Persistent Place-Making in Prehistory: the Creation, Maintenance, and Transformation of an Epipalaeolithic Landscape

Most archaeological projects today integrate, at least to some degree, how past people engaged with their surroundings, including both how they strategized resource use, organized technological production, or scheduled movements within a physical environment, as well as how they constructed cosmologies around or created symbolic connections to places in the landscape. However, there are a multitude of ways in which archaeologists approach the creation, maintenance, and transformation of human-landscape interrelationships. This paper explores some of these approaches for reconstructing the Epipalaeolithic (ca. 23,000–11,500 years BP) landscape of Southwest Asia, using macro- and microscale geoarchaeological approaches to examine how everyday practices leave traces of human-landscape interactions in northern and eastern Jordan. The case studies presented here demonstrate that these Epipalaeolithic groups engaged in complex and far-reaching social landscapes. Examination of the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic (EP) highlights that the notion of “Neolithization” is somewhat misleading as many of the features we use to define this transition were already well-established patterns of behavior by the Neolithic. Instead, these features and practices were enacted within a hunter-gatherer world and worldview

Anaerobiosis revisited: growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under extremely low oxygen availability

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays an important role in biotechnological applications, ranging from fuel ethanol to recombinant protein production. It is also a model organism for studies on cell physiology and genetic regulation. Its ability to grow under anaerobic conditions is of interest in many industrial applications. Unlike industrial bioreactors with their low surface area relative to volume, ensuring a complete anaerobic atmosphere during microbial cultivations in the laboratory is rather difficult. Tiny amounts of O2 that enter the system can vastly influence product yields and microbial physiology. A common procedure in the laboratory is to sparge the culture vessel with ultrapure N2 gas; together with the use of butyl rubber stoppers and norprene tubing, O2 diffusion into the system can be strongly minimized. With insights from some studies conducted in our laboratory, we explore the question ‘how anaerobic is anaerobiosis?’. We briefly discuss the role of O2 in non-respiratory pathways in S. cerevisiae and provide a systematic survey of the attempts made thus far to cultivate yeast under anaerobic conditions. We conclude that very few data exist on the physiology of S. cerevisiae under anaerobiosis in the absence of the anaerobic growth factors ergosterol and unsaturated fatty acids. Anaerobicity should be treated as a relative condition since complete anaerobiosis is hardly achievable in the laboratory. Ideally, researchers should provide all the details of their anaerobic set-up, to ensure reproducibility of results among different laboratories. A correction to this article is available online at http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/131930/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-9036-

COMPARATIVE STUDY REGARDING THE TOTAL POLYFENOL CONTENT OF SOME TINCTURES AND OILS FROM ROMANIAN MARKET

In the last decade, there has been much interest in the potential health benefits of plant tinctures because of their high content of polyphenols. 27 samples of tinctures and oils from different plants were analyzed using Folin-Ciocalteu method in order to determine the total polyphenols content. Measurements were compared with the calibration curve of Gallic acid (25, 50, 100, 250, 500 ppm) and the results were expressed as Gallic acid equivalents. Values obtained ranged within very broad limits 6 - 964 mg/L GAE. The lowest concentration was found in Aloe paradisiacum and Aloe marlothi (6 and 9 mg/L GAE) and the heights concentration in Cinnamomum sp. (964 mg/L GAE). The concentration of total polyphenols found in Cinnamomum sp. was 5.6 times bigger than the average concentration of total polyphenols found for the others tinctures (172 mg/L GAE)

Previvors’ Uncertainty Management Strategies for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Individuals with a genetic predisposition to develop hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), but who have not been diagnosed with cancer, are referred to as previvors. Although genetic testing may reduce previvors’ worries about whether or not they have a high genetic cancer risk, testing positive produces negative emotions and long-term uncertainty—thus requiring the management of uncertainty. Existing research indicates family, friends, and social support networks are limited in their assistance for previvors’ uncertainty management. Therefore, this study examined how health care providers may assist previvors in uncertainty management by asking: What strategies do BRCA-positive previvors enact with their health care providers to help manage their uncertainty about HBOC? Purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants via online social media. The final sample consisted of 34 BRCA-positive women. Interviews revealed four uncertainty management strategies—seeking health care providers as informational sources, seeking health care providers as partners for decision making, seeking health care providers for supportive communication, and seeking referrals from health care providers for social support networks. Findings indicate that health care providers who are knowledgeable about BRCA, provide information, answer questions, check understanding, and provide additional resources assist previvors in managing their uncertainties by distinguishing options and fostering meaning