Petrological studies of Middle Neolithic stone artefacts from the Salenhof archaeological site near Trillfingen (SW Germany) give evidence for an early diversified long-distance exchange system

The Salenhof (N 48.384071/E 8.822974) archaeological site near Trillfingen contains fragmentary shards of ornamented pottery of the Hinkelstein, Großgartach, Planig-Friedberg and Rössen cultures/groups. In total, 1209 retouched silex artefacts could be recovered at the Middle Neolithic settlement. The high fractions of silex borers (40.9 % of the artefacts) and arrowheads (5.4 %) suggest that jewelry production and hunting activities played a substantial role in addition to ordinary farming activities. Various archaeological objects of imported materials were petrologically studied with standard high resolution research methods. The artefacts consist of material derived from eight remote localities: fine-grained metabasic rocks (amhibolites) from Jistebsko in Northern Bohemia (1), arrowheads and silex artefacts from Lengfeld (2) and Abensberg-Arnhoven (3) in Bavaria, fine-grained eclogites from Monviso (4) in the Western Alps, semi-transparent arrowheads of Cretaceous flint from Rijckholt near Maastricht in the Netherlands (5) and from the Paris Basin (6), siliceous red iron ores from the Lahn-Dill region (7), and a large arrowhead of silex material from Auggen/Schliengen in the Markgräflerland in SW Germany (8). All these artefacts are evidence of far-reaching contacts and the transfer of goods within a Middle Neolithic population at Salenhof. The climax of an early, diversified long-distance exchange system in Central Europe may have occurred during the period of the Rössen Culture ca. 6700 years ago

Diffusion tensor imaging and tractwise fractional anisotropy statistics: quantitative analysis in white matter pathology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Information on anatomical connectivity in the brain by measurements of the diffusion of water in white matter tracts lead to quantification of local tract directionality and integrity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The combination of connectivity mapping (fibre tracking, FT) with quantitative diffusion fractional anisotropy (FA) mapping resulted in the approach of results based on group-averaged data, named tractwise FA statistics (TFAS). The task of this study was to apply these methods to group-averaged data from different subjects to quantify differences between normal subjects and subjects with defined alterations of the corpus callosum (CC).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TFAS exhibited a significant FA reduction especially in the CC, in agreement with region of interest (ROI)-based analyses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, the applicability of the TFAS approach to diffusion tensor imaging studies of normal and pathologically altered brains was demonstrated.</p

Dopamine Agonists and their risk to induce psychotic episodes in Parkinson's disease: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Psychosis is rare in untreated patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) but the prevalence rises to 40% during dopaminergic treatment. So far, no systematic comparison of the psychogenic potential of different dopaminergic drugs had been performed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighty PD patients with psychotic episodes were compared to an age-matched control group of PD patients without psychotic episodes (n = 120) in a cross-sectional retrospective study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a positive correlation between psychotic episodes and dementia, number of concomitant medication, and pergolide intake. Odds ratio calculation confirmed the association with dementia. With respect to dopaminergic treatment, pergolide showed the highest odds ratio, levodopa the lowest. An adjusted logistic regression model confirmed the strong association with psychotic episodes and pergolide and no association with levodopa (adjusted odds ratio 2.01 and 0.11, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The analysis indicates that dementia and concomitant medication are factors in PD associated with psychotic symptoms. Furthermore, different dopaminergic drugs showed markedly different associations with psychotic symptoms</p

Richtungsabhängige Farbcodierung des menschlichen Thalamus mittels Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Experimentelle Ansätze der Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) wie das Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) ermöglichen einen Zugewinn an Verständnis bezüglich Plastizität und Konnektivität der Weißen und Grauen Substanz des Gehirns. Der Thalamus stellt aufgrund seiner integralen Rolle als Filter- und Relaisstation unterschiedlicher sensorischer und motorischer Funktionen eine wesentliche Struktur in der Analyse zerebraler Konnektivität in vivo dar. Hieraus ergab sich die Fragestellung einer differenzierten Darstellbarkeit des Thalamus mittels DTI durch unterschiedliche Projektionsrichtungen einzelner Thalamus-Kerngebiete. Methodisch erfolgte nach einer Sequenzoptimierung, Bewegungskorrektur und Normalisierung der akquirierten Daten als wesentlichster Schritt in der Nachverarbeitung die richtungsabhängige Farbcodierung. Diese basierte auf der Entwicklung einer Farbsphäre zur visuellen Differenzierung einzelner Thalamus-Areale. Die Grundlage dieser Methode stellte die Berücksichtigung des längsten Eigenvektors des Diffusionstensors nach dessen standardisierter Berechnung dar. Nach Anwendung der richtungsabhängigen Farbcodierung konnte jedem Voxel eine definierte Farbe entsprechend der Projektionsrichtung zugeordnet werden. Es ergaben sich zusammenhängende Bereiche gleicher Farbcodierung innerhalb des Thalamus beider Gehirnhemisphären, welche auf der Basis von neuroanatomischen Standardwerken Gruppen von Kerngebieten zugeordnet werden konnten. Unter Berücksichtigung der Lokalisation und Projektion in kortikale Areale konnten drei Gruppen von Kerngebieten (laterale, frontale und parietale Gruppe) und neun ähnlich projizierende Kerngebiete innerhalb jedes Thalamus abgegrenzt werden. Die Methode zeigte sich bei allen untersuchten Probanden reproduzierbar und valide. Die richtungsabhängige Farbcodierung auf der Basis von DTI-Daten ermöglichte es somit, die Ausrichtung von Kerngebieten zu bestimmen und komplementäre Informationen über die Struktur und Konnektivität von Arealen innerhalb des Thalamus abzuleiten. Die vorgestellte Methode ist unabhängig von statistischen Hilfsmitteln und kann bei den Thalamus betreffenden Fragestellungen als einfach anzuwendende Technik herangezogen werden

High-frequency labor market measures for workers at small businesses

As evidenced by both the Pandemic Recession and Great Recession, labor markets can change rapidly. More granular data on the time-path of these changes, and the role played by firm closures, layoffs, hours changes, and worker turnover can help us better understand how the labor market is evolving. On this site, we will post weekly updates of labor market information from Homebase’s timecard data to shed light on the details of a rapid evolving labor market. We aim to measure the short- and medium-term evolution of the size of the small business sector and of the health of employers in this sector, by tracking whether firms in Homebase’s userbase are expanding or contracting the number of hours that they use each week and the rate of turnover among their workers.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278

Measuring the labor market at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis

We use traditional and non-traditional data to measure the collapse and partial recovery of the U.S. labor market from March to early July, contrast this downturn to previous recessions, and provide preliminary evidence on the effects of the policy response. For hourly workers at both small and large businesses, nearly all of the decline in employment occurred between March 14 and 28. It was driven by low-wage services, particularly the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors. A large share of the job losses in small businesses reflected firms that closed entirely, though many subsequently reopened. Firms that were already unhealthy were more likely to close and less likely to reopen, and disadvantaged workers were more likely to be laid off and less likely to return. Most laid off workers expected to be recalled, and this was predictive of rehiring. Shelter-in-place orders drove only a small share of job losses. Last, states that received more small business loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and states with more generous unemployment insurance benefits had milder declines and faster recoveries. We find no evidence that high UI replacement rates drove job losses or slowed rehiring.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774

Measuring the labor market at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis

We use traditional and non-traditional data to measure the collapse and partial recovery of the U.S. labor market from March to early July, contrast this downturn to previous recessions, and provide preliminary evidence on the effects of the policy response. For hourly workers at both small and large businesses, nearly all of the decline in employment occurred between March 14 and 28. It was driven by low-wage services, particularly the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors. A large share of the job losses in small businesses reflected firms that closed entirely, though many subsequently reopened. Firms that were already unhealthy were more likely to close and less likely to reopen, and disadvantaged workers were more likely to be laid off and less likely to return. Most laid off workers expected to be recalled, and this was predictive of rehiring. Shelter-in-place orders drove only a small share of job losses. Last, states that received more small business loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and states with more generous unemployment insurance benefits had milder declines and faster recoveries. We find no evidence that high UI replacement rates drove job losses or slowed rehiring.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in students and teachers: a longitudinal study from May to October 2020 in German secondary schools

Objective To quantify the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in secondary schools after their reopening in May 2020.Design Repeated SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence study after the reopening of schools and 4 months later.Setting Secondary school in Dresden, Germany.Participants 1538 students grades 8–12 and 507 teachers from 13 schools.Interventions Serial blood sampling and SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody assessment.Primary and secondary outcome measure Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in study population. Number of undetected cases.Results 1538 students and 507 teachers were initially enrolled, and 1334 students and 445 teachers completed both study visits. The seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 0.6% in May/June and the same in September/October. Even in schools with reported COVID-19 cases before the lockdown of 13 March, no clusters could be identified. Of 12 persons with positive serology five had a known history of confirmed COVID-19; 23 out of 24 participants with a household history of COVID-91 were seronegative.Conclusions Schools do not play a crucial role in driving the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a low-prevalence setting. Transmission in families occurs very infrequently, and the number of unreported cases is low in this age group. These observations do not support school closures as a strategy fighting the pandemic in a low-prevalence setting.Trial registration number DRKS00022455