Preliminary archaeoentomological analyses of permafrost-preserved cultural layers from the pre-contact Yup’ik Eskimo site of Nunalleq, Alaska : implications, potential and methodological considerations

Acknowledgements Site excavation and samples collection were conducted by archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen, with the help of archaeologists and student excavators from the University of Aberdeen University of Alaska Fairbanks and Bryn Mawr College, Kuskokwim Campus, College of Rural Alaska and residents of Quinhagak and Mekoryuk. This study is funded through AHRC grant to the project ‘Understanding Cultural Resilience and Climate Change on the Bering Sea through Yup’ik Ecological Knowledge, Lifeways, Learning and Archaeology’ to Rick Knecht, Kate Britton and Charlotta Hillderal (University of Aberdeen; AH/K006029/1). Thanks are due to Qanirtuuq Inc. and Quinhagak, Alaska for sampling permissions and to entomologists working at the CNC in Ottawa for allowing access to reference collections of beetles, lice and fleas. Yves Bousquet, Ales Smetana and Anthony E. Davies are specially acknowledged for their help with the identification of coleopteran specimens. Finally, we would also like to thank Scott Elias for useful comments on the original manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Diagnostik arbeitsbedingter Erkrankungen und arbeitsmedizinisch-diagnostische Tabellen

Eine ganze Reihe von beruflichen Belastungen und ungünstigen Arbeitsbedingungen kann zu zahlreichen berufsbedingten Erkrankungen und Beschwerden führen, von denen nur ein kleiner Teil als Berufskrankheit oder Arbeitsunfall anerkannt wird. Der größere, versicherungsrechtlich nicht anerkannte Teil gilt als "arbeitsbedingte Erkrankung" im engeren Sinne. Es sind Erkrankungen und Beschwerden, die beruflich verursacht, teilweise beruflich verursacht oder in ihrer Dynamik beeinflusst werden. Neue Technologien und andere Arbeitsanforderungen führen zu einem geänderten Spektrum und zur Zunahme der arbeitsbedingten Erkrankungen und Beschwerden. Während einzelne Berufskrankheiten aufgrund der Präventionsmaßnahmen seltener geworden sind, verbergen sich viele arbeitsbedingte Erkrankungen im allgemeinen Krankheitsspektrum der Bevölkerung und sind bei der hausärztlichen und klinischen Betreuung zunehmend zu berücksichtigen. Unsere "Diagnostik arbeitsbedingter Erkrankungen und arbeitsmedizinisch-diagnostische Tabellen" gehen einerseits von allgemeinen und speziellen Krankheitsbildern aus und geben eine Übersicht über die möglichen Ursachen. Andererseits werden bestimmte Gefährdungen und die möglichen Beschwerden und Erkrankungen aufgeführt. Bei ausgewählten Erkrankungen werden Hinweise zur spezifischen Diagnostik und Differentialdiagnostik gegeben. Die Darstellungen orientieren sich daher auch am allgemeinen Krankheitsspektrum und sind nicht nur auf die anerkannten Berufskrankheiten eingeengt. Unsere Ausführungen und Tabellen, die in Kooperation mit den jeweiligen Fachvertretern der Medizinischen Fakultät in Homburg erarbeitet wurden, umfassen arbeitsbedingte Atemwegs- und Lungenkrankheiten, Herz- und Kreislaufkrankheiten, Karzinome, Leberkrankheiten, neurologische Krankheiten, Nieren- und Harnwegserkrankungen, ophthalmologische Krankheiten, orthopädisch-chirurgische Erkrankungen der Bewegungsorgane, sensibilisierende Arbeitsstoffe, Virus- und Infektionskrankheiten und verschiedene aktuelle Kurzinformationen. Aufgrund unserer besonderen poliklinischen Tätigkeit haben wir über Jahrzehnte Informationen über arbeitsbedingte Erkrankungen gesammelt und im Jahr 2000 in einer ersten Form zusammen gestellt und im Internet veröffentlicht. Die jetzige Fassung 2007 gehört längst zur Pflichtlektüre für unsere Studierenden und für die Facharztweiterbildung. Die Aktualisierung und Ergänzung ist laufend vorgesehen

