Exotic glass types and the intensity of recycling in the northwest Quarter of Gerasa (Jerash, Jordan)

Major and trace elements are presented for 149 glass fragments ranging in date from the Roman to Early Islamic periods (1st – mid-8th centuries CE), excavated during the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project's fieldwork between 2011 and 2016. The results confirm a clear dominance of Levantine glass types, but also reveal 12 glasses of Egyptian and Mesopotamian compositions recovered from two houses destroyed by the major earthquake which hit parts of the Levant in January 749 CE. These closed and undisturbed contexts from the final phase of occupation reveal the presence of relatively more pristine Levantine as well as imported material that is less visible in earlier contexts in the Gerasa assemblage, where the recycling indexes are high and chemical signatures of any exotic glass were largely lost due to remelting and their dilution by the overwhelming quantities of glass produced in the Levantine region. This emphasizes that imported glass may frequently be underestimated or even invisible in glass compositional studies, depending on the archaeological context sampled and the approach taken to artifact quantification. Levantine glass was attributed to Roman, Late Roman (Jalame) and Byzantine/Early Islamic (Apollonia) productions based primarily on MnO, Al_{2}O_{3} and Na_{2}O concentrations, which offered an advantage over previous approaches. While colorants in weakly colored glass indicate recycled material, their concentrations are sensitive to context, with higher concentrations in the early periods when the use of intentionally colored glass was more frequent. We have therefore developed the concept of the intensity of recycling, which was estimated using components modified during prolonged melting, such as K_{2}O, P_{2}O_{5} and Cl. A pronounced enrichment in CaO, also dependent upon the intensity of recycling, may affect the assignment to compositional groups and should be taken into consideration in future. Recycling in Gerasa appears to have been more intensive than was the case for cities closer to the primary production centers on the Mediterranean coast, consistent with the view that the dependency on recycling increases further away from the source of the primary material. In contrast, the cities in the coastal plain could readily exploit the marine transportation network, which appears to have played a major role in the distribution of raw glass

The Mouse Cer1 (Cerberus related or homologue) Gene Is Not Required for Anterior Pattern Formation

AbstractCer1 is the mouse homologue of the Xenopus Cerberus gene whose product is able to induce development of head structures during embryonic development. The Cer1 protein is a member of the cysteine knot superfamily and is expressed in anterior regions of the mouse gastrula. A segmental pattern of expression with nascent and newly formed somites is also seen. This suggests an additional role in development of the axial skeleton, musculature, or peripheral nervous system. Xenopus animal cap assays and mouse germ-layer explant recombination experiments indicate that the mouse protein can act as a patterning molecule for anterior development in Xenopus, including induction of Otx2 expression, and suggest it may have a similar role in mouse development. However, we present here genetic data that demonstrate that Cer1 is not necessary for anterior patterning, Otx2 expression, somite formation, or even normal mouse morphogenesis

Diphthamide modification of eEF2 requires a J-domain protein and is essential for normal development

The intracellular target of diphtheria toxin is a modified histidine residue, diphthamide, in the translation elongation factor, eEF2. This enigmatic modification occurs in all eukaryotes, and is produced in yeast by the action of five gene products, DPH1 to DPH5. Sequence homologues of these genes are present in all sequenced eukaryotic genomes and in higher eukaryotes there is functional evidence for DPH1, 2, 3, and 5 acting in diphthamide biosynthesis. We have identified a mouse mutant in the remaining gene, Dph4. Cells derived from homozygous mutant embryos lack the diphthamide modification of EF2 and are resistant to killing by diphtheria toxin. Reporter-tagged DPH4 protein localizes to the cytoskeleton, in contrast to the localization of DPH1, and consistent with evidence that DPH4 is not part of a proposed complex containing DPH1, 2 and 3. Mice homozygous for the mutation are retarded in growth and development and almost always die before birth. Those that survive long enough have preaxial polydactyly, a duplication of digit 1 of the hind foot. This same defect is seen in embryos homozygous for mutation of DPH1, suggesting that lack of diphthamide on eEF2 could result in translational failure of specific proteins, rather than a generalized translation downregulation

Tragedy revisited

“Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.” So argued ecologist Garrett Hardin in “The Tragedy of the Commons” in the 13 December 1968 issue of Science (1). Hardin questioned society's ability to manage shared resources and avoid an environmentally and socially calamitous free-for-all. In the 50 years since, the essay has influenced discussions ranging from climate change (see page 1217) to evolution, from infectious disease to the internet, and has reached far beyond academic literature—but not without criticism. Considerable work, notably by Nobelist Elinor Ostrom (2), has challenged Hardin, particularly his emphasis on property rights and government regulatory leviathans as solutions. Instead, research has documented contexts, cases, and principles that reflect the ability of groups to collectively govern common resources. To mark this anniversary and celebrate the richness of research and practice around commons and cooperation, Science invited experts to share some contemporary views on such tragedies and how to avert them. —Brad Wibl

Association of PCSK1 rs6234 with Obesity and Related Traits in a Chinese Han Population

