Bio-anthropological Studies on Human Skeletons from the 6th Century Tomb of Ancient Silla Kingdom in South Korea

In November and December 2013, unidentified human skeletal remains buried in a mokgwakmyo (a traditional wooden coffin) were unearthed while conducting an archaeological investigation near Gyeongju, which was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE– 660 CE) of ancient Korea. The human skeletal remains were preserved in relatively intact condition. In an attempt to obtain biological information on the skeleton, physical anthropological, mitochondrial DNA, stable isotope and craniofacial analyses were carried out. The results indicated that the individual was a female from the Silla period, of 155 ± 5 cm height, who died in her late thirties. The maternal lineage belonged to the haplogroup F1b1a, typical for East Asia, and the diet had been more C3- (wheat, rice and potatoes) than C4-based (maize, millet and other tropical grains). Finally, the face of the individual was reconstructed utilizing the skull (restored from osseous fragments) and three-dimensional computerized modelling system. This study, applying multi-dimensional approaches within an overall bio-anthropological analysis, was the first attempt to collect holistic biological information on human skeletal remains dating to the Silla Kingdom period of ancient Korea

Transcriptional recapitulation and subversion of embryonic colon development by mouse colon tumor models and human colon cancer

Colon tumors from four independent mouse models and 100 human colorectal cancers all exhibited striking recapitulation of embryonic colon gene expression from embryonic days 13.5-18.5

Cardiovascular and metabolic influences of fetal smoke exposure

Many epidemiological studies showed associations of low birth weight with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The associations seem to be consistent and stronger among subjects with a postnatal catch up growth. It has been suggested that developmental changes in response to adverse fetal exposures might lead to changes in the fetal anatomy and physiology. These adaptations may be beneficial for short term, but may lead to common diseases in adulthood. Maternal smoking during pregnancy is one of the most important adverse fetal exposures in Western countries, and is known to be associated with a 150–200 g lower birth weight. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that maternal smoking during pregnancy might be involved in pathways leading to both low birth weight and common diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity, in adulthood. In this review, we discuss epidemiological studies focused on the associations of maternal smoking with fetal growth and development and cardiovascular and metabolic disease in later life. We also discuss potential biological mechanisms, and challenges for future epidemiological studies

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Phase behavior of mixtures of block copolymer and homopolymers in thin films and bulk

Mixtures of polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-PMMA) having PMMA cylindrical microdomains with homopolymers of PMMA and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were used to study the effect of the interaction between homopolymers confined to the cylindrical microdomains and the PS matrix on the microdomain spacing of the mixtures. The microdomains in all thin films are oriented perpendicular to the film surface. It was found that the miscibility between PMMA homopolymer and PMMA block in thin film was enhanced compared with that in bulk at a given molecular weight of PMMA homopolymer. Also, the PMMA homopolymer chains in thin films were more localized to the center of PMMA microdomains than in the bulk, which results in a larger increase of the lattice spacing (D) in the former. D increased rapidly at low volume fractions of PMMA homopolymer, but it approached a saturated value as the content of PMMA increased. The increase of D with increasing molecular weight of PMMA homopolymer was saturated at a certain molecular weight. For mixtures of PS-PMMA with PEO, changes in D were similar to those seen with PMMA, except that the saturation of D was reached at a much lower molecular weight compared with PMMA. This is attributed to the strong repulsion between PEO and PS that forces a stronger localization of PEO chains to the center of the PMMA microdomains. The degree of localization of the homopolymer inside the cylindrical microdomains for all mixtures is discussed in term of increase of D.X119697sciescopu

Enhancement in the orientation of the microdomain in block copolymer thin films upon the addition of homopolymer

Cylindrical microdomains in thin films of mixtures of polystyrene-block-poly-(methyl methacrylate) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) homopolymer are oriented normal to the film surface (see Figure). Confining the PMMA homopolymer to the microdomains increases the persistence of microdomain orientation over large distances; thus, aspect ratios up to similar to10 are achievable without the use of an external field.X11111sciescopu

The effect of chain architecture of in situ formed copolymers on interfacial morphology of reactive polymer blends

The effect of chain architecture of in situ formed copolymers on the interfacial morphology of reactive polymer blends was&apos; investigated. We found that the chain architectures of copolymers at the interface significantly affected the reaction and interface roughness. Although the amount of in situ formed Y-shaped graft copolymers was smaller than that for diblock copolymers, the interface area generated by the former was larger than that generated by the latter.X1118sciescopu