Thirty Years of Achaeological Surveys and Excavations in Sindh and Las Bela (Balochistan)

This paper regards the research carried out by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Sindh and Las Bela province of Balochistan (Pakistan). Until the mid '80s the prehistory of the two regions was known mainly from the impressive urban remains of the Bronze Age Indus Civilisation and the Palaeolithic assemblages discovered at the top of the limestone terraces that estend south of Rohri in Upper Sindh. Very little was known of other periods, their radiocarbon chronology, and the Arabian Sea coastal zone. Our knowledge radically changed thanks to the discoveries made during the last three decades by the Italian Archaeological Mission. Thanks to the results achieved in these years, the key role played by the north-western regions of the Indian Subcontinent in prehistory greatly improved

Gender Differences in Heart Failure: Findings from Italian Internal Medicine Wards

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Short Report: A déjeté Levallois tool from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) and the role it plays in the chronology of the Pleistocene terraces of the Bannu Basin

This paper discusses the importance of the discovery of one déjeté Levallois tool from the surface of a dark grey and black patinated gravel terrace located ca. 500 m south-west of the Neolithic site of Sheri Khan Tarakai in the Bannu Basin (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan), and provides a detailed geomorphological description of the area where it was found. The Neolithic site rests on a large gravelly fan, at present terraced and dismembered by small seasonal streams. Scatters of black varnished pebbles, at the top of a thick ochre silt of possible alluvial origin, cover its surface. Amongst the numerous siliceous gravels forming the deposit, some are of a good quality chert, whose source can be found in the Tertiary Sulaiman Formation. The typological characteristics of the tool, the chert employed for its manufacture, its location and the presence of black patina on its cortex are all important elements that contribute to the definition of the Pleistocene period during which pebble terraces formed. The tool comes from a region where Middle Palaeolithic artefacts had never been found before, though the re-analysis of old collections would suggest their presence as far as the course of the Indus in Lower Sindh. Moreover, its discovery contributes to the study of the south-eastern spread of the Middle Palaeolithic Levallois technique, an important topic that still needs to be fully understood

THE MESOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF SINDH (PAKISTAN): NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE KHADEJI RIVER COURSE

The surveys carried out by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Thar Desert (Upper Sindh, Pakistan), and the study of the chipped stone assemblages collected by the late Professor A. R. Khan on the Mulri Hills (Karachi), have contributed to the defi nition of the characteristics of the Mesolithic assemblages of this region of the Indian Subcontinent. At present two important groups of sites are known whose distribution covers the two aforementioned territories. In the Thar Desert, east of the caravan town of Thari, the sites are located inside depressions between the highest sand dunes that surround old freshwater basins. East of Karachi many sites have been found in the Mulri Hills, a small elevation rich in springs, between the Malir and Layari Rivers both fl owing into the Arabian Sea, some 15 kms to the south. Preliminary surveys carried out along the banks of the Khadeji River have shown that Mesolithic sites existed also along this watercourse. An AMS date obtained from a marine bivalve collected from site KDJ-1 yielded a late ninth millennium BP result. This paper describes and discusses the Khadeji River Mesolithic sites recovered by Professor A. R. Khan in the 1970s in the general framework of the new discoveries made in Sindh

Coarsening scenarios in unstable crystal growth

Crystal surfaces may undergo thermodynamical as well kinetic, out-of-equilibrium instabilities. We consider the case of mound and pyramid formation, a common phenomenon in crystal growth and a long-standing problem in the field of pattern formation and coarsening dynamics. We are finally able to attack the problem analytically and get rigorous results. Three dynamical scenarios are possible: perpetual coarsening, interrupted coarsening, and no coarsening. In the perpetual coarsening scenario, mound size increases in time as L=t^n, where the coasening exponent is n=1/3 when faceting occurs, otherwise n=1/4.Comment: Changes in the final part. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Novel Therapeutic Approach for the Management of Mood Disorders: In Vivo and In Vitro Effect of a Combination of L-Theanine, Melissa officinalis L. and Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E.H. Wilson

Mood disorders represent one of the most prevalent and costly psychiatric diseases worldwide. The current therapies are generally characterized by several well-known side effects which limit their prolonged use. The use of herbal medicine for the management of several psychiatric conditions is becoming more established, as it is considered a safer support to conventional pharmacotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible anxiolytic and antidepressant activity of a fixed combination of L-theanine, Magnolia officinalis, and Melissa officinalis (TMM) in an attempt to evaluate how the multiple modulations of different physiological systems may contribute to reducing mood disorders. TMM showed an anxiolytic-like and antidepressant-like activity in vivo, which was related to a neuroprotective effect in an in vitro model of excitotoxicity. The effect of TMM was not altered by the presence of flumazenil, thus suggesting a non-benzodiazepine-like mechanism of action. On the contrary, a significant reduction in the effect was observed in animals and neuronal cells co-treated with AM251, a cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) antagonist, suggesting that the endocannabinoid system may be involved in the TMM mechanism of action. In conclusion, TMM may represent a useful and safe candidate for the management of mood disorders with an innovative mechanism of action, particularly as an adjuvant to conventional therapies

THE RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEOLITHIC AND COPPER AGE OF NORTHERN ITALY

Summary paper of the Radiocarbon chronology of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites of Northern Italy as available in the 1990sSummary. Until twenty years ago the chronology of the Neolithic and Copper Age settlement of Northern Italy was almost exclusively based on the stratigraphical sequence of the Arene Candide cave in Liguria. The research carried out since the sixties has strongly increased our knowledge of the earliest farming communities and the first copper using people who inhabited the country between the end of the seventh and the beginning of the fourth millennium BP. This article considers the available evidence for this period which is now supported by a good set of radiocarbon dates. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserve