Multi-proxy analyses reveal regional cremation practices and social status at the Late Bronze Age site of Herstal, Belgium

The funerary Bronze Age culture in the Belgian part of the Meuse valley is poorly understood due to the challenging nature of cremation deposits that dominate the archaeological record. Only a few sites were analysed in that region, limiting the possibilities to reconstruct the development of Bronze Age populations in Belgium. Due to its good preservation and detailed excavation reports, the site of Herstal (Belgium) offers a unique opportunity to finally gain new insights into the life and death of those buried in the Meuse Valley during the Late Bronze Age. A total of 21 graves were analysed using a multi-proxy approach, combining grave typology, osteoarchaeology, strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr), and radiocarbon dating. The 87Sr/86Sr results show that the individuals of Herstal most likely used a variety of local food supplies while having interactions with other populations in and beyond the Meuse Valley, as demonstrated by the bronze artefacts and ceramics displaying clear influences from Germany, Southern Netherlands, and North-West France. The cemetery most likely shows a local burial style with the presence of two (or even three) individuals in several cremation deposits containing a number of privileged individuals who had access to bronze trading networks

Occupational Asthma Caused by Quaternary Ammonium Compounds: A Multicenter Cohort Study.

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are used extensively for cleaning and disinfection and have been documented in scattered reports as a cause of occupational asthma (OA) through bronchoprovocation tests (BPTs). To examine the clinical, functional, and inflammatory profile of QAC-induced OA compared with OA caused by other low-molecular weight (LMW) agents. The study was conducted in a retrospective multicenter cohort of 871 subjects with OA ascertained by a positive BPT. Subjects with QAC-induced OA (n = 22) were identified based on a positive BPT to QACs after exclusion of those challenged with cleaning products or disinfectants that contained other potential respiratory sensitizers. They were compared with 289 subjects with OA caused by other LMW agents. Most subjects with QAC-induced OA were working in the health care sector (n = 14). A twofold or greater increase in the postchallenge level of nonspecific bronchial hyperresponsiveness was recorded in eight of 11 subjects with QAC-induced OA (72.7%) and in 49.7% of those with OA caused by other LMW agents. Although sputum assessment was available in only eight subjects with QAC-induced OA, they showed a significantly greater median (interquartile) increase in sputum eosinophils (18.1% [range, 12.1% to 21.1%]) compared with those with OA caused by other LMW agents (2.0% [range, 0% to 5.2%]; P < .001). This study indicates that QAC-induced OA is associated with a highly eosinophilic pattern of airway response and provides further evidence supporting the sensitizing potential of QACs. The findings highlight the heterogeneous nature of the pathobiologic pathways involved in OA caused by LMW agents

Prise en charge aux soins intensifs des patients pour insuffisance respiratoire liée au COVID-19

Au cours de la pandémie liée au COVID-19, de nombreux patients ont été admis en unité de soins intensifs, mettant en exergue le travail d’une spécialité souvent peu ou mal connue du public. L’insuffisance respiratoire présentée par ces patients, et entrant dans le cadre de la définition de l’ARDS, a nécessité des techniques d’oxygénation et de ventilation non-invasive, invasive et dans les cas les plus sévères d’une assistance extra-corporelle. Ces traitements lourds, associés à des techniques de mobilisation compliquées (décubitus ventral) et aux autres traitements usuels de soins intensifs, chez un nombre important de patients simultanés et dont le pronostic était réservé, a généré une pression importante pour les équipes au lit du malade.[Management of patients with COVID-19-related respiratory failure at the intensive care unit] During the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients have been admitted to intensive care units, thereby highlighting the work of a medical specialty that is often little or poorly known to the public. In these patients, respiratory failure, falling within the definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome, had to be managed using non-invasive and invasive oxygenation and ventilation techniques, and in the most severe cases, using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. These heavy treatments, combined with complicated mobilization techniques (prone position) and other usual intensive care treatments, had to be delivered simultaneously to a large number of patients with a guarded prognosis, which has put under significant pressure the bedside care teams

Earth's oldest stable crust in the Pilbara Craton formed by cyclic gravitational overturns

During the early Archaean, the Earth was too hot to sustain rigid lithospheric plates subject to Wilson Cycle-style plate tectonics. Yet by that time, up to 50% of the present-day continental crust was generated. Preserved continental fragments from the early Archaean have distinct granite-dome/greenstone-keel crust that is interpreted to be the result of a gravitationally unstable stratification of felsic proto-crust overlain by denser mafic volcanic rocks, subject to reorganization by Rayleigh–Taylor flow. Here we provide age constraints on the duration of gravitational overturn in the East Pilbara Terrane. Our U–Pb ages indicate the emplacement of ~3,600–3,460-million-year-old granitoid rocks, and their uplift during an overturn event ceasing about 3,413 million years ago. Exhumation and erosion of this felsic proto-crust accompanied crustal reorganization. Petrology and thermodynamic modelling suggest that the early felsic magmas were derived from the base of thick (~43 km) basaltic proto-crust. Combining our data with regional geochronological studies unveils characteristic growth cycles on the order of 100 million years. We propose that maturation of the early crust over three of these cycles was required before a stable, differentiated continent emerged with sufficient rigidity for plate-like behaviour