Studies on central baffin vegetation I. Bray Island

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43889/1/11258_2004_Article_BF00299587.pd

Heat shock protein-90-alpha, a prolactin-STAT5 target gene identified in breast cancer cells, is involved in apoptosis regulation

Introduction The prolactin-Janus-kinase-2-signal transducer and activator of transcription-5 (JAK2-STAT5) pathway is essential for the development and functional differentiation of the mammary gland. The pathway also has important roles in mammary tumourigenesis. Prolactin regulated target genes are not yet well defined in tumour cells, and we undertook, to the best of our knowledge, the first large genetic screen of breast cancer cells treated with or without exogenous prolactin. We hypothesise that the identification of these genes should yield insights into the mechanisms by which prolactin participates in cancer formation or progression, and possibly how it regulates normal mammary gland development. Methods We used subtractive hybridisation to identify a number of prolactin-regulated genes in the human mammary carcinoma cell line SKBR3. Northern blotting analysis and luciferase assays identified the gene encoding heat shock protein 90-alpha (HSP90A) as a prolactin-JAK2-STAT5 target gene, whose function was characterised using apoptosis assays. Results We identified a number of new prolactin-regulated genes in breast cancer cells. Focusing on HSP90A, we determined that prolactin increased HSP90A mRNA in cancerous human breast SKBR3 cells and that STAT5B preferentially activated the HSP90A promoter in reporter gene assays. Both prolactin and its downstream protein effector, HSP90α, promote survival, as shown by apoptosis assays and by the addition of the HSP90 inhibitor, 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG), in both untransformed HC11 mammary epithelial cells and SKBR3 breast cancer cells. The constitutive expression of HSP90A, however, sensitised differentiated HC11 cells to starvation-induced wild-type p53-independent apoptosis. Interestingly, in SKBR3 breast cancer cells, HSP90α promoted survival in the presence of serum but appeared to have little effect during starvation. Conclusions In addition to identifying new prolactin-regulated genes in breast cancer cells, we found that prolactin-JAK2-STAT5 induces expression of the HSP90A gene, which encodes the master chaperone of cancer. This identifies one mechanism by which prolactin contributes to breast cancer. Increased expression of HSP90A in breast cancer is correlated with increased cell survival and poor prognosis and HSP90α inhibitors are being tested in clinical trials as a breast cancer treatment. Our results also indicate that HSP90α promotes survival depending on the cellular conditions and state of cellular transformation

Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement

This paper presents two high-resolution pollen records dating to ~AD 1000-1400 that reveal the impacts of Norse colonists on vegetation and landscape around a remote farmstead in the Western Settlement of Greenland. The study is centred upon a ‘centralised farm’ (ruin group V53d) in Austmannadalen, near the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (64º13’ N, 49º49’W). The climate is low arctic and considered marginal in terms of its suitability for the type of pastoral agriculture that the Norse settlers introduced. The data reveal that at a short distance (~500 m) from the farm buildings, the palynological ‘footprint’ for settlement becomes extremely indistinct, the only clear palaeoenvironmental evidence for a human presence being elevated levels of microscopic charcoal. This contrasts with the Eastern Settlement, where a strong palynological signature for Norse landnám is evident, from the local (individual farm) through to the regional (landscape) scale. The palynological data from Austmannadalen, and the Western Settlement more generally, imply that farming occurred at very low intensity. This aligns with ideas that promote the importance of hunting, and trade in valuable Arctic commodities (e.g. walrus ivory), ahead of a search for new pasture as the dominant motivation driving the Norse settlement of this region

Mid-Devensian climate and landscape in England : new data from Finningley, South Yorkshire

