Morphological studies in human skeletal remains from Southern Patagonia: from classic morphology to geometric morphometry

A finales del s. XVIII, pero fundamentalmente durante los ss. XIX y XX, se realizan los primeros trabajos craneométricos acerca de las poblaciones que habitaron Patagonia Austral (PA). En esta región, los primeros abordajes de corte tipologista dejaron paso a otra corriente centrada en la estadística multivariante y la síntesis evolutiva a partir de la década de 1980. A fin de abordar cómo ha cambiado la bioantropología de PA a lo largo del tiempo se realizó un diagnóstico acerca de la información que contienen 75 publicaciones morfométricas, desde el año 1937 hasta el año 2020. Los resultados muestran que, en las últimas décadas, se ha producido un incremento exponencial de las publicaciones sobre las poblaciones nativas de PA, centrándose fundamentalmente en el estudio craneano, observándose una preponderancia del abordaje geométrico en la última década. Sin embargo, el trato de los metadatos primarios y secundarios es deficiente; muestra de ello, son los términos utilizados para definir la procedencia de las muestras, los cuales son vagos y poco precisos. El conocimiento acerca de la disposición de los restos esqueléticos y la información aportada acerca de la datación suele ser insuficiente o difusa. Las deficiencias en la comunicación de datos y metadatos conducen a dificultades en la replicabilidad y verificabilidad, promoviendo redundancias, baja eficiencia, e incidiendo en una mala gestión de fondos públicos para investigación. Esperamos que el uso de bases de datos bibliográficas y morfométricas, así como diagnósticos periódicos como este ayuden a que la comunidad bioantropológica comience a reportar en sus publicaciones información relevante asociada a los individuos analizados.At the end of the 18th century, but mainly during the 19th and 20th centuries, the first craniometric studies were carried out on the populations that inhabited Southern Patagonia (SP). Those first approaches were typological analyses, a trend that, from the 1980s onwards, gave way to a perspective focused on multivariate statistics and evolutionary synthesis. In order to address how the discipline has changed over time, a diagnosis was made of the information found in 75 morphometric publications, from 1937 to 2020. In the last decades, there has been an exponential increase in publications in SP focusing mainly in skull study, with a preponderance of the geometric approach over the last decade. However, the treatment of primary and secondary metadata is deficient; for example, the terms used to define provenance are often vague and imprecise, knowledge about the disposition of skeletal remains is scarce, and the information provided about dating is often insufficient or diffuse. Deficiencies in data and metadata reporting result in difficulties in replicability and verifiability, creating redundancies, low efficiency and leading to a poor management of research funds. We hope the use of bibliographic and morphometric databases, as well as periodic diagnostic reviews such as this one, will help the bioanthropological community begin to report relevant information related to the individuals analyzed in their publications.Asociación de Antropología Biológica Argentin

Travels of a Rayed Head: imagery, fiber, structure and connotations of early textiles from the South Central Andes

The rayed head image has long been identified as a central symbol associated with the Paracas tradition, also called the sun face 1 and associated with the concept of Oculate Being developed by the Berkeley School. 2 Prominently repeated on the central ground of the famous Paracas Textile at the Brooklyn Museum, this image has much earlier antecedents in the region. Scholars disagree on the extent to which many Paracas, Topara and early Nasca images with large round eyes, grinning mouths, and serpentlike appendages emitting from the head and body may also be manifestations of a particular Oculate Being or of more general concepts of natural or supernatural power. Recently, contemporary textiles found in the Sihuas valley to the south (see Haeberli in this volume) challenge us to reexamine the similarities and distinctions among rayed heads. One of the great challenges of the history of material culture, envisioned as a history of philosophical concepts, social values and cultural practices through their inscription in material objects, is the degree to which a recurrent image, pattern or special arrangement reflects a similar idea. A number of quite different images have been associated with the concept of an Oculate Being proposed by John Rowe and others of the Berkeley school based on their analysis of Ica valley ceramics and Ocucaje gravelots in the 1950s. I here trace the rayed head or sun face image as it occurs over at least 500 years in the region of Ica and Paracas. I then briefly consider its relationship to other contemporary imagery and later imagery featuring ray-like elements emitted from the head, both in the same contexts where the rayed head appears, and in other cemeteries to the south in southern Peru and northern Chile. All the imagery discussed here is associated with a period between about 450 BC and AD 450 called the Formative in the South Central Andes (Bolivia and northern Chile) and called the Early Horizon (or late Formative) and Early Intermediate (or Regional Development) Period in the Central Andes. Most of the images I discuss are created on textiles. While only recovered from burials on the desert coast, textile materials draw on relationships of production and exchange that spanned the Andean cordillera to the montane rainforest to the east, and stretched to the north and south. Either as clothing or cargo, textiles themselves traveled and were no doubt a primary source of non-local imagery. I do consider related images on non-textile artifacts. I compare textile based imagery with contemporary imagery on engraved and painted ceramics and gourds to try to distinguish among design features specific to medium, style and iconography

