Cooking fish and drinking milk? Patterns in pottery use in the southeastern Baltic, 3300–2400 cal BC

yesA study of pottery vessel contents and use was undertaken in order to obtain information on food processed in Subneolithic and Neolithic vessels from Nida and Šventoji (3300–2400 cal BC). The aim is to assess pottery use during major changes in the coastal environment and in material culture. Bulk carbon and nitrogen isotope, lipid biomarker and compound specific carbon isotope analysis was undertaken on ‘foodcrusts’, charred deposits adhering to vessel surfaces, and absorbed residues from different vessel types. In addition, three archaeological seal bones were analysed for bulk collagen and compound specific carbon isotope analysis to establish collagen-lipid offsets to inform interpretation of the data. The results show that the majority of the vessels were used for processing aquatic products. At Nida the data suggest exploitation of freshwater resources and, in the later stages of occupation, dairying. Analysis of a small number of Subneolithic vessels from Šventoji produced results that are also consistent with processing of aquatic products. Other substances identified include Pinaceae sp. resin or tar and beeswax. These data demonstrate that identifying patterns in pottery use contributes to understanding Neolithisation processes

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Temperature-Compensated off-diagonal GMI Magnetometer and its long-term Stability

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Dynamized ultra-low dilution of Ruta graveolens disrupts plasma membrane organization and decreases migration of melanoma cancer cell

ABSTRACTCutaneous melanoma is a cancer with a very poor prognosis mainly because of metastatic dissemination and therefore a deregulation of cell migration. Current therapies can benefit from complementary medicines as supportive care in oncology. In our study, we show that a dynamized ultra-low dilution of Ruta Graveolens leads to an in vitro inhibition of migration on fibronectin of B16F10 melanoma cells, as well as a decrease in metastatic dissemination in vivo. These effects appear to be due to a disruption of plasma membrane organization, with a change in cell and membrane stiffness, associated with a disorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and a modification of the lipid composition of the plasma membrane. Together, these results demonstrate, in in vitro and in vivo models of cutaneous melanoma, an anti-cancer and anti-metastatic activity of ultra-low dynamized dilution of Ruta graveolens and reinforce its interest as complementary medicine in oncology

Kidney and liver transplantation in patients with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease: a multicentric study

International audienceBackground and objectives. In contrast to the improvement in our understanding of the pathogenesis and presentation of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD), data regarding the issue of kidney and liver transplantation in patients with ARPKD remain particularly scarce. Here, we report the results and outcome of renal and/or liver transplantation in a series of patients with ARPKD. Methods. Fourteen ARPKD patients (age: 3-25 years) who underwent renal transplantation with or without liver transplantation were retrospectively identified in five French nephrology departments. The patients' medical charts were reviewed and relevant data were collected. Results. The clinical and radiological presentation of the 14 patients was highly variable illustrating the heterogeneity of ARPKD. Six patients underwent kidney and/or liver transplantation in adulthood. First renal graft survival was 92, 78 and 14% at 1, 5 and 10 years after renal transplantation, respectively. Mortality rate was relatively high (3/14; 21%) in these young patients and was directly related to infectious complications (recurrent angiocholitis) of severe Caroli's disease (dilatation of intra- and/or extra-hepatic bile ducts), a typical feature of ARPKD. Conclusions. Our data suggest that ARPKD patients evaluated for renal transplantation should be carefully screened for severe Caroli's disease. Even though the limited number of patients included in our study precludes any definite recommendation, pre-emptive liver transplantation may be a therapeutic option in ARPKD patients with severe Caroli's disease evaluated for renal transplantation

Pharmaceutical algorithms set in a real time clinical decision support targeting high-alert medications applied to pharmaceutical analysis

International audienceBackground: Pharmaceutical analysis of the prescription has to prop up the quality of patients' medication management in a context of medication's risk acculturation. But this activity remains highly variable. Medication-related clinical decision support may succeed in reducing adverse drug events and healthcare costs.Purpose: This study aims to present AVICENNE as a real time medication-related clinical decision support (rt-CDS) applied to pharmaceutical analysis and its ability to detect Drug related problems (DRP) consecutively resolved by pharmacists. Basic procedures A Medication-related rt-CDS is created by integrating the software PharmaClass® (Keenturtle), 5 health data streams on the patient and Pharmaceutical algorithms (PA). PA are created by modeling the pharmaceutical experiment about DRP and the thread of their criticality. They are partially encoded as computerized rules in Pharmaclass® allowing alerts' issue. An observational prospective study is conducted during 9-months among 1000 beds in 2 health facilities. The first step is to identify alerts as DRP; their resolution follows with clear guidelines worked out for the pharmaceutical analysis. A basis on predictive positive values (PPV) of the PA is being built today helping to know the performance of DRP detection and resolution. Main findings 71 PA are encoded as rules into Pharmaclass®: 40 targeted serious adverse drug events. 1508 alerts are analyzed by pharmacists. Among them 921 DRPs were characterized and 540 pharmaceutical interventions transmitted of which 219 were accepted by prescribers. Three PPV are defined depending on software, pharmacist and patient. Principal conclusion Clinical pharmacy societies should host, share and update a national corpus of PA and exploit its educational interest

The adoption of pottery by north-east European hunter-gatherers : Evidence from lipid residue analysis

Pottery was adopted by hunter-gatherers in the Eastern Baltic at the end of the 6th millennium cal BC. To examine the motivations for this cultural and technological shift, here we report the organic residue analysis of ceramic vessels from the earliest pottery horizon (Narva) in this region. A combined approach using GC-MS, GC-C-IRMS and bulk IRMS of residues absorbed into the ceramic and charred surface deposits was employed. The results show that despite variable preservation, Narva ceramic vessels were preferentially used for processing aquatic products. We argue that pottery was part of a new Late Mesolithic subsistence strategy which included more intensive exploitation of aquatic foods and may have had important implications, such as increased sedentism and population growth

Aquaporin 4 distribution in the brain and its relevance for the radiological appearance of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease

International audienceBackground and purposeTo determine the precise incidence of lesions at sites of high Aquaporin-4 expression (hAQP4) and their possible association with known neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease (NMOSD) lesions patterns.Materials and methodsA retrospective analysis of brain and, when available, spinal cord MRI scans of 54 NMOSD patients recruited among the French NMOSD cohort was performed. Brain lesions were annotated as MS-like, non-specific, or evocative of NMOSD. The topography of hAQP4 was reassessed by human brain atlas. The incidence of lesions in hAQP4 and their association with lesions evocative of NMOSD was estimated.ResultsAmong those included (41/54 female, mean age: 45 years) 47/54 (87%) presented brain lesions. Twenty-six/47 (55%) had lesions in hAQP4. Thirty-two/54 patients (60%) had lesions considered evocative of NMOSD. The majority of them also presented lesions in hAQP4 (65%, 21/32). Patients with lesions in hAQP4 and lesions evocative of NMOSD demonstrated more extensive myelitis compared to the other patients (7 [6–10] versus 4 [3–5] vertebral segments, P = 0.009).ConclusionThe coexistence of lesions evocative of NMOSD and in hAQP4 is associated with significantly more extensive myelitis, and might have pathophysiological and clinical significance