While there is extensive evidence for the Late Devensian, less is known about Early and Middle Devensian (approx. 110–30 ka) climates and environments in the UK. The Greenland ice-core record suggests the UK should have endured multiple changes, but the terrestrial palaeo-record lacks sufficient detail for confirmation from sites in the British Isles. Data from deposits at Finningley, South Yorkshire, can help redress this. A channel with organic silts, dated 40 314–39 552 cal a BP, contained plant macrofossil and insect remains showing tundra with dwarf-shrub heath and bare ground. Soil moisture conditions varied from free draining to riparian, with ponds and wetter vegetated areas. The climate was probably low arctic with snow cover during the winter. Mutual climatic range (MCR), based on Coleoptera, shows the mean monthly winter temperatures of −22 to −2°C and summer ones of 8–14°C. Periglacial structures within the basal gravel deposits and beyond the glacial limits indicate cold-climate conditions, including permafrost. A compilation of MCR reconstructions for other Middle Devensian English sites shows that marine isotope stage 3—between 59 and 28 ka—experienced substantial variation in climate consistent with the Greenland ice-core record. The exact correlation is hampered by temporal resolution, but the Finningley site stadial at approximately 40 ka may correlate with the one of the Greenland stadials 7–11

Changes to the Fossil Record of Insects through Fifteen Years of Discovery

The first and last occurrences of hexapod families in the fossil record are compiled from publications up to end-2009. The major features of these data are compared with those of previous datasets (1993 and 1994). About a third of families (>400) are new to the fossil record since 1994, over half of the earlier, existing families have experienced changes in their known stratigraphic range and only about ten percent have unchanged ranges. Despite these significant additions to knowledge, the broad pattern of described richness through time remains similar, with described richness increasing steadily through geological history and a shift in dominant taxa, from Palaeoptera and Polyneoptera to Paraneoptera and Holometabola, after the Palaeozoic. However, after detrending, described richness is not well correlated with the earlier datasets, indicating significant changes in shorter-term patterns. There is reduced Palaeozoic richness, peaking at a different time, and a less pronounced Permian decline. A pronounced Triassic peak and decline is shown, and the plateau from the mid Early Cretaceous to the end of the period remains, albeit at substantially higher richness compared to earlier datasets. Origination and extinction rates are broadly similar to before, with a broad decline in both through time but episodic peaks, including end-Permian turnover. Origination more consistently exceeds extinction compared to previous datasets and exceptions are mainly in the Palaeozoic. These changes suggest that some inferences about causal mechanisms in insect macroevolution are likely to differ as well

Paleontology of leaf beetles

`The rate of evolution in any large group is not uniform; there are periods of relatise stability, and periods of comparatively rapid change.' Cockerell and LeVeque, 1931 To Yenli Ych, my beloved wife, a most wonderful person! The fossil record of the Chrysomelidae can be tentatively traced back to the late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic Triassic. Mesozoic records at least 9 subfamilies, 19 genera, and 35 species, are represented by the Sagrinae, the exclusively Mesozoic Proto scelinae, Clytrinae, Cryptocephalinae, Eumolpinae, Chrysomelinae. Galerucinac, Alticinae, and Cassidinae. Cenozoic records at least 12 subfamilies- 63 % of the extant- 12! genera, and 325 species, include the same extant subfamilies as well as the Donaciinae, Zeugophorinae, Criocerinae, and Hispinae and can be frequently identified to genus, especially if preserved in amber. Quaternary records are often identified to extant species. tn total, at least t3! genera about 4 % of total extant, and 357 species < 1 % have been reported. At least, 24 genera <1 % of the extant seem to be extinct. Although reliable biological information associated with the fossil chrysomelids is very scarce, it seems that most of the modern host-plant associations were established, at least, in the late Mesozoic to early Cenozoic. As a whole, stasis seems to be the general rule of the chrysomelid fossil record. Together with other faunal elements, chrysomelids, especially donaciines, have been used as biogeographic and paleoclimatological indicators in the Holocene. I