An Intense and Short-Lasting Burst of Neutrophil Activation Differentiates Early Acute Myocardial Infarction from Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils are involved in thrombus formation. We investigated whether specific features of neutrophil activation characterize patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) compared to stable angina and to systemic inflammatory diseases. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The myeloperoxidase (MPO) content of circulating neutrophils was determined by flow cytometry in 330 subjects: 69 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), 69 with chronic stable angina (CSA), 50 with inflammation due to either non-infectious (acute bone fracture), infectious (sepsis) or autoimmune diseases (small and large vessel systemic vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis). Four patients have also been studied before and after sterile acute injury of the myocardium (septal alcoholization). One hundred thirty-eight healthy donors were studied in parallel. Neutrophils with normal MPO content were 96% in controls, >92% in patients undergoing septal alcoholization, 91% in CSA patients, but only 35 and 30% in unstable angina and AMI (STEMI and NSTEMI) patients, compared to 80%, 75% and 2% of patients with giant cell arteritis, acute bone fracture and severe sepsis. In addition, in 32/33 STEMI and 9/21 NSTEMI patients respectively, 20% and 12% of neutrophils had complete MPO depletion during the first 4 hours after the onset of symptoms, a feature not observed in any other group of patients. MPO depletion was associated with platelet activation, indicated by P-selectin expression, activation and transactivation of leukocyte β2-integrins and formation of platelet neutrophil and -monocyte aggregates. The injection of activated platelets in mice produced transient, P-selectin dependent, complete MPO depletion in about 50% of neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: ACS are characterized by intense neutrophil activation, like other systemic inflammatory syndromes. In the very early phase of acute myocardial infarction only a subpopulation of neutrophils is massively activated, possibly via platelet-P selectin interactions. This paroxysmal activation could contribute to occlusive thrombosis

High Risk of Secondary Infections Following Thrombotic Complications in Patients With COVID-19

Background. This study’s primary aim was to evaluate the impact of thrombotic complications on the development of secondary infections. The secondary aim was to compare the etiology of secondary infections in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Methods. This was a cohort study (NCT04318366) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients hospitalized at IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital between February 25 and June 30, 2020. Incidence rates (IRs) were calculated by univariable Poisson regression as the number of cases per 1000 person-days of follow-up (PDFU) with 95% confidence intervals. The cumulative incidence functions of secondary infections according to thrombotic complications were compared with Gray’s method accounting for competing risk of death. A multivariable Fine-Gray model was applied to assess factors associated with risk of secondary infections. Results. Overall, 109/904 patients had 176 secondary infections (IR, 10.0; 95% CI, 8.8–11.5; per 1000-PDFU). The IRs of secondary infections among patients with or without thrombotic complications were 15.0 (95% CI, 10.7–21.0) and 9.3 (95% CI, 7.9–11.0) per 1000-PDFU, respectively (P = .017). At multivariable analysis, thrombotic complications were associated with the development of secondary infections (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.788; 95% CI, 1.018–3.140; P = .043). The etiology of secondary infections was similar in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Conclusions. In patients with COVID-19, thrombotic complications were associated with a high risk of secondary infections