A prehistoric jade axe from Galicia (Northwestern Iberia): Researching its origin

The Vilapedre axe (Lugo, Northwest Iberia) has been traditionally considered by archaeologists as evidence of prehistoric long-distance contacts along the Atlantic Coast of France and Spain. This artefact - as other “Tumiac type” axes (long polished blades, generally butt-perforated) - would have been produced in Brittany during the Neolithic (5th millennium BCE) using jadeitite as raw material, a green-coloured rock for which there are sources in the western Italian Alps. In this paper, we have traced the possible archaeological origin of this artefact back by examining the personal files of one of its first owners, Santiago de la Iglesia. Furthermore, we have conducted a mineralogical (X-Ray Diffraction, XRD) and an elemental analysis (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Detection, SEM-EDX) of both the Vilapedre axe and geological samples from several places at the Alps where prehistoric quarrying of greenstones has been reported. The aims were physicochemically characterizing the axe to provide information about its possible geological source. During our analyses, we have found significant compositional similarities between the Vilapedre axe and one of the geological samples coming from the Alps (Alp06). The results are therefore consistent with the alleged Alpine origin of this artefact. The presence of this axe in Northwest Spain, together with other evidence, such as the presence of objects of Iberian origin in Breton monuments, strongly suggests the existence of contacts between both regions of the Atlantic façade during the Neolithic onwards in which seafaring would undoubtedly have played an important role.El hacha de Vilapedre (Lugo, Noroeste de la Península Ibérica) ha sido tradicionalmente considerada por los arqueólogos como una evidencia de contactos a lo largo de la costa atlántica de Francia y España durante la Prehistoria Reciente. Esta pieza, al igual que otros ejemplares "tipo Tumiac" (láminas pulidas, generalmente perforadas en el talón), se habría producido en Bretaña durante el Neolítico (5º Milenio aC) utilizando jadeitita como materia prima, una roca de color verde cuyas fuentes se localizan en los Alpes italianos occidentales. En este trabajo, hemos realizado un análisis mineralógico (Difracción de rayos X, DRX) y otro elemental (Microscopía electrónica de barrido con detección de rayos X por dispersión de energía, SEM-EDX), tanto de la pieza mencionada como de muestras geológicas alpinas tomadas en lugares con indicios de extracción en época prehistórica. Los objetivos son caracterizar fisicoquímicamente el hacha a fin de obtener información sobre sus posibles fuentes geológicas. Los resultados son consistentes con un origen alpino de la materia prima empleada en la fabricación del hacha de Vilapedre

La Ría de Vigo : una aproximación integral al ecosistema marino de la Ría de Vigo

414 pagesLos fondos de la ría de Vigo : composición, distribución y origen del sedimento / Federico Vilas Martín, Daniel Rey García, Belén Rubio Armesto, Ana M. Bernabeu Tello, Gonzalo Méndez Martínez, Ruth Durán Gallego, Kais Jacob Mohamed Falcón. Hidrografía y dinámica de la ría de Vigo : un sistema de afloramiento / Gabriel Rosón Porto, José Manuel Cabanas, Fiz Fernández Pérez (http://hdl.handle.net/10261/115885). Biogeoquímica de la ría de Vigo: ciclo de las sales nutrientes ; trampa/sumidero de CO2 / Carmen González Castro, Aida Fernández Ríos (http://hdl.handle.net/10261/116063). El plancton de la ría de Vigo / Francisco Gómez Figueiras, Ana Miranda, Isabel Riveiro Alarcón, Alba Ruth Vergara Castaño, Cástor Guisande (http://hdl.handle.net/10261/116072). Episodios de fitoplancton tóxico en la ría de Vigo / Beatriz Reguera Ramírez, Laura Escalera, Yolanda Pazos, Ángeles Moroño. Contaminación / Juan José González, Cristina Álvarez, Ricardo Beiras García-Sabell, Maria Victoria Besada Montenegro, José Fumega, María Ángeles Franco Hernández, Mariano Gómez, Amelia González Quijano, Teresa Nunes, Ricardo Prego Reboredo, José Antonio Soriano Sanz, Lucia Elisa Viñas Diéguez (http://hdl.handle.net/10261/116066). Explotación: pesca, marisqueo y acuicultura en la ría de Vigo / José Benito Peleteiro, Valentín Trujillo, Rafael Bañón Díaz, Jorge Ribó, Mercedes Olmedo, Blanca Álvarez Blázquez, José Luis Rodríguez, Juan Pazó, Juan José Otero. Impacto del hombre sobre el ecosistema de la ría de Vigo: hacia una gestión integrada / Ángel Guerra Sierra, Santiago Lens, Francisco Rocha Valdés (http://hdl.handle.net/10261/116069). Valoración económica del uso recreativo y la conservación / María Xosé Vázquez Rodríguez, Albino Prada BlancoN

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN