New light on the early urbanisation of Copenhagen: with the Metro Cityring excavation at Rådhuspladsen (Town Hall square) as a point of departure

Copenhagen’s origin and early development have long been subject to study, and has since the nineteenth century resulted in numerous and sometimes conflicting theories. The dearth of large excavations in the old parts of the city inmodern times has resulted in fragmentary archaeological evidence and a concomitant lack of synthesis of a more modern nature. In connection with the current, large-scale, excavations connected to the Metro Cityring project (2009–), the Museum of Copenhagen has had the opportunity to conduct major excavations pertinent to the development of the medieval town. The site at Rådhuspladsen (the Town Hall Square) lies on the borders of the high and late medieval town, but in an area traditionally seen as located outside the earliest settlement. The preliminary results from this excavation, together with indications from excavations and watching briefs in recent years, enable us to update our hitherto knowledge and beliefs about the origins of Copenhagen. The discovery of a previously unknown cemetery at Rådhuspladsen, together with a large number of pits and wells backfilled with household refuse and waste from iron working, yields new information on the activities in the early town, and perhaps also clues to the organisation and power structure of the town’s early phase. This article sketches in broad outline the early medieval findings from Rådhuspladsen as well as some of the recent years’ archaeological observations from around the city centre. Together, these form the background for a discussion on the organisation and character of Copenhagen in the early medieval period, and some preliminary hypotheses concerning the urbanisation process of the city

Köpenhamns uppkomst: Om nätverk och aktörer i det tidigmedeltida Östdanmark

Artiklen baseres på det oplæg, som forfatteren gav ved den metropolhistoriske konference på Frederiksberg Rådhus, august 2019. Heri belyses de seneste arkæologiske udgravninger omkring nutidens Rådhusplads i det centrale København, der har afsløret banebrydende oplysninger om den ældste fase i byens historie. Fundet af en kirkegård fra det 11. århundrede, ukendt fra skriftlige kilder og placeret uden for den senere, befæstede middelalderby, er et nyt spor til vores forståelse af hvad, og hvem der stod bag dannelsen og den tidlige udvikling af byen. På Rådhuspladsen blev der også fundet betydelige rester af værksteder, der var involveret i smedevirksomhed, dateret til slutningen af ​​det 11. til det tidlige 14. århundrede. Fundene bidrager med værdifuld information om livsforhold, men også om geografiske og aktørbaserede netværk af betydning for den videre udvikling af byen. Artiklen er fagfællebedømt

From a port for traders to a town of merchants: exploring the topography, activities and dynamics of early medieval Copenhagen

Copenhagen’s earliest history has long been shrouded in uncertainties. This is mainly due to insufficient source material. Basic questions – how old is the town, how did it originate, and where was the oldest settlement situated? – are still under discussion, as are questions regarding specific features of the early medieval town. Was Absalon’s twelfth-century castle preceded by an earlier one? What does a centrally placed, early medieval horseshoe-shaped enclosure surrounded by a massive ditch represent? Using archaeological results from recent major excavations, combined with Bayesian modelling of new 14C dates from the two early cemeteries of Sankt Clemens and Rådhuspladsen, older archaeological information and the medieval written sources on Copenhagen are revisited to form a new interpretation of the early development of the town. Three phases of topographical development from the eleventh to the early thirteenth century are recognised. The changes tell of a dynamic first two hundred years of the town’s history and of its changing role in Danish society. The article explores the people, activities and networks that lie behind the outstanding development from the small early settlement of the eleventh century to the flourishing merchant town of the thirteenth century

Outsourcing ethical dilemmas: regulating international surrogacy arrangements

This article argues that the English legislative regime is ineffective in regulating international surrogacy, particularly with regard to commercial payments. It suggests that if English law views surrogacy as exploitative, we have a responsibility to protect women both in England and abroad, and the only way to do so effectively is to create a domestic system of regulation that caters adequately for the demand in this country. This requires a system of authorisation for surrogacy before it is undertaken; ex-post facto examinations of agreements completed in other jurisdictions, after the child is already living with the commissioning parents, cannot be seen as an acceptable compromise, as authorisation will inevitably be granted in the child's best interests.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwv04

The ICF core sets for hearing loss project : functioning and disability from the patient perspective

OBJECTIVE : To explore areas of functioning, disability, and environmental factors of adults with hearing loss (HL) by using the ICF classification as a tool to determine and document each element. DESIGN : A qualitative study applying mainly focus-group methodology was applied. STUDY SAMPLE : Thirty-six Dutch and South African adults (≥ 18 years of age) with HL (20-95 dB HL) who used oral communication as first communication. Summative content analysis was performed on the transcripts by linkage to appropriate ICF categories. RESULTS : 143 ICF categories were identified, most of which belonged to the Activities & Participation (d) component, closely followed by the Environmental factors component. Participants specifically mentioned categories related to oral communication and interaction. Assistive technology (such as hearing aids), noise, and support by and attitudes of others in the environment of the participants were considered highly influential for functioning and disability. CONCLUSIONS : The present study illustrates the complex and encompassing nature of aspects involved in functioning and disability of adults with HL. Findings highlight the necessity of using a multidimensional tool, such as the ICF, to map functioning and disability with hearing loss, allowing consideration and evaluation of aspects that are both internal and external.The Oticon Foundationhttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iija20hb2017Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Effect of B-type natriuretic peptide-guided treatment of chronic heart failure on total mortality and hospitalization: an individual patient meta-analysis

