“This is proof”? Forensic evidence and ambiguous material culture at Treblinka extermination camp

In recent years, a forensic archaeological project at Treblinka extermination camp has uncovered significance evidence relating to the mass murder that took place there. A number of questions emerged regarding the provenance and origins of objects discovered as part of this work, and why they had remained undiscovered for over seventy years. These discoveries led to an opportunity to confirm and challenge the history of the extermination camp, and demands (from the public) to view the objects. This paper will outline how archaeologists and artists came together to reflect on these issues, whilst simultaneously providing access to the new findings

Archaeological signatures of landscape and settlement change on the Isle of Harris

Between 2004 and 2011, a programme of archaeological investigation by the University of Birmingham on the Isle of Harris, a distinctive island forming part of the Western Isles of Scotland, has allowed the archaeological remains of this enigmatic place to be further characterised and understood. Despite intensive archaeological interest in the archipelago for a number of decades, the Isle of Harris has been overlooked and only now are we beginning to identify the archaeological resource and make comparisons to the wealth of published data from islands such as the Uists, Barra and Lewis. This paper highlights some generic overall patterns of archaeological signatures on the Isle which has been identified through a range of archaeological methods including field walking, intrusive excavation, aerial reconnaissance, geophysical and topographical survey, and documentary research. Several key case studies will be introduced including upland shieling complexes and mulitperiod settlement sites on the west coast machair systems. The purpose of the paper is not to present a gazetteer of the results of the work to date, but to highlight some of the key findings with a view to demonstrating that the Isle of Harris is directly comparable with the archaeologically rich landscapes of the other islands

SNP microarray-based 24 chromosome aneuploidy screening is significantly more consistent than FISH

Many studies estimate that chromosomal mosaicism within the cleavage-stage human embryo is high. However, comparison of two unique methods of aneuploidy screening of blastomeres within the same embryo has not been conducted and may indicate whether mosaicism has been overestimated due to technical inconsistency rather than the biological phenomena. The present study investigates the prevalence of chromosomal abnormality and mosaicism found with two different single cell aneuploidy screening techniques. Thirteen arrested cleavage-stage embryos were studied. Each was biopsied into individual cells (n = 160). The cells from each embryo were randomized into two groups. Those destined for FISH-based aneuploidy screening (n = 75) were fixed, one cell per slide. Cells for SNP microarray-based aneuploidy screening (n = 85) were put into individual tubes. Microarray was significantly more reliable (96%) than FISH (83%) for providing an interpretable result (P = 0.004). Markedly different results were obtained when comparing microarray and FISH results from individual embryos. Mosaicism was significantly less commonly observed by microarray (31%) than by FISH (100%) (P = 0.0005). Although FISH evaluated fewer chromosomes per cell and fewer cells per embryo, FISH still displayed significantly more unique genetic diagnoses per embryo (3.2 ± 0.2) than microarray (1.3 ± 0.2) (P < 0.0001). This is the first prospective, randomized, blinded and paired comparison between microarray and FISH-based aneuploidy screening. SNP microarray-based 24 chromosome aneuploidy screening provides more complete and consistent results than FISH. These results also suggest that FISH technology may overestimate the contribution of mitotic error to the origin of aneuploidy at the cleavage stage of human embryogenesis

Polar body array CGH for prediction of the status of the corresponding oocyte. Part I: clinical results

Several randomized controlled trials have not shown a benefit from preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) biopsy of cleavage-stage embryos and assessment of up to 10 chromosomes for aneuploidy. Therefore, a proof-of-principle study was planned to determine the reliability of alternative form of PGS, i.e. PGS by polar body (PB) biopsy, with whole genome amplification and microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) analysis. In two centres, all mature metaphase II oocytes from patients who consented to the study were fertilized by ICSI. The first and second PBs (PB1and PB2) were biopsied and analysed separately for chromosome copy number by array CGH. If either or both of the PBs were found to be aneuploid, the corresponding zygote was then also processed by array CGH for concordance analysis. Both PBs were biopsied from a total of 226 zygotes from 42 cycles (average 5.5 per cycle; range 1-15) in 41 couples with an average maternal age of 40.0 years. Of these, the ploidy status of the zygote could be predicted in 195 (86%): 55 were euploid (28%) and 140 were aneuploid (72%). With only one exception, there was at least one predicted aneuploid zygote in each cycle and in 19 out of 42 cycles (45%), all zygotes were predicted to be aneuploid. Fresh embryos were transferred in the remaining 23 cycles (55%), and one frozen transfer was done. Eight patients had a clinical pregnancy of which seven were evolutive (ongoing pregnancy rates: 17% per cycle and 30% per transfer). The ploidy status of 156 zygotes was successfully analysed by array CGH: 38 (24%) were euploid and 118 (76%) were aneuploid. In 138 cases complete information was available on both PBs and the corresponding zygotes. In 130 (94%), the ploidy status of the zygote was concordant with the ploidy status of the PBs and in 8 (6%), the results were discordant. This proof-of-principle study indicates that the ploidy of the zygote can be predicted with acceptable accuracy by array CGH analysis of both PB

Sacred turf: the Wimbledon tennis championships and the changing politics of Englishness

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. This article is about ‘Wimbledon’, widely celebrated – not least in its own publicity material – as the world’s premier tennis tournament. It examines ‘Wimbledon’ essentially as a text (hence the inverted commas), viewed politically and historically. In this context, ‘Wimbledon’ is seen as a signifier of a certain kind of Englishness, carefully adapted to meet changing social and economic circumstance. Loose parallels are drawn between the cultural trajectory of ‘Wimbledon’ and that of the British royal family. The transmutations of ‘Wimbledon’ as a tennis championship are also seen as reflecting Britain’s decline as a world power during the twentieth century

A Bronze Age Round Barrow Cemetery, Pit Alignments, Iron Age Burials, Iron Age Copper Working, and Later Activity at Four Crosses, Llandysilio, Powys.

Excavation undertaken at the Upper Severn valley round barrow cemetery at Four Crosses, Llandysilio between 2004 and 2006 has increased the known barrows and ring-ditches to some 26 monuments, and revealed additional burials. Based on limited dating evidence, and the data from earlier excavations, the majority of the barrows are thought to be constructed in the Bronze Age. The barrows are part of a larger linear cemetery and the landscape setting and wider significance of this linear barrow cemetery are explored within this report. Dating suggests two barrows were later, Iron Age additions. The excavation also investigated Iron Age and undated pit alignments, Middle Iron Age copper working and a small Romano-British inhumation cemetery and field systems. Much of this evidence reflects the continuing importance of the site for ritual and funerary activity

Early maternal mirroring predicts infant motor system activation during facial expression observation.

Processing facial expressions is an essential component of social interaction, especially for preverbal infants. In human adults and monkeys, this process involves the motor system, with a neural matching mechanism believed to couple self- and other-generated facial gestures. Here, we used electroencephalography to demonstrate recruitment of the human motor system during observation and execution of facial expressions in nine-month-old infants, implicating this system in facial expression processing from a very young age. Notably, examination of early video-recorded mother-infant interactions supported the common, but as yet untested, hypothesis that maternal mirroring of infant facial gestures is central to the development of a neural matching mechanism for these gestures. Specifically, the extent to which mothers mirrored infant facial expressions at two months postpartum predicted infant motor system activity during observation of the same expressions at nine months. This suggests that maternal mirroring strengthens mappings between visual and motor representations of facial gestures, which increases infant neural sensitivity to particularly relevant cues in the early social environment