gout, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), osteoarthritis (OA), psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjogren\u27s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis. For this review, we used an open-source programming language- PowerShell, to scan the massive number of existing primary research publications on PubMed on miRNAs in these nine diseases to identify and count unique co-occurrences of individual miRNAs and the disease name. These counts were used to rank the top seven most relevant immuno-miRs based on their research volume in each rheumatic disease. Individual miRNAs were also screened for publication with the names of immune cells, cytokines, and pathological processes involved in rheumatic diseases. These occurrences were tabulated into matrices to identify hotspots for research relevance. Based on this information, we summarize the basic and clinical findings for the top three miRNAs - miR-146, miR-155, and miR-21 - whose relevance spans across multiple rheumatic diseases. Furthermore, we highlight some unique miRNAs for each disease and why some rheumatic conditions lack research in this emerging epigenetics field. With the overwhelming number of publications on miRNAs in rheumatic diseases, this review serves as a \u27relevance finder\u27 to guide researchers in selecting miRNAs based on the compiled existing knowledge of their involvement in disease pathogenesis. This approach applies to other disease contexts with the end goal of developing miRNA-based therapeutics

Exploring dryland dynamics with portable luminescence readers

Luminescence signals using portable luminescence readers (port-OSL) are insightful tools for exploring sample relative age and casting additional light on sediment characteristics, used back in the laboratory or in the field. Sand-rich dryland environments are a useful testing ground for using port-OSL, owing to the likelihood of complete signal bleaching before burial. We have been exploring the extent to which it is possible to produce generalized chronologies that approximate sediment burial age in different locations and geomorphic settings. Our approach compares port-OSL signals with ages established using standard luminescence dating protocols for quartz, as a form of port-OSL first-order ‘calibration’ (e.g. Stone et al., 2015; 2019; Nitundil et al., 2022). The rationale for this work is to provide landscape-scale assessments of Quaternary environmental change in a cost-effective and time-effective manner.In this study we present samples from dunes in four regions within southern African dunes (re-measured in 2022 to provide a consistent analytical sequence and data processing approach) and from the Thar Desert in western India. This represents n=26 for the Namib Sand Sea, n=32 for the western Kalaha-ri, n=22 for the southern Kalahari, and n=44 for the Thar (and may include further regions, if samples are available before June 2023). We also present samples from palaoelake shorelines in the former megalake Makgadikgadi sequence (n=73 from Lake Ngami, n=40 from Lake Mababe and n=36 from Makgadigadi). We find the port-OSL calibrations are region specific with coherent regional groupings, and strong coefficients of correlations for the dune datasets. However, those from the lake shorelines define a weaker correlation with sample age. We explore the influence of sample composition data (such as quartz to feld-spar rations and particle size distribution) and inherent port-OSL signal brightness (using a subset of southern African dune and lake shoreline samples). <br/

Assessing the potential of syn-rift sediments for geochronological dating and its implications for the development of Makanjira-Shire basin in south Malawi Rift

The Upper Shire River basin, located within the zone of progressive interaction and linkage between the southern Malawi Rift and Shire Rift Zone, East Africa, presents an early-stage rift setting where rapid denudation processes take place and have profound influence on the geomorphological evolution of the region. The basin is key to the understanding of mechanisms involved in propagation and growthin young rifts. Although the tectonics in the region are well studied, lack of age constraints due to well-dated strata poses challenges in the understanding of the timing and mechanisms of rift evolution in this section of the south Malawi Rift. We used syn-rift sediments deposited from the rift shoulders to test the applicability of OSL and radiocarbon dating techniques in a poorly dated data-constrained region of the Malawi Rift. Our results suggest that proper sampling strategy is paramount in using the OSL technique for dating in areas of high dosage such as the one under consideration. However, the technique offers potential for use in these areas. Furthermore, we conclude from these findings that the evolution of the Upper Shire basin was triggered by tectonic movements along the Makongwa scrap that were responsible for redirecting the Likwenu River into the in the Zomba Graben through the Upper Shire at least during the Upper Pleistocene.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Quartz SAR optically stimulated lumines-cence (OSL) dating of sands from Ulbjerg Klint, Central Jutland, Denmark

This report concerns optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) investigations of a soil profile at Ulbjerg Klint, Central Jutland, Denmark. At this site, a minor landslide had exposed some unusually clear plough marks, which might contribute to the understanding of the first use of the mould-board plough in southern Scandinavia. The aims were first to date the plough marks, and secondly to date the oldest phase of the sedimentary archive of this site, with a remarkable thick sequence of aeolian sands with high potentiale for archaeological and paleo-climate studies. The report presents the OSL method, the results, a discussion and a conclusion, while the appendixes contains analytical description and a detailed soil profile and sampling description. Combined, the determined OSL ages reveal that over a 2500 years period the vegetation on this exposed coastal cliff was removed several times with episodes of drifting sand as a consequence. The first aeolian sand layer is dated at or slightly after 5th century BCE, i.e. around the transition between the Danish late Bronze Age to the pre-Roman Iron Age. The aeolian sand layer with the clear plough marks is from the 17th century CE, i.e. in the Little Ice Age. Due to the limited number of OSL dated samples, no additional climatic or land use indications could be established

Dating and Characterising the Transformation of a Monastic Landscape. A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Agrarian Spaces of Samos Abbey (NW Spain)

[Abstract] This paper explores the potential of a multidisciplinary approach to understand landscape evolution over the last 1200 years around an important monastic centre, Samos Abbey, in northwest Iberia. Our objective is to test whether or not landscape transformations here – in particular terracing related to agriculture – can be linked to the agency of the monks. Our landscape study combined analysis of written sources with archaeological survey and test-pitting, including OSL profiling and dating of seven earthworks, with pollen and geochemical analysis of three of them. It has been possible to detect at least four main phases of landscape transformation in the immediate surroundings of Samos Abbey. The mid-seventeenth century saw the most recent and visible transformations, partly overprinting earlier landscapes changes from the Iron Age, eighth–ninth and thirteenth centuries AD. The data suggest that landscape transformation had already begun in this area centuries before the abbey was created, but the presence of this power centre from the early Middle Ages resulted in intensive use of the territory over the last twelve centuries.ARPAMED; PID2020-119365GA-I00ECOLOC; EUR2021-12200

Diagnosis by ICD coding on discharge and death: A medical record-based study on in-patients of a Medical College and Hospital of West Bengal, India

Introduction: Medical records of hospitals are primary and basic source of health information. It provides background and clinical diagnosis, treatment undertaken, complications, length of stay, laboratory date etc. which plays an important role in planning health care services. International Classification of Diseases (ICD) helps in managing health information, data standardization, and classification of patients’ health information maintaining uniformity globally. Objectives: To find out the socio-demographics, final diagnosis and status of ICD coding at discharge or death. Materials and Methods: It was an analysis of one-month secondary data, 3002 in number from Medical Records Department of a Medical College of Eastern India. Along with this, two key informants (KI), one medical and one non-medical were interviewed. UCINET was used for network analysis besides descriptive statistics. Results: Mean age of participants was 53.03±15.89 years, 2407 (80.18%) received medical management and 595 (19.82%) underwent surgical interference. In 164 records ICD coding was missing, among them 131 were left against medical advice, 24 died during the hospital stay and 9 patients were discharged as cured. Thematic analysis of gaps, concerns and solutions some consensus was found as, lack of corroboration, no linkage between prescriber and coder, manpower shortage, the need of training and so on. Conclusions: ICD is one of the most scientific, universally acceptable and important classification systems having overarching applicability. Interdepartmental collaborative record updatation by trained manpower is very much needed for making the hospital record keeping system more sound and stringent