Aims Natriuretic peptide-guided (NP-guided) treatment of heart failure has been tested against standard clinically guided care in multiple studies, but findings have been limited by study size. We sought to perform an individual patient data meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of NP-guided treatment of heart failure on all-cause mortality. Methods and results Eligible randomized clinical trials were identified from searches of Medline and EMBASE databases and the Cochrane Clinical Trials Register. The primary pre-specified outcome, all-cause mortality was tested using a Cox proportional hazards regression model that included study of origin, age (45%) as covariates. Secondary endpoints included heart failure or cardiovascular hospitalization. Of 11 eligible studies, 9 provided individual patient data and 2 aggregate data. For the primary endpoint individual data from 2000 patients were included, 994 randomized to clinically guided care and 1006 to NP-guided care. All-cause mortality was significantly reduced by NP-guided treatment [hazard ratio = 0.62 (0.45-0.86); P = 0.004] with no heterogeneity between studies or interaction with LVEF. The survival benefit from NP-guided therapy was seen in younger (<75 years) patients [0.62 (0.45-0.85); P = 0.004] but not older (≥75 years) patients [0.98 (0.75-1.27); P = 0.96]. Hospitalization due to heart failure [0.80 (0.67-0.94); P = 0.009] or cardiovascular disease [0.82 (0.67-0.99); P = 0.048] was significantly lower in NP-guided patients with no heterogeneity between studies and no interaction with age or LVEF. Conclusion Natriuretic peptide-guided treatment of heart failure reduces all-cause mortality in patients aged <75 years and overall reduces heart failure and cardiovascular hospitalizatio

An intronic deletion in megakaryoblastic leukemia 1 is associated with hyperproliferation of B cells in triplets with Hodgkin lymphoma

Megakaryoblastic leukemia 1 (MKL1) is a coactivator of serum response factor and together they regulate transcription of actin cytoskeleton genes. MKL1 is associated with hematologic malignancies and immunodeficiency, but its role in B cells is unexplored. Here we examined B cells from monozygotic triplets with an intronic deletion in MKL1, two of whom had been previously treated for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). To investigate MKL1 and B-cell responses in the pathogenesis of HL, we generated Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines from the triplets and two controls. While cells from the patients with treated HL had a phenotype close to that of the healthy controls, cells from the undiagnosed triplet had increased MKL1 mRNA, increased MKL1 protein, and elevated expression of MKL1-dependent genes. This profile was associated with elevated actin content, increased cell spreading, decreased expression of CD11a integrin molecules, and delayed aggregation. Moreover, cells from the undiagnosed triplet proliferated faster, displayed a higher proportion of cells with hyperploidy, and formed large tumors in vivo. This phenotype was reversible by inhibiting MKL1 activity. Interestingly, cells from the triplet treated for HL in 1985 contained two subpopulations: one with high expression of CD11a that behaved like control cells and the other with low expression of CD11a that formed large tumors in vivo similar to cells from the undiagnosed triplet. This implies that pre-malignant cells had re-emerged a long time after treatment. Together, these data suggest that dysregulated MKL1 activity participates in B-cell transformation and the pathogenesis of HL

Bio-cultural refugia—Safeguarding diversity of practices for food security and biodiversity

Food security for a growing world population is high on the list of grand sustainability challenges, as is reducing the pace of biodiversity loss in landscapes of food production. Here we shed new insights on areas that harbor place specific social memories related to food security and stewardship of biodiversity. We call them bio-cultural refugia. Our goals are to illuminate how bio-cultural refugia store, revive and transmit memory of agricultural biodiversity and ecosystem services, and how such social memories are carried forward between people and across cohorts. We discuss the functions of such refugia for addressing the twin goals of food security and biodiversity conservation in landscapes of food production. The methodological approach is first of its kind in combining the discourses on food security, social memory and biodiversity management. We find that the rich biodiversity of many regionally distinct cultural landscapes has been maintained through a mosaic of management practices that have co-evolved in relation to local environmental fluctuations, and that such practices are carried forward by both biophysical and social features in bio-cultural refugia including; genotypes, artifacts, written accounts, as well as embodied rituals, art, oral traditions and self-organized systems of rules. Combined these structure a diverse portfolio of practices that result in genetic reservoirs-source areas-for the wide array of species, which in interplay produce vital ecosystem services, needed for future food security related to environmental uncertainties, volatile financial markets and large scale conflicts. In Europe, processes related to the large-scale industrialization of agriculture threaten such bio-cultural refugia. The paper highlights that the dual goals to reduce pressures from modern agriculture on biodiversity, while maintaining food security, entails more extensive collaboration with farmers oriented toward ecologically sound practices. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2,3,4. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans—including 278 individuals from England—alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France5,6

The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool.

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2-4. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans-including 278 individuals from England-alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France5,6