Background: Common variants in PCSK1 have been reported to be associated with obesity in populations of European origin. We aimed to replicate this association in Chinese. Methodology/Principal Findings: Two PCSK1 variants rs6234 and rs6235 (in strong LD with each other, r 2 = 0.98) were genotyped in a population-based cohort of 3,210 Chinese Hans. The rs6234 was used for further association analyses with obesity and related traits. We found no significant association of rs6234 with obesity, overweight, BMI, waist circumference, or body fat percentage (P.0.05) in all participants. However, the rs6234 G-allele showed a significant association with increased risk of combined phenotype of obesity and overweight (OR 1.21[1.03–1.43], P = 0.0193) and a trend toward association with obesity (OR 1.25[0.98–1.61], P = 0.08) in men, but not in women (P$0.29). Consistently, the rs6234 G-allele showed significant association with increased BMI (P = 0.0043), waist circumference (P = 0.008) and body fat percentage (P = 0.0131) only in men, not in women (P$0.24). Interestingly, the rs6234 G-allele was significantly associated with increased HOMA-B (P = 0.0059) and decreased HOMA-S (P = 0.0349) in all participants. Conclusion/Significance: In this study, we found modest evidence for association of the PCSK1 rs6234 with BMI and overweight in men only but not in women, which suggested that PCSK1 rs6234 might not be an important contributor t

Identification and validation of potential new biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis using 2D-DIGE and MS

This study was designed to identify and validate potential new biomarkers for prostate cancer and to distinguish patients with and without biochemical relapse. Prostate tissue samples analyzed by 2D-DIGE (two-dimensional difference in gel electrophoresis) and mass spectrometry (MS) revealed downregulation of secernin-1 (P < 0.044) in prostate cancer, while vinculin showed significant upregulation (P < 0.001). Secernin-1 overexpression in prostate tissue was validated using Western blot and immunohistochemistry while vinculin expression was validated using immunohistochemistry. These findings indicate that secernin-1 and vinculin are potential new tissue biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis, respectively. For validation, protein levels in urine were also examined by Western blot analysis. Urinary vinculin levels in prostate cancer patients were significantly higher than in urine from nontumor patients (P = 0.006). Using multiple reaction monitoring-MS (MRM-MS) analysis, prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) showed significant higher levels in the urine of prostate cancer patients compared to controls (P = 0.012), while galectin-3 showed significant lower levels in the urine of prostate cancer patients with biochemical relapse, compared to those without relapse (P = 0.017). Three proteins were successfully differentiated between patients with and without prostate cancer and patients with and without relapse by using MRM. Thus, this technique shows promise for implementation as a noninvasive clinical diagnostic technique

Net survival of perinatally and postnatally HIV-infected children: a pooled analysis of individual data from sub-Saharan Africa

Background Previously, HIV epidemic models have used a double Weibull curve to represent high initial and late mortality of HIV-infected children, without distinguishing timing of infection (peri- or post-natally). With more data on timing of infection, which may be associated with disease progression, a separate representation of children infected early and late was proposed. Methods Paediatric survival post-HIV infection without anti-retroviral treatment was calculated using pooled data from 12 studies with known timing of HIV infection. Children were grouped into perinatally or post-natally infected. Net mortality was calculated using cause-deleted life tables to give survival as if HIV was the only competing cause of death. To extend the curve beyond the available data, children surviving beyond 2.5 years post infection were assumed to have the same survival as young adults. Double Weibull curves were fitted to both extended survival curves to represent survival of children infected perinatally or through breastfeeding. Results Those children infected perinatally had a much higher risk of dying than those infected through breastfeeding, even allowing for background mortality. The final-fitted double Weibull curves gave 75% survival at 5 months after infection for perinatally infected, and 1.1 years for post-natally infected children. An estimated 25% of the early infected children would still be alive at 10.6 years compared with 16.9 years for those infected through breastfeeding. Conclusions The increase in available data has enabled separation of child mortality patterns by timing of infection allowing improvement and more flexibility in modelling of paediatric HIV infection and surviva

Significance of northeast-trending features in Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 18 (2017): 4156–4178, doi:10.1002/2017GC007099.Synthesis of seismic velocity, potential field, and geological data from Canada Basin and its surrounding continental margins suggests that a northeast-trending structural fabric has influenced the origin, evolution, and current tectonics of the basin. This structural fabric has a crustal origin, based on the persistence of these trends in upward continuation of total magnetic intensity data and vertical derivative analysis of free-air gravity data. Three subparallel northeast-trending features are described. Northwind Escarpment, bounding the east side of the Chukchi Borderland, extends ∼600 km and separates continental crust of Northwind Ridge from high-velocity transitional crust in Canada Basin. A second, shorter northeast-trending zone extends ∼300 km in northern Canada Basin and separates inferred continental crust of Sever Spur from magmatically intruded crust of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province. A third northeast-trending feature, here called the Alaska-Prince Patrick magnetic lineament (APPL) is inferred from magnetic data and its larger regional geologic setting. Analysis of these three features suggests strike slip or transtensional deformation played a role in the opening of Canada Basin. These features can be explained by initial Jurassic-Early Cretaceous strike slip deformation (phase 1) followed in the Early Cretaceous (∼134 to ∼124 Ma) by rotation of Arctic Alaska with seafloor spreading orthogonal to the fossil spreading axis preserved in the central Canada Basin (phase 2). In this model, the Chukchi Borderland is part of Arctic Alaska.Funding for this work was provided in part through the Geological Survey of Canada as part of Canada’s UNCLOS Project and through the U.S. Geological Survey as part of the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf project